ya

[spotto]

this is chapter 6 of my story

the goat, the sheep, and the lamster

i hope you like it

6

A bombastic blonde paced three steps to the left and three steps to the right in front of the cold, steel door. There was only a small square window situated in the middle of the door for her to see outside her constricting cage. It had been nine days. For sure nine days, Yang thought, each day clear as mind in her head. She did whatever she could to strike up a conversation with those handing out food and allowing her out for the hour of exercise they were given, which was frankly laughable. Anyone could exercise anywhere, an hour inside a bigger cage didn't change anything. She had accomplished over ten thousand push-ups and five thousand chin-ups inside, bored as she could be. Yang wasn't much of an avid reader but had they allowed books, she could've become the most unhealthy of bibliophiles just to kill time. Unfortunately there was just nothing, just a bunch of time all on your own, and had she been stuck here any longer she was about to unscrew her bed frame with her bare hands, just to see what would happen.

Finally Yang saw a guard stepping towards her cell and even better it was her all-time favourite person, after her family of course.

"Blake! Oh you have no idea how happy I am to see you!"

Blake smiled. Really, the only guard Yang had ever seen smile. It's like everyone else was forced into these jobs or something, "How was the last nine days?"

Yang just stood there, blinking repeatedly, "You're seriously asking that Blake? I just don't get you sometimes."

When the door creaked open Yang stepped out with arms out, inviting Blake for a hug. The guard stood still, waiting for Yang to put her arms down, "Yang as much as I'd like to you know I can't."

"Fah, it was worth trying," Yang instead swung her arms behind her head, walking with Blake back to the less depressing building, "After all this we're going to go for coffee and I'm going to claim fifty overdue hugs."

They purposely took a slow pace back, "I look forward to it."

Yang noticed when they walked by Ruby's pad, as she preferred to call it, that she and the ever unpredictable Weiss were both dead to the world, still asleep even though it was almost eleven. Yang assumed they must've stayed up late for whatever reason, perhaps homework, and didn't think too much of it. When they arrived Yang felt far more elated than any one person should be inside a detention centre, but she didn't think or even keep her eyes open as she dived into her cell.

"I'm baaaaack!" Yang flung her arms in the air as she threw her body towards her good ol' 'genpop' cell, as she liked to call it, bed, but stopped just short when there was a person sitting on the bed as well.

"Whoa whoa whoa wait," Yang took a good look at whoever was invading her personal space that had been her's and her's alone for the longest of times. There was a faunus sitting on the bottom bunk, leaning backwards prepared to take some sort of impact from Yang's running start. From the size and length of her ears she seemed to be a rabbit or bunny faunus, or even a bunny rabbit faunus but don't ask Yang if there was any difference in between. She had long straight auburn brown hair, and between the two of them any shampoo stash that might have existed would have dwindled to nothing in a day.

Yang took an incredulous look at Blake, "Who the hell is this?"

"Uhm, h-hello," the girl sitting on her bed gently waved.

"She's your new cellmate. There's not really much I could do to keep your singular cell," Blake explained, "This is Velvet, she arrived this morning."

Yang chuckled, noticing that the faunus was not the hardcore painted gritty veteran type of inmate one would expect, but someone closer to Ruby's sort of experience. She figured first impressions were important and the first line she managed out in front of this person was likely rather intimidating, "Oh sorry about that. I wasn't expecting anyone to be here. Hello! My name is Yang, though most people around here call me Blondie. And your name is Velvet, yeah?"

"Y-yes," Velvet took Yang's open hand and did not expect such a firm, confident, and even friendly sort of shake. Her own wrist remained almost limp during the gesture in contrast.

"Hey, if Yang ever causes you any trouble don't hesitate to come to me," Blake added.

Yang grasped her chest, "Me? Trouble? I'd never!"

"You just came back from seg."

"Was that really my fault, was it?" The blonde raised and lowered her brow several times, to refer to the incident days past. Blake sighed, knowing she had a point but it wasn't one that was enough to defeat her side.

Blake crossed her arms, "It takes three infractions to go to seg, Yang."

"Fine, fine. I'll be a good girl. Promise. To the both of ya," She winked at Velvet in particular, who was struggling to figure out how she should feel about the towering, buff, and inked woman she was forced to live with.

Velvet nodded nervously, and watched as the nice guard stepped away from the cell. She had been passed around during this whole chaotic morning, with several higher-ups and staff members who had spoken under their breaths but certainly audible enough to be heard, which Velvet knew was on purpose, several slurs directed at her ears in particular. Blake was a refreshing change of pace, but for some odd reason she felt it had more to do than the guard being especially nice. She couldn't put a finger on why that was, but counted her blessings at a time when very few existed. Yang leapt up to the top bunk, stretching a bit and getting used to the warmer sheets before jumping back to the ground.

"Anyway lunch is pretty soon," Yang said, "Since you're new here you could eat with my sister and her sorta friend!"

Velvet shook her head, "Uh, thanks for the gesture, but I'd rather eat here."

"You sure? Ruby, my sister, is real nice and Weiss, I don't even know if she'll eat with us but she's damn entertaining!"

The rabbit faunus shook her head once again, declining Yang's offer. Yang shrugged and continued, "Well at least let me buy you food from the canteen. I assume you've tried breakfast and it ain't pretty."

Yang left the cell before Velvet could protest, bouncing down the stairs to Ruby and saw the two of them were still unconscious, prancing around in dreamland no doubt. How long did they stay up? Yang did enjoy sleeping until noon back at home but the routine here, especially with classes that were happening on the usual weekdays always interrupted such luxuries. They must've known today was a Sunday, napping away without worry, but after several minutes when neither of the two moved a single muscle, Yang headed off to eat lunch herself, itching for some real food after nine days of awful gruel or overcooked scraps this place considered nutrients.

