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Ruby had finished her education and was the proud owner of her hunting license for two years already. She was living her dream, hunting grimms and helping people. Hearly after her graduation, she discovered that guarding the perimeter of Vale wasn’t it for her. Don’t get it wrong the Vale guard is an important Job, But she felt like she could have a bigger impact by taking missions outside the city.
Nowadays, most of her time was spent on the road, but she tries to visit her family when she could, and the few missions she could take with her Uncle were always a highlight. But despite all the joy she felt when she finished a mission, seeing the relief on the people’s faces made it all worth it. But when on the road she was dreadfully lonely.
But, hey tonight she’ll reach the town of her next mission. A small town north of Vacuo, the pair of huntsmen posted in the settlement requested help during the monsoon season to ward off the grimm migration. She’s a bit early but it will give her time to get accustomed to the terrain and the local population of grimm.
A distant “Cwak”, jolted Ruby out of her reverie. She petal burst next to the head of the caravan she was escorting and placed a hand on the man’s shoulder, “Can you make the caravan stop for a minute?”, He did not see her coming and got spooked, “Haa, Fuck. Could you not appear like that lass!? Why should we stop, did you see grimm?”, “Sorry mister, I didn’t see it but I definitely heard something, and just want to make sure before we continue”. “Ok if you say so. HEY EVERYONE FIVE MINUTE BREAK” he yelled. She waited for the sturdiest carriage to stop and jump on top of it in order to get a tiny bit more height. She had to block the sun with her hand so she wouldn’t be completely blinded. She scrutinized the sky for a bit of time, and surely she spotted three black shapes. She got out Crescent Rose in her sniper form and used the sight to get a better idea of what they were. White beak and black body. She jumped down and braced Crescent Rose on the side of the carriage and waited for the grimm to get in range. Three shots, three times the shapes fell, smoking and evaporating before they could touch the ground. She jumped back on the carriage and looked around to see if any ground base target got alerted but she couldn’t see any and came back to the head of the caravan, “All good we can continue.” The rest of the journey continued without a scratch.
She was called by the conductor in his tent. She gave a quick knock on the entrance flap and came in. “Hey lad, this is your last stop with us if I remember correctly?” “Yes, mister Havel”, “Can I convince you to continue with us?”, “I appreciate your honesty but I took a mission here and If I left with you who knows If they’ll have a replacement in time for the monsoon.”, he sighed, “Too bad, I was sceptical of you when you asked for the job. There are too many young ones who try to pass for huntsmen and end up dying”, he sighed once more, “Anyway here is your pay”, he said handing an envelope to her, ”I hope this isn't the last time we see you, lass”. She took the envelope and counted the money in it. She had to learn the hard way that sometimes people weren’t quite as nice as their appearance would let you believe and it became an unconscious habit of hers. This time however it was a nice surprise, she took the surplus money and put it on the table, “Thank you but I don’t take more than I agreed to.”, The young huntress smiled, “Are you sure?”, he seemed surprised, “Yes, If you really want to spend the money I heard that Francis’s wheel wasn’t spinning true.”, she turned and left to get her stuff. She asked around for an inn or a hotel and an hour later she was showered and in a nice bed.
She walked up the next day with the sun shining directly in her face. “Hello miss Rose, I was starting to worry that the caravan would be leaving without you”, “Nah I’m not continuing with them”, She answered as she sat down in front of her, “I’m staying here for the monsoon.” “Ho, so you’re the huntress that accepted that job. Thank you. What can I get started for you?”, “You don’t need to thank me. I’m only doing my job. Can you do scrambled eggs?”, “We sure can! I do have beacon too if you want.”, “Perfect scrambled eggs and coffee, please. With cream and 5 sugar please”, the bartender looked at her weirdly, “Yes I know that’s blasphemous, my teammate made sure to impart their feeling about it”, “I didn’t say anything!”, she looked sheepish, “My name Olivia and Welcome to Mulberry”. “Ruby rose!”, she extended her hand, “Nice to meet you”. Olivia shook the huntress’s hand, “I knew that already I was the one registering you yesterday, remember?”. Embarrassed Ruby scratched the back of her head. “Um anyway, do you know where I can find mister Virident? He’s the one who put the request on the mission board so I assume he is your huntsman?”, “No not quite. He’s the mayor. You can find him in the building next to the forge. You can’t miss the smoke from it.”, a small bell rang signifying that ruby’s food was ready. She ate it while making small talk with Olivia, then she left to find the forge.
It was on the edge of the city. She decided to see if the mayor was here first and then check the forge. Knock knock knock, she waited a bit for the door to open. “Hello, how can I help you?”, “Hi I’m Ruby Rose the huntress who accepted the position for the monsoon.”, She fished her license out of her pocket and gave it to the person in front of her, “I was hoping mister Virident would be here so I could introduce myself and asked a few questions?”
