AN: The vytal festival occurs in the third year in this fic.

'And the people, so distracted by each other, forgot all about their beautiful rose garden'

Ruby watched as her three teammates – Yang, Weiss and Blake – lounged on each of their respective beds and chatted with each other happily. They were so immersed, in fact, that they didn't see their leader enter the room.

Now, make no mistake. Ruby excelled at fighting (the thrill), she was adept at handling deadly weapons (of being) and she was a great leader (alive) but in the end, those skills are only valuable on the battlefield. Outside of it however, Ruby was just a sweet but socially awkward girl. But, Ruby never gave up. She tried and she tried and she tried, but in the end, she was only human. Or was she?

As creatures of communication, humans thrived.

But, what about those who could not communicate?

Were they not considered human, then?

Were they imperfect?

Half-broken, half-fixed. Teetering on the edge of human and not.

What options did they have?

"H-hey guys." She greeted meekly, a small smile on her face as she waited for them to notice her.

But, a sudden crack of laughter from the ice queen herself drowned out her incomprehensible murmurings.

The girl of fifteen stood awkwardly at the doorway, cheeks flushed and eyes filled with a childish wish of being noticed. Of being special. Or even, just being.

Her sister, Yang, was on her feet now, and Ruby shut her eyes and waited for a bear hug that never came. Confused, she cracked her eyelids open and was greeted with the sight of Yang squashing the air out of a very embarrassed Weiss. Feeling a little forgotten, Ruby lumbered forward to her bed before she felt someone touch her shoulder. Whipping around in surprise, soft amber eyes met hers.

"Welcome back, Ruby." Blake said, and sent a little smile her way.

Ruby's heart fluttered.

"T-thanks, Blake." She stuttered and nearly tripped on the way to her bed. She could feel an amused gaze piercing her back the whole way.

A very red heiress was now returning the hug, hiding her grin in Yang's shoulder.

The first year passed in this relatively calm manner. Ruby and Weiss were great partners on the battlefield, but after it was over, the heiress would drift back towards Yang. Like the opposite end of magnets who found each other again and again. But Ruby didn't mind.

Blake would always be by her side. She sat by her side during meals, they read together in their dorm room, they wrote notes to each other during classes; and sometimes, the cat faunus would even partner her during missions. And just maybe…the friendship was beginning to bloom into something else.

Ruby was glad for this little piece of happiness. The year came and went, and the girl wished that the next year would be the same, if not better, than the first.

'As time passed, the rose garden began to wither. The flowers began to wilt, but the people still paid no mind'

Things went downhill during the second year. Without her noticing, affections within team RWBY had flowered and bloomed. Weiss had confessed to Yang, and the two had become the dynamic duo. Inseparable and joined to the hip.

Ruby had expected her relationship with Blake to do the same.

But all she got were (lonely) nights in their empty room as Blake got whisked away by the new student, Sun Wukong.

Breakfast soon became one of her most hated affairs. Ruby sat at the far corner of their table now, with nothing but the air beside her. Team JNPR and the rest of team RWBY laughed uproariously amongst themselves as they told inside jokes Ruby was not privy to. Pyrrha and Jaune were still dancing amid their web of attraction while Ren was busy dealing with Nora. Yang, Weiss and Neptune were arguing about something, and Blake and Sun chatted quietly at the other end of the table.

Ruby waited for stunning, amber eyes to meet her own, but Blake never looked her way once.

'The forgotten roses disappeared slowly. Petal by petal, thorn by thorn'

With the second year, new revelations came to light. Eighteen was heralded as the age of scatterbrained fun, and the teams discovered that they could now enter places called 'nightclubs'. Trips in the afternoon spanned into late nights, and using her connections, Yang was able to get them all into various clubs and bypassing the long lines.

'Sorry lil' sis, we'll meet you back at the dorm. Adults like us gotta have some fun.'

Ruby could only watch, helpless, as her team mates dived into the buildings made of flashy neon lights without so much as a goodbye. She spied Blake entering, hand in hand with the monkey faunus. Her chest tightens painfully, and it is all Ruby can do to hold her sobs in. The words she always wanted to say never leave the tip of her tongue, so she swallows them, and walks back to airship alone.

It must have been the ninth or tenth outing before the empty room became too much to bear. So, armed with nothing but Crescent rose and her blood red hood, Ruby descended upon the town. On most nights, she observed as the citizens of Vale continued on their jolly way to wherever they were going, smiling and laughing with their companions.

