Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

BEFORE YOU READ

This fanfic (and many others) are very outdated to my current writing style and portrayal of White Rose. Ice Flower has been privately rewritten/remastered, and if (KEYWORD) I ever choose to upload the new version it will be under the name of "Painted In Silver and Melodic Blue". Please do not point out inconsistencies and bad writing/characertization. I already know.

YOU  MAY  PROCEED.

It was okay to be in love with someone you’ve never met before, right?

Well, someone you’ve never met in person, at least.

Some of her online friends were in internet relationships despite having never personally met their romantic partner, so it wasn’t all that strange. Right? It wasn’t love-love, it was just more like a little crush. 

Okay, maybe a big crush… 

Weiss Schnee is the singer for the popular band, Ice Flower. She’s the main vocalist and one of the most beautiful women on Remnant. Well, she was in Ruby’s opinion. Her voice matches her beauty perfectly, it was like listening to an angel sing. The passion, the love, the thrill, it can get anyone’s feet moving and put a song inside one’s heart… 

Sometimes, she sang songs of sorrow and of longing. It was almost like picturing your reflection in the mirror, but the image looking back at you isn’t who you are.

Weiss was formerly the heiress to a business called Schnee Dust, but she disappeared when she was sixteen years old and returned to the media’s spotlight with the band. At first, they started off with only three people in the band; Lie Ren, Nora Valkyrie, and Weiss Schnee. Three years later, a woman named Pyrrha Nikos joined them. 

Their friend, Blake Belladonna, stayed in the background, but she was active on social media with things concerning the band. Blake is Weiss’ best friend, there were dozens of pictures of them all across the internet. Some of the band’s fans even shipped them together and constantly asked if they were secretly together through interviews.

The most recent update revolving around that topic was posted six months ago, stating that Blake has started dating someone, but keeps her partner’s name and face out of the eye of the public. When asked, Weiss confirmed that she knows of her friend’s romantic partner and she approves. Though, she did make it rather clear that they often tread on thin ice, but the threat was empty.

Some fans were displeased with the update, claiming it was all a lie and that Blake was cheating. Nora and Weiss were quick to shut these rumors down to protect their friend. 

Thankfully, Ruby wasn’t obsessed like some of these fans she’s seen on the internet, some of them even going as far as attempting to contact Weiss through Twitter and trying to find her real number as an attempt to hatespam her.

Nobody really wanted to seem to want to really befriend the girl behind the scenes, nobody wanted to meet the real Weiss… The poor woman, if she was caught without her makeup on, without her friends, or even somewhere other than onstage, she was surrounded by the paparazzi trying to get the perfect picture to ruin her reputation.

What is it with the media’s willingness to shame someone for being human ? 

That was the whole reason she’d fallen in love with the angelic singer. Just one little video that Weiss’ sister recorded made it to the internet, revealing that the singer was extremely ticklish, and Ruby was head over heels.

Her heart flutters. 

Her genuine laugh was simply breathtaking , the playfulness in her voice, the way she spoke . The video showed that she wasn’t one-hundred percent perfect, and Ruby was absolutely fine with that. The media, on the other hand, belittled her for some of her language and attempted to destroy her entire image over it. 

People just wanted something to complain over… It would make their day.

Ruby’s grip on her pencil tightens and she looks up at the video playing on loop on her screen, a tiny smile tugs at her lips as her irritation melts away, watching the white-haired singer dance across the screen. The singer had said it herself that one of her favorite parts of her career was recording the music video, the reason being all of the bleeps, bloops, and blunders (well, she didn’t say that ) that happens in the making.

Some of them were lucky to have made it to the internet, which the band was perfectly fine with because it shows that they aren’t perfect. One of the most viral videos was recorded and uploaded by the singer’s best friend, Blake Belladonna.

Ruby rests her pencil down and rapidly typed in the title of the video into the search bar, locating it at the top of the list instantly. The video begins to play and folds her arms on her desk, watching the screen intently as her heart flutters, replaying the scenes through her head.

“Shh, she’s coming in.” A redhead shushes as she hides beneath a desk, the video camera pans out the door of the RV and shows a girl with long white hair approaching the bus. Ruby’s heart quickens as the camera zooms in; the singer is focused on something on her phone, barely paying attention to what’s in front of her. 

The person recording steps out of view as the door opens, the camera turns to show a woman hiding behind the door. Green eyes look at the camera and the amazonian lifts a finger to her lips. Just as the singer steps inside, the tall redhead jumps out from behind the door, shouting loudly and startling the singer.

Not even a heartbeat after, white-haired girl stumbles back, shrieking in surprise. The recorder laughs and steps around to reveal the singer again, she was hunched over with her hands on her knees, regaining her senses. She was giggling. “Fuck you!” She says through a breath of laughs. “I hate you guys!”

Ruby swore her heart missed a beat.

“She’s going to have trust issues because of us.” The tall redhead giggles as she steps outside to check on the singer, who only pushes her away with a grin on her face. “See, this is what I was talking about!”

“I’m sorry!” The recorder laughs, “It was just too perfect to pass up, this is going on the internet.”

“Good!” The singer looks at the camera, “Maybe the viewers will finally see how cruel you guys are!” The singer approaches the door again and steps inside. The camera angles down to show the shorter redhead peeking out from under the desk. The vocalist speaks, causing the butterflies in Ruby’s chest to act up again. “Okay, anyway. According to-” 

As she steps passed her, the redhead’s hand shoots out and grabs the singer’s ankle, prompting a scream of utter terror to erupt from her as she stumbles forward, kicking at her attacker as she scrambles away. 

Laughter bursts out around the room as the singer shoots up both middle fingers, her knees pulled to her chest as she struggles to comprehend what is happening. “Oh my god! Guys! I hate you all!” The singer snaps as she composes herself, standing to her feet and dusting herself off.

“No, we traumatized Weiss!” The recorder snorts. “She’s never going to trust us again!” 

“I’m leaving! Damn you all!” Weiss half-yells and half-laughs as she quickly leaves the RV. 

The camera turns to show a tall, lanky man with dark hair standing at the other end of the bus. He wasn’t laughing, but the amusement was evident on his face. “She knows she lives here, right?” The woman holding the camera giggles. “Oh my God, she’s never going to come back!”

The video ends and similar suggested videos cover the screen, leaving a warm, yet hollow feeling swimming through Ruby’s being. Her finger taps at the touchpad and rewinds to a particular shot of her crush, she pauses the video and increases the video opacity to 1080p so that she can clearly see the singer’s features.

Ruby picks up her pencil and flips to an empty page in her sketchbook. She glances at the time in the right corner. She has three hours before she’s scheduled to livestream, and she still didn’t have any idea of what to draw. She’d promised her watchers a livestream every two weeks, she’s been procrastinating recently. The end of her pencil beats against the desk as she examines the white paper staring back at her.

She could just digitalize the one she’s about to draw, that way she can add special effects that her pencil can’t do justice. Such as Weiss’ eyes; they were familiar somehow. Ruby could almost put her finger on it.

She shakes her head and begins sketching.

The artist starts with her outline, paying close attention to the singer’s features and posture, etching them onto the paper with extreme delicacy. It takes a few tries to draw the posture to mirror the one onscreen, but Ruby’s quite proud of the outcome. With gentle, soft strokes of her pencil, she sketches the hair and gradually fills it out. 

One of her favorite things about the singer, aside from the bright color of her eyes, were her messy bangs. They were not combed back or styled, it was all natural and in Ruby’s opinion, it shows more of Weiss’ actual personality. She wasn’t perfect. 

Perhaps she was thinking too much on this. 

“Ruby!” Her door swings open, Ruby lifts her head and turns around to see Yang entering with an annoyed expression on her face. “The casserole’s done. I’ve been calling for you for ten min-” Her eyes fix on the large computer screen in front of Ruby and she smirks a little bit, a knowing, yet unreadable glint flickers through her eyes. “All right, well,” she turns away with a wave of her hand, “come get dinner when you’re done swooning .”

The brunette practically falls out of her chair with a shout, “I’m not-!” She’s cut off when her chair crashes into the floor. It takes her a few seconds to get the chair up and off of her. “Yang!” She hollers after her as she scrambles to her feet to follow her sister, throwing her door open again and quickly jogging down the staircase. Yang is already in the kitchen, withdrawing two plates from the cabinets. “I wasn’t swooning!”

“Yes, you were.” Yang answers, handing her a plate as she walks by to approach the stove, opening the oven and removing the casserole. “It’s not the first time I’ve walked in and you have a picture of her up.”

“I was drawing!” Ruby protests, following her sister. Humiliation and embarrassment settles in her stomach. Yang was well aware of her crush, and she steals every opportunity she sees to tease her about it. “I have a livestream in three hours, and I-”

Yang interrupts her. “And you were going to draw a smiling Weiss?” She asks with a smirk on her face.

Ruby’s mouth clamps shut and her hands grips the edge of the counter, waiting for her sister to finish fixing her plate. Yang moves and Ruby takes her place. “Speaking of your little crush ,” Ruby glares back at her, “how would you like to see her live and in person?”

The artist scoffs and takes a seat across from her sister, “As if. She’s performing in Vale tonight and Dad won’t let me go!” She grumbles, staring at the plate sitting before her. “I asked for tickets when I first heard she was coming to Vale, he said no because Dawsbury is too far away from Patch.” She lifts the fork up to her mouth. “He’s also paranoid because of the attack that happened in Mistral last year.”

“Well,” Yang says with an unreadable smile, “what if I told you that I have tickets?” Ruby looks up at her with an expression of disbelief, unwilling to believe her sister. Her jaw drops when Yang pulls two tickets out of seemingly nowhere, “You’re welcome.”

“How did you?!” Ruby’s hands hit the table as she reaches over to snatch the tickets from the blonde, lifting them up to the light. Her heart ignites with hope upon noticing that they were, indeed, legitimate. “They were sold out! How did you manage to land tickets?! Did you tell Dad?!”

Yang laughs and Ruby sits herself back down, silver eyes still locked on the tickets she held tightly in her hands. “Let’s say I know someone.”

Ruby raises a brow and looks at her, setting the tickets on the table and sliding them back over to Yang. “Let me guess,” she says as her sister takes another bite of her food, almost spitting it out as it was still hot. “You know someone who knows a guy, whose brother has a friend who knows a guy, and this guy works for the band?”

The blonde chuckles and shrugs. “Sure, let’s go with that.”

Ruby still can’t believe that, somehow, her sister managed to get two tickets for Ice Flower’s concert in Dawsbury, Vale. She’s only dreamed of meeting the singer in real life… According to Yang, the tickets they were given also consist of a backstage pass. Ruby doubted that part, she didn’t see anything about a ‘backstage pass’ anywhere on the ticket.

“It sure is crowded.” Yang murmurs as she pulls her motorcycle into an empty parking space, Ruby removes her helmet and hands it to her sister, who sets it on the seat next to her own. “I didn’t think there would be this many people considering the concert is being held on a Wednesday.”

Ruby gapes at her, “You didn’t-” she shakes her head, “Yang, Ice Flower is about as popular as your Achieve Men! If not more!”

Yang holds up a finger, “Ahp, ahp, ahp!” She crosses her arms, “Nobody is as popular as the Achieve Men. They’ve been running since before Ice Flower was even a thought !”

“You know this how ?” Ruby asks challengingly as her sister leads her through the gates, handing the tickets in. “The Achieve Men have been a thing for four years, and Ice Flower for three.”

“Clearly, they were inspired by the Achieve Men’s music.” Yang says in her defense, almost jokingly. Before Ruby can retort her response, Yang ruffles her hair with one hand and the brunette growls. “But, I’ll admit, Ice Flower isn’t half bad.” She makes a gesture with her head, smiling a little bit. “Come on, this way! We’re goin’ backstage.”

The artist is momentarily stunned, watching the blonde make her away around the crowd and towards the tour bus seating on the hill in the distance. Why were they going backstage now? Wouldn’t they go after the concert? Wouldn’t they bother everybody if they go now? The performance was only in thirty minutes… 

Breathing a sigh of reluctance, Ruby follows closely behind Yang and reaches to grasp her hand so she doesn’t lose her in the crowd. 

“You bastard!”

A body slams into hers and she loses her footing, she releases Yang’s hand she sees lilac eyes glancing back in her direction in confusion. Her back hits the ground and she only has a moment to roll out of the way before a foot kicks into the ground where her head once was. She looks up to see a man grabbing another by the throat, his knee reaching up to violently smash into the scrawnier one’s belly.

Ruby has to be careful where she puts her hands as she attempts to climb to her feet, people are both running to stop the fight and retreating away. A high heel stomps into the ground between her fingers as a woman runs by and fear rolls through her like a bolt of electricity, she scrambles to her feet and ducks as a fist flies over head, knuckles punching into the heavier man’s face.

All she hears is the sound of fists meeting flesh, screams of terror and confusion, angry growls, and shouts of frustration. 

Suddenly, the heavier man is thrown off his feet and he lands just in front of Ruby. His olive eyes are wide with fear and shock, his breathing shallow and rapid. Ruby follows his gaze to see Yang standing front of a scrawny boy, her hands in tight fists and her eyes ablaze with irritation. The boy behind her has a bloody nose and he’s holding his gut, tears in his eyes as he thanks her. 

As security approaches to escort them out, Yang walks over to Ruby and examines her worriedly. “Are you okay?!” She asks desperately, “I thought they’d trampled you!” 

“I’m fine,” Ruby answers as Yang pulls her into a protective hug, “let’s just go before something happens again.”

Yang sighs and she takes Ruby’s hand, hauling her through the crowd and keeping her close this time. They break through the crowd towards the front and Yang leads her around the back where fencing was set up. A little ways away, the Ice Flower tour bus was visible. So was the white haired singer sitting on the step, gazing down at a notebook.

Ruby’s attention is pulled away when she’s out of her sight, they’re stepping around the rehearsal booth. There’s a woman standing guard and she looks at them, frowning in slight irritation. “Hey!” She puts her hand on the pistol on her side and Ruby glares at her while Yang remains calm. She wouldn’t really shoot, would she? Yang said they had backstage passes. “You can’t be back-”

“It’s okay, I invited them.” A voice cuts her off and Yang grins smugly, elbowing Ruby as if she’d known she doubted her for a second. 

Ruby leans around her sister’s back to locate the voice, recognizing it, but unable to see who it belongs to. Her eyes widen as the guard unlocks the gate and lets them in, Yang leads her inside and her eyes meet with a familiar golden pair. Her heart nearly stops in realization… 

“Ruby,” Yang says happily as she comes to the woman’s side, draping her arm across the raven-haired girl’s shoulders, “I’d like you to meet my girlfriend.”

‘Girlfriend?’  Yang didn’t tell her she was dating anybody. 

“Your girlfriend is Blake Belladonna…?” 

Well, this explained how she managed to get the tickets.

Chapter Text

“Your girlfriend is Blake Belladonna?”

Ruby stands there, stunned and processing the sudden turn of events. She knew her sister was a great deal happier, always beaming with positivity and a touch more playful, but she never thought to imagine that it was because she was dating someone. 

A warm smile crosses Blake’s lips and an indecipherable look flickers across her expression. “So, you’re Yang’s little sister?” She asks curiously as she comes towards the brunette. Blake’s posture radiates a welcoming aura, Ruby feels rather comfortable around her. “It’s nice to finally meet you, Yang speaks about you a lot.” Her mouth is far too dry to say anything, so she just nods so she doesn’t seem rude.

Movement grabs Ruby’s eyes and she glances behind Blake, a lump grows in her throat and her breath catches as her heartbeat quickens. “Who is this?” Blake turns around, hearing her best friend’s voice and acknowledging her. She offers her a bright smile in greeting. “Don’t you remember last time strangers managed to make their way backstage? Remember what happened in Mistral.” The white-haired girl stops at her friend’s side, Blake seems unfazed by the girl’s rude approach.

“I didn’t forget, Weiss.” Blake answers her nicely and gestures to Blake and Ruby, the artist is avoiding eye contact with the singer and struggling to keep her heartbeat under control. “Remember when I said I’ll be introducing you to my girlfriend face-to-face?” Weiss raises a brow and Blake chuckles, “Well, that’s now. This is Yang, and her sister, Ruby.” A look of understanding replaces the irritation on the singer’s face.

“Oh,” Weiss mutters quietly, “well, it’s nice to meet you both.” 

Noticing that Weiss had looked at her, Ruby discreetly reaches up and grabs her sister’s elbow. She gives it a sharp yank and drags her away. “Um, one moment! Lil’ Sis wants to talk!” Yang calls to them just before she’s pulled out of sight. The blonde straightens her sleeves and meets Ruby’s eyes, “What is it, Ruby?”

Her answer comes out as a hiss of disbelief. “You’re dating Weiss Schnee’s best friend, and you never even bothered to tell me?”

Yang shrugs nonchalantly. “I wanted it to be a surprise.”

“Well it’s a surprise, all right.” Ruby mutters in response.

After a brief argument that Yang managed to win, utilizing Ruby’s crush against her, the two sisters return to the other duo. Ruby’s throat is dry again and her heart beats rapidly as she struggles to come up with an acceptable first impression, she almost stops dead in her tracks and every nerve in her body screams at her to run when Weiss looks at her. Not because she’d embarrassed herself, but because there’s a high chance she’ll humiliate herself in front of the singer.

However, all of her nervousness flies out the window when the vocalist stands to meet them. Ruby’s brows pull together as a sense of familiarity sweeps over her. For a moment, she swears she sees a little girl with white hair looking back at her curiously. The image is sent to the back of her mind and she’s unable to retrieve it again. She clears her throat, having noticed something about the singer standing before her. “You know,” she says with a small smile, “you’re shorter in person.”

Weiss’ icy eyes suddenly become irate. “I will have security escort you out.” She says in a serious manner than only causes Ruby to chuckle. It was like looking at a tiny, adorable, angry kitten! Or a mad puppy. All bark, no bite.

A flash of red grabs her focus and she turns to see a familiar, tall redhead jogging up to Blake. Ruby recognizes her as Pyrrha Nikos, a young woman who had joined Ice Flower last year as the bass guitarist and secondary vocalist. She comes from Argus, though how she met the band remains unknown. “Blake! There you are!” The raven-haired girl looks at her in confusion. “Jaune needs your help backstage.” Pyrrha finally notices them.

“I’ll be there in a minute,” Blake answers with a weary sigh, she gestures to Yang, “anyway, Pyrrha, this is my girlfriend I’ve been telling you guys about, Yang Xiao-Long” she turns to Ruby, briefly glancing between Ruby and Weiss, “and this is her sister, Ruby Rose.” Pyrrha greets them warmly and Yang returns the greeting while Ruby awkwardly walks over to her sister’s side. 

Out of the corner of her eye, Ruby notices Weiss had been watching her, but the singer looked away when Blake caught her. The look on her face was unreadable, but her eyes were withholding some kind of negativity. ‘Was it something I did?’ Ruby wonders quietly. 

Pyrrha’s voice manages to grab her attention again, snapping her out of her spiraling thoughts. “Anyway,” the redhead gestures towards the stage with her thumb, “Ozma sent me to tell you that we’ve procrastinated enough, the concert needs to begin immediately.”

Was it already time? 

“Right.” The singer is seemingly snapped out of a trance, she shakes her head and faces Pyrrha, slipping into work mode. She looks back at the redhead as she walks by her, the singer’s eyes are soft. “Pyrrha,” even the way she says her name is sweet, “could you get my mic ready for me, please?” Pyrrha gives an affirmative and bids the sisters goodbye before following her friend backstage.

Ruby stiffens when Yang calls out to them, her voice laced with humor. “Make sure the microphone isn’t too tall for her! She might need a step stool!” Yep, her life is officially over… 

Weiss glares back at the blonde, shock and rage forms on her features, she lets out an aggravated noise and stalks over to them. “Do you have any idea who you’re-” Ruby has to bite back a snort of laughter when Pyrrha jogs up behind the singer, easily sweeping her up and carrying her away effortlessly. “Let go of me!” Weiss shrieks, her cheeks heating up with both humiliation and… something else. 

“As funny as that was,” Blake giggles as the other two disappear into the rehearsal room to prepare, she turns back to Yang, “try not to do that again. Weiss can be temperamental, she could ban you from coming backstage again.”

The blonde shrugs, “Worth it.”

A few minutes later, the sisters had made their way back to the crowd awaiting for the performance to begin. They’d managed to squeeze themselves towards the front of the crowds, Yang barely avoiding a fist fight with a rather snobbish woman who looked far too old to be attending this type of concert. Nearly fifteen minutes pass and the lights have yet to click on, there hasn’t even been any sightings of the crew. People were starting to whisper, they’d never been late to a performance before.

Yang leans over to her sister, “You’ve watched live performances before,” she whispers to her, barely audible over the crowd, “do they usually start this late?”

“No,” Ruby answers, glancing at the older blonde, “They usually start before time, or exactly on time. They’re never late.” She wasn’t the only one concerned, judging by the confused chatter echoing all around her. She wonders what happened, nobody has even come onstage to announce a delay. Should they check on them? What if someone is hurt?

“Well,” Yang hums and crosses her arms, shifting her weight from one foot to the other, “I wouldn’t worry,” she was obviously worried, “they’re probably having trouble finding a mic stand that’s short enough.” She tries to ease the mood with a joking smile and elbows her sister with a light laugh, but Ruby doesn’t find it amusing. 

“Yang, that’s going to come back and bite you.”

The sisters spin around to see Blake approaching them, she stops with a hand on her hip. She wastes no time and focuses on Ruby, who meets her gaze with a confused look. “Yang tells me that you know all of the band’s songs, right?” Ruby nods, “You play guitar?” She nods again and Blake shifts her eyes towards Yang, a few silent words are exchanged between them before the faunus gently grabs Ruby’s arm, hauling her away from Yang. “Come with me.”

Ruby looks back at Yang, who only sheepishly smiles and shrugs. She doesn’t bother to come after her, trusting that Blake wouldn’t let anything happen to her. Ruby’s being pulled backstage… 

“W-wait! I can’t go backstage! I’ll make a fool of myself!” She protests, “Yang doesn’t know what she’s talking about! I don’t know all the songs!” The brunette pleads helplessly, “Yang, help!” She calls, reaching for her sister as she’s dragged away, but Yang doesn’t pay any attention to her. “Traitor.”

Blake lets go of her arm and Ruby matches her stride, aware of the desperation on the woman’s face. “What if I mess up?” Blake spares her a glance, acknowledging her worry, “There are plenty of young girls out there who can play guitar, why me of all people?” 

“It would’ve taken longer to find one, and there’s a possibility the concert could be sabotaged because of jealous people.” Blake replies without meeting her eyes this time.”

Ruby nods her agreement in silence, not saying anything else as they approach the area backstage. She sees the band gathered around a young woman seated in a chair, her hands wrapped in bandages and pain etched across her face. A man with grey hair and glasses is tending to her, but the girl seems to be very overwhelmed with everybody fretting over her. Whatever the man was saying falls on deaf ears.

“I found help!” They all look towards her and a chill races up Ruby’s spine. 

“What?” Weiss gapes in disbelief from her place next to Pyrrha, she’s scowling in their direction. The redhead elbows her with a stern look on her face. “She’s replacing the background guitarist?” She clears her throat and approaches Blake, the two of them exchange quiet words before the singer finally looks at Ruby. “Fine. Do you really know how to operate a guitar?” She doesn’t sound too pleased with the situation.

Ruby mirrors her expression,  unintimidated. “Do you really know how to sing?” 

Icy eyes widen at the audacity of Ruby’s remark and the vocalist takes another step towards her, “ I was trained by some of Remnant’s most famous musicians and singers while I was back in Atlas,” she explains with a smug tone of voice, “you, however, look like you were picked up off the streets.” 

“Isn’t that where you started off?” Ruby answers with a brow raised, “A nameless group of musicians roaming the streets of Remnant?”

A boisterous laugh echoes from the redhead behind Weiss, having overheard every word the two of them exchanged. Nora’s laughter dies down into a series of uncontrollable snorts. Blake returns to them and offers an electric guitar to Ruby, “Maybe stop bickering and get to work?” She suggests with an amused smirk, “You can argue like an old married couple later.”

Weiss grumbles in annoyance turns away to approach her friends, who were getting their instruments ready to head onstage. 

Wait a minute.

Ruby was going onstage.

Anxiety swells up inside the pit of her stomach and she stiffly turns to leave, clutching the guitar close and strolling towards the exit. “Nope.” She mutters under her breath seconds before Blake grabs the hood of her jacket, pulling her back and redirecting her towards the group following the band up onto the platform. “I can’t do this!”

“Yes, you can,” Blake encourages her with a smile, “you know every tune and every beat of their songs, right?”

“Kind of,” Ruby answers, “still learning the newer songs.”

Blake hums, “Well, today, they’re only performing songs from their first album as a callback. Also, nobody will care if you don’t match the band.” Ruby bites her lip, “You’ve got this,” the woman gives the small of her back a gentle push, “it may not look like it, but Weiss is actually depending on you.”

Ruby rolls her eyes in exasperation, “Well, that just makes everything worse!” 

She was going to screw everything up.

Nearly three hours later, the concert finally comes to an end. Fingers aching, she surrenders the guitar to Blake as she passes by, ignoring the woman’s concerned inquiries as she disappears into the backroom. Spotting a dressing room, Ruby steps inside and swings the door shut with her ankle, taking a seat against the door to examine her sore fingers. They were trembling, but she would be okay. She’s played her own guitar for an extended period of time, but never like this… The tunes were usually more relaxed.

Perhaps it was just being up onstage with the lights shining on her, the pressure of knowing that she was performing for the first time in front of thousands of people without rehearsal... Or, maybe it could be the fact she had been performing at all…

The moment she had been dragged up onstage, she had experienced sheer terror, already felt humiliated, and feared she would mess up and ruin the entire concert. Every member had a specific part to play, and they did it with great experience and grace. The band sounded like they’d rehearsed the music a thousand times, which they probably did; Ruby was the only odd one out… She’d become mesmerized by the sound of Weiss’ voice and momentarily missed a beat. It didn’t appear that anybody noticed her slight slip-up. 

It was entirely her fault, anyway. 

As thrilling as it was to be in the background of the band during a performance, she would’ve much rather been down in the audience instead of being dragged onstage during her first concert. 

“Ruby!”

She hears her sister’s voice calling for her and she stands to her feet, opening the dressing room door and stepping out. Her eyes meet with Yang’s and the blonde grins, she strides over to her with Blake calmly following her. Ruby doesn’t have a chance to greet her sister before she yanked into a bear hug that restricts her ability to breathe. 

“You did fantastic!” Yang grins as she sets her back on her feet, allowing the brunette to breathe again. “It was like you belonged up there!” She places a hand on her hip and Ruby sits down again, not answering the blonde. “So, how was your first concert, Ruby?”

Ruby glares up at her in annoyance, causing Blake to snort from behind the blonde. “I think you know very well how it went, Yang!” She gestures towards the band gathering a few feet away. Well, at least now she knew never to trust Yang to help her out of a crisis. Gods, her fingers hurt, and so did her feet from standing so long. 

“What do you mean?” Yang asks with a brow raised in confusion. It’s almost comforting to know that if Yang hadn’t heard the slip-up, most other people might’ve not heard it. But, Ruby knew it happened, and that doesn’t cease the burning humiliation in her chest. Surely, the band noticed. Yang lifts her head and she smiles, “Hey, what’s that redhead’s name? The short, bubbly one?”

The brunette raises a brow. “Nora?” Blake answers for her, nodding towards the approaching girl. The redhead stops beside Blake and whispers something to her, Blake’s ear twitches in acknowledgement and she nods, responding to the girl in a hushed voice. “I need to find Weiss.” She tells Ruby and Yang before quickly jogging away.

“Hello!” Nora greets Ruby happily, suddenly appearing at her side. “I’m Nora Valkyrie! Of course, you already know that. We’re totally not a famous band or anything,” she starts laughing, and quickly changes the subject, “anyway! Our manager wants to speak with you!”

Dread settles in the pit of her stomach and Ruby lets out a defeated sigh. Great, she’d messed up so badly that the manager wanted to see her, and she wasn’t even part of the band! None of this was her fault, she was supposed to be a nobody in the audience simply admiring the show, not part of the show.

Yang pats her back nervously and gives her an encouraging push towards the retreating redhead. 

Ruby swallows hard and follows Nora, she spots the rest of the band and their crew gathered around somebody near the tour bus parked on top of the slope. Weiss and Blake aren’t with them, yet. “She’s here!” Nora calls as she steps up next to Ren, waiting for Ruby to approach. 

All eyes turn towards her and a chill of humiliation races up Ruby’s spine, she clears her throat and carefully approaches them. The taller redhead, Pyrrha, offers her a warm smile as an attempt to reassure her upon seeing her nervousness. It does nothing to settle the fear rolling around in her belly. 

“Hello.”

Her blood runs cold and she meets the eyes of an older man, tensing ever so slightly when he waves his hand to dismiss the band. Well, he seems kind enough… But you can never be so sure, especially with those high in power. Ruby doesn’t say anything, she instead keeps her expression neutral as not to show any sort of weakness. “You do not need to be afraid of me, Miss.”

‘I’m not afraid.’ Ruby wants to say. 

She can feel Yang watching her from somewhere behind her, prepared to come to her defense if she needed to. 

“I was simply wondering if you would like to join us on tour?”

Chapter Text

Ruby swears her heart skips a beat upon hearing the man’s seemingly genuine offer, she repeats the question in her head several times as an attempt to process it. 

This has to be a joke, they already had plenty of guitarists. They wouldn’t miss just one, and even if they did, they could easily find a professional musician for the job.

She hears Yang approaching from her and the blonde places one hand on the top of her head light-heartedly, “Ruby,” she sings-songs, “he’s asking you a question. It’s rude not to answer.”

This breaks Ruby’s focus and she steps back, Yang’s hand falling from her head. “I don’t know,” she answers at last, sounding anxious, “I mean, what would I even do?” 

Out of the corner of her eye, she sees Blake approaching with Weiss walking behind her, the singer muttering something under her breath while scrolling through her phone. Ruby turns her attention back to Ozma. 

“Well,” he begins with a kind smile, he seems almost too nice, “the stage crew is in need of new members.” She did notice that they were lacking in that department on her way back here, there weren't near as many people as she’d expected. “The band is also in need of a roadie.” 

Yang is quick to ask the question for her, the confusion on her face matching Ruby’s. “What’s a roadie?”

Blake is answering the question before Ozma could speak; there’s a knowing smile on her face, “A roadie is someone who maintains the band’s equipment, they travel with the band.” She explains as something flickers though Yang’s eyes, Ruby doesn’t like it one bit, “So they’re like a stagehand, or a technician.”

Yang spins around to look at Ruby, who meets her eyes, unsure. Yang grins, “Then Rubes is perfect for the job!” She steps over to her and Ruby just barely avoids a headlock by moving away from her as Yang’s arm goes up around her head, she glares up at her smirking sister. “She’s great with techy stuff! Gets it from our Uncle Qrow!”

“I’m not so sure, Yang.” Ruby mutters to her, Yang meets her eyes with a brow raised in acknowledgement. She has her full attention. “Working on a band’s equipment is different from helping Dad and Uncle Qrow out at home.”

“I could teach you.” Blake suggests, sparing an unreadable glance towards Yang, who mirrors her expression. “I’ve been with the band since long before they became famous.”

Ruby hesitates again. Traveling with the band would be a dream come true, but she didn’t want to be in the way. She glances backstage and her brows pull together at the sight of a crowd consisting of maybe twenty people.  

“I don’t know,” she gestures back towards the retreating crew, “it seems to me like the band has plenty of help…” Ruby hesitates, “Also, where would I even stay?” 

Ruby glances at the tour bus sitting a little ways away, imagining what the interior would look like. Exactly how many rooms were in the RV?  If she had to guess, it was extremely fancy and a commoner like herself would feel inadequate living in it.

Ozma lightly laughs, “This is only because we have had volunteers from people in Vale.” He informs her. I’ll see what I can do about where you will be sleeping.”

Nora speaks up almost immediately, “Blake usually sleeps in the bunkbeds with us, so we have a spare room!”

Blake’s eyes light up unreadably, “It’s right across from Weiss’ room,” she explains, “well, it’s sort of her room… She uses it to work on songs in private, but that’s about it.”

So, she would be sleepy in a room that was very close to where her crush usually stays… Ruby’s heart skyrockets as a red heat rises to her cheeks, not knowing if she’d be able to sleep knowing she was so close to the singer. 

Out of the corner of her eye, she notices Blake slipping away. 

Well… 

Yang was leaving for college in a few weeks, and her father was always away from home as a traveling teacher. She would be alone; she lets out a heavy sigh. “Okay.” Ruby finally answers, suppressing a roll of her eyes when Yang beams at her. “I’ll speak to my Dad about it.”

“Delightful.” Ozma smiled.

“Okay wait!” 

A voice interrupts them and Ruby looks up to see Weiss approaching with Blake following closely behind her, Ruby’s heart skips a beat as the singer comes to stand next to her. Blake winks at the artist knowingly and stops next to Yang. “Now, why can’t she sleep in the sleeper bus with the rest of them?”

The dark-haired girl replies before Ozma could, “Well, the rest of the band and I have already agreed that it’s okay that Yang travels with us until we reach her college campus, we’ll drop her off and head on from there.”

Weiss’ brow raises in annoyance, displeased that decisions had been made without her presence.

Pyrrha steps in to agree, “If Yang’s staying with us, it’d be a little unfair if Ruby had to sleep and travel in a separate bus.”

The singer scoffs, “Okay, so where is Yang sleeping?”

“I’ll be with Ruby until we reach campus,” Yang answers swiftly, sounding bored of the conversation, “I’m not going to let her be alone in a room with people she hardly knows.”

Ruby rolls her eyes. She’d still be abandoning her once they reached campus, so what even was the difference?

Weiss sighs heavily, rubbing her forehead in contemplation. She remains silent for a long moment, Ruby can feel the tension rising in the air. However, the singer replies in a different way than she’d originally been expecting; “If she’s going to be staying with us, then she’s going to need some training.”

Blake grins at this and she spins around to stand in front of Weiss, placing a hand on her hip. “Well, Little Miss Perfect,” Weiss scowls at the nickname, “why don’t you train her?”

Ruby swears she’s stopped breathing. The expression Weiss is wearing was nearly laughable, and it would be if Ruby wasn’t internally dying after hearing Blake’s suggestion.

“Excuse me?” Weiss gapes in disbelief, “I have my-” 

She glances at Ruby and the iciness in her eyes seems to melt, her shoulders relax. Ruby’s heart jumps to her throat, noticing the almost familiar softness in the woman’s eyes.

“Fine.” The singer reluctantly agrees, “But she is not going to be treated any differently from the rest of the stage crew.”

Blake smiles victoriously and faces away from the singer, “Well,” she announces to the group, ignoring the scowl of annoyance Weiss was sending her after realizing she’d been played, “that’s settled. We can all head to bed now.”

There was something going on here that Ruby didn’t know about, and she’s not quite sure she wants to be aware of it anyway. The brunette shakes her head, her mind buzzing from all the new information and changes that have been made within the last twenty minutes. 

She was going to be traveling with her favorite band now, she was going to be living within the same space as her idol for the next few months. She was going to be working for the white-haired singer, which means close contact and inevitable one-on-one discussions.

Gods, she felt like she could melt into a puddle of embarrassment and humiliation right here.

She feels Yang give her shoulder a nudge and Ruby robotically turns to follow her sister, departing from the band that was regrouping and talking in hushed voices. She pauses, looking over behind her and focusing on Weiss for a brief second, looking away when the singer seems to realize that someone was watching her and looks up in her direction.

Great, now Weiss probably thinks she’s some creepy stalker, just like any other fan. She doesn’t even know anything about her! What if she makes things awkward with her very existence? What if Weiss found her more annoying than she already did?

Yang seems to notice her mood and drapes her arm across her shoulders, speaking in an upbeat manner. “Come on, I know you’re nervous, but think about it this way: You’re traveling with one of Remnant’s most famous bands! People would kill for even a chance to meet them! You’ll get to see the world, and even make new friends!”

Yang was right. People would kill to have any sort of association with celebrities. She should be grateful for this opportunity.”

“Right…”

The next morning, her anxiety had sky-rocketed and every fiber in her being was buzzing with anticipation and dread. It feels like her heart is going to beat out of her chest, she can’t stand still and continues to wear a path into the living room carpet, pacing back and forth as her sister blankly stares at the television behind them.

“I’m going to be traveling with the band ?! The band?! With Weiss ?!” Ruby pauses in front of the TV, causing Yang to finally glance up and meet her eyes, “Yang, what have you done?!”

The blonde chuckles in amusement, unfazed by the younger girl’s anxiety. “Hey, all I did was give you the chance to meet your crush. You’re the one whose little gay heart couldn’t handle it.”

Ruby’s brow twitches. How could she be making jokes at a time like this?! She was internally dying! 

“You know what I mean, Yang!” Her feet move and she begins pacing again, Yang watches her with crooked smile, “You played along with whatever little plan they had going on, and now,” she plops down next to her sister and puts a heavy, stressed emphasis on the next words she spoke, “ I am going to be trapped in a confined space with Weiss Schnee .”

Yang raises a brow and a playful smirk forms on her face, Ruby frowns suspiciously. “What?” Yang asks, “Are you gonna jump on her or somethin’?”

It takes a moment or two for the joke to process in Ruby’s brain.

The brunette grabs the pillow out from behind her and whacks her sister with it, prompting the blonde to descend into a fit of giggles. “Yang, this is serious! Stop laughing and making jokes about my misery!”

Yang clears her throat several times, “What do you want me to do?” She asks, smirking just a little. “Would you rather be at home alone while I’m at college and Dad’s a traveling teacher?”

Ruby stares at her sister for a long second, there's a deafening ringing in her ears. “If it means avoiding Weiss Schnee at all costs… Yes.”

Yang scoffs and places her hand on top of Ruby’s head, ignoring her grunt and holding firm when the brunette tries to swat at her. “Come on, Sis, you have to break out of your shell! I’m just giving you a little push is all!”

The younger sibling lets out a noise of annoyance, finally swatting Yang’s hand out of her face to glare at her. “Helping me ‘break out of my shell’ isn’t tossing me into a famous band that just so happens to be led by my celebrity crush.”

“Please, Weiss is hardly the leader of that group,” Yang shrugs, “it’s pretty much run by…” she pauses, “all of them, actually.”

“I stand by what I said,” Ruby grumbles, “but what am I supposed to do now ?” She groans and topples backwards on the couch, her hands covering her face in humiliation. “Suffer?”

Yang sits back and drapes her arms across the back of the couch, making herself comfortable again. “Hey, maybe it’ll help you out of your awkward phase,” she tries to encourage, “besides, I’ll be there for a little while, until I’m dropped off at college!”

The younger sister sits up abruptly with a frown on her face, “That doesn’t help, Yang!” She falls quiet for a brief second, “Wait, why Vacuo?”

The blonde raises a brow, “What about Vacuo?”

“Dad said you’re going to college in Vacuo,” Ruby tilts her head a little, “why there? It’s practically a wasteland from what Uncle Qrow said.”

Yang scoffs, “I’m not going to Vacuo,” she corrects with a light laugh, “I said my college borders Vacuo, but it’s still a highly successful college! Dad probably just misheard me.”

The phone on the table begins to vibrate, thudding against the surface rapidly and creating a rhythmic beat. Yang leans forward to see the contact, “Well, speak of the devil! That’s Dad!” She says, answering the call as Ruby scrambles over to sit next to her. “Hey, Da-”

“Didn’t I tell you two that you couldn’t go to that concert?!” Yang drops the phone back onto the table, her eyes wide with surprise. “Yang, I have every reason to believe that you are behind this!”

“Uhm…”

Ruby’s blood runs cold.

Chapter Text

"I don't like her, she's just going to mess everything up."

"No, she isn't."

Weiss stopped to look her best friend in the eyes, raising a brow at the faunus girl. "Did you not see what almost happened? Had she tripped, it would have ruined the entire concert!" One mistake and her career could be destroyed, what did Blake not understand about that? Everything had to be absolutely perfect! "He saw that! I know he did, and now he's gonna be watching us."

The incident with the White Fang was being held over her head like a noose, and he was just waiting for another reason to destroy her career. . . He hadn't been too happy when she'd walked into his office and informed him of her decision to become a singer, but he agreed to it because would help uphold his reputation. Despite her protesting, he had insisted he would pay for it all so long as everything was perfection. (Of course, there was a stand-in-manager to take his place.) She was in no place to argue as he'd approved of her choice of career, although he believed that it would be a temporary one. . .

