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Grounded Lightning

Summary:

The second semester was in full swing and life at Beacon was going great. Team RWBY had successfully put Torchwick in jail and helped to fight off the Grimm attack on the city. Now the only things they had to worry about were classes, the upcoming Vytal Festival Tournament… and the fact that they were all starting to fall in love with each other.

Notes:

takes place after volume 2. cinder and co don't exist. what does this mean for the plot you ask? heck if i know lmao !!

just kidding. there will be some plot but this will mostly be fluff. probably. anyways, i hope you enjoy :p

 

(also now there is new cover art by the amazing spicybon!!)

Chapter Text

Somewhere along the walk back from the library, Blake had somehow come into possession of both hers and Ruby’s textbooks. Ruby herself was busy complaining about their workload beside her.

“I don’t get it,” she said, groaning in frustration. “History is stupid. And really hard. There’s so many names and dates you have to remember.”

“Well, it’s just a part of Huntress training,” said Blake.

“It’s dumb is what it is,” Ruby retorted with a pout. “I don’t get why I need to know that some random dude from some random town in Mistral tried to start some random revolution a hundred years ago. What does that have to do with me being able to kill Grimm effectively?”

“I dunno,” said Blake, more to humor Ruby and let her know she was still listening rather than actually arguing the point. “What would you rather be doing, then?”

“More hands-on activities. I wanna go on more missions! That’s where all the real Huntress stuff happens.”

“We just got back from our first one like a week ago.”

“I know, but still,” Ruby whined. “That’s what I’ve wanted to do since coming here. It felt like we actually made a difference. And…” She trailed off for a few moments. Blake glanced over at her, curious. “Even then, I still can’t stop thinking about how we could have done better. I’m glad we helped put the Torchwick guy in jail, and we’re really lucky no one in town died in the Grimm attack, but… the same can’t be said for those White Fang members on the train. How many of them lost their lives, and all because Torchwick was only using them to further his own plans? If they hated humans before, I don’t want to think about how they must feel now.”

Ruby was practically vibrating with worry at that point, her hands clenched into fists, brought close to her chest. Blake nudged her gently with her elbow to snap her out of it. “Hey,” she said. “There’s a lot of mysteries left to solve and problems to smooth out, but don’t forget that you’ve got a team. We’ll work through this together.”

Ruby’s frown slowly turned back into a smile. “You’re right. I'm getting carried away. Thanks, Blake.”

By then, they’d reached their dorm. Ruby opened the door and held it open for Blake, since she was still carrying all of their books. They entered to find Weiss writing an essay at her desk and Yang rummaging through Blake’s closet.

“Um,” said Blake.

Yang poked her head out, saw Blake and Ruby standing there looking confused, and grinned. She was wearing nothing except a towel. “Hey, Blake,” she said casually, and then went back to digging around in her clothes. “Did you guys have a good study session?”

“Kind of. What are you doing in my closet?”

“Uh. I forgot to set aside a clean set of clothes before I did my laundry. And then I took a shower.”

“She’s an idiot,” Weiss pitched in from across the room.

Yang just shrugged like she agreed. She pulled out a dark purple hoodie. “Can I have this?”

“Sure,” Blake found herself saying.

“Awesome. Thanks.” Yang smiled, grabbed a few more articles of clothing from the closet and then ran off to the bathroom to change.

“I’m going to go back to studying,” Ruby said half-heartedly, pulling her books off the top of the pile in Blake’s hands and heading for her bed. “Stupid random villager in Mistral.”

A short while later, Yang reappeared wearing Blake’s hoodie and shorts, the towel now slung over her shoulder. Blake couldn’t help but look her up and down, trying to stop herself from smiling. “Why my stuff?” she asked. “Why not steal clothes from Weiss, or, you know, your own sister?”

Yang snorted. “Have you seen how short they are?”

Suddenly, a pencil hit her in the face. The force of the throw sent her stumbling back several feet. Blake caught the pencil before it hit the ground and walked over to return it to Weiss.

“Thank you,” she said pleasantly, and then went back to writing her essay in silence. Behind them, they could hear Ruby struggling not to laugh.

Blake set all but one of her textbooks down on her desk and took the last one to her bed, settling into the pillows before opening it up. Ruby was right in that the random Mistral revolution they were currently learning about was really dumb, but they needed to know all about it for the upcoming test. Blake sighed and began to read.

The dorm was peaceful and quiet for a period of time, mostly because Yang had eventually left to go retrieve her laundry. Soon enough Blake had managed to lose herself in the history textbook. Her concentration was only broken when she felt someone sit down at the edge of her bed.

It was Weiss.

“Hello,” said Blake.

“Hi,” said Weiss. “Having fun?”

Blake rolled her eyes. “As always. Finish your essay?”

“No. I’m taking a break.”

“Right,” said Blake, raising an eyebrow. “You’re… taking a break from doing your homework by watching me do mine.”

“My brain is currently fried and I thought I could use some company,” Weiss said defensively. She crossed her arms and brought her legs up onto the mattress, leaning on the opposite side from Blake so that they were facing each other.

Blake glanced up at the other end of the room. “Ruby’s over there, you know.”

“I’m aware, and while her bed has yet to fall on top of me and brutally murder me at night, I don’t trust its structural integrity to handle more than one person at a time.”

They both stared up at Ruby. She looked incredibly hurt and offended.

“Can you at least look over my essay outline for me?” she asked, fixing Weiss with her best puppy-dog pout.

Weiss just sighed and held out her hand. Ruby cheered. A few seconds later, a paper airplane sailed across the room, and Weiss caught it neatly out of the air. She unfolded it and began reading intently, her serious, concentrated mode activated. Blake figured that was why she didn’t realize that she’d ended up tangling their legs together.

Weiss had begun scribbling her own notes onto Ruby’s paper by the time Yang returned, basket of laundry in hand. “Sup,” she greeted all of them at once, dropping the basket onto the ground and lazily kicking it aside. “What are we doing?”

“Work,” Weiss told her pointedly.

“Sounds boring.” Yang gave Blake a split second to try and shift to the side before she plopped down right next to her, leaning back against the pillow and sighing contentedly.

“Shouldn’t you give me my clothes back now that you have your own again?” Blake asked her.

“Nah,” said Yang. When Blake turned her head to look at her she realized just how close the size of the bed forced them to get. She became momentarily distracted by Yang’s bright smile. “Your clothes smell like you.”

“Is that a good thing?”

“Maybe.” Yang glanced over Blake’s shoulder to look at her textbook. “Here, gimme that. I’ll quiz you on the chapter.”

“No fair,” Ruby cried from where she was still sitting all alone on her own bed. “I can’t believe you guys would try and have a cuddle party without inviting me.”

Yang glanced at the bed, then back up at Ruby. Then she shrugged. “There’s still a bit of space left if you want to join us.”

“I don’t remember agreeing to this,” said Blake.

But it was too late. In a flash, Ruby had rocketed across the room and directly on top of all of their legs, facing towards Yang and Blake. Weiss choked.

“Hi,” said Ruby, looking innocently up into Yang’s eyes.

Yang stared thoughtfully back at her sister. Then she propped Blake’s textbook onto Ruby’s face. Ruby, to her credit, only let out a disgruntled noise, but didn’t make an effort to move.

Weiss, meanwhile, was swatting at Ruby’s feet. “I’m the one helping you with your essay, you jerk, and this is what I get in return?”

“I’m sorry!” said Ruby, her voice muffled by the textbook.

And so they stayed that way for the rest of the afternoon. The only commotion that occured was when Ruby, with great effort and hardship, finally turned around to face Weiss so they could discuss her essay outline and also because Yang’s legs had fallen asleep under the weight of her sister. Besides that, though, the impromptu group study session actually went pretty well.

Around evening they heard a knock at the door. None of them moved to answer. They knew by now that most of the time it was someone from Team JNPR, who were all aware that they usually left the door unlocked and only knocked as a preemptive warning.

Sure enough, a few seconds later Pyrrha opened the door and poked her head in. Judging by her surprised expression, she’d clearly been expecting all of them to be dispersed evenly across the dorm. Instead, they were all dogpiled and crammed together on one bed. Pyrrha blinked.

“Hey,” she said, a bit sheepishly. “Nora is starting to approach worrying levels of hunger already, so we’re going to get dinner early. Want to join us?”

“Food!” said Ruby, trying and failing to pretend like she hadn’t just woken up from dozing off. Weiss fixed her with a glare.

“We’ll be there,” Yang called out to Pyrrha. “Just give us a few minutes to, uh, disentangle ourselves.”

“Ooh, big word,” said Weiss, impressed. Yang chucked the textbook at her face.

Pyrrha, not wanting to witness the chaos that was inevitably about to occur, flashed them a smile, closed the door, and went back to her own dorm.

 


 

The two teams met up in the mess hall a short while later. They grabbed their trays and sat down in their customary spots at the corner of the hall, across from each other. It was still fairly early in the evening, so apart from them, there were only a few other groups of students trickling in.

“So,” Nora began saying with her mouth full of food. Ren politely put his hand over the lower half of her face to block the view. “I heard from Coco that Professor Goodwitch is gonna make us fight in pairs in sparring class this week.”

“Like, against each other, or against other teams?” Pyrrha asked, interested.

“Against each other,” said Nora. “We’re apparently supposed to split up into partners and spar that way. Something about practicing for the tournament.”

Jaune groaned and planted his face into the table. “I know what that means.”

“Oh, shut up, Jaune. Your partner is literally Pyrrha Nikos!” said Nora. Somehow, she had already finished everything on her plate. “That’s like an automatic unfair advantage right there.”

“Yes,” said Jaune, without looking up. “Which means that she’s going to be spending all her time trying to keep me from getting ganged up on by you two.”

Ren and Nora looked at each other. Then Ren shrugged. “That does seem like something we’d try and do,” he said. Nora nodded in agreement before getting up to go get seconds.

Jaune groaned again. Pyrrha laughed nervously.

“Ooh. Tough break,” Yang said to Jaune, wincing in sympathy. Then she nudged Weiss sitting beside her and opened her mouth expectantly. Weiss rolled her eyes, but took a grape off of her cluster anyway and popped it into Yang’s mouth.

“Oh man,” said Ruby, turning to look at the rest of her team. “We have sparring class tomorrow afternoon.”

“I can’t wait,” said Yang, pumping her fists in excitement. “Winning against you two will be a piece of cake.”

“Hey!” Weiss protested. “Don’t be so cocky. I’ll have you know that Ruby and I have been practicing together on our own a lot. We’re a lot more in sync now than you think.”

“Is that so?” said Yang, leaning in uncomfortably close, with the biggest, most aggravating grin on her face. “How in sync are we talking, here?”

“Yang!” said Ruby, aghast.

Weiss planted her hand on Yang’s face and shoved her as far away as she could. “You are rude, invasive, and completely insufferable,” she said, fixing Yang with her most withering glare.

Meanwhile, Blake, who now had Yang all up in her personal space, leaned in and grinned. “We’re totally going to beat them up,” she said.

“Damn right we are,” Yang replied gleefully, with Weiss’s hand still on her face.

“No way!” Ruby said indignantly. “Don’t you underestimate me and Weiss. You guys are going down!”

“Please,” Yang scoffed. “You barely come up to my chin. What are you gonna do, punch me in the boobs?”

“Oh, shut up! You aren’t even that tall!” Ruby finally snapped and lunged across Weiss to try and grab her sister. The three of them ended up in a scuffle, with Blake looking on, amused. She took advantage of the distraction to swipe Yang’s smoothie for herself, content to watch her get mercilessly dunked on by both Weiss and Ruby at once.

Nora came back to the table with two more plates of food to find Ruby struggling to put Yang into a headlock. Weiss had a hand on both of the back of their necks, seemingly in an effort to move them farther away from her lap.

It was at that moment that they noticed that most of the people in the hall were staring at them.

“Why’s everyone looking at us like that?” said Ruby.

“Probably because they’re scared we’re about to start another food fight,” Blake suggested.

Their table fell silent. After a brief pause, Weiss huffed and dragged Yang and Ruby back up into a proper sitting position.

“I feel like I should be getting used to this by now,” Pyrrha said with a sigh.

“Tell me about it,” said Nora. “You four are total weirdos.”

Blake slurped loudly on her smoothie.

“I like your jacket,” Jaune said to Yang, trying to diffuse the situation.

“Thanks,” Yang replied brightly. “I stole it. Just like how someone stole my drink.” She jerked the glass out of Blake’s hands, leaving the straw hanging in her mouth. Blake pouted.

Somehow, the rest of dinner managed to pass by without any more commotion. Yang and Weiss were the first to leave the table, with Weiss saying something about wanting to finish up her essay, and then just dragging Yang along for the ride. Then Nora left with the rest of her team following shortly after, leaving Blake to watch as Ruby tried to cram as many last cookies as she could into her mouth.

She must have had a funny expression on her face, because Ruby paused, one cookie in her mouth and another in her hands. It was adorable.

“What?” said Blake.

“Stop judging me,” said Ruby around the cookie.

“I’m not judging you.”

“Yeah you are.”

“I’m not. I promise.” Blake became dimly aware of the fact that she was smiling. Something weird was happening in her chest. “Just hurry up. It’s starting to get really crowded in here.”

Ruby conceded reluctantly, and started piling all the empty plates onto her tray before standing up. She broke the cookie in her hands in half and offered a piece to Blake, who raised her eyebrow in response.

“It’s an apology for when Weiss and I inevitably kick your butt tomorrow in class,” Ruby told her.

Blake laughed. She took the piece of cookie and lightly bonked it on Ruby’s forehead. Ruby scrunched up her face in protest and tried to swat Blake’s hand away, but Blake could tell that she was enjoying herself.

They took their trays to the front of the mess hall before heading back to their dorm together.

 


 

Back in the dorm room, Yang was doing push-ups on the carpet. Weiss was perched on top of her back, sitting cross-legged while putting the final touches on her essay.

“How many have I done?” Yang asked.

Weiss thought for a few moments, not taking her eyes off the paper. “You just hit seventy-five.”

“Sweet.” Yang let out a shaky breath and did another push-up, doing her best not to jostle Weiss.

“Hey, guys!” Ruby called cheerfully as she burst into the room. “What are we doing?” Within the next five seconds she had somehow wormed her way into Weiss’s lap. Yang choked under the extra weight.

“Trying not to make Yang die,” Weiss said with a sigh. She tried to shove Ruby off. “I know you have no respect for my boundaries, but at least have some mercy on your poor sister.”

“Oh, fine,” said Ruby, rolling onto the floor and sprawling out next to them, staring up at the ceiling. “Why are you even doing push-ups right after dinner?”

“Because,” Yang said through gritted teeth, “I got curious how many I could do while waiting for you two slowpokes to come back.” She finally collapsed to the ground. “Alright, get off me, Weiss, I’m spent. And you’re really heavy.”

Weiss just scoffed and stood up, walking back to her desk without even looking up from her essay. None of them missed how hard she was trying to hide her smile.

Blake walked over to Yang and held out her hand. Yang smiled sheepishly and took it, letting Blake pull her back to her feet.

“Seventy-five push-ups, huh? Very impressive,” said Blake.

Yang’s grin widened. “Aw, thanks, Blake,” she said. “I swear I can usually do more than that, though. When Weiss isn’t on top of me and breathing down my neck.”

Blake laughed.

“Well, now that everyone’s here,” Weiss said, pointedly ignoring Yang’s teasing, “what are we going to do for the rest of the night?”

“I have an idea for that!” Ruby called from where she was still lying on the ground. “Team JNPR said they wanted to have a movie night with us and Sun and Neptune later. So until then… you guys wanna play some board games?” She brandished her box of Remnant: The Game cards.

“I’m down,” said Yang. She sat down on the carpet and snatched the box out of Ruby’s hands. “I still need to get back at you for last time.”

“In your dreams, you mean!”

Blake shared a look with Weiss as the two sisters started bickering. Weiss gave her a shrug, having already resigned herself to her fate.

The four of them settled into a circle on the floor, the board and pieces scattered in between them. As usual, Ruby and Yang dominated most of the action. Weiss had gotten a lot better, though. Blake was still confused.

Eventually, Yang and Ruby teamed up to knock Blake out of the game first before turning on each other, which Blake found hard to take offense against. She was content with spending the rest of the match just watching the carnage, lying on her stomach and resting her head on her hands. Above her, she could feel Weiss stacking Grimm pieces on her back.

“Having fun?” Blake asked her, raising an eyebrow.

“Yeah. Quit moving,” said Weiss. She brushed aside some of Blake’s hair to make room for some baby Beowolf pieces.

A few minutes later, Blake noticed that Weiss was getting increasingly distracted. She kept spending all her turns doing nothing but fortifying her defenses while Yang and Ruby duked it out on the other side of the board.

“Hey,” said Blake, turning her head to look up at Weiss. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah,” Weiss replied with a small frown. She was holding six cards in one hand and a single one in the other. Blake glanced at the card. The title of it read Faunus Militia. “Do you ever think about what they might be up to right now?”

Blake blinked. “Who? The White Fang?”

“Roman Torchwick used them,” Weiss said simply, absently twirling the card in her hand. “A human promised them justice and then not only failed to deliver on that, but also left them to die in a tunnel full of Grimm.”

The room fell silent. Yang and Ruby had stopped playing the game and were listening in now as well.

“They knew what they were getting into,” said Blake. She shifted uneasily. A few Grimm pieces fell off her back. “The White Fang… they like to preach about how sometimes it’s necessary to sacrifice your life for the cause. Sure, they’re a group of Faunus who have been discriminated against, but more importantly, they’re terrorists. And what they managed to achieve with that train crash—well, they hurt a lot of innocent humans in town. Maybe they took it as a win.”

“Maybe.” Weiss didn’t look convinced. Blake didn’t feel very convinced herself.

Across from them, Ruby let out a sigh. “Well, there’s nothing we can really do about it right now,” she said. “Unless Blake is willing to infiltrate another White Fang meeting again…”

Blake winced. “I’m gonna say pass on that one. For now. After the mess I started last time, they’ll probably have increased security all over the place.”

“We’ll figure something out, guys,” said Yang, nodding confidently. “We just have to lie low for the time being.”

“Yeah,” said Blake. Weiss and Ruby echoed her sentiment.

There was a moment of silence.

“Whose turn is it anyway?” asked Ruby.

“Mine,” said Yang. She threw down a card onto the board. Judging by Ruby’s sudden frustrated cry, it was something big and destructive.

Weiss still looked a little worried, but when Blake offered her a small smile, she seemed to loosen up a bit. She nodded, looking more determined than before, and turned her attention back to the game.

Yang ended up winning, to Ruby’s chagrin but no one’s surprise. They tried to start up another game and Blake was actually dominating somehow until Sun burst into their room halfway through. He was carrying a giant pile of snacks with both his arms and tail.

“Come on!” he said, bouncing up and down with barely contained excitement. “Team JNPR already set up the blanket fort in their room, now we just need you guys in it.”

Neptune popped up behind him, putting a hand on his shoulder in an attempt to get him to calm down. It didn’t work. He turned his attention to the room. “Hey, guys,” he said with a wave.

“Hi, Neptune,” Weiss responded, sounding unusually chipper.

“Come on,” said Sun, bumping Neptune with his shoulder as he headed back out the doorway. “Let’s go finish setting up. And you guys need to hurry up or we’re starting the movie without you!”

When they left, Yang turned her attention to Weiss, grinning. “Someone is still crushing hard on Mister Cool Boy, I see.”

Weiss opened her mouth to protest, but then she froze. Everyone stared at her, confused. “Wait a second—” she said, her eyes widening. She looked like she was having an existential crisis. “I don’t—I don’t like Neptune like that.” It didn’t sound like denial. The way she said it was very blunt, like she was simply stating a fact. Even Yang didn’t know how to respond to that.

“Um, right,” Ruby said awkwardly. “That’s… that’s cool, Weiss.”

No one said anything.

“Right!” Weiss blurted out suddenly. She grabbed Ruby and Blake by the arms and rushed towards the door. Yang scrambled to her feet and followed after them. “You heard Sun! It’s movie time!”

It was a pretty fun end to the day, all things considered. Piling ten people into a single dorm room probably hadn’t been the best idea, but they made it work. The movie itself wasn’t anything exciting, just some typical hero action flick that Jaune had picked out. They spent most of the time just talking, laughing, and throwing snacks at each other. Yang and Sun eventually roped them all into a game to see who could catch the most popcorn in their mouth. To everyone’s shock, Ren ended up winning.

Team RWBY stayed behind to help JNPR clean up their mess of a dorm afterwards, since Sun and Neptune had somehow mysteriously disappeared by then. By the time they got back to their own dorm, all four of them were exhausted. They didn’t talk much as they took turns getting showered and ready for bed.

Lights out was at midnight. By then, the four of them were already fast asleep.

 


 

Later that night Blake awoke to the faint sound of something metallic clicking rapidly. Confused, she sat up, looking up at the underside of the top bunk. The clicking sound paused for a few seconds, then started up again.

She grabbed onto the top of the bed and swung herself up, poking her head out to investigate what was going on above her.

Yang was sitting there with Ember Celica activated. She was absently spinning the rotating magazine, over and over again, while staring out the window.

“Yang?” Blake asked, concerned.

Yang jumped. She met Blake’s eyes and laughed sheepishly. “Sorry,” she said. “Was I making too much noise?”

“Not really.” Blake looked up and twitched her ears through the bow. Yang nodded in understanding. “What are you doing up so late?”

“Nothing much,” said Yang. She scooted aside as Blake pulled herself up over the side, climbing onto Yang’s bed to sit down next to her. “Just didn’t feel like sleeping.”

“Thinking about things?”

Blake followed Yang’s line of sight out the window. The view from up here really was nice. Yang sighed and turned to face Blake. “Not about anything in particular,” she said. “It just feels… weird, I guess. How we got here to this point.” She looked down at her gauntlet and started spinning the magazine again. “I knew for a long time that I wanted to become a Huntress, but I don’t think I ever realized what that actually entails. And now I’m sitting here, barely a week after stopping a massive orchestrated robbery and almost being stabbed to death by some tiny evil henchman on a train…”

Blake laughed a little. “In hindsight it does sound pretty crazy.”

“Yeah. Tell me about it.” Yang smiled softly. “I know that little girl got away. So did that… that woman, the one who saved me. I know I saw her… And I know we talked about it earlier, but I still can’t help but wonder what they’re doing right now. But I mean, it doesn’t feel like a super big deal, because we’re always getting into situations that are way over our heads. And, I dunno, now I’m just sitting here in a room with my team, with three amazing people, and I—”

Yang suddenly stopped talking. Blake looked up, confused, only to find Yang staring back at her, looking both a little intense and a little lost.

“Yang? Are you okay?” said Blake.

Yang didn’t respond. Her eyes kept darting back and forth, as if she were trying to take in every feature of Blake’s face.

“I uh—I’m sorry. I was just thinking about—” She cut herself off again. Her hand was hovering in the air, as if she were uncertain of what to do with it. “Blake, you’re really great, you know that?”

Blake blinked, surprised by the sudden praise. “Um, thank you?”

“Yeah. You are.” Yang laughed. It sounded a little breathless.

Blake didn’t know what was happening anymore, but the longer she stared at Yang, sitting next to her up on her bed, the warmer she felt somewhere inside her chest. It was a nice feeling.

“You’re pretty cool yourself,” Blake told her.

Yang stared back at her blankly, a giant dumb smile on her face. She looked like her brain had short-circuited from the compliment, which only made Blake want to do it more.

“Well, um,” Yang began in an attempt to derail the conversation, “since I’ve kept you up for this long already, do you wanna discuss battle tactics for tomorrow’s sparring lesson?”

“Not really,” said Blake.

“Why not?”

“I’d rather not do it when the enemy is currently listening in on us.”

“Huh?” Yang looked over at the other side of the room, confused. “But they’re both asleep right now.”

“That’s what Weiss would like you to think,” Blake said with a grin.

The two of them scooted to the edge of Yang’s bed, peering through the darkness at Weiss’s motionless form. A few moments passed. Nothing happened.

Then Weiss let out a huff of frustration and opened her eyes.

“Are you two ever going to learn how to keep your voices down?” she complained, pushing herself up into a sitting position.

“Honestly? Probably not,” said Yang.

Weiss just sighed and got out of bed, rubbing her eyes as she made her way across the room to Yang’s bunk. They heard the sound of a glyph forming before Weiss neatly hopped her way onto the bed.

“I wonder how Ruby does it,” she said, settling down next to Blake. “I bet we could roll a rock band through here and she’d sleep right through it.”

“I mean, she did have to grow up with Yang,” Blake said reasonably.

Yang looked like she was ready to argue the point, but then shrugged, because they all knew Blake was right.

The three of them sat together in peaceful silence.

“You know,” Weiss began hesitantly, “I’ve been thinking.” Yang and Blake turned to face her, expectant. Weiss took a deep breath. “About earlier, when I said I didn’t like Neptune that way… I meant it. I know this probably doesn’t seem like a big deal to you guys, but I just—I never really thought about it until now. I didn’t even realize what I was doing until you explicitly pointed it out to me. I think I just saw him that first time and saw a boy that my f… that I was expected to go after.”

Blake didn’t say anything. Yang nodded in understanding. They both knew exactly who she had almost mentioned at the end.

“It’s cool,” said Yang, reaching across Blake to offer Weiss a fist bump. Weiss rolled her eyes but accepted, almost bashfully. “We’re all here for you, whatever choices you decide to make.”

“Thanks,” said Weiss. She was fixing Yang with a curious look. “It doesn’t feel the same, anyway.”

Yang paused to try and make sense of that statement. “Sorry, what?”

“Nothing,” said Weiss. She took a sudden interest in staring at her feet.

Blake looked back and forth between the two of them, bewildered. Tonight was apparently a night for people to act really weird and shifty. They lapsed into silence again, except now it was several times more awkward.

When it became clear that neither Weiss or Yang were going to speak up again because they were both stupid, Blake sighed and began pushing herself up from her sitting position. “I guess I should try and get back to sleep,” she said. “Good night, you two.”

“Yeah,” said Weiss, still looking dazed.

“Good night, Blake,” said Yang.

Blake jumped down and landed lightly on her feet before moving to crawl back under her covers. Above her, she could hear Weiss and Yang still saying absolutely nothing to each other. Yang started playing with Ember Celica again.

She sighed again and turned onto her side. Sleep came soon after.

Chapter 2

Notes:

oh btw i took the canon rules of the vytal festival tournament and beat them up in a back alleyway

 

thanks for reading!!

Chapter Text

Morning the next day was exciting. Blake woke up first, which was weird since by then Weiss would usually be occupying the shower, and it was silent. Then she realized Weiss’s bed was empty. None of them ever left for breakfast alone, so that could only mean one thing.

She pulled herself up over the bunk bed, and sure enough, Yang was leaning against the wall, wide awake, and Weiss was passed out on top of her.

“How did you manage to get that to happen?” Blake asked, amused.

Yang just shrugged helplessly. “I’m gonna be honest, I have no idea.”

“Are you going to wake her up?”

“Nah. I’ve never seen her so relaxed before. It’s cute.”

Blake grinned. “I’m guessing you want some coffee.”

“Please,” said Yang.

Ruby woke up next and spent a good full minute staring at the scene across from her. Yang saluted her with her free hand. Then Ruby glanced down at Blake, who had been getting ready to leave.

“What happened last night?” she asked.

“I dunno,” Blake admitted. “Yang was being noisy, I went up to talk to her, we accidentally got Weiss’s attention, and then they started being weird.” She shrugged. “Do you want to come get coffee with me?”

“Yes please.” Ruby hopped down from her bunk and jumped right back to her feet, brimming with excitement. “I thought you hated coffee, though.”

“Oh, it’s definitely not for me,” Blake told her.

So they headed to the communal floor kitchen, where they found Ren making some pancakes at the stove. After exchanging brief greetings, Ruby went over and got a pot of coffee going, while Blake decided to make a bit of tea for herself.

“Yang’s okay, right?” said Ruby after a while.

“Huh?”

“I dunno,” said Ruby. “She woke you up last night? Is everything cool?”

“Oh. Yeah, everything’s cool.” Blake smiled. “We were just talking about what’s been going on recently. Nothing important.”

Ruby seemed to accept that explanation. “Okay,” she said with a happy nod. “And you’re okay too?”

“Yes, I’m fine as well,” said Blake. She found that she couldn’t tear her eyes away from Ruby and her earnest, open expression. “What’s with all the nosy questions, anyway?”

“Just gotta make sure my team’s in tip top shape,” Ruby told her with a bright smile.

“Oh yeah? How come you didn’t ask about Weiss?”

“She’s a big girl, I’m sure she can handle herself.” Before Blake could get even more lost in Ruby’s cheeky grin, the coffee machine behind them beeped.

Ruby grabbed the entire pot and an unholy amount of cream and sugar while Blake handled the tray, the mugs, and her own small cup of tea. With everything in hand, they headed back to their dorm.

Yang and Weiss were still in the same exact position as before when they returned. Blake reached up and handed Yang a steaming cup of coffee, made just the way she liked it, which she accepted gratefully.

“Jeez,” Blake said to her, watching as she took a long, deep swig. “Did you even sleep at all last night?”

“Uh, I definitely fell asleep at some point,” said Yang. “Then I realized Weiss was on top of me and I panicked. So… here we are.”

By then Weiss had begun to stir. She scrunched up her face, grumbling under her breath, and reached out blindly in the general direction of Yang’s free arm. Yang quickly realized what she was aiming for and gave her the cup of coffee.

Weiss took a sip, and then her expression soured. “Both you and Ruby,” she said with a groan. “Making things that should be enjoyed bitter insufferably sweet.”

“Hey,” Yang protested, offended. “Do not compare what I drink to the abomination that is Ruby’s pile of sugar with a few drops of coffee.”

As if on cue, Ruby dumped a fifth packet of sugar into her own cup. She looked up and stared at Yang for a few seconds before offering her a sheepish smile.

Despite claiming to hate it, Weiss took another sip before handing the coffee back to Yang. She pushed herself up off of her and climbed down the bed, still barely conscious.

“I call the shower first,” she said blearily.

“You better hurry up, then,” said Blake. “Class starts in thirty.”

“Wonderful.” Weiss kept dragging her feet the whole way to the bathroom, which Yang, Ruby and Blake all found very amusing. She was usually the first one awake in their dorm, but that certainly didn’t make her a morning person.

 


 

The afternoon was also very exciting. In addition to the promised partner sparring lesson, Professor Goodwitch was ready to finally give them a few more details of the Vytal Festival Tournament.

“As you should know by now, the Vytal Tournament is not only part of a celebration to honor the peace between the four kingdoms, but also a large portion of your annual final exams,” Professor Goodwitch began, walking up and down the stage as she talked. For once, all the students in the hall were paying full attention to her. “Each year competes in a separate division. Should you pass the qualifiers, you will be eligible to participate in two different brackets: one for teams, and one for singles. You will not be graded based on your final placement, but rather on your performance throughout. So make sure to do your best, even if you do not win.”

She stopped for a moment, taking the time to cast her gaze over the crowd. No one said anything. A few seconds later, she resumed pacing.

“Also, please do be aware that all rounds of the tournament will be recorded and broadcasted live across the world,” she continued. “And yes, this includes the qualifiers. The Vytal Tournament is a very popular event. If you do not wish to be watched by people all throughout Remnant, please notify me as soon as possible. You and your team will not have to participate, but the written portion of your final exam will be considerably longer. Are there any questions?”

Blake glanced around the room. Yang and Ruby seemed excited. Weiss was pretending to be indifferent. In the row in front of them, she could see Jaune shaking with fear. Pyrrha put a hand on his shoulder in an attempt to reassure him.

“Well then,” Goodwitch said, tapping her riding crop against her leg. “Let’s get on with the sparring now, shall we?”

So then they got to watch as team after team went up to the stage and tried to knock each other out. After every match Goodwitch offered each pair advice and tips on how to perform better for the tournament. Overall, even if they weren’t the ones fighting, it was a very productive class.

It wasn’t long before it was their turn. “Next up is Team RWBY,” Goodwitch called out, glancing at her scroll. “Ruby Rose and Weiss Schnee are up against Blake Belladonna and Yang Xiao Long. Please come down to the stage.”

Blake stood up, feeling weirdly apprehensive all of a sudden. Everyone in the hall had gone quiet and was now watching the four of them as they made their way down the steps. Yang caught Blake’s eye and flashed her a smile and a thumbs up.

She took Gambol Shroud off her back and held it tightly in one hand, checking the pistol magazine for what was probably the tenth time that day. It contained nine normal bullets and one single ice Dust-infused cartridge at the very end.

Technically, it wasn’t stealing. A while ago Weiss had left one of her suitcases filled with Dust on the shelf under the window and told them that they were allowed to borrow it in moderation. Blake just hadn’t told Weiss she was going to take some. It was totally fine.

She didn’t know why she was so nervous. Earlier before class she and Yang had a thirty second conversation about what their battle plan was. All she had to do was follow it.

It was simple. “You get Weiss. I’ll handle Ruby. Never let them get close to each other because I don’t even wanna think about how in sync they may or may not have gotten.”

“Weiss is scary,” Blake had said. It made her realize that even though they had an awful lot of sparring sessions at Beacon, this was one of the few times they’d actually have to fight each other instead of someone else outside the team.

“So is Ruby,” Yang had admitted. “But you know who the best two people at hand to hand combat on our team are.” She’d leaned in close, grinning. “And it’s not them.”

“Okay. So disarm Weiss.” Blake took a deep breath. “Alright. I can do that. Maybe.”

In terms of pure skill, Weiss was actually one of the few people in their year who came close to being able to keep up with Pyrrha. Blake liked to consider herself fast, but Weiss with her rapier was a force to be reckoned with.

And now they were standing across from each other onstage, with the entire rest of the class watching them with a lot more attention and interest than all of the previous matches. If Blake strained her ears hard enough she could barely make out the excited whispers among the students.

Weiss and Ruby were also sporting matching cocky grins, which Blake figured should have aggravated her, but instead was just making her heart feel funny things.

“Ready, girls?” Goodwitch asked them. “You know the rules.”

Blake lowered herself into a crouch, her katana in one hand, the sheath in the other. Next to her, Yang loaded her gauntlets.

“The match begins… now.”

Almost instantly, Blake heard the sound of a gravity glyph forming behind her. Before she could react to it, however, Ruby had already launched herself across the stage, feet-first, slamming into her stomach and sending them both colliding with the glyph. She fell involuntarily to her knees from the impact, and then immediately had to roll aside to dodge a row of icicles shooting up out of the ground.

So, that was fun.

She could hear Yang’s signature shotgun shells pounding off of the metal of Ruby’s scythe and their subsequent yelling and taunting, so they’d already begun duking it out. Still slightly dazed from that initial attack, she fired off three shots to gauge Weiss’s position while she gathered her bearings. Two of them missed, but she heard Weiss knock the third aside with her rapier. So she launched herself at the sound, her katana already swinging.

Blake used both her blades in a small, almost cautious chain of strikes, mostly as an experiment to try and figure out Weiss’s fighting style. That was her mistake. As soon as Weiss had finished blocking and dodging all of the hits, she didn’t hesitate to counter with her own. She was quick to gain momentum, using her rapier with graceful accuracy and speed, and soon enough Blake found herself forced to go on the defensive.

She tried to maneuver around Weiss, dodging her attacks with the help of her clones and attempting to get in a few hits of her own, but Weiss was surprisingly good at keeping up. Blake saw Weiss’s eyes follow her every movement, clearly waiting for something. She didn’t realize what until a split second too late.

Weiss swung. Blake summoned a clone to take the hit while she jumped a step back. Too late she noticed Weiss rotating the chamber on Myrtenaster to hard light dust. Suddenly, a giant forcefield formed between them, catching Blake mid-swing and sending her stumbling back. The distance and disorientation gave Weiss just enough time to generate six miniature glyphs in front of her, and with a twirl of her rapier, she began shooting glowing projectiles at Blake.

She felt the impact of every single one, centered on her midsection. Weiss and Ruby really weren’t being kind to her stomach today. Blake flew back into the air and hit the ground roughly. She coughed, trying to push herself back to her feet.

A few feet away, she heard a victorious shout from Yang followed by a cry of distress from Ruby. Not long after, Crescent Rose went sailing through the air, landing on the opposite side of Blake, far away from Ruby. Blake figured Ruby would soon be in the process of using her semblance to get it back, so she shot four bullets at the scythe’s handle, sending it skidding across the stage. Sure enough, Ruby re-materialized at the spot where her scythe had been just a moment ago, only to find it not there. The split second of confusion was enough for Yang to jump in and uppercut her sister with a shot from Ember Celica.

“Thanks, Blake!” she yelled, before doing a brutal kick in midair that punted Ruby across the stage. Ruby was yelling too, but it sounded more out of frustration than actual pain. Blake struggled to get to her feet, a process that she was forced to speed up when Weiss shot a column of fire at her.

When she finally stood up, Weiss was standing there as well, waiting for her. Blake expected to find arrogance written all over her expression, but was surprised to notice that Weiss was actually looking more supportive and patient than anything.

“That didn’t hurt too much, did it?” she asked, the smile never leaving her face.

“You play dirty,” Blake responded, one hand on her stomach. She fired off a bullet, just for good measure. As expected, Weiss parried it easily. She fell into her classic stance, with Myrtenaster pointed outwards from her chest.

Blake charged.

The second time around Blake refused to let up on her onslaught, now knowing that Weiss would only take advantage of any openings in her attacks. She began to notice that Weiss’s tactics were centered around trying to push Blake away from herself. Apparently she had deemed Blake’s swordplay dangerous enough that her goal was to knock her back just far enough so she could use her semblance to tip the scales. As she dodged slash after slash, Blake also realized that Weiss’s fighting style was very practiced and calculated. There was a basic pattern to her moves. She liked to strike once, then do a quick spin and attack again from the opposite direction.

Blake grinned and unloaded the last ordinary bullet from the magazine into the ground. Weiss narrowed her eyes. She pressed harder, and did the first slash. Blake summoned a clone to block it. Then Weiss, as anticipated, turned around, swinging her rapier from the other side. Blake jumped to dodge that strike.

As Weiss brought Myrtenaster back for a sharp stab, Blake landed on her knees, her finger on the trigger of her pistol.

Weiss lunged. Blake fired and activated her semblance at the same time. She jumped back, watching as Weiss lodged Myrtenaster directly into her newly-formed ice clone.

Blake didn’t give Weiss time for the shock to set in. She tackled her to the ground, forcing Weiss to let go of her weapon. There was a minor scuffle before Blake emerged victorious on top, pinning Weiss firmly to the ground.

Weiss’s expression morphed from surprise, to panic, to a few seconds of defiance before she gave up struggling. Blake felt extremely proud of herself. Now all she needed to do was wait for Yang to finish knocking Ruby out.

It took a few more moments before both of them realized just what kind of position they were in. Blake’s eyes widened.

“Oh my god,” Weiss breathed out. “Blake—”

Blake was frozen in shock. Luckily, so was Weiss, so she didn’t have to worry about any sneak attacks. Her mind was starting to go to places that she would never admit to anyone, ever.

“Hey, nice going, Blake—oh, holy shit.” On the other side of the stage Yang stopped fighting abruptly, unable to take her gaze off of Weiss and Blake. Her eyes transformed from red back to purple, and then she just stood there, her expression indicating that her brain had stopped functioning. Blake could relate to that feeling.

Above them, the entire hall had gone completely silent. Blake figured she would be utterly mortified if not for the fact that her brain was flat out refusing to process things at the moment. Underneath her, Weiss was struggling to keep her breathing even.

Then she saw Ruby twitch.

Before Blake could call out a warning to Yang, Ruby had let out a battle cry and dashed across the stage to pick up her scythe, retracting it into its rifle mode. With one violent, massive swing, she charged directly at her sister with her semblance activated and clocked her full on in the face with it.

Yang went flying across the stage and slammed into a pillar built into the wall. It shattered under the impact, raining debris all over her as she slumped to the ground. They all heard a buzzer sound. Yang was officially out.

The commotion had apparently been enough to snap Weiss out of her stupor, because in one swift motion she had shoved Blake off and rolled over, turning the tables on her. Now Blake was the one pinned to the ground. Her weapons didn’t matter anymore because Weiss had a tight grip on her wrists, and her pistol magazine was empty. Ruby was walking up to them with Crescent Rose in hand.

Blake looked up into Weiss’s eyes. There was something going on in her stomach, and it wasn’t from the two attacks she’d sustained in the battle.

She glanced up at the scoreboard above them. Ruby and Weiss both had roughly a third of their Aura left, while Blake herself was hovering dangerously close to the cutoff. For a brief moment she wondered if she could somehow take them both out on her own, but one look at both of their expressions quickly changed her mind.

“Yeah,” she somehow managed to say. “I give up. I forfeit.”

The lights went back on. Professor Goodwitch walked onto the stage. “Well, the match goes to Miss Rose and Miss Schnee, then,” she said. “Well done, girls. That was a good battle.” None of them missed the way she pointedly ignored how the fight had ended.

 


 

Goodwitch didn’t have a lot of advice to offer them. Most of it just boiled down to “stop getting fucking distracted by each other” anyway.

When they returned to their seats in the halls, a lot of people were staring at them, some in awe, others looking bewildered. Ever since initiation they’d slowly been gaining attention for being one of the most talented teams in their year. And now, in more recent times, they had begun growing a reputation for being the weirdest as well.

Nothing else super interesting happened for the rest of the lesson. They got to watch Sun and Neptune cream their other teammates Sage and Scarlet, as well as Team JNPR engage in a surprisingly close battle. Just like they said they would the day before, Ren and Nora focused most of their attention on Jaune, while Pyrrha spent most of her effort trying to keep them at bay. After he’d gone down, however, Pyrrha stopped holding back. Nora managed to land one solid hit on her, and Ren got a couple shots in while she was off guard, but besides that, Pyrrha won by a good fair margin.

Now classes were over for the day and they were back in their dorms. Yang was propped up against Weiss’s pillows while Weiss herself fussed over her and her bloody nose.

“How is it even still bleeding?” she said with a huff, trying to press tissues to Yang’s face.

“I dunno,” said Yang. “Why don’t you ask Ruby?”

“I said I was sorry!” Ruby whined.

Blake tried to laugh, but her aching stomach wouldn’t let her. Her entire midsection had bruised an unpleasant shade of purple. She was curled up into a ball on her bed, with her head in Ruby’s lap. “Yeah, Ruby,” Blake said, joining in the conversation. “Isn’t Yang supposed to be the powerhouse of our team? You did a real number on my stomach, too.”

“Ah! I’m so sorry,” Ruby cried. Blake didn’t even have to look up at Ruby’s expression to know that she meant it. “I got carried away. But Yang wasn’t holding back either! She was beating me up with no mercy, so I had to fight back!”

“I have no regrets, sis. I know your scythe is no joke.” Yang turned her head to grin at Ruby, which made Weiss frown.

“Stop moving around so much,” she told Yang, putting her hand on Yang’s cheek to move her back to face her.

“Yes ma’am.”

Weiss sighed, mostly out of exasperation, but they could hear the hint of affection as well. “And you’re one to talk, Blake,” she said with a faint smile. “You were consistently putting a lot of pressure on me, you know. You’re a worthy opponent. Honestly, I’m glad that we’re on the same team.”

A lot of people had told Blake she was good in the past. She was fully aware of the fact that she was one of the better fighters in their year. But somehow, hearing it from Weiss was a thousand times more gratifying. “Thank you,” she said, and she meant it.

“You looked so cool too,” Ruby pitched in, a giant grin on her face. She was running her hand through Blake’s hair. “I actually got distracted for a while watching you fight. That’s how Yang gave me this.” She pointed at the bruise on the side of her forehead. “If I lose a significant portion of my brain cells from today I’m blaming it on her.”

“If I die of blood loss through my nose I’m blaming it on you,” Yang retorted.

Despite the fact that they were currently all varying levels of beaten up, the mood in the dorm was pretty pleasant.

Then Blake met Weiss’s gaze.

All the memories of the end of the sparring match came flooding back.

It shouldn’t have been weird. It shouldn’t have been such a big deal, but Blake found herself replaying the moment over and over in her head, and she couldn’t help the way she warmed up inside at the thought. Judging by Weiss’s expression, she was thinking along the same lines as her. Blake wasn’t sure how she felt about that.

It wasn’t long before Yang noticed them staring at each other. Ruby’s hand had gone still in Blake’s hair.

The four of them were silent for a long time.

“Well then!” Weiss suddenly said out of nowhere. “I think I’ll be off to… uh, study! That’s right. Studying.” She grabbed Yang’s hand and pushed it to her face to keep the tissues in place, and then she stood up, stumbling a bit in the process. “Goodbye!”

And with that, she had dashed out of the room with remarkable speed.

A few moments later, Ruby let out a sigh. “I’ll go check up on her,” she said. “You two stay here and relax, okay? Don’t overexert yourselves.” She gently lifted Blake’s head off her lap to get up from the bed and then raced out the door as well.

Now it was just Yang and Blake left. They stared at each other from across the room.

Yang let out a small laugh. “It’s pretty funny that the youngest and most innocent one out of all of us is the one who’s handling this whole situation with the most maturity.”

Blake just nodded. Her brain felt fried.

She didn’t know how much time had passed, since she had more or less stopped paying attention to reality, but eventually Yang spoke up again. “You know,” she said slowly, “it feels pretty lonely all by myself over here.”

“I am not moving,” Blake told her. “Not with my stomach like this.” It was also because she was still too embarrassed to get out of fetal position, but she wasn’t about to let Yang know that.

“Alright then.” Yang grinned and got up from Weiss’s bed, one hand still pressed to the tissues on her face. She walked over and settled down, taking the place of her sister, with Blake’s head now in her lap.

Blake glanced up into Yang’s eyes and immediately regretted it, because Yang was looking back at her with the softest smile on her face.

“Stop that,” she managed to say.

“Stop what?” Yang asked innocently.

“Don’t look at me like that.”

“Like what?”

Blake groaned. Yang just laughed a little and started combing through Blake’s hair with her free hand. “Like—like I’m something special,” she mumbled.

If it was even possible, Yang’s expression just softened further. “Even if it’s true?” she asked.

Blake kept her mouth shut because otherwise she’d probably have made a fool of herself. She turned away from Yang and let out a huff. There were too many feelings running through her chest for her to process.

Yang’s touch was so gentle in her hair. The room fell quiet, and in that moment, it was just the two of them, recovering and relaxing together. Blake closed her eyes and enjoyed the feeling.

 


 

Weiss was sitting alone at one of the tables in the library. Earlier she’d pulled a random book off of one of the shelves under the pretense of studying, and now it was lying open in front of her, forgotten.

There were a million thoughts running through her brain, but it felt like they were crashing themselves into walls and dissipating before they could properly form. So Weiss ended up doing a lot of nothing except staring blankly at the surface of the table.

It was a while before an annoyingly loud voice jarred her out of her thoughts.

“Sup, Ice Queen.”

Weiss snapped back into reality. Sun had poked his head into her line of sight and was now grinning cheekily down at her. He flashed her two finger guns before she groaned and turned away.

“What do you want?” she asked.

“Nothing.” Sun pulled out the chair across from her with his tail and sat down. “You just looked like you were mentally beating yourself up. So I thought I’d come over and see if you were okay.”

“Why do you care?” Weiss asked suspiciously.

Sun scoffed. “What, am I not allowed to be your friend or something? That’s rude.”

“What? No, I—”

“Uh, Sun? Are you done yet?” Neptune appeared from behind a bookshelf, brandishing a small stack of papers. Then he noticed the other person at the table. “Oh. Hey, Weiss. What are you two talking about?”

“Ask your teammate,” said Weiss, thoroughly confused. “I don’t know what he’s doing here.”

“Come sit down with us,” Sun told Neptune, patting the seat next to him. “We can both be good friends to Weiss together.”

Neptune blinked. “Right…” he said. He looked about as confused as Weiss felt, but he did as Sun said and sat down with them.

“So!” said Sun once they were all settled, leaning forward and resting his chin on his hand. “What’s going on?”

Weiss stared at him. She knew deep down that Sun was genuinely just trying to help, but she didn’t even know how to go about voicing her concerns. She fiddled with the corner of a page in her book, trying to gather her thoughts.

“I don’t know,” she finally said with a small sigh. “It’ll probably sound really dumb to you.”

“Pfft, don’t worry about sounding dumb,” Sun reassured her. “Last week Neptune woke me up in the middle of the night because he thought he’d lost his favorite tie.”

Neptune groaned and buried his face in his hands. “That was not something I wanted anybody to know about, thank you very much.”

Weiss stifled a laugh. It didn’t take long for her to sober up again. “Um, Sun,” she said, “can I ask you something kind of weird?”

“Yeah, go for it.”

“Do you… like Blake?”

“Huh?” Sun stared at her for a few moments. “You mean like, like-like?”

“Yes, I mean like-like,” said Weiss, struggling not to roll her eyes.

Sun seemed to ponder the question. He glanced at Neptune, who just shrugged back. “Yeah, I guess I do like her,” he finally said.

She’d been expecting that response, but for some reason, something in her chest flared up at it anyway. It was a burning, vaguely unpleasant sensation that was making her consider socking Sun in the jaw. Conflicted, she forced herself to be rational. “Right,” she said. “Well, I guess I’m curious… how do you know?”

“What? How do I know that I like Blake?” Sun asked. Weiss nodded. The only thing keeping her embarrassment at bay was her pride. Thankfully, Sun didn’t seem to notice or care. “Hm. Well, I mean, she’s super cool, so I always enjoy talking to her. Sometimes I like talking about her when she’s not there.”

“Tell me about it,” Neptune interjected.

Sun glared at him. “Shut up,” he told him. Then he turned his attention back to Weiss. “I just always wanna hang out with her, you know? Just being in her presence makes me pretty happy.”

“Well, that’s not very helpful,” said Weiss, mostly to herself. She had gone back to staring at the table again. “I can’t exactly not hang out with them, seeing as they’re my teammates—” Then her brain caught up with her mouth. She covered her face with her hands, mortified. “Oh my god. You two heard nothing.”

Sun and Neptune were now both staring at her, looking extremely lost.

“We heard what?” Neptune asked.

“Hey,” said Sun, throwing his hands up in surrender. He seemed to understand the situation a little bit better. “If you want me to back off, I will. I won’t get offended. I just want Blake to be happy, no matter who she’s with.”

“No—that’s not what I—”

“Weiss.” The sincerity she heard in Sun’s voice shocked her. She didn’t realize he was capable of being serious. “You know it’s okay to have feelings… right? And not even the romantic kind. Just emotions in general. Quit beating yourself up over it.”

“I’m sorry,” Weiss said automatically. She could feel herself deflating.

“Hey, don’t sweat it,” said Sun, grinning. He leaned back in his chair, resting on its back two legs. “Sometimes we all need help getting the stick out of our asses.” And just like that, Weiss’s general mood defaulted back into exasperation.

“Thank you for that colorful imagery,” she said.

“No problem,” said Sun. His smile faltered a little upon seeing Weiss’s expression. “Right. Bad joke is bad. Really, though. I know we didn’t exactly get off to the best start, but… um, I’m willing to listen if you ever need someone from outside of your team. I promise I’m good at keeping secrets. Better than Neptune, anyway.”

“Someday you’ll be able to go five minutes without insulting me,” Neptune said, rolling his eyes.

Weiss smiled a little at that. “I’ll… keep that in mind,” she said to Sun, before looking back down at the table. “…Thanks.”

“I’m always glad to help!” Sun proclaimed, proudly flexing his arms. Neptune groaned. Before any of them could say anything else, a voice sounded behind them.

“Weiss?”

Weiss glanced up and saw Ruby standing there, looking cautious. She tried not to jump in surprise and failed.

“Ruby!” she said, shooting up from the chair. “What are you doing here?”

“Checking up on you,” said Ruby, raising an eyebrow. She tilted her head. “What are you doing here? I thought you hated Sun.”

“What? No!” Weiss protested. “I never hated him. I just believed his law-breaking tendencies were, you know, rather… unflattering.”

They all looked at him. He laughed nervously, scratching the back of his neck with one hand.

Ruby turned back to face Weiss, her expression softening into concern. “Are you okay?” she asked.

Weiss let out a sigh. “I don’t know,” she confessed. “I’m just feeling a bit… strange, I guess.”

“Is there anything I can do for you?” Ruby asked, reaching out and putting her hand on Weiss’s arm. The pure, unfiltered worry in Ruby’s expression combined with how gentle her touch was against Weiss was enough to make her internally combust. She had to take a deep breath to compose herself.

“Walk with me?” she asked. “I need to clear my head.”

“Of course.” Ruby smiled. Her hand trailed down Weiss’s arm until she latched onto her wrist, and she turned to wave goodbye to Sun and Neptune before leading the way to the library exit.

Weiss looked behind her as well. Sun was watching their interaction with great interest. She glared at him, but was soon distracted by Ruby’s continued tugging on her wrist.

Once they were back in the hallway, Ruby turned to face her, beaming. “Where to?” she asked.

“Well, it’s a nice day outside,” said Weiss, “so I was thinking the gardens?”

“Ooh! That’s perfect.” In her excitement, Ruby accidentally activated her semblance and disappeared down the hallway in a flash. Weiss watched her go, waving aside a few rose petals that had fluttered too close to her face, and found herself unable to feel annoyed. She hurried to chase after Ruby.

Weiss found her inspecting a batch of roses in the middle of the gardens. “Thank you for leaving me in the dust like that,” she said as soon as she’d caught up.

“Sorry,” Ruby replied with a small laugh. “I just remembered that I’ve been meaning to show you something.” She leaned in closer to the rose bush and picked one out, then turned to Weiss, holding it out proudly in front of her.

Weiss raised an eyebrow. “Yes, Ruby, that is a flower,” she said, amused.

“Yeah, but look at it.” Ruby grinned and angled the rose so that Weiss could see the inside of the petals more clearly. “It’s red and white. Just like you and me. It’s like it was made specially for the two of us.”

“That’s…” said Weiss, at a loss for words.

“Pretty cool, huh?” Ruby finished for her. “Here.” She pressed the rose into Weiss’s hands. “It’s a present from me.”

Weiss could feel her heart slowly melting, with the way Ruby was looking at her so earnest and full of happiness. Her gaze wandered over Ruby’s face, until it landed on the nasty bruise on the side of her forehead.

“Doesn’t that hurt?” Weiss asked in an attempt to shift the attention off of herself.

“Huh? Oh, this?” said Ruby, pointing to the bruise. When Weiss nodded, she just laughed. “This is nothing. Don’t worry about it. You should see some of the injuries Yang and I got when we picked fights with each other back before we’d unlocked our Aura.”

Weiss didn’t even know what to say to that. Thankfully, Ruby didn’t seem to mind. She just took Weiss by the hand again and led her around the gardens, occasionally stopping to point out flowers she thought were pretty before running off again. Weiss just let her, content to simply go along with her and enjoy the ride.

She still had a lot of things on her mind, but Ruby made it easy to forget about it all, even if just for a few moments. Weiss smiled, feeling warm inside, and hurried to make sure Ruby didn’t get too far out of her sight.

Chapter 3

Notes:

yeet

Chapter Text

Yang and Ruby glared at each other from across the room, sitting atop their respective beds. Ruby narrowed her eyes. She was tossing a Lien card up and down with her left hand.

Then, without warning, she chucked it towards Yang. The card curved a bit to the side while in midair, but Yang simply reached out and clamped her fingers over it. She grinned at Ruby, who just rolled her eyes and stuck out her tongue in response.

Earlier in the evening they had at least been pretending to study. Ruby still had her textbook lying open in her lap, and Yang’s notebook and pencil were sitting on the bed a few feet away, but now both of them were completely focused on this new game they’d accidentally started up together. The unspoken rules were simple enough. They took turns throwing Lien at each other, and whoever failed to catch it had to give the other person the card to keep. The game was actually pretty even so far, with Yang ahead by only a hundred.

Now it was her turn. Yang twirled the fifty Lien card in her hand, never breaking eye contact with Ruby. The seconds ticked by. She could tell Ruby was getting unnerved, although she was doing her best to hide it.

With a flick of her hand, Yang sent the card whizzing through the air, where it did a beautiful upward curve before shooting back down at an angle. Ruby had to lunge to try and grab it, but she couldn’t get a solid grip on the card. It bounced off her palm and fell to the ground. Her bed creaked and swung a little.

“You pick that up,” Ruby said with a pout.

“What? No way,” Yang protested. “I won that one. Besides, you’re closer to it.”

“Well it’s yours now, so if you want it so bad, go get it yourself.”

Weiss was sitting at her desk with her back to them, but they could almost feel the silent waves of judgement radiating off of her. She got up and picked up the Lien from the carpet, walking over to give it back to Yang.

“Thanks, Weiss,” Yang said, grinning.

Weiss rolled her eyes. “I hope you’re planning on compensating me with all this money you’re pawning off of Ruby.”

“If that’s what you want,” said Yang, her smile widening. Weiss just huffed, looking embarrassed, and went back to her desk. Yang stared after her for a while, feeling her chest warm up, before she looked back over at Ruby, who was pulling her wallet out of her pocket with great reluctance.

A few minutes later Blake returned to the dorm. “Hey, guys,” she said as she entered, closing the door behind her. Yang thought she looked a little distracted. “What day is it today?”

“Thursday,” Weiss told her.

“Thank you.” Blake gave her a small smile and walked over to her bed. Yang watched her go, feeling slightly worried. Unfortunately, Ruby also chose that moment to fling the current hundred Lien card towards her. Caught off guard, Yang didn’t react in time, and it bounced off her face and landed on the floor again.

“Um, Blake?” Yang asked awkwardly, leaning over the edge of her bed. Blake had already reached down to pick the card up. She held it up for Yang to take, but then caught sight of Ruby gesturing wildly towards her.

“It’s mine now,” said Ruby, looking far too proud of herself. Blake looked slightly confused, but didn’t move as she watched Ruby hop down and walk over to take the card from her.

“What are you two even doing?” she asked.

“Getting rich,” Yang answered.

“Shut up,” said Ruby. “I literally just won a hundred Lien off of you.”

Weiss let out a loud sigh. “They’ve been at this for almost an hour,” she said to Blake. “I’ve been reduced to the role of their trash collector.”

“Oh. Okay then.” Blake glanced up at Yang, and then over at Ruby, who was returning to her bed. Then she shrugged, picked a book off of the nearby shelf, and settled onto her own bed to read. Yang turned her attention back to Ruby.

Their little game got more intense after that. In the spirit of good sportsmanship, neither of them were making their throws impossible to catch, but that didn’t stop them from doing dumb things like angling the card off the window or bouncing it from one bed to the ceiling to the other bed.

Then, after a particularly lengthy round, Ruby chucked the card directly at Yang, with as much speed and force as she could muster. It flew past her head, and Yang had to reach far out behind her to catch it. Unfortunately she had misjudged how much space she had left on her bed and ended up toppling over the edge, only just barely managing to grab onto the frame before she hit the ground.

“Hey, Blake,” she said conversationally, as if she wasn’t hanging over the side of the bunk by one arm. She made sure her feet were planted firmly on the floor before letting go of the frame, dusting her hands off a little. Blake just stared, but her eyes were unfocused. Yang frowned at that. “You alright there?”

It took a few moments for Blake to react. She shook her head, as if to clear her mind, and then let out a small sigh. “I’m okay. I just… I don’t like all this sitting around and doing nothing.”

“What do you mean?” Yang asked.

“It’s the White Fang,” said Blake, looking away. She seemed uneasy. “I’ve been checking the news lately, and they’re being unnaturally quiet. Which usually means they’re planning something big. It just makes me nervous not knowing what it is.”

“Well, what do you want to do about it, then?” said Weiss. They all looked at her. She’d turned around in her seat and was now watching the two of them intently. Ruby was listening in as well.

Blake shifted uncomfortably. “I’m—I’m not sure. The White Fang has meetings every other Thursday, about an hour from now. I know a while ago I said that trying to break in again so soon was a bad idea, but…” She trailed off.

“The knowledge is worth the risk,” Yang said, nodding in understanding. “It’s okay if you want to go. None of us will stop you.”

“Yeah,” Ruby agreed. “Just promise you’ll be safe. And if there’s any way we can help, just say the word.”

“Thanks, guys,” said Blake. She looked down at her hands for a few moments before slowly turning her gaze back over to Yang. “Actually, if it’s okay, I want Yang to come with me.”

Yang blinked. She pointed at herself. “Me?”

“Her?” said Weiss, equally incredulous.

“Yes, her,” Blake answered. Yang was glad to see that the discomfort in her expression had been replaced with a small, more hopeful smile. “We can get to the city much faster with her motorcycle. And it’ll be useful in case the worst comes to pass and we need to make a quick getaway.”

Yang just laughed and headed over to her desk, tossing the Lien card she was still holding onto its surface. “Oh, I get it,” she said, grinning at Blake. “You just want me for my ride.”

Blake just did an adorable little head tilt in response, her innocent smile neither confirming nor denying the claim. Yang felt her heart go crazy at that.

It didn’t take very long for the two of them to get ready. There wasn’t much to prepare, besides checking to see that their weapons were working fine and fully stocked. Weiss stopped them at the doorway right before they left.

“You two better be careful,” she told them, busying herself with smoothing out Blake’s outfit. “I want occasional updates! And don’t hesitate to call us if you need backup.”

“Of course,” said Blake. She seemed perfectly happy to just stand there and let Weiss fuss over her, despite how excessive it all was.

Meanwhile Ruby came up to Yang and tackled her in a hug. “Jeez, sis,” said Yang, laughing a little as she wrapped her arms around Ruby, lifting her off the ground. “You’re acting like you’re sending me off to war or something.”

“I mean, I basically am,” Ruby responded, kicking her feet in the air for a bit before hopping back down. “You remember what happened last time.”

“Yeah,” said Yang.

“We’ll do our best to make sure that doesn’t happen again,” Blake reassured her, almost sheepishly.

They all looked at each other.

Yang’s eyes landed on Weiss, and she grinned. “Do I get a hug from you, too?”

Weiss rolled her eyes, but she held her arms out. Yang eagerly stepped forward and sank into her embrace.

“You’re so dramatic,” said Weiss.

“And you’re the one putting up with me,” Yang told her, closing her eyes and relaxing into the hug. There was just something about Weiss’s touch that made her feel so grounded and safe. Her heart fluttered inside her chest. She almost didn’t want to let go.

When they finally pulled apart, Yang caught sight of Ruby letting go of Blake’s hands. “Well, I guess we shouldn’t waste any more time,” said Blake.

Ruby nodded. “Take care, you two!”

Then Yang followed Blake out of the room.

 


 

The last person Yang had taken with her on her motorcycle had been Neptune, and he’d spent the entire ride trying to stay as far away from her as possible. Blake, on the other hand, was pressed right up against her back, her arms wrapped tightly around Yang’s stomach. The wind blowing against her front did nothing to dissipate the warmth that was building up between them. Yang enjoyed the feeling. She just hoped that Blake couldn’t feel her muscles jumping everywhere she was touching her.

Blake had shown her the location of the warehouse earlier. It didn’t take too long to make it there, and she parked a good three blocks away to avoid attracting unwanted attention.

“You want me to stay back here and wait for you?” she asked, watching as Blake hopped down from the motorcycle. “I know my recon skills aren’t exactly… the greatest.”

“That would probably be for the best,” said Blake with a small smile. “I’ll try not to be too long.”

“Alright.” Yang got off her motorcycle as well and sat down on the curb as Blake headed off, soon disappearing into the distance. Now all she had to do was sit there and wait patiently for Blake’s return.

The time ticked by slowly. Yang knew Blake could handle herself, but she still couldn’t help worrying just a tiny bit. She tried to distract herself by inspecting her surroundings.

They were currently in the rougher part of Vale, deep in the industrial district. There were few people out on the streets, and those who were walked by briskly, trying their best to ignore the surroundings. It was easy to see why the White Fang would choose a place like this to hold their regular meetings. Half of the buildings here seemed either broken down or abandoned.

Yang shifted restlessly. Sitting around and waiting was not her strong suit, but she tried her best for Blake’s sake. Eventually, she ended up pulling out her scroll and booting up a video game to play.

A good while later, right as Yang was considering calling Weiss and Ruby to pass the time faster, Blake showed up again, looking slightly out of breath.

“Hey,” she said as she approached. Yang stood up abruptly and rushed over to her. The first thing she noticed was that Blake’s bow was gone.

“Hey. Everything good back there?” Yang asked her.

“Yeah,” said Blake. “Well, sort of. No one saw me, but I can’t get in. They have guards all around the warehouse, at every single entrance. Even on the roof. And they’re checking every Faunus who walks through the doors, and they've all got some sort of special identification.” She winced.

“Damn. Was it this bad last time, too?”

“No, they really went overboard with the security tonight. The whole mess I started with Roman Torchwick must have set them on edge.”

“Yikes,” said Yang.

“It’s pretty bad,” Blake agreed. “I considered knocking a few of them out and sneaking in that way, but I’m willing to bet that it’s just as heavily guarded on the inside too. It’s just not worth it.”

“Well, what’s the plan, then?” Yang asked.

Blake sighed and ran her hand through the top of her hair. One of her cat ears flicked in agitation. “I’m not sure.” Yang could tell she was struggling to keep the frustration out of her voice. “The meeting’s going to end soon anyway, so I guess trying to sneak in is a moot point by now.”

But then her expression grew thoughtful.

“What is it?” Yang asked.

“Nothing,” said Blake, except now she seemed more determined. She reached out and tugged Yang forward by the wrist. “Just got an idea. Follow my lead.”

Yang, still very confused, just let Blake guide her across the streets, crossing roads and ducking behind buildings when necessary. When they were within a block of the warehouse, Blake knelt down behind a stack of crates and motioned for Yang to do the same.

They didn’t have to hide there for very long. Soon enough, the meeting apparently ended, because Faunus began trickling past them in pairs and small groups. They’d probably taken off their uniforms and masks beforehand and left in small numbers to avoid seeming suspicious. Blake’s grip on Yang’s wrist tightened, like she was preparing for something.

“Okay,” she said to Yang, her eyes fixated on the Faunus as they walked past. “Let’s go.”

“Wait, what?”

“Just trust me.” And just like that, Blake dragged Yang out of their hiding spot, her hand slipping into Yang’s. They made it about ten feet without incident.

Then they crashed into a pair of Faunus.

“Hey, watch where you’re going!” the one with dog ears growled, shoving Yang back roughly. His companion, a guy who was sporting deer antlers on his head, didn’t say anything, but he was looking at Yang with an expression of distaste.

Yang drew herself up to her full height, letting go of Blake’s hand to grab the dog Faunus by the front of his shirt. “You watch where you’re going, ass,” she replied, feeling the anger rise up inside her. The guy stared back, furious and defiant.

“I’m not the one who mindlessly crashed into someone else, you filthy human—”

“Wanna try that one again, pal?”

“Whoa, guys!” Blake interrupted, putting a hand on both of their shoulders to push them apart. She kept a hold on Yang before turning back to the guy, her expression both panicked and apologetic. “I’m sorry about my friend here. Really. She’s just a little clumsy, we didn’t mean to bump into you, I swear. Humans, you know?” She laughed nervously.

Yang had no idea what was going on anymore, so she decided to keep her mouth shut. The two Faunus had their full attention on Blake, their gaze landing on her cat ears. The dog Faunus looked like he wanted to keep picking a fight with them, but his friend held him back.

“Just get out of our sight,” he ended up grumbling, shoving past them angrily. The other guy looked at the two of them, shrugged, and then followed after him.

Yang turned around and saw that they were still looking back at them, suspicious. She clenched her fist, but soon after felt Blake’s hand on her arm.

“Come on,” Blake said quietly. “We should get going.”

“Wait—but what about the—”

“Not here.”

So they headed back through the streets where they came from. Yang felt slightly dazed the entire time. Everything had happened so fast. She’d barely had time to process what exactly was happening, and by the time she did it was all over anyway.

“You wanna tell me what that was all about?” she finally said, when they had reached her motorcycle.

“I’m sorry. I panicked.” Blake took a deep breath and pulled a scroll out of her pocket. “I’m not actually that good at this sort of stuff. I needed a distraction to pull it off.”

The pieces slowly clicked into place in Yang’s head. “That’s not yours, is it?”

“Nope.” Blake grinned at her and twirled the scroll in her hand before pocketing it again. “Which means we should probably leave before that guy realizes it’s missing.”

Yang laughed. “Don’t need to tell me twice.” She turned towards her motorcycle.

“Wait,” said Blake, grabbing onto Yang’s wrist. “One last thing.” She was holding something out in her other hand. It was her bow. “Can you help me put this back on?”

“Oh, yeah, sure.” Yang took the bow in her hands and brought it up to the top of Blake’s head. While she tried to get it situated properly, her fingers accidentally brushed against one of Blake’s ears. It twitched. Yang jumped a little. “Shit. Sorry.”

“It’s fine.” Just for good measure, Blake twitched her ear again, this time on purpose. And then she had the audacity to grin when Yang jumped again.

“Asshole,” said Yang. She got the bow in its proper place and then pulled her hand back. Blake was still smiling at her, and it was doing funny things to her heart. “Get on the bike before I change my mind and ditch you here.”

Blake held onto her just as tightly as she had on the way there. Yang felt like she was going to die.

 


 

It was nearing the end of summer. They were in that weird time period during the year where it wasn’t quite fall yet, but the breeze was starting to get noticeably colder, and the leaves were showing the first signs of changing color. The students at Beacon were determined to make the most out of these final bits of good weather while it lasted. There were kids all over campus outside, relaxing on the lawn or studying together on benches around the courtyard.

Yang was on her way to the training rooms when she spotted Pyrrha and Nora sitting nearby on a grassy hill. Nora caught sight of her soon after, and waved her over.

“Yang!” Nora cried as she approached, raising one arm up in glee. “My favorite member of Team RWBY.”

Yang laughed and high-fived her. “You want me to tell the rest of my team that you said that?”

“They won’t believe you.” Nora stuck out her tongue. Yang couldn’t argue with that. “Where are you headed, anyway? It’s like, an hour until dinnertime.”

“Just going for some quick sparring,” said Yang, pointing behind her. “Ruby wants us to get together and practice some more for the qualifiers next week.”

“Ooh, you guys are so dedicated,” said Nora, impressed. She looked over at Pyrrha and grinned. “Now if only our fearless leader could be as devoted to the team as Ruby is.”

Pyrrha sighed, but her expression was amused. “Nora, you pretend to fall asleep every time Jaune tries to schedule a team training session.”

“Suddenly, I can’t hear anything.” Nora turned her attention back to Yang. “Come sit with us for a few minutes! I wanna catch up.”

Yang thought it over for a few moments, a smile slowly spreading across her face. “Oh, alright,” she said, and sat down on the grass next to Pyrrha. “What are we talking about?”

Pyrrha groaned. Nora clapped her hands together excitedly. “Someone here has a big fat crush on one certain blond-haired guy.”

“Nora, please,” said Pyrrha, burying her face in her hands. Yang laughed.

“Oh, come on!” said Nora. “I promise you, that boy likes you back. Please do something about it. Please. Ren and I can’t handle the sexual tension for much longer.”

Pyrrha just groaned again.

“Hey, don’t sweat it,” said Yang, taking pity on her. “He’s pretty dense, but I’m sure he’ll come around soon enough.” They all knew that was a lie.

Nora must have decided that was enough teasing for Pyrrha, because she was now looking at Yang with a very curious expression on her face. “What about you?” she asked. “Got any crushes on your mind lately?”

“Oh, for sure.” Yang fell back onto the grass, resting her head in her hands and looking up at the sky. “It’s driving me absolutely nuts.”

Nora gasped, and then a few seconds later, she had appeared in Yang’s line of sight again. “You like someone? Oh my god, this is amazing! Spill the details. Have you told him? Does he like you back? Who is it? Actually, do I even know him?”

“Yeah, you do,” said Yang, grinning. She watched as Nora’s expression morphed from shock to excitement to confusion, presumably wracking her brain to think of all the boys she’d seen Yang interact with at Beacon.

“I’m drawing a blank. Who could it possibly be?” Nora asked. “Pyrrha, help me! Who do you think Yang has a crush on?”

“Don’t ask me, I don’t know either,” said Pyrrha. But then she glanced down at Yang with a knowing smile. “Whoever it is, though, I’m sure they like her back just as much as she does them.”

“Oh! I know!” said Nora, like she had just come up with the most brilliant plan ever. “I’ll just watch and wait for you to ask him out. Piece of cake.”

Yang sighed. “I don’t know. I would, but it’s kind of… unconventional.”

“Oh, you’re right. It’s usually the boy who asks the girl out, isn’t it?” Nora frowned, but then perked back up almost instantly. “Well, I say screw typical dating conventions!”

“Yeah,” said Pyrrha. She was still giving Yang that look. “I agree. Screw typical dating conventions. Besides, you and your teammates have never been one for normal, anyway.”

And then that just got Yang thinking about them. She felt her heart skip a beat, and knew there was a dopey smile on her face, but she found that she couldn’t bring herself to wipe it off.

“Someone’s lovestruck,” Nora said in a singsong voice.

“You’re right. I am.” Yang got up and pushed herself to her feet, dusting a few bits of grass off her backside and then her arms. “And I am going to leave before you can make fun of me further. My team’s waiting for me.”

She could hear Nora booing after her. The smile never left her face.

 


 

Ruby was alone in the third training room that Yang checked. She was standing in the center, expertly twirling and spinning her scythe with more grace and finesse than should have been possible with such a massive weapon.

Yang closed the door behind her and walked over to lean against the wall, content with simply watching Ruby as she skidded around and hacked at imaginary enemies. Eventually she must have noticed Yang standing there, because she turned, drove the tip of her scythe into the ground, aimed towards Yang, and fired off a shot. The bullet imbedded itself into the wall barely an inch away from her head.

“You know there’s a million better ways you could have said hi,” said Yang with a grin.

“I know,” said Ruby. She was smiling as well. “But you have to admit that was pretty cool.”

“Whatever you say, sis.” Yang walked up to the center of the room, stopping in front of Ruby to activate her gauntlets. “Blake and Weiss still in the library?”

“I think so. They should be coming soon, though.”

“Sweet.”

“In the meantime,” said Ruby, pulling her scythe out of the ground, “I feel like I need more practice blocking bullets. Wanna help me with that?”

“Sure thing.” Yang grinned and brought one fist back, hearing the gauntlet load and click into place. “Don’t think I’m going to go easy on you, though.”

Ruby scoffed. “When have you ever?”

They went at it for a couple minutes before the door opened again. Blake and Weiss entered one after the other, apparently deep in conversation. Weiss had the stolen scroll open in her hands.

“Hey, guys,” Yang called as they approached. “Find anything interesting?”

“Definitely,” said Blake. “This guy didn’t get much in the way of orders, but we did find a date and a location.” She took the scroll from Weiss and pulled up a file, showing it to Yang and Ruby.

Yang squinted at the odd assortment of numbers on the screen. The first line was obviously the date, which was over a month away. The second line looked more like coordinates. “Those numbers seem weirdly big.”

“That’s because they are,” said Weiss. “We were in the library trying to figure out where it was. The reason why it took so long is because the location is actually outside of the kingdom. Right along its eastern border.” She tapped the screen a few times and pulled up a map.

“In the mountains? What even exists up there?” Ruby asked.

“Nothing much.” Weiss shifted uneasily from one foot to the other. “Except rocks. Probably some Grimm, too. And… a Dust mine. Run by the Schnee Dust Company.”

“Oh,” said Ruby.

“Yeah,” Blake agreed.

“So, what are they planning on doing there?” Yang asked, confused. “Like, did they run out of the purified stuff to steal from shops, so now they’re getting raw Dust directly from the source?”

“We don’t know,” said Blake with a helpless shrug. “There’s nothing else on the scroll that tells us what their goal is.”

“But,” Weiss cut in, “at least we have a when and a where. And we have plenty of time now to figure out the why.”

“Right,” said Blake. She sighed and closed the scroll, putting it back in her pocket. “There’s no point in getting so worked up about it now. So let’s get back to what we came here for.”

Yang loaded her gauntlets again. “I’m cool with that,” she said.

So the four of them readied their weapons and spent the rest of the time practicing old team maneuvers and trying to come up with new ones. Eventually they split off into pairs, with Blake and Ruby off to the side, and Weiss taking up most of the room with her glyphs, watching Yang excitedly jump around from one to the next.

She got too ahead of herself, however. When she tried to do a flip up to the glyph hovering upside-down in the air, she failed to get a solid foothold onto it, and ended up tripping and hitting the ground. Somewhere nearby, Weiss was laughing. A few seconds later she appeared above Yang, smiling as she held her hand out. Yang grinned sheepishly and took it, letting Weiss pull her to her feet.

“You make it look so easy,” Yang grumbled, but it was good-natured.

“I’ve had a lot of practice,” said Weiss. She wasn’t letting go of Yang’s hand. “Just don’t get too ahead of yourself.”

“Well, it was fun while it lasted.” Yang stretched her shoulder, trying to rub out the ache, and was delighted when she noticed Weiss’s eyes following the motion. Then she got a great idea. “Hey. Those glyphs were solid, but you can make ones that objects can travel through too, right?”

“Huh?” Weiss had to shake herself out of her daze. “Oh, yeah, I can. Why?”

“So like,” said Yang, pretending to be casual, “would it be possible for you to make a line of glyphs, that were like, capable of speeding a person up if they went through them?” She grinned and pointed to herself. “Like me.”

Weiss glared at her. “You want me to make a cannon, don’t you?”

“Maybe a little.”

“I can try,” said Weiss, raising Myrtenaster up so that the revolving Dust chamber was at her eye level. She gave it a few spins. “I’d have to use fire Dust to help with that, though.”

Yang hopped from side to side in anticipation. She flashed Weiss a smile. “Don’t worry,” she said. “I can take a bit of heat.”

Weiss just rolled her eyes, trying not to smile, and stepped back. She brought one hand up and summoned five glowing red glyphs in the air, one after the other, slowly increasing in size down the line. Then she turned to Yang and did a sarcastic little curtsy. Yang almost lost it right there. “Whenever you’re ready, you reckless idiot.”

“Alright. Let’s do this.” Yang headed back to the edge of the room to get as much of a running start as she could. She crouched down closer to the ground, readying her gauntlets.

Then she charged.

Right before she hit the first glyph, she fired both shots of Ember Celica behind her, and the recoil propelled her through. With each successive glyph she hit, she could feel herself speeding up. By the time she reached the fifth one, the world had bent and blurred around her. She yelled gleefully, feeling the adrenaline course through her.

Two seconds later she crashed full-force into the opposite wall.

It took Weiss a lot longer than it should have to reach her because she was too busy laughing her ass off. Blake and Ruby rushed over first, looking alarmed, but both of them relaxed when they realized Yang was laughing too.

“What the hell are you guys doing?” Blake asked, trying to stifle her smile.

“What’s it look like we’re doing?” Yang answered. She pumped her fists. “We just successfully created the world’s first human glyph cannon!”

“Right…” said Blake.

“At least it worked,” said Ruby.

“Hell yeah it did.” Yang got to her feet, basically unphased from the impact. The wall behind her had definitely seen better days, though. “What about you guys? Come up with anything cool?”

“Not really,” said Ruby. “We were mostly just messing around with my scythe.” To give an example, she took Crescent Rose and gave it a deft whirl before dropping it onto the ground. The scythe continued to spin like a wheel, leaving scorch marks where it was sliding against the floor.

Yang raised an eyebrow. “Nice. It’s like a giant wheel of death.”

“Yeah,” Ruby agreed. She reached in and grabbed the handle of her scythe, halting it immediately. Then she did it again, but this time she hurled it at the floor, where it bounced upon impact and flew into the air.

Blake helpfully pulled out her pistol and shot at the scythe several times, sending it shooting even higher and higher. When it came back down, it hit the floor with a violent clang. Ruby caught it before it could bounce back up again.

“Very interesting,” Yang commented. Ruby beamed at the compliment.

Weiss, who had been just standing there and watching them, now pulled out her scroll to check the time. “It’s almost dinnertime,” she told them. “I think we made some good progress. Let’s call it for today and get some food?”

“Please,” Ruby cried, folding her scythe up into its compact form and stowing it away on her back. She hopped over to Weiss and grabbed her hand. “I’m starving.”

As they exited the training room, Yang sidled up in between Weiss and Blake and put her arms around both their shoulders. “We’re totally going to kick ass at the tournament,” she told them, smiling so wide, feeling like she was on top of the world.

Because nothing beat getting to spend time with her teammates, her three most favorite people in all of Remnant.

Chapter 4

Notes:

proper physics don't exist in this chapter. no buts.

Chapter Text

It was qualifiers week.

Ruby was sitting in an airship with the rest of her teammates as it took them to the heart of the Emerald Forest. Across from her, Yang had resorted to drumming her hands against the metal chairs to release some of her pent-up excitement. She was actually pretty good at carrying a beat. Blake sat next to her, watching her with a calm smile on her face.

Weiss, meanwhile, seemed tense. Ruby nudged her in the shoulder, concerned. “Weiss? You okay?” she asked.

“Yeah,” Weiss responded without looking at her. She frowned. “Just a little nervous.”

“Hey, don’t sweat it,” Yang told her brightly. “We’ve been watching all the other teams do this the entire day. This’ll be a piece of cake.”

Since every year was competing in a separate division, the qualifiers were staggered throughout the week, with first-year teams going on the first day, in alphabetical order. They’d already seen JNPR complete theirs on live TV earlier, around noon. It had gone pretty well.

The rules were simple enough. They were going to be dropped into a sectioned-off area of the Emerald Forest, which would contain a small tower and exactly thirty Grimm of various sizes. The team would then get five minutes to find and kill as many as they could while protecting the tower at the same time. Ten points were awarded per Grimm eliminated, and if they somehow managed to get rid of all of them, any leftover seconds on the clock would be converted into points as well. Fifty points were given if the tower was still standing by the end. The eight teams with the highest scores from each academy would then be allowed to compete in the tournament.

“Yeah, it’ll be fine,” said Ruby. “I bet we could easily kill thirty Grimm in our sleep. This is nothing compared to what we’ve done in the past.”

Weiss sighed and closed her eyes. “That’s not what I’m worried about.”

Outside, the airship’s engines whirred, loud enough to be distracting, but not enough to drown out the voice that sounded over the ship’s loudspeakers.

“Team RWBY is making their descent into the Emerald Forest now. I’ll bet that many of our viewers will be very interested in this particular team’s performance today.” That was Professor Port, giving his live commentary to an unseen worldwide audience. Since they’d already watched part of the broadcast earlier today, they knew that nothing that happened on the ship was being recorded. The cameras would only start rolling once they’d touched down in the forest. A few seconds later, another familiar voice answered.

“Indeed,” said Doctor Oobleck. “These four lovely ladies, despite being only in their first year of study, have already gone about making quite a name for themselves. Anyone who reads the news should know by now of their hand in taking down the nefarious criminal Roman Torchwick. And it seems a great deal many people have most of their attention focused on a particular member of the team—one dear Miss Weiss Schnee, the famed heiress to the Schnee Dust Company. Everyone’s been curious, I’m sure, to see how her training’s gone since she left her home kingdom Atlas to study here at Beacon Academy.”

“Oh,” said Ruby, almost quietly. Weiss still had her eyes closed, her hands clenched into fists.

“Now, now, while I agree wholeheartedly with what you’re saying, let’s not be quick to discount the rest of her team,” Professor Port said, effortlessly playing off of Oobleck’s words. “Personally, I have a soft spot for the two sisters, Ruby Rose and Yang Xiao Long, daughters of renowned Huntsmen Taiyang Xiao Long and the late Summer Rose. I’m sure there’s plenty of pressure for them to live up to the legacy their parents have left them. Team STRQ was quite the esteemed group back in the day, after all.”

“You’re absolutely correct, of course,” said Oobleck. “But I believe that each and every member of Team RWBY holds great potential. Every student does, but these girls are something special. I think I speak for everyone in the audience when I say I’m excited to see what they’ll be showing us during this tournament.”

Yang scoffed. “They didn’t even bother mentioning Blake,” she said. “What jerks. You’re just as important a part of this team as the rest of us are.”

“It’s fine,” Blake told her with a small smile. “I like it better this way.” She got up and walked across the tiny space in the center of the ship, settling down on Weiss’s other side. The seat was getting cramped, but they managed. Blake put her hand on top of Weiss’s, gently willing her to unclench her fist. She did, eventually, with a small sigh, and Blake intertwined their fingers together. “I can’t even begin to imagine the kind of pressure you’re being put through right now. Take a deep breath. We’re all here for you.”

“Yeah,” Ruby agreed, reaching out for Weiss’s other hand. “You’ve got us with you now. And we’re in this together.” Then she glanced over at Yang expectantly.

Yang just looked at her funny. “What do you want me to do?” she asked, even as she stood up. “You two already get to hold her hands.” She stopped in front of Weiss, thought for a few moments, and then sat down by her feet, resting her hand atop Weiss’s knee.

“There,” Ruby said happily. They all looked at Weiss, and watched as her shoulders slowly relaxed.

“Thank you,” she said to all of them. Ruby felt her heart swelling at how genuine Weiss sounded. And so the four of them stayed that way for the rest of the ride.

Eventually, the airship landed on the ground, the doors sliding open a few seconds later. Ruby hopped out first and found herself in a small clearing in the forest. In the center was a small golden tower, about twice her height.

She scanned the rest of her surroundings while her teammates stepped down beside her. It was hard to see in the late afternoon sunlight, but in the distance she could barely make out the steep, imposing walls of a forcefield rising up all the way into the sky, boxing them into a small section of the Emerald Forest. It was by no means small in size, though. Ruby estimated it to be about a mile wide in diameter, not that it mattered too much, since they wouldn’t be straying too far from the tower in the first place.

“Alright, ladies,” came Port’s voice from somewhere in the air. That was a little creepy. “The sector has been confirmed clear to move forward. If you would please get ready to begin.”

Ruby couldn’t see any speakers or cameras in plain view, so that meant they were probably hidden among the trees and foliage. But they all knew that the live recording had started by now, and that people would be watching their every move as it was broadcasted on TV.

“Alright,” said Ruby, motioning for her teammates to come closer. “Ten second team meeting time.”

“What’s the plan, sis?” asked Yang.

“Spread out, and go in a circle around the tower,” Ruby told them. “Make sure it and at least two of us are in your sight at all times. We don’t want to get too split apart or far away from the tower, that’ll just leave it open to attack. Besides that…” She shrugged and smiled. “Let’s show the world what we’re capable of.”

So they took up positions spaced out at the edge of the clearing, their weapons out and readied. Ruby clutched her scythe in both hands, squinting into the shadows of the trees, looking for any signs of the Grimm lurking within. Way above them, a timer appeared on the forcefield in the sky, frozen at five minutes.

Ruby turned back to check up on the rest of her team. They were all looking back at her. She nodded confidently.

Then the buzzer sounded, and the timer began ticking down.

 


 

It was almost too easy. Most of the Grimm consisted of Creeps, Beowolves, and the occasional Ursa. As per Ruby’s battle plan, they moved in a slow circle around the clearing, for the most part successfully not letting any Grimm even get near the tower. At one point Yang punched a Boarbatusk into the air, hurtling it towards Ruby’s general location. She spun and slashed her scythe across the Grimm’s exposed stomach, making quick work of it.

When the snarling eventually stopped emanating from the forest, Ruby headed towards the center of the clearing, where the others were waiting for her by the tower. She glanced up at the clock. There was still a little more than two minutes left.

“Is that it?” Ruby asked. “I took down seven Grimm. How about you guys?”

“I got six,” said Yang.

“Eight,” said Blake.

“I killed eight as well,” said Weiss.

Ruby tallied the numbers up in her head. “That’s twenty-nine. So we’re one short. Weird.”

“Well, since there’s only one left, we could go out and hunt it down?” Weiss suggested.

Before Ruby could answer, they all heard a deafening crash behind them. A couple of trees toppled over.

“Holy shit,” said Yang.

There was more crackling. Then a massive Death Stalker exploded into the clearing, sending broken shards of wood flying everywhere.

Blake was the first to react. She darted forward and knocked aside a falling tree with her sheathed Gambol Shroud, just barely stopping it from hitting the tower and demolishing it. The still-charging Death Stalker spurred the rest of them into action. Weiss stabbed the ground with her rapier and raised a wall of ice into the scorpion’s way, blocking it off from its path to trampling the tower. Knocked off course, the Death Stalker instead turned its attention to Ruby, who had been so focused on trying to make sure her teammates were okay that she didn’t notice until it was too late.

“Ruby!” came a shout. Ruby didn’t even have time to turn her head before someone knocked into her, sending her tumbling to the ground. She looked up just in time to see Yang get completely bodied by the Death Stalker’s stinger and go flying.

Everything was happening so fast. Ruby cried out for her sister, but now the scorpion was looming over her. She heard the sound of a glyph forming underneath her, and then Weiss was there, dragging her away from the scorpion’s snapping claws.

“Pull it together,” Weiss told her, squeezing her shoulder in encouragement. “We need a strategy, now.”

“Right,” said Ruby. She rushed over to Yang, who was groaning, trying to push herself up into a sitting position. On the other side of the clearing, Blake had taken it upon herself to distract the Death Stalker with both her weapon’s ribbon and pistol shots, jumping in between its claws and expertly dodging its stinger attacks. Ruby held out a hand and helped Yang back up to her feet. “First things first, we need to get rid of those claws. Yang, you good to keep it from moving?”

Yang closed her eyes. When she opened them again, they were red. She clenched her fists. “Leave it to me.”

The two of them charged together. Up ahead, Blake paused just long enough to take stock of Ruby brandishing her weapon and the fact that Yang’s hair was on fire, and then she jumped aside, letting Ruby draw the scorpion’s attention with her sniper fire. It reared up and tried to snap at her with its claws, but Ruby rolled under them. Yang kept going and drove her shoulder into the Death Stalker’s face.

It screeched and tried to snap at her. She grabbed onto the pincers on its mouth, one in each hand, and shoved it back forcefully. It screeched again. Yang was yelling too, her face contorted and her arms straining from the effort to keep the giant scorpion at bay.

“Weiss! Back us up here,” Ruby shouted. Weiss nodded and lifted her rapier, launching bright blue Dust projectiles and directing them towards the joints where the scorpion’s claws were connected to its spindly arms. They could all hear the cracking as the joints weakened after each impact. The scorpion tried to jab Yang again with its stinger, but Weiss sent more projectiles towards it and knocked it away.

Ruby looked at Blake, who was clutching her weapon with grim determination. Then they took off in a sprint together, with Ruby heading towards the left claw, and Blake taking the right.

As she charged, Ruby pulled the blade of her weapon back into its war scythe form, and she spun as quickly as possible, bringing down the weapon with as much force as she could muster against the scorpion’s weakened arm. It snapped off with a loud crunching sound. The scorpion let out a shrill cry. Seconds later, Blake had managed to cleave the other claw off as well.

Hearing the claws crumbling into black mist behind her, Yang finally let go of the Death Stalker and stepped back. Almost immediately it tried to stab her again with its stinger, but Yang was prepared. She jumped up and grabbed onto the stinger, and with a colossal effort, she managed to pull it down and drive it into the ground. Thrown off balance with the removal of its claws, the scorpion ended up flipping over entirely, exposing its soft underside. The rest of its legs wiggled helplessly, trying to get back into an upright position. Weiss stepped in and froze them to the ground.

The four of them joined back together in front of the scorpion to regroup. Yang had let her semblance fizzle out by then, her breathing a little labored. Ruby checked the time. There were thirty-five seconds left. She turned to Weiss, grinning.

