5

History class with Doctor Oobleck was their first class the next day, and, with some irony, the subject had come around to the Faunus Wars. For Blake, she got more than a few astonished stares, but, as Oobleck was quick to jump on inattention in his class, most of her fellow students went quickly back to at least appearing to pay attention to the lesson.

Ruby was thrilled, for once, to have done some extra reading on the subject, and for once she was able to follow along with the professor's usually blisteringly fast lecture speed. When Oobleck brought up the topic of humans forcing Faunus to go to the island of Menagerie, she glanced at Blake curiously, wondering idly what Blake's homeland was like. Maybe Blake would invite her there someday? It'd be cool to travel all the way around the world and see a neat island filled with all sorts of neat faunus people. Although maybe it'd be weird. Were there any humans there? Would they not like her there because she was human? Ruby decided to ask what Blake thought about it after class.

Oobleck then asked the class if anyone had been discriminated against for being a faunus, and Ruby glanced around, noticing that pretty much every Faunus in the room raised their hand, although Velvet looked particularly embarrassed to do so. The class went silent when Blake calmly raised her own hand, and, almost as one, most of the people in class looked at Jack Spriggin, who winced noticeably.

"Dreadful, simply dreadful..." Doctor Oobleck said with a shake of his head.

Blake spoke up, her hand still raised. "I'd like to say, officially, that I haven't been discriminated against by my own team. Or by Jack Spriggin and his team, despite what rumors may say. Jack's scroll was used to make it seem like he'd done so, but it wasn't him."

Doctor Oobleck raised an eyebrow at the interruption, but nodded. "Yes, quite. I'm glad to see that such division does NOT mar your team dynamics."

Velvet looked surprised, glancing up at Blake, then at Jack as if reassessing the small boy. Then, most of the faunus in the room glanced at Cardin. It was only for a moment, but it was easy to see if you were paying attention.

Oobleck nodded once to Blake, then barreled back into his lesson as if he'd never been interrupted.

Cardin and his team were steadfastly ignoring most of the other people in class entirely. Cardin amused himself by tossing bits of paper at Jack Spriggin, who the larger boy typically sat behind, and Jack grunted at one point, swiping irritably at the back of his head.

Oobleck, who had been in the middle of asking a question about how the Faunus had defeated General Lagune at the battle at Fort Castle, zoomed up to the boy. "Excellent. What is the answer, Mister Spriggin?"

Jack had, luckily, been paying at least some attention to the lecture, but his face froze as he fought for the answer. From out of Oobleck's sight, Blake smirked, then leaned her head to one side to catch the small boy's attention.

Jack was stalling. "Well, the reason the Faunus had an advantage was..."

Blake pointed at her own eyes, blinking them once. She pointed at her ears, then again, with more emphasis, at her eyes again.

Jack made his best guess. "Superior senses?"

Oobleck considered that for a moment. "A good guess, Mister Spriggin. Anyone else?" He looked up at Cardin, who'd snorted at Jack's answer. "Cardin, perhaps you'd care to answer the question?"

Cardin, his feet up on the desks in front of him, shrugged. "I know that it's easier to train an animal than it is to train a soldier."

"You're not the most open-minded of individuals, are you Cardin." Pyrrha said, speaking up for the first time that day.

Cardin glared at her. "What? You've got a problem?"

Pyrrha turned back to face Doctor Oobleck. "No, I have the answer. Nightvision. Many faunus are known to have nearly perfect sight in the dark." She glanced at Blake, who was sitting next to her, and Blake nodded her agreement.

Blake spoke up a moment later. "General Lagune was inexperienced and made the mistake of attacking the Faunus in their sleep. His massive army was outmatched, and the general was captured." She turned to Cardin with a grin. "Perhaps if the general had paid more attention in class, he wouldn't be remembered as such a failure."

Cardin growled and moved as if to stand, but Doctor Oobleck, was, as always, attentive. "Mister Winchester, please take your seat." He paused before continuing. "You can see me after class for additional readings."

As everyone (except Cardin) filed out of the hall, Velvet stopped Blake, looking curious. "So, what really happened?"

Knowing what Velvet was referring to, Blake sighed, jerking her head toward the inside of the classroom. "Cardin and his team stole Jack's scroll to make that post. Miss Goodwitch ended up finding out about it though."

"Well, I'm glad you found out the truth." Velvet glanced to Jack, who just sighed, looking resigned, before turning back to Blake. "And I'm glad your teams don't care about you being a faunus."

Blake looked embarrassed. "I thought you might be mad at me for hiding who I am for so long."

Velvet shook her head. "Believe me, if I could have hidden my ears when I first got to Beacon, I would have. My team doesn't care about that stuff either, but people like Cardin make it difficult sometimes." She looked at Weiss curiously. "You say team Winter all supports you?"

Blake nodded firmly. "Weiss isn't the SDC, or her father. She and I are friends."

Velvet beamed. "That's great. I guess a lot of us were kind of worried about..."

Blake nodded. "I think Weiss might know what it's like to be judged for... for things she was born with, pretty well, actually."

Velvet looked thoughtful at that. "I hadn't thought about it that way before." She gave Weiss a more considering look. "None of us can do anything about who our family are, can we?"

Blake shook her head. "No we can't."

/-/

Blake got stares from all sides for the rest of the day, and Ruby winced every time she heard furtive whispers about her cat-faunus teammate start up, knowing that Blake probably heard even more, but Blake put up with all of it without seeming to be bothered in the slightest. Yang and Pyrrha made sure to flank Blake most of the day, and occasionally one or the other of the two would give someone a hard stare if they were being overly rude, but by the end of the day, rather than seeming annoyed or defeated, Blake almost seemed happier than usual. The teachers all gave Blake honest smiles when they saw her without her bow, although none of them mentioned it, and by the end of the day, the novelty of Blake's faunus nature seemed to have mostly worn off.