-

Ruby would say waking up with ringing ears was not normal, or the double vision she experienced as she sat up, a wave of vertigo crashing down upon her body. She grabbed her head, groaning slightly, trying to remember whatever had happened before she fell asleep. She swung her legs over the side and then tumbled onto the ground, forgetting momentarily that her bed was significantly off the floor. Rubbing the elbow she fell on, she slowly stood back up and felt around for a mirror, also forgetting there were no mirrors. She finally found the faucet, twisting it open and splashing the refreshing water onto her face. The relief was brief as a surge of dread coursed beneath her sternum, hurling itself out into the toilet seconds later. Ruby was grateful she on instinct moved to where this utility was.

After expelling whatever she had eaten the night before into the toilet, another moment she did not bother to recall, she crawled about, throwing herself onto Weiss' bed without realizing, and passing out a second time. It was far too early to be awake, whatever time it might have been.

Weiss shot up, feeling a considerable weight over her entire body. Her shoulders sagged immediately, even with this mysterious load on her; she felt the air was too thick to move freely about and wanted to return to bed. Wait, why was she even in bed? She didn't recall falling asleep at all. And what was this weight? Weiss glanced down, noticing her cellmate lying across her abdomen face-down in the least comfortable position possible. Weiss wanted to kick her straight off, but her legs refused to move. In fact, she couldn't even feel her legs. Did she even have legs anymore!? Was there some sort of horrific gory accident the night before, of which she has no memory of, which led to the amputation of both legs!?

"Eyyy! You're awake!" Yang called from outside the bars, chewing on a granola bar.

The panicking heiress threw her arm out at Yang, "You! Where are my legs!?"

"...what?" Yang stopped mid-chew, "Is this a trick question?"

"Answer me!" She demanded.

Yang shrugged, "Uhhh, attached your body?"

Weiss peered over, noticing her legs were, in fact, where she last left them. She attempted to push Ruby off of herself, but again the strength was not there. Ruby certainly never appeared to weigh all that much, so it was extra peculiar. If she couldn't shove the girl off with brute strength, she'd just have to have Ruby do so.

"Ruby Rose! Get off me this instant!" She grabbed the slumbering girl's face and jerked it around, hoping the movement would bring her back to reality.

Yang leaned onto the bars, squinting her eyes when she recalled moments ago, soon she simply raised and lowered her eyebrows a few times, "Oooooh, am I interrupting something?"

Ruby murmured as Weiss prodded her face. Her eyes finally reopened, the light of the world re-entering her brain and straining every muscle possible. She rubbed her head as she shuffled off the bed, balancing on her knees. She turned her head, noticing the familiar blonde and waving, "Hey Yang."

She turned back to stare at Weiss, or at least the bed not realizing where she had been when she did a double-take, "Yang!?"

Ruby fell over.

"Rubes! I'm back! How have you been faring without your big sis?" Yang clanged on the bars, "Can I come in?"

"I've been good!" Ruby said almost too fast, "And uh, the door isn't locked or anything right? Is everything here okay? Weiss are you alright? Everything sparkly clean?"

Yang slid the door open, "Sis, you don't need to clean up your place whenever I visit. I mean god's sakes Rubes we're in prison."

Weiss turned away, remaining in bed and not wanting to get up any time soon. She was still agitated that she couldn't remember a thing the day before, but felt far too exhausted to find answers at the moment. Yang and Ruby conversing in the cell was not going to help with her desire to sleep. What time was it anyway? Wasn't Yang in here too early? It's not like freetime was until—

She sat up again, eyes darting towards the clock. Two forty-five.

"What!?"

Yang faced Weiss, hearing her outburst, "What?"

"How is it almost three!?"

Ruby started, "It's not almost three, can't be—" She tilted her head to see the clock, "Huh!?"

"You two seem reeeeeeeeally out of it," Yang narrowed her eyes, taking another bite from her snack, "You two must've really went at it last night. I never figured Weiss for someone who'd enjoy that."

"What on earth are you talking about!?" Weiss grumbled. The idiotic questions were endless.

Yang slipped a plastic bottle out of her bra, "If you two are feeling under the weather, I know what would make you feel way better!"

The heiress pivoted her whole body backwards, as if Yang had offered her a can of bees. She finally read the label and realized it was only conditioner. Speaking of which, with Yang gone they had to settle for the asinine amounts of shampoo they were allowed, and with Weiss' hair feeling far too frizzled than comfortable she was going to take the golden clod's offer no matter how she felt about her. Ruby too took a while to process what Yang was talking about, but the next actions were obvious.

On the route to the showers, Yang took her normal brisk pace but found the other two were seriously lagging behind. Weiss had mumbled something about her legs feeling numb to the bone, like she had been trapped up in the mountains with little protective clothing and her legs were succumbing to the exposure. Ruby did not complain about her legs, but was rubbing her arms and shoulders fairly often like that had bothered her somehow. They both also mentioned something about headaches and dizziness, but Yang paid it no mind. The sooner they cleaned themselves off in a nice relaxing shower the sooner they'd feel better.

Weiss entered one of the stalls and rested her entire weight on her forehead, which pressed against the wall. She stood there, her body falling limp as sleep threatened to steal her away. The sound of water gushing out the showerheads was too loud anyway, but the whole walk to this place felt like she went on four triathlons and now she wanted to stop. Yang noticed and helped Weiss out, by opening the waterworks for her. The ice cold torrent caused Weiss to jump, her legs now realizing yes, they were there and she ducked out from the water as fast as humanly possible.

"Yang!" Weiss shrieked, her voice reaching demonic levels of screechy.

Yang could only grin, soaking suds into her sister's hair who was leaning dangerously far forward on her stool, head rocking back and forth, "Stay alert Weiss! You don't want to drown after all."

