The Unexpected Loss (a RWBY fanfiction)

More Trouble Than It's Worth

"You two are animals!" Nora laughed, helping Ruby hide up the marks covering her neck.

She simply rolled her eyes. "Shush you, I've never made comments about you and Ren."

"But Yang has, so this is revenge."

Ruby rolled her eyes. "Revenge on the wrong person."

"I don't know, it's gotta work somehow." Nora remarked. "Yang gets me, I get you, you get Yang, I win."

"Definitely not how that works." The brunette added.

Once everything was covered up, Ruby got up and out to help any customers that Ren had been working with, but the place was practically empty, only one of the usuals in the back, quietly typing away on a laptop.

"We've has nothing all week..." Nora whined. "This sucks."

"It is pretty boring." Ren added.

"Let's just... Keep a positive attitude." Ruby decided, making a cup of coffee for herself. "Weiss'll come over here once she gets out of her interview, so there's some income."

Ren shook his head. "I just don't get it, we've usually got a full house by this point in the day, but nobody's come through in days."

Ruby grabbed Ren and Nora by the shoulders. "Things are just slow, it'll pick up." She said firmly. "Don't worry, we got this."

The bell rang, all three of them perking up until they saw that is was Neo coming in for her shift. What's up?

"Nothing is up." Nora groaned. "That's exactly the problem."

Slow day? The small girl asked, brow raised in question.

"More than slow." Ren sighed. "We'd make more by not being open at all."

"Not gonna happen." Ruby firmly asserted.

"We've got a job to do."

"Yang, I'm not asking you to help me, I just want to know who I should call for security while talking to him." Weiss explained.

The blonde shook her head. "I'm who you call. Even with one arm I can take out half the people that could guard you."

"I don't need you to be violent, I just need some support." The ivory haired woman clarified. "Please don't kill anyone."

"So I got the job?"

Weiss sighed, shaking her head slightly. "Yes, you got the job. I'll pay you afterwards."

"Cool!" Yang cheered, walking out the door in her white tank top and jeans.

"Where are you going..?" Weiss asked, almost wishing she didn't.

The blonde turned around slowly, a grin on her face as she pulled on her aviators. "Schnee Tower. You coming, Ice Queen?"

"I've made a mistake..."

"This isn't something you could have prepared for." Ren assured, gripping his boss's shoulder. "You didn't do anything wrong."

"I didn't do anything right either!" Ruby whined. "The only guy that's been here all day just left and we don't have any customers!!"

"Well..." Nora thought for a moment, packing up her bag so Neo could take her shift. "Nope, I've got nothin' to say."

"Thanks Nora..." The brunette muttered, head slamming into the table in defeat.

Neo rolled her eyes. I bet a new fad started or something. We'll take everyone's money again by the end of the week.

"I'm not sure that's what Ruby's upset about." Ren commented.

"This place is everything I've got!" The owner cried. "If it goes down, that's pretty much everything I own going down with it! Ninety percent of the stuff in my apartment is Weiss' anyways, so I'd definitely feel like a failure if I lost this..."

"This is about stuff..?" Nora questioned. "Really?"

"I'm dating a rich lady! Stuff means a lot..."

You're an idiot. Neo commented, walking off to get some ice cream.

Ruby pouted. "At least I'm not stupid enough to be obsessed with a girl that doesn't want me."

Neo stopped in her tracks, very slowly turning around, something between rage and confusion on her face. What was that?

"Umm..."

The small girl slowly walked across the room, watching carefully, moving until her face was mere inches away from Ruby's.

The sharp sound of a hand hitting tender skin shot through the air, Neo standing over her boss, the brunette holding her face with a look of shock.

Talk to me like that again and it'll be worse than a slap. She promised. I'll see you at some other point. I'm leaving today.

The girl left before anyone had a chance to talk, a tense silence being left in her wake.

Ruby didn't say anything, but she knew she crossed a line. She said some things that were going too far. Things Neo wouldn't be able to forget.

That's a friendship that she broke apart in a mere few seconds.