Cardin's team was getting more than their usual share of evil looks, and not only from the faunus students. Jack had to suffer through some angry looks as well, but Blake, and later Velvet, and then others, quietly shared the truth with those who still thought him to blame for the incident the day before, and before long, angry looks had changed to nods of acknowledgment, and the occasional polite word.

Team RPBY and Team WJNR met up that night for another unarmed combat training session, and again, Pyrrha took up the roll of instructor with ease.

"I think we should break up into pairs tonight." Pyrrha began. "Some of us are quite a bit more skilled with hand to hand than others, so if those of us who are more skilled could partner with someone who has more to learn, I think we could get more done."

Nora grinned. "Hey Yang, want to show me how to kick ass and punch faces?"

Yang threw the smaller girl a thumb's up. "No problem!"

Weiss wrinkled her nose. "How should the rest of us pair up, Pyrrha?"

Pyrrha thought about it. "Ren, why don't you pair up with Weiss? I think your style might suit her best." She turned to Blake. "Blake, you're the fastest of us besides Ruby, why don't you show her how to use her speed better?" She nodded at Jack. "Jack, how about you work with me?"

Everyone nodded and went to work. Ruby found herself sharing the middle of the arena with Blake. "OK..." Blake wrinkled her nose. "I've never taught anyone how to fight before..." she admitted. "Maybe we should start by sparring, and I'll try and figure out what I know that I can teach you along the way?"

Ruby grinned. "That sounds cool. Let's get started!"

It wasn't cool. Blake knocked Ruby around the arena with ease, and struggled with trying to explain what Ruby needed to do to get better. After a solid twenty minutes of gaining bruises and not learning anything, Ruby gave up, staggering over to the side of the arena and slumping against it.

"I'm never going to get any better at this." Ruby complained to the cat faunus.

"Don't say that... you're... you're getting a lot better!" Blake encouraged a bit lamely. Then she sighed. "I'm just not very good at teaching, I think. Like I said, I've never done this before."

Ruby just sighed and looked around at the others. Yang was apparently teaching Nora basic punches and blocks, while Ren ran Weiss through a martial arts kata slowly. Both Weiss and Nora seemed to be learning steadily. Pyrrha had been sparring with Jack between periods of instruction, and while the short boy wasn't showing any obvious signs of improvement, he did seem like he really did know what he was doing, only losing out to Pyrrha in small ways on strength, reach, and technique. After a few minutes, however, Pyrrha noticed Blake and Ruby sitting quietly at the side of the arena, and came over, followed by Jack.

"Not going so well, I take it?" Pyrrha said, trying to be polite.

"I suck." Ruby answered bluntly.

Blake shrugged helplessly. "I'm really not sure how to help her. My training wasn't very formal, so I'm not sure how to teach Ruby what she needs to know."

Pyrrha smiled and nodded slowly. "Well, why don't we switch partners for awhile? I can go over the basics with Ruby for the rest of the night, and you can spar with Jack?"

Blake looked at Jack, who shrugged, and Blake nodded. "Sure. You're better at teaching this stuff than I am, anyway, Pyrrha."

Pyrrha blushed modestly. "I have had the benefit of quite a bit of training under very skilled instructors. I can't claim all the credit by any means."

Blake chuckled. "Well, it shows, and I'm sure you'll do better at teaching Ruby than I have been."

"I can only try." Pyrrha amended. She held out a hand to Ruby, who took it, letting the tall amazonian girl drag her to her feet. "How are you feeling, Ruby?"

Ruby took a deep breath. "I'm OK. What should we try first?"

Pyrrha took Ruby over to an unused corner, then looked over her thoughtfully. "Well, let's start with your stance."

Ruby blinked. "What do you mean?"

Pyrrha stepped in and gave Ruby a hard shove, causing the smaller girl to fall on her butt. "You need to be lower to the ground, with your feet wider." Ruby winced, looking up at Pyrrha with a slightly hurt expression. Pyrrha's face softened, and she reached down to help Ruby up again. "It's important, Ruby. Watch my feet." Pyrrha demonstrated what she wanted, then gestured to Ruby, who did her best to imitate Pyrrha's stance. Pyrrha walked slowly around Ruby, then put her hands on the smaller girl's shoulders and helped adjust Ruby's feet with gentle nudges from her own. Once Ruby passed inspection, Pyrrha abruptly pushed her again. Ruby wavered and nearly fell, but managed to stay on her feet. "Better." Pyrrha said with a smile. "Why don't I show you a basic kata from a form my mother taught me..."

It wasn't exactly the most fun she'd ever had. Pyrrha was nearly as demanding an instructor as her Uncle Qrow had been, although where her Uncle teased and cajoled her, Pyrrha tended to use kind words and gentle encouragement, rewarding her with a bright smile when Ruby did something right. Ruby had always felt warm and happy when her Uncle praised her for doing something right, and she felt just as happy when Pyrrha did the same. Maybe more so. There was something about the Mistralian champion's pleased smile that made even her favorite uncle lose his place as her favorite teacher in favor of Pyrrha Nikos. Not that she'd tell Qrow that. By the end of the night, Ruby had some basic moves down, at least well enough to do them without Pyrrha having to constantly correct her form.

"I think that's enough for tonight..." Pyrrha announced after they'd all been training for nearly three hours. "We've all got classes in the morning."

"And homework to do." Weiss was quick to agree. "We can't let our grades suffer, even if I'm quite sure this will help in our combat classes."

As everyone prepared to go, Blake put a hand on Ruby's shoulder, holding her back. "Ruby, could we talk for a bit? Privately?"

Ruby hesitated, then nodded, wondering what Blake wanted, but willing to listen to whatever it was her dark-haired friend wanted to say.