This was her freedom. . . At least, considered it her freedom. She was away from home and could make her own decisions, for the most part.

"He might be, but that's no reason for you to try and treat the girl like shit." Blake muttered under her breath, "I still remember your first time performing in front of a live audience, and not those campaigns your father would hold, I mean your actual first performance as a singer."

The white-haired girl stopped dead in her tracks, sending Blake an unreadable glare. "Let's not talk about that." During her first performance, Weiss had frozen like a deer in the headlights when the music had begun to play, causing everybody to turn to stare at her. She should've been used to it considering she has been in the spotlight her entire life, but it was different when she was out on her own.

People back in Atlas were never genuine with their compliments, they only admired her voice because they had to. She'd never come across somebody who thoroughly enjoyed her songs, until she began her career as a singer. . .

Now, her songs were touching people's hearts. . .

Blake chuckled, reeling Weiss back to reality "Don't be so hard on her, alright? With a bit of training, she'll be perfect in no time." The raven-haired woman rolled her eyes and Weiss growled quietly at her, beginning to pace in circles again. "Well, she's at least cute, don't you think?"

"Not my type." Weiss replied bluntly, not sparing a glance towards her, "Besides, I'm straight!" Humiliation struck her when Blake failed to stifle her laughter, "What's so funny?" In truth, she was still questioning her sexuality, but she insisted that she was straight. She had to be, right? She was a Schnee!

Her friend met her eyes, golden piercing into light blue as if she knew all of her secrets. "I have only known you for two years, but I can say that you are the gayest person I've ever met." Weiss glanced at her again and narrowed her brows, receiving a playful scoff from Blake in response. "Don't think I haven't noticed your little crush on Pyrrha," Weiss felt embarrassment clawing at her chest, "oh, and that girl who helped you record your most recent music video." Blake's lips curled up into a smirk, "I also remember-"

"Okay, I see your point!" Weiss snapped, turning away from her friend as heat rose to her face. If Blake had been able to figure it out, did other people know, too?! Did her father know?! "And I do not have a crush on Pyrrha! She likes. . . Um," Weiss trailed off, scanning her brain for the name of the annoying blonde boy her friends had hired, "Joseph, Jacob, uhh. . . Jefferson."

"Jaune?" Blake smirked.

"I thought it was Jefferson?" Weiss stopped and glanced back at her friend with a baffled expression.

"No, it's Jaune."

Weiss was silent for a moment, "Then who's Jefferson?!"

"I don't know, but his name is Jaune."

Weiss rolled her eyes and rubbed her forehead, "I'm really tired, I keep thinking you're saying yawn. . ." Blake raised a brow, "Actually, do you think he'll mind if I called him that from now on?"

"You're really bad at this," Blake sighed, "Weiss, be nice."

"No."

Weiss' eyes snapped up to a loud crash coming from the front, "I swear, does anybody around here know what they're doing?" She growled underneath her breath, "Could you make sure everybody's okay?" Weiss muttered to her friend, who simply shrugged in response and sprinted towards the sound. The white-haired vocalist rubbed her forehead and started for her RV, wanting to get inside the air conditioning and finally relax. Unless Nora decided she wanted to play her PS4, she was looking forward to a good rest.

She'd been on the move for nearly a month, rehearsing almost everyday to perfect the upcoming concerts with very little rest in between. For herself, that is, she made sure her band-mates had a good night's rest, but she had to stay up and write new songs. Her manager had threatened he would put an end to her career if she didn't have any new songs written within the next few months; she actually used to enjoy writing songs, she would put her emotions into words and let the world hear them. Now, everything she's wanted to say seems to have been sung. . .

She couldn't go back home, she loved traveling, she loved sharing her songs with the world and meeting her fans. She'd learned a few of her pieces had helped people through a bad time in their lives and it made her feel proud. Weiss didn't want to lose all of this; her freedom, her friends, her career, her fans. . .

"Hey, Weiss!"

Oh here we go again. Weiss sighed and turned to face a blonde boy coming her way, carrying some of the equipment. "If you forgot where it goes, just ask Sun." She muttered, starting for the RV again and hoping the boy wouldn't follow.

"Actually," oh no, "I was wondering if we could maybe go explore the city tomorrow? Before the concert?" Jefferson - no, wait, Jaune - asked timidly. Weiss glanced back at him, her hand on the door knob, she just gave him a brief 'no' and opened the door, stepping inside of the RV as quickly as she could and shutting the door behind her.

She released a sigh as the cool air embraced her, already feeling the day's stress melting away as she ascended the staircase, ignoring the sounds of laughter behind her. The rest of her band, and Blake, were sitting in the small lounge gathered by the television, watching as Nora and Pyrrha battled their way through the game's levels.

They were happy and relaxed, their worries and stress having already faded. As for Weiss, she needed to at least try and write down some new lyrics. . . "I'm going to try and-"

Nora appeared in front of her faster than she could blink, "No, you are playing Hallucinations 3 with Ren, Pyrrha, and me. Relax a little." Didn't look like she really had a choice. . .

[Ruby]

"So, you're joining the band on tour as a. . . What again?" Tai replied, tapping at his plate to get his daughter's attention.

Ruby glanced up from her sketchbook, hiding her sketch with her arm and meeting her father's eyes. "A roadie, from what their manager told me." She replied, pushing her plate away and moving her attention back to her drawing. Tai had gotten home just as Yang began setting the plates out for supper, that was when they explained their decision to their father, well, Yang informed him, Ruby was too focused on sketching out the image in her head to be bothered with the conversation.

Tai frowned. "Does that mean you'll be," she cleared his throat, "sleeping with them?" Tai was cut off as Ruby's head shot up, accidentally sending her sketchbook flying as she wildly waved her hands in the air.

"No, no, no! That's- that's a groupie!" Panic coursed through Ruby, fearing that her father would get the wrong idea and forbid her from taking the job. "I'll be a roadie, I'll be helping them out with their equipment and-" she glanced to her sister, who had failed to bite back a bark of laughter, realization snapped and she yelped, "Yang! No! You know that's not what I meant! I'll be like a stagehand! Technician? How do I explain this?!"

Yang chuckled, "No, she won't," the blonde responded to their father as Ruby leaned down to grab her art book, "she'll be like an assistant, helping the stage crew out with managing everything backstage, getting it all set up, and whatever else needs to be done."

Tai nodded, "It sounds like a good plan to me, considering Ruby never leaves the house, so as long as there's no. . . activity involved, I'm alright with it." The man glanced to Yang, "You'll be with her, right?" Yang nodded and threw an arm around her sister, who flinched and covered her sketch with one hand to hide it from Yang's line of view.

"Of course!" Yang grinned, glancing to her little sister before fixing her attention on their father and smiling, "I'll be accompanying her for the first two weeks, but once we reach Vacuo, we'll be parting ways so I can get ready for college. We'll keep in touch."

The man shrugged, "Alright, what time do you girls leave?" He asked curiously, standing and taking the empty plates from the table.

"Well, the next concert is at nine tomorrow night, so probably early in the morning in case they need our help." Yang replied, Ruby zoning out from the discussion again.

In her mind, she was replaying that night's concert and sketching it out onto the paper. Well, actually, she was drawing Weiss from memory, and this piece needed to be finished and inked as soon as possible. She lightened the strokes of her pencil on the outline of the girl's long white hair, her eyes fixed on the paper as she began to darken the lines and erase the sketch marks. The picture needed to be perfect, it needed to capture exactly what she saw while she was up on stage.

She had to make sure the smile and the light in the girl's eyes shone through and captured the viewer's attention, drawing out the true beauty Ruby knew lay behind Weiss' rough exterior. She could see it in her eyes; she wasn't just the bitchy, spoiled perfectionist everybody else saw, somebody just needed to figure out a way to help her lower her guard and step out of her shell to embrace herself.

Ruby could tell a lot by just looking at somebody, despite not being a very social person. She considered it to be a gift. . . For example, when she met Blake earlier, she could tell that the raven-haired girl didn't have any intentions of ever harming her sister, emotionally or physically. Ruby trusted her.

Ruby blinked herself back to reality and glanced around to find that she was alone in the kitchen, her sister having gone upstairs and her father relaxing in the living room. The crimson-haired teenager shrugged and grabbed her sketchbook, heading up to her bedroom. Well, the picture was complete. Now she just had to digitize the drawing and add the lighting effects along with a background.

I probably should have sketched this out on my computer.

. . .

. . .

Four in a half hours later, the digital clock 2:30am, the alarm was set to 7:15 so that Ruby would have time to freshen up and grab her things before she and her sister head to meet the band. Yang pushed her little sister's bedroom door open and chuckled silently at the sight of Ruby.

She'd fallen asleep at her desk, and judging by her position, she'd be tense and cramped in the mornings. Oh well, she should've went to sleep when she was supposed to. Yang thought, glancing to the desktop as the screen illuminating the bedroom flickered as a message popped up in the corner.

Yang just barely managed to read the name of the sender before the computer shut off into sleep mode: Weiss Schnee.

Chapter Text

[Weiss]

"What are you still doing up?"

Weiss glanced towards her door as Blake stepped into the slightly cramped room wearing a tank top and shorts, her long black hair was brushed over her shoulder and by the looks of it, she'd just gotten out of the shower. Weiss offered her best friend a smile, "I could ask you the same thing," she patted the space next to her and the other girl took a seat on the bed, "why didn't you head back to your hotel?"

Blake shrugged, leaning back against the pillows beside the white-haired singer. "Ah, I figured you could use some company. You've been in a sour mood for nearly half of the tour," worried golden eyes glanced over to Weiss and Weiss' shoulders slacked, "you know you can talk to me if something's wrong, right?"

A frown crossed Weiss' lips and she immediately turned her attention back to her computer, shifting so that she was leaning against the bed frame with the computer propped up in her lap. "Everybody's saying that, but I'm fine." Her blue eyes glanced to the corner of her screen when a notification popped up and the singer hummed, "I didn't think the Red Reaper would be streaming this late." She whispered as she opened the live stream, the chat box was active and already overflowing with compliments and greetings to the anonymous artist.

'Hello everybody!' was written in red marker when the screen finally popped up, Weiss immediately recognized the song that began to play in the background as the artist erased the greeting to their viewers. "Well, I haven't heard that song in forever!" Blake laughed, leaning over to watch the stream with her friend, "Path to Isolation, right?"

Although The Path to Isolation was the song that began her career, it was not listed in the band's top ten most popular songs. Weiss slowly began to zone out as the artist started sketching her drawing using dark blue ink, they would pause every few minutes before continuing.

Meanwhile, Weiss was trying to tune the music out and focus on watching the stream, but her mind kept returning to the place she'd been when she'd written the song playing. She'd been trapped inside of her own mansion and forced to follow in her father's footsteps, she was kept at his beck 'n call and there were severe consequences whenever she dared to disobey or spite him. After catching a glimpse of freedom, she'd written the song and recorded it in private with prerecorded music.

Of course, the freedom that inspired the song had been stripped away before she could go any further, keeping her under her father's control. "Weiss?" Weiss was reeled back into reality when Blake shook her, "You alright?" Weiss nodded and she rid herself of her thoughts and moved into the chat room to type a message, she switched into anonymous mode and sent her message

She mentioned the artist in her comment, requesting that the song be changed. The song was paused and the artist's mouse moved off screen, but all Weiss could see of the sketch was what looked to be an unfinished-hand shape. "Why did the music stop?" Blake asked and Weiss looked at her, stifling a chuckle when she realized that her friend was holding a book and wearing a puzzled expression.

"How are you able to listen to a song and read at the same time?" Weiss asked as the chat began to flood with song suggestions that the artist was clearly ignoring. Blake simply stuck her tongue out playfully and returned to her book; music began to play again and Weiss' eyes snapped back to the chat box when the artist addressed her comment.

'Is this song okay?'

It wasn't one of her songs, but it was better than the one that had been playing previously. She typed in a brief 'sure' in response and refocused her attention on the drawing as it was zoomed out to reveal what had been drawn so far: the outline of a person, female judging by the build. Another layer was created, the ink was changed to black, and the artist began lining the character's facial shape. Once that was complete, the eyes were next and the image was enhanced, tweaking the shape of the eyes and taking several strokes with the paint brush before erasing it, each stroke smaller than the last.

When it seemed they finally decided the shape of the iris was decent enough, they moved on to the pupil and drew a quick circle. The face was quickly finished up and the outline of the hair was started as a sketch, causing Weiss' heart to nearly stop. They were drawing her, no wonder the character looked so familiar. . . They took their time perfecting her hair, erasing and redrawing her bangs and ponytail more times than she could count. When the sketch of her hair was finished and lined, the video was zoomed out again.

'How's it looking'? The artist asked in the chat box, instantly receiving dozens upon dozens of compliments and love. In the top right corner a notification showed a donation of $20 to the artist, and as a response a 'thank you!' was written in red at the top of the picture.

"Wait," Blake leaned over, taking Weiss by surprise, "they opened donations? Artists can do that?"

Weiss shrugged, "They stream themselves playing some kind of horror game pretty often too, one of their followers told them to open donations because people go around donating money to random streamers. It just so happened to be one of their art streams this time.

Next to her, Blake smirked. "How do you know that?"

"I- I watch a few of their gaming streams while we're traveling. . ." Weiss confessed, "It's weird. . . They never speak, they never show themselves, they've never even given us a name or gender."

"Well," Blake snapped her book closed after checking the page number and slid off the bed, "they probably don't want their identity to be known. I don't blame them, honestly." Blake bid the young woman goodnight and headed for the door, but Weiss stopped her.

"Wait, where are you sleeping? Isn't it too late to head back to your hotel room?" After what happened in Mistral, Weiss was concerned for her friend's safety and would worry when the woman would head off on her own. She trusted Blake wholeheartedly, but she didn't trust society. . . Her best friend was a faunus, after all.

Blake smirked again as she opened the door, "Your bunk, remember? The other three sleep in bunk beds, but Miss Schnee decided she didn't want to share a room with commoners." Weiss just smiled as the woman left the room, closing the door behind her and leaving Weiss alone in her small bedroom.

Weiss refocused her attention on the drawing and glanced towards the clock that read 12:49. She had to get some rest soon if she didn't want to be running off of caffeine for the concert, the last time she'd performed like that she'd nearly passed out during the last song.

First, she wanted to see what the completed piece would look like.

Two hours later, the art was finished and the stream was shut off so that the artist could post it to her Twitter. The instant it was posted, Weiss retweeted it and enlarged the picture to take it in.

The first thing that Weiss noticed about the piece was how it was drawn to look like somebody's perspective of her, considering the background was dark and the rest of the band, especially the audience were blurred out. Her white hair and clothes were swirling around her as though she'd been caught in mid-twirl, she'd been drawn to wear a wide smile and her eyes were practically sparkling. The art-version of her radiated happiness and joy.

There was something else there, too. An aura that the artist had drawn in just for them, but Weiss couldn't quite place it. Weiss' eyes widened when a thought struck her and she quickly brought up the artist's page again, clicking to open a new message.

She began to type.

[That Morning]
[Ruby]

She was dreaming, right? The message wasn't real, she was still asleep, it was just way too good to be true. First she dreams about being invited to join the band on tour, then she wakes up to a message from Weiss Schnee. Her heart hammered in her chest as she hovered her mouse over the unopened notification, ignoring the cramping in her back from sleeping slumped over on her desk.

Maybe it was spam? Somebody pretending to be Weiss as an attempt to hack Ruby's account? Ruby's eyes scanned over the username and a sigh escaped her, it was Weiss' account all right. Ruby clicked the notification and the chat box popped up in the right corner, she glanced to it immediately and her heart jumped to her throat.

Joy spread through her being and adrenaline pumped through her veins, Ruby flew out of her chair with a loud squeal and bolted out of her room as fast as she could move. She jogged down the staircase, her eyes scanning the living room for her elder sister before barging into the kitchen. Yang sat at the table with a suitcase next to her and her phone in hand.

"Yang!" Ruby screamed excitedly and Yang's attention snapped up to her from her phone, "You won't believe this!" The blonde smirked and raised a brow, "Weiss Schnee wants to commission me to draw art for her next album cover! I mean, there are many qualified artists out there to do so, but she chose me! I'm not even a professional artist! Did her manager approve of this? Wait, of course he did, she wouldn't have messaged me if he didn't. . ."

Ruby's eyes widened, "Oh my God. What if she doesn't like the finished piece?! What if I embarrass her and myself?! She'd hate me! I mean, she doesn't even know me, but she wouldn't want to get to know me! I can't say no to the request either because I need money, and because I don't want to disappoint her. . . You know what? I'm going to accept the commission and turn it into the best piece I've ever made! It needs to be perfect!"

Yang chuckled and clicked her phone off, standing from her chair and sliding the device into her coat pocket, "That's great, Ruby, but how are you going to work on the commission without her knowing that you're Red Reaper?" Ruby sent her sister a puzzled expression and Yang just barely bit back a laugh, "Did you forget? You're their roadie now!"

"What?"

It wasn't a dream? That didn't make sense! Everything had been jumping from scene to scene, she hadn't been able to make sense of anything, and that only happened in her dreams! Her reality was dull and boring, she basically followed the same routine everyday: wake up, freshen up, eat breakfast, draw little, watch TV, take Zwei for a walk, draw some more, watch TV, and go to bed.

Yang laughed out loud and Ruby's anxiety sky-rocketed, "You don't remember going to the concert and meeting Weiss? Oh, what about dancing with her?"

Ruby blinked again, her cheeks becoming redder by the second. "I-I thought it was just a dream."

Yang tossed her arm around the younger girl's shoulders, pulling her into a side-hug, "No, it's real. You'll be working for your favorite band, alongside Weiss~!" Ruby tried to protest, but her throat was dry and she was unable to think of a response, "And you have your big sis to thank for all of this!" Ruby rolled her eyes and shrugged her sister's arm off of her, muttering something inaudible under her breath. "Go get your bags, Dad offered to drive us up there when he gets back inside."

"I don't-" Yang cut her off and waved her hands, muttering something about Ruby needing to be fully prepared for the trip. Ruby bit back a snarl and turned around to head back up to her bedroom, "Yeah. I should make sure I've got everything." What was she going to do about school? Would the tour excuse her absence, especially since she would be working as a roadie? It should, Yang wouldn't have had her accept the job if it didn't.

She heard a door open and shut downstairs and Ruby glanced over her shoulders, "You girls ready to go?" Her father called happily and Ruby sighed, calling down that she would be ready once she got everything. If she remembered correctly, Yang helped her pack last night so she should be mostly ready. "All right! Don't take too long!"

"I won't!"

Ruby closed her bedroom door and quickly took a seat at her desk, opening her Twitter and responding to Weiss' message before kicking herself back to pull her suitcase out from under her bed. It was full, her closet was empty, her essentials had been stuffed down into the front pocket, the only thing she needed was her sketchbook, laptop, and her drawing tablet. She reached over and shut her desktop down, unplugging it before standing up and glancing around the room.

She still believed that it was all just a dream and she would wake up in her bed, everything was moving far too fast for her to comprehend anything. Ruby drew in a deep breath and exited her bedroom, "I'm ready!"

I'm not ready.

Chapter Text

"I apologize for not contacting you about this decision."

"Oh it's alright, Ruby needs to get out of the house more anyway."

Ruby shot a glare of disapproval towards her father as she pulled her suitcase out of the trunk, it landed with a dull 'thump' and she righted it so that she could stretch the handle up. She glanced back to her father and Ozpin, cringing when she noticed that her father had started laughing and the older man, Ozpin, was wearing a forced smile. 'Oh that poor man, he must've pulled one of his jokes. . .' One of the perks of getting away from home: She wouldn't have to tolerate his Dad Jokes - then again, there was Yang.

"Is the rehearsal studio set up?" Ruby glanced back and her heart skipped a beat when her eyes found Weiss, who was standing a few feet away with a notebook in hand. The rest of the band was behind her and seemingly discuss something quietly amongst themselves, "Hey! I asked a question!" Ruby flinched, watching Weiss whip around to face the rest of the group, "Alright, now that you're actually listening; is the rehearsal studio ready to go?"

"Need some help?" She turned to see a young blonde standing behind her with a smile, "you're Ruby, right?" He asked as he took her suitcase, grabbing her duffel bag from the small compartment. Ruby nodded, just barely recognizing the boy as one of the technicians from last night. "Follow me! I'll show you where to put your stuff," he gestured to the guitar case that was still in the trunk, "what's that?"

Ruby offered a small smile, "Just my own guitar," she replied briefly, "I take her everywhere."

"Her?" Jaune's brows furrowed, he shook his head, "Never mind, Blake will show you where to put it." He grinned, "Anyway, the name's Jaune Arc," Ruby visibly winced when Jaune winked at her, "short, sweet, rolls off the-"

"I'm gay," Ruby immediately said, Jaune frowned and whispered an apology, "sorry, Jaune. . ." Ruby frowned at the mention of the familiar name, she scanned her brain for any recognition and a small smirk came to her lips. A few months back, a clumsy blonde boy had asked Weiss out during an interview and Weiss had rejected him, hollering at him to get back to work. Oh that must've been so humiliating! She couldn't bring herself to feel sorry for him, though.

"Wait," she started and the boy's grin fell immediately, "so you're boy who got humiliated on live television by Weiss." Ruby chuckled, "Dang, that must've been embarrassing." Jaune deflated and turned away from her, "I'm sorry," she apologized, "it was funnier than the time she turned that Neptune boy down."

Last year, there had been a rumor going around saying Neptune Vasilias and Weiss Schnee were dating based on an interaction they had back in Vacuo, but the moment Weiss heard the rumor she'd shut it down and confirmed people's suspicions of the boy being a casanova. Apparently it wasn't the first time the boy had tried to woo Weiss.

"Yeah," Jaune muttered, downhearted, "she rejected me again yesterday. I don't get it, Mom said that all girls look for is confidence!" He was kidding, right? He had to be joking. . . The look on his face said otherwise.

Ruby had to resist the urge to roll her eyes, "You know what you should do?" He'd been rejected on live television! Exactly how dense was this boy?

The boy sighed, shrugging his shoulders. "I know, I know. Keep trying."

"No!" Ruby snapped and Jaune's head jerked up to meet her eyes, the brunette frowned in sheer annoyance, "Stop asking her, she gave you an answer and it isn't going to change." The boy's jaw dropped in surprise and Ruby took her suitcase from him, "When a girl says 'no', back off. It's not hard to understand. Maybe if you get to know a girl first she'll go out with you."

Jaune blinked at her and quietly nodded, "Are you. . . Her girlfriend?" He asked as she approached the tour bus and placed her bags in the opened trunk.

Alarm bells went off inside the brunette's head, she spun back to the boy as wild blush crept up her neck and her face turning red. "I-I- No, I'm not! I'm just the new r-roadie! I-I literally just met her last night! There's no way I could be her girlfriend!"

"Oh, I'm sorry," Jaune apologized, stepping away, "you defended her so fiercely that I thought you two were a thing." Ruby shook her head again and the blonde shrugged, "Ah, well, we should probably get started." Jaune shut the trunk to the tour bus and started towards the stage, Ruby followed in suit and listened closely as he began to speak, "Okay, first of all, I need to ask how much do you know about the band. As your mentor, I need to know this stuff."

Ruby rolled her eyes, "Sure, fire away."

"Who is the band sponsored by?"

"The Schnee Dust Company, which really doesn't make sense to me since the SDC is anti-faunus and, well, Ice Flower is incredibly faunus-friendly. How does that work. . .?"

Jaune glanced at her as he lead her around to front-stage, whispering a few things to himself as he scanned the empty area. He turned back to her, "I'm not sure, to be honest. I think that's something only the band can tell you." He replied with a heavy sigh, he was quiet for a moment before shaking his head, "Anyway, when was the band founded?"

"Easy," Ruby beamed, "last year, but they had a few demos released beforehand and Weiss had a few songs recorded."

"Good," Jaune smiled, facing away from her before asking his next question, "Alright, how does the band use the dust we are sent?"

Ruby hummed, deep in thought. "From the videos and live performances I've watched, I'm going to assume there is some kind of machine that grinds the dust down into small particles? That really depends on what it's being used for, though."

"I suppose you'll have to learn!" Jaune smiled. "Don't worry, when I first became part of the crew, Pyrrha had to teach me everything! That is, before she was officially made part of the band."

Ruby's eyes widened in surprise, "Wait, she was part of the stagecrew? I thought she was a friend of Weiss' and rehearsed with them a few times before she was invited to join the band. . ."

Jaune laughed, "No, you're right," he gave a sad smile, "I think she was only made part of the band because Weiss has a crush on her." The boy shrugged, his eyes glancing off somewhere in the distance. "That's why I was pursuing her, to be honest, I know Pyrrha doesn't like her that way so I figured, 'hey, made I could make her fall for me!', but it hasn't worked out. She can't even remember my name."

He was right, any Ice Flower fanatic would know Pyrrha was included in the band because Weiss has a huge crush on her, which didn't sit well with some people as the girl had practically appeared out of nowhere.

"Hey!" The pair whirled around at the sound of a high-pitched, annoyed voice coming from behind them and Jaune sighed deeply when Weiss approached him. The white-haired girl paid no attention to the boy and stopped in front of Ruby, "You're the roadie Ozpin hired, correct?" She asked with a brow raised, Ruby just nodded, "Oh good," Weiss fixed her eyes on Jaune, "leave." She muttered curtly, Jaune just raised his hands in defense and walked away.

Ruby was suddenly nervous, having been left alone with the singer. "So, um," she clasped her hands behind her back, "what do you need?"

"We need some groceries for the bus," Weiss started as she turned her attention back to Ruby, "so that's now become one of your jobs." The singer whipped out a wad of cash from seemingly nowhere and Ruby's eyes widened, "Here's some cash, just pick up whatever looks good. We're not picky." Without another word, Weiss spun on her heel and stalked away. Ruby breathed a sigh of relief when the girl was out of sight and she turned to head to the nearest grocery store.

'Did she seriously just hand me a wad of cash and walk off?' Ruby counted the green slips of paper in her hand, her eyes widening when it totaled up to $175, 'I wouldn't trust a complete stranger with this much money, even if they did work for me. She must have money she can blow.'

"They are very picky."

Ruby's head jerked up and she screeched in surprise, finding a redheaded girl about her height and age standing right in front of her with a kind, but slightly creepy, smile on her face. "Where did you come from?!" Ruby took a step back to put distance between her and the mysterious girl.

"I have been here the whole time," confusion crossed the other girl's face, "I am sorry, did I startle you?"

"Uh, yeah!" Ruby placed a hand on her chest and breathed in deeply to calm herself down, "You should really tell people when you're around, gods that was terrifying. . ." She let out a soft 'whew' and straightened herself, "I haven't seen you around, who are you?" She probably shouldn't have asked. . .

The other girl grinned, "My name is Penny! I came here with Mister Ironwood, I am training to be the new bodyguard for Miss Schnee! But she does not know me yet," Penny examined her, "are you the new servant for the band?" She asked kindly, not batting an eyelash when the word 'servant' was spoken so calmly.

Ruby blinked, "I um. . . I'm the roadie, not servant."

"Is there a difference?" Penny tilted her head and Ruby's eyes widened in offense, Penny took notice. "I am sorry, I do not mean to be rude. . ."

"I, um, well," Ruby stuttered before shaking her head and walking past the redhead, "I have a job to do, okay? You should probably get back to whatever you were-"

Penny was by her side in an instant, "I will assist you!" She grinned, causing Ruby to want to roll her eyes, "That way you purchase the correct foods!" She leaned in, "I can help you find what Miss Schnee likes, that way you two can be friends!" Penny took the list from her and Ruby stood still, staring at the perky, and somewhat unpleasant and strange, girl as she happily marched away. "Come on!"

Ruby raised a brow in bewilderment and silently followed the girl, quickly glancing at her tag to make sure that she was an official part of the staff and not some stranger wanting to lead her into her death.

"Tell me," Penny turned to her and Ruby quietly leaned away, "are you in love with Miss Schnee?"

"What?!" Ruby's eyes widened again in disbelief and embarrassment, her heart rate picked up as heat rushed to her face. "Why does everybody say that? I literally just met her yesterday!"

Penny laughed, "Because you appear to become very. . ." she hummed in thought and a grin came to her lips, "You seem very flustered around her! Oh, and you were ready to accept whatever she told you to do! Kind of like a dog-"

'A dog?!'

"Because I'm the new roadie, it's my job to follow orders!" Ruby protested, "And I'm nervous because, well, who wouldn't be speaking to somebody famous?" The brunette averted her eyes when the strange girl smirked, "We're not even friends. I'm just part of the staff. . . She probably doesn't even know my name."

Penny grinned again, leading her out from behind the stage. "Alright! Here we go!" The strange girl smiled, marching away from her and towards the city. "Come on-" she paused for a moment and turned back to Ruby with an apologetic and concerned expression, "I just realized I never received your name! Oh my gosh, I'm sorry!"

Ruby smiled in response, "Ruby. Ruby Rose."

"Ruby Rose the Roadie." Penny laughed, testing her name out as though it was the funniest thing she'd ever heard. "That's a mouthful!"

"Now that I think about it, it really is." Ruby chuckled alongside the laughing girl. Well, she seemed nice enough. . . Perhaps she could make friends here after all. Despite having a creepy first impression, the redhead did give off a warm aura, she seemed to be too naive and too trusting to do anything harmful. "My sister actually calls me 'Ruby the Rubster Racer'." Ruby smiled.

Penny hummed, "That sounds familiar. Is it a reference to some kind of kids' show?"

Ruby rolled her eyes, "Yes. It is, unfortunately."

"Oh my goodness, that must be so humiliating!" Penny covered her mouth with one hand, Ruby just shrugged. "Don't you worry, my friend! I'll never give you an embarrassing nickname!" Penny vowed with a large grin, "Now come on! We need to purchase groceries for our friends!" Penny paused and turned back to Ruby, "I do not know where I am going."

Ruby laughed, "Alright, Penny. Follow me."

[Weiss]

"Where is that girl?!"

Weiss was pacing back and forth outside the RV, impatiently waiting for the brunette's return with the food. Her stomach growled and her chest burned with irritation, "I bet she took it and ran! Yeah, that's what I get for trusting a child with the band's money!" She whirled around to face Pyrrha, who sat on the steps, watching her with a calm expression. "We should probably go pick up the food ourselves if we want anything to eat before the concert tonight."

To anybody nearby, her voice would sound considerably softer when she spoke to her redheaded friend. Pyrrha just offered her a warm smile. Weiss' heart skipped a beat and relaxation washed over her. "Wait a few more minutes, Weiss," the tall woman stood to her feet, "she's probably just having trouble finding everything on the list. If she doesn't return, we can just have Ironwood send somebody out to find her."

"Alright," Weiss relented, "I'll wait a little while longer. . ." She shook her head and frowned again, "But only ten minutes! If she's not back by then, I'll have to order takeout and you know I despise having to use my fake identity!"

"Yeah, I know," Pyrrha shrugged, "but it's safer at the moment for us not to be seen out in public. The White Fang could still be after us. . . I heard that Ironwood had to send a faunus boy out yesterday after provoking somebody before the concert started, they almost trampled a poor girl!"

"Probably somebody from the blasted White Fang, then," Weiss muttered in annoyance, "I wish they would just leave us the hell alone. I almost lost my entire career because of those rapscallions. . ."

Pyrrha opened her mouth to respond, but she was cut off by Ozpin calling out to them, "Miss Schnee! Would you mind rounding up your friends and meeting me in the bus?" He asked, Weiss frowned as she turned to him, "It's a very important matter, I wish for the entire band to hear this." He sounded solemn, remorseful, almost. Weiss turned to Pyrrha, worry fluttering through her chest as anxiety built up.

"Do you think. . ." Weiss whispered painfully.

Pyrrha met her gaze, "Sounds like it. . . I know where Ren and Nora are, you go on in and wait for us. . ." Weiss nodded and turned to enter the bus, glancing over her shoulder as Pyrrha strode away to fetch their friends. She shook her head and opened the door, stepping inside and immediately taking a seat on the couch.

A few minutes later, the rest of the band piled in and Ozpin entered from somewhere in the back. All eyes turned to him as he drew in a deep breath, "I was hoping it would not come down to this," he muttered quietly, causing the teenagers to lean up in anticipation, "but unfortunately, it was inevitable. A new offer came in last week, somebody with lots of experience offered to become your new manager. Which means," his eyes moved to Weiss, "tonight's concert has been cancelled. . ."

"Excuse me?!" Weiss stood to her feet, followed by Nora and Ren. "Why didn't we hear about this? Don't you think this decision would have involved us as well?! You at least could have told us who our new manager would be instead of just springing this on us! Oh, and cancelling the concert? Whose decision was that?!"

Ozpin waited patiently for the girl to finish before answering her questions. "Your new manager decided that two concerts in a small town like this wouldn't be necessary, so he booked you another one in Coalford."

Ren spoke up this time, "Coalford? That's like, one of the largest cities in Vale. . ."

"Precisely," Ozpin smiled, "he knows your band needs funds and managed to book you there, I know nearly half the city will be attending the concert." He turned back to Weiss, "He also purchased you a new tour bus, it'll be brought to you once you arrive in Coalford."

"Who is 'he'?" Pyrrha finally asked with a polite voice, approaching the group with a curious expression, "If he managed to book a concert in Coalford and get us a new bus, then he must be a wealthy man."

Ozpin hesitated, "He is a man of much wealth," he muttered quietly, "but do not confuse his wealth for kindness. . ."

"Just tell us who he is." Weiss growled and Ren placed a hand on her shoulder to silence her.

"Very well," Ozpin frowned at her, "your new manager is a young man who goes by the name 'Henry Marigold'. I hope that-"

Weiss felt irritation bubble up in her chest at the sound of the name and instead of any kind of retort her friends were clearly expecting, she began laughing. "This is just great! He is in charge of my band! Ha ha ha, my career is going to hell."

"Who's Henry Marigold?" Nora asked, turning back to Ozpin for an answer when Weiss collapsed on the couch, giggling darkly.

Weiss answered before Ozpin could respond, "He's just another fuckboy like Neptune, he has so many casual 'girlfriends' that I don't think he remembers who is who! He always said that I would regret not dating him, insisting that he would 'ruin' me." Weiss threw her hands up, "Now look! He's in charge of my band and that means he could very well destroy us!"

Knock knock knock.

Ozpin turned back to the group, "I will still be around to check up on you all, but please treat your new manager with respect. . ." Without another word, he leaned up off his cane and approached the door. He opened it and glanced to Weiss silently.

When he exited, Weiss lifted her head to see Ruby hesitantly entering the tour bus and glancing around. Silver eyes met blue, "Um," the brunette held up the groceries, "where do I set them?" She asked Weiss nervously.

"We'll take them," Nora smiled as she came to the younger girl's side and took a few bags from her, "thank you!" Ren took the rest of the and the two stepped into the bus's small, cramped kitchen. Weiss drew in a deep sigh and examined the bus she'd lived in for nearly a year now.

It was a very small bus, but they'd made it their home and adjusted rather quickly. The walls were an indefinable pastel color that they'd all come to love, the lounge had a maroon-ish carpet floor while the kitchen was a polished hardwood floor.

When you enter, there was the lounge consisting of a curved three-seater couch and a spare sofa chair they'd added a few days after moving in. The kitchen had stacked wooden cabinets, a one-racked stove with four burners, and a small sink holding a drainer with a few dishes inside. There was a decent sized window above the couch and a sliding window in the kitchen. There was an average-sized fridge installed to the left of the kitchen/

At the back of the bus was their rooms, Weiss' room being directly across from the rest of the band's bunkbeds. Her room had a slanted door while the other room only had a curtain at the entrance. Her eyes glanced towards the front of the bus. There was a thin wall and a usually locked door separating from the driver's quarters. Nora says that he keeps a mini fridge and a microwave in there under the dash, but Weiss had never seen it for herself.

Gods, she would miss this bus. . .

"Um, Weiss?" She reeled herself back to her senses and looked up to see Ruby standing near her with something behind her back. The brunette smiled weakly, but politely, and pulled a little carton of blueberry ice cream into Weiss' field of view. "I thought you might like this. I know it wasn't on the list, but-"

"Where did you find it?" Weiss interrupted, leaning up and taking the carton. "The last few times we've been out- I mean, sent out people to find it, they said they weren't in stock. . ."

Ruby smiled again, "I found it at a store on the outskirts of Vale! It's why I was gone so long, I remembered seeing it there and figured I'd pick it up for the bus!"

Weiss blinked at her, a little surprised that the young roadie had gone out of her way to find something for them. "Uh," she stiffly stood to her feet, and approached the kitchen "thank you."

"So, umm, where do Yang and I sleep?" Ruby asked cautiously as Weiss opened the freezer.

"Weiss' room," Pyrrha suddenly answered, "she'll be bunking with us. Her room should be big enough to hold the two of you."

Weiss slammed the freezer door shut, "Don't break anything while you're in there. Find your sister, we don't have a concert to prepare for, so we need to get everything up and head to Coalford."

Ruby nodded once, "Alright. . ."

[The next morning]

"RUBY!"

Ruby's eyes snapped open and she shot upright, adrenaline rushing through her as she came to her senses and turned her attention to the blonde at the edge of the bed. Her body felt cold and heavy, as though she would fall like dead weight if she dared to stand up. The possibilities of that happening were very likely. "Oh good, you're up! It's already eleven in the morning! Why were you so tired?" Yang asked, seating herself on the bed and crossing her legs.

Ruby rubbed her eyes and her vision cleared, reminding her of her location: She was in Weiss' room on the tour bus, they were heading to Coalford after the concert had been cancelled. She'd been up half the night working on Weiss' commission while everybody else slept, she'd had her headphones in and was listening to the band's music for motivation and inspiration.

"Commission," Ruby replied groggily, "I don't know how soon she wants it, so I was working on it last night. . ." A yawn escaped her and she kicked the blankets off, "Is everybody awake?"

"Yep!" Yang replied. As if on cue, a loud crash echoed from the front of the tour bus, followed by laughter. "You missed breakfast." Yang didn't pay attention to the noise behind her.

Ruby shook her head and slid out of the bed, "I'll find something. . ." She glanced down when her sketchbook dropped to the floor beside her out of the heap of blankets.. "Ooohhhh~" Yang sing-songed as she grabbed the book, flipping it open to the sketch. Yang grinned proudly, "Ruby, this is really good!" Ruby rolled her eyes and took her book back, shutting it and stashing it in her bag, "Is it that commission the Ice Queen ordered?"

Ruby hesitated, "Y-yeah," she replied carefully, "it's just the sketch. I don't like it, so I'm gonna scrap it and start over tonight. . ."

"Wait," Yang interrupted, "but I like it! You captured her perfectly! It looks amazing!" Ruby bit her lip and shook her head, "Alright, what do you not like about it?" Yang sighed as Ruby reluctantly flipped her book open for Yang to see the sketch, "Maybe I can help."

Usually, Ruby didn't show her sister her drawings and told her to wait until it was posted online to see it. Mainly because she was always self-conscious about the unfinished piece and wanted it to be absolutely perfect. "I just don't like it. . . Like, the eyes look off and her bangs aren't right, and she just doesn't look like herself! Plus, the bus looks hideous because I couldn't get the anatomy right, and I completely messed up the instruments and Pyrrha's-"

"I don't get it. It looks amazing to me," Yang muttered in confusion, glancing at her sister's confused expression, "you're too hard on yourself, Ruby."

Irritation boiling inside of her, Ruby snapped the sketchbook shut again and groaned, "You just don't get it! Of course it looks good to you, you're my sister and you're not an artist!"

"I'm sorry?" Yang blinked in confusion, "Maybe you should get a second opinion, then? Blake could help-"

"I don't want help Yang," Ruby cut her sister off quickly, "I'll figure this out on my own." She didn't really want her friends' help. . . She didn't want to have to rely on them. What if their 'help' ruined the picture and her followers disliked it? What if Weiss hated her commission? It had to be perfect. . .

"Alright," Yang whispered as she started for the door, "come on, maybe we can find something to eat in the groceries you picked up yesterday." The brunette slid her sketchbook into her bag and approached the door, but instead of turning and following her out to the lounge of the bus, she spun around and stepped into the bathroom. "Ruby-?"

Ruby held her hand up, "Teeth. Hair. Morning. Bathroom, goodbye." She closed the door.

