Reminiscing over Cords Played in the Past

This is so stupid, Weiss thought to herself as she pushed herself as hard as she could to keep up with Yang. Yang was an extra seven inches taller than Weiss, and all of that extra height seemed to go to Yang's stride.

It was the beginning of a new semester, and Ozpin had called together a school wide assembly for the second years.

Professor Ozpin had said earlier today during a school wide assembly for the second years that an important part of being able to cooperate as a team was to be comfortable with every member of the team, not just your own partner. He instructed for every team to switch partners for the week, in an attempt to aid the teams in bonding. Initially Weiss had wanted to partner with Blake, thinking that they would be able to work together for the week efficiently. Blake had no problems with this arrangement, and they both stood next to each other. Unfortunately, when Ozpin saw Ruby and Yang together, he said that an arrangement like that was unacceptable, since he wanted new groupings, not ones that had spanned back since childhood. Thus Weiss and Yang's current predicament.

Ozpin had instructed them to take turns following each other's schedules, to get a feel for how the many ways a group's individuals could be different. Today they were following Yang's schedule, and it was obvious that the courses were chosen by an individual who wasn't interested in the academic side of learning. Beacon required everyone to take 2 physically exerting courses a week out of their 7 available slots. Yang's schedule had 4, and they all were challenging in their own ways. One sparing class, two gyms, and a final course simply labeled as "endurance challenges". When Weiss first saw the schedule, she would have sworn that it was incorrect. To any normal person, passing with only physical education credits would be impossible. Yang explained how Blake had signed a waver to take over Yang's academic course requirements to give up her physical ones, as long as both Yang and Blake met the standards required to pass the exams for advancement at the end of the semester.

Weiss wasn't in any way out of shape, and was definitely over the standard for physical performance, but any normal human would be running out of steam after over three hours of physical strain. By the endurance course, Weiss was tired, irritable, and in a generally foul mood. And this just reaffirmed that Yang was anything but normal. Weiss hadn't seen Yang break out into even a sweat all day, and she didn't even look as though she was out of breath, even though she had been fighting, running, and lifting weights for over 3 hours, with maybe a 5 to10 minute break in between the classes. All these facts contributed to her feelings of frustration towards Yang even more.

Yang found the day had been quiet fun so far, watching Weiss struggle to keep up. Yang was a physically fit monster, and was probably in the best shape of anyone on campus. She had to take all of the extra courses just to burn off some energy so that she would be able to sleep at night. There was no way that Weiss would be able to keep up with Yang and also be walking tomorrow, but Yang decided to keep that to herself.

Surprisingly though, Weiss had done well during the day shadowing Yang. During their sparing class that day the lesson was on hand to hand combat, a skill that most hunters and huntresses neglected, due to all of the advanced weaponry they carried around. After a few moments of preparation, the teacher would pull two random names from a hat and had the two students called face off against each other. Weiss and Yang never fought each other during the sparing matches, but both had developed a certain level of respect for the other. Yang was untrained, but that didn't stop her from beating opponents with years of experience behind them. She was unrestrained and ferocious, and made up for a lack of experience with pure force. Weiss was more traditional in her fighting style, and was still a formidable opponent to those much larger than her. Yang actually believed she would have to fight underhandedly if she wanted to ever beat little miss perfect. Weiss was just afraid of Yang beating the shit out of her, and was quite relieved when the class ended.

From there they moved to the field to play soccer. The 2 hours passed uneventfully, as Weiss didn't seem to think the activity was worth her time, and only made enough effort to not be a liability to the team. While she was not bad, she definitely didn't have her heart in the sport. If she had Weiss could have been a force to be reckoned with, being the perfect balance between small and fast. Yang stood guard at the goal post, and she let one goal slip by her because she had been daydreaming while the ball was on the other side of the field, and she didn't snap out of her thoughts fast enough to realize when a wild lucky kick from the far side of the field went whizzing over her shoulder.

