Disclaimer I do not own RWBY

Chapter 13

"It's really beautiful out here."

She jumped at the sudden noise letting out a high pitched "Eek!" as she lost her balance on the pillar and fell backwards.

"Oh my gosh! Are you okay?" asked the voice worriedly, peering over the edge expecting her to be lying on the ground on her back. Unexpectedly enough she was hanging off the pillar, amazingly with her tail wrapped around it as she swung precariously.

Her hands were shaking as she gripped her own tail like a length of rope, her heart was pounding in her ears. Her knees wobbled unsteadily as she braced them against the pillar, refusing to move out of sheer terror.

She looked up to face into the eyes of her assailant but even with her excellent night vision the shadow cast on her face was too dark to see anything. She simply shut her eyes and whimpered as she waited for the inevitable.

But nothing happened.

Cracking open one of her eyes she looked up once more and saw that the figure was reaching out a hand towards her.

"It's okay, let me pull you up." said the other girl gently, almost pleadingly.

She hesitated for several moments, her hands still gripped onto her tail tightly. But there was something in the other girl's voice that made her trust her and eventually she slowly loosened her grip and tentatively reached out and grasped the other girl's offered hand.

Even with the other girl pulling her up, it still took a few awkward minutes before she was back on the top of the pillar where she originally sat.

Finally out of the shadow of the pillar she realized that the one who had spooked her was none other than Ruby Rose who sat as far as she could from her as the pillar would allow, giving her some space.

"I'm really sorry about earlier. I didn't mean to scare you, Gambol." said Ruby apologetically.

Gambol Shroud just stared back towards Ruby, not believing her eyes.

"I mean, I thought that you already knew I was next to you. . ." said Ruby, scratching the back of her head nervously. "But really, are you okay?" she asked.

Gambol barely registered what she had said, but nodded anyway, her bell jingling with the movement of her head.

Ruby grinned and said, "That's good." She then turned her head, "But it really is beautiful, isn't it?"

Gambol nodded once again, her eyes never leaving Ruby's face.

"I'm glad that the school is pretty far away from the city. We used to stargaze a lot back at Patch, but once Yang and I started attending Signal we couldn't do it as often and the city lights would block the stars too." recalled Ruby.

Gambol remained silent but this time she was able to listen to what Ruby was saying. She herself recalled her time outside of the city with Blake. In the darkness of the forest the moon and stars were the only things that lit up their way.

"I mean the view isn't as good as the one back home, but it's good enough." added Ruby. "I'm surprised that you like stargazing too." she said.

"Mmhm." hummed Gambol as she nodded, her gaze following Ruby's and into the sky, where countless stars dotted as if on a giant black canvass.

"Can't say you have bad taste, but this is also my favorite spot for viewing the stars here at school." said Ruby, she then giggled, "This is actually the first time I've seen someone here looking up at the sky at night too."

Gambol's lips unconsciously lifted at the corners into a small smile at the sound of Ruby's laughter.

"Look over there." said Ruby, pointing towards the sky.

Gambol's eyes trailed in the direction that Ruby was pointing at.

It took Gambol a few moments to search for it, but she then shook her head, indicating that she couldn't see it.

Ruby scooted over closer to Gambol, at the center of the pillar, gesturing that she also come closer as well. Gambol shifted a bit and sat next to Ruby until their were shoulder to shoulder. Ruby pointed towards the sky again. This time Gambol was able to see it.

"They call that constellation Oum's Flight." explained Ruby, pointing towards a clear constellation of stars that looked like they formed a large circle with six birds in flight.

"It's one of my favorites." said Ruby, "They say it was named after a great hero who inspired the formation of the first huntsmen as a beacon of hope for everyone under the night sky. It also means that despite our lives being shattered and in chaos like our moon there is always something whole that we can cling to."

Gambol listened to Ruby explanation intently, there was something in Ruby's words that resonated within her.

As she continued to look up into the sky, Gambol could feel the warmth that Ruby's body provided. It was different to what she felt earlier when she was alone, the chilly wind blowing through the courtyard. Before long she realized that she had leaned her head on Ruby's shoulder as they both sat on the top of the pillar and Ruby began to point out more and more constellations. A different warmth grew within her chest while she sat there with Ruby.

And for the first time in a long time she felt content and that one word resounding within her

Beautiful

It had been several days since Gambol and Ruby sat under the stars together and things went on as they usually did.

Crescent Rose clung to Ruby.

Bumblebee tried to pry Crescent Rose away from her.

Myrtenaster followed her and Weiss around like a loyal dog.

Ember and Celica were doted on by Yang as they played and caused some minor mischief.

As for Gambol herself, she kept close to Blake when she wasn't in her weapon form.

So it caught her by surprised to see Ruby by herself when Gambol had a rare moment when she didn't stick close by to Blake.

Gambol found Ruby in the dorm's communal kitchen with various ingredients in front of her. Her bell chimed softly as she stepped into the kitchen

Ruby looked up from her ingredients as she heard the sound, "Oh hi Gambol!" greeted Ruby, "Wanna help me out?"

Gambol tilted her head to one side confusedly.

