Cinder Falls... For Ruby Rose (ch9)

EARLY RELEASE FOR MY HIGH-PLEDGING PATRONS! THANK YOU!

This will start the second 'part' of this fic, with Ruby and Cinder now in a relationship, but separated. How are they going to survive without each other, these poor girls?

I titled this chapter as I did because Cinder and Ruby are apart and trying to "recover" leaving one another, haha

Disclaimer: I do not own RWBY.

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													Chapter 9. Licking Wounds

It was strange.

After Haven students returned from the Tournament and Festival at Beacon, all the events that occurred when they were there seemed so distant.

Especially for Cinder.

That first evening back, when she'd had to unpack her things and return to her own dorm room with her teammates, had been fairly difficult for her. To know Ruby couldn't come scampering down the hallway to knock on her door or call out her name or smile at her or kiss her anymore.

Cinder kept expecting that those things might happen, but of course they never did.

Her teammates steered clear of her for the remainder of the evening, allowing her to adjust on her own. They would have to go back to classes tomorrow, so they hoped that might help distract Cinder from her aching heart.

That night, Cinder unpacked her panther plushie from her suitcase and brought it into bed with her. She pulled the blankets up over herself and held the panther in front of her face. It stared back at her with the same beady black eyes and soft nose. She bumped her own nose against it, trying to imagine it was Ruby.

She kissed the little toy, hoping the action could somehow send itself all the way back to Beacon.

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The next morning, Cinder sat up in bed, shook herself off, and promptly began getting ready for the day's worth of classes ahead of herself.

Yes, she missed Ruby terribly, and she hadn't slept well last night due to her mind being congested with thoughts of her.

But Cinder was a top student here at Haven Academy, and she wasn't about to let anything get in the way of her performance. Not even Ruby Rose.

She began barking orders to wake up her teammates as she often did, reminding them of which classes they had today and which books or supplies they would need to bring along.

In less than half an hour, all four of them were dressed and ready to go. Cinder led the way out into the hallway with her back straight and eyes forward, displaying her usual air of confidence. Her three teammates huddled together as they walked behind her.

"She seems like she's back to normal," Emerald said.

"I'll say," Mercury agreed. "She was feeling well enough to throw a book at me when I didn't wake up right away. Or was that you?"

"No, that was her," Emerald said proudly. She then turned to their other teammate and patted Neo's hair a bit. "How about you? How you holdin' up without your girlfriend?"

Neo flashed her a thoughtful smile, then shrugged before signing.

//I'm fine. Yang and I were texting all last night, so it's sort of like I never left her. In fact, I think I talked to her more last night on my scroll than I did in-person those few days.//

"Hey, that's good," Emerald grinned. "Cinder should get on that texting idea."

The three of them stop communicating once they reach their first classroom for the day. Cinder strut in and took her seat in the massive lecture hall, and her teammates sidled in beside her.

They all paid a lot more attention to Cinder than the professor, constantly casting glances at her to see if she was spacing out or not.

But Cinder had pushed all thoughts of Ruby to the back of her mind. She knew when she could allow herself to think about her girlfriend, and she knew when she needed to focus.

She took her notes down as per usual, and before she knew it, the first lecture of the day was over.

And then so were the second, and the third, until it was already lunch break.

Cinder was just walking out into the hallway when she heard an unfamiliar voice calling out her name.

"E-Excuse me, Cinder?"

Cinder paused and turned back to find a pair of girls she'd never really spoken to before. They'd had some classes together in the past, and might even be together in some now, but Cinder didn't really remember their names or faces in particular.

She paused and looked them over. The one who had spoken, a girl about Cinder's own height with long brown hair and green eyes, was making eye contact with determination in her gaze. Her companion had shorter black hair and glasses, and seemed to be there for support if nothing else.

Cinder already knew right away what this was. She'd seen it many times before. But she wasn't so cruel as to reject this poor girl outright even before she'd had a chance to confess properly.

Judging by her uniform's ribbon, Cinder could tell this girl was a year beneath her, which meant she hadn't gone to the Vytal Tournament to participate this year.

Which meant she hadn't seen Ruby run up to Cinder and hug and kiss her before she'd departed.

Cinder knew she needed to respect this girl's feelings as much as she could before she told her the truth.

With a wave of her hand, she dismissed her teammates so she could be alone with these two girls. As soon as it was just the three of them, the brunette became a bit more nervous. Cinder kept herself calm and spoke to her politely.

"Can I help you with something?"

The other girl took a moment to steel herself before responding.

"I was just... wondering if maybe... you'd like to go out for lunch together sometime." Her friend gave her a pat on the back to congratulate her for going through with it.

Cinder was silent for a moment, trying to think of what to say, but she didn't want to keep that poor girl waiting in suspense.

"I'm very sorry," she said. "But I am seeing someone right now. I don't think it would be appropriate for me to go out with you." She hated to say it, but she had to. She watched the other girl's hopeful expression deflate.

"Oh... I see... Sorry to bother you... I didn't know you were seeing someone already."

"It happened when we were at the Tournament in Vale," she explained.

"Oh. That's nice. Um... if it's not too much trouble, do you have a picture of them or something? I guess I'm kinda interested in seeing the person who stole your heart."