And now they had finally started the endurance course. Today's activity was simple enough: never stop running. On the track a dozen teams of hunters and huntresses were running around the tarmac, simply waiting for the class to end. Weiss was obviously exhausted, and was struggling to not fall behind Yang around the track.

Yang found it both amusing and impressive how hard Weiss was trying to not fall behind. She had clearly run out of steam over an hour ago, and was now pushing herself forward with sheer willpower. To keep up with Yang's jogging, the substantially shorter girl had to pretty much run at a constant sprint. Usually the girl would refrain from looking bad in public, and would have been ashamed of her present appearance. Not to say that she was a mess, but a sweaty, flushed cheeked, panting Weiss wasn't a normal sight. The fact that the reputed queen of ice was trying so hard to not fall behind only added to Yang's amusement. If Yang had been in Weiss's shoes, she would have accepted not being able to keep up, but relenting and accepting second place was not in any way a part of Weiss's character.

As soon as the whistle signifying the end of class rang across the track, Weiss stumbled for another 15 feet on the balls of her feet before hunching over to catch her breath. She was not looking forward to doing this the day after tomorrow, and could already feel her calves cramping up.

Yang, deciding to rib the heiress a little bit more, leisurely walked up to Weiss and quipped "So how're you feelin?" All she received back was a withering look.

Retreating off to the field next to the track, Weiss sat down with her legs crossed to regain her composure. She had pulled out a small pocket mirror and was trying to sculpt her hair back into place, and to detangle some of the many knots that had formed in her pony tail.

"You should probably tie your hair up the next time you come with me for classes" Yang mentioned offhandedly as she walked and sat down next to Weiss. Yang loved days like this, where the sun was hidden behind the clouds, the sky a perfect blue, and a slight breeze across the academy.

"You might be right about that" Weiss commented back, trying to detangle a large clump of hair that had formed around where she had tied back her hair with a silver scrunchy. Weiss considered asking Yang for help, but seeing the blondes golden mane of knots, she thought otherwise about it.

Weiss was feeling a bit more talkative than usual, and decided to strike up a conversation with Yang. She was curious anyway how Yang looked so composed. "How are you just… fine? You look as though you just walked around for 10 minutes".

"It's a talent" Yang chirped, deciding that was all that they needed to discuss on the topic. Instead she decided to respond back in kind. "I had fun today, thanks for coming along."

"You know I first picked Blake right?" Weiss answered back.

"Yeah I know, I had Ruby as my first pick." Yang knew better than to take offense in what Weiss had just said. Weiss didn't mean what she said in any negative connotation, she just didn't believe the idea of being dishonest to be nice to others. While others may find the sentiment mean and kind of bitchy, she found it refreshing as she always knew where she stood with Weiss. If Weiss was pissed, you knew. And she told you what she wanted from you in the future.

"I did enjoy today, even if I don't understand why you do it. I'm going to be sore tomorrow".

"Eh, tomorrow is going to be about as fun for me as today was for you. Last thing I want is a head ache because of all the big words that your teachers will be throwing around tomorrow."

"Don't you have to know all the information on the test days anyway?" Weiss had been wondering how Yang was able to keep her grades at a decent level. They were by no means good, but they were average middle of the pack grades. C's weren't the grades for a student who showed up to class once a week. "Do you take night classes or something?"

Yang just shrugged and said "no, I have Blake give me a condensed version of the day's events, and skim through her notes every few days. I also do a week-long cram session before the final with Blake to make sure I'm okay. It's worked so far, so I figure why mess with a working strategy".

"And Blake's okay with this?"

"You know Blake; if we didn't drag her out of the house she would have her face inside of one book or another 24/7." Yang wasn't bothered by this, even though she had been when she was first partnered with her silent compatriot. She had originally mistaken Blake's refusal to do anything with the group as a sign that she didn't want a friendship. Over time they realized that was how Blake enjoyed spending her time. And as a group (or as two thirds of a group, as Weiss was fine with Blake and her introverted ways) they decided to ignore Blake's wishes and drag her along anyway. And sometimes they did have to drag her.