“O nice to meet you miss Rose, Please follow me”, the man stepped away from the doorstep and waved her in. “My name is Jack Vaker. I’m the mayor’s second.” he turned a corner, knocked on a door and entered, inviting Ruby to follow him. “Yes, Jack?” the man behind the office asked, “I present you Miss Rose. She is the huntress reinforcement for the monsoon”, “Ha! well I wasn’t expecting you until a week or two”, he stepped around his desk and extended a handshake to the young huntress, “Yes I was in the area and managed to negotiate to travel with yesterday's caravan. I also came in early so I could familiarize myself with the lay of the land and any potential local species of grimm''. During her first year as a huntress, she had to constantly justify her skill so she has taken the habit of explaining her action. ”I’m Virident, the mayor and this is Mr Vaker my assistant but you’ve already met I presume.”, “Yes, he opened the door for me”. “Very well unfortunately I don't know much about the grimm so I’m gonna have to redirect any question you might have to our pair of huntresses. Apart from that do you have questions?”, “yes, could I inquire about the included accommodation that was spoken in the mission detail? I understand that it was stated to be available for the duration of the mission and I’m a bit early so..,”, “Yes you can have it”, the mayor chuckled a bit, ”Mr Vaker will give you the keys and show you where to find it. Is there anything else?”, “I… Thank you Mr Virident, I do have one last question I suppose: Do you know where I can find the posted huntresses?”, “Ha yes, the huntresses… You can find them”. “Mrs with respect they went out yesterday for preliminary culling before the monsoon”, Jack interrupted, ”Ha yes thank you, Jack, please remind me to send them in the direction of miss Rose when they come back.” A silence introduced itself in the room for the first time since Ruby got here and Oum does she hate awkward silences, “Well if that’s all Mr Vaker can show you the way to your new accommodation.”.
Taking that dismissal for what it was, Ruby and Mr Vaker walked out of the office, “Can you wait for me outside Mrs Rose? I’ll fetch the keys and I’ll be with you in a second or do you need me to show you the way to the front door?”, “No I’m fine thank you.”, “good see you in a minute then.
“Mrs Rose please follow me”, the man said while getting out of the house and jiggling the keys. “Since we're going to see each other quite often I feel, can you call me Ruby please?”
“Only if you agree to call me Jack then”. “Easiest deal of my life Jack”, the young girl giggled.
Jack showed ruby the way to her new temporary home. A not-too-small cabin in the woods out of the way of the village, with running electricity and water. After a tour of the house, Ruby came back to the hostel to collect her bag and on her way back to her house stopped at the forge, and knocked at the door twice.
An older man opened the door, “ Excuse me lass can I help you?”, “Hello, my name Is Ruby Rose I’m a Huntress. I’ll be staying for the monsoon and I was wondering If I could borrow the forge from time to time to perform repairs and maintenance?”, “Hello and welcome to Mulberry, I’m Coal Eligius the blacksmith of this village and a few others. Can I see your credential? You know I wouldn’t want to give access to a forge to a newbie.”, ruby smirked and fished out a card from an inner pocket of her bag and handed it to him, He looked at her with questioning highbrows, then he looked at the card and his eyes widened to the size of a saucer, “Damn lass! Master 2 I’ve never seen someone with that high of a credential coming around here. Come in. come in. I do have to warn you though that we don’t have any fancy computer stuff here”. Ruby followed him in, ”Don’t worry most of my time is spent on the road so having a forge at all is already a luxury for me”. He brought Ruby next to the workbench, “So I’ll make a tour later but any material you use you’ll have to buy from me or bring your own. We mostly have tool steel because I mainly do repairs.“, “Ok, could you help me make an order for high-speed steel? I like to have enough so I can repair my weapon just in case something goes wrong but apart from that I’ll mainly use what you have for sharpening.”, “No problem, as for sharpening I have a sharpening wheel over there and a few whetstones if you require them.” After that, Ruby toured the equipment, some of them clearly showed their age and the first thing she was going to do was help refurbish them when she had the time.
She thanked Coal for agreeing to share his forge with her and came back to the cabin. The next few hours were spent cleaning, dusting and finally, she could unpack. After all that cleaning she deserved a break and what better break than taking care of her baby. She put Crescent Rose on her dining table, it being the only flat-ish surface she had at her disposition right now.
She got really into it and stopped paying attention to her surroundings. When suddenly a knock rang through the house and startled her. A sudden loud noise knocked her out of it though. Then it rang again through the space emanating from the door. “Is someone in there?”, Ruby relaxed immediately, it was probably the huntresses coming to meet her.
She opened the door and what a surprise waited for her on the other side. Coco Adel and her partner Velvet scarlatina. “Hey Bunbun am I dreaming or is that little rose?”, the older woman looks above her tinted glasses, then looks at her partner. Velvet fished out a piece of paper out of her side satchel and handed it to Coco, she took it, and read it, “What! How did you guess it was her before we even got here?”, Velvet smirked, “Come on, it wasn't that difficult.”, she started to count on her finger, ”A young huntress, wearing a skirt, a bit shy, except when it comes to hunting, and wearing a lot of black and red”. “And that is why you’re the brain of our pair.”, Coco said proudly and placed a kiss on the top of Velvet’s head.
Ruby couldn’t hold it anymore and crouched down laughing. Once she was done the two older girls looked at her quizzingly. She stood back up and embraced the two in one large hug. “I missed you guys! Do you want to come in?”, she asked hopefully. “Of Course, that’s why we’re here after all.” velvet answered.
