What Defines Us - Chapter 4 (Patreon)

“Yang!” she shouted to nowhere in particular.  “Have you seen my boots??”

Sticking her head back inside the hall closet, she began picking up random shoes and tossing them behind her in search of her missing boot.  She already had one in her hand, but the other one was nowhere to be found - which made sense because there were always so many friggin’ shoes in here!  And they weren’t hers.  Or Blake’s.  

This was just great.  Now she was going to be late.  Blake had said five minutes and it had definitely been more than five minutes already.  It would be fine if Blake was like Yang and always late, but nope.  Blake was a pretty precise person.  Five minutes meant five minutes which meant Ruby was late.

How could one person have so many shoes??  What could the purpose possibly be?  One for every day of the month?  Or year?

“YANG!” she shouted again after giving up a second time.

“WHAT!”

The word was yelled directly in her ear from behind, making her nearly jump out of her socks in surprise.  Standing up and spinning around, she glared into Yang’s pleased grinning face while rubbing her (mostly likely ruptured) eardrum with her free hand.

“Have you seen my left boot?” she asked impatiently, holding the right one up to show her sister.  Not like she needed to - Yang should know exactly which boots Ruby was talking about.  They were her only pair, after all.  Unlike someone else she knew...who’d apparently robbed a shoe store recently.  Although why Blake would help Yang rob a shoe store, Ruby had no idea...

“Uh...you mean that one over there?”

Looking in the direction Yang pointed in, Ruby groaned out loud.  Of course it was hiding under the hallway chair separated from its partner.  Which was totally not where she’d put it last...but maybe it had been and she just didn’t remember.  Or maybe someone had moved it to make room for all their stupid shoes instead.

Scrambling over to grab it, Ruby shoved her foot inside before hustling towards the backyard.

“You have too many shoes,” she shot at Yang on her way out.  Yang’s only response was to chuckle and start shoving shoes back into the closet with one foot, not caring that it was creating an even bigger mess than before.

The hall closet, which should really be called the shoe closet given how many pairs were stuffed inside, was something they’d already had an argument about before.  It had ended with some sort of explanation about ‘fashion,’ but that little word had made Ruby tune out the rest of the conversation so fast she might as well have completely lost her hearing for a few minutes. 

End result - she had no idea what had come of the conversation other than that the shoes were still there creating a huge mess.  And that apparently ‘fashion’ meant owning a whole bunch of crap that was hardly used - and that crap took up so much space they needed an entire closet to house it all.

Hopping on one foot through the hallway to the back door, she used both hands to yank her other boot on straight before stomping both feet to make sure they were ready.  Satisfied that they weren’t coming off anytime soon, she grabbed Crescent Rose from the table, pushed open the screen door and hopped onto their small back porch.

Just like she’d thought...she was late.  Blake was already waiting in the middle of the yard, Gambol Shroud hanging across her back while the slight evening wind blew the weapon’s ribbons gently to the side.

“Ready!” Ruby exclaimed while jumping off the single step of the back porch to the grass below.  But before her feet had touched the ground, a flash of black slammed behind her knees and sent her crashing to the grass.  She let out a loud ‘eep!’ of surprise as she tumbled onto the dirt before finding herself looking up into amused amber eyes with the black metal of Gambol held close, but not too close, to her throat.

“Don’t say ‘ready’ until you’re actually ‘ready,’” Blake told her with a satisfied smirk before pulling the weapon away and taking a step back.

“Jeez, can’t catch a break with you two today...” Ruby grumbled, pushing herself to her feet and dusting off several blades of grass.  Picking up Crescent Rose, she unfolded the weapon and assumed her defensive stance.

“Ok,” she said firmly.  “Ready.”

“Are you sure?” Blake asked, eyes twinkling in anticipation while Ruby rolled her eyes at the question.

“Yes, this time I’m actually - eep!!”

Maybe she hadn’t been completely ready, but luckily she reacted fast enough to get Crescent Rose in a position to block Blake’s sudden flurry of attacks.  Unfortunately, her continued lack of actual readiness caused her to back up several paces and concede valuable ground in their medium-sized yard.  

