Disclaimer: All characters belong to Rooster Teeth Productions

Co-Authored with ToxicExotic

A Frank Discussion

Ruby had never really been too sure what her favourite place on Remnant was. There were definitely a few contenders though. Home was always a good one, the warm wooden structure set in the middle of the woods providing comfort and good memories. Beacon was another, filled with students with weapons, and teachers who were dedicated to helping them all achieve their goals. Workshops and forges were great too, the heat that filled the air always helping her feel invigorated. However, she could never pick one of them to be the best. It always changed to whichever one she was visiting. Even as she sat in the ice cream parlor, happily chewing away at a strawberry ice cream covered cookie with Yang and Coco sitting across from her, she couldn't help but feel all other places paled in comparison to the sweet aroma of the store.

The store was really nice though. It wasn't the one she usually went to, though she generally stopped by whatever dessert place she found eventually, but she did quite like it. The walls were a mix of pink, white, and brown; a classic neapolitan scheme, but it was a classic for a reason. Even the serving girl wore a pink, white and brown outfit, but was also either wearing a wig or had dyed her hair to match. It was a nice effect, and Ruby had to admire her dedication. The palace also seemed to do a wide selection of cakes and cookies too, all which could be paired with ice cream. Of course she had taken full advantage of having her own money, and ordered five hot cookies with a large scoop of strawberry ice cream. Yang hadn't exactly been happy, but Ruby felt she deserved it after having done so well on her tests recently.

Besides, it wasn't like Yang wasn't guilty of the same thing. She too had ordered a large bowl of strawberry ice cream, along with a bowl of chocolate caramel for Coco, and a small cake covered in strawberry icing with a dollop of regular cream on top. Ruby still always found it funny how everyone assumed her favourite food was cookies, but despite them being amazingly tasty and giving her energy, she agreed with Yang on the fact that Strawberries were the most delicious thing in the world. Except strawberry cookies, but that was hardly a fair competition. Unfortunately, the store didn't have any of those.

"Sorry if I'm intruding on sister time." Coco said as she dipped her spoon into the dark brown ice cream.

"Wouldn't have invited you if you were, babe." Yang replied with an effortless smile. "Ruby doesn't mind either. Right, Rubes?"

"Nope." She confirmed honestly. "I know you haven't seen each other much lately. I'm definitely not looking forward to being a second year."

"Yeah. You've had more in the last month than we've had since we started Beacon."

"It's mostly Doctor Oobleck and Professor Port." The brunette groaned. "A six page essay on The Battle of Rainside."

"Rainside?" Ruby asked in confusion. "I've never heard of it?"

"It was a city on the southwest of Anima. There was a battle there during The Great War and the entire thing sunk into the ocean."

"Like Mountain Glenn?"

"Sort of." Coco hummed with a nod. "But that was just an offshoot of Vale. Rainside was on its way to becoming a fully fledged kingdom of its own."

That news was a little depressing. Ruby was well aware that it wasn't unusual for villages to disappear overnight without a trace, but those were usually small pop up settlements that either moved on or succumbed to Grimm. The fact a whole city that had bordered on being a kingdom had been destroyed because of a stupid war didn't sit well with her. Had they evacuated? And if not, how many lives had that one battle alone cost them? She didn't think she was ready for that answer yet, so let the conversation move on.

"Still, nothing compared to what Professor Goodwitch gave us. A full breakdown of combat history since the creation of the huntsmen academies. But that isn't really too bad, just long."

"Of course you would say that about Glynda's assignment." Yang snorted in amusement, taking a bite of her cake. "Hoping she'll mark your assignment with a heart?"

It was rare, so rare in fact that Ruby didn't think she'd ever seen it, but what looked like a small blush appeared on Coco's face. The woman never made any effort to hide just how much she looked up to the stern vice principal, even going so far as to help the older woman out from time to time, but clearly there was something more than just respect there. And while Ruby couldn't really imagine having a crush on a teacher, she couldn't deny that Goodwitch was definitely an attractive lady.

"No idea what you're talking about." Coco coughed and made herself busy with her ice cream.

"Mhm. Totally gonna pretend I didn't catch you staring at her legs multiple times." Yang laughed as Coco shook her head, digging into her own ice cream. "So, Rubles," She pointed a spoon of melted strawberry in her direction. "How'd that thing you were working on for Weiss go?"

"All done." Ruby grinned, patting the belt on her pouch. "I hope she likes it though. I wanted her to have something for when she doesn't have Myternaster with her."