After a few minutes, she stepped out just in time to hear a crash echoing from the kitchen that was instantly followed by a loud "Nora!" Well, she was in for a ride. . . Quite literally, by the sound of it. Cautiously, the brunette peeked through the curtains and glanced around in case something was thrown at her. Instead, she found Yang, Blake, and the band gathered in the small lounge with the latter two standing with their backs facing her.

"What's. . . Going on?" She called, carefully approaching the group and stepping in between the two of them.

Yang glanced down at her and grinned, "You just missed Nora here falling all over your girlfriend while playing Remnant: Fusion! Unplugged the game while she was at it!"

"This is why you keep the cord off the floor." Ruby rolled her eyes and glanced at the screen as it clicked back on, "She is not my girlfriend." She turned away and spun around into the kitchen with one step. "Did you find anything to eat?" The brunette asked, opening one of the cabinets to search for food.

"I ate the last of Ren's pancakes," Yang replied as a dull thrumming sound floated through the RV from the gaming system, "you can probably find some cereal if you need-"

Weiss cut her off, her voice silencing the bus. "The only one here who really eats 'cereal' is Nora, and that's pretty rare." The singer explained, sounding slightly annoyed, "You're gonna have to find something else, Red."

"Ruby." The brunette replied bluntly, glaring in the woman's direction. "My name is Ruby-" Turning to face her, her eyes met with a pair of light blue and she fell quiet as Weiss stepped closer to her, observing her in complete silence. Feeling attention on them, the game paused, Ruby cleared her throat, "What is it?"

"Your eyes. . ." Weiss whispered almost inaudibly, "They seem very. . . Familiar, now that I actually look."

"Familiar how. . .?"

Before Weiss could answer, the bus skidded to a sudden stop and Nora peered out the window, a wide grin coming to her lips as she spun around to face the rest of them.

"We're in Coalford!"

Chapter Text

“Ah, Ms. Schnee! You and your friends have finally arrived!”

“Were you waiting on us this whole time?”

Ruby glanced between Weiss and the unfamiliar blue-haired man, shrinking away at the cold tone of the singer’s voice. The man had an unreadable glint in his eye when he smiled at Weiss, clasping his hands behind his back and approaching her. “Of course I was, darling,” Weiss’ fists clenched, but her expression remained stoic, “I’m your manager after all. I should be the first to welcome you to Coalford! By the way, your new bus is just around the corner, I hope you find it to your liking, sweetheart!”

“I’ve told you before to top calling me those sweet names, I’m not going to go out with you. By the way, what’s going to happen to our old one?” Weiss asked coldly, gesturing for her friends to go on ahead of her and check out the bus. “Ohh, let me guess,” she offered a sweet smile, “scrap it! It’s no use anyway! Is that right, Henry?”

The man shrugged, “It’s old and worn out. This one is a newly modeled luxury tour bus.” He smiled when Weiss’ eyes lit up briefly, “I had it designed myself. A double-decker luxury bus, how does that sound?”

A double-decker luxury tour bus. . . That meant there would be more room for the growing group, they wouldn’t be crowded in a small, outdated rental bus. Ruby turned her head to look at Weiss, waiting for her reaction. It would certainly be a good look for the band, and it was custom-made, so there was a small chance she’d turn it down. 

The expression the singer wore was a conflicted one, seemingly torn between keeping the old bus or accepting the new one bought by a man she obviously didn’t like. After a few moments of hesitation, she spoke; “I suppose the bus would be,” Weiss glanced to her friends, who were coming around the corner wearing large, approving grins, “acceptable. . .”

“As I thought. I’m sure you’ll find it to your liking, it’s just as beautiful as you are, you two match-” 

Ruby found herself stepping in front of the older girl, wearing an annoyed frown. “She said stop .” The brunette muttered bluntly, “What did you not understand about that?” 

Henry raised a brow at her examined her quietly, offering her a flirtatious smile. Ruby fought the urge to roll her eyes and gag in disgust. “Aw, are you jealous? Don’t worry, babe, I can spare some affection for you too. Actually, why don’t we have some dinner tonight? Just you and me, what do you say?”

Hearing a low, protective growl behind her, Ruby glanced to Weiss as she moved to her side, aggravation was clear in the woman’s eyes. Weiss slid an arm out to gently push Ruby behind her. “She won’t be going anywhere with you, and you will not lay one filthy finger on her. Do you understand me?” Henry just raised a brow nonchalantly, “Leave, you won’t be needed anymore today.”

‘She’s defending me?’ Ruby glanced to the singer in astonishment, her eyes flickering between Henry and Weiss. The man remained silent, his attention locked on Weiss, daring her to challenge him again. ‘Why?’

After a long minute of silence, Henry rolled his eyes and turned away from the pair, “As you wish, Ms. Schnee. Farewell,” he glanced over his shoulder and winked, “ ladies .”

‘ Why can’t men just take a hint?’ Ruby groaned internally, ‘Oh, right, we’re not in Patch, that explains everything.’ She added sarcastically, “What a douchebag. . .” Ruby mumbled under her breath when he was out of earshot, she turned to Weiss to thank her, only to find that the woman was already walking away from her. “H-hey!” Weiss glanced back at her. The brunette panicked briefly, almost shrinking away from the icy glare she was being sent. “Uhm, do you know where Yang and Blake went?”

Weiss sighed heavily, reluctantly answering her. “No, but I would suggest refraining from finding them.”

Ruby was about to ask why before realization crashed into her and she grimaced, “Uh,” she shook her head to rid herself of the thought, “thank you.” So, she couldn’t find Yang and stay with her. . .  Not knowing where to go, the young girl quietly and hesitantly followed the singer, keeping her distance from her.

Suddenly, Weiss stopped in her tracks and turned around, her eyes immediately locking with Ruby’s. “What do you need?” She asked in slight aggravation, “If you don’t know where to go, why don’t you go find Jason?”

“Jaune.” Nora called from behind the girl.

Weiss’ expression turned into one of bewilderment. “What-?” Weiss turned to face the redhead, who just smiled at her. Shaking her head and glancing to Ruby, “Yeah, whatever she said. Go find him.”

“Where would he be-?” Ruby asked meekly, taking a step back from the band. ‘I’m interrupting something, aren’t I?’ Her eyes wandered to Weiss, who had already turned her back to her.

Unseen by Ruby, a smirk came to Nora’s lips and she quietly stepped into the space between the two, clasping her hands together with a wide smile. “Hey! I have an idea!” The redhead announced as Weiss’ expression morphed into confusion again. “Weiss could show you around! She’s been to Coalford many times!”

“Excuse me?” Weiss snapped from behind the redhead, but Nora pretended not to hear her and enthusiastically continued.

“Well, she is your roadie. She’s gonna be around for a while, so I don’t see why you shouldn’t get to know her! Oooh! Maybe we could have an outing tonight and bring Ruby along!” Nora spun around to face Weiss, “Come on, it’ll be fun! Just like old times, but with somebody new.”

Weiss rolled her eyes, sending an unreadable glare to Ruby. “Fine.” She hesitantly agreed, Nora just grinned and bolted back to the rest of the group, calling over her shoulder as she ran.

“But you still gotta show her around before tonight!”

“Of course I do,” Weiss muttered loudly enough for Ruby to hear, “very well, come Red. Let’s get this over with. . .” 

“Do you really think they’ll get along?” Yang asked, checking her phone for a text from her little sister for the millionth time since they’d left. After how bitchy the singer was being to Ruby, Yang was beginning to have second thoughts on agreeing to the plan and convincing her to work for the band. 

At first, it had seemed like a good idea because it got Ruby out of the house and interacting with people, but Weiss wasn’t as polite as Blake had described. . . Well, it made sense considering they were best friends, you were always nicer with your friends.

“They will,” Blake gave the blonde a reassuring smile, “just give them some time. They’ll figure things out on their own.” At the sound of the restaurant door opening and slamming, the woman flinched briefly and peeked over Yang’s shoulder, visibly relaxing when she saw an older lady entering. 

She looked back to Yang, reeling herself back into the conversation. “Believe it or not, Weiss and I didn’t exactly get along when we first met either. There was a lot of bickering, racist comments, disagreements, and finally we accepted each other’s differences. Though, she needs someone other than me to be around for her. . .”

Yang sighed, “Yeah, you’ve told me about your fight with Weiss. . . But, Blake, this is my little sister, are sure it’s her? She spends so much time in the shop with Uncle Qrow and Dad that I think she actually forgot how people work. I don’t think she’s ever been to Atlas, either.”

Blake raised a brow, taking a long sip from her tea as Yang spoke. “How do you know she hasn’t?” She asked once her girlfriend was finished, “You said she came to live with you and Tai when she was eight-years old, right? She could’ve been to Atlas with her mother before she died.”

The blonde nodded, “Yeah, true, but she doesn’t remember anything before she came to live with us. So, is there anything really leading to Ruby being that girl. . .?” 

Blake smiled, “Well, from what Weiss described once, I would say we have near an exact match. Just, neither one of them remembers.” Seeing the look in the blonde’s eyes, Blake gently reached up and cupped her cheeks, “Honey, trust me,” she whispered, watching as the paranoia and concern slowly slipped away from Yang’s lilac eyes, “I wouldn’t be doing this if I was not one-hundred percent  certain that it’s her.”

“Alright,” Yang said as Blake sat back down, “let’s say Ruby is her. What then?”

“We don’t do anything,” Blake replied, “but until one of them remembers, we need to find ways to keep those two together.”

Yang snorted, “We sound like we’re trying to get the two of them to hook up instead of reconcile.” Blake remained silent and the grin dropped from Yang’s face, “That’s phase two of the plan, isn’t it?” If phase one was for the two girls to become friends, then the second act would be for them to date. . . She was helping her little sister get a girlfriend. Blake just smiled sweetly and the blonde let out a loud groan, “This is awkward. Alright. . . Do you think Nora remembered?”

Blake nodded, “Yeah, she did. She sent me a text and told me that they were heading out a few minutes ago. We might run into them on our way back to the bus.”

“Probably, but Coalford is a big city. There’s a very small chance that we’ll run into them.”  Yang replied.

Blake glanced at her,  “You lived all the way on the other side of Vale. Or, if I have to be precise, a small patch of Vale.” Yang raised a brow at her in amusement, “Yet we met.”

“Hey! You’re the one who stopped by the restaurant!” Yang playfully replied, pointing her pen at her girlfriend and poking her. “I would say that you went out of your way to meet me if I didn’t know any better.”

Blake rolled her eyes, “You ditched your male customer to talk to me. You’re lucky he didn’t complain.”

Yang chuckled, absentmindedly spinning the pen she held in her finger. “Well I wasn’t gonna pass up the chance to impress a cute girl!”

“Yang, you set yourself and the food on fire.”

She scoffed, “I had it under control,” Yang slid her arm around the other woman, “besides, it got you to talk to me, didn’t it?”

Blake took the pen from her girlfriend and clicked it once, glancing up as the waiter came by and handed them the bill. “I only spoke to you to make sure you were okay.” The woman responded, shrugging Yang’s arm off of her shoulders and sliding the bill over to Yang.

Yang grinned, handing the bill to the waiter.  “You couldn’t stop looking at me. I guess I was so hot that you couldn’t look away.” 

“How does that work?” Blake hummed, propping one arm up on the table and smirking at her girlfriend, “Usually if something is hot, it hurts your eyes and you have to look away-”

“Oh you know what I mean, but seriously-” Yang was cut off by a loud screeching, whirring noise and the sound of metal colliding with metal. Quietly, she turned to her girlfriend and exchanged a quick, wordless glance, answering each other’s silent question before the two of them bolted to the door.

The collision was minor, a small corvette had collided with an SUV. Though, both drivers didn’t seem to be quarreling over who caused the crash. . . As Yang pulled out her phone to call for 911, Blake approached the two, relieved that there wasn’t a cause for panic.

“Where did he go?” The woman asked, peering around the corner and turning her head to search for somebody
“I dunno! He was there, an’ then suddenly he wasn’t! ” The man replied, making small gestures with his hands.
“I know, I saw him!” 

‘Is there somebody missing?’ The woman cleared her throat, getting their attention. “Excuse me? Is everyone okay?” It appeared that everybody involved was unharmed, so that was good. The two turned to Blake and the man’s eyes narrowed. 

“Why d'ya care?” The man growled, threateningly sauntering up to the young woman, his posture both relaxed and menacing. Blake had to bite her tongue and remained calm. “You’re one’a them. For all we know, ya coulda-”

Yang was suddenly at her side, “The police are on their way, what happened here?” 

The man’s eyes flickered between Blake and Yang for a moment, “One of ya lil’ buddies” he glanced to Blake, “suddenly appeared in front’a me an’ drove me off the road. One’a ya lil’ schemes to destroy humanity, ey?”

Blake frowned at the man and he scowled back, almost sneering as though he had convinced himself that he was correct. Yang broke the silence, “Okay, what did they look like? Where did they go?”

He growled, “Hell if I fuckin’ know, all ya fuckin’ faunus scumbags look the same.”

The woman behind him spoke up, giving the man a wordless glare. “He was tall had had red, spiky hair. Looked like he had some horns on his head.” She gestured somewhere behind her as the man trudged off to speak to the arriving policemen. “He took off in the direction of the museum.” 

‘Did she say…’ An image of the man described flashed through her mind. ‘Oh no.’

“That was amazing!” 

“Ruby, it was just an art museum.” 

“No, not that part,” Weiss stopped in her tracks as the hyper girl spun around in front of her, grinning at her excitedly, “the part in the park - wow, that rhymed -  where that little girl came running up to you, and you just l it up . You were like a child on Christmas!” The brunette’s fun and lively demeanor seemed so familiar, but instead of feeling unnerved, she felt safe somehow. . . She couldn’t place it. 

A small smile formed at the corner of her lips, unable to resist the girl’s radiating positivity. After Weiss had revealed her ‘kinder’ side, Ruby had opened up and didn’t seem to be as scared of her anymore. Strangely enough, she’d come to enjoy the younger girl’s presence. “Well,” she whispered as Ruby fell back into stride with her, “I’m not as cold as you think I am.” 

A shy grin came to Ruby’s face and she averted her eyes, “To be honest, I never thought you were like that.” Weiss raised a brow in bewilderment, but kept quiet and allowed the meek girl to continue, “I just kind of felt like. . . I felt like you just needed a friend other than Blake.” She sounded genuine, and her voice was so soft. Ruby sighed, “I was too shy to say anything because-” She was cut off by the sound of Weiss’ phone ringing, “You gonna answer that?”

‘But, I was listening to you. . .’ Weiss reluctantly pulled her phone out of her pocket and looked at the screen, “It’s Blake,” she informed the brunette, glancing around before swiping to answer and putting it on speaker, “hello? Blake?” 

“Weiss! Where are you right now?” She sounded panicked. That wasn’t good at all. . . 

Weiss frowned, glancing up at the nearest sign. “Heading back to the bus, we’re on Greenw-”

“Is Ruby still with you?” 

Said woman approached Weiss’ side, “Yeah, I’m right here. Where’s Yang? What’s going on?” 

A heavy sigh came from the other end of the line, the red and white duo exchanged a confused glance. “Okay, good. Get back to the bus as quickly as you can, we’ll explain everything.”

“Wait,  Blake, are you o-” The call shut off and anxiety washed over Weiss like a wave. There was only one other time Blake had sounded this panicked, and that was before the Mistral attack. She hadn’t listened. . . ‘No, I’m overreacting, it’s probably nothing major.’ No matter how many times she told herself that, she couldn’t convince herself.

“Weiss,” Ruby whispered from beside her, her voice sounding soothing and comforting, “everything will be alright. . .” It was clear the brunette didn’t know what to say to relax her, but the kindness in her eyes was more than enough. The younger girl smiled, knowing she had Weiss’ full attention. “Alright! No more negative thoughts!”

“Alright! No more negative thoughts!”  

Nostalgia hit her like a bus, replaying the words over in her mind repeatedly. Weiss blinked. “What?”

Ruby grinned again, “I said, ‘No more negative thoughts’! Now let’s go, before Blake and Yang get so worried about us that they send Ironwood out to find us-” She paused and turned to the woman, who was still frozen in place. “Would they do that? Is that too extreme? I mean, you are the lead singer of the band and all. . .”

Weiss shook herself back into reality. “Yeah, um, let’s go, before they freak out.” Ruby smiled at her.

‘Could it be?’ Weiss glanced at her. ‘No, it can’t be. She disappeared a long time ago, it’s not her.’

Chapter Text

“So what’s going on?” Weiss asked, slamming the door of the RV behind her and crossing her arms. They’d gathered in the old bus after Weiss had ordered the rest of the band to start moving everything they own to the new one, leaving the old one almost empty. “What was so urgent that you had to interrupt us?”

A sly grin formed on Yang’s lips and the blonde sat down, crossing one leg over her other and stretching her arms out across the couch. “I’m sorry, did we ruin your date with your girlfriend?” She asked with a slight chuckle, her grin widening when Ruby’s face turned as red as her namesake. Weiss glared in the blonde’s direction, scowling at Blake when the girl bit back a snort of laughter. “You can get back to it later, okay?”

“It wasn’t a date!” Ruby yelped in humiliation, “We’re not dating! We just met like two days ago! Was it two days ago? I think it was, I don’t know, I lost track of time. Anyway, we are not dating!”

‘Cute.’The singer smirked, an idea sparking as the girl rambled on, causing more laughter to come from the black and yellow duo. She turned to face the younger girl, placing a hand over her heart in mock offense, “We’re not? You’ve been lying to me all this time?” Weiss asked, feigning hurt. Ruby stiffened, glancing over in her direction. Weiss swore her eyes grew wider and her face grew redder. “Sweetheart, I’m hurt!”

“Sw- sweet. . . Did you-? I don’t- But we’re-” Ruby hid her face behind her hair, practically steaming with embarrassment. “Weeeiiissss!” The brunette turned away and trudged to the couch, clearly trying to ignore the roaring of Yang’s laughter and Blake’s giggling. “I hate you all.” 

Yang’s laughter died down to short snorts, she placed a hand on her sister’s shoulder and drew her in for a hug. “We love you too, Ruby.”

Weiss sat down on the other side of Blake, resting her legs in her best friend’s lap. “Anyway,” she started, drawing them all back on track, “why did you call us here?” Blake hesitated, stiffly pulling her phone out from the cushion behind her, clicking it open and bringing up the band’s schedule. The raven-haired girl was silent, fear flickering in her eyes momentarily. Deciding to reel her friend back to reality, Weiss spoke up gently, “Blake, we don’t have all day.” 

Blake sighed, her shoulders slacking as she glanced around her. “We may have to delay the Coalford concert and assign more security,” She looked to the singer, drawing in a shaky breath, “he’s back and he probably brought more people with him.” 

Weiss’ eyes widened and she sat up, “Damn it. . . Are you sure?” She asked, Blake just nodded once and the singer swung her legs off of the couch. “Where did you see him? Did he come near you? What happened? Are you okay?” 

Blake offered her a small, reassuring smile. It didn’t do much, though. It was obvious Blake was trying to convince herself of the same thing. “I’m just fine, Weiss, and I didn’t see him.”

Yang spoke up this time, taking over for Blake. “There was a crash outside the restaurant and we went to check up on everybody. Some lady said that he ran in front of them and disappeared in the direction of the museum.”

“He was coming after us,” Weiss muttered, “he was getting our attention.”

Yang tilted her head, “I haven’t seen this guy, but Blake has told me a lot about him. . . And what I don’t understand is, why would he do that?”

The singer hummed, resting her elbow in her palm, “You’re right. It doesn’t seem like him, if he wanted to get our attention, he would have done it in a more destructive way. Like. . .” She lifted her gaze to meet Blake’s, whose eyes widened in realization. “We need to be on guard for the rest of the tour. Blake, could you alert Ironwood?”

Blake nodded and slipped off the couch, tapping at her phone as she exited the bus. “Yang? Could you go with her? I don’t want her to be alone. . .” Weiss sighed, the blonde simply offered a thumbs up and followed the woman. Though, Weiss was sure she would’ve followed her anyway.

Ruby cleared her throat, reminding Weiss that she was there. The brunette stood up, sounding nervous when she spoke. “Sorry, but. . .  Who are you talking about? Why do we have to delay the concert? Would that even be allowed? Also, why is he coming after you and Blake?”

The only people who knew the reason behind the Mistral attack were the band members themselves, they kept a secret from the media and from their sponsors. It wasn’t a very big one, but it was big enough that it painted a target across their backs, Weiss especially. If the fans knew they were in danger attending their concerts. . . The band would be destroyed. 

“Well,” Weiss began hesitantly, “since you’re stuck with us for who knows how long, I suppose I should tell you.” Ruby raised a brow and carefully sat back down on the couch, waiting patiently for Weiss to continue.

“Do you know how Blake and I met?” Weiss asked, Ruby just shook her head and Weiss sighed. “What about how the band was created?”

Ruby shrugged, “All we know is that the band was a group of friends who enjoyed creating music together.”

Weiss chuckled weakly, “Ah, fuck, that’s right. . . I figured the media would’ve leaked it by now. Anyway, it seems like I’ll have to start from the beginning. . .” She replied reluctantly.

“Two years ago, I ran away from my home in Atlas and ended up somewhere here in Vale. It was all over the news that I had gone missing and everybody was searching for me, my father had put out a reward cost to persuade people to find me and bring me back home. During the night, while seeking shelter, I had come into contact with a policeman and he recognized me. He tried to catch me, and I ran. While running, I bumped into a girl around the same age as me, she thought I would report her to the authorities because she was also a runaway, so she attacked.

“I managed to convince her that I wasn’t going to say anything to anybody, and she realized who I was. Right then, we made a promise: Neither one of us would turn in the other as long as we protect each other. Me, the runaway Heiress, and a former criminal hiding in plain view.” Weiss chuckled forlornly, “She led me to her friends, who were helping her survive here in Vale. Those friends were Ren and Nora, and it’s no big secret that they were orphans as children and ran away from foster care.” 

Ruby smiled, “Yeah, Nora makes sure the fans know that she and Ren were ‘survivors’. I think she exaggerates the story.”

Weiss smirked, “Yeah, she puts on a facade acting like she’s fine after everything happened,” a sad look crossed the singer’s face, “but deep down, she’s hurting. . . I mean, who wouldn’t be after losing their family as a young child?”

The brunette leaned forward, “Did you miss your family?”

Weiss shook her head and straightened her posture, “Hell no, I ran away for a reason. I didn’t ever want to go back.”

“But, you did?”

She sighed, “Yeah. . . When Ren and Nora found out I liked to sing, they told me about their musical passion as well and we began creating songs together, recording them in the basement of our house -”

“House?”

“It was abandoned. Anyway,” Weiss continued, “Somewhere during that time, Blake and I developed feelings for each other, and we became an ‘item’. One day, one of our supposed allies turned us in and my father came for me, and at the same time, he came for Blake. He ambushed us while we were off guard and Blake was injured, Ren and Nora held him off while I got Blake to safety, and when I came out to see if my friends were okay. . . My father was waiting for me. He brought me back home, and I later found out from Ren that all of them were alright. 

“After a while, I showed the demos we recorded to my father and convinced him that if I created a band, it would give the Schnees a higher rank in status. That’s all he really cares about, fortune and fame. . . Miraculously, he allowed me to choose whoever I wanted to be in the band as long as Ironwood accompanied me. Being a retired military officer, he became the band’s bodyguard.

“With my sister’s help, I managed to contact my friends and inform them of my decision. They agreed and we met up in Argus. Blake was with them. . . We agreed that we were no longer an item for our safety, her safety to be more precise. Since we protected her, he painted a target across our backs. He will stop at nothing to have us destroyed.”

Ruby stared at her in complete silence, not blinking. Weiss fidgeted under her gaze, unsure of her response. She’d just met the girl, she didn’t know anything about her. Did she make a mistake telling her? Would Ruby grab her phone and reveal their secret to the world? Would she wreck their reputation and expose them? She didn’t seem like the kind who would. . .

“Ruby?” Weiss whispered with uncertainty, “Say something, please?”

The brunette blinked and reeled herself back to reality, shaking her head as she processed everything. “So, basically, just because you protected your girlfr- I mean friend, you and your band are a target for the White Fang? Meaning the White Fang could show up just about anywhere at any time and kill you?” 

“Uh, ha ha. . . When you put it that way, it sounds pretty dangerous.”

“No!” Weiss leaned back up when Ruby’s silver eyes lit up with interest and amazement, “No, that sounds awesome! Like, like it’s right out of a book! Or a movie! Or a video game! Living a life where you never know what will happen? It’s freaking cool! I mean, sure, it’s dangerous if you actually think about it. But the fact that y’all didn’t just back down and give up is pretty badass! You’re just out here sharing your music with everybody, and behind the scenes you’re going up against criminals! It’s-it’s-it’s amazing!”

Weiss raised a brow, her chest swelling with an indescribable emotion. They were running from criminals, and Ruby found it amazing ? What in the world was wrong with this girl? Was she dropped on her head as a baby? “It is?” She asked in bewilderment, “Ruby, we put our fans and ourselves in danger when we perform. How is that cool?”

Ruby tapped her chin, “Yeah, that part is bad. . . But, you do take extreme caution during the concerts and try to make sure nothing happens, so that’s good. You didn’t let the Mistral attack put y’all down either and unlike most people, you took blame for it knowing it would cost you a bit of reputation.”

The singer bit her lip, “I mean, it’s the least I could do after some of our fans were wrongly injured. . . Hell, I even stopped by the hospital and visited them to make sure they were okay, when I was allowed to, that is.” Anger boiled up inside of the white-haired girl and she rose to her feet, “I swear to God, or whoever is listening, that when I find that man again. . . He will regret ever coming after us. He’ll put behind bars to rot like the waste of space that he is. . .”

The brunette smiled, “You’re protective of your friends,” she whispered in admiration, “you love them and would protect them at all costs. . . I don’t understand why people say you’re an Ice Queen, you’re actually really sweet.”

Weiss sighed, turning to face the younger girl. “I can be sweet when I choose to be. I can also be your worst enemy, so do not test me, Red.” Sighing in aggravation, Weiss rubbed at her forehead. “If we can’t delay the concert, we need all of our security and staff to be on high alert. I doubt Marigold would understand safety precautions.”

The younger girl cast her gaze downwards. “Does that mean we won’t be continuing the tour?” She asked meekly, lightly kicking her boot across the floor. “I mean, I was hoping to see more of Coalford, but if it’s too dangerous. . .” Weiss felt something twist inside her gut and she reached out to touch the brunette’s shoulder. She couldn’t allow this sweet, positive young girl to shut down. . . They needed someone like her around.

“No, we can’t continue the tour right now,” she whispered soothingly, offering her a gentle smile, “but I could show you the ropes? Like, what to do during a concert, how the dust works, how to manage stuff backstage. . . I don’t think your assigned mentor would be much help since he can barely remember what to do himself.” Ruby raised a brow and Weiss chuckled, “You remember the performance we had with Jagged Talons? Yeah, after the concerts, he put our equipment in the wrong bus.” 

Ruby giggled, the light returning to her eyes. Weiss’ heartbeat quickened.  “Watch me blow the whole set up somehow, yeah, alright, Weiss, let’s go.”

____

“Okay, so you just grab whatever dust you’re using, drop it down into the machine and select a level, and it grinds the dust up?” Ruby asked, staring down at the box of dust and picking up a red dust gem, “That seems simple enough.”

Weiss nodded, “If you put too little dust while it’s grinding on the high level, the machine will overheat. If too much dust is poured into it at any level, the machine will over-circulate and possibly explode.” She explained, taking the dust from Ruby and dropping it into the machine. She clicked it on and pulled the lever down to the lowest selection. Immediately, it hummed to life and began chopping the rock into small particles. 

Ruby leaned over the balcony and a sound of astonishment escaped her, watching as the dust rained down and spread across the stage before flickering away into nothingness. “The machine is designed to grind it down to where the dust fades away after being exposed to the air for too long. Otherwise, it could be very dangerous to use.” She glanced back to Weiss, who stared at her with wide eyes, “Right?”

The singer smiled at her, “You catch on quick!” 

Ruby blushed and averted her eyes, “Yeah, well, I was raised in a workshop. You tend to know this stuff.” She knelt down and tapped a button on the machine, humming when it shut off and clicked open. “So, you have a different machine for each kind of dust?” She asked, not giving Weiss a chance to answer, “Judging by the way this was designed, it wouldn’t be able to grind down Earth and Water dust, maybe Lightning, but definitely not Water.” 

Her eyes widened when she noticed another lever on the side of the machine, “Oh! Is this how y’all make those fire blast things?!” She asked, grabbing the lever and pulling it down. A small cannon-shaped machine popped out from it and Ruby grinned, “It’s like a gun! But for dust!”

Weiss chuckled, “I wish the rest of the staff caught on as quickly as you did. That’s impressive! Also, they're called fireballs.”

“I-um,” Ruby’s face turned red again, “you’re the only person who has ever found that ‘impressive’. . . Others just think I’m a nerd and ignore my rambling.”

“Well, not here.” Weiss offered her a kind smile, “If anybody ever ridicules you for this, just let me know and I’ll take care of them personally.”

“Thanks, Weiss. . .” Ruby whispered honestly.

“Weiss!” The two peered over the balcony, seeing the rest of the band below them with the crewmembers setting everything up. This time, due to weather conditions, it was an indoor concert and they’d been given some kind of auditorium to perform inside of. “People are already lining up outside waiting to be let in! We need to get ready for the concert!” Nora called up to the singer, “By the way, I can’t find my br-” Ren’s hand slapped over her mouth.

The young man looked up to them, “She’s right! The concert starts in an hour! We’re a bit behind schedule, especially after having to move everything into the new bus!” 

“Alright, I’ll be down in just a minute! Go on and get ready!” Weiss called back down. Turning to Ruby, she released a deep sigh. “I know you’re the roadie, but I need you to make sure that everything runs smoothly. The stage crew need someone to keep them in order because some of them don’t know how to do their damn jobs. . .” Weiss frowned at her, seemingly have slipped back into her obnoxious side, “Do not screw this up, Red. My career is all I have.”

Without another word, the singer quickly left and followed her friends into the dressing room to prepare. 

‘ I can’t disappoint her.’ Ruby thought, watching the older girl leave. ‘ She’s depending on me, I can’t let her down. . .’

Once Weiss was out of sight, Ruby started down the exit in search of Jaune and the others. They had a concert to prepare for. Everything had to run flawlessly and she had to make sure to have the staff on their high alert for any possible interference. She had a job to do.

Chapter Text

She could hear them singing, the fans’ voices echoing through the halls and bouncing off the walls as a few voices increased in volume. Amongst the singing, there was a loud chattering and laughter.  It was impossible not to hear them. . . Ruby couldn’t even hear herself think at some times! ‘Ugh, I wish I had earmuffs.’She didn’t remember the last concert being this loud. . . Maybe it was because they were indoors this time?

Ruby shook her head, ridding herself of her headache and the ringing in her ears. Glaring in the audience’s direction, she released a growl before heading towards where the stage crew had gathered. Thankfully the noise wasn’t as loud back here, otherwise she would have difficulty hearing everybody, herself included.

The brunette paused just in front of the crew, annoyance struck her when she realized that they were just lounging about despite the concert taking place in half an hour. ‘ You mean to tell me that during every show, these idiots wait until the very last second to get to work?!’ Was this what they were doing during her first show while she was in the pit? 

Why was nobody putting them to work?!

“Hey!” The brunette yelled, making sure her voice was higher than the screaming in the theater; all eyes turned to her and Ruby felt a bolt of anxiety shoot through her. Oh great, she’d gotten their attention, now she had to speak. “Why is nobody working?” She asked, trying to maintain her calm appearance. On the inside, she was screaming to apologize and run away from the small group.

“Who are you?” A woman asked.

“My name is Ruby Rose, I was assigned to be the band’s roadie and Weiss asked to make sure the stage crew were doing their jobs,” she glared at the group, “but it appears that they want to laze around just minutes before the concert, and that isn’t acceptable.”

Someone snorted in response, “Who do you think you are? Our-” 

“Did you not hear me?” Ruby cut him off, “Weiss asked me to make sure you do your jobs, so that’s what I’m doing.” 

Silence.

“Now, I need everyone to be working at their very best for the concert,” Ruby announced, pushing her anxiety down and taking charge, “that means you can’t be slacking off whatsoever before or during the performance.” She turned her attention to Jaune, who stared at her with an incredulous expression. “If something goes wrong, we’ll lose our jobs. . .”

A young man with jet black hair rolled his eyes, “Oh please, if Schnee wanted to fire us, she would have already, but she can’t! She needs us and she knows it.” He didn’t seem like a pleasant person.

The woman next to him scoffed, her accent was thick, “She should be thankful we’re even still working for this dumb band after how she treats us. Seriously! We make one mistake and she threatens to fire us!”

The first person laughed, “Yeah, she can’t fire us anyway! She’d be lost without us! What’s a band without techies?”

Ruby was fuming. They acted like it was a joke . . . Didn’t they understand how serious this was? “Listen!” She snapped, her voice booming over the screaming audience’s, “If this concert doesn’t go smoothly and flawlessly, we all lose our jobs! Not because we’re fired, but because the band was shut down due to poor performance! If you don’t want this job, then why are you still here when you can very easily quit and go home?”

Dumbfounded faces stared back at her, she knew she had their full attention now. “That’s right, you can’t because you need the money. Or else you won’t have a home to go to when the tour ends. It’s like you said,” she gestured to the man with black hair, “what’s a band without a tech crew? The techs are the backbone of the band, without one, there wouldn’t really be much of a band. They rely on those backstages more than you know, so of course they’d be disappointed and annoyed when the people they depend on slack off!”

Ruby drew in a deep breath and relaxed, “We operate and supervise what happens during a performance, we have the most important job there can be in this kind of field.” She narrowed her eyes, “If this band falls apart, you’ll be looking back someday and you’ll be thinking ‘I caused that band’s downfall, I destroyed someone’s dreams because I didn’t want to do my job.’ I know I’m just the band’s roadie, but Weiss herself asked me to make sure everything runs smoothly backstage, so that’s what I’m doing, because I have a job to do.” 

She turned away from them, “The concert starts in thirty-five minutes and we need to make sure everything is ready to go.” 

She couldn’t believe it. These people had the audacity to demand respect from the band when they hardly ever did their jobs! The technical crew and the band members were a team, they worked together, not individually! Her first time backstage, she’d noticed the people slacking off their jobs, it’d infuriated her beyond words. Weiss and her friends worked together as a team, so why didn’t the crew? 

“Do you really think ‘working harder’ will earn us respect?” There it was again. . . 

Ruby turned to face the group again, “Yes. I do. Work harder, earn their trust, and you become a team. You rely on them and vice versa. You prepared the stage long before the band arrived, and we will be here hours after the concert taking it all down, but with this crew, everything seems to be rushed and last minute. It’s a damn miracle this band hasn’t fallen apart because of you all. . .”

The man sighed, running a hand through his hair. “I suppose we did start slacking off. . .”

“That we did.” A woman smiled, “You, child, have the fire. Tell us what to do.”

Ruby held up her hands, taking a step back from them. “Woah, I’m not reassigning jobs. . . I’m just a roadie, not a stage manager. Just, do your respected roles with more passion. I mean, you were doing a decent job before because I couldn’t even tell something was wrong backstage until I joined. So, just give it some more, um, ‘fire’.”

“Um, Ruby?” Ruby glanced to Jaune, who was tapping at his phone screen, “Twenty-eight minutes. Time’s running out. . .”

‘ They’re relying on me.’ She told herself quietly, ‘They don’t have a manager they can trust. They need me. . .’

Making up her mind, the brunette turned back to the crew with a determined expression, “Fine. Alright! Let’s do this!” She faced a small group to the left, “Everything is already set up, so. . . Lighting crew; test out the lighting systems; the audience needs to be able to see what’s happening onstage clearly. That means the focus, the dust machines for lighting, and the hanging lights need to have a quick test-run before the concert.”

The group left wordlessly and Ruby felt a bit of pride bloom in her chest. She looked to the second group, “Sound crew; you should know your cues by now. Minimize sounds that are not supposed to be heard on stage, and make sure the background noises do not cause interference with the performance. You seem to be pretty good at that, so keep it up.”

As they walked away, Ruby turned to face Jaune and two other boys. “You’re a cameraman, correct?” Before he could respond, Ruby continued. “You three are in charge of recording the live performance, make sure that nothing offstage is captured. I’m sure you already know what to do, though.”

“Yeah, yeah, I got it,” Jaune muttered under his breath and Ruby smiled, “come on, guys.” He gestured for the boys behind him to follow him. Ruby bit back a laugh when the men sneered in Jaune’s direction and reluctantly followed him.

With the crew having been sent to work, Ruby was left alone. Why did it feel like she wasn’t doing her job? Ruby bit her lip, the nervousness and anxiety rushing back to her. She’d been hired to be a roadie, but Weiss had asked her to keep the stage crew in check. Wait, do roadies go on stage? All she knew was that she was expected to help out with technical stuff, but that couldn’t be all she was here for. . . God, she probably should’ve researched this. Then again, the responsibility had just suddenly been thrown at her, she hadn’t had time to prepare.

‘Guess I should see how the band is coming along.’ Ruby started for the dressing rooms, glancing over her shoulder to see one of the dust machines fire up. At least things seemed to be running smoothly so far. Then again, the actual concert hadn’t yet begun. ‘Why do I get the feeling this is gonna be a disaster? Is it always like this? Well, this is their first world tour, I think, so maybe it’ll just take some getting used to?’ 

She’d eventually grasp how she felt about the whole situation, now’s just not that time. 

“Are the instruments all tuned up?” Ruby’s head swiveled around to see Weiss approaching somebody out of her line of view. The brunette’s heart skipped a beat when she noticed the woman’s outfit; a white strapless dress with a faint light blue color at the hem and red outlining, she wore a white sash around her waist, leggings, and a silver pendant around her neck. Noticing that she was taller than usual, Ruby’s eyes glanced down to the woman’s heels, noticing that she was wearing white wedges with red lining.

‘How short would she be without them?’She wondered quietly, her attention snapping up when Weiss spoke again.

“Great!” Weiss was actually smiling, “We have fifteen minutes before we need to be out there, and there’s quite a crowd, so everything needs to be perfect.”

“We got that,” Ren laughed as he stepped out into view, “it’s not like you say it every time there’s a concert.” He was wearing a diluted dark green tailcoat with a diagonally-buttoned black trim with gold lining and white jeans.

“Yeah!” Nora walked out behind him, “It’s like, become your signature quote next to your infamous ‘Wh-” Ren placed a hand on her mouth before she could finish the sentence, shushing her with a finger to his lips. Nora rolled her eyes and Ren removed his hand. Ruby stepped closer so that she could get a better look at the woman’s outfit; she wore a zippered navy blue jacket possessing red lining, a white top with a small heart-cut out above her chest, a pink skirt and a matching belt.

Ruby glanced back to Weiss, who was now facing away from her and her heart leaped to her chest. She forced her eyes away from the woman, drawing a few deep breaths before looking in their direction again.

Pyrrha was walking towards Weiss with a white, red ruffled bolero in hand. “Here, I found it,” the woman smiled as Weiss took the clothing and slipped it on, covering her shoulders and back, “it’d fallen behind the clothing rack.” Pyrrha was wearing a leather brown jacket and matching jeans, a golden corset with a white long-sleeved t-shirt, a long red sash around her waist, and black boots that stretched up to her knees.

Ruby squinted as Weiss turned to Pyrrha wearing a soft smile, “Thank you,” she replied, “didn’t want to go out there without this on.” The woman smirked, “Damn, I can’t even begin to imagine what would’ve happened.”

“Should we tighten security?” Pyrrha asked, sounding rather concerned, “Make sure no one is lurking around?”

The singer shook her head, “No, it’s fine Pyrrha.”

Ruby glanced to the clock and drew in a deep breath, the concert started in ten minutes. Everything was running smoothly by the looks of it, and it was time to make her report. Clasping her hands together and shaking off the nerves, she approached the band. “Hey,” all eyes turned to her and it took all of her willpower not to stare at Weiss. “you need to be out there in ten. Everything’s set up and ready to go.”

Weiss met her eyes and Ruby’s heart nearly flew out of her chest, “Are you sure they’re all at their correct stations?” She asked, her voice stern almost threatening. Ruby didn’t allow it to faze her and simply nodded, “Good, but if anything happens tonight, it’s on you.”