There were two wooden fences separating their yard from the neighbors on either side - one behind Ruby and one behind Blake.  Besides the back of the house, the last ‘wall’ in their square yard was made up of a large, open wooded area.  Ruby had learned pretty fast that while the trees seemed like they’d be good obstacles to add to any fight, the woods were in fact the last place she wanted to be.  As in, the very last place.  Do not let the fight go into the woods, ever. 

Twirling her weapon in her hands, she blocked several more of Blake’s attacks while searching for an opportunity to launch a counteroffensive.  But first, she needed some separation.  Immediately after feeling the next jolt of Gambol striking the edge of Crescent Rose, she activated her semblance and burst away from the house towards more open space.

At least she tried to burst in that direction, but a ribbon reached out and snatched her ankle - throwing her to the ground face first.  As soon as her chin hit dirt, she kicked her feet to roll to the right while a surge of adrenaline coursed through her veins.  The sound of metal clanging off the ground confirmed her instincts as she clambered to her feet and got her weapon in front of her as quickly as possible.  

She almost wasn’t ready - resulting in the incoming blow knocking her back a step in order to absorb the power put behind it.  She was a little more prepared for the next one, but it still forced her back a half step before she was able to hold her ground.  Still playing defense...but at least she wasn’t giving up any more ground.

Using her semblance to try to slip away again would be risky at the speed Blake was currently attacking.  Like Ruby had just learned, her margin of error was narrow for escaping unscathed.  Whenever she blocked one incoming blow, there was always another a millisecond behind it - or a shadow clone blowing past her that she would mistakenly twist around to react to, losing valuable time to react to the real attack.

Yang and Blake had both repeatedly instructed Ruby to identify her enemy’s strengths and weaknesses within the first few seconds of a battle and use that information to find points of attack.  It had seemed like such pointless advice at the time - how was she supposed to figure out someone’s weaknesses in just a few seconds? - but it actually came more naturally to her than she’d thought it would.  Somehow she knew things about Blake’s style without really knowing them, if that made sense.  Like, Blake was extremely smart and calculating.  Her attacks were deadly accurate, like an assassin, but she’d only attack furiously if given an edge and could only keep up a fast pace for a limited time.  

Seeing how this practice had started, Blake definitely had the upper hand - which meant that she was looking to deal the death blow immediately.  If the opportunity didn’t present itself quickly enough, she would retreat and regroup.  In the meantime, Ruby just needed to hold on.

Much easier said than done, especially when Blake’s attacks were flying at her so fast she barely had time to deflect one before the next one was on its way.  And then the shadow clones - oh sweet shadow clones - they were making Ruby’s life miserable right now.  Fighting one person was difficult, but the clones made it feel like Blake was attacking from six different directions at once.  Six different directions.  At one time.  Ruby could hardly even think six different thoughts at one time!

The clones were amazing and Ruby thought that they were just about the coolest things ever…but she only thought they were super cool when they weren’t making her twist and spin and nearly trip herself in confusion.

That was such a lie.  They were still super cool even if they were extremely disorienting.  

But their inclusion in battle meant that Ruby needed to be extra aware and always, always on her toes.

Left, right, up, behind - shuffle, repeat.

The clang of metal meeting metal found a rhythm in the air as she spun in every direction to protect herself from the onslaught - sometimes jumping backwards to give herself breathing room, only to find that Blake had already flipped behind her.  

Somehow Blake was always one step ahead, but Ruby had to hold out.  That’s all she had to do.  There wasn’t a break in Blake’s armor, so she had to hold out and tire her opponent out.  Wait until there was a fraction of a second more between each blow - that’s when Ruby would be able to find some sort of opening...hopefully.

This was the exact opposite strategy of what she used with Yang - who would attack, attack, attack and absorb blows like a freaking tank.  Yang only needed to land one good hit to end the battle with a knockout.  And good luck trying to tire her out.

Blake would tire.  Hopefully before making Ruby eat grass again.

Or…

Blocking several more attacks, oxygen was abruptly forced from her lungs when what she’d thought was a clone had actually been a very real set of boots planting into her ribs.  Staggering momentarily from the impact, she somehow managed to locate Blake behind her and react to the next strike in the nick of time.  There was a smirk on Blake’s lips now, like she was really pleased with what she’d just done - knocking most of the wind from Ruby’s lungs.

