Work Text:
Ruby claws at the water, struggling to pull her small body to the surface as she sinks further from what little light is left. Her body jolts as a hand brushes her ankle. Terrified, she looks down at a mass of orange hair and a pale green dress. Terrified green eyes stare up at her, pleading as they sink into the blackness. Ruby dreams about that time. Well, they're more like nightmares. She wakes in her sister's bed, terrified and bathed in sweat. And to think Ruby used to love sailing.
Weiss watches the mechanic in her workshop, hunched over a gutted machine, an unimportant machine, and tinkers. She makes countless small changes that Weiss understands even less than the machine itself. These changes aren't important either. They're just something Ruby can do. Ruby knows Weiss is there, watching with her guilt-ridden eyes. Weiss knows she knows, and ignores her. She ignored her when she came in, and she doesn't even notice Weiss now, hiding in her work. Weiss knows Ruby blames her. Weiss let it happen, she made the choice. Weiss saved Ruby as Penny drowned.
Two cars drive in convoy, one after the other. One of these cars is important. Ruby's in the back, a small brown girl giggling with her girlfriend. Penny sits beside her, laughing and touching. Arms, hands, face, stomach, legs, chest. Anything Penny can hold or caress, she holds and caresses. She knows that however much she loves the closeness, Ruby loves it even more. Ruby loves being the person who makes Penny feel human. On the other side of Ruby sits her best friend. Weiss is a pale girl, somehow even smaller than Ruby, with the most brilliantly white hair any of the group has seen. Ruby pays Penny's hair a compliment, who brushes it aside. She would love hair like Weiss's, she says. Ruby gasps, mockingly offended, before declaring Penny's curls the perfect frame for her freckles. The driver laughs, asking if Ruby's about to kiss Penny. Penny exclaims that she was and Ruby blushes, scolding her half-sister for ruining the moment. Tall and buxom, with glorious golden hair, Yang laughs some more.
Yang approaches Ruby now, setting a plate down beside her.
"Hey," her voice is gentle. "I made you food. It's grilled cheese. Strawberries too. You love strawberries." Ruby's stomach growls. For once, she doesn't want to eat, but she knows Yang won't leave unless she does. Mechanically, she starts eating. She doesn't taste the food. She's still staring at the machine. She thinks she can almost see a face there. She doesn't see the sorrowful look Yang gives Weiss, and she doesn't notice Weiss leave the room as Yang wraps her arms around Ruby.
It takes Ruby some time to finish eating, but Yang doesn't leave.
"It's really late," Yang says, catching Ruby's hand as she fumbles with her tools. The smaller girl sits stubbornly. "You need sleep, Ruby. Please. Just... come on. Let's take a bath and get some sleep."
Ruby doesn't want to go, but she does anyway. She knows Yang won't give up. She cares too much for that, and Ruby doesn't care enough to argue. Ruby doesn't tend to bathe anymore. She can't be alone in the water. That's why Yang's with her. To keep her safe.
Weiss is grinning as she pushes open the door to the watershed, and the friends gaze, awestruck, upon the yacht that dominates the space. Myrtenaster, Weiss names it, after a German flower. Of course she’s been to Germany, she trills. Where else would she have been born? Ruby wants to know how she paid for the yacht. It was an early birthday present.
Weiss trudges through the watershed where Myrtenaster rests. No one has seen it since Penny died. Weiss doesn’t let anyone close, even if they want to see it. No one does. Weiss climbs into the yacht, feeling it rock in the water. She remembers how ecstatic she was, when her parents gave it to her. She only feels sick now. Weiss stumbles to the railing, she sees the water below and can’t keep herself from throwing up. She hurriedly disembarks, washing her mouth with seawater. She feels even sicker when she looks back up at the yacht. Weiss hates Myrtenaster now.
The storm has come from nowhere, terrifying the amateur sailors. Yang struggles with the helm as Weiss ties lifelines from the crew to the mast. Ruby and Penny struggle with the sail when the wave hits. Ruby and Penny's lifelines snap taught. Weiss's fingers are numb. The knots come loose. Yang is screaming, she can't leave the wheel or she loses all control over the yacht. Weiss slashes her lifeline, she leaps into the water and the breath leaves her body. She can't remember which direction is up. It doesn't matter. She see's movement and swims towards it. Weiss grabs Ruby, letting out bubbles and feeling them rise. She looks down and sees Penny's terrified eyes.