‘I’m not even the stage manager. . .’Ruby rolled her eyes as Weiss turned away to head towards the stage with the rest of the band behind her.

A hand was placed on her shoulder and Ruby flinched, “She’s always like this before a concert,” Pyrrha smiled from behind her, “one moment she’s all peppy and enthusiastic, the next moment she’s threatening to end your career if the concert doesn’t go according to plan. Don’t let it faze you.”

“I won’t,” Ruby answered, “she’s told me that the band is all she has,  so I’ll make sure to protect it with everything I have.”

Pyrrha’s green eyes briefly lit up and the tall redhead grinned, “I see, so that’s why Blake brought you around. She made a good choice!”

Blake? She hadn’t even met Blake until two or three days ago, what was Pyrrha talking about? Maybe she’d been misinformed? Ruby’s brows furrowed and she faced the woman, “What do you mean?” She asked in confusion, “Blake didn’t bring me here, Yang managed to get two extra-. . .”

“You’re going to that concert.”
“How did you get these?! They were sold out!”
“I have my ways.”

Blake was in on all of it, she’d given her the tickets. . . 

“Think about it this way: You'll be traveling with Weiss!”

That’s why she’d been so eager for Ruby to travel with the band. . . 

“I’m sorry, did we ruin your date with your girlfriend?”

They were trying to set them up! That’s why Yang had bought the tickets and how she’d managed to get them backstage, she probably even planned Ruby becoming the band’s roadie! In some sense, Yang had chosen her friends and career for her. . . Ruby had never really had a say in anything.

“Ruby?” Pyrrha’s voice reeled the brunette back to reality.

Ruby shook her head, “I’m fine, Pyrrha, I’m fine. You should probably hurry and catch up with the others.” She offered a tiny smile, “You know how Weiss is.” Pyrrha said something else, but Ruby hadn’t caught it as she was already retreating further backstage. Casting one last glance to the band gathering just behind the stage, Ruby forced her emotions down and ascended the staircase leading to the lighting crew. “I hope it’s all good to go because I just told Weiss that everything was set up, she’s really depending on all of you. . .” 

A boy with peach colored hair responded to her, “Yep! It’s all set up!” Why was he yelling? 

“Good.” Ruby sighed with relief, leaning against the railing and staring down at the stage below. Now that her thoughts were racing a mile a minute, she was very aware of the crowd in the audience. She couldn’t even hear herself think now! “Damn, that’s a huge crowd.” She whispered under her breath, her silver eyes fixed on the swarm of people.

Another girl appeared at her side, “If you’re worried about the amount of people, don’t worry! It’s not even our largest crowd!” She said at the top of her lungs, her eyes flickering towards someone offstage and giving them a thumbs up, “The concert is about to start, so if you wanna stay up here, please don’t get in the way!” 

Ruby stepped back and a tiny grin came to her lips as the light on the stage slowly began to dimmer, she winced when the crowd suddenly began cheering at the top of their lungs. ‘Goddamn! Was it this loud during the first concert?!’Maybe it was the fact they were in an actual theater now, so the noise was bouncing off the walls. 

As an attempt to avoid severe hearing loss, the brunette moved out of the room as the announcer signaled for the band to make their appearance; she slipped backstage again and started for the camera crew as quickly as she could. The lights onstage clicked on to reveal the band, briefly blinding a bypassing Ruby. Rubbing her eyes and turning away from the bright lights, she started up the staircase leading to the camera crew’s department.

“Hello people of Coalford!” She heard Weiss call out to the audience, only increasing the pitch of their already ear-shattering screams. Screams of excitement, thankfully, but they were still at risk of an attack now that the concert was beginning. Ruby’s brain felt like it was racing. “How are you all tonight?!”

Ruby poked her room into the camera room, breathing a sigh of relief when she noticed that they were all preoccupied. She decided not to bother them and quickly make her descent, tuning out whatever else the singer was shouting onstage. 

Ruby paused in the center of the open room, glancing back and forth as nervousness washed over her. She felt like she should be doing something , but everybody seemed to be busy and she was still in training so she would only be a bother to them. . .

Maybe she could sit down and watch the band perform? It didn’t look like she would be needed for a while. . . 

Finding a spot where she could view performance perfectly, Ruby made herself comfortable and focused her attention on the show. If there were any minor slip ups, she could talk to the techies about it and make sure to avoid it in their next show. Right now, things seemed to be running just perfectly. Well, at least she thought it was. . . Weiss might be able to find some things she didn’t like. 

No, she’d definitely be unhappy about something . . . 

The next hour sped by rather quickly as Ruby got lost in the music; her eyes were trained on Weiss and watching her practically dance across the stage. The fans’ cheering was easily tuned out, but they still remained a distant noise that Ruby couldn’t seem to be able to ignore.

When the music came to a stop for the night,  she’d forced herself out of her chair to make sure the band’s requests were fulfilled by the caterers (thankfully they had everything they needed to refresh and relax) and had left to meet the band backstage. Ruby paused when she realized Weiss wasn’t with them and she frowned in confusion, scanning the room for any sign of the singer. She was nowhere to be found. . .

“I think that was our best performance yet,” Pyrrha muttered under her breath tiredly as Ruby approached them, she glanced up to the brunette and whispered a ‘thank you’ as she took the water bottle from Ruby, “though I’m a bit curious, we haven’t met up with the other bands recently, why is that?”

Nora spoke up next, taking her own bottle from Ruby and turning to face Pyrrha. “Weiss said that we should meet up with the Jagged crew at our next show,” she answered after taking a long swig, “speaking of which, where is the Ice Queen?”

“She probably wandered off to complain about something that happened during the show,” Ren sighed in exasperation, “I hate to say it, but I don’t think she’ll ever be fully satisfied.”

Ruby raised a brow, “You mean she’s never been happy about-”

“Ruby!” The brunette flinched at the sound of Weiss’ voice coming from somewhere behind her.

“Ah, there she is.” Nora chuckled, making a small gesture to the approaching singer as Ruby turned around. Oh she was in trouble. . .

Ruby’s heart skipped a beat when her silver eyes met with a pair of enthusiastic light blue. Weiss was. . . Smiling. Well, she was in a good mood and probably had nothing to complain about. . . Ruby’s eyes widened in surprise; she swore to god that she saw the singer skip a step before she broke into an excited run- wait, she was running in her direction. Oh shit. . . “W-Weiss?!” She managed to yelp before she was tackled into a hug.

Ruby felt her heart soar as realization struck her, flying out and above her before crashing back into her with a wave of affection. Weiss was hugging her! Weiss was huggingher! She was so warm. . .  Ruby was sure she’d already died and gone to heaven, this couldn’t be real. Carefully, she slid her arms around the older girl and returned the hug, her heart racing in her chest as her face flushed with embarrassment and happiness. 

“The concert went perfectly!” Weiss giggled as she pulled away from the hug; it took everything inside of Ruby not to whine in disappointment. “Ruby it was perfect ! I’ve never heard them cheer so loud!” Unconsciously, Ruby slid her hands down the singer’s arms as she stepped away and she interlocked their fingers.

The brunette smiled, “Don’t thank me,” she gestured to the approaching techies with a slight nod of her head, “thank them. I simply gave them a little push.” 

Weiss pulled one hand away from Ruby and turned to the waiting crew, her other one remaining gently locked with Ruby’s. The brunette glanced to the crew and smiled in reassurance when she realized that a few of them fiddling with their fingers in anticipation, “Thank you,” Weiss whispered with a warm smile on her face, “thank you so much. . .”

A familiar lady spoke up, wearing a smirk on her face. “Well, we couldn’t have done it without Red here giving us that little push.” She crossed her arms, “The girl knows how to get into people’s heads.” All eyes turned to her again.

“Wh-” Ruby tensed up, unconsciously gripping Weiss’ hand a little harder, “Hey, hey, stop it! I was just doing my-”

Click.

Ruby turned her head to see Pyrrha standing a few feet away from them with her phone in hand, holding it sideways and aiming it directly at Ruby and Weiss. The redhead smiled sweetly innocently, “Hello!” 

Weiss frowned in confusion and her eyes strayed down to her hand that was still holding Ruby’s, Ruby followed her gaze and her eyes widened. Both girls jerked away, the younger one mumbling a wave of apologies under her breath. Weiss replied with a quiet ‘no, it’s okay’ that was barely audible even to Ruby.

Before things could get more awkward, an unfamiliar voice caught their attention; “The performance went wonderfully!” Ruby furrowed her brows as a short man with balding brown hair and light brown eyes stepped into view, offering the group a warm and kind smile. Who was this man and why did he have the audacity to sneak backstage?! Where was their security?!

Ruby glanced to Weiss, ready to ask if she should call for security. The brunette paused, examining the young singer whose attention was fixed on the man with familiarity in her eyes. 

“Klein?”

Chapter Text

“I can’t believe you’re actually here!” Weiss whispered in astonishment as she started towards her old friend, ignoring the confused stares following her.  “I haven’t seen you since we went back to Atlas! I thought I’d never see you again!” 

“I was informed that your little band was undergoing some changes, and I offered to become your new driver.” Klein smiled in response, glancing over Weiss’ shoulder to look at the crowd watching them. “Now that I’m here, would you mind introducing me to your friends?”

Weiss’ eyes widened and she turned around, a smile coming to her lips as she gestured for them to approach. “Klein, these are my friends,” she started carefully, “Pyrrha Nikos, she just joined the band a little over three weeks ago, but we’ve known her for about a year. She’s the bandleader and bass guitarist.” The redhead gave a polite smile and a little ‘hello!’ in greeting. “But she can’t make any decisions without running it by the rest of the band and me.” 

Weiss came to Ren’s side, “Lie Ren, he is the rehearsal director and the lead guitarist. He’s in charge of scheduling rehearsals and keeping everybody cool and collected before a concert or rehearsal.” She turned to him, “Oh, he can also play the keyboard whenever it is needed.” Weiss gestured to Nora, “And this is Nora Valkyrie, she’s the drummer and she manages our public relations.”

Nora slammed her fist into her palm, “Yeah! I get to interrogate our managers and break-”

Weiss cut her off, “No she doesn’t.” Nora opened her mouth to protest, but Weiss continued without giving her a chance to speak. “She’s in charge of the band’s image, any promotion we need is her responsibility, and she does it without breaking anybody’s limbs.”

“Oh you’re so boring.” Nora groaned.

Klein chuckled in amusement.“It’s nice to meet you all, my name is Klein Sieben, I was a friend of Weiss’ when she was very young.” A distant look came to his eyes, followed by a small, thankful smile.” It makes me happy that she's met good friends like all of you.” He made a small gesture to Ruby, who was shooing the stage crew back to pack up the equipment. “I see she’s still here, too.”

Pyrrha looked over her shoulder, “Oh, Ruby? She just became our Roadie about two weeks ago. . .”

‘Still here?’ Weiss frowned. An image flashed through her mind; one of a small, young girl with reddish black hair smiling back at her in pure joy, she had her eyes closed. . .  “Wait, what do you mean ‘still here’?” Weiss asked, glancing back to the roadie.

Klein gave her a confused look, “Ruby.” How did he know her name? “Is she not your friend?”

‘What?’

“Excuse me!” Ruby called to the band, “I just got a text saying that you all are needed at the RV!” She waved her phone, “Actually, it was a group text but none of you have your phones, so. . .”

Weiss remained silent, staring at the brunette and examining her. Images flashed through her mind, some going by too quickly for her to be able to comprehend. 

There was a girl. . . A little girl with a broad, happy grin, a little girl with unruly dark hair and unique colored eyes, a child with a laugh that somehow always brought a smile to Weiss’ lips. As far back as Weiss could remember, the girl was always positive and could shine light on the darkest of situations. Even when she moved away. . .

“Hey, Weiss?”

“Hey, Weiss?” Ruby tilted her head, “What are you looking at?”

“ Yeah?”

“We’ll always be best friends, right?”

“Hmm. . . Always is a strong word.”

“Weiss. . .?”

“Weiss?” Ruby called again, now looking a little bit uncomfortable.

“I didn’t say no, but you know Father might come back-”

“Alright! No more negative thoughts!”

This couldn’t be possible. . . Weiss shook her head and reeled herself to reality, “Um, yeah, tell him we’ll meet him there in a few, we need to meet the fans.” Ruby just nodded and Weiss turned away, brushing off the weird looks her friends were giving her. “Come on, the crowd awaits.”

----

“Of course he wouldn’t be here! Of course!”

After meeting the fans, they’d made their way back to the RV together, only to find that the man was nowhere to be found. Twenty minutes had passed since they’d arrived, and needless to say, Weiss was getting impatient.

Ruby stood, approaching the pacing woman and placing a hand on her shoulder to stop her when she passed. “Weiss, calm down, he’s probably just held-”

Weiss whirled to face her, “He’s not held up! I know him! He’s probably out there with some poor, unfortunate girl because he wooed her with his ‘I’m rich, good-looking, and I manage a famous band! Please sleep with me’ act!” She threw her hands up, stalking away. 

Everybody sat on the new, leather couch watching Weiss as she paced back and forth. Their eyes flitting between Ruby and Weiss as one ranted on and the other tried to soothe them. It was best not to interfere. 

“I’d say we kick him out and find a new manager, but we can’t!” Weiss groaned, falling backwards into the armchair behind her.

Ruby tilted her head, “Wait, why? I was told the band chooses the manager who is good at all that. . . Deal-making stuff.”

Weiss cut her off with a loud snap. “The fucking asshole has experience in ‘deal-making stuff’, Ruby! He knows how to get people’s attention! Oh, and not to mention, he is acquaintances with multiple publishing companies that would help us tremendously .” The woman pushed herself to her feet and began pacing again, whispering swears underneath her breath.

The brunette sighed, “He’s a jerk, but Weiss, he’ll help the band. . . Maybe he does have good intentions-”

“He wants to destroy our band!” Weiss yelled again, “Why do you think he even considered becoming our manager?” She paused, “Oh, that explains it! He knows! He knows what we did,” the singer turned to her friends, “see? I told you we’d be caught someday!”

Blake sighed, “No, Weiss. Nobody knows. . . If he knew, he would’ve already released the evidence and we’d be in jail.”

Weiss felt a hand gently grabbing hers and she turned around, glaring at the brunette standing beside her. Ruby just smiled and gave her hand a squeeze, “Everything’s alright, Weiss. If you really don’t like him, I’m sure everybody would be willing to help find a new manager.” She gestured to the group sitting on the couch, “This is our career, too. . .” 

“We’ll break his legs if we have to.” Nora smirked devilishly and Pyrrha gaped at her, “And if he tries to do anything, just toss him into a landfill!” 

“Okay, nothing that extreme.” Ruby cut her off before the redhead tried to suggest anything else, Weiss simply stared at the younger girl in brief surprise. She was actually willing to help? “Anyway, if Marigold says anything about the band not being here, oh well, we waited and he never showed up.” Ruby let go of her hand and a cold wave struck Weiss, she wanted the warmth back. . . “We should probably leave so that Weiss here can get to work with the whole ‘money’ thing. ”

Ah, that’s right. She kept track of the band’s finances for taxing purposes, she was in charge of keeping everything on-budget during the tour. Although, she still had another matter to discuss. . . With Ruby.

“Ruby?” Weiss called after the brunette, stopping her in her tracks as the rest of the band head on out, casting concerned glances over their shoulders. “I wouldn’t mind some company?” She whispered with a tiny smile, watching as confusion and surprise flickered through Ruby’s silver eyes. 

The younger girl nodded and stepped back inside the RV, closing the door behind her and staring at Weiss in silence. “I’ve been meaning to talk to you about something,” Weiss whispered as she approached her, “I remember playing with this little girl when I was a child,” she came around to stand by Ruby’s side, she watched as curiosity formed in the girl’s eyes, “I want your help to find her.” Ruby’s brows furrowed and Weiss just smiled, “I think you’re the only one who can help me.”

Ruby blinked multiple times and leaned against the door, “Oookay. . . Considering you’re a big-time singer and heiress-” Weiss glared at her, “ah, um, former heiress, it shouldn’t be too hard to locate her. What did you two do as kids? Maybe it can help us find her.”

Weiss rolled her eyes and returned to the couch, making herself comfortable and fixing her attention on Ruby. “Well, when I first moved to Vale with my mother, this little girl would keep coming over to our house and insisted that I would become her best friend when I just wanted to be left alone.” She watched Ruby’s eyes for any sign of recognition, “Eventually, I warmed up to her and she would drag me outside to play ‘Warriors’, I always played the ‘princess warrior’ while she played the ‘hero’. When school started, it was her first year there and she stuck right at my side like glue whenever she could, she ignored me when I encouraged her to play with other kids and said I was the only friend she needed.”

Ruby tilted her head and Weiss chuckled, continuing her little story. “One day, she got a dog and invited me over to meet him. At first I was a little scared because my ‘Father’ said dogs were mangy, vicious animals, but he proved to be the sweetest dog I’ve ever met.” Weiss hummed, “I still remember what she said. . . She looked me in the eyes, smiling, and said ‘you should smile more, you’re really, really pretty’.”

Ruby laughed suddenly, “That’s funny, I remember telling one of my old friends that. Seriously, I don’t think she girl ever smiled! I also used to have a dog and she just adored him! What a coincidence, huh?”

Weiss smirked, “Really? What did this dog look like?”

Silver eyes lit up, “Oh! He was a blackish silver and white Corgi! He had a lil’ nub for a tail so it looked like his butt was wagging whenever he wagged his tail.”

The singer giggled and stood to her feet, “Strange. . . My childhood best friend had a dog that looked like that.” She propped one hand on her hip and rose the other to her chin thoughtfully, “Though, this dog’s name was. . . Zuccini? Zeus? Zeke? Zero?”

“. . . Zwei?” 

Weiss clapped her hands together, “That’s it!” She exclaimed, smiling when realization flashed across Ruby’s face. She had to drag this on a little longer. . . “Ah, who am I kidding? It’s probably not even the same dog,” Weiss shrugged, “besides, this little girl loved to draw and you? Well. . .”

Weiss turned away from the girl, the silence that had embraced them now clawing at her heart like a dagger. If Ruby remembered, would she still see her the same way? Her heart fell when she heard footsteps walking away from her, she glanced over her shoulder to find that Ruby was no longer there. Weiss sighed and pulled out her phone, checking the time and swallowing the irritation rising up inside of her. It’d been forty-five minutes since they’d been asked to meet up here.

Her eyes trailed to the star-shaped pendant dangling from the corner of her phone. ‘I wonder if she still has it?’

She was snatched out of her daze when she heard something dull and heavy being dropped onto the couch next to her, Weiss looked up to see Ruby standing in front of her with a faraway look in her eyes. “You said this girl loved to draw. . .” She nodded towards the sketchbook on the couch, “Well, so do I.” Well, that confirmed it for Weiss. 

“May I?” She asked, glancing up to the roadie. Ruby meekly nodded and Weiss flipped the book open to the front page, briefly taken by surprise when she caught sight of a small, matching star pendant weaved between the wires of the book and attached to the corner of the front page. Images flashed through Weiss’ eyes again.

“What’s this?” Weiss asked as her friend tossed a necklace over her head, grinning as she readjusted the pendant to lay above her chest, “Ruby, I already have several necklaces.”

“It’s a promise necklace,” the little girl replied, placing her hands on Weiss’ shoulders, “Mama told me that it means that whoever it belongs to will help them find the other piece belonging to the other person.” Ruby paused, “That makes sense right?”

Weiss smiled, “Yeah. . . Thank you, Ruby.”

“My best friend when I was little had one that looked just like it,” Ruby muttered as she sat down next to Weiss, “I gave it to her as some kind of. . . Promise, I think. When I got older, I realized that maybe the necklace didn’t mean anything to my friend, but it still meant something to me so I attached it to my book.”

Weiss didn’t say anything, instead her attention had fixed on the very first picture in the book. Or more specifically, the signature at the bottom right corner. Her heart started thudding in her chest, picking up speed as realization slowly but surely washed over her. She knew this art style. . . She knew that signature. . . It couldn’t be, she was dreaming, she had to be dreaming! There’s no way Ruby was them! Weiss slowly lifted her head and locked her eyes with Ruby’s, “You’re the Red Reaper.” She whispered in astonishment.

Her long lost best friend was the Red Reaper. Ruby was the artist . 

Ruby giggled nervously, wringing her hands together and averting her eyes. “Well, um, yeah. . . That’s me.” She rubbed her neck, “I’m sorry I didn’t tell you-”

Her commission! “How?” Weiss cut her off, “How have you been doing this and working too? You’re not exhausting yourself, are you? Damn it, Ruby!” She didn’t want her overworking herself for her sake. . .

Ruby tapped her fingers together, “I stay up late at night drawing, mostly when everybody else is asleep.” she confessed, awkwardly meeting Weiss’ eyes, “I’m fine! I’m still fully functional! I-”

“Please don’t overwork yourself,” Weiss pleaded, “if you need me to, I can organize you a schedule so you can do both. . .” A smirk came to the woman’s face, “Hell, I’ll even give you a day off and make Yang do the work.”

Realization flashed through Ruby’s eyes, “Um. Yeah, about Yang. . .” She whispered, giggling nervously, “I found out something earlier. . .” Weiss closed the artbook and set it aside, not bothering to flip through the other pieces of art. “Have you noticed that, uh, they’ve been leaving us alone and encouraging us to interact here recently?” 

Weiss’ brows furrowed, “Blake has always been like that, she’s always encouraged me to ‘make more friends’. What’s strange about it?” 

Ruby tugged at the hem of her shirt, avoiding eye contact with the singer. Worry coursed through the vocalist, but before she could ask her if she was okay, the brunette blurted out something; “BlakeandYangaretryingtosetusup.” Weiss stared at her in mild confusion, attempting to comprehend whatever the artist had said. Ruby drew in a deep breath and spoke again, this time calmly. “They’re trying to set us up . . And the rest of the band is in on it.”

“How do you know?” Weiss asked, not yet following.

“It’s why I was even at the concert, and it’s why Ozpin asked to hire me. I also realized that, at home, Yang kept mentioning my friend I used to always tell her about as if I would soon meet her again. . . Then she comes in with tickets to the concert, Blake has us meet her backstage, and it explains why I was Blake’s first choice to stand in for the dancer. . .”

Weiss blinked, “You think they set it all up?”

Ruby shook her head, her fists digging into the cushion below. “I think the dancer thing was by sheer luck, to be honest. But I’ve noticed Blake and Yang whispering behind our backs. . . They’re trying to act all ‘subtle’ about it.” 

Weiss sat back in surprise, replaying her friend’s explanation a few times to try and understand it. “I see,” Weiss smirked ever so slightly, “so our friends are trying to set us up romantically. . .” The woman sat up and slowly slid an arm around the artist, drawing in close. “Why don’t we play the part?”

Heat rose to Ruby’s cheeks at the closeness, but she made no attempt to move. “S-sure. . .”

Chapter Text

A full twenty-four hours had passed since the Coalford concert and they were on their way to Vacuo, where they would drop Yang off and continue the tour. At least there would be some more space in the bus. . . In addition, it would also give her some more time to focus on her commission since Yang wouldn’t be bothering her every five minutes with her loud snoring. 

Not to mention, they wouldn’t be trying to set her and Weiss up anymore. . . Unless Blake continued where Yang left off. 

A tiny, shy smile came to Ruby’s lips as she gazed down at her artbook, admiring her most recent work. She’d set her commission aside to work on something personal, and not to boast, but it was probably her best work. She glanced up to the band gathered in the lounge and she looked back down to her paper, pride rolling through her.

It was a detailed, full black-and-white drawing of the band. Nora and Ren were on the right, Nora leaning against the window and stiffening her body whenever the RV swerved. Ren sat comfortably in the armchair, seeming like he was in his own little world. 

Weiss and Pyrrha were off to the left on the couch; Pyrrha had her hair up in a comfortable, messy bun and was wearing a too-big sweatshirt and gym pants. Weiss, on the other hand, wore sleeveless tank-top and knee-knockers. If Ruby had to be honest, she’d found herself staring at the singer one too many times while drawing the picture. Weiss didn’t seem to mind, though.

In the picture, Ruby had drawn her to be wearing a happy, almost enchanting smile, and her hair cascaded down behind her like a waterfall. Ruby paid extra close attention to perfecting her appearance, wanting to capture her full beauty in the picture. She couldn’t tell how many times she’d erased and redrawn her eyes because something was off. 

Was she too obsessed? 

The brunette tapped her pencil against the counter, glancing up to look at the singer just across from her. Her breath caught in her throat, silver eyes lingering on the woman’s exposed skin. ‘ God, she’s gorgeous.’It was like looking at an angel who’d fallen from Heaven to Earth. . . 

Ruby’s attention trailed towards Weiss’ top, her breathing became labored and an indescribable emotion welling up inside of her. Weiss was wearing a black tank top that hugged her body just right, giving just a slight curve across her chest area and exposing her collarbone. Her upper back was bare as well, and if Ruby looked close enough, she could see her bra strap peeking out from behind Weiss’ long, white hair.

‘She’d look better if she wasn’t wearing a-’ Ruby froze, ‘ WHOA. Wrong turn of thought! Nope! Don’t think like that! Bad Ruby!’She shook her head, clearing the thoughts from her mind. 

“Gooood morning!” Irritation pricked at Ruby as her sister walked into the lounge, completely breaking her focus on Weiss.

‘How dare you.’Ruby grunted softly, she turned away when Yang glanced over at her. 

“Ruby?” Yang frowned, approaching her with a puzzled look on her face, “Hey what’s th-” Ruby slammed her book closed and pushed it away from Yang’s reach, “What? Why can’t I see?”

The brunette glared at her, “Maybe because I don’t want you to see.” 

Yang frowned at her and propped herself up against the counter, “Alright, what’s up, Ruby? Talk to Yang.”

‘Why would I talk to you? You planned out my entire career.’Ruby rolled her eyes, “I don’t need to tell you absolutely everything, do I?” Without giving Yang a chance to answer, Ruby stalked around the corner of the counter and made her way to the band. She could feel her sister watching her with a bewildered expression.

“Ruby.” Weiss greeted warmly as Ruby flopped down on the couch next to her. Weiss moved over just a hair to wrap one arm around the brunette’s shoulders, pulling her close against her. Heat rushed to her face and her heart beat erratically in her chest. “Good morning~” The singer cooed to her quietly, sending Ruby’s heart soaring to the heavens.

“The next one is in Vacuo,” Ren announced calmly, sparing the two of them no mind, “we’ll drop Yang off and then head to prepare  for the concert.” Weiss nudged Ruby’s shoulder and gestured down to the sketchbook, “We’ll come across the Jagged Thorns there, Nora says she received an email asking if they could perform with us.” As he spoke, Ruby flipped through her book for her most recent work.

Weiss looked up, keeping one arm around the blushing girl. “Would we have time to rehearse with them?” She asked, glancing down when Ruby reached up and poked her. Ruby tapped the drawing with a shy smile and watched as blue eyes lit up in adoration. 

“Ooooh, whatcha got there?” Nora asks from over Weiss’ shoulder, peering down at the picture, her eyes flickering between Weiss and Ruby with a smirk on her face. “I’m not talking about the drawing.”

Weiss tilted her back back to look at the redhead, “Nora, go sit down.”

Weiss’ arm slid around Ruby’s midsection and a burst of butterflies flew through her, part of her wanted to melt into her, but the other side of her screamed that it wasn’t right. They weren’t dating, they shouldn’t be this close. It was unfair for her, knowing she had feelings for the older woman and being unable to express for a multitude of reasons.

The singer was famous, she could have anybody she wanted.

Ruby was only a seventeen year old childwho just happened to be her childhood friend, and at this point in time, their past friendship was probably only a distant memory for the two of them.

Weiss’ crush on Pyrrha was still evident, and Ruby could see her sneaking glances towards the redhead.

They were just pretending to get back at Blake and Yang, Ruby knew she wasn’t in love with her. So why did it hurt so much. . .? 

Ruby’s chest tightened and she sat up, her heart raced in her chest and she placed her sketchbook on the back of the couch. “I-I have to get some air,” she whispered hoarsely, “give me a few.” Weiss dropped her arm from around her waist to let her up, whispering a quiet ‘you okay?’ to her as Ruby stood to her feet.

“I’m fine, it’s just stuffy in here.” Ruby smiled, stiffening her body as the vehicle made a sharp turn that could’ve very easily sent her tumbling. Just as she started for the back of the bus, they suddenly came to  stop and the engine shut off. “What’s going on?” She asked as Nora scrambled to look out the window, all eyes turning to her as perplexity and bewilderment crossed her face.

Nora turned back to them, turquoise eyes flickering around the room to make sure everybody was present. Blake and Yang were in the kitchen, leaning against the counter and watching her, Pyrrha and Weiss remained seated on the couch, Ren and Ruby were the only two standing up. “Nora,” Ruby muttered, “where are we? What did you see?”

“I don’t know, all I saw were mountains.” Nora responded honestly as everybody approached the door to see for themselves. Ruby slid the RV door open and stepped out, the rest of the band following in suit behind her. “We’re in the middle of nowhere,” Nora said, coming to Ruby’s side, “I don’t even have data.”

“At least it’s a scenic view!” Yang grinned, Ruby glanced over her shoulder to see Yang elbowing her girlfriend and ‘discreetly’ gesturing to Weiss and Ruby. 

Anger swelled up inside of the artist and she bit her lip to keep it down, starting for the front of the bus as the driver came around the corner. Ruby paused in her tracks, “What happened?” She asked the short man as he came to stand in front of her, “I don’t recall this being on our stop list.”

“It isn’t.” Klein replied calmly as the rest of the crew gathered around, impatiently waiting to find out why they’d stopped, “The engine began sputtering so I had to pull over, but the battery went completely dead when I tried to turn the engine back on.”

“Oh,” Yang said from beside Ruby, “did anything else happen with it? It sounds like the battery’s just trying to go dead.”

Klein looked at them, “I noticed during our last few stops that it would take a few tries to get it up and running. The lights would flicker on, but the engine wouldn’t start. Which is strange because we just received this vehicle-”

“Do you have jumper cables?” Ruby cut him off as she turned to Blake, having noticed the woman had placed herself in charge of making sure their bus had everything. 

“What?” Weiss frowned in confusion as Blake walked away to open one of the bus’ side compartments, “What are jumping cables? This isn’t exactly the time for a game, Ruby.”

Ruby smiled at the singer, “The battery’s dead, we need to jump it off and probably replace it once we reach the next city.” She informed her, “I’ll take care of it. . . We’ll be in the next city by nightfall or sunrise, I promise.”

“Yep!” Blake called to them as she pulled the wires out, “Looks like we have a battery, too!” 

“Really?” Ruby said as she came to the woman’s side to glance inside the compartment, “Great! That means I can just replace the battery now! Won’t have to worry about making it to the next city, we’d have a fresh battery already!” She grinned, reaching inside to grab the large object. 

Weiss was suddenly beside her, momentarily startling the roadie and causing her to release an ‘eep’ of surprise. “Do any of us even know how to change a car battery? I say we should call someone-”

Yang cut her off and Ruby fought the urge to groan, instead focusing on dragging the battery out and carrying it to the front of the RV. “Don’t worry, Ice Queen,” Yang grinned as Ruby walked past her, Ruby could feel the smirking glance she shot her and irritation pricked at her, “Ruby and I have been working on vehicles since we were little! We’ll take care of this.”

‘And by we, you mean me.’ Ruby thought as she set the battery down, “Can you pop the hood?” She asked the driver. The hood popped open and Ruby hoisted it upwards, grunting as she pushed it to sit all the way open. “I need a step stool!” She called, perking up when she heard Weiss laughed loudly from somewhere near her.

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry.” The singer giggled as she approached. Ruby’s heart went soaring at the sound of her laughter and a tiny smile came to her lips as the white-haired girl lifted herself up to stand on the tire, leaning over and gazing down at the motor. “So, that’s what you’ve been doing this whole time? Changing car batteries?”

Ruby smirked at her as Yang pushed the stool to them, not catching the glare Ruby sent in the blonde’s direction. Ruby stepped up and leaned forward. “Nope,” she whispered, “I mean, as far as I can remember, I’ve always been working on something. Tools!” She hollered to everybody else, “I can’t change a car battery without tools!”

“Stop yelling!” Blake snapped from beside her, sliding a tray of tools up onto the hood next to Ruby. “Here. The rest of us will head off to explore.”

‘No, you’re just leaving us alone because you know Weiss is staying with me.’

“Hmm. . .” Weiss rested her head in her palms, “How can I help?” She asked and Ruby glanced up, a small smirk crossed her lips and she gestured for the singer to approach. Weiss hopped down off the tire and came to stand next to her. Ruby stepped aside and instructed her to stand up in front of her, she slid her arms around her and grasped her hands. “Wh- h-how is this supposed to help?”

Weiss’ face was red, and it was the most adorable thing Ruby had ever seen. Weiss was blushing . “Don’t worry,” Ruby whispered, placing her chin on Weiss’ shoulder in the crook of her neck, “my father used to help me learn how to do this when I was little.” She reached down and pulled Weiss’ midsection closer to her, “Lean close to me, I don’t want you getting shocked.”

Technically, she’d still get shocked either way since she was in front of her, but she wouldn’t let her get hurt. 

“O-okay.” Weiss whispered, having completely surrendered to Ruby and allowing her to take control. Ruby felt a pang of guilt strike her and she closed her eyes, breathing in and out slowly before gently beginning to show Weiss through the process. 

Her hands were soft, unblemished and new to the world of machinery. Her body fit right in against Ruby’s just perfectly, like a puzzle piece with no other edges to it. Weiss was so close, comfortably pressed up against her as if it were always meant to be this way, Ruby felt like she was soaring to heaven.

She didn’t want to come back down. . .

[Weiss]

Ten minutes later, Weiss found herself sitting outside the RV, waiting for her friends’ return and keeping watch over the tour bus. Klein was a few feet away on the phone, making sure that they would be a little late coming into town due to mechanical problems. 

The sleeper bus had already reached their destination, but were unable to do anything considering the band was still behind. According to the driver of the other bus security was already preparing for the concert in the next few days. 

Their allies Jagged Thorns, the Blaze crew, and Six Black Collections had arrived as well, leaving Ice Flower just a day behind. Which was fine, they had a few days to rehearse and set up for everything. 

“Weiss?”

The singer tilted her head up to see Klein approaching and she readjusted herself for him to take a seat beside her, “You’ve been down since the others left to explore, what’s the matter?” He asked, placing a hand on Weiss’ shoulder comfortingly.

Weiss glanced to the RV, her heart tightened in her chest and she bowed her head in regret.

“Making me fall in love with you.”

Had she really toyed with the roadie’s heart, is that what she’d been doing this whole time? How long had she been hurting her? Thinking back, she would’ve noticed the girl’s feelings had she just paid attention. There was always a hidden, yet affectionate emotion in those silver eyes whenever Ruby was around her. She was aware of the lingering stares Ruby had given her while drawing, or whenever Weiss was rehearsing.

“Ruby said I was making her fall in love with me.” Weiss explained shortly, “She seemed so hurt and broken about it, and it was only to get back at Yang and Blake. Judging by how she acted, she had those feelings before we agreed on that.”

Klein laughed and patted the singer’s shoulder, “Child, she’s always harbored feelings of some sort for you.” Weiss gave him a confused look at the man chuckled, “When you two were kids, she would always put this little tiara in your hair and say you were as pretty as a princess, and when her mother asked how she liked you, I remember that girl’s response loud and clear. ‘She’s really pretty.’”

“Looks like I need to talk to her, then.” Weiss whispered, guilt twisting and tearing at her gut. “It was supposed to be a joke, I didn’t think she’d actually have feelings for me, but now that I’ve stopped and looked back. . .”

“You can see it?” Klein asked.

Weiss nodded, “It shows in her drawings; the way she pays extra close attention to perfecting every little thing. Her eyes light up whenever she speaks to me as well, and she seemed so comfortable with me. Finding out I was her best friend when she was little didn’t jar her at all, she kind of just accepted it.” She stared at the ground, “She said she’ll help out in whatever way she can to protect my career, she even got the staff to work like they should.”

Klein gave her a warm smile, “I see. . . Well, she did always say she’d take care of you when something happened.”

“Huh?” Weiss lifted her head to look at him. “Take care of me?”

“There was a night where your mothers asked me to babysit the two of you, you got sick and Ruby stayed right beside you. I couldn’t get her to leave you for nothing, she was so scared something would happen to you if she left.”

She remembered that. . . Weiss giggled softly. “Right. She told me if I needed anything to tell her and she’ll do it, even if it meant running all the way to Mistral to get something. I always associated that with Winter, I couldn’t remember who told me that.”

“Well, it was your little friend.” The short man smiled as he stood up, gesturing to the approaching group. “The new battery is all hooked up, and once you’re all aboard, we can get going!” He said enthusiastically, “Don’t wanna be late to your own concert, do we?”

“It’s not just our concert.” Nora corrected, “It’s a. . . Uh, collab concert! Yeah, that!” 

Weiss rolled her eyes and stood up, “Come on,” she said to the rest of the band as she opened the door, “we need to get there and start setting up and rehearsing as soon as possible.” She smiled when Nora released a loud groan of protest, Weiss turned away and entered the RV with the others flooding in behind her.

“You know what we saw?” Yang smirked as she came to Weiss’ side, the singer swung the door shut, “A waterfall! You shoulda seen it, it was Weiss cold!”

“Ha ha.” The vocalist raised a brow, her attention immediately moving to a sketchbook laying on the counter. “What’s this?” She asked, locking the door and quickly making her way over to the table, ignoring yet another awful pun being shot at her from Yang. Weiss paused, staring down at a detailed, shaded picture splashed across the page. Ruby’s name was written in the lower left corner. 

Her commission. . .

Chapter Text

Three hours. . . 

Ruby had been locked up in her room for three hours. Yang couldn’t even get her to come out, and she wouldn’t talk to Blake or Pyrrha either. She was dead silent, they couldn’t hear anything through the door, Yang suggested she may have not felt well and went to sleep. Weiss didn’t have the courage to tell her what had happened between them. Who knows what the brawler would do to her? 

Had she really fucked up that bad? Then again, she had technically played with the girl’s affections.

A loud explosion like noise snapped Weiss back to her sense and she glanced over to see the TV in the center of the room, against the wall, on and flashing as the furred dragon onscreen roared fire at the character.

“Eat shit, dragon!” Nora yelled, laying half on-half-off the couch violently pressing at the controls, eyes locked on the TV where a wolf-looking character stood on its hind legs wielding a glowing sword and striking at the bloodied dragon coming at them. “Don’t you blast fire at me!” She hollered, rolling off the couch completely, “I have a sword! I am the chosen one! I will murder you and gain your power! Die!”

The screen suddenly went black and the character was shown falling to the side, “No! Get up! We’re not dead yet! No!” Nora wailed, desperately trying to revive the character before Ren gently pulled her back onto the couch and took the controller from her. “I was so close!” She cried, “I coulda gotten the Eye!” 

“My turn!” Yang exclaimed as she grabbed the control, shouting a quiet ‘woo’ before switching to her recently made account. “Which one should I go with?” She asked, tilting her head back to look at Blake behind her, “The pretty kitty or the badass blonde warrior?” Blake just raised a brow, “Pretty kitty it is!”

“Weiss?” The singer looked up to see Pyrrha standing next to her, wearing a sad, but soft smile. “Can I speak to you?” 

Weiss swung herself off the couch and stood up, “Yeah,” she said in response, “what is it?” She asked as Pyrrha anxiously led her away from the rest of the band and into her bedroom. Weiss’ brows furrowed as the door slammed shut. Oh shit. . .

Pyrrha turned to her and clasped her hands together. “Okay! Neither Yang, Blake, or I can get Ruby to open the door.”

“No shit.” Weiss deadpanned. 

“So, we need you to try and talk to her.” What? She couldn’t do that! That would just make matters worse! Before Weiss could protest, Pyrrha cut her off. “She loves you.” 

Was it that obvious? Ruby was in love with her? What had she done. . .? 

“She might talk to you.” 

No, she wouldn’t. 

“Then we can figure out how to help her, I bet she’s probably just feeling homesick-” 

“I hurt her!” Weiss cried, her heart tightening and twisting in her chest. She couldn’t stand to remember the broken expression her friend had worn, but it was all she’d been seeing for the past few hours. “I asked her to pretend to be my girlfriend to get back at Yang and Blake! But I didn’t know she had actual feelings for me! I hurt her!” 