"What lost cause could possibly drown in a shower?"

Weiss gritted her teeth and adjusted the nozzle away from its blue frigid settings. She splashed the water down her back, only then did the warmer temperature start gradually revealing aches and pains all through her body. She examined a particular sore spot on her left arm, where an ugly bruise was discovered instead of her silky supple flawless skin. Weiss twisted her body to face the wall mirror that lined the northern walls of the public showers. Those same asymmetrical splotches of purple marked several spots on her upper-torso giving her the physical appearance of a mugging victim. Without hesitating, Weiss slammed open the stall doors, marching towards those infernal sisters with an expression none would ever want to see on this heiress. These injuries combined with her memory, or lack thereof, of yesterday's events must be explained and only one person could possibly explain.

Weiss' volume levels were kept surprisingly low, "Ruby Rose."

Yang attempted to rebute, "Weiss Schn—"

"Stop."

"Fine. But if you're going to go around calling others by their full names how about mine? Hmmm? Let's hear you try, Yang Xiao..."

Weiss had a particularly twitchy glare today, "No."

"Long, it was Long. Nice try."

"Will you tell your sister to wake up and look at me!?"

Yang brushed her chin with her fingers, taking a good look herself, "If she has the same tastes as me, you're going to have to be a little less, oh I dunno, scrawny?"

"No, I mean these!" Weiss pointed at the bruises that were previously hidden by the egregious amounts of steam engulfing the showers.

The blonde widened her eyes and pushed Ruby a little to get her to peer up, who was still leaning down and slow to do anything, "Hey sis, Weiss is looking a little purpley. You know anything about that?"

"Purpley?" Ruby brought her eyes up, noticing the glaring evidence on Weiss' shoulders and chest, "Whuh!?"

Before she could answer, Yang took hold of Ruby's left arm, seeing a different mark entirely, "Rubes, what on earth is this?"

She pointed at Ruby's wrist, which still had teeth indentations on it, or otherwise known as a bite. The dented skin was reddening around each crease, and there looked to be tiny scabs healing over parts of it. Yang only studied the marks for a second before presenting her own forearm to Weiss' face.

"Bite me," Yang said.

"What!?" Weiss took a few steps back, a strange request as it was.

"It's for science. You can bite as hard as you want. Let your frustrations out and break my skin!" Yang continued, trying to sound motivational.

Weiss turned away, "I'm not biting you!"

"Oh? Would you prefer to bite Ruby?" Yang flashed a sly grin.

"No!"

"Ouch. Rejected. Alright then if not a person, what about this sponge?"

"No!"

"This bar of soap?"

"I'm not biting anything you overgrown oaf!"

Yang shook her head, "You're displaying some pretty suspicious behaviour. I'm starting to believe you were the one who bit my sister."

"How do you even reach that point!?"

"Well, you are unwilling to provide evidence to prove your innocence. Do you have something to hide?"

As this bizarre conversation was going on, Ruby slumped against the tiled wall, uncaring that she was still dripping wet or stark naked. She found the tiles on the wall to have such a smooth surface, with delightful spacing between each tile where the one imperfection met. Even so, rubbing her face on the concrete siding was almost as refreshing. She knew she was still outside reality, wanting to return to sleep before her brain shut down itself for her. She was about to drift off to unconscious right there and then when Yang violently shook her awake.

"Ruby! When did Weiss bite you?"

Ruby squinted her eyes, blinking back to the matter at hand. She didn't hesitate to offload her answer, "Yesterday."

"I never bit you!"

When her vision went from blurred to almost as clear as it usually was, Ruby could make out a bite mark fresh on Yang's palm. She would've cursed herself for missing how her sister managed to convince Weiss to bite her, but that was too much effort. The best she could come up with was lip movements and hand gestures, both of which tried to convey to Weiss, 'I'll tell you later.' Fortunately, a commotion was brewing at the far corners of the showers that took Yang's attention, who draped on a towel before heading that direction. A group of faunus including that redheaded fox from earlier were gathered around Velvet, who was backed to the furthest she could be. Yang's protective instinct kicked in. Weiss let out a huff before she returned to her stall, brainstorming ways to mask the soiled parts of her skin. If others saw her like this without explanation she would have a very vulnerable reputation. The last thing she needed was every filthy degenerate taking advantage of her.

"Hey what's going on here?" Yang began casually, drawing glares across the board from four other inmates.

"Stay out of this Blondie," the redhead said.

Yang pointed at Velvet, "I'd like to, but you're heckling my new celly. I might be against that sort of thing."

"Pft, you don't even know what we're doing. This is just a friendly hazing."

Yang raised her brows, "Hazing!?"

She brought her eyes to Velvet, who gave a small nod, "Uh. Hold up okay? Sidebar."

The blonde threw her arm around Velvet's back and faced the walls, keeping her voice low, "Yo, these guys you're dealing with are a little dangerous, you sure about this?"

"I appreciate the concern Yang, but uh, I'm not exactly brand new..."

"Oh. Ohhhh." Yang noted in the inside of her skull, "Guess you shouldn't judge a book by its cover."

Velvet shook her head, "Don't worry. I didn't forget about your generous offer, Yang. This is just business, currently."

"Well okay. I'm not going to ask why you're doing what you're doing, but be careful."

Yang stepped away slowly, keeping her eyes pinned on the rowdy group Velvet wanted to associate with. She hoped her stern glare would keep them off from their more eccentric ideas, and though she was told not to worry, the blonde was going to keep a close eye anyway. When she returned to her sister and company, the 'company' had already left the showers while Ruby was throwing on her clothing haphazardly. Yang chuckled and pulled Ruby's collar back to allow her head to sift through. Her younger sister gave her a grateful smile and soon finished dressing herself. With Weiss out of the picture Yang pulled Ruby into a similar position like she had with Velvet, even though the subject in particular was long away from earshot, it was just a habit Yang liked to have. Besides, nosy strangers eavesdropping wouldn't have been desirable either.