“Would you like to do the honors?” she asked, gesturing to the squirming Death Stalker.

Weiss looked uneasy, but when Yang stepped up and gave her a supportive pat on the shoulder, her expression became resolute, and her grip on Myrtenaster tightened. “Okay,” she said. “Let’s do this.”

Blake immediately headed for the tallest tree nearby and began climbing. Ruby rushed to do the same with another tree a few yards away, Yang following close behind her. When she had reached the top, Blake fired her pistol to launch the ribbon towards Ruby, who caught it and pulled it taut in between them. Then Yang used her gauntlets to propel herself from the tree, grabbing onto the center of the ribbon and dragging it down to the ground with her as she fell. Weiss placed a glyph in front of Yang where she was pinning the ribbon to the ground, and then moved to stand on their makeshift slingshot.

“Whenever you’re ready,” Yang said from behind her.

“The clock is ticking,” was all Weiss said back.

Yang just grinned. “Your call.” Then she let go.

Weiss shot up into the air, rocketing above all of them. When she reached the peak, she held Myrtenaster above her, the revolving chamber clicking rapidly and imbuing the blade with multiple kinds of Dust. Ruby couldn’t help but stare in awe, watching her gracefully twirl in the air as she fell, until her rapier was pointed downwards, directly at the Death Stalker’s heart. Her entire body glowed with the light and colors of the Dust she was using. It was like watching a majestic, multicolored meteor fall to earth.

When Weiss landed on the Death Stalker the air around them exploded. The resulting shockwave almost knocked Ruby off balance and out of the tree. She tightened her grip on the tree trunk, using one hand to shield her eyes from the blinding light.

It took a few moments for the air to clear again. Weiss was standing there, clutching her rapier, while the remains of the Death Stalker dissipated and dissolved into mist around her. A buzzer sounded out in the clearing. In the sky, the timer had stopped with two seconds remaining.

Ruby and Blake hastened to climb their way down the trees to celebrate with Weiss. Yang, being the closest, reached her first, and basically tackled Weiss to the ground with the force of her hug. They all ended up in a big, victorious heap, laughing and cheering while Oobleck and Port talked about their performance over the speakers. That stuff was irrelevant to them now. What mattered was that they had done it, together.

 


 

Nora nearly bowled them all over the second they’d landed back at Beacon. “Guys!” she shouted, ultimately deciding to pick on Ruby and crush her in a hug. “That was amazing!”

“Aw, it was nothing,” Ruby said. She was struggling to breathe.

“It was not nothing,” said Jaune excitedly, looking at all four of them in admiration. “No other team yet has managed to both defend the tower and destroy all thirty Grimm within the time limit. You guys are like, on a whole other level!” He pointed to the courtyard behind them, where a holographic leaderboard was displayed near the front.

 

Vytal Tournament First-Year Qualifiers: Current Rankings (Top 5)
1. [B] RWBY ——— 352 PTS
2. [B] JNPR ——— 330 PTS
3. [A] FNKI ——— 310 PTS
4. [S] NDGO ——— 300 PTS
5. [A] CPPR ——— 280 PTS
5. [H] ABRN ——— 280 PTS

 

“Hey, you guys came pretty close, though,” said Yang.

“Yes. With an emphasis on close,” said Pyrrha, but it was good-natured. “Come on, you all must be starving after that performance. Let’s go get dinner together.”

“Sun and Neptune recommended a ramen stall on the fairgrounds to us earlier,” Ren added. “And they also told us to save a spot for them.”

So the eight of them headed off together for the Vytal Festival fairgrounds, making small talk along the way. Eventually the conversation turned to Weiss’s explosive finishing blow on the Death Stalker. Everybody was excitedly heaping praise onto her. Ruby beamed in pride, watching as the others were more than happy to gush and wax poetic about Weiss and her abilities.

Weiss, meanwhile, seemed almost embarrassed by the attention. “Guys, it really wasn’t all that cool,” she tried to tell them. “Besides, it was a team effort. I couldn’t have done it on my own.” She looked over at Ruby, the softest smile forming on her face. Ruby felt like she was going to faint. The feeling only worsened when Weiss reached over and took her hand.

“Hey, it’s like Blake said earlier,” Ruby somehow managed to get out. Spurred on by the look that Weiss was giving her, she lifted their joined hands to her lips and pressed a kiss to Weiss’s knuckles. “We’re all here for you. And don’t you forget that.”

“I don’t think I could if I tried,” Weiss said, her voice low enough that only their team could hear. A few steps ahead, the members of Team JNPR were either being oblivious or respectfully distant. Blake reached out for Weiss’s other hand, but Yang lightly pushed her away.

“You already got to hold it earlier,” Yang said with a pout, slipping her hand into Weiss’s. “I want a turn.”

Blake just laughed.

Soon enough, they had arrived at the ramen stall and took their seats around the booth. A TV was hanging above them, still streaming the first-year qualifiers live as they began to wind down for the day. On screen, Team SSSN were locked together in a tight formation around their tower, weapons brandished at the oncoming Grimm.

The eight of them watched as a stray Boarbatusk broke through the team’s defense and shattered the tower. After a brief moment of tense, shocked silence, the four boys all decided to split up and charge deeper into the forest, each going on what was basically their own extermination campaign. It was wild to watch. Eventually Sage beaned the final Grimm in the head with a whopping twenty-four seconds left on the clock. Everyone at the ramen stall cheered as the leaderboard flashed on-screen, showing Team SSSN taking the third place spot with 324 points.

By the time they actually got around to ordering their meals several minutes later, Sun himself showed up behind them with Neptune in tow. Both of them looked out of breath, and in Neptune’s case, ready to pass out. Clearly, they’d hauled ass to meet up with them as soon as they possibly could.

“Well, if it isn’t the boys of the hour,” said Blake.

“Blake!” Sun shouted. He nearly knocked her off her stool with the force of his hug. “Did you guys see us out there?”

“Yes, we did,” Blake said, amused, patting his back a couple times. “You were okay.”

Sun pulled back immediately, putting a hand to his chest in mock offense. “Just okay? We were totally awesome!”

“Totally didn’t let the tower fall, either,” said Neptune, who was still hunched over, his hands on his knees, trying to catch his breath.

“Right,” Sun agreed. “Okay, so maybe we weren’t as cool as you guys, but then again, who is?” He took a seat at the stall. “Did you guys already order for us?”

“Yep,” Blake told him. “Got you the veggie bowl. Figured that’s what you would like.”

“Aw, thanks, Blake. You know me so well,” said Sun, smiling broadly.

On Ruby’s other side, Weiss stiffened just a tiny bit. Ruby turned to face her, confused. “You okay there?” she asked.

“Huh?” said Weiss, but she seemed distracted. “Oh, yes, I’m perfectly fine. What makes you think otherwise?”

Ruby squinted at her, suspicious. Then she followed Weiss’s line of sight, which led her to Sun, who was basically talking Blake’s ear off at that point. His tail waved back and forth behind him in his happiness.

“Oh,” said Ruby, turning back to face Weiss, who was determinedly not looking at her. “Weiss, are you… jealous of Blake?”

“What?” Weiss spluttered. “Why—why would I be jealous of—how dare you insinuate such a thing!”

Her little outburst ended up catching Blake’s attention, who paused for a second, then leaned in front of Ruby to fix Weiss with a curious stare. Weiss kind of just tilted backwards away from her, which only made her bump into Yang.

“Hey guys,” Blake said nonchalantly. “What are we talking about?”

“Weiss is jealous of you,” said Ruby before Weiss could get a chance to deck her in the face.

“I am not,” said Weiss, mortified. “Not… not of you, anyway.” She said that last part so quietly and with so much genuine emotion that Ruby almost took pity on her.

Blake just blinked a couple times, trying to process her words, before a small smile formed on her face. It wasn’t teasing, though, unlike the one that Yang was sporting off to the side. “I’m sorry I made you feel that way,” she said to Weiss, never once breaking eye contact with her. Ruby could feel herself swooning, and Blake’s words weren’t even directed at her. “I’m here now, though. What would you like to talk about?”

“I—I don’t know,” said Weiss, clearly thrown off from the direction their conversation was heading.

“Oh, I have an idea.” Blake began absently playing with the hem of Ruby’s sleeve, her smile never faltering. “Let me tell you about my day. It was pretty awesome, you know. I got to watch my amazing, talented teammate kick ass at the qualifiers. Her name’s Weiss Schnee. She’s pretty elegant. Really beautiful too, I dunno if you’ve heard of her…”

Yang was watching them with the sappiest look on her face. Judging by how warm and bubbly she felt inside, Ruby figured she probably had a similar expression of her own. Over on the other side of the booth, Jaune leaned in to whisper in Pyrrha’s ear.

“Is it just me, or have they always been like this?”

“Nah, it’s been a while,” Pyrrha replied. “Don’t stare. It’s rude.”

“Sorry.”

Their food finally arrived a short while after that. The noodles were great and everyone dug in, left starving from the day’s events. There was little room for conversation, but a few people like Nora and Sun tried anyway.

Ruby was one of the first to finish. She sighed contentedly and pushed her bowl back, rubbing at her stomach. Then she realized that Weiss was glaring at her.

“What?” asked Ruby.

After a few seconds, Weiss’s expression quickly shifted into exasperation. She picked up a napkin in one hand and took Ruby’s chin in her other. Ruby had to make a very conscious effort not to jump and freak out at the contact.

“You’re such a messy eater,” Weiss told her, rubbing her mouth clean with the napkin. When she finished, she tilted Ruby’s head to the side, inspecting her face closely in the dimming sunlight, supposedly checking for more dirty spots. Ruby could only just stare back. She felt her chest burning. It was taking all her willpower to stay put and remain motionless.

Soon enough Weiss had apparently deemed her job complete and returned to her own bowl of ramen. Ruby practically collapsed onto the table, burying her face in her arms. Her heartbeat pounded away against her chest.

“I think I’m going to puke,” said Jaune.

“Don’t say that,” Yang told him. “I’m not even done eating yet. Gross.”

Gradually they all began to finish up, and sat around making small talk with each other. It was quite an enjoyable evening.

Then Sun thought it would be funny to start a burping contest.

Neptune got roped into it by default, being Sun’s best friend and all. Nora also gave the two of them a run for their money. Eventually, Yang decided to join in, and even Pyrrha offered a burp or two of her own. The ramen stall descended into laughter and light-hearted banter, and everyone who was abstaining from the contest watched on, with reactions varying from horrified to amused to awestruck.

When the sun had finally set and the sky had begun to darken in earnest, however, Weiss was the first to stand up. “I think that’s enough for me today,” she said to the others. “I’m ready to head back.”

“Yeah,” Yang decided, getting up as well. “Me too.”

That settled it for the rest of the team. “Well, I guess this is goodbye, then,” said Ruby. “Thanks for showing us this place!”

“Catch you guys later!” said Sun.

They all exchanged farewells, and then Team RWBY headed back towards the dorms, exhausted, but also in high spirits.

 


 

“Well, gang,” said Yang, closing the door behind them. “What do we do now?”

“I’m showering first,” Ruby said immediately, darting into the bathroom before any of them could protest. She still felt grimy and sticky after their bout in the Emerald Forest and wanted to fix that as soon as possible.

It didn’t take long for her to rinse off and return to the room wrapped in a towel, feeling much more refreshed than before. After she was done, Weiss got up and went in to take her turn.

Ruby trudged over to her closet, opening it up and looking through it for a clean set of clothes to wear. A few seconds of mindless staring later, she went to Yang’s closet instead and ended up finding the dark purple hoodie she’d stolen from Blake weeks ago. She didn’t even realize that her sister had never given it back. Grinning, Ruby pulled it out and put it on. It was a little big on her, but it was fluffy and felt nice. She found a pair of Yang’s shorts and put that on as well before discarding the towel and heading over to her bed.

“Hey, isn’t that supposed to be mine?” Blake asked her as she walked past.

Ruby paused mid-step. “Maybe.”

Blake put her book down and got up from her own bed, making her way over to Ruby until she stopped right in front of her. She reached out and tugged lightly on the hoodie’s strings, smiling a little. “It looks good on you,” she said. Ruby’s heart skipped a beat.

“Thief,” Yang called from the top bunk.

“Hey, you shut up!” Ruby protested. “You shouldn’t even be allowed to complain. You’re the one who stole this in the first place.”

“Yeah, cause I liked it.” Yang flopped over and rolled down from the bed. “Now what am I gonna do?”

“Uh, steal another one?” said Ruby. They both looked at Blake, who just put her hands up behind her head, all cool and casual-like. Ruby was entranced. Yang, meanwhile, took that as an invitation to raid Blake’s closet again, and headed over, grinning.

Soon enough she pulled out a leather jacket, showing it off to Blake with a hopeful smile. Weiss chose that moment to exit the bathroom. She paused to stare at the three of them, blinking, her gaze traveling from Ruby to Blake to Yang.

“Why is everybody stealing Blake’s clothes?” she asked.

Blake shrugged. “I dunno. Would you like to join in?”

“I’m good.” Weiss turned away, looking almost shy. “I… appreciate the offer, though.”

They dispersed, respectfully facing away from Yang to let her change in peace. Except Ruby definitely caught both Weiss and Blake sneaking at least a couple glances at her sister. She smiled to herself and followed Blake back to her bed.

“Oh, hey,” said Blake, looking surprised when she turned and realized that Ruby was right behind her.

“Hi,” said Ruby, beaming. “What are you reading?”

“A book.”

Ruby pouted at her. “Ha, ha. Very funny.” She watched Blake grin and settle back against her pillows, scooting to the side and patting the mattress next to her. Ruby was more than happy to join Blake on the bed and curl up close to her, letting out a sigh when Blake draped her free arm over her shoulders.

“You’re in luck,” Blake told her, picking up her book again. “I’m reading a more adventure and action-oriented story tonight.”

“Ooh,” said Ruby, craning her neck to get a better view of the book. Blake noticed and moved it closer to her. “What’s it about?”

“Well, the hero’s been thrown into an unfamiliar world, and the only help he has is from this mysterious being of seemingly infinite knowledge,” Blake explained. “Together they set out on a quest to retrieve the ancient relics of legend, hoping to restore the world to its former glory.”

“Sounds interesting,” said Ruby.

“It’s pretty good,” Blake agreed. “Want to read it with me?”

“Okay.”

Some time ago Yang had finished changing and was now lounging on the bunk above them. Judging by the cartoon explosion and shooting noises blaring from her scroll, she was busy playing video games. On the other side of the room, Weiss was lying on her side, trying not to fall asleep from sheer exhaustion and failing miserably.

Ruby soon discovered that Blake was a much faster reader than her. By the time she got to the bottom of the page, Blake would already be there, playing with the edges of the paper, waiting patiently for Ruby’s permission to turn to the next page. The story was interesting, sure, but Ruby found that she was enjoying just being there in Blake’s arms more. And after a few chapters, she could feel her eyes starting to droop. She tried to fight it, at first. Blake didn’t seem to mind.

She didn’t know when exactly she finally fell asleep, but she remembered feeling content and at peace.

Chapter 5

Notes:

hit me with that wildly inconsistent update schedule amirite hahaha! sorry. i'll try and be better about it.

but really tho. thank you so much to everyone who has read and commented so far, it means a ton to me honestly. i'm honored. c:

Chapter Text

With each passing day, Weiss could feel her resolve slowly slipping, and her sanity crumbling even further than it already had.

She was sitting alone in the library, trying to study, but she couldn’t stop thinking about Yang. She turned the page of her notebook and her mind filled with thoughts of Blake. She tried to envision her notes in her head, and instead only saw Ruby.

Overwhelmed by a sudden desire to go and see her team in person, Weiss decided to just get up from the table and let her feet take her back to the dorms. A few people in the hallways were giving her funny looks as she passed them, probably because she was smiling like an idiot, but she was too distracted to care.

When she rounded the corner of their dormitory she noticed immediately that both the doors to Team JNPR and Team RWBY’s rooms were propped open. A few seconds later, an apple sailed through the air out of RWBY’s room and into JNPR’s. There was a small crash, followed by Ren shouting, and then laughter.

Weiss tried to push down her smile and went into her own room. Ruby was sitting in the center on the carpet, her scythe half-dismantled into multiple tiny pieces all scattered around her. She had one of the silver blades in her hands and was busy polishing it. Yang and Blake, meanwhile, were sitting together on Weiss’s bed, staring intensely down at something in between them, but Weiss couldn’t tell what it was from the doorway.

“Oh, hey Weiss!” said Ruby, looking up from her deconstructed scythe to offer Weiss a wave. “Did you study well?”

“Not particularly,” Weiss admitted. “What’s… going on in here?”

“Well, Crescent Rose’s blade was getting kind of dull, so I’m fixing that,” said Ruby. She glanced over at Yang and Blake. “Those two are playing chess. Or at least trying. I don’t think Yang actually knows how to play.”

“I most definitely do not,” Yang agreed.

“Well there you have it.” Ruby turned back to look at Weiss, grinning. “Oh, and you might wanna step to the side a bit.”

“What? Why?” Weiss asked, even as she did as Ruby suggested. Her question was answered when the apple from before flew back into the room, narrowly missing her and landing right into Ruby’s outstretched hands. A loud booing came from Team JNPR’s room.

“You’re gonna have to try way harder than that!” Ruby shouted at them, chucking the apple back with as much force as she could muster.

Weiss sighed and shook her head. “You guys are such children.”

“You love us,” said Ruby, beaming. Weiss couldn’t find it in her to deny it. She settled for huffing instead, then turning to deposit her books onto her desk so the others couldn’t see her smiling.

For the next few minutes Weiss went right back to staring blankly at her notes, listening to the sound of metal clanking as Ruby worked behind her, punctuated by the occasional thump of the apple making its way in and out of their room. She clenched and unclenched her fists a few times. Something felt missing.

She finally gave up on studying and stood up, making her way to her own bed. Blake watched her approach and offered her a small smile. Weiss smiled back before stopping awkwardly at the edge of the bed, unsure of where to sit.

Yang turned to look up at her. “Sup,” she said with a casual grin, resting her weight on her arms behind her.

“Hi,” said Weiss. “Having fun?”

“Blake probably is. I have no idea what I’m doing,” Yang answered easily. “Why are you just standing there? Come join us.”

“I’m deciding which one of you I want to root for,” said Weiss.

“Me. Duh,” said Yang. She held out one arm, outstretched towards Weiss. “Blake is kicking my ass. Please help me.”

They both looked at Blake, who just shrugged. “Go for it,” she said, smiling. “Yang seems to need the moral support more than I do, anyway.”

“That’s rude,” said Yang.

“But true,” Weiss pointed out. She sat down next to Yang, who grinned and tucked her arm around her waist to pull her in closer. Weiss rested her head on Yang’s shoulder, and probably enjoyed the feeling more than she would ever be willing to admit.

Blake watched them the entire time, raising an eyebrow in amusement. “You two are cute,” she said affectionately.

“I know, right?” Yang began absently trailing her fingers up and down Weiss’s side. “Don’t worry, Blake, you’re pretty cute too. Just not as much as we are.”

“Oh, wow, I’m so jealous,” said Blake, but her relaxed smile betrayed her true feelings. “Now I feel so lonely. If only there was someone here that I could cuddle with as well.”

Just as Blake had obviously wanted to happen, Ruby perked up at that. She stopped in the middle of reassembling her scythe and hopped to her feet. “Somebody say my name?” she asked, bouncing over to the three of them.

“No,” said Weiss.

“Well, too bad.” Ruby basically pounced on Blake from behind, draping her arms around Blake’s shoulders and snuggling in close. The bed shook under the weight of her assault. A couple chess pieces fell off the board. Blake, however, seemed satisfied with the new arrangement, and leaned back to rest her head on Ruby’s shoulder.

Yang made a couple fake gagging noises, but they kind of lost all their power since she was failing spectacularly at hiding her giant grin. “You two done being gross yet?”

“Oh, don’t be jealous, sis,” said Ruby. “We can all cuddle together later if you want.”

“I’m not jealous,” Yang told her very seriously. “And I don’t want to cuddle with you. You’re ugly.”

“Then stop looking at my face, you butthead!” said Ruby, grabbing one of Blake’s fallen pawn pieces and chucking it at Yang. It smacked her in the cheek and bounced off.

Before either of them could bait each other further into an actual fight, Nora chose that moment to walk into their room, since the door was still wide open. “Hey, Ruby!” she began without looking up. “Why’d you stop throwing the apple—ah.” She stopped and openly stared at the four of them, all huddled together on Weiss’s bed. After a few seconds, she shrugged, leaned down to pick up the apple lying on the carpet, and skipped out of the room, swinging the door shut behind her.

“She’s going to eat that, isn’t she?” Yang commented.

“Probably,” said Ruby.

Nobody moved for a while. Sometime during the interruption, Ruby had somehow ended up worming her way into Blake’s lap. Blake, to her credit, didn’t seem to mind. A few moments later, she was the first to break the silence.

“Hey, Yang,” she said, pushing the long-forgotten chess game aside with her foot, “now that Weiss is back, didn’t you say you and Ruby had something you wanted to show us?”

“Oh, yeah!” said Yang. She glanced at Ruby and nodded. Ruby stood up and headed over to the shelf underneath the window, and pulled what looked like a large folded piece of paper off the top. Then she returned to the bed and held it out for Weiss to take.

“Here you go,” she said brightly, before returning to her spot on Blake’s lap. “It’s a present from us.”

“What is it?” Weiss asked, even as she began to unfold the paper.

It turned out to be a very large, very detailed map of the continent of Sanus. Weiss held it out in front of her, surprised, scanning her eyes over the countless names and symbols scrawled all over the colorful map.

“Ruby and I found a ton of these in Ozpin’s office,” Yang told her, reaching past her to point at one of the two large X’s they had drawn on the map. “This is where Beacon is. And this,” she said, sliding her finger up to the mountains where the second X was, “is the location of the Dust mine that the White Fang is planning to infiltrate. I dunno, I guess we thought it would be easier to visualize and come up with a game plan if it was drawn out like this.”

Weiss didn’t answer for a few moments. She was still trying to take in all of the information presented in front of her. The distance between the school and the mine was great enough that it would take several hours to traverse by airship. Any passenger trains labeled on the map stopped long before they reached the mountains, although cargo trains could be a different story.

Then the rest of Yang’s statement registered in Weiss’s brain.

“Wait a second,” she said slowly. “What were you two doing in Ozpin’s office?”

Yang looked at her like the answer should have been obvious. “Where do you think we got the chessboard?”

“Right—okay, but why were you—” Weiss was so taken aback that she had to shake herself out of her stupor. “Nevermind, I don’t want to know. Thanks for the map, though. This will be a great help.” She stood up, trying her best to ignore the way she almost immediately began missing the warmth of Yang’s embrace, and headed over to find the best place to tack the map up onto the wall.

By the time she had gotten it situated in a way that was both practical and somewhat aesthetically pleasing, Weiss heard the sound of a scroll dinging behind her. She turned around and saw that it had been Blake’s.

“Ah, sorry guys,” she said, looking up from the scroll almost sheepishly. “I gotta go.”

“What? Why?” asked Weiss, feeling her heart sinking against her will.

“I promised Sun I would meet up with him in the gardens today,” Blake explained. She tried to extract herself out from underneath Ruby. “He wants to compare history notes or something.”

“No, don’t leave us,” Yang whined dramatically. “Ruby, quick! We never got to have that one big cuddle pile you promised me earlier.”

Ruby understood immediately and moved away just far enough to grab onto one of Blake’s arms while Yang took the other. Together they pushed Blake back against the bed, pinning her down under their combined weight against her arms. After the initial surprise wore off, Blake’s expression morphed into one of amusement, and she made little effort to break free when both Yang and Ruby curled into her sides.

Then they all looked at Weiss.

“Well?” said Ruby with a grin.

It had taken a while, but Weiss had learned by now that it was much easier and more satisfying to just do things on impulse without thinking too hard about it, especially when all of her teammates were looking at her like that. So she willfully shoved down her mortification and walked back over to her bed, lying down on top of Blake and burying her face in the crook of her neck. Blake let out a small sigh of contentment. It was cute enough to make Weiss almost forget about how embarrassed she was supposed to be.

“See?” Yang said to Blake after they had all settled into the most comfortable position they could manage, given the size of the bed. “Isn’t this a thousand times better than hanging out with Sun?”

“Yes, it is,” Blake agreed with a small laugh. “But a promise is a promise. I would be a terrible friend if I broke it now.” She paused. “Even if you guys are really making me want to.”

Eventually Ruby was the first to roll off of Blake, which gave her just enough space to shift and gently deposit Weiss into Yang’s arms. Then Blake sat up, getting ready to leave, and froze. Her eyes darted between the three of them. For a split second, she looked like she wanted to do something, her expression almost longing.

But then the moment passed. “I’ll see you guys at dinner,” she said, standing up from the bed and exiting the room.

The door closed behind her and the room fell silent.

Yang draped her arm over Weiss’s stomach and pulled her in close. “Well then,” she said, and Weiss didn’t have to see her to know that Yang was smiling. “I guess we’ll have to have a cuddle party with just the three of us.”

“I’m down,” said Ruby. She scooted forward until she was pressed up against Weiss’s front, tucking her head into her chest. “You know, Weiss, for someone whose nickname is Ice Queen, you’re surprisingly warm.”

“That is entirely Yang’s fault,” said Weiss, her face burning.

“Sorry.” Somehow Yang managed to sound not sorry at all.

Weiss vaguely wondered if Ruby could hear how fast her heart was pounding. If she could, she was polite enough to not say anything. No one spoke for a while. Weiss could feel Yang’s chest rising and falling with every breath she took, and the steadiness and comfort of it slowly calmed her down.

A few minutes later, right as Weiss was beginning to doze off, Yang broke the silence.

“Hey, Ruby,” she said.

“Yeah?” said Ruby.

“You know what this is called right now?”

“What?”

“A sister sandwich.”

“Oh, yeah! We totally are. Wait, but isn’t a sandwich named after the stuff that’s in between the bread?”

“Oh, you’re right. That’s unfortunate.”

“Why? It just means we’re a Weiss sandwich, then.”

“I dunno, that doesn’t sound as good. There’s no alliteration.”

“A Weiss-wich.”

“Will you two shut up?” said Weiss with a huff.

Yang and Ruby both laughed. Weiss felt her heart skip a beat at the sound.

Soon enough the room fell quiet again. Ruby ended up being the first of them to pass out, clutching Weiss’s shirt in both her fists and snoring softly. The comforting, familiar sound was making Weiss start to slip as well, although she tried to fight it at first. She felt Yang’s grip around her midsection tighten just a bit.

“You can sleep if you want,” Yang mumbled into her hair. “I’ll wake you guys up in time for dinner.”

“Are you sure?” Weiss asked quietly.

“Yeah. Don’t worry about it.”

So with that reassurance in the back of her mind, and pressed between two of her very warm, very caring teammates, Weiss finally let herself drift off into a peaceful slumber.

 


 

As promised, Yang gently nudged the two of them awake a few hours later, with just enough time before dinner so they could go out and interrupt Blake’s study session with Sun together. Weiss got up after Ruby scrambled off the bed, feeling lighter than usual. And then because she was busy openly staring at Ruby from behind, it didn’t take long for her to notice that her hood was rumpled and askew atop the rest of her outfit. So Weiss walked up to her, putting her hands on Ruby’s shoulders and spinning her around so that they were face-to-face before beginning to pull the cloak back upright.

“Oh,” Ruby said, looking both appreciative and a little shy. “Thanks, Weiss.”

“Don’t mention it.” Then, because she was apparently incapable of stopping herself, Weiss reached up and cupped Ruby’s face in her hands. Ruby went very still, her eyes widening in shock.

“Weiss…” she said, her voice quiet and trembling slightly.

“I—I um,” said Weiss. Almost on instinct, she brushed her finger against Ruby’s cheek. Ruby actually shivered in response. At a complete loss for words, Weiss just stood there, frozen, unable to tear her gaze away from Ruby’s. She could feel herself starting to get overwhelmed by the sheer intensity of her emotions.

Yang must have noticed how badly both of them were freaking out, because a few moments later she had come up behind Weiss and put a hand on her shoulder, lightly pulling her back in an effort to break the stifling tension.

“Come on, you two,” she said with a soft, knowing smile. “We don’t want to keep Blake waiting for too long.”

It took Weiss a while to get her bearings back before she followed Yang out the door. The entire walk down the hallway she and Ruby had trouble looking each other in the eye and stayed several feet apart, because they were both mature like that. Yang was the one who dragged them back together, trying to take their minds off the situation by cracking bad jokes and telling ridiculous stories. By the time they made it outside to the gardens, it had worked, for the most part. Ruby had gone back to her usual upbeat self, and Weiss was trying not to smile as she listened to her and Yang happily bounce stupid ideas off each other.

“We should try and surprise Blake,” Yang suggested.

Weiss scoffed. “You two? Surprise Blake? Please. You’re both so loud she’ll hear you coming from a mile away.”

“That’s why we need a distraction,” Ruby pitched in, grinning. “I volunteer Weiss.”

“Wait, what?” said Weiss.

“I think you’re onto something, sis,” said Yang, rubbing her chin in mock seriousness. “Alright, Weiss, here’s the game plan. You go on ahead and find Blake. Ruby and I will stay back and scout the area for any openings. All you have to do is keep her occupied, okay?”

Before Weiss could protest further, Ruby gave her a little shove and a cheeky smile before running off to follow Yang, ducking behind a couple bushes. Weiss let out a loud sigh and rubbed at her face with one hand. She didn’t know why she was even considering playing along with their nonsense. But, at the very least she did know that she wanted to see Blake again, so she pushed aside her thoughts and headed towards where the benches were scattered around the back rim of the gardens.

Soon enough she spotted Blake and Sun sitting together on a bench nearby. Sun was busy furiously scribbling something into his notebook, which was propped open on his lap, while Blake was talking about something next to him. They seemed to be enjoying themselves. Weiss didn’t know how to feel about that.

She approached closer, and it didn’t take much longer after that for Blake to notice her.

“Weiss,” she said, and her voice was so warm, her expression lighting up as she reached out towards Weiss’s hand. “Hey.”

“Hi,” Weiss said back. She couldn’t help the smile that formed on her face as she let Blake take her hand, and then start gently playing with her fingers. On Blake’s other side, Sun perked up, noticing Weiss for the first time.

“Sup,” he said casually, giving her a small wave before turning back to his notes. “How goes the life?”

“Um, pretty good, I think. How about you?”

“I’m alright. History is kicking my ass, though. Blake, help me.”

“I am,” said Blake, amused. “And you’re doing just fine.” She turned to look up at Weiss, smiling like she was genuinely excited to see her. “Did you guys do anything fun after I left?”

“Not really,” Weiss admitted. “We kind of just took a nap.”

“I see,” said Blake, curious. “Speaking of which, where are Yang and Ruby? They didn’t make you come out to get me all by yourself, did they?”

“Oh, no, they didn’t,” said Weiss. “But, um, I honestly don’t have a clue where they are right now.”

Blake raised an eyebrow. “Huh. Weird.”

Weiss fidgeted awkwardly.

Then she saw the flash of rose petals behind them a split second before it was too late.

Ruby re-materialized right before she hit Blake, tackling into her with so much force that they actually went tumbling off the bench. Weiss could have sworn that for a moment there, Blake looked like she was watching her life flash before her eyes. They hit the ground and rolled around for a bit before Ruby ended up on top, triumphantly sitting on Blake’s stomach.

“Blake!” she said, throwing her hands up into the air. “Hi.”

“Oh my god, Ruby,” Blake said. She closed her eyes and let her head fall back against the ground, her hands reaching up to rest on Ruby’s hips. “I think you just took ten years off my life.”

By then, Yang had reached them, bent over from laughing so hard. Weiss listened to her for a few moments and ended up smiling herself. She had to admit that Blake’s reaction had been pretty funny.

“It was Yang’s idea,” Ruby told Blake, hopping off of her and standing back up. Yang just shrugged, still grinning, and held out her hand to help Blake back up to her feet.

“I’m sorry we scared the shit out of you,” Yang said, pulling Blake into a tight hug. “Is there anything I can do to make it up to you?”

“Hm.” Blake considered it. Weiss could see her grinning from over Yang’s shoulder. “I dunno, I think my legs are feeling a bit unstable after that. I might need some help getting to dinner.”

“Say no more.” Yang reached down with one hand and easily swept Blake up into her arms. Blake seemed to enjoy it immensely, holding onto Yang and resting her head against her shoulder.

“You guys are all insane,” said Weiss.

Yang grinned at her. “Do you want a ride to the mess hall, too?”

“What?” said Weiss, scandalized. “Of course not!” She actually kind of did, but didn’t think it would be worth the inevitable embarrassment. Not that she was about to let anyone know that.

“Yang could definitely carry all three of us without breaking a sweat, you know,” Ruby commented.

“Oh, trust me, I believe that.” Weiss crossed her arms and tried not to look like she was enjoying herself too much. “Now are we going to go get food or not?”

Just then, Blake seemed to remember that Sun was still sitting there on the bench behind them. She shifted in Yang’s arms and glanced over at him sheepishly. It made the rest of them turn to look at him as well.

“Don’t mind me,” he said, raising his hands in surrender. “I don’t wanna get in between you weirdos.”

“I’m sorry about all this,” said Blake.

“Hey, don’t sweat it.” Sun leaned back against the bench with a grin, scooping up his pencil with his tail and lazily waving it around. “Don’t feel bad for wanting to be with your team, Blake. I know how happy they make you.”

“Yeah,” said Blake, her voice so quiet that Weiss almost didn’t hear it. Her bright little smile, however, was impossible to miss. “I’ll see you around, Sun.”

And with that, the four of them headed off to dinner together, Ruby and Weiss flanking Yang while she continued to carry Blake in her arms. People gave them strange looks, of course, but Weiss figured she might as well start getting used to them by now. These were her teammates, and she didn’t think she’d ever trade them and their silly antics for anything.

 


 

It was indisputable. Weiss was definitely starting to go insane.

Every day the feeling just seemed to worsen. Not necessarily in a bad way, but sometimes she wished she could at least retain some of her ability to hold herself back. She’d spent her entire childhood learning to put business before her own personal desires, and all it had taken was several months of living in a dorm with Yang, Blake, and Ruby to make her throw it all out the window.

And despite growing up rather sheltered, Weiss wasn’t that clueless. She was pretty sure now of the reason behind her growing need to be closer to her teammates, even if she did want to deny it at first. The fact that they were all willing to reciprocate her sudden increase in touchiness didn’t help matters in the slightest.

Then a crumpled-up ball of paper hit her in the head.

Weiss snapped back into reality and realized that she’d missed the last five minutes of the morning’s lecture. She picked up the wad of paper and looked in the direction that it had come from, even though she already knew who had thrown it. Sure enough, Ruby was staring back at her from across the room, grinning and flashing her a thumbs up.

Earlier in the year the professor had forcibly split them up for being too disruptive during class. The vast majority of it had been because of Ruby and Yang, but all four of them were now being made to sit in separate corners of the room, just to be safe. That didn’t stop Ruby from continuing to try and communicate with them mid-lecture, though.

Weiss unfolded the paper and had to stop herself from smiling. She’d been doing a lot of that lately. Ruby had scrawled out the words “WE SHOULD START A BAND” at the top in large, blocky text, and underneath it, she’d drawn a messy stick figure of what appeared to be Weiss holding a microphone and singing. Weiss took her pencil and wrote “no” at the bottom before crumpling the paper up again, turning her attention back to the class.

She waited until the professor’s back was turned, droning on about the properties of lightning Dust, before she tossed the paper behind her, somewhere in the general direction of where Blake was sitting.

Eventually Weiss noticed Blake pass their little note over to Yang, who drew in her own additions before chucking it back to Ruby. By the time it had returned into Weiss’s possession there were a multitude of new drawings and sentences written all over the paper.

An additional trio of stick figures now joined the one of Weiss singing. Blake’s was easily distinguishable, since hers was bordering on being a legitimate sketch. Next to it, Ruby’s figure looked like she was holding an oversized pear, which Weiss assumed was supposed to be a guitar, while Yang appeared to be jumping on top of a drum set. One of them had also written “RWBY gang” next to the drawing. Since Yang had taken it upon herself to write over the letters so that they now read “RWBY YANG,” the original culprit had to have been Blake. Weiss was impressed.

She stared at the paper for a bit longer, her thumb trailing over the part where the little “no” she’d written down earlier had been crossed out and replaced with the word “YES” three separate times. It was just a silly drawing, but Weiss still couldn’t help folding it up neatly and putting it into her pocket.

Class ended a while after that. Weiss stopped at the exit to the lecture hall, watching the other students trickle by as she waited for the rest of her teammates. Blake had gone up to the front to ask the professor a quick question, so Yang and Ruby reached her first.

“Hey guys,” Ruby said, bouncing up and down excitedly. “Can we go get ice cream?”

“Right now? Why?” asked Weiss.

“Because I want some, and because I saw a vendor on the fairgrounds the other day and wanted to see if it was any good,” Ruby explained.

Blake soon finished talking with the professor and walked up to join them. “What’s going on here?” she asked, having caught the tail end of their conversation.

“Ruby wants to get ice cream at ten-thirty in the morning,” Weiss said helpfully.

“It’s a good idea,” Ruby insisted.

“Hey, I’m down,” said Yang.

In the end they decided that it was worth making the trip to the fairgrounds, since they had two hours to kill until their next class anyway. So the four of them set off through the hallways, talking and laughing together along the way.

Weiss was in the middle of listening to Ruby ramble on about possible weapon upgrades when she became acutely aware of the fact that Blake’s hand was now resting on the small of her back. She tried not to jump at the touch, but Blake noticed anyway. Judging by her panicked expression, she hadn’t been paying attention to what she was doing. She started to pull her hand away, looking apologetic, but Weiss grabbed her by the wrist.

“It’s fine,” Weiss told her, too embarrassed to look Blake in the eye. “You just took me by surprise, that’s all.”

After a few seconds, Blake seemed to relax, and she returned her hand to the same spot on Weiss’s back, but noticeably lighter this time. Weiss still had to make an effort not to shiver, though. Next to them, Ruby was still talking animatedly, and Yang was giving Weiss a curious look that was doing nothing to help calm her racing heart.

There was no way she could survive the rest of the year like this. She had to tell her teammates about how she felt, and she had to do it soon. If she kept it to herself any longer, she figured she'd probably explode.

Chapter 6

Notes:

i love you guys. no homo tho

Chapter Text

Life was going pretty great. In all honesty, Blake was starting to wonder if it might be going a little too great. It kind of felt like they were in a period of calm before the inevitable storm.

For one, the Vytal Festival Tournament was finally about to kick off for real in just four days. The team brackets had been released to the students the previous day, and the Amity Colosseum had arrived as well, hovering over Beacon Academy in all its massive, imposing glory. Tensions and anticipation were running high among the students. The excitement in the air was almost palpable.

Blake wasn’t too worried about the outcome of their first tournament match. They were paired up against some team from Vacuo called BRNZ, one of the lower-qualifying teams representing Shade Academy. She didn’t want to sound overly cocky, but Ruby had been putting them through the paces even harder than usual, and she was pretty sure the match was going to be a relative cakewalk.

The more pressing concern, however, was starting to creep its way into the forefront of Blake’s mind. If what little information they’d managed to gather was correct, the White Fang’s attack on the Schnee Dust Company mine outside of Vale was going to happen in a little under two weeks now. Whenever she wasn’t studying for classes or getting beaten to a pulp while training with her teammates, Blake found herself spending more and more time in the library, struggling to find whatever she could, anything that could help them either prevent or interrupt the attack.

She knew she was starting to slip back into her old habits. And she did feel pretty bad about it, especially because the others were much quicker to notice this time. But the continued radio silence from the White Fang coupled with the stress of not knowing exactly what they were planning on doing at the mine was beginning to drive her up a wall.

And now she was clutching a couple of papers she’d printed out earlier, standing in their dorm in front of the giant map pinned up on the wall. Bit by bit, they’d started adding more info and notes to it as the days passed. Yang and Ruby had researched all the possible train routes and highways that could get them as close to the mine as possible from Beacon, and those paths were now highlighted on the map in bright red marker. There were several notes tacked onto the side, courtesy of Weiss, that detailed rough estimates of more sensitive, private data like the worker population size, both Faunus and human, or the percentage of Atlas security tech dedicated to that particular mine.

Blake had spent the past few hours after class meticulously recording down the departure and arrival times of the trains during the days surrounding the attack, and then listing out the best combinations they could take. Ideally they wanted to miss the fewest amount of classes possible to avoid suspicion, but since the attack was happening on a Wednesday, they didn’t have a lot of time to work with.

She was just getting ready to put her papers up underneath the map when she heard someone walk up from behind her and come to a stop by her side. It was Weiss.

After a few seconds of silence, Weiss reached out and gently curled her fingers around Blake’s wrist.

“Hello, Blake,” she said lightly.

“Hi,” Blake responded. She had to put all her effort into remaining still, because Weiss’s touch felt almost electric, sending warmth spreading up her arm and through her chest.

Oh, and that was another thing that had been happening, apparently. Not just with Weiss, but Yang and Ruby too. Deep down inside, Blake figured she knew exactly what her feelings towards the three of them were, but thinking about it too hard only made her head spin. It was easier to just go with the flow of things.

“Did you find anything helpful?” Weiss asked, snapping Blake out of her thoughts.

“Um, yeah. I hope so.” She glanced down at the stack of papers still clutched in her free hand.

“That’s good,” said Weiss, her voice still oddly light. Too late Blake realized where the conversation was heading. “I noticed you’ve started skipping lunch again.”

“Oh. I—um, I just needed a little extra time to finish up Oobleck’s assignment,” Blake tried to explain.

Weiss just looked at her with one eyebrow raised. “And why exactly did you need that much more time?” she asked. Her tone wasn’t accusatory, but it was firm enough that Blake knew better than to argue. She lowered her head guiltily.

“Because I’ve been cooped up in the library obsessing over the White Fang.” Blake kept her gaze fixed on the floor. “I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay,” said Weiss. Her hand slipped down into Blake’s. “I admire how hard you’re willing to work to achieve your goals, you know. But not if it comes at the cost of your well-being.”

“Yeah,” Blake said quietly. “I know you’re right. And… I know you guys already told me off once before. I can’t help it. Old habits die hard, I guess.”

“Well, people don’t just change overnight,” Weiss told her. She waited until Blake was looking at her before offering her a small, encouraging smile. “Not many people have the kind of drive that you do. It can be a good thing, in moderation. Just let the rest of us take care of you when you push yourself too hard, okay?”

Blake could feel her heart swelling more the longer she stared at Weiss, and she couldn’t seem to take her eyes off of her. “Okay,” she said, vaguely aware of the fact that she was smiling. “Thanks, Weiss.”

Weiss just smiled back, and rubbed her thumb over the back of Blake’s hand a few times before dropping it. “Come on,” she said, heading towards the door. “Go put your notes up and let’s go get you some food.”

“Right.” Blake turned back to the map, feeling slightly dazed. She tacked the papers up onto the wall before turning to rejoin Weiss, who was standing at the doorway waiting patiently for her.

They headed down to the Vytal Festival fairgrounds together, since the mess hall had long since closed for the afternoon. The entire walk there, Blake had to keep stopping herself from reaching out to rest her hand somewhere on Weiss’s body, whether it be on her shoulder or back or arm.

“So,” said Blake, clenching her fist before Weiss could notice her fidgeting, “where are Yang and Ruby, anyway?”

“Fraternizing with the enemy,” Weiss answered easily. “I think Yang wanted to say hi to Team BRNZ before our tournament match. She refused to admit to having any ulterior motives, but I highly doubt they’re willingly having coffee together just to be friendly.”

Blake laughed a little. “That seems more like something you would do.”

Weiss tried to glare at her, but failed because she was having a hard time hiding her smile. “Well, perhaps,” she admitted, “but one of us had to come over and make sure you weren’t working yourself into the ground, right?”

And just like that, the guilt came flooding back. Blake opened her mouth to say something, but before she could, Weiss stopped her.

“Don’t apologize again,” she said firmly. “You’re not inconveniencing any of us, so there’s no need to. Besides, I’d much rather spend time with you than some random team from a different school.”

“Right. Okay.” Blake took a deep breath, trying to resist the automatic urge to attempt saying sorry anyway. She glanced over at Weiss and smiled. “Has anyone ever told you that you’re actually pretty amazing?”

Weiss rolled her eyes at that, clearly amused. “Maybe once or twice,” she said with a faint smile of her own. “I wouldn’t be opposed to hearing it again, though.”

“Okay.” Blake finally gave up trying to hold her impulses back and reached up to put her arm around Weiss’s shoulders. Weiss looked momentarily surprised at the contact, but calmed down soon after. She’d been acting unusually jumpy lately. “Hey, Weiss?”

“Yes?”

“I think you’re an amazing person.”

“Thank you,” said Weiss, ducking her head a little in embarrassment. “I think you’re pretty amazing, too.”

By the time they reached the fairgrounds, Blake was grinning like an idiot, and she found that she had long since stopped caring.

They wandered around the food vendors for a bit, weighing their many options, but since Blake was doing a terrible job of avoiding staring at the sushi stall, Weiss insisted that they stop there, and then proceeded to pay for her entire order.

“Are you sure you don’t want anything?” Blake asked, clutching the plate of sushi in her hand. She was only just now starting to realize just how hungry she was.

Weiss reached up and flicked her in the forehead. “Yes. I already ate lunch several hours ago like a normal person.”

“Right,” said Blake.

They took the food to the round picnic tables in the center of the fairgrounds, looking for an empty place to sit. It wasn’t long before Blake spotted a couple of familiar faces in the crowd of students.

“Blake! Weiss!” Jaune called excitedly, waving them over when he caught sight of them. Blake shared a glance with Weiss, who just shrugged. So they headed over to Jaune’s table together, where he was sitting there sharing a basket of fries with Ren and Neptune. Blake and Weiss settled down across from them.

“Hey, guys,” said Blake. “Been here long?”

“Nah,” said Neptune. He picked out a fry and bit off half of it. “The line for these things was super long.”

“Worth it, though,” said Jaune.

“Definitely,” Neptune agreed.

The table fell into a peaceful sort of silence as they ate their food. Blake tried not to tear through her sushi too fast. All around her, she could hear the sound of students talking and making their way among the stalls, and there was a faint breeze blowing through the air. It was all very pleasant and calming. She couldn’t believe she had almost missed this in favor of locking herself in the library and tracking the White Fang until her brain leaked out of her ears.

“Okay, wait,” said Jaune, pointing towards Blake and Weiss. “We have a very important question that we need your opinion on.”

“What is it?” said Blake.

Jaune looked expectantly to Ren, who just sighed.

“Would you rather fight fifty Boarbatusk-sized Nevermores, or one Nevermore-sized Boarbatusk?” he asked.

“The Nevermores,” Weiss answered, almost immediately. She picked up a piece of sushi with one hand, keeping the other underneath in case anything fell, and held it up to Blake’s mouth. Blake happily obliged her. “The smaller they are, the easier they are to kill. Have you seen Blake kill them? She can take out an entire flock in like, ten seconds flat.”

“That was one time,” Blake told her, “and they were like, this big.” She held her hands out barely one foot apart. “A Boarbatusk is a lot bigger than that.”

“A fully mature one is only two or three feet long. Fifty Nevermores of that size would still be significantly better than trying to fight a twenty-foot large Boarbatusk,” said Weiss.

Meanwhile, Neptune was elbowing Ren in the side. “See?” he said. “Weiss agrees with me. You two are just dumb.”

“If we’re talking about a solo fight, then a single large Boarbatusk would be easier to handle than an entire swarm of small Nevermores,” Ren argued. “Fifty is just a number on paper, but in practice, it would be incredibly easy to get overwhelmed by that many Grimm at once.”

“Plus, the Boarbatusk has the disadvantage of being forced to stay on the ground,” Jaune added. “If you pick the Nevermores, then you’d have to keep your attention on the sky as well.”

“Yes, but you also have to keep in mind that Grimm become exponentially harder to kill the bigger they get,” said Weiss. “If you thought a normal-sized Boarbatusk had tough armor, imagine trying to fight a Nevermore-sized one. At that point I seriously doubt you could even pierce through its soft underbelly.”

The boys paused to consider this. Then Jaune turned to face Blake. “Well?” he asked. “It’s two against two right now. What’s your verdict?”

Blake thought it over for a few moments. “Sorry. I’m gonna have to agree with Weiss on this one.”

“Hell yeah,” said Neptune, reaching across the table for a high-five, which Blake gave to him cheerfully. Jaune was groaning, but Ren seemed to take the defeat in stride. Weiss looked proud.

A few minutes later, just as the conversation was beginning to die down again, Blake heard footsteps coming up from behind her. Not long after she felt someone put their hands on her shoulders, and she looked up to find Yang smiling down at her.

“Found you guys,” she said, beaming.

“Hi,” said Blake, letting her head fall back to rest against Yang’s stomach. “How was the socializing?”

“Horrible,” Ruby answered for her, popping in on Blake’s other side and swiping a piece of sushi from her plate as she slid into the seat. “I thought they were all pretty boring. The girl was alright, though. I think she said her name was May?”

Yang snorted and started running a hand through Blake’s hair, leaving the other still resting on her shoulder. “You’re only saying that because she also uses a sniper rifle.”

“Well, duh,” said Ruby. “It shoots laser beams, which is cool! But it’s also nothing else. You could have attached any kind of melee weapon to it, and you choose to leave it as nothing but a gun! Who does that?”

“Most normal people, I would believe,” Blake told her, grinning when Ruby pouted and latched onto her arm.

“Like I said. Boring,” said Ruby.

“Maybe a little,” Yang agreed. “It was pretty uneventful. They seemed like nice people, though.” She scratched lightly at the spot right behind Blake’s bow, and Blake actually had to stop herself from shivering. Then Yang lowered her voice a little. “I’m glad to see you out and about, Blake. We were starting to get worried about you.”

“So I’ve heard,” Blake managed to say. “You should probably thank Weiss for that.”

They all looked at Weiss, who just shrugged and fed Blake another piece of sushi. “We all would have done the same thing for each other,” she said simply.

“Still,” said Blake, reaching out to take Weiss’s hand into her own. “I appreciate it.”

Weiss averted her gaze for a second, looking almost shy, but Blake could see her trying to hide her smile. With Yang standing behind her, still playing with her hair, and Ruby continuing to cling to her arm, Blake wondered if she had ever felt so happy and content in her life before.

Eventually Ruby turned her attention to the three boys sitting across from them, who were all doing an admirable job of pretending like they hadn’t been listening in on their conversation. “Hey, Jaune,” she said brightly. “Can I have some fries?”

“We’re almost out, but sure,” said Jaune, sliding the basket across the table. “But, before you do, we have a very important question to ask you.”

“No, we don’t,” said Neptune immediately, trying to reach over Ren so he could shove Jaune in the face. “For the love of god, do not bring this argument up again—”

“Would you rather—” Jaune began, but he was forced to stop so he could swat Neptune’s hand away. “Would you rather—Ren, back me up here!”

Yang and Ruby just stared at the commotion unfolding in front of them, completely bewildered. Blake felt Weiss squeeze her hand, and she looked over to find her already staring back, clearly exasperated but also amused by the whole situation. Ren was somehow managing to remain stoic and motionless in between Jaune and Neptune’s little scuffle. After a few seconds, he sighed and finished Jaune’s question for him.

“Would you rather fight fifty Boarbatusk-sized Nevermores, or one Nevermore-sized Boarbatusk?”

 


 

The next day, instead of their usual sparring class, Professor Goodwitch took the students on a field trip to tour the Amity Colosseum for the first time. They even got to go up in the super fancy two-story airships designated specifically for tournament use only. The seats were all cushioned and the floors were neat and tiled. Naturally, this meant that Ruby spent most of the ride to the Colosseum running up and down the stairs of the airship, pressing her face up against any windows she could reach and gazing out in wonder at the landscape below.

Yang nominated Blake to be the one to wrangle Ruby back into a less hyperactive state while she went to go take care of Weiss, who was similarly captivated by the view but trying much harder to hide it. So Blake scooted her way out into the aisle, trying her best not to knock into anyone’s legs along the way, and headed over to the base of the stairs. She had made it maybe a third of the way up when Ruby came barreling down again and crashed right into her.

Instinctively, Blake wrapped her arms around Ruby’s midsection and planted her feet into the step she was standing on before either of them could tip off balance. A few seconds later, Ruby laughed into her shoulder. “Sorry.”

“Having fun there?” Blake asked, smiling when Ruby made no effort to extract herself from her arms.

“Maybe a little.” Ruby brought her legs up and hooked them around Blake’s waist, clinging tightly to her neck. Blake’s smile only widened. “I don’t think I’ll ever get sick of the view outside. We’re so high up right now. It’s amazing.”

“You know, it is possible to enjoy it without running like a maniac across the entire ship,” Blake told her.

Ruby huffed. “I don’t believe you.”

“Come on.” Blake began making her way up the stairs again, taking great care not to dislodge Ruby. “You can pick one window for us to look out of. Keep in mind that we aren’t the only ones on board right now.”

Ruby eventually relented and let Blake carry her up to the considerably less-occupied second floor of the ship, where she hopped down in front of the window that was looking out towards the Amity Colosseum as they approached closer.

“It’s so big,” she said in awe, pressing her hands against the glass. “I mean, I always knew it was massive, but seeing it up close and personal like this, just… wow.”

“Yeah,” Blake agreed, coming to a stop next to Ruby. The view really was impressive, but Blake soon found herself staring more at Ruby than at the arena outside, entranced by her earnest, open expression.

Neither of them spoke for a while. The class had been split into two separate ships to go up to the Colosseum, so most of the students fit onto the first floor. Aside from a couple kids lounging around in the back, Blake and Ruby were alone on the second.

“Blake?” said Ruby, keeping her gaze fixed on the view outside.

“Yeah?” asked Blake.

“I… um,” she began hesitantly. Her fingers trailed down the pane of the window. “I just wanted to let you know that, um—that I’m really glad you’re on my team.”

Blake just blinked, having been taken by surprise. “Where’s this coming from?”

“I dunno,” said Ruby. She frowned slightly. “I just think about it a lot, I guess. That day in the Emerald Forest… if anything had gone even slightly different, we might not have ended up where we are today. I think my biggest fear when I first came to Beacon was that I was going to spend the rest of my time here stuck with people who hated me. And, well, when I became partners with Weiss, it didn’t exactly fill me with hope.” She laughed a little. “But then we all got put on a team together, and we fought a little at first, but then we got super close. And now I don’t think I would ever trade you guys for anything.”

“Ruby…” said Blake, at a loss for words.

“Ah, I’m rambling again.” Ruby shook her head and then threw herself at Blake, burying her face into her chest. “I guess what I’m trying to say is that I’m really, really, grateful that I got the chance to meet you, Blake.”

Blake hugged Ruby back for a few moments, before reaching down and tilting Ruby’s head up so she could brush aside some of her hair. “I’m glad I met you too,” she told her softly.

And with the way her chest was burning, with Ruby looking up at her like that, if they hadn’t been in public, Blake knew she probably would have done something right then and there. Ruby seemed to understand, though. With great reluctance, Blake forced herself to step away, just as the airship began to descend upon the docking port of the arena.

“We should probably go meet back up with Weiss and Yang,” said Ruby.

“Right,” said Blake.

They headed downstairs together and found the others already lining up near the exit of the ship. Weiss and Yang were standing around with the rest of their friends, talking and laughing together. When Yang noticed them approaching, she wordlessly held out her arm. Blake smiled and let Yang pull her in, resting her arm over her shoulders. Outside, they could hear the docking port hooking onto the underside of the airship.

“Ready to be blown away?” Yang asked her with a grin.

“Honestly? I already am,” said Blake.

“Ruby and I basically grew up watching the tournament almost every year,” said Yang. “Trust me, it’s even cooler on the inside. But this’ll be my first time seeing it for myself.”

The airship door slid open, and the students began to trickle out.

 


 

As it turned out, the Amity Colosseum was somehow even more impressive on the inside. Professor Goodwitch tried her best to give a thorough explanation of all the different areas, from the hallways underneath the stadium to the back rooms to the spectator stands to the actual fighting arena itself. Most of the students were so fascinated and distracted by everything that she seemed resigned to the fact that only half of whatever she said would actually register.

Now they were all crowded together on the center octagonal platform in the arena. Blake squinted against the bright sunlight, scanning her eyes over the sheer number of seats lining the countless rows of the Colosseum around them. It was a glaring reminder of the fact that an absolutely massive amount of people were going to be watching them as they fought in the tournament.

Next to Blake, Ruby was excitedly trying to inspect the mechanics of the large sliding plates beneath them. The only reason why she hadn’t dashed off across the arena yet was because Yang was keeping a very tight grip on her cape.

“I believe a demonstration of the arena’s capabilities are in order,” Goodwitch was saying. “If everyone could please step away from the outer platforms.”

Yang had to drag Ruby backwards to where Weiss and Blake were standing. Blake glanced curiously at Weiss, who seemed deep in thought.

“What is it?” she asked.

Weiss blinked. “Oh, nothing, really,” she responded. “Just—this is really happening, isn’t it?”

“What do you mean?” said Blake.

“The tournament,” Weiss explained, her expression growing slightly worried. “In three days we’re really going to come down here and fight Team BRNZ, and not only are all of these seats going to be filled with people watching our every move, but most of the population of Remnant will be tuning in on TV as well.”

“Yeah,” Blake said quietly. “It does seem really daunting.” She put a hand on Weiss’s shoulder. “But we can get through it together.”

Weiss closed her eyes and took a deep breath. “Right. Together.”

Above them, a ring of holograms appeared in the air, spinning with bright images of what appeared to be various biomes. Everyone looked up in anticipation, waiting for the reel to slow down, until half of them stopped on ice, and the other half stopped on forest.

Then, with a loud clang and whirring noise, the outer platforms drew back, and two gigantic, incredibly detailed environments rose up from the gap. Blake actually jumped a little in surprise.

“You have fifteen minutes to explore the premises,” Goodwitch told them, when the new platforms had finished locking into place. “Please do try and keep the damage to a minimum.”

Even though the arena was designed for combat between eight students at most, somehow, having nearly sixty kids running around the entire thing didn’t even feel cramped in the slightest. Blake stuck close to the rest of her team, exploring the back end of the forest together.

“Are these real trees?” Weiss asked, knocking on a trunk with her fist. “That’s pretty impressive, that they managed to figure out a way to store all these different environments underneath the arena.”

“I know! It’s so cool!” said Ruby, bouncing up and down in excitement. “I can’t believe we’re actually in the Amity Colosseum! This is amazing!” She tried to run off, but forgot that Yang was still holding onto her cape. Even then, Yang was only saved from being jerked right off her feet when Blake reached out and grabbed onto her other hand.

“Fuck!” said Yang, gritting her teeth when the cape went taut and tugged against her shoulder.

“I’m sorry!” Ruby cried.

Weiss was shaking her head, but also struggling not to laugh. “You guys are ridiculous.”

“What did I do?” Yang complained, letting go of both Ruby and Blake so she could rub at her shoulder. “Ruby nearly tore my arm out of my socket.”

“How tragic,” said Blake.

“I know, right?” Yang grinned at her. Then she turned her gaze onto Weiss, fixing her with her best pout. “It hurts, Weiss. Please help me. Can you kiss it to make the pain go away?”

“You are so dramatic,” said Weiss, huffing. But then, to everyone’s surprise, she actually marched up to Yang, pushed her hand aside, and smoothed out her shirt before planting a kiss right on her shoulder. “Better?”

“Yeah,” said Yang. She looked like her brain had short-circuited, leaving her powerless to do anything except grin stupidly.

Ruby decided to join in on the fun and tackled Weiss in a hug. “What a noble hero,” she said with a huge smile on her face. “Thank you for saving the life of my sister. I am forever in your debt.”

Blake couldn’t hold it in anymore. She started laughing, which made Weiss lose it as well. They ended up in a big group hug, holding each other and cracking up as the other students shouted and engaged in mock battles around them. They were in their own little bubble, and in that moment, the only thing Blake cared about was the three people in her arms.

“My earlier point still stands, you know,” said Weiss. “You three are the most ridiculous people I have ever met.”

Blake was inclined to agree with that statement. But she also knew that she wouldn’t want it any other way.

Chapter 7

Notes:

s o o n

Chapter Text

It was Sunday afternoon, the day before the Vytal Festival Tournament was set to begin, and Yang was busy getting bullied by her teammates.

They were holed up in one of the training rooms, trying to cram in as much final practice as they could. At this point, though, they were mostly just fooling around. They’d been training their asses off for the past few weeks, and based on the brief meeting Yang had gone to with Ruby, Team BRNZ didn’t seem like too big of a threat. It was probably a testament to how lame they all were that the idea of punching each other’s lights out for sport seemed like a fun pastime to them.

“Come on, Yang,” Ruby was saying. “We all can do it except you.”

“I don’t see why I need to know how to do multiple backflips in a row,” Yang responded defensively, crossing her arms.

“It’s a good skill to have!” said Ruby. “Like, what would you do if someone shot a bullet at your feet?”

“Uh, roll aside like a normal human being?” said Yang.

Ruby pondered this for a moment. Then she pulled out her rifle and fired a round into the floor right underneath Yang, who, as promised, dodged by rolling off to the side. “That doesn’t look as cool,” Ruby decided. “Let’s do it again. This time, try some backflips.”

“You’re an ass,” said Yang, but when Ruby fired another bullet, she reluctantly threw herself into a backflip and hopped back onto her feet, neatly avoiding the shot. “See? I can do one backflip. One. Are you happy now?”

“Yeah, but the rest of us can do multiple,” said Ruby, gesturing over to Blake and Weiss, who were both standing off to the side, looking amused and doing absolutely nothing to help ease Yang’s suffering.

“Okay, but that’s because Blake and Weiss are basically the human equivalent of slinkies,” Yang argued. “Backflips just don’t fit with my style. I think it’s unfair to hold me to the same standard.”

“Please?” Ruby asked, pouting. “Do it for the team solidarity?”

Yang just groaned, but let Ruby keep firing at her feet. She did the first backflip just fine, but when she dropped into a handstand trying to do the second, she could feel herself tilting off balance. Before she could fall over, however, someone had come up behind her and grabbed her by the ankles.

It was Blake.

“Hey,” she said casually, grinning down at Yang.

“Alright. Okay. Right. So this is how it’s gonna be, huh?” said Yang while still upside-down. “That’s fine. This is totally fine.”

“It’s not so hard, Yang,” Blake told her, looking like she was enjoying herself way too much. “You see, all you have to do is push hard against the ground and let the momentum carry you forward.”

“Right. Thank you. Thanks.” With Blake still holding onto her ankles, and Ruby looking like she was considering shooting at her again, Yang had no choice but to look to Weiss as her last hope. “Weiss, help me, please. Make these two assholes stop bullying me.”

“How am I bullying you?” said Blake, and Yang had to look away from her bright smile before even more blood rushed to her face. “I’m just teaching you how to do a proper backflip.”

“I know how to do a proper backflip,” said Yang. She was starting to get dizzy. “Weiss? Please?”

“What do you even want me to do?” said Weiss, even as she began to walk up to them.

“I dunno. Make Blake go away?” Yang suggested.

Weiss considered this for a moment. Then, to Yang’s absolute delight, she holstered her rapier and proceeded to throw an actual punch at Blake’s face. Blake dodged it, of course, with the help of a clone she summoned, but she nearly stumbled as she jumped back, laughing in surprise.

“Oh my god,” said Blake, looking wholly impressed as Yang finally got back up to her feet. “I can’t even be mad, that was amazing.”

“Yeah, holy shit, Weiss,” Yang agreed with a huge grin. “That was flat-out vicious. No mercy at all.”

“Don’t think too hard about it. I only tried to help because I felt bad that you were getting ganged up on.” Weiss pointed her finger at all of them. “I want nothing to do with this mess.”

“What mess?” Blake asked innocently.

Almost as an answer, Ruby fired yet another bullet towards Yang, who only narrowly blocked the shot with her gauntlets. “Jeez, Ruby, quit shooting at me for like five seconds, will you?” she shouted, punching the air in front of her and sending her own bullets flying in Ruby’s direction. Ruby backflipped her way out of every single one, all while holding onto her rifle in both hands, just to mock Yang.

The training room descended into chaos after that. The four of them were probably going to end up with more bruises than they should have had, but Yang couldn’t stop laughing the entire time. As far as she was concerned, this was the best way to spar with her teammates.

 


 

After the training session, Yang soon found herself back in the dorm, sitting on Blake’s bed with Ruby in her lap. Weiss was in the bathroom taking a shower, while Blake had left to go get some snacks for everyone.

“What if they don’t want to come?” said Ruby, her face buried into Yang’s shoulder.

“Why wouldn’t they?” said Yang. “You know them well enough by now, they’re not gonna just turn you down.”

“Maybe they will.” Ruby sniffed and tightened her grip on Yang’s shirt. “I dunno, I’ve never asked anyone besides you to tag along before. It feels weird. I’m scared.”

“It’ll all turn out fine. I promise,” Yang reassured her. “Come on, sis. If they really do turn you down, I will personally pick them up and boot them out the window for you.”

Despite herself, Ruby let out a small laugh. “You’re the worst.”

“What, for defending your honor?” said Yang, grinning. “I’m hurt.”

Behind them, the door to the bathroom opened, and Weiss stepped out wearing Blake’s dark purple hoodie. The sight was enough to immediately derail all of Yang’s thoughts. From the way Ruby had gone very still in her lap, Yang figured she was probably staring as well.

“You stole that from me,” Ruby finally managed to say, breaking the silence.

Weiss just shrugged and headed over to her bed, throwing her towel onto her desk chair as she passed by it. “Well, you stole it from Yang,” she responded. “Who stole it from Blake. I simply believed it was about time I had a turn.” Then she turned her back to them, but not before Yang caught sight of her tiny, adorable little bashful smile as she brought her hands up and started playing with the strings of the hoodie. For a good few moments, Yang felt like her brain had broken, and all she could do was stare and try not to smile too wide.

Soon after Blake returned to the dorm with her arms piled up with bags of chips and cookies. She kicked the door shut behind her and then froze when her eyes landed on Weiss and the hoodie she was wearing. A small smile began to spread across her face.

“You know, you three are starting to make me think that I’m never going to get that back,” she said.

“Honestly? You’re probably not,” said Yang. Above her, she felt Ruby tensing up, evidently bracing herself now that both Weiss and Blake were back in the room. Yang frowned. “Hey. It’s okay. You’re gonna be okay.”

“Is everything alright?” Blake asked, concerned. She moved to the side to deposit the snacks onto her desk before heading over to sit down next to them. A few moments later, Weiss came up and did the same on Yang’s other side.

“Um—yeah, everything’s fine,” said Ruby, but she had gone back to hiding her face in Yang’s shirt. “I just—can I ask you guys something?”

“What is it?” said Weiss.

Ruby took a deep breath. The rest of them fell silent, waiting patiently for her to continue. “I… I wanted to go and say hi to my mom today. Like, as good luck for the tournament or something. I dunno. I was wondering if you guys, um, maybe wanted to come with me?”

For a while, no one spoke.

Then Blake’s expression slowly softened.

“Of course I will,” she said. “I’d love to go with you.”

“Yeah, me too,” Weiss added, her voice quiet. “It—it would be an honor.”

Ruby poked her head out to stare at Blake, then turned and glanced at Weiss. “Oh,” she said, looking surprised. “Oh, okay. Cool.”

“See? Told you there was nothing to worry about,” said Yang, grinning. She stood up from the bed, with Ruby still clinging to her, and stretched out her arms a bit. Ruby let out an annoyed huff, which only made Yang’s grin widen. She turned to address Blake and Weiss. “We’re probably gonna head out by airship soon, if that’s okay with you guys.”

“Yeah, sure.” Blake got back up and went to her desk. “But you two better help clear out some of these before we do.” She picked up a pack of cookies and tossed it to Yang, who caught it easily and tore it open, popping a cookie into Ruby’s mouth.

They decided to head out a short while after that, once they’d made it through roughly half of the pile of snacks. The flight from Beacon to Patch was almost an hour long, so they made themselves comfortable by squishing together onto one side of the airship. The seat was small enough that Ruby had to curl up in Yang’s lap in order for Blake and Weiss to fit in on either side of them. And since none of them really had much to say at first, Ruby ended up falling asleep halfway through the trip, snoring lightly into Yang’s shoulder.

Weiss was the first to break the silence, a short while after that. “She’ll be okay, right?”

“Huh? Oh, yeah, she’s gonna be fine,” said Yang, shifting a little, careful not to dislodge her sister. “Ruby’s a tough cookie. I’ve always admired that about her.”

“Yeah,” said Weiss, almost absently. After a moment’s hesitation, she reached up and started running her fingers through Ruby’s hair.

Blake nudged Yang in the side. “What about you?” she asked softly.

“What about me?” said Yang, confused.

“Don’t be silly,” said Blake. She leaned over to rest her head on Yang’s shoulder. “She was your mother too, wasn’t she?”

“Oh. Well, yeah.” Yang let out a small sigh, staring past Ruby down at the floor of the airship. Outside, the engines whirred, a steady, rumbling sound that was almost calming. “I dunno, it’s kinda hard to explain. Like, I’m not really sad about it anymore. It’s been so long. At this point, our mom’s been out of our lives longer than she was in it. You just learn to live with it, I guess.”

Blake paused to think about her words. Then she tilted her head up just far enough to press a kiss to Yang’s jawline. “Well, we’re here for you, if you ever need us,” she said, while Yang’s brain fried itself. On her other side, Weiss had taken her hand with the one she wasn’t using to play with Ruby’s hair.

Yang almost didn’t want the airship ride to end.

 


 

Ruby woke up as the airship began its descent onto Patch. The pilot dropped them off at the edge of the forest, so Ruby led the rest of them through it to reach the cliff on the other side. Autumn had arrived in full force by now, and Yang could feel the first of the colorful, fallen leaves crunching underneath her every step in the forest. They bumped into a small pack of Beowolves along the way, but it didn’t take long at all to clear them out.

By the time they broke through the trees, the sun was starting to sink closer to the horizon, casting a warm, orange light across the cliffside. Yang, Blake, and Weiss hung back around the edge of the clearing while Ruby went up ahead first, approaching the gravestone by herself. The distance made it hard to hear exactly what she was saying, but Yang thought she sounded happy, or at least at peace.

She sighed and pulled Blake and Weiss closer to her, resting her arms around their shoulders. “Thanks for coming with us, by the way,” she said, kicking absently at the ground with one foot. “I know this is taking a huge chunk of time out of the rest of the day. It can’t be convenient.”

“I think we’re long past the point where you’d need to thank us for something like this,” said Weiss.

Yang looked at her curiously. “Are we?” she asked.

“Yeah,” Weiss answered, lightly bumping Yang’s shoulder with her head. “It definitely feels that way.”

Blake laughed a little. “You guys could probably ask me to dive off that cliff with you and I’d do it.”

And now that Yang was thinking about it, she realized she felt the same way. She had grown to trust her teammates with her life. The three of them fell into an easy silence, watching as Ruby continued to talk to her mom, rocking back and forth a bit on the heels of her feet and occasionally bringing her hand up to rub at the back of her neck.

After a while, Ruby turned to face the three of them, waving them over to join her. Blake and Weiss both glanced up at Yang, who just smiled and lightly shoved them forward. “After you,” she said.

So they headed up to the gravestone together and Ruby pulled both Blake and Weiss in by their wrists while turning to address her mom again. “So, yeah!” she said, bouncing a little. “Here they are. Um, this is Blake, and this is Weiss. They’re both super great fighters! And smart too. And awesome. Blake is kinda quiet sometimes, but that’s a good thing, I think. It tends to balance out how loud me and Yang can get. And Weiss is really talented at like, everything. It’s unfair, really.” Ruby shook her head a little. “Ugh, I’m totally selling them short, I swear. I guess—I guess it would’ve been better if you got to see them for yourself.”

They all heard the falter in her voice. Yang looked over at her, worried, but Weiss was already giving Ruby’s hand a supportive squeeze. Blake, meanwhile, held out her free hand towards Yang, who just gave her a funny look in return.

“Come join our hand-holding party,” she said softly, with a calm smile on her face.

Yang couldn’t help but laugh a little and take it.

“I’m really glad that I have them in my life,” Ruby managed to continue after a while. “I think you really would have liked them, too.”

They had to leave not long after that, since it was starting to get late, and no one wanted to get caught in the forest once it got dark. Ruby finished up her final words and farewells, and then they started to head out, but Yang stayed where she was, not ready to go just yet.

“You guys go on ahead,” she told the others, when Ruby looked back and realized she hadn’t moved. “I’ll catch up.”

“We can wait for you,” said Ruby.

She went with Blake and Weiss to the edge of the forest, and Yang turned back to face the gravestone, shifting her weight awkwardly. It seemed to come naturally to Ruby, but Yang had always been a bit embarrassed by the idea of talking to a slab of rock. She took a deep breath.

“Hey, mom,” she began, a bit nervous. “It’s… been a while, huh? Life’s gotten pretty hectic. Our first year at Beacon’s coming to an end, though, so that’s exciting, I guess. But Ruby’s probably told you all about that already.” She kicked away a stray pebble on the ground. “So uh, I’m sure you can tell, since I’m pretty awful at hiding it… but lately, I’ve been thinking about Weiss and Blake a lot. I’m crazy about them. Both of them. And Ruby hasn’t told me outright, but I can tell she feels the same way. It’s pretty nuts, right?”

Yang glanced behind her and saw that Blake had somehow gotten Ruby into a headlock, but Ruby was laughing about it. Weiss, who was standing off to the side, caught Yang’s eye, and offered her a small smile. Yang smiled back, feeling her heart skip a beat, and returned her gaze to the gravestone.

“Yeah, I definitely have it real bad,” she continued with a sheepish laugh. “I wish you were still here, sometimes. But then you’d probably tease me endlessly about my love life. It’d be worth it, though. You were the greatest mom I could have ever asked for.” A gentle breeze blew across the cliffside, rustling the leaves of the trees behind her. Yang closed her eyes and enjoyed the feeling for a few moments. “I think we have to head out now, but I promise to visit again soon. So until then… this is good-bye, I guess.”

And on that note, she turned around and headed back towards the rest of her teammates, who all wordlessly fell into step with her as they made their way through the forest again. Nobody said much, but the mood felt a lot lighter than it had been before.

 


 

The next morning, Ruby was so excited for the tournament to finally begin that she woke up and promptly fell out of her bed. It was enough to wake the rest of them, especially when she scrambled to her feet, rushed over to the TV projector they’d borrowed from the library, and slammed the power button to turn it on. The first few battles of the first round were already being broadcasted live.

Nobody was paying any sort of meaningful attention in classes anymore, not when half of the students were gone either fighting in the first-years’ bracket or preparing to fight. Team RWBY wasn’t due to show up until the afternoon, so they at least got to enjoy a quick lunch together before being whisked up to the Amity Colosseum.

And now Yang found herself pacing up and down the length of one of the back rooms in the arena, waiting impatiently for their match to begin. The room itself was pretty small and nondescript, with blank metal walls and nothing but a single chair to tide them over until it was their turn to fight. Blake was currently occupying the chair, which meant that Weiss had resorted to sitting in her lap. Overhead, Yang could hear the rumbling and cheering of the massive crowd above them, the noise punctuated occasionally by Professor Port and Doctor Oobleck’s excited commentary.

“Oh, what a thrilling way to end the match!” Oobleck was saying over the loudspeakers. “It looks like the victory goes to Team FNKI of Atlas Academy!”

Ruby came up to Yang and shoved her aside, knocking her off balance. “It’s my turn to pace now,” she said by way of explanation.

“What?” said Yang, bewildered. “Why can’t we just both pace at the same time?”

“Because it’s weird when there’s more than one person doing it,” said Ruby, as if that made total sense.

You’re weird,” said Yang. But she stepped back anyway to give Ruby her space, and settled for stretching in the corner instead.

A short while later Professor Goodwitch opened the door to their room. “Your match against Team BRNZ is coming up next,” she informed them. “If you could follow me this way, please.”

The walk through the hallways seemed to pass by in a blur. Yang felt like the anticipation was going to kill her. Before she knew it, Goodwitch had stopped them in front of a large metal door, checking something on the large scroll in her hands before looking up to address them.

“Well, good luck, you four,” she said as the door began to slide open, revealing the newly reset arena outside. She smiled faintly. “I’m supposed to remain impartial to this whole event, but… win one for Beacon, alright?”

“You got it,” said Yang, grinning, before Blake shoved her out of the hallway and into the arena, amid the deafening noise of the crowd.

Team BRNZ was already waiting for them by the time they made it onto the center platform. Yang took up position with the rest of her teammates across from them, spread out in a line. Port and Oobleck were busy introducing both of the teams to the audience, but Yang wasn’t really paying attention. She was sizing up their opponents again now that they were all equipped with their weapons.

Besides May’s sniper rifle, the rest of their weapons looked like they were melee only. One of the boys had metal claws hooked on his hands. Another was using a pair of sharp disc-looking things attached to his wrists. The third guy had some sort of electrified stick. It was a little weird, but Yang figured she could roll with it.

“Well, that’s enough of that,” Port was saying from the commentator’s booth. “It’s time for the next match to begin, between Team RWBY of Beacon Academy, and Team BRNZ of Shade!”

As the audience starting cheering again, the ring of holograms appeared above them and began cycling through the various biomes.

“You guys remember our battle plan?” said Ruby.

“Of course,” Weiss answered, gripping her rapier tightly in her left hand.

It was simple enough, as far as plans went. Blake was going to sneak off and take out the sniper by stealth, while Yang kept the three boys occupied in the center. Ruby and Weiss were on support duty, while also acting as bait to take some of the sniper fire off of Yang. Once the girl went down, it was gang-up time on the rest of her team.

The holograms finally stopped on two biomes, and the outer platforms drew back, half of them being replaced by an ocean, and the other half by an urban environment.

“Is everyone ready?” came Oobleck’s voice. “The match starts in three… two… one… begin!”

A buzzer sounded, and the girl, May, immediately turned around and headed deep into the urban biome, evidently looking for a safe place to shoot from. Somewhere behind Yang, Blake had slipped out of sight as well. The three boys started charging, and Yang stepped forward to meet them. Weiss helpfully stabbed the ground with her rapier and raised two rows of icicles to box them in with Yang. The sight was enough to make them momentarily halt in surprise.

“Alright, boys,” said Yang, grinning. She brought her hands up and motioned for them to come closer. “Let’s tussle.”

“Like the mushroom?” Ruby called out with a cheeky smile, because she liked to rain on Yang’s parade like that. Before Yang could get distracted and turn around to yell at her, Ruby had fired off a shot from her scythe and used the recoil to propel herself to the side and out of the way.

The guy with the disc weapons detached them from the holsters on his arms and chucked them both towards Yang. She leaned backwards to dodge underneath the first one, and brought up her arm to block the second with her gauntlet. Then his other two teammates reached her.

Yang started running on autopilot after that. The three boys weren’t too bad, actually, and gave her quite a workout trying to keep up with all of them. She spent most of her effort dodging and blocking their attacks, which ultimately was fine since her job was just to keep them occupied for the time being. Ruby and Weiss helped out where they could, shooting an occasional bullet or Dust projectile to distract their opponents and keep them within the makeshift ice barrier, but Yang could hear them struggling to dodge May’s sniper shots and protect her from getting hit by them at the same time.

Suddenly Yang felt something jab into her side, hard. The guy with the baton had managed to catch her off guard and land a solid hit on her. The shock of it made Yang clench her teeth, and while she was distracted, the dude with the claws swung and punched her in the side of her face with enough force to knock her to the ground. Her cheek burned where the pointed tips of the claw had dug deep into her skin.

“Yang!” Ruby cried from somewhere around her. By the time Yang rolled back up to her feet, Ruby had vaulted over one of the walls of ice, her scythe already swinging. She hooked the blade around disc guy’s legs and tripped him off balance while shooting a bullet into baton guy’s calf at the same time. The commotion was enough for Yang to get her bearings back and sock the last guy in the stomach.

“Thanks,” she said with a sheepish smile while the three boys struggled to stand up again.

“I always got your back, sis,” Ruby responded brightly, before turning around and spinning her scythe in her hand, knocking a sniper beam aside. She hopped out of the way again, returning to her previous position outside the ice.

A few seconds later, a buzzer rang out in the arena. Yang glanced up at the scoreboard and saw that May’s Aura level had dipped below the cutoff mark. “Ooh, looks like we have our first elimination of the match!” said Port over the loudspeakers. “May Zedong of Team BRNZ has just been expertly taken down by the agile Blake Belladonna of Team RWBY!”

Yang couldn’t help but grin in pride at that. She took advantage of the surprise to launch another attack on their opponents again, who were all still trying to process what had just happened.

Just then, one of the walls of ice shattered, and Blake came diving in so fast that Yang didn’t even register that she had appeared until one of the guys had gone flying. They stood back-to-back with each other while the boys got up and started to circle them warily, trying to look for an opening.

“Hey,” Blake said conversationally. “Thought you might appreciate a little help here.”

“I was doing just fine, thanks,” Yang told her, but she couldn’t stop herself from smiling. “You ready to finish this?”

“Of course,” said Blake.

After that, the rest of the fight turned into a one-sided massacre. Ruby and Weiss joined in the carnage not long after. Yang and Blake teamed up to knock out disc guy, while Weiss baited the baton guy into the ocean and then promptly froze his feet in the water before finishing him off. It was brutal and Yang almost laughed in glee as she watched it happen. Then Ruby dealt the finishing blow to the guy with the claws, and the fourth and final buzzer sounded in the air. The noise in the Colosseum exploded.

“What a match!” Oobleck shouted into his mic, while Yang pulled all of her teammates into a hug, laughing and cheering together. “Team RWBY has emerged victorious through a total knockout!”

 


 

Later that night Team JNPR got together with them in the lounge on their dorm floor to celebrate their triumphs in the tournament. Sun and Neptune brought their entire team along for once, so the rest of them finally got to meet Sage and Scarlet in earnest. Yang thought they seemed like pretty cool people, even if Sage was super quiet and Scarlet took a while to warm up to them.

The twelve of them started up a ruckus pretty quickly, with board games and snacks scattered everywhere around the room. There was a lot of yelling and screaming going on. Yang soon ended up crashing out on the couch off to the side, still feeling exhausted from the intense battle earlier. Weiss was sitting on the ground by her head, running a hand along the red marks across her cheek.

Yang winced when she pressed down on the wound with her fingers. Weiss frowned. “Are you sure you’ll be fine?” she asked, worried. “We can go to the infirmary and get something for you to reduce the pain if you need it.”

“Ah, it’s not that bad,” Yang tried to reassure her with a tired smile. “I’m just lucky he didn’t punch my teeth out. Ruby did that to me once when we were kids, you know. Fun times.”

Weiss tried to fix her with an exasperated look, but it just came out more affectionate instead. Yang reached up and caught Weiss’s hand with her own, unable to tear her gaze away. She enjoyed hanging out with their friends, she really did, but in that moment, Yang kind of wanted everyone else to get out of the room.

Blake came over a while after that with a plastic cup in her hand. She caught sight of Yang sprawled out on the couch and basically half-conscious at that point, but before she could say anything about the marks on her face, Weiss stopped her.

“Don’t bother,” she said. “I already tried the concerned friend thing. She’s too stubborn.”

Yang just grinned in response and flashed Blake a weary thumbs-up.

“I wish I could say I’m surprised by that,” said Blake, amused. She held out her cup towards Yang. It was filled with trail mix. “Want some?”

Yang reached into the cup and pulled out a handful, but ended up spilling most of it because she was lying down. Weiss let out a huff and caught the rest before it could tip out of her hand, and then proceeded to swat her hand away when she tried to reach for it again.

“Open up,” she said, holding a piece of chocolate up to Yang’s mouth. Yang was too surprised to protest, so she complied, and then let Weiss begin feeding her the trail mix.

Somewhere on the other side of the room, Sun was shouting something at the top of his lungs. Yang glanced up and saw him standing on top of the counter with his arms spread wide. “Here’s to more victories in the Vytal Festival Tournament! May we all continue to kick ass in the weeks to come,” he announced, while Jaune and Nora cheered him on. Then he opened the bag of chips in his hand and dumped the entire thing into his mouth.

Once the trail mix was gone, Weiss started spending her time just running her hand absently through Yang’s hair. Yang stared up into her eyes, entranced by Weiss’s peaceful, relaxed expression. Blake had sat down next to them and was now watching them with a calm smile on her face.

Eventually Yang noticed that Weiss was getting increasingly distracted by something going on with the others. At first she thought that it was just because their friends were being their usual rowdy selves, but when she followed Weiss’s line of sight, her gaze landed on Ruby and Pyrrha, who were busy throwing popcorn at each other and trying to catch it in their mouths. Both of them were laughing, and when Ruby noticed them staring at her, she smiled back even wider. Weiss seemed fixated on Ruby. Her hand stilled in Yang’s hair.

“Weiss?” Yang asked. “You okay?”

“I—” Weiss began, before trailing off. “I think I—I need to—” Her hands clenched into fists. Yang tried to sit up, confused and a little concerned by how lost Weiss looked. “I’m sorry. Can you guys wait here for a moment?”

She stood up and made her way over to Ruby and Pyrrha. Yang thought she seemed a little hesitant and unsteady on her feet. She frowned and turned to Blake. “What’s going on?” she asked.

“I dunno,” said Blake, looking about as worried as Yang felt. “I hope everything’s alright.”

The two of them watched as Weiss went up to Ruby and said something to her. After a few moments of talking, Ruby nodded and appeared to wave goodbye to Pyrrha before following Weiss back over to where Yang and Blake were.

“Hey, guys,” Weiss said slowly once they were all gathered together, her shoulders tensing up. She kept her gaze fixed on the wall, refusing to look at any of them. “Can I tell you three something? Privately?”

At first, no one answered. Even though the others were still being loud in the background, it somehow felt like the room had gotten significantly quieter. Ruby was the first to speak up.

“Of course, Weiss,” she said, reaching up to rest her hand on Weiss’s arm. “You can tell us anything.”

“Good,” Weiss said, so quietly that Yang almost didn’t hear her. “Because this—um, this is important.”

The next few minutes seemed to pass by in a haze. Something big was about to happen, and Yang could almost feel it in the air around them. She got up from the couch and followed the rest of her team out of the lounge. Jaune asked them where they were going, but Blake waved him off, saying something about wanting to get some rest.

None of them said anything until they reached the door to their room. Weiss paused with her hand hovering over the doorknob, closing her eyes and taking a deep breath. “You guys have to promise not to freak out,” she told them.

Before any of them could answer her, she seemed to make up her mind anyway and opened the door.

Chapter 8

Notes:

yall trying to stick to a fixed update schedule is so stressful how do people do it

Chapter Text

It was getting late into the night by now, and yet somehow the adrenaline that had propelled Ruby through the entire day only seemed to spike while just standing there in the center of their dorm. Yang and Blake were flanking either side of her, and Weiss was pacing up and down the carpet in front of them, clearly trying to work up the nerve to tell them whatever it was that she had dragged them out of the lounge to say in private.

Ruby shifted her weight from one foot to the other. The silence was starting to get uncomfortable, and she still had no idea what was going on. She glanced up at Yang and made eye contact. Yang just shrugged back.

Eventually Weiss’s footsteps slowed, and then came to a stop. Blake tried to reach out to comfort her, but Weiss flinched away from her touch. Her expression went from apprehensive to regretful when she saw Blake abruptly pull her hand back, looking confused and a little hurt.

“I’m sorry,” said Weiss, shaking her head as if trying to clear her mind. “I didn’t mean to react like that. I just—this is just harder than I thought it was going to be—ugh, I’m already making a mess of things, aren’t I?”

“You don’t have to tell us anything if you’re not comfortable,” Blake tried to reassure her.

“No,” said Weiss. She closed her eyes. Her hands clenched into fists. “I want to do this. You guys deserve to know. I just have to get it over with and say it.” Then she looked up and pointed at all of them. “No one says anything until I’m finished, understood?”

They all stared at her.

“Okay?” said Yang tentatively.

“Okay,” Weiss echoed, her gaze unfocusing for a moment. She took a deep breath and steeled herself. Then she walked up to Blake and poked her in the chest. “I—I have a crush on you.” Before any of them had time to react to her words, she had moved on to Ruby. “And… I also have a crush on you.”

Ruby was pretty sure her brain had exploded. All she could do was watch dumbly as Weiss held her gaze for a second longer, then moved over to stand in front of Yang, who looked just as surprised as Ruby felt.

“And yes,” Weiss managed to continue, before faltering a little. She looked at the ground, unable to get the words out for a moment. “I have a crush on you as well.” Then she stepped back, refusing to make eye contact with any of them, her shoulders tensing up. “I don’t know how it happened. But it did. And now I like all three of you. So… that’s all. That’s what I wanted to say.”

No one responded for what felt like a long while. Ruby couldn’t be too sure exactly how much time had passed, because half of her brain had shut down in pure shock, while the other half was setting itself on fire and screaming. Weiss looked like she was considering diving out the window.

Then Blake let out a small laugh. Ruby glanced over and saw that she had closed her eyes. “What a coincidence,” she said with a faint smile on her face. “I happen to feel the same way you do.”

That was apparently enough to snap Yang out of her stupor. “Whoa, whoa, wait. Pause.” She had taken a step forward and was now holding her arms out, pointing towards both Weiss and Blake. “You—both of you—like us? Like, all of us?”

“Apparently so,” said Weiss, who was staring at Blake in both awe and a little confusion. “I—I didn’t know that you—that you’d also…”

“Can you really blame me?” Blake said lightly. “You can’t just put me on a team with three amazing, wonderful people and expect me not to develop feelings for them.”

“I mean, well, holy shit,” said Yang, with that big dumb grin spreading across her face. She seemed to be having a hard time stringing together a proper sentence. “I just—wow, I mean, I like both of you too, but—man, I had kind of just accepted that it wouldn’t ever really amount to anything. But you two—you both really…?” She trailed off at the end, rubbing at the back of her neck with one hand, her smile turning almost shy.

Yang wasn’t the only one rapidly losing control of her facial expressions. For the first time since they’d entered the dorm, Weiss had a hopeful look on her face.

“Ruby?” she asked.

It took Ruby a moment to realize that the others were now looking at her expectantly. She tried not to shrink back under their gazes. Her heart started to beat faster.

“Is this the part where I say that makes four of us?” she asked with a nervous smile.

There was a pause as Ruby’s words sank in.

“Wow,” said Blake eventually. “You too?”

Ruby just nodded, unable to say anything else. Deep down, she had often wondered what it might be like if something like this were to happen, but she’d never believed it actually ever would. Her wildest dreams were coming true, unfolding into reality right before her, and she had no idea what to do next. Judging by the awkward silence coming from the others, none of them had any clue either.

She glanced at Weiss and Blake, and at Yang too. They were all looking at each other. No one was saying anything. Ruby could feel her heartbeat pounding away against her chest.

“I don’t—I don’t know what else I’m supposed to say,” Weiss admitted, her voice quiet. “I, um, definitely wasn’t expecting the conversation to turn out this way.”

“Yeah,” said Ruby.

The four of them stared at each other some more.

Then Yang started laughing. “Shit, guys,” she said. “This is crazy.” She held out her arms. “Alright, get in here, everybody.”

The tension broke. They piled up into a big group hug, just holding each other close while Yang kept laughing and everyone else groaned good-naturedly.

