Work Text:
“Leave us! I will deal with this dummy personally.”
Weiss’ piercing blue eyes and strict voice left no room for argument. The echo of her command in the wide cell caused chills to run down Ruby’s spine and an unfamiliar heath spread around her belly.
Ruby had been on the receiving end of that annoyed tone a few times, but she’d never experienced it aimed at others. It felt strange. Exciting, if she dared think so.
“As you wish, general." Grumpy Klein said with a grunt, bowed its robotic head and gave Weiss a salute before turning around to leave with the other androids.
Weiss folded her hands behind her back and stared at Ruby pointedly. The heavy door closed behind her and the sound of mechanical footsteps slowly disappeared down the corridor, leaving them alone in the silent dark room.
Ruby gulped. She had no idea what was going on and Weiss looked really, really pissed at her.
When Weiss was sure there was no one around listening to them, she took a step closer to Ruby and hissed. “Have you lost your mind?”
Ruby took a step back and asked, confused. “Uhm, what?”
“I told you time and again that you are not supposed to be seen here. What were you thinking?” Her words were harsh, cold. Familiar.
Right, her dream version was in there before Ruby had gotten in and that's how Weiss supposedly knew her, somehow. But how exactly could she know when, apparently, Ruby wasn't allowed to be there in the first place?
“I’m… sorry?!” She said, puzzled. Ruby needed to figure out what was happening. Weiss had to wake up. If she didn't…
Taking two more steps in Ruby's direction, Weiss let her anger dissipate only for a moment. “Yes, you should be.”
In reality, her minions would have hunted Ruby down and hurt her before tossing the red bundle of joy in the Dummy’s jail, if they managed to catch her, that is. It was only hard luck Withley was around when he was. Being the incorrigible ass that he was, the snitch managed to spot Ruby near the tower’s wall and report the intruder back to her father. She wanted to kill him.
“Do you have any idea what would’ve happened if I hadn't intervened?” Weiss added in concern.
Welp, it was getting weirder by the minute. What was going on? At first, Weiss wanted to murder her, literally, and now she was stuck in a cell with her and she was acting like she cared. Ugh! Talk about mixed signals. How was she going to escape? How could she knock Weiss out of this dream thing? Maybe playing dumb would lead Weiss to explain a few things to her. Maybe. “I… no?” She tilted her head to one side, looking innocently at Weiss.
“Ruby!” Weiss pinched the bridge of her pale nose in annoyance. “If you keep behaving like this, I’ll have no choice but to punish you.” The last step she took left her only a few inches away from Ruby, towering over the younger girl.
Ruby took two steps back in fear before hitting a cold surface. She glanced to the side at the dark thick wall behind her and gulped once more as she looked back up at those captivating yet terrifying eyes. “P-punish me?”
“Yes.” Weiss murmured and moved closer, wide silver eyes stared back at her as she slammed her left palm on the wall near Ruby’s head, supporting herself up."I have to play the part and keep appearances. No one can ever find out about this."
Ok, so… Ruby was pretty certain of a couple things by that point. One, Weiss absolutely knew her in her dream somehow. I mean, she was there for a reason, right? And two, the way Weiss' soft undertone would sometimes slip between worried words and harsh demands made her believe Weiss really cared about her. Like, deep, deep down.
“My father knows about us, which is not a good thing, Ruby.” Weiss looked down at her, taking Ruby’s soft, black hoodie under her long fingers and holding it in a tight fist.
‘Wait, what?’ Ruby thought, then asked. “W-what do you mean ‘he knows’?”
Weiss leaned in and whispered, looking at Ruby right in the eyes. “He found out I’ve been sneaking out at night to see you.” She then kissed Ruby’s cheek, feeling the redness of her warm blush under her lips, and added softly. "We will have to be even more careful from now on.”
Ruby held back a shiver. Weiss was close, way too close. “I-i’m sorry, Weiss. I really didn’t mean to cause any trouble.” She lied.
“Hm. I’m sure you didn’t.” She murmured, her cold hand cradled Ruby’s chin and lifted it in her direction. “But now that you’re here…”
Ruby had no choice but to oblige, moving on her own felt incredibly difficult under Weiss' gaze.
Staring back at Weiss she saw some sort of recognition pass in the pale eyes, a soft smile sporting her defined features and she was… oh, she was leaning in very, very close to Ruby. The slender fingers had a hard grip on her chin and she couldn’t look away. Her breathing became erratic every time Weiss’s breath hit her own lips.