Pyrrha frowned, reaching out for her. “Weiss, it’s okay-”

Weiss flinched away from the redhead, “No! It’s not! She was in love with me and I hurt her!” She averted her eyes, “I had my attention on someone else, she had her eyes on me, and I asked her to pretend, Pyrrha! Just for a fucking prank! That’s not okay!”

“Do you regret it?” Pyrrha asked softly, making no move to approach the singer. “Do you wish you hadn’t hurt her?”

“Of course I regret it!” Weiss hollered, her body trembled. “You didn’t see that look on her face! She was hurt! It looked like I’d ripped her heart out! B-but at that moment, it wasn’t a prank! I-I did like it, but telling her that destroyed her because everything was pretend.” She bowed her head, tears streaming down her face, “What have I done?”

The room was silent save for Weiss’ quiet, restrained sobs. 

She couldn’t get the image out of her head. She’d saw the affection and the purity in Ruby’s eyes when they were joking around, she’d saw the delight and excitement whenever she was in Weiss’ presence. Then Weiss just obliterated that, she’d gone and ruined what they had. She wouldn’t blame her if Ruby didn’t want to forgive her.

“How do you feel about her?” Pyrrha took a seat on her bed, crossing her legs and watching Weiss with an unreadable expression. “Like, not as a roadie, as a friend.”

“Why? It doesn’t matter.” Weiss replied coldly, her body still quivering. “She’s probably gonna go home the first chance she has. How would you like to be played by someone you’re in love with?”

Pyrrha sighed and rubbed her forehead in exasperation. “Weiss. What are your feelings towards her? Give me something to work with here.” How was she supposed to answer that? Tell her how she felt about Ruby being her childhood best friend? “Anything will do.”

Giving in, the singer rolled her eyes.  “She can be a bit annoying,” Weiss started carefully as she took a seat next to Pyrrha, “but it’s honestly kind of cute. I like how her eyes light up when she’s drawing and how focused she is, I like how she’s so easy to talk to and how I can trust her with anything.” 

“Go on.”

Her eyes went downcast and her chest hurt, “I remember how she always used to be there for me when we were kids, she would go out of her way just to see me. Ruby would always find a way to make me smile again at the expense of her own humiliation. I was her first ever friend and vice versa, and I never believed her, but she would insist that we would be best friends forever. She has always been so positive and nothing has ever brought her down.”

“Well,” Pyrrha said softly, drawing Weiss’ attention back to her, “if she’s not leaving her room, she’s feeling pretty down right now.”  

“I know,” Weiss replied hesitantly, her chest aching, “it’s my fault.”

Pyrrha tapped her chin thought, leaning up against the wall behind her. “How is your fault?” She asked curiously, “You keep saying that you hurt her, that it was your fault, but you never say how. Besides asking her to pretend, how did you hurt her?”

Weiss glanced away immediately, scanning her memory for the possible explanation. What had she done? 

There was the cuddling that morning, and Ruby had seemed pretty on the edge about that, but she’d come to learn that she was shy and Weiss figured it’d been a bit too forward for her.  Helping her remove the car battery. . . Ruby was the one being forward there. The joke about the dead bodies and Ruby dragging her away by the waist, but that couldn’t- oh. . .

“I liked it.”

That was when Ruby had broke. She’d already seemed depressive when Weiss had held her that morning, she’d almost looked like she’d been battling down something now that Weiss thought back. Having Weiss help her with the car battery wasn’t needed at all, but looking at it now, it was Ruby’s way of getting back at her, to try and roll along with their prank. 

But Weiss had liked her touch, and she remembered a cold wave hitting her when Ruby moved, having refocused on the job at hand.

She’d had her arms back around her when she was bringing her away from the edge, and she’d removed them a second time. . . ‘She was warm.’ 

Weiss lifted her head and breathed in a shaky breath, “She had her arms around me,” she whispered, watching Pyrrha’s attention peek, “I said that I liked it when she tried to move away. . . Then she broke, and told me to stop. I-I didn’t know what she was talking about, I was so confused, and when she said I was making her fall in love with me, I thought maybe my suggestion to fool our friends was it.”

Pyrrha moved back to Weiss’ side as the singer spoke, but Weiss avoided eye contact with her. “I flirted with her, too. . . But it was just a joke, I didn’t know it would hurt her.”

“Weiss.” She finally looked at her friend and Pyrrha smiled sadly, “She’s hurt because she was receiving affection she’d only dreamt of, but the reason behind it was just to fool somebody.”

“I know that-”

Pyrrha cut her off, “You’re hurt because she’s hurt.” Okay, now she just wasn’t making any sense. She hurt her friend, why wouldn’t she be upset? She’d feel the same way if it were someone else. Pyrrha just smiled at her, clearly having read the confusion in her eyes. “Like I said,” the redhead sighed, “just try talking to her. Bring something that would cheer her up.”

Cheer her up? That sounded familiar. . .

A smile came to her lips. “I have an idea.”

Before she could do anything, a loud squeal interrupted them. “We’re in Vacuo! We’re crossing the border right now!” Nora called as Pyrrha opened the door, the two of them making their way down the double-decker bus staircase. “Wow, there’s nothing to look at here.” The smaller redhead muttered as Weiss came to her side to look out the window. 

She was right. There was nothing but desert out there. Sand, sand, and more sand. ‘Ugh.’ Well, it wasn’t the worst thing they’d experienced.When they were younger, before the band took off, they’d been practically forced to live next to a sewer considering the building was the only one stable enough to support them. The things they’d seen and smelled there were unspeakable. . .

“How about a cactus?” Blake laughed from next to Weiss, gesturing to a cactus as they drove by one. Her eyes glanced up, “Or cacti?” 

“Oh just say cactuses.” Yang groaned from the couch, “Cacti is such a weird word!” 

“Cac-ti.” Blake said slowly, approaching her girlfriend with a smirk. “Catcuses sounds dumb.”

Yang frowned at her, “No it doesn’t. Cactuses means there is more than one. Cacti sounds like you’re saying ‘fat guy’ while choking.”

Weiss rolled her eyes and leaned up against the wall behind her, steadying herself to watch the black and yellow duo bicker back and forth. At least it offered her something interesting to do. . . It’d probably be more intriguing if Ruby was with her, then the two of them could tease and joke about them behind their backs, adding a bit of personal spice to the situation. Her attention moved to the back of the bus, lifting her head towards the staircase and furrowing her brows.

Was she even in here? The guest room (across from the band’s bunk-bed quarters) had been completely silent since they’d left. Oh no, what if they’d left her behind?! But, how would they? Weiss saw her enter the bus, she had to be in there. . . Unless she left while she wasn’t looking.

“No, no, no, Blake, listen. This is why the word cactuses wo-”

“Yang it isn’t even a word!”

“It is! I can prove it! Hold on, lemme just get my pho-. . .” The blonde trailed off and her head moved up, she blinked a few times in surprise and a wide grin crossed her face. “Ruby!”

All eyes turned to the brunette standing at the bottom of the staircase. ‘She’s okay.’ Weiss thought, examining the younger girl from afar. She looked okay, but that didn’t mean she was alright. Weiss pushed herself off the wall, watching as Yang got up and ran to her sister’s side. “Ruby! We were worried about you!”

Ruby stepped away from her and Yang’s brows furrowed in confusion, but before she could ask anything, the rest of the group started questioning her.

“I was starting to think we left you behind!” Blake said from the couch

“Yeah! Why wouldn’t you come out? What happened?” Nora asked, holding onto the railing as the bus turned.

“Are you okay?” Pyrrha spoke next, sitting up from the armchair with a worried expression.

Ren stood up and stepped in between the group, herding them away from Ruby to give her space. “Everybody just give her some room,” he said calmly, “don’t overwhelm her. She’ll explain everything when she’s ready.”

Weiss remained where she was, her eyes fixed on Ruby as guilt rushed through her. She hadn’t even acknowledged her since she came out, she really was mad at her, wasn’t she? ‘I’m sorry.’ She silently apologized, wanting to reach out to her childhood friend and beg for forgiveness, to say she was sorry from the very bottom of her heart for hurting her. ‘I’m an asshole.’

“Yang.” Ruby finally spoke, her voice cold and lacking emotion when she spoke to her sister. “I want to go home.”

Ice ran through Weiss and she felt her heart wail in despair, internally blaming herself for the roadie’s decision. “Ruby, no,” she whispered, her voice cracking, “please, we need you here.” If she left, Weiss didn’t know if she’d ever see her again. She just got her best friend back, she didn’t want to lose her so soon over a mistake. . . 

“Why do you want to go home?” Yang asked gently, disregarding Weiss’ plea and placing a hand on her sibling’s shoulder. “Did something happen? Are you homesick?”

Suddenly, time slowed down as Ruby’s hand came up to smack Yang’s hand off of her. The blonde took a step back, and Weiss could practically feel the rage radiating off of the young artist. “Did something happen, you ask?” Yang frowned, “You were trying to decide my entire life for me! I got this job because you wanted me to! You persuaded me into taking it when I really didn’t want it!”

Well, that hurt. . . Knowing Ruby hadn’t even wanted it in the first place.

“I was doing just fine making money off of my art! Then you swoop in and just toss this at me! Oh! And let us not forget, you were trying to set me up with Weiss the entire time!” A look of surprise crossed Yang’s face, but Ruby wasn’t even close to finished. “First you decide my career path, and then you choose my love life for me! What the hell,Yang?!”

“Ruby,” Yang held her hands up, “this was for your own good. You’re seventeen years old, you needed-”

“I would’ve figured out what I needed had you left me alone!” Ruby cut her off, her voice raising louder with each word. “Because of your and Blake’s stupid little ‘mission’, Weiss asked me to fakedate her! Well I can’t do that! I can’t pretend to be in a relationship with someone who doesn’t even love me back!”

She should be yelling at her then. . . Weiss was the one to suggest it. It was all her fault, and she would gladly take the blame.

Yang stepped closer to her, but Ruby backed up against the counter, still seething with rage and hurt. “Do you know how much that hurts?!” Her breathing was heavy and ragged now, tears were streaming down her cheeks. “Do you know how much it hurts to be pretending like that?! Knowing they don’t love you?! Knowing everything they’re doing is just for a pra-”

“It’s my fault!” 

Weiss could’ve sworn that was her own voice hollering out like that, drawing all eyes towards her direction. It took her a few seconds to comprehend that it had indeed been her voice. Tears were staining her face and her chest was heavy with both pain and guilt combined. 

“It’s my fault. . .” She said again, “Had I not suggested that, w-we would be fine. . . You wouldn’t be hurting.” She carefully started for the brunette, stopping in her tracks when Ruby finally looked at her, face lacking emotion again. “I’m sorry.” Weiss whispered under her breath, her voice cracking, “I should’ve taken your feelings into account before even considering it. I’m so sorry. . . I never meant to hurt you.”

“It’s not your fault.” Ruby said plainly, turning back to Yang as the bus began to slow down. “It’s hers. Everything leads back to her. We wouldn’t have to pretend if she wasn’t trying to set us up.” Her glare looked like it could slay an entire army. “Thankfully we won’t have to deal with her anymore, because I believe this is her stop. College, was it?”

“Um, I know this is a bad time, but,” Blake’s voice caught their attention and the woman entered the circle, “this is kind of my stop too.”

Weiss’ eyes widened, “What?! What do you mean this is your stop?!”

Blake chuckled nervously, coming to Yang’s side. “We applied to the same college, it’s kind of the main reason we had Ruby join. . .” She gestured to the brunette, who was gripping the edge of the counter with gritted teeth. “I knew you would need someone to, um, rely on, and your histories with friends were just too coincidental, so we kind of-”

“That doesn’t excuse trying to set us up!” Ruby hollered, “Besides, Weiss likes Pyrrha! Not me! That’s not gonna change!”

Upon the announcement, Weiss spun around to see Pyrrha staring at her with a bewildered expression. The secret was out. . . Fuck, what should she do? Run out of the bus at breakneck speed? Jump out? Hide in her room for the rest of eternity? All of the options sounded good. Wait, but what about Ruby?

Weiss turned back around to see Ruby heading up the staircase again, not even bothering to say goodbye to everybody. 

“I can’t pretend to be in a relationship with someone who doesn’t even love me back!”

She had to fix this. She couldn’t let her leave, she couldn’t lose her again. . . “I- Blake, Yang, I’ll be down to see you off soon if you have everything ready. I need to speak with Ruby.” Without waiting for a response, the woman jogged up the staircase after the artist. “Ruby! Wait!”

Once she was up the staircase, she found Ruby standing in front of her door, hand on the knob and glaring back at her. Well, at least she waited for her. “We need to talk.” The singer whispered pathetically, Ruby just watched her and Weiss slowly started towards her, knowing very well that the rest of the band were listening from the bottom of the staircase. “Be honest. . . Are you leaving because of me?”

“I don’t belong here, Weiss.” The artist said softly, “I’m only here because of Ya-”

“I know.” Weiss cut her off, “But you do belong here, despite how you came here. . . Ruby, because of you, our techies are doing their jobs. They respect you, and you make sure the concerts run smoothly without a single flaw. Do you know how hard that was to do when you had a staff that didn’t want to work?”

“So I’m only needed here to keep everybody from falling behind?!”

“No,” Weiss shook her head, “the band loves you. Not because of what you do, but because of who you are. Hell, you could be a freeloader like Blake and I’m one-hundred percent sure they wouldn’t care less because you’re family. I’m pretty sure Nora’s adopted you as a sister-”

Blake’s voice hollered up from the staircase. “Hold up! Did you just call me a freeloader?!”

“Well, she’s not wrong. . .” Nora said in response.

Weiss shook her head and continued, “And you’re my best friend from when we were little, you’re one of the reasons I even kept singing in the first place. . . Because you liked my songs.” Ruby’s face turned red, “It’s embarrassing, I know, but that friend I had as a child inspired me. I wouldn’t be where I am today had I never met you.” Her voice fell quiet, “I mean, if you really want to go home, we won’t stop you, but we’d appreciate it if you stayed.” 

Ruby heaved a deep sigh, her hand dropping from the door knob. She was quiet for a few long, agonizing seconds. Weiss’ mind raced; would she still go home? Would she stay?

“Please?” Weiss whispered. Wait, she was sounding weak. Nope, she couldn’t beg. Not right now. “B-besides, what’s a band without a roadie? And you are traveling with one of Remnant’s most well known bands.”

“Ah, so I should stay for the band’s fame? Or should I stay because Weiss Schnee would miss me?” Weiss didn’t say anything, knowing the younger girl had her by the throat. When Weiss didn’t respond, Ruby simply turned away and closed the door.

“W-wait!” Weiss panicked, attempting to catch the door and sighing when it closed. Ruby made her decision. . . She wanted to go home. When they reached their rehearsal studio, she’d likely be booking a flight back to Vale with the money Weiss gave her for the commission. She was leaving, and Weiss probably wouldn’t see her again. . .

Weiss turned away from the door, slowly processing what just happened. What went wrong? Ruby waited for her, so why did she suddenly change her mind? Was it something she said? Weiss’ brows furrowed, replaying the scene carefully in her mind. Or, was it something she didn’t say. . .? If Ruby hadn’t wanted a response, she would’ve slammed the door in her face before Weiss even had a chance to answer.

Weiss drew in a deep breath and turned back to the door. If she left, things wouldn’t be the same again. She’d likely never see her again, she’d lose her. “Ruby.” She said with a practiced, calm voice. “I want you to stay.”

She waited a couple minutes, her heart pounding in her ears and her throat tight. She glanced up when she heard the soft click of the door and her eyes met with Ruby’s confused pair. “What?” The brunette asked quietly. 

Oh hell no, she was not repeating- no. . .

Weiss swallowed her pride, “I said. . . I want you to stay.” Ruby’s eyes were conflicted, and it didn’t look like she was even looking at Weiss, just focused on something behind her. After a few seconds, the brunette’s eyes flickered to the floor, her body slacking with hesitation as a sigh escaped her lips. “But, if you want to head back to Vale,” Ruby glanced at her, “I’ll miss you, but I won’t stop you. . . It’s your decision.”

“I’ll stay. . .” Ruby whispered after a long moment, “But only because you asked me to.” She looked away, “Thank you. . .” 

“Y-you’ll stay?” Weiss’ eyes widened with surprise. She was staying, Ruby wasn’t gonna leave! She wasn’t going home! 

“Yeah.” Ruby said quietly, her voice almost inaudible.

Before they could say anything else, Blake’s voice called up to them from the staircase, “We’re approaching campus, are we gonna get a goodbye or what?” Her voice was joking, but it was also laced with a bit of concern. She’d never been able to hide that well.

Weiss turned back to Ruby, only to see her closing the door with a betrayed, angered expression on her face. “I’ll come back.” Weiss whispered to her before the door shut. Judging by her reaction, she wasn’t going to come down and see her sister off. Which was understandable after what just happened. Weiss quickly spun around on her heel and jogged down the staircase, glancing up to see Blake and Yang at the door with their suitcases ready?

Wait, where did those suitcases come from? She didn’t remember seeing them anywhere on the bus. . .

She shook her head and approached the two of them. “Don’t cause any trouble.” She muttered bluntly to the blonde, who just stuck her tongue out in response. Blue eyes met golden and Weiss offered a small smile, “I’ll admit, I’m proud of you. . . You’re getting back on your feet and starting a new life. How long have you been saving money for college?” 

“Since we were on the streets.” Blake smirked, “I took some of the money and hid it in my own jar.” Weiss’ eyes widened, “Hey, you don’t need it now, do you?” 

Weiss sighed, “No, I suppose not.” She gestured a finger to Yang as the bus came to a stop. “Watch her and keep her out of trouble.”

“Where’s Ruby?” Yang whispered, glancing to the staircase for her sister.

“She’s not coming.” Pyrrha said from the couch, a sad look on her face. “But I’m sure she wishes you the best.”

Nora nodded in agreement, “Yeah! She’ll probably be calling you in the next few days because she misses her sister.

“I hope so.” Yang sighed, “I didn’t mean for all of this to happen. . . I didn’t think it’d go this far! I didn’t- ugh, I really owe her an apology.” 

“You do,” Ren agreed, “but at the moment, I do not think that would be the best idea. Give her some time. We’ll let you know when she comes around.”

Yang’s shoulders slackened, “Alright,” she muttered hesitantly, “thank you.” She said as Blake opened the door to step out and onto campus, gasping in astonishment at the three-story building in front of them. Yang stepped out to follow her, the two of them whispering amongst themselves for a moment before turning back to the band gathering at the door.

They didn’t have time for tearful goodbyes.

“Bye!” Yang called as Blake waved.

“Have fun!” Nora answered.

“Keep in touch!” Pyrrha called after them.
“Don’t do anything reckless.” Ren said plainly, his eyes fixed on Yang.

The blonde just shrugged and quickly trotted up to the gates where a man was waiting with many other students. 

“Bye.” Weiss whispered under her breath, quietly closing the door. So they were two down. . .

Chapter Text

Chapter Thirteen:

Love Hurts… A Lot
[Ruby]

“It’s my fault!”

Ruby’s heart tightened and she squeezed her eyes shut, her grip tightening on her pencil as the heartbroken look in the singer’s eyes earlier came to mind. She’d thoroughly been convinced that everything that had happened was her fault, she’d been so ready to take responsibility for all the pain they’d experienced. 

The brunette lay her head back against the pillows, drawing in deep, relaxing breaths as an attempt to rid the image from her head. She’d never blamed her, not even a little bit. She just couldn’t , her gut knew that Weiss was in the wrong for agreeing to play along with their friends’ plan, but Ruby just couldn’t bring herself to place the blame of the situation on Weiss. 

Especially not after she’d seen the grief and guilt in the singer’s eyes.

“It’s not your fault.”

Ruby remembered feeling anger bubbling up inside her upon seeing the pain on her friend’s face, and her mind immediately held her sister accountable for it. She remembered thinking that, maybe had Yang and Blake never tried to set them up, Weiss wouldn’t have been hurt like that, she didn’t care what would happen to herself, she just wanted to see the other girl smiling .

“I want you to stay. . . But, if you want to head back to Vale. . . I’ll miss you, but I won’t stop you.”

Ruby released her pencil before it could crack and she heaved a strained sigh, she could feel her hand shaking as her heart tightened and twisted inside of her. At the back of her mind, there was a voice telling her that Weiss only wanted her to stay so that her career didn’t spiral downhill. There was another voice saying that Weiss might actually care about her, even if it was platonically. 

“I’ll stay.”

She shouldn’t have said that. She shouldn’t have-. . . Staying meant that she would be staying with Weiss, it meant that she would have no choice but to watch Weiss’ potential relationship with Pyrrha blossom. 

It hurt. It hurt so bad. . .  

Ruby wasn’t blind, she was aware of the glances the singer would send her redheaded friend, she could see the softness in her eyes from a mile away. Each time she saw that look, she remembered thinking that she would’ve given anything to have the singer look at her like that, but she knew she’d always be Ruby the Roadie to her. . .

Ruby squeezed her eyes shut again. None of her other crushes had ever hurt this badly, she’d suffer a rejection and she’d be fine the next day, as though none of it had ever happened. Why did this one go deeper. . .? Maybe it would’ve stayed a little fan crush had she never left home. 

‘Stupid Yang.’ Ruby had been more than fine staying at home and silently pinning for the singer just like all of the other fans. She would have been just fine with Weiss never knowing of her existence. Ruby’s heart clenched and she bit her tongue as an attempt to bury the pain tearing away at her insides. Anything to distract herself. . .

She couldn’t get those images out of her mind, she couldn’t forget how gentle Weiss’ touch had been when she’d held her, or the softness in her voice when Ruby had her arms around her. She saw with her own eyes how Weiss just lit up when she was onstage, how her voice matched the emotions of the song just right, and how she thoroughly enjoyed what she was doing. She was happy .

Whenever Weiss smiled and it was genuine, Ruby would feel her heart beating out of her chest and her day would instantly become brighter. 

She had to bury these feelings. . . What if they started affecting her work?

Drawing a deep breath, the artist refocused her attention on her sketchbook and her heart instantly stopped at the sight of what she’d drawn. Too late. . . ‘No.’ Ruby’s sketchbook slid out of her lap as she pulled her knees to her chest, tears stinging at the corners of her eyes.  ‘I can’t- I can’t let her see this.’ 

“We’re here!” Nora’s voice called from downstairs.

Ruby reached up and wiped the tears away, sliding out of her bed to approach the door. When they arrived, the band would leave to meet up with the others and Ruby would be restocking the bus with supplies. She’d also been informed that she’d need to pick up a new gaming controller and toaster after Nora got a little too excited and broke them. 

But where would she find a toaster? 

Ruby shook her head and exited her room, making her way to the front of the bus with the rest of the band. Her eyes briefly met with Weiss’ before the singer turned away, avoiding eye contact with her and refocusing her attention on her notebook. Ruby’s heart tightened momentarily, realizing that Weiss had begun to avoid her. No wonder she didn’t come back. . .

‘I’m sorry. . .’ 

“Ruby! There you are! Here’s the list.” Pyrrha caught her attention and the brunette turned to see the redhead coming towards her with a slip of paper in hand, “We’ll be in Studio 14,” an Ice Flower staff tag was handed to her, “this will help you get in. Security will be tight and they’ll need to know that you’re one of us.”

Ruby just nodded and the older woman smiled warmly, her eyes trailed to Weiss. “Don’t worry,” she whispered quietly, “I’ll talk to her. . . We’re not gonna let her start distancing herself again.”

Her brows furrowed, “Wait, what do you mean-” Her voice went unheard as the vocalist had already approached the white-haired singer. “Okay. . .” Ruby felt a stab of pain course through her, noticing the brief softness in Weiss’ eyes as Pyrrha sat down in front of her. ‘I’m not her. . .’ 

Shaking her head again, the roadie turned to follow Ren and Nora off the bus. Kicking the door shut with her foot, the brunette started for the exit of the studio, thankful that it wasn’t too crowded. She had some work to do, and she couldn’t let her crush get in the way of that. . . 

Ruby focused her full attention on the list she held in her hands. She would have to pick up some more breakfast foods, such as bacon, pancake mix, sausage, milk, eggs, and grits, she’d already known that. A few small microwavable foods such as ramen, pasta, 5-minute macaroni and cheese, oatmeal, and a few specific canned foods.

The brunette hummed. Perhaps she could pick up some pizza kits, too! And some cookies.

Anything to distract herself. . .

Exactly four hours had passed since Blake and Yang were dropped off at the Vacuo college, and two hours since the band arrived for rehearsal. Despite being a day late, the other bands were more than accepting and very understanding of the situation, they’d even been willing to help set everything up since they were behind.

Upon meeting the other bands, Ruby had come to learn that the collaboration was for some kind of festival. Vytal’s Music Festival, if she remembered correctly. She hadn’t really listened to Weiss’ explanation for it, she’d been more focused on the fact they would have to work twice as hard and she wasn’t exactly feeling up to it, especially when they’d stepped backstage.

Ruby had instantly felt small and afraid, wanting to huddle into the farthest corner away from everybody. She’d shoved those thoughts below the surface and instantly got to work, falling into step with the rest of the staff from the band. She’d even met some of the other band roadies who assisted her with some stuff she was still getting the hang of, which she was more than thankful for.

Due to being in the background, she’d happened to get a good look of what the other bands were actually all about.

Jagged Thorns’ music paralleled Ice Flowers, as did their style, just like Weiss had said. Unfortunately, the group was ever-so-slightly bordering the line of straight up copying their band, so they weren’t exactly able to do anything about it. Their inspiration was blatantly obvious, though. 

The Blaze Crew seemed to be on bad terms with Ice Flower, but Weiss and the lead guitarist seemed to make it work. Although, their music wasn’t really Ruby’s preference, it was alright. She could see why people would like it. Perhaps if it weren’t for Weiss’ very existence, she might actually have taken a liking to them instead. She’d never say that to anybody’s face.

Six Black Collections had music that didn’t exactly suit their name; most of them were lovey dovey and sappy, and quite a few of them caused Ruby to be just a little bit sick to her stomach. 

There were some other bands here, too. They didn’t interact much with Ice Flower, but that didn’t really matter considering they performed on different days. Ruby recognized just a few of the names.

Performing the night after Ice Flower did was the Neon Neurons, a group made of four people wearing funky, vibrant colors to match their music. Ruby had met the supposed ‘guitarist’ of the band, a happy, go-lucky redhead with pigtails and dyed turquoise stripes in her hair. She swore the girl was more hyper-energized than Nora! 

Her preferred instrument? Something called a keytar, which looked very similar to a keyboard with a shoulder strap. Her partner played a trumpet, and the first time he’d played it during rehearsal mixed with the rest of the band, Ruby had been walking by and  swore up and down she’d become deaf. Thankfully, the instruments had been strung up too loudly so that was the first and last time she’d ever have to hear it.

Next was a group preparing to retire within the next year; Two Time Hearts, they’d been around for nearly a decade and had decided that it was time for them to step off the stage. The lead singer, Noel, was settling down with the band’s fashion designer, Rennea. 

Seeing the two of them together made Ruby’s heart smile, and she wished she’d had more time to speak with them before responsibility to her own band had called her away. The way the two women looked at each other had Ruby wondering if Weiss would ever look at her that way.

Probably not. . .

Especially since Weiss had begun to avoid her. 

“Oh, and there’s a soloist named, uh. . .” The sound of Nora’s voice called the brunette back to reality. Ruby glanced up to see Nora flipping through the pamphlet before realization struck the redhead. “Ailithia Dire! She’s performing with the Snow Foxes for some kind of collab or agreement she had with the singers.” The redhead tapped her chin as the brunette took a seat on the nearest bench.

“When do we go up?” Weiss’ voice came from next to Ruby and the brunette’s head whipped around to see the woman seated beside her, soda in hand and one leg crossed over the other and her spare arm draped across the back of the bench. Blue eyes met with Ruby’s silver pair and the singer frowned, “What?”  

Surprised that the woman hadn’t got up and left, Ruby just shook her head and looked away. “Nothing.”

“We’re up after them!” Nora snapped her book shut and an unreadable grin crossed her face, “I have an idea! I’ll sneak into the audience because I am not-

Weiss chuckled and Ruby felt her heart skip a beat. “You’re not missing when Wolfe throws his guitar out into the audience, we know. You won’t shut up about it.” Ruby frowned at the mention of the name. Sure, the Snow Foxes had a decent taste in music, but from what she understood, most of them were not very kind people. 

“How can I not?” Nora exclaimed, turquoise eyes wide. “I mean, come on!” Well, here comes another rant about how amazing the other band was. . . “Have you heard their music?! I say we should collab with them sometime! It’d be great for our image!”

Weiss heaved a sigh and Ruby saw uncertainty in the woman’s eyes, “I don’t know, Nora. Blake told us that they’re not polite people and take advantage of their fans.” 

“No, no, no! That’s Cliffside Tulips!” Nora insisted, suddenly spinning around. “Ruby! Agree with me!”

Ruby’s head snapped up to see Nora jumping in front of her, grabbing her shoulders with a wide smile. “Wh-what am I agreeing with?”

“About the Snow Foxes!” Nora’s jaw dropped. She frantically waved her hands.  “About how great their music is! Have you not heard Queen of the Castle?! What is wrong with you people?!” Before anybody could respond, she continued, “The album is one of the most amazing songs out there next to our Run Wild album!” 

Ruby frowned in confusion as Nora rambled on, she exchanged a puzzled glance with Weiss, who mouthed a silent ‘I don’t know’ back to her. Nora clapped her hands, grabbing their attention again. “Also I want to know who this ‘Alyssa Dire’ is. Has anybody heard of her?”

Ruby blinked, registering the name before responding. “Uhm, yeah. She’s the singer and writer of Love is an Illusion.”

“She is?” Nora’s brows furrowed.

“I am!” All eyes turned to see a young brunette leaning against the studio wall, wearing an amused smirk on her face. The woman giggled at them and Weiss’ grip tightened around the can, putting a small dent in it. “I’m sorry, I heard y’all talking about the Snow Foxes and was wondering if you knew what studio they were in.”

Nora blinked at her, raising a brow suspiciously. “Studio 12.” She replied carefully. Before soda went everywhere, Ruby reached over and gently pried the empty can from the singer’s hand, ignoring the fact that her friend had stiffened the very second she’d touched her. 

After the can was set aside, Weiss rose to her feet. “If you don’t know where they are, why are you performing with them?” Weiss asked, ignoring Ruby’s quiet requests for her to sit back down. Well, fuck. “Why weren’t we informed that you would be here? Why are you in our rehearsal room?”

The other singer simply stared at her, clearly unfazed by the singer’s threatening voice. “First, I don’t know where they are because they were previously in Studio 3, but they were moved. Secondly, you were told about me being here, but they put my manager’s name down instead of my own. Lastly, I’m here because I figured that you could help me find my friends.”

Before Weiss could reply, the woman just smiled sweetly and turned away, “Thank you, though!” She looked to Nora, “My name is Ailithia Dire, and I’ll see if I can talk Wolfe into collabing with your band.” 

Once Ailithia was out of earshot, Nora turned back to the band as Pyrrha and Ren entered. “Good, you’re here.” A malicious look crossed the redhead’s face, “I feel like she knows too much.I say we knock her out and hide the body somewhere nobody would ever be able to find her.”

“Nora, please.” Weiss muttered under her breath. “We’re not murdering anybody .”

“Why would we be doing that, anyway?” Pyrrha asked, setting the drinks on the table and beginning to organize them. That was something else Ruby had noticed during her time here, it seemed like Pyrrha was just as much as a neat freak as Weiss was. Whenever she’d opened the fridge in the RV, everything would be set in a specific order as though it drove them crazy if it wasn’t. 

That and the fact the bus always remained clean despite Nora living in it.

“Because I don’t trust that Alyssa chick-”

Ren was the one to cut her off this time, “Nora, we’re not on the streets anymore. We’re fine.” Ruby frowned. What did trusting somebody have to do with being on the streets? The young man shook his head and started for the exit again, his hands folded behind his back. He turned to the band, “It is time for rehearsal. I’m sure they are already waiting for us.”

“Ugh, but I was gonna sneak into the audience. . .” Nora groaned, trudging over to Ren’s side. 

“Speaking of audience.” Pyrrha whispered, emerald green eyes trailing to Weiss, “will you be okay?”

The singer just offered a strained smile, “I’ll be fine,” she clapped  her hands together, “come on! Let’s start rehearsing before the others think we’ve bailed!”

Ruby’s heart twisted as the singer jogged out of the room, not even sparing so much as a single glance back at the young roadie. She hadn’t even looked at Ruby the entire time she was in here, except for that once and she couldn’t count that because Weiss looked like she was ready to spring up at the smallest chance she had to leave.

The roadie snapped herself out of her thoughts, eyes widening when she noticed Pyrrha starting for the exit. “W-wait!” She yelped, quickly getting to her feet and rushing to the tall redhead. Pyrrha looked down at her and Ruby smiled weakly, “Y-you’ll treat her right, won’t you?”

Perplexity flashed through the woman’s eyes, “What do you mean?” 

Ruby’s posture slackened, “Weiss,” she whispered, her voice cracking, “she loves you. . .”  The words sent a few light tugs of pain to her heart. Sure, it would hurt her to see them together, but she just wanted her to be happy.

Her heart fell as Pyrrha looked away. Ruby’s brows furrowed as realization dawned on her, “You don’t. . . Like her that way, do you? That’s why you didn’t say anything.”

“I wish I could reciprocate,” the redhead replied honestly, “but she’s like my sister. I love her, just not like that. I love someone else. I’m sorry.”

That meant that Weiss would end up with her heart being broken, and if that happened. . . Ruby’s chest tightened and she drew in a few, quiet breaths as she attempted to get herself back together. “I- I know how that is.” She muttered under her breath, “I know how she feels. . .” The brunette faced away from Pyrrha, who watched her with a sorrowful gaze, “Please, don’t keep that from her. . . I’m begging you.”

“I intend on telling her tonight,” Pyrrha smiled, although Ruby couldn’t see it, “but tell me something, Ruby.”

“Mhm?”

The redhead took a step closer. The air around them became cold. “If you were to have her, if you were to win and-”

Ruby cut her off immediately, spinning around to face the woman with rage in her eyes. She calmed herself with a quick breath inwards, “You say ‘have her’, as if she were a prize to be won.” The brunette said coldly, “She isn’t a prize, she’s not a trophy . Earning her affections isn’t a competition, nobody wins because it’s Weiss’ choice, not anybody else’s.”

Pyrrha was her friend , how could she talk about Weiss that way? As if she was nothing more than a simple object?! 

Everything became still when Pyrrha just smiled at her, genuine joy in her emerald green eyes. Confusion struck Ruby like a truck. “Good answer.” Pyrrha replied, not giving Ruby a chance to respond before she disappeared around the corner to follow the rest of the band.

Ruby blinked, processing what had just happened. Could she have-

“Ruby! Kind of need your help back here?! Rehearsal is starting!” Jaune’s desperate voice caught her attention and the brunette quickly snapped herself into reality, she turned toe and sprinted off towards the direction of the rehearsal room.

She’d figure everything out later. She had a job to do.

Chapter Text

Chapter Fourteen

Voice

[Ruby]

“And what does this one do?”

A laugh, “That controls the sound.” 

Ruby frowned and tapped the button, making sure not to turn it on. “I thought that’s what this one was for?” She asked, making a small gesture to a switch to the right.

They’d made it to the rehearsal studio and Ruby made her way into the lighting room with the other band’s roadie, a dark young man who called himself ‘Pitch’ (his name tag said ‘Ash’) and he showed her the general ropes of their own music while the bands rehearsed. She knew everything already, but he seemed to be enjoying himself. 

The man chuckled from beside her. “Correct! Those electrical boxes are wired up to the bands’ instruments, and we control the sound with this device here.” He tapped a faded green and black box “Then these that go here are attached to the mics. We had to separate them because our crew sometimes forgot which switch was for which instrument.”

“Wow that was a mouthful.”

“Ah, yeah, but the box here has everything written on it.” Pitch said with a wide, almost boastful smile, “2018 model! One of the best! It can hold up to 20 tracks and has a built in signal processor!”

Ruby rolled her eyes and pulled her phone from her pocket, “First, the ‘box’ is called a  Tascam Digital Portastudio, and secondly, can you control it with your phone?” She asked as she tapped open an app she’d downloaded during her first night with the band, she grinned as the red and white device in front of her lit up. 

“No,” Pitch said in response, staring at the object in awe, “you mean you can control all of the tools for everything here on mobile?!” Ruby just nodded and the man’s eyes widened, “That’s amazing! What all does it do?”

Immediately, Ruby opened the settings and tapped on the mic. “Okay,” she announced as she tapped on Weiss’ mic, which was the only one currently connected, “you know how you turn up the volume using those switches?” Pitch nodded and she slid her finger up on the screen, the volume increased by several little white bars; showing little interest to the warning at the corner of the screen.

She looked up to see several people on the other side of the glass covering their ears, glaring towards the as of right now unoccupied mic. She shrugged it off, paying them no mind and turning to Pitch, who was watching the crowd with a puzzled expression. “Yeah, so that’s how we control ours!” She said proudly, “At that volume, we’d be able to hear-”

She was cut off by an echoing voice, “Ruby Rose.” Panic rushing through her like a wave, Ruby meekly faced the glass again, silver eyes meeting with an annoyed pair of icy blue. “ Do not touch the settings.” Ruby mouthed her apology and Weiss’ brows only narrowed, “We’re testing out Track 10, bring that up and don’t touch anything else unless I ask you to.” 

As she spoke, the rest of the band and the Blaze crew approached their own instruments. Edan, the lead singer of the other band, sent a thumbs up to Pitch, who switched on their own audio box. “If y’all’re playing Track 10, then we’ll probably be using Track 8.” The man grinned, “I think I overheard ‘em talking about combining the two songs!”

Ruby clicked her phone back on and switched the settings to the playlist, tapping Track 10 and adjusting the volume. “That’s cool,” she muttered under her breath, focusing her attention on the group across from her. “I’m sure it’ll sound great.”

Her attention focused on Weiss again as she grabbed her mic, her voice echoed through the recording room for all to hear, “The concert is tomorrow night, so we’ll be rehearsing all night! There will be a short relaxation time of two hours in the morning, then we get straight back to work.”

Ruby’s brows knitted together. “All night?” 

Eden’s voice came from beside Weiss and Ruby instantly felt anger rising up inside of her, “Y’all hear what the Snow Queen said? Get to it, don’t wanna disappoint ‘er, do we?” His words sickeningly sweet and the flirtatious smirk he cast towards the singer didn’t go unnoticed.  Ruby’s grip tightened around her phone as the man moved closer to Weiss as subtly as he could.

Weiss’ expression became guarded, watching the male singer with mild cautiousness. Behind Eden, his friends seemed to be quietly cheering him on, another surge of rage struck Ruby and she clenched her jaw. Pitch laughed from next to her, “Looks like E-man has a lil’ crush on the Snow Queen!” He clapped his hand down on the desk, “Why don’t we help’im out, ey?”

‘Everybody has a crush on her.’ Ruby wanted to say, her silver gaze fixed on Eden. ‘Some are just more forward and foolish than others.’She drew in a few relaxing breaths, releasing a deep sigh before responding to the man. “I have a better idea,” Ruby growled as Pyrrha placed herself between Weiss and Eden as casually as possible, “why don’t we tell your brother to back his ass off?”

She instantly regretted saying it. 

Pitch made a face of confusion, midnight blue eyes glancing between Weiss and Ruby as if he were trying to comprehend something. Slowly, his eyes widened and he smiled, “Oh- oh! I’m so sorry! I didn’t know she’s ya girlfriend!” Panic hit Ruby like a freight train, but before she could respond, Pitch cut her off. “No wonder you’re so protective! Congrats!”

“N-no, we’re not-” The sound of a guitar strumming interrupted her again and Pitch turned back to his work, adjusting the volume for the band’s instruments as Ice Flower prepared theirs. Ruby felt like a brick had fallen deep inside of her stomach and her body was heavy. She should not have said anything! Why had she said that? Weiss is capable of handling herself, if Eden became too much she’d put an end to it for good. 

They weren’t together, why had she felt. . . Jealous? Perhaps it was because of how forward and bold he’d been?

Upon hearing the music beginning to play, Ruby snapped herself back on track.

If she let her emotions control her, she would lose focus of what she was doing, she could be fired. Or worse, her friendship with the band would become strained. It’d be better for her to conceal her jealousy, it would fade away after a while, just like everything else. 