“Ew, this is too much love,” Blake complained, which might have been convincing if weren’t for the giant smile on her face.

“This is a mess,” said Ruby.

“Oh, for sure,” Yang agreed. “So, you know, about the usual for the four of us.”

“I’m not crazy, am I?” said Weiss. “I mean, this kind of situation doesn’t happen very often, right?”

“Nah, it doesn’t,” Yang reassured her with a grin. “You’re still crazy, though. Like, what kind of madman do you have to be to develop feelings for Ruby?”

“Hey!” Ruby protested. If she hadn’t been enjoying the group hug so much, she might have considered trying to reach up and punch Yang in the face. “You know what? I bet it’s even weirder to develop feelings for you, and Weiss just went and did both, so like—”

“Wait, what? Whose side are you on?” said Weiss indignantly.

“Don’t forget she likes me, too,” Blake joined in with a cheeky smile. “Which makes Weiss triple crazy.”

“Then you’re triple crazy too, Blake,” Weiss argued. “You’re not getting out of this one, you probably have it just as bad for them as I do!”

Yang started cracking up again. Her laughter was contagious.

It took a while for them to finally break apart, since nobody wanted to be the first to let go. The good mood slowly dissipated and Ruby sobered up again, but at least the awkwardness from before was gone.

“So… what now?” she asked.

“I’m not sure,” said Weiss. She covered her face with her hands. “I didn’t actually think I’d make it this far.”

“That’s adorable,” said Yang.

Weiss glared at her. “How is that adorable?”

“Everything you do is adorable,” Yang explained with a grin and a shrug. Ruby found herself nodding in agreement. When Weiss started glaring at the both of them, Yang made a big show of pretending to wipe away her smile. “Sorry. Am I not allowed to say that out loud yet?”

“What? No, just—I’m trying to be serious right now,” said Weiss, looking away to try and hide her embarrassment.

“Right, right, my bad.” Yang’s grin came back in full force. Weiss let out a huff.

“Actually,” said Blake, while the rest of them turned to look at her, “can I ask you guys for something a little selfish?”

“What is it?” said Yang.

Blake let out a small sigh, gathering her thoughts for a moment before speaking again. “Is it okay if we wait until after this whole White Fang thing blows over before doing anything?” she asked, a little hesitantly. “I’m still pretty distracted by all of it, and… you guys deserve better than that. I want to be able to give you all my full attention, and I don’t think I can while this is still going on in the background.”

Ruby tilted her head to the side in confusion. “How is that selfish?” she asked. It had sounded like a perfectly reasonable request to her.

“Well, I dunno. It sounded that way in my head,” said Blake, looking slightly nervous. “But it’s okay if you guys don’t want to! I’m fine if you three want to go ahead and, you know, start dating or whatever without me. I’d just like to wait until after next week. If that’s not too much of a hassle.”

“It’s not a hassle,” Yang said immediately, taking a couple steps forward so she could rest her hand on Blake’s shoulder. “And I’m willing to wait for you. Don’t worry about it.” She gave Blake a reassuring smile.

“Yeah,” Ruby pitched in. She reached out and took Blake’s hand into her own. “Me too. I don’t think it’s selfish to need a little extra time. We’ll wait for you. Right, Weiss?”

“Obviously,” said Weiss. “You’re silly for thinking we would object to that. We… we’re a team, and we’re going to do this together. That’s what you guys have been telling me this whole time, right? That we’re all here for each other.”

Yang turned to face her, grinning, and held out her free arm towards her. “Aw, get over here. You can’t just say something amazing like that and keep standing off to the side by yourself.”

“I—what?” said Weiss.

“Oh, come on.” Yang rolled her eyes affectionately and pulled Weiss in closer, draping her arm around her shoulders. “You’ve been super touchy with us for the past few weeks, and now you’re suddenly too scared to get close to us?”

Weiss cringed. “Was it really that noticeable?”

“To me, yeah,” Yang said simply. “It was one of the things that gave me hope that you might feel the same way about me, you know?”

“Oh.” Weiss buried her face into Yang’s shoulder. “Well, I do. So I guess you don’t have to worry about that anymore.”

Meanwhile, Ruby was looking up at Blake and noticed something. “Wait. Blake, are you tearing up?”

“What? No, of course not.” Blake laughed a little because she knew she’d been caught. She rubbed at her eyes. “I’m just not used to… well, you guys have been so unconditionally supportive. So, thank you for that. It means a lot to me.”

Ruby didn’t know what to say to that, so she decided to just hug Blake instead. Blake smiled and hugged her back, and Ruby buried her face into Blake’s chest, feeling like she never wanted to let go.

“Well, would you look at that, Weiss. I can’t believe you made her cry,” Yang said behind them.

“How is it my fault?” came Weiss’s protest. “You know what, nevermind. Please allow me to correct my mistake, then.” Ruby could hear the sound of Weiss shoving Yang aside, and then a few seconds later, she found herself being pried away from Blake. All she could do was stumble back, disoriented and slightly offended, and watch as Weiss took her place, attaching herself to Blake’s front. She turned her head and then stuck her tongue out at both Yang and Ruby.

“Wow,” Yang said to Ruby in awe. “We just got outplayed, sis.”

“No, you got outplayed,” Ruby corrected her, crossing her arms and pretending to be annoyed. “I was having a perfectly good time hugging Blake before you dragged me down with you. Meanie.”

“Hey, at least you got a chance to hug her.” Yang grinned and turned to Weiss and Blake. “When do I get a turn, huh?”

They watched as Weiss glanced up at Blake, who just shrugged back. A moment later, the two of them broke apart, and Yang eagerly stepped forward to wrap her arms around Blake.

“Oh no,” said Blake with a weak laugh. She sniffled, pressing her face into Yang’s shoulder. “You guys are actually going to make me start crying.”

“Aw, Blake, no,” said Yang, pulling back just far enough to watch a tear slip down Blake’s cheek. She stopped it in its path with her thumb, and then gently wiped it away. “Don’t cry. What have we done?”

Ruby looked over at Weiss and made eye contact. Weiss nodded at her, so they both came up on either side of Blake and joined the embrace, starting the second group hug of the day.

“You guys are amazing,” Blake was saying, while Yang held her face, and Ruby and Weiss latched onto her sides. “I still can’t believe this is really happening. I’ve never—I’ve never felt this way before. Not this strongly.” She smiled at all of them, trying to blink back the rest of her tears. “Wow, I’m such a mess.”

“Well, you’re our mess now,” Ruby told her very seriously, which made her laugh.

The four of them stayed that way for a while longer. Ruby thought she could be content with staying in the arms of her teammates forever. The only reason why she even had to entertain the idea of letting go was because the many events of the day were finally starting to catch up to her.

Just as they were beginning to disperse, going about the room to start getting ready for bed, someone knocked at the door. A few seconds later, Jaune cautiously poked his head in.

“Um, hey,” he said. “I just wanted to check and see if you guys were doing okay? You left kind of suddenly.”

Ruby glanced over at the others. Then she turned back to face Jaune. “Yeah,” she said, grinning. “I think we’re gonna be alright.”

That night, Ruby fell asleep with a giant smile on her face.

 


 

Nothing much really changed after that.

They’d been pretty close before, and they were still close now. The main difference was that Ruby could now stare as unabashedly as she wanted at Blake and Weiss whenever she wanted, and she no longer cared if they saw her big, stupid grin, because most of the time they’d be smiling back just as wide. The warm, fuzzy feeling in her chest never went away, either. Somehow, knowing they reciprocated her feelings only made the warmth more intense.

One day during dinner they were sitting at their usual table in the corner of the mess hall. Ruby, Weiss and Blake sat together on one side, while Yang sat with Team JNPR across from them, since Jaune had begged her to help him with his history notes.

Nora was cupping her hands together, forming a hoop so that Ruby could try and catapult chicken nuggets off her spoon into it. She’d managed to land a couple, but for the most part all they’d really accomplished so far was make a huge mess.

“You know, now that I’m thinking about it, this is basically what Ozpin did to us on the second day of school,” Nora said idly.

Ruby laughed. “Oh no,” she said, lining up her next shot. “We’re putting them through chicken nugget initiation.”

She flinged the nugget too hard and it went flying. Nora had to duck to the side to avoid getting beaned in the face. The nugget sailed through the air and landed several tables away, startling the group of students sitting there when it knocked over a glass of water.

“Wow, good job, Headmaster Ruby,” Nora said, grinning. “I can’t believe you just killed one of our students.”

“Shut up,” said Ruby. She was already reaching for another chicken nugget, but then Weiss flicked her in the side of her head.

“Are you actually planning on eating any of your food?” she asked, trying her best to sound annoyed. The faint, amused smile on her face probably wasn’t doing her any favors.

“I can’t,” Ruby told her solemnly, shaking her head. “There’s no time to be concerned with feeding myself when there are children who need to be initiated.”

Weiss had to cover her face so no one could see her struggling not to laugh. “You’re a child,” she pointed out.

“I’ve already gone through initiation,” Ruby countered with a grin. She grabbed a chicken nugget and pulled it back against her spoon. Weiss just sighed and picked up a strawberry from the bowl on Ruby’s tray.

“Well, you still need to eat,” she said, holding the strawberry up to Ruby’s mouth. Ruby considered this for a moment, before relenting and leaning forward to take a bite out of it. After Weiss pulled her hand away, she returned her attention to the task at hand. She aimed the spoon and then fired. The nugget launched itself directly into Nora’s hands, who immediately grabbed it and then popped it into her mouth.

“Nora!” Ruby cried, aghast. “I can’t believe you just ate one of our students!”

“What? They taste pretty good,” said Nora, shrugging.

Ruby opened her mouth to protest even more, but soon felt Weiss’s hand on her chin, tilting it to the side until they were facing each other. “You can mourn your chicken nuggets later,” said Weiss, still holding onto what was left of the strawberry. “Now eat your food.”

So Ruby ate her food and felt her chest warming up as she held Weiss’s gaze.

“Alright, hold up.” Nora put both of her hands on the table and leaned forward, squinting suspiciously at Ruby and Weiss. “There’s something fishy going on here and I demand to know what it is.”

They both glanced at her.

“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” said Ruby.

Nora squinted at her some more. Then she turned to Pyrrha sitting next to her. “It’s not just me, right? They’re being super weird. Right?”

Pyrrha dutifully looked Ruby and Weiss once over. The knowing smile on her face was making Ruby’s heart start beating faster. “Maybe,” she said simply.

“Is it because Weiss was feeding Ruby?” Blake pitched in from Ruby’s other side. “Because I can do that too, if it’ll make you feel better.” Without waiting for an answer, Blake reached over and took a strawberry of her own, holding it up to Ruby’s mouth. Ruby, who was probably enjoying this far too much, obliged her immediately.

“That did not make me feel better,” said Nora, who looked like she was getting more and more confused by the second. “Thank you for trying, though.” Then she craned her neck to the side. “Yang, do you have any idea why your teammates are being weird—oh no, we lost her, too!”

They all looked over at Yang. At this point, Jaune was just flat out copying down her notes into his own notebook, because Yang was resting her head in her arms against the table, staring up at Weiss with the most lovestruck expression Ruby had ever seen in her life.

“Yang?” asked Weiss, looking both embarrassed and flattered at the same time.

Yang had to shake herself a bit before she realized they were all looking at her. “Sorry,” she said with a sheepish grin. “Did I miss something?”

“No, but you’re just—you’re—” Weiss looked away, unable to finish her sentence.

Ruby looked at Weiss thoughtfully for a moment. Then she got up and began making her way around the table. The rest of them looked at her funny, but she kept going until she sat down next to Yang, copying her position and leaning against the table, putting her head in her arms. She tried to mimic Yang’s expression while staring up at Weiss as well. Given that she completely understood how Yang was feeling, it wasn’t very hard.

“Oh my god.” Weiss buried her face in her hands. “You two are the worst.”

Blake was laughing. Yang grinned and turned her hand face-up for a high-five, which Ruby happily gave to her without taking her eyes off of Weiss. Together, they continued to gaze longingly at Weiss, who seemed to be trying to melt into the ground in mortification. Then Blake tried to stand up. Weiss grabbed her by the wrist.

“Don’t you dare,” she managed to get out.

Nora was looking back and forth between all of them, bewildered, struggling to put the pieces together. Ren and Pyrrha seemed amused. Jaune was still trying to cram as many notes as he could into his notebook.

“Don’t I dare what?” Blake asked innocently.

“You know. Do that.” Weiss chanced another look at Ruby and Yang and appeared to immediately regret it.

“Well, if you insist,” said Blake. She sat back down, facing Weiss and taking ahold of both her hands. “I can just do it from here, if you’d like.” Then she fixed Weiss with the same loving expression that Ruby and Yang were still giving her.

Weiss actually jumped back out of Blake’s grasp, before planting her face into the table and groaning. “I hate you all,” she said.

“Oh no,” said Yang. “I think we killed her.”

“I think she’s gonna be the one killing us,” Ruby suggested.

Blake leaned over to inspect Weiss, poking at her cheek, curious. Suddenly Weiss sat back upright again and got all up in Blake’s face. Blake jerked back, surprised, but Weiss just followed the motion until their faces were only inches apart.

“You know,” Weiss said quietly, her expression almost desperate, “you guys are making it… really hard for me to wait.”

Now it was Blake’s turn to implode, staring down at Weiss blankly and trying her best not to look like her brain had just short-circuited.

It would have been so easy for either one of them to just snap right then and there. Ruby could tell that they both really wanted to. But they were still in public, and Nora was staring at them avidly now. Even Jaune had noticed what was going on, although he sort of looked like he wished he hadn’t.

“You know what?” said Nora, helpfully attempting to break the tension at the table. “Why did we even choose to be Team RWBY’s friends out of all the rest of the infinitely more normal teams at this school? They’re total weirdos.”

“You’re weird, too,” Ren pointed out.

“Yeah, but I’m the only one on our team,” said Nora. “But there’s four of them. And they’re all nuts.”

“I think they’re pretty cool,” said Jaune. He closed his notebook and picked up Yang’s notes, holding it out towards her. “Especially Yang. Thanks, by the way. I owe you one.”

“Don’t mention it.” Yang took back her notes and pushed herself back up into a proper sitting position, signaling the end of the Weiss teasing.

Somehow everyone managed to keep it together for the rest of dinner. Nora was at least tactful enough to know that it was probably time to stop poking fun at them, especially since Blake still seemed a little shaken up by Weiss’s sudden admission. The atmosphere at the table felt more subdued after that. Ruby also tried to tone down her staring, but she couldn’t help sneaking a few glances at Weiss and Blake every once in a while. They were just such amazing people.

 


 

After dinner the four of them returned to their dorm, ready to start winding down for the day. Well, except for Weiss, apparently, who instead decided to head towards her desk with the obvious intention of distracting herself by studying. Ruby tried to start thinking of ways to convince her to not do that, but Yang beat her to the punch. She came up behind Weiss, wrapping her arms around her midsection and effectively stopping her in her tracks.

“Where are you going?” Yang asked her gently.

“Where do you think?” Weiss answered, but she closed her eyes and relaxed into Yang’s embrace anyway, almost as a reflex.

“You already studied all afternoon,” Yang told her.

“There’s a lot of material to cover,” said Weiss. Her protesting sounded very half-hearted.

“It’s tournament season.” Yang leaned forward a bit and pressed even closer to Weiss, hugging her tightly. “No one cares about classes that much anymore.”

“I do.”

“Weiss.”

“I know.” Weiss let out a small sigh. “I’m just making up excuses now.” She turned around in Yang’s arms until they were face to face, and then brought her hands up to rest on Yang’s shoulders. “Sometimes I get scared by how intense my feelings towards you guys are.”

Yang laughed a little. “Trust me, I can definitely relate,” she said. Her hands shifted to rest on Weiss’s hips. Then Ruby took a tentative step forward.

“I’m sorry if we went overboard today at dinner,” she said. “I didn’t mean to make you uncomfortable.”

“No, you didn’t,” Weiss said immediately, turning her head to face her. “It was fine, really. I just—I think I’m still not used to… all of this.”

“You can say that again.” Blake came up around them and stopped at Yang’s side. She smiled. “I’m still not completely sure you guys confessed to the right person.”

“Well, I know I did,” said Yang, grinning at her. “I can prove it to you, if you want.”

Blake thought about it. “Maybe a little,” she said.

So Yang leaned over towards Blake and pressed a kiss to her cheek, holding it there for what was probably a lot longer than necessary. By the time she pulled away they were both smiling widely at each other. Then Yang turned back to look down at Weiss again. “Would you like one too?” she asked.

“No, I got it,” said Ruby, hopping over to join them. She brought her hands up and tilted Weiss’s head to face her. It took standing up on the tips of her toes a little to reach Weiss’s forehead, but getting to kiss her there was totally worth it.

“Come on,” Yang said to all of them, the smile never once leaving her face. “Let’s do something fun together for the rest of the night. We can watch a movie or something.”

No one objected, so they split up and set about preparing the room. Yang volunteered to go get snacks for everyone. Ruby grabbed the base of the TV projector and moved it over to set it up on Weiss’s bed, while Weiss and Blake piled everyone’s blankets and pillows together atop Blake’s.

Yang returned a short while later with popcorn and some cheesy romance film she’d borrowed from Team JNPR. By then Ruby was crashed out on top of Blake, lying comfortably together in the massive blanket mound on her bed. Weiss was sitting next to them and trying not to watch them too fondly.

Eventually Yang had to drag Ruby off of Blake to make enough room for everyone to fit, which Ruby did not appreciate. They booted up the movie and settled in, cuddling together with Blake and Weiss in the center, and Yang and Ruby on either side of them.

The movie was nice enough, Ruby thought. None of them were really paying it too much attention, though. The best part was simply getting to eat popcorn and relax in the arms of her teammates.

About halfway through the movie Yang spoke. Up until then, they’d all been pretty quiet. “Hey, Blake?” she asked.

“Yeah?”

“Catch.”

Blake paused for a second, confused. “What am I catching?”

But that was all the warning she got. A moment later, Yang rolled over on top of her, pinning her to the bed with her entire body. Even in the relative darkness of the room, there was no mistaking Yang’s bright smile as she stared down at Blake with so much adoration in her expression that Ruby could almost feel it radiating off of her.

“Jeez, Yang,” said Blake. She laughed, but made no effort to move or push Yang off of herself. “I knew you were an affectionate person, but I didn’t know you were this bad.”

“I’ve been holding back,” Yang told her, burying her face into the crook of Blake’s neck and grinning. “I can’t wait until we start actually dating. I’m going to shower you two in all the love that you guys deserve.”

They ended up in a massive cuddle pile after that. All Ruby could feel around her were the blankets, her teammates, and a couple of stray pieces of popcorn. She couldn’t remember how the movie had ended. The only thing she cared enough to pay attention to was the wonderful feeling of being close with the three most important people in her life.

Chapter 9

Notes:

what is this? vague hints of plot shenanigans? the blasphemy

Chapter Text

Weiss soon came to notice that her heart liked to do this weird thing where every time she thought about either Yang, Blake, or Ruby, it would skip a beat. Since she’d been thinking about them basically nonstop in recent times, it was starting to feel like she was in a constant state of wild, uncontrollable free-falling. Not that she minded. The only problem was that it made her attempts to seem aloof much harder, although she knew she’d already been failing at that for quite some time now.

She thought back to what she was like at the beginning of the year and wondered where it all went wrong. Or rather, she realized, where it all went right.

“God, what have you guys done to me?” Weiss said when she heard the door open behind her.

“I dunno,” came Ruby’s response. “Won you over with our kindness and super cute looks?”

Weiss couldn’t help but laugh at that. She turned around, coming face to face with Ruby and her bright, cheerful smile. “And your stunning amount of modesty, apparently,” she said.

“Hm.” Ruby just beamed at her. “You know it’s the truth, though.”

“Do I?” said Weiss.

Ruby hopped up to her and leaned up to kiss her on the cheek. Then she pulled back, still grinning, and Weiss felt her heart melting. “What have you been up to?” she asked.

“Nothing much,” Weiss answered, pointing with her thumb to the map of Sanus and all their little notes attached to it, mounted on the wall behind her. “Just staring at that and thinking about stuff. Why?”

“I need to pick up something from the mailroom,” Ruby told her. “Wanna come with me?”

“Sure,” said Weiss, a little suspiciously. Ruby seemed way too excited for it to just be a mundane letter. “What is it exactly we’re picking up?”

“That, my dear Weiss, is a surprise.” Ruby’s smile turned cheeky.

“Right. Should I be worried?” Weiss asked, even as she began to follow Ruby out of the dorm room.

“I mean, I hope not?” said Ruby, scrunching up her face. It was adorable. Weiss found herself staring. “It’s just something small I ordered for all of us like, a week ago. I’m super stoked that it’s finally here.”

They headed outside together and made their way across the courtyard to the building that housed the mailroom. It was starting to get chilly in earnest now, and the ground was littered with crunchy, fallen leaves that left the tree branches almost bare. Weiss kept a hand firmly placed around Ruby’s waist, partly because she wanted to, but also partly because if she didn’t Ruby would definitely run off the path and start jumping around in the leaf piles.

“I love this kind of weather,” Ruby said with a happy sigh, stretching out her arms and narrowly missing hitting Weiss’s face by inches. “Like, it’s cold, but not enough that you have to start really bundling up. And everything is so fun and colorful outside.”

“It is pretty nice,” Weiss admitted.

Ruby turned to face her, smiling. “What about you?” she asked. “What’s your favorite season?”

“Huh.” Weiss had to think about that one for a while. “I’m not sure. Spring, I guess, if I had to choose one.”

“Really? It’s not winter?” Ruby asked, her voice teasing, and Weiss almost wanted to smack her.

“Don’t be an ass,” she said, but she felt far more amused than she did aggravated.

“Sorry,” said Ruby. She laughed and then managed to slip out of Weiss’s grasp so that she could link their hands together. “Why spring, then?”

“I dunno,” said Weiss, absently brushing her thumb over the back of Ruby’s hand as they continued walking. “I think it’s because spring is the season where everything comes back to life again. Even when the plants die or the animals go into hibernation, it feels nice knowing that the world will always bloom again when the time comes, no matter what.”

“That’s really cool.” Ruby’s expression turned soft. Weiss looked at her and, not for the first time, was struck with an intense desire to kiss her. Judging by the way Ruby glanced at her mouth, she was thinking the same thing. Then Ruby grinned. “Nice.”

“Shut up,” said Weiss, shoving her away, but she was laughing. Ruby laughed, too.

They arrived at the mailroom. Ruby held the door open for Weiss and they went inside. The first years’ section was located on the left side, at the end of the hall. Inside that room, rows and rows of locked metal boxes of various sizes lines the walls. Ruby pulled out her scroll and held it over the identification panel at the entrance to the room. After a few seconds, the panel beeped, and one of the smaller lockers at the end of the room popped open.

Weiss barely even had time to react before Ruby had zipped across the room, grabbed the package, shut the locker door, and reappeared by her side in a flash.

“Ta-da,” Ruby said proudly, grinning as she showed Weiss the long, rather narrow box in her hands. Weiss stared down at it and raised an eyebrow.

“Do I get to know what’s inside it now?” she asked.

“Okay, fine.” Ruby ran her hands along the bottom of the box, looking for a spot to tear it open from. The fact that she didn’t take her eyes off Weiss while grinning like an idiot the entire time probably made it a lot harder. Eventually, though, she managed to get the box open, and she turned it around to show Weiss its contents.

Weiss blinked. “Are those—?”

“Radio earpieces!” Ruby finished for her cheerfully. “I got four, one for each of us. If for whatever reason we get lost or separated while at the mine, we’ll still be able to communicate with each other and stuff. I just thought it would be helpful for the mission.”

“That’s… incredibly considerate of you,” said Weiss, surprised. She brought her hand up closer to the box. When Ruby didn’t move or push her away, she began running her fingers along one of the earpieces. “How much did these cost you? It couldn’t have been cheap, right? I can pay you back for mine if necessary.”

“No, it’s okay.” Ruby waved her off, smiling brightly. “It wasn’t that much. Plus, think about how awesome we’ll look. We’ll be like secret spy agents. How cool is that?”

Weiss didn’t think she had ever wanted to roll her eyes and tackle someone in a hug at the same time as badly as she did in that moment. “Ah, there it is,” she settled for saying instead, a faint smile spreading across her face. “I was waiting for you to tell me the real reason why you bought these for us.”

“What, am I not allowed to have more than a single motive?” Ruby said. She grinned and closed the box, stuffing it under one arm so she could hold Weiss’s hand again with the other. “Come on, let’s go back. I can’t wait to show these babies to Yang and Blake.”

 


 

Ruby made them all try it on together, obviously. So that was how Weiss found herself sitting in her Friday morning class, with Yang, Blake, and Ruby scattered across the opposite ends of the hall, the earpiece resting snugly inside her left ear. It was actually surprisingly comfortable, and small enough that it was hard to spot unless someone was specifically looking for it. She almost forgot it existed for a period of time, her attention focused on jotting down notes from the professor’s ongoing lecture.

Then she heard the telltale beeping sound that signaled that one of the others was about to say something.

“Did one of you guys fart?” came Ruby’s barely contained whisper.

Yang burst out laughing in the middle of class. Half of the kids turned to look at her funny. The professor gave her the stink eye, but Yang seemed unphased by it. There was another beep from the earpiece.

“Holy fucking shit, Ruby,” Yang said gleefully. It sounded like she was covering her mouth with her hand. And now Weiss was struggling valiantly to keep the smile off her own face, having to listen to Yang trying her best not to start laughing again in her ear.

They managed to calm it down for a while longer. Weiss kept taking notes. The rest of the students eventually turned their attention back to the lecture. Then, about five minutes later, the beep came again.

Weiss heard an actual farting noise in her ear.

Then Ruby and Yang were both losing it, and Weiss realized that the sound had come from Blake. This time, the professor just sighed, not even bothering to try and chastise them anymore. Weiss rubbed at her face with one hand, bringing the other one up to the earpiece to press the button on it.

“You three are so childish,” she told them, trying her best to sound condescending, but Blake was laughing along with the others now, and it was becoming increasingly harder for her to keep the act up. Yang sounded like she was attempting to placate her. It was hard to understand anything she was saying through her laughter.

Weiss sighed. She looked back down at her notes and realized that she’d stopped writing halfway through a sentence about something relating to the different types of semblances. The professor had already moved on to a different topic.

She figured she should have been much more annoyed by her teammates and their absolutely ridiculous sense of humor, but all she could feel was a sort of begrudging affection towards them. Instead of paying attention to the rest of the lecture, Weiss soon found herself absently doodling a picture of Team RWBY in the margins of her notebook. The others kept cracking up every once in a while through her earpiece. She tried not to smile.

When class ended Ruby at least had the decency to pretend to be sheepish as she approached Weiss at the exit of the lecture hall.

“Hey, on the bright side,” Ruby said slowly, “now we know that the earpieces are fully functional, right?”

Weiss rolled her eyes and cuffed her in the back of her head. “You’re lucky I like you so much.”

Then of course Ruby just had to look at her with that earnest and unconditional happiness in her smile, and it made Weiss’s heart feel like it was doing flips in her chest. Behind them, Blake and Yang were walking up towards them together. If Blake’s giant grin was anything to go by, she obviously did not regret anything she had done during the lecture.

“Hi,” said Blake.

Weiss tried to punch her in the stomach. Blake caught her fist and then brought her hand up to kiss her knuckles. “You’re the worst,” said Weiss, using her free hand to cover her face in embarrassment.

“Sorry we ruined your lecture,” Yang told her, grinning.

“No you’re not,” said Weiss, because she clearly wasn’t.

“Come on, it was a little funny,” said Ruby. She leaned over to nudge Weiss with her elbow. “You can admit that.”

“No, I can’t,” Weiss told her, even as she felt her resolve already beginning to crumble. “At least one person on this team has to be mature enough to not find fart jokes hilarious.”

Yang laughed at that. Blake and Ruby were struggling not to. The four of them headed out of the room, making their way down the hallways back to their dorm together. “Or maybe you’re just a party pooper,” Yang said, her voice teasing.

“She’s right, though,” Blake added with a small smile. “If it weren’t for Weiss, the rest of us would have fallen off the deep end a long time ago.”

“Oh, man. Can you imagine if we had gotten a different teammate who was just as bad as us instead?” Ruby asked. “We’d be a total trainwreck.”

Weiss felt Yang wrap her arm around her shoulders. She glanced up only to find that Yang was already looking curiously back down at her. After a few moments of contemplation, she leaned down and planted a kiss right on the tip of Weiss’s nose. “That’s true. I take it back,” she said as she pulled away, her smile so fond that Weiss felt warm just looking at her. “I will forever be grateful that you’re a part of our team. I wouldn’t trade you for anything. Stick up your ass and all.”

“That was so close to being romantic,” said Weiss, trying to shove Yang away. It didn’t work. Admittedly, she hadn’t tried very hard. Yang just grinned even wider.

“You call that romantic?” she said. “I can do way better than that. Want me to show you?”

Weiss didn’t respond at first, because she was curious, but also a little nervous. Yang waited until Weiss gave her a small, cautious nod before continuing. The second she opened her mouth again, Weiss knew she was done for.

“Okay. Well, let’s see. There are exactly two people on this planet that I have grown to care for as much as I do my sister, and one of them is you. You’re so amazing and talented, and I have enjoyed watching you achieve time and time again whatever the hell it is you put your mind to. Everywhere we go you command the respect of everyone around you, not because of your name, but because you’re just that damn awesome. You’re one of the most hardworking fighters in our year, yet you never flaunt your abilities around. I admire you. I admire everything you do.” Yang paused for a moment and Weiss wondered if her soul was leaving her body. “I love seeing you relaxed and happy. When you first came to Beacon I could see how tense you were all the time. You deserve to be unshackled and free. You deserve the world. I mean it.”

None of them said anything for a long while.

“Jeez, Yang,” Ruby said eventually. “I didn’t even know you had it in you.”

“What can I say?” said Yang with a soft smile. “You guys bring out the best in me.”

“I’m pretty sure you just killed Weiss,” Blake told her.

It was true. Weiss definitely felt like she had died. If her brain hadn’t just been smashed into a million pieces ten times over, she probably would have tried to jump Yang on the spot. Even with all the other students in the hallway and everything.

“I have a question,” she finally managed to say.

“What is it?” asked Yang.

“If one person individually is capable of making me feel this way,” said Weiss, “how am I supposed to survive dating all three of you at once?”

She could feel them all staring at her. Then Yang laughed, and in one swift motion, reached down and scooped Weiss up into her arms. “I guess you’re just gonna have to get used to it,” she said, while Weiss made an embarrassing squeaking noise and immediately covered her face with her hands, mortified. Yang turned to look at Ruby and Blake. “Race you guys back to the room?”

“Oh, you’re going down,” Ruby said immediately. Before Weiss could reorient herself and figure out what exactly she was about to get roped into against her will, Ruby had raced over to Blake and hopped onto her back. Blake almost buckled, mostly out of surprise.

“Wait—Ruby—what?” she said, just barely managing to bring her hands up under Ruby’s legs and catch her before she fell off. Yang had already started running down the hallway with Weiss still in her arms. “Aren’t you the one with superspeed?”

“Yeah, but you’re older than me,” Ruby explained with a happy little grin. Blake just laughed and took off after Weiss and Yang.

The other students hastened to step aside as the four of them came barreling down the hallway. Yang was laughing openly, and even now she was taking care not to jostle Weiss too much while she ran. Behind them, Weiss could hear Ruby shouting, and Blake was laughing as well. They were catching up quick.

A small part of her still wanted to curl up into a ball and stop existing momentarily out of sheer embarrassment, but the feeling was slowly being replaced by one of just pure happiness and carefree joy. Her teammates would always be this silly and fun-loving, and Weiss found that she didn’t really mind it anymore.

 


 

As the weekend arrived Weiss began to think that maybe Blake had a good point in wanting to wait. So far, they’d all done a pretty good job of keeping things light-hearted for the most part, but as time continued to pass, it became harder and harder to ignore the fact that there were only four days left until the White Fang launched their attack on the Schnee Dust Company mine at the edge of the kingdom.

Blake was taking the pressure the hardest. She was trying her best to hide it, but they could all tell how stressed out she was getting. Weiss herself was starting to feel the tension eating away at her as well. The two of them spent most of the day holed up in their room, alternating between poring over the notes they’d gathered or, in Blake’s case, curling up into a stress-induced ball of panic on her bed.

Since they never figured out what specific time the White Fang was planning to arrive, the four of them had made plans to get there the day before. Which meant on Monday night they had to fight their second battle of the Vytal Festival Tournament, followed by spending the second half of Tuesday traveling to the mine, and then arriving on Wednesday at midnight. The goal was to hopefully intercept the White Fang before they could even get started on whatever it was they were going to do.

By early evening Weiss found herself planting her face into her desk, a pencil in one hand and a stack of notes in the other. If Blake hadn’t moved from her position the last time Weiss had glanced over at her, she was lying facedown on her bed, a book resting open on the back of her head.

They heard the door open. Ruby and Yang walked in, before stopping abruptly a few seconds later. Ruby let out a loud sigh.

“Okay, that’s it,” she announced. “As the fearless leader of this mess of a team, I’m declaring an emergency intervention.”

Weiss brought her head up just in time to see Ruby make her way over to her desk and tug her chair backwards. She flailed for a few moments, thrown off balance. “Wait, what?” she said. “What are you plotting?”

“Something that will distract you two nerds from wallowing in your misery,” Ruby responded, dragging the chair around until Weiss was facing the bunk beds. Over on the other side of the room, Yang had walked up to Blake, taken the book off of her head, and gently rolled her onto her back.

“We’re not wallowing in our misery,” said Blake.

Yang just looked down at her. “Yeah, and I’m not completely head over heels for you and Weiss.”

“Come on, Yang and I are really worried about this whole White Fang business too, but you guys barely left the room all day,” said Ruby from behind Weiss. “So I’ve decided that we’re going to do something together to take all our minds off of it.”

“Like what, exactly?” said Weiss.

“I dunno. A night out on the town or something? We can go get food at a diner together.”

By now Ruby had leaned forward to rest her head atop Weiss’s, and draped her arms around her neck. Weiss sighed and tried to force herself to relax. “So, a date?” she asked. “I thought we were going to wait until afterwards before doing anything.”

“It doesn’t have to be a date,” said Ruby. “It’s been a while since the four of us have gone down to the city during the weekend to unwind. We can just call it team bonding instead.”

“Um, okay.” Despite herself, Weiss smiled. Somehow, just having Ruby and Yang there in the room with them made everything seem a little lighter and less bleak. “Well, I suppose I could be convinced to tag along, then.”

Meanwhile Blake held both of her arms up towards Yang, silently asking her to help pull her up. Yang grinned and obliged her, gathering Blake into her arms and hugging her close. “So does this mean you’re also on board?” she asked.

“Maybe,” said Blake, but she was smiling.

“Great.” Yang stood up and pulled Blake to her feet along with her. Then she turned to face Ruby. “Do you wanna call the airship or should I?”

“Nah, we don’t need an airship,” Ruby told her, waving her off.

“What?”

“We’ve got your bike, don’t we?”

Yang just stared at her sister. “My bike which most definitely cannot fit four people on it?”

“Don’t knock it till you try it,” Ruby said cheerfully.

 


 

As it turned out, Yang's motorcycle was in fact capable of carrying all four of them at once.

Weiss had a feeling that Ruby had been itching to try this out for quite some time now. They’d all voted that Weiss could be the one who got to sit on the actual seat like a normal person and press up against Yang while she drove. Blake was perched on the very back of the bike like a cat, while Ruby was up front, in front of the handlebars, literally clinging on for dear life. That didn’t stop her from shouting gleefully at the top of her lungs as they cruised down the street, though.

Weiss kept a tight grip around Yang’s midsection, pressing the side of her face against her back. She could feel Yang’s shoulders shaking from her laughter. They were whipping by too fast for Weiss to focus on any of the individual people on the sidewalk, but it wasn’t hard to imagine that they were probably getting a ton of weird looks.

There were so many reasons why this whole situation was crazy and dangerous and ridiculous, but Ruby was still cheering, and Yang and Blake were laughing, and Weiss thought she’d never felt more alive than she did in that moment.

Eventually the joyride came to an end and they pulled into the parking lot of a diner. Weiss was the first to clamber off of the motorcycle, glancing up at the diner’s blinking neon sign. It was a nice, cozy place, and its relatively close distance to the school made it a pretty popular spot for Beacon students to hang out and grab some food while in Vale.

“Are you okay there?” Weiss asked as she watched Blake hop off the bike and dust herself off.

Blake just shrugged lightly and smiled at her. “Still in one piece,” she said, holding out her hands for Weiss to inspect. Weiss decided to humor her and take her hands with her own, linking their fingers together after a few moments.

A few feet away, Ruby was shaking herself, apparently trying to regain her balance. She staggered a bit. Yang caught her before she could fall over.

“That was awesome,” said Ruby, grinning.

Yang laughed. “You’re nuts.” She shoved Ruby, who nearly toppled over again. “We are never doing that ever again.”

“We still have to get back to Beacon after this,” Ruby told her.

“Don’t remind me,” said Yang.

They headed inside together. It wasn’t long before they found an empty booth in the corner and sat down. Weiss took a window seat and felt Blake slide in after her, while Ruby and Yang settled in across from them. A waiter came over and handed out a couple menus and water before leaving them alone again.

“Wow,” Ruby said in awe, poring over her menu excitedly. “They serve breakfast for dinner here? Neat. I’m gonna get pancakes.”

Yang had one arm resting on the table, her palm face up while she scanned her own menu. Blake reached out and put her hand on top of Yang’s, her other arm coming up to rest around Weiss’s shoulders. Weiss turned to stare at Blake. It wasn’t long before she became entranced by her.

“What do you think I should get, Weiss?” Blake asked. Weiss snapped back into reality and realized Blake was looking back at her with a small, teasing smile. Her hand came up to play absently with Weiss’s earring. Weiss tried her best not to pass out.

“I—I’m not sure,” she managed to say.

Now Yang was looking at her too. “Pretty sure she was too busy staring at you to even think about ordering something,” she told Blake, grinning. “Which is extremely adorable, by the way.”

“Well, I’m flattered,” said Blake. She was still smiling, and it was doing funny things to Weiss’s heart. Weiss wondered if there would ever come a time when her teammates would stop affecting her this drastically just by existing near her.

In the end Blake was the only one who actually ordered something meant for dinner, some almost fancy dish with grilled salmon in it. The rest of them got breakfast items, Ruby and Yang because they wanted to eat bacon and pancakes, and Weiss because she was coerced into joining them.

While they waited for their food to arrive, Ruby and Yang started attempting to stack the various condiments and dispensers on the table into a giant tower. Weiss watched them, distantly aware of the fact that she was smiling, and tried not to laugh when the stuff on the top half of the tower tumbled off. Meanwhile, Blake had been inching her way closer and closer to Weiss’s side. At this point she was basically attached to her, hugging her tightly and burying her face into the crook of Weiss’s neck. Weiss closed her eyes and just enjoyed the feeling.

“I’m glad that we came out here tonight,” Blake said softly. “I think I was starting to lose my mind back there.”

“Yeah,” said Weiss.

Ruby paused from the tower-building long enough to roll up her straw wrapper into a wad and flick it at Weiss. It hit her in the forehead. With Blake still pressed up against her, Weiss couldn’t even find it in herself to be annoyed. “I’ll always look out for you guys,” Ruby said, suddenly serious. “We’re a team. We’re—well, you know. You all mean a lot to me.”

“Yeah. Me too,” Yang agreed. “It might be a little rough going right now, but at least we’ll always have each other.” She smiled at all of them. Weiss’s heart felt full.

The service at the diner was surprisingly good. They got their food a short while later, and it wasn’t until it was sitting in front of her that Weiss realized how hungry she was. The four of them dug in. There wasn’t a lot of room left for talking while they ate, but that apparently wasn’t enough to stop Weiss from getting repeatedly distracted by staring at someone. She never realized she was doing it, either, until one of the others caught her. It was almost enough to make her want to sink underneath the table in embarrassment. At least the way they’d all smile back at her made her feel slightly better about it.

“Have I ever told you guys about how cute I think Weiss is?” Yang said.

“Yeah, like all the time. You’re definitely right, though,” said Ruby. She reached over and stabbed her fork onto a piece of bacon on Yang’s plate. Yang grabbed her by the wrist, looking ready to fight her, but after a few seconds of thinking she relented, leaned down to take a bite out of the bacon, and let Ruby have the rest. Ruby looked at Weiss and grinned in victory.

“It’s true. Weiss is the cutest,” Blake joined in.

“Why is it always me who gets picked on?” said Weiss with a huff. “Can we pick on someone else for once? Like Yang. How come we never make fun of her?”

“That is also true,” said Blake, turning her attention to Yang with a faint smile. “Yang is such a wonderful, caring, and considerate person. I feel like we don’t tell her that enough.” Weiss nodded in agreement, and to her delight, Yang reacted the way she always did when one of them showed her some love instead of the other way around, by freezing up and smiling that big dumb smile of hers. It was somehow so endearing. Weiss could feel herself warming up inside just looking at her.

“Oh come on, guys,” Yang said, trying to sound nonchalant. She scooted back in her seat, the smile never once leaving her face. “That’s just unfair.”

Ruby kept munching away on her food. “Personally, I think Yang is ugly,” she said simply. “I don’t know what you guys see in her, honestly.”

Yang laughed and shoved her sister away by the face. “Thanks. I dunno what they see in you, either, but here we are.”

Gradually they began to finish up their food, and sat around waiting to pay for the meal. Weiss was content with resting her head on Blake’s shoulder to pass the time. A while later, she felt the table shaking. She opened her eyes and saw Ruby and Yang determinedly not looking at each other. The table shook again.

“What are you two doing?” she asked suspiciously.

“Nothing,” said Ruby.

Weiss sighed and leaned down to glance underneath the table. Sure enough, the two of them were trying to scuffle with each other.

“This was a terrible seating arrangement, by the way,” Yang said to Weiss and Blake, doing an admirable job of maintaining a blank expression as she kept attempting to kick Ruby in the shin. “I don’t get to cuddle with anyone I want to, and I have to spend the entire time dealing with this little gremlin here instead.”

“No one’s telling to you sit with me, stupid.” Ruby tried to knock Yang out of the booth. It didn’t work.

“I think that was my fault,” said Blake, although she didn’t look apologetic at all. “I just wanted to hog Weiss all to myself tonight, I guess.”

By the time they finally left the diner all four of them were in high spirits. Nobody wanted to go back to Beacon so early in the night, so they spent a while just taking a stroll down the streets nearby. Weiss could barely even remember what it was that she had been so worked up about earlier in the day. Sure, the White Fang threat was still looming on the horizon, growing closer every day, but Weiss knew that as long as she had Yang, Blake, and Ruby by her side, there was nothing really she had to worry about. Whatever problems the world decided to throw their way, they would power through it together.

Chapter 10

Notes:

hhhhey um so apologies for the delay. this chapter got a lot bigger than i was anticipating, so i split it. kinda? who the fuck knows lmao

i'm going to rtx this weekend and doing some stuff after that so my schedule will probably continue to be wack for a little longer. really sorry about that! but in the meantime i hope you enjoy what i got down so far, and thank you as always for all of your wonderful comments!!

Chapter Text

If it hadn’t been for her wonderful and kind and caring teammates, Blake knew she probably would have stressed herself into the ground by now. They’d been nothing but patient and considerate so far, even as the day of the White Fang attack drew closer and closer. She wasn’t really sure what she had done to deserve such amazing people in her life, but she appreciated it all the same.

It was Monday late at night, and Blake was in the bathroom taking a shower. They had just finished up their second tournament match of the team bracket. It had been against Team CRDL, of all people. Blake couldn’t really remember much about the fight, besides the fact that Cardin and his boys had spent most of the time alternating between trying to trash talk them and getting their ass kicked. She’d been too distracted to focus much on the details. They’d managed to win by total knockout once again, but with everything that was about to go down in two days, none of them were really in the mood to celebrate this time.

Blake shook herself out of her thoughts and finished rinsing herself off before getting out of the shower. She got dressed and left the bathroom. Yang went in after her. Then Blake started to head over to her own bed, only to find Weiss already sitting on it, leaning against the pillows and looking extremely content nestled up in Blake’s dark purple hoodie.

“That’s mine,” said Blake, dropping her towel on the ground beside her bed. She climbed on and neatly fit herself in between Weiss’s legs, resting her chin on Weiss’s chest and staring up into her eyes. Weiss just smiled and started running her hands through Blake’s hair.

“Well, I like wearing it,” she responded. Blake let out a sigh of contentment and closed her eyes, feeling the tension slowly easing out of her body. On the other side of the room, they heard Ruby let out a snort from where she watching them atop her own bed.

“You’ve had that for a while now,” she said innocently to Weiss. “Shouldn’t you maybe think about being a nice person and let me have a turn with it again?”

“Since when did this become a matter of sharing?” said Weiss.

“Oh come on. It’s basically a team hoodie at this point and you know it.”

“Even if that’s the case, wouldn’t that mean it should go to Yang next, since she’s gone the longest without it so far?”

“Or you guys could just give it back to me,” Blake interjected. “You know, seeing as I’m the actual owner of it and all.”

Ruby and Weiss both looked at her.

“Nah, that sounds boring,” said Ruby. Weiss just nodded in agreement. Blake couldn’t help but laugh.

“Thanks, you two,” she said.

“No problem,” Ruby said brightly.

They stayed that way for a while longer. Eventually Ruby hopped down from her bed so she could join them and settle in next to Weiss. Blake felt herself relaxing against them as the three of them sat there together, listening to Yang whistling a tune in the shower. When her teammates were around, it was almost easy to just forget about the things that were troubling her, even if it was only for a little bit.

Yang left the bathroom after a while, all fresh and clean and wearing Blake’s leather jacket. Ruby laughed the second she saw it. By the time Blake managed to twist around to get a good look at her, Yang had come up to them and high-fived Weiss’s outstretched hand.

“Nice,” said Yang, grinning.

Blake sighed and went back to burying her face in Weiss’s chest again. “Not you too,” she said.

“Well, what can I say?” said Yang as she sat down on Weiss’s other side, forcing them to squeeze closer together so that nobody was at risk of falling off the bed. “Great minds think alike. And great minds know that Blake’s clothes are extremely soft and comfortable.”

“Aw, now I’m jealous,” Ruby said, pouting a little. “This is totally unfair, I want a Blake jacket too!”

“Sucks to suck,” said Yang. She glanced down at Blake. Her expression softened. “Hey. You okay there?”

“Yeah,” Blake managed to say. “Sorry. I’m just thinking about tomorrow. Ruby, you can take some of my clothes if you want.”

Ruby blinked. “Wait, no,” she said hastily. She reached out and took Blake’s hand into her own, giving it a comforting squeeze. “I didn’t really mean it. I was just joking around, it’s okay.”

Blake glanced up at Ruby and offered her a small smile. “I know. And I appreciate it. I… I know I haven’t exactly been the easiest person to deal with these past couple of days.”

“Hey, don’t say that,” said Yang. “You are who you are, and we’ll never fault you for that. This is a big deal. Honestly, it would probably be weirder if you weren’t stressed out at all. But we’ve always got your back.”

Blake’s heart felt full. Ruby started fidgeting a bit. They all turned to look at her, confused.

“What are you doing?” Weiss asked her.

“Nothing,” said Ruby. She frowned. “I want to give Blake a hug or cuddle with her or something to show my support, but I can’t because you’re taking up all the space.”

“Maybe you should have gotten here sooner, then.” Weiss stuck her tongue out at Ruby. Yang had to struggle not to laugh. But then Ruby started looking like she wasn’t about to let Weiss and Blake’s current positioning stop her from pouncing on them. Her stare grew more calculating.

“Wait, Ruby. What are you d—” Before Blake could finish her sentence, Ruby flat out decided to just roll over and fall on top of them anyway. Weiss choked underneath her. They all ended up in a mess of a heap, and soon Blake couldn’t really tell what was going on anymore. Ruby and Yang were laughing, Weiss was shouting indignantly, and Blake knew that as long as she had her teammates around, nothing could put a damper on her mood for long.

But as the night continued on and they eventually had to disperse and go to bed, Blake could feel her thoughts coming back to her alone in the darkness. She tried to push them away. They had a long day ahead of them tomorrow, and she needed all the sleep she could get, but the constant worry at the back of her head was making it impossible.

She tossed and turned for a bit. In the bunk above her, Yang was snoring softly, like she always did. Blake tried to find comfort in the familiar sound. It wasn’t working.

After a few minutes of uneasy shifting Blake heard a small thump on the other side of the room. She jumped and rolled around to find Ruby getting up from the ground and walking slowly towards her bed, her hands raised slightly in a placating way.

“Hey,” she whispered. “It’s just me.”

“Ruby?” Blake asked quietly, a little confused. “Sorry, did I wake you up?”

“Nah, you didn’t. I couldn’t really sleep either,” Ruby reassured her. She smiled. “I just wanted to check up on you.”

“Oh.” Blake glanced up into Ruby’s earnest expression, her chest feeling warm, then looked back down at her bed. “I mean, it’s just more of the usual. You know. Me being overly stressed.”

“That’s okay,” said Ruby. She brought one leg up and rested her knee on the mattress. “Scoot over?”

“What?” said Blake, but she did as Ruby asked. Then Ruby crawled onto the bed and settled in next to Blake, facing her and pressing in close. After a few seconds of surprise Blake had just enough sense left to remember to tug the covers back over both of their shoulders.

“Maybe it’ll be easier if you aren’t alone,” Ruby told her softly.

Blake let out a small laugh and wrapped her arm around Ruby’s shoulders, pulling her in until they were snuggled up together. “How are you so wonderful?” she asked, watching as Ruby scooted around a bit until she could comfortably tuck her head into Blake’s chest.

“Hey, don’t give me too much credit now,” said Ruby. Blake didn’t have to see her face to know that she was smiling. “I mean, it’s not like you’re the only one who’s benefiting here.”

“Right, of course,” said Blake.

She already felt a lot better than she had just a few moments ago, with Ruby now comfortably pressed up against her. “You know,” Ruby began a little absently, “the bunk beds were cool and all, but it’s going to make group cuddling a lot more complicated.”

“What is this?” said Blake, grinning. “You of all people are denouncing our bunk beds? Wasn’t it your idea in the first place?”

“Shut up,” said Ruby. She huffed and tightened her grip on Blake’s shirt. “I said they were cool, didn’t I? But nothing beats getting to cuddle with all of you guys. And if it means having to sacrifice the bunk beds so we can do that… then so be it.”

“You’re so sweet.” Blake brought one hand up and started gently playing with the tips of Ruby’s hair. “If it makes you feel better, I’ll probably accept whatever sleeping arrangement you decide is best for the team.”

Ruby laughed. “Thank you for the support,” she said. “We should probably be quiet now, though. I bet we already woke Weiss up with our noisiness.”

“Probably,” Blake agreed, glancing over Ruby’s head to the opposite side of the room. Weiss was lying on her side, facing them, her eyes determinedly squeezed shut. 

“Yeah,” said Ruby, intentionally raising her voice a bit. “It sure is a good thing she isn’t awake, though, right Blake? Because she would probably be super jealous of us that we’re together here in the same bed and she’s all alone over there. It might even make her ask me to get rid of the bunk beds too so that we can all be together, don’t you think?”

Blake had to stop herself from laughing out loud. She saw Weiss’s face twitch, her eyes still closed, trying to hold back a smile of her own. “Okay, that’s enough out of you, you little troublemaker. I thought you came over here to help me sleep better, not keep me awake all night.”

“Okay, okay,” said Ruby, relenting with a content sigh. She tilted her head up a bit to press a sleepy kiss to Blake’s chin. “G’nite then, Blake.”

“Goodnight, Ruby.”

 


 

The second classes were over the next day at noon they took an airship out of Beacon and into the city. It wasn’t uncommon for students to hang out in Vale after school had finished for the day, so if anyone eventually noticed they were missing, hopefully they would check the airship records and just assume they were being dumb teenagers skipping class to play around in the city.

Once they landed, it was another slog of heading to the nearest train station, taking one a few stops out, and then hiking two miles away to a separate industrial station so that they could sneak aboard the cargo train that would take them all the way to the mine. For once Blake was grateful for all the meticulous planning they’d done beforehand. The train arrived right on the expected time, and it wasn’t too much of a hassle to jump onto one of the cars in the back and find a place to settle in for the rest of the day.

It was a long ride, though, and not a very comfortable one either. Since it was too risky to take shelter inside the car and run the chance of getting caught by security, they decided to set up camp on top of it instead. Blake had to grip the raised edges of the roof to keep her balance against the wind as the train raced down the tracks. An hour passed, then two, and she decided that maybe she’d had enough of hijacking trains to last her a lifetime.

There wasn’t much to do while they waited. At some point Yang must have gotten tired of playing hand games with Ruby, because she scooted over and around to press herself up against Blake’s back, hugging her close. Blake closed her eyes and sank into Yang’s arms. It was a pretty good way of calming her nerves. They sat like that for a while, watching the landscape whip by.

Gradually the earth started sloping upwards. The four of them shared a quick, measly dinner of packed sandwiches around evening as the sky began to darken and the wind started picking up. Blake wondered what their friends were doing, and if any of them had noticed they’d gone missing yet. The train was going at a pretty steep incline now, the sharp rigid mountains rising up all around them. Blake shivered a bit. Yang hugged her tighter. Weiss and Ruby shifted closer to them.

Then, finally, the tracks flattened out, opening up into a wide valley. In the center was a massive series of deep, gaping holes drilled deep into the ground. There were all sorts of buildings and machinery and pathways built around the pits. They had reached the mine.

“We should probably get off soon,” Blake said to the others, peering through the darkness up ahead. “The train’s going to be pulling into the station in a bit—I think those are robots waiting there.”

So they got up and hopped off just before the train began to pull to a stop. Blake felt her entire body aching from sitting for so long as her feet hit the rocky ground. The four of them skirted around the station and kept to the very edges of the mine, searching for a place to set up camp for the night without being spotted.

After a while Blake noticed that Weiss was starting to fall behind. She kept pausing to stare in the general direction of the mine, frowning. Blake slowed her steps a bit, letting Yang and Ruby take the lead, until Weiss eventually caught up to her.

“You okay?” she asked.

Weiss looked up at her, considering the question for a moment. She let out a small sigh. “I think so,” she said. “I grew up hearing and learning plenty about the company’s mines, but…” She trailed off for a few moments, looking like she was deep in thought. “I don’t know. Seeing it in person is just different, I guess.”

“Yeah,” said Blake. She reached out and took Weiss’s hand, intertwining their fingers together. “I think I can understand that.”

It was dark and cold and windy out but they managed to find a decent spot to rest a little ways up one of the nearby mountains. With the height advantage, they could see most of the mine pretty clearly, and some well-placed boulders and rock formations helped to hide them from view.

“You guys can go to sleep now,” said Ruby. “I’ll take first watch.”

“One hour,” Yang told her, because they all knew Ruby had a tendency to try and shoulder most of the burden when it came to stuff like this. “Then we switch or I’m kicking you off the mountain.”

“That’s rude,” said Ruby.

“I wonder how much force it would take to actually launch Ruby off of this mountain,” Weiss said absently, her gaze unfocused.

Ruby laughed and dashed forward to grab Weiss by the shoulders, since she was starting to sway a bit on her feet. “Okay, you’re really out of it,” she said, grinning when Weiss let her head fall forward, pressing their foreheads together. “Get some rest, okay? We can figure out the answer to that question later, if you want.”

“Okay.” Weiss was staring shamelessly at Ruby’s mouth, her eyes half-open. Ruby gave her a gentle push, sending her tumbling backwards right into Yang’s waiting arms. Then Yang turned to Blake and flashed her a smile.

“Wanna set up the sleeping bags for us?” she asked. “Cause, you know, my hands are kind of full at the moment.”

Blake just rolled her eyes, amused. “You’re all a bunch of dorks,” she told them affectionately. 

She got the sleeping bags rolled out together in a neat line while Weiss turned around and tried not to fall asleep standing up against Yang.

“We didn’t even do anything today,” she was mumbling into Yang’s chest. “I feel like a weakling.”

“Traveling can be exhausting,” Yang said gently. “Besides, you’ve been working your brain nonstop for a lot longer.” She tapped the side of Weiss’s forehead, which made her scrunch up her face in protest.

“Yeah, no,” Blake agreed, feeling her knees starting to give out. She crashed out on top of one of the sleeping bags. “I’m starting to feel it, too.” 

Soon after she felt Yang settle in next to her, with Weiss sandwiched in between them. Blake wrapped an arm around Weiss’s midsection, tugging her in close while looking up at Yang from over the top of her head. Yang just smiled back at her.

“One hour,” she said, lowering her voice conspiratorially.

Blake laughed. “If you keep that up I might start thinking you actually want to punt your sister across the mine.”

“Why not?” said Yang. “It sounds like it could be fun.”

“Go to sleep, Yang.”

“Yessir.”

Blake sighed and closed her eyes. The last thing she saw before slowly drifting off was Yang’s bright, happy smile.

 


 

None of them were expecting the White Fang to arrive on the dot at midnight, but it didn’t hurt to be safe. They kept watch on rotation, all the way until the sky began to brighten again. Blake spent her entire early morning shift carefully scanning the mine. She could see smoke rising out from a cluster of buildings in the distance, and a few security robots patrolling the premises, which implied that at least some parts of the mine were now in operation. Yet she hadn’t even caught sight of a single worker above ground. It made her wonder if the company was making them sleep under the surface. Then she forced herself to think about something else, because that train of thought was starting to make her feel sick.

Behind her, Blake heard the sound of someone shifting. She turned around to find Yang trying to extract herself from underneath Ruby and Weiss, both of whom were clinging onto her tightly. She eventually managed to squirm her way out of their grips without waking either of them up and headed over to where Blake was perched atop a small boulder.

“Hey,” she said, rubbing at her eye with one hand.

“Hi,” said Blake. “Sleep well?”

“Yeah. Sure.” Yang smiled at her. Then she settled down next to Blake, looking out onto the mine below. “See anything interesting?”

“No terrorists yet, if that’s what you’re asking,” said Blake. She pointed down at the robots. “It looks like the place is starting up for the day, though.”

“Interesting,” said Yang, squinting further into the distance. “How come there are no workers around, then?”

“That’s what I’m wondering, too,” said Blake with a frown. “I thought maybe they’re already all down in the tunnels or something. I dunno. This whole place seems so sketchy, I hate it.” She shifted around uncomfortably. 

Yang reached out and put an arm around her shoulder, leaning over to rest her head against Blake’s. “Hey,” she said softly. “We’ll figure it out. Go get some rest, I can take it from here.”

“Okay,” said Blake. She closed her eyes, enjoying the comfort of having Yang so close to her for a few moments longer before getting up and heading back to the sleeping bags. Almost immediately after she had settled down, Ruby somehow managed to attach herself to her side. Blake smiled, gazing into Ruby’s face, her expression so relaxed and peaceful in her sleep.

It wasn’t until a couple hours later that one of them noticed something was wrong.

“Hey, guys?” Weiss said, being the one currently on watch. Her voice was tense. The way she’d said it was enough to instantly jolt Blake awake and make her scramble to her feet. Her abrupt movements had roused Yang and Ruby too. “I think they’re here.”

Blake came to a stop next to Weiss and followed where she was pointing into the distance. Sure enough, on the opposite side of the mine, there was a slow but steady procession of White Fang grunts making their way towards the gaping pits in the ground. They were so far away that Blake couldn’t make out where they were coming from, or what they were carrying, but one thing was obvious. 

There were a lot of them.

“What the hell,” she said. “Did they just all—why the hell are there so many of them here? What are they doing?”

“I don’t know,” Weiss said quietly.

By then, Yang and Ruby had approached as well. The four of them stood together, staring out into the mine, watching helplessly as the White Fang line marched onward.

“Where did all the security go?” Blake knew she was starting to work herself up into a panic. Weiss put a hand on her shoulder, trying to give it a comforting squeeze. “There’s supposed to be robots all over the place. This doesn’t make any sense.”

“Maybe the White Fang disabled it beforehand,” said Ruby, her expression grim and determined. “We need to get down there, now.”

“No,” said Blake. She couldn’t take her eyes off of the White Fang. They just kept coming and coming. There were so many. “We can’t just—there’s too many of them. We’ll get overwhelmed.”

“Then let’s split up and stay out of sight,” Ruby decided. “It looks like they’re headed for the back end, right? Me and Weiss can get over there and find out what exactly they’re up to. Blake, you and Yang try the front. See if there’s other ways to get in so we don’t have to have a run-in with them.”

They haphazardly cleaned up their little hiding spot and then departed. Blake grabbed onto Yang’s hand. She’d thought the weeks leading up to the attack had been bad. But now that it was actually happening right in front of her, and now that she and her teammates were tasked with stopping it, she felt so jittery from the nerves that she thought she might explode. 

Yang didn’t say anything as they picked their way down the slope and headed deeper into the mine, but every once in a while she would brush her thumb over the back of Blake’s hand, letting her know she wasn’t alone. Ruby and Weiss had long since dashed off.

Everything seemed haunting and empty. There weren’t many buildings, but the ones they passed by looked unoccupied. The one row of security robots they ran into had indeed been shut down. They were just standing there upright, lifeless and motionless.

Blake and Yang made their way closer and closer to one of the actual Dust mining pits. At the edge of it was what looked like an extremely shoddy, rotting elevator shaft. Yang stepped up to it, glancing down into the darkness below and frowning. There wasn’t even a railing or anything to prevent people from falling in. Blake had to tug her back out of fear.

Yang reached up and pressed the button on her earpiece. “Hey, Ruby? You guys there?”

At first, neither Ruby or Weiss responded. Blake felt the dread start settling into her stomach. Realistically, she knew they could handle themselves and were probably fine, but her brain was currently operating on a level that was nowhere near realistic. 

Then the beep came, almost a minute later.

“Yeah,” came Ruby’s hushed whisper. “Sorry. We, uh, were kind of in a dangerous spot. What’s up?”

“I think we found a way in,” said Yang. “It’s… it sure isn’t pretty, though.”

“Well, it’s better than nothing,” said Ruby. There was a pause. “Speaking of which, we kinda found out what the White Fang are doing.”

“Yeah? What is it?”

“They’re… um. They’re heading in through what I’m assuming is the back entrance. And… they’ve got tons of bombs with them.”

What?” said Blake.

“I think,” Ruby said uneasily, “a part of me was hoping that they were just coming here to free all the Faunus workers or something. But they’re really here to just blow the entire place up, I guess.”

“That’s insane,” said Blake. Distantly she noticed that she might have started hyperventilating. “They can’t. They wouldn’t just—there’s no way. There’s no way. I can’t believe it…” She fumbled to pull her scroll out of her pocket and open it up. “We can’t do this on our own. I—I never thought the White Fang would stoop all the way down here, to killing their own kind… We have to get Professor Ozpin here. Or General Ironwood. Or someone. Anyone.” 

She tried to start a call to Ozpin on her scroll. It rang once and then failed. The little notification popped up on her screen, wrecking whatever little shred of hope she’d had remaining. 

“Low signal,” Yang cursed. “We’re too far out. Looks like it’s just the four of us, then.”

“No, wait,” came Weiss’s voice, trying to find reason in the rapidly deteriorating situation. “Low signal doesn’t mean no signal at all. Just keep calling. Something has to get through eventually.”

“Blake?” said Ruby. “Blake? Are you okay?”

It occurred to Blake then that she’d been breathing so hard the earpiece had picked it up. She tried to come up with an answer, but all she could think about was how the White Fang used to only use violence against humans to get what they wanted, and now they didn’t even seem to care that they were about to kill countless Faunus in collateral damage. “Is it just because this mine is owned by the Schnee Dust Company?” she choked out. “Is that it?”

“Blake…” said Ruby.

“You two, get your asses over here, now,” said Yang. “I’ve got Blake. There’s no time to waste. Come up to the front, we’re near the elevator shaft that goes down to the biggest pit.”

“We’re on it.”

Blake almost didn’t hear Ruby and Weiss’s response. The next thing she knew, Yang was holding her by her arms, shaking her slightly. “Blake. Hey, Blake. Can you hear me?”

“I—I don’t—”

“Blake.” Yang reached up and grabbed the sides of her face, pulling her closer until their foreheads were touching. “Listen to me. This is a shitty situation, and we’re all terrified right now. Hell, even I’m scared shitless. But we’ve still got each other, okay? We’ve gotten out of scrapes together before. We can do it again. Ruby and Weiss are coming and we’re going to figure something out together and make it work together. If you can’t put your trust in yourself right now, that’s fine. Put it in the four of us, working together as a team.”

Blake took a couple of deep, shaky breaths. She forced herself to focus on Yang’s touch, and the way it slowly grounded her again. “Okay,” she said. “Okay. I’m sorry.”

“You don’t have to apologize,” Yang told her. “I know you can do this. You’ve got this.”

Blake could only manage to nod in response. She held onto Yang's wrists as tight as she could.

While they waited for Ruby and Weiss to get there, Yang stepped up to inspect the elevator again, never once letting go of Blake’s hand. She eventually found the access panel half-hanging off the side and hit the button. A horrible screeching noise sounded as something down the shaft began moving.

By the time the elevator platform finally rattled its way back up to the top, Ruby and Weiss had arrived. They rushed closer as soon as they caught sight of Yang and Blake. Ruby eyed the elevator warily.

“Is that how we’re supposed to get down there?” she asked.

“Yeah,” said Yang.

“You’d think the Schnee Dust Company would have access to some of the most advanced technology in the world, being based in Atlas and all,” said Weiss. She looked stricken. “Yet they can’t even bother to install the most basic safety precautions in this entire mine?”

“There were robots,” said Blake, without any intent to actually argue the point. The whole thing was so ridiculous that nobody even bothered to respond.

They all piled onto the rickety platform. The door closed behind them, and with another screeching sound, the elevator began to descend down into the darkness. Blake huddled close to the rest of her teammates, just holding each other, drawing strength from their embrace. Ruby had her scroll out. They kept trying to call Ozpin’s emergency contact, the one that all Beacon students got at the start of the year to use if things ever went south. None of the calls went through. Going deeper and deeper underground definitely wasn’t helping.

After what felt like forever the elevator finally hit the ground, opening up into a massive, deep tunnel. A long stripe of fluorescent light lined each wall, and there were wooden beams placed to hold up the ceiling every now and then, but besides that, there was just dirt and rocks and darkness.

The four of them headed out and into the tunnel. No one said anything. The tunnel was eerily quiet, the only sounds Blake could make out being their footsteps and some clanking noises coming from up ahead. They passed by more unmoving robots. The whole atmosphere made Blake feel like she was walking towards her execution or something. When they reached the end of the tunnel, she found out why.

It opened up into an enormous, vast cave. Blake stopped at the edge of the raised platform, trying to take in everything that was going on deep below her. It looked like a vast majority of the workers were in this single area. Some of the Faunus were hauling heavy carts around and nearly dislocating their joints in the process. Others were operating dangerous-looking machinery without any safety precautions whatsoever and powering away at the rock wall. There were a couple guys who seemed slightly better dressed than the others, which wasn’t saying much, and waving their arms around, trying to direct the flow of work.

All of them looked dirty, exhausted, and absolutely miserable.

Blake fell to her knees, her vision going dizzy. She tried to grip onto the bars of the railing for support. Someone was trying to pull her back up again, repeating words in her ear. It sounded like Yang.

Growing up, she’d heard countless horrendous stories about the terrible working conditions in the mines. Seeing it all in person, though, witnessing firsthand how many of the workers looked like they were dead men standing upright, was a thousand times worse. A few feet away from Blake, Weiss didn’t seem to be handling the sight very well, either.

“We have to stop them,” said Blake, barely able to focus on her words. “The White Fang. They were supposed to help these Faunus get better lives. Not… not murder them indiscriminately just because they work for the Schnee Dust Company.”

“Then let’s do this.” Ruby helped Yang pull Blake back to her feet. She leaned on them heavily for support, and noticed Weiss doing the same on Ruby’s other side. “Yang, let’s go find out where they’re placing those bombs and defuse them. Blake, Weiss, you two try to distract them while we do that, okay? Right now the only thing we can do is damage control. We can’t come into conflict with the White Fang head-on, especially with all these innocent workers nearby. Stall for time and keeping trying to call for help, got it?”

Ruby waited for all of them to nod in acknowledgement, then she pulled her rifle out, gripping it tightly in both of her hands. She darted down the side of the platform, Yang following soon after her. Blake turned to Weiss, who looked like her entire world had been turned upside down.

“You too, huh?” she said.

“I didn’t know.” Weiss looked desperately up into Blake’s eyes, almost like she was pleading for forgiveness. “I mean, I did, sort of. But not to this extent.”

“I believe you,” said Blake, and meant it. She stepped forward and wrapped Weiss up in a hug. Weiss immediately returned the embrace. “We’re going to do something about it. After all of this is over. Right now, we have a job to do.”

When they pulled apart Weiss’s expression had morphed into one of renewed determination. Blake took Gambol Shroud off her back and clutched it tightly. “Let’s do this,” Weiss said resolutely.

They descended into the cave together. None of the Faunus workers had enough energy left to even pay them any mind.

 


 

Blake and Weiss lasted maybe a full hour before getting caught.

They’d followed the sounds of the White Fang grunts in the tunnels branching off from that main cave, communicating with Ruby and Yang the whole time, letting them know where the bombs were being planted. Then they’d lure the grunts away from the spot with Blake’s clones, or flashes of light from the various types of Dust in Weiss’s rapier. Blake kept one finger on the call button on her scroll, hoping against hope that the signal would finally connect them to someone who could bring more help. The battery was draining, fast.

Then Blake heard White Fang grunts approaching towards them from one end of a tunnel, and motioned for Weiss to follow her in the opposite direction. They made it a couple feet before Blake realized that there were footsteps coming from that way as well. They were cornered. Blake tried not to panic.

The first group rounded the corner. “We’re almost done here,” the guy at the front was saying. He looked like the squad’s leader. “Let’s get moving and get out of here before—what.”

Everyone stopped moving. Weiss had Blake’s wrist in a death grip. The two of them automatically moved until they were back-to-back with each other, holding out their weapons at the oncoming White Fang grunts.

“Hey, boss, isn’t that the Schnee girl?” said one of the grunts after a long, painful silence.

It was hard to see in the dim light of the tunnel and through the squad leader’s mask, but he broke into a sinister grin. “Well, isn’t this  a fun surprise?” he said, pulling out his gun. The rest of his group did the same. “I say it’s time we teach the little rat a lesson, don’t you think?”

“Don’t,” said Blake, even though she knew it was useless. “You’re going after the wrong person, she’s not here to hurt the Faunus—”

The leader charged, firing off shots as he went. Blake was forced to deflect them with her weapon. Then the tunnel descended into chaos.

Within seconds Blake and Weiss were swarmed. Someone must have notified the rest of the White Fang, because grunts were starting to pour in from both directions. Blake did her best to repel them, but most of them were going after Weiss, mindlessly hungry for a chance to take her head off. 

Even then, Blake noticed that Weiss was doing her best to only knock them out, not kill them outright. She kept slashing with her blade instead of stabbing, using her glyphs to dodge and maneuver around the grunts instead of standing her ground and exploding them in their faces with her Dust. Blake wanted to scream at her. She understood why Weiss had suddenly become resistant to the idea of killing Faunus, terrorist or otherwise, but out of all the times to get cold feet, being in the middle of battle with people who wanted to tear her limb for limb was definitely one of the worst.

“Guys, what’s going on?” came Ruby’s panicked voice in Blake’s earpiece. “We can hear fighting, are you two okay?”

“Don’t worry about us,” Blake managed to respond, knocking a trio of grunts to the ground with one wide slash. “Focus on getting rid of those bombs. Weiss and I can handle this.”

Almost right after she had finished saying that, someone shot her in the stomach. The bullet bounced off her Aura, keeping her intact, but she doubled over from the pain, wincing. Now Yang was shouting in her ear, too.

They were losing. It soon became obvious that Weiss was starting to get unsteady. The White Fang grunts were trying to dogpile her, and she couldn’t keep up with the constant onslaught anymore. Blake turned her head just in time to watch in horror as an entire ring of grunts surrounded her, firing their guns at the same time. Weiss could only deflect so many of the shots. The rest shattered her Aura. She took a blow to the head from a grunt’s sword, and fell to the ground.

For a moment, Blake felt like time was standing still.

Then something inside her snapped.

She screamed. The next thing she was aware of, all the White Fang grunts in their immediate vicinity had been thoroughly knocked out. “Back up,” she heard herself saying. Her clones phased out of existence. The shock of suddenly having someone screaming in their faces after taking down several rows of their fellow brothers made the rest of the grunts pause. “Do I have to repeat myself?” Blake’s voice shook with the effort. She held her sheath out in one hand, her pistol raised in the other. “Back. The fuck. Up!”

One of the grunts didn’t get the memo and tried to step forward anyway. Blake fired two bullets in quick succession, one sinking into each of the guy’s legs. He crumpled to the ground, crying out in pain. None of the others dared to move after that. Behind her, Blake could hear Weiss struggling to push herself up, clearly injured and winded.

“Someone tell me something real quick.” Blake noticed one of the grunts trying to aim his gun at Weiss. She shot it out of his hand. Then she turned her attention back to the squad leader, pointing the blade of her sheath directly at his neck. “What do you want from this? What were you hoping to achieve, by joining the White Fang?”

“I don’t have to tell you anything,” he responded, trying to sound defiant and failing.

“This isn’t a trick question,” said Blake.

“It’s what we all want, isn’t it?” the leader snarled. “To watch all of the rotten humans burn and the places they use to oppress us destroyed—”

“Wrong answer,” Blake shouted at him. She swung the sheath and knocked his mask clean off his face. The rest of the White Fang grunts took a wary step back. “Are you braindead? I didn’t ask what your leaders wanted. I asked what you personally hoped to gain.”

“What does it matter to you?” the squad leader asked, looking down at Blake furiously.

“Because I’m not stupid,” said Blake. She reached up just long enough to tug the bow off her head, knowing that the grunts would all take notice of her ears. She was trembling and shaking from the anger and adrenaline, but she forced herself to keep talking. “Because I know what you guys really want. I wanted it, too. You joined the White Fang because you were tired of being treated like inferiors and just so desperately wanted to make a difference. You didn’t want to keep sitting on your ass so you got up and looked for a place you could fit in and work to become equals with the humans. Tell me I’m wrong.”

No one dignified that with a response. So Blake continued, her voice rising with every word she spoke.

“But somewhere along the way your leaders in the White Fang warped your perspective. They convinced you that your goal isn’t equal rights for the Faunus, but total annihilation for the humans. And now somehow the message has gotten even more twisted. Do you even know what you’re doing here? Did you not see the countless innocent Faunus slaving away back there, praying for a better future every single day of their lives?! You could have been the ones to give it to them! But look at where you are now. Just blindly following the people who tell you to blow up a Schnee Dust Company mine, and you believe them just because they tell you it’s the right thing to do. Using violence to get what you want is one thing, but since when did you start shamelessly murdering the innocent people you were supposed to be fighting for in the first place?”

She couldn’t tell if she was getting through to any of the grunts. A couple were still clearly defiant. Most of them just looked uncomfortable. Behind her, Weiss had managed to get into a sitting position, but her breathing was weak and erratic. Blake pointed at her.

“This is Weiss Schnee,” she said. “Heiress to the Schnee Dust Company. Weiss knows that her father has been doing awful things behind the scenes. One of her main goals in life is to fix that. She knows what’s happening down in these mines is inhumane and sickening. Her father is not on your side, but she is. And you fucking morons just tried to kill her.”

Just then, they all heard an explosion in the distance. The ground shook from the impact. A couple pebbles dislodged from the ceiling. Blake whirled around, reaching up for her earpiece.

“Ruby?” she asked. “What was that? Are you okay?”

All she got back for a while was the sound of heavy breathing and rapid footsteps. None of the White Fang grunts moved, too stunned by the constant, rapid turn of events to do anything but stare. “This is not good,” Ruby finally managed to wheeze out. “One of the—one of the bombs just went off. Yang took most of the hit, she’s—I think she’s fine, she’s gonna wake up soon, but right now she’s out like a light. I’m trying to pull her to a safer place. The rest of the explosion blew a hole in the side of a tunnel. Blake—there’s Grimm coming. There’s a ton of Grimm coming into the mine right now. There’s too much negativity in this place, they’re out for blood.”

Blake froze, feeling the dread make her heart stop for a moment. “No. Tell me no.”

“We have to get moving,” Ruby said. She was gasping for breath. “The workers. We have to protect the workers.”

“There’s only four of us, what can we even do?”

“Blake,” said Ruby. She stopped responding after that.

“What the hell is going on?” the squad leader demanded. Blake spun around to look at him, deadly serious.

“One of the bombs you planted just detonated itself,” she told him, not even bothering to hide her rage. “Grimm are pouring in through the opening, and they’re being attracted by the negative mood in this miserable hellhole. This place is going to crumble in minutes and bring everyone down with it because of you and your stupid, foolish actions.”

The leader bristled, but without his mask on, Blake could see the panic written all over his expression. “It’s not a big deal. They have security robots for this very reason.”

“Yes,” said Blake. “The security robots. The ones you deactivated so you could sneak in here, right? Those security robots?”

“Oh,” said the leader.

“That’s what I thought.” Blake emptied her pistol and replaced the magazine with a refilled one. “Now I’m going to tell you what I’m about to do. I’m going to go down there with my team and protect these innocent Faunus workers from the mess you created. If you want to be decent people for once in your lives and help, I won’t stop you. But if you try to get in our way, I will not hesitate to cut you down.”

She reached down and gathered Weiss up into her arms. Weiss’s gaze was unfocused, but she managed to stand up and stay on her feet. The White Fang grunts remained motionless. Blake threw them all one last dirty look before pulling Weiss’s arm around her shoulders and heading down the tunnel towards the main cave. The sounds of the Grimm snarling and the Faunus workers screaming in terror had already begun.

Chapter 11

Notes:

I HAVE RETURNED and i have brought with me some action and some more of that good gay shit LETS GO

Chapter Text

The main cave was already a mess by the time they got there.

Faunus workers were scattering in all directions, trying to get as far away from the oncoming Grimm as they could. Off to the side, Ruby had set Yang down on the ground, where she remained there lying motionless on her back. Blake felt her heart stop at the sight, despite knowing that Yang was only unconscious for the time being. The front of her shirt was singed, and her face and arms were a bit dirty, but besides that, she seemed unharmed. Meanwhile Ruby herself was up ahead, single-handedly keeping the Grimm at bay. She was blazing a path back and forth from one end of the cave to the other, driving the Grimm back under the sheer force of her superspeed and the ruthless swinging and slashing of her scythe.

“Just put me down next to Yang,” Weiss mumbled to Blake. Her words sounded a bit slurred. “I’ll protect her or something.”

“Will you be okay?” Blake asked, alarmed.

Weiss shook her head, closing her eyes for a few seconds and grimacing. “I think I have a concussion. But I—I can still fight. Maybe.”

“Your Aura’s broken.”

“I still have my rapier.”

“Weiss—”

“Put me down and go help Ruby already,” said Weiss, trying to sound annoyed.

So Blake helped Weiss walk over to where Yang was and sit down by her side. Then she got up, turned around, and was surprised to find that a couple White Fang grunts had actually followed her into the cave. Blake counted maybe ten to fifteen of them, which meant that the vast majority had chosen to leave and save their own hides, but she honestly hadn’t expected any of them to take her up on her offer. 

“Well?” she said impatiently. “Don’t just stand there. Go round up all the workers and keep them safe at the back of the cave! You’re all on guard duty!”

The grunts were so startled by her commands that they scrambled to follow them without protest. Blake watched them as they started spreading out, reaching out to help the fallen workers to their feet and wave the rest of them towards the opposite side of the cave. Then she readied her katana and sheath and sprinted forward to meet the Grimm.

A pair of Creeps were converging on a worker who had tripped in the commotion. Without missing a beat, Blake chucked her pistol at the closer one, the ribbon wrapping around its body. Her Huntress training kicked in, months and months of practice letting her run on autopilot as she swung up into the air on the ribbon and came crashing back down with her sheath slicing directly through the second Creep. Then she yanked the blade free and turned, throwing it into the first one, both of them soon disintegrating into black mist afterwards. She pulled her ribbon back and extended a hand out towards the worker.

“Are you okay? Can you walk?” she asked him as she helped him back to his feet. He coughed for a few seconds, struggling to answer. But before he could, Blake heard something dart up behind her. She tried to dodge to the side, but the Grimm caught her in the shoulder. The worker cried out to her in surprise. Blake hit the ground and immediately began pushing herself back up, clenching her teeth in pain. “Go! Don’t worry about me. Get to the back of the cave!”

The worker scrambled away and Blake managed to flip over, coming face to face with several approaching Beowolves. Seconds later, the entire row of them exploded. Ruby was standing there with one arm outstretched, twirling her scythe in her other hand.

“Thanks,” said Blake, letting Ruby pull her to her feet again. “What do we do now?”

At first, Ruby didn’t let go of Blake’s hand. She frowned in concentration for a few seconds, squeezing her hand tight and drawing support from it. “Okay, so good news,” she finally said. “There’s only one opening and it’s not too crazy massive. Most of the bigger Grimm are still trying to break through it. We might be able to push back the onslaught and plug it up somehow. Emphasis on might.”

“I’ll take those odds.” Blake picked up her weapons again. Ruby nodded at her and readied her scythe. “Let’s do this.”

Together the two of them charged, working together wordlessly to team up and take the Grimm down, one by one. Blake tried to focus on getting rid of the ones who posed the greatest danger to the workers, but she didn’t always make it in time. Every single pained cry she heard made her tense up even more. The White Fang grunts helped where they could, pulling the workers out of the way and raining down a hail of bullets into any Grimm that got close.

After managing to clear out a small cluster of Grimm, Blake spared a glance over at Yang and Weiss. Yang was still unconscious, but Weiss had her scroll open in one hand, holding the other out with her palm face up. She looked more frustrated than anything. Evidently she was trying to summon a glyph, impatiently waiting for her Aura to regenerate so she could join the fight as soon as possible. Any time a Grimm tried to attack her or Yang, she’d pick up her rapier and run them through the chest with it before returning to her task.

Time seemed to blur together. Blake was barely aware of anything else except Ruby, who was by her side, and the Grimm surrounding them, trying to tear them apart. Her chest was burning from the exertion, but she couldn’t stop. Not when everyone else in the cave was depending on her. The fighting dragged on, and every single time she used her semblance, she could feel her Aura threatening to break under the stress. 

Then things started going wrong. A nearby cart tipped over in the commotion, spilling raw Dust chunks onto the ground. The Beowolf that Blake had been fighting backed up and stepped onto it. After a horrifying, tense moment, the Dust exploded. It wasn’t enough to blow another hole in the cave, but the force of it knocked Blake back into a wall. She felt her Aura finally give out and shatter upon impact.

“Blake!” Ruby cried. Somewhere behind them, Weiss was shouting her name too. Ruby tried to race over, but she was soon swamped by another wave of Grimm. Weirdly enough, it was a White Fang grunt who reached her first.

“Are you alright?” he said. The guy was shaking and clearly panicked out of his mind.

Blake groaned and pushed herself off from the wall. She checked her pistol. “I’m out of ammo,” she said. “Do you have any extra?”

The grunt shook his head. “We’re running low, too. What do we do?”

“Did you get all the workers to safety?” 

“Yeah, all the ones we could find.”

“Okay, that’s good.” Blake tried to blink through the dizziness. Her entire body felt heavy and sore. “Tell the others to move as much Dust as you can out of way. It’s too volatile to leave out in the open like this.”

“What about the Grimm?” the grunt asked.

Before Blake could answer, a King Taijitu slithered out of the tunnel and spotted them. The grunt screamed and darted away. Blake tried to. The giant snake snapped forward before she could fully roll away and managed to sink one of its fangs into her right forearm. She screamed too.

Then, on the other side of the cave, Yang suddenly jolted awake. She abruptly sat up, her eyes already blazing red. Without missing a beat, she managed to get to her feet and cover the distance of the cave in what seemed like just a few seconds. Her hair trailed fire in her wake. She jumped forward and threw all her weight into full-on body slamming the King Taijitu.

Blake felt the fang snap off and remain lodged in her arm. Yang and the snake both hit the wall, hard. She seemed to have the merciless beatdown covered, so Blake stumbled away, making a beeline towards where Weiss was located.

“That’s what you get, you piece of shit,” she heard Yang say to the snake as she yanked one of its heads back. “You touched one of my teammates and now you’re gonna pay.”

Weiss was standing there waiting for her when she arrived. Blake nearly collapsed into her arms. “It’s okay,” said Weiss, holding Blake up as best as she could. “It’s okay. Take a break. You’ve done more than enough for now.”

Blake coughed. Her legs were giving out. Weiss noticed and helped her to the ground. Then she frowned at the Taijitu’s fang still imbedded in her forearm.

“Ah,” Blake said distantly when she saw what Weiss was looking at. “I was wondering where the poison was coming from.”

“You’re ridiculous,” said Weiss. She got Blake propped up against the wall and then grabbed the base of the fang in her hand. “You might want to brace yourself.”

“For what?” asked Blake, because her mind was starting to fog up. Weiss jerked the fang out of her arm. If she’d had any energy left, she probably would have shouted. “Ow. That didn’t feel very good.”

“Don’t—don’t say that.” Weiss’s composure was starting to slip. She fussed over Blake, trying to keep her from tipping over and passing out. “Blake, no. Stay with me here. Blake!”

Blake tried to focus on the sound of Weiss’s voice. Her arm hurt. Somewhere near her Weiss was reaching for her rapier. She picked it up and held out her other hand. A small wisp of a glyph formed above her palm.

“My Aura’s starting to come back,” said Weiss. “Just hold still, Blake, let me clean this up, okay? Can you do that for me?”

“Okay,” said Blake.

Weiss took her arm and froze the wound in a chunk of ice. Then she melted it down with some fire Dust and started washing it out. While she worked, Blake’s gaze drifted over to Ruby and Yang. Both of them were valiantly facing off against the Grimm. Yang had tanked a bomb explosion to the face and was now using the full extent of that strength to literally smash any oncoming Grimm into pieces. Blake wondered how Ruby was still standing. She’d been driving the Grimm back for the longest out of all of them so far, and yet she was still tearing through them like a whirlwind, carving a massive path of death and destruction through the horde. Working together, the two of them seemed almost unstoppable, slowly but surely gaining ground against the Grimm and pushing them back towards the tunnel they were pouring out from.

“That’s the best I can do for now,” Weiss said, bringing Blake back to her present situation. “Do you have anything I can use as a bandage?”

“Um,” said Blake. She tried to clear her head. At least her arm had stopped feeling like it was on fire and was now more of an uncomfortable burning sensation. “I guess you can use one of my ribbons.”

So Weiss got working on that. After a while, her scroll, which had been lying open on the ground beside them, let out a dinging noise. They both looked at it, surprised. 

At first Blake couldn’t comprehend what was going on. Weiss realized it first. “Oh my god,” she said, almost disbelievingly. “The call went through.”

“It did?” said Blake.

“Yeah, I—I think so.” Weiss picked up the scroll, her hands shaking. The unmistakable green connection sign stared back at her. “Professor Ozpin?”

There was a crackling noise.

“Professor!” Weiss said into the scroll. “This is Team RWBY, we’re trapped in a Schnee Dust Company mine on the edge of the kingdom. We, uh, we can explain that part later! But right now it’s being overrun by Grimm, and we can’t handle all of them on our own, there’s too many. Please send help, I can give you our coordinates!”

All they got back was more static. Weiss stared helplessly at the scroll. A moment later, the call disconnected. 

“It’s okay,” Blake said, because Weiss looked like she was about to hurl her scroll across the cave. “Maybe he heard us. They can probably track the scroll’s signal location to this spot.”

“Ugh!” Weiss shot to her feet, and then clutched her head, wincing from the sudden movement. “I’m going to—I’m going to go fight now. You stay here and rest.”

“Wait. Weiss!” Blake called after her, but she had already loaded her rapier and dashed off to join the fray. All Blake could do was settle back against the wall, feebly clutching her weapon with her uninjured hand, and watch as her teammates fought for their lives.

 


 

Things didn’t really get better from there.

The King Taijitu’s poison wasn’t nearly strong enough to kill Blake while she sat there against the wall staring at her arm, but it was making her feel woozy, and made it take significantly longer for her Aura to repair itself. She could cut down a couple stray Grimm that got too close to her, but Yang, Weiss, and Ruby were up ahead doing all the heavy lifting, and it was starting to show.

The remaining White Fang grunts had begun leading the Faunus workers out of the mine and up to the surface again in small clusters. Blake watched them fearfully stumble their way out of the cave and through the back tunnels whenever there was an opening in all of the fighting going on. Some of the workers had to carry the other ones who were severely injured or motionless, which slowed the line down a lot. Blake had to look away, because the sight was making her feel sick. She turned her attention back to the Grimm.

On the bright side, at least, the cave seemed to be emptier than it had been earlier. They’d somehow managed to put a pretty significant dent in the Grimm’s numbers, slowly but surely gaining ground against them. Even then, it felt like a hollow achievement, because the Grimm were still coming out of the tunnel with no end in sight. At this point all they were doing was trying to put tape on a running faucet.

Yang and Ruby’s movements were getting sluggish. Their attacks became sloppier. Weiss had to keep stopping to brace herself against the wall for a couple seconds, her eyes squeezed shut in pain. Blake tried to get up and help for what felt like the tenth time that hour, but just like every previous attempt, she could only make it a couple feet before the numbness in her arm and the dizziness in her head forced her to stop. She could feel the dread starting to settle in her stomach.

After some time had passed Blake lifted her head to find Yang staggering up towards her. Her Aura was fizzling out, probably from overtaxing the use of her semblance.

“Hey,” Yang said as she approached, her chest heaving. Bruises were starting to form all over her face and arms. There was blood trickling out from the corner of her mouth. “You’re not too hurt, are you? You’re gonna be okay?”

“What?” was all Blake could say at first, staring in shock at Yang’s beat-up state. “I mean, yeah, I think I’ll be fine, but—”

“Okay, that’s good. I’m glad.” Yang grinned at her. 

Then she collapsed to her knees and passed out.

“No, no, wait! Yang. Yang!” Blake said in a panic, struggling to gather Yang up into her arms. She barely even have time to process Yang’s deteriorating condition before Ruby let out a strangled cry from across the cave. Blake looked up in horror and watched as Ruby misjudged a dodge and was punted through the air by an abnormally large Creep. She landed a couple of feet away from Yang and Blake, gasping for breath when the wind was knocked out of her.

The group of Creeps were converging on the three of them. Blake tried to get to her feet and failed. She raised her weapon hopelessly. The Creeps jumped. Blake squeezed her eyes shut, bracing herself for her impending doom.

No! Don’t you dare touch them!” came Weiss’s desperate, furious yell. There was a loud clanging noise, followed by the sound of the Creeps screeching and dissolving into mist. When no immediate impalement followed, Blake cautiously opened her eyes.

Hovering above her was an enormous, intricate light blue glyph. A massive glowing metal arm protruded from it, wielding an even bigger broadsword. Weiss was standing a few feet away, her rapier held out in front of her, staring up at the arm in shock.

A second passed. Then two more. The Grimm had halted in their path, looking warily up at the glowing arm as well. Weiss yelled again. The arm lifted its broadsword, and with one massive swing, brought it down upon the Grimm and cracked an entire group of them in half.