Yang glanced at Blake with a curious expression, then her eyes grew mischievous. "Going to ask my baby-sister out, Kitten?" She said, just loud enough for the others to overhear. Ruby and Blake both blushed at the sudden, if subtle, attention the comment got from the rest of the group.

"What? No!" Blake nearly shouted back, then winced. "Yang... could you please not... be Yang about this. I just... I just wanted to talk with Ruby about something for a bit, OK?"

Yang chuckled. "Sure, sure." She made shooing gestures at the rest of their combined teams. "OK, OK, let's give the love birds some privacy, right?"

"Yang! We are not love birds!" Ruby shouted, then went bright red as her own words registered. "Yang..." She whined, looking at the floor.

Yang chuckled softly, then waved her hands at everyone else to keep them moving. "Heh. You know I love you Rubes." She winked at Blake. "Don't keep her out too late Kitten. I'll be waiting up."

Blake sighed and looked skyward, and Yang followed everyone else away, leaving them alone in the arena.

When they were finally alone, Ruby cleared her throat. "So... what did you want to talk about, Blake?" She tried not to blush. "You aren't really going to... er... ask me..."

Blake flushed as well. "No. No. Not that there is anything wrong with you, I just... that's not what I wanted to talk about."

Ruby took a relieved breath. "Good! I mean, I think that's good? I mean, I'm sure you'd make a great girlfriend for someone sometime... I'm just... I'm not sure I'd be very good at being a girlfriend..." she finished the last sentence very quickly, blurring the words together. "I mean I've never even dated anyone, not that I don't like you or anything, I just don't even know what I'd like or who or anything..." she trailed off. "And I'm babbling again."

Blake nodded. "Yes."

Ruby lowered her head. "You wanted to talk about something else entirely, didn't you."

Blake nodded again, looking a bit flustered. "Yes. I've been wanting to talk to you about what you talked to me about the other night on the roof."

Ruby blinked. "About you being a faunus?"

Blake frowned. "More about you wanting to know more about the White Fang... or more specifically, about you wanting to go after Roman Torchwick."

Ruby's face fell. "Oh. That."

Blake nodded firmly. "Yes, that. Ruby... I really think you should tell the rest of our team about this. Even if I thought trying to hunt down Roman Torchwick was a good idea, which I don't, if you wanted to even consider it, it's not something you should even consider doing alone, or even just with me. It's too dangerous."

Ruby slowly nodded. "You're right, Blake. I'm just not sure how to talk to Yang about it, or Pyrrha, or anyone. I mean... I think they'd just tell me not to worry about it, or that it's too dangerous..."

Blake raised an eyebrow. "It's a lot more dangerous if you tried to do it by yourself, you know."

Ruby nodded in agreement. "I know. And I won't go out by myself. I won't ask you to go with me either. Just the two of us isn't really enough either. I do know that much."

Blake took a deep breath. "I've been thinking about it, and, to be honest, I do want to find out what's going on. I can't understand why the White Fang would work with Roman Torchwick. It's really hard to believe that they would. So I would like to see what we can find out. But... if we're going to do this..."

Ruby nodded. "We'll tell the others. Actually, I think we should tell team Winter too. I know they'd be willing to help."

Blake smiled slightly. "Actually, I think so too. And you're right. We'd be a lot safer as a bigger group."

Ruby sighed. "It's just... talking to Yang about it. If I don't explain it right, she'll try and talk me out of it. She might even tell on me if she think's I'm going to get hurt or something."

Blake considered that. "She's been taking care of you for a long time, huh?"

Ruby nodded softly. "She's been kind of like a mom to me since my mom died. Yang has always looked out for me. I know she cares a lot. But that's what makes this so hard. She's going to want to keep me from doing anything dangerous."

Blake shrugged. "Maybe. But if so, you know it's because she loves you, right?"

Ruby nodded, then sighed. "Of course I know that. Let's just... let's see if we can figure out something first. Maybe if we have some sort of plan, it'll be easier to explain what we want to do to everyone?"

Blake wrinkled her nose. "OK. We'll keep working on it between the two of us for now. But we tell the others before we go do anything actually risky, right?"

Ruby nodded immediately. "Of course! We're a team. We're not going to leave our team behind. As much as I don't want Yang or Pyrrha or any of our friends to do anything dangerous either, we're a lot stronger as a team then we are separately."

Blake smiled. "We are."

/-/

When they got back to their dorm room, Yang, as promised, was waiting up for them, an anticipatory grin on her face. "So? Done making out with my baby sister, Kitten?"

Ruby ran over to Yang and started beating on the older girl with her tiny fists. "YANG! Quit it! We're not doing that!"

Blake just chuckled and headed for the bathroom. "I'm going to get changed for bed."

Yang watched Blake go curiously, fending off Ruby with practiced ease. "What are you and Blakey up to, little sis?" She finally asked as Blake closed the bathroom door behind her. "You sure you aren't off canoodling?"

Ruby blinked. "What's canoodling?"

Yang chuckled. "It means making out. Kissing, petting, all the fun stuff."

Ruby wrinkled her nose. "Eww. Yang, no. Blake and I are not kissing, or anything."

Yang raised an eyebrow. "Why not? Blake not cute enough for you?"

Ruby rolled her eyes. "Maybe I'm not cute enough for her."

Yang snorted. "Rubes, you're cuter than a pile of puppies. That's not it."

Ruby sighed. "We're just friends, Yang. We're not sneaking around making out in closets."

Yang shrugged, then sat back on Blake's bed. "OK, then what's the big secret? What have you two got going on that you don't want the rest of us to know about?"

Ruby opened her mouth, then closed it. "It's a secret?" she finally tried.

Yang looked unimpressed. "Well duh. Why are you two keeping secrets, anyway?"

Ruby raised an eyebrow. "If I tell you, it's not a secret anymore... DUH." she returned, sticking out her tongue.

Yang went silent. "Hmm. Fine, fine. But Pyrrha and I are going to just think you're sneaking around to hide your passionate love affair unless you give us some other reason."

