literature

In a Land Far, Far Away # 7

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(It is highly recommended that you read the Author's Notes below before reading this one shot.)

***

*** ~ Itsy Bitsy Spider ~ ***

A tired sigh escaped Weiss' lips.

Weakly waving her Scroll in front of Team RWBY's door to unlock it, Myrtenaster's wielder lethargically trudged over to her bed, ready to forget everything that had happened in the past twelve hours.

From forgetting to pack her five page essay (due today) for Grim Studies, to packing the wrong textbook for Chemistry, Weiss didn't just have a bad day today. Oh no. She had one of the worst days of her entire existence on this planet, one that wouldn't be complete without her being drenched by Professor Oobleck's coffee in History, Weiss flashing her fellow peers and students in Mathematics (a gust of wind from an open window was to blame for the upturning of the back of Weiss' skirt as she stood up to answer a question) and the loss of her Scroll leaving Weiss in a panic for the better part of fifth period until she realized her Scroll was in her pocket the entire time.

Weiss stopped in front of her desk to take in a tired but very much needed breath of air.

Now that that atrocity of a day was finally over, Weiss prepared herself to play the sloth (something which would no doubt make Nora very proud), or rather, she was just about ready to flop face down on her bed, never to awaken again. Sadly, before she could do that,  she needed a shower. While she may have gotten that ugly brown coffee stain out of her uniform earlier, nothing save for doing the laundry would get rid of its smell.

Dropping her book bag next to her desk, Weiss quickly relieved herself of her cardigan and skirt, tossing both items into the laundry bin near the bathroom door. That bin was courtesy of Blake two weeks ago, the Faunus having finally had enough with Yang dropping her used clothes all over the place. It had taken some time for Weiss (along with the rest of the team) to get used to the communal laundry bin (and doing each other's laundry on rotation for that matter), but Weiss barely batted an eye at the thing now, often forgetting it was there in the first place.

Gathering up her bathing supplies, the white haired heiress walked into the adjoining bathroom, closed the door behind her, and turned on the shower. Never one to waste time, even when tired, Weiss quickly went about her regular bathing preparations, the rapier wielder ending up in nothing but a light fluffy blue towel in less than two minutes. With the weight of her uniform finally off of her shoulders and her alabaster hair free from its confines, Weiss turned to the now steaming shower, ready to embrace its hot waters.

Weiss shrieked when she realized she was not alone in the bathroom.

***

It happened so fast.

One moment, she was walking past the team's adjoining bathroom. In the next, she was on the floor, staring dazedly up at the ceiling.

Ruby Rose, leader to Team RWBY and wielder of Crescent Rose, had just returned to the team's shared dorm room after a long day. While she couldn't say it was one of the best days of her life (fifth period Combat Practicals did leave her a bit bruised after all), it was, at the very least, a nice and productive one. With classes done for the day and the evening upon her, there was only one thing on Ruby's mind right now and one thing alone. What was it?

Cookies.

Yes, cookies would be awesome right about now. But first, she needed to change into her pyjamas, or pijam-jams as Yang often called them.

Setting down her notebooks and pencil case on her desk, Ruby reached down to unbuckle her ammunition pouch from her hip. Fingers brushed against tempered steel in that motion, the scythe wielder immediately blinking in confusion at that feeling before looking down at her waist. Strapped snug to the back of her waist was none other than her beloved.

“Aww no,” Ruby pouted, sighing in exasperation.

Ruby loved Crescent Rose. She really did. But no matter how much she loved her darling weapon, school policy dictated that students' weapons were to be left in their lockers. And Ruby's locker was currently on the other side of Beacon Academy right now.

Ruby sighed again.

“Stupid, stupid rules,” the scythe wielder muttered to herself.

Begrudgingly turning around to face the dorm door again, just as Ruby was about to walk out, a high pitch shriek shattered the quiet air, making her jump. Silver eyes went wide as they darted to the closed bathroom door, the source of the disturbance. So caught up in her thoughts, Ruby failed to notice a certain white haired girl's things already in the room, along with the sound of running water. That was quickly rectified however, for just as the fifteen year old turned towards the origin of the scream, the bathroom door was violently yanked open and a white and blue missile from Grimm knows where barrelled into her.

“Aadkljgh!” Ruby exclaimed, both her and the thing which rammed into her crashing to the ground in a tangle of limbs.

Flattened on the floor on her back, Ruby could have sworn there were little cartoony Beowolves running circles in the air just above her head, golden, twinkling stars interspersed between them. The cartoony Beowolves made cute little barking noises as they ran, Team RWBY's dorm room spinning in the background. Just when Ruby thought cartoony Ursas were going to join in the fun, a panicked voice quickly sounded in Ruby's ears.

“R-Ruby!” squeaked a certain Schnee heiress.