Blake couldn’t help but watch on in awe as Weiss hurled herself back into fighting with a renewed intensity, the arm looming above her like her own personal guardian. She’d destroy five Grimm and the arm would strike down ten more in her wake. With the way the arm cast a faint blue glow onto her, and the fierce, protective expression she had on her face, she almost seemed like some sort of otherworldly savior. Despite the situation, Blake was entranced.

It took her a couple tries, but Ruby managed to hobble back to her feet and help Weiss continue to beat back the Grimm. Blake finally began to feel the beginnings of her Aura stitching itself back together again. She crawled over, ignoring the wave of dizziness that threatened to make her fall to the ground again with every step, determined to help Ruby and Weiss and get back into the fighting again.

Each inch of ground they gained took longer and more effort than the previous, but with their combined strength and the assistance of the giant arm, which at this point was acting as Weiss’s own one-hand army, they were actually able to wipe out most of the remainder of the Grimm in the main cave and force them to start bottling up in the tunnel.

“We just have to hold the line,” Ruby said, breathing heavily in between attacks. “Stall for time until everyone makes it out.”

Blake barely even heard her words, her muddled brain taking several seconds to process them before she could respond. “Okay,” she said. Then she got an idea. “I’m going to try something. You two cover me.”

Ruby looked confused, but she immediately shifted her stance to keep Blake out of the line of fire better. Blake turned around and caught sight of four White Fang grunts standing among the remaining Faunus workers in the cave. Either the rest of them had escaped up to the surface, or something bad had happened to them. Blake hoped it was the former, and waved them over.

Together they used Blake’s ribbons and a bunch of empty metal carts and stacked them up as best they could against the tunnel, creating a makeshift barrier of sorts. It did nothing to completely stop the Grimm, but at least it slowed the flow down and made it just a bit more manageable. The glowing arm eventually phased out of existence, leaving Weiss completely exhausted. She was gripping the back of her head and groaning, her concussion clearly not doing her any favors.

Time continued to pass. They settled into a routine of sorts. Blake, Weiss and Ruby switched off fighting in pairs, leaving the last person to get a short break while they watched over Yang, who didn’t wake up again for the remainder of the fight’s duration. 

Blake felt like her insides were being repeatedly microwaved. She didn’t know how long they’d been down in the caves by now, but her Aura broke and regenerated itself two more times after the first, and she knew for a fact that it took at least an hour, sometimes even two, for that to happen. Each time it seemed to hurt more and more. During the second period of downtime she’d had the fortune of getting to learn what an Ursa’s punch to the face felt like without the protective barrier. Her nose was spurting blood now. It must have looked awful.

There’d been spots floating around at the edges of her vision for quite a while, but now she had to actively fight to remain conscious. Every swing of her weapon made her feel like she was on the edge of blacking out. She forced herself to keep going, fueled by her desire to make sure as many of the Faunus workers could make it out of the mine alive. And by how badly she wanted to make it out of this alive too, with her team. With the four of them, together.

It was a while after that before her brain began to register a sound that didn’t have anything to do with Grimm either knocking against her or the metal cart barrier. At first it was hard to make out, but Blake almost thought it sounded like machinery whirring in the distance.

“How long has it been?” she asked from where she was sitting on the ground next to Yang. Ruby was locked in a grapple with a Beowolf, so Weiss was the one who eventually answered.

“Long enough,” she managed to get out.

Blake listened to the sound for another moment. It was definitely getting louder. “Long enough for help to get here?” she said.

Weiss’s eyes widened. She finished slashing a Grimm’s head clean off its body before turning back to Blake. “There’s no way…” she said, but Blake could see the hope written all over her expression. “Do you—do you really think they got our call?”

They didn’t have to wait long for the answer. 

After a few minutes, the first wave of security robots arrived.

Rapid-fire gunshots began ringing through the air. It was almost a welcome sound, since they’d run out of bullets themselves for a good while now. Slowly but surely, more and more robots began pouring out into the cave, even followed by a few squads of human soldiers. Their uniforms were all emblazoned with the Atlas military logo, and their guns were pointed directly at the Grimm in the tunnel.

Someone walked up to Blake, who was sitting there blinking rapidly in a desperate attempt to stay grounded in the present. She looked up.

“You’ve done extremely well here,” said Ironwood. “Ozpin and I got your distress call and brought help as fast as we could. My men can take it from here. There’s an airship outside waiting to take you and your team back to Beacon.”

“Thank you,” Blake managed to say. Her ears were ringing. Her arm throbbed and her body was giving out.

“Can you walk?”

“Probably not.”

Blake hadn’t meant to say it so bluntly, but before she could apologize or correct herself, she finally fell backwards and blacked out.

 


 

When she came to again, the first thing she noticed was that she was lying on a cot, surrounded by blankets and pillows. Her forearm was properly bandaged. She still felt incredibly tired and heavy, but most of the pain had reduced to a dull ache.

She blinked open her eyes and found herself in Beacon’s infirmary. Yang was still unconscious on the cot next to hers. Ruby was fast asleep sitting in between them, with her face pressed into Yang’s stomach. Weiss sat next to her, fighting to stay awake. 

The cots seemed like they were placed unnaturally close together. Blake wondered if Ruby had intentionally dragged them closer so she could be at both Blake and Yang’s bedside at the same time. The thought made her smile. Weiss noticed.

“You’re awake,” she said softly.

“Yeah,” said Blake. She reached out and held up her hand. Weiss smiled and took it. “What… how long have I been out?”

“A little more than three days, I think?” Weiss answered. “General Ironwood picked us up very early morning on Thursday. I was told that it’s Sunday afternoon right now.”

Blake groaned. Then the realization hit her. “The mine. The Faunus workers. What happened to them?”

“I’m not sure,” Weiss said with a small frown. “I lost consciousness a little bit after we got onto the airship. I was only just discharged from the infirmary a couple hours ago. Ruby might know more about the situation, though.”

At the sound of her name Ruby stirred. She glanced up at Weiss curiously, then twisted around to look at Blake, and immediately jolted the rest of the way awake when she realized that Blake was conscious.

“Blake!” she said, shifting her plastic chair around so that she was facing her. “Hi. How are you feeling?”

“Pretty gross,” said Blake. She made a face. Ruby laughed a little and leaned forward to rest her hand on Blake’s arm. “How are you so full of energy? You took a real heavy beating back there.”

“I mean, I was lucky I didn’t really sustain any severe injuries,” said Ruby. “All I needed was a couple long, fat naps and I was pretty much good to go.” Her expression filled with concern. “You guys were in really bad shape by the time we made it out of there, though. I was so scared.”

“Ha. Sorry about that.” Blake took Ruby’s hand with the one she wasn’t using to hold Weiss’s and brought it up so she could press a gentle kiss to it. “But you’re not getting rid of us that easily.”

“I’m glad,” said Ruby, her voice filled with relief and affection.

Even though she still kind of felt like shit about everything, Blake was grateful that she had the rest of her team with her. They still seemed to possess that remarkable ability to automatically make any situation better just by existing nearby.

“Ruby,” said Blake.

“Yeah?”

“Do you know what happened at the mine after we left?”

“No, not the specifics,” said Ruby, frowning. “But it’s a really good thing that General Ironwood’s here providing security for the Vytal Festival Tournament. He sent an entire one of his ships to come and help us. I’m pretty sure they’ve secured the whole place for now. I dunno much about the workers themselves, but I think most of them made it to the surface. Also, Professor Ozpin wants to have a meeting with us as soon as we’re all awake again, so… maybe he can fill us in on the details.” She winced. So did Blake.

“We’re totally going to get yelled at, aren’t we?” she said.

“Probably,” said Ruby. “We’re so dead.”

“Better that than actually being dead,” said Weiss. 

That just sobered them up even more. Blake let out a sigh. “I hate this,” she said, staring up at the ceiling. “It just… everything was so happy and peaceful for once. It felt like nothing could get us down. And then life kind of just barged in and was like, surprise! Don’t forget that the world actually sucks.”

For a while none of them spoke. Weiss squeezed her hand gently, her gaze unfocused and a little brooding.

Then Ruby let her head flop onto Blake’s stomach. “I don’t think it was ever really possible to stay in a peaceful little bubble forever,” she said slowly, turning her face to the side to look at Blake. “It’s relatively safe here at Beacon, but there’s always going to be awful things going on in the world around us. But we shouldn’t let that stop us from finding happiness where we can.” She offered Blake a small, hopeful smile. 

And there was nothing Blake could do but crumble in the face of Ruby’s earnest optimism.

“Yeah,” she said. “Yeah, okay.”

They stayed like that for a bit longer. Blake only became aware of the passing of time again when Yang began to stir. They all noticed at the same time.

“Yang?” Ruby asked tentatively, detaching herself from Blake’s side so she could face her sister again.

Yang let out a long groan and mumbled something incoherent. “I feel like shit,” she said.

She forced open her eyes just in time to get tackled by Ruby’s hug.

“I’m so glad you’re okay,” Ruby said into her shirt, while Yang grinned sheepishly and reached up to pat the back of Ruby’s head.

“Me too, sis. Me too.” She tried to lift her head, but gave up halfway through. Her expression turned into one of concern. “Are we all… did we all make it?”

“Yeah,” said Weiss.

Yang seemed to relax upon hearing that. “Weiss,” she said, her voice filled with warmth. “You’re okay. And Blake…?”

“I’m over here,” said Blake.

“Okay.” Yang sighed in relief and eased back into her pillows. “That’s good, then. Yeah. That’s good.”

The four of them fell into a peaceful silence. Blake took the time to appreciate the fact that they were all still alive and together.

“Yang, can I ask you something?” she said eventually.

“What is it?”

“I just want to make sure I’m getting my facts right,” said Blake. “Because as far as I can tell, your immediate reaction to watching a bomb explode in front of you was to try and contain it with your face.”

It took Yang a second to understand what Blake was talking about. Then she laughed a little. “Hey, I mean it worked, didn’t it? That thing was powerful enough to wreck that entire part of the tunnel system. If I hadn’t jumped on it we would have ended up with something a lot larger than a single hole.”

“I know,” said Blake. “But you’re still incredibly stupid. And impulsive. And so, so selfless.” She had to stop talking for a second, clenching and unclenching her fist in an attempt to relieve some of her stress. “When will you take care of yourself first for once?”

“I—I can’t,” said Yang, so quietly that Blake almost didn’t hear her. “I care about you guys too much. You three are always going to come first in my heart.”

“Stupid,” Weiss told her, echoing Blake’s words as she threw herself forward to hug Yang as well. Blake wished she wasn’t confined to her own cot so she could join them. “You’re the biggest idiot I’ve ever met in my entire life.”

“Sorry,” said Yang.

Blake shifted a little underneath the covers and settled in, listening to what sounded like Weiss trying her best not to start crying all over Yang, and Ruby trying to comfort her in response. She couldn’t help but smile.

They were going to be okay.

 


 

In the evening Blake was released from the infirmary a couple hours before Yang, which ended up making absolutely no difference seeing as the entire team refused to leave her bedside afterwards anyway. They left together after the nurse gave them all strict orders to get as much rest as possible and avoid too much physical strain for the next week or so.

After that Ozpin notified them that they had one hour to get food before he wanted to see them in his office. The walk down the hallway to the mess hall wasn’t just nerve wracking for that reason, though. For some reason, everyone was staring at them.

“Do people somehow already know what happened or something?” Blake asked warily.

They all glanced at Ruby. She blinked. “Hey, don’t do that,” she protested. “I barely know anything either. I spent the entire past three days in the infirmary with you guys too, you know.”

“Why?” said Yang, confused.

Ruby just gave her a weird look. “What was I supposed to do, pretend to go back to school life by myself as if everything was fine and sleep alone in the dorm room while my teammates were all knocked out across campus from me?”

“Okay, good point,” said Yang.

Dinner didn’t go by much better. People kept staring at them. It was kind of unnerving, especially since every time Blake caught someone in the act, they’d immediately look away, almost as if they felt bad for doing it. Someone had to have found out and spread the word. The way everyone was looking at them, it seemed like they couldn't decide whether or not to pity them.

But later, once they’d all eaten what they could and soon found themselves sitting together on one side of the desk with Ozpin contemplating them from the other, Blake almost wished she was back in the hallways with everyone staring at her again. Somehow, this was even worse. The entire room was dead silent. Blake instinctively took Yang’s hand for comfort, and after a moment, Yang intertwined their fingers together.

Finally Ozpin let out a sigh and spoke. “I’m not going to yell at any of you, if that’s what you’re all so worried about.”

“What?” Ruby said, as the spokesperson for the team, being the leader and all. 

“I imagine you’ve learned your lesson by now,” said Ozpin. “If you think I’m going to further compound your guilt by scolding you for your reckless actions, you can rest assured that I wasn’t planning on doing so.” He fiddled with the handle of his coffee mug for a few seconds, trying to gather his thoughts together. “That being said, I do ask that the next time something big like this comes up, please let me know, or at least notify one of the other qualified Huntsmen that work at this academy. We’re here to help you grow as students, but we can’t do that if you’re dead.”

Blake nearly shrank back in her seat at his words. Ozpin really wasn’t pulling any punches tonight, but she knew that he was right.

“We’re sorry,” said Ruby.

“Good,” said Ozpin. “Now, here’s the thing. Somebody, likely one of Ironwood’s soldiers, managed to record some video footage of the situation in the interior of the mines, which has been leaked to the public. And, well, it’s gained quite a bit of traction. There has been a pretty significant outcry against the working conditions in the mine. And obviously everyone wants to know what exactly happened there. Right now the story that I’ve shared with the news is that the White Fang were spotted at the Schnee Dust Company mine, preparing to attack when an accident happened and the mine was overrun with Grimm. A group of students from my school had been accompanying their teacher on a mission in the vicinity and were able to repel both the White Fang and the Grimm until further help arrived.”

Ozpin glanced at all of them, one by one. No one said anything. When he seemed satisfied that they all understood his words, he continued.

“I believe most of your fellow students have already figured out who this mystery team is. After all, it’s not every day a team returns to Beacon in a small Atlas military transport ship covered in dirt and blood, with three of the four members unconscious. It likely wasn’t very hard to put the pieces together after the video was leaked. But the rest of the public do not know of your identities. I thought I should leave the decision up to you. So now I ask you this: Would you rather remain anonymous, or would you like to lay claim to your actions and tell the world that it was Team RWBY who had been at the mine that day?”

The room fell into silence again. Blake glanced at her teammates. Yang and Ruby seemed mostly confused and maybe just a little apprehensive. Weiss, on the other hand, had completely tensed up, her eyes closed and her expression tight. Blake automatically put a hand on her back, and felt Ruby do the same soon after. 

They all knew why Weiss was so nervous about this decision. If they chose to reveal themselves as the ones who had interfered with the inner workings of the mine, word would definitely get back to the owner of the mine, and subsequently the owner of the Schnee Dust Company as well. In all honesty Blake could understand it pretty well, too. She knew a couple very special people in the White Fang who would not be happy at all if they found out she was one of the students who gotten in their way and foiled their plans. Just the thought of it was enough to make her feel uneasy.

“We don’t have to reveal ourselves if you guys don’t want to,” Yang said. “Both of you. Ruby and I are fine either way.”

“Yeah,” Ruby agreed, rubbing in circles against Weiss’s back. “Please don’t feel pressured because of us or anything.”

“No,” said Weiss. She took a deep breath, her eyes still squeezed shut. “I—we should do this. I want to do this. Right?”

“Are you sure?” Ruby asked with a worried frown.

“I don’t know,” Weiss admitted. She looked up at Ozpin. “Are we allowed to have more time to think on it?”

Ozpin regarded her curiously for a few moments. “Certainly,” he said. “Though try not to take too much time. I’m not sure how much longer I can keep giving vague answers to the media before they come snooping in themselves.”

“Okay,” Weiss said uneasily.

“Alright then. If that’s all on that matter, I have one last thing I wish to discuss with you,” Ozpin continued, “and that is the Vytal Festival Tournament.”

“Oh, right, that thing,” said Yang. “The first-year quarterfinals is tomorrow, isn’t it?”

“It is,” said Ozpin. “If necessary, I can pull some strings and see if I can get your match moved a day or two later. But I need you all to be aware this is something I can only do for you once. Of course, there’s always the option of taking a break and dropping out of the rest of the tournament altogether.”

“No way,” said Yang, turning to look at the rest of her team. “We’re still in, right guys?”

“Duh,” said Ruby. She flashed them all a grin. Weiss nodded, still looking a bit distracted. Ozpin glanced at Blake, who just shrugged, content to go along with their collective decision.

“Very well, then,” said Ozpin. “That's all I had to discuss. Do you have any final questions for me?”

“Um, actually,” said Blake. “Professor… do you know what happened to all the workers who were at the mine that day?”

Ozpin sighed and pushed his glasses up a bit before answering. “Yes. I’m afraid I don’t have the exact numbers for you, but I can assure you that a majority of the workers survived the incident and are currently taking shelter in a safe zone while the mine is being repaired.”

Even though that was supposed to be good news, Blake still felt her heart sink. “People still died, then.”

“Yes, people did,” Ozpin agreed. “And many more are severely injured.” He paused for a second. “The four of you still performed extremely well though, you know. Even without outside help, you managed to hold off a wave of Grimm all on your own. It’s true that some of the workers have lost their lives, but if you hadn’t been there, many, many more would have died as well. So take some comfort in knowing that.”

Blake closed her eyes. She felt Weiss wrap an arm around her waist. When no one else said anything, Ozpin scooted back in his chair, getting ready to stand up again.

“It’s getting late,” he told them. “You’ve all had a long week. Go get some rest now, I will be sure to update you if any important news comes up again. And please, be careful.”

And with that, he dismissed them from his office.

The walk back to their dorm was pretty silent. The staring didn’t stop, either. Blake wondered when the novelty of the situation would finally wear off.

Team JNPR must have heard them approaching, because when they reached their room, Pyrrha opened the door across from them and poked her head out, looking concerned.

“Hey,” she said.

“Hey, Pyrrha,” Ruby responded. She sounded exhausted. “What’s up?”

“I mean, it’s just more of the usual, I think,” said Pyrrha. “We… we heard about what happened. Are you guys okay?”

Ruby looked up at Blake. Then she turned her head to look at Yang and Weiss too. “Yeah. I think we will be.”

“That’s good.” Pyrrha shifted her weight from one foot to the other. “I guess I’ll get out of your hair now. If you ever need anything, we’re all here for you.”

“Thanks, Pyrrha,” said Ruby.

They headed inside their room. Almost immediately after the door closed behind them Weiss made a beeline towards the bookshelf underneath the window. She put her hands underneath the top shelf, trying to get a solid grip on the left corner of it. “Yang, can you help me with this?”

Yang blinked. “Wait, what for?” she asked.

Weiss lifted up the end of the bookshelf and started dragging it towards the front of the room. Yang finally registered what Weiss was trying to do and walked up to her, easily hefting the entire shelf over her shoulder, with all the books and stuff still on it and everything. It took Weiss a couple seconds to stop staring. “Right,” she said, a little sheepishly. “Can you just move it out of the way of the beds for a second?”

Yang still looked confused, but she complied. With the path now clear, Weiss went over to the far side of her bed and started pushing it towards Blake and Yang’s bunk. Blake herself was still standing there stupidly in the doorway with Ruby by her side.

“What,” was all Blake could say.

Weiss let out a huff. “Don’t look at me like that,” she said, turning her head away to try and hide her embarrassment. “I just—it’s just been a very long and grueling past couple of days. And I just want to sleep now and be with you guys tonight and hold you all close to me. That’s all.” She got her bed lined right up against Blake’s and then proceeded to flop down right onto it. The look she gave Blake made her crack instantly.

“Of course,” Blake said. “Anything… anything for you.”

Yang set the bookshelf down in the corner of the room while the rest of them smoothed over the gap in the beds with a couple of blankets. Then Blake settled onto the bed, with Ruby snuggled up to her back and Weiss’s face inches away from her own, their legs all tangled together. Yang joined them soon after turning off the lights in the dorm, wrapping her arm around Weiss’s stomach and pulling her in tight.

“We’re gonna be okay,” Ruby said softly into the darkness.

And as Blake began to drift off to sleep, wrapped up close with all her teammates, she knew that Ruby was right.

They were going to be okay.

Chapter 12

Notes:

GUYS HOLY SHIT spicybon was kind and awesome enough to draw a cover pic for this fic?? i'm losing my god damn mind please go check out their stuff on tumblr too it's all amazing

Chapter Text

Life continued on.

Yang spent a majority of the next day sleeping. She suspected the others did the same, or at least took several naps throughout the day, because she kept waking up alternating between finding either Weiss or Blake fast asleep in her arms. No one tried to rouse her or shove her off the bed, so she assumed that Ozpin had successfully moved their tournament match to a later date and that nothing else super important was going on.

It was dark out by the time she finally decided to get up for real. Most of it was because of the hunger. She pushed herself into a sitting position and scanned the room. Ruby was playing video games on her scroll in her bed, which was now just dangling on its own from the ceiling with nothing underneath it. Weiss was sitting at her desk, staring down at something she was holding in her hands.

“Where’s Blake?” Yang asked.

“Good morning to you, too,” said Ruby.

Yang squinted at her. She was so disoriented it took her a couple moments to realize that it wasn’t actually morning. “I want food,” she settled for saying instead.

Ruby picked up what looked like a half-eaten bag of chips next to her and folded the top over. Then she chucked it at Yang. It hit her in the face. “Blake is coming back with more,” Ruby told her.

“More chips?” said Yang, even as she opened the bag up and popped a couple in her mouth.

“Yes,” said Ruby, as seriously as she could manage. “That’s what you get for sleeping through the entire day.”

“Hey, I didn’t sleep through the entire day, did I?” said Yang. She stretched for a couple of seconds before blearily moving to get up off the bed. “What time is it?”

“Almost ten.”

“Oh, gross.” Yang stood up, almost fell over from the sheer fatigue, and then sat back down again. “I changed my mind. I’m going back to sleep.” 

“You’re a big baby,” said Ruby.

“Then you’re a tiny baby,” Yang retorted. “Like, ant-size tiny. I could squish you between my fingers.” She held up her hand for scale. Then she glanced over at Weiss, who hadn’t budged an inch throughout their little conversation. “Hey Weiss? You good?”

Weiss jumped. She turned to meet Yang’s gaze, tossing the closed scroll she’d been fiddling with onto her desk. “Yeah,” she said, but she sounded uncertain. “Maybe. I’m just thinking about some things.”

Before Yang could respond to that, the door opened. Blake walked in carrying a flat cardboard box in her hands. “I stole a pizza from the kitchen,” she announced, walking forwards and plunking the box onto the bed. She offered Yang a small smile. “Good morning, by the way.”

“Ruby just said the exact same thing to me earlier,” Yang said indignantly. 

Blake looked up at Ruby, who grinned and gave her a thumbs up. Then Blake moved over and sat down next to Yang. “Great minds think alike, right?” she said, still smiling. Her expression softened. “How are you feeling?”

“What? How am I feeling?” said Yang, glancing pointedly at Blake’s bandaged arm. “How are you feeling?”

“I asked first,” said Blake.

“Ass,” said Yang.

Blake just raised an eyebrow. “I’m allowed to be concerned for your wellbeing too, you know,” she said.

Yang held her gaze for a second longer and then let out a small sigh, staring down at the carpet and scuffing at it with her foot. “I dunno,” she said. “I feel kind of… weird.” The word she was looking for was weak. She felt weak. Everyone else had already long since gotten up and started acting like functioning humans again, and yet she’d spent the whole day holed up in the room sleeping. But she didn’t really feel like burdening the others with that information. “Sorry, it’s probably because I just woke up.” She got up from her bed, trying to escape some of the tension, and headed over to where Weiss was sitting. Weiss watched her approach and inch her way around to the back of her seat. It was probably a testament to how distracted Weiss was that she barely even reacted when Yang reached down underneath her arms and gently pulled her up out of the chair.

“Where are we going?” Weiss said distantly.

“Over here.” Yang lifted Weiss into the air and brought her over to the bed, setting her down next to Blake. Then Yang sat down on her other side. “We should be asking you how you’re feeling. Come on, talk to us. What’s on your mind?”

Weiss looked at her hands for a few moments. Blake was regarding Yang suspiciously, evidently not fooled by her attempts to take the attention off of herself. Yang silently begged her to drop the subject for now. So she relented and they moved to hold Weiss in between them while Ruby closed her scroll and hopped down from her bed to join them.

“I think I’m going to say it was me. That it was us,” Weiss finally said as Ruby settled down by her feet. “If that’s okay with you guys, obviously.”

“About the mine?” Yang asked her.

“Yeah,” said Weiss. “Have you guys seen the news? People are pissed. I guess most people just didn’t realize how awful the conditions in the mines are, and the leaked video opened a lot of their eyes. There’s going to be pressure on the company now to change their methods. Whether or not that will end up making a difference in the long run has yet to be seen, though.” She sounded bitter.

For a while no one said anything. Ruby leaned forward and bumped her head against Weiss’s knee. “You know we’ll support whatever decision you make,” she said.

“I keep thinking about how much more influence I have over this whole thing than most people,” said Weiss. “How if I threw my weight behind the backlash it would make it nearly impossible to ignore. Not only am I literally next in line to inherit the Schnee Dust Company, but I was there at the mine when all of this happened. I saw everything firsthand with you guys. Like, my father, he—he’d have to acknowledge all the protestors if I was standing there right along with the rest of them.”

Yang couldn’t tell if Weiss realized she was absently reaching for her and Blake’s hands, searching for any source of support and comfort. They gave it to her, of course, and Yang squeezed her hand tight. “You’re not alone in this fight,” she reminded Weiss gently. “We’ve got your back every step of the way. And if that little bastard tries to do anything to you, I’ll catapult him off a cliff.”

She was glad to see that Weiss managed to smile at that, at least. “I’ll… be sure to keep that in mind,” she said. “But that’s just me. I won’t ask to do anything unless we all agree on it.” Weiss glanced up at Blake, frowning slightly. “I know you have your own personal reasons for wanting to keep a low profile. If you’d rather remain anonymous, I completely understand.”

“It’s fine,” Blake said, a little quickly. When the rest of them turned to look at her funny, she hastened to explain herself better. “Sorry. Yeah, I mean it’s a little scary. But if Weiss is brave enough to stand up for what she believes in, then… I think I can do it too.” 

Ruby was looking back and forth between the two of them. Then she sighed. “Are you guys absolutely sure about this?” she asked.

“Yes,” said Weiss. After a few seconds, Blake nodded her agreement.

“Okay,” said Ruby, giving them all a small smile as she stood up from her spot on the floor. “I just wanted to make sure. I’ll go and tell Ozpin about our decision, then.”

“Do you want some pizza before you go?” Blake asked her, picking up the box and plopping it onto Yang’s lap. Yang opened it up and took out a slice, watching as Ruby considered the offer for a few moments.

“Nah, I’m not that hungry,” she said eventually. “I already ate dinner earlier cause I’m not a loser like Yang.”

“Shut up,” said Yang.

Ruby squinted at her. Yang had to look away and tried to busy herself with eating her pizza, but she knew Ruby was on to her. 

“It’s okay. You guys enjoy the pizza without me,” Ruby said to them. She kept looking at Yang. “But I got my eyes on you.”

She stuck her tongue out at Yang and then left the room.

 


 

As the week went on, things gradually seemed to go back to normal.

The revelation that they were the students who had been at the mine came out the next day. Yang kept waiting for something to blow up, for there to suddenly be people clamoring to break down their door and bother them, but it never happened. Not yet, at least. Weiss and Blake especially were acting like their entire lives were about to get turned upside down at any given moment. If anything, the fact that nothing much seemed to change at all so far was a little unnerving. 

Their quarterfinals tournament match against Team NDGO took place on Wednesday. It wasn’t nearly enough time for them to fully recover and return back to top fighting shape, but they still went out and tried their best. Somehow they managed to pull through and win, but it hadn’t been easy. Weiss’s concussion started acting up again halfway through the battle, and she ended up being the first on their team to get knocked out of the match. Yang followed suit not long after. Blake was moments away from joining them before she and Ruby teamed up to pull off a last second stunt that took out the final member of Team NDGO. They’d emerged victorious once again.

“That was a good match,” the team leader, Nebula, had said to them afterwards. “I don’t think it would have been a fair fight even without the handicap. You guys deserve the win.”

And now Yang was sitting alone in the library of all places, using one of the public computers to absently scroll through the news. It was interesting, seeing her name plastered all over articles and websites alongside Blake, Weiss, and Ruby’s. They’d already gotten a little famous after the whole Torchwick incident at Mountain Glenn, so a lot of the news reporters seemed largely unsurprised that it was them who had once again charged headlong into this absolute mess of a situation. A lot of the reporters were also commenting on how interesting it was that Weiss had been at the mine as well, and speculating whether or not she had been aware of how her father’s company treated its workers.

Yang wondered how she was holding up. She decided that maybe it was time to stop moping around and go and check up on Weiss and the others back at the dorm, so she shut off the computer and got back to her feet.

The second she entered the room Ruby was right there waiting for her.

“My wonderful but kind of dumb sister Yang!” she declared, pointing at Yang from where she was standing in the middle of the room, next to their little combined bed setup. They’d been too lazy to move everything back after that first night. “I have thought long and hard about this matter, and I have decided that it is time for an intervention!”

Yang raised an eyebrow at her. She glanced around the room. Weiss and Blake were both sitting atop Yang’s bunk, poring over something on Weiss’s scroll together. Blake had an arm around Weiss’s shoulder. At least they both seemed okay.

“What’s going on?” Yang asked Ruby.

“An intervention,” Ruby said again. “Come over here.”

So Yang walked up to her slowly, feeling a little apprehensive. Ruby moved her around until she had her back to the bed. Before Yang could ask her just what she was planning on doing, Ruby had come up directly behind her, wrapped her arms firmly around Yang’s stomach, and then, with a colossal effort, literally lifted her into the air and suplexed her onto the bed.

“Holy shit, Ruby, okay, jeez,” said Yang as she hit the mattress, trying to get over the initial shock, while Ruby wriggled her way out back up into a standing position.

“That,” she said, “was for being stupid.”

“What did I do this time?” said Yang, groaning. She brought her hand up to her face, rubbing at it tiredly.

“You know what you did,” said Ruby. “And we’re gonna sit here and talk about it. Provided you don’t try to dodge the subject again.”

“What if I don’t want to talk about it?” Yang asked defensively.

Ruby thought about that for a few moments. “I’ll pout at you until you do,” she decided.

“Please don’t,” said Yang.

“Drastic times calls for drastic measures,” Ruby told her brightly. She glanced up at Weiss and Blake and nodded at them.

Yang watched as Blake detached herself from Weiss’s side and hopped down from the bunk bed. “It’s not that drastic,” she tried to say to Ruby. “Really, sis, it’s not that big of a deal. I swear.”

“It kind of is if you’ve been all moody and stuff for days now,” said Ruby, crossing her arms and frowning. Blake had walked over and joined them by now. “So I’m not budging until you tell us what’s bothering you.”

Yang looked away. Blake reached forward and took her by the wrists, gently tugging her up into a sitting position. Then she got onto the bed as well and settled down into her lap. “Come on,” Blake said, leaning forward and pulling Yang into a hug. “We just want to make sure you’re okay. Please.”

And just like that, Yang felt the tension inside of her break. She let her head flop forward against Blake’s shoulder, burying her face into her shirt. Somewhere above them, Weiss was climbing down from the bunk as well.

“This isn’t the way things are supposed to work,” said Yang.

“Yeah?” said Blake. “How are they supposed to work, then?”

“Um,” said Yang. “You three all do your own thing. And then I’m the one who takes care of you while you do that.”

Behind her, Yang heard Weiss let out a snort. A moment later she had pressed herself up against Yang’s back, wrapping her arms around Yang’s stomach. “That seems a little unfair and unbalanced, don’t you think?” she said.

“It’s what I’m good at,” Yang insisted. “Or, at least, it’s what I’m supposed to be good at. But how am I supposed to protect all of you if I keep losing all of these fights and repeatedly getting myself almost killed?” 

Once she’d started, she found that she couldn’t stop talking. Ruby and Weiss and Blake were all watching her and listening intently, and it almost felt embarrassing to be at the center of attention for once. But the words kept spilling out in a rush.

“You guys all have so much going for you. I’m just here because I like fighting. Which, like I said before, it’s fine. I’m cool with it, I’m happy with just being around to help you guys punch shit. Except I’m so weak I can’t even do that properly. Both times we’ve gotten into serious situations where it actually mattered, I failed you. Our lives were on the line and I was always the one who came super close to dying. So if I’m not even capable of beating a couple Grimm or some short tiny girl who fights with a fucking umbrella to help protect you all without coming within an inch of death, then what good am I for?”

Yang tightened her grip on the back of Blake’s shirt, bunching up the fabric in her fists. If Blake noticed she didn’t show it. “Yang…” she said, concern written all over her expression.

“Ah, what the hell am I saying,” said Yang. She forced out a weak laugh. “You and Weiss are actually dealing with real, serious problems. You’ve got the whole White Fang thing on top of all the Faunus stuff to worry about, and Weiss has her father and his company, and I’m over here feeling sorry for myself about something so stupid. Just—just forget I said anything.”

The room fell silent. Yang kept clinging onto Blake, who hugged her back. Ruby had gotten onto the bed by now, sitting cross-legged next to Blake.

“Yang,” Weiss said eventually, her tone firm enough that it made Yang nervous.

“Yeah?” she said hesitantly.

“When was the last time you really opened up to us about how you were feeling? Like, genuinely opened up. Confided in us about something that was bothering you.”

“I—I um.”

“That’s what I thought.” Weiss poked her in the stomach. Yang jumped a little. “You’re so stupid. We’re not going to judge you for having problems.”

“Didn’t you just call me stupid?”

Weiss let out a huff. “Not because you have problems. You’re stupid because you think that just because the rest of us have stuff we’re dealing with too makes yours somehow less important or something.”

“I…” said Yang, at a loss for words.

“You probably think we haven’t noticed,” said Blake, pulling back so she could gently brush aside a bit of Yang’s hair, “but we’ve been living in the same space together for a pretty long time now, so it’s kind of hard not to. You’ve always been the strongest out of all of us, looking out for everyone and taking care of us when we’re down. But you don’t have to bottle up your own emotions and hide them from us to do that.”

Yang didn’t even know what to say to that. She almost couldn’t believe what she was hearing. Next to Blake, Ruby shifted a little before finally speaking up.

“Yang,” she began slowly, like she was considering her next words carefully, “you know that you’re the world’s greatest big sister, right? Like ever since we were little, the one thing I always remembered is that you were there for me no matter what. I know you always set aside your own troubles so that you could make sure I was happy, and for that I’ll forever be grateful. Just… just let me return the favor too, okay? Because I wanna see you happy too. We all do.”

“Shit, guys,” said Yang. She was almost trembling a little, feeling the warmth slowly rising in her chest. “Just. I don’t—wow. This is new.”

“Guess you’re going to have to get used to it, huh?” Blake told her with a calm smile, and Yang definitely got super distracted just staring at her. “We’re not going to give up on you anytime soon.”

“And don’t you dare call yourself weak or say you’re no good ever again,” Weiss added. “Because that’s just blatantly false. You can’t expect me to watch you casually absorb the impact of a very powerful bomb and not only survive the explosion, but get up later to help fight off a massive wave of Grimm, and then believe that you somehow failed us? That’s ridiculous.”

“I didn’t just casually tank the hit,” said Yang, even though she knew she was nitpicking at this point, and that the others wouldn’t buy it for a second. The way Blake was looking at her was making her heart go crazy. “It knocked me out cold. And then afterwards I passed out again, longer than anyone else.”

“Oh, look at me,” said Weiss. “My name is Yang Xiao Long. I’m the only reason why that entire mine didn’t just cave in on itself and crush everyone inside it. A bomb that was meant to level entire layers of solid rock didn’t even come close to breaking my Aura, but I’m apparently weak because I fell unconscious as a result of jumping on top of it.” She sighed and squeezed Yang a little tighter. “That’s what you sound like, you know.”

“Well, if you’re gonna put it like that,” Yang said awkwardly.

“You fought that short ice cream lady on the train, right?” said Ruby. “That’s just being unfair to yourself. Just cause you lost to her doesn’t mean you’re weak, it just means she’s insanely strong. I mean, you remember how easily she helped Torchwick escape that one time he chased us with the giant robot. She’s on a whole different level than all of us, not just you in particular.”

“Plus, I lost my fight too,” said Weiss. “Blake’s the only one who won her matchup.”

“Which was largely due to luck and surprise,” Blake put in.

“See?” said Ruby, looking back to Yang expectantly. “You’re super strong and awesome. And I’ll smack anyone who says otherwise. Including you.” She scooted forward to get closer to Yang, but had to pause, frowning at the lack of space in between her and Weiss and Blake.

“Is there a problem?” Blake asked her, amused.

“Yeah,” said Ruby. “You guys are taking up too much space. I want in on this.”

“We got here first,” said Weiss.

“She’s my sister, you jerks!” Ruby whined, but there was no real annoyance in her voice. Then she apparently decided to stop being polite and proceeded to strong arm her way into the embrace, fighting with Weiss and Blake for a chance to hug Yang. 

They ended up toppling over in the ensuing scuffle. Yang soon found herself underneath a giant pile with her teammates resting comfortably on top of her, and yet she felt lighter than she ever had in a long time.

“Thanks, you guys. I mean it,” said Yang. There was a huge smile on her face now and she couldn’t be bothered to try and wipe it off. “Shit. Ruby, you’re the greatest sister I could have ever asked for. And you two.” Blake and Weiss both glanced at her. Yang felt so warm and so content in that moment. “You need to stop doing things that just make you more and more lovable. I’ve fallen hard enough already.”

“Sap,” Blake said affectionately. “Don’t think you’re the only one of us who feels that way, either.”

The four of them settled in, just lumped together like that. Ruby, who was at the top of the pile, was looking down at Yang with that happy little grin of hers, and Yang could only grin back. She was eternally grateful for having such a wonderful sister, and such wonderful teammates who were just so good at making day seem brighter too.

 


 

One afternoon a few days later Yang was taking a nap and woke up because Blake accidentally punched her in the face.

“I’m so sorry,” Blake was saying over and over again, while Yang tried to get a grip on reality around her. She returned back to consciousness to find Blake on top of her, cupping her cheeks in a panic, and Ruby laughing her head off somewhere else in the room.

“Blake?” Yang asked, still a little groggy from the nap. “What’s going on?”

“I’m sorry,” Blake said again. “I think—I think I was having a nightmare. I must have flailed in my sleep and hit you on accident.”

“Oh.” Yang smiled up at Blake and reached up to brush her cheek with her thumb. “It’s okay. Don’t worry about it. How are you feeling?”

“Better now that I’m awake,” said Blake. She sighed and lowered her voice. “It was about the Faunus workers in the mine. Sometimes I close my eyes and it’s all I can see.”

“Oh, Blake,” said Yang, as Blake basically collapsed into her arms, gently willing the tension to ease out of her shoulders. “Hey, it’s okay. Take your time.”

“Weiss,” Ruby said from the other side of the room.

Yang lifted her head, craning her neck to see what Weiss and Ruby were up to. They were both sitting at Weiss’s desk, with Ruby perched on the table acting as Weiss’s honorary textbook holder. Except Weiss wasn’t even reading the textbook. She was too busy staring up into Ruby’s face instead.

“Ah, sorry,” said Weiss, shaking herself out of her stupor. She turned around in her seat and made eye contact with Yang. “What’s going on?”

“Blake is being stressed out,” Yang explained. That was apparently enough to spur them into action, as Weiss and Ruby both got up immediately and headed over to the combined beds.

“It’s okay,” said Blake, her words muffled by Yang’s shirt. “I’ve just been thinking about it a lot. I’m glad that so many people are protesting and calling for changes to be made but—I don’t know. It just seems like too little too slowly sometimes.”

Ruby reached the bed and climbed her way on while Weiss sat down at the edge near them. Yang rolled over and lightly dropped Blake onto her side so that Ruby could help cuddle her in between them.

“I know we’re not as well versed in this sorta stuff as you are,” said Ruby, “but if there’s anything you ever need from us, just say the word.”

“Of course,” said Blake with a small smile. “I really appreciate it. And I’ll be fine eventually, really. I think I just need to get out of my own head for a while.”

For a while none of them spoke. The seconds ticked by. Yang finally decided to give in to her urges and say what had been on her mind for a long time now.

“Speaking of that,” she said. “There’s something I’ve been meaning to ask you guys, if that’s okay.”

They all looked at her, curious. So Yang sat up, bringing Blake with her, and everyone arranged themselves into a circle on the bed.

“This is probably a bad time,” she began, “or maybe it’s a good time, in all honesty. We’ve all kind of been stuck in these kinds of thoughts for a while now. Maybe it’s time we try and get a break from that. And frankly, I don’t want to wait any longer.” She took a deep breath, looking at each of them meaningfully before continuing. “If you guys would let me, I would love to finally take one of you out on a date over the weekend.”

Ruby immediately started grinning. Blake and Weiss made eye contact with each other, and then Weiss looked away, suddenly embarrassed. It was the cutest thing Yang had ever witnessed.

“Which one of us?” Blake asked, almost a little shy.

“I don’t mind who,” said Yang. “The White Fang attack is over now, and I want to get the ball rolling. Hell, I’ll take you both on a date at the same time if that’s what you want.”

“Do not do that,” Ruby interrupted her with a pout. “At least leave someone for me. Meanie.”

Yang laughed at that. “Fair enough,” she said. She was glad to see that the mood had lightened considerably, and that Blake seemed much more relaxed than she had earlier when she’d just woken up. “Well, what’s it gonna be, ladies? You guys wanna fight over me or something?”

“Nah, it’s okay. Weiss can go first, I don’t mind,” said Blake, her voice just as teasing. “Save the best for last, right?”

“Well, in that case, I agree,” said Weiss. “Save Blake for last. I’ll go with you.”

Blake blinked at that, evidently surprised by Weiss’s response. “Wait, no,” she said. “If we’re really going by that then all of you should be after me.”

“Really, guys?” said Yang. She was struggling not to laugh again. “Are we turning this into a self-deprecating contest now? Because the next person to think that they’re not the best is getting a five-page essay from me on why exactly they’re wrong and why they are in fact one of the most wonderful people on this planet.”

They all stared at her. Ruby snorted.

“This whole team is a trainwreck,” she said. “Just flip a coin or something, you weirdos.”

“Do you have a coin?” Yang asked her pointedly.

“No,” Ruby admitted. She fumbled around in her pocket for a few seconds before pulling out her scroll. Then she tossed it to Yang. “Use that or something. Heads you go with Weiss, tails you go with Blake. Easy peasy.”

“Okay.”

Just to be annoying, Yang chucked Ruby’s scroll at the opposite wall, where it hit the surface and then clattered to the ground. Ruby let out a very loud, very dramatic sigh before scrambling back up so she could retrieve her scroll.

“It landed face up,” she announced. “So the first date goes to Weiss and Yang. You’re welcome.”

“Sweet.” Yang turned to face Weiss, who was determinedly not looking back, even though she was already doing a terrible job at hiding her hopeful, excited smile. “I hope that’s okay with everyone?”

“Yeah,” said Weiss. She glanced up at Blake. “Sorry about this.”

“Don’t be,” Blake told her. “Besides, that just means I get to hang out with Ruby all by myself that day.”

Ruby had barely even made it back onto the bed with her scroll in hand before Blake rolled over on top of her and pressed a kiss to her cheek. “Ah, jeez,” Ruby said, laughing as she wrapped her arms around Blake’s neck. “Not that I’m not enjoying this, but Team JNPR has been bothering me for the past ten minutes asking to meet up for dinner already. We can save the cuddling for the weekend.”

“Screw Team JNPR,” said Blake.

Ruby laughed again and leaned up to kiss Blake on the nose. “Don’t be so rude,” she said, grinning like an idiot the whole time. “Come on, Blake. Nora’s gonna freak out if we keep her waiting any longer. You giant baby.”

So Blake relented and got off the bed, Ruby following shortly after. Yang watched them head towards the door together, and then looked at Weiss, who was still sitting there looking a little blank. She grinned and stood up, holding out a hand towards Weiss.

“We can discuss the details of the date together later,” Yang told her. Weiss had just enough sense left to take Yang’s hand and let herself be helped to her feet. “But I’m really, really looking forward to it.”

“Yeah,” Weiss said quietly, a faint smile on her face. “Me too.”

They headed over to the door, where Blake and Ruby were standing there waiting for them. Yang’s heart was really beating fast now. She felt super giddy even just looking at any of her teammates. Sure, things were still kind of a mess, and they all had a lot of stuff they needed to power through, but at least they could do it together. At least things were finally looking up again.

Chapter 13

Notes:

yeah i definitely had way too much fun with this lol

i hope you guys enjoy and as always thank you so much for all the kindness and support you've all given me c:

Chapter Text

Weiss knew she’d been smiling like an idiot all weekend. She couldn’t help herself. It felt like she was on top of the world.

The thoughts of her father and his company and the mine and all the Faunus workers who toiled away in it still plagued her every once in a while, but she kept herself taking one step after another, fueled on by the fact that Yang was going to be taking her on a date at the end of the day.

She probably looked so happy. It must have been freaking everyone else out.

“Are you okay, Weiss?” Jaune asked her.

“Huh? Oh. Yeah, I am,” said Weiss.

They were sitting together at a table in a secluded part of the library along with Sun and Nora. The four of them were supposed to be studying, but the others had given up not even thirty minutes in and Weiss was too giddy to focus in the first place.

“Someone’s in a really good mood,” said Sun, propping his head up on his arm. He grinned at Weiss. “What happened? Did you win the lottery or what?”

“Something like that,” said Weiss. “I’m… going on a date later tonight.”

She didn’t know why she was so comfortable with telling them about it. Maybe she just wanted someone to share the excitement with. The way Sun’s mouth dropped open and the way Jaune and Nora both lit up was extremely satisfying, though.

“No way!” said Sun, leaning forward excitedly.

“Who are you going with?” Jaune asked.

Weiss looked at all of them. Her heartbeat was going so fast, thumping away in her chest. She couldn’t stop smiling. “It’s with Yang.”

Sun actually tilted his head back and let out a muffled scream into his hands. Jaune looked like he was having a revelation. Nora, meanwhile, started pounding the table with her fist.

“So that’s who it was!” she shouted, pointing triumphantly at Weiss. “It was you all along that she was madly in love with!”

“What?” said Weiss, mostly confused but also a little bit flattered.

“Yang told me and Pyrrha way back when that she had the biggest crush on someone and was trying to figure out how to ask them out,” Nora explained. “You’re telling me that it took her this long to do it? I’m disappointed in her.”

“Oh come on, Nora,” said Jaune. “Asking someone out takes a lot of guts. Especially someone as amazing as Weiss.” He was grinning and seemed genuinely happy for her, and in that moment Weiss’s appreciation for him increased tenfold.

“Oh, whatever, this is so exciting!” said Nora. She pumped her fists in the air. “I better go let her know that I’m gonna beat her up if she treats you wrong.”

Sun let out a snort. “Good luck with that,” he told her. 

“I’ve knocked her through the ceiling with a watermelon and a stick once,” Nora said solemnly. “I can definitely do it again.” 

“Guys, I think I’ll be fine,” Weiss said with a small smile. “It’ll be great. Yang is great.”

“Aw, that’s so disgustingly cute,” said Sun.

Weiss briefly considered telling them about the fact that she wasn’t the only person Yang was madly in love with, or that Yang wasn’t the only person she was crushing hard on as well. But then she took one look at Jaune and decided he’d already had his mind blown hard enough today. Maybe it would be funnier to just let things happen the way they were and watch their reactions to it when it did.

“Man, who needs studying when beautiful relationships are unfolding right before our very eyes?” said Nora. 

“I mean, the test is still on Friday,” Jaune reminded her.

Nora groaned and shoved her open textbook away. “Which is stupid. Like, it’s tournament season. The first-year team semifinals are literally tomorrow! No one has time for history anymore. This is just plain rude.” Then she paused, her eyes widening. “Wait a second. Did we ever find out who we were gonna be fighting?”

“Um, no?” said Jaune, confused. “I mean, we’ve kind of just been walking into our matches blind this entire time, why do you care now—ah.”

“Am I missing something here?” said Weiss.

“Weiss, only four teams make it to the semifinals, right?” said Nora.

“Um, that’s what the term implies, yes.” But she was already starting to see where Nora was going with this.

“And everyone who’s sitting here right now,” Nora continued, “is on a team that made it to the semifinals.” She glanced at Sun. “Do you know which team you’re up against?”

Sun scooted back in his chair and kicked his legs up against the table. “I’m pretty sure I would have remembered if it was one of you guys,” he said, putting his hands up behind his head. “So Penny’s, probably. Team CPPR or whatever. That’ll be fun.”

Weiss looked at Nora, who was already staring back, her expression steadily growing in intensity.

“You guys are going down,” Nora said.

“How’d it take you guys this long to figure it out?” Sun asked, clearly amused. “I honestly thought you already knew.”

“In my defense, I was preoccupied with other things,” said Weiss.

The others made various noises of sympathy. Then Jaune spoke again. “In our defense…” he began, before stopping and then shrugging. “Yeah, I got nothing.”

“Don’t even pretend like you know who you’re fighting on your own accord,” Nora said to Sun. “I bet if it hadn’t been for your teammates nagging you about it you wouldn’t have bothered checking either.”

Sun made a face and stuck his tongue out at Nora. “Shut up, nerd.”

“You know what, Weiss?” said Nora without taking her eyes off of Sun. She grinned. “Can you and your teammates give us the win tomorrow so I can personally kick Sun’s ass on live TV next week?”

“Doesn’t that assume that Sun’s going to win his match tomorrow first?” said Weiss.

“Hey! Don’t gang up on me like this,” Sun protested. “That’s rude. You’re all rude!”

Nora started laughing. Sun was trying extremely hard not to join her. They kept bickering back and forth for the rest of the study session. Jaune caught Weiss’s eye from across the table and grinned sheepishly, already resigned to Sun and Nora’s silly antics. Weiss couldn’t help but smile back.

 


 

When she returned to the dorm she found Ruby, Blake, and Yang all huddled up together on the combined bed. Ruby had her head in Blake’s lap, and Yang was looking at her scroll, her other arm around Blake’s waist while Blake herself played with Ruby’s hair. The sight of the three of them just relaxing together made Weiss feel so warm and happy inside.

The second they noticed her standing there, Blake tapped Ruby on the side of her forehead. A moment later, Ruby had opened her eyes, spotted Weiss, and immediately scrambled off the bed and appeared by her side.

“Hey,” she said, grinning.

“Hello,” said Weiss. “What’s with the rush?”

“What? Can’t I just be super excited to see you?” Ruby asked, as Blake got off the bed and came over to stand on Weiss’s other side.

Weiss stared at her suspiciously. Ruby’s smile was way too innocent. “You guys are plotting something, aren’t you?”

“Oh, you bet we are,” Blake responded. She wrapped her arms around Weiss’s shoulders and tugged her in, hugging her close. Then she turned to look at Yang. “Okay, Yang, get out.”

“Wait, what?” Yang said, looking offended.

“You’re gonna be whisking Weiss away to some faraway place all by yourself later tonight,” Ruby explained, latching onto Weiss’s arm. “So Blake and I are gonna spend some quality time with her before you do that. Got it?”

“I mean, I understand, but come on,” said Yang, but she was clearly okay with it, though, if the giant grin on her face was anything to go by. “Don’t you guys wanna spend any quality time with me, too?”

“I’m sorry, were the past few hours not quality enough for you?” Ruby said pointedly.

“Good point.” Yang shrugged and got up from the bed, heading towards the doorway. She stopped in front of Weiss, smiling down at her with so much fondness in her expression that Weiss felt her heart skip a beat. “I can’t wait for tonight. I really hope you’ll like what I have planned.”

“I probably will,” Weiss managed to get out. Any more words than that and she might have lost control of her mouth.

“See, this is why we need to separate you two,” Blake said, smiling fondly at Yang. “You’re going to make her faint before the date even happens if you stay near her for too long.”

“Yeah, yeah, I get it.” Yang brought her hand up and gently tapped Weiss on the nose with her finger before flashing her one last grin and then leaving the room.

In the ensuing silence Blake and Ruby both let go of Weiss. She looked at them, still suspicious.

“So,” said Weiss. “What exactly are you two plotting?”

“Many things,” Ruby told her. “How’d Yang tell you to dress? Casual, right? We gotta pick out something for you to wear!” And with that, Ruby started dragging Weiss towards her closet.

“I don’t get a say in this, do I?” Weiss asked.

“Nope,” Blake said cheerfully from behind her.

The next hour and a half passed by in a blur. Ruby and Blake just seemed to keep finding new reasons to tease Weiss every few minutes. They’d tried to find something in Weiss’s own closet only to discover that hardly anything she owned really qualified as casual. Then they started looking through Blake’s, found out a lot of her stuff was too big to fit on Weiss, and went to Ruby’s. Eventually, though, Weiss could have sworn they were spending more time cuddling than actually doing anything to prepare for the date.

“I’m telling you,” Ruby was saying from where she was comfortably sprawled out across both Blake and Weiss’s laps. “We’re the closest in size. I know I have a pair of jeans somewhere in there that could fit you pretty well.”

“Don’t you think that’s kind of weird?” said Weiss.

“How so?” Ruby asked. With Weiss playing with her hair, and Blake rubbing her hand up and down her calf, Ruby seemed to be enjoying the attention immensely. “It can be like I’m there with you in spirit. Like we’re on a date together too.”

“Yes. On the same date I’m going on where the other party is your sister.”

“Oh,” said Ruby. Blake started laughing.

They kept at it for a while longer. Ruby and Blake did most of the talking. Weiss was content to just sit there and listen to Ruby ramble and Blake make the occasional small comment to let Ruby know she was still listening.

Then, a few minutes later, her scroll started buzzing.

She shifted a little, trying her best to pull it out of her pocket without dislodging Ruby. The second she saw who was calling her, she froze.

Because of course he would choose this moment, this point in time when she was at her happiest, and make it come crashing down all around her.

“Weiss?” Ruby asked, looking worried. She tried to get up, careful not to accidentally bump into Weiss as she did. “What’s wrong?”

Blake leaned over and caught sight of the scroll’s blinking screen first. Her expression immediately shifted to one of concern.

“I’m not going to pick it up,” Weiss said out loud, more for herself than Ruby or Blake. “I’m not going to let him ruin tonight. If he wants to talk to me, he can wait.”

She’d known, deep down, that her father was going to come calling eventually. A small part of her had hoped that maybe, just maybe, he’d leave her alone instead. She wondered what he wanted to talk to her about. Maybe he was concerned that she’d nearly died at the mine that day. Or maybe he was furious with her for indirectly helping expose the terrible working conditions his company enforced.

The scroll continued buzzing for a few seconds, and then fell silent. Weiss took a deep breath. Blake had a hand on her shoulder, and Ruby had intertwined their fingers together.

“I’m alright,” said Weiss.

She felt horrible. Here she was, sitting in her room several days after discovering how truly disgusting the company’s business practices were, and the thing she was the most terrified of instead was her father.

Blake leaned in and kissed her on the cheek. “It’s okay if you’re not.”

A few seconds later, her scroll starting ringing again. He was trying to call her repeatedly, which was probably not a good thing. Blake gently tugged the scroll out of her hand, and when Weiss didn’t protest, closed it shut. The room fell silent again.

“How much longer do I have?” Weiss asked.

Ruby checked the time for her. “About twenty minutes,” she said. “Why?”

“Can you guys just stay with me until then?” said Weiss, and she almost hated how weak and small she sounded. “Please?”

“Of course,” Ruby said softly. 

So they did. And Weiss forced herself to try and calm down, to brush away the feeling of dread that was starting to settle itself into her stomach.

 


 

Twenty minutes later Weiss met up with Yang outside the entrance to Beacon.

“Hey,” Yang said when she caught sight of her.

“Hi,” said Weiss, trying to offer Yang a small smile. It came easier than she’d expected, because just being around her teammates had that effect on her, but Yang must have noticed how reluctant it had been.

“Is everything alright?” she asked, reaching out and taking Weiss’s hand with her own.

“Yeah. Sorry.” Weiss stared down at the ground for a few seconds, then looked back up at Yang. “My father called, earlier.”

Yang didn’t react visibly, but Weiss felt her grip tense up just a tiny bit. “How did that go?” she asked.

“It didn’t. I didn’t pick up.”

“Ah.” Yang brought her other hand up to cradle Weiss’s face, brushing her thumb over her cheek. “You’re really strong, you know that?”

Weiss let out a small laugh at that. “It definitely doesn’t feel that way.”

“You are. Trust me,” said Yang, smiling. “And we’ve got the next couple of hours all to ourselves now. Tonight it’s gonna be all about you and me. Your dad can go eat a pound of bricks, I’m gonna be here and make his daughter as happy as I possibly can.”

“Okay.” Weiss smiled again, and this time, it was genuine. “Thank you.”

“Hey, I’ve always got your back,” said Yang. She leaned down and pressed a kiss to Weiss’s forehead, letting it linger there for a while longer. When she pulled back her expression was so filled with affection. Weiss felt more and more dazed the longer she looked, and yet she couldn’t tear her eyes away.

Their first date hadn’t even started yet, and Weiss had already fallen so hard.

“I’ve got yours, too,” Weiss was eventually able to say after a while, reaching over to poke Yang in the stomach. “And don’t you forget that.”

“Of course, of course.” 

They left on Yang’s motorcycle together, heading deep into the heart of Vale. This was the part of the city that was bustling with everyday life. Most of the restaurants and stores on these streets were family owned, and all sorts of people were going about their day, strolling up and down the sidewalk towards their destinations.

Eventually Yang found a partially empty lot at the end of an intersection and parked her motorcycle there, helping Weiss down to her feet.

“It’s a bit of a walk,” Yang told her, pointing down one of the streets. “But I promise it’s worth it.”

So they took off together, easily merging in with everyone else who was already out on the sidewalk. It was all so upbeat and lively. Weiss thought that if she’d had the choice, she might like to live somewhere like this in the future.

She imagined what it would be like to settle down here. Maybe she could buy a nice little house in the middle of it all that was just the right size to be cozy, but not cramped. Or maybe it’d have to be a bit bigger than that so that Ruby and Yang didn’t accidentally tear the place up with their antics. She hoped that one of them was at least decent at cooking, because she knew she wasn’t very good. Maybe Blake or Yang would be better at that. They could slay monsters by day and relax together in the comfort of their home at night. 

Then she thought of the Schnee Dust Company and her status as its heiress, and of her father and the indifferent way he used to lie to her about the conditions in the mines, and her little storybook happy ending popped.

Yang didn’t say anything to her as they continued to walk, but she had taken Weiss’s hand again, giving it a comforting squeeze.

“You know what?” said Weiss. Yang glanced over at her, curious and attentive. “You’re right. My father can go choke himself on a pound of bricks. I’m currently on a date with one of the most amazing people in my life and I’m going to enjoy it.”

The smile Yang gave her in response made it all worth it.

They kept walking down the sidewalk in a peaceful silence, holding hands and staying close. Weiss glanced over at all the stores and restaurants they passed. It was around dinnertime and the sun was starting to set, so all the restaurants were packed and rowdy, especially the ones that had outdoor patios.

“Okay, wait,” said Yang. “I have to ask you something. I’ve been thinking about it ever since we got here.”

“What is it?” said Weiss.

Yang pulled her off to the side, out of the way of the passersby. She glanced at her up and down once and then grinned. “Are you wearing my sister’s shirt?”

“These are her pants, too,” Weiss admitted. “She and Blake kept insisting on it because apparently all of my clothes aren’t casual enough. So in the end I just gave up and let them have their way with my outfit.”

“Don’t you think that’s a little weird?” Yang said, her grin only widening.

“Yes, I did, I swear,” said Weiss, embarrassed, as Yang started laughing. “This was all Ruby’s idea, not mine. Go take it up with her!”

“No, it’s fine,” Yang was quick to reassure her. She slung an arm over Weiss’s shoulders and pulled her in, still smiling. “It’s cute. I mean, it’s still kind of weird, but it’s you, so I don’t mind.”

Weiss was too mortified to respond, so she just buried her face in Yang’s chest. Yang dutifully continued to hold her close, stroking the back of her head in an attempt to appease her.

“Come on,” Yang said eventually. “Let’s keep walking.”

So they did. After a few more minutes Yang led Weiss to a narrow opening in between two restaurants and headed through the gap. When they reached the other side, she turned around, clearly excited to see Weiss’s reaction to what was standing before them.

Weiss kept staring for a moment longer.

“Food trucks?” she finally said. “Really?”

“They’re all really good,” Yang said, undeterred. She pointed with her thumb behind her. “That one over there makes an amazing pulled pork sandwich. But you can take your pick, whichever one you like.”

Weiss took a closer look at the small circle of food trucks that surrounded the clearing. She realized that there were quite a few options, and they did all seem to be of pretty decent quality, at the very least. There were a considerable amount of people lining up at the various trucks and sitting in the center, where a bunch of picnic tables had been strewn about for public use.

In the end they wandered around for a little bit before Weiss decided on just going for the pulled pork, and Yang ordered a large sandwich that they could share between the two of them. They stood off to the side as they waited for the meal. Weiss looked around her surroundings, watching as other people went up to the truck’s window to place their own orders, feeling the chilly autumn breeze in the air and hearing the crunch of the pebbles underfoot as people made their way around the clearing. Yang’s hand was on the small of her back, keeping her grounded in the present.

A few minutes later they got their food. It was less of a sandwich and more just two slices of bread packed with a mountain of pulled pork in between. Yang took the little paper tray from the vendor and brought it down to show Weiss, a giant grin on her face. Weiss had to admit that it did smell really good.

“You want a fork to eat this?” Yang asked her. “This could probably get messy.” Without waiting for an answer, Yang reached up and grabbed a plastic fork out of the tin on the counter, stabbing it into the pulled pork so that it was sticking right up out of it. “Oh, wait, do you want one for yourself or do you wanna share?”

“I mean—I don’t—I don’t really care either way,” Weiss tried to say, because Yang’s teasing smile was making it really hard to process thoughts coherently. Yang got another fork and stuck it in right next to the first one. Then she reached for a third. “Wait—what are you doing?”

“I dunno,” said Yang. “The more, the merrier, right?” She got a fourth fork and stabbed that in as well. By the time she was reaching for the fifth, Weiss had come to her senses enough to slap her hand away.

“Yang!” she said, grabbing her by the wrist so that she’d stop moving. “Stop! That’s too many forks.”

She knew Yang was doing it just to mess with her, if that infuriatingly happy grin was anything to go by. The exasperation must have been showing on her face, because Yang took one look at her and started laughing.

“Sorry,” she managed to say through her laughter, still clutching onto the paper tray and the sandwich with the four forks stuck in it.

“You’re the worst,” said Weiss.

“I know,” said Yang, the smile never once leaving her face. Weiss tried to will her heart to stop beating so fast and failed.

Soon enough they found an empty picnic table and sat down next to each other. Yang slid the tray in between them and they dug in.

“Okay, you were right,” Weiss said after a while. “This is pretty good.”

“Told you so,” Yang said brightly. “Check this out.”

She picked up two of the forks and held them both in the same hand like a pair of chopsticks, except so much worse. Then she clicked them together in Weiss’s face, looking at her expectantly.

“What do you want me to say to this?” Weiss asked her, trying to look unamused. “That you’re ridiculous and you look ridiculous?”

“You love me,” said Yang, grinning.

“That doesn’t change the fact that you’re full of nonsense.”

“Aha! So you admit it,” Yang said triumphantly, leaning in close. “You do love me!”

Weiss scooped up some pulled pork with her own fork and shoved it into Yang’s mouth so that she’d shut up. Yang, to her credit, accepted the food without making a fuss, even if she kept smiling through it and making Weiss’s heart freak out in response.

A short while later, as they were beginning to finish up, Yang’s scroll let out a dinging noise. She fished it out of her pocket and clicked it open. Weiss leaned over to see what it was, curious.

Blake had sent them a photo of her and Ruby. With Weiss and Blake’s beds still smashed together and Yang’s bunk still attached on top of Blake’s, it looked like they had gone ahead and turned the whole contraption into one massive blanket fort. They’d lined the interior of the fort with blankets, pillows, and a boatload of snacks. Blake was staring up at the camera with Ruby curled on top of her. Ruby had her face pressed into Blake’s neck. They both looked super comfortable and extremely content.

“Nice,” said Yang. Weiss didn’t miss the way she tried to surreptitiously save the photo to her scroll.

“Jealous?” Weiss asked her.

“Of course,” said Yang. She patted her leg and turned on the camera on her own scroll. “Get over here, we can’t let them beat us.”

So Weiss clambered her way onto Yang’s lap, clutching onto the front of her shirt. Yang wrapped an arm around her waist and looked up at the camera. But Weiss was staring at Yang’s face instead.

“Oh, you have a…” Weiss said, distracted. “There’s a smudge on your face, right here—”

She didn’t know what came over her, but she leaned forward and pressed her lips to the corner of Yang’s mouth. She wasn’t sure why she hadn’t just rubbed it off with her finger like a normal person, but it was too late now. And of course Yang had chosen that moment to take the picture.

“I feel like this perfectly captures how I feel on the inside anytime I’m near one of you,” Yang said with a laugh as she checked the photo.

Weiss looked at it too. She had her eyes closed, kissing Yang’s cheek sweetly. Yang herself was looking at the camera, clearly surprised, her expression almost one of wonder.

“Cute,” Weiss said quietly, before she realized she’d accidentally said that out loud. But Yang just beamed at her and sent the photo to Blake and Ruby.

By the time they finished and cleaned up at the table, it was starting to get dark out. Weiss shivered a little in the cold night air. 

“You okay?” asked Yang.

“It’s cold,” said Weiss. 

She wondered why Ruby had chosen such a light outfit for her tonight. They all knew that it was well into fall by now, and nighttime in Vale at this time of year could get uncomfortably chilly. 

Then her eyes landed on Yang’s jacket. Yang noticed at the same time.

“Kinda sneaky, don’t you think?” she said, grinning as she shrugged out of her jacket and helped Weiss get her arms through it. The second it was around her shoulders Weiss relaxed into it, the material still warm from Yang’s body heat.

“I claim no responsibility for anything that occurs because of my outfit tonight,” Weiss said, bringing the jacket tighter around herself. “Ruby and Blake set me up for this.”

“Hey, I’m not complaining,” said Yang. “You look good. I like it.” Her expression softened. “You ready to head out?”

“Oh, are we going back to Beacon now?”

“I mean, only if you want.” Yang led the way out of the clearing and back onto the street, while Weiss followed after her. “I’ve got a couple of ideas for what we can do next if you don’t wanna go back yet. Sorry if you were expecting a more fixed schedule. I’m kind of bad at those.”

“It’s fine,” said Weiss. “What do you have in mind?”

“Well, we could go to the beach,” Yang suggested. “The coast’s not too far from here. I know a nice little stretch of sand that I guarantee you will be completely empty except for the two of us, especially at this time of night.”

“In this weather?” Weiss asked. “It’s cold out.”

Yang just smiled back, and Weiss had to remind herself to breathe. “Well you’d better stick close to me then, huh?”

 


 

Fifteen minutes after that and Weiss found herself holding onto Yang with one hand while she tried to get her shoes and socks off with the other. Just as Yang had said, the little part of the coast they were on was deserted except for them. The sand felt soft and cool in between her toes.

“Did you see the ocean a lot back home?” Yang asked her, busying herself with taking off her own shoes.

“Not really,” said Weiss. “Atlas isn’t exactly near the coast.” She took a tentative step forward, feeling the sand sink and part beneath her foot. “I’m guessing you’re more familiar with it.”

“That’s an understatement.” Yang grinned at her and dropped her shoes to the ground. “When you grow up on a tiny island, the beach kind of becomes your go-to vacation option.”

“I see,” said Weiss. She held her own shoes in one hand, glancing at where Yang had thrown hers onto the sand, uncertain. Yang laughed and held out her hand.

“Just toss em here,” Yang told her. “We can come back for them later. No one’s gonna steal a couple of pairs of shoes off the ground.”

Weiss was still wary, but she decided to trust Yang anyway and handed her shoes over, which Yang then dropped down next to hers. “What now?” she asked.

“Good question,” said Yang. “You ever run across a beach at full speed at night?”

“What?” said Weiss. 

“You heard me.” In response, Yang simply reached over and pinched her on the cheek. Then she grinned and took off sprinting in the opposite direction, kicking up sand behind her as she went.

“Hey!” Weiss protested, reaching out to try and grab Yang, but she had already dashed away, making her way down the shoreline. “Get back here!” With no other options, she started running after Yang too.

All she could hear was the wind blowing in her ears and the sound of the ocean waves crashing against the shore and Yang’s bright, carefree laughter as they tore across the beach. Weiss felt Yang’s jacket whipping around her so she drew it closer to herself, trying to keep warm while she chased after Yang.

Then, before she realized it, Yang had abruptly stopped running and turned around. Weiss crashed right into her, but Yang was ready and scooped her up by the waist, spinning her around once before coming to a stop again.

“Gotcha,” she said, grinning up at Weiss.

“Ah,” said Weiss, instinctively putting her hands on Yang’s shoulders to help stay balanced. She could feel her face heating up, staring down at Yang who was so close to her, so she blurted out the first thing that came to her mind that wasn’t absolute lovestruck nonsense. “I think I’m getting sand all over your pants.”

Yang laughed. “That’s okay.” She let Weiss squirm for a few moments longer before dropping her back down onto her feet. Weiss took a few seconds to get her bearings back, then turned to stare out across the water, watching as it rippled and shimmered under the night sky. She let out a sigh.

“This is nice,” she said.

“I thought you might like it,” Yang said happily. “We should come back here sometime with Ruby and Blake. Then we could make a catapult together and launch Ruby into the ocean.”

Weiss made a face trying not to smile. “What’s with you and your obsession with wanting to hurl your sister across all these different places?”

“Hey, do you know what it feels like to have her repeatedly crash into you full force while she’s using her semblance?” said Yang. “When we were kids and first learning how to fight together, she sent me flying more times than I’d like to admit. It’s only fair I return the favor at some point.”

“You two are absurd,” said Weiss.

“True,” Yang agreed with a smile. “Okay fine. Blake, then. We can throw her into the water instead.”

“Maybe I should throw you in right now.”

“Oh yeah? I’d like to see you try.”

Within seconds a bright, shining glyph had formed under Yang’s feet. Yang seemed to process what was going on a moment later, and then immediately reached forward, grabbing Weiss by the front of her shirt and tugging her into a tight hug. “Noo,” Yang whined dramatically. “Weiss, don’t do it. If I go down, we go down together.”

“I wasn’t actually going to throw you in, idiot,” said Weiss, but she willingly sank into Yang’s embrace anyway. “I’m not that mean.”

“Oh, really? Well that’s news to me,” said Yang. Weiss didn’t even have to see Yang’s face to know that she was grinning. She let out a huff.

“That does not mean you’re off the hook just yet. Especially if you keep that up.”

“Okay, okay.” Yang pulled back just far enough so that she could hold Weiss at arm’s length. The sappy, affectionate look she gave her made Weiss’s heart flutter so badly that she got distracted and the glyph underneath them phased out of existence.

“Stop it,” Weiss said, embarrassed, and she had to look away before she internally combusted even further. “How am I possibly supposed to do anything properly when you give me that face?”

“I could say the same thing about you,” said Yang. She laughed a little. “I take one look at you, or at Blake, and I immediately get this intense feeling of like, oh wow, I’d move a mountain for you without hesitation if you asked.”

Weiss didn’t even know what to say to that. At least Yang didn’t seem to mind. She held out her hand for Weiss to take, and then intertwined their fingers when she did. For a while they just strolled down the beach together, hand in hand, enjoying the scenery. Weiss could see the bright lights of the city off in the distance, but here, it was just the two of them, alone, with the sound of the ocean and the feeling of the sand beneath their feet. It was still cold out, but with Yang so close by, Weiss found that she didn’t really mind it.

She wasn’t sure how much time had passed after that, too busy enjoying the feeling of being with Yang. But eventually she realized it had gotten late enough that it was well and truly dark at that point, and Weiss had to stifle a yawn.

“Tired?” Yang asked her.

“A little bit,” said Weiss. “I like being out here with you, though.”

“Aw, I like being with you too.” Yang smiled, swinging their joined hands back and forth a little. “We can head back now, if you want. Don’t want you passing out on the sand out here.”

“Okay,” said Weiss.

It took a while to get all the sand off their feet and their shoes back on. On the ride back to Beacon, Weiss thought she might have almost fell asleep pressed up against Yang’s back, lulled by the constant rumbling of the motorcycle engine and the steadiness of Yang’s breathing.

Before long they were making their way up the stairs to their dorm. It was late, and the hallways were mostly empty. Yang opened the door to their room and Weiss stepped in, the massive blanket fort Blake and Ruby had thrown together earlier still intact in front of her. Blake and Ruby themselves were still snuggled up inside it, but Blake stirred when she heard Weiss and Yang enter.

“Welcome back,” she said sleepily, rubbing at her eyes. She tried to get up, but Ruby being sprawled out on top of her made it a little difficult. “Ruby, wake up.”

“Huh?” said Ruby. “What’s going on?” She blinked open her eyes and glanced around the room before spotting Weiss and Yang. “Oh! Hey guys. Did you have fun?”

“Yeah,” said Weiss with a small smile. Blake managed to gently pry Ruby off of herself before getting up from the bed, only to have Ruby immediately hop to her feet anyway and follow her over to the center of the room. The four of them stood together in a circle, just holding each other close. Weiss felt exhausted and content at the same time. The date with Yang had been wonderful, but it was good to be back with all of her teammates again.

“Nice jacket,” Blake said.

“Thank you,” said Weiss. “I think so too.” 

“You’re welcome,” Ruby said with a cheeky grin, and Weiss couldn’t even find it in herself to be annoyed. She laughed a little, but sobered up quickly. 

“Yang,” she began. She could feel Ruby’s hand on her back and Blake’s on her shoulder, rubbing at it in comforting circles. “Thanks for tonight. Really. I think… I think it was good for me.”

“I get that,” said Yang. “We all need a break from the awful things in life, sometimes. I’m glad that you’re feeling better.” Then her expression lit up. “Ah. That reminds me, there’s one thing left that I wanted to do.”

“And what is that?” Weiss asked.

Yang just smiled at her and stepped forward. Ruby and Blake helped tug her in closer as she reached up and tilted Weiss chin’s upwards until they were face to face.

“Can I kiss you?” she asked.

“Oh.” Weiss suddenly felt like the ground had disappeared from underneath her. Her brain stopped working. “Ah—yeah. Yes. Sure. I think?”

Blake was laughing at her. Yang’s smile only widened, and she glanced at Ruby first, then at Blake. “I hope you guys are cool with that?”

“I don’t know why you think we wouldn’t be,” Blake answered, grinning.

“Just wanted to make sure.” Yang turned back to face Weiss, her expression softening. Weiss could only stare back, trying her best to stay calm. Yang was so close. “You know, I’ve wanted to do this for a really, really long time now.”

“Then you should do it,” Weiss managed to say.

Yang smiled. “If you say so.”

Then she leaned in and kissed her.

Weiss had just enough presence of mind left to be grateful that Ruby and Blake were there to support her. Her hands came up to rest on Yang’s hips in an attempt pull herself closer. She could feel Yang trying not to grin against her lips, which only made her heart beat even faster, and the warmth start spreading across her chest.

She didn’t know what cosmic forces were kind enough to lead her to this very moment, standing in her dorm room at Beacon kissing Yang with Ruby and Blake standing with her, all of them just together, but she knew that no matter what hardships life decided to throw at them, her teammates made it all worth it.

Chapter 14

Notes:

ew sorry this took so long lol

Chapter Text

Ruby twirled her scythe in her hand, standing in a line along with the rest of her teammates. Across from them, Nora was dragging her thumb across her throat, trying to look as menacing as possible. The stands were packed with even more people than usual, all shouting and cheering.

“Well, this is certainly an exciting matchup,” came Professor Port’s voice, booming over the loudspeakers in the Amity Colosseum. “The first fight of the semifinals is finally here, and it’s between Teams JNPR and RWBY, arguably two of the most talented teams of Beacon Academy’s first year students. They’ve both been doing fantastically in this tournament so far, but it looks like one of their journeys is getting cut short today as they face off against each other.”

Ruby tried to focus on Port’s commentary, but it was hard when everyone on the arena floor was staring intimidatingly at one another. Earlier that morning had been hectic. After just narrowly avoiding starting another food fight with JNPR at breakfast, they’d only had a couple of hours to devise a game plan before both teams were due to arrive in the Amity Colosseum. She honestly wasn’t sure how they’d all managed to get up here without tearing each other’s heads off. But here they were, grouped together on the center platform with the rocky cliffs of the desert rising up on one side and the rough, uneven terrain of the lava biome spread out over the other.

Everyone at Beacon knew that RWBY and JNPR were all close friends, and that they spent an ungodly amount of time sparring and training together. Ruby wouldn’t be surprised if Jaune and the others knew her team’s weaknesses in and out. She guessed that his plans would probably revolve around splitting them up and keeping them far, far apart from each other.

“They know we’re a lot stronger when we’re together,” Ruby had told her teammates. “I don’t think we can stop them if they’re determined to keep us separated, but what we can do is control how we’re split up so that the matchups are in our favor.”

“What are you proposing, then?” Weiss had asked.

Ruby glanced at her sheepishly. “Well, I was actually gonna suggest that you go after Pyrrha.” When Weiss’s eyes widened Ruby hastened to explain further. “You don’t have to, like, take her out on your own or anything! But you’re the best at keeping up with her. Just try to keep her distracted for as long as possible until the rest of us are free to join you and help.”

“And what will the rest of us be doing in the meantime?” Blake asked.

“Um,” said Ruby. “How would you feel if I told you to do the same with Nora?”

Blake grimaced. “Unpleasant.” She took Gambol Shroud off her back, fiddling with the magazine at the bottom. “But I’ll do it just for you.”

“Aww,” said Yang. Blake elbowed her in the stomach, grinning.

That left Ruby and Yang to double up against Ren and Jaune first. Ruby cycled through the plan over and over again in her head, readying her scythe and trying not to let the thrill and anticipation of the impending fight get to her. Yang and Nora were already attempting to burn holes in each other’s faces with just their eyeballs. Soon enough the holographic timer appeared in the air around them.

“Well, let’s not keep the audience waiting any longer,” Oobleck was saying.

The crowd was so noisy. It seemed like everyone had come to tune into their fight, being one of the most anticipated matches of the entire tournament. 

“Ready?” Port said, as the timer began to count down. “Three. Two. One. Begin!”

Almost immediately, Ren and Nora came charging forward together, making a beeline for Ruby. Pyrrha was a bit further behind them, with all three of them making sure Jaune was covered at the very back of the formation. But before anyone could bridge the gap between the two teams and start fighting, a ribbon whipped in and wrapped itself around Nora’s wrist.

“Sorry,” Blake said from off to the side, smiling innocently at Nora while yanking her over. “You’re coming with me.”

Ruby swung her scythe at Ren before he could react, baiting him into a fight, while Weiss ran over and boxed Pyrrha in with a series of glyphs. Thrown off course, Jaune paused in his tracks, looking like he was struggling to come up with a way to try and reorient his team. Then Yang launched herself at him and cut him off.

Ren was really, really fast. He wasn’t afraid to get up within Crescent Rose’s reach to attack, and soon Ruby found herself being pushed further and further back into the desert. The sand kept shifting underneath her feet and throwing off her balance, and for a while she was actually worried she might lose the advantage.

Then Jaune came flying through the air, letting out a choked cry when he hit the ground on his back a few feet away from them. Seconds later, Yang had caught up with them as well.

“Hey sis,” she said, aiming a punch at Jaune as he was getting up and forcing Ren to dart in to block it for him. “You ready to get this party started?”

“Sure,” said Ruby, her confidence rushing back.

It was so easy to fall into step with Yang. They’d grown up learning to fight together, and teaming up was second nature by now. Once they managed to settle into a groove, Jaune and Ren didn’t stand a chance. Ren eventually was the first to get knocked out of the match, with Jaune following a short while after.

“That was good,” Yang told them after the two buzzers had gone off. “You guys put up a good fight.”

“Thanks,” Jaune said, wheezing. He looked over at something behind them. “You should probably pay attention to the rest of the fight, though.”

So Ruby turned around to find Blake sprinting towards her, Nora valiantly giving chase close behind. 

“Hey,” Blake said as she passed, looking out of breath and slightly terrified. “Can we switch real quick?”

Without waiting for an answer, she kept running, reaching out to grab Yang by the arm. The two of them went racing for the cliffs. Seconds later Nora reached Ruby, who had to dart aside to narrowly avoid being smashed into the ground.

Fighting Nora had never been fun. Ruby didn’t appreciate losing the range advantage she usually had against everyone else with her scythe, especially now that Nora was currently trying to take her head off, swinging her hammer with both hands like a baseball bat. She blocked Nora’s first few hits with the shaft of her scythe and then regretted it when she felt the force of the impact reverberate through her entire body. 

After dodging and jumping around for a bit, Ruby finally got past Nora’s defenses for once and managed to trip her up, knocking her over into the sand. With the precious few seconds she’d just earned Ruby glanced over to see what Blake and Yang were doing. They’d made it all the way to the top of the nearest cliff at this point, and were standing close together near the edge. Blake was busy tying the ribbon of her weapon around Yang’s midsection. They both looked like they really wanted to kiss right then and there, grinning so hard at each other that Ruby could tell even from this distance.

Then it clicked in her head what they were actually trying to do.

She turned back just in time for Nora to swing wildly upwards with her hammer and sock her with it directly underneath her jaw.

The angle of the hit made it so that Ruby didn’t go airborne, but she felt her head snap back violently as a result. The pain set in a few seconds later. She covered her mouth with one hand, stabbing Crescent Rose into the ground with the other to balance against while she tried to reorient herself. The hit had been strong enough that even Nora herself was lowering her weapon, looking at Ruby in concern.

“Oh man,” she was saying. “Are you okay?”

Ruby just nodded frantically, trying to blink the spots out of her vision. With the hand she wasn’t using to clutch her face she fumbled to fold her scythe up into its rifle form, and then shot Nora in the chest with it. At this close range Nora couldn’t dodge in time, and the sniper round took out a good chunk of her Aura, as well as whatever was left of her friendly concern.

“So that’s how it’s gonna be, huh?” she said, grinning. Ruby took off sprinting without answering her.

Yang and Blake saw her approaching and began to get into position. Blake wrapped the other end of the ribbon around her hand. Ruby turned and started running backwards, firing stray shots off at Nora to keep her attention away from the others while she focused on blocking them.

When they reached the base of the cliffs Ruby maneuvered them both around, pressing even harder on the offense until Nora was backing up against it. Moments later, she watched from out of the corner of her eye as Yang began running away from Blake, along the edge of the cliffside until the ribbon tied around her stomach was nearly taut. Then she turned around to face Blake right before leaping off, and came swinging down towards Ruby and Nora like a glorious fiery pendulum.

Ruby ducked under one of Nora’s attacks and then rolled aside just as Blake let go of the ribbon. Nora couldn’t move away fast enough. Yang crashed into her feet first with enough force to send her flying. She landed a good distance away, and when her back hit the ground, the buzzer sounded. Nora was out.

Yang hopped back up to her feet, dusting her hands off, and flashed Ruby a grin and a thumbs up. Ruby was thrilled. They’d really managed to do it—the fight was now a four on one against Pyrrha. The plan had worked. Ruby glanced up at the scoreboard and saw that Weiss’s Aura level was getting alarmingly close to the cutoff, but Pyrrha still had nearly three-fourths of hers left. Blake was also starting to dip into the danger zone, while Ruby and Yang were both somewhere between a third and a half. But it was still four people against one. They could totally do this.

Ruby looked up at Blake, who was still standing atop the cliff. She was just getting ready to call her down and regroup when a gunshot rang out across the arena. An instant later the bullet exploded in Blake’s face, and she was abruptly knocked backwards and out of sight. The buzzer sounded again.

“Did you just shoot Blake in the face?” Weiss shouted.

“I’m so sorry!” Pyrrha cried.

Ruby frantically scanned the top of the cliff. Blake wasn’t getting up. She was torn between rushing to help Weiss, who was definitely starting to get soundly beaten back by Pyrrha at this point, or going up the cliffs to make sure Blake was okay. Yang seemed to be having the same dilemma. 

“Go, you dummies!” Nora called out to them. Ruby turned to find her struggling to pull herself back to her feet. “I’ll go check up on her. Go!”

So Ruby shared a glance with Yang, and then together, the two of them took off, charging in the direction of Weiss and Pyrrha with their weapons ready.

Weiss did not look like she was having a good time. Her movements were clearly getting sloppy, and Pyrrha’s subtle semblance usage only worsened her already loose grip on her rapier.  All Pyrrha had to do was nudge a little harder, and Myrtenaster flew out of Weiss’s grasp completely, landing several feet away next to a lava geyser. 

In a panic, Weiss summoned a glyph under her own feet and used it to jump into the air to dodge Pyrrha’s low slash. But it had been exactly what Pyrrha wanted. While Weiss was in midair she chucked her shield over and nailed it directly into Weiss’s stomach, sending her hurtling across the arena.

Ruby folded her scythe up into its compact form and hooked it onto her back as she ran. She put on an extra burst of speed and used her semblance to dash forward, making it underneath Weiss just in time to catch her in her arms.

“Someday I’ll princess carry one of you for a change,” Weiss said once she recovered, embarrassed. “Just you wait.”

Ruby beamed at her and then set her down.

Yang, meanwhile, had gone ahead and started going toe to toe with Pyrrha. For a while they actually seemed evenly matched, trading blows so fast that Ruby had a hard time following the fight. It gave Ruby and Weiss enough time to scramble to get their weapons back and readied and then try to join in.

At first it felt like they were winning. Pyrrha was good, but so were they, and she was outnumbered three to one. Her semblance made things hell for them, but gradually, the three of them managed to whittle her Aura down bit by bit. 

But then the tables started turning.

“I hate how much stamina you have,” Yang told Pyrrha in between heaving breaths.

Pyrrha just smiled, neatly blocked one of Yang’s punches with her shield, and simultaneously jumped to kick Weiss away and block Ruby’s scythe with her weapon. In the ensuing commotion, she geared up to knock out an exhausted Yang once and for all.

Right as Pyrrha began to do the first slash, Ruby rushed forward, shoved Yang aside, and took the hit for her sister. Yang shouted something, but Ruby was too busy getting pummeled to hear what she said. Once Pyrrha started her entire chain of attacks, the muscle memory wouldn’t let her stop until she was finished. So Ruby got a slash to the neck, a jab to the stomach, an elbow to the chest, and then Pyrrha spun and brought her weapon crashing down on Ruby’s head. She crumpled to the ground as the buzzer sounded out overhead.

Then Yang jumped up and kicked Pyrrha in the side of her head with so much force that she fell over and hit the ground too.

“That’s for my sister!” she yelled, and then before Pyrrha could recover and get back up, she kicked her in the head again, even harder. Then she winced. “Okay. That might’ve been too far. I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay,” Pyrrha told her, clutching her head and groaning.

While Pyrrha was still dazed, Yang raced over to Weiss, grabbed her hand, and then took her running off together a good distance away. 

“Where are we going?” Weiss protested as they ran.

“Cannon!” Yang just shouted back.

“What does that even mean?”

“It means make a cannon!” Yang let go of Weiss’s hand, motioning for her to stay put while she kept going. “Hurry, before Pyrrha gets back up!”

Ruby managed to roll over onto her back, trying to will her vision to stop spinning, and glanced up at the scoreboard. If Yang and Weiss didn’t take Pyrrha out with one final hit soon, they were doomed. The noise of the crowd above was almost deafening at this point. Luckily, Weiss seemed to have finally understood what Yang had meant, and brought her hand up, summoning five giant red glyphs into the air, all in a line and pointed directly towards Pyrrha.

Then Yang readied herself, took a deep breath, and charged. She propelled herself through the glyphs with the recoil from her gauntlets, speeding up with each one she passed through until she was going so fast that she looked like a flaming blur of light.

Pyrrha sat up just in time to get full body slammed by Yang with the entire force of her semblance, amplified by Weiss’s glyphs. They both hit the ground so hard that the rocks and lava exploded into the air all around them, engulfing them in a giant plume of dust and ash. Two buzzers sounded out moments later, one after the other. With Weiss being the only one left standing, Team RWBY had won the fight.

Weiss had to sit down on the ground, exhausted, as the people in the stands burst into screams and cheers. Oobleck and Port were shouting right along with the rest of them, but Ruby was barely paying attention to what they were saying. She figured she probably would have been celebrating with her teammates, if it weren’t for the fact that they were all incapacitated in some form, scattered across the arena. So the only thing she did now was grin up at the sky above her, trying her best not to pass out.

 


 

Ruby barely processed what happened after that. All she remembered was somehow making it back to the room supported by her equally beaten up teammates. Now, hours later, she was curled up into a ball with her head in Yang’s lap, pressing her face into her shirt while groaning in pain. Her jaw was killing her.

“Yang,” she whined.

“Yeah?” said Yang, running her hand through Ruby’s hair.

“It hurts.”

“I know, Ruby.”

Ruby whined again, careful not to move her jaw too much. “Make it go away.”

“Trust me, sis. If I could I would,” said Yang, looking more amused than anything.

“I wanted to have a victory kiss with one of you,” said Ruby. She let out a huff. “It was gonna be awesome and everything. Like we’d win and then come back here and then smooch and it would have been this whole epic grand thing. But stupid Nora just had to go and bust my face and ruin my plans.”

On the other end of the bed, Weiss was trying to prop Blake up against the wall. Blake was sporting a particularly nasty looking black eye, courtesy of getting shot in the face by Pyrrha. 

“I’ll still kiss you right now,” said Blake. “My face is busted too. We’re like a matching set.”

Despite trying her best not to, Ruby still laughed. It hurt. “Stop it. You’re awful. I can’t kiss you if my jaw kills me first.”

Blake just gave her a lopsided grin. “So is that a yes or a no?”

“I can’t believe Weiss and Yang got a big romantic moment with their first kiss and you just want to smash our injured faces together instead.”

Unfortunately, before either of them could move and actually follow through with the offer, Nora chose that moment to waltz into their room, followed closely by the rest of her team.

“Hey guys!” she called out cheerfully. “Now that we’re done trying to kill each other, we can throw a party together, right? I think it’s only fair that we all celebrate—wow, what the hell did you guys do to this room?”

The four of them all looked at her.

“What, this?” said Yang, patting the combined bed they were sitting on. When Nora nodded, she just shrugged. “I dunno. We never really got around to moving everything back to where it was, so I guess this is just how things are now.”

Nora blinked. “What, are Blake and Weiss sleeping together at night or something?” she asked.

“I mean, yeah,” said Yang. “All of us are.”

“All four of you?”

“Yeah.”

Nora was looking more and more confused by the second. Behind her, Ren closed the door to the room. No one else moved. “Do you even all fit on there?” she finally settled on asking.

“Just barely,” Yang said brightly. “It’s fun! You learn pretty quick that Weiss likes to hog the blankets, though.”

“I do not!” Weiss protested indignantly.