Pyrrha waved a hand helplessly in front of her face. "No... no. That's not what we're thinking."

Yang looked at Pyrrha with a knowing smile. "Sure, Pyrrha. Whatever you say."

Pyrrha gave her a pained look. "Yang, perhaps we should just allow Ruby and Blake their privacy on the matter. I'm sure that if it's important, they will tell us what it entails."

Yang looked at Pyrrha knowingly. "So, you're not at all worried that they're busy hooking up?"

Pyrrha flushed. "Of course not. Even if they were, that is hardly any of my business, now is it?"

Yang just shook her head. "Whatever you say, P-money."

Blake came back in to the bedroom, now wearing her short Yukata. "Are you done with the interrogation yet?" she asked lightly.

Yang looked at her hard for a long moment, then shrugged. "Eh. For now, I guess."

Blake nodded, looking mildly annoyed. "Good. It's about time."

Yang groaned and got up from Blake's bed, climbing up into her own upper bunk. "OK, I'm sorry. Maybe I am being too nosy." Ruby growled and stomped off to the bathroom to change for bed, and before long, they could hear the sound of the shower running.

When she was gone, Yang looked down at Blake. "Seriously, I'm not going to get mad if you and my sister are together."

Blake looked at Yang in frustration, then sighed. "It's really not like that. I don't think Ruby likes girls anyway."

Yang raised an eyebrow. "Huh. OK. What about you, Kitten?"

Blake blinked. "What?"

Yang shrugged. "Do you like girls or guys?"

Blake hesitated. "I used to have a boyfriend, sort of. It didn't work out, mostly because he wanted to kill people, but..."

Yang raised an eyebrow. "OK... wow. But that doesn't really answer my question."

Blake frowned. "Doesn't it?"

Yang shook her head. "Having a boyfriend, sort of, doesn't mean you like guys. It means you were 'sort of' dating a guy. How far did you two go?"

"None of your business." Blake huffed.

Yang grunted. "OK, fair enough. Is that your answer then? You like guys?"

Blake was silent. "Maybe? I mean, I think I do?"

Yang hummed quietly for a minute. "How about girls. Do you like girls at all?"

Blake sighed, not answering right away. "Maybe." She finally admitted, quietly. "I've never dated a girl though."

Yang nodded slowly. "Yeah. I get that. Hard to find a date when you're... er... doing... stuff."

Blake snorted. "You mean being a member of a terrorist group? Plenty of people in the White Fang date, you know."

Yang grunted again. "So, this guy you were with. What was he like?"

"He was my mentor." Blake said softly after only a short pause. "When I looked at him, I thought, this person is the personification of Justice. He was driven, determined. Stronger than anyone I've ever met..." she sighed. "But he changed. He stopped wanting to protect the faunus, and started just wanting to hurt humans. If I wanted to use a single word to define him now, I think it'd be spite. All he has left is anger and resentment and the desire to hurt."

Yang flinched. "He didn't...?"

Blake sighed. "He never hurt me... like that. He scared me, sometimes, but I never let him realize that I was losing faith in him. Not till I left. And when I left, I ran, as hard and as fast as I could."

Pyrrha spoke up quietly. "Did you love him at first?"

Blake sighed. "I think so. Or maybe I was more in love with the idea of what I thought he was."

The sound of the water from the bathroom cut off abruptly, and Yang lowered her voice. "What about Ruby? I mean, OK, you're not dating, or making out or anything. I'll take your word on it. But do you like her?"

Blake glanced over at Pyrrha, who looked away, blushing, and groaned. "I don't know, OK? Just... please drop it Yang. Ruby and I aren't together, and I'm not planning to change that." She looked at Pyrrha again, who was frowning slightly and not looking at her. "I don't think Ruby is thinking about anyone that way just now anyway."

The door opened, Ruby in her pajamas, a towel around her shoulders. "Time for bed!" She started cheerfully, then noticed the somber mood. "What? What did I miss?"

Yang grinned down at her younger sister. "Nothing, Rubes. Just talking about old boyfriends."

Ruby looked interested. "Oh? I want to hear! Yang never tells me about any of her boyfriends."

Yang grimaced. "First, I had one boyfriend, and we broke it off ages ago."

Ruby raised an eyebrow. "You brought more than one boy home to meet dad..."

Yang rolled her eyes. "Those weren't boyfriends. Those were... boys that were friends. Totally different thing."

Ruby looked dubious. "Did all of them know that?"

Yang shrugged. "Maybe?"

Ruby looked at Pyrrha. "How about you, Pyrrha? Did you leave a boyfriend behind when you came to Beacon?"

Pyrrha shook her head, smiling slightly. "I'm afraid not. I was quite busy training at Sanctum Academy." She sighed. "And to be perfectly honest, I was never asked out. People seemed to find me rather unapproachable. It was difficult to live down my reputation, I am afraid." She sighed again. "I realize it probably sounds like bragging, but my reputation as the 'Invincible Girl' seemed to put me so high up on a pedestal that no one dared consider me as a friend, much less a girlfriend. And I found it equally difficult approaching other people."

Ruby looked sad. "I'm sorry, Pyrrha. That must have been awful."

Pyrrha sighed, then smiled. "Things are much better here at Beacon. You girls all treat me like a regular person. You can't understand how wonderful that is."

Yang hesitated, then looked over the side of the bed. "Well, if someone did approach you to ask you out, who'd you prefer? A boy or a girl?"

Pyrrha looked up at Yang, as if waiting for the blond brawler to wink or smile at her, but Yang's face was perfectly serious. "Why do you ask, Yang?" she smiled slightly. "Interested?" she teased.

Yang laughed. "Sure, P-money. You're hot as hell, who wouldn't be?" She shrugged, going more serious again. "If you're asking if I like guys or girls, I guess the answer is yes."

