RoR Chapter 10 Snippet #3

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.”