“Yes she does,” Ruby pitched in. She rolled over to face Team JNPR, grinning. “It’s why we have to make her sleep in the middle every night.”

“It’s okay, Weiss,” said Blake, because Weiss looked like she wanted to jump out the window from sheer embarrassment. “It all works out in the end, since you’re very small and huggable. It’s nice.”

Weiss let out a petulant-sounding huff. “I swear, this whole thing is less of a relationship and more just the three of you ganging up on me and bullying me relentlessly.”

“Oh no. Weiss, I’m sorry.” Blake pulled Weiss into her arms, hugging her close and exaggerating a pout. “I meant it as a compliment. Please forgive me.”

“Why does it feel like I’m witnessing something I shouldn’t be?” Jaune asked.

“I know, right?” said Nora. “It’s like walking in on two people making out or something.” She paused. “Hey, wait a second.”

“Well, anyway,” said Yang, deftly changing the subject, “what did you guys want to do now? If it doesn’t need that much space there’s still the floor underneath Ruby’s bed.”

“That thing’s not, uh, gonna fall on us or anything, is it?” Jaune asked nervously.

“I mean, it’s almost the end of the year and Weiss is still alive, so you should be fine,” Blake told him. Weiss made a face and tried to cross her arms, but having Blake’s still wrapped around her stomach made it difficult.

Yang gently lifted Ruby’s head off her lap so she could stand up, and then immediately winced from the movement. “Jeez. That fight sure was something,” she said. “How the hell are you guys all so fine and dandy?”

“Are you kidding?” said Nora. “You knocked both Pyrrha and me out by turning into a giant flaming cannonball. We’re only pretending like we’re okay right now.”

Everyone looked at Pyrrha. She just shrugged in agreement, grinning sheepishly.

The eight of them settled onto the ground underneath Ruby’s bed, making a loose circle on the carpet. Nora had brought several decks of cards with her and proudly told them all that she’d come up with a new card game they could all play together. It was so convoluted that it took her an hour to explain the rules well enough that everyone understood, and then they only managed to play it for half an hour at most before the room descended into the usual yelling and screaming and chaos. 

Ruby didn’t talk much for once, happy to sit back and watch everybody else start picking verbal fights with each other. Part of it was because her jaw was still killing her, but part of her just wanted to sit there and enjoy the moment with all of her friends. Blake caught her eye from across the circle and blew her a kiss. It made her smile, content.

 


 

A few days later and Ruby was sitting in her own bunk for once, reading a book.

Or at least, she was trying to. Even with the blanket thrown over the top, she could still hear the muted scuffling sounds coming from outside. She knew Yang and Blake were both in the room as well, just not what they were doing that was making so much noise. The fact that they weren’t talking at all just made it even weirder.

Frustrated, Ruby finally lifted up the blanket and poked her head outside. “What the heck are you two doing out here?” she asked.

Over by the foot of the combined bed, Yang had Blake pinned to the carpet, her arms on either side of Blake’s head. Ruby let out a loud sigh.

“Uh, practicing?” said Yang. She wasn’t moving. Blake didn’t seem to mind. “For the finals next week. Yeah.”

“Oh, yeah,” said Ruby, raising an eyebrow. “That looks like some very intense and productive practicing right there.”

“We were wrestling,” Blake said helpfully.

“Now I just have even more questions.” Ruby shifted until her legs were dangling off the edge of the bed, closing her book shut. “But most importantly, have either of you seen Weiss recently?”

There was a pause as Yang considered it. “Huh. No, I haven’t. Weird.”

“I saw her leave the room maybe an hour ago,” said Blake. “Didn’t say where she was going, though.”

Ruby thought about that for a bit, kicking her legs back and forth a little. “Do you think one hour is long enough to justify going to look for her?” she asked.

“I mean, sure,” Yang said reasonably. “Since none of us know where she actually ran off to.”

“Okay.” Ruby set her book down, hopped down from her bunk, and started to head towards the door. “You guys wanna come with or are you gonna be too busy making out?”

Yang and Blake looked at each other.

“She’s considering it,” said Blake.

“Maybe I am,” Yang responded with a slight grin, but it faded quickly. “No, seriously though. She probably has her reasons for disappearing without telling any of us. If we all bombard her at once it might be overwhelming.”

“Let us know if she’s okay,” Blake said to Ruby.

“Of course,” said Ruby.

And with that, she left the room in search of Weiss.

It took her a while. She combed her way through the library, the mess hall, and the gardens before she ended up finding Weiss sitting alone at a picnic table on the Vytal Festival fairgrounds. Now that it was halfway through autumn and the temperatures were getting chilly, there weren’t as many people hanging out on the fairgrounds anymore, but the vendors would stay open until the tournament was over. 

Ruby tried to make her steps as noisy as possible when she approached. It still didn’t work. Weiss didn’t notice her until she had opened her mouth to speak.

“Hey,” said Ruby.

Weiss jumped in her seat and spun around. “Oh!” she said, before realizing who was standing before her and forcing herself to calm down. “Oh. Hello, Ruby.”

Her scroll was lying on the table in front of her. When Ruby glanced over at the screen it lit up, revealing a long list of missed calls from Weiss’s father. She frowned.

“You gonna be okay?” she asked.

Weiss sighed and turned back to face the table again. Ruby sat down next to her. “I think so. I just need some time,” she said. Her face twisted into a scowl, looking down at her blinking scroll. “I am going to have to talk to him eventually, though.”

“What do you think he wants to say to you?” Ruby said cautiously.

If it was even possible, Weiss’s expression just soured even further. “I don’t know. Whatever it is, though, it can’t be good. The whole mine fiasco has been hell on the company’s reputation recently, and I don’t think he likes that I was in the thick of it when it all happened.”

For a while the two of them just sat there together, feeling the autumn breeze blow through the mostly empty fairgrounds. Ruby tried to wrack her brain for something to say to make Weiss feel better.

“Sorry. I don’t really know what to say.” Ruby kept her gaze fixed on the table. “I think sometimes I forget that you’re like, way above us. Not in a weird way or anything. Just… me and Yang, we just want to be huntresses. Blake too. But you’re going to be taking over one of the biggest companies on Remnant someday. That’s a crazy amount of expectations riding on your shoulders.”

“Yeah,” Weiss said slowly. “Ever since I came to Beacon, I think sometimes I forget too. I honestly like it better that way. Maybe that makes me selfish. But here, I don’t have to be Weiss Schnee, the heiress to the Schnee Dust Company. I can just be Weiss, the girl who’s in love with her three teammates.” She frowned at her scroll again. “Unfortunately, certain people in my life seem hellbent on reminding me otherwise.”

Ruby scooted over until she was pressed right up against Weiss, putting her arm around her shoulders. “You can talk to me,” she said, trying her best to sound gentle. “I’m not sure how much help I can be, but I’m always down to listen.”

“Thank you, Ruby. I mean it.” Weiss managed to smile at her, before looking back down at the table. “It’s—well. I don’t know. You’re going to think it’s ridiculous.”

Ruby leaned over and kissed her on the cheek. “Try me,” she said.

“Alright,” Weiss said, her voice uncertain. She took a deep breath before speaking again. “I guess I just—I sort of feel like I should have known better. All of this stuff has been happening for years right under my nose, and I just blindly believed everything my father told me instead, even though I knew from an early age that he wasn’t a very good person.”

Weiss’s entire body had tensed up at this point. Ruby pressed her hand in between Weiss’s shoulder blades, rubbing in gentle circles in an attempt to coax her to relax, waiting patiently for her to gather her thoughts.

“I don’t know,” she finally continued. “Part of me just feels like I deserve to feel bad, in a way. So many Faunus have been suffering down in the mines for ages because I was too stupid and dense to realize that they were.”

“Well,” Ruby said eventually, “I’m not going to say you’re ridiculous.”

“But?” said Weiss.

“I am gonna call you a sillyhead.”

Weiss laughed a little. “I suppose I deserve that.”

“No, seriously,” Ruby insisted. “Like, unless you’re planning on telling me that you’re personally responsible for the crappy conditions in the mines, I think I’m going to continue to believe that you’re not at fault for any of this.”

“Ruby—”

“You were just a kid, Weiss,” said Ruby. “You’re always so hard on yourself. It’s not fair to pin the blame of an entire company’s action on yourself like that. You know that, right?”

“It’s still a company that I’m going to inherit one day,” Weiss tried to argue, but it sounded half-hearted.

“Have you inherited it yet?” Ruby asked pointedly.

Weiss let out a sigh. “No,” she admitted. After a few moments, her expression hardened. “But once I do, I’m going to tear down everything it stands for and build it back up my way. The right way.”

“That’s the spirit,” said Ruby.

“Thanks, Ruby,” said Weiss. The tension was slowly starting to drain out of her body, and she slumped against Ruby, resting her head on Ruby’s shoulder. “I think I really needed that.”

“I’m always here for you,” Ruby told her. “And so are Yang and Blake, but you know that. If you’d let me cart you back to the dorm now I can get them to tell you that you’re silly, too. And that you’re strong, and awesome, and we all really, really admire you.” She gently lifted Weiss’s head up so she could press another kiss to her forehead. “You’re nothing like your dad, Weiss. You’re so much better. Please believe that.”

“When you look at me like that, I’m not sure I could do anything else,” said Weiss, her voice so quiet that Ruby almost didn’t hear her.

Ruby wasn’t sure how much time passed after that, because she had suddenly found it very difficult to breathe. She was so distracted that she didn’t even notice Yang and Blake approaching until after they’d popped in together, sandwiching Ruby and Weiss in between them when they sat down at the picnic table.

“Hey guys,” said Yang. “What’s up?”

“Oh hey!” Ruby said, once she’d managed to snap herself out of her daze. “What are you two doing out here? I thought you said you’d be too busy making out to come with me.”

“Nah, we decided against it,” said Yang.

“Didn’t want to until we knew Weiss was okay,” Blake added.

That just made Weiss bury her face in her hands, embarrassed. “I’m alright now,” she said without looking up at any of them. “You don’t have to keep yourselves in check just for me.”

“Hey, well now we’re out in public,” Yang said, grinning. “That’d just be rude.”

“Did Ruby already finish giving you the whole you’re-being-too-hard-yourself speech?” Blake asked Weiss, nudging her in the side.

“What—how would you know anything about that?” said Weiss, surprised.

“Because I know you,” Blake answered simply.

“Yeah, sorry Blake,” said Ruby. “I just finished telling her off.”

“Darn.” Blake was trying her best to sound disappointed, but the amused smile on her face wasn’t helping matters in the slightest. “I wanted to tell Weiss all about how much I care about her.”

“I mean, that doesn’t have to stop you,” said Ruby.

“Wait, I have an idea,” Yang suddenly said. “Do you guys know that penis game?”

The look on Weiss’s face was priceless. “Do we know the what now, Yang?”

“The penis game,” Yang explained with a grin. “You know, that game you play with your friends where you all take turns saying the word penis, and you have to get louder each time. Whoever says it the loudest wins.” When Weiss’s expression only darkened further, she shook her head, trying not to laugh. “Wait, that’s not where I was going with this. I was gonna suggest that we play the game, but instead of saying penis, we have to shout ‘Weiss Schnee is the best’ instead.”

“What a great idea,” said Blake, amused, while Weiss went right back to covering her face with her hands.

“I know, right?” Yang said cheerfully. “I’m just full of them. Alright, I’m going first.” She scrambled up and onto the table, towering above all of them and bringing her cupped hands up to her mouth.

“Oh god,” said Weiss.

Then Yang took a deep breath and shouted at the top of her lungs. “Weiss Schnee is the fucking best!”

Blake was laughing. Weiss had flopped onto the table at this point, her face pressed into the surface in an attempt to escape her mortification. The few people who were hanging around the fairgrounds had all turned to stare at them. Ruby grabbed at Yang’s ankle, annoyed.

“You butthead,” she said, trying to tug Yang off of the table. “You’re supposed to start off way quieter, how the heck are the rest of us supposed to beat that?”

“Hey, I play to win,” Yang told her, grinning.

“Fine.” Ruby let out a huff and stood up as well, getting onto the table and then hopping on Yang’s back. Then she raised her voice, trying to be as loud as possible. “I would do anything for Weiss Schnee!”

“So would I, Ruby!” Yang yelled back. “You’re not special!”

“Yang Xiao Long can go fall into a dumpster!”

Yang laughed at that. “I mean, sure,” she said, going back to a normal speaking volume. She craned her neck to smile up at Ruby. “But you’re on my back right now. You’d fall into the dumpster with me too.”

“No. Absolutely not,” Weiss told them, finally having regained her ability to speak coherently. “No one is falling into a dumpster today. Both of you get down here right now.”

So Ruby slid off Yang’s back and the two of them got off the table and sat back down next to Weiss. While they’d been having their pissing contest, Blake had gone ahead and taken Weiss’s hand in her own, rubbing circles over the back of her hand. After the excitement of the situation had passed, all of the fight slowly went out of Weiss. She sighed.

“God,” she said. “If you guys are going to keep insisting on being so sweet, I’m going to die of cardiac arrest before I can even take over the company.”

“What a way to go, though,” said Yang. “Death by overwhelming love and support.”

“Yeah,” said Weiss. She paused for a second, looking almost shy, before glancing over at Ruby. “Hey, Ruby?”

“Yeah?”

“Does your jaw still hurt?”

Ruby opened and closed her mouth a few times as a test. “No, not really,” she said. “Why?”

“Would you happen to still be offering that victory kiss you promised?” Weiss asked.

“Oh!” Ruby felt strangely jittery all of a sudden. “Yeah! Sure! I’m—I’m gonna, well, not look at Yang for one, because I know she’s laughing at me right now.”

“I am doing no such thing,” said Yang, except it definitely sounded like she was struggling hard not to laugh.

Ruby just made a face and stood up, pulling Weiss along with her by the wrist. She glanced over at Blake. “Are you okay with this?” she asked.

“Hm,” said Blake, considering it for a moment, a faint smile on her face. “Can I get a victory kiss sometime in the future, too?”

Ruby saluted her. “You got it.” 

“Then go for it,” said Blake.

Ruby beamed at her and tugged on Weiss’s wrist. “Come on, let’s go!”

She took off running for the dorms, pulling Weiss along with her and not even bothering to wait up for Yang and Blake to catch up to them. Soon enough they had made it up the stairs and through the hallways, and then Ruby unlocked the door to their room, dragged them both in, and closed it shut behind them.

The nerves hit her all at once, quickly replacing the anticipation that had been buzzing through her just moments ago with apprehension.

“Hi,” Ruby said into the silence of the room.

“Hello,” said Weiss, looking equally as nervous.

“So,” said Ruby. “About that kiss.”

“Yeah,” said Weiss.

They stood there facing each other for a while longer.

“Okay, I’m gonna just do it,” Ruby blurted out, and then she grabbed Weiss by the front of her shirt and tugged her into a kiss. Weiss reciprocated almost immediately, and the tension in the room vanished. 

Ruby got so lost in the feeling of kissing Weiss that she barely realized that they were moving backwards until her back hit the door. She brought her arms up to wrap around Weiss’s neck while Weiss’s hands went to her waist. It took a colossal effort for her to pull away, laughing slightly.

“Weiss,” she said. “I—not that I’m not really enjoying this, but Yang and Blake are going to come back any moment now and knock us on our butts.”

“I know,” was all Weiss said in response, her eyes fixed on Ruby’s mouth.

Almost as if on cue, Ruby felt the door begin to swing open behind her. She rushed to shove Weiss forward before either of them could get beaned in the head by it.

“Seriously?” came Yang’s voice. “There’s a thousand different places you two could have chosen in this room to make out, and you picked the doorway?”

“We, uh, we got excited?” Ruby said sheepishly.

“I can tell.” Yang headed past them into the room, grinning at them as she sat down on the combined bed. “Don’t get too aggressive now.”

“Aw, let them do what they want,” Blake said, closing the door shut before following Yang to the bed. “They’re young and in love. It’s a special time for them.”

“Ew,” said Ruby, while Yang laughed.

Weiss was still looking at her mouth, so Ruby leaned in and kissed her again. It was nice. It felt really, really nice. Ruby wondered if kissing Blake would feel this good, too.

Then her happy little haze was interrupted when she heard more scuffling noises coming from over by the bed. It took her out hard enough that she had to break the kiss again.

“Are you guys seriously wrestling again?” Ruby said.

In one swift motion Blake knocked Yang’s feet out from underneath her and then dropped down on top of her, pinning her to the ground.

“What?” said Yang once she got her bearings back, looking over at Ruby. “Would you rather we stare at you and watch you guys kiss each other instead?”

“I would rather you two stop being absolute weirdos,” said Ruby.

Weiss started laughing. She pressed her face into Ruby’s shoulder, while Ruby looked on, bewildered.

“Sorry,” Weiss said. It felt so good to see her smiling again. “I just—I’m just so happy. You’re all completely ridiculous, but I’d never give any of you up for anything.”

“Aw, Weiss,” said Ruby, pulling her into a big hug. Soon after Blake helped Yang get back to her feet so that they could walk over and join in as well. “Trust me, we all feel the same way.”

It was cramped, having all four of them squished together in a hug up against the doorway, but no one seemed to mind. They just stood there holding each other for a while.

And Ruby thought she’d never been more content.

Chapter 15

Notes:

aaaaaugh someone yell at me to write faster again

Chapter Text

One night Blake awoke with a gasp.

She flinched reflexively while trying to pull herself back to consciousness, which ended up jerking Ruby forward along with her. Ruby mumbled something incoherent, jolted halfway awake, and after a few seconds burrowed further into Blake’s arms.

“You good?” she asked sleepily.

“Sorry,” Blake said back. “I didn’t mean to wake you.”

“It’s okay.” Ruby shifted a bit more, then blinked open her eyes just a tiny bit to look up at Blake. “Nightmare?”

Blake sighed. “Yeah,” she said.

She tried to steady her breathing, focusing on her surroundings in an attempt to calm herself down. Tonight she was sleeping on the end, with her and Yang spooning Ruby and Weiss in between them. Moonlight filtered in through the window. Yang was snoring, as usual. The steady, familiar sound coupled with Ruby running her hand up and down her back helped to gradually soothe her.

“Want to talk about it?” Ruby asked, keeping her voice low so as not to wake Weiss and Yang.

“I don’t want to worry you,” said Blake.

Ruby smiled at her. “I’m the team leader,” she said. “It’s kind of my job to be worried over you.”

“Well alright, if you insist.” Blake managed a small smile as well, and then slowly pushed the covers off of herself and sat up, rubbing at her eyes. Ruby got up shortly after and bunched up the blankets into a giant pile on top of Weiss, who just frowned in her sleep in response.

They both scooted to the edge of the bed, sitting close together. Blake brought her arm up to rest around Ruby’s shoulders, and Ruby curled into her side with a happy little sigh.

“So,” Ruby began after a while. “What’s on your mind?”

Blake kept her gaze fixed on the ground, absently letting Ruby take her free hand and lace their fingers together. “I think you can guess by now, can’t you?” she said with a weak laugh.

“Yeah,” said Ruby. “The Faunus in the mines?”

“It just feels so—well, I don’t know,” said Blake. “Like we went all the way over there and saw some truly awful things and then came back, and life at Beacon just continues on as if it didn’t happen.” She glanced over at Ruby and sighed. “Do you ever get that feeling?”

“I think so,” said Ruby. “I think I get that. Cause a couple weeks ago we really almost died in that Grimm attack in the mine, but now the most pressing thing on my mind is whether or not we can beat Team SSSN in the tournament finals.”

Despite everything, Blake smiled at that. “Yeah. Basically.”

“Well, there’s still the people protesting, isn’t there?” Ruby said tentatively. “So it’s not like anyone’s letting the SDC try to sweep this whole thing under the rug.”

“Yeah, and that’s great,” said Blake, torn. “But I want to do something, too. I hate just sitting here all nice and safe while other Faunus are out there fighting for their rights. There has to be something I can do to help.”

“You could try getting an interview?” Ruby suggested. “There’s probably tons of news outlets who would jump at the opportunity to hear you talk, and I know the only reason why they haven’t is because Ozpin and the school are trying to give us some privacy. But if you went out looking for one maybe you could get something out there.”

“Huh,” said Blake, considering it for a few seconds. “Yeah, maybe that could work. I’ll have to think about it more.” She glanced over at Ruby and smiled. “Thank you, Ruby.”

“You know I’m always happy to help however I can,” Ruby said back, beaming.

They fell into a peaceful silence for a bit. Blake took the time to shamelessly stare at Ruby, marveling at how lucky she was to have gotten the chance to meet and befriend such a wonderful person. Ruby was busy playing with Blake’s hand with her thumb.

“Does it ever feel weird?” Blake asked. “Being the one to give the rest of us advice and help us through our problems despite being two years younger?”

“Sometimes, yeah,” said Ruby. She laughed a little. “It was harder at the beginning. But you guys have come to accept me as the leader. You don’t treat me like I’m younger. And that helps a lot, I think.” 

“You’re amazing,” said Blake.

Ruby smiled and bumped her head against Blake’s shoulder. “You are too, sillyhead.”

Before Blake could come up with a response that didn’t make it obvious her brain had just short-circuited, she felt something tugging at the back of her shirt.

“Come back to bed, you two,” Weiss grumbled with her eyes still closed. “You’re being so loud.”

“Yang is literally snoring in your ear right now,” Ruby pointed out.

“Yang’s always snoring, though,” said Weiss. She kept pulling on Blake’s shirt, her other hand blindly searching for Ruby’s. “Come sleep. Please?”

“Aw, okay Weiss,” Ruby said with an affectionate smile. She turned around and leaned down so she could drop a quick, gentle kiss to Weiss’s lips. 

“What?” said Blake, smiling as she watched them. “Do I get a kiss too?”

“Do you want one?” asked Ruby.

“What kind of silly question is that?” said Blake. “Of course I’d l—”

Her words were abruptly cut off when Ruby leaned up and kissed her, not even bothering to try and hide her grin.

Whatever remaining bits of sleep that were still fogging her brain up disappeared instantly. Blake suddenly became hyper aware of everywhere Ruby was touching her, with a hand resting on her leg and the other on her waist. Ruby was still struggling not to grin through the kiss, and it was taking Blake all of her willpower to keep from laughing in happiness.

She wasn’t sure how much time passed until they broke apart. All she knew was that her night had just gone from pretty rough to pretty amazing.

“Ah, man, we’re doing this all out of order, aren’t we?” said Ruby.

Blake just looked at her, still a bit dazed by the kiss. “What do you mean?” she asked.

“Well, I’m not an expert on dating or anything,” Ruby explained with a grin, “but there’s an order that you’re supposed to follow or something, right?” Like, you ask someone out, then you take them on dates, then you kiss them, then you move in together, and then you get married. I think. Right? But we totally skipped right to the kissing.”

“I mean, technically we already moved in with each other on the second day of school,” said Blake. “So based on that list we’ve been doing stuff out of order from the very start.”

Ruby laughed. “Oh yeah, you’re right.”

“If it makes you feel better, though, I’ll take you on a date. Once the tournament’s finally over.” Blake smiled at Ruby, reaching up to brush aside a bit of her hair. “I promise.”

The look on Ruby’s face just made Blake want to kiss her again.

“This is not called sleeping,” Weiss said from behind them.

“Oh, oops,” said Ruby. “Sorry, Weiss.” She didn’t sound apologetic in the slightest.

“We were having a moment,” said Blake, amused.

“And I’m very happy for you two, I swear,” Weiss mumbled. Her eyes were still closed, and she was pouting a little. It was adorable. “But you’re both so loud.”

“I am the quietest person on this team,” said Blake, pretending to be offended.

“Not when you’re around Ruby or Yang you’re not.”

They all heard the shifting behind Weiss. A few moments later, Yang spoke.

“Somebody say my name?” she asked, still clearly half-asleep.

“Oh, no,” said Weiss. “We managed to wake Yang up.”

“An impressive feat,” Yang agreed. She shifted again, readjusting her grip around Weiss’s stomach. “Are you guys making out without me?”

Ruby and Blake looked at each other.

“Possibly?” said Ruby.

“Nice.” Yang blinked open one eye and then closed it shut again. “Now come back to sleep, you noisy people. Also, why are all the blankets piled up on top of Weiss?”

“Because Blake and Ruby are jerks,” said Weiss.

Blake just laughed and pulled Ruby back down until they were lying down together again next to Weiss and Yang.

“Thank you,” she said as they settled back in, completely sincere.

“You don’t have to keep thanking me,” Ruby said with a laugh. “I’m happy if you’re happy. Cross my heart.”

She scooted closer to Blake, curling up against her front, and it was warm and comfortable for a while. At least until Weiss let out a tiny little whine and they had to shift towards her so she could hold Blake’s hand, resting her arm over Ruby in the process.

Blake slept soundly after that.

 


 

The days leading up to the finals match were interesting, to say the least. Now that the two last competing teams were set in stone, the rest of the students had started to take sides, in the loudest and most dramatic ways possible. Beacon Academy had basically turned into a warzone.

Some of the Haven kids had scrounged together four massive posters of the members of Team SSSN and hung them up in the hallways. They were super eye-catching, especially with the words “SSSN’S OUT, GUNS OUT” printed in bold text at the bottom of the posters, and people cheered whenever one of the boys showed up walking past them. Sun and his teammates seemed to enjoy the attention immensely, waving or fist pumping at the onlookers.

But then, in retaliation, someone else at Beacon had managed to get their hands on the pictures of Team RWBY that were taken for the initiation process and turn those into posters. Now Blake was subjected to the same treatment as she passed by a giant picture of herself in the hallways on her way to the library, with people whooping and applauding her along the way. She just smiled, lifted her hand a little, and kept walking. 

It was pretty funny, though, that no one seemed to be able to agree on a catchphrase for them. The crossed out phrases at the bottom ranged from “SPARKLE LIKE A RWBY” to “GIRLS RULE BOYS DROOL” to even stuff like “RWBY’S OUT, BOOBIES OUT” which had gotten shut down by Professor Goodwitch pretty quick. Currently the reigning text read “RWBY KICKS YOUR BOOTY” in bright yellow paint, one word for each person. Yang would probably find it hilarious that she’d gotten the word “BOOTY” written on her poster.

But Blake had other things to worry about at the moment. She continued on to the library without much more incident. Once inside, she headed towards the rows of public computers and booted one up, ready to sit down and get to work.

Hours must have passed after that. Blake barely noticed the time flying by and didn’t even realize her shoulders were starting to cramp up when someone came up behind her, pushing against her back in an attempt to coax her up into a better sitting position.

“Honestly,” said Weiss, her palm sending warmth jolting up Blake’s spine, “your posture is terrible. You really should be more careful about it.”

“Sorry,” said Blake. She tilted her head back so she could glance up at Weiss. Yang was standing next to her too, looking amused. After a few seconds Weiss’s expression softened, and Blake found that she couldn’t stop staring.

“What have you been up to?” Weiss asked her.

Blake turned back to face the computer monitor, letting Yang drape her arms over her front. “Um, just checking recent news and stuff.” She made a face. “The Schnee Dust Company has been responding to the backlash by… well, they’re not exactly responding to it. They’re just deflecting by trying to put all the emphasis and media attention on the fact that the White Fang had been there instead.”

“Sounds exactly like something the company would do,” Weiss said bitterly.  

“Yeah,” said Blake. “Why are you two here, by the way? Did you need me for something?”

“Nah, we just wanted to check up on you,” said Yang. “Ruby went down to Vale with Jaune to grab some supplies, so you’re stuck with us for the rest of the afternoon.”

“You make that sound like a bad thing.” Blake sighed and leaned back against Yang’s stomach, closing her eyes and relaxing for a second. “I’m probably not going to be very fun to hang out with at the moment, though.”

“No, this is good,” said Weiss. “I have a couple thoughts about this whole situation too that I’d like to share, too.”

Blake looked up at Weiss, curious. Weiss just stared at the computer monitor, steeling herself before continuing.

“I did some digging around,” she said. “I don’t have a lot of access to the company’s inner workings, but from what I could find, my father wasn’t lying to me when he said he paid the Faunus workers equal wages as the humans.”

“That can’t be right,” said Blake.

“Well, it is,” Weiss insisted. “I left the files back in the dorm, but I promise you I’m telling the truth. That’s not where the problem lies, anyway. The thing is, all of the Faunus workers are relegated to the jobs that put them in the deepest parts of the mine, the most dangerous areas. The conditions down there are by far the worst. I checked the spreadsheets, and so little money goes into providing security or support for them. They’re basically treated as easily expendable resources.”

“So what you’re saying,” said Yang, “is that the Faunus get killed off the fastest. And then replaced the fastest.”

Blake clenched her jaw.

“Yes,” said Weiss, sounding equally as repulsed as Blake felt. “Technically there isn’t anything we can do about it, since as Huntsmen in training this is out of our jurisdiction. But there is something else that we can focus on to tip it in our favor. Because you know what else happens in deep, dark caves when the conditions are terrible and the workers are always miserable?”

“Frequent Grimm attacks,” said Blake. She was starting to see where Weiss was going with this.

“If I can gather enough evidence to prove that the company’s worker policies are in fact causing an unnaturally high amount of fatal Grimm attacks in the mines, we could actually do something substantial about it,” Weiss said, her expression hard. “We’re going to be Huntsmen, and it’s our job to protect everyone from the creatures of Grimm. No one can deny us that. Not even my wretch of a father.”

Blake reached over and took Weiss’s hand. The angle made it a little awkward, but Weiss looked like she needed the support. “That’s good,” she said. “That’s really good. We’re making progress. You could put the attention back on the company, and I can help take it off the White Fang.” She took a deep breath. “I’m going to get interviewed tomorrow. They want to know more about our experience in the mine, among other things. I’m going to out myself as a Faunus and tell what I can about all of the discrimination and hate.”

“That’s very admirable of you,” Weiss said with a small smile. “When did this even happen?”

“Just recently,” Blake told her. “Ruby was actually the one who suggested an interview.” She glanced up at Yang. “What do you think?”

Yang just shrugged a little nervously. “Sorry. I think I’m out of my depth here,” she said. “But I’m always going to back whatever decisions you guys make. If you want to reveal yourself as a Faunus, I’ll support you however I can, just let me know how. Do you need a ride to the interview place?”

“That would be great.” Blake smiled up at Yang. “Thank you.”

Yang leaned down and kissed the top of her head. “Whatever you need,” she said, the sincerity clear in her voice. Then she stood back up, pulling Blake’s chair along with her. “Speaking of which, did you forget to eat lunch again today?”

“Maybe,” Blake said guiltily.

“Then what you need right now is a nice hot meal,” said Yang, grinning as she helped Blake get back up to her feet. “Come on, I’ll make you something good. Ruby and Jaune should be back soon, I told them to grab some groceries while they were out.”

So Blake shut off the computer and the three of them left the library together. Weiss was still holding her hand, and kept holding it the entire way back to the dorms.

“We can do this,” Blake said, just as much for herself as for the others.

“Yeah,” Weiss agreed quietly. “We can do this. Together.”

 


 

“‘Ultimately, the main problem isn’t that the White Fang exists,’” Sun read aloud in a dramatic voice, grinning while holding his scroll up at eye level. Blake put her head in her arms and groaned. “‘Most of the Faunus that make up the bulk of the organization are very young and impressionable. They’ve been pushed so far, so harshly through discrimination and hate that they believe that the only option left is to join the White Fang and fight all of this violence with more violence. It’s not the right answer—of course it’s not, but something I wish all humans would understand is that it’s so, so hard to see that when you spend your entire life having the notion that you’ll forever be inferior drilled into your head, and then grow up relentlessly judged and bullied for it for no good reason.’”

“Are you done yet?” Blake asked him.

They were sitting side by side outside at a table on the fairgrounds. Blake’s interview had been published in the news earlier that morning, and the second Sun had finished reading it he’d dragged her out here to bother her about it.

“Holy crap, Blake,” he said, clearly impressed. “Everything you said in this entire article is so good! Have you ever considered becoming a public speaker? I think you’d totally kill it.”

“Have I—what? No,” said Blake. She lifted her head again to look at Sun. “I just might have gotten a little passionate towards the end there, but—”

“No, seriously, this is amazing,” Sun insisted. “Passionate is good. It makes your words feel way more genuine. Like, this part right here?” He picked up his scroll again, scrolling until he reached the bottom of the article. “‘I won’t say that the Faunus of the White Fang are innocent in all of this, because that’s just not true, but everyone needs to know that both sides have to share the blame here. And that this problem won’t be solved until we can learn to work together to fix it.’ Just damn, Blake. Where’d you learn to talk like that?”

“I’m, um, I’m not sure,” said Blake, confused. “I think I looked up to my parents a lot as a kid?”

Sun must have noticed her slight discomfort, because he immediately changed the subject. “Ah, whatever. This is awesome, Blake! You’re like a hero now.” He thought about it for a moment. “Uh, not saying that you weren’t a hero already. Anyway, you gotta tell me! How’s it feel?”

“Well, my ears are a lot less constrained and sore now,” said Blake.

It took Sun a moment to process her answer. Then he laughed and shoved her. “Not what I meant,” he said, but he glanced up at her exposed cat ears anyway.

“I know,” Blake said, grinning. “Real answer, though? It feels like everything should be different. But besides a couple of looks I’ve gotten in the hallways, nothing has really changed. It’s… surprising, I guess.”

“I still stand by what I said.” Sun clicked his scroll shut, pocketed it, and then brought his hands up to rest behind his head. “I think you look better without the bow.”

“Thanks,” said Blake.

“You’re welcome,” Sun said pleasantly. “You still seem nervous, though.”

“I feel like I’m in a ticking time bomb of a situation,” Blake admitted. “Everything’s fine and dandy now, sure, but it feels like things are going to explode in my face soon if I let my guard down.” She sighed. Sun patted her back supportively. “I think I’m just being paranoid.”

“I mean, that’s understandable,” said Sun. “But worrying over it won’t do you any good. Come on, let’s talk about happier things to take your mind off of it.”

“Like what?”

“Like your love life!”

“No,” said Blake. “Absolutely not.”

“Please?” said Sun. “I’ll tell you all about mine if you tell me about yours!”

“You mean you’ll tell me all about your nonexistent love life?”

“Ow,” said Sun. “No mercy, I see.”

“Why do you even want to know about my love life anyway?” Blake asked.

“I just want to know what the hell’s going on in it, okay?” said Sun. “Cause I swear last time I checked you totally had the hots for Yang and that’s why you turned me down, but then Weiss came to me and basically admitted she had the hots for you, but then she went on a date with Yang and actually seemed happy about it, and neither of them seem like people who would settle for a rebound. And you’re clearly not depressed, either, so either you’re okay with those two dating or you’re just a being that’s incapable of feeling emotions. I haven’t ruled that one out yet.”

“How long have you been waiting to ask me this?” said Blake, amused.

“A very long time,” Sun told her very seriously. “Me and my team have been arguing about it for ages. Please tell us what’s going on, it’s driving us insane.”

Blake wasn’t sure why she found that so funny, but she did. She tried to hold in her laughter since Sun looked genuinely confused. “You know, there’s one pretty obvious answer that’s flying over your head right now,” she said.

“Wait, what is it?” said Sun. He thought about it for a moment, frowning in concentration. “Don’t tell me you’re dating Ruby instead.”

“I—what,” said Blake, bewildered. “Okay, how did you even come to that conclusion?”

“I dunno,” Sun told her. “I panicked?”

Blake finally lost her internal battle and started laughing, feeling more at ease than earlier despite the incessant prodding into her personal life. “Sun,” she said, a hint of nervousness creeping into her voice, “what if I told you that you were right? But only partially. Because… I’m dating all three of them. Ruby, Weiss, and Yang.”

Sun’s jaw dropped open.

Then he stared.

“Wait, no,” he eventually said. “In hindsight, I totally should have seen that coming. Uh, are they all dating each other too?”

“Yeah,” said Blake.

“Of course, of course,” said Sun. He threw his hands up into the air. “You four are always all over each other. Of course. It all makes sense now.”

“You don’t think it’s weird?” Blake asked, feeling oddly relieved all of a sudden.

“Pfft. Nah,” said Sun. “Just wasn’t expecting it. Although I completely understand why you rejected me now. I had to compete with not just one, or even two, but three smoking hot chicks for your love. I never stood a chance.”

“Sun, I do like you,” said Blake, frowning. “Just… not in the way you want me to.”

“It’s okay.” Sun put a hand on her shoulder. Somehow, he always made it feel comforting, never intrusive. “I’m over it now.” Then he brightened up. “Besides, I’m not sure I could handle a long-distance relationship for at least four whole years. Like, yeah, we’d see each other every year cause of the Vytal Festival, but that’s still a what, seven month wait in between visits?”

And then that just reminded Blake of the fact that the tournament was almost over, and that soon after the kids from the other academies would be returning home.

“I can’t believe you’re really leaving in a week and a half,” she said, trying her best not to sound upset and failing spectacularly.

“Aw, Blake,” said Sun. He laughed and let her hug him, wrapping his arms around her body tightly. “Don’t worry! I’ll call every once in a while. As long as you’re not too busy banging your three super cute girlfriends.”

“Sun!”

“I’ll have you know that the only reason why more people haven’t caught on to your little love fest is because there’s four of you in the relationship,” Sun told her, still laughing, even as she grumbled into his chest. “Now that I know, I realized something. None of you are slick. At all.”

“I regret telling you about this,” said Blake.

“No you don’t,” Sun responded in a singsong voice.

Blake eventually let go of Sun, having half a mind to just bolt from the table and leave him in the dust. After a while her scroll buzzed. She pulled it out to check the message.

“I have to go,” she told him, standing up from the table. “Ruby’s hosting an emergency team training session.”

“Tell her not to bother because we’re gonna kick your ass anyway,” said Sun.

“No,” said Blake. She grinned at him. “I’ll catch you later, Sun. Thank you for everything.”

 


 

Blake dodged one of Weiss’s attacks and then tried one of her own, but Weiss neatly blocked her strike. Earlier she had knocked Blake’s sheath out of her left hand. It was proving kind of difficult to keep up while one entire blade short.

“You left your side exposed here,” Weiss said in a low voice, effortlessly pausing in their sparring so she could take Blake’s arm and gently reposition her. “I could have easily taken advantage of the weaker defense.”

“I usually have my other blade for that,” Blake responded, trying to sound miffed, but having Weiss in such close proximity didn’t help matters.

“Ah.” Weiss spared a quick glance behind her, where Blake’s sheath was still lying on the ground. Then she turned back around and smiled. “Maybe you should try getting it back, then?”

“Good idea,” said Blake, smiling back.

Over on the other side of the room, Ruby and Yang were yelling at each other, duking it out in full force. Half of the floor around them was on fire. The other half was riddled with bullet holes.

“You should focus more,” said Weiss.

“I am focused,” Blake told her. She laughed and summoned a clone to tank Weiss’s next swing. “Someone’s been acting kind of cocky today.”

Weiss just smiled and tilted her head. “I wonder why.”

The next thing she knew, Blake was on the ground on her back, pinned in place by a gravity glyph underneath her and Weiss above her. Weiss reached forward and tugged Blake’s katana out of her hand, tossing it aside. 

“I guess I deserved that,” said Blake.

Weiss was breathing a little heavily. Her ponytail cascaded down to the side, and Blake could feel it brushing against her shoulder.

They stared at each other.

Then Blake heard Yang shout out and come hurtling through the air towards them. With barely a second to spare she summoned all her energy, pushing off the ground with the help of a clone and switching her and Weiss’s positions just in time to protect her from getting hit. Which meant that Yang crashed right into Blake instead, and the two of them went tumbling across the floor.

She could feel Yang wrap her arms protectively around her, trying to cushion most of the fall. “Shit,” she was saying, laughing as they rolled a bit further. “Sorry. Shit.”

“Jeez,” Blake said when they finally came to a halt, lying side by side on the ground. “You almost turned Weiss into a pancake.”

“My bad, my bad,” said Yang. She wasn’t moving, just continuing to hold Blake close. Her chest rose and fell from the exertion of the sparring. “Wait, no. Not my bad. That was definitely all Ruby’s fault.”

“No it wasn’t,” Ruby called from across the room. In a show of solidarity she put her weapon away and then walked over to lie down on the ground next to Blake and Yang. Weiss sat up just so she could scoot closer, and the four of them lay in a heap together for a while. 

It shouldn’t have felt so nice, because the floor was cold and rough and hard. But somehow it still did.

“There’s no way we’re losing to Team SSSN in the finals,” said Yang. “I mean, come on. Look how coordinated we are now.”

“So coordinated that we somehow all ended up on the ground after knocking into each other?” said Weiss.

“It was totally coordinated,” said Ruby. “Me and Yang thought it was about time for a break. This was all planned from the start.” She high-fived Yang’s outstretched hand. Blake laughed and Weiss just sighed.

Eventually Blake felt her heart rate go back to normal. She still felt sweaty and gross, and the collective post-exercise body heat of all four of them together was starting to get a little stifling, but no one moved. 

It was Weiss who finally broke the silence after a bit.

“Hey guys?” she said, sounding hesitant. When the rest of them made various noises of acknowledgement, she continued on. “Do you remember that thing I did at the mine?”

“What thing?” said Yang.

“You know, the thing. The arm thing.” She sat up slowly, looking deep in thought. “Oh, you might not have seen it, Yang. I think you were unconscious when it happened.”

Yang sat up as well, bringing Blake along with her. Ruby followed them shortly after. “Well now I want to know what it is,” said Yang.

“It’s called summoning,” Weiss explained, staring down at her hands in her lap. “It’s a part of my semblance, but up until the mine I had never managed to successfully do it. Even then, I was only able to summon partially, but… I’ve been thinking about it ever since.”

“You think you could do it again now?” Ruby asked.

“I’m not sure,” said Weiss. “That’s what I’m wondering, too. I don’t even know how I managed to do it at the mine. I just—I just remember seeing you three in danger and wanting more than anything to stop it.”

They all got up after that, and Blake stayed next to Yang and Ruby while Weiss went to stand across from them, taking a deep breath and gripping Myrtenaster tightly in her hand. Yang was watching with open curiosity in her expression.

A second passed. Then another.

Then Weiss raised her rapier, did a small twirl, and stabbed the tip of the blade into the ground.

A large light blue glyph came to life on the ground in between them, spinning and pulsing with bright energy. Weiss had her eyes closed, frowning in concentration. Gradually, the hilt of the glowing sword began to rise up out of the glyph.

“Wow,” Yang said in awe.

Blake silently agreed. Even though she’d already seen it happen back at the mine, there was just something so captivating about the sight.

But then after a few moments, the glyph stopped spinning. The sword stopped moving. Weiss’s face twisted in frustration. “I can’t make it form any further,” she said. She sounded incredibly disappointed in herself. “I can’t believe—ugh, no. I should have known it had just been a fluke back there.”

“Hey,” said Ruby, taking a step forward. “You still managed to summon something. This is still amazing.”

Weiss didn’t seem convinced. She rubbed at her face with one hand. “No, it’s fine,” she said, trying her best to keep the frustration out of her voice. She stared down at the sword in the glyph, only the hilt and part of the blade sticking up out of the ground. “I just need to practice it more, that’s all. I don’t know why I thought I could do it again. I’m a fool.”

“Weiss,” Blake said, automatically making her way around the glyph to get closer to Weiss. “It’s okay. You’re so hard on yourself.” She spread her arms and Weiss walked right into them, burying her face into Blake’s shoulder. “I’m proud of you that you can even do what you’ve done right here. We all are.”

Yang, meanwhile, was looking down at the sword thoughtfully. Blake glanced over at her, confused, which made Weiss look as well. 

Then Yang stepped forward, knelt down in front of the sword, and rested her hands atop the hilt, bowing her head in front of Weiss. 

“Oh my god,” said Weiss, embarrassed.

Yang just looked up into Weiss’s eyes, grinning that happy little grin of hers, her expression so loving and earnest. 

“Your Majesty,” she said.

Weiss didn’t appear to have any words left to respond to that. She went right back to hiding in Blake’s arms. It felt like she was trying to shrink in on herself, and Blake had to struggle to not start laughing.

“Yang, you’re doing this all backwards,” Ruby said, joining in the action with a silly grin. “You have to get knighted first before you can be all chivalrous and stuff.” She hopped over to join Weiss and Blake. “Weiss, you do know how to knight someone, right?”

“Ruby, please,” Weiss responded, still not looking up.

Blake dutifully stepped aside so Ruby could sneak up behind Weiss, wrapping one arm around her waist while her other hand curled around Weiss’s wrist. Weiss already looked resigned to their antics, and let Ruby lift her sword hand around to get the rapier’s tip to rest on Yang’s right shoulder.

“Now you gotta tell her to swear some things,” Ruby explained.

“The green beans in the mess hall taste like shit,” said Yang.

“Not that kind of swear, stupid,” said Ruby, but she was smiling. “Like, I dunno. ‘I swear to always be devoted to Weiss forever and stuff. I swear to be brave and defend those who can’t defend themselves. I swear to always give Ruby Rose a portion of my dessert at dinnertime.’”

“Absolutely not,” said Yang.

“And there you have it,” Ruby said proudly. She lifted Weiss’s hand again and moved Myrtenaster to Yang’s other shoulder. “Now Yang is officially your loyal knight.”

“Ruby, I’m pretty sure this isn’t how you knight someone,” said Weiss.

“That’s because she forgot the most important part,” Blake pitched in, grinning.

“I did?” said Ruby, confused.

“Yeah.” Blake walked up to Yang and bent down to leave a kiss on her forehead. “You have to seal the deal with a kiss.”

“Oh, duh.” Ruby finally let go of Weiss so she could go up to Yang as well and kiss her quickly on the forehead. Then she moved to stand next to Blake. All three of them looked at Weiss expectantly.

Weiss just stared back.

“Come on, Weiss,” Yang said with a small smile. “I can’t be a proper knight without a kiss from the queen herself, right?”

Weiss let out a sigh. “You three are insane and I don’t know why I still hang out with you all,” she said while walking towards Yang. She paused for a split second in front of her, then made up her mind and tilted Yang’s head up before leaning down to kiss her full on the lips. 

“Cause you love us,” Yang said when they broke apart, a big dumb grin on her face.

“Don’t push it,” said Weiss, smoothing out her shirt as she stood up again. Then she lowered her voice. “…Thank you.”

Yang stood up as well, and the sword and glyph dissolved into the air underneath her. She tapped Weiss on the side of her head, smiling fondly down at her. “Just take that voice in your head, the one that’s telling you that you suck, and replace it with us. We’re all cheering you on, every step of the way.” She paused. “Or annoying the crap out of you. Depends on the time of day, probably.”

Weiss rolled her eyes and tried not to smile at that. “Somehow, the idea of having little mental versions of you three causing a ruckus in my head is strangely comforting,” she said.

“That’s the nicest thing you’ve ever said to any of us,” said Blake.

“You be quiet,” Weiss said. Her smile was out in full force by now. “Now are we going to get back to sparring or what?”

“For sure,” said Yang, walking over to Ruby and smacking the back of her hand against Ruby’s chest. “Come on, sis. Let’s do a tag team match. You and me against Weiss and Blake. Winners get to make out with everyone on the losing team.”

“Are you aware that there is literally no downside to those rules for any of us?” Blake asked her.

“Yep,” Yang said cheerfully. “I’m nice like that.” 

Blake laughed.

She and Weiss ended up winning, but just barely. By then the four of them were all too exhausted to follow through with the promised reward. But leaning up against the training room wall, with Yang and Weiss slumped on either side of her and Ruby sprawled across her lap, Blake figured that stuff like this was just as good.

Chapter 16

Notes:

ok listen i have an excuse this time and it's that this ended up being long as fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuck

nah nah real talk tho there's some alcohol shenanigans in the second half. it's nothing insane but this is just a heads up i guess. also i would like to thank this what other planet person for being generally super helpful and patient while i was screaming and panicking my head off about this chapter lmao

Chapter Text

Yang learned that there was a kid at Beacon whose semblance had something to do with amplifying sound when she heard Sun’s voice booming out across campus the day before the tournament finals.

“This is a message to everyone on Team RWBY,” he announced. “We’re gonna crush you so hard tomorrow that if you try to walk in a light breeze you’ll fly away instead.”

She imagined him standing there puffing out his chest in pride, and tried not to smile. “That wasn’t that good of a roast,” she said aloud. Then she got an idea. “Hey, Ruby, there’s gotta be an intercom somewhere in here, right?”

“Huh?” said Ruby, turning around from where she’d been inspecting a shelf, because the two of them were totally not snooping around in Ozpin’s office together again for the fun of it.

“You know, like a PA system,” said Yang. “For when the teachers need to tell the whole school something. I’m assuming it should be in here somewhere.”

“Oh, yeah,” said Ruby. “I think I saw a thing like that on Ozpin’s desk. Maybe.”

So Yang went over to the desk and looked around. Sure enough, she found the little machine sitting atop a pile of books in the corner. Ruby came over a short while later to watch her mess around with it, curious. Within a couple seconds Yang had found the right button to turn it on, and then leaned in when she heard the beep echo out across the school’s hallways.

“This is a message to Sun Wukong of Team SSSN,” Yang said into the mic. “Yang Xiao Long of Team RWBY would like to know if your middle name is Constipation, because you’re a huge pain in the ass.”

Ruby burst out laughing, and then had to shift away from the intercom so it wouldn’t pick it up too much. Yang grinned at her in victory. 

“That was brutal,” Ruby told her, looking proud. “Can I say something too?”

So Yang stepped aside, gesturing to the device. “It’s all yours.”

Ruby squinted at the various buttons, eventually finding the one that Yang had used to turn it on. She pressed it and then leaned in to the microphone.

“Also someone please tell Weiss Schnee and Blake Belladonna that Ruby Rose thinks they’re really cool and hopes they have a great day,” she said.

“Aww,” said Yang. “Nice one.”

Ruby beamed at her.

But they only got to savor the moment for a tiny bit longer before they heard sharp footsteps start coming towards the office.

The two of them glanced at each other.

“I think that’s Goodwitch,” said Ruby.

“Shit,” said Yang. “Run!”

They took off sprinting together towards the front of the office where the elevator was, but judging by the brisk pace of Professor Goodwitch’s steps, there was no way they were going to make it in time. Ruby seemed to have come to the same conclusion.

“Okay, we’re taking the stairs,” she said, wrapping her arms around Yang’s midsection and veering off to the right. Yang felt the almost familiar whirling and tugging sensation that came with the usage of Ruby’s semblance, and the world around her blurred. Soon Yang could feel her stomach dropping, and she knew that Ruby was zipping them down the stairs as fast as she could.

At the final flight of stairs at the bottom Ruby had to let go of Yang, clearly exhausted. Yang barely managed to skid into a landing on her feet, and then scrambled to catch Ruby before she hit the ground.

“Thanks,” Ruby wheezed, leaning heavily against Yang to catch her breath after being set down on the ground.

“I got you,” said Yang.

A second passed. Then two. Ruby’s breathing gradually slowed back to normal.

Then Yang started laughing, and it didn’t take long for Ruby to join in.

“Oh man,” Yang said through her laughter. “What are we doing?”

“Weiss is gonna yell at us so hard when we get back,” Ruby agreed with a huge smile on her face.

But then later, after they had eventually made it back to their dorm room, Weiss was not in fact standing there ready to reprimand them for being stupid. Instead, she was busy lounging on the combined bed with Blake lying facedown against her front. Blake had her eyes closed in contentment, her cat ears out and exposed, and Weiss was gently curling her hand around one of them, looking down at it in subdued wonder.

“Welcome back,” she said to Yang and Ruby without looking up.

“This is not the reaction I was expecting,” said Yang.

“I would get up and scold you, but Blake’s on top of me right now,” Weiss told her simply. “And nothing I say ever seems to deter you two from being ridiculous, anyway.” She blinked when Blake’s ear twitched, flicking against her hand.

“Sorry, Weiss,” said Ruby with a bashful little grin. “I left you and Blake a message, though.”

“So I heard,” Weiss replied. “As did the entire school.” She sighed, not trying very hard to hide her slight smile, and patted the bed on either side of her. “Come sit and join us.”

So Ruby and Yang both went up to the bed and clambered on. Almost immediately after Ruby had settled in next to Weiss, Blake happily rolled over onto her instead. Meanwhile Weiss leaned over to rest her head on Yang’s shoulder.

“Did you guys at least find anything interesting?” Blake asked.

“Um, not really,” Ruby answered, automatically reaching up to start running her hands through Blake’s hair. “Just the usual headmaster stuff. Oh! Did you know Ozpin has a picture on his desk of him with Goodwitch, Oobleck, and Port all together?”

“That’s sweet,” said Blake.

“Yeah,” Ruby agreed happily. “He also has a little vase of flowers on one of the shelves at the front. I was gonna steal some for you and Weiss, but I wasn’t sure if he might notice. So I didn’t.”

“If you were that concerned with making sure you didn’t leave a trail,” said Weiss, as Yang absently played with her ponytail, “maybe you two shouldn’t have, you know, broadcasted yourselves over the intercom to the entire school.”

“It was totally worth it,” Yang told her, grinning. “Sun was attacking our team. You know I had to defend our honor. And besides, at least we didn’t spend the whole afternoon doing nothing but lazing around in the room instead.”

“It’s tactical resting,” said Blake. She bumped her head against Ruby’s hand in contentment. “So we’ll be energized and ready for the finals tomorrow.”

“Yes,” Weiss agreed immediately. “Because some of us are capable of thinking into the future and planning accordingly.”

“Is that what we’re calling it now?” Yang said, while Ruby started laughing.

After that they all settled in and continued to relax together. It was pretty nice, even with everyone’s positioning gradually becoming more and more disorganized as time went on, the end result being a big messy cuddle pile. Yang noticed that was starting to become a trend with the four of them. Not that she minded.

A while later there was a knock at the door. No one moved, thinking it was someone from Team JNPR. But there was a brief pause, and then the knocking continued.

“I’ll get that,” said Weiss, extracting herself from the group embrace and getting off the bed while the rest of them decided to sit up properly in her wake. She headed over to the door and opened it just far enough to see who was knocking.

“Hello, Miss Schnee,” said Professor Goodwitch. Yang and Ruby both froze. “I was wondering if your teammates Miss Rose and Miss Xiao Long were in the room with you? I’d like to speak with them about something.”

Yang grabbed Ruby, pulling her into her arms and rolling them both off the far end of the bed. Blake sneezed to help cover the sound of the thump.

“No, it’s just me and Blake here right now,” Weiss responded without missing a beat, opening the door further to show the bed with Blake on it while still keeping Yang and Ruby hidden from view. “They’re probably out somewhere doing who knows what. Sorry.”

“I see,” said Goodwitch. “Well, thank you anyway. Have a good day.”

“You too,” Weiss said pleasantly, and then she closed the door.

Ruby had her hand firmly clamped over Yang’s mouth, because Yang was struggling very, very hard not to burst out laughing. It wasn’t until they heard the clicking of Goodwitch’s heels fade away into the distance before she let go. Then Yang promptly lost it.

“Oh my god,” she kept saying, over and over, with a massive grin on her face. “Holy shit. Someone wake me up. Weiss did not just do that.”

“I think I’m in love,” Ruby said dreamily, flopping off of Yang to rest on the ground next to her. 

The gravity of what she had just done must have hit her by then, because Weiss had put her hand up to her forehead and closed her eyes. “Clearly I must be as well,” she said with a long, deep sigh. “I can’t believe I’m now an accomplice to your delinquent activities.”

“I can’t believe we’ve successfully corrupted her,” said Blake. She grinned at Weiss. “This is your life now, Weiss. There’s no going back anymore.”

Weiss just looked at her and rolled her eyes, but Yang and Ruby’s continued laughing made her smile start to show through. “Oh, get up, you two,” she said, walking over to them and holding out her hands. “Honestly, it feels like I’m herding children sometimes. You’re welcome, by the way.”

“Thank you, Weiss. You’re our hero,” Yang said, smiling as Weiss helped her back to her feet. Then, in one swift motion, she darted around and behind Weiss, grabbed her around the stomach, and then toppled them both backwards onto the bed. Weiss shouted in protest, automatically trying to squirm her way out of Yang’s grip. But Yang was prepared. “Ruby, now!”

Ruby got the memo pretty quick and came over to fall on top of them as well, bracing herself against the bed and planting kisses all over Weiss’s face. Yang was laughing, Ruby was smiling like an idiot, and Weiss sounded like she was torn between continuing to try and escape or basking in the affection the two of them were showering her with. In the midst of all the commotion Yang turned her head, looking up at Blake, who was still sitting there watching all of it unfold with a calm, fond expression on her face.

“Blake! Help me!” said Weiss, laughing in shock when Ruby pressed her face into her neck and then blew on it. She had her hands on Ruby’s shoulders but wasn’t trying very hard to push her away. Blake’s smile only widened.

“With what?” she asked innocently, scooting forward and leaning down to leave a gentle kiss on Yang’s forehead. “You look like you’re handling the situation just fine on your own.”

“Oh, yeah,” said Yang. Privately she thought that it was good to see Blake so relaxed again. If making a complete fool of herself was what it took to give Blake a few moments to be free from stress, Yang figured she’d happily do it over and over again. “And by just fine you mean she’s three seconds away from kicking dents into my shins, right?”

Weiss grumbled. Ruby’s grin turned cheeky.

“Hey, do you guys think Weiss is ticklish?” she asked, right before all hell broke loose.

 


 

So many people in the packed stands were screaming. Port and Oobleck were screaming. Sun was screaming, too, because Ruby was busy chasing him across the arena with her scythe out and primed for attack. There was so much noise in the Colosseum, and all it was doing was pumping Yang’s adrenaline to even higher levels. 

The finals round of the Vytal Festival Tournament’s first year division was well underway, and the massive crowd in the stands was out to prove it. Despite all the smack talking that Sun and his teammates had done in the days leading up to the match, it was pretty clear once the actual fighting had begun that they were actually pretty terrified of Team RWBY. There were no biomes this time, just a large, flat metal surface and eight people beating the crap out of each other. 

They’d all split up into four separate one-on-one fights. Yang ended up with Neptune, trying with increasing frustration to get close enough to him to actually land some decent hits on him. He was annoyingly good at keeping her out of reach with his trident. All she had to do was to get past it and he’d be done for.

She sidestepped Neptune’s next thrust, and before he could pull back, she grabbed onto the shaft of his weapon and jerked it forward, pulling him off balance. Then she spun around, letting go of the trident in the process, and elbowed him in the back of his head while he was hunched over. It knocked him to the ground, giving her some time to survey the rest of the match.

Then three things happened at once. Sun had finally stopped running and started pressing the offense against Ruby, but she’d just successfully knocked his staff out of his hand, retracting her scythe into its rifle form and winding it back as if it was a baseball bat. Weiss, who was currently running circles around Scarlet on the other side of the arena, paused in her onslaught just long enough to generate two glyphs in the air next to Blake and Yang. And Blake, who was taking on Sage just a few yards away from Yang and Neptune, knocked him back so she could vault off the glyph and simultaneously chuck her ribbon at Yang.

So Yang automatically fell into step and propelled herself off the glyph near her too, launching herself into the air and grabbing onto the other end of the ribbon. In the same moment Ruby smashed the flat of her rifle directly into Sun’s stomach with so much force that he went flying. Blake and Yang pulled the ribbon taut while in midair. And then Sun proceeded to violently clothesline himself on it.

The buzzer sounded, followed by a collective, sympathetic groan from the audience as Sun flipped once around the ribbon and then fell flat on his face. Ruby rushed over to check if he was okay. He just gave her a weary thumbs up, not bothering to peel his face off the ground.

“Ooh, what a satisfying display of teamwork as always,” Port said through the loudspeakers, hyping up the crowd with his usual commentary along with Oobleck. “At least for the girls, that is. Poor Sun Wukong’s going to be feeling that one for a while.”

“You know, Peter, it is quite common for Huntsmen teams to split up once they graduate from the academy,” said Oobleck. “And as instructors here, we’re not supposed to show any bias, but I know I’m not the only one who hopes that Team RWBY sticks together for longer than that. It’s not often you come across teams with such powerful synergy.”

Yang grinned and dusted her hands off. Like hell she was going to ditch her team after graduating.

Her train of thought was interrupted when something very large and very heavy beaned her in the back of her head, and the next thing she knew she was on the ground. The world was definitely spinning. She squeezed her eyes shut.

“Dude,” said Neptune.

Yang heard heavy footsteps. That was probably Sage. Then she heard much lighter, quicker footsteps. That was definitely Blake.

“Buddy,” said Yang as she forced herself to her feet again, feeling the air around her start to heat up, the pain in her head slowly shifting into energy and spreading throughout her whole body. “You know what my semblance is.”

Neptune put his free hand on Sage’s shoulder. “Yeah, uh,” he said, looking just a little bit concerned, “we should probably think about running right about now.”

They tried. Blake reached them first. Within seconds she and Yang had forced Neptune and Sage to back up against each other, trying desperately to defend from their attacks. Someone was coming up behind Yang. She instinctively knelt down, and then Ruby hopped onto her back and pushed off, her scythe already spinning. Blake knocked Sage off balance with her blades while Ruby ganked Neptune, and then they fell into their team attack without even needing to communicate, darting back and forth so fast that Yang knew she’d just be interfering if she tried to join in. So she turned around to check up on Weiss.

Scarlet was running directly for them, Weiss hot on his heels. She forced a small barrier of ice up at his feet, causing him to trip. But he just turned the momentum into a roll and got back up and kept sprinting. Neptune and Sage must have seen that the fight was about to turn into a four on three dogpile, because they broke their way out of Blake and Ruby’s formation and went running away.

Then Scarlet pulled out his pistol and shot Yang in the face.

“Scarlet, quit hitting her!” Neptune shouted while he ran. “You’re just making her stronger!”

“How the hell are we supposed to beat someone we’re not allowed to hit?” Scarlet just shouted back.

The remaining three members of Team SSSN were starting to flail a bit without their leader, and it showed. It didn’t help that their initial plan had been to split up and pray that they got the first knockout, and now that they’d failed at that, they were at a clear disadvantage. 

Scarlet must have realized this as well, because as he ran he activated the grappling hook at the bottom of his pistol and chucked it at the nearest person, which happened to be Ruby. It looped around her ankle, and then he tugged, hard, forcibly dragging her to the edge of the arena with him and making her drop her weapon in the process. Yang tried to follow them, but Neptune turned around and hit her with his trident, blocking her off, and because he was rude the weapon just had to also have an electrocute function. 

Blake and Weiss meanwhile tried to dogpile Neptune and Sage anyway, but then Sage raised his greatsword and brought it down to the ground with one mighty swing, creating a shockwave of energy so powerful that it knocked them all off their feet. Yang struggled to get up again and saw Scarlet desperately get Ruby into a headlock and then throw them both backwards off the platform. Double buzzers sounded out soon after that. The noise in the Colosseum got louder.

“Oh, we are so screwed,” said Neptune.

“Glad you agree,” Yang said brightly.

She and Blake and Weiss started circling Neptune and Sage, who had to stick together again to cover each other. Sage tried his little shockwave trick again, but he made the mistake of aiming it towards Blake and Weiss, probably thinking that he shouldn’t give Yang any more firepower for her semblance. Because Weiss just froze it in its path with a series of glyphs and plenty of ice Dust, and then Blake shattered it with her own Aura waves that she generated through slashing with her blades.

The fight didn’t take much longer after that. Everyone’s Aura levels were running low, so Yang, Weiss, and Blake went hard on the offense together, trying to end the fight before the boys could counter. Neptune went out first with a punch to his gut from Yang. Sage followed shortly after, when Weiss popped the fire Dust cartridge out of her rapier and tossed it to Blake, who then used it to explode a clone in his face. The final buzzer went off, and the noise in the arena skyrocketed.

“It looks like we have our winners for the first-year division of this year’s Vytal Festival Tournament!” Oobleck shouted over the din. “Team RWBY of Beacon Academy has triumphed over Team SSSN of Haven in the final battle! What a show!”

Yang scooped up Blake in a hug, laughing and cheering and yelling along with her. She tried to get Weiss in as well, but before she could, she felt someone tug Blake out of her arms. Then Sun was there with Sage, and they both looked exhausted but proud as they lifted Blake up onto their shoulders.

“Hey!” Yang protested, a huge grin on her face. “That’s my girl you’re trying to steal there!”

Sun just rolled his eyes and grinned back, holding out his free hand. “Oh get over here, you loser! I can carry two of you no problem!”

So Yang let Sun and Sage put her on their shoulders as well, and she pumped her fists in the air, feeling Blake wrap an arm around her waist. They tried to get Weiss to join the fun, but she politely declined, content to just stand by and watch with an exasperated but amused expression on her face. Ruby poked her head up over the edge of the arena, waving at them happily before Scarlet helped propel her back onto the platform. Neptune rolled onto his back and looked up at them.

“Let it be known that we tried,” he said, smiling.

There was so much going on in the Amity Colosseum, with people screaming and cheering and all. Yang was laughing so hard her face was starting to hurt. It was the greatest feeling in the world, being up on that arena with Blake, and Weiss, and Ruby. Her teammates. Her family. They’d done this, together.

 


 

Each of them got a medal as a reward for winning the tournament. They were big and round and shiny, and had the Vytal Festival symbol engraved onto the front. The team had also been promised a trophy later, whenever that was supposed to be.

Later that night Neon Katt of Atlas Academy hosted a massive party to celebrate the Vytal Festival Tournament finally ending. The exchange students were going to be heading back home soon, and Neon and her team apparently wanted to celebrate one last time together, seeing as they’d invited every single student on campus. The Atlas kids had worked together to convert their entire dorm wing into a party space, with drinks, snacks, games, and even a karaoke machine available in the first floor lounge and kitchen, and most of the dorm rooms in the lower floors cleared out and left wide open for people to hang out in. It was honestly pretty impressive how coordinated the entire affair was. Yang had a feeling the Atlas kids had been planning this for a while now.

At first Weiss had looked like she’d much rather stay behind and nap, but Neon had insisted on their entire team going, being the victors and all. She’d also demanded that they wear their medals and assured them that they’d be getting preferential treatment for it. So that was how Yang found herself making her way across campus in the cold, her medal hanging around her neck and Blake’s hand in hers.

“I can hear the noise all the way from over here,” said Blake.

Yang had her eyes on Weiss and Ruby, who were walking a few steps ahead of them. Ruby was bouncing and chatting animatedly. Weiss must have felt Yang staring, because she glanced behind her and offered her a small smile. Yang smiled back.

“That loud, huh?” she said.

And it was. There was an actual line snaking around the dorm building, too. The second the four of them came into view, people started cheering. Flynt Coal was at the entrance, checking people’s student IDs before letting them in. He looked up as they approached and grinned, waving them over to the front of the line.

“Welcome to the party, champions,” he said, and held out his fist to give Yang a fist bump.

A blast of warm air hit Yang in the face when she walked in. It was a pretty sudden change from the frigid temperatures outside, walking into a room packed full of people. There was music blaring out from one of the rooms, but for the most part most of the noise was just groups of people lounging around and talking, laughing, and sharing snacks together.

Yang felt Weiss’s hand curl nervously around her arm. The four of them picked their way through the crowd, sticking close together, and found a relatively abandoned corner of the lounge to gather their bearings for a moment.

“This is a lot to take in,” said Weiss, making a face.

“Yeah,” said Yang. She smiled. “We all doing okay?”

“I think so,” said Ruby.

“Is everyone here even of age?” Blake asked curiously, glancing around the room at all the partygoers.

“I mean, I’d think so,” said Yang. “Except for Ruby, obviously. And Weiss because she’s a baby.”

Weiss made a face again. “Excuse you, I turn eighteen in a month,” she told Yang. “I wasn’t even planning on drinking, so it’s not like it matters anyway.”

“I think I might,” said Blake. She looked at all of them, a little timidly. “Is that okay with you guys?”

“Oh, don’t let me stop you,” said Weiss. She went up to Blake, and after a brief pause leaned up to kiss her on the cheek. “We came here to have fun, right? So… go have fun.”

“Okay.” Blake looked at Yang, who nodded, and then at Ruby, who smiled at her and then turned her gaze to Yang as well.

“No,” said Yang.

Ruby just grinned back. “I just want to know what it tastes like. That’s all. Swear on my life.”

“It tastes like liquified Sharpie,” said Yang. She sighed and put both of her hands on Ruby’s shoulders, shaking her back and forth a little. Ruby pouted in response. “I don’t want you to get in over your head, okay? Promise me you’ll be careful.”

“I will,” Ruby said, completely serious.

Just then, someone popped in between Yang and Ruby, shoving them apart. “Hey!” Nora said gleefully, slinging her arm around Ruby’s shoulder and pulling her in close. “Nice of you guys to finally join us! What’s up?”

“Is she drunk?” asked Blake.

“Not yet,” Ren answered out of nowhere, popping in next to Nora and gently tugging her off of Ruby. “I already have to keep an eye on her so if you want to join us, Ruby, the invitation’s open.”

“Yeah,” Nora agreed. “Ren will make sure we don’t do anything stupid. Probably.”

“Hopefully,” said Ren.

Yang laughed. “That’s very reassuring,” she said while shoving Ruby forward. “Well, go on then. Just know that I don’t want to have to carry your ass all the way back to our dorm later, okay?”

“You got it,” said Ruby, beaming and giving Yang a salute while Nora and Ren dragged her off.

Blake turned to face Weiss and Yang. “I’m going to go find Sun,” she said. “He wanted to meet up at the party. And I also promise I will be careful.” She kissed Yang on the forehead, and then leaned down to do the same to Weiss before running off as well. 

And then it was just Weiss and Yang left in the corner. Over in one of the dorm rooms, someone had abruptly changed the music to something slow and classical. People started booing and complaining. Others were laughing.

“So,” said Yang. “What do you want to do?”

“Me?” Weiss asked incredulously. “Don’t you want to go party, too?”

“I mean, kinda, yeah,” Yang admitted, poking Weiss in the side. Weiss just huffed. “I can tell you’re uncomfortable, you know. I’m not going to drink if you’re bothered by it.”

“No—no, it’s fine, really,” said Weiss. She looked at the ground and frowned a little, fiddling with the medal hanging around her neck. “I don’t mind if you three do it, I just personally don’t find it appealing. Please… don’t let me ruin tonight for you.”

“What if I told you that you’re not?” Yang nudged Weiss, more gently this time, and her voice softened. “Come on, there’s plenty of things we can do together to have fun without drinking. Wanna get out of this crowd and into a slightly smaller crowd first?”

Weiss still looked a bit tense, but after a few moments she sighed and forced herself to relax. “Yeah,” she said eventually. “That would be nice.”

So Yang took her by the hand and led them through the lounge and out into the hallway, weaving their way in and out of groups of students. After checking multiple dorm rooms Yang eventually found Pyrrha and Jaune in one of the less crowded ones, sitting on the ground in a circle with a bunch of other random people she didn’t recognize. They looked like they were all playing a card game together, which seemed surprisingly calm so far.

Jaune spotted them first. “Hey guys!” he said happily, brandishing his card hand in his excitement. Pyrrha had to take him by the wrist and lower his arm so no one saw what cards he had. He looked at her, embarrassed but grateful. “Want to join us? We’re almost about to start a new game.”

“I’m down,” said Yang. She glanced at Weiss for confirmation. Weiss shrugged back. So the kids all shifted, trying their best to make room next to Pyrrha for Weiss and Yang to fit into the circle.

“Think this is as big as it’s gonna get,” someone said.

“That’s okay,” said Yang. “Weiss can sit in my lap.”

“Maybe Weiss doesn’t want to sit in your lap,” Weiss retorted, but she still let Yang pull her down with her anyway.

“Aww,” someone else said.

Weiss took Yang’s hands and pulled them up to cover her own face. Pyrrha and a few others laughed good-naturedly. Yang laughed too, because she could feel Weiss secretly trying not to smile.

Soon enough everyone got back into the game, finishing up the current round while Pyrrha and Jaune tried to explain the rules to Weiss and Yang. The way they were playing it, whoever won the round had to sit out the next. But as a reward for winning they would gain ownership of the giant bowl of chips being passed around the circle, at least until the next player won the next round, where it would then transfer to them.

Outside, someone had finally booted up the karaoke machine, and as Yang joined the game she could hear increasingly drunk renditions of all sorts of songs echoing throughout the dorm. Energy was running high, and before long Yang was cracking jokes and laughing along with the others in the room. Weiss refrained from actually joining the game, content to just stay on Yang’s lap and give her advice on how to play her cards, while occasionally joining in conversations with Pyrrha, Jaune, and the two guys on her other side. The one immediately to the left introduced himself as Ivori, one of Neon and Flynt’s teammates. The guy sitting next to him was Bolin Hori of Team ABRN. 

It took several rounds but Yang finally won once and cheered when she got rid of her last card, nearly hitting Weiss when she threw her arms up in victory. The other students handed the chip bowl over to her, which was almost halfway empty at this point. 

“No,” said Weiss, snatching the bowl for Yang before she could get her hands on it. She took Yang’s arms with her other hand and put them back around her stomach. “I’ll feed you.”

Yang laughed. Ivori did too.

“She seems demanding,” he said with a teasing grin, reaching forward to scoop up the pile of cards in the center to square them back into a stack again. 

“Oh, you have no idea,” Yang replied. She didn’t even have to see Weiss’s face to know that she was rolling her eyes. “It’s okay though. She’s cute, so I let it slide.” Then she had to stop talking because Weiss had shoved a chip in her mouth.

The game continued on. Some people left to go do other things, and others joined. Eventually, though, as the night wore on, the room started emptying out. Aside from a couple of kids still hanging around, it was soon just Weiss, Yang, Jaune, and Pyrrha left, squished together on the single couch in the room.

“Why do the Atlas kids get a couch in their room?” Yang said. “That seems unfair. I want one.”

“You could probably try stealing one from our lounge,” Pyrrha suggested.

“That is an amazing idea,” said Yang, grinning. “You’re a genius, Pyrrha. Why didn’t I think of that?”

Weiss just groaned. “Please don’t encourage her,” she said to Pyrrha. “She already has too many rule-breaking tendencies without you adding on to them.”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” said Yang, her grin only widening.

Jaune, meanwhile, was finishing up both of the cans of beers he was holding, one in each hand. Weiss and Yang stared at him.

“What?” he said, looking sheepish.

“He’s been chugging them nonstop all night,” Pyrrha explained helpfully. “But he’s still pretty not-drunk, as far as I can tell.”

“I think I have too much Aura to feel anything,” said Jaune. He absently squished and then unsquished the cans. “I’ve already had to pee like three times so far.”

“Tragic,” said Yang. Weiss tried not to laugh and failed.

Someone ran past the open door of the room, screaming. A second later, Neptune raced by in a blur as well. He doubled back just long enough to poke his head in, waving at Yang and the others. “Hey guys!” he said brightly. Then he vanished again. A relative awkward silence passed in his wake.

“Well, alright then,” said Weiss.

Yang stretched her arms. “I think I should probably go and check up on Blake and Ruby,” she said. “Are you guys planning on staying in here?”

“Probably,” said Pyrrha. “It’s really loud outside.”

“Fair enough,” said Yang. Weiss was staring at her, so she leaned in and gave her a short, sweet kiss. “I’ll be back, okay?”

“Okay,” said Weiss. “Thank you.”

She lifted the medal off of herself, reaching up to hang it around Yang’s neck instead. Yang just laughed a little and caught Weiss’s hand before she could fully pull away.

“What’s this for?” she asked, amused, playing gently with Weiss’s fingers.

“I don’t know.” Weiss looked down at her lap, and then back up into Yang’s eyes. “You’re so kind and caring and considerate. I just thought you should have it more than me.”

“That’s really sweet of you,” said Yang, feeling her heart melting. Then she stood up before the urge to sit there and stay with Weiss forever could overpower her, and waved good-bye to Jaune and Pyrrha. “I’ll catch you guys later.”

“See you!” Jaune called after her.

So Yang made her way out of the room and back into the noise and commotion of the hallway. Now that she was wearing two medals, they kept clinking against each other with every step she took. It was kind of distracting. But Weiss was the one who had given it to her, so it was okay, she decided.

She ended up finding Blake first, sitting in the lounge at one of the long plastic foldout tables along with a large group of people playing what looked like poker. Sun was sitting next to her. Even with how loud everything was everywhere, Blake still somehow managed to sense Yang coming up behind her.

“Hi,” she said, tilting her head back to look up at Yang as she approached.

“Hey, you,” Yang said affectionately. “How are you doing?”

“Pretty good, I think,” said Blake. She smiled.

Over at the other end of the table, some guy slammed his cards onto the surface and shouted triumphantly. The people around him groaned. Drinks were passed around. Sun slid Blake a shot glass with his tail.

“Hey, Yang!” he said when he caught sight of her.

“Hey,” Yang said back. “You two seem to be having fun, I see.”

“Blake is,” Sun agreed. “Don’t worry, I’m totally being a great friend. She’s in safe hands with me around.”

They both watched as Blake picked up the glass, took a deep breath, and then knocked it back in one go. Her expression twisted into one of pain and disgust. “Oh god,” she said. “That was gross.”

“Maybe you shouldn’t bet so aggressively next time,” Sun told her, grinning.

“What is this?” said Yang. “Poker but with shots?”

“Yeah, basically.” Blake shuddered and then shook her head like she was trying to wring herself out. “I’m probably going to drop out after a few more rounds, I can already start to feel it.” She glanced back up at Yang, her happy little smile slowly returning again. A few seconds later she noticed the medals resting on her chest. “Are you wearing two medals?”

“Weiss gave me hers,” said Yang. “Something about me being the greatest person to ever exist?”

Blake laughed at that. Across the table, the dealer was handing out cards to everyone still playing. “Well, she’s not wrong,” said Blake, pulling her own medal off of herself and offering it up to Yang. “Here, make it three. In honor of you being one of the most thoughtful and loving people I have ever met.”

“Stop it,” said Yang, trying to tamp back the big dumb smile that appeared on her face. She could feel herself warming up inside but still bowed her head so Blake could slip the medal onto her neck. “Both you and Weiss need to stop. I can’t handle this many compliments in such a short period of time.”

“You guys are so disgusting,” Sun interjected.

“Thank you,” said Yang. The kid directly across from them was staring, so she pointed at the slice of cake he was eating. “You done with that?”

In a confused panic, he slid the plate over to Yang without questioning her. She positioned it in front of Sun and then gently smashed his face into it.

“I have no regrets,” Sun mumbled through the cake, clearly grinning.

Blake was laughing her head off, which instantly made it all worth it. Sun sat back up and tried to lick as much cake off his face as he could.

“As much as I would love to stick around and watch you get drunk,” said Yang, reaching up to run her hand through Blake’s hair, “there’s still one more person I need to visit before then.”

“Ruby?” Blake asked. She slid her pair of cards closer to herself, lifting up the end to check what they were. People around her had already started betting. “She came by a while ago to say hi, too. I think she went outside to go get some fresh air.”

“That makes sense.” Yang bent down to leave a kiss on the top of Blake’s head. “Thanks. I’ll come back after.”

She went to go get that poor dude another slice of cake because she felt bad, and then she made her way out of the packed dorm in search of her sister.

 


 

Yang found Ruby sitting alone outside, back behind the dorm where the porch was. She was up on the railing, kicking her legs back and forth while staring out into the trees in the distance.

“Why are you clinking so loud?” she asked without turning around.

“Cause Blake and Weiss are both total nerds,” Yang responded, swinging herself up onto the railing as well. That at least got a small smile out of Ruby. “Are you alright out here?”

“Yeah,” said Ruby. “You know I don’t really like being in big crowds for too long.”

“Right,” said Yang.

Outside, the sounds of the music and shouting and partying were muted. Ruby was nursing an opened can of beer in her lap.

“I didn’t drink that much, if that’s what you’re wondering,” she said, and handed the can to Yang. “I don’t really like how it tastes.”

“Yeah, it’s pretty gross,” Yang said. She sloshed the can around a bit. It was still at least half full. “Neon and her friends got the trashy stuff, too. I’ll never understand how Jaune managed to chug his way through an entire case of these.”

Ruby tried to smile, but Yang could tell it was forced. She looked tired. Yang frowned and scooted to the side so she could lean up against the nearby column, crossing her arms and just gazing at her sister. There was no point in prodding. She knew Ruby wouldn’t talk unless she really wanted to.

The silence stretched on. It was starting to get a little unnerving. Usually when they spent time together and it was quiet, the atmosphere felt calm and easygoing. Now it was just tense.

“We can go home if you’re not feeling it,” Yang tried.

“No, it’s okay,” said Ruby. “You guys are having fun, right? That’s what matters.”

“Oh, I get it now.” Yang laughed and absently flicked at the little tab on top of the beer can. “We’re all a bunch of self-sacrificing idiots. Your happiness matters to us too, silly.”

“I am happy,” said Ruby, and then she hastened to correct herself. “I was. I just—” Her next words came out of nowhere, spilling out of her in a rush. “Do you think Mom would be disappointed in me if she knew I was drinking?” 

Well. That was new. Ruby rarely ever openly talked about Summer like this. “I don’t know,” Yang said honestly. “I can’t answer that for you. I’m not her.”

“You knew her better than me, though,” said Ruby.

“Barely.” Yang sighed. Ruby deserved a better response than that. “Well, you want to know what my clearest memory of her is?”

For the first time since Yang had come outside, Ruby looked over at her, hesitantly curious. “What’s that?” she asked.

“I remember one day when I was really young, I spent an entire afternoon chasing this gigantic fly around the house,” Yang told her. “Mom had this cute little bonsai tree she loved taking care of. It was in a fancy pot and everything. And I wasn’t paying attention to where I was going at all, and ended up crashing into it and knocking it over. Smashed the thing into a million little pieces.”

“Wow,” said Ruby.

“Yeah,” Yang agreed. “I heard her come rushing down the stairs soon after that. My first instinct was to start crying, because I thought she was going to get so mad at me for what I did. But her first instinct was to come over and kneel down and make sure I wasn’t hurt. Because that’s the kind of person Summer was.” She paused for a moment. In all honesty she wasn’t even sure if she was being helpful. “I guess, if you’re asking what I think, then I think no, she wouldn’t be disappointed in you. Not at all.”

Ruby’s face twisted in uncertainty. “I don’t know,” she confessed. “Every time someone talks to me about her, it’s either to tell me that I look exactly like her, or that she was the greatest Huntress of her generation. And that just makes me wonder if I’m supposed to be the greatest Huntress of my generation too, just like her. And then I wonder if I’m doing it right or if I’m just disgracing her legacy. Or if she would even care. Ah, this sounds so stupid, doesn’t it?”

“No, it doesn’t,” Yang said quietly.

“I just want her to be proud of me,” said Ruby, making desperate little grabby hand motions in Yang’s general direction. Yang took that as an invitation to give her a hug and slid over to gather Ruby up in her arms. “But I’ll never know if she is because she’s dead. And all I have left of her is what other people tell me about her.”

Ruby was quivering slightly, clutching the back of Yang’s shirt in both of her hands. Yang had to dedicate part of her attention to making sure neither of them lost their balance and fell off the railing, but the rest of it went to just holding Ruby close, clinging onto her as tight as she could.

“You know,” Yang said eventually, “last time I checked, parties were supposed to make you feel good, not depressed.”

Ruby let out a weak laugh. “Sorry. I don’t know what’s gotten into me tonight.”

“I’m glad you were willing to share this with me.” Yang pulled away from Ruby but still held her close, rubbing a hand up and down her arm. “I know I’m not Summer, and I’ll never be able to fill the void she’s left, but for what it’s worth, I’m really, really proud of you. And I’m not just saying that. Spending all these years watching you grow up and become the amazing person you are today… I’m honored to call you my sister.”

“Yang,” Ruby said in a tiny voice. “You’re gonna make me cry.”

“I’m just speaking the truth.” Yang smiled at her. “I’ve always admired you for you. Your drive, your passion, your confidence in your beliefs, those things are all yours and yours alone. And anyone who tries to measure your worth by comparing you to Mom is a dumbass and I’ll beat them up.”

Ruby couldn’t help but smile just a tiny bit at that. “Even if that includes me?” she asked.

Especially if that includes you,” Yang said very seriously. “You deserve so much better than having to constantly live in someone else’s shadow. I mean it.”

“Okay,” said Ruby. She blew out a breath. “Okay. I’ll try.”

“That’s always a good start,” said Yang. “Come on, who’s the flaming badass that got into Beacon two years earlier than everyone else? You can do anything you put your mind to.”

Ruby punched Yang in the arm, embarrassed. “Shut up,” she said, but she was smiling. “I’m pretty sure Ozpin only let me in cause I’m Summer’s daughter.”

“Then I’ll punch him in the face,” Yang said simply.

“Yang, you can’t just solve every problem with your fists!”

“Yeah, but I can with this one. Someone makes my little sister upset, give em a good smack down. Boom. Fixed.”

It got Ruby laughing in earnest now, so Yang considered it a win. Ruby scooted in and hugged her again. “Thanks,” she said into Yang’s shirt. “You really are the greatest.”

“Nah, I think that title goes to you.”

“Well, if you wanna be wrong, then sure.” Ruby pulled back far enough to take her medal off. “Here you go. For being great.”

“Not you too,” said Yang, groaning dramatically.

“Clearly Blake and Weiss were onto something here,” Ruby told her with a small grin. “Come on, take it. You deserve it.”

So Yang sighed and let her put the medal around her neck, joining the other three already resting there. After that she scooted back to rest against the column again. Ruby seemed content to stay outside with her, and together they gazed out into the woods for a while. 

Back in the dorm, someone had managed to get everyone singing along with them at karaoke. The loud stomping and clapping reverberated through the walls. It was a stark contrast to the peacefulness outside.

Yang wasn’t sure how long they spent together looking out at the landscape, illuminated only by the moon above and the light streaming from the dorm windows. But it was long enough that she could feel the chill starting to settle in. “I’m gonna head back inside,” she said to Ruby. “You coming with?”

“I think I want to stay out here just a little bit longer,” said Ruby. “I’ll be back soon. I promise.”

“Alright.” Yang hopped off the railing, stretching a bit, and then held out the can of beer. “Do you want this back?”

“Um, not really,” said Ruby. “You can have it.”

“I promised Weiss I wouldn’t drink tonight. I’ll just go toss it once I get inside, then.” Yang leaned up to give Ruby a small kiss on the cheek. “Love you, sis.”

“I love you too,” Ruby said back, and her smile was small but genuine.

Then Yang headed inside, dropping the can of beer into the already overflowing trash bag near the entrance of the dorm before going deeper in to find her other teammates. 

 


 

Blake was still sitting at the same table in the lounge with Sun, but the game of poker had apparently long since ended. Most of the others had already left except for a couple of kids sitting at the other end. And Blake was definitely starting to have trouble staying upright.

“Hi,” she said, perking up when she caught sight of Yang.

“Hello,” said Yang, sliding into the seat across from Blake.

“Hi,” Blake said again. She squinted at Yang. “You’re Yang Xiao Long.”

“That’s me,” Yang agreed. Sun was trying really hard not to laugh. He looked like he’d been holding it in for a while now.

“That’s cool. I really like her.” Blake turned to Sun and nudged him with her elbow. “I really like Yang. Did you know that?”

“Yes, definitely,” Sun replied with a huge grin. “Seeing as you never stop talking about her. Or Weiss. Or Ruby.”

“Ohh,” said Blake. “Weiss and Ruby are really good, too.” She glanced back over at Yang, her faint smile slowly fading away. “Are you okay?”

“Huh? Oh, yeah. Don’t worry about me,” said Yang. “You should ask Ruby that question instead when she gets back, though.”

“Okay, I will.” Blake shifted a bit in her seat, and then looked at Sun again, frowning slightly. “Sun, I have a very serious dilemma.”

“What is your very serious dilemma?” Sun asked, amused.

“I want to hold hands with my girlfriends,” said Blake. “But I have three of them, and only two hands.” She put both of her hands face down on the surface of the table and stared at them for extra emphasis.

“You can always let me hold your butt instead,” Yang offered with a grin.

Blake had to think about that one for a moment. “I changed my mind,” she finally decided. “I will hold Weiss and Ruby’s hands. I don’t know who Yang Xiao Long is.”

Yang and Sun both burst out laughing at that. Blake looked like she didn’t understand why they found her words so funny, but she grinned sheepishly at them all the same.

“Tell you what,” said Yang. “I’ll give you a piggyback ride, and that way you can still hold hands with Weiss and Ruby at the same time. How’s that sound?”

There was another pause. “That sounds pretty nice,” Blake admitted, with the most adorable and shy little smile on her face.

A short while later Ruby appeared. Her shoulders drooped with exhaustion as she sidestepped her way through the crowd to get to them, but she also seemed more relaxed. Yang waved her over, and she smiled slightly, coming up and taking the seat next to her.

“Ruby,” Blake said immediately. “Hi. How are you feeling?”

Ruby just blinked at her, surprised. “I’m okay,” she said. “Yang talked me through some stuff earlier. I’m feeling better now.”

“That’s good,” said Blake. “I’m glad.”

“Well, that’ll be my cue to leave,” Sun announced, standing up from the table. “I assume you two will take care of Blake just fine without me. Plus I don’t wanna be here when you get all lovey dovey with each other.”

“Oh, okay,” said Blake, and then she kind of curled in on herself. “Sorry.”

“Hey, it’s okay,” Sun replied, slightly panicked. “Aw, don’t make that face at me. Listen Blake, I’m never going to stop making fun of you and your relationship, but I promise you I’m never actually offended either. Go be happy with your team! We can catch up later.” He grinned at her and patted her on the shoulder. “Speaking of teams, though, I should probably go find mine. Have any of you seen them around?”

“Neptune was chasing some other guy through the hallways earlier,” said Yang. “But that was a good while ago. Haven’t seen him since.”

“Ah,” Sun said thoughtfully. “Must have been the wedgie. Thanks!” Then he flashed them all a grin and thumbs up and disappeared before Yang could ask him what the actual hell he meant by that.

She was just about to get up and find Weiss to bring her to their little reunion when Ruby stole her thunder. Like usual.

“Hey, look,” said Ruby, pointing into the distance behind Blake. “It’s Weiss.”

Blake immediately brightened again and spun around. Sure enough, Weiss was approaching them, looking just the tiniest bit nervous. She stopped right next to the table, fiddling with her thumbs.

“Hello,” she said.

“Weiss,” said Blake. “I’m so happy to see you.” She held her arms out, practically begging Weiss for a hug. So Weiss smiled and obliged her, and her shoulders relaxed as Blake buried her face into her stomach.

“Note to self,” said Yang, grinning. “Blake turns into a big baby when drunk.”

“I just want to share all of my love with you guys,” Blake whined.

“Big, affectionate baby,” Ruby added with a smile.

There was a loud crash from what sounded like the kitchen area, followed by a bunch of shouting and jeering and laughing. A lot of people turned to look, curious as to what was going on. 

“What was that?” Blake said drowsily.

“Dunno,” said Yang, getting to her feet again. “Wanna go find out?”

So they all got up and headed towards the source of the ruckus. Blake seemed like she could walk just fine on her own, but Ruby insisted on offering her shoulder to lean on anyway. Yang meanwhile sidled up next to Weiss and bumped her gently.

“Hey,” she said. “How are you doing? I was literally just about to go find you when you showed up at the table instead.”

“Yeah. That.” Weiss shrugged a little. “Neptune came by and asked Jaune for help with something, and then Pyrrha followed them. Some people set up their gaming system in the room after that, but I got bored of watching them, so I left to find you guys.”

“Nice,” said Yang.

“I see Blake and Ruby gave you their medals too,” said Weiss.

“Ah, yes,” said Yang, smiling. “Apparently I’m on a team with a bunch of sappy nerds. Who would’ve thought?”

