Chapter Text
Ruby Rose had been minding her own business at the dessert table, eating away at the chocolate dipped strawberries and the other bite-sized treats.
Everything was just fine at the charity she was invited to attend until there was a voice behind her scolding her.
“And what exactly do you think you’re doing? Your uniform is wrinkled and those are clearly not slacks? Those treats are for attendees only.”
The voice behind her said, making Ruby tense up. She quickly chewed the strawberry in her mouth before turning around to see a girl at about her same height. Well in heels anyways. This girl had long white hair that was in a sideways pony tail.
Ruby looked down at what she was wearing. She didn’t feel that she was wearing anything bad.
Just a red button up shirt that was slightly wrinkled around the bottom, it was not tucked in properly and a pair of black jeans with some tears on one knee.
Realizing she stood out more than she initially thought, she became self-conscious now about her choice of outfit.
“Well?” The white-haired girl asked, clearly looking annoyed at the lack of a response.
Ruby sets down her plate of pastries and reached into her back pocket. She pulled out a wrinkled piece of paper and showed it to the girl, “I was invited here. I am representing The Rose of Remnant.”
The other girl took the wrinkled paper from Ruby and looked at it.
Her brow furrowed, clearly not believing the redhead, “You probably stole this or something. I’m going to call secu-“
“Ah Weiss, I see you have met the guest of honor for tonight.” Both of their attentions were pulled towards the male voice that spoke up. A tall man with white hair in a white suit approaches the two and stands beside Weiss.
“Good to see you again Miss Ro-.”
“Brawnwen, Ruby Brawnwen.” Ruby interjected. She narrowed her eyes at the older gentleman.
Ruby looked at the other girl and saw the look of embarrassment on her face. Probably realizing that the her father just confirmed the red-haired girl in front was actually invited to tonight’s event. And to add insult to injury, Ruby was the representative of The Rose of Remnant no less.
The Rose of Remnant was a well-known artist and very rarely sold her art, much like her mother had. Most of the art that was purchased from her by galleries were auctioned off to other galleries which she disliked, but the very few that sold her art for fundraisers would be the galleries she is happy to work with. The proceedings of the art piece being show-cased and auctioned tonight would all being going to a children’s hospital.
Ruby furrowed her brows and spoke in a mock tone, “It always good to see you, Mr. Schnee.”
“Glad you were able to attend tonight, Miss Rose. This is my daughter, Weiss Schnee.” He put his hand out to shake Ruby’s.
Ruby sighed as wiped her hand on her jeans before reaching out to shake his hand, already wanting to leave. Despite the fact that she had arrived not too long ago.
She did not like being called by her actual last name in public to avoid any attention towards her. But she knew the man in front of her was doing this on purpose.
“You should join our table for when dinner is served, we are seated near the stage. My daughter will be singing tonight as well.”
“That’s cool Jacques, but I’m not really staying long.” Ruby said quickly, not wanting to be anywhere near Jacques tonight.
Jacques brows furrowed for a brief moment and he stood up straighter, momentarily showing his displeasure at being told no.
But he quickly smiled and spoke in a tone that clearly showed he wasn’t taking no for an answer, “Oh, but I insist Miss Rose. You must hear my daughter sing before you leave. Come.”
Jacques motioned for Ruby to follow. Ruby internally sighed and followed Weiss’s father to their table, grabbing her plate of pastries and resumed eating a chocolate covered strawberry.
Weiss walked quickly to Ruby and handed her back her invitation. Ruby tried to look at the other girl, but Weiss avoided looking at the artist. Ruby folded the invitation and slipped it back into her pocket and took a seat at the large table reserved for the Schnee Dust Company.
“Weiss, you should start getting to the stage and get ready to sing.” Her father said and Weiss simply nodded her head. She quickly mumbled a goodbye to her father and Ruby before walking towards the stage.
Ruby took a seat a few chairs away from Jacques. Not long after taking her seat dinner is being brought out to all the guests.
“My daughter is a phenomenal singer, we are always asked to attend these sorts of events because of her talents. I believe this will be the first time you get to see her perform, I am delighted that you were able to stay tonight Miss Rose.”
“Brawnwen.” Ruby muttered under her breath, growing increasingly annoyed at the other man.
There weren’t many people that recognized her at these sorts of events and Ruby would do her best to say that she wasn’t actually the “Rose of Remnant”, rather just her representative.
But the few that did recognize her, like Jacques, would try to impress her or get her attention in an attempt to get her to sell them an art piece of hers.
A lot of her art was displayed in the local gallery owned by a family friend. Anytime there was a request to purchase her art, Ozpin would send those requests straight to Ruby.
Ruby was pulled from her thoughts momentarily as the host of the charity began introducing tonight’s special performer, which was Weiss. Ruby took the time now to take a good look at the other girl.
Wow she’s gorgeous.
She thought to herself as the lights began to dim.
Ruby turned her head slightly to see Weiss’s father get a straight face as he stares at his daughter. She turned her attention back to the stage where the spotlight is now focused on Weiss.
Holy shit!
Her dress is sparkling too.
Weiss takes a deep breath and closes her eyes, her lips slowly parting as she begins to sing.
‘Mirror, tell me something,
Tell me who’s the loneliest of all?’
Ruby is surprised by the angelic tone in which Weiss is singing. She paid attention the whole time that Weiss is singing. She leaned forward in her seat slightly, not wanting to miss any of Weiss’s performance.
She wondered if this is as close as a Siren as she’ll ever be. Ruby was just drawn into the angelic voice on stage and did not hide the fact she was staring directly at Weiss’s face.