Ruby shook her head and refocused herself on the task at hand. ‘Don’t let your childish crush destroy this, Ruby.’ She told herself as she set the volume for the instruments on the other side of the glass, glancing up for approval and offering a small smile when she received a thumbs up from Nora. ‘You have a job to do. Focus on it enough and you’ll forget all about your little crush.’

The brunette drew in another breath and pushed her feelings below the surface, locking them away. “Alright.” She said with a determined smile, “Let’s do this.”

Six hours later, Ruby was confident that they had everything perfected down to the softest note. Pitch hadn’t been all that hard to work with either, it was actually quite enjoyable. Ruby had to admit that her view from the glass was amazing , too. She could see every detail, and with the audio connected to the instruments, she could hear everything as well. 

At first, they’d had trouble figuring out which note fit what song and when to cue the next one, but they eventually found something that worked out just fine. 

Although, Ruby had begun to worry about Weiss sometime during the middle of practice. The light in her eyes had completely gone out. . . Despite her voice carrying the tone required for the song, her expression had become dull, and at brief moments Ruby swore to the Gods she saw fear. The strange thing was that when panic crossed through her eyes, her attention would instantly turn to Ruby and she’d be back on track as though nothing had happened.

Pyrrha, Ren and Nora noticed it as well, but didn’t really pay any mind to it. Pyrrha just smiled at her, Nora acted like she didn’t see anything, and Ren wore an all-too-knowing look on his face. Ruby didn’t like it one bit, they knew something that she didn’t and it was unsettling.

As rehearsal came to a close, the Blaze Crew bid them a goodnight and retreated back to their own bus while Ice Flower remained behind. Ruby caught sight of Weiss propping her weight against her mic, forehead rested against the stand. It wasn’t hard to see that she’d burnt herself out, she looked absolutely exhausted , she was running on low and she was still determined to keep going.

She was pushing herself to the limit and nobody could understand why .

“Weiss, you’re tired, we need to rest.” Ren insisted, but the only response Weiss gave was a glare. She weakly ordered for the next track to be played. The sound crew’s attention turned to Ruby, waiting for her command with a nervous look in their eyes, Ruby simply shook her head.

“We already have everything down,” Nora said, placing her hand on Weiss’ shoulder, “we should really head back to the-”

“No!” The singer cut her off sharply, “N-no, we have to. . . Keep practicing. . .” She croaked out, pausing for breaths in between words.

“Weiss-”

“My father will be attending the damn festival!” Weiss snapped suddenly, her words coming out in one breath. 

What? They hadn’t heard about this.

“H-he called me early this morning and informed me that he’s cleared enough of his blasted schedule to be able to attend the concert.” Weiss explained quietly. “Everything has to be. . . absolutely perfect.” As she spoke, her voice became softer and softer as her eyes drifted shut, her breathing became labored and her body trembled. “We can’t. . . I can’t. . . my career. . . would be destroyed.”

She was overworking herself to keep her career. If their performance wasn’t satisfactory, that devil of a man would ruin them. But, working herself like this would mean she would have little to no energy left for the concert.

‘Not on my watch.’

“Um. No.” Ruby started for the exit, her attention focused on the woman as the door opened and she gave a soft smile when Weiss glanced in her direction. “Weiss,” she whispered lightly as she approached the tired singer, “I’ve got everything under control. We have three perfectly recorded audios of the song, so if anything happens we can fall back on those.”

Weiss’ brows furrowed into a look of aggravation, “We can’t. . . use pre-recorded stuff. H-he would know!”

“So what if he knows?!” Ruby snapped. You’re pushing yourself to exhaustion. If you keep on like this, you won’t have energy left for the concert!”

Weiss’ blue eyes filled with defiance almost instantly, “You don’t tell me what to do! You’re not in charge of me, Red , you don’t decide what I do and-”

Irritation settled inside of her and the brunette cut her off quickly, making sure that her own voice drowned out Weiss’ protests. “Listen to me!” Ruby shouted, silencing the singer, “If you don’t get inside that bus and rest, it’s either your voice gives out or you collapse tomorrow, whichever one comes first!” 

“I said everything has to be perfect! You people just don’t understand that!” Weiss’ glare didn’t waver. 

Ruby’s eyes widened in disbelief and a new wave of frustration washed over her. How dare she?! After everything they’d done to keep the band afloat, Weiss had the audacity to speak to them as though they were below her?

“I’m sorry, what was that?” She asked, her brows narrowing. “We’re trying to save your career, so don’t you accuse us of anything else! But hey, if you want to work yourself to exhaustion and destroy it all on your own, by all means, go ahead!” Ruby calmed her nerves and drew in a slow breath to relax herself, “If you really want to protect your career, then I suggest you go rest . None of us want to see you overworking yourself.”

“What do you want me to do?” Weiss demanded in annoyance.“Just drop everything and rest? I can’t rest!” She snapped, her volume rising with each word. “I cannot rest knowing that tomorrow decides the fate of my career!” Her voice cracked with desperation this time. “Everything needs to be perfect or else we’ll-” Weiss’ voice gradually became unsteady “We’ll have a repeat of the first time. . .”

What happened ‘the first time’? Ruby’s eyes turned to Ren and Nora, searching their expressions for answers, but they’d become guarded. This was an inside secret. . . Something Ruby wasn’t yet allowed to know.

Ruby drew a heavy breath and focused on the shaking figure. Weiss looked fragile and small , her chest heaving as if she couldn’t breathe properly, her knuckles were turning white as she gripped the stand to her mic, supporting her quivering frame. She looked so. . . scared.

“Weiss.” Ruby said under her breath, approaching the singer slowly. She knelt down just a little bit to look at her; unfocused blue eyes turned to her and the brunette forced a reassuring smile. “It’ll be fine, we’ll handle everything. We just need you to relax and rest.” Weiss’ glare didn’t waver, Ruby couldn’t help but to chuckle at the sight. 

‘So defiant.’Ruby playfully tapped the vocalist’s nose and giggled, “You look like an angry kitten. It’s cute.” She remarked, smiling when Weiss scowled at her.

“Don’t touch me.” Weiss said light-heartedly. “I’d rather not contract whatever diseases you have when I bite your finger off.”

Ruby snickered again and tapped the woman’s nose a second time, her heart doing a flip when mischief flashed through the singer’s eyes. While Ruby was momentarily off guard, Weiss took the opportunity to playfully snap at her finger. “No!” Ruby laughed, tilting herself back on her heels. “I taste horrible!”

Weiss let out a soft laugh and Ruby watched in awe as the light slowly returned to her eyes, “With all the sweets that you eat, yeah, I bet you do.”

“Well,” Nora interjected from somewhere behind them, “I’d never believe you two were at each other’s throats not two seconds ago.” Ruby giggled in response as Weiss pushed herself to stand upright, using her mic stand as a crutch.

The silver-eyed roadie released a soft sigh as she turned back to Weiss, a smile still on her face. “So, are you better now?” She asked gently, “Will you rest?”

Fire briefly ignited in the singer’s eyes and she straightened her posture again, “I don’t need rest.” Her voice was hoarse and the obvious struggle to even speak; Weiss cleared her throat in an attempt to raise her voice. “Now! Get in there and start the next tra- ack !” Having strained her voice, she erupted into rough, violent coughs. 

Weiss propped her weight against her stand again, body trembling and her chest heaving with each painful, strained cough. “Weiss. . .” Ruby whispered, sounding distraught. “Please, you need rest.” She carefully placed her hand on the singer’s back, ignoring the distorted growl of protest she received.

“We’ll wrap everything up. . .” Ren said suddenly, drawing Ruby’s attention to Weiss’ worried bandmates, “Take care of her.”

“Make sure she gets some rest.” Pyrrha requested, “She doesn’t need to speak for a few hours.”

Weiss’ head snapped up and she spun around to face her friends, her eyes burning with sheer annoyance. “We’re not wra-. . .” Her voice had been firm and steady to begin with, but all of a sudden, her voice completely gave out. Horror crossed her face and her hand slowly came up, lightly gripping at her throat.

Nora raised a brow at the stubborn woman. “We’re not what ?” It was more of a statement than a question, “Actually, you’re right! We aren’t doing anything. You need to rest, do you want to collapse on stage?!” All eyes turned to Nora as her voice grew louder with aggravation. “This isn’t just yourcareer, Weiss! It’s ours too! It’s all we have, while you have an entire fucking mansion and-”

“Nora!” Ren called from somewhere around the corner. Nora’s mouth clamped shut and she stiffly faced away from Weiss, stalking out after the guitarist.

Once they were gone, Ruby tenderly wrapped one arm around the singer’s waist, ignoring the voice screeching at her in the back of her head. “Let’s get you back to the RV.” She murmured softly, giving Weiss a light tug back. “Weiss?” Blue eyes glanced back to meet her silver pair, the rage and desperation had been replaced with insecurity and fear. Ruby offered her a reassuring smile, “They’re not mad at you, I promise.”

“But-” Weiss’ voice was hardly audible.

Ruby giggled, finding it almost adorable how Weiss had gone from an angry kitten to a meek, shy puppy. “But nothing,” she whispered as Weiss fell into step with her, “I’ll take care of you, and you won’t lose your career.” Ruby’s brows knit together into a determined look, “Not if I can help it.”

Weiss’ eyes grew soft and Ruby’s heart skipped a beat. “Thank you, Ruby.”

Bzzzt.

Blurrily, lilac eyes blinked open and Yang released a heavy sigh, placing her hand over her eyes and waiting for her phone to quit flashing. Whatever it was, it could wait till morning; or at least when she woke up. She’d been busy all day rearranging and decorating their dorm room, trying to give it more of a home like feel to it.

They’d be here for the next four years, after all. Might as well settle in. . . Although, it didn’t really feel like home without having a perky silver-eyed girl running around. That would take some getting used to.

Wait. 

Nobody else would text her this late unless it was Ruby.

Yang’s eyes snapped open and a cold rush raced through her, she launched herself out of the bed, hand reaching for her phone and toppling off of the mattress in the process. She clicked her phone on and her heart stopped.

“You okay?” Blake muttered from her corner, lifting her eyes up from her book and staring at her girlfriend in bewilderment. 

“It’s Ruby.” She whispered, almost too afraid to open the text. What if she was still mad at her and wanted to let her know she wouldn’t forgive her?

“Well,” Blake said, softly snapping her book shut and turning her lamp out, “open it. What did she say?” She asked, getting to her feet to approach the blonde sprawled out on the floor. 

Yang tapped the message open and her brows furrowed; “Nora said Ruby left her phone open and sent a picture,” she said as Blake knelt down behind her, Yang sighed heavily, “should I even open it?” Blake just hummed and reached over her shoulder to open the photo. “Coulda just said yeah-”

Blake released a quiet snort upon seeing the picture, while Yang struggled to comprehend exactly what she was seeing. 

The picture consisted of Ruby and Weiss, both hugged close on the RV's couch. Ruby slept with one arm stretched above her head, the other wrapped around Weiss in a protective hold. The other woman slept curled beneath the roadie, arms and legs tucked closely together while arms wrapped around her body.

“I told you she could do it.” Blake smiled.

Yang couldn’t help but to grin. “Well, I’ll be. . .”

Chapter Text

Chapter 15
Storms Always Have an Eye

[Weiss]

[Two Years Before]

It was scarcely six in the morning and towns were at that point becoming occupied; the sun was covered up beneath the skyline, throwing a dull and bleak shadow across Millstone Vale. The absence of daylight didn't help with the cool, cold breezes blowing all through the regularly clamoring town. Every person that walked the streets were bundled up in layers of warm attire to shield themselves from the Autumn air. 

The nights were much colder.

Weiss’ bed for the night had been a warm, unoccupied space she’d found between a central heating unit and an apartment building.The buzzing of the continually running machine had been sufficient enough to calm her to rest, signalling to the young teenager that it was time to get up and start moving. 

‘Food.’ She needed something to satiate her stomach for the time being. She could already tell that she wouldn’t have much luck, though. 

Food, particularly in the mornings, had demonstrated to be incredibly hard to track down, but she wasn’t going to dig through dumpsters just to look for something decently edible; nor was she going to sell herself, as one of the other 'road rodents' she'd met had recommended. She'd found that there was another, simpler approach to gather nourishment; basically take from the sellers when they weren't looking. Some even offer out free samples hoping you’ll return and purchase something from them.

Weiss wouldn’t complain, though. She was free and in charge of her own decisions.

She’d finally escaped. . . Weiss had been wandering aimlessly for nearly three weeks now, using only a stolen hoodie to hide her identity. Well, technically it wasn’t stolen because some girl received it as a gift from her partner, but she didn't care for it and had abandoned it. 

She didn’t blame her, the hoodie was a repulsive green shading and a disaster to fashion everywhere. Be that as it may, it would keep her warm. . . 

It was the middle of December, after all. She’d made sure to have it washed, though. Who knows where the thing had been. 

“My daughter has been missing for three weeks.”

The former heiress froze in her tracks and stiffly turned to face the source of the familiar voice. Icy blue eyes stared at the holographic screen from behind the glass in resentment, grinding her teeth and pulling at the strings of her pockets as an attempt to relieve the rage building up inside of her.

“If anybody has knowledge about my daughter’s whereabouts, please notify me as soon as you can.” Her fingernails dug into her palms. “We miss her dearly. Please help me bring my little girl back home.”

Since she’d run away, her father had been making public announcements regarding her disappearance, taking on the ‘worried’ father role and pleading with the Remnant community to bring her back ‘Home’.

But she wouldn’t be fooled.

“Bullshit.” She cursed under her breath, glaring into the screen and into the false pain in the man’s eyes. She scoffed, “You go around saying ‘oh please bring my baby back home, we miss her so much’, but in reality, you only want me back in Atlas so your precious reputation isn’t tarnished.” As the program switched back to Lisa Lavender, the seventeen-year old spun around on her heel.

“You can play the damn pity card all you want, but I’m not returning to that hellhole of a family.”

Sure, this wasn’t exactly the freedom she’d always dreamed of, but it meant she was seeing more of the world than her family ever had. Plus, she’d learned some very important survival techniques from some other homeless people she’d come across.

Who knew that slapping two stones together would create fire?

All of the people she’d met seemed so nice , too. There were a few who looked out for only themselves, but there were a lot of people willing to help her. A handful of people had recognized her, but never once questioned why a Schnee was out on the streets and instead offered her a place to stay for a couple of nights. 

Then again, their histories were rather cruel and harsh, despite a good bunch of them having once led pampered lives. . . One of which was disowned for simply speaking his mind, but he did seem rather happy with the life he leads now. 

She wasn’t the only one. There were so many people out there just like her . Weiss almost felt at home amongst the community. She’d even encountered a group of teenagers her age a few days ago, and despite having a bad first impression, they’d already made her one of them.

Although, Weiss knew that the boy was responsible for her place among the group. He’d looked at her and he could tell that she was very inexperienced.

As if her first attempt at actually stealing hadn’t proven it. . .

Weiss shook her head, she had to find food and return to her group’s meeting location. She couldn’t rely on them for everything… 

‘Okay.’   Weiss paused in the street, frost colored eyes scanning her surroundings for any easily stolen foods. Her heart plummeted upon realizing that the only source of nourishment was a fast food restaurant with a flashing sign. ‘I can’t walk into a restaurant, so that’s off the list… I don’t think any vendors are open this early, either.’

Bark! Bark! Bark!

Weiss’ head snapped up to see a small, grey corgi running at her, his stubby tail wagging and his pink tongue lolling out. For a brief moment, Weiss was torn on what to do. The dog seemed happy to see her, and looked as if he wouldn’t even harm a fly. Then again, he was a barking dog and was drawing attention towards her. 

“Go on,” she tried to shoo the dog away gently, waving her hands at the confused animal and stepping away, “go on, go back to your owner.” The dog gave a soft woof and came closer, Weiss’ eyes widened as the dog sniffed at her; he could track her scent. “No, no, no. Bad dog! Go! Go home!” The corgi wagged his tail, “Do you know what ‘home’ means?!”

Upon hearing a girl’s voice calling for the dog, panic rushed through her like a cold wave. Dogs were excellent trackers, and if there was a dog, the owner probably wasn’t too far behind.  “I’m sorry.” She whispered to the canine, just as the dog gravitated toward her.. She spun around on her heel and raced down to the alley she knew was only a few feet away; Weiss could hear the dog following her.

“Come here, boy!” The owner called again, the dog paused for only a second and Weiss ducked around the corner, leaned against the brick wall behind her and tried to quietly drive the dog away with her foot. “Zwei!”

The name echoed in her head. ‘Zwei?’  She glanced down to the dog standing beside her, furrowing her brows as she scanned her memory for any trace of the mentioned name. The old dog did look rather familiar. The dog’s head swiveled towards the approaching person and Weiss immediately spun around, grabbing the bar of the ladder next to her and pulling herself up.  “Go on, shoo.” She flicked her wrist at the dog, groaning when he tilted his head in confusion. 

‘This dog is going to get me caught.’ She heaved herself up the bars as the dog whimpered from below her. “Shoo! Go home!” The corgi gave a soft woof and Weiss rolled her eyes, lifting up to the edge of the roof and preparing to haul herself up. She stopped when a polished black boot appeared in front of her, mere inches away from stomping on her hands. Slowly, her gaze raised to meet a sharp pair of menacing golden.

“Well, you look to be quite in a rush. . .” The raven-haired girl’s sultry, sarcastic voice grabbed Weiss’ full attention almost instantly. 

A huge sigh of relief escaped her upon recognizing her, she reached her hand up to the woman, “Blake, help me up.” The faunus rolled her eyes and roughly grabbed Weiss’ arm, hauling her up onto the roof just as a girl rounded the corner, hollering at the corgi to be quiet. The surge of adrenaline immediately depleted from the ex-heiress, leaving her feeling rather exhausted and beat. 

“You almost got us caught,” Blake muttered from beside her, “didn’t we say to meet up here at noon? It’s only 9:30 in the morning!” The raven-haired woman set an enveloped bagel in front of Weiss “Be grateful that we managed to grab breakfast before your little stunt.”

Blake Belladonna; surprisingly the leader of their small group as she’d demonstrated to possess more knowledge about Vale than any of them, skills required for their circumstances, such as knowing how to stay under the radar without drawing an excess of attention, tracking down reliable restaurants to grab food from and discovering areas where they could get together without being found. 

Weiss snarled at her, irritation pooling in her chest. “Do you think I asked that dog to come running at me?”

“Sure as hell seemed like it.” Blake sneered, “Nora saw you talking to it.”

A tall, lanky man with black hair seated himself between the two of them. “That’s enough.” He said calmly as Nora clapped two stones together, aiming the spark at the pile of wood that Weiss had just noticed. “Blake, it is a good thing that Weiss is here early. This only means that we can begin towards the next town sooner than we thought.” 

Lie Ren. He was responsible for keeping the four of them together and keeping all of them calm, he was the common sense of the group. Blake had assigned him as the one to ‘map them’, which Weiss had come to learn meant that Ren was in charge of their destinations.

‘Ah. The next town.’ Being in a group meant that you had to move often that the citizens don’t grow too suspicious. ‘What is the next town?’  Weiss tried to memorize the map she’d been shown in her head, pinpointing their location as Millstone and tracking their destination to Lilacwell, a town bordering the main city of Vale.

The redhead took her seat next to Blake, holding her sausage as close to the fire as she could with her stick. “What Ren said,” she agreed, “the next town is much more populated.” Her turquoise eyes lit up with anticipation and excitement. “I heard they even have a five-star pancake restaurant!” The energetic girl squealed, “This also means that we can have our little hideout! Together! Like Em and them!”

Nora Valkyrie. She discreetly monitored other groups of street rats, and she was the one responsible for keeping their record clean; not from the authorities, of course. She ensured that the more dangerous gangs had little to no dirt on them and found allies for their little group. Nora was the reason they were moving to Lilacwell, a companion of hers had informed her that they would start off with an unblemished reputation there, and that supplies would be easier to come across.

Blake let out a breath and set her own sausage in her lap, “Nora.” She started gently, “Emerald’s group are bad people, remember?” She explained as confusion flashed through Nora’s eyes. “Emerald isn’t even their leader. Cinder is, and you remember what happened last time we crossed paths with them.”

According to Ren, the first time they’d met Cinder’s faction, they’d been asked to join them in raiding a restaurant. Considering the three of them had been starving, they’d willingly agreed. Only to find out that it wasn’t a raid for food; the owner of the place had backstabbed someone Cinder was acquaintanced with, and they’d been ordered to ‘put an end to his miserable life’ as punishment for his betrayal.

Nora’s eyes widened in realization and she chuckled, waving her hand dismissively. “No, no, no. Not Emerald! Emily! You know, the blonde with the creepy eyes? Creepy Eyes?”

Ren sighed heavily, “Nora,” he scolded lightly, grabbing the redhead’s attention, “calling her names is very unkind…” 

The redhead huffed, “Not if that’s what everybody else calls her,” she gestured to Weiss, “she’s called the Runaway Heiress! Can I not call her that?”

Something else she’d learned what that everybody out here had some sort of nickname, hers just happened to be a reference to her former life. Weiss’ face contorted into one of disapproval, “No, no you may not.” She muttered under her breath, taking another bite of her bagel and facing away from the trio.

‘Runaway Heiress…’ She glanced up to the gloomy skies. ‘Yeah, that’s what I am now, I suppose. I’m the Runaway Schnee…’Weiss’ posture slackened, “I still have some sort of reputation here…” 

Just as the words left her mouth, the memory became distorted as an irritating buzzing noise erupted from the back of her head, bringing her back towards reality.

“Weiss.”

The singer’s eyes blurrily blinked open to see a warm pair of silver staring back at her. She squinted in confusion, still trying to register exactly who was seated in front of her. Black splotches began to appear in her vision and her eyelids grew heavy again, she tiredly rested her head back down and released a content sigh once she was able to relax again. 

Her brows knit together when she heard the annoying buzzing sound again and she grumbled in discomfort. Weiss staggered between her dreamworld and consciousness, trying to recognize to whom it belonged to. “But the sun’s already up, Weiss.” Weiss grumbled in response and snuggled in deeper as an attempt to block Ruby’s voice out, didn’t she know that she required approximately eight hours of rest? 

A light, circular motion began rubbing across the small of her back and Weiss released a sigh of content. Warmth expanded through her chest as she relaxed into the artist’s touch. Her mind flashed back to the night before.

“I’m serious!” The brunette giggled, waving her hands to grab Weiss’ attention, “We were out there, trapped in the storm on the pontoon! My uncle, not Qrow, was just being an asshole and wouldn’t go any faster! Thunder, lightning, and rain everywhere, and we were in the middle of the dang lake!” 

Weiss shook her head, “How? How are you alive? You could’ve been struck by lightning!”

Ruby’s posture straightened and she held her head high, “Exactly!” She exclaimed proudly, “You can survive my family, then you can endure anything!” She placed a hand on her chest dramatically, “I just so happened to be born in it!”

The singer snorted in amusement, her eyes meeting Ruby’s twinkling silver pair. “Well,” she hummed playfully, “that certainly explains your reckless behavior.”

“Hey!” Ruby frowned, feigning hurt. “My family’s recklessness is the only reason you didn’t get pneumonia when you fell through the ice when we were kids!” She pointed an accusing finger at her, “Yeah, I remember that now.”

Weiss scoffed, recalling the humiliating incident. “You’re the reason I fell through the ice in the first place.”

“You should’ve saw that puppy-dog pout face you had, though. Adorable!”

“Especially when you make that pouty puppy-dog face.” 

Puppy-dog face? Wait, what?

Weiss’ eyes fluttered open reluctantly and she lifted her head, tiredly pushing herself up and adjusting her sight to glare down at the girl below her. Lively silver eyes gazed back at her and she felt her heart do a little flip in her chest, “Well, good morning, Sleeping Beauty.”  

“Shut up.” Weiss grumbled, flipping the cushion behind the young lady's head down into her face. Her eyes trailed down to notice that she was resting against Ruby’s body, ‘The hell?’ 

Alarm raced through her when she came to acknowledge she'd by one way or another cuddled up with the artist at some point during the night. Ruby swatted the pillow down and Weiss’ frosty blue eyes met her warm silver pair again. Warmth rose to her cheeks and she pummeled her hand down on the cushion once, keeping Ruby from pushing it off again. “Don’t look at me!” 

A soft click grabbed Weiss’ attention and she moved her eyes towards Nora, who was seated across from them in the recliner. The redhead wore an all-too-knowing smirk on her face, one that sent both mortification and fury flowing through the singer. 

“What are you looking at?!” She demanded, swinging herself off the couch, ignoring the painful ‘oof’ Ruby gave beneath her. “Delete the picture! Now!”

Nora giggled, “Nope.” She answered, kicking her legs up on the recliner nonchalantly. “Besides, we already have like three pictures of the two of you cuddling.”

Weiss was fuming, her face burned with embarrassment. “We were not cuddling!”

The drummer stuck her tongue out, “I have evidence~!” She sing-songed mischievously. “You looked pretty comfortable, too! Why are you denying it?”

Why was she denying it? She was sick of her friends constantly trying to encourage her to pursue a relationship with the artist. She was tired of them relentlessly poking fun at them, and romanticizing everything .

“Weiss.” Ruby whispered tenderly from behind her, rising to her feet to place her hand on Weiss’ shoulder.  “Calm down… Don’t strain your voice…” 

The smirk on Nora’s face only grew. Fury raced through Weiss again, bubbling up to the surface and erupting from her mouth; “Because I don’t love her!” 

The bus went silent and Nora’s jaw fell agap. A cold chill filled in the air.

Ruby’s hand slowly removed from Weiss’ shoulder and the singer glanced towards the roadie; the rage she'd felt dissolved away in a split second and was replaced with regret. The brunette wore a guarded expression, her eyes lacked any sort of emotion, they were stone. ‘Did… I really say that?’The musician thought quietly. “Ruby?”

The moment her name left Weiss’ lips, the artist tore her eyes away from her and stiffly walked away. Horror settled inside of Weiss’ gut, “R-Ruby…” she murmured, starting after the younger girl. 

“Leave her alone.” Nora’s threatening voice came from the couch and she turned to face the redhead. “If you don’t care about her, then don’t lead her on like that… You’re giving her mixed signals.” 

Mixed signals? She wasn’t trying to send any ‘signals’ in the first place! If she was, she could only assume that the blame was on her friends. Irritation struck her again and Weiss’ fists clenched, “Maybe if all of you left me alone , I could figure it out!” Nora opened her mouth to say something, but Weiss cut her off. “If I am, it’s because all of you are telling me how I should feel about her!”

“What’s all the shouting about?” A vaguely familiar masculine voice caught her attention and Weiss turned towards them, her brows knitting together at the sight of a tall, blonde man in a blue onesie. “It’s only seven in the morning…” 

Weiss’ jaw fixed at the sight of the man, and another wave of rage hit her.  “What is he doing in here?” She snarled, facing Nora. “There is a sleeper bus for a goddamn reason. None of the staff besides the fucking band is supposed-”

Pyrrha cut her off and Weiss swore she felt chills run up her spine, “You allow Ruby to sleep in here,” she said firmly, as if she were challenging the singer, “she’s a roadie. Not a groupie. I don’t see why she should be the only exception, or does she have a special case?”

Jaune’s brows furrowed in confusion. “I thought they were dating?” 

Weiss let out an annoyed groan, “We’re not dating! Hell, I don’t even know if I like her that way.”

Nora raised a brow, “So, you’re saying you do like her in some way?” She asked, sounding genuinely confused. 

The singer’s mouth clamped shut, she felt as though her mind and her heart were being pulled in two different directions. Part of her did want to say that she liked the younger girl, but the better half of her told her that her feelings were not her own. What if she was never able to return the feelings? 

What if she’d hurt Ruby?  Wait no, Ruby knew that she didn’t like her that way. She wouldn’t take it to heart, right? They were friends, surely she understood that. 

“I don’t know.” Weiss answered after a long moment of thought. Her heart tightened as she turned away from her friends, ascending the staircase. “I’m going to check on Ruby…” Icy blue eyes glared back at the rest of the band, daring either one of them to follow her. “Leave. Us. Alone.” 

A loud buzzing sound filled the room just as the words left Weiss’ mouth, the singer stopped at the top of the staircase and stared down into the lounge to locate the noise. Nora threw her head back with a loud groan of annoyance. The sound echoed in Weiss’ head, sending a sense of deja vu coursing through her. Hadn’t she heard that sound earlier? It was her phone, she knew that much, but where was it?

“Take your phone.” Nora said with an eerily calm voice, she reached over and grabbed Weiss’ phone, “It’s been ringing all morning!” Pyrrha took the device from the shorter redhead and handed it up to Weiss.

“Alright, alright.” Weiss muttered without reading the contact, she slid it over to green to answer the call.

“It’s about fucking time you answered your damn phone!” Yang’s voice shouted from the other line, echoing loud enough for everybody in the bus to hear her. Weiss flinched back and held the phone away from her, rubbing at her ear as an attempt to soothe the ringing.

“I’ve been trying to reach you all damn morning, and Ruby’s phone fucking dead I guess!” At the mention of her name, Ruby slid her door open and peeked out, her confused silver eyes met Weiss’ equally bewildered pair.

Weiss shook her head. “What do you need, Yang?” She asked with a relaxing tone, hoping it would somehow soothe the blonde.

“Is Blake there?!” Yang asked desperately, “I can’t find her. She woke up at five and said she was gonna go out for a walk, I said okay because I knew she wouldn’t be alone, and now it’s seven in the morning and she isn’t back.” The blonde voice trembled, Weiss swore she heard something snap on the other end and Yang released a forcibly relaxed breath.

Ruby walked up next to Weiss, the two of them exchanged a glance before fixing their attention on the phone.

“I went out to search for her, and I asked this girl Velvet if she’s seen her because I’ve noticed that they’ve spent a lot of time together since we got here.” Yang was rambling now with practically zero breaths in the middle. “Velvet said she hasn’t seen her all morning, and nobody else was really awake at that time so I don’t know who else to ask or where Blake would be…”  

Weiss’ eyes trailed down to Pyrrha and Nora, looking to them for a potential answer. The two of them simply shrugged in response, appearing just as confused as she was. “Well, Blake isn’t here…” She informed the blonde, “But, I’ll let you know if I see her. Have you called her?”

A boisterous snicker came from Yang’s side. “‘Have I called her’, she asks.” Yang ridiculed.  “Yes, I have! She left her phone here!”

Ruby spoke next, attempting to relax her sister. “I’m sure she’s fine, Yang. She’s not fragile, you know.”

“I know that, Ruby.” Yang replied softly, but the edge of desperation was still evident. “But she hasn’t come back in nearly two hours… Something tells me that-...” The blonde’s voice cut off and a sense of dread filled the air. 

“Yang?” Ruby murmured.

After a long moment, Yang finally responded. “What if Adam took her…?”

Chapter Text

Chapter Sixteen
Broken
[Weiss]

She moved through the day in a robotic manner, only briefly interacting with the Ice Flower fans and feigning optimism when asked about the concert taking place in just a few hours, she’d managed to force herself into a decent enough mood to sign autographs and take some pictures with a few selected children. 

Seeing her younger fans did make her feel a little bit better… They had very little to worry about, and judging by the sheer joy in their eyes, they were experiencing the best day of their lives having the chance to meet her.

Weiss mostly ignored her male fans as she’d met plenty enough to know that all they wanted was to date or flirt with her. That or they claimed to be an aspiring musician and wanted her advice, when all they wanted to do was ogle her or hog all of her spare time.

She knew that her friends could see right through her facade. Pyrrha was often asking her if she needed a break, a drink, a snack, and sometimes asking if she felt alright. 

Nora was mostly only there as an attempt to offer her strength and a few reassuring words that didn’t help even in the slightest.

Ren tried to be the voice of reason, trying to keep her focused and calm, which Weiss was a little grateful for when one of her fans came up to her; the woman had been a panther faunus with a striking resemblance to Blake. 

It only reminded her of how she’d failed her best friend, twice . Pyrrha kept saying that it wasn’t her fault at all, because she couldn’t have done anything to prevent it, but she couldn’t help but to feel guilty. 

Weiss had been beyond thankful when she’d finally gotten away from the crowd. It meant that she didn’t have to hold as much in, taking a great pressure off her shoulders. She’d retreated straight to her clothing room, where she’d flopped down on her single sofa and released a heavy sigh. She could feel everything inside of her spiraling…

One side of her fretted over the concert, wondering if her current mental state would ruin everything. Her body tensed upon realization; this would be her first concert without Blake in the audience to support her. There would be so many people watching her, so many eyes prying into her and judging her for even the slightest mistake… 

Yang also  currently despised her, and Weiss thoroughly understood why despite Ruby insisting that it was just her sister’s hurt talking and that she didn’t mean it. She should mean it . Weiss’ career and past relationship with Blake lead to her kidnapping… If she and Blake had never become an item when they were younger, if she’d never pursued her dream of becoming a singer, he likely would have never found her.

No… She would be fine… She could do this. 

Inside, she knew that her best friend would be alright and that she needed to trust her, but Blake had only managed to escape the first time because she, Ren, and Nora showed up just in time. 

Her friends...

She was upset at her friends for trying to force her with Ruby, and her confusion over her own feelings for the brunette weren’t helping. She couldn’t tell whether or not they’d developed on their own, or they were only there because she was expected to fall in love with her. Sure, she was fond of the younger artist, but couldn’t figure out whether or not she even liked her… 

But she kept rejecting Ruby’s feelings… To her face. That wasn’t an excuse.

Weiss had been on the side of heartbreak before, and it wasn’t very fun to experience. But, she was let down easily. Weiss constantly tore out Ruby’s heart and stitched it back together, only to rip it to pieces again. 

“Asshole…” She muttered to herself, stifling a quiet sob. Weiss grit her teeth and she clutched the side of her armchair, tears pooling at the edges of her eyes. She couldn’t get the image of Ruby’s masked hurt out of her head. Her heart tightened again and numbing pain rolled through her, heavy with guilt. She tilted her head back as an attempt to withhold the tears stinging at her eyes. “Why do you always do this?!” The singer scolded herself, doubling over to clutch her aching chest. “You fucking… Asshole !”

“Weiss!”

The vocalist's head jerked up, her hazy vision gradually clearing to see Ruby standing in front of her with a concerned expression. “Are you okay? Do you need help?” Ruby murmured worriedly. 

Why was she here? 

Oh, right… Checking on her for the concert.

“I’m fine.” Weiss answered quietly, slowly returning to her senses and blinking herself to reality. 

“Weiss…” Ruby’s soft voice snapped her from her thoughts again and frosty blue eyes looked up into Ruby’s silver pair.  The brunette knelt down and Ruby offered her a warm smile that sent butterflies fluttering through Weiss’ chest. “I know you’re worried, but trust me, she’ll be okay. Blake’s strong…” 

“Y-you don’t know that.” Weiss murmured, her chest heaving and her breath hitching when Ruby smiled at her.

Ruby reached to rest her hand on Weiss’ shoulder, “But I do.” She whispered as electricity coursed through Weiss’ body. “She survived the White Fang, life on the streets, and she even tolerated you.”

Weiss let out a soft laugh, “Wow, ouch.” She giggled. Her head snapped up when Ruby laughed in response, her heart nearly being sent into overdrive. She felt a numbing calmness move through her like a calm wave crashing onto shore. Her eyes met with a warm pair of silver, her gaze moved down towards the girl’s lips and something sparked inside her chest. All sense ebbed away from her, her mind focused on Ruby’s voice.

“Anyway. I doubt she’d want you worrying yourself to the point of paranoia over her safety,” Ruby murmured to her reassuringly, making Weiss briefly question what they were talking about, “she’ll be just fine-” the girl trailed off and Weiss noticed her brows furrowing. “Weiss?” 

A small voice at the back of her mind started screaming at her, begging her to reconsider, the faint echo reverberated in her head multiple times as a warning before she shut it off like a switch. 

She leaned forward, having made her decision.

Warmth spread through Weiss’ chest when her lips met with Ruby’s, but the artist went rigid. ‘You fool!’ The voice shrieked at her, causing her to briefly question her choice. All in a split second, the roadie jerked away and a heartbroken cry reeled Weiss back to her senses. Her vision cleared just enough to see a quick hand snapping up- 

A sharp sting erupted in her cheek and she recoiled back, her hand raising to lightly touch the reddening flesh. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Ruby scrambling to her feet. “Ruby-”

“Quit doing this to me!” Ruby cried, her voice cracking with grief and sorrow. She was quivering, her hands clenched and her fists shaking. “It may be all pointless fun for you,” she began as Weiss turned her eyes back towards her, guilt retching at her heart, “but it’s not for me , Weiss!” 

Weiss sat up to her knees carefully, her lips still tingling, her attention never leaving Ruby as the other girl’s voice rose higher with each word. She could feel curious, confused eyes watching them. “Ruby…” She whispered regretfully. “I’m sor-”

Ruby cut her off, “Save it! I don’t want to hear your ‘apology’!” She hollered, her brows creased together in both grief and anger. She grit her teeth, forcing herself to look away from the singer. She stopped trembling and her voice fell calm. “I love you…” She mumbled without feeling, her eyes downcast.  “I really, really wish I didn’t… But I do… And believe me, if I could dispose of it with just a snap of my fingers, I would…” 

“Ruby…” Weiss murmured again as Ruby faced away from her, walking away. The white-haired singer let out a whimper, taking a step after the roadie. Her voice was almost broken, full of guilt and regret. “Please, d-don’t leave.”

She couldn’t lose her… Not again.

The artist stopped for a moment and her body shuddered momentarily, she watched as she lifted her head and looked back at the singer with tears in her eyes. The expression her friend wore almost broke her heart. Weiss’ chest tightened as Ruby closed her eyes and drew in a deep sigh, she opened her eyes and her face was deprived of emotion. “What do you want, Weiss?” Even her voice was hollow. 

Oh, what had she done?

When Weiss didn’t respond, Ruby turned away again and began walking, putting distance between them. Weiss watched her back silently as heart wrenching agony settled inside of her chest, pulling her heart down forcefully. ‘Ruby, I’m sorry… I didn’t mean to.’ She hung her head and clenched her fists. ‘I’m so, so fucking sorry…’

Her head jerked up at the sound of her manager, Henry, calling for her and she calmly faced him. His face was one of pure aggravation, he was already wearing his headset and holding a clipboard in hand, Weiss let out a sigh and glanced at the time, willing away the tears in her eyes. “You idiots are onstage in fifteen minutes, hurry up!” Henry hissed at her, disappearing around the corner.

“Yeah…” Weiss whispered, burying her grief, glancing at her reflection in the mirror and taking a moment to readjust her hair and examine her general appearance. She looked alright, save for the red in her eyes. But that should clear up pretty quickly if she manages to keep her mind off of everything happening. Blake would keep her focused-

Her heart dropped.

Blake wasn’t here. She was missing… 

Weiss shook her head as an attempt to rid herself of the depressing thoughts. She didn’t need anybody to keep her grounded, she was capable of handling it herself! 

Her eyes darted to the shapes of her bandmates approaching in the mirror’s reflection and she forced a smile, spinning around to look at them. “You guys ready?” She asked with a cocky voice, trying to act as though nothing had ever happened. Her voice cracked, causing Nora to frown at her in disbelief. Weiss brushed it off. “Stay focused and we’ll do just fine! Come on, we need to meet up with Edan.”

Pyrrha gave her a worried look, “We’re doing fine, Weiss.” She said, approaching her. “But what about you? It’s not too late to forfeit if it’s causing you-”

Weiss cut her off. “My father is out there.” She said harshly, locking her blue eyes with Pyrrha’s green pair. “We are not backing out last minute, our reputation depends on it.”

“Is it worth risking your mental health?” Pyrrha inquired. 

Her eyes drifted towards the shape of Ruby passing by near her, wearing a soft, genuine smile on her face this time. Her heart twinged at the sight of Penny following her like a lost puppy. Penny was the reason she was smiling, and Weiss was the reason she’d almost cried… Weiss didn’t say a word, watching the roadie disappear into the lighting room to prepare for the band’s concert.

“Eight minutes!” A man called to the back as the Blaze crew approached behind him, making their way over to Ice Flower. Weiss closed her eyes and breathed in, relaxing her nerves and shutting her emotions out again.

“If you want to forfeit, we can…” Nora whispered to Weiss. “I’m sure Edan will understand.”

“I’m going to at least try ,” Weiss whispered back with forced confidence, reaching up to adjust the mic attached to her head, “I’ll be fine… Trust me.”