Pyrrha blinked. "Er..."

Yang shrugged. "Guys can be sexy. So can girls. Right now I'm not really focused on dating, I guess."

"We ARE kind of at a school to learn to hunt Monsters." Blake said wryly. "MAYBE not the best time to start a relationship."

"Kind of seems like a pretty good time to me." Yang disagreed. "I mean, we're surrounded by attractive, athletic, heroic guys and girls, right? If you like that type, anyway."

Blake raised an eyebrow. "So you are looking?"

Yang chuckled. "Oh, I LOOK. There's plenty to look at, and momma likes what she's seeing." She shrugged. "But I don't know. I haven't quite had that moment, you know? The one where you just know that the person you're with is the one."

Blake looked dubious. "Love at first sight?"

Yang shook her head. "I don't know if I believe in that. It's just... I flirt, and look, I get to know people. One of these days, I'll know who, and I'll do something about it. Right now, I'm just having fun and keeping my options open."

Pyrrha sighed. "You make it sound so easy."

Yang shook her head. "It's not easy. You have to be open to the idea, I guess. And sometimes, you feel like you have a connection, but the other person never got the message, you know?"

Pyrrha and Blake both sighed simultaneously, then glanced at each other, then they both laughed. "Oh, I think we know what that's like." Blake agreed for both of them. Pyrrha simply nodded.

Ruby just looked confused.

/-/

Over the next several days, Ruby considered her options. She needed to figure out how to stop Torchwick and the White Fang, and Cinder and her team, before they enacted their plan. The trouble was, how to do it?

The next time Ruby could be certain of where Torchwick would be would be at the docks, when he raided that SDC shipment of dust. Ruby pulled out the school calendar to try to figure out exactly what day that would be.

"Weiss wanted to go check out our competition for the Vital Festival as they would be arriving, and we saw that Dust shop had been robbed..." Ruby thought about that. "That probably was Roman, so maybe we can try stopping him there?" She frowned. "Only Roman's going to be on a different schedule now, since I got him arrested. He'll probably still be robbing dust stores, but there is no way of knowing which store he'll rob when." She considered the problem. "I bet he'd still try and steal the dust from that SDC shipment at the same time, since it wouldn't be sitting on the docks forever. Once it's there, he'd only have a short while to steal it, right?"

That sounded good, so Ruby went back to trying to figure out the date. "OK, so the first of the students coming for the Vital Festival came, and Weiss and Blake got into that big fight about the White Fang, and Blake ran away, and we looked for her for the next two days... and we found her when we saw the explosion coming from the docks! It was the middle of the night! And we had school the next morning, so it had to have been a Sunday night, right?"

She poured over the school calendar till she found it. "OK, so the students from the other schools will be coming here right before the semester break. So the Sunday after that, the SDC will bring in a big load of dust to the docks, and Roman will try and steal it. Probably."

Ruby sighed. "I really hope getting him arrested like that won't change things so much that he doesn't rob that shipment, or I have no idea how to find him!" She looked thoughtful. "We met Penny on the same day Blake ran away, and we met her again Sunday morning while we were searching for Blake. I hope we run into Penny again. Penny is really strong, and I'm sure she'd be willing to help if I explain things to her right."

She frowned. "The next time I know for sure that something will happen is during the dance. Cinder... I'm sure it was Cinder, snuck into the CCT that night. She'll probably do the same thing this time through unless I change something, right?" Ruby thought about that. "Yeah, we fought Torchwick in his giant robot between then and the docks, but that was because we were out looking, and Blake and Sun nearly got caught during that White Fang rally. That's too dangerous to try again."

Ruby nodded firmly to herself. "So it's simple. We'll catch Torchwick at the docks, and we'll stop Cinder at the CCT. Once we've done that much, we can stop the White Fang at Mountain Glenn, and everything will be taken care of." She swallowed. "I hope?"

"What are you muttering to yourself about there, Rubes?" Yang asked, striding over to where Ruby was sitting in the Library.

"Oh... just thinking about... homework. Yeah!" Ruby lied poorly.

"Riiiight." Yang drawled, obviously not buying it. "So... I've been meaning to talk to you."

Ruby blinked. "What about, Yang?"

Yang wrinkled her nose. "I'm really not sure how to say this, so I'm going to just come out and ask. Do you like girls, Rubes?"

Ruby's eyes went wide, then she frowned. "Eww... Yang, we're sisters!"

Yang looked astonished. "What? No! No! Ruby, no... that's not why I'm asking."

Ruby raised an eyebrow in curiosity, then she got it. "Yang, I keep telling you, Blake and I are not dating."

Yang nodded. "Yeah, I get that. I mean, I still want to know what you two are doing that's so secret, but I believe you when you say you're not sneaking around just to make out."

Ruby shrugged. "OK, so why are you asking me if I like girls?"

Yang frowned. "You do realize that both Blake and Pyrrha are interested in you, right?"

Ruby's eyes went wide as saucers, then she calmed, laughing. "Yang, that's silly. You're silly. They don't like me like that."

Yang nodded. "Um, yeah they do. They're both trying to be sneaky about it, but Pyrrha's terrible at hiding her feelings, and Blake as much as admitted she'd be interested in you if she knew you were up for it."

Ruby swallowed. "Blake said that?"

Yang shrugged. "Basically. So I'm asking. Do you like girls?"

Ruby grimaced. "Yang..."

Yang sighed. "You don't have to tell me if you don't want to. I don't know why you wouldn't. I wouldn't give you a hard time about it."

Ruby's eyes narrowed. "Yang, you literally tease me about every single thing you can think of."

Yang chuckled. "OK, true. But you know I don't care if you like girls or boys or whatever. I just want you to be happy."

Ruby sighed. "Of course I know that, Yang. I guess I just haven't thought about it much."

Yang tilted her head to one side. "So?"