“Apparently,” Weiss corrected her, reaching over and giving the medals an admonishing tug, “we’re on a team with someone who has trouble seeing their own merit.”

Yang shut up after that, because she didn’t trust her brain to work faster than her mouth would have.

A large crowd of students had gathered at the far end of the kitchen, blocking the view of whatever was going on in the middle of it. But it sounded like there was something large and metallic involved. Neon’s head popped up over the crowd, and she waved them over excitedly.

“Yang!” she cried. Then she tried to shove apart the people in her way. “Step aside, people! Let the champions through!”

“What’s going on here?” Yang asked.

“One of the railings in the stairwell has been loose for weeks,” Neon explained gleefully. “It finally fell off today, so we took it back here and now we’re taking turns seeing if anyone can break it in half! No weapons allowed. Want to have a go?”

Yang could feel Weiss’s disapproval radiating off her already. “Oh, absolutely,” she said.

The four of them stepped through the gap and into the center of the crowd, just in time to see a guy leave, rubbing at his left hand in pain. Flynt and Ivori were each holding up one end of a long, thick metal pole. There were a couple of small dents in it, but besides that, it was still pretty intact. 

“This is ridiculous,” said Weiss. She looked up at Yang. “I take back what I said earlier. Please be careful, you gigantic, bumbling idiot.”

“I’ll try,” Yang said, grinning. “I’m uh, I’m gonna need you to sock me in the stomach real quick, though.”

“You need me to do what now?” said Weiss, and Yang probably would have broken down laughing at her expression if she hadn’t built up a tolerance from it being directed at her so often.

“You know, punch me or kick me real hard or something,” said Yang. “For my semblance. You can imagine I’m your father if that helps!”

“I am not —” said Weiss, sounding so offended she couldn’t find the right words for a moment. “No. Absolutely not. I refuse to take part in this nonsense. Get Blake or Ruby to do it for you.”

“I’m drunk,” Blake supplied helpfully. “My arms feel like wet noodles.”

“Then I guess it’s up to me,” said Ruby, pretending to look reluctant as she stepped forward. Yang grinned and crossed her arms, waiting patiently for Ruby to continue. Weiss just sighed, clearly having given up, and headed over to help hold Blake upright instead.

Ruby hopped from side to side a few times in anticipation. After a short pause, she brought her fist back and then drove it as hard as she could into Yang’s stomach. Yang doubled over, automatically reaching out and latching onto Ruby’s shoulder for support while she wheezed for breath. 

“Nice,” said Yang, smiling her way through the pain. “That was a good one, Ruby. Jeez. You just keep getting stronger and stronger.”

“Thanks,” Ruby said brightly.

It took a short while, but the aching in her stomach gradually started thrumming in time with her semblance. She stood up and headed over to where Flynt and Ivori were holding up the metal pole, stopping to gaze down at it. People in the crowd began cheering her on. 

“What body part do you think I should use?” she asked her teammates, turning her head to look at them with a grin. “Hands? Feet? Elbows?”

Weiss made a distressed sound. “Please don’t get yourself hurt.”

“Face?” Blake suggested.

“Blake, you are a genius,” said Yang.

Weiss made an even louder distressed sound.

Yang cracked her knuckles and rolled her shoulders. The chanting got louder. Flynt gave her a thumbs up. Ivori just smiled, amused. They held the pole tighter. Yang stared down at it.

Then she reared up and slammed her forehead down as hard as she could onto the pole. It gave way with a loud crunching sound, the metal bending sharply before snapping fully in half. The crowd exploded into shouting and cheering. Weiss rushed to her side soon after, followed closely by Blake and Ruby. She must have been wobbling on her feet.

“I will never understand how you can be so mature and caring and loving but also so stupid at the same time,” said Weiss, reaching her first and reaching up to cup Yang’s face in her hands. “God! Your forehead is bleeding now. That’s going to leave a nasty bruise.”

“Totally worth it,” said Yang. She smiled down at Weiss’s worried expression, trying to blink away the dizziness in her eyes while Weiss kept fussing over her.

“In my defense,” Blake piped up tentatively, looking very much like a kid who’d been caught stealing, “I didn’t think she’d actually do it.”

“That was your first mistake,” Ruby told her. Blake grinned back sheepishly.

“Honestly!” said Weiss. She rubbed away the little dribble of blood with her thumb, looking around for something to wipe it clean. “Having to live in constant fear and worry over you or Ruby monumentally injuring yourselves from doing something stupid is taking years off my life.”

“Hey,” said Ruby. “I have never done anything crazy or dangerous in my life, ever.”

Weiss turned her glare on her. “Look me in the eye and say that again.”

Yang started laughing. All around them, people were starting to disperse and give them some privacy now that the little competition had ended. “Sorry, Weiss,” Yang said. “I promise to take it easy for the rest of the night.”

She watched Weiss’s expression slowly soften again. “Good,” she said, and then she sighed. “Seriously, what would you three do without me?”

 


 

They left together a while after that, when it was well past midnight and people were starting to fall asleep all over the place. Neon bid them farewell at the door and Blake exchanged an almost tearful goodbye with Sun, and then they departed back to their own dorm.

Yang was carrying Blake on her back so she could hold Weiss and Ruby’s hands, as promised. Her medals clinked and bumped against her chest with each step, an almost rhythmic, soothing sound. The night air was freezing, but Yang’s semblance was still running on that vicious punch Ruby had given her earlier, so as long as everyone stuck close together it was relatively warm.

“Weiss,” said Blake, the first to break the peaceful silence.

“Yeah?”

“I’m really sorry.”

Weiss looked confused. “For what?” she asked.

Yang could feel Blake struggling to keep her head upright. She kept bumping it against Yang’s shoulder, like she was nodding off and trying extremely hard not to. “For being selfish,” she said, and pressed on before Weiss could protest. “I could tell you were uneasy and yet I still went and got myself super drunk. I should have considered your feelings more. I’m sorry.”

“I told you it was okay, didn’t I?” said Weiss. She squeezed Blake’s hand. “And I meant it. I appreciate the concern, but you didn’t do anything wrong, I promise.”

“I care a lot about you,” Blake said, her drowsiness starting to seep into her words. “Like, a lot a lot. To the moon and back a lot. I care about all of you a lot. I want all of you to be happy because you deserve it. So much.”

“Blake…” Weiss stopped talking for a moment, clearly considering her next words. “I know I’m always scolding one of you for one thing or another. But… you three make me happier than I can ever remember being in my entire life. I wouldn’t trade any of this for anything.”

“Yeah,” Ruby said. “Me too.”

“Guess we’re all in agreement, then,” said Yang, hopping Blake up a little so she could readjust her grip. “Keep doing what you’re doing, Blake. You’re great and you deserve happiness too.”

Blake’s only response was a content little rumbling noise.

The rest of the walk back was quiet. By the time they made it back to their room Yang was having to actively fight the urge to pass out. She gently deposited Blake onto the combined bed and then sat down on the other end, rubbing at her eyes. Weiss and Ruby were talking in low voices with each other. Yang managed to twist around and turn her head just in time to see them hug, and then Weiss went into the bathroom while Ruby came over to flop onto the bed as well.

“Weiss is gonna shower,” she said. Blake scooted over to latch onto her, already halfway asleep. “I don’t have the energy to clean myself up first.”

“Same,” said Yang.

She tried to stay up and wait for Weiss to come back, she really did, but she must have dozed off first without realizing it. She was vaguely aware of someone lifting the medals off her chest and carefully laying her down next to Blake. After that all she could remember was falling asleep feeling comfortable and safe.

Chapter 17

Notes:

ew who tf let me write 100k words of this nonsense

Chapter Text

Ruby stared at Weiss, who was standing motionless in the doorway. Weiss stared back.

“Ruby,” she said slowly, “what is that?”

“A swing,” said Ruby, as if it wasn’t obvious. Just to hit the point home further, she pushed back on the ground with her feet, rocking the swing back and forth a little.

“No, I—I know what a swing is,” said Weiss, exasperated. “But you built one in our dorm room? Hanging underneath your bed?”

“Yeah,” Ruby said, grinning. “I’m pretty sure we’re not going to move your bed back to where it used to be anytime soon. And all of this empty space down here was bothering me, so.”

“Is that even safe?”

“Is anything I make safe?” Ruby scooted over on the plank she was sitting on and patted the open space beside her. “I made it big enough for two people if we squish together a bit. Come join me!”

Weiss sighed and rubbed at her face with one hand, but she was smiling. She walked over to sit down next to Ruby. They had to press close together to fit on the swing at the same time, but it was still perfectly stable.

“If I die from this, I’m going to come back as a ghost and haunt you,” Weiss warned her.

“Is that supposed to be a bad thing?” said Ruby, and her smile only got wider when Weiss laughed in response.

A few minutes of peaceful swinging later, the door to the room opened and Yang walked in, followed closely by Blake. 

“Damn,” said Yang, heading over to her desk and pulling out the chair so she could sit down backwards on it. “The school feels so empty now without all the exchange students running around. It’s weird. I almost miss it.”

“Are you not going to comment on the fact that we apparently now have a swing in the room?” said Blake.

Ruby and Weiss just looked at her and kept swinging.

“I helped Ruby get the supplies, so no,” said Yang. She grinned up at Blake, who just kept standing blankly near the door. “It’s how we roll. I get the goods, and Ruby makes something magnificent with them.”

“That word choice is slightly unsettling,” said Weiss.

“As it should be,” Yang said cheerfully. “Hey sis, remember that one time we thought it would be funny to make a cannon out in the backyard? But instead of cannonballs, we shot Zwei out of it. And then we used each other as target practice.”

“Oh, yeah!” said Ruby, laughing. “That was awesome. Dad nearly had a heart attack when he found us.”

Weiss glanced back and forth between them, looking slightly horrified. Blake, meanwhile, seemed both amused and impressed.

“You two really are something else,” she said fondly.

“I mean, I don’t think it helped that we were both super hyperactive kids,” Yang said with a grin. “And we hardly ever had adult supervision, either. We used to get into so much trouble.”

Used to?” said Weiss. Yang just laughed.

“Well, hey,” said Ruby. “We’re not going to have this room for much longer. Might as well make the most of it while we can.” It took her a few more seconds for what she said to actually register in her brain. She sobered up pretty fast after that. “Oh, man. There’s really only like three weeks left before the school year ends, huh?”

“It’s been a hell of a year,” said Yang. 

“Yeah,” said Weiss.

Suddenly the atmosphere in the room seemed a lot more somber. 

“Are you two… going to be heading home?” Yang asked, breaking the tense silence.

Blake looked at the ground. “Um, probably not,” she said quietly. “To be honest, I’ve been trying to avoid thinking about it.”

“Oh,” said Yang. “Where… uh, where are you going to stay, then?”

“That’s a good question,” said Blake.

No one knew how to respond to that. Ruby felt Weiss tensing up next to her, so she put a hand on her back, rubbing in comforting circles.

“What about you?” she asked softly.

“I’m not sure,” Weiss said, frowning. She leaned over and put her head on Ruby’s shoulder, her feet dragging against the carpet as the swing began to lose momentum. “I could probably talk my way out of going back to Atlas if I tried, but I wouldn’t know where to stay after that.”

“Well, I mean,” said Yang, and she was doing a horrible job of keeping the desperation from leaking into her voice, “you could, you know, come stay with us. Me and Ruby, that is. If you wanted. Both of you. There’s definitely enough space in the house for all four of us, if you two were to come over for the break. You know. Hypothetically, of course.”

There was more silence.

“What a great idea,” said Ruby, knowing she sounded just as nonchalant as Yang had. Which is to say not at all. “You two should totally take us up on that offer.”

“Your dad really wouldn’t mind?” Blake asked hesitantly.

“Oh, no,” said Yang. “He likes having company over. The more, the merrier, right?”

They watched as both Blake and Weiss considered it.

“That is a pretty tempting offer,” Weiss admitted.

“So is that a yes?” said Yang, her shoulders sagging a bit in relief.

“Maybe,” said Blake.

Ruby smiled, because that was definitely a yes. Blake smiled back, all small and hopeful and more relaxed than she’d been earlier.

“I’ll have to think about it,” said Weiss. Ruby’s grin widened, because that was definitely also a yes. Weiss noticed and gently pushed her face in the other direction. “Don’t give me that look. I still have to figure out how I want to go about all this.”

“Oh, that’s true,” said Ruby. “We don’t want your family thinking we committed a crime and kidnapped you or something.”

“You know what’s the real crime?” Yang said abruptly, slapping her hands repeatedly against the back of the chair. Apparently the momentary sad times were over now. She pointed up at Blake. “You and I haven’t kissed yet.”

“We haven’t?” said Blake.

“I feel like I would have remembered if we did.” Yang grinned and stood up, stretching a bit before kicking aside the chair. “Wanna do it now?”

“That’s a dumb question,” said Blake, already making her way across the room.

Ruby made it almost five seconds watching them kiss before she had to look away. It made her happy to see Yang and Blake so happy, but just staring at them while they made out also felt really weird. So she decided to groan dramatically instead, flopping backwards off the swing and onto the ground. 

“Wake me up when they’re done being gross,” she said, bringing one hand up to her forehead and closing her eyes.

She could almost feel Weiss’s judgemental gaze on her. “Well,” she said a few moments later, “what if I offered to kiss you in the meantime so you don’t have to watch them being gross?”

And just like that, Ruby promptly dropped the annoyed act and perked back up. She got so excited, in fact, that she tried to sit up just as the swing was on its way backwards, and as a result it smacked her in the face, knocking her right back to the ground.

Weiss was on top of her in an instant, clutching at her face with both hands. “Are you alright?” she said frantically, tilting her head back and forth to check for injuries.

Ruby couldn’t help but laugh. “I’m okay, Weiss,” she said. “Thank you for the concern, though. Weiss—” She kept laughing while Weiss fussed over her. “Weiss, come on, you gotta let me get up first.”

So Weiss scooted back a little without getting off of Ruby, allowing her to push herself back up into a sitting position. Seconds later Ruby grinned and then leaned forward to kiss her.

She wondered if she would ever get tired of how nice it all was, the feeling of Weiss’s lips on hers, or Weiss’s hands in her hair or her nose bumping against her cheek. She tried to pull herself closer, losing herself in her little haze of happiness, and couldn’t be bothered to notice or care when someone came over and up behind her.

Except then a moment later that person took her underneath her arms and rudely hauled her away from Weiss. She flailed around a bit as she was lifted into the air by none other than her annoying big sister Yang, who was carefully sidestepping around Weiss and the swing.

“What?” said Ruby. “Are you guys done being gross already?”

“Sadly, yes,” said Yang, but she was grinning. “Blake wants a kiss from you, too. You’re welcome.”

Ruby kept squirming around just to be a pain, but if it was affecting Yang’s ability to carry her like she was a small baby, she wasn’t showing it. Blake was standing in the center of the room waiting for them with a smile on her face. When they reached her Ruby fully expected to be put down on the ground, but Yang kept holding onto her. So Blake walked up to her and just kissed her like that.

It was nice, it really was, except Yang was still holding her and making it unnecessarily weird. “Yang, let me go,” she complained, lamenting the fact that she had to pull away from Blake in the process. “My armpits are starting to hurt.”

“I am doing you a favor,” Yang told her. “Or Blake, rather. Cause now she doesn’t have to lean down to kiss your short ass.”

Blake very helpfully held up her hands so Ruby could push off of them with her feet, knocking her head back as hard as she could into Yang’s face and sending them both toppling to the ground. Yang burst out laughing and didn’t stop, even while Ruby struggled to twist around and get her sister into a chokehold. 

“You’re the worst!” she shouted, without really meaning it. Blake was laughing too, and Weiss was still sitting on the ground giving them that exasperated but affectionate look she always did, so Ruby couldn’t even bring herself to actually be mad.

“I’m sorry. I’m sorry, sis, jeez,” Yang said through her laughter. She clearly wasn’t sorry. Weiss came up to them a moment later and dragged one of Yang’s arms away from her, keeping her pinned to the ground so she couldn’t get up anymore.

“This is for stealing Ruby away from me,” she said matter-of-factly.

Yang’s grin just kept getting bigger. “Aw come on, you two,” she said. “I was just trying to be helpful. Blake? Blake, you’re on my side, right?” 

Blake went over to the combined bed to pick up a pillow before heading over to join them. She crouched down next to Yang, pretending to think it over.

Ruby could tell that Yang was secretly enjoying being at the center of attention. Blake must have noticed too, because a second later, she smacked the pillow onto Yang’s face.

Yang just kept laughing and laughing, and the bright, carefree sound helped lift Ruby’s spirits, too. After everything that had happened, sometimes it just felt good to see her teammates enjoying themselves and having fun. Even if they were literally bullying Yang into the ground at the moment, but that was normal for the four of them.

 


 

“I’m going to call my father,” Weiss announced to them one day.

Ruby lifted her head off Blake’s lap and looked at her. “Right now?” she asked.

“Yes,” said Weiss. She clenched her fist, clearly determined to stay resolute. “I’ve been avoiding him long enough. I just need to get it over with. Plus, I still have to tell him I’m going to be staying with you on Patch for the break.”

Yang perked up at that from where she was sitting on the other end of the combined bed. “You really mean that?” she said.

“Of course,” said Weiss. “It was a choice between you three or him. That’s not exactly a tough decision.”

“I mean,” said Yang with a small grin, “you’re gonna have to deal with us being rowdy all break. And annoying. And loud.”

“Did I stutter?” Weiss said pointedly.

“Feisty,” said Blake. She was smiling. They were all smiling.

So then the four of them went over and sat down in a circle on the carpet. Weiss pulled out her scroll and opened it up, sliding it out in front of her. She took a deep breath.

“You need us to do anything?” Ruby asked her.

“No,” said Weiss, her voice tight. “Just… be here with me?”

“That’s easy,” said Yang. Being the closest, she reached over and put a hand on Weiss’s shoulder. “We’re all right here by your side.”

“Thanks,” said Weiss.

She pulled up her father’s contact on her scroll and hit the call button.

The scroll started ringing.

They all stared at it as it kept on ringing. With each passing second Weiss looked more and more like she didn’t want the call to connect. 

Then there was a click.

“What is it?” came Jacques Schnee’s impatient, slightly annoyed voice.

“Hello, Father,” Weiss said timidly.

“Hm?” said Jacques. “Oh, Weiss. I’m a little busy at the moment, so if you could make it quick.”

“I—Oh, I’m sorry, I didn’t really have anything in particular to say. I just thought you wanted to talk to me about something.”

“What?” There were some vague clicking noises on the other end, and then what sounded like Jacques leaning back in his seat. “Oh, right. You haven’t been answering my calls, girl.”

Weiss winced. “I was busy,” she lied. “With school assignments and missions and the like.”

“But not busy enough that you could take a little field trip to the company mine near Vale?”

Yang looked ready to fight something. Blake’s expression was very carefully blank. Ruby scooted closer to Weiss, who had flinched at her father’s flat tone.

“That—that was a mission, Father,” Weiss managed to get out.

“Hmph,” said Jacques. “I have to question why your teachers took you anywhere near there in the first place.”

“Well, you should be grateful they did,” Weiss said, a hint of anger creeping into her voice. She was sticking to the story that Ozpin had told the public, Ruby noticed. “If we hadn’t been there the mine would have been destroyed.”

“Yes, I know, Weiss,” Jacques said, all slow and patronizing. “I’ve already heard this from James multiple times.”

Weiss rubbed at her face with one hand. She looked more annoyed now than scared, but also weary, like she’d fully been expecting this to happen. “I didn’t even do anything bad while I was there,” she said. “All I did was help protect the company’s property. So why do you sound so upset with me?”

“I’m not upset with you,” said Jacques. Except that was a blatant lie and they all knew it. “Surely you’ve been keeping up with the news. I don’t exactly appreciate everyone trying to turn the way I run my company into an unnecessary scandal!”

“And you blame me for this?” said Weiss.

Jacques let out a frustrated sigh before speaking again. “I never said that, Weiss.”

“But you’re implying it!”

“You should watch your tone, girl,” Jacques warned her. “I already have a busy enough workload running the company as is. I don’t need any more of this protesting nonsense on top of it!”

“None of that is my fault, though!” said Weiss.

“I don’t have the time to explain it to you right now. Not that you would understand, anyway.”

“Seriously?!”

Ruby reached out a hand towards Weiss, unsure of what she should do, or if there even was anything she could do. But Weiss took her hand and squeezed it. Ruby squeezed back. Her grip was so tight it was almost painful, but Ruby didn’t say anything. 

Weiss closed her eyes and forced herself to calm down. “I’m sorry, Father,” she said stiffly. “Is that all you wanted to say to me?”

“I suppose so,” Jacques mused. “This is your last warning, Weiss. You really need to learn to be more attentive to your public image. You’re a Schnee, after all.”

Weiss clenched her jaw so hard for a second Ruby was concerned she was going to break her teeth. Jacques continued on, oblivious and unconcerned.

“Now if that is all—”

“Wait!” said Weiss.

Jacques sighed again, loudly. “What?”

“One last thing before you go,” said Weiss. “I won’t be going back to Atlas for the break.”

There was a long pause. If the scroll’s call screen hadn’t still been blinking back at them, Ruby would have almost believed the line had gone dead.

“Don’t tell me you’re still trying to rebel against me, Weiss,” Jacques finally said. “You’re getting much too old for that.”

“What?” said Weiss. “No! I just wanted to stay at Beacon instead of going home. They have extra missions and classes for students here over the break. My whole team will be staying with me. I just thought it would be good for my studies.”

“I see,” said Jacques. “Are you sure about your decision? Your mother and I are going to miss you terribly, you know. She already has to spend a majority of the year without you by her side. I wouldn’t even know how to begin to break the news to her.”

Ruby was pretty sure that if Weiss squeezed her hand any harder it would leave imprints. 

“You’re a sad excuse for a father,” Weiss said under her breath.

“What was that?” Jacques said sharply.

Weiss flinched, but stubbornly remained quiet.

“Young lady, when I ask you a question, you answer me, do you understand—”

Before Ruby could stop herself, she reached forward and scooped up the scroll in her hand. “Um, sir,” she said, “this is a fast food drive-through. Have you considered therapy instead?”

Then she hung up.

The dorm room fell silent.

After what felt like several long, tortuous moments, Yang clamped a hand over her mouth, got up, went over to the combined bed, flopped down on it, and then burst out laughing as hard as she could into one of the pillows.

Weiss was staring at the ground in front of her with a blank expression on her face, like her brain had just decided to stop functioning altogether. Ruby honestly couldn’t blame her. When Weiss finally looked up again Ruby gave her a sheepish smile, fiddling nervously with her hands. 

“I didn’t just make everything a million times worse, did I?” she asked. Yang was still over on the bed laughing her ass off. Weiss busied herself with crawling into Blake’s open arms before responding.

“No, I don’t think so,” she said, burying her face into Blake’s shoulder, while Blake rubbed comfortingly up and down her back. Her tiny smile slowly faded away, and she sighed. “That went about as well as I was expecting. But as long as I keep my head down and stop causing drama he should leave me alone for the most part. I chose to call during his busiest hours for a reason.”

“You’re so strong,” Blake told her softly.

Now that the phone call was over, all the tension had gone out of Weiss, leaving her limp and exhausted in Blake’s embrace. Yang rolled off the bed and landed on her back next to them, still clutching onto the pillow.

“That’s it,” she said. “We’re gonna build a giant catapult and fling your dad into a pit of Beowolves. Then we’ll throw a party to celebrate his only meaningful achievement in life, which was helping to bring Weiss Schnee into existence.”

Weiss managed a small, faint smile at that. “Thank you,” she said. “All of you. For being here and being so supportive. And somehow always managing to lighten the mood whenever something goes south.”

They didn’t get much more time to calm down after that. Jaune broke down their door a few minutes later with Nora hovering on tiptoe just barely over his shoulder, which meant it was time for dinner.

“Wait, I thought Yang and Weiss were dating?” Jaune asked, confused.

“We are,” Weiss answered while still curled up in Blake’s arms.

Jaune’s expression twisted trying to decipher what that meant. Ruby could practically see him struggling to put the pieces together in his head.

“So weird,” Nora said.

Pyrrha poked her head in the doorway, smiling pleasantly at Team RWBY. “Don’t worry,” she told them. “Give it some time, they’ll figure it out eventually.”

Then Nora gasped.

“Well, that was fast,” said Pyrrha.

“Oh my god,” Nora said gleefully. “Oh my god! That’s so cute!”

“Wait, what is it? What is it?” said Jaune.

But Nora just kept laughing to herself and walked out of the room.

“When did you figure it out?” Yang asked Pyrrha, while Jaune trailed out after Nora looking vaguely like a lost puppy.

Pyrrha’s smile was just the tiniest bit smug. Ruby figured she probably deserved it. “I knew before you four even knew. Now come on, let’s go get some dinner.”

 


 

Since the school year was almost over, things at Beacon were beginning to wind down. There wasn’t much going on, besides the written portion of the finals and one last school-sanctioned mission before the kids got released for break. The mission wasn’t until another week, and according to the upperclassmen, no one ever took the written finals seriously, so the rest of the year was theoretically going to be pretty smooth sailing.

One day over the weekend Weiss finally took Jaune up on his offer to go to the movies together, so they were off doing that, while Yang and Nora were in the training rooms beating each other up. So Pyrrha and Ren dragged Ruby out to the library to hang out and talk. They’d taken over one of the tables in the back near the window, and now they were sitting around it, chatting peacefully about all sorts of stupid things.

“That seems a bit loose in the back,” said Ren, looking down at the tissue Ruby was proudly showing him. “Ursai have extremely stubby hind legs. If you’re not careful, the saddle could slip off from the back in the middle of a battle.”

“Oh, you’re right,” said Ruby. “Here, what about this?” She took the tissue back and scribbled over the sketch carefully. There was already a small pile of ripped tissues on the table that she’d accidentally tore through in her excitement earlier. “There. Now the straps are tighter and I added another one around its neck.”

“That’s better,” Ren said agreeably.

“Are you sure this would work?” asked Pyrrha. “How would you even get the saddle onto the Ursa in the first place?”

“That’s easy,” said Ruby. “Just knock it on its head hard enough to daze it, but not kill it. Then you gotta work fast before it wakes up. Or we could probably just get Yang and Nora to manhandle it into submission.”

“Nora could definitely do it,” said Ren.

“That almost sounds like you’re speaking from experience,” said Pyrrha, smiling slightly.

Ren’s silence was confirmation enough. Ruby laughed in delight.

They kept talking and discussing the mechanics of the Ursa saddle further. Sometime during the conversation Pyrrha glanced up at something behind Ruby, looking perplexed. So Ruby turned around to see what she was staring at, only to find Blake crouched atop the nearest bookshelf, in the middle of making a shushing gesture at Pyrrha.

“Blake?” said Ruby.

Blake looked down at her and grinned, knowing she’d been caught. She tilted her head to the side, silently asking Ruby to turn back around. Ruby blinked, but did as she asked, trying to go back to the conversation at hand. It was tough. Pyrrha and Ren were both giving her amused expressions and not being helpful in the slightest.

Then, out of nowhere, Blake landed into a perfect crouch right on the table in front of Ruby with a quiet thump. Ruby automatically scooted back in her seat in surprise, her heart beginning to beat faster from the look Blake was giving her.

“Hey,” Blake said into the ensuing silence. “I think you’re really cute. We should date.”

Ruby let out a shocked laugh and tried to push Blake away by her face. Blake just grinned back at her.

“You’re so silly. What the heck,” Ruby told her, unable to keep the dumb smile off her own face. “Couldn’t you have just walked up to me like a normal person?”

“No,” said Blake. She turned around to look at Pyrrha and Ren. “Hey, guys. I hope I’m not interrupting anything important?”

“Hello, Blake,” said Pyrrha. “You aren’t. We were mostly just relaxing and chatting.”

“Ursa saddle,” Ruby said simply, holding up the tissue for Blake to see.

Blake looked at it and then smiled. “Are you sure you should be judging me for not being a normal person when you’ve been doing this in the meantime?”

“Excuse you, I don’t need your logic,” said Ruby, reaching up to try and push Blake away again. It still didn’t work. “What are you doing here?”

“I… was going to ask if you were free,” Blake admitted. She glanced sheepishly back at Pyrrha and Ren. “But if you’re in the middle of something, I don’t want to take you away from it.”

“What did you want to do?” asked Ruby.

Blake hopped off of the table and dusted her pants off before responding again. “I—well, I did promise you a date after the tournament ended.” She looked suddenly nervous, one of her cat ears twitching atop her head. Ruby thought it was adorable.

“I would love to go on a date with you,” she said happily. “If Pyrrha and Ren don’t mind me bailing on them, that is.”

“Go ahead,” said Pyrrha. “We should probably go and make sure Nora’s not dead yet, anyway.” Ren nodded his agreement.

“Okay.” Ruby hopped to her feet and pushed the chair back in. “Thanks! You guys rock. I’ll see you later!” Then she took Blake’s hand, intertwining their fingers together, and they started heading for the library exit.

They went back to the dorm room first. Blake opened up her closet and started riffling through her clothes, evidently trying to find a way to keep her hands busy. 

“Sorry for the late notice,” she said. “I just found out that new tea place opened up in Vale and I didn’t want to wait.” She glanced at Ruby and gave her an embarrassed smile. “I probably shouldn’t have just barged in on your free time with Pyrrha and Ren like that, though.”

“Do you really still feel bad?” said Ruby, affection bubbling up inside her. “Blake, you know they’re basically impossible to piss off. It’s okay! Besides, I bet they were starting to get tired of my rambling.”

“I can’t even imagine ever getting tired of listening to you talk,” Blake said softly.

Ruby beamed at her, feeling all warm and fuzzy inside. She went over to Weiss’s closet and found Blake’s dark purple hoodie folded neatly on the top shelf, right next to Yang’s jacket that she had apparently kept even after their date. Ruby smiled to herself and pulled out the hoodie to put it on. She knew Blake was watching, too, because the rustling sounds behind her had stopped.

“How do I look?” Ruby asked when she was done, spinning around and putting her hands on her hips. Blake laughed lightly. The sound made Ruby’s heart soar.

“You look wonderful, as always,” she replied. “I’d ask if I could match with you, but you’re a lot smaller than I am.”

Ruby thought about that for a moment. Then she snapped her fingers and pointed at Blake. “Wait, no, I got it. Yang bought me this jacket last year, and it’s really nice, but it’s also a few sizes too big for me so I don’t wear it often. Maybe I’ll grow into it eventually or something. Anyway, you should try it on!” She rushed over to her own closet and dug out the jacket, excitedly showing it off to Blake.

Blake just smiled in response and let Ruby help get her arms through the jacket sleeves. On Ruby the jacket was a little baggy and loose, but it fit nice and snug on Blake. Ruby couldn’t stop herself from smiling like an idiot, staring shamelessly at Blake wearing her clothes.

“Now I understand why you let us keep your hoodie,” said Ruby.

Blake grinned and straightened out the front of the jacket. “This is nice,” she said. “Tell Yang I said thanks.”

“Tell her yourself, nerd,” said Ruby. “Are we leaving right now?”

“Yeah. That was the plan,” said Blake. She went over to the door and opened it up, giving Ruby a dramatic bow. “After you.”

Ruby laughed and left the room, Blake following close behind.

 


 

The airship ride into Vale didn’t take long and passed without much incident. The tea place Blake had mentioned was situated along a street lining the river, a nice cozy shop sandwiched between two taller buildings.

Thankfully the place wasn’t too full yet, so they could enter and get in line relatively quickly. Ruby couldn’t decide between all the different choices, so she just had Blake pick one at random for her. Shortly after they took their drinks and headed towards the back of the shop to find a place to sit.

There was an open table by the window. Blake scooted sideways into the booth first, propping one leg up on the seat and patting her lap. Ruby grinned and got in, happily situating herself atop Blake and melting when she brought her hand up to curl around the back of her neck.

“Enjoying yourself?” Blake asked her.

“Yeah,” said Ruby. “You?”

Blake smiled. “Of course.”

They settled in together just like that, which was probably a little bit impolite considering they were in public, but no one was paying them any mind so Ruby figured it was okay. She sipped at her tea. It was fruity and almost overly sweet, which was perfect for her.

Ruby didn’t know what it was exactly, but being with Blake was just so relaxing. She always had this warm sensation of comfort and safety inside her whenever she was near Blake. They sat in silence for a bit, Ruby basking in the feeling while they drank their tea.

After a bit Ruby began to catch Blake staring at her more often than not. She always looked deep in thought, calm but a little distracted. So Ruby smiled and poked her in the chest.

“What are you thinking about?” she asked.

Blake didn’t answer at first, only continuing to gaze up into Ruby’s face. She brushed her thumb absently over the back of Ruby’s neck.

“You,” she said simply.

Ruby laughed and shoved her lightly. “Sap.”

“Guilty as charged,” said Blake with a small smile. “Really, though? I was just thinking about how sometimes you remind me of what I was like when I was younger.”

“Really?”

“Yeah,” said Blake. “I mean that in a good way. I’m not proud of how jaded and pessimistic I became during my time with the White Fang. They teach you that it’s the correct way to view the world—that everything sucks and will always suck, and the only way to accomplish your goals is to destroy anything and everything that oppresses you.”

“Well, I can’t really blame you,” said Ruby. “You’ve seen a lot more of the world than I have. You’ve gone through a lot.”

“So have you,” Blake told her. She was still rubbing her hand over the back of Ruby’s neck, her other hand playing with the strings of her hoodie. “But you’re still just as optimistic as ever. They would’ve called you naive back in the White Fang. And maybe that’s true, but the more time I spend with you, the more I wonder if that really even is a bad thing.”

“I get called that a lot, actually,” Ruby admitted sheepishly. “It used to get to me more. But I just don’t understand the appeal of being negative all the time, I guess. I’d rather be happy and help make the people around me happy. And if others have a problem with that, they can go and be sad and moody by themselves, you know? There’s already enough pain in the world. I just want to see the good in life if I can.”

Blake laughed softly. “See? That’s what I really admire about you. That innocence and purity you possess.” She lifted her hand up and let it rest on Ruby’s chest, right over her heart. “It kind of makes me want to protect you, even though I know you’re perfectly capable of protecting yourself.”

“We can make it go both ways,” said Ruby. She wondered if Blake could feel her heartbeat, thumping away rapidly inside her chest. “You protect me, I’ll protect you. Cause I got your back too. How’s that sound?”

“It sounds great,” said Blake, tilting Ruby’s head down just a bit and leaning up to press a kiss to her forehead. “You always seem to say just the right thing. Thank you.”

Ruby nestled herself further into Blake, sighing and resting her head against Blake’s shoulder. They stayed like that for a while, just enjoying each other’s company as the time passed. Ruby was in the perfect position to gaze out the window, so she did, watching all the different people walk by. There was a little boy skipping along the streets, clutching onto his mother’s hand and almost dragging her along. Another pair of kids seemed to be racing, laughing and nearly stumbling as they tried to push ahead of each other. She saw an elderly couple, a girl with a giant backpack and a stack of books in her arms, and a lanky man with dark red hair. She wondered where they were headed, and what their lives were like.

“Are you done with your tea yet?” Blake asked, snapping Ruby out of her reverie.

“Oh, I forgot about it,” said Ruby. She scooted back and picked up her cup, sloshing it around to check how full it was. “We can take it outside and walk around? The weather’s surprisingly nice today.” 

“Sure,” said Blake. 

So they got up and headed out together, hand in hand, back onto the sidewalk. As they began walking Ruby alternated between finishing up the remainder of her tea and chatting peacefully with Blake about anything and everything, like their favorite things, or silly stories, or Yang, or Weiss, or both of them at the same time. 

Soon enough she could hear the sound of boats in the distance.

“Are we getting near the docks?” she asked, tossing her empty cup into a trash can while Blake stood nearby.

“I guess so,” said Blake, grinning. “Come over here, I want to show you something.”

She led Ruby down a side street, the expanse of water in the distance gradually growing closer as they walked, until they reached a blocked-off area. Ruby stared up at the tall, looming fence, and the sign tacked on it that read “DO NOT ENTER.”

Then Blake started climbing the fence.

“What?” said Ruby.

Blake glanced down at her and smiled. “What?” she repeated back to Ruby. “Are you coming or not?”

So Ruby smiled too and hooked her hands through the metal links and started pulling herself up. She made it over the fence in no time at all and hopped down to the other side, where Blake was patiently waiting for her.

“Over here,” she said.

There was a grassy hill on the other side of the fence, and when they made it to the top, a wide, empty stretch of ocean lay there waiting for them in all its shimmering, mesmerizing glory.

“Wow,” Ruby said in awe. “It’s beautiful.”

“Not many ships pass through this area,” said Blake. She started heading down the hill towards the water’s edge, so Ruby followed after her. “I’m not sure why. But it’s always quiet and calm here, so I like it.”

“I like it too,” Ruby agreed.

They stood there gazing upon the nearly motionless surface of the water for a while, until Blake must have noticed something in the grass, because she left Ruby’s side to walk over and lean down to pick it up. As she approached closer Ruby could see that the object had been a smooth, flat rock. Blake was flipping it up and down in her hand.

“Want to see something cool?” she asked Ruby.

“Sure,” said Ruby, blinking.

Blake went up to the very edge of the water and held the small rock in between her thumb and index finger. She pulled her arm back carefully, and then a moment later, chucked the rock forward out towards the ocean. It spun and bounced several times against the surface of the water before finally sinking underneath.

“Whoa,” Ruby said excitedly. “I didn’t know you could skip rocks. That’s awesome!”

“I’m surprised I still remember how to do it.” Blake turned back to face Ruby and gave her a small smile. “It’s been a while.”

“Can you teach me?” Ruby asked her, just barely resisting the urge to bounce up and down.

“Yeah, sure,” said Blake. “Here, help me find a few flat pebbles first. Just make sure they’re not too big.”

They went down opposite ends of the coast looking for suitable rocks. Ruby picked out a handful that she hoped were good enough. Blake had already made a small pile at her feet, so Ruby came over and added hers to it.

“Okay,” said Blake. She was holding two rocks, and handed one to Ruby. “So first of all, you have to hold the rock flat between your thumb and index finger, like this. When you throw it, you want to make sure it goes as horizontal as possible. And your hand does this sort of flick at the front, like this.” She demonstrated the motion. “Put as much spin onto the rock as you can, and then hope for the best.”

Ruby watched intently as she threw the rock again, and counted five skips before it splashed into the water. She struggled to get her own rock into the grip that Blake had shown her. “So I hold it like this?”

“Yeah. That’s good,” said Blake. She smiled and came up behind Ruby, putting one hand on her waist while her other went up to readjust Ruby’s grip on the rock. “A little bit tighter here.”

Ruby tried not to relax too much into Blake’s hold. She could feel Blake peeking calmly over her shoulder. Her face was so close. 

“Ah,” said Ruby. “Okay. Right. And then I do… this?”

“Try lower.”

“Okay.”

Eventually Blake seemed satisfied with Ruby’s positioning and stepped away. “Go for it,” she said, nodding towards the water.

Ruby took a deep breath and steeled herself. She brought her arm back, determined to make Blake proud. She could do this.

She threw the rock. It plopped into the water with a splash.

She tried not to pout and failed.

Blake was laughing lightly behind her. “That was a good first try,” she said earnestly, and bent down to pick up more rocks. “There’s a reason why we got so many. Practice makes perfect, right?”

“Right,” said Ruby. “I can do this. I got this!”

They spent the next few minutes skipping rocks together, standing side by side on the coast. Ruby kept messing it up, over and over again, until she finally chucked a pebble and it skipped twice over the water before sinking under the surface. 

“Blake!” she shouted. “Did you see that? I did it! I did it!”

“Yes, I did,” said Blake, smiling broadly. “I’m proud of you, Ruby. That was great.”

Ruby did a little victory dance and then pumped her fists in the air. “Oh, that felt so good. I’m a professional rock skipper now, just like you! How about that? Do I get a reward?”

“Sure,” Blake said, still smiling, and then she leaned down. Ruby met her halfway and happily sank into the kiss.

“Hey!” came a shout behind them. Ruby spun around and saw an angry old guy running up towards them. “What the hell are you girls doing out here? This is private property!”

“Oh, no,” said Blake.

“Um, do we run?” Ruby asked.

“That would probably be a good idea,” said Blake.

They took off sprinting, the dude still yelling after them. Blake practically vaulted over the fence and Ruby had to scramble to follow. Together they tore down the streets of Vale as fast as they could, and soon enough Ruby was laughing loud and open into the wind, Blake grinning her ass off beside her.

They didn’t stop running, even after getting off the airship back at Beacon, and stumbled into their dorm room together. Ruby was still laughing uncontrollably and had to brace herself against both Blake and the door to keep her balance. 

“Good afternoon to you too?” someone said from the combined bed.

“Hi, Yang,” said Blake, that huge smile still firmly in place. “Don’t mind us. Just running from the law, as you do.”

Yang shot them an amused look. “Alright, then,” she said. 

“What have you been up to?” asked Ruby.

“Well, as you can see, I was just about to hit the shower, since I’m all disgusting and stuff.” Yang grinned and flinged her sweaty tank top at Ruby, which hit her in the face. “Pyrrha told me you guys went on a date, though. Wasn’t expecting you to be back so early. How was it?”

“It was fun,” Ruby said brightly. “At least until we got caught trespassing on private property.”

“Nah, that part was pretty fun too,” said Blake.

Ruby laughed.

“Well I’m glad you’re both alive and not in jail,” said Yang. “Weiss should be back soon. After I finish showering let’s go get dinner, I’m starving.”

“Sure,” said Ruby.

The second the bathroom door closed Blake pushed Ruby up against the door and kissed her again. Ruby had to make an effort not to smile through it.

“Thank you for humoring me today,” Blake said softly. “I had a great time.”

“Me too,” said Ruby. She smiled, feeling content, and pulled Blake even closer to her. “You know I’d go anywhere with you.”

 


 

All the first-year students were packed into the auditorium. It was the day before the final mission of the year, and Professor Goodwitch was up on the stage briefing everyone on the details. Ruby kept bobbing up and down in her excitement. Weiss was trying to get her to calm down with a hand on her shoulder, except it wasn’t working. At least Nora was bobbing up and down with her so it wasn’t as weird.

“The list of missions are located on the boards to your left,” said Goodwitch, pointing with her riding crop over at the holographic panels lining the wall. “They are fairly similar to the ones you have seen in the past. There are, however, two new missions at the bottom. These both require two teams each. The missions are on a first come, first serve basis, so if you wish to partake in either of them, make sure you sign up first. Please do have your partner team in mind before you approach the boards.”

Ruby extended her fist. Jaune bumped it with his. One way or another they both knew they were going to get their hands on one of those two-team missions.

“One last thing before you all start fighting with each other over the different missions,” Goodwitch continued. “We have recently been receiving reports of a suspicious individual lurking near Beacon’s campus. Our teachers and Huntsmen are on high alert, so there shouldn’t be any threat, but if any of you do see this person, please notify a staff member just to be safe.”

“That’s kinda creepy,” said Yang, grinning. Ruby laughed.

Then Goodwitch dismissed them, and Ruby shot off like a rocket towards the mission boards. She rematerialized right in front of another team, startling them several steps backwards when she slapped her hand over the panel with one of the two-team missions on it.

“Sup,” she said, trying to sound cool and casual. The other team slowly backed away.

By the time she was done typing in Team RWBY and Team JNPR’s names into the prompt the rest of them had caught up to her. Everyone else was giving them a wide berth, evidently too intimidated to try and contest their claim to the mission.

“I feel like your semblance gives you an unfair advantage in situations like these,” said Yang, reaching forward and knocking Ruby’s head into the panel just to be annoying. 

“Well it got us the mission, so you’re welcome.” Ruby turned around to face them and jumped up into Weiss’s arms. Weiss very nearly dropped her in surprise. “I can’t wait for tomorrow! This is going to be so much fun.”

“Did you even check to see what we’re going to be doing?” Ren asked her.

“Not really,” Ruby said cheerfully. Weiss grumbled and strained to readjust her grip.

Pyrrha went up to the board and opened up the mission description. “It says there’s a village near the edge of the kingdom whose walls were recently decimated in a Grimm attack,” she told the group. “We’re supposed to alternate between helping to rebuild it and patrolling to wipe out any stragglers left over from the attack.”

“That sounds pretty easy,” said Yang. “Especially with all eight of us plus whichever Huntsman is coming with us.”

“Ruby,” said Weiss, “I hope you know that I’m about five seconds away from dropping you.”

“Aw, okay,” said Ruby. “But Yang can hold me for way longer.”

“I don’t know if you’ve noticed this yet, but my arms are not nearly as strong as your sister’s.”

“How strong are we talking, here?” said Nora.

“Pretty strong,” said Blake, smiling. “She can carry all of her teammates pretty easily.”

Nora put her hands together and grinned. “I want to see this.”

So Yang grinned too and came up behind Ruby and Weiss and scooped them both up into her arms before Weiss could actually drop Ruby. Weiss choked out a protest and Ruby started laughing.

“I got some space on my back if you wanna hop on,” Yang said to Blake, while Ruby and Weiss both squirmed around trying to get into a more comfortable position above her. Blake just shook her head, looking affectionate, and climbed onto Yang’s back. Yang seemed totally unphased by the three of them hanging off of her.

“Can I join?” Nora asked gleefully.

“Sure,” said Yang.

Soon enough Nora and even Jaune ended up coming over and clinging their way onto Yang. Weiss put a gravity glyph under her feet to help her stay balanced, but besides that she seemed to be holding their combined weight just fine.

“Do you ever wonder why the rest of the student body is terrified of us?” Pyrrha asked idly.

“Can’t imagine the reason,” said Weiss. “Jaune, I think you’re pulling on my ponytail.”

“Sorry!”

They all had to tumble off of Yang once Goodwitch came over and told them in a very resigned tone of voice not to block the mission boards for everyone else. Ruby was the first to hop back to her feet afterwards, still brimming with excitement.

“I’m so pumped for the mission,” she said, beaming at all of her friends. “It’s gonna be great, guys. I just know it!”

And it was. As long as they were all together, Ruby knew they would be unstoppable.

Chapter 18

Notes:

i call this one the you know i had to do it to em chapter

anyway thank you again to the wonderful first name what middle name other last name plant person for helping cause i cried a lot. also to soulstealer1987 for the [redacted] suggestion. and shockfactor and sgt chrysalis and friendofyggdrasil for being cool. we a whole gang now hee hoo. please go read their stuff or i'll cry

edit: WHAT OTHER PLANT i'm crying no one tell them i called them that

Chapter Text

“Where are they?” Ruby whined.

Blake quickly readjusted her grip on Gambol Shroud. She and Ruby were holding the ribbon between them from both ends, using it as a makeshift jump rope for Nora. Both of their teams were currently standing around out on the courtyard, waiting for their Huntsman to arrive so they could finally get started on the mission.

“I’m sure they’ll be coming soon,” said Yang.

“They better,” said Ruby with a small huff. Nora accidentally landed on the ribbon, so they had to restart. “Almost everyone else has left already. I wanna get going.”

“We should take bets on what our Huntsman’s gonna be like,” said Nora, doing a frontflip on her next jump and somehow clearing the rope. “I’m calling moody and antisocial.”

“That’s so negative,” Yang told her. “Maybe they’ll be like, crazy hyper or something instead.”

Weiss groaned. “Don’t say that. I don’t think I could handle another Oobleck again.”

“Was he really that bad?” Pyrrha asked.

“Nah,” said Yang. “He was actually pretty cool and knowledgeable. But also kind of a lot to keep up with.”

Another airship took off. Ruby pouted up at it, repeatedly scuffing the ground with her foot in her restlessness. Blake wanted to go over and comfort her, but that would mean dropping the ribbon and potentially making Nora fall flat on her face. It was a tough decision.

Before she could do anything, however, her ears pricked up. Someone was coming towards them from behind.

“Hey, kiddo,” came a voice. 

Everyone turned around. There was a tall, dark-haired man walking up to them, a slight grin on his face. Blake didn’t recognize who it was, but judging by Ruby’s sudden gasp, she definitely did. 

“Uncle Qrow!” she shouted, and started charging him. He took her tackle hug with ease, and brought one arm up to hug her back while she hung off of him. “Is it really you? You’re the Huntsman we’re going to be shadowing?”

“I sure hope I am, seeing as I made the whole trip over here,” said Qrow, ruffling Ruby’s hair with his free hand.

A moment later, Yang had come up around them and jumped onto Qrow’s back. “Hey, old man,” she said gleefully. “What took you so long?”

“Airship broke down halfway here,” he answered. “You know how it is. Now get off me, you two.” Neither of them got off of him. He didn’t seem surprised. “At least introduce me to your little friends here.”

“Okay.” Ruby hopped down and turned back to face the rest of them. “Everyone, this is our uncle Qrow Branwen, the greatest, coolest Huntsman ever. Uncle Qrow, these two are our teammates, Weiss and Blake.”

“Weiss?” said Qrow. “Like, as in Weiss Schnee, right?”

“That would be me,” Weiss said warily.

Qrow grinned. “Tell your sister I said hi.”

“Um,” said Weiss. “Okay…”

“Quit being a weirdo,” said Yang, who was still perched on Qrow’s back. “Anyway, they’re Team JNPR. That’s Jaune, Nora, Pyrrha, and Ren.”

“Hello,” said Jaune.

“Hey,” said Qrow. He spun around in place once, half-heartedly trying to buck Yang off. When it didn’t work, he just sighed, looking amused, and continued. “Alright, well, I guess we should get going. This mission’s gonna be a tough one, so I want all of you to always be on high alert and give it your best. No slacking off, alright?”

They climbed onto the nearest airship together. It was slightly bigger than the usual transport ships that Beacon had for short-range trips, but with nine of them packed into it the place was still pretty cramped. Instead of splitting up the three rows of seats evenly between them, Jaune and Pyrrha took one, Ren and Nora took another, Qrow remained standing, and everyone on Team RWBY piled on top of each other onto the last one.

“Is this going to be a recurring thing?” Qrow asked with one eyebrow raised.

“No,” said Weiss.

“Yes,” said Blake at the same time.

Weiss made a face. Blake hugged her tighter. Qrow stared.

“Maybe a little,” said Yang.

“I still can’t believe we’re shadowing you of all people!” Ruby said excitedly.

Qrow laughed. “I still can’t believe I let Oz drag me back here to help with the missions,” he said. “He used the fact that I’d get to spend time with my nieces as bait.” 

“And that worked?” said Yang.

“I’m here now, aren’t I?” said Qrow. He shook his head. “Anyway, we should probably get down to business. We’re heading into pretty dangerous Grimm territory, and it’s my job to make sure all of you come back in one piece, so you better listen up.”

He spent the remainder of the airship ride going over the finer details of the mission with everyone. They were going to be spending a total of six days with the village, which meant they’d get back to Beacon just in time for the written finals and then break immediately after. Everyone was to stick to their team each day, with one helping with wall rebuilding efforts and the other on border patrol. They all got the evening off together to relax and recuperate. At dawn they swapped jobs.

“What will you be doing?” asked Jaune.

“Huh?” said Qrow.

“You gave all of us our tasks. But you never mentioned yours. Aren’t we the ones shadowing you?”

“Uh, I’ll just be watching from a distance,” Qrow said, looking almost pained for some reason. “Oz told me you kids are some of the best Beacon’s freshman year has to offer, so I know you can handle yourselves. I’ll be close enough to help if you really need it, though.”

Nobody seemed to have the heart to grill him further on the subject, so the conversation gradually died down. For all of her energy and excitement earlier, Ruby apparently had a hard time staying awake on long airship rides, because she soon fell asleep sitting up against Blake and Weiss. 

After a while Qrow started staring at Nora, because she was staring back at him. “What are you looking at, kid?” he asked her.

“Ruby told us her weapon was inspired by yours,” she said. “But that doesn’t look like a scythe to me.”

“That doesn’t look like a hammer to me,” Qrow countered, nodding at the grenade launcher strapped to Nora’s back.

“Good point,” said Nora. “Wait, how do you know what my weapon is? Ruby, did you tell him?” She turned around to look at Ruby, then realized she was asleep.

“Yeah, she did,” Qrow answered for her, smiling. “She was geeking out to me about all of them within a few days of school starting.”

“Which one’s your favorite, then?” Nora asked.

“Hm.” Qrow thought about that one for a moment, then pointed with his thumb at Pyrrha. “No contest. Sorry.”

“Me?” Pyrrha asked, surprised.

“Yeah. Your blade alone’s got three forms, right? That’s like mine. No, I am not going to show you while we’re on this cramped airship,” he added, when he saw Nora open her mouth. “Remind me once we land and maybe I’ll pull it out.”

“Okay,” said Nora. She glanced at Yang. “You know, maybe your uncle is kind of cool after all.”

“Don’t say that where he can hear you,” Yang told her, grinning. “It’ll get to his head.”

“You know what, Yang?” said Qrow. “I’ve decided that I like Team JNPR better. They don’t bully me like you do.”

Yang laughed at him. “Oh come on, you bully me and Ruby all the time. Even when we were just little kids.”

“I’m gonna walk off this airship right now,” said Qrow, pretending to look hurt.

“Aren’t we thousands of feet off the ground, though?” said Ren.

“I have my ways of navigating the drop.” Qrow winked at him. No one understood what it meant.

The airship finally landed a good while later. Blake couldn’t feel her legs anymore, because somehow she’d ended up at the bottom of the pile for once. Yang offered to carry her. Together they stepped out onto the ground alongside Qrow and Team JNPR, ready to begin the mission.

 


 

It was pretty easy to settle into a routine.

The villagers all greeted them enthusiastically, looking relieved and grateful and a little hopeful, too. After they got a good look at the damage their defenses had sustained, Blake could understand why. There was a big, gaping hole right on the outermost wall, where a portion of it had caved in from relentless Grimm attacks. Qrow split them up into their teams almost immediately and put them to work. Team JNPR got first shift on patrol, while Team RWBY went to the hole and started helping with rebuilding efforts.

In all honesty it wasn’t as hard as Blake had been expecting. If they weren’t carrying around supplies back and forth, they were standing guard at the hole. Grimm showed up on occasion, but they’d gotten so good at killing them that it felt like a piece of cake every single time. The way the villagers would watch them in awe was a little flattering, though. 

Once during a short break a bunch of the village’s kids came up to Ruby and crowded around her, excitedly asking questions while she showed off her weapon to them. Blake was watching fondly from a distance when she felt a slight tug at the bottom of her shirt. She turned around to see a little Faunus boy gazing up at her, his bushy dog tail tucked between his legs.

“Hi,” he said.

“Hello,” said Blake.

“Um,” said the boy. He stared at the ground for a moment, rubbing nervously at his pants. “I think you’re really cool.”

Blake smiled and crouched down so she was at eye level with the boy. “Thank you,” she said. “That’s very kind of you.”

“I wanna be a Huntsman when I grow up,” he blurted out. “Like you. I wanna protect my mom and dad. And all my friends.”

“That’s great,” Blake told him. “You’re very brave. Do you know what weapon you’d want to use?”

The boy brightened just a tiny bit. He released his tail from between his legs, and it started wagging from side to side. “Yeah,” he said happily. “I wanna have a big bow! My gramps had one. Just one arrow and boom! Bye bye Grimm.”

“Good choice,” said Blake. “You can take them out from a distance, too. Keeps you safer.”

“Yeah!”

A few feet away from them, Yang was surrounded by her own little group of kids. Weiss had her arms wrapped around Yang’s waist from behind, like she was trying to hold her back.

“Come on, throw it at me!” Yang was saying to the closest kid. She had a huge grin on her face. “I promise you something cool’s gonna happen.”

“Yang,” Weiss said, groaning.

The kid looked down at the tiny knife Yang had handed her. When the rest of the children cheered her on, she shrugged and chucked it at Yang. It bounced harmlessly off her Aura and landed on the ground nearby.

“See that?” said Yang, while the kids started shouting in surprise and admiration. “Doesn’t even hurt! Super cool, right?”

“Please don’t try this without an active Aura,” Weiss said to the kids, looking like everything going on was taking years off her life.

“Yeah, don’t throw things at each other,” Yang agreed. “If any of you get hurt Weiss is gonna murder me. You don’t want me to die, do you?”

Blake watched them and smiled to herself.

Patrolling, surprisingly enough, was a lot calmer. Most of the Grimm seemed to gravitate towards the hole that had already been created in the wall. Blake found that they were standing around or pacing more than actually fighting off Grimm. That didn’t mean they could just slack off, though, so it was tiring in its own way.

Ruby had sneaked their earpieces onto the mission with them, the ones they’d used to communicate with each other at the mine. That way they could split up into pairs in addition to patrolling as a whole team and cover more ground. Having to stay alert for long periods of time like this was taxing, but Blake figured all the cuddling they got to do at night at least partially made up for it.

It wasn’t all smooth sailing, though.

“God fucking dammit, Ruby,” Yang said one night.

Blake jolted awake to see her shove the sleeping bag off of herself and shoot up into a sitting position.

There was a sudden rustling noise from outside the tent. “I’m awake, I’m awake!” said Ruby.

“That’s the problem, sis!”

Yang stumbled to her feet and out of the tent. Blake heard a minor scuffle and what sounded like Ruby half-heartedly resisting. Then she heard Weiss tossing and turning, so Blake got up too, rubbing at her eyes.

“What’s going on?” Weiss asked her with a groan.

“I think they’re fighting,” said Blake.

A few moments later Yang shouldered her way back into the tent, Ruby held tightly in her arms. “We talked about this,” she said to Ruby, putting her down onto the sleeping bags in between Blake and Weiss. “You may be the leader of this team, but if you try to do most of the work around here so that the rest of us can relax, I’ll punt you down a cliff.”

“I just wanted to prove myself. Or something,” Ruby said wearily. Yang sighed and took Ruby by the face, rubbing at the dark bags underneath her eyes.

“All you’re doing right now is exhausting yourself,” Yang told her. “There’s a difference between working hard and then overworking.” She sat back up and glanced at Blake. “Can you two keep an eye on her and make sure she actually sleeps? I’m going to take watch now like I was supposed to… several hours ago.”

So Blake lay back down again, turning over and slinging her arm over Ruby while Yang left the tent. A few seconds later Weiss scooted up against Ruby’s other side. 

“You don’t have to prove anything to us,” Blake said softly. “We all know you’re the best leader anyone could ever ask for.”

Ruby wiggled around a bit, clearly embarrassed. “Sorry,” she said. “It’s a bad habit, I think.”

“We’ve noticed,” said Weiss, amused.

“Can you guys, um—real quick,” said Ruby, squirming harder. Blake lifted her arm off and stared. Ruby put her hood on over her head and then flopped onto her front, curling into a ball and hiding under the fabric of her cape.

Blake started laughing. So did Weiss.

“Aw, Ruby,” said Blake, putting her arm back over the lump of cape. “It’s okay. We all know you love being a Huntress. Just take it a little easier, okay? You can’t kill Grimm and protect people if you’re passed out from exhaustion.”

“Okay,” Ruby mumbled.

Weiss lifted up the hood just enough to lean in and press a kiss to Ruby’s cheek. “Oh come on, you big baby,” she said, although her voice was affectionate. “What kind of sleeping position is this?”

It took a little bit longer to coax Ruby out of her cape. After that the three of them settled into a light slumber together. Blake could have sworn she only got to sleep for what felt like a few seconds when Yang’s voice sounded in her ear and woke her up again.

“I’m currently surrounded by Beowolves. Big pack,” she said. “Would appreciate a little assistance here. I mean, I could probably handle all of them if you guys are too busy snuggling and being gross together. Just thought you should know.”

“Shut up, Yang,” said Ruby, already on her feet.

Yang just laughed. “Come down south. Better hurry up if you wanna join in on the fun.”

Ruby turned around to face Weiss and Blake a took a deep breath. “I don’t know how good I’ll be,” she said, “but I’ll try. To take it easier.” She held out her hand and smiled. “Let’s do this.”

Blake smiled back and let Ruby help her up. Together along with Weiss they left the tent and started running in Yang’s direction, their weapons out and readied.

It was just so easy to fall into step with each other. Blake had only been with her teammates for a little less than a year now, but it felt like much longer. It was nice, she thought, having people who had her back and cared about her, who treated her like an equal.

 


 

“Don’t tell them I said this,” said Nora while she tossed another small plank of wood into the campfire, “but I kind of miss Sun and Neptune.”

“I am telling them right now,” said Yang, immediately pulling out her scroll. Nora lunged for it, but Yang just planted a hand on her face and kept her away at arm’s length. “Damn, nevermind. I forgot the signal’s horrible out here. I don’t think we could make a call all the way to Mistral.”

“Isn’t it also like three in the morning over there?” Ruby asked.

“Oh yeah,” said Yang. She pocketed her scroll and let go of Nora’s face. “That’s unfortunate. You’ve been spared tonight, Nora.”

“Thanks,” Nora grumbled.

“When are Jaune and Pyrrha getting back, anyway?” said Ruby.

“They should be here soon,” said Ren. “Jaune said they got stopped by a group of villagers on their way back.”

The six of them were sitting in a circle around a campfire together, right on the outskirts of the village. Ruby had gotten the chance to show off her weirdly impressive tree-cutting skills earlier, so at least they had logs to sit on. Blake let out a content sigh and leaned over to rest her head on Yang’s shoulder, listening while Nora started up an argument with Ruby about whether or not it was possible to cook a Grimm.

“Hey guys!” came Jaune’s voice. Everyone looked over to watch him walk up with Pyrrha, holding what looked like a hunk of cooked meat on a stick. “Sorry that took so long.”

“Why do you have a stick of meat in your hand?” asked Weiss.

“Huh? Oh, uh, some of the village’s hunters offered us a piece of deer meat as thanks for doing all this for them.” He stared down at the stick before giving her a shrug. “That, and the fact that most of us are city kids and probably never tried wild game before.”

“Did they also offer a way to split that eight ways?” said Weiss.

“Uh,” said Jaune. “No, they did not. Does anyone have a knife?”

“Yeah,” Ruby said immediately, standing up and pulling out Crescent Rose.

Yang got up as well to try and get Ruby to sit back down. “Ruby, I swear to god,” she said.

“It’s fine!” Ruby said back, dodging Yang’s hand. “I’m good at cutting stuff!”

“You kill Grimm with that thing! That’s gross!”

“I clean it regularly! You’re gross!”

They had a brief silent argument after that. Ruby must have won, because Yang groaned and sat back down next to Blake while Ruby waved Jaune over, grinning in victory. 

“I think you’re just mad because you can’t punch a piece of meat into eight pieces,” Blake told her.

Yang laughed. “Don’t say it so loud. Everyone will know my secret.” She leaned in and gave Blake a small kiss. “Although I am a bit worried for Jaune’s well-being right now.”

They both looked up. Jaune was standing near the campfire with the stick of meat held in between both of his hands. Ruby had her scythe primed and carefully placed in a position to cut it, which meant Jaune had to tilt his head back as far as he could to avoid getting smacked by the blade.

Then, without warning, Ruby pulled the trigger and used the recoil to slice right through both the meat and the stick. The bullet nearly shot the front of Jaune’s hair off. 

“Look at that,” said Ruby, looking proud. “Tell me that’s not the cleanest cut you’ve ever seen in your life.”

“I could’ve done without the sniper round right next to my face,” said Jaune, his eyes squeezed shut.

“Don’t you have to do that four more times?” Pyrrha asked.

Ruby stared at the two halves of meat in Jaune’s hands. Before she could try to slice it again Weiss grabbed her by her cape and pulled her back.

In the end they decided to let her do it two more times, cutting the meat into four pieces so they could share it among partners. Team JNPR got the two sticks, so Blake gave Yang her weapon to use instead. It was very strange.

“I can’t believe I let you talk me into using my sword as a skewer,” Weiss was saying, holding Myrtenaster steady and frowning while Ruby happily bit off a chunk of meat from it. 

“That’s cause you’re the greatest,” said Ruby.

“More like a big softie,” said Blake. Yang laughed. 

Weiss made a face and motioned for Blake to lean in closer. “You know it’s bad manners to talk with your mouth full,” she said, reaching out and rubbing something off the corner of Blake’s mouth with her thumb. 

“Sorry,” Blake mumbled.

“What am I looking at here?”

Everyone turned towards the sound of the voice. Qrow was standing there, staring at all of them with a slightly bewildered expression on his face.

“Hey Uncle Qrow!” said Ruby. She had her hands clasped over Weiss’s, aiming the tip of Myrtenaster towards her mouth. Yang was halfway through a bite herself, and when Blake noticed she had to resist the urge to jerk her blade back just to mess with her.

“Hey,” said Qrow. “I leave you kids alone for five seconds and you’re already going nuts?”

“We’ve been nuts since forever,” Yang told him, grinning. “Get with the times, old man.”

“Call me that one more time and I’ll put you in time out,” said Qrow.

The two of them didn’t look very similar in terms of general appearance, but Blake noticed that they both had the same cocky, confident grin. Qrow shook his head and sat down on the log next to Ruby. He reached into his shirt pocket and started to pull something out, but Ruby slapped her hand over his and shoved it back in. When he gave her a questioning look, she just cast a furtive glance at Weiss, who was still facing Blake, unaware. So Blake flicked Weiss in the forehead to keep her attention.

“Hey!” she said. “What was that for?”

“Nothing,” said Blake, scrambling to come up with a dumb enough excuse. “I was just thinking about how great you are and had to check to make sure you’re actually real.”

That only confused Weiss further, but she couldn’t hold back a faint smile either. She reached up and flicked Blake right back. Then Blake flicked Weiss again. Weiss grabbed her by the wrists and basically slid onto her lap, her expression bright and playful.

“Oh no,” said Blake, leaning back and trying to bat away Weiss’s hands when she went for her face. “Yang. Help me. Help me!”

But Yang just wrapped her arms around Blake’s stomach, holding her firmly in place. “Come get her, Weiss,” she said gleefully.

“You really are like this all the time, huh?” said Qrow.

“Yeah, I wonder who we get it from,” said Ruby. She held up Weiss’s rapier. There was only a little bit of deer meat left. “Want some?”

“I’m not eating off your friend’s weapon.”

“Girlfriend,” Ruby corrected him.

“I knew I was missing something obvious,” said Qrow.

Blake picked up a nearby pine cone with her free hand and threw it at Weiss, who deflected it with the back of her hand. It flew through the air, over the campfire, and smacked Pyrrha in the face.

For a moment everything in the clearing was silent.

Then Nora leaned back to grab a rock off the ground and jumped onto the log she was sitting on. “Oh, you guys are so on,” she said, winding her arm back.

“Nora,” Jaune said wearily.

“Come on, Jaune,” said Nora. “They just declared war on us!”

“I’m tired,” he protested. “We just spent the whole day killing Grimm and carting around giant bricks everywhere.”

“So you’re just gonna watch them attack Pyrrha and let them get away with it?”

Jaune groaned, taking the rock Ren offered him and standing up. He chucked it at Yang so hard it knocked her backwards off the log. 

It escalated into a full-on brawl after that, to no one’s surprise. The only shocking thing that happened was when Qrow got up halfway through the fight and went over to Team JNPR’s side.

“Uncle Qrow!” said Ruby, the betrayal clear in her voice.

“Sorry, kid,” Qrow said, grinning. He held out his hand, and Nora gave him a broken plank of wood that she’d snapped in half with her bare hands. “Can’t pass up the chance to kick your asses.”

It was a messy and chaotic way to end the day, and Blake found that she was okay with that. The resulting cleanup took a lot longer than it probably should have. Afterwards Ruby went up and gave everyone on Team JNPR a reconciliatory hug, and then they departed for their respective jobs, with JNPR heading back to the wall, and RWBY spreading out along the border. Qrow had somehow vanished by then.

 


 

It was a few hours past midnight when Blake was awoken by a strange noise.

She pulled the covers up over her head and tried to tune it out, but the noise kept repeating every few seconds. It sounded like an animal of some sort, a high-pitched, almost distressed whine. She had to flatten her ears down, because it was starting to hurt.

Frustrated, she decided to just get up and poked her head out of the tent to investigate. Ruby, who was supposed to be on watch, had fallen asleep sitting up against a nearby tree. They were on opposite sides of the village perimeter tonight from Weiss and Yang, and would regroup once the sun started rising.

The whining continued. Blake gritted her teeth and reached for Gambol Shroud, strapping it to her back. If the animal was in pain or something maybe she’d be able to help. Anything to stop it from crying like that. For a brief moment she considered waking Ruby up, but if it really was just some forest animal making noise, she didn’t want to disturb her with something so trivial. Ruby had been overworking herself so much lately. She deserved a break. Besides, the whining didn’t sound too far away, and Blake could still contact her teammates with her earpiece if it was really necessary.

So Blake sighed and left their little makeshift outpost, straining her ears to find the source of the sound rather than relying on her night vision. She kept one hand near her weapon’s handle at all times, staying alert in case any stray Grimm tried to attack her in the dark. Every little twig snapping or leaf crunching put her on edge as she trudged through the night alone.

And she kept walking.

And walking.

The animal’s cries definitely should have started sounding closer by now. Blake tried to listen harder. She didn’t think she’d been going in the wrong direction. Maybe the animal was on the move too, and if it went far away enough maybe she wouldn’t have to hear it back at the tent.

Eventually she broke through the trees and came upon a ravine. She crouched down at its edge, peering into the darkness below. 

Then she saw it. 

There was what looked like a fox near the bottom, tangled up in a net. One of its hind legs was bent in the wrong direction. It spotted her and cried again, loud and keening.

“Jeez,” Blake muttered to herself, standing up again. She pulled out her blade and folded it up. Maybe it would be better if she just shot it and put it out of its misery. It was a pretty far drop down to the bottom, and even if she did go down to free it, she’d have to climb all the way back up afterwards. And she didn’t think the fox would make it very far on its own with that nasty broken leg.

Then she looked around her and realized she hadn’t been paying attention to how long she’d been walking, or how far. She knew she was in unfamiliar territory now. And what kind of person caught a fox in a trap and left it to die at the bottom of a ravine? 

Something wasn’t right. Blake turned around to leave.

In that instant the ground started shaking. Before she had time to react, it exploded, chunks of dirt and stone disintegrating under her feet. In a panic, Blake threw her weapon even as she felt herself begin to fall, hooking it around the nearest tree and desperately trying to pull herself back up. Then she heard a gunshot, and a sword sliced right through the ribbon. She lost her balance and fell into the ravine.

She hit the ground hard, feeling a sharp, jagged rock dig into her back and knock the wind out of her. Her Aura had taken the brunt of the damage, but the impact left her dizzy and gasping for breath while debris rained down around her.

“I can’t believe that worked so well,” said Adam Taurus, dropping down to the ground in front of her and sheathing his sword. “You always were too curious for your own good, Blake. Always sticking your nose in places you don’t belong.”

“What the hell do you want from me?” Blake managed to get out, forcing herself to scoot back up against the cliff face. She tried to stand up, but her body was still smarting from the fall and wouldn’t cooperate.

“Oh, come on,” said Adam. “Is that really how you’re going to greet your old partner after all this time?”

“You just tried to kill me,” said Blake, groaning. She tried to will her breathing to go back to normal. All the dust and sand in the air was not helping.

Adam just smiled at her. “Blake, that hurts. I would never do that to you,” he told her earnestly. “I only wanted to talk.” He went over to the trapped fox and cut the net open with his sword. It immediately scampered off, wobbling and tripping in the process from its broken leg.

Blake didn’t dare take her eyes off Adam as he walked back, because she knew he wouldn’t take his eyes off of her. By some miracle the earpiece hadn’t dislodged from her ear in the fall. If she could just get to it without Adam noticing, she could alert the others and hopefully find a way out of this mess.

“About what?” she asked, deciding to play along for now.

“You know what,” said Adam, sheathing his sword again. “I was nice enough to let you leave me when you did, Blake. But that doesn’t mean you can just crawl back whenever you feel like it to mess with my operations. You can’t have one foot in the White Fang and one foot out like that.”

“I wasn’t messing with your operations,” said Blake. “I was just trying to save the lives of hundreds of innocent Faunus. You know, the ones you’re supposed to be helping?”

“Oh, Blake,” said Adam. “You’re still just as naive as ever, I see.”

“Better that than being a monster.”

“Why do you always have to say such hurtful things to me?” Adam asked her. He was walking up closer to her now. Blake tensed. 

“I’m not the abusive freak of this relationship,” she forced herself to say.

She knew calling him that would piss him off. Adam snarled and backhanded her across the face. It stung, and Blake automatically brought her hand up to cradle her cheek. She struggled to reach the earpiece as surreptitiously as she could, straining to move through the haze of pain.

“If I’m so naive,” said Blake, “then why don’t you tell me how it is?” Finally she managed to hit the button on the earpiece, and Adam didn’t seem to notice. “Why don’t you explain to me how blowing up a Schnee Dust Company mine filled with countless innocent Faunus is supposed to help them?”

The reaction was immediate. Yang must have been on watch. “Blake?” she said through the earpiece, sounding both confused and alarmed. “What are you talking about? Are you okay?”

She had to bite her tongue to keep herself from responding on instinct. “That’s easy,” Adam was saying in the meantime. “Those Faunus are weak. They’re willing to spend their whole lives slaving away for the enemy, and doing nothing to help the rest of us. I’m out here working every day to tear down the places that the humans have been using to oppress us for ages, and all they are is dead weight.”

“You used to be one of them too, Adam,” said Blake. She heard a sharp intake of breath from her earpiece when she said his name. “If it hadn’t been for my dad, you’d still be stuck down there in those mines, and you wouldn’t even b—ah!”

“Holy shit. Blake, did he just slap you?” said Yang. “That’s it. Weiss, wake up! Wake up! Where the hell is Ruby?”

“Don’t try to bring your coward of a father into this,” Adam was saying. “I fought my way out of the mines tooth and nail. I escaped because I was strong enough to. Not like the miserable weaklings you saved.”

Blake didn’t respond at first. She couldn’t. Adam had always hit hard, and that second slap nearly made her vision go black for a moment.

“Blake!” Weiss was on the line now as well, and Blake tried to ground herself in her voice. “Blake, just hold on a bit longer, can you try and tell us where you are right now?”

“So, what,” Blake tried once she could speak again. “You dragged me all the way out here to this—this area outside the forest and knocked me down a ravine just to spout off about your ideals to me? Is that it?”

It was a pretty awful attempt and she knew it wasn’t subtle at all. She couldn’t actually see Adam narrow his eyes through his mask, but she knew he was doing it from the way he paused. For a horrible moment she was terrified that he was about to find out she was communicating with her team, but he stayed silent. So she did too.

“A ravine,” Yang said in her ear. “Weiss, shit, where’s our map? Can we even find somewhere like that on a map?”

“Blake, is Ruby with you?” Weiss asked. Then she cursed. “Dammit! She can’t respond.”

“Cough once for yes and twice for no,” Yang suggested.

Blake coughed twice.

“Okay. Okay. That’s not good. Ruby’s earpiece is off, too,” said Yang. “It must have run out of battery overnight or something. What do we do?”

“I came here to make things right again,” Adam finally said, snapping Blake back into the present. “I don’t give second chances, Blake, and I’ve already let you run free for way longer than I should have. You’ve caused more than enough trouble for me and my White Fang, and I’m going to put an end to that right now.” He unsheathed his sword and held his rifle out, aimed point-blank at Blake’s face.

Blake braced herself.

Adam fired.

Blake managed to summon a clone and left it in her place in the rubble while she just barely stumbled out of the way. Her legs felt heavy and her back was aching, and she only made it a couple feet before she heard another gunshot and the hilt of Adam’s sword hit the back of her head, knocking her to the ground.

She could hear him taking his time walking up towards her. Groaning in pain, she pulled her sheath off her back and forced herself to her feet. Her other blade had been lost somewhere in the fall.

The second Blake turned around Adam lunged at her. She brought her sheath up to block his attack, the force of it making her arms shake.

“I’m not going down without a fight,” said Blake, trying her hardest to push back against Adam’s sword.

Adam laughed. “Oh, but you will.”

He was playing with her and she could barely keep up, and they both knew it. Every time she thought she was finally regaining her balance he’d casually knock her back off it. If she tried to escape he’d box her back in. 

“Blake, I’m coming over,” said Yang, sounding slightly out of breath. She must have been running as fast as she could. “Weiss has gone to find Ruby, they’re going to meet up with us as soon as possible. Just hold on for a bit longer. I’ll be there soon.”

“I still remember when you at least pretended like you were fighting for the Faunus,” said Blake as she dodged another slash with a clone. Her Aura was draining, fast, and she knew she wouldn’t be able to win the fight if it went on for much longer. The only thing she could do now was keep Adam talking until the others got here. “But now you don’t even care who you kill along the way. People are going to start noticing. The White Fang won’t follow a leader who doesn’t care about them.”

“Ha! Is that what you’ve been telling my grunts?” said Adam. “You’re wrong, Blake. Everything I do is for them. And for you, too, if you had just listened to me and stayed.”

“You’ve only ever done anything for yourself,” Blake said under her breath.

Adam drove the stock of his rifle into her stomach and she doubled over, falling to her knees. “Better be careful there,” he warned her. “I know you never really understood the things I do for the Faunus, but you’re starting to push it, my love.”

“Don’t call me that.”

Adam kicked her. She hit the ground and almost didn’t have the strength to get up again.

“You never understood, Blake!” he said, towering over her with his sword raised. “Don’t you get it? Power is the only thing that matters in this world! If you want to be respected, then you have to be strong enough to command it. For too long now the humans have been the ones wielding the power, and they used it to oppress us, to beat us down! All I'm doing now is taking back what rightfully belongs to me. And sometimes that means cutting down anyone who gets in my way!”

He tried to stab her, but she rolled to the side. Someone was running towards them. Blake could hear the pounding footsteps coming from up above. 

“You’re insane,” she said.

She surged forward and grabbed Adam around his legs, preventing him from moving. In that same moment she heard the sound of shotgun shells being fired, and Yang propelled herself into view, diving headfirst down into the ravine. With Blake clinging to his legs, Adam had no way or time to escape, and he got the full brunt of Yang’s body slam. Yang pushed herself up to her feet while Adam went tumbling to the ground.

“So you were talking to someone else,” said Adam, coughing while he slowly got back up. “A little human friend. How cute.”

Yang shifted her stance to put herself firmly between Blake and Adam, her fists raised and her body tense. Blake stood back up as well and saw that Adam was sizing Yang up.

“Is this really who you replaced me with?” Adam asked her with a short laugh. “A bunch of dirty humans. I always knew you were a coward, but you just had to go and turn traitor, too.”

“Uh, no offense, man,” said Yang, “but I’d like to think I treat Blake a whole lot better than you did.” She held one hand out behind her, and Blake took it, drawing strength from her touch.

“Of course you do,” said Adam. “You’re all the same. All of you.”

Yang glanced quickly back at Blake, her expression softening for just a moment. “Don’t feel like you have to fight if you can’t. I’ve got your back.” She let go of Blake’s hand and loaded her gauntlets, turning back to face Adam. He only stared back, smiling faintly as he unlocked his sword from his sheath with a click.

Then he charged. Yang stood her ground and met his sword with her fists.

Blake tried to help Yang team up against Adam, but it soon became clear she was too exhausted to be much more than a hindrance. She had to collapse down against the cliff face, worn out and aching from the entire ordeal. Part of her was relieved that she wasn’t alone anymore, but the other part was worried for Yang. She knew Yang was good, really good, but Adam was on an entirely different level.

“Don’t hit his sword,” Blake called out, struggling to get back to her feet. “Yang, don’t hit his sword!”

“What?” said Yang. Adam swung. She instinctively blocked the strike with her gauntlets. There was a loud clanging noise when his blade hit, and then it glowed a bright red for a few seconds. “Well, shit.”

“Blake, Yang, I’ve got Ruby with me now. We’re heading your way,” said Weiss in her ear, as Yang backed up warily, trying to figure out how to work around Adam’s fighting style while he barraged her with his attacks. 

Blake could hear Ruby crying through the earpiece, too, and it nearly broke her heart. “I’m sorry!” she was saying, over and over again. “I’m so sorry, Blake!”

The fighting dragged on. Yang was starting to lose ground. She was doing well enough that Adam had stopped smiling a while ago, after he’d realized he needed to take Yang seriously, but that also meant that he was starting to go all-out. And it soon became clearer and clearer that she was outmatched.

Blake crawled over to the pile of rubble, searching around for the other half of Gambol Shroud. She eventually found it lodged under a large rock and pulled it out. The ribbon was snapped clean in half from where Adam had cut it, but besides that, it was in good condition. She aimed her pistol and fired off shots at Adam while he was occupied with Yang. A few of them landed, bouncing and thumping against his Aura and forcing him to take a step back to keep his balance, but they just seemed to annoy him more than anything.

“You are nothing!” he shouted, the frustration finally boiling over as he struck aside the rest of the bullets with his sword. “You are nothing without me, Blake!” He sheathed his weapon again, the air around him starting to darken and crackle with energy.

Blake realized what was happening just a second too late. “Yang!” she cried out, desperately reaching out a hand towards her, but Adam had already swung his sword and unleashed all of its built up energy in one massive wave. She had to squeeze her eyes shut against the blast, pushing through it blindly as best as she could.

When the dust cleared Blake opened her eyes again and watched in horror as Yang dropped to her knees, both of her hands pressed against her front.

“Ah, shit,” she said, staring down at the deep gash stretching from the top of her right shoulder all the way down to her left hip. She pulled her hand away and looked at the blood. “I’m not gonna lie, this, uh… this kinda hurts.”

Blake stumbled off of the pile of rubble and put herself in between Adam and Yang, ignoring the way her body ached and screamed at her in protest. “You’re not getting anywhere near her,” she said. Her voice shook, but she kept standing strong. Behind her, Yang was trying her best to keep her breathing even. “I’ll make sure of it.”

Adam just laughed at her. “Oh, yeah?” he said. “How? Do you really think you can stop me with just you and your little girlfriend there?”

There were more footsteps. Blake wanted more than anything to rush to Yang’s side and do something about her gaping wound, but she had to make sure Adam couldn’t get to her again first. It took all her willpower to keep her ears from twitching in the direction of the footsteps when they began to get louder.

“No,” she said honestly. “But maybe I can with all three of them.”

And then Weiss appeared at the top of the ravine, looking fierce and furious with the massive glowing knight arm hovering above her. She caught sight of Adam and yelled, and the arm threw its broadsword directly down towards him. Ruby appeared an instant later, using her semblance to jump onto the sword and coasting down with it like it was a gigantic surfboard of death.

“You stay away from them!” Ruby shouted, just as the sword crashed into Adam with a bright blue explosion and he went flying. The sword began to disintegrate so she backflipped off of it and used her rifle to shoot him in the stomach, nailing him firmly into the crumbling cliffside.

Ruby and Weiss both hopped down to join Yang and Blake. Weiss went up to stand next to Blake while Ruby crouched down near Yang, who immediately braced herself against her sister, staring hard at the ground in an attempt to stay conscious. 

The wreckage settled and Adam staggered out. He was still standing, but his Aura was starting to flicker. His mask had fallen off and he was covering his left eye with his hand, the rest of his face contorted with rage.

“Give it up, Adam,” said Blake. Weiss put a supportive hand on her back. Just having her entire team with her again was giving her a huge boost of confidence. “You’re not winning tonight.”

She could tell he knew she was right. He backed up slowly, his other hand gripping his sword tight. Blake glanced at Weiss, who nodded back. She lifted her hand up, and a faint yellow glyph formed underneath Blake.

Even with all the practice they’d had messing around with Weiss’s time dilation, Blake thought she’d never get used to the sensation of being sped up like this. She readied her weapons and surged forward, the determination and desire to protect her teammates spurring her on. Before Adam could even react, she slashed once with her sheath, shattering the rest of his Aura, and then drove her katana into his gut.

Adam yelled in pain, dropping his sword to clutch at the wound since he refused to let go of his eye. He took several steps backwards, shouting and swearing while he tried to stay standing.

“This isn’t over yet,” he said, his voice cold with fury. “You’ll pay for this, Blake. You better watch your back, because I will make you pay for everything you’ve done!”

He reached into his pocket and pulled out what looked like a bomb detonator. Blake’s eyes widened. He must have planted more than one in the ravine. Without thinking she turned around and started sprinting. Ruby stood up to meet her, looking confused, but Blake just dove forward and tackled her back to the ground. Weiss backed up with them and stabbed the ground with her rapier, encasing all four of them into a thick dome of ice. Not a moment later the bomb exploded, violently rocking the entire earth around them.

Blake sat up and clutched onto Ruby and felt Weiss wrap an arm around her, and they pulled Yang in, and together they huddled inside the dome, listening to rocks breaking and the outer layers of ice shattering, waiting for the shockwaves to pass. She knew Adam would be making his escape now, but she was too tired to care at the moment. Maybe the fear would settle in later, after she had time to process everything that had happened tonight, but for now she closed her eyes and found strength in the arms of her teammates.

“Oh god, Yang,” said Weiss, when the explosions began to die down. As if on cue, Yang finally lost her battle with trying to stay upright and started to fall backwards. Ruby and Weiss both caught her and eased her to the ground.

“Did you guys get him?” Yang managed to ask, her gaze unfocused.

“He’s hurt,” said Blake. “He’s injured, but he’ll probably be back.”

“That’s okay,” said Yang. “Least you got him. I’m proud of you.” She smiled. Her breathing was starting to run ragged. She had lost so much blood already. “If it’s okay with you guys, I’m gonna pass out now.”

And true to her word, a few seconds later she fell unconscious.

Chapter 19

Notes:

people really out here reading my stuff... and actually enjoying it? wild.

Chapter Text

Weiss shifted around in her plastic chair, staring down at Yang’s almost motionless form. Ruby and Blake were on either side of her, none of them talking, just watching Yang breathe.

Qrow had arrived at the ravine just a second too late. Weiss had broken them out of the shell of ice just in time to see him land into a sprint, his eyes going wide when he caught sight of Yang. He’d immediately gathered her up in his arms and stood up, looking around for an easy way back out.

“Mr. Branwen,” Blake had said, her voice hoarse. “I’m—I’m so sorry…”

“Wasn’t you, kid,” he’d replied. “The person who attacked you gone?”

“Yeah. Yeah, for now.”

Weiss remembered building a staircase of glyphs up the cliffside for Qrow, who had darted up them like his life depended on it. Well, Yang’s probably had. By the time the rest of them had reached the top, a small horde of Grimm was waiting for them at the edge of the ravine, hungry for the source of all the anguish.

“We’ll catch up,” Weiss had said to Qrow, because neither Ruby or Blake seemed willing to talk. “Get Yang to safety.”

So they’d watched Qrow run off with Yang and then proceeded to completely obliterate the surrounding Grimm. Weiss didn’t think she’d ever torn something apart so thoroughly before. If one more thing had threatened the safety of any of her teammates that night, she was pretty sure she wouldn’t have left any visible pieces by the time she was done with it.

And now they were back at Beacon, sitting in the infirmary around Yang’s cot. A nurse had tried to separate them earlier but gave up after it became clear that none of them would budge. Qrow had wanted to recall Team JNPR as well, and put the village they’d been assisting on lockdown, but Blake had insisted on letting them stay.

“He was after me specifically,” she’d said. “Everyone else here is safe. We already made Team JNPR miss their first mission earlier in the year. Please… don’t let me be the reason they miss their second.”

They hadn’t spoken much since arriving at Beacon. Weiss remembered Goodwitch trying to grill them for information on their assailant, but Ozpin had pulled her back, saying it was a matter for later times. So now here they sat, just the three of them and Yang, with no one else around to bother them. 

Weiss rubbed at her eyes. It was almost morning now, with the sun starting to rise and turning the sky outside pink. The last time any of them had gotten longer than a few minutes of sleep had been over a full day ago. And Weiss was starting to feel it, like her insides had been frozen over.

“I’m gonna go to the bathroom,” Blake said quietly, breaking the silence in the infirmary. She got up and left the room, seeming a little unsteady on her feet.

The second she was gone, Weiss glanced at Ruby, who was already looking back at her. A silent understanding passed between them.

Then Ruby stood up and sprinted out of the room, Weiss hot on her heels.

Blake was already rounding the corner when they made it out into the hallway. Neither of them shouted or yelled after her. Weiss knew it wouldn’t have slowed her down anyway. When they got into the stairwell Blake vaulted over the railing and fell directly down the gap in the center, and Ruby and Weiss hastened to follow. 

They chased her all the way out to the courtyard. The campus grounds were empty save for the three of them, since most of the other students were still out on their missions. Weiss lifted her hand and summoned a glyph right in front of Blake, but she just created a clone and phased right through it without stopping. Weiss didn’t even know she was capable of doing that. Then Ruby tried to use her semblance to catch Blake off guard, but Blake dodged her with another clone.

Frustrated, Weiss summoned another glyph, this time a gravity one right under Blake’s feet. The sudden shifting of her momentum made her lose her balance. Ruby shot forward again and caught her before she could fall.

“Blake,” said Ruby, her voice pleading.

Blake was crying. Weiss caught up to them to see her turn her head away and try to cover her eyes with her hand, almost like she didn’t want Ruby to see her tears. Ruby just pulled her wrist down and leaned up, kissing her as hard as she could.

Weiss came up behind Blake and held her in a tight hug. She felt Blake instinctively put a hand on hers, giving it a shaky squeeze while she kissed Ruby back. 

“Blake,” Ruby said again, softer this time.

“I’m sorry,” said Blake. “I couldn’t stop myself. Yang nearly died because of me and I got so scared I had to run. I have to run. I’m sorry. I swear I—” She was shaking so hard. Ruby reached up and ran her thumb over Blake’s cheek, gently wiping the tears away. Weiss just kept holding on. “You mean the world to me. All of you. And I—I don’t want you to get hurt. I don’t want you to get hurt. I’m sorry.”

“It wasn’t your fault,” Weiss said into Blake’s shirt. “You know that, right?”

“But it was!” said Blake. “Adam came after me because I was dumb enough to openly challenge him and Yang tried to protect me and now all she has to show for it is a huge slash across her entire body. If he had charged one more bullet—if that attack had been even the slightest bit stronger, it would have cut completely through her, and then—and then—”

Blake stopped talking. Weiss had to close her eyes. The mental image was unpleasant, to say the least.

“But it didn’t,” said Ruby. “And Yang’s okay. She won’t be able to fight for a while, but she’ll wake up, and she’ll heal. She’ll be okay.”

“It wasn’t your fault,” Weiss repeated. “Yang went down that ravine with one goal in mind, and that was to make sure you were safe. We all did. And I think she succeeded at that, don’t you think?”

“But now she’s hurt…”

“If you leave right now, if you disappear without even telling her, it’s going to hurt even more when she wakes up and finds out you’re gone,” said Ruby.

“I know,” said Blake. She choked out a weak laugh. “I know. You’re right. I don’t—sometimes I don’t understand what you three see in me. What makes keeping me around worth it.”

Weiss let out a small sigh and released her hold on Blake. “Can I show you something?” she asked.

So Blake turned, looking hesitant. Weiss reached into her jacket pocket and pulled out the little folded up piece of paper she always kept in there. Then she unfolded it, glancing down once at the writing she’d had committed to her memory for months now, and handed it to Blake.

There was a long pause.

“Oh my god,” Blake finally said, quiet with awe. “You kept it all this time?”

It was the drawing the four of them had made in class together, all those weeks and weeks ago. It was silly and sentimental and Weiss knew it, but she could never bring herself to throw it away. Just looking at the big, bold lettering of “WE SHOULD START A BAND” in Ruby’s handwriting followed by the messy sketches of the whole team playing instruments was enough to brighten her day, no matter what kind of mood she was in.