Edan grinned, coming to stop in front of Weiss. “Yo, Weiss!” He greeted politely, “I just wanna apologize about last night,” he murmured, rubbing his neck shyly, “I didn’t know you had a girlfriend, honest!” Wait, what? 

Her mind flashed back to the time she’d asked Ruby to be her pretend girlfriend and her chest tightened. Surely they weren’t referring to her? Blake, maybe? No, they broke up before the band was created. Nora was with Ren, and Pyrrha clearly wasn’t… Pyrrha wasn’t into her.

So, who could they be talking about?

“Your roadie, of course.” Weiss frowned in confusion, but she felt like something had stopped inside of her. Where the hell did they get this information?! 

Only then did she become aware of the roaring crowd outside, her ears drummed and pounded as her heart clenched. In just a few minutes, she would be out there with thousands upon thousands of eyes on her, watching her every move. Her father was out there… She looked towards the exit as her chest began to heave, hoping she would see her best friend making her way out to the crowd.

No, she wasn’t here… She had to do this alone.

Her eyes moved to Pitch when he stepped up with a grin on his face, she swallowed hard and stiffened as an attempt to keep her posture. “I talked to her last night during rehearsal!” He explained happily, reminding Weiss that they were talking about Ruby. “She was jealous because E-Man here was flirting with you, so we came to apologize.” Pitch paused, rubbing his chin. “Well, she didn’t say she was your girlfriend per say… But she got really flustered when I mentioned it.”

“Ruby?” Weiss asked carefully, her voice shaky. She let out a sigh when Pitch nodded. “N-no, she’s not my girlfriend.” The looks of bewilderment on their faces was almost laughable. “She’s, she’s just my... friend.”

‘A friend whom I’ve been treating like shit…’  

“Oh.” Pitch’s smile fell and his forehead wrinkled, “Weird. Those looks she was giving ya really made me think you two were an item.” Weiss shook her head. “The way you were lookin’ at her didn’t help at all,” she looked at him again, “it was like every other minute, you’d look at her as though you needed her approval, ‘er support.”

She didn’t remember that… “I just wanted to make sure she didn’t mess anything up.” Weiss muttered quietly. “That’s it.”

“Five minutes!” The man called again with irritation in his voice. Behind him, she could hear another guy announcing Ice Flower and the Blaze crew’s appearance. “I hope you kids are ready!”

Weiss sucked in a deep breath and spun to face her bandmates. “Ironwood doubled security for us, right?” Pyrrha responded with a light ‘yes’. “The bus has been secured? The technicians all in the correct places?” Nora gave her a thumbs up. “The instruments are tuned, correct?” Ren gave her a short nod. “Alright, let’s-...” she trailed off, becoming increasingly aware of the squeals and screams from the crowd, the sounds reverberated in her head and her anxiety spiked. 

She let out another shaky sigh and quickly jogged over to the curtain, pulling it back slightly to examine the crowd. Her heart nearly stopped. There were… so many people. So many unfamiliar faces. People were out there to watch her, to note her every move and watch for anything to bring down her band’s reputation. Her father was somewhere out there, waiting to destroy her.

Desperately, she scanned the crowd from behind the curtain, searching for a familiar friendly face. Her breathing became labored each time her eyes landed on a strange person, a few of them looking rather stoic and suspicious. Her heart began racing in her chest with fear when she found the face of her father, having rented a seat far away from the crowd, but close enough to see her. His head turned towards the red curtain and Weiss jerked behind it.

‘No. No... No!’ She had to calm down, this concert had to be flawless. She needed to prove her father wrong, get this over with and sit down to write her next album. Henry had been barking at her ever since he became her manager to get started on her new songs, what would happen if she couldn’t get them done before the due date? She’d never been this late before!

“Weiss.” 

She caught sight of Pyrrha approaching her, wearing her usual worried expression. “Look at you, you don’t need to go out there.”

No! She had to! “I’ll be fine!” Weiss snapped, Pyrrha stepped back in surprise and she sighed. “I have to do this.”

“Thirty seconds!” 

Edan and his crew were already waiting for her, one of them seemed rather impatient. She could do this… This wasn’t her first performance. 

Weiss grabbed her mic from Nora and strolled out after Edan, who whipped his guitar over his shoulder and hollered out a loud ‘hello, everybody’ to the crowd, who roared with cheers in response. Weiss flinched subtly at the sound and approached the mic stand that Pitch had quickly brought out. She watched the man leave quietly, wondering where Ruby was at this time. “You ready?” Edan asked with an enthusiastic tone, slowly starting to strum his guitar. Weiss didn’t respond and fixed her attention on the crowd, instinctively searching for her friend and swallowing her panic when she didn’t see her. 

Time slowed down as Edan’s voice sprung out from next to her and dread rolled through her, the pounding of her heart overruled the cheering of the crowd and everything else. 

There were so many people… Watching her. 

Weiss’ eyes frantically scanned the crowd, her breathing quickened when she realized there wasn’t a familiar friendly face in sight. Nobody for her to focus on… Slowly Edan’s voice faded out and all eyes turned towards her, the crowd growing bigger, she anxiously gripped the microphone stand as the entire room fell into a deafening silence.

Weiss shook her head once, snapping herself out of her thoughts. No, she couldn’t lose herself. She had to stay focused and wait for her cue. Any minute now… 

She felt a familiar pair of eyes on her.

Weiss’ breath hitched and she slowly lifted her head, her gaze drifting towards Ruby. She was watching her, expression neutral and her eyes guarded. ‘I’m sorry… ’

Her eyes became unfocused as panic slowly settled in, Weiss shook her head and tried to refocus. She could hear her cue coming up… She had to do this. Her gaze locked with her father’s and she froze under his hard, stern eyes. 

No, she couldn’t do this… It was too much…Her attention locked on the crowd before her and her heart rate picked up, her eyes widened and she stumbled away from the mic. She could feel her bandmates watching her. “Weiss?” She glanced towards Pyrrha, “You alright?” The redhead murmured in concern.

The murmurs erupting from the crowd drifted through her ears and panic rolled through her, sending fear up her spine as her world became a blur. She was panicking… No, she had to calm down. This was live! ‘Run.’ A tiny voice in the back of her head whispered, causing her to become increasingly aware that all eyes had turned to her. Edan had stopped singing, his mouth was moving as though he was speaking to her, but she couldn’t hear him.

‘Run!’ The voice said, this time louder. Weiss spun on one foot, shifting her weight to quickly dart away and off the stage. She stumbled as she descended, but quickly regained her footing and ran . 

She knew she’d just ruined everything her band and Edan had worked for, and the guilt and shame tore at her heart. This had been their last big concert until their break, and she’d ruined it. 

Her eyes briefly met with a pair of wide silver. A voice called after her and she winced, quickening her pace.

Her concert was not the only thing she’d destroyed… ‘You’re an asshole.’ The voice murmured to her knowingly as she ran, the world around her speeding by as an unfocused blur. Where was she going? Nothing looked familiar. ‘You worked your band, your friends, half to death...’ S he did, didn’t she? ‘ And then you go and ruin the entire concert because of your anxiety.’ The voice was right… ‘ You had an anxiety attack, realized what you were doing and now you’re running away.’ But she’d never run away before... ‘You’re so weak.’

“Shut up!”

She felt her feet slide across the slippery ground beneath her and her world refocused for a second before she realized she was falling. Her side collided with the hard earth and her body instantly became numb, she was aware of the nearly unintelligible noise behind her and she could hear her own, labored and uneven breathing. She closed her eyes as tears stung at them, “What’ve I done?”

Weiss heard a vaguely familiar voice approaching her, but she lay as still as she could and didn’t react. 

“Weiss?” The familiar voice whispered again, she recognized it as Ruby’s. She could hear people gathering somewhere in the distance, their hushed murmurs whispering her name. “Are you okay?” Rustling came from the brunette and a gentle hand was placed on her shoulder, briefly snapping Weiss out of her trance. She lifted her head to look at the concerned roadie and her heart twisted with guilt.

Even after she’d been such an asshole towards the girl, she still cared for her? Wait, no, that was her job. She had to be friendly towards Weiss, right? 

“I-I’m fine.” Weiss mumbled, pushing herself to sit up on her knees, her light blue eyes meeting with a pair of worried, captivating silver. Her gaze drifted towards her approaching bandmates, noticing their concerned expressions. “I’m sorry I ruined the concert.” She said softly as Pyrrha knelt down next to her. Tears stung at the corners of her eyes, remembering how hard she’d pushed all of them to make everything absolutely perfect, and all of that had gone to waste in under sixty seconds… Because of her.

“That’s alright.” Nora smiled as she and Ren took their spots next to Pyrrha. The redhead smirked, “We kinda saw this coming with how stressed you were.” She shrugged the icy glare Weiss sent at her off, “Don’t worry, Edan’s not mad. He just wants to know if you’re alright.”

Ren nodded in agreement, “A person’s mental and physical health comes first.” 

“And you’re our friend,” Pyrrha spoke up, “You come before a concert.”

Out of the corner of her eye, Weiss caught a glimpse of Ruby’s rising shape. She was leaving…  “Stay!” Weiss barked, her arm shooting out to grab the roadie’s wrist before she could get too far away. She swallowed as Ruby looked back at her, “Please…?”

The brunette stared at her for a moment in bewilderment before sinking back down to her knees across from the singer. “Okay…” Weiss felt herself smile a little bit as their eyes met again.

Pyrrha broke the momentary silence, “Should we tell Edan and his crew-”

A collateral explosion erupted around them, shaking the ground beneath them and turning the darkening sky black.

Chapter Text

“Stay!” She looked over her shoulder as Weiss’ hand locked around her wrist in a tight iron grip, the singer’s face became remorseful. “Please?” Weiss murmured pleadingly, her grip loosening in case Ruby pulled away. The brunette sank to her knees, whispering her quiet response and watching as a grateful, serene smile formed across the woman’s lips. 

Pyrrha’s voice grabbed their attention, a warm smile on her face. “Should we tell Edan and his crew-”

A deafening sound erupted all around them and Ruby’s brow furrowed as everything was washed out by different, indescribable colors. She could hear her heartbeat and the ringing in her ears was unbearable, she turned her head to say something to the person next to her when she noticed shadows forming around her where her friends once were. Confusion and fear rolled through her simultaneously, everything around her was so slow…  A bright light caught her eye and she squinted, trying to turn her head away as the light became increasingly brighter. 

She smelled smoke. 

A soft clicking sound rang in her head momentarily just before the world around her sped up. Her friends were back, all of them diving down with their hands over their head as debris flew towards them. Wait, debris?! 

Ruby let out a pained grunt of surprise when a small, but heavy piece of concrete collided with her side at full force, causing her to double over and her back to slam against the ground.  “Ruby!” A vaguely familiar voice screeched, she winced in pain as the world became a blur of unintelligible colors and screams. She could hear collateral explosions echoing all around her, she could feel the ground rumbling beneath her.

“Ruby! Move!” The voice shrieked again, her view was suddenly blocked by the shape of someone looming over her, shielding her unprotected body with their own. “Get up!” They hollered again as the world became considerably clearer and she returned to her senses. “Ruby, Ruby! Can you move your legs?” The figure over her asked worriedly, Ruby let out a quiet hum of confusion. 

The sky was an odd reddish black color and everything reeked of smoke. Those black clouds in the sky were… Smoke. 

Something was heading towards them.

The figure above her lifted their head for a moment before a shrill scream snapped Ruby back to reality..Something warm dripped on her and her body jolted upwards, wrapping around the person just in time to shift her weight and rolled them beneath her, cradling their head as an attempt to protect them just as they had done for her. 

“Weiss!” She heard herself scream just before a dull thud vibrated through her skull. Her vision became dark.

Silence. Blackness. There was a quiet, faint ringing in her ears.

“Help! My friend, she isn’t waking up! She’s hurt!”

“It’s okay, we’ve got her. Find the others!”

She vaguely remembered opening her eyes to see a slow-moving black blur around her, and a panicked blue gaze looking back at her.

“What’re we going to do…?”

“You two can head home with her… I’ll stay with Ruby.”

Then, everything was quiet.

Her eyes blinked open and instantly closed, shielding her silver orbs from the blinding white light above her. She let out a breath and hesitantly opened her eyes again, blinking as an attempt to adjust them to the light. There was a dull throb in the back of her head, becoming increasingly more painful as her head moved. Her blurred vision locked on a distinctly familiar white shape across the room from her, she squinted as an attempt to see them better.

“Ruby?” The shape murmured in surprise, almost sounding like she was in disbelief. “She’s awake!” The white figure called down the hall, carefully making their way over to her.

Weiss.

She was at home… Why was she at home? More importantly, why was Weiss here?

“What happened?” Ruby murmured almost disorientedly as Weiss sat down next to her, keeping a reasonable distance between the two of them. Ruby fixed her gaze on the singer and her forehead wrinkled when she noticed the bandage over the girl’s eye, “Wh-wha-? Are you okay?” She asked, lifting one weak hand to examine the injury.

Weiss’ fingers wrapped around her wrist tenderly and placed her hand back down, “I’m fine,” she offered her a strained smile, “I’m more concerned about you, you took a pretty hard hit to the head…” Her soft fingers came up to touch the artist’s forehead and a warm feeling rolled through the brunette, almost like calm waves crashing upon the shore. “How does your head feel?” 

First, she wanted her question to be answered. “How does your eye feel?” She countered. Weiss was briefly taken aback, “What happened?” 

The singer reached up to carefully remove the bandage and Ruby prepared herself, fearing that she would see a gruesome, bloody image in the place of her eye. She watched in anticipation, her fists curling up in the sheets below her. Ruby’s breath hitched at the sight of a fresh, diagonal, crooked scar stretching down Weiss’ left eye.

It was… Kind of beautiful.

The woman’s gaze became sorrowful. “It’s hideous, I know.” She murmured shamefully.

“N-no!” Ruby yelped, the singer flinched and she let out a groan, her head throbbing abruptly. She sighed, refixing her attention on Weiss. “I like it,” she whispered softly as means not to startle the timid woman, “I think it suits you…”

Weiss’ cheeks became red and she offered her a tiny, shaky smile, “Thank you.” 

“Ruby, you’re awake!” Ruby turned her head to see her father jogging into the room, his eyes wide, watery, but grateful. He didn’t spare Weiss a single glance, it was almost as if she wasn’t even there. “How do you feel?” She was fine, why was everybody asking her that? 

“I’m fine, Dad,” she muttered as he knelt down next to the bed, “can someone tell me what happened?”

The air around them became heavy, something was pulling her chest down like dead weight.

“There was a bombing at the concert,” Tai explained reluctantly, his eyes downcast, as if he hadn’t really wanted to be the one to break it to her. “After the investigation, it was confirmed that the White Fang had set numerous bombs around the studio, disguising themselves as security guards.” He looked back up at her, “When your girlfriend ran offstage, they took that as their opening and set them off.” Ruby’s heart did a small flutter at the mention of the word ‘girlfriend’ and her eyes drifted towards Weiss, “You got hurt, fell unconscious and she got you out of there…” 

It was Weiss’ turn to speak. “You protected me,” she murmured, her voice soft and hesitant, “it was the least I could do…”

Tai sighed, “Many, many people got hurt, Ruby.” His hand came to rest on hers, “A few people lost their lives… Dozens, actually.” His eyes watered for a moment and Ruby’s heart tightened.

Weiss leaned in, “Eden and Pitch were right in the middle of it all.” So, they were… Dead? “We were lucky enough to have been a few feet away from the building.”

It was taking all of Tai’s willpower not to lose his composure. “W-when, I, um-” He took a moment to clear his throat. “When I heard of it on the news, I was worried that you had been among them…” Her father thought she may have died, “I started towards the city and, and I was trying to… Prepare myself for the news, before uh,” Tai glanced at Weiss and he remained silent for a long moment. “And then she found me…”

Ruby looked at the singer, who offered a tiny smile in response. “She told me you were okay and brought me to you, she… She was injured, but… She was a lot more concerned about your wellbeing than her own… She’s here because she wanted to keep an eye on you,” he informed her, “and, well, she didn’t have anywhere else to go.” 

Wait, what? She knew Weiss had a large, fully staffed mansion to return to, so why couldn’t she have taken advantage of-

Ah, right… 

The man rubbed his forehead and stood up, his eyes sad. “Yang wanted to come down, but her college wouldn’t release her. She’s very worried… You should probably call her tonight.” He made to leave the room, “I’ve made some tea if you girls want some.” 

“We’ll be down soon. Thank you…” Weiss answered.

“We should go.” Ruby slid out of the bed, grunting as discomfort rolled through her body when her foot touched the cold floor.

“Hold on-” Weiss stopped her and the brunette looked back, their eyes meeting. Weiss cleared her throat, pulling herself back together. Weiss gestured accusingly at the artist, “How does your head feel?”

Ah fuck.

“Fine, I guess,” Ruby answered meekly. “It throbs a little, but other than that… I’m fine.” Weiss looked like she wanted to say something else, but opted out of it. The artist sighs, wincing as a short jab of pain struck her. She rubbed her forehead. “Alright… Tell me what happened… All I remember is you running off stage...”

The singer hesitated. “Your father just told you.”

Ruby frowned at her. “He told me about the attack, not what happened before.”

Reluctance flickered through her icy blue eyes and the singer visibly grimaced. “Weiss…?” She avoided eye contact with her, Weiss’ body was trembling ever so slightly. 

No, no she couldn’t cry. She didn’t want her to cry...  She had to do something. Ruby’s heart rate picked up and she shifted, reaching to place her hand on Weiss’ knee as an attempt to console her. “I-I’m sorry…” Was that helpful? Probably not…

Ruby panicked as the vocalist readjusted her sitting position, briefly causing the brunette to wonder if she’d said the wrong thing and Weiss was leaving. 

“It’s all my fucking fault...” Weiss whimpered at last, her voice barely audible, Ruby strained to hear her. “I wanted everything to be absolutely perfect…” If I hadn’t been a damn coward,” yep, she did not like that word, “maybe if I had warned everybody about the White Fang, we could’ve reinforced security… But I was… So focused on the stupid, fucking concert.” 

She was asking about her breakdown. This is not what she meant-

Wait a minute, Weiss was blaming herself for someone else’s negligence?  What?

“Now, so many people are dead because I didn’t-”

Ruby frowned and her hand shot up, she popped Weiss’ nose scoldingly and a rush of humiliation when Weiss glanced at her, confusion written all over her face and her eyes watery. She cleared her throat. “It’s not your fault,” she started softly, “you hired security… You doubled security, too…” Weiss opened her mouth to protest, “Bah-bah-bah!” Ruby poked her forehead multiple times, silencing her. “All you needed to do was worry about the concert, Weiss… It was Henry’s job to make sure security was doing theirs .”

“But I-”

Ruby interrupted. “Nope!” She shook her head. “I’m not going to let you blame yourself for something that wasn’t your fault.”

Weiss let out a heavy breath and closed her eyes, “Alright…” She slid off the bed to approach the beanbag she’d previously been sitting on. “Ruby?” Weiss whispered, approaching the artist.  “I managed to save this.” Ruby looked down as a familiar, ashy sketchbook was placed in front of her. The cover was scorched, but otherwise it looked fine… 

Her drawings were saved…

Wait a minute. Her drawings. Weiss .

Ruby’s head jerked up and she quickly scanned her room, dread forming in the pit of her stomach when she remembered that her bedroom was flooded with Ice Flower merchandise- most of them being her own art she’d hung up on display.  Hold up. Weiss was in her bedroom. Her eyes darted back to Weiss, Ruby swore her soul left her body. ‘No, no! Not right now.’ She could wallow in her own humiliation later, then rip down every Ice Flower poster and merchandise she owned. 

She should burn it. No, wait, that was excessive. Okay, she’ll stick everything under her bed. That’ll work! ‘She’s already seen everything, you fool.’ A little voice in the back of her head muttered bluntly. 

Well, she’d might as well start digging her grave tonight. She had a good run.

---

Gods, she hurt all over. Her head throbbed like she’d been hit by a baseball bat, her entire left side from the waist to her hip was bruised black and blue. She couldn’t hardly put any weight on it. Her arms, her knees down to her ankles were littered with little cuts she could only assume she got from flying glass that stung like constant little bee stings.

When she’d stood up off the bed, she’d felt like she was crushed by a thousand heavy boulders. Weiss helped her downstairs and she’d even offered to grab a plate for her so she didn’t need to walk too much. She was always asking if she was okay, or if she needed something. Weiss didn’t know where anything was, but she insisted that she would find it.

Ruby had also tried to give her sister a call earlier, but the two times she’d attempted to contact her with three hours in between, Yang’s phone went straight to voicemail. She just figured maybe she was busy with her studies, trying to keep her mind off what happened to Blake.

“Ruby?” She lifted her head to see Weiss approaching her wearing a concerned expression,  “Are you okay?” Weiss had asked her that question too many times to count. “You seem to be lost in thought…”

Ruby let out a heavy sigh, pushing herself away from the table to put some much needed distance between herself and Weiss. “You’re being nice.” She said bluntly, watching as the woman’s face twisted in pure confusion. “This isn’t like you… You’re usually walking around cursing the world for my very existence.”

It was like she was worried over the most minor of things… Weiss was worried about her .

Then again, the white-haired woman did blame herself for the entire incident and Ruby had been injured, she was probably holding herself responsible and assigned herself as Ruby’s caretaker as an attempt to ease the guilt. It wasn’t like she really cared for her, right?

Why else would she be treating her so nicely? During the tour, Weiss had made it blatantly obvious that Ruby was a simple roadie she couldn’t care less about, she’d said it to her face multiple times.

“What nonsense are you spouting?” Weiss murmured softly, carefully pulling a chair out to sit across from the artist. “You’re my friend, I care about you-”

“I care about you.” 

Ruby’s entire body became numb as her heart painfully throbbed, tears stinging at her eyes. Her gut twisted as her throat tightened. Now she knew exactly why Weiss had come to Patch… She wasn’t done toying with her heart, and the temporary separation from the band would provide her more time to break her. Ruby shook her head and hid her eyes, swallowing her cry before she could show any signs of weakness. She knew very well that she meant nothing to the singer, she was a simple pawn to see just how far Weiss could go.

“Why do you keep doing this to me?” Ruby asked, her voice devoid of any sort of emotion. Weiss’ brows furrowed, “You keep acting like you care about me,” she lifted her eyes to look at the singer, “but I know you don’t…”

Gods, if she could reach inside herself and switch off the affections she felt for the older girl, she would without hesitation. She knew Weiss didn’t love her, and she never would. It’d be easier to simply turn away from it-

“Of course I care about you,” Weiss whispered again, “why wouldn’t I?”

Ruby glared up at her. “The way you treat me.” Weiss frowned. “You treat me like I’m beneath you, and every time I think… Maybe I’ll be more than just the roadie who happens to be your childhood friend,” she averted her eyes, her chest burning with hurt, “you go and show me that I never will be.”

“Ruby, I’m not-” Weiss started.

“If you’re not finished playing with my heart, just please go ahead and rip it out.”  Ruby pushed herself up and away from the table. “It’ll be the nicest thing you’ve ever done for me.”

“Ruby,” Weiss called after her, her voice cracking. “Ruby, wait… Please .”

She ignored her. 

Chapter Text

Ruby hadn’t come back downstairs.

Weiss remained downstairs as an attempt to give her space and pondered over her friend’s words. She was right… Weiss had treated her like shit during the tour, and there was really no excuse for it. She didn’t blame Ruby for not trusting her, hell she wouldn’t trust herself either!

But, she was trying to make up for it, right? She’d been trying to show that she does care about her, but maybe her previous actions spoke louder than her current… She had rejected Ruby many times, and not a single one of them was light-hearted. 

‘Goddamn it!’ 

She had to find a way to show her that she did care without hurting her again. Maybe she was coming on too strong? 

“Weiss?” 

She lifted her head to see Taiyang approaching her with a concerned expression on his face. She rubbed at her forehead and offered a smile towards the smile. “I’m sorry, I suppose I got lost in thought…” More like lost in self-blame.

Tai let out a soft chuckle. “You look like you need someone to talk to.” He smiled warmly as he took a seat next to her, “Thankfully,” he shrugged and clasped his hands together, “I have two daughters. What’s wrong?”

Weiss frowned at him in confusion, wondering why Ruby’s father was willing to be civil with the person who has caused her so much emotional pain. She looked away from the man, reluctantly accepting his presence.  “Ruby’s in love with me.” She said slowly, expecting some sort of negative reaction from the man. He only watched intently. “I keep hurting her… She keeps forgiving me.” Pain twinges at her head and Weiss leaned against the couch, rubbing at her temple again to soothe it. “Then I hurt her again, and I just…” She threw her hands up and let them fall to her sides dramatically, sighing heavily. “I keep fucking up.”

She’s always been in love with her. As if she didn’t already know that… But this? It confirmed it… 

Guilt tore at the singer’s heart, sending burning pains through her body as tears pricked at the corners of her eyes. The pain became overwhelming and her body trembled. “What have I done?” She let out a broken whine and helplessly lay down on the couch, clutching the drawing close, “What’ve I done? What’ve I done…?”

Tai knelt down in front of her and gently placed his large hand on Weiss’ head, startling the woman. Weiss flinched under his touch and shrunk away from him, half-expecting him to strike her for moving, for crying. “Let it out,” he said to her warmly, not a hint of malice in his voice, surprising the singer, “seems like you have a lot bottled up…” 

‘No. I can’t.’

“I’m so sorry…” Weiss murmured, voice cracking. Tai remained where he was, trying to offer whatever kind of support he could. “I treated her like shit,” she whispered, closing her eyes and covering them with her palm, refusing to let the stinging tears escape. Gods, she felt like her heart was slowly being pried out of her chest by several sets of merciless claws…  “I don’t even… I don’t know why I did that! All of our friends were trying to… trying to get us together and I was… Frustrated. I took it out on her ! She wasn’t even to blame!”

Tai sighed, “I don’t think they were directly aimed at Ruby,” he muttered, “I think she knows that, too.”

Weiss opened her eyes and her blurry gaze fixed on Tai. “But… It was… I yelled at her, and I-”

“It was an instinctive reaction,” he interrupted, “I know all about the Schnee family from Qrow…” She pushed herself to sit up, rubbing her eyes with the back of her palm. “You felt like they were forcing you to do something, you felt like they expected something of you…” She had felt like she was required to love her. “So that’s the way you looked at it, you didn’t know any other way.” He sighs, “But, I don’t think they expected you to, Weiss…” He sat beside her again, patting her shoulder comfortingly. “I think, in their minds they were trying to help you and failed to realize the damage they were doing.”

“Maybe,” she whispered, “I don’t know… what do I do?”

Tai gestured upstairs with a small smile on his face, “Apologize… Show her the real you…” The room became quiet, “Show her that you do care about her.”

Weiss’ heart nearly stopped and she lifted her head to look at Tai, there was a consistent ringing in her ears. “But,” her brows furrowed, “you just told me to-”

He cut her off . “You protected her over everybody else,” he started gently, “you brought her to safety despite your own injuries and demanded that Ruby be treated first…” She opened her mouth to protest. Tai continued, “You could have gone home, but you insisted on coming here so that you could watch over her. You’re concerned about how she feels, and you care what she thinks about you…”

Weiss stared at him for a long moment. “I’m confused-”

“Ruby tells me everything on the phone at night,” Tai offered her a small smile, “she told me how you told your manager to back off, how you opened up to her about your history when everybody else was and is keeping secrets,” Weiss’ breath hitched, “don’t worry, she didn’t tell me anything personal,” she let out a relieved sigh, “and, well,” he chuckled, “she didn’t say it because I don’t think she realized, but by the way she said it, you were searching for her approval just as she wanted yours… You just gotta show her.”

Weiss remained silent and Tai let out a chuckle, “Now, I suppose you’re going to ask how.” She frowned at him and he simply rolled his shoulders with a light chuckle.

“When Ruby came to live with us when she was eight,” he started, grabbing the singer’s attention, “she was very afraid, she was always asking for her mother…” His eyes became sad, he hesitated for a moment and continued. “I didn’t know how to handle a child who was so quiet and socially distanced…” 

What was the point of this story? This was a completely different topic.

“I intimidated her, but I wanted to be her father so I always kept trying to spend some time with her. That made it worse because I was forcing interaction with her.” Tai explained, absentmindedly clasping and unclasping his hands. “Eventually, I learned just to sit back and let her come to me, let her watch me from a distance until she was comfortable enough to speak to me.”

Weiss raised a brow in confusion, “Okay?”

Tai chuckled, “That’s how we bonded.” He smiled at her, “Just sit back, work on yourself, and let her see the real you… But don’t come on too strong or else you’ll give her mixed signals.” He let out another hum. “Work on being her friend, just like you were before.”

“But… H-how do you...?” 

The man laughed and stood up to approach a file case, he slid it open and started searching through the old papers. “When she was very little, she drew a picture of herself and some girl with white hair.” He informed her with a tiny smile. Weiss’ heart skipped a beat. “She told me that the girl was her best friend and that she wanted to see her, but, unfortunately she couldn’t remember her name…”

What…?

“All of her memories she created with her mother around were repressed,” he explained lightly, “she remembered what the girl looked like,” he withdrew an old paper drowned with heavy crayon marks, “but never her name…” He dropped the picture in front of her, Weiss carefully picked it up. “A few years later, I saw on the news when you went missing, and I realized who the girl in the picture was.”

The singer gazed down at the drawn picture and her heartbeat steadily became faster, her eyes focused on the badly drawn, crayon-version of herself and a grey-and-white dog. “It was… Me.” Weiss murmured in astonishment, admiring the old artwork. “I remember this.” She whispered again as memories came flooding to the front of her mind.

“His name was Zwei,” Weiss recalled as she tapped the image of the dog, she looked up at Taiyang,  “he was a rescue that, um,” she hesitated, “Summer brought home one day… Mother told me so.” 

Tai chuckled briefly, he gestured at the picture. “Turn it over.” He said with a warm smile.

Weiss obeyed and flipped the picture over, her eyes widening at the little messages written on the back. One of them was very obviously Ruby’s, and the other seemed to be a bit more elegant, but not by much. “I think she’s always had some sort of crush on you.” Tai said.

Weiss let out a scoff and rubbed her forehead again, “That’s not the first time I’ve heard that…”

Tai laughed again, “Like I said… Work on yourself first, and then become her friend.”

“Thank you…” Weiss murmured, watching him leave.

So, all she had to do was just step out of her shell… That shouldn’t be too hard. She got up on stage and sang in front of thousands of people, she could definitely talk about her feelings, right? She had to make it up to Ruby somehow…

But first… 

She had to acknowledge another problem at hand; her worried fans spamming her social media accounts wondering if she was alright and what happened. She’d been ghosting them and hadn’t touched her phone at all since she’d come here. 

Weiss withdrew her phone from her size and clicked it on, briefly skimming over the countless notifications at the top of her screen. Heaving a sigh, she opened the app and reluctantly pressed the red button, forcing a smile when her reflection appeared in the screen with a flashing red dot in the corner. Almost instantly, people started scurrying to join the live recording. 

“Hello everybody,” she said with a feigned happy voice as comments began rolling in, asking how she’s been, “I apologize for not being very active recently,” her eyes were glancing towards the people joining for a familiar username.

‘Weiss! Howve you been doing??’ -mondwa

She turned her attention back to the camera, “I’ve been going through some things I’d rather not talk about…” How would she explain to her fans that she felt responsible for the bombing, anyway? Comments offering their support blew through the chat, some sending long messages she wasn’t able to read before they disappeared.

She scrolled up, reading some of them as quickly as she could. 

‘Oh shit ur eye!! You ok???’ -EnchantingWizard84

Oh, right… Her scar. Weiss' finger came up to touch the marred skin and her brows creased together. She let out a shaky sigh. “I’m alright, really,” she looked back towards the staircase, “but a good friend of mine is hurt.”

‘Who is it?’ -Gam3rPiratejak3

‘Pyrrha made a video yesterday, everybody was with her. Where are you?’ -GrimmSlayer

‘I hope their alright! <3 <3’ A username with nothing but flashy heart emojis popped up on Weiss’ screen.

Weiss continued. “Speaking of this friend,” her voice became heavy, and her fans on the recording seemed to notice as her chat box immediately became flooded with overlapping comments. “I have made some mistakes…” She pinched her nose and shook her head, “No, it’s not a mistake. I fucked up...”

‘WDYM?’ -54y73, Weiss’ brow twitched upon noticing the profile being a picture of corn.

‘Language!’ -salina

‘What abt the concert what happened there??’ -Ravenous-Reckless.

“I said some things I shouldn’t have said.” Weiss explained briefly, glancing up the staircase for her friend. Her chest became heavy. “I really hurt her… I’m trying to make up for it, but I honestly don’t know how.”

‘What did u do’ -Tired24/7 asked.

“I can’t say,” Weiss answered with a tiny apologetic smile, “it’s rather personal, but I fucked up big time and I’m not sure when I’ll be on again.” She cleared her throat and her legs began moving, pacing around the living room and reading through the comments. Her heart constricted when she skimmed through one mentioning how their manager had dropped them, claiming that two attacks were not coincidental.

They weren’t wrong, either. Performing had become rather dangerous. Perhaps it would be best to disband the band for safety precaution, but she wouldn’t make her decision without her friends. 

She needed something more positive to address.

‘R U still writting music?’ -MosiG1.
Of course she was, well, she was trying to write some more music. Due to her current state, she’d found herself in an even worse slump than she’d been in before.

She wasn’t going to answer that question...

‘Who is that behind you?’ -Za6j

Weiss’ brows furrowed and she turned to look behind her, eyes widening at the sight of Ruby descending the staircase. Silver eyes glanced in her direction blankly and the brunette stopped, “Ruby.” Weiss whispered under her breath. The artist gave her a tiny smile and moved out of view of the camera, Weiss watched her.

She cleared her throat. “Can I?”

Ruby looked up at her and gave a small nod, nervousness flashing through her eyes. Weiss slipped back into character and approached her friend, sliding up on the counter and angling the camera so that her viewers could see the brunette. “This is my friend, Ruby,” she introduced her and Ruby simply waved, “her father was kind enough to allow me to stay here-”

The artist chuckled. “You make it seem like he gave you a thorough interrogation before reluctantly allowing you to stay here.”

“He’s intimidating enough.” Weiss frowned at her and playfully stuck her tongue out to mock her. She turned back to the camera, “Anyway, you want to say anything to the viewers, Ruby?”

Ruby glanced up at her reflection and the comments, she looked back at Weiss and let out a thoughtful hum. Weiss watched her in apprehension. “Sure,” she said with a tiny smirk before her expression turned blank, “I think you owe someone an explanation.”

“For what? For who-” Weiss asked. Realization struck her, “Oh…” She sighed and moved off the counter to prop her phone up. The livestream was cancelled. The singer turned to face Ruby and the other girl’s face turned into one of confusion. Weiss cleared her throat again. “This is going to be one of the most lame apologies in the world, but…  I’m sorry.”

Ruby raised a brow and faced away from her, clearly disappointed. Weiss felt a twinge of guilt prick at her heart. Exactly what had she been expecting?! “Save it.” Ruby muttered coldly, “You have the emotional capacity of a freaking icicle.”

Weiss felt offended. “What makes you think I wasn’t sincere?”

Ruby looked back at her, “Why am I not surprised… Of course you wouldn’t know what I’m talking about!” She shook her head, “You never take anybody’s feelings into consideration…” She sounded heartbroken . “Not once have I heard an honest word out of your mouth…”

“Ruby.” Weiss came to her side and the artist moved to put distance between them. “Please… Tell me, what do you want me to say…?”

A few long, agonizing moments passed by before Ruby answered her, her voice lacking any sort of emotion. “I don’t know. I don’t know what to believe anymore.”

Weiss let out a sigh and pinched her nose, she looked back to her friend. Well, it was now or never. “I do like you, Ruby… I’m just not sure I can express it,” the younger girl looked away and closed her eyes, her hands turning into fists, “I never meant to hurt you, it just came out because… Well, I felt like I was required to have feelings for you. I'm aware that what I was doing was wrong, I really am, and I do understand why you don't trust me...” Her hand came to rest on Ruby’s shoulder, “I know I can’t take back what I did,” silver eyes fixed on her and Weiss smiled warmly, she saw something flicker through her friend’s eyes and she removed her hand, cursing herself for her action. She sighed. “I do want to make it up to you…”

Ruby’s expression slowly became stone again. “I’d need to see some genuine change before I can forgive you again...” 

Weiss let out a forced laugh, having already expected the response. “Yeah. I know… I’m sorry.”

She moved away from her, not even bothering to look at the singer. “Apologize when you’ll actually mean it, Weiss…” Her voice cracks a little bit, causing several metaphorical daggers to embed in Weiss’ heart. 

Once Ruby was out of sight, Weiss leaned back against the counter and she covered her face, her body beginning to tremble. “I’m sorry…” She whispered under her breath, struggling not to allow her tears of stress to surface, “I’m sorry…”

‘Let it all go.’ Tai’s voice tells her quietly, recalling their earlier conversation. Weiss slowly sank to the floor, tilting her head back against the cabinet. She should be alone for a while… If she wanted to start making it up to Ruby, she would have to allow herself to feel things.

Even if she didn’t fully understand them.

Chapter Text

Chapter Nineteen

Step One
[Ruby]

She’d been out here since the sun was only beginning to rise into the sky, having found the cool morning air rather relaxing. 

It was peaceful enough for her to clear her thoughts, and the perfect time for a walk. She’d taken a few flowers from her father’s garden and started for the forest, the path already memorized and burned into her brain. She didn’t have to look where she was going. She knew. 

She knew every twist and turn on the way there, she knew every rock and every tree. She could find her way there blindfolded and only using her hands to see. The path wasn’t very well traveled, only worn out by her many trips towards the cliff. Due to her absence, it had become overgrown and the trail had been covered by fallen leaves. Despite having not been gone very long, she was hit by a wave of nostalgia as she stepped out from the forest.

Her silver eyes stared at the empty grave in front of her, fixated on the name engraved on the stone; her flowers placed neatly at the front. Grief twinged at her heart and her throat tightened, the edges of her eyes stinging. She reached up and wiped away the tears before they could fall, breathing in deeply to relieve the tightness of her chest. A hollow feeling crept through her, soaking into her bones and shielding her heart.

Every time she came here, she felt like the little nine year old child she’d been when she’d found the headstone, crying her heart out because she knew her mother wasn’t there. Her father had come to find her late at night when she refused to come home and located her curled up at the base of the headstone, he’d thought she was dead because of how still she’d been laying.

When he’d woken her up, she’d asked the question he had been dreading since he’d taken her in.

“What happened to my Momma?” 

It was then that Ruby was told she’d lost her memory of that night, because her father had been very hesitant to answer her question. To this day, she still didn’t remember anything, and Tai didn’t know either. All he knew was that he needed to pick up his daughter from a hospital because her mother had passed away, the only one who would’ve remembered what happened was Ruby herself.

Sometimes, she was grateful that she didn’t remember, Other times, she wondered if everything was a lie; the grave was empty, so how was she to know that her mother didn’t abandon her? 

She wouldn’t do that, right? 

She cleared her throat, pushing the negative thoughts aside. “Sorry I haven’t been here to visit…” She murmured, tucking her hands behind her back as a light gust of wind rustled the trees, almost like they were acknowledging her. Somehow, it brought a sense of peace to her. “I was on tour with… with an old friend of mine. Do you remember Weiss?” She let out a choked laugh and rubbed her forehead, “Well, of course you do. I don’t .” She paused. “Well, actually I remember some… But the memory of her is like a vague dream.”

‘Like you.’

Ruby shook her head and continued, “Anyway, something happened while we were on tour. Something… Bad. People were hurt, some were,” she hesitated, afraid to close her eyes in fear of seeing the blinding white headlights rushing for her, “some were killed… I’m okay, though. Mostly. Weiss protected me.” Her sister came to mind. “I don’t know about Yang… Her girlfriend, Blake, went missing and she hasn’t been answering my texts or my calls. They go straight to voicemail, and the texts sometimes won’t even send.”

She let out a heavy, shuddering breath. The mention of her sister caused worry to spread through her, pricking away at her as if something was wrong. “I’ll let you know more once I do,” she said with a tiny smile, trying to convince herself that everything was okay, “but right now… I’m having a problem, and I really need someone to listen.”

Call her crazy, but she felt like there was someone watching her, listening.

Ruby opened up, explaining everything that happened between her and Weiss, from the moment she’d met her and what she’d felt, to the day before. She explained in depth, making sure not to miss a single detail that could somehow ruin the whole story. 