Ruby looked annoyed. "You're going to keep bugging me about this till I answer your question, huh?"

Yang grinned. "Yup."

Ruby sighed. "Fine." She wrinkled her nose, pondering the question. "I don't know." She finally answered.

Yang nodded slowly. "OK, try this. Close your eyes, then think about a boy you were friends with. One you liked a lot. Maybe one of your friends back in Signal."

Ruby sighed, then closed her eyes and thought about it. A boy she was close with? The last boy she'd been close with had been Jaune Arc. She winced internally, remembering how she'd gotten him killed, then took a deep breath and thought about spending time with the team leader of team Juniper. She'd liked Jaune a lot. He was her first friend in Beacon, and probably the best male friend she'd ever had, not that that was saying much.

Ruby spoke up. "OK, I'm thinking about a boy I liked."

Yang nodded. "Now, think about spending time with him. Did you ever feel nervous around him? Or funny, like your stomach was doing flip flops?"

Ruby considered that. She'd never felt nervous around Jaune. He was easy to be around. Good company.

Ruby thought back to other boys, boys who'd she'd been friends with at Signal academy. "No... I guess not."

Yang spoke up. "OK, now think about Blake, and Pyrrha. When you're spending time with them, do you ever feel nervous? Or warm? Weird in any way?"

Ruby thought about training with Pyrrha, how she felt when the Mistralian girl gave her a complement. She thought about confronting Blake about her being a faunus, how she was so worried and nervous that Blake would be scared and run.

"I... I guess I do feel something like that around them?" She admitted slowly. "I like it when Pyrrha gives me a complement when we're training. And I feel nervous around Blake sometimes." She opened her eyes. "But you know, I liked it when Uncle Qrow would complement me in training too, and I'm PRETTY sure I don't have those kinds of feelings for him."

Yang chuckled. "You did love learning how to use Crescent Rose."

Ruby shook her head, then glared at her sister. "Yang... why are you bringing all this up now?" Privately to herself, she asked. And why didn't Yang ever talk to me about this stuff the last time?

Yang shrugged. "Like I said, Blake and Pyrrha are into you, and you seem to like spending time with them. I thought, why not do a little matchmaking?"

Ruby frowned. "Because you never did before."

Yang shrugged again. "Well, you never seemed interested in anyone before, and, frankly, nobody who was interested in you before was someone I would have approved of. I mean, there were a couple boys at Signal who were interested... but they weren't good enough for you."

Ruby's eyes widened. "There were boys who were interested in me? Why am I only hearing about this now?"

Yang chuckled evily. "Like I said, they weren't worthy. I made sure they knew that."

Ruby sighed. "Yang..."

Ruby's big sister just shrugged. "Eh, I didn't hurt them. Just put a little fear of Yang into them."

Ruby opened her mouth, then closed it. If Yang was telling the truth, the only reason she hadn't had this talk with Ruby in the previous timeline was that before, nobody had been interested, or else, nobody Yang felt was worthy of dating her. Ruby decided that she'd have to get Yang back for that at some point, but, she had to admit, it made sense. Pyrrha hadn't had eyes for anyone but Jaune back then. Even she could tell that much, and Blake... Blake had been wrapped up in her own problems in the previous timeline. Ruby had spent a lot more time with Blake this time through. Maybe that was all that it took?

"What about Jack?" Ruby asked her big sister curiously. "You said you thought he might like me, didn't you?"

Yang shrugged. "Yeah... and Jack's... fine, I guess. If you like him back, I've got no problem with it."

Ruby considered it. She thought about the times she spent with Jack and Blake, talking about books and reading in the library. How did she feel around Jack? Ruby tried to remember, but when she tried to think about Jack, all she could think was that Blake had always been around during those times.

"Jack's... nice." Ruby managed.

Yang nodded. "Yeah. Pretty much what I figured. He's a nice guy, but he doesn't do anything for you, right?"

Ruby shrugged. "I guess." She considered all the eligible men she knew. Ren was nice. Quiet, kind... and he was a great cook. But even if it wasn't obvious Nora would murder her if she was actually to try dating him, she had never considered him as anything more than a friend. Other than that, there weren't a lot of eligible guys. Cardin's team were icky to the last man. She didn't really know any of the other boys in school that well.

With some reluctance, Ruby thought about the girls she knew in school. Nora was fun. Lots of fun to be around. Weiss... Ruby realized with a start that she REALLY missed Weiss. Did I have a crush on Weiss the last time through? Ruby wondered in surprise. She tried to think about other girls she knew. Velvet's face flashed into her mind for some reason. The rabbit faunus was really cute, and her accent was really interesting, and her weapon was all kinds of awesome.

Ruby blinked. "I think I like Velvet." she said out loud.

Yang looked surprised. "OK, that was out of left field." She looked thoughtful. "OK, yeah, I can see it. She IS pretty cute, huh?"

Ruby nodded shyly. "Yeah. I guess I do like girls?"

Yang grinned. "Well, there are a lot of cute girls in this school. You've got plenty of options." She looked curious. "So, Velvet, huh? Want me to help set you two up?"

Ruby raised an eyebrow. "Weren't you just asking me all this because you think Blake and Pyrrha are interested in me?" She suddenly blushed as that sunk in. "Oh my gosh... Blake and Pyrrha are interested in me?" Her heart started to hammer and she pictured each girl in her mind's eye, and in a rush of images, she realized that Yang was right. "Oh my gosh, they are! Oh my gosh, what am I going to do?"

Yang put her hands on Ruby's shoulders to calm her. "Relax, sis. You don't have to do anything right away. Just figure out what you want to do, and I'll help you figure out how to do it."

Ruby grimaced. "What I want to do?" She tried to think. "Yang! Blake and Pyrrha are both on our team! If I date one of them, the other one will be jealous! And then they'll have a duel for my honor or something and they'll fight and they'll hate each other and our team will be ruined!"