Ruby wasn’t gonna lie - that had sucked a lot.  Oxygen was kind of important to being able to function and now her breathing was nothing more than a wheeze for air while trying to keep up with the whirlwind surrounding her.

No wonder Blake was pleased.  Ruby would be pretty pleased too if she could ever get close enough to the real Blake!

Crashing their weapons together, Ruby quickly jumped and slammed her own heels down on Crescent Rose.  Springing off and somersaulting backwards, the force was enough to temporarily shove Blake a few feet away, but unfortunately not much more than that before a clone again appeared behind Ruby’s right ear and caused her to stumble in surprise.

Dang.  She could not catch a break today.

But...maybe Blake’s confidence could be used against her.  Not that Blake was overly confident or cocky, but she was clearly in charge of this fight and on the cusp of winning.  If Ruby presented an opening, Blake would probably take it.  The bait just needed to be convincing enough...and Ruby needed to be ready to get out of the way before getting absolutely destroyed.

No problem - all she needed to do was put herself in a super precarious position that looked precarious enough that Blake believed it was precarious.  And Ruby had just the idea!

Taking a large step backwards, she pretended to stumble over an invisible hole in the yard.  It was convincing because, unfortunately, she was rather clumsy on a good day.  And it was precarious because, while she pretended to trip herself, she allowed Crescent Rose to dip ever so slightly.  Not too much, but enough to project a briefly lowered guard.  

This presented an opening in her defense and Blake immediately took it - lunging forward in a flurry of clones.  With Crescent Rose out of position, Gambol Shroud whizzed past Ruby’s ear as she burst to one side to dodge the attacks.  Again a ribbon caught her ankle, but this time she used the sudden loss of balance to propel herself into a controlled tumble and regained her feet instantly.  

Blake had already tracked Ruby and was rushing to pursue, but that small moment was enough of a break to disturb the rhythm of the battle.  Swinging Crescent Rose blindly when she rolled up to her feet, Ruby forced Blake to deflect the scythe upwards.  Sensing an opening, Ruby pulled upon her semblance for her follow up - bringing the weapon quickly downward before Blake had time to counterattack.  The instant Ruby felt another clang reverberate through her arms, she was swinging up again - using an ever flowing motion that allowed her to swing continuously without ever having to withdraw and attack again.  

Always in motion - a blocked upswing became another attack on the downswing.

Crescent Rose sang through the air - a sound Ruby absolutely loved.  Weapons were special in that way.  Each had a unique call, with Crescent Rose being different from Gambol, being different from any of the other weapons they had laying around.  Even in the heat of battle, she could hear the difference as clearly as if they were different people speaking.

Gambol might have been doing most of the talking at the beginning of this battle, but now it was Crescent Rose’s time to get a few words in.

Firmly on the offensive, Ruby knew that now she needed to knock Blake off balance.  Which was going to be hard to do because one, in case no one had noticed, Blake was a cat Faunus - as in, the tiny, super agile creatures with incredibly good balance?  And two, Blake was exceptional at blocking.  She’d actually been teaching Ruby several really cool techniques to manage blocking and efficiency, but there was still so much Ruby needed to learn!

Picking up the speed of her attacks, Ruby could see the petals swirling in the air around them, but somehow Blake seemed to know what Ruby was going to do before she’d even done it.  Dozens of blows were easily deflected while Ruby tried to swarm her opponent, leaving Ruby with nothing to show for her efforts except for slightly reduced stamina and strength.

Unlike Blake, Ruby didn’t have awesome shadow clones that she could use, but she could use her semblance to leap from one side to the other as fast as possible.  Rose petals filled the air with each dash while she searched and searched for an opportunity to attack.  But each time Blake reacted to her perfectly - Gambol already in place to thwart Ruby’s attempt.

Block, block - blockblockblockblock.  

Blake was too good at defense for Ruby to crack, but if she could keep up the pace, eventually…

Sensing an opening - a small, small window - Ruby bit on it immediately, realizing too late that Blake had just baited Ruby the same way she’d baited Blake earlier.  It wasn’t actually an opening.  It was a pretend opening.  

And Ruby must have projected her intent to attack because Blake was already gone - easily catapulting over Ruby’s head without so much as a running start.  Swiveling her head to track Blake’s movement, Ruby deflected a rapid barrage of bullets that pelted down on her before two boots planted on her chest and sprang down.  

