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It was far too quiet at Beacon. Saturday had brought about a lazy time where most of the students were either sleeping in and staying in their rooms or had gone out to town for the day. Ruby was lying back on her bed and staring up at the underside of Weiss’ bed frame. She let out a deep sigh. There was nothing to do. Jaune was out hanging with Neptune while the rest of his team decided to see a movie in the city. Yang had run off with friends and invited Ruby along, but she wasn’t much for the parties and clubs they’d be hitting. So, that left Weiss and Blake. Weiss was rummaging around in her closet for something. Ruby wasn’t paying attention really, and the cat Faunus...was gone?
Ruby sat up and looked around the room in a bit of confusion. Blake was usually in their room or with the team. Maybe she went with Weiss? She did like hanging out with Sun too.
“Weiss, have you seen Blake?”
“No. Why?”
“She’s not here.”
“And? She hasn’t been all day.”
“What?! How could you not tell me that she was gone?”
“You slept in late. I wasn’t going to wake you to say one of our teammates went out on a Saturday.”
Ruby lept off the bed in a huff and marched over to Weiss who was comparing two different blouses in the mirror.
“Well, do you know where she went?”
“Ruby, I’m not her mother. I asked and she said she had something personal to do today out of town. She’s old enough to take care of herself.”
Ruby pouted and folded her arms. Blake was secretive, but she wasn’t prone to disappearing. And to leave town? Something had to be up.
“Weiss, we need to go find her.”
Weiss raised an eyebrow and turned to Ruby, pursing her lips in annoyance.
“And why is that? If she has personal business to take care of, then let her take care of it.”
“Because she’s our friend and I’m worried. Wouldn’t you be worried if Yang or I disappeared?”
“Yang, no. You, yes. You’re much more likely to get into trouble than her.”
“She gets guns pointed at her at clubs! How am I more in trouble than her?”
“If I recall you wandered off in Mountain Glenn and almost got captured by Torchwick and the White Fang. I’d swear you attract trouble.”
The smaller girl stomped her foot and groaned.
“Weiiiiiissssss, please just help me find out where she’s gone. I just wanna make sure she’s okay. Didn’t we talk about working together and friendship like a bajillion times?”
“Yes we did, but I have plans to go shopping with Coco this evening and I’m not just going to drop that for some wild cat chase.”
Weiss snickered at her own joke and hung up one of the blouses. As she turned she saw the reflection of Ruby in the mirror. Her silver eyes were wide and watery. Her bottom lip quivered, and her hands were balled into shakey fists under her chin.
Weiss backed away almost in fear while trying to figure a way out of this.
“No. Nonononono, you are not pulling that sad puppy act on me.”
Ruby continued quivering her lip and a single tear started to roll down her cheek. Weiss panicked as she saw Zwei trot over and sit next to Ruby, his face almost imitating that of his owner.
Two at once?! Oh come on! Weiss shouted in her head.
Right as the second tear was about to fall, Weiss groaned and put a hand over her face.
“Fine.”
“F-fine what?” Ruby croaked out.
“We’ll go find Blake.”
“Oh thank you thank you thank you Weiss!”
Ruby lept at Weiss and wrapped her arms around the white haired girl’s waist in a tight hug. Weiss sighed and tried to wriggle out of the grip to no avail.
“I swear, if you get tears or snot on me, I will rescind my offer.”
Ruby let her go quickly and wiped her tears away.
“Okay, so where do we check first?”
Weiss grumbled for a moment about lost shoe sale opportunities and then seemed to think on the question.
“If she went out of town, there’s always a train station. We can ask if anyone seen her and if she left on a particular train somewhere.”
“But she’s practically a ninja! If she doesn’t wanna be seen, then we’ll never know.”
“Ruby, you’re over thinking this. If anything, I can persuade the ticket manager to show me the transcript of those who bought tickets today. Then we just see where she went.”
“How do we do that though?”
Weiss smirked and there was a glint in her eyes.
“Money talks, Ruby, and I have quite a lot of it.”
“Whoa. Weiss, you really are the best.”
“Hmph, I know.”
“Alright off we go! To the train station!”
Weiss swatted away at the rose petals in Ruby’s wake as the girl made a mad dash out the door and down the halls. Sighing and sending a message on her scroll to explain what happened to Coco, Weiss trudged after Ruby, following the sounds of excitement.
~~~
Ruby fidgeted and picked at a loose thread on her skirt as Weiss continued to text on her scroll. The train they were on was headed down to Southern Vale. Weiss had managed to get the receipt record from the station manager after some convincing. Thus, the pair found themselves on the train for the cat Faunus' location.
Weiss looked up and nudged at Ruby’s hand, saving the loose thread from being pulled out.
“What is with you? You’re acting like she’s going to be dead or something.”
“I can’t help it! I’m just worried you know?”
Weiss cocked her head to the side.
“I can see that, but you seem even more concerned.”
Ruby looked down at her feet, a sudden hush coming over the girl.
“I just want her to be okay. Last time when she disappeared, she almost got really hurt by Torchwick. There was also that whole time she wasn’t sleeping cause of how worried she was about the White Fang. We’re supposed to be close friends, and I just really care about her, you know?”
“Ruby, it sounds like you care about her a lot more than you say.”
Ruby chewed softly on her lower lip.
“I guess…”
“I’m not going to judge you for that. I’m sure you see something in her that I don’t.”
“She’s just...strong, you know? She’s able to stay happy with us, have fun and be part of a team despite having been through so much with those White Fang jerks. She kicks butt a whole lot. She got over you hating the Faunus-”
“Hey!”