Don’t mind the table I was in the middle of cleaning my baby. Velvet was surprised, “You didn’t have to stop just to open the door. We could have waited for you to finish with your child.”, on the other hand, Coco saw a perfect opportunity to tease, “Who’s the lucky father? Hu rube’s?”. Ruby was very confused by what they were saying, so she did what she did best in those situations and ignored them. So she just turned and let them come inside. The brown couple then saw Crescent Rose half dismantled on the kitchen table and this time it was Coco’s turn to laugh hysterically while Velvet became beat red with embarrassment over the misunderstanding. Ruby was once more confused. The previous conversation ran once more in her head and it clicked. “No! No, No,”, she agitated her hands in front of her, “I don’t have a child. Crescent Rose is my baby but it's more because I created her and I poured my love into her, But she’s not a human child. I don’t have a human baby. It would be kind of hard for me to have one anyway since I’m constantly moving from mission to mission.” That clarification only made Coco double her laughter and cement Velvet in place. A few minutes passed for Coco to calm herself, “Ruby never change! please.”
“Let me clean this up and I’m all yours after. You can look in the kitchen but I’m not sure if there's anything left.” She re-assembled her weapon, put it in storage, and came back to Coco and Velvet waiting for her next to the door.
“Where are you going?”, “You have nothing to eat so Coco made the executive decision that you’d be eating with us tonight”. “You don’t have to do that I still have a few M.R.E.s” “You could do that”, Coco spoke up, “OR you could spend the evening catching up with old friends around a meal cooked by my Bunbun. So Rose, what about it?”, at this moment Ruby’s stomach decided he had enough of the bad decision the brain on top of its shoulder was making and decided to make itself known. “Well it seems like your stomach just made the decision for you”, Velvet snickered. “Ok just give me a second”, Ruby blushed and left to get her cloak.
The house of Coco and Velvet was a charming 2 stories house next to the village entrance. The bottom floor was the main living space with couches to the right and the dining table on the left. Close to the back was the kitchen with the stairs to the second floor in it and in front of the kitchen door a small hallway leading to the toilet and what Ruby assumed to be storage space. Ruby tried to follow the couple to the kitchen, “Ruby stop”, Velvet asked suddenly, “Your boots stay next to the door!”, “Yes mama”, the younger one exclaimed jokingly. “On the terrain, I might be the one to have a machine gun but in the house, it’s Velv who calls the shots.
When she joined them in the kitchen Velvet was downing an apron and Coco was getting the cutting board, ”Can I help with anything?” She asked not wanting to just do nothing while her elders were making food for her. “Sorry the kitchen is a bit small. Maybe next time you can help but for this time just take a seat we’ll be joining you very shortly”. She went back into the living room and sat down on the couch and looked around at all the photos of Coco and Velvet on the different furniture. They look really happy together. She did not expect to find her old Beacon friend again but seeing them happy and healthy warmed Ruby’s heart. One series of photos attracted Ruby’s eyes more than the other. Coco in a brown suit probably designed by her with a smiling Velvet in her wedding dress in a bridal carry.
“We got married last year”, the voice of Coco startled Ruby, ”We came to Mulberry for the monsoon soon after. The old huntsman asked us to stay and we agreed.” “You both look really happy in those. How is the other pair of team CFVY?”, “We don’t get news often. Far away from the Tower as we are.”, the older woman sighed, “Last time we heard they were leaving the desert to make their way to Vale. They said they were doing good though”. She looked down at Ruby, “And you how is Team RWBY?”. “Weiss, took the place of her father a few months ago and last I heard she was collecting as much evidence as she could to turn to the authorities, the current shareholders and board members.”. Coco sat down on the loveseat and tilted her head in the direction of the kitchen, “Did you hear that Bunbun? Ice queen is booting every racist piece of shit in the SDC!”. A small “Woop Woop” came back just after.
Ruby giggled, “You have no idea how happy it makes me that I’ll spend this mission with friends “. That’s when Velvet came out of the kitchen, “So How’s Belladonna and your sister?”, “Both of them live in Menagerie now. They are trying to get Menagerie’s hunting school to be recognised by the other Kingdoms. I don’t know much of what’s been happening recently though I was planning to go and see them after the monsoon.” “What about JNPR?”, Coco asked next, “I don’t really know, I think Pyhrra has gone back to Argus, Ren and Nora are doing like me, touring the countryside helping smaller settlement, so it’s kinda hard to get in touch.”
They kept talking throughout the evening, everyone sharing experiences from their past missions. Week passed then, months and before anyone realized the monsoon ended and it was time for Ruby to leave Mulberry. “Ruby it was great to have you here I hope you’ll come back sometime”, The taller of the tree huntress requested, “You’ll always be welcome here Ruby”. and so she went on her way.
As she planned she went to Menagerie to check in on her sisters. Then she made her way north of Anima. She took a bit of time to check in on Weiss since she was so close to Atlas. Back down to Vale said hello to her dad and uncle. Something seemed to change between the two of them but she was not able to figure it out. And by coincidence, she was back in Vacuo just in time for the monsoons.
She was excited to see Mr Havel again and the kid of the caravan. Everyone in Mulberry was happy to see her comeback for this season. Coal had stocked up for her when they had the confirmation that she was the one taking the mission. Like last year she quickly fell into a routine with Coco and Velvet, except that this time she was spending more and more time with them. But the monsoons were short and the time to leave was already there. Like last year she left for Menagerie but this time she swept south of Sanus and jumped from island to island protecting whatever ships would accept to take her. But absence makes the heart grow fonder and Ruby isn’t very well known for hiding her feelings very well.