The crushing force sent her stumbling backwards, completely off balance.  Her eyes dropped to the ground for the briefest of seconds in order to get her feet back underneath herself, but by the time she looked up she found herself staring into nothing but forest - with Blake nowhere to be seen.

“Crap…” Ruby muttered under her breath while creeping towards the treeline.  She’d just made a really, really stupid mistake by allowing their fight to get so close to the edge of the woods.  The early twists and turns had disoriented her enough that she’d lost track of their position in relation to the house.  Now she realized that Blake had been leading them this direction the entire time without Ruby ever catching on until too late.

There was clever...and then there was the extra tricky version of clever that Blake brought to the table - the invisible table that she’d just tricked Ruby into trying to sit down at.

Stifling the urge to chop all of the trees down (she’d been expressly forbidden from doing that), Ruby stuck one toe into the darkness as if testing the temperature.  Nothing immediately pounced on her, which was good, but she still didn’t want to go any further into the woods.

Unfortunately, it had been established as a rule some time ago that she couldn’t just wait by the house for Blake to re-emerge.  That would be an automatic forfeit and Ruby would have to do the dishes for the next two weeks.  So no, waiting Blake out wasn’t an option.  In order for the fight to continue, Ruby would have to pursue the Faunus into the woods.

It was basically as dumb as following a shark into water when you couldn’t swim.  And the shark was really hungry.  And was also invisible.  Plus armed with a sword and bullets.

It was just...really, really not smart.

Suppressing a groan, Ruby took a few more hesitant steps forward until she was firmly covered by trees on all sides.  Her eyes took a long time to adjust to the dim light - a period during which she was expecting to be attacked at any second.  But when her sucky low-light vision finally caught on and nothing had happened, she figured that Blake must have been allowing Ruby to fully prepare for battle on this new and really awful terrain.  

How kind - don’t attack the poor blind girl the instant she walked into the trees...just wait until she’s a bundle of anxious nerves and then attack.  That probably won’t give her a heart attack...

Head swiveling expectantly, she snuck onward, trying to keep her footsteps as quiet as possible in order to listen for sounds of her opponent.  A flash of movement on her left caught her attention - without thinking, she spun towards it and fired.  The crack of a sniper rifle echoed loudly in the quiet area while a large leaf slowly floated to the ground - a perfect circle blasted through the center.

“Ha, gotcha Mr. Leaf,” she mumbled to herself before turning back to the trees.

All the speed in the world did nothing to help her if she couldn’t see her opponent.  And finding Blake in a dim, shadowy area was about as easy as finding a specific snowflake during a blizzard.

The attack would eventually come.  It was only a question of when, and from where?

Once upon a time, in a setting not quite as nerve-wracking as this, Blake had explained to Ruby that humans rely far too much on their vision.  When sight was taken away from them, they acted far more lost than they ought to - especially when considering how strong the other senses could be.  Vision wasn’t everything and, in many cases, it could be deceiving - like Blake’s clones.

Taking the pseudo-advice, Ruby focused on using her other senses to find what she couldn’t see.  Starting with her ears, she spun slowly in the circle while listening to leaves rustling in all directions, with the faint evening calls of crickets far away from their fight.

Well...it might be great advice when fighting someone like Yang, whose footsteps sounded like giant meteors plummeting into the ground, but this was Blake.  Ruby was pretty sure that Blake couldn’t hear her own footsteps, so there was no way someone like Ruby would ever be able to hear her.  

So...what?  Smell?

Sniffing the air lightly, Ruby couldn’t pick out anything but grass, trees, and her own sweat.  That was...not helpful.

At a loss, she stood perfectly still underneath the tree canopy and tried to figure out what to do next.  Blake could be right above Ruby’s head or standing on the branch right next to her and she would have no idea.  Or maybe Blake had gone back to the house to make a tuna sandwich and left Ruby out here by herself.  

Ugh...   

This was Ruby’s weakness - being blind as a bat with zero sense of smell and hardly any hearing when a blessed thing called ‘sunlight’ was taken away from her.  Unfortunately, these played right into Blake’s greatest advantage - the ability to disappear.  To hide, sneak, and attack the unsuspecting with deadly precision.

