Work Text:
It was shortly after the group had arrived to Atlas, still reeking of dried sweat and hints of dust. Qrow and Maria had been quick to find the group somewhere to stay, corralling the teenagers into the nearest place that had room. They were split into three rooms; Ruby, Yang, and Qrow in one, Weiss, Blake, Nora, and Maria in another, with Oscar, Jaune, and Ren taking up the last one. It was quite a spread, but the group had been too tired to really complain about being separated from their teammates. Exhaustion made them quiet and complacent, and Blake couldn’t help herself from absolutely adoring the reprieve. This gave her the opportunity to do something she had been wanting to do for a few hours now, mindlessly grabbing Gambol Shroud before exiting the room.
Nora had been the first to fall asleep, hair a mess as loud snores shook her frame. Weiss had looked annoyed for all of one second before sleep claimed her as well, sinking into the bed she was sharing with Nora. The pair curled around each other easily, looking completely comfortable in the split second Blake let her eyes scan their exhausted frames. With a fond shake of her head, Blake shut the door behind her with a soft click.
With careful steps, Blake walked towards the room where Ruby resided, raising her fist to rap it gently against the dark wood. Before she could so much as flick her wrist for the initial knock, rapid footsteps approached the door before it was flung open. On the other side stood Ruby, hair spiked and eyes shining. “Hi,” she whisper screamed, causing one of Blake’s ears to flick as her lips curled in amusement. At least Ruby was trying to be a little quieter. “Let me grab my bag and we can go, okay?”
Blake nodded, stepping back with a quick glance inside the room. Yang and Qrow were deep asleep in their respective beds, and a flash of red obscured her vision momentarily before the door was closing before her eyes. Ruby winced when the hinges creaked, stopping for a split second to listen for any wakefulness before fully shutting the door. Turning to Blake with a crooked smile, she motioned for the taller girl to lead the way. “Let’s go outside. Wouldn’t wanna wake anyone up with my work.”
It was quiet as the pair moved through their temporary home, slipping through hallways and past milling tenants before they arrived outside. There was a small, wooden porch right as they exited. Dark wood was brightly illuminated by occasionally flickering light bulbs, with the well worn stairs full of scuff marks and nicks. They lead down onto a rocky path surrounded by grass, a few stones missing here and there. The grass itself was lovingly tended to, trimmed to a respectable length and practically shining in the moonlight.
Ruby was quick to drop down onto the topmost stair, gently setting her bag beside her. Stretching briefly, she motioned for Blake to join her before she began to fiddle around in her bag. “So what did you want me to check on?” She asked, rifling through various wrenches, screwdrivers, and loose nails in search of something. “Did your dust attachment chamber stiffen up again?”
“Not exactly,” Blake mumbled, grabbing Gambol Shroud and flicking her wrist. A soft noise of metal brushing against itself cut through the relative silence, the weapon’s broken edge adding a bit of a high pitched ring to the metallic song. It was so quiet that Blake was convinced Ruby might not be able to hear it, but the younger girl’s brows furrowed before her eyes widened a bit at the sight. “It’s a bit more… complicated than that.”
Gambol Shroud’s katana attachment was snapped in two, jagged edges now even more dangerous than usual. It was reduced to maybe half of its former glory, and Blake was quick to hold up the severed piece. She didn’t know if Ruby would be able to mend this, but Blake wanted to be sure that she had all she needed in order to attempt it.
Glancing at Blake for permission, which the dark girl quickly gave with a nod, Ruby reached out to grasp at the broken blade gently. “Oh wow,” she breathed with concern evident in her tone. Long fingers danced across the broken points, fingertips running along the edges before silver eyes looked up at Blake briefly. “Did Adam do this?”
A stiff nod was all Blake could muster up, and Ruby shot her an apologetic smile as she caressed the damaged weapon. “I’m really sorry, Blake. I don’t know what I would do if something happened to Crescent Rose.” Taking both pieces of the blade and attempting to fit them together briefly, Ruby scrunched her nose up. “What kinda metal is this?”