(Broken, unbroken, broken, unbroken. Where was she?)

Countless nights must have passed in the same manner. But to her, they all blurred into one long stretch of time that had neither rhyme nor reason. And then by a stroke of luck, she saw Roman Torchwick, thief extraordinaire, rob a dust shop. Again. He spotted her relaxing on one of the nearby rooftops and looked put out.

"Come to stop me again, little red?"

Roman called mockingly and waited for a barb to come flying back. But he is only met with silence. Ruby just shrugged and lets her head fall back. It takes most of her energy just to concentrate on breathing. The thief changed from annoyed, to curious.

"Ho ho. How very interesting."

Roman must have seen something, because his eyes sparkled with recognition before one of his hired goons dropped a crate of dust. Bristling with irritation, he yelled at them, but restrained from killing them because there's no way he was going to lug back all that dust alone. By the time he turned back, she is already gone.

'Only one rose was left. The rest had already wilted and died.'

It must have been the third or fifth time Ruby watched Roman rob a shop, when she felt a sudden gust of wind burst pass her, and nearly whips out crescent rose when she felt her chin being grabbed and lightly pulled up. The hand reaching behind her back goes still. Her breath falters when silver eyes meet red ones.

"Who's this, Roman?" Emerald asked curiously as she stared down at the impassive girl of sixteen.

"Oh, her?" Torchwick barely bothers to glance in their direction, too occupied by other things. "That's little red."

"What the hell? She's seen you before? Are you fucking brain dead or something?" Mercury scowled at the man with bowl hat, anger burning in his eyes. "She's an eyewitness! She will tell–"

"–no one." Roman cut him off sharply, a displeased frown on his face.

"Really, I am hurt at how much trust you have in me." He scoffed.

"Besides, if she wanted to report us, she would have done so three heists ago."

Mercury looked as if he was about to implode and send his brains scattering on the sidewalk.

"THREE HEIS–"

Emerald shot him a sharp glare. "Mercury, I will seriously pay you to shut up." She spat acidly, and is rewarded with an eye roll. Flipping the bird at him, the green haired girl turned her attention back to Ruby. They stare at each other, Ruby in nervousness and Emerald in curiosity.

Her face breaks out in a sudden smirk and she leans forward to plant a light kiss on the other girl's cheek. Ruby felt her jaw drop in shock, temporarily stunned. The smell of peppermint pervades her senses, calming and sweet.

Ruby, who had been feeling numb since the start of the year, began to splutter in embarrassment and blushed so darkly that it matched the colour of her cloak. Her heart began to pound erratically in her chest; an unfamiliar emotion curling in the pit of her stomach. It scared her. The face of Blake flashes in her mind's eye, cat ears perched atop a mane of black hair, lips tilted up in a coy smile.

And then it disappears, when the green haired girl's fingers trail along Ruby's jaw and dip down to her clavicle.

"Nice ta' meet you, little red." Emerald purred, and is rewarded with another, darker blush. Ruby nodded, not exactly trusting her voice at this moment. She has a feeling that she will be seeing a lot more of this crimson eyed beauty.

'That rose would have died too, if not for the sudden arrival of the rain'

The rest of the second year sped by. Ruby and Emerald found each other every other night, usually when Roman goes out to rob another dust shop with an equally stupid name. Their little 'dates' are usually filled with talking, and soon Ruby finds herself going back to that fifteen year old self which was buried in the ground long ago. (The little piece of happiness is coming back together again.)

Mercury doesn't glare at her anymore. Now he just eyes the two girls with a smirk, before Emerald yells at him to look away and 'stop smiling like a pervert'.

And on New Year's Eve, Emerald kisses Ruby with such passion that it made her toes curl and her heart stop.

Blake never appears in her mind's eye again.

'And so, the rose managed to survive. A single speck of redness in the middle of a valley of thorns'

On the first school day of the third year, Ruby goes down for breakfast…and sees Blake sitting on the seat beside hers. Absolutely floored, the red haired girl zooms in on a certain monkey faunus and sees him sulking beside Neptune.

Three seats away from Blake.

The Ruby of sixteen would have felt ecastic.

But the Ruby of seventeen feels uneasiness and guilt prickle the back of her neck.

She cautiously sits down beside the cat faunus, and nearly jumps in surprise when amber eyes bore into hers with amazing intensity.

Blake smiled. It doesn't send her heart fluttering.

"Good morning, Ruby." She greets, her cat ears twitching almost imperceptibly.

"M-morning Blake."