"I'm sure she'll love it. Even if she might not show it properly."

"I know." She smiled at her sister.

"What made you think of it anyway?" Coco asked.

"When she was disarmed by Pyrrha in our last fight, she was just stuck trying to get her rapier back. I realised how much she relies on it for her semblance, and I kinda didn't want her to be held back by not having it."

"Smart thinking." Even though they were both leaders, Coco's acknowledgement still made Ruby feel proud. "Though you still lost."

"Yeah." Ruby pouted and pushed her spoon through the gooey cookie. "Jaune's strategy was better than mine this time."

"Didn't help that there was something else holding your te…"

Coco was cut off by a look from Yang, and Ruby felt her own face drop a little. She knew what Coco had been about to say. It wasn't the first time the subject had been brought up, as Yang had talked to her a couple of times. However, everytime her sister had brought it up she'd quickly made herself busy, or came up with some excuse.

"I wanted to." She lied. She never wanted to accidentally hurt someone. "But I was fighting Jaune and he's definitely better than he was and all that training with Pyrrha is paying off but he still isn't super confident and I didn't want to accidentally hurt him."

The words fell out of her mouth. Though she knew nobody else would have taken it easy, or ever did, those things were important to her.

"I get that, Rubes." Yang breathed gently. "But it's not just Jaune. You even hold back against Pyrrha, and she's better than both of us."

The mere fact that Yang would admit that showed just how strongly she felt about the subject, and Ruby really didn't want to blow her off.

"I just…" Ruby let out a small sigh, and stirred her ice cream. "I use a scythe. I can spin it so fast and it's so sharp it can cut through trees. All it would take is one mistake. I don't want to hurt someone."

"Like I said," Yang nodded and passed a piece of her cake to Coco. "I get that. But you're an amazing fighter, and you know I don't believe for a second that you would ever lose control of Crescent Rose."

"But I do, all the time." Ruby countered. "When I was crushing on Blake, I was constantly screwing up moves, and even new moves take a while to get the muscle memory for. If that happens at the wrong time, if I'm not ready or I trip, the momentum can easily hurt someone." She paused for a second and let out a sigh. "I wish I could just fight Grimm."

Just before she looked down at her ice cream, she saw Yang and Coco exchange a look. She knew they both thought people weren't always redeemable, that some people were just bad, but Ruby didn't believe that. She'd seen herself the people that everyone said were irredeemable. She'd overheard Cardin, who everyone wrote off as nothing more than a jerk, offer to help Sky out when his dad was having money issues, and had seen him fight Grimm at the risk of his own life to protect Russel.

She'd seen what she knew now were pirates coming ashore on Patch as a young girl, watching scared from the treeline, and help a small child who fell over while chasing a friend. Of course she knew those were bad people, she was never blind to how they hurt people too, but those little acts of compassion, surely they showed who those people could be if only given a chance. And how would they be encouraged to change if she simply knocked them out or went at them unrestrained like Yang or Blake would?

They wouldn't. Fighting would only make them mistrustful, make them more likely to fight back. And when people fight back, they stop listening. There had to be a better way.

"You can take Grimm missions when you graduate, Ruby." Coco said, her voice likely only so soft because Yang was giving her a watchful gaze. "Hell, you can take only Grimm missions next year when you are allowed to take unsupervised missions. But a mission doesn't always remain how it was when you chose it, and it's Beacon's job to prepare you for whatever you might face out there, which includes the fact you might fight people."

"I know." Ruby sighed dipping at the now melting ice cream. "I'll think about it, I promise. I just don't like it. I like to talk to people first."

"And you know I love that about you, sis." The blonde reached out and took her hand, giving her the same reassuring smile she had their whole life. "I just don't want to see you to hold back on the wrong person and get hurt."

Giving a small nod and continuing to eat her ice cream. It wasn't that she didn't understand that Yang and Coco just wanted to keep her safe, nor that she didn't understand why they were asking her to go all out, she just didn't think that was her. She'd done it a few times, mostly during team sparring, and every time it had felt weird. The feeling that she needed to be savage, that she needed to offer no chance and completely dominate her opponent, it felt wrong. That was how she fought Grimm, and it made her feel like she was fighting Grimm. That was something she didn't want when fighting people.

Did she know that one day her hand could be forced? That one day she would have no choice? Yes. Of course she knew that. But until that day came, there wasn't a need for her to go all out against her friends.