"Oh? What am I doing?" said Ruby, "Im gonna bake some cookies of course!" she exclaimed.

Gambol tilted her head to the other side questioningly.

"Well my cookie jar was empty so I decided to make a fresh batch." explained Ruby.

Gambol walked over to the counter where all of Ruby's ingredients were scattered about, picking up the bag of chocolate chips and inspected it.

"So whadd'ya say, Gambol? Wanna help?" asked Ruby. "We can even make a double batch!" she said excitedly.

Looking up from the bag of chocolate she was inspecting, Gambol smiled and nodded happily.

"Great!" exclaimed Ruby, "Let's get started."

She then walked over to the oven and turned it on. Gambol could hear the sparking of the ignition followed by the low whoosh of the gas being lit.

"Mom always told me that when making cookies, before you do anything is to preheat the oven to 350 degrees." explained Ruby.

Gambol nodded as she listened to Ruby intently.

"So first before we get mixing, we let everything get to room temperature and I already did that part." said Ruby walking towards the two stand mixers that the kitchen had.

Gambol followed Ruby's lead and stood at the other mixer.

"Step one, cream the butter!" said Ruby excitedly, peeling wrapper off the bar of butter and putting it into the bowl.

Gambol cautiously followed Ruby's direction and placed the butter into her own bowl.

"Next we add a hundred eighty grams of white sugar and two hundred grams of light brown sugar." said Ruby, scooping the respective ingredients and placing them into the bowl with the butter.

Once again Gambol cautiously copied what Ruby did.

"Then we turn on the mixer on low." said Ruby, flicking the switch on and the mixer started to move.

Gambol flinched at the sudden noise created by the mixer, then nervously turned her own mixer on, flicking the same switch that Ruby used and jerking back as the small machine turned on.

"You're doing really well, Gambol." said Ruby encouragingly.

Gambol peered over and looked inside the bowl and watched amazedly as the sugar and butter began to mix together.

"Next we have to sift four hundred grams of flour, five grams of baking soda, and fifteen grams of salt, while that's mixing." said Ruby

Ruby helped Gambol with measuring the ingredients then showed her how to sift them together with a sieve and as time went by Gambol got more confident with what she was doing.

"Alright, let's set the flour aside and check on the butter." said Ruby.

Gambol had completely forgotten about the butter, she was having so much fun with sifting the flour.

Ruby inspected both their mixing bowls and saw that the butter and sugar were properly mixed and aerated. "Next up is to add two large eggs one at a time, we also have to make sure that none of the shell gets in.." instructed Ruby.

Gambol watched excitedly as Ruby cracked open one of the eggs on the counter and poured it into the mixing bowl and set the shell aside. She watched as the egg slowly got incorporated with the butter/sugar mixture in curiosity.

It was at this moment that Gambol grew nervous once more as she picked up an egg and cracked it on the counter like Ruby. The egg broke easily and she quickly placed the egg into the bowl. She then watched it as her egg got mixed in much like Ruby's. Gambol then let out a sigh of relief and followed suit as Ruby cracked the next egg and poured it into the mixing bowl.

"Time to add a tablespoon of vanilla." said Ruby as she poured her's in and Gambol did the same. "Now we add the flour–"

Before Ruby could say anything else, Gambol, spurred on by her success so far she excitedly poured in all her flour into the still running mixing bowl, which was a mistake

"–and add it slowly." finished Ruby as she heard a surprised, "Eep!" and turned to see a cloud of flour where Gambol Shroud was supposed to be.

Her eyes were wide in shock at the sudden burst of flour and as it settled she could see that she was covered in it. Gambol dropped the bowl she had used for the flour and dropped to her knees, eyes misting over as the welled up with tears and began to sob, burying her face into her hands.

Ruby quickly placed her own bowl down and rushed to Gambol's side and put her arms round her shoulders making calming noises.

"It's okay Gambol, you didn't do anything wrong." whispered Ruby into her ear. "It's alright."

But Gambol sobbed harder and pointed a shaky finger at the mixing bowl, then at herself and then at the mess she had caused.

"It's okay, everyone makes mistakes on their first try." said Ruby in a hushed voice, trying her best to calm the other girl down. She hugged Gambol tighter and rubbed gentle circles into her back, whispering calming words to her.

Gambol could feel that same warmth from Ruby that she felt several nights ago and the warm embrace that Ruby wrapped her in made her feel so secure, as if the world couldn't touch her. It took several minuted to finally calm her down and her sobs eventually faded into soft hiccups.

"Feeling better?" asked Ruby quietly.

Gambol nodded softly as she let out a small hiccup.

"Good, let's get you cleaned up." said Ruby, helping Gambol up to her feet as she grabbed a nearby towel and began wiping off the flour from Gambol's face, hair, and brushed it off her clothes.

Once they were both relatively clean, Ruby helped Gambol prepare some more flour and this time she slowly added the flour a little bit at a time, until it was the same consistency as Ruby's own cookie dough.

Ruby then showed her how to add the chocolate chips and this time Gambol added them carefully to the dough, adding small handfuls at a time and it took her a bit longer to finish. Ruby didn't mind though, it was nice watching Gambol do her own thing.