“Sorry. You just have to get to know her better. She’s quiet, yeah, but she doesn’t open up to everyone easily. But once she does, she just loves to talk about her books and fish. Her kitty ears are just sooooo cute too!”
Weiss stared at the younger girl who seemed to be wrapped up in her own thoughts and sighed.
“Well, Ruby, if you do care about her that much, then we’ve got no choice but to find her. Then you can tell her all about this because somehow I doubt you have yet. Like you said, Blake isn’t very open with her feelings so maybe if you say something then she’ll open up more?”
“Yeah, that does seem like a good plan. But what do I say?”
“How should I know? You’re the one who told me what you like about her. You need to use your own words and open up. We find her, you talk to her, and you see what happens. Then all three of us go home so I can move on with my life.”
~~~
The town they arrived at wasn’t well known on a map. The two girls had to wander around asking shopkeepers and a few passersby about any “stoic looking girl with black hair and yellow eyes” that had been about. Ruby’s shoulders hung low, as not many had noticed anyone around of Blake's description.
“How the heck has no one seen her?”
Ruby had her head against a wall as Weiss was chatting with an elderly woman who seemed to be the last person in the small dusty town that they hadn’t asked.
“This is hopeless, Weiss. I can’t believe we lost Blake and she’s never coming back.”
Weiss grabbed Ruby by the shoulders and spun her around so they were facing before giving her a few shakes.
“If you could get out of your gloomy mood, maybe you’d pay attention to me. This woman saw Blake.”
Ruby’s face immediately lit up.
“Where?!”
“The town cemetery.”
Well, that certainly put a damper on Ruby’s mood. But this wasn’t about her. It was about Blake. Ruby straightened herself up and nodded with a serious look.
“Alright Blake, here I come!”
Ruby rushed off in the direction they’d been lead into town, rose petals fluttering behind her.
“Ruby! That’s the wrong direction, you dunce!”
Weiss felt the sudden gust change direction to where the cemetery actually was.
~~~
It only took Ruby a few minutes to reach the cemetery gates. It was a simple place; only a metal archway stating the name and purpose of the place. Ruby would’ve shouted for Blake if it wasn’t for the sign on the archway asking visitors to please be respectful.
The quiet of the graveyard wasn’t as smothering as Ruby expected. A soft breeze lifted a few fallen leaves along the paths of wooden and stone tombs, while a few crows cawed in the distance. She walked along the path scouring the rows until she saw her. Blake.
The cat girl was standing in front of a grave with her arms wrapped around herself. Ruby could hear faint whispers of her talking. She took a few steps closer and saw Blake’s ears twitch at the sound. Blake turned to face Ruby, her eyes a little glassy and look of surprise on her face.
“Ruby?”
“Uh hi...Blake.”
“What are you doing here? How did you find me?”
“Well, you were gone. I got scared. So Weiss and I just kinda picked up your trail and followed you here.”
“Weiss is here?”
“I mayyy have ran really far ahead so she won’t be here soon.”
A small smile found it’s way onto Blake’s face, and Ruby took this as a chance to step closer to her.
“Blake, why did you leave us? What’s out here? We talked about being honest with each other as a team. As friends.”
“I know, I know. This was just...something I wasn’t sure how to talk about.”
Ruby peeked around Blake at the gravestone. Only the word “BELLADONNA” was written on it.
“It’s the anniversary of my parents’ death. I come out here once a year to just...remember.”
“Remember what?”
“Life before.”
“...You wanna talk about it?”
Blake was lost in thought for a moment before giving a slight nod and moving down to sit on the warm grass. Ruby settled next to her, placing an encouraging hand on Blake’s.
“My dad was a faunus, a cat like me. He worked down at the docks moving cargo and sometimes fishing. Mom was human. She loved to paint and just help out everyone she met in town. When she brought my dad in, a lot of people weren’t happy. But she stood up for him and eventually they came to accept it.”
“She sounds great.”
“She was, from what I remember. They both were.”
“Can I ask what…?”
“There was a fire. I don’t remember how but they were both lost in it. My dad’s sister came to get me and take me in. I didn’t stay with her long; the people in her town weren’t faunus fans. I remembered how my mom was, and that’s what led me to the White Fang.”
“You just wanted to make a change.”
“Yeah…”
Ruby was rubbing her thumb across the top of Blake’s hand, only the sound of the breeze and soft breathing breaking the silence. She turned to look at Blake and then gave her a curious smile.
“So is that why your ears are out? Cause these people are okay with you?”
Blake’s ears flicked slightly and a small laugh slipped from her lips.
“Yeah. Here I just feel safe. The people here haven’t judged Faunus, and they get that we’re not all like the White Fang. This is one of the few places I feel like I’m at home, somewhere I’m not looked at like a bad person.”
“You’re not bad, Blake, you’re a great person.”
“I wouldn’t go that far. But thank you, Ruby.”
“Do you feel at home with us?”
“At Beacon? Sometimes. Mainly I feel it when I’m with you and the team. I guess I’d say you guys are a home to me.”
Blake moved her hand out from under Ruby’s. Ruby thought she was moving away but then Blake laced their fingers together.
“Thank you for coming to find me, Ruby.”
“Of course, Blake. Home isn’t home without you either.”
Blake turned to face Ruby and pressed her forehead to the younger girls head. Ruby could’ve sworn she heard the faintest purring noise and smiled back. The pair closed their eyes, taking in the silence and sweetness of the moment they had together.
“Maybe we can be a home together?”
There was a sudden pause in the purring Ruby heard and she opened her eyes to see if she’d done something wrong. Instead she was greeted by Blake’s eyes shining back at her and a wide grin on her face.
“I’d like that Ruby.”
From where the pair was seated, neither noticed Weiss leaning against the arched entryway.
“Finally.”