"Hey, you remember that time we brought Blake to that concert right?" Yang was fond of the times that they had force Blake out of her shell, and into the real world.

"Sure, we brought her along. I remember that night, although I think you might be suffering from rose colored glasses".

Weiss remembered that night quite well in fact. After another successful team mission, the two more boisterous voices on the team decided to celebrate. Yang had remembered that the popular band, the "Grimm Reminders" were performing in a concert hall in the town close to the academy. Nobody really liked the band except Weiss, who would never have admitted it in a million years due to the band's screeching and extremely vulgar lyrics. The two sisters decided that it would be a good idea to bond as a group, and insisted on the trip. Weiss agreed, although she tried to play up the idea that she was only going because she had nothing better to do. Blake declined, saying that loud events "weren't really her thing" and told everyone else to go on ahead without her. As she turned away, the disappointment on Ruby's face was evident. Yang however had simply put a blank look on her face, and Weiss instantly recognized it as a look that had gotten them in a lot of trouble over the past year.

Yang turned to Weiss, pulled out a wallet she kept in the pouch she strapped on her back, and pulled out about 400 dollars. "This should be enough to get enough tickets for all of us. Get 4 for tonight's show and meet us outside of Blake's apartment in 3 hours".

"But she isn't coming" Weiss complained. She hated going places where she seemed out of place by herself, and had a feeling that a grunge rock concert aimed at rebellious teens wouldn't have a lot of straight laced girls in attendance.

"Shush, we'll handle that part, just get the tickets. Come on Ruby, we've got some work to do."

When Weiss arrived at the concert hall, dozens of teens paraded around the entrance. She thought it was a little strange, as the concert didn't start for another 4 hours. As she walked by a group of four heavily pierced girls, Weiss heard that apparently the lead singer was known to hand out back stage passes to groupies who showed up early. Weaving through the crowd and getting several odd looks in the process, she finally made her way up to the ticket booth. Obviously the man behind the booth was just renting the place out to the band, since he fit the crowd as much as Weiss did. Directly above his head, on the outside of the booth, a flyer priced each ticket at $85. "Four tickets for the show" Weiss mumbled, hoping the cashier wasn't anyone who could recognize her. "Sorry miss, we've been sold out for the last four hours".

Weiss didn't want to return empty handed, and pressed the man farther. "Look lady, if you really want tickets, see if you can scalp a few from that guy over there. Otherwise I can't help you."

Really considering returning empty handed at this point, Weiss walked over to the man sitting against a nearby wall the cashier had pointed out to her. He definitely fit in with the crowd, wearing only a leather vest and black pants, and with a mohawk, nose ring, and dozens of tattoos adorning his arms, neck, and face. Clearing her throat as she walked over, she stood by him looking down and in her most official voice she could muster, she asked "are you selling anymore tickets?"

Without even looking up he said "tickets aren't cheap this close to show time, why don't you go to a nice piano recital instead?" Slightly offended she continued on, now with a little bit of the superior tone that she had learn often helped when dealing with others, "How much?"

"Two hundred each."

Weiss was astounded by that much of a markup. "Tickets at the booth are only $85, that's over double." Weiss could have easily paid that without batting an eyelash, without even using Yang's money. However, she had learned over the years that the more money you had, the easier it was to get conned out of it. Plus she didn't like the idea of paying out the nose to a snobby punk.

Sighing, the teen stood up, making an obvious attempt to intimidate Weiss. Leering over a foot taller than her, he spat "look princess, all I have left are mosh tickets, which were a hundred to begin with, and I'm not a big fan of selling to prissy little know-it-alls who obviously have never heard of this band before. What, your bad boy boyfriend decided to get you to do his deals for him?" She was not impressed by the thin punk's bravado attempt, but very few individuals could hope to scare someone who had stared beowolves down in a fight.