“So Rube’s what’s on your mind?”, Ruby sighed, “Is it that obvious?”, “You forget we grew up together?”, “No, but I was hoping I had become better at hiding it.”, Ruby answered. “Come on Rube’s tell me what’s wrong”, Yang sat on the edge of the roof and gave her younger sister a one-armed hug. After she still didn’t say anything she knew she had to get out the big guns, “You know I was kinda hoping, after entering Beacon, you would be done with sulking on your own on top of roofs. But I guess it’s because you spend so much time on the road that you forgot I’m here for you.”, With one arm she flung both of them away from the ledge and before Ruby realized what was happening she started furiously tickling her. “AH Please, Hii hiii, Stop, Ha ha, I beg of you, Hehe”, “Not until you promise to tell me once I stop”, "Please, hehe, I swear, hahaha". And Yang stayed true to her words and stopped, "Thank you for stopping, hic.", Ruby stopped for a second, "hic, thank you now I have hiccups'', she turned her head to the side to pout, "Ho, come on sis it's not my fault.", she heard another hic from her sister, "Ok, it's kinda my fault, come back inside you can deal with the hiccups there and will be more comfortable talking inside anyway", Yang helped Ruby get up and both sisters came back inside.
After Ruby had gotten her muscles to calm down, she joined Yang in her living room. She sat down and stared at the ground for a few minutes not really knowing where to start.
"Remember last year the village for whom I took the mission to assist the huntresses, who turned out to be Coco and Velvet, during the monsoon?", Yang answered affirmatively, "I went back this year and it was great like last year. But ever since I left", She had to stop to get her thoughts in order before she could continue, "I've just been feeling alone. I started feeling it a while ago but recently it's been hitting me really hard. Being with them is great. I can spend some time with friends again. But it's like a high and after a while, I have to leave and it's back to being on the road with people I don't know. But I love being a huntress, it's the stretches of time between jobs that are painful. "
Ruby felt her sister sitting down next to her and giving her trademarked hug. Finally, she looked up. “Would you say you’re feeling homesick?”, Ruby looked just as deep in thought as she was on the roof, “During our first year I was doing the same thing as you, going from mission to mission and coming back periodically to spend some time with Blake. You know that was why I wanted to be a huntress, to see the world and experience adventure, but I soon realized that it wasn’t all that great. While on the road all I could think about was when would I be able to see Blake again. ”Yeah but that’s different, you and Blake were dating”, Yang sent her knowing grin to her clueless sister, “What do you mean”, Ruby bursted, “It’s not like that! First they are already dating each other and theyMakeABeautifullCoupleTogether”, she started to babble incomprehensibly after that and feeling that her deed was done Yang got out of the room cackling.
Unfortunately this year she was not able to go to Mulberry for the monsoon in time. Someone had grossly miss-categorised one of her missions and it ended up taking a lot more time than she expected. She told herself when she arrived in Vacuo that she could just wait for next year but by the time she was getting ready to leave she couldn’t. She had months to think about what she and Yang talked about that night and she had to accept that her old crush wasn’t that old anymore and she wanted to see them. She knew it was selfish but she couldn’t help herself.
She missed Mr Havel by a week and the next caravan wasn’t due before another month. So she resigned to just do the journey on foot. Without the caravan, the journey felt a lot longer but in actuality, she arrived a week before she would have. When she saw the caravan from afar she was relieved that she had finally arrived, but the closer she got, the more she felt like something wasn’t right. When she finally got there people from the caravan were buzzing everywhere. She found where Mr Havel was, “Hey Mr Havel What happened, were you attacked on your way here?”, he grumbled something about not being disturbed, then he turned to greet her, “Ho huntress Rose! What a surprise. We are fine but I can’t say the same for the village folks. Apparently, they were attacked a few days ago most of the village Is fine but some houses took a hit”
She petal burst out of the tent and went straight to Mr Virident’s house. She banged on the door as soon as she got there and didn’t even let her semblance completely deactivate, letting the first few knocks happen at super speed. “Ho miss Rose what a pleasant surprise we were not expecting you.”, he clearly wanted to say something more, but Ruby didn’t let Jack finish, “What happened!? Can I see the wounded? Where is everybody? Are you fine? you look fine but are you?”, “Calm down, please ruby”, He put his hand on her shoulder, “Please follow me.”
When she stepped into the room requisitioned for housing the wounded and the homeless she released a sigh of relief. Very few people were on beds and the room wasn’t crowded, and most important for her she could see neither Coco nor Velvet. She swiped her gaze and found Mr Eligius on one of the beds in the corner.
“Hello Coal what happened to you?”, he grinned when he saw his favourite huntress was here, “Nothing much I fell and the piece I was working on fell on me when the fight started, I’m probably the one with the biggest injuries thank’s to Velvet and Coco.”, reassured that everyone was fine she said goodbye to Coal and made her way to Her friend’s house.
She found them outside clearly having come back from the caravan’s camp outside the village, holding 3 large bags.
Coco and Velvet were very surprised when all of a sudden they felt a heavy weight appeared on them, threatening to topple them over. Then the smell and petals of roses appeared. They dropped their bags to the ground and hugged the younger huntress already hanging around their neck.
“Ruby! What are you doing here?”, asked Velvet, “I arrived in Vacuo a while ago but I was too late to take the usual mission. But I still wanted to see you, and when I arrived I learned that the town was attacked”, She started to sob, ”I was really worried for you two!”. “Come on little Rose, let’s get inside.”
She didn’t need to be told a second time, and with a quick use of her semblance, both them and their bags were transported to the Couple’s front door. After the brief disorientation that Coco and Velvet felt, they entered the home.