Yang noticed Ruby resting her weight somewhat on Yang as she did so, realizing Ruby must've still been fatigued, "So Rubes, what's the deal with that bite mark? You can tell me here, just between the two of us."

"Uh well, it's a long story."

"Yeah? I got time."

Ruby took a deep breath, "I dunno. I don't really want to say 'cause uh..."

"C'mon what is it sis? We can tell each other stuff! Even if it's something bad you can't seriously be thinking I'd ever snitch, you know!" Yang blinked, her brain clicked the moment she spoke that line, "Oh shit, did I ever tell you not to be snitching? That can lead to bad times here."

Ruby nodded, not feeling up to informing her something as insignificant as already having been told such advice with words, "It's more like you're going to get angry."

"Did you use my mousse without my permission?"

"No?" Ruby arched her brows.

"Well then I'm not going to be angry," Yang assured.

Ruby said, deadpan, "You underestimate your capacity for fury."

"I will do my best to hold my emotions in Ruby, but please," Yang glanced at the corner by the door, "If we stay here too long you're going to miss dinner!"

Ruby sighed, giving in, "Alright, but you're not going to like it." She inhaled and almost forgot to exhale, "It was dust."

"What!?" Yang's features instantly hardened, "Weiss was on dust!?"

"No no no! I can explain!" Ruby began, "It was an accident!"

"How is that an accident!?" Yang started to pound her palm, "Once I'm through with that tiny girl for hurting you and being on that horrible stuff I'll—"

Ruby grabbed onto both of Yang's fists, "Yang! Hold on! You said you wouldn't be angry! At least let me explain! It was my fault!"

"Ruby, I know you have good intentions but maybe it was a mistake to trust a Schnee—"

"Yang!" Ruby's voice went up so many notches it echoed throughout the showers, momentarily taking the attention of everyone else maintaining their hygiene. Ruby rarely if ever raised her volume levels to such heights, which brought Yang's mini rant to a halt. She finally leant an ear to her younger sister, who stumbled over her own words and sentences trying to pry last's nights events from her face as fast as possible. If it was anyone else, they wouldn't have understood a thing Ruby said, but thanks to being siblings Ruby's cryptic messages were naturally deciphered.

Of course, that just pointed Yang's anger towards a different direction, "I specifically warned her not to ever give you dust! That bitch!"

"Please don't do anything rash Yang."

"It's fine," Yang said, giving her sister a hug, "I even have that hairspray she wanted for the trade, but it looks like my business is going elsewhere."

Ruby beamed, astonished that Yang was considering less violent actions, "Aww Rubes, were you afraid I'd do something stupid? I don't want to go back there again, and be away from you in the times you need me the most!"

Yang wrung Ruby's neck playfully, "I've done that too many times already."

They continued their friendly scuffle, keeping themselves behind a few stalls so guards not named Blake wouldn't misconstrue their movements to be something serious. After a few minutes Ruby's stomach growled, which was high time they started preparing to leave the showers and head off to the cafeteria or the canteen, wherever the food stash might be. Yang began dressing herself while Ruby helped out collecting Yang's many many hair products, so many they fell off the ledges, shelves, and benches, being strewn around the floor.

"You're going to have to tell Weiss this too, huh?" Yang pointed out, now understanding why Weiss had no memory of this incident. She almost wished she was there to witness the heiress going bonkers. That was definitely a rare sight that will likely never be seen again, unless Yang purposely annoyed her to the point that she went mad, but even Weiss didn't deserve something like that. Yang did wonder if maybe just being herself might lead Weiss to that point anyway, in which case she wouldn't be able to help it, so she instead looked forward to the hypothetical explosion of the future.

Ruby took a hold of Yang's arm, "Can you come with me when I tell Weiss? I don't want to face her alone."

"Hmmm, I don't know Ruby, I'm kind of busy," Yang peered at the ceiling, thinking whether or not she should.

"But you just said you'd be there for me at times I need you the most!"

Yang grinned, a cheeky grin at that, "I don't think you'd need me for that. Besides it was an incident between you and Weiss. She doesn't seem to like me that much so I'd probably make it worse."

"But Yaaaaang!" Ruby clung her arm harder.

"Ruby, I know you can do it," Yang gave her a thumbs up, "Weiss is all bark and not bite—well, I guess that technically no longer applies, but you get the point. She'll yell a few times and I'll probably be able to overhear it from the yard, but otherwise you'd be okay!"

There was a noise, almost like that of a dog whine that escaped Ruby's mouth. She still clung onto her sister while Yang finished brushing her mostly wet hair, cursing that perhaps the worst thing of all in prison is that they do not allow hair dryers. What a travesty. The lack of such life necessities was cruel and unusual, and if there was one thing that'd make Yang never commit a crime again, it would be the removal of such holy machines. Granted, she'd probably go out there and continue with her nightly tasks, but it was still something she dearly missed. It wasn't so much doing the crime that was the problem. She'd just need to do better to not be caught, or invent silent hair-dryers she could smuggle in, whichever was easier. The next best thing were towels, but that still took hours to dry.

Just as they were about to exit the showers however, shrill cacophony erupted over the speakers that lined the ceilings of every room in the facility. The guard standing by the doorway immediately pointed her rifle at the two, who both shot their arms up. The few others still remaining in the showers raised their arms as well. Her eyes darted both ways as she glanced out the door, various noises popping up on her radio. She gestured to the two to back up to the walls and radioed a message herself.

"Everything is all clear here, over," She muttered, loud enough for Ruby and Yang to hear, "Where is the incident taking place?"

