Chapter Text
It was a calm evening. The sun was beginning to set, bathing The Patch in a golden dusky glow. Two figures stood before the two gravestones that were beset on the edge of the cliff.
“She’s not coming then?”
Blake looked at Yang dejectedly.
“She hasn’t been in the past three years, I doubt she would come today,” Yang sighed.
“I mean, I know she has been so busy recently, the recent attacks on the Schnee Dust Company must have really added to her workload.” Blake replied in her defence.
“Still,” Yang said, with a slight hint of annoyance in her tone, “You’d think she’d at least return our calls, or even just reply back to one of our messages.”
Blake felt a pang of sadness hit her. She knew that Yang was annoyed at Weiss, as she had dropped off communicating with them; apart from the annual message to apologise about missing the trip to The Patch. However Blake also knew that Weiss had a lot of bad memories attached to the two gravestones standing in front of them.
Whilst Yang had thrown herself into teaching the students at the newly re-established Beacon Academy, Weiss had buried herself further and further into work at her family’s Dust Company.
Blake turned to face the sun, which now lit up the sky in brilliant shades of pink, purple and gold.
“I know, I miss her too. I guess we just deal with our grief in different ways.”
With that, Blake slipped her hand in Yangs and gave it a gentle squeeze.
“You’re right Blake. I just miss her so much. I miss them both a lot.”
“Well, the Vytal festival is in just a few weeks time! We’ll definitely get to see her then!”
Yang perked up at the thought of the Vytal Festival, returning for the first time to Vale, since the original attack twelve years prior. As one of the professors at Beacon Academy, she’d had her fair share of work helping get the project back off the ground.
“Yeah, I think Team JNR is going to be there too. Oh and I think Sun said his team would be heading there too! Just think, the whole gang will be back together.”
“Now that’s the spirit Yang!” Blake grinned.
Yang smiled at Blake, grateful to have the black haired faunus at her side. She then took a step forward and grabbed the two bouquets of flowers from her backpack. Kneeling down in front two graves, she placed the white roses on the grave marked ‘Summer Rose’, and the set of red roses on the grave marked ‘Ruby Rose’.
“I miss you so much Rubes. These past seven years have felt like forever, but I think you’d be proud of the progress we’ve made. Beacon Academy is doing better than ever! We’re even holding the Vytal Festival this year. First time since the academy has been rebuilt, and it’s going to be amazing! I think you’d be so jealous of all the tournament, just think of all the new weapons that are going to be there. I know all of my students are very excited to enter.”
Yang fondly reminisced about how excited her younger sister used to get, when getting she’d meet a new hunter or huntress, and seeing exactly what sort of weapon they were wielding.
“I hope you and Summer are doing okay up there. It’s pretty lonely without you down here.”
Yang gazed up at the sky, as the sun sunk slowly down into the skyline, the tree’s shadows growing longer by the minute.
“Unfortunately I can’t stay too much longer, dad is cooking and I don’t want to be late for that. He’s making your favourite! Cheese and bacon pasta. Plus I’ve been away from Beacon a while, and need to get some rest before we travel back tomorrow morning.”
Blake knelt down beside Yang.
“Let’s head back.”
They both stood up, and began to head back toward the Xiao Long residence, hand in hand. Yang took one last look behind her. The graves were now basking in the evening glow, with the whole forest ablaze in the golden light. There was a slight breeze, with a couple of the rose petals blowing off the graves, reminding Yang of her younger sister’s semblance. No matter where she looked, she could not help but see Ruby everywhere she went.
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Meanwhile in stark contrast, Weiss Schnee sat alone, watching the sun go down out of a high arched window.
The sky blazed in a brilliant red glow, casting long shadows on the trees in the mansion’s front garden. Of course the sky would be red, today of all days.
Weiss felt a small buzz in her pocket and she opened her scroll to see two messages from Blake.
*We miss you very much. Can’t believe how much time has passed already. Both me and Yang are super hyped to see you soon at the Vytal Festival. I think Sun and Jaune are getting their old teams back together for it as well! Would be awesome to get a little reunion of the crew back together. Maybe even have a drink at the old Crow’s Bar.”
Attached to the first message, was a photo. It was of Ruby’s grave, with the flowers laid upon it and the sun setting in the background.
Weiss felt a surge of guilt go through her as she read the message. It had been such a long time since she had seen either of her former teammates. But Weiss couldn’t face them. She knew that they must be annoyed with her, but Ruby’s death had hit her hard.
‘I thought the grieving process was meant to be easier, the longer time went on’, Weiss mused.
She put her scroll back in her pocket and stood up. Sleeping tonight was going to be next to none existent and Weiss knew she had a never ending mountain of work in her study, just waiting for her to slowly dig through.
However, after about 10 minutes of trying to re-read the same email a multitude of times, Weiss lent back and sighed in annoyance. Her concentration was dipping and her mind kept wandering back to Blake’s message.
Taking her scroll back out, she then looked at the image that Blake had sent. The whole photo looked hauntingly beautiful. Ruby’s gravestone hadn’t yet acquired the weathered look that her mother’s had, with the stone still looking as clean cut as it had five years ago.
Five years.
Five years since Ruby had died. The final showdown with Salem and Cinder had been an all out battle and there had been heavy losses on both sides.
Weiss missed her partner so much. The way each day was just another adventure with Ruby, their valiant team leader. Even in the darkest of days, she knew exactly the words to cheer them up. As they grew older, and had begun taking on more serious missions, Ruby’s goofy and carefree attitude had never changed, though Ruby knew how to be serious when the time came for it.
Weiss cared for her in a way that she had never cared for anyone else before. Although she dearly loved her elder sister, and deeply cared for her teammates, there was a connection she had made with Ruby that ran stronger than anything she’d felt before.
It was the way that Weiss could be her true self around Ruby, and could never be judged. The way that Ruby could see all the best parts of Weiss, when she felt at her lowest. It was the way that Ruby could know how to make her happy, when Weiss felt there could be nothing to be happy about.
To Weiss, she felt the most at home with Ruby.
Weiss pinched the bridge of her nose with her finger and thumb.
“Ah what the heck,” she sighed, “Ruby wouldn’t want me to sit here alone forever.”
Weiss didn’t know what had come over her, but before she knew it, she had already replied back to Blake without thinking about it.
*I would love to meet up for a drink. When and where?*
Sent.
Weiss suddenly felt a feeling she hadn’t felt in a long time. Excitement.