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Many things had happened during the tournament. The most important of which was the discovery that Cinder Fall was working with elusive criminal mastermind, Roman Torchwick. Cinder and her team had fled, managing to escape before they were caught.
Penny had been happy to hear, but less happy to hear Ruby's response.
"Penny, they were our friends," Ruby said. "At least, I thought they were...I just..." She shook her head. "They...I need to go." She stormed off quickly. Penny began to step after her, then stopped herself. "I don't understand," she said.
Ciel Soleil didn't normally talk to people, or even know how to talk to people. But, for the sake of her friend, she decided to give it a try. She passed Penny, following after Ruby at a quick pace. Ciel tracked her up onto the roof, finding her sitting at the edge.
Ciel sat down beside her, folding one leg up by her chest. "Hello, Miss Rose."
Ruby looked up, evidently surprised(she didn't notice me?), and said, "Oh! Um...you're Penny's friend?"
"Yes." Ciel waited a minute.
"Um...what was your name again?"
"Ciel Soleil," she replied, hoping her injured pride wasn't showing.
Ruby winced. "Sorry. I only met you once and you said, like, two sentences."
"Three," Ciel corrected.
Ruby winced again, which was really the opposite of what she'd come here for. "Look...about Cinder..."
Ruby's shoulders sagged, and she looked away. Just be happy, dammit! Ciel thought angrily. "We both know that since she was that bad, you're better off getting rid of her and her friends now. But that doesn't stop the hurt, does it?"
Ruby stared at her. "Um, yeah. How'd you--?"
"You need to move on," Ciel interrupted. "Just move on. Forget about them. They were the bad guys. You're the victim." She clenched one hand into a fist. "You don't need them. You just need to live on without them. You're real friends are waiting on you."
"You're right," Ruby said. "But...how did you know? How I felt?"
Ciel's hand clenched tightly into a fist. "Personal experience," she replied. She looked up and away, towards the sun. "My father...I spent so long wishing he'd been nice, y'know? So long just wishing." Ruby didn't say anything, so Ciel continued. "He was eventually arrested. It took a while, but...I stopped wanting to go visit him."
"I...had no idea," Ruby said. "I'm so sorry."
Ciel looked at her in surprise. "What? You didn't do anything."
"Um...I was saying...sorry you had to...um..." Ruby squirmed under Ciel's gaze.
Ciel sighed. "Whatever. What I'm trying to say is, it's all uphill from here. Bouncing back up from rock bottom. Right?"
"Thanks." Ruby looked off towards the horizon, then said, "You're acting differently than you did that first day I met you."
"Name someone who acts the same every day of their lives," Ciel challenged.
"Fair enough."
For two weeks, they continued meeting up and talking. After a third week, it was decided safe enough to continue with the tournament. During this time, Ciel thought about her emotions.
Maybe it's a little bit of a crush, she admitted to herself finally, watching Ruby. The silver eyed girl sat across from her, eating from a big bowl of noodles. The two were alone--neither's team was with them. Isn't it normal to crush on the popular, cute girl? Ciel thought. Yes, it was normal--but she felt like it was something more than that. Ruby was clearly ignorant about her popularity--or at least, she didn't care about it. But Ciel was more happy not to be interested in someone cute--though that did help--but someone who shared her experiences. Someone with whom she could relate--if Ruby's experiences were on a smaller scale.
"Something wrong?" Ruby asked. "You've barely touched your food."
How to phrase it?
"So, Ruby..." Ciel began. "Say there was a girl."
"There are lots of girls. What's your point?"
Ciel glared at her, then continued. "Say you really liked this girl. How would you tell her that?"
Ruby stared at her a minute, then said, "Oh! You have a crush, and you're asking for dating advice! Ah. Well, I've never dated anyone before but I've seen my sister do it with two dudes and three chicks! Lemme tell ya, I managed to figure out what she did wrong in those cases and why Blake hasn't dumped her yet."
"Wha--"
Ruby threw her arm around Ciel's shoulder, then paused. "Who's the lucky girl?" she asked, with a sly grin on her face. A stupid, ignorant grin.
It made Ciel want to kiss her.
"I--Ruby--can you--" Ciel sighed. "Can you take this seriously?"
"Truth is, I also want to know the answer to your question," Ruby said with a shrug, removing her hand from Ciel's shoulder. "There's a girl that...I've been wanting to tell her that I'm crushing on her, but, oof. How do you say that to someone?" She shook her head, staring down at her food.
She...likes someone? Ciel thought, taken aback. Dammit! I was too slow!
"It's Weiss, isn't it?" Ciel asked.
"What? Weiss? N-no, it's not Weiss!"
I'll kill her!
"Ciel...it's..." Ruby sighed. "It's you. I know you like someone else, so I didn't want to say it, but--what's that face for?"
"Um..." Ciel thought a minute. "How to put this? I'm not going to murder Weiss, first and foremost."
"Why would you--"
Ciel put a hand on Ruby's lips, stopping her. "I like you too. It was you I was talking about."
They sat there, awkwardly staring at each other for a while. "What do we do now?"
Ciel considered. "Making out is generally considered the classic choice, I believe."
"...We really should have both thought this through better, huh?"
"Mm-hmm."