Sighing softly, Ruby closed her eyes and waited for the end of the battle to reach her.  Hopefully this time Blake wouldn’t completely smash her off of her feet...

That’s when she felt it.

It wasn’t that she heard something, saw something, or even smelled something, but she felt something.  It was a tingle of realization - maybe something as small as a breath of wind blowing against the tiny hairs along her arm.  But in that microsecond she knew exactly where Blake was.  She could practically see Blake - flying directly at her back.

Before the blow could arrive, Ruby capitalized on Blake’s mistake.  Whirling around with Crescent Rose in the lead, she caught Gambol by surprise and Blake twirled off to the side to avoid colliding with Ruby without a weapon prepared.  Re-engaged in battle, Ruby’s semblance blasted her out of the trees to the relative safety of the yard with Blake trailing close behind.

Ruby could feel the pursuit and knew that if she could surprise Blake again, she could gain an advantage.  On instinct, before Blake would think an attack was coming, Ruby slammed the end of Crescent Rose into the ground while her semblance was still powering her forward at full speed.  Gripping the handle tightly without letting up, the speed began to rip her around in the tight circle to propel her straight back into her opponent’s face.

But the unpracticed maneuver placed an unexpectedly heavy strain on her hands - forcing them to try to hold onto Crescent Rose’s grip while her momentum tried to tear her away.  The fingers on her left hand were weakening under the demand and her right didn’t feel strong enough to compensate for the excessive force.

Too late she realized that she wasn’t strong enough to execute this move.

What had begun as a sound battle strategy ended with the power of the swing tearing her away from the weapon when her grip failed her.  The next few seconds were filled with dizzying flashes of house, dirt, forest, sky while she went tumbling across the yard.  As soon as she came to a stop, she found herself looking down the long, shimmering steel of Gambol Shroud pressed to her neck.

As soon as their eyes met, Blake withdrew Gambol, placed her weapon on her back, and reached down to pull Ruby to her feet.  Groaning slightly at the bumps and bruises she’d accumulated over the course of the past few seconds, she carelessly brushed at some of the dirt and grass that had collected on her clothes before limping over to collect Crescent Rose - who was still sticking in the ground.

“Your hand?” Blake asked, following Ruby to the weapon. 

“Yeahhh...kinda failed me there,” she replied, holding up her left palm so Blake could see that she was ok.  Dropping her hand, Ruby wrapped her fingers around Crescent Rose and yanked the weapon from the ground in one strong tug.

The defeat stung her with frustration.  Not because she’d lost - she lost to Blake all the time - but because of all the rehab she’d done and her dumb hand still wouldn’t get back to full health.  If a normal person had done all of the finger and hand exercises she’d done over the past few months, their hands would be stronger than steel.  But in her case, she couldn’t seem to get any better than this.  And if she couldn’t get any better than this, then she’d never be able to beat Blake.  And if she could never beat Blake, then she’d never get to be a huntress again.

“My hands get sore sometimes too,” Blake offered in an attempt to cheer Ruby up, holding up one hand so Ruby could see the red callouses there.  “Especially if I use Gambol for too long.”

The response was intentionally off target - this was something Ruby had noticed Blake would do to draw attention away from what was truly the issue.  It was a subtle reminder of other conversations they’d had - that Ruby was still getting better, that there were still obstacles to be overcome.  These setbacks were only temporary.  Only temporary.  But sometimes it felt like everything in Ruby’s life was temporary right now.  And if everything was temporary, what was permanent?

Brushing off the feeling, Ruby gave Blake a grateful smile instead.

“I could probably fix that for you!” she offered.  Ever since she’d laid eyes upon the blade, she’d been practically drooling at the idea of seeing how it worked.  But Blake possessively reached a hand up to touch Gambol, running the ribbon through her fingers.

“We all have things that are important to us,” Blake responded, her amber eyes flashing quickly to the chain around Ruby’s neck and away.  It was enough to make Ruby reach up and grab it, feeling its weight in her fingers and understanding exactly what Blake meant.  Sometimes things were important in ways that were hard to describe, and it made them difficult to give up to other people.

“But if you ever wanted to make a change, I could help you...I dunno...make a new grip or something.  Something more cushy, maybe?”

Blake’s eyes narrowed thoughtfully for a few seconds before widening.