Running a hand through her hair, Ruby walked towards her dorm room. After they'd all finished their ice cream, she, Coco, and Yang had all gone to catch a movie. It wasn't anything she herself was interested in, since the entire thing revolved around bikes and cars, but it had been Yang's turn to choose. She had never quite understood her sister's fascination with vehicles, but then again, Yang had never been too fond of weapons either. After the film though, Yang and Coco had wandered off to have some alone time, and Ruby had decided to return home and clean out Crescent Rose. Maybe she would even think about what Yang had said, since she'd been honest about giving it some serious thought; even though she knew what her conclusion would likely be.

However, as she opened the door, she was greeted by a sight that she definitely did not expect. The room that was normally so clean, so as to not risk Weiss blowing up at them, was a mess. Every cushion for the couch had been thrown across the floor, books littered the ground with paper and pens beside them, and a wide array of clothes, from red socks to yellow t-shirts, laid atop everything. The room looked like someone had ransacked it in search of something, and from the shuffling she could hear near the door to the bathroom, it was clear that the culprit was still in the room. So, pulling her scythe from her hip, she walked tentatively into the room. Even though she had a sneaking suspicion of what had caused the destruction.

Sure enough, the moment she was clear of the door, she looked to the side and saw a shining white Boarbatusk. It's head was buried in one of Blake's drawers, and it didn't seem to notice her just yet. Though the heiress seemed to still be oblivious to it, the entire team had begun to notice small things about Weiss' summons. Odd behaviors and the sort. Though the Beowolf was rather docile and just enjoyed being around them, the others were a little different.

The Boarbatusk had been a recent attempt for Weiss in her attempts to train her aura, and its results had been disastrous. It had been fine at first, but the moment her focus had turned to her homework, the boar had immediately begun to tear apart the room. And despite it being her summon, Weiss had struggled to get it under control for a good minute.

Even with their odd behavior however, Weiss' summons were never a danger to others, so she lowered her weapon and looked around for its owner. It didn't take long to spot the heiress fast asleep in her bed. It wasn't too unusual for Weiss to take a small nap, especially after training, but it was the first time she'd seen her summon in her sleep.

"Hey!" She whispered scoldingly to the shimmering boar. Her words caught its attention, and its head turned to face her, a pair of purple underwear on it's tusk. "Stop that!"

She was greeted by a loud snort from the beast, a puff of smoke emanating from its nostrils. Stepping forward, she tried to snatch the underwear from it's tusk, but the pig stepped back and eyed her up cautiously. She knew that look.

"Okay…" She said, trying to gently approach it again with her arms up as it took yet another step back. "You stay still, and I'm just going to take th… Dammit!"

She lunged to the side in an attempt to catch the boar, but she was too late. Her fingers grazed the hard armor that covered its soft fur as it rolled past her, and she fell with a hard thud on the ground. Immediately getting to her feet, she activated her semblance and took off after it. Even with her speed though, the beast nimbly evaded her. She knew she could simply force it to fade by killing it, but some part of her felt it was wrong to do that outside of combat.

After a couple of seconds, in which she had already face planted into the couch while the pig bounced off it like a ping pong ball, she found herself yet again facing off with it at a distance. Watching it carefully for which way it would roll this time, Ruby lowered her center of gravity in preparation. As it looked at her though, Ruby noticed a glint of something in its eyes, and was almost convinced it was enjoying the game of cat and mouse; or boar and huntress.

"Ruby?" Said a tired voice behind her. "What's happening?"

"Wei…"

Unfortunately, as she turned her head to look at the sleepy heiress who was rubbing her eyes free of sleep, she realised her mistake. The sounds of rolling greeted her ears, and before she could even turn back, something heavy collided with her legs. Feeling them taken out from beneath her, she plummeted to the ground and let out a low groan.

"Ruby!"

Rolling to her side, she saw the piggy rise onto its hind legs and snort with victory before being turned to smoke with a flick of Weiss' wrist; Blake's underwear flopping to the ground where it had previously been. Even though it had destroyed the room and ran her around for at least a minute, she was a little sad to see it go. It just seemed like it wanted to have fun.

"Are you okay?" Weiss asked, quickly sitting up in her bed. "I have no idea why it was summoned. That's never happened before."

"It's fine." Ruby chuckled, standing up and brushing her legs with her hands. "I like running." She looked around the room, and her chuckle turned to a sigh. "Not a fan of cleaning though."

"I'm a-aware." The heiress yawned behind her hand. The moment her eyes seemed to take it the full state of the room though, she shook her head and pinched the bridge of her nose. "This is my fault though. I need to get them under control."