Ruby was enraptured, and she momentarily forgot she was stuck inside Weiss’ head, inside a nightmare. Something she would realize later, though, it definitely didn't feel like a nightmare at all.
Weiss took Ruby’s hesitation as an opportunity to study her. Her dolt of a girlfriend was acting rather strange. Ruby was never one to hold back when they were alone and, most importantly, she broke the first rule they had established a while ago: Never trespass the walls.
Her breath hitched when Ruby slowly but surely moved her hands to grab at the dark belt on her waist, she followed the movement with her eyes like it was a prey - a very interesting prey - and when she looked back up at those pools of silver, Ruby had the audacity to smile and pull her closer forcefully, flushing their bodies together. Weiss held back a startled ‘eep’ and, for a second, almost scolded Ruby for her harsh behavior, but it didn't take long for Weiss to recover, and when she did, her right hand left Ruby’s chin to slip at the back of her neck.
“Hm. I guess you truly missed me.” Weiss mused before leaning in and capturing rosy, plump lips on her own, eliciting a soft, surprised gasp out of the younger girl.
Was this what Weiss dreamed of? Kissing her? How could that possibly be true when the only way she treated Ruby was with disdain and indifference?
Not that Ruby was complaining anyway, she thought about kissing Weiss a few times after her partner had brought coffee to her that one night. She just never expected that Weiss, of all people, would want anything to do with her.
The crush she had on the older girl was something no one knew about, fortunately. Sure, she tried proving herself and her skills a few times, was always glued to the girl's side and her stomach did a funny little flip whenever she smiled at her. It felt weird at first but she soon realized there was nothing she could do about it. The rejection would come eventually, or so she thought before current events caught them all by surprise and Weiss’ lips were locked tight with her own.
The kiss felt urgent, Ruby could barely follow the soft lips moving against her own, she had no idea what to do. - Books could only teach you so much anyway. - So, trying to match her partner's eager pace, she slipped her hand on Weiss' waist, - her petite, taller frame doing wonders to Ruby's imagination - and got on her tiptoes. Weiss tugged at the baby hairs on Ruby's neck and pulled their mouths closer, opening up to slide her warm tongue inside Ruby's waiting one with a small moan. Ruby followed suit and mimicked every single movement of Weiss' lips, every swipe of her tongue until she couldn't breathe anymore.
When they pulled away eventually, Ruby was panting, hard. Still on her tiptoes, she clanged hard at the taller form of her partner, and she couldn’t stop the little smile forming on her lips. ‘That was awesome.’ Ruby thought before Weiss brought her back to reality by clearing her throat.
Weiss pulled away from a blushing Ruby and smiled back at her, she adjusted her white dress and extended her hand to the younger girl. She missed her dolt dearly but it wasn't the time to be impulsive. She had to help Ruby escape the tower.
"Come on." Weiss said.
Ruby, who still had a deep blush on her face, reluctantly accepted Weiss' open palm that was patiently waiting for her. Clearing her throat and looking away from mesmerizing blue eyes, she asked. "Where are we going?"
Huffing, Weiss tugged at Ruby's hand and started walking towards the door. "Leaving. Tsk. You honestly thought I was going to leave you here?"
"I don't know. Were you?" Ruby tensed, asking carefully.
"Of course not!" Weiss scoffed. The nerve of this girl. Who did she take Weiss for?
Stopping right in front of the door and turning around to face Ruby, she lowered her voice. "Listen, there's a tunnel that leads outside of the walls and you are going to use it, ok?" She said impatiently.
'Well, that was easy.' Ruby thought and nodded at Weiss. She felt really confused by the whole ordeal but at least she'd get to leave without using her semblance. That was definitely going to be hard with all those weird robots guarding every single exit and street.
When they reached the entrance of the tunnel that was constructed inside Weiss' private study, Weiss promised Ruby they would meet soon after things cooled down, and when Ruby was turning around to leave, Weiss pulled her closer by her hand and kissed her one more time.
Honestly, even after everything, Ruby was glad she managed to keep her last coin secure and leave the very confusing, not so bad dream behind. The last interaction with Weiss would be kept locked tight in her heart and she would make sure they talked about it when Weiss was finally awake and safe. But before that, Ruby would definitely keep things from her teammates and professors about what had happened during the time she was asleep.
Ruby spent the rest of the day wondering if kissing the real Weiss was just as good as it felt in her dream.