“I,” Blake started, cheeks flushed as her ears flattened a bit. Ruby quirked an eyebrow in response, causing Blake to smile helplessly. “...don’t know. Adam originally helped me design Gambol before we had White Fang’s weaponsmith work on it.” Seems as if he would never truly be gone.
Nodding a bit, Ruby tilted the blade to watch the way it caught light. Blake watched quietly, drinking in the way silver eyes flicked across the weapon, touching the blade before nodding to herself. “High carbon steel,” she spoke after a while, a bit of pride in her eyes. Stopping to glance down at Gambol Shroud once more, Ruby shot Blake a grin before continuing. “With an excessive heat treatment to get the color juuust right!”
Blinking in shock at how quickly Ruby had deduced that, Blake felt her jaw go slack. How long had she and Ruby been sitting out here? Did the younger girl really figure that out in mere minutes? Leaning back with a bit of awe in her eyes, Blake felt her lips twitch into a bemused smile. “How do you know that?”
Ruby shrugged with a slight grin, bringing her pointer finger up to her lips in a shushing motion. “A great Huntress never reveals her secrets!” Falling quiet, Blake merely huffed out a small laugh before watching Ruby’s hands dive back into her bag. Clinking and tinkling sounds emitted from within, and the strange combination was enough to soothe Blake’s worries and lessen the tension in her shoulders. When Ruby pulled away from her bag with a furrowed brow, Blake turned her attention to the girl just as she began speaking. “Unfortunately I don’t have enough of that laying around to completely fix Gambol Shroud. I can tinker with some things to make the transition super smooth for a weaponsmith, but that’s about it.”
Feeling her shoulders and ears droop a bit, Blake nodded at her leader with a faint smile. “I shouldn’t have gotten my hopes up too high; the damage is pretty extensive. I appreciate any help you’re willing to give, either way.” Sometimes Blake forgot that Ruby was still just a kid, that they all were. Even if the younger girl was a whiz with machinery, that didn’t mean she had everything a true weaponsmith would possess in order to fix the broken katana. You could only afford to carry so much when you were constantly running for your life.
Blake watched as Ruby shot her a comforting smile, leaning over to drop a quick kiss on her cheek that left her skin aflame. “I promise I’ll try my best!” Golden eyes widened a miniscule amount at the sudden affection, but Ruby looked entirely nonplussed as she continued to speak. “I don’t know how long this will take, so you can go to sleep if you want. I won’t try to steal Gambol Shroud or anything.”
Without waiting for much of an answer, Ruby had already dove headfirst back into her bag in search of whatever tool she needed. Blake followed every motion with her eyes, still warm with the phantom press of Ruby’s lips upon her cheek. The thought of moving and ending this comforting interaction didn’t seem like the best, so Blake shook her head slightly. “No, I think I’ll stay and watch, if you don’t mind.”
“‘Course I don’t!” Ruby chirped, miniscule screwdriver in her hands already twisting and turning against small screws. Soft squeaking noises and the grate of metal against itself started up, Blake’s ears perking a bit in order to better concentrate on the sounds. They were weirdly soothing. “It might not be super exciting, though.”
Shifting in her seat, pressing her back to the wood behind her and settling down, Blake let a soft peal of laughter slip past her lips. “Any moment spent with you is exciting enough. I’ll be just fine.” She crossed her arms over her chest, combating the barely there gusts of wind that ruffled her clothes.
Ruby shot her a quirk of her lips in lieu of an answer, eyes zeroing in on the weapon within her hands as the pair fell into a comfortable silence. It wasn’t awkward or forced, the air between them light and content. Each tightening of a screw or rag rubbed against a chamber came with their own unique sound, and the ears atop Blake’s head were eager to catch each and every one of them. It was something akin to a song, one unique to Ruby when she is quietly working the night away. A soothing lullaby that was soothing the girls down to their very cores, causing muscles to unbunch and breaths to come much easier than they had been only hours previously.
Blake doesn’t know how long they sat out there for, but by the time the sun was rising they were both fast asleep in their own rooms. For the first time in a long while, Blake fell asleep with a smile upon her lips.