“Every single time I said I wouldn’t trade you guys for anything,” said Weiss, “I meant it. Anything.”

Despite it all, Blake couldn’t hold back just the tiniest smile at that. Her shoulders sagged. “I still don’t understand why.”

“Because you’re great,” said Weiss. She reached up and took Blake’s hand into her own. “Because I love coming back to the dorm and seeing you curled up in bed, reading a book and enjoying yourself. I love watching you tear through your dinner whenever there’s something you like on the menu. I love spending time with you, and doing things that you like doing together. Seeing you happy makes me happy. That’s all there is to it. And I know that if you wait here for Yang to wake up, she’ll tell you the exact same thing.”

“We’re not going to force you to stay,” Ruby told her. “But please… at the very least, stick around until Yang’s conscious again. Let her know you’re okay. And after that, if you still need to run, if you still need to leave and figure yourself out, we won’t stop you. I promise.”

Blake’s knees gave out. Ruby and Weiss were there to catch her. They held her close, and she hugged back, crying into their shoulders. 

“It’s okay,” said Ruby, glancing over at Weiss sadly. She rubbed her hand up and down Blake’s back. “It’s gonna be okay, Blake. We’re all here for you.”

 


 

Yang woke up in the evening. Weiss heard her stirring before she saw her. 

Earlier in the day Ruby had taken a couple of plastic chairs off the stack against the wall and lined three of them up next to Yang’s cot. She’d been using that as her bed, crashed out face down across them while Blake sat on the ground and leaned up against the middle chair and Weiss decided to just sleep on the floor underneath them. If the mood had been lighter they probably would’ve made some joke about how she had gotten too used to the bunk bed arrangements, and they probably would’ve been right, but as it stood no one was really feeling up for any lighthearted banter.

Weiss opened her eyes when she felt Blake let go of her hand and had to remind herself to not immediately shoot up into a sitting position. She waited until Ruby had rolled off the chairs before crawling out from underneath them. Her back ached. Ruby blearily kicked the chairs over to sit down by Yang’s side. Weiss took the seat next to her, but Blake stood a bit further off to the side, her shoulders hunched and her expression tense.

“Hey, Yang,” said Ruby.

“Hey,” said Yang. She blinked once, and then twice. “Where am I?”

“Beacon’s infirmary,” said Ruby. “How are you feeling?”

“Like someone cut me open, to be honest.” A second later, Yang grimaced. The memories must have hit her by then. “Wait, someone really did cut me open, didn’t they?”

“Maybe a little,” Ruby said awkwardly.

“I’m sorry,” Blake blurted out.

They all looked at her. Yang’s face scrunched up in confusion. “What are you sorry for?” she asked. “You weren’t the one who ganked me.”

“But it was my fault that—” Blake began, before she stopped herself, covering her face with her hands. “Well. Ruby and Weiss keep insisting it wasn’t my fault. And I really am trying to believe that. It’s just—Adam only came to the village because I was there and he only managed to hurt you because I asked you for help.”

“That’s weird,” said Yang. “And here I was thinking he did all those things because he’s a needy, controlling asshole.”

“Yang,” Blake said, too shocked to say anything else.

Yang managed a faint smile. “I’m just glad you’re okay. And maybe I’m not so okay at the moment, so how about you take your mind off of this stuff and come cuddle with me? All of you.” She gingerly pressed a hand to the bandages wrapped around her torso and winced. “Uh. No one lie down on top of me, though.”

“We’re supposed to tell the nurse when you wake up,” said Weiss.

“But I’m not awake,” said Yang, immediately closing her eyes again and going limp. “So it’s perfectly fine for all of you to come here with me instead. Cause you all just missed me that much. Right?”

They had to do some planning and squishing around to make it work, because the cot was only so big and the space above Yang was off limits. In the end Weiss and Blake managed to fit themselves on either side of Yang, while Ruby latched herself on top of Weiss. 

It was cramped, and Weiss felt more than just slightly squashed, but she was too tired to care. Evidently no one else had the energy to move either.

“I’m glad you’re alright,” Weiss said quietly once they had all gotten settled.

“Yeah,” said Yang. She let out a small sigh. Weiss thought it sounded unhappy and a little defeated.

 


 

Over the next few days the other kids started returning from their missions and trickling back into the school. There was a different sort of energy in the atmosphere around campus. The end of the year was approaching fast, and most people generally seemed either excited or relieved about it.

Except for Yang. And Blake, and even Ruby, and it was really starting to stress Weiss out.

It was like the aftermath of the mine all over again. This time, though, Yang in particular was trying a lot harder to pretend like nothing was bothering her. She mostly sat in bed all day, because if she moved around too much her wound would start acting up.

“It’s fine,” she would say through a forced, pained smile whenever Weiss tried to fuss over her. “I’m okay. Look, it’s already closed up. Once it scars over we’ll even match.”

But then she’d lie awake all night and Weiss knew she wasn’t sleeping because there was no snoring. And she knew Blake was awake too, because although she’d stopped outwardly beating herself up, the way her expression twisted whenever she thought no one was looking made it pretty clear she was still struggling with feeling responsible for the whole incident.

A year ago Weiss would have done anything to have some peace and quiet in the dorm room instead of the usual noisy chaos that seemed to follow her teammates around. Now that she finally had it, the silence was making her incredibly uneasy.

“Where are Yang and Ruby?” she asked one day.

Blake looked down at her. She was sitting on Yang’s bunk, above the combined beds, hugging her legs close to her chest. “I’m not sure,” she said quietly. “I think they went to the library to study.”

Weiss made a face. “For what? The finals?” she said, and began climbing her way up to Yang’s bed as well. “How are you feeling?”

“I’m doing okay, I think.” Blake watched as Weiss scooted closer and let her take her by the hands. “Just scared. Yang seems really upset.”

“Not because of you,” said Weiss.

“Are you sure?” Blake asked uncomfortably.

“Yes. You know her pride’s not going to let her take this injury sitting down. She’s mad at herself, not you.” When Blake still looked uncertain, Weiss let out a small sigh and then continued. “Blake, if someone like Roman Torchwick were to somehow break out of prison at this moment and attack me, and I called out for help, what would you do?”

“Well, I’d come and help.”

“Even if it meant putting yourself in danger?”

“Yes,” Blake said, without hesitation.

“And if you were hurt in the encounter, but I came out of it unscathed, would you—would you be mad at me?” Weiss asked.

Blake’s shoulders slumped. “No. Never.”

There was a knock on the door. Weiss twisted around and watched as Qrow tentatively poked his head into the room.

“Uh, hey,” he said uncomfortably. “Is this a bad time?”

“Not really,” said Weiss, “but Ruby and Yang aren’t in the room right now.”

“I know,” said Qrow. “I wanted to talk to you, actually. Both of you, if that’s okay.”

Blake and Weiss looked at each other. Then Weiss looked at Qrow and shrugged. Thankfully he seemed to take that as an invitation to enter the room and stepped in. He headed over to the swing underneath Ruby’s bed, pausing for only a moment before sitting down on it.

“You said the guy who attacked your team was specifically after you, right?” he asked, looking up at Blake.

“Yeah, he was,” she said, tensing up. Weiss rubbed her thumbs up and down the back of Blake’s hands. Qrow must have noticed too, because he held up his hands in a placating way.

“I won’t pry information out of you if you don’t want me to,” he said. “But would you be willing to give me a name? Just so I can keep an eye out for him if he comes sniffing around.”

Blake looked wary. “I, um…” she began, before closing her eyes and steeling herself. “It’s… his name is Adam Taurus.”

“You’re looking at me like you expect me to recognize that,” Qrow noted. “I’m not here to judge. I don’t know your whole situation and I won’t pretend to know it. But I appreciate it. And, uh, are you doing okay?”

Blake stared at him. Qrow rubbed at the back of his neck. After a few moments of awkward silence, he sighed.

“Listen, kid, I care about you, alright?” he admitted. “It doesn’t take a genius to see that both of my nieces are crazy about the two of you. As far as I’m concerned, that makes you family too. So feel free to let me know if that little bastard shows his face again. I’ve got a bone to pick with him for hurting your team like this.”

“Oh,” said Blake, clearly surprised. “...Thank you.”

Qrow just smiled faintly and shook his head. “I heard you two were planning on staying with Ruby and Yang over break.”

“I am,” said Weiss. “Blake…”

Blake looked away. “I don’t want Adam to follow us there,” she said.

“Oh, good.” Qrow dragged his feet across the carpet. Ruby had built the swing for people her size, and that was becoming glaringly obvious with someone as tall as Qrow sitting on it. “I cleared out my schedule for the break. Completely. No missions for the next two months. If it’ll make you feel safer to have two professional Huntsmen running around the house instead of just one, I can pop in whenever I want. Me and Tai have been through a lot together, he’ll let me in.” That last part sounded almost sad.

“I don’t—” said Blake, her eyes wide. “You don’t have to go through all that trouble for me.”

“Then you better start learning that sometimes, people just want to do stuff for you,” said Qrow. He smiled and stood up, heading over to the door. Right before he left the room he stopped and turned back around. “And keep this a secret, will you? I want to see the looks on Ruby and Yang’s faces when I show up out of nowhere.”

And with that, he closed the door behind him.

 


 

The days continued to pass by relatively calmly. The written finals came and went. Soon all that was left were two days for everyone to wind down, maybe spar a bit, and start packing up. It was quite possibly the quietest the dorm room had ever been the entire year, and Weiss wanted to scream.

So she went over to Team JNPR’s dorm, sat down on Ren’s bed, took his pillow, pressed it to her face, and then screamed.

“There, there,” he said, patting Weiss on the back.

The bed shifted behind them. Weiss looked up to find Nora standing over her, peering down at her curiously. “Hey Weiss,” she said. “Are you okay? That was a very intense noise you just made.”

I’m fine,” said Weiss. “My teammates are not. And none of them want to be a nuisance and talk about it.”

“Huh,” said Nora. She started jumping up and down on the bed. “Have you tried yelling at them yet?”

“No. That’s rude.”

“Then yell nicely.”

The door opened and Jaune shouldered his way in, carrying a large stack of pizza boxes in his arms. Nora immediately hopped off the bed and went over to take the top two off the stack.

“Oh, Weiss,” said Jaune, blinking. “Hi! What are you doing here?”

“Hiding from the rest of my team,” she said. Ren patted her on the back again.

“Maybe they just need a little push to start talking,” said Nora. She sat back down next to Weiss and opened up the first box of pizza. “Nudge them a little and see what happens.”

Weiss buried her face in her hands. “Yeah. Yeah, I should.”

Pyrrha poked her head out of the bathroom. It looked like she’d been busy cleaning the place out. “Hello, Weiss,” she said. “Jaune, you left your binder on the back of the toilet again.”

“Oh, crap,” said Jaune. “Thanks, Pyrrha!” He dropped the rest of the pizza boxes onto Ren’s bed and dashed past Pyrrha into the bathroom.

“Pizza?” Nora asked Weiss, holding out the open box in her hands.

“No thank you,” she responded.

Pyrrha made her way over to them and sat down on the adjacent bed. “It all sounds very mentally and emotionally taxing,” she commented absently. “You four are always getting caught up in all these crazy situations.”

“Yeah,” Nora agreed. “You’re Beacon’s most crazy and overpowered freshmen team like, ever.” She started counting off on her free hand. “Blew up the docks, crashed a bunch of cars and a giant robot on the highway, crashed a train into the city, fought back a giant wave of Grimm all alone in a dark, smelly mine, and now apparently you’re all being stalked.”

“Well it’s Blake, specifically,” said Weiss, “but yes, that sounds about right.”

“Amazing,” said Nora.

Jaune exited the bathroom soon after and headed over to join the rest of them. He snatched the pizza box out of Nora’s hands and sat down next to Pyrrha. “So Weiss, what can we do for you?” he asked.

“Just talk,” said Weiss. “I’ve been sitting in silence for so long my ears are ringing.”

“About what?”

“I don’t know. Anything.” Weiss watched as Nora started on what must have been her sixth or seventh slice of pizza. If they hadn’t been friends for so long by now she might have been horrified. “What are you guys planning on doing during the break?”

“Jaune and I are going back home,” said Pyrrha with a small smile. “I think Ren and Nora are staying here. For the first few weeks, at least.”

“And then we’re gonna go visit Jaune and his family!” Nora said cheerfully.

“It’ll be nice to not be the only guy around for once,” Jaune said, looking sheepish.

“What about you?” asked Pyrrha. “You’re all going home with Ruby and Yang, right?”

Nora grinned and wiggled her eyebrows. “Meeting the parents, I see,” she said.

“Stop that,” Weiss protested, shoving Nora away and trying valiantly to ignore the little thrill that went through her chest at the ridiculous suggestion. “You’re one to talk. You and Ren are meeting Jaune’s family, too!”

“Yeah, but Ren and I aren’t dating him,” said Nora.

“You’re awful.” Weiss sighed and slowly deflated. “Who knows how well it’ll go now, though? Everyone’s all sad and messed up.”

“Would you like a hug?” Ren asked her.

“That would be nice,” said Weiss.

And then all four of them proceeded to dogpile her. She tried to squirm her way out, indignant, but soon gave up when they all started laughing.

“Accept our love, Weiss,” Pyrrha said, trying to sound imposing, but she was smiling and everyone else was whining dramatically.

“I swear I somehow picked the seven most cuddly friends possible coming here,” said Weiss. The rest of them eventually let her go and she sat up properly, rubbing at her eyes. “Thank you, all of you. I think I should go back and try to talk some sense into my teammates.”

“Good luck,” Jaune said earnestly.

So Weiss got up and waved goodbye to Team JNPR and then went back to her own room. Ruby was sitting at her desk and staring at the wall. Blake was on Yang’s bed again. Yang was on Ruby’s, weirdly enough. None of them said anything when she entered.

“Okay, that’s it,” Weiss announced loudly. “If none of you are going to try and reorient this mess of a team, then it’s up to me to do it.” She noticed with some satisfaction that she’d gotten everyone’s attention, and the others were now looking at her in varying degrees of surprise.

“We’re fine, Weiss,” Yang said. “I’m just a little tired, that’s all—”

“Don’t you give me that nonsense,” said Weiss, and Yang shut her mouth. “I know you’re all hurting. I’m not blind.”

“I’m not hurting,” said Ruby.

Weiss rounded on her. “Of course you aren’t,” she said. “You’re just mentally beating yourself up because you put so much pressure on yourself to be the perfect Huntress and the perfect leader, and you’re not used to having people rely on you and you’re struggling not to buckle under the weight of it all alone because you refuse to confide in any of us about it. Stop me if I’m wrong.” When Ruby just stared at her, wide-eyed in shock, she turned to Blake. “And you. You’ve spent a huge chunk of your life being told that everything is always your fault, from someone who was supposed to care for you and help you grow, not tie you down like that. And I know you probably think that’s your fault too, but you have got to stop taking responsibility for the actions and decisions of other people or else you’ll suffocate.” 

Yang was having trouble maintaining eye contact with Weiss, fiddling nervously with the zipper on her jacket. Weiss sighed.

“Yang,” she continued, “you are one of the strongest people I have ever met. You probably don’t believe me, though, because you think your track record regarding fights says otherwise. I just wish you would get your head out of your ass sometimes and realize that there’s so much more to measuring someone’s strength than raw power and brute force.” 

“Weiss…” Yang said, quiet and almost a little awed.

Now that she’d gotten everything out of her system, Weiss felt the fire start fizzling out inside her. “I care so, so much about all of you,” she said, pleading. “I know you all care about each other too. So can everyone just take a break tonight and sit here and hold me? Just hold each other close. We can talk about everything tomorrow, but I think for now we could all use a break.”

For a long moment no one talked or moved. Then Yang let out a short laugh and slipped off of Ruby’s bed, landing on the ground with a light thud. 

“Well, I can’t argue with that,” she said, and slowly settled herself onto the combined bed. Weiss went over and curled up in her arms, careful not to put too much pressure on her wound. “Thanks for that, Weiss.”

“Yeah,” Ruby agreed, getting up as well. “Thanks for trying to knock some sense into us. And sorry for being a sillyhead.”

Blake hopped off to join them soon after, and the four of them sat there together, just hugging each other tightly. It felt safe, and comfortable, and reassuring. Weiss reveled in the familiar sensation.

“Ever since I came to Beacon,” Blake said, staring up at the ceiling, “I’ve accomplished a lot of things I didn’t even think I was capable of. And that’s because I wasn’t alone. I had you guys. And I think… I think I need to be better about remembering that.”

“That’s okay,” said Yang. “Give me a bit to get over my own problems and I’ll help remind you.”

“No,” Blake said, looking slightly panicked. “Take your time. Please.”

It wasn’t long before Ruby fell asleep. Weiss watched and listened as Yang passed out next, then Blake, and soon they were all huddled together fast asleep. And Weiss knew that things were still messy and challenging, and they probably would be for a long time coming, but at least in that moment, everything was okay again.

Chapter 20

Notes:

no one comment on how long it's been since i updated or i WILL burst into tears

in all seriousness though i may have recently taken the fragile stability of my life and... uh. punted it off a cliff. so i've been busy running around trying to gather the scattered pieces of my shit back together. that's my excuse anyways please take this peace offering while i go lie face down on the floor

Chapter Text

Yang stared down at her overflowing luggage case.

“Weiss,” she said, “do you have any extra space in your stuff?”

“If you’re okay with putting whatever it is into one of my old Dust cases,” Weiss answered, frowning down at her own luggage. “We used a lot more than I was expecting this year. I’ll have to think about restocking soon.” She kicked over an empty case to Yang, who stopped it with her foot.

“Thanks,” she said, dropping a large pile of clothes into the case. “That should fit the rest of it.”

“Why do you even need that much extra room?” Weiss asked.

“Uh,” said Yang.

Weiss looked at her suspiciously. Then she walked over to see how Yang’s packing was going.

“Yang,” she said.

“Yes?”

“Are you seriously bringing home multiple metal poles?”

“It’s just one,” Yang tried, as if that made it any better. “You know, that one piece of stair railing I snapped in half with my face?”

“Oh, I remember,” said Weiss. 

“It’s probably cause we have a trophy wall in our room,” Ruby called out. She was on the ceiling, busy working on untying her bed and putting it back where it had been at the very start of the year. “We hang stuff that we’re proud of on it.”

“Yeah,” Yang agreed. “Like, once at Signal there was this guy who wouldn’t stop bullying Ruby, until one day she hurled a rock at him so hard he went flying and landed in the fountain. We put the rock up on the wall.”

“I see,” said Weiss, even though it didn’t look like she understood.

Yang finished fitting the last of her clothes into Weiss’s suitcase and then clicked it shut. She stood up, wincing slightly from the motion.

“Did you change your bandages yet today?” Blake asked from behind her.

“God,” said Yang, whirling around. “When did you get back? I didn’t even hear you come in.”

Blake just smiled slightly and tilted her head. “A while ago. And I’m taking that as a no.”

“It’s fine,” said Yang. “I can do it myself.”

“But I can do it faster,” said Blake. “The airship’s coming in an hour. Let me just get it over with.”

So Yang sighed and sat down and took off her shirt. Blake went over to the bathroom to grab some supplies, and then knelt down in front of Yang and got to work.

The seconds ticked by slowly. Yang soon found herself gazing into Blake’s concentrated expression, watching as her eyes shifted back and forth along the wound while she worked. It was so easy for Yang to just lose herself in Blake like that. Until a sharp jolt of pain shocked her out of it.

“Ah!” she said, instinctively grabbing Blake around the wrist. Blake nearly flinched and Yang could almost see her biting back an apology. “No, wait, it’s okay. I’m okay. It wasn’t you.”

“Right…” Blake said dubiously, slowly forcing her shoulders to relax. “Who was it, then?”

Yang thought about that one for a moment. “Adam fucking Taurus,” she finally said, and couldn’t help but smile when Blake let out a shocked laugh.

A while later Weiss came over to sit down on the bed behind them, and started absently running her fingers up and down Yang’s spine. With Blake’s hands smoothing out the bandages across her front and Weiss’s tracing every little bump down her back, Yang really had to make an effort not to shiver.

“Okay, there,” Blake said. “All done.” She leaned forward and pressed a kiss to Yang’s stomach, and then Weiss kissed her right between her shoulder blades. Yang actually did shiver this time.

“Oh fuck,” she said, eloquently.

That made Weiss laugh, at least. “We probably shouldn’t kill Yang before we get to Patch. Come on, let’s finish reorganizing this room already.”

As if on cue, Ruby’s bed dropped from the ceiling, followed immediately by Ruby herself. The bed hit the ground with a loud crash, and then Ruby landed on top of it, bouncing a few times before coming to a halt. 

“Cool,” she said. “You guys can fix your beds. I’m gonna take a nap.” Then she rolled over and started fake-snoring as loudly and obnoxiously as she could.

It felt weird, having to stand back and watch Weiss and Blake do all the heavy lifting. If she’d had her way, Yang probably would have tried to work through the pain, but unfortunately for her she was now dating two people who were both unfairly good at reading her expressions and body language. Which was a little bit inconvenient.

“You’re brooding again,” said Weiss.

“Am not,” said Yang.

Weiss leaned up and kissed her. Yang let her eyes close, her hands going up to rest on Weiss’s hips.

“Okay, maybe a little,” Yang admitted when they broke apart, not willing to open her eyes just yet. “I want to help.”

“Not till this thing heals completely,” Weiss told her, reaching up and poking her in the chest. “Otherwise you’ll just slow down the recovery process. After you’re all better you can build yourself a castle by hand for all I care.”

Yang smiled. “That’s a good idea. Thanks, Weiss.”

Soon enough they got the beds back where they were supposed to be. Blake packed up the last of her books and then went over to join the rest of them on the leftmost bed, where Weiss was now cuddling with Ruby and Yang was sitting there watching them fondly.

“They’re pretty cute, aren’t they?” Blake said as she sat down next to Yang.

“Yeah,” said Yang. “Weiss is. Not so sure about Ruby.”

Ruby flopped once in annoyance, her eyes still closed. Weiss just sighed and pulled her in tighter.

“Hey, Yang?” said Blake, her voice softer this time.

“Yeah?”

“I just wanted to say thank you,” she said. “For being there. You… all of you are so brave. I don’t know many people who would willingly stare down Adam in a fight.”

“I don’t regret it, you know,” said Yang. She turned her hand face up on the bed, and Blake took it and intertwined their fingers together. “I’d do it again in a heartbeat. Well, I’d rather not get chopped up again if possible. But if I see any of you in danger I’m always gonna try and help. And I know you’d do the same for me.”

“Yeah,” said Blake, her shoulders relaxing. She gave Yang a faint smile, and then turned to look back at Ruby and Weiss. “Hey, are you two really planning on taking a nap right now? We have to go soon.”

“I’m pretty sure Ruby’s already falling asleep,” said Weiss, reaching up to give Ruby’s cheek an experimental pat. Ruby let out a small whine in response.

“Sleepy,” she said. “Just wake me up when the airship comes.”

“You’re so weird,” Weiss told her affectionately.

“Mm.” Ruby mumbled something incoherent. It almost sounded like she’d said “love you guys.”

 


 

They did not wake her up when the airship came. Blake carried her over in her arms while Weiss and Yang got everyone’s luggage. Which actually meant Weiss got most of the luggage and Yang helped carry one bag.

“Home sweet home,” Yang said with a sigh, flopping onto the seat next to Blake. Weiss got on last, shutting the door behind her after putting all their stuff in the back.

“You excited?” Blake asked. She shifted her arms slightly, trying to make sure Ruby was in a comfortable position.

“A little bit.” Yang patted her lap. Weiss rolled her eyes but still went over to sit down sideways atop her. “Honestly, after everything that happened this year, I’m ready for a nice long break.”

“You can say that again,” Weiss agreed.

“It’ll be nice to see the dog again. And Dad too, I guess.” Yang smiled. “Ruby and I have this tradition where every time we come home from school, we—we, uh, you know…”

She trailed off, and silence filled the airship. Weiss twisted around to look at her, confused. 

“What’s wrong?” Blake asked.

Yang shook her head. “Sorry. It’s stupid. Every year Ruby and I surprise Dad at the door by tackling him to the ground. He falls for it every single time. But I mean, well, I’m not exactly gonna be able to do it this year.”

“That’s not stupid,” said Blake. “What if you got Weiss to do it for you?”

“Do not get Weiss to do it for you,” Weiss said immediately.

Yang laughed. “I’d pay to see that.”

Weiss just gave her a look. After a few moments, her expression gradually softened. “Fine,” she said. “I’ll do it, but only because it’s for you.”

“You don’t have to, you know,” said Yang.

“No, I do,” said Weiss. “You got this cute little look on your face when I agreed to it.” She tapped Yang on the chin. Yang tried not to stare like a big dumb idiot. “Besides, I stopped being able to pass as a respectable person the moment I decided to fall in love with you three.”

“Do you regret it?” Yang asked with a small smile.

“Of course not,” said Weiss. “What a ridiculous question. Blake, tell Yang she’s ridiculous.”

“You’re ridiculous, Yang,” Blake told her.

“You’re ridiculous,” Ruby echoed sleepily. Blake had to bury her face into Ruby’s shoulder to stifle her laughter.

“Am not,” said Yang, pretending to be offended. “I’m not the one planning on tackling my dad to the ground.”

“Don’t push your luck,” said Weiss. 

“Okay,” said Yang, and in that moment she forgot that her wound was supposed to be bothering her. “Thank you, Weiss. Really.”

An hour later the airship finally landed on Patch and dropped them off. Ruby had stirred fully awake by then, and spent a full two minutes just blinking stupidly while Yang tried to explain the new surprise plan to her.

The four of them got all their stuff and started heading down the dirt path. Weiss seemed fascinated by her surroundings, gazing around at all the cozy beachside homes they passed with poorly disguised wonder. Blake was more subdued about it, although Yang was glad to see that her posture was also more relaxed and carefree.

“We’re over here,” said Yang, leading the rest of them down a path going into a forested area. She turned around and started walking backwards, grinning at Weiss and Ruby. “You two ready?”

“Please don’t remind me,” said Weiss. Ruby just grinned back and flashed Yang a thumbs up.

Soon enough the path opened up into a clearing, where Yang and Ruby’s home stood at the center surrounded by a small garden. Ruby dragged Weiss off towards the back of the house so they could sneak in through a window while Blake went with Yang up to the front door.

“Moment of truth,” said Yang. She looked at Blake and smiled. “You’ve been pretty calm about all this so far.”

“That’s because I’ve decided to focus on the fact that I get to watch Weiss body slam a grown man so I don’t have to think about how that grown man is your father,” said Blake. “And that I’m about to meet him.”

“Fair enough,” said Yang. 

She reached up and rang the doorbell.

At first, nothing happened. Yang and Blake kept standing together outside in the silence. A bird chirped overhead.

Then the door clicked and swung open, revealing Taiyang standing there with a huge grin on his face.

“Hi,” Blake said timidly.

“Hey,” said Tai. “You’re Blake, right? It’s nice to finally meet you. Shouldn’t there be more of you?”

“What?” said Yang.

“You know,” said Tai. “You said your entire team was staying over.”

“Oh, right,” said Yang, because she was great at being subtle. “About that…”

Ruby saved her from having to come up with a dumb explanation by choosing that moment to rocket into view, bowling into Tai from behind in a flurry of rose petals. The only reason why they didn’t go careening to the ground was because Tai had still been holding the door open with one hand, and he just barely managed to tighten his grip enough so that he only staggered under Ruby’s weight instead.

“Hey Dad!” Ruby said cheerfully, latching harder onto Tai’s back.

“Hey,” he replied, his eyes wide. He bent over and braced both of his hands against his knees. “Dear god, Ruby, someday you’re gonna give your old man a heart attack.” After a few moments he stood back up again, looking slightly worse for wear. “Alright, that’s three of you. Is the last one coming, too?”

“No,” said Weiss. She came sprinting over with a very obvious wince on her face, and then proceeded to actually knock Tai over by ramming into him with all of her might. 

A loud barking came from deeper inside the house. Blake immediately turned around and bolted away, and not a second too soon, because Zwei barreled out the doorway and started chasing her. Yang was left to stand there and try to contain her laughter while Weiss and Ruby got up off a defeated Tai and Blake did a full lap around the house running from Zwei.

“Hello, Mr. Xiao Long,” said Weiss, trying to maintain a neutral expression as if she hadn’t just finished tackling Tai to the ground.

“Hello,” said Tai. He rolled over onto his back and groaned, but he managed a genuine smile as well. “Thanks for the, uh, enthusiastic greeting. Zwei, quit chasing the guest!”

Blake came to a halt next to Yang again. Zwei was now perched on top of her head, excitedly squashing both of her cat ears.

“Help,” she said, pleading.

Yang laughed and plucked Zwei off of her, stuffing him under one arm while he kept wiggling around in his happiness. Meanwhile, Tai was giving her a look, obviously gauging how he wanted to treat her.

“Just wait a couple weeks,” she told him. “I’ll beat you up myself, no sweat.”

Tai broke into a grin at that. He took Yang’s outstretched hand and let her pull him back up to his feet. “Well, it really is nice to see all of you,” he said, waving them all inside. “Come on in and put your stuff down. Have you guys had lunch yet?”

“No,” said Ruby. “I’m starving!”

“I’ll go whip something up for everyone, then.” Tai led them into the living room and then turned around to address the four of them. “Ruby and Yang have their own room. We’ve got a guest bedroom down here, and I’ll be sleeping on the couch so one of you can take my room. I’ll let you decide who sleeps where.”

Blake and Weiss glanced at each other.

“Weiss should probably take the guest bedroom,” Ruby suggested.

“How come?” asked Weiss.

“Cause Zwei likes to hang out down here. And he knows how to open doors.”

“That is terrifying,” said Blake. Zwei barked happily, still lodged under Yang’s arm. “I’ll sleep upstairs then. Where it’s safe.”

Weiss just shrugged and smiled at her. “Your loss.”

Yang finally dropped Zwei down to the ground and he scampered off. Tai left to go into the kitchen. Blake and Weiss went over to put their stuff away in their respective rooms, so Yang grabbed her bags and followed Ruby upstairs to their shared bedroom. 

It was quiet for a bit while they unpacked all their stuff into the room. Ruby kept bouncing around from one spot to another.

“This is so exciting,” she said, haphazardly tossing her clothes onto a chair next to her desk. “A little bit scary though. I hope they like it here.”

“Me too,” said Yang. She bent over to pull the metal poles out of her bag, and then stood back up to inspect them, thoughtful. “Hey, Ruby?”

“Yeah?”

 


 

“Are you two seriously jousting in the hallways right now?”

“Why do you still sound surprised?” came Blake’s amused voice.

“I don’t know.” Weiss sighed. “It’s my default reaction at this point. Yang, you’re injured.”

“That’s why Ruby’s only aiming for my face,” said Yang.

Ruby ducked down and swung, smacking Yang behind the knees with her piece of the metal pole. Yang involuntarily crumpled to the ground.

“No mercy!” she shouted dramatically, grabbing Ruby by her ankle and yanking her off balance as well. 

“Oh god, why am I attracted to the both of you?” Weiss asked.

“You know why,” said Blake.

They grappled for a few seconds on the floor before Yang shoved Ruby off to the side. She looked up and gave Weiss her best smile.

“Ugh, yeah,” said Weiss, covering her face in embarrassment. “I do.”

“I think I won that,” said Ruby. She flinged away her metal pole and it smacked Yang in the face. Yang smacked her back. “I always hit you faster than you hit me.”

“That’s fencing, stupid,” Yang retorted. “Speed doesn’t matter. You just have to knock the other person off their horse first.”

“Oh sorry, let me just ask our nonexistent horses real quick who fell off more!”

There was a coughing noise. The four of them all turned to find Tai standing awkwardly at the top of the stairs, wearing an apron and holding a spatula in his hand.

“Hey Dad,” said Yang. “Who won the jousting, me or Ruby?”

Tai blinked. “Was that what you guys were doing up here?” 

“Yeah,” Ruby said brightly.

“Well,” said Tai, “Yang makes a louder thud when she hits the ground, and I heard five of those. If I’m not mistaken, Ruby, you got knocked over three times.”

“Aha!” said Ruby, pumping her fists in the air while Yang groaned in defeat. Then the nonsense of the past few minutes decided to finally catch up to her, and it didn’t take long before she was groaning in pain instead.

“Man,” she said, rolling onto her side so she could curl up into a ball. “I just want this to finish healing itself already.”

All of Weiss’s earlier annoyance evaporated then, replaced with a sort of soft concern as she knelt down next to Yang. She lifted her up into a sitting position, keeping one hand on Yang’s back to support her.

“You’re a big baby,” said Weiss, leaning down to leave a kiss on her forehead.

“Yeah,” Yang said grumpily. 

It was hard to stay grumpy for long, though, when Blake joined the rest of them on the floor, her silent yet supportive presence already enough to make Yang feel less bad about herself.

“Well, um,” said Tai. Yang glanced over just in time to see him wipe an almost wistful expression off his face before putting on a smile instead. “Food’s ready. So you can all come down whenever you want.”

“In a second.” Ruby bounced back up to her feet and then went over to help Weiss pick Yang up as well. “Hey nerd, if you stop being sad we can have a rematch in a couple of weeks. I’ll still kick your butt, but at least it’ll be more fair.”

Yang couldn’t help but laugh at that. “You are the worst sister ever. Deal.”

They all followed Tai down the stairs together, and with the way Ruby was beaming at her, Yang knew that they were both fully aware of how little she meant that statement.

“So what are we having?” Ruby asked, dashing past the rest of them into the kitchen. She kept running circles around the table until Tai caught up to her and gently yanked her out of her semblance. He’d had a lot of practice doing that. 

“Dumplings, if you wanna help get them off the stove for me,” he answered before letting her loose again. “Yang, you got the plates?”

“I’m on it,” said Yang.

She could hear Tai talking to Blake and Weiss behind her. “You two can sit down, you know,” he was saying. “Help yourself to anything in this house. There’s no need to be so timid.”

“Sorry,” said Blake awkwardly.

“We’ll get used to it,” said Weiss a few seconds later.

“I want you to feel like you can do the same things here that you would at your own home,” said Tai.

Blake and Weiss looked at each other again.

“Dad,” Yang said as she set the plates down on the table, “did you really just tell Weiss Schnee to act like she would in her own home?”

To Tai’s credit, it took him all of two seconds to understand what that meant. “Nevermind,” he said, shaking his head. “The point is, I hope you two can be comfortable here.” He tapped the table once with his hand. “Now you all enjoy the food.”

“Where are you going?” Ruby asked him.

“I’ve got some stuff to fix in the garage,” he said. “If you need me, just holler.”

And with that, he left the kitchen. Yang took a seat next to Ruby, who was already heaping dumplings onto her own plate. Weiss and Blake soon sat down across from them.

“Is all of your silverware bright red?” Blake asked, lifting up her plate and inspecting it curiously.

“Yeah,” said Yang. “It’s Ruby’s favorite color. She was a very demanding child.”

Ruby stuck out her tongue in annoyance. Yang grinned at her and swiped a dumpling from her plate, setting it down on the ground before knocking her foot against the table leg a couple times. Almost instantly, Zwei shot out from wherever he’d been hanging out and came bounding over. She gave him a few scratches behind his head while he eagerly lapped up the food. 

No one talked much after that, focused on simply eating and enjoying the time together. Yang thought it felt almost domestic. It was nice, she realized. She wondered if she could get used to this.

Later, once the dumplings were nearly all gone, Blake was the first to break the peaceful silence. “These are really good,” she said. “Did your dad make them?”

“Nah, probably not,” Yang answered. “We usually get a bunch down at the market. There’s a little old lady at a stall who’s been making them for years now. She’s got all kinds of flavors and everything.”

“A market,” Weiss said, interested.

“Yeah!” Ruby pitched in. “Patch has super mild weather for basically the entire year, so we have a big outdoor market and it pretty much never closes. It’s great! We can take you guys down there someday if you want.”

“Like on a date,” Blake blurted out. “I’d really like to go on a date with one of you again. Or all of you. That’d be nice.” She stopped talking and stared hard at the table, clearly embarrassed. It was so cute that Yang couldn’t stop herself from grinning at her.

“You and Weiss can go to the market together,” she told Blake. “I’ve got some other ideas in store for the two of us, if you’re up for it.”

“What about me?” Ruby said indignantly.

“You already got to go on a date with Blake, loser,” said Yang, and Ruby just sank further down her chair. “Save some for the rest of us.”

Weiss barely managed to stifle a yawn, looking suddenly exhausted. “There’s plenty of time to discuss the details later,” she said, pushing away her empty plate before standing up from the table. “In the meantime, would anyone like to join me for a date right now? On the couch. To cuddle.”

“Yes,” Ruby said immediately.

“That sounds amazing,” Yang agreed.

She went over to put the dishes in the sink while the rest of them headed into the living room. By the time Yang made it back out to join them, Ruby, Weiss, and Blake had already piled on top of each other over on the armchair. The TV was switched on to a nature documentary about some rainforest in Mistral, but none of them were really paying much attention to it.

“You guys do realize there’s an entire sofa right there, right?” Yang asked.

“It was Ruby’s idea,” said Blake, at the bottom of the pile. She patted the armrest, which was the biggest space left. “Come join us.”

Yang smiled and shook her head. The things she did for her team.

 


 

They spent most of the afternoon and evening just lazing around. It was so weird to be able to relax and do absolutely nothing for once, without the pressure of school or anything else to keep them on edge. Well, the situation wasn’t completely stress free, but it was pretty close. And for now that was good enough.

The time passed, dinner came and went, and soon Yang was bidding Blake and Weiss goodnight. She went up to her room with Ruby, got ready for bed, and before long was out like a light.

She vaguely remembered having nice dreams. There were a lot of happy feelings involved. Blake was probably there, and Weiss too. And Ruby prodding her in the side. Yang grumbled at that last part.

The prodding got harder.

“Yang. Hey. Yang. Wake up. Yang.”

Yang groaned and pulled the covers up over her head. “Go away.”

“Aw, come on, Yang,” Ruby tried. “Wake up. Please?”

“No,” Yang complained. She rolled over and somehow managed to force open her eyes. Ruby was peering down at her in the darkness. “What is it?”

“It’s a clear night outside,” said Ruby. “Wanna go up to the roof?”

“Oh, sure.” Yang got up slowly, rubbing at her eyes. She blinked a couple times. “Yeah, just give me a moment.”

She sat there and kept trying to blink herself into a more conscious state while Ruby busied herself with rolling up a blanket. Once Yang felt appropriately awake she stood up and followed Ruby over to the window in their room. Ruby had that content, happy little expression on her face, the one she always got whenever they did stuff like this. It made Yang smile too. It always had, ever since they were little kids.

Ruby pushed the window open so Yang climbed out first. She turned around and reached up to grab onto the edge of the roof, making sure she had a solid grip on it before hauling herself over the top. There was a faint breeze out tonight. Yang stood there and closed her eyes and tilted her head up a bit, letting the wind wash over her while she waited for Ruby to join her.

“Nerd,” came Ruby’s voice a short while later.

Yang smiled and opened her eyes again. Ruby tossed her the blanket. The two of them headed over to the top, where Yang laid out the blanket onto the roof. She immediately crashed out onto it, Ruby following suit soon after.

“Oh, man,” said Yang, staring up at the starry night sky. “Vale is nice and all, but I definitely missed this.”

“Me too,” Ruby agreed.

“We should bring Blake and Weiss up here, too,” said Yang.

There was a slight pause before Ruby responded again. “Yeah. We should.”

“Did you not want to?”

“No, no, I do. It’s weird. For the longest time it was just you and me, and now there’s suddenly two more people with us. Like, in our little family.”

“That’s not weird,” said Yang. She rolled onto her side. Ruby kept her gaze fixed on the stars above them. “I know we do a lot of stuff that’s kind of our thing or whatever. I get it if you want to keep it that way.”

“That’s the weird part, though,” said Ruby. “I don’t want to keep it that way. It scares me a little bit when I think about it. But wow. I really, really care about them.”

Yang snorted. “I’ve noticed.”

“Hey, you care about them too,” Ruby said, but she was smiling.

“More than I can put into words.” Yang sighed and rolled over, going back to staring up at the sky again. The stars really were much brighter away from the bustling and commotion of the city. “I think I get what you mean. It’s easy to get swept up in the craziness of it all whenever the whole team’s together. But when you stop and actually process it all, it feels like a lot.”

“Yeah,” said Ruby.

Yang could tell that something was still bothering Ruby. They kept lying there together, neither of them saying anything for a long time. The night air was quiet, save for the sound of the wind in the trees and the faint noise of crickets in the distance.

“Hey, Yang?” Ruby finally asked.

“Yeah?” said Yang.

“I know I’ve never really done this before,” she said slowly, her voice tinged with nervousness. “I’ve been thinking about everything that’s happened. And about what Weiss said about me the other day, and… well, I have a team now. And I should learn to rely on them.”

Yang made a vague noise to let Ruby know she was listening. Ruby took a deep breath before continuing.

“I’m—um, I’m not running off and trying to do everything on my own on purpose. At least, I don’t think so. It’s confusing. I know that constantly overworking myself is bad for me. And for you guys, too. But I still do it. And if you asked me why, I don’t think I could give you an answer.” She let out a short laugh. “I know you’ve always been really good at figuring out when I was sad, even if you didn’t know exactly why. The truth is… sometimes I don’t even know. Why do I go so overboard trying to be the perfect leader or the perfect Huntress? Why do I never talk to you guys about it? Is it cause of Mom? I don’t know. It’s like that part of my brain just shuts down before it can get anywhere.” Wordlessly, Yang scooted closer so she could sling her arm over Ruby, who accepted the embrace gratefully. “I rarely ever talk about how I feel about that kind of stuff, because most of the time I don’t know what’s going on with it in my own head.”

“Oh,” said Yang. “Huh.”

“But I should try at least, right?” said Ruby, tilting her head to look tentatively over at Yang. And looking at her face illuminated by the moonlight, Yang was suddenly reminded of how young she was. How young they all were. “Cause now I have three amazing, super cool teammates on my side. And I know they all got my back. So… this is me trying. To confide in you.”

“Well, I appreciate it,” Yang managed to say. “Seriously. I know opening up can’t be easy. Damn, Ruby, that’s… I mean, we all knew that you had a tendency to overwork yourself and try to carry the burden on your own, but I guess I didn’t realize how deep it actually went.”

“Me neither.” Ruby’s smile turned sad. “It never really came around to bite me in the butt until Blake got attacked that night and then you got seriously injured.”

“That wasn’t your fault, you know,” said Yang.

“I know. I know it wasn’t,” said Ruby. “Trying to put this into words is hard. I guess, when we were kids, you were always my protector. You were always there to comfort me whenever I got overwhelmed. And once I became the leader of Team RWBY, suddenly that was my job. Not just for you, but for Blake and Weiss too. And instead of talking to you guys about the pressure I felt, I decided to just not think about it and tried to go through it alone until it was too late.” 

“It’s not too late,” Yang said quietly. Ruby curled harder into her side, so Yang hugged her tighter. “I’m always here for you. We’re always here for you.” 

“Yeah,” said Ruby. “I think I’ve always known that. I just need to be better at showing it.”

They lapsed into silence again. Ruby looked lighter than she had earlier now that she’d got everything off her chest. The two of them huddled together on the rooftop for a while longer. Yang wasn’t sure exactly how much time passed, but all the warmth building up in between them was starting to make her drowsy again.

“Ruby, I’m about to fall asleep,” she said.

“Oh no,” said Ruby, shaking herself awake too. “Wait, I wanted to bring Blake and Weiss up here before we went back to bed.”

“Better make it quick, then.” Yang smiled and pushed herself to her feet, stretching a bit while Ruby got up after her. “Blake first?”

Ruby shook her head. “Weiss first. Blake probably already knows how to climb up and down walls. We gotta teach Weiss how to do it.”

“She’d just make a bunch of glyphs to walk up, you know,” Yang said, amused.

“Yeah, well that’s cheating,” said Ruby. She headed over to the edge and began to climb down, but stopped. “Yang?”

“Yeah?”

“Thank you.” Ruby turned around and smiled at her. “You’re the greatest sister in the world.”

Yang smiled back, before watching Ruby disappear over the edge of the roof.

Chapter 21

Notes:

i just wanted to say thank you so much to everyone who left a comment over the past few months. i didn't know how to respond to all of them, so i didn't, but i read every single one and i mean it when i say i really, really appreciate it.

i usually try pretty hard to avoid topics that i'm worried might cause controversy, so i was both a little surprised and super grateful for the amazing support and love you guys have shown me. i'm honored that my writing has been able to bring people happiness and enjoyment.

as for life... i'm doing okay, i think. it's all very up and down right now. i'm trying to distance myself from social circles and platforms that i know aren't good for me, and also trying to figure out how i want to live my real life. lol. i'm not super sure how i feel about this chapter, but i'm starting to get my writing groove back so i figured i might as well post it. i have an end goal for the story in mind and i'm determined to get to it.

so yeah. thank you. and i hope you enjoy.

Chapter Text

Ruby stood with Weiss at the top of the stairs. She leaned up against the wall, idly drumming out a beat with her hands while she waited. It was strangely quiet downstairs.

“What is taking them so long?” Weiss asked.

“Oh, you know them,” said Ruby. “They probably got distracted making out.” She grinned when Weiss made a face. “Wanna see something cool?”

“You’re going to show me no matter how I answer,” said Weiss.

Ruby laughed. “It’s worth it, I promise.” She took a couple steps backwards down the hallway, giving Weiss an expectant look the entire time. Then, with a running start, she hopped up to sit on the stair railing and slid down all the way to the bottom, landing easily with both feet on the floor.

Weiss looked like she couldn’t decide whether or not to be amused or baffled.

“What?” said Ruby, bounding back up the stairs again. “Not impressed?”

“Well,” said Weiss, “I have seen both you and Yang pull off far crazier stunts before.”

“That’s great!” Ruby said cheerfully. “That just means I won’t have to teach you how to do it, then.”

It took Weiss a full five seconds to respond to that particular piece of insanity. “…What?”

“You’re right. It’s pretty simple. I bet you could slide perfectly down the railing on your first try, easy.”

“At no point did I even remotely come close to implying that I wanted to try it out.”

“But you thought about it.” Ruby beamed at her. Weiss wasn’t even trying to hide it anymore. She just sighed and went over to the opposite railing, eyeing it warily.

“What if I fall?” she asked.

“I’ll catch you,” Ruby answered. She shrugged and smiled. “I’m super fast, remember?”

So Weiss hesitantly took a few steps backward, staring at the railing with far more concern and concentration than the situation called for. Ruby could almost see her trying to do calculations in her head and had to struggle not to laugh. The seconds ticked by. 

Then, without warning, Weiss rushed forward, jumping up and landing on the railing with surprising grace and accuracy. As she went sliding down she let out the smallest, cutest little startled squeak Ruby had ever heard.

She probably would have landed on her feet just fine on her own, but Ruby felt like dashing over and catching her anyway. Right before she skidded off the railing at the bottom of the stairs Ruby rematerialized and scooped her up into her arms.

“Hi,” said Ruby. Weiss just sighed, but her expression was filled with affection.

They heard footsteps coming from the living room. Yang was making her way over, hand in hand with Blake. Both of them were grinning like idiots.

“Hey guys,” said Yang.

“Hi Yang,” said Ruby. “You buttoned your shirt back up wrong.”

“I know.”

“Gross.” Ruby barely had time to put Weiss down before Yang came up to them. She took Weiss’s face in her hands, still grinning, and leaned down to plant a big kiss right on her lips. Weiss tried to squirm out of her grip. It didn’t work.

“Okay, as much—as much as I’m enjoying this,” she managed to say while Yang kissed her two more times, “I thought you said you wanted to show us your room. Which is why Ruby and I have been standing around waiting for the past five minutes while you made out with Blake in the kitchen.”

“Oh, right,” said Yang, without even bothering to try to look ashamed.

They all headed back up the stairs together, with Ruby in the lead. She rushed ahead to open the door to their room for everyone, bowing dramatically just because she could. As thanks, Yang tried to smash Ruby’s face into the door. Ruby tried to smash Yang’s face right back. 

The four of them piled inside. Yang immediately went over and flopped backwards onto her bed. Weiss joined her after a few moments, sitting carefully down at the very edge like she was worried she somehow might be intruding. Blake, meanwhile, had gone up to the wall opposite the beds, scanning the rows and rows of assorted trinkets and photos attached to it with a curious expression on her face.

“So this is the famous trophy wall,” she said.

“Yeah,” said Ruby, coming to a stop next to her. She could hear Yang shifting and sitting up behind them. “Um, feel free to ask about anything. I know a lot of it probably just looks like junk.”

The wall was divided into two sections. The right half had shelves drilled into it, and all the physical objects were displayed here, in roughly chronological order from top to bottom. Yang had put up the broken stair railing poles last night, on the second-lowest shelf. The left side of the wall was where they tacked all the pictures. 

“Wow,” Blake said in awe, a faint smile on her face. “I don’t even know where to start.”

Ruby laughed. “I can just take you through a couple things. Like this is a branch from the first tree Yang ever punched hard enough to knock over. That’s the rock I threw at that guy at Signal. And um… this is from the first time I made a friend all on my own. Yang was so happy for me that she gave us matching friendship bracelets to wear. He moved to Mistral a few years later. I wonder if he still has his.” She tried not to be too embarrassed by that. Blake was giving her a giant grin, though. 

“I bet he does,” she said. “What’s the story behind the broken jar?”

“Oh, that?” Yang pitched in, announcing her sudden presence by slinging her arm around Ruby’s shoulders. “That is from way back when Ruby first unlocked her Aura. She was so excited about it and kept trying to show off how strong she was to us. So what do you think happened when she saw Dad one day having a little bit of trouble opening a tight jar?”

“I didn’t mean for it to explode in my hand!” Ruby protested. Blake was already laughing. By now Weiss had joined the rest of them, standing on Yang’s other side and trying to hide her amusement. “I wasn’t even the one who put it up here, Yang did. She’s never going to let me live it down.”

“Ruby, I put up most of the stuff on here that’s yours,” said Yang. “Because you’re bad at being proud of yourself.”

“Yeah, well, a lot of your stuff I put up too!”

“What does that have to do with anything?”

“Your face, that’s what.” Ruby tried to ignore Yang’s stupid silly grin and scrambled to get the previous conversation back on track. “Why do we keep focusing on my stuff up here, anyway? How about we all look at Yang’s first weapon prototype instead. Oh, or her old motorcycle permit! Or, or—uh—”

She deliberately skipped over Summer’s cloak, folded neatly atop one of the higher shelves. The reason why they’d put it up there in the first place had been so stupid, too. It had all started when little Yang had asked Summer why she had two separate cloaks if they both looked the same anyway. One conversation led to another, and soon Yang had ended up challenging her mom to an arm wrestling contest, with one of the cloaks as a prize. Looking back on it now, it was obvious Summer had let Yang win. But they’d both been so proud back then that they spent weeks afterwards running around the house wearing it, the cloak so big on their tiny kid shoulders that half of it was dragging on the floor.

Yang gave Ruby’s shoulder a comforting squeeze. “There is a lot of shit up here,” she said to break the silence.

It immediately snapped Ruby out of whatever mood she’d just fallen into. “Yeah,” she said, grinning. “Thanks.”

They showed Blake and Weiss a couple other things on the wall. It felt almost intimate in a way, how Ruby was just unloading little snippets of their childhood onto them and they listened to every word with rapt attention. Like it genuinely mattered to them. Blake had taken Ruby’s hand in her own, and her touch was so gentle and kind and loving. It made Ruby want the moment to never end.

“These photos are really nice,” said Weiss.

There were a bunch of those, too. They had one of Yang’s graduation from Signal, one of Ruby’s graduation, and one from when Ruby finally got to bring Crescent Rose home for the first time. There was also a photo from the time it snowed so hard on Patch that Ruby and Yang went outside and spent two days building a three story multi-room snow fort together. That had definitely been one of their best creations to date.

Blake pointed up with her free hand at one photo in particular. “Is this your entire family?” she asked softly.

Ruby glanced at it and smiled. “Yeah,” she said. 

It was a picture of Summer, Tai, and Qrow along with baby Ruby and Yang all perched up together on the lower branches of a big tree. The three adults were all either crouching or sitting down, and Summer and Tai each had a firm grip on one of Yang’s legs while she grinned at the camera, standing up and pumping her fists in the air. Ruby had been too small at the time to do much more than attach herself to Qrow’s chest, clinging to him like a koala.

“Oh yeah, that’s a good one,” said Yang. “Dad nearly fell out of the tree multiple times. It was a lot of fun.”

“That little black bird in the back seems to disagree,” said Weiss.

Yang laughed at that. “I totally forgot about that part. We didn’t even notice it was there until after we’d taken the picture and hung it up.”

Just then there was a loud crash downstairs. After a few seconds of silence, Tai’s voice followed.

“Uh, Yang, sweetie?” he called out tentatively.

“What did you do this time, Dad?” she yelled back.

“It’s nothing permanent. I swear! But could you… uh, come down here and give me a hand with this?”

Yang turned to the rest of them, already grinning, and started walking backwards towards the door. “Well, I hope you guys enjoyed all of that. Come on, let’s go and see what Dad’s accidentally blown up this time.”

“It really does run in the family,” Weiss said, mostly to herself, but Yang heard her anyway and blew her a kiss.

The two of them left the room together. Blake began to follow, but stopped when she noticed that Ruby hadn’t budged from her position by the wall.

“Ruby?” she asked. “You coming?”

“Yeah,” Ruby answered quickly, flashing Blake a reassuring smile. “Go on ahead without me. I just wanna do something real quick.”

So Blake gave her a tentative smile back and left as well. Now alone, Ruby turned her attention to an empty spot on the wall. She reached into her pocket and pulled out a slightly crumpled photo. It was a team picture, one of many that Yang had roped them all into taking over the course of their year together. Ruby and Yang were laughing in it, Blake was smiling, and Weiss looked like she was very reluctantly enjoying herself. There was nothing particularly special about the photo, but as far as Ruby was concerned, it was perfect anyway.

Grinning to herself, she tacked the photo up onto the wall and hurried to join the others downstairs.

 


 

One day Ruby caught Blake and Weiss asleep on top of each other on the living room couch.

That was a lie. Yang was the one who had found them like that. But it was Ruby’s idea to try and sneak up on them to take as many pictures as she could. So here she was now, draped over the back of the couch with her scroll’s camera pointed directly down at them, Yang standing next to her struggling to stay quiet.

Their expressions were both so relaxed and peaceful. Weiss was lying on top of Blake, her face half-buried in the crook of Blake’s neck. It was too cute. Ruby aimed her scroll, determined to find the best angle.

She managed to take a grand total of three pictures before she felt Weiss reach up and clamp a hand around her wrist.

“What do you think you’re doing?” she muttered without opening her eyes, while Ruby panicked and Yang burst out laughing beside her.

“Taking photos of how cute you’re being right now?” Ruby said, trying to sound as innocent as possible.

Weiss grumbled something. She tried to shift and push herself up off of Blake, but Blake just smiled a little and hugged her tighter. 

“I can’t believe we woke them both up,” said Yang. Ruby could. Yang was loud. “What were you guys even doing down here?”

“We were watching a movie together,” Blake answered sleepily. “Weiss fell asleep after a while so I turned the TV off and tried to make her more comfortable. And then I fell asleep too.”

“Sorry for waking you up,” Ruby said sheepishly.

Weiss turned her head a bit, still refusing to open her eyes. “It’s alright,” she said with a sigh. “I probably shouldn’t nap for too long, anyway. What have you two been doing?”

“Well, I was about to head out to walk the dog,” said Yang. “I dunno about Ruby.”

“Can I come with you?” Weiss asked immediately.

Yang laughed. Blake released her grip on Weiss so Yang could reach over the couch and scoop her up into her arms. “Of course you can,” she said, grinning. “I bet I couldn’t keep you away from Zwei if I tried.”

“Can’t believe you’d leave me all alone like this,” Ruby grumbled, pretending to be hurt.

“It’s okay, Ruby,” said Blake. “I’ll stay with you.”

Weiss and Yang eventually left together with a loud, excitable, and bouncy Zwei running circles around them, leaving Ruby to kneel down in front of the couch, next to Blake.

“Hi, sleepyhead,” she said.

Blake smiled up at her. “Hey,” she replied fondly. “Got any plans for the rest of the day?”

“Yeah, actually,” said Ruby. “I’ve been meaning to get started on a building project that I’ve wanted to do for a while now.”

“Big project?”

“Very big.” Ruby grinned and refused to elaborate. “Wanna come join me? My workshop is up in the attic.”

“Sure, as long as you’re okay with me not being able to offer much more than moral support.” Blake leaned up to give Ruby a quick kiss before moving to get up off the couch.

The two of them went upstairs together and down to the end of the hallway. “Dad and Yang split the garage for their tinkering,” Ruby explained as they walked, “so I get the attic. Which is probably for the best, cause I’m pretty sure I take up more space than both of them combined.”

When they reached the attic entrance Ruby had to jump and strain to reach the handle and tug the hatch down. Yang always liked to make fun of her for that. Blake looked like she wanted to, but was barely holding it back out of respect.

“That’s cool,” she settled for saying instead. “Do you spend a lot of time up there?”

“Not that much time,” said Ruby, setting the hatch ladder down onto the ground. “Well, I don’t go up that often. But sometimes if I get really invested in working on something I’ll forget to come back down. For a long time.” She rubbed at the back of her neck. Blake was just standing there giving her an affectionate smile. “So I hereby declare it your job to remind me when it’s dinnertime if it comes to it.”

“I’ll keep that in mind,” said Blake.

Ruby climbed up the ladder first, giving Blake a second to join her while she stood by the entrance. “Oh, be careful not to bump your head,” she said, and then watched as Blake immediately bumped her head afterwards. She tried not to laugh. “Sorry. The ceiling’s pretty low.”

“I guess that’s another reason why Yang and your father gave you the attic,” Blake said as she reached the top, grinning down at her.

Ruby shoved her. “No! I can’t believe you would do this to me.”

“Sorry, sorry. I couldn’t resist.”

“Yeah, whatever you say. Get in here.” Ruby steered Blake around so she could get her first real look at the rest of the attic. Blake stopped in her tracks to take it all in.

“Oh, wow,” she said, looking around the workshop, impressed. “This place is…”

“A bit of a mess?” Ruby finished for her with a small laugh. “I know it can get pretty cluttered up here. Every time I try to clean it up I think I just make it worse.”

Blake smiled at that. “I was going to say cozy,” she said. “I like it. I think it’s very you.”

Instead of giving that a proper response and risk making a fool of herself, Ruby took Blake by the hand and led her across to the table on the other side, picking their way past piles of supplies and tools on the ground. She scooped up a plank of wood from a giant stack nearby and slapped it onto the table.

“Why do you need so much wood?” Blake asked, hovering cautiously behind her.

“You’ll see,” Ruby said, and refused to elaborate. She tossed Blake a tape measure and grinned. “Help me with this?”

For the next hour or so the two of them settled into a comfortable routine. Ruby worked, and most of the time Blake stood nearby, content to simply watch her. Sometimes Ruby would ask Blake for a little assistance as she measured and cut and drilled the wood into the sizes and shapes she needed, but besides that, neither of them talked much.

Time passed. At some point Ruby vaguely heard Weiss and Yang come back in downstairs and then leave again. Soon after she heard the sound of Weiss’s excited calling coming from outside, followed by Zwei’s equally excited barking. She looked up, unable to hold back a smile, and saw that Blake was already smiling back at her.

“How have you been feeling?” Blake asked eventually, breaking the peaceful silence between them.

Ruby blinked, caught off guard. “Um. I’m doing okay, I guess. Where’s this coming from?”

“Sorry. I just wanted to check in with you.” They had migrated to the floor earlier, and now Blake scooted around so she could sit right next to Ruby. “I feel like I don’t ask you that enough. You’re always helping me out with my problems, but I don’t really do the same for you.”

“Well, I don’t think it’s fair to expect you to help me if I never tell you that I have a problem in the first place,” said Ruby with a faint smile. “I know you care. Weiss too. And obviously Yang does. You all show it in different ways.” She trailed off and glanced over at Blake, who was staring back at her with such intensity and sincerity, like she was the only thing that mattered in the world. “Blake, how do you keep looking at me like that when I talk and still think you’re not doing enough for me?”

Blake glanced away, suddenly embarrassed. “I worry,” she admitted softly. “You’re one of the kindest and most loving people I’ve ever met. And I want you to know that you mean so much to me, and that I’ll always be here if you need me.”

“You’re fine,” Ruby reassured her, taking Blake’s cheek and gently moving her back until they were facing each other again. “You mean a lot to me too. If I ever figure out how to make sense of my own thoughts… I promise I’ll talk to you about it.” 

“Okay,” said Blake. “I’m holding you to that.”

Ruby found that she couldn’t take her eyes off of Blake. She tugged Blake a little closer. Blake glanced at her mouth. Ruby leaned in.

Downstairs, the door slammed open.

“Ruby!” Yang yelled.

“I’m busy!” Ruby shouted, jerking back.

“You can get busy again later! Come down here, this is important!”

Ruby groaned and pushed herself to her feet. “This better be good,” she said to Blake, who just seemed amused. “I’ll be right back!”

She heard Blake’s scroll let out a dinging sound before she hopped down from the attic and headed downstairs.

 


 

Yang was waiting for her in the living room, leaning against the back of the couch and grinning. “Hey,” she greeted when she saw Ruby approach. “I hope I didn’t interrupt anything up there.”

“Liar,” said Ruby. “If you had barged in five seconds later you would have.”

“Damn, I really need to work on my timing, then,” said Yang, her grin only getting wider. Ruby punched her in the arm.

“You’re such a meanie! Let me make out with Blake. Who I would like to point out you have already been making out with constantly— Uncle Qrow!

“What’s up, kiddo?” Qrow said from the doorway. “You want me to pretend like I didn’t just hear all of that conversation?”

“Oh my god!” Ruby activated her semblance on accident out of excitement and tackled him. “Hi! I can’t believe it! You’re actually here right now?”

“You need to stop asking me that question right after you finish body checking me,” said Qrow.

“Well you need to stop showing up out of nowhere without warning,” Ruby retorted, jumping back down to the ground. “Plus it’s your second visit in less than a month! What’s the occasion?”

“I don’t think it’s my place to say,” he answered simply. “Ask your girlfriend if you want to know. The emo one. Is your old man around?”

“He’s probably tending to his garden out back,” said Yang.

“Alright. I just wanted to see your reactions first. We can talk more later, you two.” And just as quickly as he had appeared, he turned around and left, shuddering at what Ruby assumed was the argument he’d just walked in on. “Ugh,” she heard him muttering to himself. “I’m getting flashbacks again.”

Following his departure, Weiss came running up to the open doorway with Zwei still pawing and licking at her calf. “That was entertaining to listen to,” she said. “Where’s Blake?”

“She’s still upstairs,” said Ruby. “Are you… barefoot right now? Have you been running around outside barefoot this entire time?”

“I swear, she turns into a totally different person when she’s around Zwei,” Yang said with a huge smile. “I’m starting to think she actually loves him more than she does us.”

Weiss rolled her eyes, but she was smiling too. “Sure, Yang. And whose clothes am I wearing right now?”

“First of all, Zwei doesn’t have any clothes, so that’s an unfair comparison,” said Yang. “Second of all, I’m sorry, I didn’t realize you stole my clothes as a sign of love, I thought you were doing it because you’re a sneaky little thief.”

“Seriously, though,” said Ruby, struggling to stifle a laugh. “Are you even wearing anything right now that isn’t Yang’s?”

“She was the one who filled one of my suitcases with her clothes and then left it in my possession,” Weiss argued. “Frankly I don’t know what you were expecting to happen.”

“I’m pretty sure most people would just return it to the owner.” Yang stepped up to Weiss and kissed her on the forehead. Weiss tried to resist at first, but it wasn’t long before she started melting under the attention Yang was showering her with.

“Are you guys planning on going back outside?” Ruby asked. 

“Depends,” Weiss answered. Zwei barked at her. “Why do you ask?”

“Cause if you aren’t, and we’re staying here, then I don’t wanna leave Blake all by herself in the attic,” said Ruby.

“Oh, yeah,” said Yang, who was still busy burying her face into Weiss’s neck. “Tell her to come down here and hang out with us.”

So Ruby turned around and called upstairs. “Hey, Blake! The rest of us are down here if you want to join us!” Several moments passed, but there was no response. Ruby frowned. “Blake? Huh. Hold on, I’ll go get her.”

She activated her semblance and dashed her way back up the stairs, through the hallway, and up into the attic. Blake was still sitting in the same spot as earlier, unmoving. She was staring blankly at her scroll.

“Blake?” said Ruby, concerned.

Blake looked up at the sound of her name. “Hey,” she said, before returning her gaze to the scroll. Her shoulders were tense.

“Is everything okay?” Ruby asked.

“I don’t know,” Blake confessed.

She ran her thumb along the edge of the scroll once, grimacing, before wordlessly holding it out. Ruby immediately made her way across the messy floor and crouched down in front of Blake, taking the scroll from her outstretched hand.

On the screen was a single message from an unknown sender.

 

Please don’t ask me who I am or how I got your number. I’m risking my life to tell you because you need to know this. In a few weeks Adam Taurus is planning on taking his most loyal followers with him to Mistral, probably to do nothing good. But rumor has it that if he figures out where you’re staying right now before he leaves, he’s going to try and get rid of you first. 

I don’t know. Lay low or something. He’s been going crazy ever since he came back from whatever you did to him that night. You know what he’s like. Just… please be careful. You’ve done more for the White Fang and the Faunus than you think you have. No one will admit it, but a lot of us would be torn up if something were to happen to you.

 

“Oh,” said Ruby.

“Yeah,” said Blake.

Behind them, Ruby heard Yang climbing up the attic stairs, and she turned around to see Weiss follow in soon after. 

“Uh, hey,” said Yang, hunched over to avoid knocking her head against the ceiling. “You guys good up here?”

Ruby glanced at Blake, who just gave her a tiny nod back. So she got up and headed over to Yang and gave her the scroll. Yang held it in between her and Weiss so they could read it together, and Ruby watched as her sister’s expression went from confused to apprehensive to downright pissed.

“Figures,” she said, as Ruby took the scroll back from her. “He really doesn’t know how to leave you alone, does he?”

Blake sighed. “It’s kind of complicated,” she said. 

She gingerly pushed aside the materials lying on the ground near her and looked up at the three of them. They all got the message and went over to sit down together with her in a loose circle on the ground. Yang returned the scroll to Blake, who stared at it for a few seconds longer before pocketing it and speaking again.

“If there’s one thing I know for sure about Adam, it’s that he absolutely hates feeling or being perceived as weak,” she began slowly. “That’s why he wants to destroy all of humanity. They already see him as inferior just because he’s a Faunus, and he can’t stand the idea. He’s a massive control freak because knowing that he’s the most powerful person in the room puts him at ease. If you break free from that control, or, god forbid, beat or humiliate him, well… you’ve seen what happens. That’s a slight he’s going to make you pay for with your life.”

Ruby couldn’t help but think back to that night at the ravine. The whole ordeal had been a confusing torrent of emotions at the time, but she remembered the look on Adam’s face when the four of them had bested him in a fight together. Now she understood what Blake meant. He’d marked them all for death in that moment for destroying his pride like that.

“So,” said Weiss, “what now, then?”

“I think we all know what’s going to happen,” said Blake, her expression hardening. “I think I’ve always known, I just didn’t want to believe it. I thought I could escape him by just running away, but Adam doesn’t let go. Like you said, he doesn’t know how to. One way or another, he’s going to find me again, and everyone I care about is going to be put in danger again. So I’m done running. It’s about time I stopped letting him have his way with me, and start standing up against him for the people I actually love.” She paused for a few moments, staring a little bashfully at Yang. “Um. Why are you looking at me like that?”

“Sorry,” Yang said immediately, but the smile never left her face. “I’m just really, really proud of you. You’re amazing. And I’m with you every step of the way, no matter what happens.”

“We’re in this together,” Ruby agreed. “It kinda sucks, though. I wanted you guys to be able to relax here over the break.”

“Well, hopefully he won’t reach us immediately, right?” said Weiss. “Especially if he knows that the four of us combined can easily defeat him in a fight. Even if he knew we all came to Ruby and Yang’s house, he’d still have to spend time recruiting enough people to mount an actual assault on us.”

“Yeah,” said Blake. “I refuse to let all of this ruin the break for us. I still want to do everything we said we’d do, dates and all. But it also wouldn’t hurt to spend some time staying in shape to be prepared.”

Ruby looked at all of them, confident and determined. It was hard not to be. They were a team. They’d never let anyone stop them before, and they weren’t about to start now. She flashed them all a smile. “Okay then. It’s settled.”

 


 

“Keep your guard up,” said Tai. “Your defenses are getting sloppy.”

Ruby watched as Weiss instinctively put up her sword to block his next punch, but the force of the impact still sent her skidding back several feet. She frowned and readjusted her grip on her weapon, trying to hide how hard she was breathing. 

They were outside in the front yard taking turns either sparring with each other or with Tai. Qrow had volunteered to patrol the island earlier. Ruby didn’t understand how he could possibly make multiple rounds around the entirety of Patch and keep an eye on both the sky and water at the same time, but Tai didn’t seem to find any issue with it, so she didn’t question him.

“You’re focusing too much on my hands,” Tai was saying. To prove his point, he darted forward and used his foot to sweep Weiss’s out from underneath her. Caught by surprise, she fell backwards and hit the ground, hard. She shot out a burst of fire in a panic and managed to set Tai’s shoulder alight, but he just patted it out with his bare hand like it was nothing and smiled at her. “Sorry. You should’ve used a different element. I mean, I was the one who taught Yang how to fight.”

“Right,” Weiss managed to get out, staring up at the sky.

Tai glanced over at Yang and sighed. He’d been trying to lighten the mood all day, but it didn’t seem to be working. On the outside Yang’s injury had healed completely by now, but strenuous exercise was still a little too much for her. So the rest of them got to spar and practice and she had to sit the whole thing out with an increasingly grumpy expression on her face.

“Well, how about it?” said Tai, holding out his hand towards Weiss. “Wanna go one more time?”

“Can we please do something about Yang first?” Weiss asked as she got back up to her feet. “I can’t concentrate when she’s standing there off to the side looking like a kicked puppy.”

“I’m fine, Weiss,” said Yang, in a tone that made it very clear how not fine she was. “You don’t have to worry about me.”

“Yes,” said Weiss, “you’re right, I don’t, but I’m going to anyway, because I care about you.”

Blake went up to Yang and gently put a hand on her shoulder. “Yang, what’s wrong?” she asked, pleading.

Yang held her gaze for a second before looking away. “Nothing’s wrong,” she said defensively. “It’s the same stupid shit I’ve been mad at. Seriously, it’s not worth bringing up.”

“You can always talk to us about anything,” Ruby said cautiously. “It’s never too much, I promise. We just want you to be happy.”

“Yeah, Yang,” Tai pitched in. “If it’ll make you feel better to get it all out, then come on. Lay it on us.”

“I said I’m fine, Dad,” said Yang.

“It’s pretty obvious that you’re not.” Tai crossed his arms, mirroring Yang’s current pose. “Look, if you really feel that bad about not being able to spar with us, I can’t exactly stop you from joining us anyway, despite your injury.”

For a second Yang seemed like she was seriously considering it, but then she grimaced and shook her head. “It’s not worth it,” she said, dejected and annoyed. “It’s just not. I know if I train now I’m going to just rough it up even more and regret it later.”

“Okay,” Tai said awkwardly. “Then… do you maybe want to go back inside?”

“What, are you trying to send me away now?”

“No, no! Jeez, Yang. I want to help,” said Tai. “What else am I supposed to say? You won’t fight, but you won’t rest, and you don’t want to talk either—”

“Fine!” Yang snapped at him suddenly. Tai took a step back out of shock. “Fine! You wanna hear about what’s been bothering me? I hate getting injured. I hate not being able to fight. It makes me feel weak and dumb and useless and like I’m good for nothing. But you guys already know this, cause you already told me off once. I mean, I should be good at fighting though, right? I’m literally trying to make a career out of it. And yet here I am, the only one who keeps getting their ass handed to them, over and over. And I just keep thinking about how if I was better at fighting then maybe I’d actually be able to protect the people who matter to me for once! And if I was better at fighting, then maybe people in my life would stop leaving me!

The yard fell silent. Yang kicked a nearby rock as hard as she could into the woods and then clenched her fists, staring hard at the ground. Blake looked like she was torn between either reapproaching Yang or maintaining a respectful distance. Everyone else was rooted to the spot.

“Yang,” Tai said, looking stricken. “I… I never blamed you for your mother leaving. That wasn’t your fault at all. You know that, right?”

“Yeah, well,” said Yang, without lifting her gaze. “Maybe I blame myself.”

Ruby didn’t know what else to do. She rushed forward and threw herself at Yang, hugging her as tightly as she could. Yang stiffened at first, but slowly relaxed enough to return the hug.

“I love you,” Ruby said into Yang’s shirt. “I love you so much, Yang, and that will never, ever change.”

Yang squeezed her. It took her a while before she responded again. “I love you too,” she said quietly. “And I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to unload all of that onto everyone. That got intense.”

“It’s okay,” said Ruby. “I’m glad you told us.”

A few seconds later she felt Blake tentatively join the hug, and then Weiss came over as well. But Tai hung back, rooted to the spot with uncertainty. He looked lost and out of his depth. Ruby hadn’t seen him like that since they were much younger.

“Hey, Yang?” said Blake. 

“Yeah?”

“Do you know why I admire you so much?”

They all kept holding onto Yang, and Ruby felt the tension start to slowly go out of her. “Why?” she asked, sagging into Ruby’s arms.

“I don’t think it’s ever been about how you could beat a lot of people in a fight,” said Blake. “It’s the fact that you’re always willing to do it in the first place, if it meant you would keep me safe. You’re not getting hurt because of your incompetence or anything… it’s because you don’t hesitate to put yourself between the threat and the people you’re protecting. You take the hit so we don’t have to. And—and sometimes I wish you wouldn’t, but only because I hate seeing you hurt, and I hate seeing you doubt yourself like this.”

Yang let out a weak laugh. “Sorry. I don’t think I could stop doing that if I tried.”

“Well, it’s a part of who you are,” said Weiss, clearly struggling to put together the right words. “And… I think you are so much more than just your ability to fight. It’s not fair for you, or for anyone, to define your entire worth based on a single thing. And if people really want to decide that you’re too weak for them to stick around, I think that says a lot more about them than it does about you.”

“I guess,” said Yang. She squished them all a little harder. “Thanks, guys. Seriously. I think all that nonsense has been bouncing around in my head for so long that I started going a little crazy.”

“Don’t say that,” Weiss told her. “Don’t call your feelings nonsense. They’re not. I’ll punch you if you say that again.”

“Yes ma’am,” said Yang, but she was starting to smile, and it widened a tiny bit when Weiss huffed in response. A moment passed, and she let out a small sigh. “This is dumb. I can mope all I want, but what else is there to do but wait, right? I mean, that’s literally what my semblance is. Get hit, go down, then get back up stronger than before. Even if I really, really hate the part where I go down.”

“You’re not alone,” said Ruby. “You won’t ever have to do it alone. Not if we can help it.”

“Okay,” said Yang.

They finally broke apart after that. Yang looked over at Tai. He looked back. Then, after a few seconds of tense silence, she ran up to him, and he caught her in his arms.

“I’m sorry,” Tai said as he held her tight. “I’m so sorry, Yang.”

“I know,” Yang said back. “It’s okay. You were hurting, too.”

“Still. You’re my daughter. I know I could have done more. I should have done more.” He put Yang down, and then his gaze shifted to Ruby when she tentatively came up to join them. She could see in his expression the pain of the past years they’d all had to go through weighing on him. “Both of you are so precious to me. Sometimes I wish I could go back in time and change every single bad thing that happened to our family. But I don’t regret the relationships I’ve been in for a second, because it led me to you two. And I didn’t mean to add on to your pain by not showing you that enough.”

“Sap,” Yang said. Ruby figured it was to try and distract them from the fact that she looked like she was two seconds away from crying. It got a small laugh out of Tai, though, so it was worth it.

“I guess I am,” Tai responded with a sad little smile. “Your teammates are good people. I’m glad you have them to rely on. And I hope you guys will stick together for a long time.”

“Yeah,” said Ruby. She turned to look at Weiss and Blake, who were still standing together further away. Weiss had her hand on the small of Blake’s back, and she gave Ruby a supportive smile when they made eye contact. Ruby couldn’t help but smile back. “I hope so, too.”

Eventually everyone calmed down enough to go back to sparring, and Yang returned to her spot leaning up against a nearby tree. Ruby and Weiss both took their time getting soundly trounced by Tai. Then it was Blake’s turn.

“Kick his ass for me, will you?” Yang asked her softly.

Blake laughed and let Yang kiss her. “I’ll try my best.”

Unfortunately, she did not manage to kick Tai’s ass, but she came the closest out of all of them. “You should have kissed me before I fought him,” Ruby said to Weiss. “I definitely would’ve beaten him then.”

You should have kissed me,” Weiss retorted. Ruby just grinned.

Then Weiss went up to Tai to demand another rematch, so Ruby headed over to the tree Yang was standing under. Yang gave her a small smile in acknowledgement.

Together they watched as Tai offered to take both Blake and Weiss on at the same time, and then immediately regret it when he experienced firsthand how much stronger their teamwork was. 

“I think you’re too hard on yourself sometimes,” said Ruby. In front of them, Blake had just finished summoning a rock clone to throw Tai off. Before he could reorient himself, she cleaved it in two, shattering it into pieces, and then Weiss redirected the shards towards him with a powerful blast of wind Dust.

Yang rubbed nervously at the back of her neck. “I think you could say that about all of us, sis.”

“Now you’re totally deflecting.”

“Jeez, Ruby. Way to call me out on everything I’m doing today.” Yang laughed a little. It sounded resigned. “No, you’re right. Turns out I’m still not really used to relying on other people.”

“You don’t have to rush it,” Ruby said with a smile. “Blake and Weiss are both very patient people.”

Yang smiled too. “Ha. Weiss, patient. Never would have used that word to describe her when we first met.”

Tai managed to get a solid series of punches on Blake, who roughly tumbled to the ground as a result. Before he could continue his assault, Weiss put herself in between them, cut him off with a large glyph, and then knelt down next to Blake, putting a reassuring hand on her shoulder as she struggled to get back up.

“Yeah,” said Ruby. “I think she’s gone all soft on us.”

She glanced at Yang, who was busy watching Weiss and Blake get back into the fight with a loving, admiring expression on her face. It was starting to become a familiar sight. The thought made Ruby happy, too.

“You think we’ll make it through this okay?” Yang asked.

Soon enough Tai finally conceded defeat, and flopped onto the ground to take a breather. Blake sheathed her weapon and then kissed Weiss on the cheek in victory.

“I think we will,” Ruby answered confidently. “There’s nothing that can stop us, as long as we’re together.”

Chapter 22

Notes:

:bongocat:

also before i forget again, if anyone is interested in joining a pollination discord server, here is a link. there are lots of cool writers and artists in it, and also all around fun, chaotic people! the only deterrent i have to offer is that if you somehow still have a high opinion of me and join the server, you will probably very quickly find out that i'm actually just a barely functioning nerd clowning my way through life. but yeah. join if you want! we're all pretty friendly lol

anyway, i hope you enjoy the chapter :P

Chapter Text

“Are you sure you don’t want me to buy those for you?” Weiss asked. “You’ve been looking at them for a while now.”

Blake reached up and gently pulled the earrings off of the stand, inspecting them on her palm. It was the little multicolored seahorses attached to them that had gotten her attention. “It’s okay. I don’t really wear jewelry that often, anyway. I just thought they looked cute.”

“They’d look pretty cute on you, too,” said Weiss.

Blake glanced at Weiss and had to fight to stay calm. She was trying to be respectable. They were on a nice, romantic date down at Patch’s outdoor market together, and Blake was determined to keep herself from jumping Weiss in the middle of a sea of strangers before the date even ended.

“Are you sure?” Blake asked.

Without breaking eye contact, Weiss slid the earrings off of Blake’s hand and pulled out a Lien card from her pocket. “Yes, I’m sure,” she said, and turned to give the money to the poor intimidated vendor. “You can keep the change. Thank you.”

He packaged the earrings up in a little plastic bag for them, and then they were on their way.

The market was huge, especially considering how tiny Patch was in comparison to a big city like Vale. Blake and Weiss had already spent the morning wandering up and down the aisles, going from section to section and just admiring everything that was on sale together. Now that it was approaching early afternoon, they started sticking closer to the food aisles and getting various little treats to snack on instead of sitting down to have a proper lunch.

“What did you get?” Blake asked when Weiss returned from the ice cream stand.

Weiss glanced down at her cup. “Peach, supposedly.” She took a spoonful and held it up for Blake to try. “Do you think it tastes like peaches?”

Blake tried it. “A little bit,” she replied, smiling. “You’re such a weirdo, by the way. For buying ice cream in winter.”

“It’s not even cold outside,” said Weiss. She gave the spoon to Blake, who used it to shamelessly steal another bite of ice cream. “You should come see what winters are like in Atlas.”

“That bad, huh?”

“Sometimes. You get used to it.”

“I don’t know if I could,” Blake said absently. “Where I grew up, it was always really hot. Even during the winter it never got cold, it’d just rain a lot.” Then she realized what she’d just said. Apparently, so did Weiss.

“You don’t talk about your childhood much,” she said softly.

“Oh. Right.” Blake’s gaze fell to the ground. “To be honest, I don’t remember that much of it to begin with. I spent most of my early childhood in Menagerie, but after that… well, you know.”

“Yeah,” said Weiss.

Blake felt her put a hand on the small of her back, and the intense feeling came right back again.

“One thing I do know is that I’ve never liked being cold, though,” said Blake. She smiled faintly. “Makes my ears hurt. So it’s a good thing the weather here so far hasn’t gotten too bad, because otherwise you’d probably have a hard time pulling me out of bed every morning.”

“That’s cute,” said Weiss. “The mental image, I mean.”

“Well, I’m glad you can find entertainment in my misery.”

Weiss laughed at that, and the sound jolted Blake’s heartrate up. She forced herself to stay cool and collected, because Weiss was being cool and collected, and she didn’t want to be the one to ruin the calm, easygoing atmosphere. But with every passing second she wanted more and more to grab Weiss and pin her to the nearest wall and kiss her senseless.

They kept walking along the streets of the market, holding hands and occasionally stopping at a vendor to look through their wares. Eventually Weiss finished her ice cream, which Blake had been holding for her, and tossed the cup away into the next trash can they passed.

But after a while Blake began to notice that Weiss seemed distracted. Her expression kept shifting from calm to conflicted and back. Instead of the silence being peaceful, it started to feel a little stifling. So Blake nudged Weiss with her elbow.

“What’s on your mind?” she asked.

“Oh, it’s… um,” said Weiss, before shaking her head. “I’m sorry. It’s not exactly the kind of topic you’re supposed to bring up during a date.”

“Well, I don’t know if we’re supposed to bring up sad childhood memories during a date, either.” Blake smiled at her reassuringly. “We’ve just been talking about whatever. I’m willing to listen, especially if you think sharing it will make you feel better.”

“Okay,” said Weiss. “Honestly, it’s something I’ve been meaning to share with you guys for a while now. You in particular. I just kept putting it off for one reason or another.”

“Right. Should I be concerned?”

“No,” Weiss said immediately, but then deflated soon after. “It’s not a bad thing. Blake… do you remember that time we talked about how the majority of deaths that happen in Schnee Dust Company mines are due to Grimm attacks? And how there’s a disproportionately high number of Grimm attacks in the first place because the unfair working conditions caused a lot of negative emotions?”

Blake blinked. “Yeah,” she said cautiously. “Why?”

“Well, I finally managed to compile a bunch of data together supporting the theory,” said Weiss. “It took me a lot longer than I would’ve liked, since I was trying not to get caught, but it’s done. I sent all of it to the General last week.”

“You did?” said Blake, impressed. “Damn. How’d he react?”

“Oh, he’s furious.” Weiss’s footsteps were slowing, so Blake tugged them further off to the side to avoid blocking the path. “Not at me, mind you. He’s already been pressuring and threatening my father to improve the working conditions ever since that mine incident got leaked. But now with this evidence, he’ll be able to directly interfere, since it falls under his duties as a Huntsman.”

“That’s amazing, Weiss,” said Blake. “You should be proud of yourself.”

Weiss glanced up at Blake, held her gaze for a few seconds, and then looked back down at the ground. “I don’t know,” she said. “I didn’t want to say anything until I was sure something substantial might actually happen regarding this whole situation. And I’m glad that we have someone so powerful on our side, but there’s still so much that needs to be done. I still wish I could do more.”

“Hey.” Blake stopped and moved to stand in front of Weiss. She took Weiss by the chin and gently tilted her head up. “Don’t forget that you’re just one person. I wish I could single-handedly fix all the Faunus discrimination and hate in the world, too.” She laughed a little. “Most days, I don’t even know where I’d begin with that. And I have to keep reminding myself that I’m only one person, and that I have to be fair to myself, and that change takes time.”

Weiss leaned forward to press their foreheads together. “You’re right,” she said, sighing. “Lately, I’ve been thinking about how I want the rest of my life to go. And I’m not sure I like the idea of spending all of it just… undoing all the mistakes my father has made. I want to be known for being me, not for being Jacques Schnee’s daughter.”

“Well, the good thing is, there’s no rush to figure all of that out,” said Blake. “We only just finished our first year at Beacon. You have plenty of time to decide how to live your life the way you want to, so you don’t have to burn yourself out stressing about it so soon.”

“Alright,” said Weiss. “I’ll try to keep that in mind. Thank you, Blake.”

They finally stepped apart after that. Blake smiled down at Weiss. “Give yourself some credit, too,” she said. “Not many people have the courage to directly approach General Ironwood like that. And about such a sensitive topic, too. You did an amazing thing.”

Her words managed to get an embarrassed smile out of Weiss. “My sister said the same thing to me,” she confessed. “She’s the one who’s been keeping me updated on what’s happening in Atlas. Plus, with how busy my father is running the company these days, especially now that Ironwood’s been hounding him nonstop, he hasn’t really had time to keep tabs on what I’m doing. Which always works out better for me.”

“Nice,” said Blake. “That’s very sneaky of you.”

“Thanks. I try my best.”

Then Blake realized that Weiss was staring at her mouth.

She tried to tear her gaze away and found that she couldn’t. The normal thing to do was to start walking again and finish the date. They’d almost made a full round around the entire market. It should have been easy enough to get going and complete the trip.

Her self-control was slipping, fast.

So she took Weiss by the front of her jacket with both hands and pulled her in close. Weiss didn’t even flinch.

“You have to be doing this on purpose,” Blake said in a low voice.

“Doing what on purpose?”

“You don’t have to play dumb. You’ve been driving me crazy ever since the date started.”

Weiss smiled up at her. “I may not know what I want for myself in the future,” she said, “but I do know what I want right now.”

Blake laughed. “That was so corny,” she said. “You’re so corny. Oh my god.”

“Is it working?”

“Yes,” Blake admitted.

She decided to abandon the last of her common sense and dragged them both over into the closest alleyway, keeping her firm grip on Weiss the entire time, and when she was sure they were alone and away from prying eyes she pushed Weiss up against the wall and pressed in until their faces were inches apart.

“I can’t believe we haven’t kissed yet,” said Blake. “We’re the only ones who haven’t. I’ve wanted to kiss you so bad for so long now.”

“Then do it,” said Weiss.

“We’re in public right now.”

“I don’t care.” Even now Weiss was still trying to keep her composure, but she was starting to slip as well. “I don’t care what anyone else thinks. They can say what they want. You and Ruby and Yang are the ones who matter.”

“You’re amazing,” said Blake. “Every time I look at you, I think about how amazing you are, and how I think I’m supposed to hate everything about you, but I don’t. I can’t. I don’t know what stars aligned to put us on the same team at Beacon but I’m glad it happened.”

“Yeah?” said Weiss.

“Yeah,” said Blake.

She leaned in and kissed Weiss, hard.

It felt kind of like the last piece of the puzzle finally fitting into place. Blake tried to pour the intensity of her emotions into the kiss, all the pent-up desperation and desire and everything else. Judging by the way Weiss was tugging at her waist, trying to pull her closer, Blake figured she was doing an okay job.

She didn’t know how long they stayed there for. People might have walked by and seen them. Blake couldn’t bring herself to care. She pulled away for just a moment and Weiss jerked her right back in.

“Someone’s needy,” Blake said against her mouth, and grinned when Weiss pushed her away just far enough to give her an exasperated look.

“I got carried away,” she grumbled.

“I know. I’m not complaining.” Blake smiled and gave Weiss one final nice, long kiss for good measure. “But I think we’ve been out here long enough. What do you say we finish up here, then go back and continue this at the house?”

“Alright,” Weiss said, almost reluctantly. “I still want to get something for Ruby and Yang while we’re here.”

“Like what?” asked Blake.

“I don’t know. Something small, I guess,” said Weiss. She stood up from the wall, dusted herself off, and then held her hand out towards Blake. “I think I’ll know it when I see it.”

 


 

They headed out a while after that, still hand in hand, making their way through the forest together back to the house. It was nice and quiet and peaceful out as they walked, and Weiss seemed content.

Blake saw the top of the tower-like structure poking out above the trees a while before she started hearing the sound of Yang yelling and Ruby laughing her ass off in the distance. It took Weiss a bit longer to notice, but when she did she had to stop in her tracks to look at Blake.

She didn’t even have to say anything. Blake just grinned at her, Weiss rolled her eyes, and then the two of them took off in a sprint back to the house.

They broke into the clearing, and sure enough, Ruby and Yang had apparently been busy building a gigantic wooden tower on the roof of the house while Blake and Weiss had been out on their date. A thick metal cable stretched from the top of the tower all the way down to some other location far away. Ruby was on the roof, bracing herself against the base of the tower and doubled over laughing. Yang, meanwhile, was dangling upside-down in midair, because her foot was currently stuck in some confusing, twisted combination of the metal cable and the harness she was wearing attached to it.

“What is going on over here?” Weiss shouted up at them.

“It’s a zipline!” Ruby called back gleefully. “Don’t worry about Yang, she’s probably fine. You guys came back just in time to try it out with us!”

“You want us to ride that thing with you?”

“Yeah! It’ll be great!”

Yang finally untangled her foot from the mess and then promptly detached herself from the cable. “Ah, fuck!” she said, and then fell all the way down and hit the ground.

Weiss immediately rushed over to her, with Blake following close behind. Yang rolled over onto her back to greet them with a lopsided smile.

“What is wrong with you?” Weiss said under her breath, even as she knelt down to start fussing over Yang and checking for any injuries.

“There’s nothing wrong with me,” Yang told her indignantly. “I was just trying to check on a couple of things down the line, and Ruby kept trying to snipe me with rocks the entire time.”

Blake laughed. “How rude of her.”

“I know, right?” said Yang. “This zipline was a joint effort and this is how she repays me.” She grinned and let Weiss and Blake pull her to her feet. “But seriously. We’ve been waiting for you guys. Come on!”

She started to run off towards the house, but Weiss stopped her. Yang turned around, confused.

“You two are being careful, right?” Weiss asked.