Ruby shook her head clear at the sound of her name. Immediately seeking out the one who called her, silver eyes went wide when Ruby found them. There, lying on top of her, garbed in nothing but a light blue towel which was threatening to come undone, threatening to reveal beautiful fair skin in all its pale glory, was her partner Weiss Schnee. And Weiss Schnee was clutching at the front of her dress, her face mere inches away from Ruby's. Ruby's cheeks immediately flushed with heat, the scythe wielder finding her mouth suddenly drier than a dessert. Her brain grasped for words.

“Help me!”

Evidently, Weiss had no such qualms about speaking, the other huntress-to-be snapping Ruby out of her stupor faster than an Ursa could fart with all of two words. Never before had Ruby heard Weiss sound so pathetic before. Thinking about it further, never before had Ruby heard Weiss scream like that before either, even when they faced the Nevermore during initiation. For her to be like this now, Weiss Schnee, the girl all about perfection and form, meant only one thing. Whatever had gotten Weiss into this state was bad. Very bad. And it was up to Ruby to protect her partner from it.

***

The only thing preserving Weiss' modesty right now was a half undone towel.

And Weiss didn't care.

“What are you waiting for!? A written invitation!?”

Using her partner and leader as a human shield, Weiss cowered behind a confused and nervous Ruby, her eyes shut tightly and her head bowed. White knuckled fists held handfuls of red cloak between their fingers, just over top the scythe wielder’s shoulder blades.

“W-Weiss?” Ruby squeaked, looking back uncertain at the heiress nearly flush against her back.

As if Weiss hadn't had an embarrassing day enough, not only was her shower so rudely intruded upon, of all the people to find her in this pathetic state, it was Ruby.

“Don't you dare turn around!”

Things could have been worse, Weiss supposed. It could have been Yang Xiao Long who walked in on her like this instead. Thankfully that was not the case, otherwise Weiss would have never heard the end of it.

“W-What is it?” Ruby questioned, Crescent Rose in hand, the nozzle of her sniper pointed at the now open bathroom door. Despite being flustered and downright scared about this whole thing, Ruby's hold on her beloved weapon did not shake in the least.

“I-I-In the b-b-b-bathroom!” the Schnee heiress stuttered, Weiss burying her face in the back of Ruby's hood. Weiss was not the least bit surprised to feel Ruby's heart beating just as fast as hers was right now.

“What is it?” Ruby repeated, pulling back the sniper bolt on Crescent Rose, loading a round. Gritting her teeth, Ruby took a deep breath before taking a few cautious steps towards the adjoining bathroom, Weiss sticking close to her the entire time. After three steps, the younger girl paused in her motions to glance back over her shoulder at her partner again.

“Weiss?” Ruby said, drawing the panicked heiress out of her stupor with a soft shoulder nudge.

“R-Ruby?” Weiss sputtered, wide blue eyes looking at her in absolute fear.

“What is it?” Ruby repeated, turning her gaze back to the open bathroom door again. The shower was still going, steam slowly wafting through the threshold. “Is it a Beowolf?”

Why Ruby would think such a thing was beyond Weiss, but right now, she couldn't really care.

“N-No,” Weiss said in barely a whisper. She shook her head vehemently, burying her face in Ruby's back again. “S-Smaller,” she squeaked.

“Smaller?” Ruby echoed. “A Boarbatusk?”

Weiss shook her head again, not raising her head. “N-Not a Grimm.”

“Not a Grimm?” Ruby frowned out of Weiss' line of sight, her voice clearly sounding her confusion as to what could have scared her partner nearly senseless.

“Is it a cookie eating monster?”

Weiss raised her head to stare at her partner unamused. “A cookie eating monster?” the white haired girl deadpanned, resisting the urge to slap Ruby upside the head. “Really Ruby? Of all the things you could think of, the Grimm and a cookie eating monster were all you could think of?”

Ruby huffed, puffing out her cheeks a bit as she turned to face her partner. “Well it's not like you're helping Princess!”

“Hey!” Weiss exclaimed, rising to her full height and taking a step backwards. “I'll have you know- EEK!”

The moment movement behind Ruby caught Weiss's attention drawing her gaze to it, even in the split second that it was, that was all it took to send the white haired girl fleeing to the opposite side of her bed. Ruby meanwhile whirled around to face the bathroom again in a tornado of rose petals, Crescent Rose primed and ready in her grasp.

“What? What!?” the fifteen year old shouted, her gazing searching for Weiss' tormentor.

“It's...” Weiss shuddered, just the thought of it making her cringe. Damn it! Of all the times to be without Myrtenaster!

“It's-”

“A spider?” Ruby said in bafflement, staring dumbfounded at the bathroom door again. There, on the door jam, was the object of Weiss' torture. All half an inch of it.