‘Mirror, mirror, what’s behind you?
Save me from the things I see!
I can keep it from the world,
Why won’t you let me hide from me?’
As Weiss finished her song, everyone began to applaud. Ruby took another look at Jacques and saw that he was the only person not clapping. Rather he had a smug look on his face and he locked eyes with Ruby for a brief moment.
Ruby quickly hid her look of amazement and turned her attention back to the host. The host simply thanked everyone for being here tonight and to enjoy their dinner. Weiss did a small curtsy before she walked off the stage and took a seat beside her father.
“That was like… super duper cool. You’re a great singer.” Ruby complimented Weiss with what she hoped was a kind smile.
Weiss seemed surprised at the compliment, “Um, Thanks?”
Before either of them can say anything, Weiss’s father interjected, “My daughter had all the best instructors for her vocal lessons. I made sure she learned from the best of the best to make the Schnee company proud.”
Weiss’s smile quickly faltered as her father begins to brag about his daughters accomplishents were all thanks to his money.
Before he can say too much Ruby spoke up, “Sorry Jacques, but I should really be going. I have other plans for tonight,”
Ruby stood up and waved him off and turned to Weiss, “Um, hope to see you around again. Goodnight.” Ruby started to walk away towards the exit and before she leaves, she takes a quick glance back to see Weiss.
She excused herself from the table before Jacques could stop her. Ruby walked outside to valet so that she could get her keys for her bike.
Ruby smiled as she approached her motorcycle.
Alrighty Crescent Rose.
Time to go home.
Ruby drove herself home to the outskirts of the city. She drove up the path that lead to her isolated home. The trees were all a blur as she drove past them and it wasn’t long before she pulled into the driveway.
Ruby parked her bike in the driveway and headed inside. Upon entering she found Blake in the kitchen with a glass of milk.
She was wearing one of Yang’s shirts and a pair of flannel shorts. Yang and Blake had been dating for over three years now and lately Blake had been sleeping over more than lately. Not that she minded or anything. Ruby actually got along very well with Blake.
She looked around for her sister as she walked into the kitchen to greet Blake. But Yang was nowhere to be seen.
It was crazy for Ruby to imagine a time that Yang wasn’t always curled up with Blake or in the same vicinity as her.
“Oh, Ruby. You’re home later than usual. Did the event start late?” Blake took a sip from her glass.
Ruby ran a hand through her hair as she left tucked her keys into her pocket, “Sort of but... I decided to stay a while longer. Where’s Yang?”
“She left a bit ago to get take out for dinner.” As Blake said this Ruby realized she promised to bring some dinner right after leaving the event. But she completely forgot.
Ruby face palmed, “Shoot, I forgot about that. Ugh and I came home later than I said I would, I’m so sorry.”
She prepared to apologize further but Blake simply smiled and shrugged, “Yang didn’t mind. She should be back any minute.”
Blake reached up to scratch the back of one of her cat ears, “Anyways, what happened at the dinner that made you want to stay?”
Ruby let out an exaggerated sigh, “Jacques was there and he insisted I stayed for dinner and…” she felt her cheeks flush red a bit, “and uh… I was about to leave when the lights dimmed but uh…”
Her words trailed off. But at the mention of the older Schnee, Blake frowned and her ears flattened, “Did he strong arm you into staying?”
“Sort of? Not really? I kinda ended up sticking around for um…. The performance.”
“You stayed for Weiss?” Blake said, donning a look of curiosity.
Ruby furrowed her brows, “Wait how do you know his daughters name?”
“I know my fair share about the Schnee Dust Company. Jacques jumps at every chance to show off.”
Before Ruby can say anything else the front door swung open and a tall blonde woman entered the house with two big bags of Chinese take-out, “I’m home kitty cat! Oh, hey Rubes. You were kinda lagging on food so I went out to get some. But hey! I brought you some of chow mein.”
Yang walked over to the kitchen giving her girlfriend a quick kiss on the lips before setting down the two bags on the kitchen table.
“Yeah, sorry sis. Stuck at the dinner thing.” Ruby said as she helped her sister take out the Chinese food.
“Imma head to my room. Kinda tired, night Yang. Night Blake.” She grabbed one of the styrofoam boxes with chow-mein and ran to her room upstairs.
Ruby barely heard her sister yell goodnight as she got to the top of the steps and into her room.
Her room was slightly messy with clothes thrown around the floor and various sketches stuck to walls and more spread along her desk.
She hopped onto her bed and began to eat. Ruby saw a little ball of black and white fur pass by her door.
She smiled and whistled quickly, “Zwei, come here Zwei.” Her dog perked up his ears and runs into Ruby’s room and made a valiant effort to hop onto her bed. Ruby sets down her fork to help pull Zwei onto her bed and run a hand along his back.
“Who’s a good boy?” Ruby said as she scratched the top of Zwei’s head.
In response to the question, Zwei barks and wagged his tail. Ruby kept Zwei on her bed while she ate her dinner before throwing her trash away in her bin. She did her began her nightly routine of getting ready for bed.
It didn’t take long for Ruby to be back in her bed. She patted the top of Zwei’s head, “Night Zwei.”
The corgi responded with a soft bark and laid on his side next to Ruby. She reached out to gently scratch Zwei’s back before slowly drifting to sleep thinking about how likely it will be to see Weiss again.
The odds of that are probably very slim but Ruby thought maybe her luck would pay off and she’d have a chance to run into Weiss again to hear her singing.
Ruby sighed and rolled onto her side. She decided to sleep rather than to keep herself awake on something so small.