"One fifteen each for 4" Weiss stated simply, not wanting to play anymore games. She wanted to get back to Ruby and Yang quickly, to keep them from going too far in whatever hair brained scheme they had created to get Blake to come along.

"One seventy five."

Weiss shook her head and fired back "one forty."

"One fifty."

"Deal." Weiss had already valued the tickets at $160, and was more than happy with the price she had coaxed out of the punk.

She paid with the tickets with money she had in her own purse, turned on her heel and began to quickly hail a cab back to beacon. She would have to think of a way to slip Yang back the money. Ruby would probably do it, but it would be hard to get her partner to slip the money back to Yang without telling her sister.

The cabby on her return was slow, and Weiss had a feeling he was trying to jack up the price of the trip. Half way through the ride Weiss called him on it, and said that she wouldn't pay any more than what she had paid a taxi driver on her way from beacon to the concert hall, especially since rush hour was over and the streets were much clearer. After some halfhearted denials from the shifty looking cabby, the trip continued on smoothly, and her fair actually ended up being less than the previous trip.

Weiss arrived in front of the dormitory Blake lived in thirty minutes before she had been told to, and started taking the stairs up to Blake's apartment on the third floor. On the second floor, just as Weiss was about to round the corner, she saw out of the side of her eye the gentle sway of crimson cloth barely sticking out from a corner, and figured where Ruby was hiding she would also find Yang. Walking over, she muttered several things such as "waste of time", "bunch of children", and a few other insults before she reached them. When she turned around the corner, she saw the two of them waiting by a vending machine, and said "Ruby, you suck at hiding; your cloak was visible from all the way down the hall". Ruby shook her head and said "I'm only interested in hiding from Blake, and she hasn't left her apartment".

Yang leaned forward, shaking a bag in her hand and asked "funyon?"

"No thank you" Weiss waved off the bag, and pulled the four tickets from her pocket, and passed them across the semi-circle to Yang. "So, I assume you guys have thought of some way to trick Blake out of her room, since she definitely isn't going to come with us willingly".

"We think so" Ruby responded, looking wired and excited. "We're on plan 3, and it seems like a winner." While Ruby talked, it seemed like Yang started to shrink in on herself, and look off slightly annoyed.

It was unusual for the blonde to look unhappy, so Weiss leaned into Ruby and asked "what's getting to Goldy Locks".

"Oh she's just a little miffed that we aren't using her plan".

"Which was?"

"Ah, well…" Ruby got a little fidgety, and suddenly spoke really quickly "we were just spit balling ideas, and it seemed pretty good at first…" she ended awkwardly.

"Just tell me, I'm sure it couldn't have been that bad" Weiss lied.

Looking down, Ruby bounced her foot of the wall a few times before saying "We were going to break into Blake's room, and while she wasn't looking, were going to light a fire on her stove top. To… ah…. smoke her out."

Slightly aghast that their first plan was arson, Weiss quickly said "I'm glad you had the sense to see it was a bad idea".

Weiss could have sworn she heard Yang mumble "it was a good plan…", but decided to imagine that she had heard that.

Ruby, now looking really uncomfortable, choked out "actually, we were going to go through with that plan until we tested her fire escape window and found it locked."

Weiss put her head in her hands, unable to believe how stupid her teammates were sometimes.

"I'm going" Weiss announced, and started to walk away when Ruby ran around her to stand in between her and the stairs. "Come on Weiss, we need you. I promise, there's no fire in the new plan." Ruby gave her the puppy dog eyes, which worked surprisingly well on Weiss.

"Fine. What am I doing" Weiss snapped.

Holding her hands in front of her Ruby said "all you need to do is to get her to open the door, and hold it open for us".

It seemed a little too easy, but Weiss was anxious to get to the concert, even though she wouldn't be able to use that as an excuse. "Why me, why can't you or Yang get her to open the door?"

"Would you open the door to us?"

