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The biggest problem with only having one arm, Ruby realized while strolling through the streets of Vale, was not being able to hold Weiss’s hand while carrying a double scoop of cookie dough ice cream…
And the biggest plus to only losing one arm, Weiss sternly reminded her after catching Ruby’s forlorn look, was being able to go on a date at all.
Next time Weiss bought one giant cone for both of them, and Ruby found out that the price for holding her partner’s hand was being fed ice cream in public- Which only made it sweeter, anyway.
That afternoon was almost worth the phantom pains and half a year she would have to spend relearning how to do simple things.
....That was also the memory Ruby clung to when climbing into her own bed turned out to be impossible.
It wasn’t a lack of strength on her part- but the top bunk swung a little on its ropes as she put her weight on it and she was lopsided and awkward and…
During her first night back in their dorm room, Ruby almost made a fool of herself toppling face first to the floor.
Weiss didn’t say anything as she steadied her grip on Ruby and helped her back to the ground. There were no comments when Blake quietly offered to switch beds with her, and Ruby was too busy trying to keep her own smile from cracking to do more than nod in thanks.
She had to do this.
They wanted her here, Weiss was risking a bad mark on her record and disapproval from her family to keep them together. Ruby had to make this work.
Weiss and the others had chosen to be held behind a whole year rather than choose a new partner/team leader…. Ruby reminded herself of this in the mornings when she just didn’t want to get out of bed.
It was the thing she held on to when she couldn’t swing her scythe properly, when Professor Port suggested she make Crescent Rose’s sniper rifle her main focus and Ozpin let them gear up with communicators so Ruby could direct her team a safe distance from the melee fighting.
It was what kept her from screaming in frustration when cutting up her own food at dinner turned out be an exercise in strategic planning.
If Weiss hadn’t been watching her like a hawk Ruby would have just switched to eating food that didn’t need a knife- But no, her partner and kinda girlfriend knew her dining habits too well. She would have noticed and she would have worried and then the permanent crease between her eyebrows would have gotten even worse…
Ruby made do, somehow.
She couldn’t say if she would ever figure out how to cut her meat without jamming the plate awkwardly between her chest and her elbow, holing the knife in reverse so it looked like she was about to commit murder-
Still, at least no one at their table stared other than Nora, and Nora made sure no one else at any of the other tables dared stare at Ruby at all.
Of course, people did gape at her every other chance they got.
Not even the combined glares/cracking knuckles of teams RWBY and JNPR could stop that from happening, so Ruby did her best to give them less to look at.
Weiss fussed over Ruby the first time she wore her cloak over one shoulder.
The heiress spent ten minutes making minute adjustments to the clasps and the precise way the red cloth fell over her partner’s blazer- complaining about the hood, how it made it difficult to hang the red cloak just right, until Yang and Blake went on ahead of them in exasperation.
And that was when Weiss’s face softened into a smile.
She gave Ruby a quick kiss before shoving her out the door. A kiss and a confession that the off-kilter cloak looked quite dashing on her- which left Ruby blushing bright red for the rest of the day.
Never in her life had she least been expecting a complement on her looks. Never before in her seventeen years had she needed one so much.
Clothes though. They were a problem.
She swapped her lace-up boots for one she could just strap on. Her corset had to go, and she just didn’t have the time or patience to wrestle with tights and a skirt every day… It felt weird, going into combat training with pants and no reassuring clinch hugging at her lower ribs.
Right afterwards in the shower was the first time Ruby cried since leaving her sickbed- and Yang noticed just like Ruby had known she would.
It was a weekday but Team RWBY still stayed up late that night, curled up in a pile on the floor as Weiss’s scroll projected one romantic comedy after another onto the wall.
They stayed there until Ruby dozed off against Weiss’s shoulder, one of Yang’s arms thrown around them both as Blake’s dry comments lulled her into sleep.
Things started getting a bit better, after a while.