“So what happened?”, Ruby felt like she had asked before but no one seemed to be able to answer her, “The mayor thought we spend too much on the mission and that only the two of us should suffice”, Coco anger wasn’t visible because of her shades but it could clearly be heard, “We couldn't kill them fast enough”, Velvet continued, “The herd grew and they attacked all at once. We were lucky it was only strandwolfs, but we had to retreat to the village so we wouldn’t get surrounded”. Ruby was furious, “Where is the Mayor?”, the caffeine lovers looked at each other and nodded, ”We arrested him and he’s in cuffs. He will be on his way to Vacuo once Mr Havel leaves tomorrow”.
Ruby calmed down and plumped onto the couch relieved, “What’s going to happen for now?”, Coco sat next to her, “We’re going to focus on the reconstruction. Jack is the one fulfilling the mayor’s role for now.”
“Do you think you could stay for a while, Ruby?”, Coco asked. She didn’t call her little Rose and Ruby knew that it was a serious request. “Sure”, Ruby answered while nudging Coco’s side, “Can I stay in the hunter’s cabin?” she asked, hoping… “No”, Velvet said seriously, “We don’t know if the woods are safe right now”. That’s not what she was hoping for. While she was secretly hoping she could stay with them she didn’t know how she was going to hide that she was crushing on them both, hard.
Coco, noticing that her couch partner had stopped moving and wasn’t taking, decided to tease her a bit, “Come on Little Rose it’s not like you weren’t living with us last year”, Ruby's red face said all she was not willing to vocalize, “No that’s not true!”, she pouted, “Really? That's not what I remember. You were sleeping over there, but I remember you having to pay for part of our groceries because you were eating here so often”. Ruby became like her namesake, “What! Can you really blame me? Velvet cooking is so good! how do you want me to resist, and you forget one thing!”, Coco looked curiously at the younger girl, “Really what is it?”, “You are the one who invited me so much that It became routine”, She huffed and puffed. It’s then that Velvet joined them on the couch next to Coco. “Thank you, Ruby! I’m glad you find my cooking skill to be that good. But please stay with us, we don’t know if the woods are safe yet. We would just worry all the time.”
“Ok I’ll stay with you but, I can only stay for as long as the repairs take. I promised my dad I’d be visiting him before the end of the year”, she turned to look at them both, “apparently he has something to tell me.”
The next day she took over Coal forge with his blessing, she was the only one who could operate it, and thanks to her the repair could start in earnest right away. However, she was avoiding to speak about her feelings to Coco and Velvet. She spent most of her time in the forge. She was scared that it would ruin their relationship. After a while Coal had recovered enough that he was able to join in the reconstruction efforts.
When the reconstruction was finished the whole village organized a big feast and the Huntresses might have drunk a little too much
“Ruby, do you really have to go tomorrow?”, Coco asked. She was the one who was the most hammered of the three of them. They had managed to get back home despite all of it.
“Coco you know that I have to go”, Ruby answered from the kitchen. She came back with three glasses full of water. She put one in front of the three of them and sat down in the middle seat. A second later Coco was latched to her arm, “I would have never thought you’d be an affectionate drunk Coco”, “Isn’t she the cutest asked Velvet”, she tried to nod but her head rapidly told her that it was a bad idea. “Why don’t you want me to leave? It wasn’t an issue before?”, Coco answered but her speech was incomprehensible, and she squeezed harder Ruby’s arm. “Come on Coco, Use your words”, Velvet jokingly said.
Coco did not like to be made fun of so she decided to take things into her hands. Literally. She grabbed Ruby's face and kissed her. She was shocked but she quickly reciprocated the kiss. When Coco pulled back and the oxygen came back into her lung she realized that Coco’s partner and wife were sitting next to her. She turned her head, dreading to see Velvet’s reaction.
Velvet was just as shocked as Ruby was. They had talked about their relationship with Ruby and whether or not they wanted to go further, and seeing Coco kissing Ruby she really had no objection now. When she saw Ruby looking at her with fear in her eyes she couldn't take it.
She straddled Ruby’s lap and kissed her in turn. Relief flooded her when she felt Ruby grabbing her face.
Ruby woke up late in the morning with a headache. She felt something across her face that she did not recognize to be her usual sleeping mask. After lifting it she realized that it was one of Velvet’s ears. She did not recognize her room so she was pretty sure she was in her crushs’ room. That and the two bodies on either side of her. Judging by the angle of the sun It was past noon already and she should really be going, but she didn’t want to leave them like that. So she decided to leave them something from her so they could be sure she’d at least come back for it. She quickly got to her room to grab a change of clothes and took a really quick shower.
She snuck back into their room. Seeing both of them sleeping with their arms around an invisible object that used to be her. It made her furiously blush. She laid down her cloak in between them and left.
She was so absorbed by the images of last night that she could remember, the soft lips and beautiful curves of her companions, that she did not realize that someone was barging down the stairs. Then she felt something grab her wrist and spin her around. “Please come back after”. It was Coco still in her nightwear with her bed hair and emotion-filled eyes. It was so rare to see them so clearly.
The smaller one tentatively reached her hand to cup Coco’s face, ”I will. I promise you!”. They kissed for a final time and she left.
The journey to Patch was thankfully an uneventful one. Before she realized she was In front of her childhood home. But it would change her life.