They heard a garbled message come through, clear enough to be understood but quality still low and certainly not easy on the ears, "Cellblock D, near the exit to the yard, over."

"What's happening?" Ruby whispered, not wanting to bring attention the two considering the guard was in fact armed.

"Sounds like a fight," Yang said, "Those don't happen too often. Only the second one I've experienced anyway."

"I hope Weiss is okay," Ruby added even more quietly, remembering she had left earlier. While they stood there waiting for the alarm to play out, Ruby took notice of the rifle the guard held. They often kept their guns fairly hidden as they held them and only the ones in charge of entire rooms had guns unlike the numerous guards that strode around the corridors and yard, but now she managed a good look at them, and marveled at the fine craftsmanship. She could make out the gun was a Mini 14, fairly common amongst law enforcement and hunters. She could tell it was a modified version, with a flash suppressor in the barrel that could launch tear-gas. It was more of a long-range weapon Ruby expected to be held more by those guards high up in the towers, but in a large room like the showers having a long reach was quite important, not to mention again, the tear-gas capabilities. Ruby had held such a specimen before, her mother who once owned it, forbid her to ever touch it, but she couldn't resist taking a hold of it anyway. It was far more complex than all the toy guns Ruby had and took apart, which didn't have the force or materials to shoot anything stronger than soft spongy mini-plungers. So of course when her mother came home to see her gun splayed across the floor in numerous different parts, she wasn't happy.

The pleasant memory masked the continuing alarm that blasted throughout the prison, and she let her reminiscing take over until everything calmed down. She yearned to take hold of the gun again, but she knew if she dared touch the one in the guard's hands they'd tackle her to the ground and toss her into a cell, throwing away the key permanently. She'd regrettably have to wait.

"I see you staring," Yang whispered.

Ruby pulled her head back, dropping her gaze on the beautiful rifle, "Oh uh, is it over?"

The blaring alarm finally came to halt. There were more radio calls and after some time the guard waved for all those remaining to line up at the doorway.

"We need to do a bit of cleaning up and 'vestigation," She said, "So you're being locked up early."

"Awwww," Yang frowned, "Looks like I'll have to buy you something tomorrow."

Ruby looked up at her sister, "Huh? You were going to buy me something?"

"Yeah, since I couldn't land those drafting pencils. How's cookies as a short-term make-up thing?"

"Well, cookies are always nice, but..."

Yang grinned, "You don't want it?"

"Of course I do!"

The shower group was escorted to down the hallways. As Ruby approached her cell she saw a smear of blood near the doorway to the outside among other things. The scene served as a reminder that though most people here appeared like everyday citizens, some of them, you would never know who, were capable of some downright brutal violence. Though a normal person might shudder at this revelation, Ruby felt that such events were unnecessary, and her only drive was to wonder how else it could be prevented without the facility adopting spartan rules. On the other hand, she was handed a hard drug pretty casually the other day that almost led to catastrophe, and might still do so depending on how Weiss would react, so she didn't know how she never gave much thought to the people around her until now.

Yang winced, "Oooh, is that a tooth I see?"

Her sister gave her one last wave before heading upstairs. Ruby entered her cell and noticed Weiss scribbling furiously on something sitting on the desk. Only when Ruby stepped closer did she even notice that her cellmate had returned, and she twisted her chair hard on the floor, giving off an ear-splitting noise resulting from the unmerciful friction. Weiss spoke no words, only crossing her arms and staring deep into Ruby's own eyes as if waiting for some sort of response.

"Oh," Ruby began, "Uh, let's see. Uhm, hypothetically, this is strictly hypothetical, what if say, your injuries, my injuries, your loss of memory, all of that...what if that was the result of a...er, drug?"

She purposely spoke that last word in as tiny a volume as possible, but Weiss must've had supersonic ears, "Then I would have my people destroy the one responsible."

"Well it's a good thing it was hypothetical! Haha!"

Weiss was not at all amused, "Ruby, explain what happened."

It was too late now; Ruby was backed to a corner and well, it wouldn't feel right to keep Weiss from the truth even if she was technically threatening her life. The incident was serious on the both of them and, should Weiss ever, God forbid, become addicted to dust at least she'd know how it started. Maybe she'd have to make a deal to make up for it or something so that she might be able to keep her life. There were so many unfinished projects left at home that Ruby hoped the police didn't seize, and if they did, so many projects to restart. She simply had too much to do for all of it to end here.

"So yeah, I'm guessing being sedated played a part in your amnesia, but it could've been the drug too, not sure," Ruby finished, her words slowed and almost slurred like she didn't want to keep saying things but had to, forcing the confession out. She found herself rubbing her wrist over and over again as she spoke, taking intermittent breaths and hoping everything would blow over and somehow be okay.

Weiss said nothing for an extended amount of time, which only terrified Ruby further, but finally she shook her head and exhaled, "I had my suspicions."

"Huh?"

"It was textbook dust."

"Textbook dust!?" Ruby was bewildered, "Are you saying you've taken dust before!?"

Weiss turned her head away, gazing at the crack she never noticed in the corner, "I've seen a lot of people on dust. They become uncontrollable, fuelled by adrenaline, jumping off all the walls like mindless fools. And good heavens the property damage. Had I not been rich, such incidents might actually have impacted me."

"Oh," Ruby was suddenly curious why Weiss knew the symptoms so well, but asking at a time like this was not wise.

"You are telling me that I embarrassed myself under dust influence? Who else was there? If I was sedated then an officer must've done so....why aren't you locked up in that other place?"

Ruby piped up, "Oh! That's all thanks to Blake! I'm really glad she gives us the benefit of the doubt. She must be the nicest, most understanding employee here, which I'm not sure is a good thing considering her job, but I'm not complaining."