Ruby learned how to balance Crescent Rose on one knee while reloading, how to hit an apple from almost a mile away on a windy day, how to keep her eyes on the target and her mind on where all three of her teammates were and would need to be.
Yang drug her into wrestling matches until Ruby could twist and feint her way to a stalemate, then a victory. (Only one out of five bouts, but that was a whole lot better than zero)
Blake retold historic battles as if they were novels. She gave up her reading time to help Ruby get into the heads of long dead generals and the more clever up-starts who had defeated them, and Ruby started seeing everyday life as chance to test this new knowledge.
Learning how to read people, how to anticipate their moves before they even decided on them- it was a bit ironic that Ruby was more socially capable without her arm… but it was also really, really appreciated.
And Weiss…
Weiss kept putting Crescent Rose back into her hands.
-
"But Weiss-"
"No. Get practicing."
"But what if I can't?"
"Then practice harder."
Crescent Rose scrapes pathetically across the wood and Ruby feels months of frustrated bubble up through her veins.
"Weiss, what if I just- CAN'T!?"
Her breath comes in fast and ragged as she watches the scythe blade dig little marks into the training room floor.
She's tried before, she's failed before, what part of 'not gonna happen' didn't Weiss get?
"...Then," Weiss says each word with deliberate clarity. "We'll find some other way. First you have to try this again though, then we can think of alternatives."
Ruby hears herself snort in disbelief.
"We already know the alternative. I'm a sharp shooter now, that's all-"
“This is not just a gun.” The heiress reminds Ruby, before giving her a firm push towards a practice dummy.
“And I don’t care if you can’t make it look as ‘cool’ as you used to. Being away from the battle means you probably won’t get targeted, but it also means that if you are, I’ll need a few seconds to reach you.”
A chill hand wraps around Ruby’s, pressing on her shaking fingers until she was griping the scythe properly.
“…You have to be capable of giving me that time.” Weiss murmurs from just over Ruby’s shoulder, doing what she could to help lift Crescent Rose’s weight.
“You have to keep yourself safe at least long enough for me, or Yang or Blake-“ She amends with a blush. “- Can save you. I won’t follow you into battle if I don’t have a good chance of following you out again, understood?”
Ruby feels a guilty pit open up in her chest.
Last time they had gone into a fight together Weiss had followed her out- and right into an emergency room.
Ruby didn’t even want to imagine what it would have been like if their roles had been reversed.
“Okay...” Deep breath, and shift the set of her spine. It was time to start incorporating her lop-sidedness instead of trying to work past it. “You can let go now, Weiss… I think I can manage.”
Weiss does so hesitantly, stepping back with her hands still half raised, ready to reach out at a moment’s notice.
Ruby is determined that she wouldn’t need to.
Widen the stance and let Crescent Rose slide back across her shoulders. Maybe Yang could swing the scythe with one arm, but Ruby’s build is for agility over everything else- She is already used to using her weapon’s weight to her advantage. Now it’s just a matter of taking that to the next level…
Her first slash sings over the dummy’s head.
Her second bites into the floor, forcing her to flip over the scythe’s haft to keep from tripping.
Ruby adjusts her grip, does a couple warm up pivots on her heel, and tries again.
Half an hour ticks by. It’s been years since she last had blisters, but she can feel them rising angrily on her back and the palm of her hand.
The training room’s air-conditioning does nothing to stop Ruby from sweating like a soul in hell, her hair keeps stinging her eyes as it snaps across her face and if she can’t even hit a motionless doll then how the heck is she ever going to ward off a Grimm-
Ruby staggers a bit as Crescent Rose spins through the air, blade splitting the dummy as if it were a hot knife sliding through butter.
….
The scythe slips from her numb grip.
Her knees thud as they follow it to the ground.
….I did it?
Ruby stares, then her view fills with a blur of white and laughter as Weiss tackles her the rest of the way down.