“Ruby it’s you! come in”. Tai enthusiastically said. The now-adult girl did just that and hugged him on her way in. Her dad was starting to grey in his beard, showing his age. “How are you doing?”, she asked, “Doing good”, he answered, “How about you, still travelling the world helping people. Being the hero that saves the day?”, after that Ruby tried to put up a fake smile, “I sure do…”, After her visit with her dad she knew that she would be coming back to Mulberry but after that, she didn’t really know what she was gonna do. When she felt something pressing into her leg.
It was Zwei and before long she was crouching in front of the door giving belly rubs, the best belly rubs in Zwei not at all biased opinion, to the family dog.
Tai saw that there was something on Ruby’s mind but he didn’t push it and gave her a few days to recover from her journey, but Ruby knew that her dad wanted to tell her something so she asked him one morning. “You told me that you had something you wanted to tell me”, Tai was surprised that she asked herself. A true testament that she had matured into an adult now. “I really shouldn't be the one telling you. I’ll make the arrangement but we won’t be able to go until next week I presume.”, Ruby was really curious now, “Who do we have to go to? Is it serious?”, “Ozpin is the one who has something to tell you but he wants you to meet someone too and we’ll have to get her down from atlas.”
She took the next week until the meeting to check back in with the people of the island and her old professors from Signals.
The time had arrived and she was in front of the headmaster’s office. She would finally know what the fuss is all about. She entered without knocking as she was expected after all.
“Welcome, Miss Rose. How have the last few years been treating you?”, Ozpin asked while pointing at a chair in front of his desk. Her uncle was already there. It had been a long time since she last saw him so she detoured to hug him before sitting down.
“I’m doing fine, thank you. What is this all about?”, “Going straight into it I see”, Oz acquiesce, “First you must know that everything we are going to discuss today is the strict truth. Do you agree to hear us out until the end?”. She nodded.
“Thank you, Miss Rose. I’ll be frank with you. You are special Ms Rose. Your eyes hold an immense power to defeat the grimm, but some people believe that the grimm are the true rulers of Remnant and are willing to do anything to make their vision a reality. We were not planning to tell you any of this at first but they seem to be acting bolder in recent years and your uncle decided that it would be the best for you to at least know about it.”, the room was silent, waiting for ruby to talk. “What are you talking about?”, she asked, baffled. “I’m sure you know about the silver-eyed warrior Ms Rose.”, “Yeah, I do but it’s nothing more than a fairytale”. Qrow was the one to speak next, “It’s not Ruby, these people are the reason why Summer never came back.”. Without Ruby noticing, Qrow left the room and came back a minute later with an old woman in tow.
She took the seat next to Ruby, and used her cane to gently knock on Ruby’s head, “Come on young lady none of that”, Ruby oblivious to the appearance of the old lady until now looked at her with tears still in her eyes, “Who are you exactly?”. “Maria Calavera”, she extended her hand, “Also known as the Grim reaper and if you’ll allow it your mentor for you to master your eyes”.
It wasn’t hard for Ruby to accept the offer. For the next two weeks, she and Maria trained in the forest of Patch. But she had been imparted the importance of only using it in dire situations. And she was now ready to depart from her childhood house. “Please be careful Ruby and please keep in touch”, “I’ll be even more careful than usual I promise”, Tai felt a but coming, “But I can’t promise to stay in contact.“, she looked sheepish. Ruby hadn’t talked about Coco and Velvet to him, “I’ll be staying in a small town in Vacuo called Mulberry but I don’t know for how long and the CCT reception isn’t that great”, Her father looked at her inquisitively, “I might have met someone there, butWeOnlyActedWhenWeWereDrunkOnceAndILeftTheNextDayToComeHereSoTheSituationIsComplicated.”, she blushed thinking about that night again. Tai laughed really loudly, “well don’t let me keep you apart then”. After one last hug, she sped down the road to patch port.
Ruby wanted to be back so badly that she opted to take an airship to Vacuo. And a few weeks later she was back in Mulberry.
She went straight to Coco and Velvet’s house. For a second she thought that it was her girlfriends’ house and she grinned.
She knocked at their door but no one answered. She decided to go ask Coal, “Hey Coal! are you in here? it’s Ruby!”, She yelled when entering the workshop, “I’m in the back come in lass”. “Hey lad, how’re you doing?” he asked when she came in through the workshop door.
“A bit stressed but overall fine.”, He chuckled a bit, “you stressed?! What can make you, a young, powerful, huntress like you, stress?”. “I appreciate your confidence but you know that I’m not good with people”, she sighs and leans on the frame of the door, “But I was hoping you could help me with that. I need to talk to Coco and Velvet, do you know where they are? I went to their house but they did not answer.”, Coal thought for a second, “They came by yesterday in preparation for a culling. they might just have gone out a few hours ago”, he saw her composure drop even more, “If you’re fast enough you might be able to join them.”, he proposed. “Na I don’t know what direction they’ve gone might as well wait for a day or two. thank you though”. She made to leave but Coal called to her, “Wait, Ruby, do you have a place to stay?”. “I was thinking of taking a room at the hotel, why?”, “Just making sure you were not going to sleep in that old shack out there. Also”, He was clearly trying to say something but he was struggling, “Would you mind having dinner with me and my wife tonight? I would like to ask you something but I’d rather do it over a hot meal.”. Ruby was intrigued and agreed to it.