Yang broke into a huge smile. “Yeah, we are. Well, as much as we usually do.” Her voice softened. “I told Ruby earlier that I’d drop out if I started hurting. So don’t worry. I’m doing fine.”

“Okay,” said Weiss.

They all headed around to the side of the house, where there was a ladder propped up against the wall. Ruby was standing near the edge, ready and waiting to help pull them up to the top. Yang went up first, then Weiss. The two of them disappeared together further down the roof.

“So this is that big project you were so excited to start building,” Blake said as she climbed up last.

“Yeah.” Ruby looked so proud of herself. Blake figured she deserved it. “Honestly building it wasn’t as hard as we thought it was gonna be. The real problem was trying to move all that stuff from the attic to the roof without either you or Weiss noticing.”

Blake laughed a little. “Well, somehow you succeeded. Speaking of Weiss, though, I think she might need a little help right now.”

They went over to the base of the tower. Weiss was currently staring up at the top platform, which was swaying slightly from being so high up in the wind. She refused to loosen her grip on Yang’s hand.

“Are you scared?” Yang asked, her voice teasing.

“No!” Weiss said immediately. She grimaced. “Maybe a little bit. It looks much taller up close.”

“Hey, Ruby and I triple checked everything to make sure it was stable and safe enough for all of us to ride,” Yang told her. “But we only built it because we thought it’d be fun. You don’t have to force yourself to join in for our sake.”

“No,” said Weiss. “I… I trust you. I want to try.”

“You sure?”

“Yes.”

“Okay.” Yang kissed Weiss on the forehead. “Just don’t look down when you’re climbing. You’ll be fine.”

Weiss still wouldn’t let go of Yang’s hand, though, so Ruby was the one who had to get the harness onto her. Blake struggled for a bit with her own until Yang reached over with her free hand to help out.

“Thanks,” she said.

Yang grinned. “No problem. Make sure it’s tight enough or else you might fall out at the top.”

“I hate you,” said Weiss. “I know you’re doing that on purpose!”

The rest of them laughed.

“Aw, it’s okay, Weiss!” said Ruby. She stepped onto the first rung of the ladder built into the tower and turned back around to smile down at Weiss, holding out her hand. “Yang’s just trying to lighten the mood. I’m gonna go up first, and she’ll bring up the rear, okay? If something does go wrong we’ll be there to catch you. We’re not gonna let anything bad happen to you, I promise.”

Weiss looked at Ruby for a long moment before relaxing. “I know,” she said, and stepped forward to take her hand. 

They started climbing up the tower one by one, with Blake following after Weiss and Yang following after Blake. The higher they went, the more obvious the slight swaying became. Ruby reached the top first and sat there above the rest of them with her legs dangling over the edge, talking loudly about all sorts of silly things she and Yang used to get up to as kids, presumably to help calm everyone’s nerves. It seemed to be working, if Weiss’s attempts to stifle her laughter were anything to go by.

By the time Blake made it onto the top platform even she was starting to feel the steep height. She could see a much larger chunk of the island from up here, and even the closest part of the coast in the distance. Yang came up right after her and went over to hook herself onto the cable. Then she turned around to face the rest of them, leaning backwards as far off the edge of the platform as she could.

“You guys ready?” she asked, grinning.

Ruby reached up and attached Weiss’s clip onto the cable as well. 

“What am I supposed to be doing?” said Weiss.

“It’s easy,” Yang told her brightly. “Just keep your hand on this little trolley thing that the clip’s attached to, right here. Don’t touch the actual cable while you’re going cause it’ll slow you down. Besides that, though, all you have to do is let gravity do the work.”

So Weiss put her hand up where Yang had instructed.

“Alright!” said Yang when she was done. “Let’s do this thing!”

“Wait, waitYang!”

But it was too late. Yang had already pushed off the platform and started zipping down the line backwards. Almost immediately after, Ruby gave Weiss a gentle shove and sent her following after Yang. They went soaring along the cable together, with Yang whooping and cheering the entire way, and Weiss screaming out of both fear and excitement.

Blake couldn’t help but laugh as their shouting slowly faded into the distance. Ruby was smiling so happy and carefree next to her.

“Are you going to do the same thing to me?” she asked, as Ruby helped attach her clip onto the cable.

“Depends,” said Ruby. “Do you want me to?”

“Sure,” said Blake. She stepped up to the edge of the platform. “I want a kiss beforehand, though.”

“I can do that.” Ruby grinned cheekily and came up next to her. Blake didn’t actually want to go down the zipline backwards like Yang had done, so she only craned her neck to the side to kiss Ruby instead of turning fully to face her. The angle made it a little bit difficult, but before she could truly get into it she felt Ruby smile, break away, and then push her off the platform. 

Blake wasn’t a stranger to staying afloat in the air. They all knew how to use their weapons and semblances to catapult themselves from one place to another or to avoid touching the ground. But trying to keep track of multiple things like the surroundings, a gun’s recoil, or in Blake’s case, her weapon’s ribbon, required a lot of effort and concentration. It was completely different to how she felt now, just coasting along the length of the zipline and watching the landscape move past her down below.

She felt like she was flying.

Behind her, Ruby was cheering as well, so she turned around just far enough to look. Ruby wasn’t even holding onto anything, too busy pretending to jam out on an imaginary guitar to worry about anything else. She caught Blake staring at her, grinned even wider, and kept going. The sight warmed Blake’s heart.

Towards the end of the zipline the beach began to open up ahead of them. As she got closer Blake spotted Weiss and Yang chasing each other down along the coast. Weiss seemed to be trying to knock Yang over into the water, but Yang kept escaping her grasp, laughing the entire time.

The tower that Ruby and Yang had built on the beach was much shorter than the one back at their house. Soon enough Yang spotted Blake approaching and came over and began climbing up it. She made it to the top just in time to catch Blake in a big hug.

“Hey,” she said.

“Hey,” Blake said back, smiling. Yang was still hugging her. “Can I be let down now?”

“Sure thing,” said Yang.

She got Blake unhooked from the cable and let go but stayed where she was, supposedly to catch Ruby, who was now rapidly approaching as well. Blake stepped aside and started pulling the harness off of herself. Ruby looked like she was preparing to kick Yang in the face on arrival.

“I will tackle you!” Yang shouted at her. “I do not care that you’re in midair right now!”

Ruby stuck her tongue out in response.

Yang ended up just plucking Ruby out of the air when she got close enough, throwing her over one shoulder after getting the clip off and then carrying her unceremoniously towards the ladder.

“Hey, Blake!” Ruby said cheerfully as they passed.

“Hi, Ruby.” Blake knew she must have had the stupidest dopey loving smile on her face, watching them go down the tower together, and she didn’t even care anymore. She shook her head to snap herself out of it and hurried to follow them.

When Yang made it back to the ground she walked over to Weiss and dumped Ruby onto the sand at her feet. “Present for you,” she said.

Weiss just raised an eyebrow at her.

“Hi, it’s me, your present,” Ruby agreed. She rolled over onto her side and immediately winced and froze up. “Oh man. Someone please help me get all this sand out of my clothes later.”

“Gross,” said Yang.

Ruby kicked some sand at her. Then she looked back up at Weiss, then at Blake, and then she smiled. “How was the date?” she asked.

“It was good,” said Weiss. “I actually bought something for the both of you, but I didn’t have a chance to share it before you dragged us onto this… this terrifying flying contraption with you.”

“But it was fun, right?” Ruby asked innocently.

Weiss sighed. “You two are ridiculous.”

“I’m not hearing a no,” said Yang. “I think she thought it was fun, sis.”

“Do you want your gifts or not?” Weiss said with a huff, but she couldn’t fully hide her smile.

Blake came up to Ruby and held out a hand to pull her to her feet. “It was pretty fun,” she said. “Both the date and the zipline. What now, though? Are you planning on leaving the towers up?”

“Yeah, or at least until we get yelled at,” Yang answered simply. “No way we built all of this just to use it once before dismantling it right after. Hell, maybe Qrow and Dad’ll get a kick out of it.” 

“I wanna go on it again,” said Ruby.

Yang stared at her. “Right now?”

“No, not right now, stupid,” said Ruby. “Right now I wanna see what Weiss got for us first. Also, I want to stop having sand in my clothes.” She paused. Yang looked like she was about to knock her back over onto the ground again. A second passed, and then two, and then Ruby abruptly took off in a sprint back towards the house. Yang immediately started chasing her.

“Honestly, those two,” Weiss said into the ensuing silence, her voice more fond than exasperated. Blake smiled, because she completely understood.

“Well, we’re alone now,” she said. “There’s no one else around. Do you think Ruby and Yang would notice if we stayed here to make out instead?”

Yes, they would,” said Weiss, but she still stepped forward and kissed Blake once anyway. “Now who’s the needy one? Come on, we’re going back to the house first. Then you can kiss me for however long you want for the rest of the day.”

“Okay,” said Blake. She gazed down at Weiss, and tried not to look too much like she was hopelessly in love, but she knew she was failing. “Lead the way, then.”

 


 

The days passed, one by one, slowly but surely. Sometimes they lounged around and did nothing, sometimes they trained, and sometimes they went out and visited places either alone or together. It was a simple, easygoing routine that Blake came to realize she genuinely enjoyed, especially in the company of everyone else at the house.

She couldn’t remember how long it had been since she’d let herself just live and exist like this. More than once she found herself imagining what her future could be like, with Ruby and Weiss and Yang in it. Maybe she’d be busy fighting for Faunus rights, and maybe Weiss would be busy trying to run the SDC if she decided to inherit it, but they could all still go on Grimm hunts together. And they could all retire home together, too, and just spend the days and nights in each other’s presence.

The thought was so tempting. It was so, so tempting.

Blake walked past the living room on her way towards the front door and saw that Ruby and Yang were both crashed out on the couch, playing a simple fighting game on the TV. Qrow was sitting on the carpet in front of them, next to the coffee table, engrossed in the game as well.

“No! Fuck!” Yang shouted, as the character on the right side knocked out the one on the left with a single massive punch. She tried to kick Qrow in the head, but his reflexes were too fast, and he simply dodged to the side. “I hate you!”

“You were the one who told me not to go easy on you,” said Qrow, and even with his back turned to her Blake knew he probably had an insufferably smug expression on his face.

She smiled to herself and continued on her way, but before she made it to the door Ruby spoke up behind her.

“Hey Blake!” she said, now draped over the back of the couch, grinning. “Where are you headed?”

“Uh, I don’t know, really. Nowhere in particular,” Blake responded awkwardly. “I think I was just going to go outside and wander around for a bit.”

“You should come join us,” Ruby said brightly. She held up the controller in her hand. “You don’t have to play or anything, just come and watch me and Yang get our butts kicked.”

“Oh, I don’t want to intrude,” said Blake.

“You’re not. Don’t worry,” Yang pitched in, turning to give Blake a reassuring smile. “You’re family too, at this point. Right, Qrow?”

“I did say that, yeah.” Qrow pressed a few buttons on his controller until the game went back to the character select screen, and then he turned to face Blake as well. “No pressure. But if that was your main concern, then just know that none of us mind.”

With an invitation like that, Blake knew she was powerless to resist. She went over to the couch and Ruby and Yang both scooted away from each other, giving her enough space to settle down in between them. Almost immediately she noticed that they were both wearing the presents Weiss had gotten for them at the market. They’d found a pair of bracelets with seahorse-shaped beads woven into them. The fact that she’d somehow managed to find even more jewelry that matched the earrings she’d gotten for Blake was so funny to Weiss that she’d immediately bought the bracelets as well.

Blake wasn’t currently wearing the earrings, but Yang had her bracelet on, and Ruby had tied hers around her left ankle, her feet kicked up on the coffee table.

“Oh hey,” Qrow said to Blake. “If you do want to join in, we can get you the fourth controller and play tag team matches. It’s been ages since I’ve played one of those.”

“Um, sure,” said Blake. “How would that work?”

“Probably you and me against Ruby and Yang,” said Qrow, grinning. “Maybe they’ll stop complaining every time they lose if I have a novice on my team.”

“You take that back, asshole,” Yang said, putting an arm protectively around Blake’s shoulders. “Blake can and will beat you up.”

“Are you deaf, kid?” Qrow taunted her. “I just said I wanted her on my side.” He tossed Blake a controller. “Don’t worry, I’ll teach you all the dirty tricks. We’ll be unstoppable in no time.”

Ruby leaned over and kissed Blake on the cheek before dramatically flopping into her lap. “Hang in there, Blake,” she said very seriously. “We’ll come rescue you from our uncle’s evil clutches.”

It took all of Blake’s effort to keep from laughing.

They started with a couple free-for-all rounds to give Blake time to figure out the controls. Then, true to his word, Qrow started showing her how to pull off a bunch of cheap moves and combos, much to Ruby and Yang’s frustration. By the time Blake had mostly gotten the hang of it, she and Qrow began pretty consistently defeating them. There was a lot of yelling and trash-talking. Most of it involved Ruby, Yang, and Qrow all fighting each other over Blake.

Somehow, they managed to just make her feel more loved and like she truly belonged.

“You guys sound like you’re having fun.” They all turned around to see Tai standing there with a big bowl in his hands and an amused expression on his face. “I baked some cookies, if any of you want something to snack on.”

“Yes! You’re the best!” Ruby said, excitedly reaching out towards him until he came over and handed her the bowl. “I was wondering why it smelled so good.”

“Yeah, well, I’ll be in the kitchen for a bit longer,” said Tai. “Let me know if you want something to drink or anything else.”

“I think you should take a break, Tai,” said Qrow. “You’ve been running around nonstop all day. Why don’t you come sit down and play a couple matches with us?”

Blake didn’t understand why, but for some reason she felt the tension in the room skyrocket. Tai seemed to fully take in what was on the TV screen for the first time since walking in, and he let out a loud sigh.

“Why would you even ask me that?” he said. “I know you already know what my answer is.”

Qrow made a face. “Jeez, man, I didn’t realize you were still hung up about it. It’s been ages. I just wanted you to relax.”

“I don’t know how you can stand to keep playing that game after everything that happened,” said Tai. “It was supposed to be our thing. You could take your pick of literally any game that’s come out since then, but you just keep coming back to this one.”

“Okay. Stop,” said Qrow, the annoyance growing clearer in his voice. “Just because you have a weird cagey way of coping with things doesn’t mean you get to tell me what I can and can’t do.”

“I don’t care what you do when you’re out on your own. But if you’re going to keep spending weeks at a time squatting in my own damn house, the least you could do is have some sympathy when I’m around.”

Blake looked at Yang, hoping that maybe she or Ruby would be able to offer some clarity on whatever the hell was going on right now. But Yang just seemed lost and concerned. Ruby silently took Blake’s hand and intertwined their fingers together.

“Tai, seriously,” said Qrow. “Are we really going to do this right now? Over a fucking video game?”

For a long moment, the room was silent.

“No,” Tai finally said. “Because I’m leaving.”

“Oh, come on, Tai,” said Qrow, but Tai had already turned around and left. Qrow brought up a hand to rub at his face and let out a frustrated groan. Blake suddenly became acutely aware of how very out of place she felt.

“Um,” Yang said eventually. “Are… you okay?”

“Yeah, I’m fine,” said Qrow. “Sorry, kiddo. You guys shouldn’t have had to watch that happen. We’re usually better than that. About not fighting in front of you, that is.”

“How come that set him off so bad?” Ruby asked timidly.

“Hell if I know.” Qrow glanced up at all of them, and then looked away, almost in shame. “I’ve known that man for decades by now and sometimes I still don’t understand some of the stuff he says and does. Maybe that’s why we all fell apart in the end.” He sounded bitter.

“You mean… Team STRQ?” said Ruby.

“Yeah,” said Qrow. His tone turned mocking. “The star team of Beacon, Oz’s secret favorite, we were young and in love and obviously that meant we were unstoppable. Our teamwork was something even professional Huntsmen dreamed of having. People used to let us get away with almost anything because we were just that good. Everyone had such high expectations for us after we graduated. We had such high expectations for ourselves after we graduated. And in the end, it all meant jack shit anyway.”

Blake could see the worry all over Ruby’s expression. It was obvious she didn’t like watching her uncle get like this, but there was something else too, something that Blake had noticed as well.

Because Qrow’s description of his team sounded exactly like them.

“Uncle Qrow, um,” said Ruby in a small voice, “you kinda—how come you made it sound like it was inevitable?”

Qrow looked up at Ruby, confused, and then his eyes widened when he saw her face. “Wait, Ruby, that’s—that’s not what I meant.” He sighed and slowly deflated. “I’m not gonna lie, seeing you guys running around kicking ass and being close does remind me a lot of my old Beacon days. But it’s not the same. Maybe it was inevitable for us. For you, though?” He glanced back and forth between all of them, but eventually his gaze settled on Yang. “Tell me something. Yang, say one of your teammates does something and you don’t understand why. Maybe it was something that bothered you. Maybe it even pissed you off. What would you do?”

Yang blinked. “Uh, I don’t know,” she said cautiously, like she was wondering if it was a trick question. “Try and figure out why they did it?”

“See, that’s why your team is different,” said Qrow, nodding. “From what you’ve told me, at the start of the year, you all hated each other’s guts. Then you started putting in the effort to understand each other, and that changed everything. Team STRQ, we never did that. We just said nothing and stayed mad at each other until everything blew up in our faces.”

“But whenever you told us stories, everything always sounded so happy and perfect,” said Ruby.

“I don’t think anyone likes dwelling on bad memories, kid. But we did have some good times. Plenty of them, in fact.” He turned his head to look up at the game still running on the TV behind him, and Blake wondered if the action had been subconscious. “Whenever we had a common goal or plan, we really were unstoppable. It was the best feeling ever. But the second anything threatened to break that happy little bubble we’d made for ourselves, we always ended up at each other’s throats.”

“Oh,” said Ruby.

Qrow smiled sadly and got to his feet, leaving the controller lying forgotten on the ground. “Things on both the outside and inside are always going to threaten to tear your team apart,” he said. “That’s something that will never stop happening. So it’s up to you to decide whether or not you let it, or you make it bind you closer together instead. Don’t ever forget that.”

On that note, he started to head out of the room, but as he passed by Ruby, she reached out and curled her hand around his wrist, stopping him in his tracks.

“Where are you going?” she asked.

“Outside to drink myself into a stupor, probably,” he said. “Why?”

“You gave us all this good advice,” said Ruby, “but you don’t want to try following it yourself? Dad’s still in the kitchen. You should go talk to him.”

Qrow looked away. “I think it’s a little too late for us, Ruby.”

“It’s never too late,” Ruby insisted. “Both of you always talk about your past like it was some of the best times of your life. And I am not gonna let you both stay silent and have it end like this.” 

“Ruby—” Qrow tried to say, but Ruby had already vaulted over the back of the couch and dashed into the kitchen.

“Dad! Uncle Qrow has something he wants to say to you! And you are not getting out of this conversation either cause I’m making you two have it!”

Ruby!”

Soon enough Blake and Yang were the only ones left in the room. Yang smiled at Blake and scooted closer to her.

“Yang…” said Blake, but she trailed off, unsure of how to continue. Yang seemed to understand, though.

“I know,” she said.

Blake laughed. “I didn’t even say anything yet.”

“I know,” Yang said again, her smile turning soft. “I get it. I really do.”

Then Yang kissed her, and somehow, it made Blake understand, too.

“Poor Weiss, though,” said Yang, grinning when she pulled away. “Had to miss all that super deep, introspective advice we just got.”

“I think out of all of us, she’s probably the one who needs to hear it the least,” Blake said idly. “Once she decides something is worth protecting and cherishing, I don’t think even an army would be able to stop her.”

“Yeah, you’re right,” said Yang.

Ruby returned a few minutes later looking very pleased with herself. She headed back around to the front of the couch and plopped herself down in Blake’s lap. 

“You look like things went well,” Blake said, wrapping her arms around Ruby’s midsection.

“They’re talking,” said Ruby. “So I’m happy.”

None of them moved for a while. The TV was still on, with the video game frozen on the screen, and the bowl of cookies Tai had baked earlier was still resting there on the coffee table. But in that moment Blake just closed her eyes and focused on Ruby, who was in her arms, and Yang, who was sitting close by. And in that moment, that was all she needed.

 


 

“I’m back,” Sun said as he came into view on the screen again with a bowl of chips in his hand. “What letter were we on again?”

“Just started with C,” said Neptune. “I thought we were also waiting for Yang, though.”

Blake shifted on the bed, blinking rapidly like it might keep the exhaustion away for a bit longer. After dinner the four of them had all retreated to the guest bedroom that Weiss was using, connected Ruby’s scroll to the TV, and called Sun and Neptune on it as soon as it had become a slightly more respectable time in Mistral to annoy them. But now, hours later, the conversation had slowly devolved into silly word games while Sun and Neptune grew more alert and the rest of them got sleepier.

“Honestly, we could probably go on without her,” said Ruby, trying to stifle a yawn. “She’s taking so long I bet she just started getting ready for bed.”

“Yeah, you guys look beat,” Sun said pleasantly. “You sure you don’t wanna just tune in for the night?”

“But we rarely ever get the chance to talk to you anymore,” Ruby protested.

“Aww,” said Sun. “Don’t worry, Ruby, there’s always next year’s Vytal Festival. You know, in like six months.”

“Yeah, but that’s so far away.”

Yang exited the bathroom a while after that, and sure enough, she had changed into her pajamas, looking like she could pass out at any moment. She leaned over to kiss Weiss on the cheek before joining the rest of them sitting at the edge of the bed.

“You guys are lucky Neptune and I don’t live together,” Sun told them. “Otherwise I’d kiss him every time you guys kissed each other just so we’d be even.”

“Please don’t,” said Neptune. They all laughed.

“Are we still playing?” Yang asked.

“Yeah,” said Neptune. “The first letter’s C.”

Yang thought for a few moments. “Okay,” she said. “How about… a type of flower.”

“Cauliflower,” Sun said immediately.

“That’s not a flower.”

“Damn,” said Sun. Neptune snorted.

“Cherry blossom?” Ruby said tentatively.

Yang grinned at her. “Yeah, that’s what I was thinking of.”

Sun tried to throw a chip at Neptune for dramatic effect, but since they were on two completely different calls, the chip just hit the wall of his room instead. “These guys are too good at this game,” he said with an exaggerated sigh. “Okay, what’s next?”

“Um.” Neptune made a face. “C-H.”

The room fell silent. Blake watched as everyone else tried to come up with something to fit the new letter. Then a thought suddenly came to her mind.

“Something that describes Yang,” she blurted out before she could stop herself.

Weiss looked at her like she was crazy. Sun and Neptune stared at them through the screen, clearly confused.

“A chump,” Ruby said without missing a beat.

Yang chucked a pillow at her. The force of the impact knocked her off the bed. Sun fell out of view of his scroll from laughing so hard.

“I’m assuming the word you chose is supposed to be a compliment,” said Weiss, because everyone else was losing it. “So… is it charismatic?”

“Um, not quite,” said Blake, embarrassed. By now Ruby had apparently decided that getting up was too much effort when she could just fall asleep on the ground instead. “I was thinking of charming. But that’s close enough, right?”

Then Yang pulled Blake over into her arms, a silly, happy smile on her face. “You think I’m charming?” she said. “I’m honored. You still have to guess the exact word, though, so sadly it doesn’t count.”

“That’s okay,” Blake managed to say. It was hard to think properly with Yang’s face so close.

Meanwhile Weiss got up to prod Ruby with her foot and only got a faint whine in response. “Ruby, get up,” she said with a sigh. “If you’re going to fall asleep in my room at least do it on the bed.”

“Okay, maybe we really should call it here,” said Sun. “I actually have to do something at noon, so I should probably get going anyway.”

“That’s fine with me.” Weiss bent down and started trying to drag a very uncooperative Ruby towards the bathroom. Yang crawled over to the center of the bed and promptly collapsed face-first into the pillows, so Blake went up to the scroll to end the call.

“This was fun,” she said to Sun and Neptune. “Thanks for humoring us for so long.”

“Hey, we had fun too,” Sun told her cheerfully. “If you wanna do it again tomorrow let us know. Let’s invite Team JNPR next time too!”

“Yeah,” said Blake, smiling. “I’ll be sure to ask them. Goodnight, you two.”

“Goodnight, Blake!”

The call ended.

Blake shut the TV off and turned around to find that Ruby was now alone on the ground. “Weiss left me to go to the bathroom,” she explained without opening her eyes. “She wanted me to tell you that it’s your job to deal with me now.”

“Okay.” Blake laughed and knelt down to gently scoop Ruby up into her arms. “Come on, let’s at least go to the bed. Think of how much softer it is than the floor.”

“Did I ever tell you about how me and Yang used to go camping together when we were little?” Ruby mumbled sleepily, curling up closer to Blake. “Except we weren’t allowed to do it outside if we wanted it to be only us and no adults. So we’d just set the tent up in the master bedroom, right on the middle of the floor. It annoyed the heck out of Dad, but Mom thought it was hilarious.”

“You two really are something else,” Blake said fondly. 

She set Ruby down on the bed next to Yang, and then went around to settle in on Yang’s other side. For a while no one spoke, listening together to the sound of running water coming from the bathroom. If it hadn’t been for the single lamp next to the bed still casting the room in a dim light, Blake might have fallen asleep before Weiss returned.

When Weiss did finally come back from the bathroom she had to stop a couple feet away to stare at all three of them. “So,” she said slowly. “I assume I’m not getting the bed back anytime soon.”

“Probably not,” said Blake.

“Please don’t kick us out,” said Ruby.

Weiss sighed and stepped closer to the bed. “At least make some space for me, then.”

“Come over here.” Yang rolled over onto her back, careful not to squash Blake or Ruby in the process, and patted her stomach. But Weiss hesitated, her expression wary.

“Are you sure?” she asked.

“Yeah. I’m sure,” said Yang. “It doesn’t hurt anymore. I promise.”

So Weiss got on the bed and carefully situated herself on top of Yang. It took a bit of repositioning but they eventually managed to find a comfortable enough position for everyone. Except Weiss was still propping herself up with her forearms, trying her best not to put any pressure on Yang’s stomach.

“Weiss, it’s fine,” said Yang. “I’m not made of glass.”

“I know.” Weiss pushed herself up further and started reaching for the hem of Yang’s shirt. “Can I…?”

Yang got the message and lifted up her shirt, just enough to expose her midriff. It was a little awkward to see from her angle, but Blake could still clearly make out the thick, rough scar running from Yang’s left hip all the way up past what her shirt covered. Weiss spent a few moments just staring at it before lifting her hand and gently running her fingers along the length of the scar. It made Yang shiver slightly.

“Oh,” was all she said.

Weiss looked like she wanted to say something too, but seemed unable to get the words out. Yang responded by reaching up and cupping the left side of Weiss’s face with one hand, tilting it up until they were making eye contact again, and then brushing over Weiss’s own scar with her thumb.

“If you could go back in time to when you got this,” said Yang, “and change what happened that day, would you do it?”

“I don’t know,” Weiss admitted quietly. “I used to be more ashamed of it. But now… I think it’s just a part of me. It’s proof of how hard I fought to become who I am today.”

Yang smiled up at her. “How thoughtful of you,” she said.

“You say that like I’m not always thoughtful,” said Weiss, but Yang was still cupping her cheek, and it was obvious she was already struggling to not close her eyes and just melt into Yang’s touch.

“What about you?” Yang said after a while, turning her head to look at Blake. “Got any big, nasty scars you wanna talk about?”

Blake considered it. Then she slowly took her shirt off, rolling onto her side so that her back was to the others.

“Oh, damn,” Yang said, her voice soft.

Blake felt her reach out and gently touch the spot next to her left shoulder blade, where she knew she had a large, poorly-healed puncture wound scar sticking out against her otherwise relatively clear skin.

“I was trying to stop a fight,” Blake told them, keeping her gaze fixed on the wall. “They were both people I cared about, and I didn’t want them to end up actually killing each other. So I tried to get in between them, and—well.” She laughed weakly. “I got stabbed.”

“That’s not fair,” said Weiss. “You got hurt for caring.”

“So did Yang,” said Blake. “So did you. I think… I think I understand, in a way. I don’t regret what I did that day, not really, but a small part of me wishes just a little bit that things would have turned out differently.”

Yang was still tracing gentle circles around Blake’s scar with her fingers. “Ruby’s got a big one on her leg,” she said. “That one, I definitely wish had a different outcome.”

“Wait, really?” said Weiss. “I know she wears shorts all the time, but I don’t think I’ve ever noticed anything.”

“That’s because it’s on my thigh,” said Ruby, who was still miraculously awake, to everyone else’s surprise. “Do you guys wanna see it? I mean, I don’t usually walk around without pants on, so it’s almost always covered up.”

“Only if you’re okay with showing us,” said Weiss.

The bed shifted a little. Blake turned back around to find Ruby in the middle of taking her pants off, until she was just in her underwear. In the light of the solitary lamp in the room, Blake could clearly make out the long, messy, and uneven slash that tore across her right thigh. It looked stretched and slightly faded, though, like it was an extremely old scar.

“We were tiny kids when it happened,” said Ruby. She sounded half-asleep. “So don’t listen to Yang if she tries to tell you it was her fault.”

“It kinda was, Ruby,” said Yang.

“That’s funny, cause last time I checked, you’re not a Beowolf.”

“You know that’s not what I meant. I was the one who put us into that situation in the first place.”

“So what if it was your fault?” said Ruby. “I don’t care. You were like, seven years old. I’ve literally punched your teeth out myself before.” She yawned and scooted closer to the rest of them, cuddling up to Yang. “It’s kinda like what Uncle Qrow told us. Getting nasty injuries is always gonna be a part of our lives. Sticking together through them is the important part.”

“Yeah, okay,” said Yang, smiling faintly. “Thanks, sis. When’d you get so mature and wise?”

“It only happens late at night,” said Ruby. “I’m really close to falling asleep, though, so you’re not getting any more wisdom out of me tonight.”

“I can get the lamp,” said Blake, reaching over blindly to the nightstand until she found the light switch and flipped it off. The room fell into complete darkness. She heard what sounded like Weiss sighing and finally settling her full weight down on top of Yang.

“Good night, you guys.” Ruby’s words were barely above a coherent whisper at this point. “Tomorrow, I wanna kiss all your scars. You all mean so much to me.”

“Yeah,” said Weiss. “Me too.”

“Good night,” Blake echoed.

Soon after, she drifted off to sleep.

Chapter 23

Notes:

if life could stop being a ding dong for longer than five seconds that would be great

i'm really sorry i haven't been very active in posting or responding to comments, i've been feeling kind of doo doo recently. this chapter was originally going to be a lot more serious but i just kept hitting walls so i threw it all out the window and now you get a couple thousand words of shameless high concentration fluff. :^)

and finally, obligatory pollination discord server plug. thank you so much everyone for the endless support and love, and thank you to whatotherplanet for the help, the moral support, and for just being a great friend. <3 ok now i go

Chapter Text

Weiss woke up the next morning and found that she was alone.

That wasn’t quite right. She forced open her eyes just enough to inspect her surroundings. Ruby and Blake were gone, but Yang was still there, on the other end of the bed. Weiss must have rolled off of her sometime during the night.

“Yang,” said Weiss.

Yang made a small noise, but otherwise didn’t move.

“Yang, come over here,” Weiss whined.

It took a moment, but soon enough Yang rolled over, scooting closer without opening her eyes until she could tuck Weiss into her arms. Weiss snuggled up to Yang, basking in the warmth of her embrace.

“Morning,” Yang mumbled sleepily.

“Hey,” said Weiss. “Where are the others?”

Yang didn’t respond for a while. At first Weiss wondered if she had fallen right back asleep again, but then she realized Yang was listening for noise outside. 

“Making breakfast, it sounds like,” she answered eventually, her eyes still closed. She hugged Weiss a bit tighter. “Wanna go join them?”

“Not really,” Weiss said, trying not to sound too needy. Yang smiled anyway.

“I’m glad you decided to join us for the break,” she admitted in a soft voice. “You’ve been sleeping in every morning, when you don’t have to worry about school or fighting or anything. And you seem way more relaxed as a result. It makes me happy.”

Weiss suddenly felt unusually warm, and it wasn’t just from being cuddled up to Yang. “What am I even supposed to say to that?” she said, hiding her face in Yang’s shirt.

“Good question,” Yang said. Weiss could practically hear her still smiling. “Maybe you could thank me and tell me that you love me too.”

Weiss groaned. She couldn’t stop it from sounding a little petulant. “Ask me that again when I’m more awake.”

“Really?” Yang sounded delighted. “You can’t just casually agree like that. Now I’m going to bother you about it all day, you know.”

Weiss thought about it.

“Yang,” she said.

“Yeah?”

“I love you,” said Weiss.

Yang froze at that. Weiss looked up at her to find her already staring back, a look of shock and wonder on her face.

“Shit, Weiss,” she finally said. “I love you, too.”

Weiss squirmed a bit, suddenly much more awake than she’d been earlier. “Oh,” she said, “I have to go tell Blake and Ruby now.”

“I’ll come with you,” Yang said with a weak laugh. “That was mean. I’m definitely not falling back asleep after that.”

So then they both got up. Yang stayed behind to use the bathroom so Weiss left first, heading towards the kitchen in search of Blake and Ruby. She ended up finding Blake first, lying on the couch in the living room trying not to doze off with Zwei curled up comfortably on her stomach. It didn’t take long for her to notice Weiss approaching.

“Weiss!” she said, startled. She shot up into a sitting position and then had to grab Zwei back with one hand so that he didn’t go flying off of her. “Hey! Good morning.”

“Good morning to you too,” said Weiss. “Are you enjoying the dog’s company?”

Blake glanced down at him and made a face. “I can’t figure out how to stop him from deciding that his favorite napping spot is on top of me, so I’ve given up.”

“I’m jealous,” Weiss said, smiling. “What are you doing out here, though? Yang thought you and Ruby were making breakfast.”

“Ruby is,” said Blake. She set Zwei down on the couch and stood up, walking over to Weiss. “I was helping her earlier, but now I’m keeping watch.”

“For what?”

“For you.” Blake kissed Weiss on the forehead. “You’re not allowed to be out here.”

“Oh really, now?” said Weiss. “And why’s that?”

“It’s a secret,” Blake told her. “Ruby demanded it. Sorry. There’s nothing I can do about it.”

Weiss stared at Blake suspiciously for a moment before deciding to relent. “Okay,” she said. “Before I go back, though… I wanted you to know that I love you.”

There was a flicker of surprise in Blake’s expression before it quickly gave way to fondness. “Are you sure you meant to say that to me and not Zwei?” she asked, a teasing smile on her face.

“Blake.” Weiss would have said more, but Blake chose that moment to tug her in for a deep kiss.

“I love you too,” Blake said softly when she pulled away. “Where’s this coming from?”

Weiss heard footsteps approaching from behind them. “I think she just woke up today and decided that she wanted to give each of us a heart attack,” came Yang’s amused voice.

“You were the one who prompted it,” Weiss reminded her.

Yang just grinned. She started to head towards the kitchen, but Blake stopped her.

“I can’t let you do that,” she said.

“Why not?” Yang asked, confused.

Before Blake could answer, Ruby poked her head out from the kitchen, and then came running towards them when she realized they were all standing there together. “Hey!” she said. “What do you two think you’re doing? Get back inside the bedroom!”

“What is going on?” said Yang, blinking as Ruby started trying to shove her back. “Why are you and Blake being weird?”

“That’s a secret!” said Ruby.

“Top secret,” Blake agreed.

“Just give us like five more minutes,” said Ruby. “We’re almost done. But you have to wait in the bedroom for us.”

Yang looked at Weiss, who only shrugged back. “Okay, weirdo,” she said to Ruby.

They went back into the bedroom together. Weiss plopped onto the bed, slumping against the headboard. Yang paced around on the floor in front of her.

“I wonder what those two nerds are plotting,” said Yang.

“They did say we’d find out in five minutes,” Weiss told her. “You’re so impatient. Come over here.”

“Yes ma’am,” said Yang, grinning. Then she came over and fell onto Weiss and pressed her face into Weiss’s stomach. Weiss squeaked and tried to shove Yang off, to little success.

“I changed my mind,” Weiss said as she struggled to hold back her laughter. “I take back what I said earlier. I take it back.”

Yang stopped her assault just long enough to look up and fix Weiss with her best fake hurt expression. “You can’t do that,” she said, horrified.

“Yes, I can,” Weiss retorted. She had to look away before Yang’s expression made her break her resolve. “You’re being mean to me.”

“No, wait, I’m sorry,” Yang said, pouting dramatically. Weiss sighed and started running her hands through Yang’s hair. “I’ll be good from now on. Promise.”

“I would never actually take something like that back,” said Weiss. “You know that, right?”

Yang smiled and settled in against Weiss, content. “Yeah, I know.”

They stayed like that until the door opened a couple minutes later, and as promised, Blake and Ruby entered the room. Both of them were holding large plates of food.

“What?” said Weiss.

“You guys are the worst,” Ruby said, but she was grinning like an idiot the whole time. “I wanted to spoil you for breakfast today, but you were both taking forever to wake up. So then Blake suggested we do it anyway and just bring you breakfast in bed instead. But then of course you had to wait until we were almost done to get up and nearly walk in on the surprise!”

“Sorry, sis,” said Yang, but she was staring at the food with wide eyes. “You really made all of that for us?”

“Yeah,” Ruby said cheerfully. “Blake helped. It’s nothing fancy, but I hope you guys like it.”

Yang rolled off of Weiss and the four of them sat in a loose circle together on the bed with the food in the center. Blake and Ruby had made a little bit of everything for Weiss and Yang. Like Ruby had said earlier, none of it was anything fancy or complicated, but Weiss thought it tasted amazing all the same.

“Thanks, you guys,” Yang said. She still seemed kind of in awe. “I mean, wow.”

“You can think of it as payback for all the times you cooked food for me growing up,” Ruby replied. “So now we’re even. I’m never gonna do this for you ever again.” Her smile made it obvious that she was just joking. It made Yang laugh.

“Ruby?” said Weiss.

Ruby looked at her, curious.

“Thank you,” she continued. “I love you.”

Then Ruby’s smile widened until she was practically beaming in happiness, and Weiss never wanted to look away. “I love you too, Weiss!”

For the rest of the morning they all stayed in the room together while Weiss and Yang finished up the breakfast. At some point Ruby decided to scoot around to hug Weiss from behind, and then started absently tracing little circles on her stomach. Yang was busy telling a stupid joke now and Blake was listening with a genuinely content and relaxed grin on her face, and in that moment everything felt right.

“What are you thinking about?” Ruby asked from behind her.

“Nothing, really,” said Weiss. “All of you, I guess. All of us.”

She knew Ruby was smiling now without even having to turn around. “In a good way, right?”

“It’s almost always in a good way, so yes.”

“Aww.” Ruby hugged her tighter. “Honest nice Weiss is my favorite.”

“Don’t get used to it,” said Weiss.

Then Yang somehow fell off the bed and everyone was distracted again. And Weiss smiled to herself, because apparently this was her life now, and she found that she didn’t mind in the slightest.

 


 

“I got you now!” Ruby shouted.

Weiss watched as Ruby activated her semblance and charged towards Qrow. Unfortunately, she was clearly starting to get sluggish and tired, since they’d been out sparring all afternoon, and Qrow managed to block her attack in time and then knock her off her feet with his sword. She hit the ground and her weapon clattered out of her hands.

“Give me a second,” she said, already struggling to push herself back up. “Next time. I’ll definitely get you next time.”

“No, you won’t,” said Qrow. “I’m beat, I need a break. And so do you. Jeez, kid, for someone so small, you’ve been freakishly resilient.”

Ruby didn’t respond to that. Weiss knew why. They were all training their asses off for the exact same reason.

“A short break seems like a good idea,” Yang said reasonably. Ruby grumbled and flopped back onto the ground. “Don’t give me that look, you nerd. I know you wanna get stronger. We all do. But we’re all exhausted right now, and you’re going to pass out soon if you don’t rest.”

“Fine.” Ruby deflated and decided to look to Weiss instead, pouting as best as she could.

“What?” said Weiss, bewildered.

“Come over here,” said Ruby. She stuck out her arms like she wanted to be held. “I’m tired and lonely and I want company.”

“How about you come here instead of making me get in the dirt with you?”

Ruby grinned and then closed her eyes and went limp. “Sorry, I can’t hear you over the sound of how hard I’m resting.”

Yang laughed. Weiss rolled her eyes but couldn’t hold back a smile. Blake went up to Ruby and sat down next to her.

“At least don’t get your hair dirty,” she said, gently lifting up Ruby’s head. She combed her fingers through Ruby’s hair for a few seconds, brushing away the bits of grass stuck in there, before setting her down in her lap. Ruby now looked exponentially happier and more satisfied than she did just moments ago.

“Okay. Uh, I’m gonna head back inside, then,” Qrow said awkwardly. “You guys have fun out here. Let me know when you’re ready to get back into it.” And with that, he left.

A few moments later Yang sighed and plopped herself down next to Blake. “I swear, every time we spar Ruby’s punches get more vicious,” she complained, rubbing at her arm. She looked down at her sister. “You should just toss the weapon and sock people in the face instead.”

“I should,” said Ruby. “Since the first thing anyone ever tries to do to me in a fight anyway is disarm me. It’s annoying.”

“Uh, yeah, cause you swing around a giant scythe. That’s pretty scary.”

Ruby made a face. Blake was still absently running a hand through her hair, though, so the sour expression didn’t last very long. Yang, meanwhile, was giving Weiss an expectant look. Almost on autopilot, Weiss came up and sat down next to her, letting Yang pull her in and hug her close.

“Hey, Blake?” said Ruby.

“Yeah?” said Blake.

“If we’re fighting someone and I lose my weapon, can you let me borrow one of yours?”

“Sure,” Blake said, content to humor her. “Do you want the sword or the sheath?”

“The gun,” Ruby answered.

“Of course,” said Blake, smiling. She pulled the katana out from where she kept it strapped to her back and handed it down to Ruby, who accepted it with a mixture of awe and excitement.

“Whoa,” said Ruby, bringing the pistol part of the hilt up close to her face so she could inspect it better. “It’s so tiny. How do I retract the blade?”

“There’s a button on the side,” Blake told her patiently, and then quickly reached down to cover Ruby’s face when she immediately pressed the button and the blade almost hit her as it folded up. “Be careful. Don’t want to smack yourself in the face.”

“Right,” Ruby said sheepishly.

They all sat there and watched as Ruby continued to fiddle with Blake’s weapon. She eventually aimed the pistol up at the sky and fired off a few experimental shots.

“It’s so tiny,” she said again. “How do you even aim with this thing?”

“I don’t, not really,” Blake answered. “It’s a lot easier to hit something accurately at close range. But if it’s far away, I usually just shoot in that direction as best I can multiple times and hope for the best.”

“Oh. That’s cool,” Ruby said earnestly. Then her smile turned playful and she abruptly sat up. “Do you guys think I could dual wield this and my scythe at the same time? I bet I’d look so awesome and scary.”

“Why stop there?” Yang pitched in, already retracting one of her gauntlets and pulling it off her wrist. “Have my weapons, too. Triple wield.”

With Blake’s help, Yang managed to get both gauntlets fastened around Ruby’s wrists. Ruby was now starting to look like all of her dreams had just come true. And Weiss was now starting to reevaluate her decision to come and sit with everyone else on the ground.

“Do you want my sword too?” she asked with no small amount of trepidation as Ruby scrambled to her feet and went to retrieve her scythe.

“I don’t think that’s even feasible,” said Yang. “Maybe if she sprouts a third arm, though.”

“No, it’s fine,” Ruby insisted. Somehow, she was holding all three of their weapons just fine with almost no apparent effort. “I’ll just use the ribbon to tie the hilts of Blake and Weiss’s swords together. Easy peasy.” She stared at the gauntlets on her wrists. “How do I use these again?”

In her excitement she accidentally fired off a shot from Ember Celica, and the resulting recoil took her by surprise hard enough to make her go flying backwards before hitting the ground again. Yang was already busy laughing her ass off, even while rushing over to help Ruby.

“Well,” Blake said lightly, pushing herself up to her feet before extending a hand down to help Weiss up. “It looks like I’m one sword short now. I don’t know what I’ll do.”

It was obviously bait, so Weiss took it. “Do you want to mess with mine?” she asked with a resigned sigh.

“A little bit,” Blake admitted, her grin almost shy.

Weiss gave her the rapier.

Blake spent a while just inspecting the weapon with great attention and care. “It’s really pretty,” she said, running her finger along the engravings in the hilt. “You had it custom made?”

“I did,” said Weiss. “It’s specifically designed to work well with my semblance.”

“Can you show me how?”

“Hold still, then.” Weiss took Blake by the wrist and gently fixed her grip and moved her around until she was satisfied with her posture. “Now pick a type of Dust.”

“Okay,” said Blake. She spun the revolving chamber until it locked onto ice Dust. “Can’t go wrong with your signature element.”

Weiss rolled her eyes, but it only made Blake smile wider. “Just concentrate,” she said, putting a hand on the small of Blake’s back. “I’ll do the rest.”

She summoned a small glyph on the ground a few feet in front of them. Seconds later, a giant spire of ice shot up from it. The only indication of surprise that Blake gave was tensing slightly underneath Weiss’s hand.

“That was amazing,” Blake said happily. She glanced off to the side, where Yang and Ruby were now trying to wrestle with each other for some reason. “Can we do it one more time?”

“If that’s what you want,” said Weiss, because she was in this deep already.

Soon enough they had gotten both of Yang’s feet frozen to the ground in a sizable chunk of ice. “Thanks, guys,” she called to them. “Thanks. Really feeling the love over here. Give me that.” She managed to jerk Crescent Rose out of Ruby’s grasp. Funnily enough, if it hadn’t been for the fact that her feet were stuck to the ground, she would have stumbled from the motion.

“Hey!” said Ruby.

“I forgot how ungodly heavy this thing is,” Yang grumbled. “You make it look so easy.”

“You make not catapulting yourself into the stratosphere every time you shoot look easy,” Ruby retorted.

“Fair enough,” said Yang. She folded up the scythe into its rifle form and then used it to shoot at her feet, shattering the ice holding her in place. Then she tossed the weapon towards Weiss. “Here, catch!”

Somehow, Weiss managed to catch it, but it had come at her so fast that she tripped backwards and then Blake had to catch her. “Thanks,” she said, embarrassed. “Yang, what do you want me to do with this?”

“I dunno, mess around with it?” Yang said innocently. “I just want your sword in exchange.”

“Why?”

Yang and Ruby looked at each other.

“You aren’t seriously considering tying my sword to Blake’s, are you?” Weiss asked, despite already knowing the answer.

“Of course not,” said Ruby, while trying to surreptitiously hide Gambol Shroud’s ribbon behind her back. It did not work. Weiss gave them her rapier anyway.

“You’ve gone so soft on us,” Blake told her affectionately. “When we first met you would’ve sent us flying across the room for even daring to ask to touch your weapon.”

“That’s not true!” Weiss protested. “Well, maybe. But only because back then I didn’t know if I could trust any of you to not break it.”

“And you trust us now?” Blake asked.

Ruby and Yang had already scampered off again after having fashioned the world’s worst pair of nunchucks out of their weapons. They looked so ridiculous, taking turns yelling and violently swinging at each other with it, but somehow the sight only put a smile on Weiss’s face.

“As hard as it is to believe,” she said, “yes, I do trust all of you.” Her voice got quieter. “Besides, look how happy they are. Even if something were to happen, I think it’d be worth it.”

Blake smiled at her. “That’s sweet of you,” she said, pressing a kiss to the side of Weiss’s forehead.

After that, the rest of them tried to teach Weiss how to use Ruby’s scythe, to varying degrees of success. It didn’t help that whoever was in possession of the sword nunchucks at the time would go around smacking everyone else instead of helping. By the time Qrow returned to check on them, Ruby was busy running around in circles around the clearing while Weiss tried and failed to snipe her out of her semblance.

“Oh, that’s it!” Weiss said in frustration. She deliberately ignored Yang and Blake’s obvious amusement and stuck out her hand, summoning a powerful gravity glyph under Ruby’s feet that caused her to stumble and fall. Before Ruby could regain her footing, Weiss dropped Crescent Rose into Blake’s hands and shot forward towards her. Ruby brought up Yang’s gauntlets in an attempt to shield herself, but Weiss just tackled her to the ground instead.

“Oh,” was all Ruby managed to say once the surprise wore off. “Hi.”

Weiss steeled herself. Then, before she could lose her nerve, she leaned down and kissed Ruby once and then immediately scrambled back up to her feet. The look on Ruby’s face afterwards was priceless.

“Do you guys—uh, should I come back later?” said Qrow.

“No, it’s fine! That was completely unplanned,” Weiss hastened to explain, burning with embarrassment. “It won’t happen again.”

“That’s a shame,” Blake said lightly. Next to her, Yang was struggling to hold in her laughter. “I really liked it when it did.”

Qrow just stared at them.

“None of you actually took this time to rest, did you?” he asked.

“Sure we did,” said Ruby, but the fact that she was still wielding three separate weapons did not help her case in the slightest.

“Right,” said Qrow. “Well, I got to enjoy a nice afternoon snack with Tai, so I hope you’re all ready to get your asses kicked. Again.”

“Yeah, whatever, old man,” Yang said dismissively. Qrow grinned at her.

They got their asses kicked. But it was definitely still worth it, because even as beat up and exhausted they all were, Ruby still bounced around in happiness on her way back to the house, and it was a sight Weiss would never get tired of seeing.

 


 

It had taken Weiss a while to get used to the unfamiliar atmosphere of Yang and Ruby’s house. For one, it was significantly smaller than the Schnee Manor, and yet it somehow felt much less oppressive. Weiss had grown up in a home that was almost always completely silent. Here, with six people all inhabiting the same cozy space together, it seemed like there was always some source of noise or lively conversation somewhere.

Despite all of that, she was at least still able to recognize when the noise was weird or unusual, even for Ruby and Yang. Especially if it was happening late at night, and loud enough to wake her up.

She didn’t even know what time it was. After lying awake in bed for a few minutes trying to figure out what could possibly be going on outside that involved a constant rapid popping noise, she decided to get up to investigate. Sure enough, she soon found the answer in the kitchen.

Ruby and Yang were standing by the microwave making popcorn.

Yang noticed her first. “I told you we were gonna wake people up,” she said to Ruby.

“It’s fine,” said Ruby, jumping a little. “It’s fine! Right, Weiss?”

“Can I at least ask why?” said Weiss.

“Yang was being kind of moody and sad and couldn’t sleep,” Ruby explained. “So we, uh, turned our room into a blanket fort. And now we’re gonna watch a bunch of movies to try and cheer her up.”

“I see,” said Weiss.

“Yeah,” Ruby said sheepishly. “Sorry about that. You could join us, though, if you wanted to!”

It was exactly the kind of thing Weiss would have been forbidden from doing as a kid, and also secretly something she’d always wanted to try at least once. Not that she was about to let anyone know that.

“Sure, I guess,” she said, trying to sound nonchalant.

Ruby gave her a huge smile. “Awesome! Here, take this,” she said, and turned to quickly open the microwave right before the timer hit zero. She pulled the popcorn out and handed it to Weiss. “You and Yang can head up first. I’ll make one more bag before joining you.”

So Weiss followed Yang out of the kitchen with the bag of popcorn held carefully in one hand. She had to admit that it smelled pretty amazing. They made it about halfway up the stairs in silence before Weiss nudged Yang gently.

“Are you doing alright?” she asked.

“Oh,” said Yang. She smiled tiredly. “Yeah, I’ll be okay. Sometimes I just get stuck in my own head thinking about stuff and make myself sad. It’s nothing important.”

“You’re always important,” Weiss told her. “Was it about… family stuff?”

“More or less,” Yang admitted. “It happens every once in a while. I’m usually way better about hiding it, though. Or at least I used to be.”

“What can I say?” said Weiss. “I’m just that easy of a person to talk to.”

That got a fond laugh out of Yang. She reached over and took Weiss’s free hand into her own. “It’s true. You, Blake, and Ruby… somehow, you all make me feel okay with being vulnerable.”

The door to Ruby and Yang’s room was already propped open when they made it up there. Which meant that Weiss got a good look at the massive blanket fort inside the second they arrived.

“I don’t even have it in me anymore to be shocked,” said Weiss. “How long did this take you two to put together?”

“Not that long,” said Yang, grinning. “We have a lot of experience building blanket forts. Tonight was mostly Ruby, though.”

“Is Blake invited too?” Weiss asked.

Yang blinked. “I guess so, yeah, if she’s awake.”

“If you and Ruby managed to wake me up with your antics, you absolutely woke Blake up as well.”

“Have you guys considered not being such light sleepers?”

“Have you two considered not being such loud troublemakers?” Weiss retorted. Yang smiled even wider.

“I’m gonna finish setting up inside,” she said. “You go grab Blake?”

“Alright,” said Weiss. She gave the bag of popcorn to Yang before heading down the hallway towards the master bedroom where Blake slept. Right as she reached out to open the door, Ruby materialized directly behind her.

“Hi,” she said.

“Oh my god, Ruby.” Weiss forced herself to loosen her grip on the doorknob and turned around. “I assume this means you’re done with the food preparation?”

“Yeah,” Ruby said happily. “What are you doing?”

“Inviting Blake to this impromptu sleepover,” said Weiss.

“Oh, that’s a great idea!” said Ruby. “I hope she’s not mad that we definitely already woke her up.”

Weiss just sighed, shook her head, smiled, and then opened the door.

It was dark inside the room, but the light spilling in from the hallway was just enough that Weiss could see Blake lying in the very center of the bed, curled up into a ball like a cat. The sight was so cute that Weiss almost didn’t want to bother her.

“Blake,” she said softly.

At first, there was no response. 

Then Blake’s ear twitched. 

“Oh,” she said without moving or opening her eyes. “I was starting to think I was just having a really weird dream.”

“I still haven’t ruled that one out yet,” said Weiss. “Would you like to come watch a movie with us?”

“I can’t promise I’ll stay awake for the whole thing, but sure.” Blake uncurled herself and stretched for a few seconds before sitting up. 

They headed over together to Yang and Ruby’s room. Ruby went up first and pulled aside the blanket at the entrance to the fort, motioning for Blake and Weiss to get inside. Yang was already sitting in there waiting for them, nestled comfortably in the giant pile of blankets and pillows they were apparently going to be using as a couch.

“Hey, Blake,” she said.

“Hey,” Blake said back. “How are you feeling?”

“To be honest, I’ve definitely been better,” said Yang. She held out her arms, so Blake dropped onto the makeshift couch next to her and sank into her embrace to kiss her a few times. “Thanks for coming to keep me company.”

“You know I’m always happy to,” said Blake. “Plus, the blanket fort alone makes it worth it.”

Yang grinned at that. Weiss sat down on her other side, so Ruby responded by flopping across all of their laps.

“What are we watching?” Weiss asked, instinctively reaching down to start running her hand through Ruby’s hair. 

“Good question,” said Ruby. “It’s supposed to be Yang’s night, though. Maybe she should pick.”

“I’m a little trapped right now,” said Yang.

“How unfortunate,” said Ruby, without making any effort to move. Yang just laughed.

Ruby eventually rolled off of everyone so she could put in some crappy horror movie. It took maybe ten minutes before they all stopped paying attention. Yang had gotten distracted by the sheer amount of customization options the subtitles had, and they were now taking up more than half of the screen in glowing bubble-shaped rainbow text.

“This is awful,” said Weiss.

“I thought you said you didn’t like the main character,” Yang said, looking way too proud of herself. “Now you can’t even see his face.”

“Right…” Weiss said slowly.

The night continued on, with the four of them sharing popcorn, talking and laughing, and occasionally poking fun at the movie together. Yang kept absently playing with Weiss’s fingers. Her mood seemed to improve significantly as time passed. 

“Hey,” she said during a lull in the action onscreen. “If we were all in a horror movie together, who do you think would go out first?”

“You would,” Ruby said immediately.

“I am now accepting answers from everyone except Ruby,” said Yang.

“I bet you actually would, though,” Ruby insisted. “Like you’d probably try to sacrifice yourself to save the rest of us. Don’t even deny it.”

Yang grinned. “Well, I could try to sacrifice myself, but I know for a fact that none of you would let me.”

“Good,” said Weiss, poking Yang in the stomach. “And don’t you forget that.”

“Why are you so resistant to the idea of me going out first, anyway?” Yang asked, that big dumb grin still on her face. “Do you want to be the first to die?”

“Who said I’d be the first to die?” Weiss said with as much mock offense as she could muster.

Yang gave her an apologetic kiss on the cheek. “Process of elimination,” she said reasonably. “Ruby’s too fast for any monster to catch. And Blake lasts the longest out of all of us, no contest.”

“What?” said Blake.

“Yeah,” said Yang. “Cause of your pro survival skills and stuff. I bet you could also just glare at the monster and it’d run away screaming.”

That made Ruby start laughing. Blake looked slightly confused. “If we’re going by that logic, then shouldn’t Weiss be the one to make it to the end of the movie? Her glare is way more terrifying than mine.”

“Hey!” said Weiss. Now they were all cracking up.

“Why are we even talking about this, anyway?” Ruby said once everyone eventually calmed down again. “Why can’t we all just escape safely and live happily ever after together?”

“Good idea,” said Yang. “You know what, I like that ending better.”

“Me too,” Blake agreed.

The movie finally started wrapping up about an hour later. By then, Yang was comfortably passed out on top of Weiss, Ruby was on the floor, and Blake was sprawled out across the entire rest of the makeshift couch.

“Are we really all going to just go back to sleep like this?” Weiss asked.

“Yes,” said Ruby, who was clearly only half-awake at this point.

“Ruby, don’t fall asleep on the ground,” Weiss tried. “You’ll regret it in the morning.”

“There’s no space left on the couch,” said Ruby. “Blake’s taking up like ninety percent of it.”

“Sorry,” Blake mumbled.

“It’s okay. I think it’s cute.” Ruby managed to push herself up enough to crawl over to the rest of them and collapse onto mostly Blake and partially Weiss and Yang. Which meant that Weiss was now well and truly squashed.

“This is going to become a regular occurrence now, isn’t it?” said Weiss.

“I feel like you should’ve expected it when you agreed to stay with us for the break,” said Ruby.

“Oh, I did,” said Weiss.

Ruby snorted. “Okay. Good night then, weirdo.”

“Good night, guys,” said Blake. It sounded like she was only partially aware of what she was saying. “I love you all a lot. Like, a lot. Yeah.”

“Love you too, Blake,” said Ruby, and then the room was quiet.

Chapter 24

Notes:

SURPRISE

 

ok real talk: the long break with no new rwby content combined with life continuing to be a jerkass was actually just hell on my motivation levels

but i am still here and kicking and i am probably gonna try to start finishing this one up soon so weeheehee

this chapter might be kind of dookie but i'm tired of looking at it so i'm throwing it onto the internet and now all of you will suffer the consequences of my actions. and if you are still here after all this time even with my shitty ass updating habits, thank you. i know i say it all the time but idk how else to express how genuinely grateful i am for all of you guys out there reading my stuff.

so yeah. ENJOY (MAYBE?)

Chapter Text

Zwei smacked his face against the door.

“Yeah, I know, I know,” Yang answered without turning around, too busy struggling to get her shoes on in the dark. “I heard you the first time.”

Zwei barked at her once, and then went back to smacking the door. Yang rubbed at her eyes.

For all of his inconvenient skill with opening doors unsupervised, Zwei was still incapable of doing it by himself if the door was locked. Which meant that if he wanted to go outside and it was late at night, his go-to solution was to wake someone up and bother them until they let him out.

“You’re unbelievable,” Yang said to him. “The actual worst. Why are you like this? Do you even stop to think about how your actions affect others?” She got her jacket on and then finally unlocked and opened the door, and Zwei immediately shot out and scampered off.

Yang followed him out for a bit, squinting into the dark, trying to see where he’d gone. She was just about to give up and flop down onto the grass instead when he reappeared, bouncing up to her with something in his mouth.

“What’ve you got there, buddy?” Yang asked, kneeling down as he approached and holding out her hand. Zwei dutifully dropped the object into her palm. It was a small chunk of tree bark, from where Yang assumed was probably near the clearing they sparred in during the day. The bark’s entire surface had been blackened and burnt from fire Dust. “Uh… thanks?”

Zwei stuck around to enjoy a few pets and head rubs from Yang before running off again.

He ended up returning two more times after that, each time proudly presenting Yang with a new prize. The second object was an unusually white pebble, so light in color that it almost seemed to shine in the moonlight. The third time he came back with a fallen sunflower petal from Tai’s garden, still a vibrant yellow.

It wasn’t until Zwei came back on the fourth trip with nothing to show, looking dejected, that Yang finally registered what he was trying to do.

“You are so weird,” she told him, and yet she couldn’t help but smile a bit. “I can’t believe you dragged me out here in the middle of the night to do this. What’s the problem now? You can’t find anything red nearby?”

Zwei looked hopefully up at the roof of their house.

“No,” Yang said immediately. “I am not helping you steal a shingle from the roof.” 

Zwei whined pitifully at her, but she had long since learned how to resist it. She stuck out her tongue at him in response.

With his main plan foiled, Zwei settled for dragging Yang deeper into the forest, and spent his time diving into bushes and digging through piles of dirt in search of something red. Yang stood watch near him. It was unlikely any Grimm would appear this close to the house, but she still had to keep Zwei from wandering too far out just in case, since she was both sleepy and weaponless.

“I think you’re a little shit,” Yang said to him. A moment later, he poked his head out of the bush, curious. “Hogging Weiss to yourself all day. That’s pretty rude. She’s my girlfriend, you know. I wanna spend quality time with her too.”

Zwei turned around and farted at her.

Finally, after several more minutes, he emerged from a pile of leaves, triumphantly clutching a small red feather in his mouth. Yang knelt down again so he could give it to her, and then he rolled over so his stomach was facing up, clearly expecting a reward.

“Okay, buddy,” Yang said with a laugh, reaching down with her free hand to rub his belly. “Thanks for the presents. Can I go back to bed now?”

The answer was no. But only because on the walk back home Zwei became distracted by something in the backyard and took off to investigate, and Yang had no choice but to follow.

He reached the base of a tree and put his paws on it, barking up at the branches above him. Yang caught up to him, still confused. Then she looked up as well.

“Uh, hey,” said Blake, looking slightly startled. “What are you doing out here?”

“I was getting dragged around by the dog,” said Yang. “What are you doing?”

“Reading,” Blake said timidly.

“Outside? In the middle of the night?” Yang glanced down at Zwei. He had curled up into a ball nearby, satisfied with his work. “Can I come up?”

“Sure,” said Blake.

She scooted over to make just enough space for Yang, but the branch was short enough that they ended up mostly on top of each other anyway.

“Sorry,” Yang said, grinning.

Blake smiled back. “Are you?”

“Nah,” said Yang. “Couldn’t sleep?”

“Not really,” Blake answered. “Too busy thinking about stuff.”

“Anything in particular?”

Blake didn’t respond at first. She stared down at the book she’d brought outside with her, fiddling with the corner.

“I guess,” she admitted. “It was mostly about Adam.”

“Oh yeah, that guy,” said Yang, as if she’d actually forget. “He’s been leaving us alone for a while now, huh?”

“I think that might be changing soon,” said Blake.

“What makes you say that?”

“I don’t know. Just a gut feeling.”

“You don’t seem too nervous about it.”

“Well, I am,” said Blake. “But mostly… I think I just want to get the confrontation over with. I want to move on already.”

“I get that,” said Yang.

Blake suddenly shook her head. “Ah, forget about it for now. I came outside to clear my head of those thoughts.” She carefully shifted around a bit until she found a comfortable spot sitting sideways atop Yang’s lap. “Tell me about what you’ve been up to. What was Zwei making you do?”

“Oh, you know,” said Yang, holding out the cluster of trinkets in her hand. “He brought me presents.”

It took Blake a second to process what was in front of her. Then she laughed. “That’s us,” she said.

“It sure is,” Yang agreed. “Zwei thinks you’re a piece of burnt tree bark.”

“I’ll take it.” Blake sighed and leaned further into Yang. “You have a really weird dog, you know.”

“That’s what I’ve been saying,” said Yang, smiling when that got another small laugh out of Blake. “I’m glad he likes you guys so much, though. Makes us all feel like one big happy family in the house. It’s nice.”

“Yeah,” said Blake. “It is. I… I can’t believe I tried to give this all up.”

“Blake…”

Blake started fiddling absently with the sleeve of Yang’s jacket. Her expression became unfocused. “When I enrolled into Beacon, my only plan was to get in, get my Huntsman license, and leave,” she said. “And now look at me. I fell in love with my whole team. And it terrifies me, every single day, knowing that anything I do could put you guys in grave danger.”

“That’s kinda what we signed up for, though,” said Yang.

“I know,” said Blake. “I’ve been trying to tell myself the point is that we help each other out of danger, too. That we’re stronger together, and you guys want to be there for me as badly as I want to be there for you. That’s the part I have to remember. It’s… a work in progress.” She stared down at her lap for a second longer, and then looked up into Yang’s eyes. “I just needed to say that out loud. To you.”

“Well, I’m right here,” Yang said gently. She smiled. “I’ll always be here. But you already knew that.”

Blake kissed her.

Yang felt a lot of things in that kiss. Up in the tree, with the wind blowing through the branches and the moon shining in the sky and Blake in her arms, she knew that everything would be okay. No matter what the world tried to throw at them.

 


 

“Morning, Dad,” Yang called out as she passed by the kitchen on her way to the front door.

“Hey, kid,” he replied. Seconds later, he poked his head out from the doorway. “Where you headed?”

“Uh, just the garage,” said Yang. “I wanted to try and test something new with my gauntlets.”

“At least get some breakfast first,” said Tai. “I made all this food for you kids and you’re all too busy to enjoy it. Breaking your old man’s heart, really.”

Yang made a face at him, and then laughed. “Am I really the last one up?”

“I think Weiss is still asleep,” said Tai. “I know I saw both Blake and Ruby earlier, though. They might be upstairs.”

“I’ll go let them know there’s breakfast,” said Yang. She turned around and headed back up the stairs.

Blake and Ruby were in the master bedroom. Yang opened the door to find them sitting on the bed together making out.

“Gross,” she said to announce her presence, as was customary.

“Shut up,” said Ruby. She had to pull away from Blake to turn and stick her tongue out at Yang. Blake just kept staring at Ruby with the dopiest, most loving smile on her face, unfazed by the interruption.

“Hey, it’s not my fault that you have no self control,” said Yang.

“You try showing restraint when Blake keeps giving you this look.” To prove her point, Ruby shook Blake a little. Blake’s expression remained unchanged. “Oh wait, you don’t. Hypocrite.”

Yang laughed. “Fair enough. There’s breakfast downstairs, by the way. You’ll probably make Dad cry if you don’t go get some eventually.”

“Tell him five minutes,” said Ruby.

“Sure, whatever. You two have fun.” Yang closed the door behind her.

By the time she returned to the kitchen Weiss had made an appearance as well, sitting at the table still wrapped in a blanket. Yang’s heart immediately melted at the sight.

“Hey,” she said. “You doing alright?”

“Not fully awake yet,” said Weiss, blinking tiredly.

Yang smiled and walked over, leaning down to press a light kiss to the top of Weiss’s head. Then she took the adjacent seat. “I’m impressed you managed to make it out here, then.”

“It smelled nice.”

“At least someone in this house appreciates my cooking,” Tai lamented from the stove.

“I’m here now, Dad, don’t get your panties in a twist,” said Yang. “Ruby and Blake might be a while though, so.”

“Yeah, that’s fine.” Tai took off his apron and folded it up, tossing it onto the counter before turning to Weiss and Yang and smiling. “I’m all done here. Help yourself to anything, as usual. Yell if you need something.” And then he left.

Yang busied herself with stuffing her face full of eggs and potatoes, fully aware that Weiss was staring at her the whole time.

“Why are you eating so fast?” she asked.

“I just want to get to the garage as soon as possible,” said Yang. “Got something new to test out with my weapons. Wanna come with?”

“Oh, sure,” said Weiss. She yawned and then reached for Yang’s plate of food, dragging it over to herself. “But only if you eat slower.” Then she took a bite of the food before holding up another forkful to feed Yang, who was too head over heels to do anything except concede and humor her.

It took until Weiss was more awake and Yang was nearly done eating before Ruby and Blake came downstairs to join them. 

“Hi, guys!” Ruby said in greeting, looking slightly rumpled and very satisfied with herself.

“Hey, sis,” said Yang. “Waiting until I’m finished and about to leave before showing up, huh? I see how it is.”

Ruby grinned at that. “Yeah, I’m just a real jerk to you, huh?” she replied, sliding into the seat across from them. “Where are you going?”

“Garage,” Yang said simply, holding up her wrist to indicate her bracelet by way of explanation.

“Ooh,” said Ruby. “Have fun. Make lots of explosions for me.”

“I’ll try my best.” Yang nudged Weiss gently. “You ready to head out?”

“Yeah,” said Weiss.

The two of them cleaned up and left the house together, making their way over to the garage. Yang’s motorcycle was parked here, but the rest of the space was cluttered with tools and scrap and a bunch of other nonsense.

“So what is it exactly that you wanted to do?” Weiss asked curiously, watching with an impressively neutral expression as Yang cleared a nearby table by lifting an end with one hand and letting all its contents slide off onto the ground.

“I spent all year watching you and Blake make Dust-infused bullets for her pistol,” Yang explained. “Ruby does it with a few types, but I’ve never really managed to get it to work for my weapons. Every time I tried it just sorta made the explosions bigger and not much else.” 

“I see,” said Weiss. “And you want to apply them for their elemental properties.”

“Yeah,” said Yang. “I always thought it’d be cool to be able to shoot, like, a tornado out of my fists or something like that.” She went over to the shelf in the corner and pulled off a small box, making sure to handle it properly this time. “I don’t have a lot of this stuff left, so we’re gonna have to be careful.”

“Alright,” said Weiss.

Yang had mostly meant that last part as a joke, but to her surprise, Weiss seemed plenty willing to actually help out. She was much more knowledgeable about Dust in general, too, and provided Yang with plenty of tips and advice as she worked. It wasn’t long before time began to pass in a blur. Yang kept her hands busy, and Weiss kept her company. It was nice.

“Oh,” Weiss said a while later, snapping Yang out of her concentration. “You’ve got something on your cheek, right here.” She reached up and tilted Yang’s head towards herself, before slowly wiping off the smudge with her thumb.

Yang couldn’t help it. She leaned in and kissed Weiss, automatically reaching out to hold her before stopping at the last second. Her hands were dirty. Weiss, meanwhile, had no such qualms. She curled one hand around the back of Yang’s neck, while the other came up to rest on her waist. Yang closed her eyes and lost herself in the feeling. 

When they broke apart Yang had to fight the urge again to touch Weiss. She started fiddling with one of her retracted gauntlets on the table, trying to keep her hands busy.

“Sorry,” Yang said with a slight smile. “You’re pretty distracting.”

Weiss just busied herself with smoothing out Yang’s jacket, and then leaned in to kiss her once more. “I could say the same thing about you.”

It was hard to accomplish anything else after that. One more kiss turned into two, then three, and then Yang lost count, and of course that was the position they were in when Ruby decided to check up on them a while later.

“Gross,” she said, loudly and deliberately. Yang flipped her off without looking or pausing.

“How crude,” Weiss said into her mouth.

Yang just grinned. “You know what else is crude?” she replied in a low voice. “Kissing a girl. And yet here you are, doing it. With three of them on the regular, no less.”

“Yeah?” said Weiss, just barely suppressing a shiver. “Are you going to stop me?”

I’m gonna stop you,” said Ruby, with no real heat. “Just kidding. I’m glad you guys are having fun. Do you want me to leave?”

“No, it’s fine,” said Yang, finally pushing herself away from Weiss. “I’ve been dying to wash my hands for ages. I’m trying really hard to not get grease all over Weiss.”

“Maybe you should’ve,” said Ruby, and now she was grinning as well. “I bet she wouldn’t have minded. Just look at her.”

“Oh, I get it,” said Weiss, while Yang laughed. “You came here just so you can help your sister gang up on me. I see how it is.”

Ruby innocently put her hands up behind her head. “I just wanted to come see what you guys were doing. Not my fault the answer to that question was making out.”

“We really did get distracted, didn’t we?” said Yang. She picked up one of her gauntlets. “Do you wanna see what we got done so far?”

“Sure,” Ruby said brightly.

They had maybe ten more minutes of peace and work and banter together before Ruby’s scroll started ringing. She pulled it out of her pocket, and then blinked in surprise when she saw who was calling her.

“Hey, Uncle Qrow,” she said into the scroll, and Yang suddenly felt wary. “What’s up?”

“Ruby,” Qrow said without preamble. “That guy who was after all of you. Taurus, right? Red hair, black outfit, permanently angry expression? He’s here. And he’s brought a bit of a small army with him.”

 


 

“I’m scared,” said Blake.

Weiss squeezed her hand. The two of them were standing in an open meadow together, as far away from any innocent civilians on the island as possible. 

Qrow had filled them all in earlier. Not only was Adam himself here, he’d come on a ship along with his White Fang lieutenant, a handful of his best fighters, and even a couple stolen Atlesian Paladins. Blake had begged the rest of them to keep as many people out of it as possible, unless it became absolutely necessary to call for help. Which meant that they had been forced to split up to deal with each individual threat in Adam’s little army, keeping each other updated through Ruby’s ever-useful earpieces. Tai had gotten himself stuck in a fight with the White Fang lieutenant, while Qrow took it upon himself to tackle the rest of the foot soldiers alone. Ruby and Yang, meanwhile, teamed up to try and clear out some of the mechs before they could reach and harm any other inhabitants of Patch.

And that left Blake and Weiss to stand there doing nothing, trying to bait Adam himself into showing up.

“I’m scared,” Blake said again.

“I know,” Weiss said gently.

“I can’t believe he brought a bunch of Paladins with him,” said Blake.

“Well,” said Weiss, “at least it means he’s scared of us enough that he felt he couldn’t win unless he split us apart.”

“Yeah, but that means we’re split apart!”

“It’ll be okay, Blake,” said Weiss. “I’m right here. I’m by your side.”

Blake took a deep breath. Then she managed to give Weiss a tiny smile. “Thank you.”

They didn’t have time to wait around for long, though. Soon after a Paladin broke its way through the trees in the distance, heading straight for them.

“Oh, come on,” said Weiss, readying her weapon.

She watched as all the tension and fear in Blake’s shoulders bled out into pure anger before she charged right at the Paladin. Weiss could’ve sworn it halted in its tracks for a split second at the sight.

“Fuck off!” Blake shouted.

“That’s the spirit, Blake!” Ruby said in her ear, followed by Yang’s laughter. Weiss gave herself a second to admire Blake before rushing in to back her up.

It was not an easy fight. The four of them had just barely managed to take one out as a team during the school year. But Weiss liked to think they’d gotten stronger since then.

Plus, she thought as she built a path of glyphs through the air for Blake, they had something to protect this time.

It was all a matter of attacking the weak points. Blake was better at chopping things off than she was, so Weiss let her handle that while she provided what backup she could. The Paladin swung its fist at Weiss, who raised a giant wall of ice in front of her just in time to intercept it and trap it in place. While the pilot of the mech struggled to dislodge it, Blake ran up the other side, jumped into the air, and dove back down, driving her blade through the joint that connected the arm to the rest of the Paladin. It gave way and broke off with a satisfying cracking sound.

Almost immediately after, the Paladin spun around and smashed its other arm into Blake, who didn’t have enough time to react and went flying through the air. In a panic Weiss propelled herself forward with the help of several glyphs and managed to catch Blake before she hit the ground.

“Thanks,” said Blake, clutching her stomach with one hand. “I might need a second. Ow.”

“Take your time,” Weiss told her, and set her down on the ground before her own arms gave out. Behind them, she could hear the mech readying its missiles.

She used the hard light Dust in her rapier to create a shield to cover them both, straining to keep it up through the onslaught of explosions. Just when she thought she couldn’t maintain her concentration any longer, the firing subsided. She let the shield dissipate, her shoulders sagging in relief. Blake had gotten up again by then.

“I think we’re going to need a better plan for this,” said Weiss.

Blake thought about it for a moment. “Well, the only thing that’s consistently worked for us against these things so far has been big, fiery explosions.”

Weiss stared at her.

Then she looked at the Paladin that was starting to advance on them again.

And then at the chunk of metal arm still stuck in the block of ice.

She sighed.

“Be careful,” she said to Blake.

Blake smiled at her. “Only if you are too.” They charged together.

Weiss let Blake take the lead, watching as she darted around the giant mech and its attempts to flatten her, using her clones to abruptly change direction and attacking when she could to keep it off balance and distracted. Whenever there was an opening, Weiss fired off a couple bolts of ice, aiming for the lid over the cockpit. Once they were both satisfied with how cold and brittle the panel had become, Blake stepped back from the Paladin and started heading towards where Weiss was standing, next to the arm they’d severed earlier.

Weiss resisted the urge to sigh again.

Then she raised her rapier and set the arm on fire. As soon as Blake had gotten her ribbon tied around it, Weiss broke it free from the wall of ice. She backed up to watch as Blake swung it around, her arms straining with the effort, before letting it loose towards the Paladin. The flaming hunk of metal collided with the mech with a loud crash. It toppled over, and when the dust and fire settled, there was a bunch of rubble and parts strewn around the main body and a brand new gaping hole in the cockpit.

Blake pounced, landing on the edge of the opening and reaching in to yank out the screaming White Fang grunt inside. She shook him a couple times, maybe hoping that it would shut him up.

“I’m sorry!” he cried. “I was just following orders! He said he was gonna kill me if I didn’t! I’m sorry!”

Blake groaned. She rubbed at her face with one hand and then threw the grunt off the destroyed Paladin with the other.

“Are you okay?” Weiss asked her when she hopped back down to the ground. The White Fang grunt had gotten up and stumbled away at this point, still crying.

“Yeah,” said Blake. “I’m just glad that worked—watch out!”

She shoved Weiss back and raised her sword at the exact same time a gunshot went off. Weiss hadn’t even had time to react. The bullet clattered off Blake’s sword and dropped to the ground.

Seconds later Adam himself appeared, shooting towards them in a blur. Blake brought up her weapon again and their blades collided. With a yell, she shoved forward, knocking him off balance. He staggered back and laughed.

“You should’ve let that bullet hit, Blake,” he said, grinning. “You know what her kind has done to Faunus like me and you. You would’ve done the world a favor.”

“It was pretty dirty of you to send in a Paladin to wear us out before showing up yourself,” Blake said stiffly. “Were you too scared to face us head on?”

“Ha. You’re one to call others scared.”

Even now, even after all her talk of how terrified she was of this confrontation, Blake was still staring Adam down with determination blazing in her eyes, still trying to shield Weiss from the worst of it. Weiss stepped up and took her free hand. Blake glanced at her and smiled. They turned back to face Adam in time to see his grin slowly twist into a grimace.

“I don’t have anything left to say to you,” Blake told him.

Last time they had fought Adam, Weiss had only appeared at the very end of the battle. Now she had to deal with the full brunt of his power up close. It was all she could do to keep from getting hit, just trying to stay afloat. She completely understood how easy it was for him to inflict a grievous injury like the one he had landed on Yang that night.

There was no way she could let him do that again.

But it didn’t take long for him to put both of them on the back foot. They never got the chance to recover after taking down the Paladin earlier, and now Weiss was breathing heavily, her movements slowing down. Blake didn’t seem to be faring much better.

“You think you know her, don’t you?” Adam said to Weiss with a sneer, reaching out and catching Blake’s pistol when she tried to throw it. She let go of the ribbon, panicked, right before he could yank her off her feet with it. “You think you understand her. You’ve barely known her for a year. I was there for her for half a decade. I took her under my wing. I was her partner! I taught her everything she knows!” He unfolded her weapon back into its sword form and charged at Weiss with it. She jumped back, struggling to put space between them. Adam was now swinging both of the swords in his hands in a style eerily similar to the way Blake dual-wielded her weapons, but just different enough that she couldn’t predict what was coming next.

Blake had told them before about how Adam’s Semblance worked. How he absorbed the energy from his opponent’s attacks and redirected it back at them, like Yang, except he did it with his weapon instead of his own body. The problem was trying to keep up with him without letting him charge his weapon. He fought so aggressively, continually forcing them to block and engage with the sword. Blake would try something and he’d knock her back. Then Weiss would try and get the same result.

The one bright side was that Adam was starting to get annoyed that they weren’t dead yet. Blake seemed to have noticed as well.

“You’re right. You’ve known me for way longer than Weiss has,” she said to him. “So what does it say that I’d still choose her over you, every single time?”

Weiss could tell that struck a nerve, even though Adam was trying hard to pretend like it hadn’t. “It means you’re a traitor,” he snarled, his composure slipping. He swung at Blake, and it was much easier to dodge. “It means you’re disloyal. Ungrateful. A coward.”

“It means you’re not as great of a person as you like to think you are,” Blake retorted fiercely.

Adam overextended with his next attack, and Blake brought down her sheath on his wrist, hard. He shouted in pain and his grip loosened just enough that she was able to wrench her sword back out of his grasp. His face twisted in rage. He sheathed his own sword, and the air around him turned a dark red.

“No!” Weiss shouted, and raced towards him. But it was too late to do anything against the subsequent blast of his Semblance, aimed directly at Blake. Weiss was forced to take a step back to avoid being knocked off her feet, praying that Blake would still be standing when the dust settled.

Finally the air cleared. Where Blake once stood was now a single ice clone, shattered into a million pieces and scattered all over the ground. Blake herself stood off to the side, clearly out of breath and nearing her limit, but thankfully unscathed.

Weiss charged Adam again before he could pull another deadly stunt.

She had to keep his full attention on her. Blake was looking for an opening behind them. Weiss just needed to buy her more time and not die in the process.

“You know, I understand why Blake left you now,” she managed to get out while blocking another slash. “You’re quite clingy and temperamental. Not very attractive traits in a partner, if you ask me.”

“Shut up!” Adam shouted. His next swing came in so fast Weiss couldn’t sidestep it in time. It ended up clocking her full in the face, and she stumbled back, feeling her Aura start to ripple and give out. Blake took advantage of that moment to lunge in, tugging Adam’s sheath off of his hip and shooting him in the back of the head with it. The blast made him lurch forward. Weiss summoned all her strength, pushing her way through the pain, and punched him in the face as hard as she could. He tumbled to the ground and rolled a few feet away before coming to a stop. His mask fell off his face.

Weiss’s eyes widened.

“Yeah, that’s right,” he said bitterly, coughing as he forced himself back up to his feet. “Bet your precious little Blake didn’t tell you about this, did she?” 

“Weiss…” Blake said hesitantly. But Weiss was frozen to the spot, unable to tear her gaze away from the scar on Adam’s face, the big, ugly SDC letters seared onto his left eye, and all of the implications that came with it.

“Don’t give me your pity,” Adam snarled, advancing on her slowly. Blake was trying to shield her again. “It’s too late for that. You ruined my life. It’s your fault all of this happened. And now I’m going to make you pay for what you did to me.”

Suddenly, all Weiss could hear was her father. Berating her, calling her worthless, blaming her for company and family problems she couldn’t possibly have any control over.

Distantly, she saw Blake step in front of her to try and intercept Adam, who viciously swatted her aside.

She thought about her cold, lonely days growing up at the Schnee manor. Then she thought about her new life with her team. She saw Ruby smiling at her, and Yang was laughing, and Blake was watching them fondly. All of them supporting her unconditionally.

High above her head, something started glowing.

She looked up to find a massive swirling glyph rotating in the air. Slowly but surely, a shining knight statue climbed its way out, glowing broadsword in hand. It put itself firmly in between Weiss and Adam.

“What the hell?” he said.

“I am sorry about your scar,” said Weiss, “as little as that probably means to you. If I had been around when it happened I promise you I would have tried to stop it. But you don’t get to blame me for all of your problems. You don’t get to hound Blake and torment her and the people she loves for the rest of her life. If you’re going to insist on pursuing us until we drop dead, then I will spare you no mercy. But you can rest assured that I will keep fighting for all the other Faunus who have yet to end up like you.”

Adam let out a cruel laugh. “Cute words,” he said, his entire body tense with barely controlled fury. “But both you and I know they mean nothing.” He tightened his grip on his sword, and it started to glow again.

Weiss summoned all her strength and commanded the knight to smash its sword into Adam with its full might. It ended up launching him into the air, and on his way back down the knight ran forward and jumped up and slammed him from above, just for good measure. Adam hit the ground so hard it formed a crater around him. The knight landed nimbly on its feet before it began to dissipate.

Weiss felt her Aura finally break. Her legs started giving out.

“Weiss!” Blake cried, rushing over and catching her before she could fall.

“I think that might be it for me,” said Weiss.

“I’ve got you,” Blake said, gently bringing her to the ground. “You did amazing. You’re amazing.”

Adam had staggered to his feet again, clearly wobbly and unstable, but somehow still standing and still ready to fight. His eyes kept darting back and forth between Weiss and Blake, his face contorted in rage. Blake reached for her sword. 

Just as he started to charge them again, Yang shot in and body slammed him right back to the ground.

“Sorry I’m late,” she said brightly, driving her foot deeper into Adam’s stomach. “Was trying to keep the Paladins from making a mess of things.” She glanced down at Adam. “Kind of a cowardly tactic, don’t you think? Imagine needing to bring an entire army of advanced Atlas tech with you to be able to take down four girls and their dad and uncle.”

He grabbed her leg, but she just punched him, full shotgun blast and everything. 

“Get off of me,” he growled.

“It’s over, dude,” said Yang. “You walked into this one all on your own. You’ll never get the jump on us ever again, and we’ll just keep beating you back every time you try.”

By then Ruby had arrived as well. There was a huge gash on her leg, and it was bleeding badly.

“Ruby!” said Blake. “Are you okay? What happened to you?”

“Ah, I’ll be alright,” she said, giving Blake a reassuring smile. “Those Paladins are real jerks. But I’ve still got one good leg and there’s a bad guy that needs beating up.”

Blake just stared at her, distressed.

“I’ll take it easy,” Ruby promised, relenting. “I just couldn’t bear to leave you three alone with that guy. No more pushing myself too hard.”

So Blake helped her over to where Weiss was sitting while Adam continued to try and shove Yang off of him. He eventually succeeded, and despite how battered he was, got up again and started tearing into Yang.

“Jeez, does this guy ever know when to quit?” she said.

“Unfortunately, no,” Blake replied, before joining her in the fight.

It didn’t feel as scary anymore, though. Adam was lashing out like he was cornered and desperate and out of options. He was slipping, making mistakes, and Yang and Blake took full advantage of that.

Soon Yang had gotten Adam in a headlock and Ruby was carefully aiming her sniper rifle at them. Blake stood in front of Adam as he tried and failed to wrench himself from Yang’s grip.

“This is all your fault,” he spat. “I had the perfect plan for our future and you just had to go and ruin everything. I’ll make you pay. I’ll chase you to the end of the world if I have to.”

“You don’t control me anymore,” Blake said simply. “…Goodbye, Adam.”

She stepped aside, and Ruby pulled the trigger. The bullet hit Adam square in the face, finally shattering his Aura and leaving him completely dazed. Yang dropped him to the ground and this time he didn’t have the strength to get up again.

For a while no one spoke.

“I helped,” Ruby said proudly. The tension broke. Yang couldn’t suppress a laugh. Blake stumbled over to where Ruby and Weiss were sitting and practically collapsed into Ruby’s arms.

“I’m just glad you guys are okay,” she mumbled, blindly reaching out for Weiss’s hand as well. “I’m so glad we all made it.” Ruby hugged her back tightly, running her hands up and down Blake’s back.

Tai and Qrow found them like that not long after. “Did I miss the party again?” Qrow said by way of greeting, coming to a stop next to Yang, who was still warily standing guard next to Adam’s unconscious body.

“A little bit,” said Yang. 

“Well, you guys did pretty good, so I can’t complain,” he conceded with a grin, patting Yang on the shoulder. “I can take it from here.” Yang tried not to look too excited while heading over to join the others. Qrow stared down at Adam, nudging him a couple times with his foot. “He’s probably too dangerous for local law enforcement to handle. I’ll have to make some calls, see if I can get him into a place with high enough security to hold him without risk of him escaping.”

“Do you need me for anything?” Tai asked him.

“Not for now, no,” said Qrow. “Might want your help in a bit though.”

“Alright. In that case I’m gonna go back to cleaning up the island,” said Tai. “All those dumb mechs left a bunch of scrap metal everywhere.”

“I can help,” Yang offered, but Tai shook his head.

“You four,” he said firmly, “are taking a break back at the house. And please get Ruby’s injury fixed up. Oh, and Blake?”

“Yeah?” Blake said, her head snapping up in surprise.

Tai broke into a huge smile. “I just wanted you to know that I’m proud of you.” He turned to look at Weiss. “I’m proud of you too, Weiss.”

Then he and Qrow left with Adam in tow. Weiss suddenly felt like crying.

Instead of making fun of her like she thought they would, Yang gave her hand a comforting squeeze and Ruby happily rested her head on Weiss’s shoulder. Next to her, she heard Blake let out a sigh of relief. It was finally over.

 


 

“Quit moving,” said Yang.

That only made Ruby squirm harder. “My back was itchy, leave me alone,” she complained, before flopping back onto the couch, defeated and deflated. Yang just sighed and continued to wrap up the wound on Ruby’s leg. Blake knelt by Ruby’s head, peppering her face with little kisses in an attempt to appease her. It seemed to work, at least.

“You haven’t told us exactly how you got that wound,” Weiss commented from where she was standing next to all of them.

“Uh, I just got dogpiled,” said Ruby. Her eyes followed the movement of Yang’s hands, slowly and gently finishing up the bandaging. “Me and Yang got separated for a while and two of the Paladins went after me. And then one of them tried to eat my leg. It was kinda mean.”

“I wish I could’ve been there to help,” said Yang. She double checked her work and then sat back, satisfied.

“It wasn’t your fault,” Ruby insisted.

Yang raised her hands in surrender. “I wasn’t trying to say it was,” she said sheepishly. “I just meant that I don’t like seeing you get hurt, is all.”

“I’ll try not to make it a habit,” Ruby promised her. “It’s not like I enjoy getting my butt kicked in either. Although maybe it wouldn’t be so bad if I get pampered cause of it.”

Blake and Weiss looked at each other.

“Don’t encourage her,” Yang warned jokingly.

“Too late,” said Blake, already lifting Ruby up into her arms before sitting back down onto the couch. Ruby happily curled further into Blake. Yang scooted over closer to them, leaving enough space on her other side for Weiss to join in if she wanted. Which she did. The exhaustion was starting to hit her in full force.

It was a while before any of them spoke again.

“So,” said Weiss, the first to break the silence. “What now?”

“I think I’m gonna sleep for several days,” said Yang. “Maybe even weeks. And then… I guess life goes back to normal.”

“It’s really over, isn’t it?” said Blake. “I’m still having trouble believing it. I feel like I’ve been carrying this huge weight with me for years. I thought it would never go away, that it was just my punishment for meeting and befriending Adam. But now…” She managed a small smile, looking close to crying. “Thank you. All of you. For everything.”

“You don’t have to thank us,” Ruby told her. “We wanna help cause we love you. If you’re happy then I’m happy.”

“Well, I’ll always be grateful for that,” said Blake, leaning down to kiss the side of Ruby’s head.

“Yeah,” said Yang. She took Blake’s hand into her own, and then Weiss rested her head on Yang’s shoulder. “We’re a team. It’s you and us versus the world, Blake. Always and forever.”