Yang tightened her grip on Ruby's shoulders a little. "That's not going to happen... although it'd be pretty awesome." At Ruby's horrified gaze, Yang clarified. "The duel thing, not our team being ruined. It'd be kind of sexy, two hot girls fighting over you, don't you think?"

Ruby winced. "Yang, I don't want Blake and Pyrrha to fight. I want them to be friends!"

Yang nodded. "Right. So that's one thing you want. Blake and Pyrrha to get along."

Ruby nodded back, earnestly. "So I can't date either of them. That would make things super awkward, and that's even if they don't fight!"

Yang looked disappointed. "Rubes, I'm pretty sure one of these days, one or both of them is going to ask you out. They won't wait forever."

Ruby bit her lower lip. "Maybe I should try dating someone else before that then? So they don't get mad at each other?"

Yang rolled her eyes. "Dating someone you don't like just so Blake and Pyrrha don't get into a fight is probably not the best idea you've ever had, Ruby. If you're going to date anyone, it should be the person YOU like the best. Don't settle for second best just to make other people happy."

Ruby brightened. "I won't. Besides, I did just figure out that I like Velvet, right?"

Yang nodded agreeably. "OK. Sure." She looked into Ruby's eyes firmly. "Just don't do anything you think you'll regret, OK?"

Ruby sighed. "I won't. I'm just going to ask Velvet on a date." Her eyes widened. "Oh my gosh, I'm going to ask Velvet on a date! I've never asked anyone out before! What do I do?"

Yang grinned. "No worries, Rubes. I've got you covered. Here's what you do..."

/-/

Ruby was too distracted to think clearly. She was supposed to be trying to save the world... well, Vale, and here she was trying to figure out how to ask out a cute girl so that two other cute girls wouldn't have a duel to the death over her and destroy her team... which certainly wouldn't be helpful for trying to save the city from Cinder Fall and Roman Torchwick. She had a plan... or at least, Yang had given her a plan, and it might work, but what if it didn't? What if her dating Velvet caused Blake and Pyrrha to challenge Velvet to a duel? What if the rest of team Coffee got involved and an all out brawl broke out? What if...?

"Miss Rose!" Professor Oobleck's voice broke through her haze. "Would you like to answer the question?"

Ruby nearly jumped out of her seat, and turned to the history instructor. "Er... what was the question again?"

"What was the reason Vacuo joined in the Great War?"

Ruby shook her head, trying to remember. She knew this. "Er... was it that they didn't want to be conquered after Vale?"

Oobleck nodded slowly. "Essentially, yes. Vacuo was afraid that once Vale was defeated, there would be nothing stopping Mistral and Mantel from taking over in Vacuo as well, so they joined the war on the side of Vale." He rushed off, going on about another point about the Great War, but Ruby was already tuning out again.

It was kind of handy taking the same class twice in a row, Ruby supposed. She didn't need to pay hardly as much attention. Idly, she reached into the pocket of her skirt, and fingered the note she'd written. Did she dare give it to Velvet? If she did, she was committed. She'd have to ask her out.

When the timer went off indicating the end of class, Ruby shot up faster than usual, and hurriedly walked by where Velvet was packing up to go. Trying to be as casual as she could, she dropped the note in Velvet's bag as she went by.

Velvet noticed, of course, but before the rabbit faunus could say anything, Ruby was already moving for the door. Curious, she pulled the note out and opened it. Her eyes went wide, and she blinked. "Huh."

/-/

Ten minutes later, Velvet came onto the roof, to the spot where Ruby had taken Blake for the talk where she'd revealed to Blake that she knew of Blake's faunus origins. She spotted Ruby immediately, as the girl was sitting on the edge of the roof, swinging her feet idly as she waited.

"Hi Ruby." Velvet said shyly. "What's up? Why did you want to meet me here?"

Ruby glanced back, then got up, facing Velvet squarely. "Well, I..."She took a deep breath, then took several steps to close the distance. "Er... hi. I kind of wanted to ask you..." Ruby trailed off, losing her nerve.

"Ask me what, Ruby?" Velvet asked, smiling politely back.

"Doyouwannagooutwithme?" Ruby blurted out, then blushed bright red immediately.

Velvet blinked. "Um... what?"

Ruby swallowed and forced herself to slow down. "Do you want to go out with me?" She repeated, much clearer this time. "On a date, I mean? I was thinking a movie in Vale? And a nice restaurant? I know that's kind of cliche, but cliches are cliches for a reason, right... or we could do something simple, like a walk in the forest or something?" Velvet stood there, blinking as Ruby rambled on, getting more and more nervous.

Finally, the rabbit faunus spoke up. "Oh. Ruby..." Her face went through a number of different expressions, confusion, then surprise, then an expression Ruby couldn't quite figure out. Velvet finally smiled softly. "I'm flattered, Ruby. Unfortunately, I'm afraid I don't swing that way."

Ruby went bright red at this point. "Oh my gosh I'm so sorry! I should have..."

Velvet shook her head, still smiling, although she looked a little sad around her eyes. "Oh no, Ruby. You didn't do anything wrong. You were perfect."

Ruby looked at the roof under their feet, frowning in consternation. "I should have found out if you liked boys or girls first though, I guess."

Velvet shook her head. "No, just asking me out was fine. I'm not dating anyone right now, so how would you know otherwise if it was alright or not?" She smiled. "You were very brave to ask like this. I really am flattered."

Ruby looked up slightly, smiling a little. "I was terrified, actually."

Velvet nodded. "I can tell. But that's why you were brave. Being scared but going ahead anyway is really hard." She sighed. "I've never been as brave as you were just now."

Ruby sighed and smiled a little. "That's nice of you to say, even if it isn't true. Still, I feel better now. Getting it out, I mean."