“A new grip - Ruby!  That’s a great idea!”

“Yeah?”  Ruby hopped once in excitement.  “You want to do it??”

Immediately shaking her head, Blake said, “No, no.  Not for Gambol - for you, Ruby.  You should create your own grip!”

“Huh?  But I have one -”  Reaching down, Ruby touched the custom grips she’d created and then re-created for Crescent Rose.  

“Not like those,” Blake explained.  “But couldn’t you make something that would help you hold onto Crescent Rose better?  Like Yang’s arm only...not so extensive.  More like a glove?” 

When Ruby looked from Crescent Rose to her hand and back again, the sparks of an idea began to fly.  A mechanized glove.  It would have far greater strength than...well, than a normal hand, really.  If she could get it to work properly, it would react to her own hand movements perfectly.  It could override the scar running across her wrist, where the ligament damage was too severe to ever be 100% healed.  It...could totally work.

Nodding enthusiastically, a big smile lit her lips.

“I could.  I definitely could!” she said, her mind drawing the up plans now.  “It could have reinforced fingers so that my hand would be stronger than it actually is!  And maybe some sort of weapon tucked into it that I could use if Crescent Rose ever got taken from me…make it Dust powered too.  That’d be cool...”

“Maybe you should just work on the glove part first,” Blake said with a small laugh.  “Then you could add to it.”  

“Yeah, good call...” Ruby replied, tapping her fingers against Crescent Rose while staring at the palm of her bad hand.  A glove that reacted when she told it to.  Made of reinforced metal that could lock into place.  Theoretically, it could be way better than a regular hand...

“How did you know where I was, by the way?”

“Huh?”  Completely distracted, Ruby looked up in confusion.

“Earlier,” Blake pointed back to the trees lining their yard.  “You reacted without knowing where I was.”

“Oh, I don’t know!  It’s hard to explain - I just...felt it.  Somehow I knew where you were.”  Wrinkling her nose, Ruby shrugged her shoulders when she couldn’t come up with a better explanation than that.  Now that she wasn’t in the middle of battle she couldn’t remember exactly how it had felt.  “Maybe it was just dumb luck though.”

Shaking her head, Blake seemed to disagree with that statement.

“Your instincts are really good.  Make sure to listen to them.”

The compliment made Ruby grin from ear to ear - Blake didn’t hand them out very often, after all.  Of course, Ruby wished that she was being complimented on something that could be easily reproduced instead of something that she had no idea how she’d done in the first place, but beggars couldn’t be choosers!

“And one other thing,” Blake added.  “Remember to focus - try your best to focus on one thing at a time.  Even if you’re only spending a millisecond of time on it, focus so you don’t get distracted.”

Nodding her head, Ruby repeated the advice to herself.  Focus.  Blake emphasized focus a lot.  The problem Ruby had with focusing was that, in the middle of a fight, there was so much to focus on.  There were moments when she could tell that she’d gotten distracted, but hopefully maintaining her focus would become easier with more practice.

“I’ll try to do that.  And thanks for sparring with me!” she replied before allowing her mind to wander again.

Fighting against Blake was a great opportunity for Ruby to practice at full speed, but in a safe setting.  It was Ruby’s opportunity to put her hours of training to the test and see what would happen - try out the moves she’d practiced thousands and thousands of times on her own.  Sparring together had also led to them becoming close friends - so close that Ruby knew that she could always count on Blake for good advice, and advice that wasn’t tinted with the protective older sister vibe.

It hadn’t always been this way though.  There’d been a period of time when Ruby hadn’t exactly been sure of how to talk to Blake.  They’d been introduced under pretty...weird...circumstances and then thrown into the same house together.  The temporary awkwardness had completely changed over time, especially after Ruby had learned who Blake really was, and now they were closer than ever.

And it was nice to have a friend!  

Speaking of friends...

“Hey, Blake?” Ruby asked while they walked back towards the house, her own feet dragging slightly.  There’d been a curious thought gnawing at the back of her mind since last night and if she could ask anyone about it, it would be Blake.  “The girl from last night - Weiss - how does Yang know her?”

Blake stopped walking and turned towards Ruby, looking thoughtful while responding.

“They were friends awhile back.”