Ruby quickly turns away and focuses on her food. She shovels the pancakes down so quickly it almost chokes her and escapes to the library, leaving behind a confused faunus.

'The people soon began to awaken from the haze of selfishness. They spotted the remaining rose, protected by the valley of thorns'

Weeks crawl by, and Ruby is already missing Emerald. Yang and Weiss had seemingly exited their honeymoon period, and were now fawning over her. Blake had turned her flirting up a notch as the days passed by. The cat faunus had taken to accompanying Ruby everywhere, which left no opening to slip out of Beacon to visit Emerald. According to the many, many expletive filled messages on her scroll, she knew that her girlfriend was getting irritated as well.

Ruby shivered. An angry Emerald was a scary Emerald.

"Ruby, are you cold?" Blake questioned, tearing her eyes away from a whining Sun to look at her. She laughed awkwardly, and shook her head. "Nope nope." Ruby swallowed when Blake's eyes narrowed. "It must have been a stray wind or something."

"Hmm." Blake reluctantly shifted her attention back on Sun, and Ruby heaved a sigh of relief. Yang was snickering, and Weiss was eyeing her with a strange look in her eyes. The heiress had caught her on the scroll multiple times, and had been onto her ever since.

Suddenly, the lunch room was filled with loud chattering when the international students in Beacon for the Vytal festival pour in. In the sea of different coloured uniforms, Ruby nearly fell back in shock and excitement when she caught sight familiar green hair and red eyes.

Neptune, who was sitting near Nora and Ren, perked up in interest when Emerald stepped closer. He lobbed a hash brown at Sun. "Dude. Dudeeee." He hisses as emerald steps closer. "Hottie alert." He gestures towards the approaching students.

Sun responds with a vapid glare and Neptune just shrugs and mouths 'whatever'. Ruby felt her hackles rise and mumbled death threats under her breath. Stupid flirty boys with dumb blue hair.

(She's mine. Mine, mine, mine.)

Squashing down her possessive side, Ruby watched as Emerald came to a stop, with Mercury on her left, at the end of their table. Yang looked confused. "Er…can we help you?" She asked, glancing at Weiss then at Neptune.

"Yes, actually. You can. I'm looking for someone."

Neptune rolled his shoulders charmingly. "Well…how can I help you, angel?" He flirted, winking at Emerald. "Did you get lost on the way to heaven?"

Team JNPR guffawed, and Weiss just let out a sigh. Ruby, however, glared at the blue-haired boy with increasing ire. Yang was still confused.

Mercury laughed and stepped forward, a mischievous gleam in his eye.

"Sorry, but she's taken." He stated, eyeing Ruby.

Neptune opened his mouth to respond, but was cut off when Emerald spoke, a wide smirk playing on her lips. "I'm looking for Ruby. She here?"

Blake's cat ears perked up, and she turned to a stock still Ruby, who was looking at everything but her friends. The faunus leaned forward, her cheek on Ruby's, her mouth dangerously close to hers.

"Do you know her, Ruby?" She asked lowly, her eyes locking with Emerald's, a challenge rising behind amber eyes. They both stared at each other as said girl shuffled in her seat.

Ruby, who didn't notice the mental battle between them sheepishly turned to face the rest of the table, and gasped when somebody tugged her by her collar. She yelped loudly. "H-hey! Put me do–"

Emerald slammed her lips with Ruby's and kissed her roughly. She bit down on her girlfriend's lip, eliciting a squeal from the huntress, and taking advantage of the moment, plunged her tongue into her mouth. Letting her tongue map out the hot cavern, she had to bite down a smirk which threatened to split her face when her girlfriend's hands came to rest respectfully at her waist.

Ruby moaned lowly as Emerald's hot tongue dominated hers, and her mind was reduced to nothing but a hot mess. When the two finally ran out of breath, Ruby pulled back and met the eyes of every person at her table, some staring at them with varying degrees of shock (Yang and Weiss), respect and awe (Neptune and Jaune) and anger (Blake).

Emerald smiled sultrily at her girlfriend and looked over her shoulder to see Blake, eyes burning with hostility. The cat faunus stared back and mouthed 'I won't give up on her.'

Emerald laughed and answered.

'She was never yours in the first place.'

'They tried to pluck the rose, but to no avail. The thorns were curled protectively around the rose and no matter what the people did; the rose remained out of their reach. It was untouchable. They tried and tried, but their efforts were only rewarded with bloodied cuts and promise of more pain to come. And thus, ends the story of the rose garden'