"Blake!?" Weiss spoke her name as if the very mention offended her, "I acted like a fool in front of Blake!?"

"Uh, is that a problem?"

"Of course it is!" Weiss pulled Ruby in closer, grabbing her by the collar, "She is the most infuriating person here! You'd think it'd be an inmate, in particular that obnoxious sister of yours, but no, for a professional to bicker and sleep during her work hours, you wonder how on earth she still has that job!"

Ruby was starting to see that Weiss' biggest problem with society was incompetence, though her standards were already set so high by default that it probably included most people on the planet, which might explain her general dissatisfaction, "I haven't heard you praise the other guards for doing their jobs properly, though."

"Why would I ever give praise to them? They have the passion of drying cement. So bland and uninterested it's like they're unnamed characters in a story the writer is too inept to develop!" Weiss argued, "It's the exact opposite of Blake."

"Soooo, you're saying Blake is really invested in her wor—"

"Do not misinterpret my words for compliments."

Ruby nodded, but decided to think of them as compliments anyway. It was quite possibly the only way one could get a good word out of Weiss, by reading between the lines to see what she might think inside. Or Ruby could be completely wrong; it's not like she was some supernatural sage who could read people like a book, but people would be far easier to understand if she could read them like books.

"You have to admit it's nice we didn't get in trouble."

Weiss let out a defeated huff, and took a seat on her bed, "I suppose."

"Well then! Now that we have all that settled, we can move on and forget about it forever! Good night!" Ruby was in her bed in seconds, so fast Weiss was unsure if she even climbed the frame or wall at all, or if she teleported. She stood up and faced Ruby, who had hid her entire body under the covers.

"Ruby."

Ruby attempted to ignore Weiss, trying to force her eyes shut and escape into the nice dark sleep world. Perhaps if she snored Weiss would assume she had already fallen asleep.

"Ruby, even if you really were asleep I would not care if I woke you up," Weiss added.

Drats! She had a point. Ruby peeked her eyes out of the covers, as if she was anticipating a grenade going off and was hiding in a trench, checking to see why it hadn't exploded yet with her eyes.

Weiss had her arms by her hips, stretching out her neck and taking a glance at the whole ceiling before continuing, "Where did you obtain the dust? I refuse to believe someone like you would have a supplier."

"It was this one lady with the fiery hair."

"That fox faunus?" Weiss asked.

Ruby nodded, "Yeah I was supposed to get pencils from her but because I didn't have hairspray I got dust instead."

Weiss scrunched up her eyebrows from Ruby's strange explanation, but verbally paid it no mind, "I will see to it she never returns home to a family, then."

Ruby threw her covers off of her, sitting up as fast as a rocket, "Huh? Are you going to destroy her!?"

"No one defiles Weiss Schnee and gets away with it," Weiss's eyes widened the moment she realized she may have spoken too much, in particular her surname she kept hushed for so long.

Ruby did not even seem to mention it, what with already knowing, though Weiss didn't know she knew, which thankfully Ruby remembered to keep quiet that she didn't know, and well knowing Ruby's involvement or lack thereof of this famed 'underground' it's not like she needs to know, even when the everyday person should technically know the Schnee name in some way or another.

"Weiss! Don't do it! You'll make the biggest mistake of your life!"

But then the ultimate thought occurred to her, what if this wasn't the first time? What if Weiss was inside for precisely the type of threat she had just made? What if befriending someone like Weiss was Ruby's biggest mistake in her life!? After all, if she was likely to send hit-men or whatever after that poor lady's family, no matter how morally wrong that person might be, what of her own family? Weiss already didn't like Yang! What if everyone she knew was in grave danger and she didn't even acknowledge it!?

"Oh please, she disgraced you as well, though I suppose fooling you isn't particularly difficult," Weiss said, "Aren't you at all outraged about that?"

Ruby couldn't disagree, what that person did was not normally forgivable especially when the consequences could have been so dire and there were still more to be experienced in the future, but knowing the number one cardinal rule about prison Ruby was unsure what she could do about it. Even so, no matter what murder was never the answer.

She did whatever she could to discourage Weiss, "Look you're right, what they did was wrong and I am mad, but that doesn't mean we should do the same! Two wrongs don't make a right!"

"No, but two wrongs would be far better than one," Weiss added, "Why are you so worked up about this? Anyone would want revenge against something as potentially disastrous as that."

"Well I mean, I also am at fault for bringing it in here so why aren't you planning to kill me too!?" Oops.

Weiss did a double take, fingers finding themselves behind her ear as she wondered if she misheard, "What!?"

"It's only fair right?" Well, Ruby had already said it so she might as well go all the way with this life-ending defence, "Is it because she's a faunus? You don't have high opinions of faunus!"

The heiress almost laughed at the sheer absurdity of Ruby's words, "You think I'm going to kill her!?"

"If I had recognized the vial as something bad this never would've—wait, you aren't going to kill her?"

"No! Why would you ever think that?"

Ruby sat there, a few seconds to process how she had reached this point, "Uh, well first we are in prison, so already that isn't far-fetched, and second you are a Schnee..."

That second point might not have been something Ruby should've mentioned, but hey if she was already in a hole she might as well dig deeper. She didn't see herself climbing out.

"Temporarily disregarding the fact that you know I'm a Schnee," Weiss did reveal herself moments ago, but she didn't think Ruby could pull that misunderstanding out so fast afterwards, "You do realize we're in a facility that only houses prisoners with a maximum sentence of five years right? I doubt there are actual murderers here. Potential murderers perhaps, or those who have yet to be caught, but most people here are for drug charges. Like that fox faunus and her dust, you absolute dolt."