“Like from school?” Ruby asked, to which Blake nodded.

“They used to be really close, but then...let’s just say Weiss made some decisions Yang didn’t agree with.”

“Oh…”  Ruby thought about that for a moment, wondering what kind of decisions Blake could be referring to.  When Yang was really set on something, she could get pretty upset if someone went against her.

“But you know how well Yang can hold a grudge,” Blake added with a reassuring smile.  “And it looks like Weiss wants to make amends, so maybe she’ll be over here more often.”

“Really?”

“I hope so.”  Blake shrugged her shoulders before giving Ruby a contemplative expression.  “You two would probably get along really well, actually.”

“You think?”

“I do.  What do you think?  Want to make a new friend?”

With Blake’s encouraging smile, Ruby couldn’t help but grin.

“Sure!  That’d be awesome!”  

It might be nice to have a friend outside of Blake and Yang.  Although...

“Won’t it be weird though?  Because she’s Yang’s friend?”

“Why would that be weird?  Yang and I have lots of friends in common.  Didn’t you two have mutual friends in school too?”

Turning away from Blake’s questioning eyes, Ruby drew one toe across the ground.  She hadn’t really had friends in school because everyone had thought she was ‘weird.’  Since when was liking to build weapons weird??  It wasn’t weird - it was awesome.  That’s why she’d begged Uncle Qrow to teach her everything he knew.

“Um...no, not really,” she answered instead of getting into that whole story.  “Yang kinda did her own thing and I did mine.”

“Well...there’s nothing wrong with sharing friends,” Blake reassured Ruby.  “If anything, it would probably be good for Weiss to have another excuse to come over.  That way Yang won’t feel like Weiss is always trying to bother her, you know?”

“Then you’ll be Weiss’ friend too?”

“I’m going to try,” Blake answered with a nod that made Ruby break into another smile.  “It’s going to be much easier for you though.  Because then I can run interference with Yang.”

This time Ruby beamed.  It was like their own secret mission to get Yang and Weiss to become friends again!  It sounded like it could work and be a good idea.  Ruby could test out her new and improved social skills while attempting to make a new friend.  And she could help Weiss get back in Yang’s good graces!  Then everyone would be happy, which was really what she wanted in the end.

“Oh!” she exclaimed when she remembered something kind of important.  “But do you think I should tell her?  About...you know -” She tapped the side of her head a couple of times.

Was that something that she should bring up right away?  Or more of a secret type deal that she should explain only if they became better friends?  This was all assuming that Weiss even wanted to be friends, of course.

“That’s up to you,” Blake replied.  “If you want to tell her you can, but don’t feel like you have to.  It’s your story to tell.”

“Yeah...I just - I don’t know if that’s something people normally bring up!  I guess it’s not something that normally happens to people either...”

“I think you’ll know when it’s the right moment.  Besides, Weiss will understand no matter when you tell her.”

Something about the comment struck Ruby as strange, so she tilted her head curiously.

“How do you know?  Do you know Weiss too?”

At first blinking, Blake immediately backtracked.  “Oh I mean, Yang has told me enough about her that I feel like I know her, but I was just saying that I think most people would be understanding of what you’ve gone through.”

Nodding her head at the response, Ruby still bit her lip with nerves.  

“I hope so…”

The last thing she wanted was to have something else that made more people think she was weird.  She had enough of those things to begin with!

A warm hand landed reassuringly on her shoulder, making her look over into caring eyes.

“Don’t worry, Ruby.  This isn’t going to hold you back anymore.  And if you want, I could tell her for you.”

Blake and Ruby were friends, but a lot of times it felt more like they were sisters.  Maybe because Blake was the same age as Yang, or that Blake was dating Yang, or that Blake always seemed to be looking out for Ruby’s best interests.  Whatever it was, Ruby appreciated it a ton.

“I can do it,” she said with a thankful smile.  “I’ll just...wait and see when.”

If she was ever going to get back on her feet, she needed to start doing things on her own and stop relying on Blake and Yang to do everything for her.

“Ok.  In the meantime, have fun getting to know each other.  Likes, dislikes, you know the drill.”