The meal was great but Coal still hadn’t told her what he wanted and the meal came to an end, “Thank you miss Eligius the meal was really good.”, “No problem Ruby it was my pleasure”, she said while jabbing her elbow into her husband's arms, “yes, yes”, he grumbled,” I asked you to eat with us because I have something to ask you.”, his wife was making hand signs to encourage him to continue, Ruby thought it was kinda cute, ”I’m getting on in years and ever since the attack I can’t do the work I used to do. so I was wondering if you could become my assistant in the forge?”, he asked, “See, It wasn’t that difficult to ask for help. He’s been fretting about having someone from the city come here. We don’t have anyone ready to take back the business. And he kept saying that you were the best choice he had but he didn’t want you to stop your huntress job“, “Stop that”, he interrupted, “I told you that it was her dream to be a huntress. I’ve asked, now leave me alone”.
“I’m very flattered”, Ruby did not know how to respond, “Can I take some time to think about It?”, “Sure thing lass. take your time”
The next day she took a lazy morning. With Maria’s training, she didn’t get a lot of rest recently. But she inevitably started to get bored. She went to the forge, “Need any help today?”, she asked Coal. He beamed and they started to talk and work at the same time, “So does that mean that you accept my offer”, He asked full of hope, “I’m sorry I still need some time to think about it. But you need help today and I was really bored so I thought why not. And it will give me a better understanding of what a normal day for you is, in case I do end up accepting”. It wasn’t the resounding yes that he dreamed of but the fact that it wasn’t an immediate no filled him with hope.
As expected Coco and Velvet came back late in the afternoon. She was still working in the forge when she heard them going into the mayor’s house to report their expedition. “Go on. I should probably close shop for the day too.”, “Thank you Master blacksmith”, she jested. The title had become an inside joke between them throughout the day.
Focusing on the work with Coal made her forget about her stress, but standing in front of the door, waiting for them made those feelings of inadequacy and fear come back in full force.
Coco was the one who opened the door but she was looking back at Velvet. So it’s the long heard faunus who saw Ruby waiting for them outside. And she immediately Jumped into her arms, joined right after by the strong arms of Coco enveloping them both. “Thank you for coming back so quickly”, she murmured in Ruby’s ear.
When she realized that neither of her potential girlfriends was willing to move she spoke up, “M… May… be we should get to your guy’s house”. Velvet tightens her grasp before letting her go, “Hm… you’re probably right”, as for Coco seeing Ruby blush, she couldn’t pass that opportunity, “Red is really your colour. I couldn't remember much last time”. Ruby was desperately trying not to picture Coco in her nightwear after that reminder of that night but it was a wasted effort when Coco slipped a finger on her lips.
“Stop it Coco”, Velvet playfully smacked the taller one’s arm, “Look how red she is. She’s going to pass out”. That’s when ruby dissolved into a pile of rose petals. “Look what you did. You’re incorrigible.”, “Don’t act like you didn’t like that when it was directed towards you”. “Just because I liked it doesn’t mean that she’s going to like it.”, her ears drooped a little, “I just don’t want her to get spooked and lose her”. “You’re right Velv”, Coco slipped a hand around the waist of Velvet, ”Let’s just follow the trail of our rose”.
The trail led them to their house but somehow Ruby had found her way in when the door was locked. She was pacing when they opened the door. “Calm down Ruby everything is going to be fine.”, Coco gently took her hand in her’s, “Yeah… It’s just that… But…“, “Hun hun. no but”, She interrupted by forcing eye contact, and what beautiful pool’s of silver, Coco thought, “While we were more than a bit drunk”, “Speak for yourself Coco I wasn’t drunk off my ass”, Velvet said, “Not the point Velv. We talked about it while you were away and for us, it wasn’t a mistake. We just want to know how you feel about it. But before that, who wants a coffee?”
“Can I have a hot chocolate instead?”, Ruby asked, “Of course you can, little rose, and you Bunbun?”. “Why not, I’m just going to go get something in the room. I'll be back shortly”.
Ruby had taken a seat on the end of the couch. Velvet didn’t take long at all and came back with her cloak. “Here you go Ruby”, she placed the folded cloth on her lap. The younger one took it and clutched it to her chest, “Thank you”, she was a bit misty-eyed, ”I really missed it.”, with a soft voice Velvet spoke up, “Why did you leave it if you would miss it so much?”, Ruby draped it around her shoulders and clipped it in front of her. The familiar weight helped her to get grounded and stay calm, “When I left I really needed to leave that day and it was already late, but with what had happened the night before I didn’t want you to think that I had left and would never come back. It was my way of telling both of you that I would come back”, “Thank you. It really helped for that”, Velvet smiled, “But you know a letter on the fridge would have been a bit easier, and wouldn’t have involved you walking through a desert without protection against the elements”, “I wasn’t thinking and I was rushed ok!”. “Rubes’ we’re only teasing. I personally appreciate that you left us with a piece so precious for you.”, Coco came out of the kitchen with their beverages and cookies on a tray. “During the first week, she cuddled with it every night. I was kind of jealous, to be honest”, Velvet stage whispered. They both giggled at the Coffee addict. “Fine, fine, laugh all you want but you were also upset that I got to give her a goodbye kiss and you didn’t”, Coco retorted, “Yeah, because you should have woken me up!”