"Okay fine, but you're still a Schnee!" Ruby pointed out. This was likely also a flimsy defense. All she knew about the name Schnee was that they owned some sort of corporation and that both Blake and Yang had warned her they were dangerous. It was all very vague and not fit enough to be evidence in any sort of court let alone in an argument with the Weiss Schnee, whoever that was. Heiress, was it?

Weiss sighed, "I don't know what you have heard about my family, but assuming I am the same is rather disappointing."

"But you do that for faunus! If you can do it to others but no one can do it to you, then you're just a plain ol' hypocrite!" Ruby was wondering if she was beginning to argue just for the sake of arguing.

"Perhaps there are faunus who are unlike the rapscallions here," Weiss admitted, which again was barely anything, "but I digress. The point is not whether or not I am either a hypocrite or supposedly racist, it is whether or not I am a murderer or even capable of murder. I am not one. Do not accuse me of such."

Ruby kept going, "But you said that lady wasn't coming home to a family! That means you want to off her family!"

"How did this get from killing her to her family!?" Weiss threw her arms up, almost wanting to give up, "No, my plan is to ruin her, not end her! And if it means she returns to her family homeless and begging like the pathetic people they are, then so be it."

Oh. Oh. Ohhhhhhhh. Ruby's mind finally clicked. Granted, the way Weiss worded it did imply something far worse, but she had actually meant the home part of that sentence, not the family. Wait, but ruining someone's life wasn't all that much better than ending it! This just circled back to the argument again. Was she going to ruin Ruby's life now? Wasn't it technically already ruined?

"You can't ruin her life! You'll have to ruin mine too!" Ruby said.

Weiss covered her face with both palms, patience wearing so thin she didn't understand how she still had any, "Why would I ruin yours!?"

"Because I brought the dust in!"

"Yes, because you are an idiot. If I were to ruin the lives of all the idiots in the world I would not be here, but instead some sort of woeful supervillain wasting my time trying to make idiots miserable. That would not be productive whatsoever. This drug dealer on the other hand is malicious and wanted to ruin us! If we do not return the favour what do you think that makes us? It makes us chopped liver that's what. Everyone else will think we're easy to push around and will leave their drugs for us to take the fall for them. We'd be nothing but used. That's the last thing you want in this kind of lifestyle!"

That was oddly poignant.

Ruby grabbed Weiss' shoulders from her bunk, "Weiss, is that, is that what your lifestyle always is?"

"What are you going on about now?" Weiss grumbled, "That is the lifestyle of most if not all the people here. Your sister probably lives and dies by that sort of thing."

Ruby was about to defend her sister to the death, fall down swinging against any slight that was against Yang, but then she took a moment to think. Yang was here for what? The charges were battery or assault, one of them that Ruby couldn't remember. She was sure Yang had basically beat up someone who likely deserved it, and was in a fit of rage at the time. Unfortunately the details and context were lost on her as there never was much of a trial with Yang pleading guilty, and the few times she prodded her sister for the answer herself she offered little if any information. What Weiss was saying wasn't all that out there as she had thought. Was this what Blake had warned her about? Was this what Yang had tried to protect her from?

The one thing Ruby was sure of was that she wanted no part of it. If only the world was as black and white as all the bad people going to jail and all the good people having good things happen to them. If this were true, Ruby would undoubtedly be bad, and she really didn't want to regard herself like that. Even if the rest of the world thought her of such, if she did too then that would be when she had already fallen into despair. Yeah, she was a little too passionate about guns. She didn't read the laws, and even if she did Ruby didn't want to follow them anyway. They were not about to stop her, or postpone her until she was eighteen, or forbid her for building unregistered custom weapons. That was all her. She wasn't about to land a job with the army to build weapons for them because she knew she'd be forced to work twenty-four seven on the same old models that were as efficient as possible and therefore boring. If she could she'd make a different rifle customized to suit the needs of each individual, but there wasn't a demand for that, so it remained Ruby's hobby. Not a hobby, a passion, an activity she wanted to somehow incorporate in her life so she may help others with her love, but how, she wondered? If only the novel she read about the girl fighting monsters was true, and instead of just normal swords and shields in that story they had some sort of ridiculous gun scythe or similar.

But if that meant entering a whole new, dangerous world where everyone also disregarded the rules, would it be worth it?

Ruby was already in prison.

"I still don't want you putting her family in the streets," She finally said.

Weiss rested her chin on her hand, "You're right. Her family's probably already in the streets."

"Weiss!" It was now Ruby's turn to have the disappointed stare.

"If it bothers you that much I will not make such remarks," Weiss begrudgingly said, "Though that will not change my opinion of them."

Ruby sighed, "It's a start."

"But Ruby, that will not stop me from retaliating," She concluded, "No ifs, ands, or buts. If you don't want me to involve you, fine. Perhaps that is for the best. You do not seem suited for this sort of thing considering your extremely naive nature."

That was not the first time Ruby was called naive. She wanted to do something about that apparent flaw of hers, but she wasn't sure if jumping face-first into a crime-ridden network was the best of ideas. So instead she took it in stride, maybe it was better to be naive than to live the life of a criminal, to be ignorant in bliss while who knows what kind of wrongdoings were happening in the background, never to involve her. Yet, knowing these sort of things did occur whether one was aware of exactly what was happening or not was now going to bother her every time she thought about it. It was too late to be in bliss.

"Now then, onto more pressing matters," Weiss began, "You now know I am a Schnee. We need to fix that."

Ruby tilted her head, "What? With a lobotomy?"

"Not literally you dunce!" Weiss growled, "I simply don't want you spreading that information like wildfire. It will be problematic to say the least."

"Oh, so you want to strike a deal of some sort?" Ruby was wondering about these trades that Yang had said was quite common in this type of environment. She was feeling an odd thrill about making one herself.

Weiss did not seem pleased by once again having to make these, "Yes, whatever is it that you might want?"