"Maybe it just wanted to have fun?" Ruby poised, only for Weiss to shake her head again.

"I already told this to Yang. They are aura constructs, Ruby. They don't want anything."

"Okayy." Ruby replied, though she didn't quite believe that herself. "We should clean up before the others get back though."

Receiving a nod from her partner, she set about fixing the room. Thankfully nothing had been broken, all of it was simply things that had been knocked over and tossed aside. Sure there were a few dog-eared books, and some clothes with ink stains on them, but nothing that any of her team would care about; especially since nothing of Weiss' was stained. However, even though she had picked up most of the clothes while Weiss attended to the books and paper, there had been one area she'd avoided. Where she'd first seen the boar, strewn across the ground among Yang's t-shirts and shorts were a mix of black and purple underwear.

It wasn't that she thought they were dirty, they were just underwear after all, but it was definitely a little awkward to consider handling them. Most of the room was back to normal, so if Blake walked in, would she be able to pass it off as simply returning them to their place? Doubtful, she would likely babble something embarrassing as usual. But she could hardly leave them on the floor, or they definitely would get dirty. With that as her motivator, and the fact that she knew Blake would realistically be back from training for at least another hour or two, she let out a sigh and started to sift through the chaos.

She'd only been at it for barely a minute before she heard a snort from behind her. Turning around, she saw her best friend watching her out the corner of her eye with a smirk on her face.

"W-What?" She asked nervously.

"You're holding those like they're Nibblers."

"Am not!" Ruby countered. However, as she looked back, she found she was indeed holding the black lace by the tips of her fingers. "Ok, fiiiine. But they're so much more delicate than mine. I don't wanna rip the with my dumb mechanic hands."

"Considering everything else you destroy, it would not surprise me."

"Hey!"

"I'm joking, Ruby." Weiss breathed and dropped a book onto her table. "Though only a little. You're not going to rip them so just put them away." Something else was muttered under the heiress' breath, but Ruby didn't hear and had a sneaking suspicion she didn't want to either.

"Alright."

Forgoing folding the thin material, Ruby began to pick up the assortment of bras and panties and simply placed them in the correct drawer. When she was finally halfway through Yang's shirts, she felt her fingers collide with some kind of wrapper. It felt like plastic, so she pulled it free and felt herself blush. In her hand was the lingerie she had accidentally bought over christmas, as well as the other one Blake had mentioned. Just as she had when Blake had opened the package, Ruby couldn't help but imagine her girlfriend in both of them. It was definitely something that caused a warmth to pool in her stomach, but she quickly ignored it and placed them back into the drawer too.

Finally, when it was all cleaned up, she turned around to face her partner just in time to see her replace the final cushion on the couch. Despite her hesitance to keep it initially, she no longer seemed to have an issue dropping onto it and letting out a relieved sigh. Seeing the girl close her eyes, Ruby bounced over and sat down beside her. It took a couple of seconds, but the girl finally acknowledged her.

"What?"

"How was training?"

"Fine. But I'm tired, Ruby."

"Sorry." She mumbled pulling her legs up and tucking them under herself. Digging around in her back pocket, she pulled out the gift she had made for the girl and nervously twisted it in her hand. "Um… I have something for you."

A low groan escaped from Weiss, and one eye opened. "This had better not be more cookies. You know my rule."

"Only on Saturdays." Ruby reiterated. "But it's not cookies. Close your eyes."

Another sigh escaped her, but she did as instructed. However, as Ruby reached out and took the girls hand, she dearly hoped that her gift wouldn't be seen as childish. Nevertheless, she took a breath and slipped the band around Weiss' wrist, twisting the small snowflake to trigger the latch that was hidden underneath. With it on the girl's wrist, Ruby felt a smile pull at her lips as she inspected her work.

It wasn't much, but she had tried to make the bracelet look as nice as she could. Thankfully it fit perfectly, and the one inch width wasn't enough to make it look bulky. Though most of it was made of the same cloudy metal as her scythe's new blade, there were a few steel snowflakes that peppered the surface. Each one of them riveted into the metal with a small divot in their center. Happy with how it worked, she pulled her hand away.

"You can open them now." She said nervously.

Weiss opened her eyes and raised the arm with the bracelet into the air. She was quiet as she inspected it, and unable to take the awkward silence, Ruby tried to explain it a little better.

"You're my best friend, so I thought it would be cool." She explained shyly and she tapped the tips of her index fingers together. "It's sort of a friendship bracelet, but you might think those are dumb so I wanted it to be something useful too."

