Queen Ruby

Chapter 28

"Did I say something wrong?" Weiss askes me concerned that her friend still hasn't returned. It's been almost ten minutes since Ruby stormed into her room. 

"It's a touchy subject. Please go easy on her. She has it hard enough as it is. She's always hiding it, but this situation puts a lot of pressure on her and we shouldn't forget the fact that she is still a child." I answer her. 

She looks down at her feet and Yang looks with a look that I had trouble deciphering. 

"Where did she go?" The blond asked me. 

"She probably went to her room," She stood up and was about to leave, "but I wouldn't disturb her. She needs time. Please wait, just a while longer." I pleaded. She looked at me for a second before standing in front of me and cracking her knuckles. 

"I don't like you, I don't trust you, I would break your neck without hesitation. The only reason I haven't done anything yet, is because of Ruby. I don't know how you got her to trust you, or how you to became so close, but if she gets hurt, if you ever lay a finger on her, I will make you wish you were never born." The teen growled. Usually, threats didn't faze me. I was used to them, heck, I gave them on a daily basis. This time however it hurt. I would never think of hurting my Queen. She was all I ever had. I live for her. I have no purpose without her. 

"I would never hurt her." I growl back, my anger rising and my eyes shining. The girl backs away from me. "I would never hurt her!" I repeat louder a bit louder this time. The girls faces turn pale as I stand up and stare her down. 

"I would rather die." He said his hands balled up and shaking. The girls backed away even more. I gesture them to sit down and lump back onto the sofa. They do as I told them to and sit back down. Yang, to stunned to say anything, opens and shuts her mouth a few times before Weiss takes over and asks what Yang and Blake both were thinking. 

"Why do you care about her?" She asks me. I look at her with dead eyes before answering.. 

"Because, Without her, I have no purpose." I state and find myself staring at the floor. I sigh and stand up. They don't say anything and stay seated. When I gesture them to follow me they do and I lead the way to Ruby's room. I put a finger in front of my lips and open the door. Ruby is in her bed, curled up into a ball. The lights are out, and I can hear soft sniffing. When we enter she falls silent and holds her breath. I walk over to her and sit down on her bed. 

"Red, I know you're not asleep." I pet her head and say softly. 

"I'm sleeping." She whispers. 

"No you're not. Common, get up. Your friends are worried."

"You let them in my room?" She opens her eyes and sits up so fast she accidentally hits her head on my chin. She hold her head and squints her eyes from the pain.  

"Why is your head so hard?" I whine while holding my jaw. She doesn't answer my question, instead she sit straight and smiles at her team. 

"Sorry for worrying you guys. I just panicked and ran. I shouldn't have reacted like that." She apologizes. 

Her team still doesn't look convinced.

"Ruby, you know you can tell us anything, right?" Yang says while hugging her little sister. Small tears in her eyes.

"Sorry, I just... It's all still so new to me, and I don't understand everything. It's scary to have so many responsibilities and I was scared to tell you, and now that I have told you, I'm scared that I shouldn't have. Getting you involved, meant putting you in life threatening danger and I know that you are my responsibility now and..." She starts hyperventilating. I take her hand behind her back and squeeze it. She relaxes a bit and squeezes my hand back. 

"That's not all is it?" I state coldly. It wasn't a question. It was an observation. She looks at me in surprise. Then her expression slowly turns to something I can't decipher. 

"Traitor." She whispers. I shrug. Her friends look at me confused then they look at Red with a look of betrail. 

"I don't want you guys to look at me differently. I'm still the same Ruby." I give her a disapproving glare. "Fine, maybe not exactly the same." 

"What do you mean?" Blake asks while slowly advancing. She stops right in front of Ruby. 

"I-I kinda... It's hard to explain, but basically, I had to change myself a bit to... not lose control. " She tries to simplify. "You know what? Forget it. It's not important. What I meant was, that I don't want you to think differently of me. I don't want to be treated differently and I don't want to lose you because of what I will have to do." She stammers. Her friends look at each other for a few seconds as they realize what Ruby was so afraid of. They looked back to their leader and smiled as they jumped on top of her, hugging her and squeezing the life out of her. Thy all laughed. 

"Thank Oum, we all thought it was something way worse." Weiss exclaimed. 

"Why would you even think of something like that?" Yang asked laughing.

Blake was the only one who didn't say anything. She just sat next to Ruby and was silent. 

I looked at my watch and yelped. The girls stopped and looked at me. 

"Its almost midnight! Oz will kill me! You guys need to go." 

"Are you kicking us out?" Blake asked bluntly.

"I don't want to, bit you girls have school tomorrow." I said and her eyes widened. 

"We need to go!" They all exclaimed at once and stormed out. 

"Thanks for dinner!" Blondie called out before they disappeared behind a closed front door.