“Shoot it! SHOOT IT!” Weiss shrieked, her entire body trembling violently. She quickly ducked behind her bed again when the spider moved across the door jam to scramble across the wall. Weiss was on her knees, most of her body hidden by her bed with only the top half of her face seen. Blue eyes were wide with fright, the Dust successor gripping at her sheets on either side of her face, hard.

Ruby stared at the spider unblinking for another few seconds before collapsing Crescent Rose down into its compact form. She replaced it on the holster on her back.

“W-W-What are you doing?!” Weiss hissed, watching as Ruby slowly crept up to the spider, her hands raised.

Weiss would not get a reply however, Ruby instead dashing forward with a spurt of speed, snatching the arachnid off the wall. The scythe wielder formed a prison around the spider with her hands, making Weiss' skin tone go a few shades whiter.

“Are you insane!?” Weiss nearly screeched, the rapier wielder backing up against the wall as her partner walked between the team's beds towards the open dorm window.

“Nope!” was Ruby's response, the fifteen year old calmly reaching out the window before depositing their unwanted guest on the outside brick wall. She would wait a few extra seconds to make sure the arachnid had a good grip on brick before taking a step back and closing the window.

“There!” Team RWBY's leader said proudly. She turned to face her partner again. “All done. That wasn't so ha-ahh!”

And for the second time in the span of minutes, Ruby Rose found herself being tackled to the floor and flattened on her back.

“You Dunce!” Weiss chastised, the heiress squeezing all the air out of Ruby's lungs in relief. “What if that thing bit you? What if it was poisonous? You could have gotten hurt!”

Ruby rubbed her partner's bare shoulder weakly, hoping to soothe the freaked out girl. “No harm done, Weiss,” Ruby wheezed. The white haired girl was surprising strong, much stronger than Ruby had originally given her credit for.

“I'm alright. Besides, you promised to be the best teammate ever. So it's only fair that I be the best leader too. Part of that is protecting my teammates and partner.”

Ruby smiled when Weiss relinquished her death grip to push away from her slightly to look at her. A small smile stretched across the Schnee successor's lips, the beginnings of tears pooling in the corner of Weiss' eyes.

“Thank you, Ruby,” Weiss said, her voice coming out choked. “That means more than you know.”

“No need to thank me, Weiss,” Ruby said, the smile still ever present on her face. “That's what I'm here for.”

Weiss' smile lingered for as long as it took her to sniffle and wipe away her unshed tears. Then cool blue eyes iced over and narrowed, and just like that, Weiss was back to her ice princess self.

“You will never speak a word of this to anyone,” Weiss stated, her voice low and menacing. “Are we clear?”

Not the least bit threatened by her partner's usual icy demeanour, Ruby's smile just widened. “Not a word,” she said, almost giggling.

Weiss scowled. It seemed her partner had developed an immunity to her tactics. Either that or Weiss was losing her touch.

Damn it. She was getting soft.

“W-What?” Weiss huffed, sitting up and crossing her arms over her chest. Strangely enough, Ruby didn't seem the least bit perturbed at having her nearly naked partner (save for the towel) sitting on her thighs.

“It's just...” the fifteen year old began.

“It's just what?”

Ruby giggled, making Weiss scowl more. “You're just so cute when you get all flustered like that.”

“Excuse me?” Weiss said, her eyebrows raising into her hairline. Ruby Rose did not just call her cute!

“Yeah,” Ruby replied, her smile nearly blinding. “It's nothing to be ashamed about, Weiss. Everyone is afraid of something. Even me.”

“Oh yeah?” Weiss said, affronted. She turned her face away, her cheeks flushing pink. Thankfully Ruby gave her a means of diverting the attention away from herself.

“So what are you afraid of then?”

At that question, the smile on Ruby's face vanished immediately. Startled by the sudden quiet, Weiss looked back to the younger huntress-in-training to find a very pale Ruby Rose.

“Well, umm... you see... about that...”

Very concerned about her partner's sudden lack of colour, Weiss quickly opened her mouth to take back her words.

“Ruby-”

“Clowns alright!” the scythe wielder exclaimed, shuddering. Her eyes were squeezed shut with her hands covering them.

“They're just... why are they so happy and smiley!?” Ruby rambled on, her voice getting squeakier and squeakier the more she spoke.

“I mean there's nothing wrong with being happy and smiling, I do that all the time, but there's just something so creepy about clowns when they smile-”

Weiss blinked in surprise. Of all the things Ruby could have been afraid of, she was afraid of clowns.

Wow.

“Ruby-”

“And have you seen the colours they wear? Or how big their pants are? Like what the hell do they have in them-”

“Ru-”

“And what about that tiny car they always drive around in? Do you see how many of them fit in that thing? I mean who knows what's-”

“RUBY!” Weiss exclaimed. She slapped her open palms against the floor on either side of her partner's head, at the same time leaning over so only inches separated their faces.