“I just… Don’t know what to do anymore.” She murmured, she sighs and closes her eyes for a moment, imagining that her mother was embracing her, whispering to her that everything would be okay. She remained still for a long minute before moving and breaking the warm shield that had seemingly been draped across her. 

Robotically, she made her way down from the ledge and towards the water below, picking up a flat rock before arriving at the water.

Focus…
Reel back…
Aim…

Let loose…

Ruby watches the rock skip over the water three times before finally sinking beneath the surface, the water rippling in its wake and expanding as it fades. As the water stills, the reflection of the sun was cast down upon it and the girl’s eyes lifted towards the skies, releasing a heavy sigh as she seated herself back in the dirt, her toes only inches away from the water. 

Now, the sun was halfway into the bright blue sky, and the shadows around her were slowly beginning to fade and change direction as the day inched into the afternoon. It had to be around ten now. Her father already knew where she was as he’d awoken early and begun preparing for his next trip. She let out a sigh and her toes dug into the soil as she pulled her knees to her chest, recalling her conversation with him last night.

“I understand that you’re hurt, Ruby,” his large hand came to rest on her shoulder, “but you need to give her a chance to actually talk to you.” He smiled at her, “Let her open up, maybe you’ll learn the reason as to why she does what she does.”

Ruby looked away, her heart clenching tightly. “I know why she does it,” she muttered coldly, “she enjoys having control and seeing those below her hurt.” 

Tai sighed. “Or,” he started softly and grabbed her attention again, “there could be something much more deeper than what you think it is.”

She’d seen her laugh, she’d seen her cry, she’d seen her smile, and she’d seen her angry. Internally, she knew there was something deeper, just as what she felt when she’d first met the singer, but she just didn’t want to open up again… She feared that the very moment she let her walls down, she’d be struck down and proven right. 

Ruby shook her head and brushed her bangs out of her eyes, her chest heaving as she stood to her feet and slipped her shoes back on. Her father would be leaving soon and she wanted to be there to bid him goodbye this time, she’d been busy when he’d left last time. Without sparing the scene behind her a glance, she turned and began her trek back towards the house. It wasn’t very far, just up the hill and through the forest a little. 

“Ruby!”

Her head jerked up, instantly recognizing the voice calling her as her sister’s. Yang was home! She was okay! Excitement like a child on Christmas spread through her chest and she broke into a run, she was sure that she left a little bit of dust behind her. “Yang!” She called back, wearing the largest grin on her face. The world flew by like a blur of colors until she finally saw the blonde and gold shape of her sister.  “You’re okay!”

Yang barely had enough time to steady herself before Ruby barreled into her arms, wrapping them around her sister’s back and burying her face into her shoulder. Yang laughed, patting the girl’s back. “Of course I’m okay. Wow, didja miss me?” 

Ruby grumbled at her and moved away, her hands still on the blonde’s shoulders. Fury replacing the gratefulness inside of her, she gave her a hard shake, startling the older woman and shouting at her. “Why didn’t you answer your phone?! None of my texts went through! You didn’t call back! I thought you were just busy, but you never freaking called back! Don’t scare me like that, I thought something bad might’ve happened!”

Yang chuckled again and stepped out of her sister’s grip, “Sorry, Ruby,” she apologized genuinely, “I broke my phone after my temper got the best of me…” A worried expression crossed her more mature features, she scanned the artist and her brows furrowed together. “Are you okay? You’re not hurt from the bombing, right…? No internal injuries I should be worried about?” She sounded like she was ready to drag her to a hospital if Ruby even showed the slightest amount of discomfort. The blonde’s hands were trembling.

“I’m okay,” Ruby smiled as an attempt to reassure the woman, “Weiss got me to safety before anything could happen.” She paused, her silver eyes locked on the ground for a moment as she considered her next question. There was something Yang wasn’t telling her… It could break her if she asked. So, she was careful about it. “So… Did you find her?”

Shock hit her like a cold wave when Yang’s face became one of relief instead one of pain and regret. “I did,” a nervous smile crept onto her lips and she reached up to rub her neck, she cleared her throat, “turns out… She was never lost.” Ruby cocked a brow at this and Yang laughed hesitantly, “She just went to visit her parents in Menagerie, and she didn’t have cell service there… Apparently she told me, but I was too busy playing a game to hear her.”

“And the White Fang?” Ruby murmured.

“Gone.” Another voice joined the conversation and Ruby quickly looked over Yang’s shoulder to see a familiar woman exiting from the shadows of the trees. She’d been there the whole time. 

Wait a minute. 

Ruby grinned happily, thankful to see the raven-haired woman okay. “Blake!” She greeted as she went in for a hug, momentarily surprised when Blake hugged her back with a happy laugh. “You’re okay!” She frowned, suddenly becoming serious. She pulled away, but there was amusement sparkling in the faunus’ golden eyes. “What do you mean ‘gone’?”

Blake shrugged, her eyes flickering to Yang with an unreadable look in them. After a moment, she began to explain. “It’s honestly so disappointing… Their leader was caught and when they realized he was behind everything, they sentenced him to death, so we won’t have to deal with him any longer.”

The air was unsteady. Although her friend seemed honest, there was just something about her story that seemed off . 

Before she could delve deeper into the subject, Yang’s arm swung heavily around her shoulder and she propped half her weight on the young artist. “Sooooo,” she drawled, changing the topic, Ruby wasn’t blind towards the sigh of relief Blake let out, “where’s the Ice Queen? She go home?”

Swatting at her sister unsuccessfully, she forcibly shoved her arm off of her and scowled at the smirking blonde. She let out a breath, “Weiss… She should be inside.” 

“Well,” Yang clapped her hands together and started for the house in the distance, “let’s go say hello!”

When they’d reached the house, their father had been coming out and approaching his truck with one of his suitcases. Yang called out to him and he’d nearly dropped the heavy object as he lifted it into the back, he smiled at them and the blonde practically ran over to embrace him, apologizing for worrying him. She explained what happened with Blake, and the woman came forward to properly speak to the man, wanting him to know why his daughter had been put in the line of danger. 

He was a little upset about it, but once he came to understand that she was no longer affiliated with them, he accepted it and told her that he didn’t blame her at all as it wasn’t her fault. After their conversation, Yang excitedly grabbed Blake’s arm and dragged her inside of the house to show her around. 

“Did you ever speak to Weiss?” Tai asked Ruby as she walked over to him, the door swinging shut in front of her and blocking out Yang’s boasterious voice. She simply looked at him and didn’t answer, he sighed and placed his hand on her shoulder. “She’s around back, go talk to her.” Ruby swallowed hard and numbly started for the backyard, stepping around the house and looking back at her father. “Good luck.” He smiled, closing the door of his vehicle.

The engine sputtered to life as Ruby left, placing one hand on the side of the house and peering around to see the singer sitting criss crossed on the porch swing. “I don’t care what he has to say about our decision,” Ruby paused upon hearing Weiss’ beyond frustrated voice, “he can fuck off! Just because he’s pretty much our manager doesn’t mean we have to listen to him! Hell, we could get his ass fired if we wanted to!”

She must be talking with the band about Henry.

Weiss’ body tensed up, her fists clenching. There was a moment of silence. Her voice was eerily calm. “Well, call him back and tell him that our decision is final. Take it or leave it.” She pulled the phone from her ear and aggressively tossed it beside her, Ruby winced and carefully stepped out from behind the house. 

Perhaps if she helped Weiss out with this, it would allow both of them to open up again. Her dad did say she needed to talk to her, but he didn’t specify about what. Well, technically, he did, but he didn’t specify this time! Plus, now wasn’t exactly a good time anyway. This could be step one.

Blue eyes glanced up at her. “Oh, shit!” She took in a deep breath to calm herself and rubbed her forehead, “Damn it, you startled me, Ruby.”

“Sorry,” she apologized with a tiny smile as she approached her, the woman sighing and leaning against the porch swing, pushing herself off with one foot, “so, was that about Henry?” She asked and Weiss chuckled a little bit.

“No,” she answered as Ruby carefully sat down beside her, “it was concerning my father.” Ruby looked at her in acknowledgement, silently telling her to continue. Weiss hesitantly did so, “He controlled my band when I was still a minor, which is why we didn’t really take off until I was eighteen, and he’s been trying to regain complete, total control since I turned nineteen.” The singer frowned, avoiding eye contact with her. “I allowed him to stay amongst the staff so he would leave us alone, but it was a foolish decision.”

Ruby laughed, “No kidding, he’s not even your manager.”

Weiss smirked, “Alright, alright, no need to rub it in.” She brushed a long strand of hair back out of her eyes, refocusing herself on the explanation. The air seemingly became colder. “Although he isn’t our manager, and despite the fact I’m no longer under his control, he can still find a way to destroy us-”

What? No, absolutely not.

The artist stood up and moved to stand in front of the singer, “How? It’s your band, he’s not your manager, and you’re not seventeen anymore. You don’t have to listen to him.” Weiss opened her mouth to protest, but Ruby cut her off, “Fire him. He can’t do anything about it.”

“Ruby, we don’t even have a manager right now.” Weiss reminded her, “Henry got rid of us because I ran off stage. I know I threatened to fire him, but my father is all we have.”

Ruby hummed in thought, processing the singer’s excuse. She was right, but since they didn’t have a manager anymore, maybe the man thought he could regain full authority over Weiss and her band. Something clicked inside of her head and she smiled, “Hey, what’s the age requirement to become someone’s manager?”

Weiss frowned in confusion, “Um, for us, eighteen at the youngest… Henry was only twenty-one, why?”

She ignored her, “And to become a manager, you must have a year or two of experience, right? Three at the most?” 

Weiss shrugged, “Well, sort of, but our band has always been a little weird. I mean, we started off as a bunch of homeless teenagers without a name before my father,” she stopped, her hands turning into fists, “decided to allow us to become a real band.”

“A real band in need of a stable manager they can trust.” Ruby smirked. “I think I might know of somebody who can help.”

Chapter Text

 “I think I might know of somebody who can help.” Ruby smirked, clasping her hands together before starting for the door, excitement spread through her chest and she can’t help the grin that forms on her face. “Stay here.” She told Weiss before opening the door and stepping inside, making sure to pull it to behind her.

Ruby quietly tip-toed to the living room to locate her sister and Blake. Yang stood beside the couch, on a phone call, while Blake’s attention was glued on the television, ears twitching curiously with interest. “Okay.” She whispered beneath her voice and turned around, silently walking towards the back door again.

She opened it with as little noise as she could manage, slipping outside and shutting it. Silver eyes look up to find Weiss standing right where she left her. “Okay, I have an idea.” Ruby said quickly, “But we’re going to need a blindfold-”

“Ruby, wait.”

Ruby stopped talking and her mouth clamped shut, recognizing the barely audible plea in Weiss’ voice, she looked back at her friend with a concerned expression. Was something wrong? “Can I speak with you?” Weiss’ voice is gentle, desperate even. “It’s… Important.”

Ruby sighed and turned to face her, keeping her face stoic and her emotions guarded. She couldn’t be hurt again, she wouldn’t allow it. But, Weiss seemed genuine. It would be rude of her to deny… She’s their guest, after all. “Let her open up to you.” She heard her father saying to her, the words echoing and reverberating in her head.

“Okay.” She answered quietly, Weiss’ eyes lit up with hope and she nodded, gesturing for the artist to follow her. 

Weiss led them back towards the porch swing and she patted the space beside her, Ruby cautiously took her seat next to her and the singer visibly hesitates. Her knee started jumping and her brows were pulled together with worry, her eyes flickered around as she seemingly gathered herself. 

She cleared her voice and looked up at Ruby, meeting her eyes as she began to speak, sounding as stoic as she possibly could.

“I don’t want to bore you with the details, so… You know that I was once an heiress?” Weiss continued, “That means that I had many expectations and responsibilities,” her hands clutch around her knees, “one move wrong could cause the company’s downfall if I were ever to take over.”

Ruby stayed silent.

“I had… So many people trying to force decisions on me, sometimes they wouldn’t give me a choice.” Weiss explained, “They would continue edging me on until I finally relented and accepted.” She looked away for a moment, her jaw’s firm. Weiss looked back at her, “I’ve kept that frustration built up inside for  a long time, one move wrong and everything could come crashing down, and it finally snapped... I took out on you.”

Weiss hesitated for a moment.

“Could we… Maybe start over?”

Ruby sighed as she processed the information, and the request. The look in the singer’s eyes told her that she expected a negative response, and she was prepared for it.  A bell went off in the brunette’s head and she averted her eyes from Weiss, stiffly standing to her feet and moving away. Her heart clenched when she heard the defeated sigh from the woman behind her.

She had an idea, and she was going to follow it through.

The artist cleared her throat and turned back to Weiss, approaching her quietly and coming to her side just as she stood up to head back inside. “Hey,” she greeted, catching her by surprise, grabbing her attention. Weiss’ brows furrowed.

“Hey?” She answered.

Ruby smiled warmly, “My name is Ruby Rose. I’m an artist and I play guitar,” she held her hand out, “perhaps we could be friends?”

Weiss stood there, shocked, for a moment. There were many emotions flashing across her face; shock, denial, confusion, bargaining, and finally, acceptance. She carefully took her hand, “Of course…” She said with a quiet, but grateful voice.

Ruby grinned, switching back towards the topic beforehand. “Okay, as much I love that scar, we’re going to need a blindfold.”

“I don’t know if I can trust you.” 

Ruby rolled her eyes and tightened the blindfold around her friend’s eyes, patting her shoulder playfully. “Aw, come on, it’s not like I’ll run you into a wall or anything.” She laughed and Weiss’ head turned back to her, brows furrowing suspiciously. Ruby snorted in disbelief and gave her back a gentle push, “I’m not going to run you into a wall, Weiss!”

“Oh you absolutely would.” Weiss stumbled forward with hesitation and she lifted her hands out in front of her as an attempt to guide herself to the door. Ruby rolled her eyes in amusement and helped her inside, glancing up when Yang just barely managed to stifle a loud laugh at the singer’s currently sightless state. 

Weiss paused in front of her and Ruby jerked back before she bumped into her, “Who’s laughing?!” She asked in irritation, her brows twitching.

“Nobody, nobody, just keep go-” Ruby reached up to place her hand over the blindfold, keeping it in place as Weiss swats at her hands, trying to pry them away. “Nope, nope. Keep it on and keep going. I gotcha.”

“Where the hell did you even get this thing? Why should I trust you?!” Weiss growled at her as Ruby guided her around the couch, making sure the singer didn’t run into anything that she’d be pissed about. Not that she wasn’t already pissed, because she totally was. Ruby had asked if she was okay with being blindfolded, she’d given an affirmative answer…

Now s he decides to complain about it.

“Keep talking and I will run you into a wall.” Ruby told her nonchalantly, Weiss simply let out a huff and she quieted down.

Blake and Yang were waiting in the kitchen, Yang’s body trembling with stifled laughter as she tried her best not to fall on the floor and roll around in laughter. Her face was turning red, signalling that she was laughing so hard she couldn’t breathe. Weiss could clearly still hear the stifled giggles, if the whispered swears under her breath had anything to say about it. 

“Who’s here?” Weiss asked again as Ruby helped her maneuver her way into the kitchen, raising a finger to her lips to shush the other two. She releases Weiss' hand for a moment to move the chairs out of her way- 

A loud noise and a crash grabbed her attention and her attention swiveled back to Weiss, who was laying haphazardly on the floor with her feet entangled in the legs of a chair. “Shit!” Weiss hollered, pulling the blindfold off as she aggressively kicks the hair away with only a little difficulty.

Laughter sounded like a siren behind Ruby as Yang broke, snorts of laughter coming out like a flood. Weiss’ head jerks up and her eyes widened upon seeing the black and yellow duo, Yang using the chair in front of her as support to keep herself up while Blake worriedly patted her back.

Weiss’ eyes immediately found Blake and it was like her entire being had become numb, she muttered the woman’s name in disbelief and she stumbled to her feet, she quickly strolled over to her, her gaze never leaving the woman. 

Yang’s giggles die down and she comes to stand beside Ruby, watching them with a small grin. Ruby’s heart twists slightly with jealousy, she wasn’t blind to the genuine look in the singer’s eyes. She still cared for her friend, even if it wasn’t as deep as before…

Then again, it could just be the Echo she was seeing. Yang mentioned it happened a lot between exes who meant a lot to you.

Blake glanced at her and offered a tiny smile, followed by a light laugh when Weiss threw her arms around her and pulled her into a tight hug. “I’m okay, I’m okay.” She giggles, embracing her friend gently. “It was all just a misunderstanding, all right?” She whispered as Weiss leaned back to look at her, worry in her eyes. “I was never kidnapped.”

“I thought I lost you.” Weiss’ voice cracked a little, she clears her throat and steps back as an attempt to regain her composure. “What happened…? Where were you? I tried calling, but it went straight to voicemail!” Tears were swelling up in her eyes, her hands trembling on Blake’s shoulders.  “A-and I heard about… I heard about him , and then… Then the whole explosion… I thought…”

Blake takes her hands and holds them close, grabbing the singer’s attention again. Her eyes were soft, Weiss’ posture slackens a little bit. “I know, I know, I’m sorry. I just didn’t have cell reception in Menagerie.”

Yang spoke up in agreement, briefly startling the artist next to her. “That place has like… No connection to the outside world. How did you stand that?” Golden eyes glare over at the blonde and Weiss giggles in recognition, the glare was probably very familiar to her. It was likely better to see it than to be on the receiving end. “Okay, never mind.” Yang muttered. 

“So, y-you’re okay?” Weiss whispers timidly, squeezing her friend’s hands as through she’ll disappear at any moment. “You’re not hurt.”

The woman let out a pained laugh, “Weiss, the only thing hurting me right now is your nails digging into my palms.” She informed her and Weiss immediately jerked her hands back as Yang approached them again, lazily draping her arms across Blake’s shoulders. “Thank you… Anyway,” she looked to Ruby and the brunette’s eyes widened, “you said you have something to tell us?”

Wait, what?

“Oh!” Ruby realized, her eyes darting between Weiss and Blake. She hummed nervously and approached them. Well, she’d better get this over with so she could go hide in her bedroom. 

“Well, uh, you’ve been with the band since the very beginning, right?” She asked Blake, who in turn frowned and nodded. “Which means you know them better than anything else, you know how the band works…”

“Yeah.” Blake answered, “They’re my family.”

“Are you thinking what I think you’re thinking?” Yang asked suspiciously, one hand on her hip. Ruby just shushed her with a dismissive wave of her hand, which prompted the blonde to scoff in shock.

Ruby looked back to Blake, “I was thinking… Since you’ve never really had a role within the band,” Blake raised an offended brow at this and the brunette sheepishly continued. “I was thinking that you could be their manager.”

It made sense, right? 

Blake had been with the band since the very start, she knew all of the ins and all the outs, she knew what they would like and how they worked better than any stranger would. Plus, the band trusted her, and they would be there to help her if she became overwhelmed.

Yang’s stunned expression matched Blake’s, while Weiss was quietly waiting for her friend’s response, having already put complete trust into her. The blonde’s eyes darted between Blake and Ruby and she frowned at her younger sister. “A-are you asking Blake to-” 

Blake cut her off, waving Yang behind her as she met Ruby’s eyes. “Of- of course!” Yang gave her a weird look, which she ignores. She wanted to help, but she was obviously still a little insecure.  She looked to Weiss, her voice stuttering a little bit. “I mean, I’m not really leader material, but if you think I can do it-”

“You can!” Weiss interrupts positively, “I’ve seen you. You can get anything done if you put your mind to it!” She looks to Ruby and her eyes practically light up, the artist felt a flutter in her heart.  “We can help you!”

Yang seemed to be on board now, catching onto Weiss’ unspoken idea. “Yeah! She’s right! Blake can handle all the serious matters, since she knows what you all would prefer, I can get the word out to people,” she tapped her chin and grabbed Ruby’s shoulder, hauling the brunette to stand next to her. “Ruby can be the advertiser with her art and all! Weiss can be the one who does the interviews and stuff!”

The singer laughed, “Okay, what about the actual band?”

Yang fell quiet and she rubbed her chin in thought, “Right,” she murmured under her breath, “didn’t think about that.” 

A knock grabbed their attention and all eyes turned to the kitchen entrance, finding Pyrrha and Nora standing across from them with unreadable smiles on their faces. “Did you just break into our house?” Yang asked cautiously, looking back between the women and the door. “You couldn’t have called ?” She muttered as Ruby walked over to them, wondering how exactly they got in.

“We did,” Nora said as she practically hopped over them, immediately coming up behind Weiss and gesturing at her with both index fingers, “she would not pick up her phone.” Weiss swatted the redhead away and returned to Blake’s side, almost as if requesting support. Blake laughed and patted her irritated friend’s shoulder.

Ruby looked back to the front door and squinted, anticipation swelling in her chest. They had to come in somehow.

“So you broke in?” Yang muttered with disinterest. “You didn’t break anything, did you? Because I’m kind of in charge here, and that would be my fault.”

“We didn’t break in!” Nora answered in protest, “We were let in!” 

As soon as the words left Nora’s mouth, a tall and lanky man with dark grey hair moved through the door, his hands inside his pockets and his body slightly hunched over. Recognizing him immediately, Ruby bolted forward. “Uncle Qrow!” 

He must’ve been the one to let them in, he did have a key to their house, after all. 

The man looked up and a barely noticeable smile formed on his lips as Ruby practically tackled him, “Hey there, kiddo.” He greeted warmly, patting her head as the others entered the lounge, “You had some friends waiting outside, made me wonder if someone was home or if they were gonna break in.”

“I was considering it!” Nora called from the kitchen.

“I’m glad you didn’t.” Yang muttered in annoyance as she brushed past Nora to approach Qrow, “You said you were coming next week! You’re early.” She greeted him with slightly less enthusiasm than Ruby. “Dad won’t be home until-”

Qrow interrupted her, “Tai told me to swing by and make sure you kids ain’t getting into any trouble.” He gestured back to the peering eyes in the kitchen with a little smirk, “He also said don’t let anybody come over, unless they’re family.”

“Then there’s no problem.” Weiss commented as she entered the room, glancing back as the others carefully followed her in. “They are my family.”

“Problem solved.” Yang agrees with a small smile, “Tell Dad that there’s nothing to worry about.”

The lanky man sighed with a smile on his face, he ruffled Ruby’s hair before sitting down on the couch with a loud groan. “Alright, fine,” he said as he crossed his legs and tilted his head back, shifting to make himself comfortable, “just don’t break anything.” He closed his eyes. “Now, you kids can go play outside.”

“Excuse me, we are not kids.” Weiss growled in slight annoyance, “How dare you-”

“Ah, so you’re the Schnee.” Qrow dry laughed, opening one eye to look at the singer. “Listen. You’re below twenty-one? You’re a kid. Got it?”

Weiss opened her mouth to protest and Pyrrha gave her a gentle shove at the shoulder, guiding her outside. “Let’s go, give the man some privacy, he lives here.” The redhead whispered, Weiss sent Qrow one last disapproving scowl before she turned to head outside. 

Ruby glanced at Yang, who made a gesture with her hand for her to follow them and the brunette scurried after the band, leaving her sister alone with their uncle. She closed the door awkwardly when everybody gathered outback, waiting a moment as everybody got settled. 

Ren’s focus was captured by Tai’s garden at the side of the house.

Blake was more drawn towards the river she could obviously hear. 

Nora, Pyrrha, and Weiss were gathered at the other end of the house, reading comments on Pyrrha’s phone.

“The band wants us to a livestream tomorrow,” Pyrrha announced, drawing Blake and Ren’s attention, “the tour would’ve ended yesterday, and we promised them one.”

“Right.” Blake muttered under her breath, “Ruby,” she turned to the brunette, “is it okay if we use your Dad’s garage?”

Ruby hesitated, “Um… I wouldn’t recommend it,” she rubbed at her arm, remembering all of the tools inside the shed, and her nearly finished guitar, “you could use my room?”

“That could work.” Pyrrha said, Blake shrugging in agreement. The redhead frowned, clicking off her phone and turning to Ruby with a curious expression. “Speaking of which, where will we all sleep…?” 

Before Ruby could reply, the backdoor swung open and Yang stood there with a grin on her face. “Guys! Guess what I just managed to convince Uncle Qrow to let us do?!” When nobody answered, Yang continued. 

“We’re having a sleepover!”

Chapter Text

Staying in a danky old house, crowded into one room with several other people, made Weiss feel like she was back out on the streets, huddled together with her fellow homeless people in a small space to keep out of the disastrous weather, telling stories as they all try to keep warm. 

They’d moved to Ruby’s room when a storm rolled in and knocked out the electricity; the only thing illuminating the small space was a candle that they were gathered around. 

In the center of the group, Yang sits with Blake leaned up against her and her attention focused on the dusty book she held in her hands, her voice ringing out and changing tones as she reads each every word of the story.

The current story she was telling was about a couple who had moved into a new home, built in 1907, and it was built over old graves whose names were long forgotten. 

“The couple had a kid around two or three years old, and so they turned what appeared to be an old studio into the child’s bedroom.” Yang speaks in her normal voice, turning the page and scanning over the next description. 

She continues; 

“Heading to bed, the mother placed the baby monitor next to her child’s bed and left the room. They’d figured that since they moved into a new place, their kid would have difficulty sleeping and would need solace sometimes during the middle of the night.

“After switching the lights off and getting into bed, she turned on the device next to her and settled in to sleep.” 

Everyone leans in as Yang’s voice changes into one to display a spooky vibe.

“Just as she was slipping off into a dreamland, a distorted and scratchy voice spoke to her over the monitor. Saying ‘your child is m i n e ’ in a hushed, threatening whisper.”

Yang’s impersonation of the haunted voice was threatening, she even lifts her hand in a grabbing motion and a wicked grin crosses her face to add more realism to it. 

Weiss feels a body lean up against her and she glances down, finding Ruby staring at Yang with an unimpressed emotion on her face. She must’ve heard this story a thousand times.

The blonde’s voice pulls Weiss’ focus back to the story.

“Spooked, she checked the camera she’d set up in the child’s room and was shocked to see a ghostly figure approaching her child’s bed.” She makes a walking gesture with her spare hand, her words are low and careful. “Its head swiveled backwards and it’s grinning maniacally at the camera.”

Blake’s ears are twitching as Yang tells the story, her golden eyes are twice their size and her mouth is partially open.

“It put its hand on the bed and the mother bolted out of the room...” Yang puts emphasis on the word ‘bolted’, the alarm in her words increases as she continues reading, sending chills down Weiss’ spine. Next to her, Pyrrha gasps.

“When she got there, her child was gone, so she woke her husband up and explained to him what she saw. Finding her words about the kid’s disappearance to be true, they called the authorities.” 

Pyrrha interrupts, “But they found them, right?” She asks almost desperately.

Yang shakes her head and turns back to the story, “The mother showed the police the footage, only to see that the shape in the recording was no longer there. Instead, the tape shows the mother exiting the room, and rushing back in frantically only a few minutes later.”

“Then, what happened?” Nora inquires hesitantly.

Yang shuts the book, “Nobody knows. The child is still missing to this day, and they have no evidence to show that they were kidnapped.”

Ruby laughs and sits up from beside Weiss, she immediately misses the warmth and comfort that the artist had provided. The brunette scoots over to her sister, taking the book from her hands and setting it outside their circle. 

“Come on, Yang, don’t lie to them,” she gives the blonde a light slap on the shoulder and Yang sticks her tongue out at her mockingly, “the kid was found at the end of the road, swaddled in an old blanket with no memory of how they got there.” 

Pyrrha and Nora let out heavy sighs of relief, the tension in the room starts to settle.

Suddenly, a loud clap of thunder roars outside, breaking through the silence and sending tremors of fear up the teenagers’ spines and screams of terror erupt through the small bedroom. 

Quiet giggles spread through the group as they relax, coming to realize that the noise was only thunder. 

“Now that those two are asleep, shall we discuss the future of the band?”

“I was thinking we could just take a break, use the recent attacks as our reason and just… Relax.”

“I agree.”

“But, within a year or two, we’ll be making a comeback. Ice Flower isn’t dead.”

Light blue eyes stare out at the gathering crowd from behind the curtain, her chest tightening as she relives the last moment she’d been onstage. A shudder runs through her body as she recalls the complete, utter dread she’d felt, and the betrayal and confusion that Pitch and the others must’ve felt moments before their deaths.

She remembers the panic, the feeling of her heart beating rapidly in her chest, pounding against her ribcage and echoing in her ears. She remembers how quickly she’d run out of there, her feet carrying her to no set destination before she lost her balance and collapsed.

The reassurance of her friends, and the genuine worry in their eyes has been permanently imprinted into her memory. 

Then, she remembers the loud explosion… How the ground rumbled and how the sky turned black with smoke. The ringing in her ears had been unbearable, but she’d moved on instinct as an attempt to protect her friends. Her body had felt heavy like lead, she ran on adrenaline and got as many people out as she could.

“Weiss?”

She turns her head to see Ruby approaching her. In her mind, the picture of her friend laying in the midst of it all is playing out before her eyes. She hadn’t been able to get her to move, she’d been in shock. 

But, this girl had somehow managed to find enough consciousness to shove Weiss out of the way of incoming debris and had taken the hit for herself. Had Weiss hadn’t flinched when the glass cut her face, maybe she could’ve gotten them both out of there. 

In the back of her mind, she knows that it played out the only way it could have.

“Are you okay?”

Nearly a year later and she still blames herself for the bombing… The guilt will never leave her soul, despite knowing that it wasn’t at all her fault.

“I’m okay.” She answers with a reassuring smile. “They made sure none of them got inside, right?” Ruby nods. “Good, then this concert will go just as planned…”

The backlash that they had received the moment they called off the tour had left them all in a bad place, the attack in Mistral and the bombing having taken their toll on the band’s mental health. The band took refuge in Patch with Ruby and Yang’s family, Weiss and Blake confronting Taiyang for his permission, whilst Klein attempted to handle the media on his own, he never mentioned the negative comments to them and only provided them with the good.

Those comments, the praise, the prayer, and the well wishes was enough motivation for them to get back on their feet. 

“Okay, well,” Ruby glances back as the others come into view, dressed and prepared for the concert taking place in only a few minutes, “you guys have three minutes before you need to be onstage.” With that said, she leaves and joins Blake on the other side of the room.

Three weeks ago, they announced their comeback, which would be taking place in Vale. They also dropped a strong hint that they will be returning with new songs. 

Towards the last few months of their break, they wrote, rehearsed, and recorded numerous new songs to bring to the stage with them upon their return. 

These songs were written to subtly hint at their lives before and after their band became famous, and a few songs were personal for them. Weiss had taken the time to write her friend’s stories down into her songs, tying it into a lesson that all four of them had learned.

She can hear the roaring of the crowd above her, chanting the band’s name as the countdown decreases by the seconds. 

“Let’s go.” Weiss whispers.

The singer glides through the hall and towards the platform, the footsteps following closely behind her keeps her at her senses, not allowing her mind to drift further away from the task at hand.

Weiss clutches the microphone tightly, pausing at the platform and turning around to face her friends. Their eyes meet and a silent question fills the air. She narrows her brows, answering it with a slight nod of her head that they all immediately understand. 

Her gaze wanders back behind her friends as they step onto their respective platforms, her eyes lock with a pair of supportive gold and she smiles her thanks to her friend; Blake only dips her head in acknowledgement, a knowing glint in her golden orbs.

Weiss turns back towards her band and steps onto the rounded stage specifically designed for the lead singer. 

“Are we sure that nobody intending harm managed to get in?” Ren asks quietly, Weiss glances at him, “We took precautionary measures last time, and the bombing still happened.” 

“That is because we blindly trusted the staff.” Weiss answers lightly as she turns away from him again. “With Ilia, her friends, and Yang monitoring everyone, nobody can get in. Nothing will happen.”

Pyrrha laughs, “Let’s not begin our first concert in nearly a year on a sour note, shall we?” She grins as all eyes turn to her, “The platforms are rising in-”

“Three!”

She’s cut off by a voice calling from behind them, the mic echoing into the crowd and causing an uproar that sparks inside of Weiss’ chest. 

“Two!”

Those people waiting outside to see their band’s comeback, they were their true fans, and there were hundreds , maybe thousands of them. 

“One!”

She should be nervous. Her heart should be pounding while beads of sweat gather on her forehead and her hands become clammy. Instead, she was excited. 

Her friend’s platforms begin to rise one by one, coming to lock into place in front of their respective instruments. Above her, she hears the drums sound off and the sound of the bass guitar picking up behind it, followed by the keyboard that pulls the music all together.

Her own platform shutters beneath her before ascending towards the ceiling. Weiss can see the flashing lights coming into view, and the roaring of the crowd becomes louder and louder. She lifts the microphone up to her lips and closes her eyes, replaying the written lyrics word by word in her head, whispering it under her breath before opening her eyes. 

She squints momentarily as she breaks through the lights, and her gaze comes to rest on the crowds of people standing before her, stretching back to the back of the stadium and all around the sides. A tiny smile tugs at her lips, she lets out a breath and looks back to her friends, sending them an encouraging grin just before turning back to the people below. 

The sound of the drumstick colliding with the surface of the drum was her cue.

They’d walked into this life unprepared, all of them sharing a love for music and having a story that needed to be told. They had been young, naive teenagers, believing that their band taking off would provide them with everything they needed to survive in this unforgiving world.

All of them had something in common when they’d first met: they were alone, and they wanted to survive.

“I started out confident and fearless, and these recent events with our band has shown me that there’s always going to be another mountain we’ll have to climb. Well, I don’t know who I am yet, but I know that I will never leave those I care about behind. If you have my back, I’ll have yours.”

Nora was abandoned by her parents while their hometown was under attack, leaving her for dead and saving their own lives. After managing to survive, she’d sworn that she would not be brought down so easily, and that she would never abandon those she cares about. For this reason, she has stuck with the band through thick and thin, trusting that they would have her back as well, and they have.

“Because of what happened at my hometown, I learned that we cannot allow our emotions to control our actions, once we do that, we lose ourselves and what’s in front of us. This world is unforgiving and there’s a new enemy around every corner. If we run, if we allow fear to take control, we’ll never become stronger.”

Ren’s parents were killed during the same attack that Nora’s family fled from, the two of them were the sole survivors of the ruined chaos around them. Most of those who lost their lives had fled in fear, so he’d promised never to allow his emotions to control his mind. He kept the band on track, reminding them to think things through before jumping to a decision. He is the sole reason that they’d agreed to make a comeback, instead of breaking the band apart.

“I made a mistake when I was a kid. I abandoned those who truly cared for me to fight for a lost cause, all because someone had painted a picture in my head about how the world should be. It took years to get away from that mindset, believing that only I can take care of myself. Now, I have people who genuinely care for me, and I care about them. I trust them with my life.”

Blake made a bad decision when she was young, and it followed her into her later years, causing trouble for her and the band. While they were on the streets, she remained as the leader of their group, having learned how to survive many years before the four of them had met. She had their backs when it counted the most, and she made sure that they knew that one bad decision, one secret kept, can backfire on them. 

“When I was a child, I had everything I ever wanted handed to me on a silver platter. That doesn’t mean I was happy, though. I later learned that money can’t buy happiness, I learned that my father’s way was not the only way, and so I left. I had to learn how to survive without people waiting on me hand and foot, I had to learn how to open up and trust people, I had to learn how to love.”

Weiss, on the other hand, fled from an abusive, controlling household with the clothes on her back as her only belongings. She’d struggled to adapt to her new life, not having the money to purchase whatever food or item she wanted. Meeting the other three, she was given a role and slowly learned how to survive. But, she’d made a mistake of keeping the frustrations of her former life bottled up inside. She was not going to make that mistake again.

Weiss’ voice begins to change as the music behind her becomes loud and motivated; this was when their music had taken off and their names were starting to become known around the world, their spirits had been high and their dreams were uncrushable. 

Her words die down as the song ends, and the screaming of their fans begins to reverberate through her mind. She lifts one hand and rubs her temple, quietly adding it to yet another reason Blake shouldn’t be allowed near the stage.

Gathering herself, she steps back to join her friends and they take it as their cue to come forward. She gestures for Pyrrha, who was standing to the side, unsure, to join them, and the redhead jogs over. 

They still had a few more songs to do, but this was more important.

“Are you ready?” Weiss asks with her hand over the mic.

They nod.

Weiss extends the microphone and with a subtle nod, their words echo loudly through the stadium, causing screams of excitement to erupt from the crowds. 

“We’re back!”

The enthusiasm and praise they received after the concert had been overwhelming. So many people had come up to the, expressing how proud they were that the band had not let the mishaps ruin their career. While others were worried about whether or not their performances would remain safe, they seemed grateful after they managed to convince them that their concerts would be monitored and completely safe from now on.

A few asked about the songs and the meaning behind them, but the band decided to leave that open for debate and allow people to draw their own conclusions. 

Pictures were taken, autographs were signed, and questions were asked before the audience was driven away by their new security guards. Blake had assigned them after getting into contact with some old friends of hers who had split from the White Fang. They were proven trustworthy after a few rehearsals in their presence. 

“Whoo, what a rush.” Nora exclaims tiredly as they face away from the fans, extending her hands high above her hand. “I feel like every part of me is vibrating. I can’t tell if it’s from the slushie I just had or the thrill of the concert!”

“How about both?” Pyrrha suggests with a smile as they head back to the tour bus. “I’m feeling pretty hyped myself.”

“It did go pretty well.” Ren agrees.

Weiss scoffs in amusement, “Speak for yourself. My throat hurts.” She doesn’t want to admit that she’s out of practice, but she’s definitely out of practice. 

“Well, if someone hadn’t insisted on making that last line a high note.”

Weiss pauses and looks back behind her, finding Ruby and Yang exiting the building with Blake behind them. She giggles light-heartedly, “I did it, didn’t I?” She raises a brow at the artist. Ruby matches her expression playfully.

“I didn’t doubt you for a second.” She laughs, walking over to the singer. Weiss feels like a kaleidoscope of butterflies had just erupted through her chest. “But, you were a little flat on the ending to Let’s Just Live .”

She was joking, Weiss can tell by the sparkle in her eye.

“How dare you?” Weiss scoffs in mock offense. “I happen to think I sounded pretty good!”

“Of course you do.” Ruby answers. “By the way, I finished the cover for the new album.”

Weiss smiles, “Awesome, I’ll take a look at it later. Thank you, by the way.”

Ruby’s jaw drops in false surprise, she places a hand on her chest and steps back. “What’s that? Did the oh-so regal Weiss Schnee just say the dirty word ‘awesome’? Oh, I can’t believe my ears!” Weiss just laughs, not having a response to defend herself. Ruby in front of her and leans to the side, raising a brow again that causes Weiss to turn around. Their friends had left. There was no one in sight. “Huh, wonder where they went…?”

Weiss rolls her eyes, “Oh who knows, they probably all have a date tonight that they can’t be late for.”

That reminds her of something. It’s been tugging at her heart for the last few weeks.

Ruby hums in agreement, “Probably. They really could’ve told us, though, that way we could’ve made plans.”

Weiss pauses and clears her throat, a small voice in the back of her head screaming at her to chicken out, while the louder voice cheers her on.

“Well, we could? Have plans, I mean?” Ruby looks back at her curiously, “If that’s okay with you, that is… I don’t want to put you in an uncomfortable situation.” She deflates. “Fuck, where was I going with this?”

“What kind of plans?” 

She internally screams.

“Like, um… A date, maybe? I completely understand if you don’t want to...”

Silver eyes stare back at her for a long minute, Ruby’s expression is unreadable and it strikes fear into Weiss’ heart. The silence becomes unnerving and the little hope she’d had starts to simmer out. She wouldn’t blame her if she rejected. She’d been horrible to her for the first few months they’d known each other, she’d broken her heart… 

Despite the shitty way she’d treated her, Ruby had forgiven her and bounced back rather quickly. 

“A date?” Ruby asks suspiciously. Why did she do this? Gods, this was a terrible idea-

No. She can’t back out now. She needs to stand up and face rejection like an adult. She doesn’t even have an answer yet. “Yes…” Weiss confirms.

The silence around them is deafening. The only sound that Weiss can hear is the beating of her own aching heart. She knows the answer, and she accepts it. She brought it on herself, after all. 

Suddenly, an amused smile crosses the artist’s face and her brows narrow. Her response causes fireworks to blast off inside of Weiss’ chest. 

“Sure.”