Everyone was finally sat, “So, changing the subject, Let’s get into this.”, Coco looked at Velvet next to her, seeming to communicate without words like they were in battle, ” As I told you earlier. We’ve had time to think about it and talk it out between the two of us and we would like to try. But what trying means depends on you and how you want to approach it.”. Ruby stayed silent for a while, before she snapped out of it, “Sorry It’s just hard to believe that one of my academie crushes would just, like me, like that. let alone both of them”, she sighed and brought her mug to her lips, “I just have a hard time understanding that someone could want me in a romantic way. After all I have no experience in the matter whatsoever and I’m just a dunce”. “Yes you are a dunce”, Coco said sharply, “at least right now you are being one. Do you know what Velvet and I see in you?”, the girl on the other side of the couch shook her head, “We see a Beautiful and Strong, young woman who fought harder than everybody else for her dreams. A dream so selfless that she forgot that she could be happy.”
Ruby was dumbstruck. She didn’t know what to say. “So what do you want to do? We do understand if you’re not comfortable with dating a married couple.”, “That’s not what I said! But I’m scared too. The only example I have of anything remotely similar was my dad's relationship with Yang’s mother and mine. And that didn’t exactly end on good terms”, she spoke that last part as a murmur but Velvet heard it with no problem, “Are you going to run away and create a bandit tribe, Ruby?”, “No, why would I do that?”, “Because that’s the reason Raven left and I don’t think that it’s that compared to our relationship.”. “It’s not Raven I’m worried about.”, Coco scouted closer and took one of Ruby’s and in hers, “We are huntresses. We know the risk I could lose Velvet the next time the town is getting attacked. That doesn’t change the fact that I want to be with her today. Ruby put her feet on the couch and bring her knees to her chest with both hands, consequently letting go of Coco’s hand, “Maybe for you two but for me It’s just a matter of time”, “What do you mean Ruby”, Velvet softly asked, “I’m not sure I can talk about it apart from that it’s what my father wanted to talk to me about”, tears were starting to accumulate in her eyes, “I don’t want to make you feel the pain of losing someone like that. But quitting hunting is the only way for me to stay with you. I want to date you. Both of you”. Coco plucked the sobbing Rose from where she was planted and positioned her in between her and Velvet. They both hugged her until she stopped crying which was when she fell asleep.
They carried her to her room and went to sleep themselves, “What do you think It is?”, Coco asked her wife in her arms, “For her to consider stopping huntress work. It must be something grave, but I don’t think we should push the issue further. She’ll tell us when she feels ready to do so.
The next morning, They both woke up to the smell of breakfast and went down to investigate.
“Ho that’s not fair I wanted to surprise you with breakfast in bed”, Ruby exclaimed when she saw the brown couple going down the stairs. “If adding you to our marriage means waking up with breakfast in bed. It’s the best deal I’ve ever made.”, Coco spurted while in her morning drowsiness, “A… Adding me to your marriage? I thought we were only dating. When was that done?!”, Velvet hugged the reddening Ruby by the waist and kissed her to snap her back to reality, “Calm down, Coco is only joking… Mostly. We did discuss adding you to our marriage certificate if things go well but you would have to agree and sign papers for that”.
Velvet was pulling away when placed a quick peck on her lips. She was surprised but when she saw that Ruby had turned around to face the stove she went to sit down instead. “You know Coco I think you were on to something yesterday when you said that red was her colour.”
“You girls are mean. I’m just trying to do something nice for our first day as a couple with three people and you’re only making fun of me”. This time it was Coco who grabbed her waist and hugged her from behind, before leaning down to kiss her chick, “It’s very much appreciated. But you have no idea how tough it was for us to dial the affection down when you were around so you better be ready because we have cuddles to catch up on.“
She went and took her seat in front of her Bunbun, “By the way, 'a couple with 3 people’ is called a throuple or a polycule.” Ruby finished dressing the plates and put them on the table. “You see what I was talking about Yesterday? I don’t even know what to call my relationship”.
“Don’t worry we all have to start somewhere and it’s not like polyamory is very widespread”
A few weeks passed and she took the decision to accept Coal’s proposition on the condition that after the next monsoon, he would let her go on one last hunting trip. Which he accepted. Ruby didn’t know why but she felt like if she didn’t do it one last time she would regret it all her life, but if she left now she wouldn't be back in time for the monsoon, so she opted for leaving once they were finished. Her girlfriends were not opposed to the idea.
She settled gradually. At first, she wasn’t that comfortable with displays of affection in public because she was scared of what the people of the village would think of their polycule, but with some insistence from Coco, she accepted it.
Then she moved her stuff permanently into their bedroom. It amuses her to no end, the dance they go through every night to know who is going to sleep in the middle.
Coco and Velvet knew that once Ruby would be coming back it would be the start of their new life but they vastly underestimated Ruby’s ability to throw their plan in the burning dumpster.
When she came back she wasn’t alone. She had adopted a 7-year-old fox faunus called Ivory. His hair was a beautiful white and had stunning silver eyes. She took her lovers out of the village, in case the news of a mad cult would be distressing enough to bring Grimm to their position, they were sceptical but with a flashing demonstration from her they were forced to accept it as reality and understood why Ruby wanted to adopt him. She also took advantage of being alone with them to present them with the ring she had ordered with the help of Weiss. 3 rings with 2 half gems representing each other. Warm Cassiterite for Coco, golden topaz for Velvet, and more obviously a ruby for herself. And that’s how her new life started.