Weiss has an arm tight around Ruby’s shoulders and a hand pressed to her cheek as they grin, bumping foreheads and noses. Ruby can feel the grooves in Weiss’s palm against her flushed skin, indentations left from where her partner’s nails had dug in with worry. She folds her arm around Weiss and pulls them close as she can.
No. I definitely couldn’t have done this on my own- We did it.
Maybe Weiss hadn’t been holding Crescent Rose, but she had been right there with Ruby the whole time.
-
“You-“ Weiss declares later as they walk back from an overdue dinner. “Are an amazing person, Ruby Rose. I can now admit that my taste in partners is rather spectacular.”
She’s still giddy from their success on the training field, no matter how far Ruby still is from an actual fight. It’s the most smiling she’s done in what feels like forever.
With a grin of her own Ruby teases back.
“You almost didn’t pick me, remember? Turned right around and marched off before changing your mind!”
And just like that, Weiss’s smile fades.
Uh oh.
She doesn’t look happy anymore. When she speaks her voice is clipped and cool and controlled, as clinical as the doctors Ruby has long since gotten sick of hearing.
But this is Weiss, so Ruby can still find the faint tremor in her words.
“If I had walked away, you would have found someone else to partner with.”
Blue eyes are locked on the floor and seeing something else completely.
“A different partner might have prevented that fight, a different partner might have stopped those Grimm. A different partner might have been there for you…”
Her voice shivers and Ruby takes her hand.
It doesn’t wipe the broken look form Weiss’s face, but it does make her come to a halt when Ruby stops walking. She still won’t meet Ruby’s eyes but a least now she’s turned in the right direction.
“Did you see that, Weiss?”
Weiss glares at the gap between them.
“See what- you’re remaining hand?”
“Yep.” Ruby punctuates the word with a strong squeeze, never mind that her fingers feel like putty.
“My left-over left hand... If you’d been walking on my right side, then I’d have had to do a bit of twisting to reach you- but it’s been weeks since that last happened.” She gives Weiss her best smile. “Wanna know why?”
“Because I’m not an utter idiot. I know to keep on you left, Dolt, only a fool wouldn’t.”
“But you don’t have to.”
Ruby watches as a second pale hand came up to cradle her own. She feels the ghost of a pang, wishing she could return the favor, wishing she still had two hands to cup Weiss safe between. But Weiss seems happy holding on for both of them.
“I know there are days where you’re prickly and don’t feel like touching, and with one little switch, you could be safely out of my reach. You don’t, though.”
“Of course not.” Weiss looks up in shock. “That wouldn’t be fair!”
“Exactly~”
Their kiss tastes like the milk and cookies Ruby finally managed to convince her partner to try. Ruby draws it out a bit, trying to say the most important part without words just in case her numbskull princess isn’t in the listening mood.
Eventually they have to come up for air. Weiss blinks a little dizzily as they do, giving Ruby enough time to finish making her case.
“And that’s why I’m much better off losing an arm than never having been paired with you!”
For a moment it looks like Weiss will argue…
Then she sighs and lets her tense shoulders slump.
“… You’re sure you don’t want a prosthetic?”
The familiar squabble makes Ruby giggle as she shakes her head.
“Nope. They can break or malfunction, and the ones you have in mind are too complicated for me to make repairs on. I need to know I can make it without one before I think of trying them.”
“If it’s about the cost-“
“I know, I know.” Ruby tugs them back into a walk.
“The Schnee family can more than afford- blah blah blah- you threatened them with a failing grade and now they’d happily build me a whole new body if I wanted one. I’ll keep it in mind, I promise.”
Weiss kept grumbling the rest of the way back to the room- but she smiled again as they told Yang and Blake about the death of the practice dummy.
She was amazing.
Going up against her family, risking her dreams of becoming a huntress, having so much patience with her partner when Ruby herself couldn’t muster any at all…
Ruby didn’t know how much luck she’d used up in meeting Weiss. If it had been one arm’s worth, though, she honestly didn’t mind.