Ruby nodded like she did ‘know the drill,’ but honestly she had such little experience making friends that it made her nervous thinking that there might be a drill to follow.  But Blake’s reassurance still made her feel a lot better.  She could try to be Weiss’ friend and in the process, maybe help Weiss and Yang be friends again.  What’s the worst that could happen?  Weiss hates Ruby and then Yang and Weiss are never friends again?

Eh, that didn’t exactly sound great, but at least no one would die!  No one would die, right??

“Thanks, Blake,” she finally said, reaching over to give Blake a quick hug.  “I’m lucky to have you and Yang around to look out for me!”

“Funny...I consider myself to be the lucky one,” Blake replied with a small smile.

“Blake!  Is my sister still alive?” Yang called out of the house before appearing on the porch seconds later and grinning towards Ruby.  “Oh good.  You’re still here.”

“Heyyyy,” she whined, pouting while folding up Crescent Rose.  “You could have a little faith, ya know!”

“Sorry, Ruby - gotta play the odds.  Blake’s hard for me to beat.  And if you let her get in those trees…” Yang let out a fake shiver of horror while Ruby scoffed.

“Jeez, Yang.  Like I’d be dumb enough to let her get to the trees,” she replied, giving Blake a look that begged her not to tell Yang what had just happened.  “That’s like...‘Fighting Blake 101.’”  

Keeping quiet, Blake gave Ruby an amused smile before accepting the kiss Yang placed on her cheek.

“How about we go a few rounds tomorrow night, huh?” Yang asked, swinging a few punches in between them while Ruby nodded enthusiastically.

This was one of the best parts of having Blake and Yang back from their hunt - Ruby got to put her training to the test.  They’d practice with her as often as she wanted, as long as they felt good enough to do so.  

Normally she’d alternate between them - getting experience with two super different fighting styles.  With Blake, Ruby got to try out her semblance and weapon skills - fighting in an agile and fast paced way that seemed to come naturally to her.  Yang’s style of fighting was much more...stand there and let everything hit her, then explode like a bomb and destroy everything in the vicinity.  As great as that was, Ruby could only take being leveled by a wrecking ball so many times before she risked some more serious, permanent damage.  So these days she mostly worked with Yang on hand-to-hand combat, but it was strictly no semblances allowed.  

If Ruby was ever going to become a huntress again, she needed to practice against the real deals - and Yang and Blake were some of the best she could possibly hope to find.

Things were changing - she could feel it.  For the first time, real opportunity was within reach.  With the possibility of making her own grip to fix her hand, and maybe even making a friend at the same time, it felt like the work she’d been putting in was finally paying off.

Most of the last year she’d spent recovering.  ‘Just worry about getting healthy,’ Yang had told Ruby so many times it might as well be their new family motto.  ‘Then you can worry about everything else.’  It was good advice...what with all the rehab and doctor’s appointments she’d had to go to.  The last thing she’d needed to worry about was training and making friends at the same time.  

But for the past couple months she could finally say that she felt normal - whatever normal really was.  She’d regained much of her strength, minus her pesky hand.  Her next doctor’s appointment was only a check-in and it was several months from now.  She’d been cleared for any and all activity she felt capable of.  She was healthy.  And ready for more challenges and maybe some new adventures.

She was going to be a huntress.  She was determined to work tirelessly until that goal became a reality. 

“Let’s get inside before it gets cold,” Yang suggested, linking one arm with Blake and pulling her towards the house.  “How about a movie?”

“That sounds nice...and I think it’s Ruby’s pick -” Blake remarked, turning around to smile at Ruby.  Grinning, Ruby jogged to catch up with the pair.

“It is my turn!” she announced joyfully.  “And just wait until you see what I have in mind!”

Yang groaned loudly.  “Nevermind - I don’t want to watch a movie anymore!” she joked before disappearing into the house with Blake.

The reply made Ruby giggle again - knowing that Yang would have to watch whatever Ruby picked because that was the rule!  They all took turns picking a movie to watch, and there were no complaints.  Actually there were always complaints, but in the end there was nothing anyone could do about it.  

Hopping up onto the porch, she turned back to the yard one last time and surveyed the tracks worn into the grass from the latest battle.  Briefly closing her eyes when a cool breeze blew across her, she opened them again with a smile.

“Just wait,” she whispered.  “Next time I’ll be even better.”

Clenching her left hand into a fist, she ran inside and locked the back door behind her.