Ruby hasn't spoken to Weiss in days. She refuses to look at her, she can't look at her. She can't see the guilt, the pain in Weiss's eyes. She blames Weiss. Ruby needs to blame Weiss. It has to be someone's fault.
Ruby is unprepared for Weiss to be waiting in her workshop. She doesn't want to notice the photo Weiss clutches. She doesn't want to to hear Weiss's broken apologies. She turns, she wants to leave. She doesn't want to hear Weiss but she waits. She doesn't want to think about why she waits, why she hears Weiss talk. But she stays. And when Weiss's words become incoherent sobs, Ruby's crying quietly too. She doesn't have to think about why. She knows why.
Ruby bathes with Weiss that night, and lets Weiss hold her.
Weiss hauls Ruby onto the yacht with strength born of terror. She's not breathing, she's so pale she's almost white. Weiss rolls her onto her back, pumping her chest. One two three four five six seven eight nine ten one two three four five six seven eight nine ten one two three four five six seven eight nine ten. Breathe twice. One two three... Ruby splutters, coughing up water. Weiss drags Ruby inside the yacht before diving back into the water. Darkness. Blackness. Not even a hint of orange.
Ruby wakes early, before her sister. She's cold as she slips from Yang's arms, so she stacks wood in the fireplace. She stares at the wood, slowly wondering what to do next. Yang always lights the fires. Ruby sinks to the floor. Penny could light the fire too. Penny could hold her. Penny could make her warm again. It's been so long since Ruby felt warm. Her mind numbs. Slowly and quietly, Ruby rises to her feet and walks to the door, slipping like a ghost into the pre-dawn night.
"Weiss! Weiss!" She's being shaken. She wants to sleep. "Weiss!" She wakes to Yang's panicked voice. "Ruby's gone." Weiss jolts awake, throwing on her clothes.
"Where?" She looks at Yang, eyes wide.
"I don't know!" Yang runs out the door. "You check the docks!" she calls. "I'll look at the beaches!"
Weiss runs out the door soon after. She doesn't know what to do. Weiss runs to the beach as rain begins to fall.
There's something on the beach. Yang doesn’t want Ruby to see but she does. She sees the orange hair, the pale green dress, deathly pale skin…
Ruby is screaming, she’s running, she’s sobbing. Ruby holds Penny in her arms as her head lolls to the side, water dribbling from her mouth. Penny’s eyes are open.
Ruby feels nothing when she wakes. Briefly, she wonders if she died. She discards that notion. If she had died, Penny would be there, but she wasn't. Ruby still feels empty. Ruby hears rain, and lightning. She opens her eyes. Weiss is huddled next to her in only a shirt, she’s wrapped her coat around Ruby. They’re in a shed, they’re… in Myrtenaster’s watershed. Swirling water. Ruby squeezes her eyes shut. A brush on her ankle and a mass of orange hair. Ruby curls up, rocking back and forth. Terrified green- Weiss’s arms are around her. Ruby is hauled onto Weiss’s lap and she wraps the coat around them both. Ruby whimpers as Weiss presses her face into Ruby’s hair. Ruby clutches at Weiss as a storm rages outside.
“It’s a pleasure to meet you!” the girl exclaims. Her face is covered in freckles and braces fill her smile, a beautiful smile framed by bright orange curls. A young Ruby grins as she turns to her best friend. Weiss humphs and Ruby giggles. "That means she likes you!". The new girl’s name is Penny, and Ruby quickly learns she’s Penny’s first real friend. Ruby always says that if her gap year held one of the worst times in her life, her fifth year of primary school led to some of the best.
Ruby feels warmth. She wakes in her own bed, with a pair of thin arms clutched around her, but the hair Ruby can see isn’t orange. Despite the warmth around her, Ruby shivers but doesn’t recoil. For the first time in weeks, Ruby feels warmth around her.
A year has passed since then, and Ruby opens the watershed to stare at the yacht. It’s fallen into disrepair since its first, and last, voyage. Weiss steps up beside her. “Are you sure you want to do this?” Weiss asks.
Ruby smiles softly as she lowers her gaze. She holds a photo in her hand and, raising it to her lips, she kisses it tenderly. “Yeah… I think I am."