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Yang wrapped her arm around Ruby's shoulder as they walked down the hall. Weiss and Blake had already returned to the dorm, but Ruby and Yang had decided to take a detour to talk for a bit. Today had been the day that Qrow walked into their house and gave Ruby the heart shattering news of her mother's death. Ruby remembered this day every year. It was the only day of the year that Ruby ever lost her smile. Yang never blamed her, but she always wanted to see Ruby smile.
They continued to talk as they walked down the hallways of Beacon. All their conversations were about was Summer. Yang constantly tried to cheer Ruby up, but to no avail.Eventually Ruby stopped talking and simply allowed Yang to try and console her. However this was to no avail either.
The two of them saw their dorm coming into view and Yang knew there was nothing more she could say. It would be another year of Ruby not having any comfort or solace about her mother's death. Yang felt terrible about the situation. She simply wanted Ruby to be happy, and to continue smiling, but Yang knew that it wouldn't matter. Unlike Yang, Ruby never really got to talk to her mother.
Yang was now in contact with Raven, and the two of them got to talk quite often, but Ruby never had the privilege. Her mother had died when she was extremely young.
The two of them walked inside their dorm to see Weiss and Blake having a conversation. The two of them looked to Ruby who had her head down in sorrow. Weiss and Blake immediately knew what day it was as well and felt as much sympathy as they could for the girl.
"I'm going to bed," Ruby said as she quickly grabbed her pajamas and headed to the bathroom to change. Ruby only took about a minute to change and get out of the bathroom. "Ruby, we can talk if you want," Weiss said. Ruby simply smiled to Weiss as best she could with her response prepared, "No thank you, I just want to sleep."
With that Ruby got into her bed and immediately started to fall asleep. She silently allowed her tears to fall as she didn't want to bother her team. She heard them talk about how they wanted to do anything to make her smile, and deep down Ruby was overjoyed that her team cared so much, but today was the only day she would allow herself time to cry. Every other day she would be the happy, energetic girl that she was.
Ruby wasn't sure how long she had laid there, but eventually she fell asleep and the sound of her snoring quickly filled the room. However there was no one in the room to hear them. The members of team RWBY had left to find a present to help Ruby cheer up.
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Ruby opened her eyes only to see a snowy mountain. She was in her combat skirt and had Crescent Rose with her. In front of her was a cliff and a gravestone. Ruby walked towards the gravestone and took a knee in front of it. Her eyes went wide when she realized what it said on it.
"Summer Rose, Thus Kindly I Scatter," was written on the tombstone. Ruby held her hand to her mouth to conceal her cries. She immediately knew this was just a dream, but yet it felt so real to her. Ruby found herself crying yet again. Even in her sleep she couldn't escape her mother's death.
"This wasn't my intention at all." Ruby's head snapped up at the sudden voice that was talking to her. She couldn't believe her own eyes. Her mother stood there in her white cape. Ruby stood up slowly as she saw her mother standing in front of her.
"Hello Ruby, you've grown up so much haven't you, and I left you all alone to do it. You must be angry with me," Summer said. Ruby shook her head and immediately responded, "No mom! I'm not angry at you at all!" Ruby ran up to Summer and hugged her. Ruby was actually able to feel her mother in her arms. She started crying again.
Ruby was convinced she had cried more in one day then she had ever, but she actually was able to talk to her mother right now. Ruby didn't want to wake up. She was happy where she was right now. "Ruby, I'm so sorry for what I did," Summer said as she wrapped her own arms around her daughter.
"Ruby I have watched over you for a long time now. I have wanted to reach out and comfort you for the same amount of time, but I've been forced to sit here and watch," Summer explained as Ruby could hear the same amount of heartache that she herself had come out of her mother's voice. "Mom, don't feel bad," was all Ruby was able to say.
"Ruby you aren't a mother yet, but one day you'll understand how much it hurt me just to leave you to go on a mission. I never intended to leave you like this," Summer explained. Ruby held her mother tighter and was now the one trying to comfort her deceased mother.
"Mom, I'm not upset with you. I never was. I just miss my mom," Ruby said. Summer held her daughter tighter now as well. Summer was now the one crying while Ruby held on to her.
After what felt like hours, but was only a few minutes Summer was finally able to stop crying. She wiped her eyes and looked at Ruby with a smile on her face. "Ruby I want you to understand something okay? I've never left you, and I never will. You're my little girl and I will always be with you no matter what, so do me a favor. I need you to go to your friends and make them realize that you can move on from this. We will always be with each other Ruby, but your friends are worried about you, so can you do them the favor of smiling for them today, and forever from then on? They're worried about you Ruby," Summer said.
Ruby realized at that moment that she was hurting her friends by simply crying. She had never intended for them to get hurt from any of this. She nodded her head to her mother and spoke, "I promise mom, I'll make them happy, and I won't cry anymore!"
Summer smiled to her daughter and hugged her again. "Then do it now. It was nice to talk to you again Ruby, and I promise we can do it again later," Summer said. Ruby hugged her mother and closed her eyes. "Also tell Yang I say hello," Summer said. Ruby felt a harsh wind hit her and when it finally died down she opened her eyes to see her dorm room.
It was dark out, so she knew she had slept for a few hours at the very least. Her friends weren't in the room yet but she could hear them. "I can't believe we didn't find anything that could cheer Ruby up," Ruby heard Blake say. Ruby jumped down from her bed and found herself smiling.
When Yang opened the door, it took everything she had to not be knocked down by Ruby who was now hugging her. "Yang! I talked to her!" Ruby nearly screamed in excitement. "To who?" Yang asked. "Mom!" Ruby answered quickly as she found herself smiling at her sister.
Yang, Weiss, and Blake froze as they saw the once crying Ruby now smiling bigger than she ever had before. "Did you really?" Yang asked. Ruby nodded. "It was mostly just a dream, but she actually talked to me about today," Ruby added. Yang hugged her sister and was glad to see her finally smiling.
Ruby stood up and team RWBY went back to their dorm. Ruby excitedly told her team about the entire dream she had.
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As time went on Ruby found years later that she was able to smile. It had been five years since she last talked to her mom, and she was on watch for her team. Weiss tapped her shoulder and smiled to her. "Go get some sleep Ruby. Your watch just ended," Weiss said.
Ruby smiled and stood up. "Thanks Weiss," Ruby said. She went to the tent they were sleeping in and got into her sleeping bad.
She smiled as she realized just how happy she was. Ruby was standing on that same mountain from five years ago. She turned around slowly and her smile only got bigger. "Hey mom," was all she said.