Opportunities must be taken.

"Weeeeeeeell," Ruby grinned, "There is this plot you're planning that I miiiiight have a problem with."

"Oh no you don't." Weiss honestly should've seen this coming.

Ruby returned to her covers, "Okay no deal then."

"I—! You—!" Weiss stepped onto the frame and ripped the sheets off Ruby herself, "Surely there must be something else?"

Ruby took a moment to think, going through any options that might have crossed her mind, "Hmmmmmmmmmm. No."

Weiss was very displeased by the way this deal or rather non-deal at this point, was going, "How about this. If you keep that information under wraps, I will remain your friend."

"We're friends?" Ruby questioned.

"What? We're not?"

Ruby sat cross legged, no longer lying parallel to her bed, "Weiss, do you even know how friends work?"

"W-what!? Of course I do! Don't be ridiculous!"

"Okay, name one friend then."

Weiss stood clinging to the bed frame, blinking for a moment, face kept very deadpan as she conceded, "I hate you."

"Awww, you couldn't even name me?"

She almost fell off the bed, "What? But you just said!"

Ruby laughed and patted Weiss on the head, "I'm glad we're friends Weiss, and because we are such good friends, something as tiny as a deal could not possibly break it."

"Don't patronize me!" Weiss stepped off the bed frame back to the floor, fuming.

Ruby returned to the issue at hand, "Weiss, even if we don't make a deal I won't tell anyone your last name or anything."

"I refuse to take that at face value. Without a deal I cannot insure your words," Weiss responded.

"But Weiss, that's what friends do. We don't go out of our way to do something the other wouldn't want," Ruby explained.

Weiss frowned, not that it wasn't already her default expression, "Are you guilt-tripping me into not avenging our dignities?"

"Well if you do go through with it I'll probably still be your friend unless you do something real serious," Ruby said, "but I really don't want you to do it. Besides, she doesn't even know what happened to us. For all she knows I still have the vial somewhere in here, especially since Blake kept it under wraps. If you did something it would blindside her and I'm sure she would have no idea why."

Weiss bit her bottom lip, trying to decide what to do under these circumstances. Ruby did make somewhat of a point, if true, but Weiss did not like to risk it. Just because she didn't know doesn't mean it didn't happen. And what of the long-term consequences? Her mind may not remember being under the influence of dust, but her body certainly did. What if she began having urges? What if these urges affect her life so much she'd become nothing but a husk entirely dependent on a bunch of multi-coloured powder? She had seen first-hand the devastating results this had on so many other people, and had swore never to try it herself in fear of falling to their depths as well. Now it was too late. She had experienced it, and she didn't know how'd she react from here. Wouldn't something as simple as that require some form of comeuppance? She saw Ruby still waiting for her response, the two of them keeping their sights on one another for quite some time. The seemingly extra shine in her eyes gave Weiss an idea; a potentially stupid idea that Weiss may regret as soon as tomorrow, but an idea nonetheless. She had to get something out of this, anything, and maybe this would be it.

"Alright let's amend the deal," Weiss offered.

"Huh?"

Weiss continued, "I won't destroy that woman or her family."

"What, really?" Ruby's face beamed up. She was like a puppy just waiting for the biscuit and now she had to find out what kind of trick she'd have to do to earn it.

She grabbed Ruby's shoulders, "In exchange I want you, I want us," Weiss corrected, "to promise each other never ever to touch or even go near dust again."

"Eh?" To Ruby, this came out of nowhere.

"You have no idea," Weiss took a deep breath, "how many lives dust has ruined. My own tomfoolery was only the tip of the iceberg. So long as neither of us succumb to the dust, I will not do to what that fox faunus rightfully deserves. How about that?"

Ruby nodded, "I can do that!"

"I'm serious, Ruby. Most likely the next time we see some, we'll probably want some."

"It can't be that addictive. I don't feel like it right now," Ruby reasoned.

Weiss shook her head, "No, believe me. We must promise each other this. However, if that woman does anything else to us it is entirely separate from this deal and I can do whatever I please in return to her."

"I guess that's reasonable," Ruby nodded again, "Okay!"

Weiss crossed her arms, staring downwards, "I will have to leave my identity to that friend thing."

"Wow, 'that friend thing'? The way you worded that was, wow," Ruby responded rather quickly.

"Oh come on! What do you want now?"

Ruby beamed, "It was just, I dunno, a really cute and awkward way of saying it!"

"Those are not words that apply to me. At all." Weiss turned away, but Ruby could see the slight pink of a blush on her cheeks.

She noticed the clock at the corner, the big hand almost pointing to nine, "Wow it's pretty late. We haven't even eaten dinner yet!"

"I had assumed they'd be passing out dinner since we were shut in so early," Weiss grumbled, "but as expected they failed to feed their prisoners."

Ruby pulled up a huge bag of goodies, "Looks like it's canteen food again. Oooh, how about some apple juice?"

She pulled out two juice boxes and handed one to Weiss, lifting her own juice box up in the air, "To friendship!"

"What are you doing!?"

"What? I'm doing a toast!"

"These are juice boxes, not wine glasses!" Weiss pushed her own in Ruby's face for emphasis.

"So? It's not like we have wine glasses, or wine. I'm underage anyway," Ruby responded by punting Weiss' juice box with her own, "Cheers!"

Though Weiss did not give the gesture nearly as much enthusiasm as Ruby, she indeed ended up toasting with her, and they drank their juice in relative silence, munching on random snack foods for the next hour before returning to their novel and letter respectively. Eventually they found themselves back into bed, the sleep far more comfortable than the shenanigans that occurred yesterday. It had been a bumpy ride, but Ruby knew that finally, she had gotten through to Weiss and this may be the start of a beautiful friendship.