RoR Chapter 10 Snippet #5

The sun was shining brightly, but the warmth did nothing to help her mood.

Ruby Rose slowly looked around. She had just stepped outside the Dust store, two bags of premium Dust she never used before in her hand, and took in all the people moving about their day. The crowds seemed a bit small to her, especially with the Vytal Festival so close by. She wondered how many more people would be here if she had stopped that disaster.

If she had saved all those lives.

Ruby's shoulders slumped, the frown on her face deepening. She...had been thinking a lot about that night. It was hard not to, when she had failed so many people. She was suppose to be better than that. Moments like that disaster were literally what she'd been training for years to prevent.

But she didn't. Instead, dozens of people had died.

If she had been anything even close to Mom, she would've stopped it easily.

“Ruby?”

Ruby turned her head, and saw Weiss stepping out of the Dust store, her own bag of Dust hanging from her arm. She was frowning as she stepped closer to Ruby, and asked, “Are you okay?”

Immediately, Ruby gave her a tiny smile. “Yeah. Fine, Weiss.”

Weiss lips thinned; not like usual, though. Her expression looked just a bit tighter with emotion she tried not to let show.

“Seriously, I’m fine,” she insisted, widening the smile.

“I believe you, Ruby,” Weiss said, and if it were anyone else, it would’ve sounded like she meant that. But Ruby had been her partner long enough to know that was her “I-don’t-believe-you-but-I’m-just-being-polite-and-not-saying-anything” voice. And going by the look in her eye, Weiss knew Ruby knew, but still didn’t say anything. Probably waiting for Ruby to admit there was something wrong first.

But there wasn’t. Not really.

Ruby looked away, frowning. After a moment, Weiss spoke

“Do you still have the list?”

Ruby blinked, and turned. “What?”

“The list.” Weiss raised a delicate eyebrow. “The one where you wrote down the new video games Yang wanted us to get for ‘the team?’”

Ruby blinked, and then her eyes went wide. “Oh, right! Yeah, I got it right—” Ruby reached into the pocket of her skirt, and froze.

Weiss’ gaze suddenly went flat. “Ruby,” she said, and it was amazing how much exasperation she could put into her name.

“Wa-wait, hold on!” Ruby frantically looked over the pocket, but found nothing their. She checked the other one just as frantically, but again, there was nothing their. She looked back to Weiss, and a sheepish smile crossed her face. “Ehehehe…so, about that list—”

Weiss let out the mother of all groans, all but smacking a hand to her face as she dragged it down. “Every time. This happens every time, Ruby!”

“I-it’s not every time!”

“That time when I asked you to go pick up a package from my butler since you were in Vale,”Weiss said, and Ruby winced at that. Her stone-cold, unblinking eyes bore a hole as she lifted a finger. And then another. “That time you forgot to pick up Blake’s anchovy pizza”—Ruby winced again—“the time you forgot to pick eye drops for Blake or tampons for me from the pharmacy”—another wince, this one far harder—“the other time you forgot to pick up my package. And the time after that.”

Ruby winced so hard it was like she’d been punched in the gut. “I-in my defense,” she muttered, not looking Weiss in the eye. “That weekend I was really worried about the grade for our history paper.”

“Every time you always forget to pick up your friends’ stuff!” Weiss said, ignoring her. She sighed. “I’m starting to think the part of your brain, who’s only job was to remember to pick our things, was tragically lost during one of the many you used your Semblance.”

“He-hey!” Ruby said, glaring slightly at Weiss, but her friend looked at her like she was Zwei trying to act like he was intimidating. Which wasn’t a fair comparison at all, because she could be pretty scary! “I didn’t forgot I had to pick something up! I just…forgot the list that told me what to pick up.”

“Yes, because that’s so much better.” Weiss rolled her eyes so hard, Ruby was surprised they didn’t fall out of her sockets. She sighed again. “Why didn’t you write the thing on your scroll and not on a piece of paper?”

“I didn’t have my scroll on me when Yang told me what to get!”

“And you didn’t think to write it down when you did get it…because?”

“I didn’t wanna type the list again!”

“So laziness,” Weiss said bluntly. “That’s the excuse you’re going with?”

“Ugh, Weiss, please, scolding me over this isn’t gonna help me remember what Yang—wait!” Ruby sudden shout was enough to make Weiss flinch. Ruby reached for the pocket with her scroll, took it out, and then went to the camera app on it and pulled out a specific photo. “I took a picture of it!” Proudly, she showed the photo of the Yang’s list in all its glory, and smiled. “I didn’t forget it! Hah!”

Weiss stared. Then, she pointed out, “No, you still did. You just knew yourself well enough to bring a backup.”

Ruby’s smile vanished, and her gaze went flat. “Let me have this, Weiss-Cream.”

“Don’t you dare call me that insufferable nickname,” Weiss said, eyes narrowing.

“Okay.” Ruby grinned impishly. “Would you prefer Snow Angel?”

Weiss’ glare was like a blizzard. “Were it not for the fact I left Myrtenaster at school, you’d find yourself at the end of its blade, Crater Face.”