Cinder contemplated for a moment before extracting her scroll. She hadn't taken any pictures of or with Ruby, but she was able to find some good ones of her from her Tournament matches. She showed one to the pair of girls who were eager to observe.

The first girl stayed quiet, but her friend couldn't help but make a remark under her breath.

"Hmph. She's not so pretty."

Cinder narrowed her eyes at the dark-haired girl, and was about to snap a fiery comment at her. But to her surprise, the girl who had wanted to confess turned on her friend to scold her.

"Hey, don't say that. It's none of your business who she likes." With that, she turned back to Cinder with a smile. "She looks like a very nice girl."

Cinder had cooled off a little by then and nodded.

"She is."

"I'm glad you found someone to make you happy, Cinder. Sorry again to take up your time."

With that, the girl turned away and began walking off. Her friend followed.

"Hey, are you really okay with this?"

"Why shouldn't I be?"

Cinder listened to their conversation for as long as she could before they were out of sight and earshot. At the very least, with the news of her being in a relationship out there for all the school to understand, she hoped she wouldn't be getting any more suitors.

But the conversation had succeeded in making Cinder think about Ruby again.

So she allowed herself to space out a bit during lunch to think about her. She wondered if Ruby was getting similar confessions back at Beacon, and if she was gently letting people down and showing them pictures of Cinder.

Cinder didn't notice she started to blush at the thought, but her teammates did.

"Hey," Mercury snickered. "Guess she's thinkin' about-"

"Shut up, you moron!" Emerald smashed her heel into his foot.

"Ow!"

"That's what you get!"

Next to them, Neo was texting with Yang. Emerald steeled herself and turned to her leader, tapping Cinder's shoulder.

"Hey, chief? Have you thought about messaging Ruby? Y'know, maybe text her or video call? That could be nice."

Cinder blinked herself out of her reverie and flashed Emerald a look of mild interest.

"Perhaps I should give it a try."

"Definitely! Maybe after classes or something, no rush! But I'm sure she'd love to hear from you!" Cinder nodded, and Emerald turned away with a huge grin on her face. "Mission accomplished."

Impressed, Mercury gave her a pat on the back.

So that evening, when all their classes were over, Emerald took Mercury and Neo out to fetch supper, promising they'd bring Cinder back hers. But they deliberately left her alone in the room for a while so she could call Ruby.

Cinder hadn't changed out of her uniform yet, because she wanted to look halfway decent for the video call if Ruby was available for one. She sent out a text message first:

//Hello, Ruby. I hope your classes are going well. Do you think you have time for a call right about now?//

She checked it over, then sent it out. Cinder was prepared to wait for a while, but to her surprise, a reply came not a minute later:

//Cindeeeerrr! I'm so glad you texted me! I was actually thinking about texting you too heehee and Yeah I'd love to call you! Can we do it now?//

Cinder gave an affirmative reply, and within seconds her scroll was buzzing. She answered the video call, and an image of Ruby appeared before her eyes.

"Hi, Cinder! It's me! Oh, guess you already knew that, heheh."

Ruby's voice felt perfect in Cinder's ears. It had only been a day, but she'd already missed hearing her so much. Maybe she couldn't touch or kiss her as they were now, but this was the next best thing.

"Hello, Ruby. How are you doing?"

"I'm great!" she beamed. "I miss you a lot though..."

"As do I. But please, tell me about your day."

"Oh, sure! Well first..."

Ruby went off chittering for nearly half an hour, telling Cinder every single tidbit down to the tiniest detail.

But Cinder didn't mind at all. She listened attentively, even when Ruby was talking about how she had tried to pick out the pieces of vegetables in her soup at lunchtime.

Ruby talked and talked and Cinder was content to listen to the sound of her voice, to the point where she could almost imagine Ruby sitting right there beside her, holding her hand.

When Ruby was finished, she asked Cinder about her day. Cinder kept it to a minimum, but did mention one particular instance.

"I got to inform those who didn't already know that I am... involved with someone."

"Involved?" Ruby parroted. "You mean like... with me?! Oohhh I feel so special~! Heehee~"

They talked for a short while longer, until Ruby started yawning. Cinder knew it was time to call it a night.

"Get some rest, Ruby. We can call again tomorrow if you'd like."

"Yeah! I wanna if you can! And maybe we can make plans to meet up again sometime! Like on a weekend or something when we both aren't busy! I can't wait to see you again!"

"The feeling is mutual," Cinder smiled. "Goodnight, Ruby. Sleep well."

"Nighty night, Cinder!"

With that, Cinder's screen went black.

She sat there for a few minutes, still picturing Ruby's image, still replaying her words and her voice. She felt oddly liberated now, like a weight had been lifted from her shoulders.

She just felt... happy. Content.

She couldn't remember feeling quite like this before she'd met Ruby.

Her teammates soon returned with food, and the four of them enjoyed dinner together.

That night, Cinder kissed her panther, and began making plans for how and when she might see Ruby again.

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A/N: The patron requested this idea specifically, wanting to show that Cinder misses Ruby, but she isn't obsessed enough with her to sacrifice her schoolwork. I also like the idea of having the suitor girl defend Ruby against her bitter little friend haha.