They then turned off the mixers and scraped down the sides of the bowls and paddles. Ruby let Gambol try a bit of her cookie dough from her scraper and she smiled contentedly at the flavor of it, making Ruby herself smile at how happy Gambol looked. They then portioned the cookies and placed them onto parchment lined cookie sheets and placed them into the now well heated oven. They baked the cookies for a little under fifteen minutes then brought them out to cool.

In under an hour both Ruby and Gambol had several dozen cookies in front of them.

"What do you say Gambol, wanna have the first taste?" asked Ruby, holding out a freshly cooled cookie.

Gambol took it gingerly from her hand and took a small bite from it, then another, and another and before too long she had finished the cookie.

"So is it good?" asked Ruby.

Gambol smiled widely and nodded vigorously, her bell jingling excitedly, even her tail swished from side to side.

Ruby grinned in approval. "Just so you know that was from your cookie dough." she said, and Gambol's eyes widened as she took a glance at the pile between them. "Yup! I knew you could do it!" she praised Gambol, taking another cookie from the pile and gobbled it up in a single bite, humming in appreciated at the delicious treat.

The was then surprised when Gambol suddenly lunged and gripped her in a tight hug, her tail instinctively wrapping around the both of them.

In a very quiet voice that she almost couldn't hear, "Thank you." whispered Gambol into Ruby's ear.

Ruby's smile widened as she hugged her back and in an equally quiet whisper.

"You're welcome."

Blake circled around their dorm room, scanning every flat surface inside.

She checked the insides of the drawers of their desks, only to find some paper and pens. She ran her hands on top of the desk, lifting up books and homework to see if there was anything hidden underneath. She checked under her pillow, then removed her blanket from the bed, but again there was nothing there.

Blake then began a more thorough search inside the room, checking inside the closet and even behind the potted plant.

Letting out a tired sigh, Blake stepped out and came face to face with Yang flanked by Ember and Celica. The three were practically inseparable, with the twins opting to hang around "Mama Yang" at all nearly all times.

"Hey Blakey, what's up?" asked Yang.

"Hi, Yang. Have you seen my Scroll? I can't seem to find it anywhere." said Blake.

Yang looked back at her confusedly. "Your Scroll? Sorry, but I haven't seen it. Want me to give it a call?" she asked.

"That'd be great." said Blake, breathing a sigh of relief.

As soon as Yang fished for her own Scroll out of her pocket she felt a tug on her skirt and looked down to see Celica trying to get her attention.

"What's wrong?" asked Yang.

Celica pointed at Yang's scroll and said, "Big sis kitty."

Yang sat on her haunches so that she was eye level with Celica, "What is it?"

Celica began tapping the Scroll with her hand and repeated "Big sis kitty."

"Do you mean Blake?" asked Yang.

Celica shook her head and said again, "Big Sister Kitty."

Blake;s eyes widened in realisation. "Is it with Gambol Shroud?" asked Blake, leaning down so they were eye level.

"Mmhm!" hummed Celica nodding her head enthusiastically with a bright smile on her face.

"Have you seen her?" asked Blake.

This time both Ember and Celica nodded in sync.

"Could you show us?" requested Blake.

They both nodded again and dashed off down the hall Blake and Yang soon followed after them.

"Why'd you think Gambol took your Scroll?" asked Yang as they followed the twins.

"I have no idea. she keeps to herself mostly." answered Blake, shrugging.

They followed the twins for quite a while and surprisingly it led to the room where all their rocket lockers were kept. The twins then brought them over to Blake's own locker and together they pointed at it and said at the same time.

"Big Sis Kitty!"

Blake smiled at the endearing sight and patted their heads, and walked towards her locker. Typing in her passcode, she opened the door and found a surprising sight inside.

Gambol Shroud was sitting inside the cramped space, hugging her knees as she was using Blake's Scroll, her tail swaying above her casually. Despite Blake opening the locker, Gambol was seemingly oblivious to what had happened around her.

Blake kneeled down and reached out to Gambol. The moment she touched her arm Gambol's eyes darted upwards to see Blake and let out a surprised squeak and in a flash of light reverted back into her weapon form and both Gambol Shroud and Blake's scroll clattered to the floor of the locker.

"Well that's weird." commented Yang.

"You're right." replied Blake, picking up the weapon Gambol Shroud and placing it back on its proper rack. She then picked up her Scroll. "I wonder how she got it." said Blake.

"Maybe you left it in your locker and she was bored." suggested Yang.

"Maybe. . ." said Blake, trailing off.

Yang looked down at the twins and smiled broadly, she ruffled their hair and said, "Good job girls. My little detectives"

The twins smiled back, giggling as Yang praised them.

As Blake looked over her Scroll, she looked over what Gambol was browsing with her Scroll.

Why in the world was she looking at cake recipes? thought Blake.

Author's Notes: Hi everyone, so a bit of a shorter chapter, but hopefully a somewhat satisfying one, especially everyone who wondered about Gambol Shroud. Well here she is! Tell me what you think about her. I can't wait for all your reactions. Also before anyone asks, YES the cookie recipe in this chapter is a legitimate recipe that I personally use. And remember

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