Ruby jumped at the sudden shout and noise, the red cloaked girl fearfully pulling back her hands from her eyes and gulping when she saw how close her partner was.

“Y-Y-Yes Weiss?” Ruby squeaked.

Weiss took a deep breath before sighing. “You're afraid of clowns? Really?” The heiress couldn't stop the smile from creeping across her lips. She almost chuckled. Weiss pushed herself up to sit upright again.

“You're really something, you know that?”

“Says the one who's afraid of something a gazillion times smaller than her!” Ruby retorted, puffing out her cheeks.

“How dare you!” Weiss' exclaimed, scowling for the umpteenth time today.

Like before, Ruby Rose was not the least bit intimidated.

“How dare me?” the fifteen year old echoed. “How dare you!”

Both of them glared at each other, unblinking. Seconds later, they burst out laughing.

“Dust it all, Ruby,” Weiss said after she regained her breath. “I really needed that.” Weiss wiped away a stray tear. “Thank you.”

Ruby's smile was brilliant. “No problem, Weiss,” the younger girl piped. “Like I said before, that's what I'm here for. I got your back.”

A genuine smile graced Weiss' lips, this one staying longer. “That really means a lot, Ruby. Thank you.”

“Awwwwww Weiss!” Ruby cooed. She pushed herself up with her elbows to sit up, pulling her partner into a hug. “Come here you!”

To Ruby's surprise, the white haired girl reciprocated the gesture, making Ruby squeal on the inside. At the feeling of the fluffy towel between them, Ruby pulled back from Weiss after a few seconds, silver eyes drifting downwards. Faster than Weiss could blink, Ruby went as red as her cape, the scythe wielder immediately turning her face away.

“Ruby?” Weiss questioned in confusion.

“C-Can you get off of me now, W-Weiss?” the fifteen year old said, her voice cracking. “You're kind of... w-well... t-towel...”

At those words, Weiss looked down at herself and went just as red as her partner. In all of the commotion, she had forgotten about her less than dressed state. Her towel was just a hair away from bursting open if she didn't do something about it. Unfortunately for her, before Weiss could correct that problem, the door to Team RWBY's dorm swung open wide with a bang, Blake and Yang walking in. Jolted by the suddenness of it all, Weiss lurched forward into Ruby, knocking her partner onto her back again, Weiss only managing not to head butt the younger girl by slamming her hands down on the floor on either side of Ruby's head again.

“I'm telling ya, Blakey!” Yang said, as boisterous as ever. “It really... really...”

Just as the black and yellow pair froze in the doorway to Team RWBY's room, Weiss' towel finally came undone, sliding down her back, stopping just short enough to cover up her rump and lower front end. While some of her modesty had been saved, not all of it could be tragically, Ruby quickly finding herself staring wide eyed at her topless teammate with only inches of space between them.

Ruby let out a sound of absolute gibberish before she fainted from the amount of blood rising to her cheeks.

Weiss wanted to die.

“WEISS SCHNEE!” Yang Xiao Long roared, her lavender eyes turning red. The sound of Ember Celica deploying quickly reached Weiss' ears.

“WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING TO MY SISTER!?”
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A huge and awesome thank you goes out to Skire for doing up the cover for this story. You can find the original picture here: skiretehfox.deviantart.com/art…

***

Summary:
For the longest time, Ruby thought the Grimm were the most horrific monsters in the entire world. Then she heard Weiss scream, and realized that was not so. Ruby & Weiss. Friendship.

***

Pre-Story Notes

Due to the context of this chapter, the characters may seem a bit OoC. I've done what I can to limit that.

I apologize in advance if this chapter doesn't seem as smooth as normal. I was experiencing a bit of writer's block during the time I was writing this, so it probably is still a bit rough around the edges.

On another note, there's just a quick posting schedule change for this story. Instead of being updated  every third weekend of the month, this story will now be updated every second weekend of the month.

Disclaimer: The characters and the worlds I write in do not belong to me. The stories that I write are intended for entertainment purposes. I do not make any money from them.

***

Post Story Notes
Everyone is afraid of something. Myself, I have a partial fear of spiders. So you can guess how this chapter came about. Hehe.

For the purposes of this story, each dorm room has an adjoining bathroom that comes complete with a shower, vanity, and toilet. The bathroom is connected to the wall opposite Ruby's and Weiss' bunk beds (closer to Yang and Blake's bunk beds).

Also, students at Beacon can take up to 5 classes in a day.
© 2014 - 2024 TearofLight
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POPTART117's avatar
I swear....If they end up cannon, it's all thanks to stuff like this!

Good read, as always!
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