"Useful?" Weiss asked, her tone unreadable.

"Y-Yeah." Ruby reached out and touched the cloudy metal. "I used the last of my Dustal to make it, and those snowflakes there can hold a Dust gem. See the grooves?" She pointed to the markings on the divots. "It won't do much, but I figured that you could use it to enhance your glyphs. You know… if you get disarmed or something."

Again Weiss remained silent, and Ruby's nerves started to turn a little towards worry. It wasn't like Weiss to hold back on her thoughts, and with her face still pretty unreadable, there was little Ruby could do but sit there and wait. Unfortunately, that wasn't something she was very good at, so barely a minute passed before she spoke again.

"Do you hate it?" She asked.

It seemed to snap Weiss out of her trance, and her eyes finally flicked away from the bracelet to her. Much to Ruby's surprise, the bright blue orbs seemed to be swimming in tears.

"N-No!" The girl stuttered, her eyes falling to the couch cushion. " Sorry. I just… nobody has ever given me something like this before." She said in an equally low mumble.

"O-Oh." Ruby felt the knot in her stomach unwind and a weight was lifted from her shoulders. "S-So you like it?"

"It's perfect, Ruby." The girl breathed, her eyes raising from the couch to look at her as if contemplating something.

Ruby wouldn't have to wait long for what that thing was however, since she was surprised yet again as Weiss pressed into her. Arms wrapped around her waist, and Weiss' head came to rest on her shoulder. Ruby didn't know how the girl's hair could possibly smell of snow, but she swore she did. She wasn't going to complain though. A hug from Weiss was rare, and always short lived, so she happily returned it with a smile.

"Thank you." The voice was quiet, but it was in the distinctive tone she'd come to recognise as Weiss being sincere.

She knew it didn't need a reply, and sure enough though, just as usual, the hug ended pretty quickly. Ruby didn't mind though, since simply receiving one was more than pretty much anyone would ever get. When the girl pulled back though, Ruby reached back into her pouch again and pulled a small box free.

"I made a few for you already." She said, placing it between them and pulling the lid open to reveal a collection of neatly arranged gems the size of small mints. "They'll only help with one or two glyphs each, but I can show you how to make more."

Ruby watched Weiss pick up a piece of ice dust and twist it into place on the bracelet. It looked pretty normal for the first few seconds, but the heiress activated her aura and a bright blue light shimmered around her body. At the same time, the gem glowed as Weiss focused her aura into it, turning the metal around it to a light blue. Flexing her hand, she produced a glyph in front of them and began to summon a small ball of ice. It was less than Ruby had expected, being roughly the same size as a beach ball, but Weiss seems happy with it nonetheless.

"This will work just fine." The snowy-haired girl said with a smile.

"Well… I'm just glad you like it." Ruby chuckled nervously, leaning back on the couch and letting out a breath of relief.

"Yes. Well I am hardly so crass as to reject a gift from my best friend." Though Ruby had just laid down, she quickly sat up again. "Especially when you made it for me."

"Did you just call me your best friend?"

"And you will tell no-one." The girl said sternly. "I have a reputation to uphold."

Knowing the girl was joking, even without need for the smirk on her lips, Ruby stuck out her tongue and leaned back again. The day had been a good one, spending time with her sister and getting Weiss to admit they were best friends would always be a good day; but as she let herself relax, Yang's request wormed its way back into her head. Still unsure how she would actually make her sister happy, she decided to ask someone who's advice she valued.

"Hey, Weiss?"

"Mmm?" The girl replied, her own eyes already closed again.

"Would you be alright if I went all out against you in sparring? Hypothetically, I mean?"

"Yang finally talked to you then?" Ruby let out a low grumble that was practically confirmation. "Honestly, Ruby? I'm insulted that you don't already."

Letting out a sigh, Ruby closed her eyes too, letting the silence envelop her. It was something that she was definitely going to need to think about, if only to make Yang happy; but she was determined to keep her promise to her sister.

After all, Yang had kept every promise she'd ever made.

Raalm's Note

Hello there. So as I said before, little more of a serious chapter. Of course, still some fluff and stuff, but wanted to once again bring up Ruby's struggle. Also touched on a few other things here are there. Hopefully you all enjoyed it, and sorry that these notes are short. I have a massive headache.

Chapter 42 - A Darker Time will be uploaded on the 5th of August.

I also have something else coming later this week. It's just a small, new side series that is very character focused, so if you are interested at all then be sure to check my profile sometime.