Velvet nodded in understanding. "I am sorry. If you were a boy, I'm certain I'd be interested though. You're a very nice person, Ruby." She hesitated. "I'd still like to be friends, if that's alright?"

Ruby beamed at her. "Of course that's alright! I like you too, Velvet!" She blushed. "I mean... obviously, right? But... I'd like to be friends. That'd be great."

Velvet moved forward and gave Ruby a quick hug. "Good. Friends then?" She stepped back, looking into Ruby's eyes. "Are you going to be OK?"

Ruby nodded. "Yeah. I mean, it's not like I'm crazy in love with you or anything. I just thought... hey, Velvet is really cute, and I kind of like her, maybe we should try dating and see where that goes?"

Velvet smiled. "That seems like a good way to do it." She sighed. "Maybe I should try it myself. I've never managed to bring myself to try to ask someone out before."

Ruby looked interested. "Oh? Is there someone you like?"

Velvet blushed. "I kind of have a bit of a crush on Yatsuhashi, actually. I've never gotten up the courage to tell him."

Ruby grinned. "He's really nice. And tall? That's good, right?"

Velvet giggled. "I think so. And he is very nice."

Ruby gave Velvet a thumb's up. "Well, you should totally go for it! Just... ask him! What's the worse that can happen?"

Velvet winced. "He might say no, and then things will be really weird on my team..."

Ruby winced back. "OK, yeah. That would be kind of bad."

Velvet sighed. "But maybe I should anyway? I mean, who knows?"

Ruby nodded. "And maybe it won't be all that weird? I mean, even if he says no, you'll still be friends, right? It might be awkward for a while, but that won't last forever."

Velvet shrugged. "Maybe." She looked curious. "Speaking of teammates... why haven't you asked out Blake or Pyrrha?"

Ruby blushed. "Oh my gosh! Does everyone know how those two feel about me?"

Velvet giggled. "Maybe not everyone... but I pay attention." She blinked. "But, if you knew about them, why ask me?"

Ruby looked at her weirdly. "Because you're cute and nice and I wanted to ask you?"

Velvet chuckled. "OK, but they're both really good looking. And really strong, and smart."

Ruby nodded. "Yeah, but... they're also both on my team, and what if they say no? Or I ask one, and the other gets mad?"

Velvet nodded slowly. "Ah. Yes, I can see the problem." She frowned. "So you asked me because I wouldn't cause trouble with your team?"

Ruby hesitated. "Not just because of that. I do like you and think you're cute, you know."

Velvet smiled again. "Well, thank you. You're very cute as well, Ruby. I kind of wish I DID like girls that way. You'd be a really great girlfriend, I think."

Ruby poked her fingers together. "Do you really think so?"

Velvet nodded. "I do. I think whoever you do end up with will be very lucky to have you."

Ruby sighed. "I hope so. I don't want to mess this up... when I do manage to ask someone out who actually like/like's me back."

Velvet looked curious. "So, you're not going to ask out Pyrrha, or Blake?"

Ruby's shoulders sagged. "I don't know. It'd probably end in disaster. I don't want to risk the team just because I figured out that girls are cute."

Velvet nodded. "I totally understand." She patted Ruby's shoulder. "Good luck."

Ruby smiled back at her. "Good luck to you too, Velvet. I think you should totally ask Yatsuhashi out though. At the least you won't cause your team to start fighting over you if you do! The worst thing that can happen is that he says no, and things are awkward for awhile."

Velvet shrugged. "I'll think about it. Actually, I think you asking me out today helped a lot. Now that I've been on the receiving end, it doesn't seem so scary to try and ask."

Ruby grinned. "Then my work here is done!" She declared happily. "Ask him, Velvet. It'd make me feel a whole lot better about the whole thing."

Velvet smiled softly. "You know, I think I will."

Ruby smiled. "Let me know how it goes!"

Velvet grinned and moved forward to hug Ruby again. "I will. I promise. Good luck, Ruby." She sighed and pulled away, then started to turn to go. Then she paused, and looked at Ruby thoughtfully. "I think you should figure out who you like the best, and ask her out. I think Pyrrha and Blake are both mature enough to accept whomever you chose. And I think your team is strong enough to stay together even if two of you are dating."

Ruby sighed. "Maybe... but I'm not sure it's worth the risk."

Velvet shrugged. "You'll never know unless you try."

Ruby chuckled. "I wish I could try it, and then go back in time and do it differently if it didn't turn out right."

Velvet giggled. "Now THAT would be a really handy semblance."

Ruby nodded with a wry grin. "Wouldn't it, though?"

/-/

Ruby was alone in the dorm, throwing her Zwei shaped pillow up toward the ceiling and catching it over and over as she mulled things over to herself. It really would have been good if she'd tried to ask someone out during the previous timeline. Then she'd know if it would work out or not. Could she risk it now? She knew things were going to get dangerous. Really dangerous, in the next few months, and she needed her team to be at full strength to face it. What did her chances at romance matter in comparison to saving her friends lives, and protecting Vale from being overrun by Grimm?

Still, now that Yang had gotten her thinking about it, she really was curious as to how it'd work out. Blake, or Pyrrha? She liked them both, really. She hadn't really thought of either girl as a romantic prospect before. Pyrrha had been so obviously interested in Jaune that Ruby had never even considered her that way, and Blake had been so wrapped up in her own problems, that just getting her to cheer up and come to the dance had been all their team could manage. And didn't she go to the dance with Sun? Ruby thought about it. Of course, Blake had also danced with Yang that night, and she hadn't really dated Sun aside from going to the dance with him. So that really didn't mean all that much, did it? Ruby growled to herself. Darn her sister anyway, for getting her head swirling like this with all this useless romantic nonsense! She didn't have time for this!

Yang chose that moment to walk in through the door. "Hey, Rubes? How'd it go with Velvet?"

Ruby answered by hitting her with her Zwei pillow.

Yang winced. "That bad, huh?"