"Good point" she said, and agreed to help.

All three of them climbed the stairs, Yang still a little bummed, and moved up to the third floor.

As they walked up to Blake's room, Weiss had a pretty good idea on how to get Blake to open the door.

Weiss walked up to room 343, Blake's dorm room, and knocked on the door. "Blake, it's me Weiss. You gave me one of your bows before the mission, and I wanted to return it before I forgot about it".

Weiss could hear Blake padding up to the door, and when it was opened the girl with raven hair smiled down at Weiss and began to say "Thank you Wei…."

Cut off mid-sentence, both Yang and ruby sprung from around the door and tried to grab Blake, attempting to yank her out of the apartment. Startled by the sudden motion, Blake jumped back and attempted to slam the door shut. Remembering her job, Weiss stuck her foot out, stopping the door from closing completely. A second latter, Yang swung the door open and stepped in, followed a second later by Ruby.

Weiss stood out in the hallway, hopping on one foot, cursing. While she was pretty sure nothing was broken, her foot hurt like hell. She didn't even notice the struggle going on inside the room, and only looked up when the scramble was finished. Blake had been lifted off the ground, her legs being held by Ruby in front of her, and Yang wrapping an arm around Blake's torso, effectively pinning her arms in place. "Wah… what are you guys doing?" Blake was visibly annoyed, as she thought this was just some stupid joke they decided to pull.

"We are taking you to the concert, and you're going to have fun". Yang called this out to the room, as though she wasn't speaking to just Blake.

"Ha ha, very funny. Now would you please put me down?"

Ruby looked back at Yang, and in a joking voice said "I don't think she believes us."

"It'll make it more fun when we actually get there and she sees we're serious".

Blake was now visibly worried, and started stuttering "But I, I, I, I can't go out right now. I don't have any makeup on, and I have a kettle on the stove".

Yang waved off the excuse. "I'll give you some of mine on the taxi ride over".

"Come on Weiss, help me out here… Ruby, this is crazy! Come on guys, put me down!"

"Nope"

"No"

"Sorry"

When Blake saw that she had no way to talk her way out of the situation, she started bucking wildly, trying to break free. This had no effect on the two carrying her, and they started to carry her out into the hall feet first. Yang turned to Weiss when they were out in the hall, and asked her to "check to make sure no curling irons are on or anything like that."

Weiss ducked into the room quickly, checking to make sure that there wasn't an actual kettle on the stove. She had never been to Blake's place before, and took the quick opportunity to look around. While she wouldn't call the place a mess, it was definitely untidy. While nothing that would be considered dirty was lying around, books were scattered wildly around the house, dozens of them lying open. Those that weren't open were in haphazard piles around the room, and didn't seem to be stacked in any order. Weiss estimated that there was over a hundred books in this room alone, and wasn't surprised to see more in the other rooms.

No kettle was actually on the stove, and the curling iron in Blake's bathroom was off. As Weiss walked out of the room, she grabbed the keys off of the hutch nearby the entrance, and locked Blake's door behind her.

At this point, Blake had resorted to pleading with the two of them. The pleas fell on deaf ears, as both Yang and Ruby believed they were doing her a favor. "Trust us Blake, it will be fun" Ruby said to their captive, obviously enjoying herself.

"Like hell it will be" Blake huffed.

Walking down two flights of stairs with what was the equivalent of a seizing girl was not easy, especially with Blake screaming bloody murder the entire way down. On the walk across campus to the taxi stop, they ran into team JNPR. While the rest of the group began to laugh hysterically at the sight, Pyrrha asked "is everything alright?"

While Blake responded "god no, please help me!" the other three responded back simultaneously "We're fine!" and continued on.

When they finally hailed a taxi, Ruby got in the back first, and then Yang shoved Blake in and got in after, effectively trapping her. Weiss sat up front next to the driver. Blake was fuming, and began to start sentences without finishing them.

"You are all going to be so…"

"I can't wait to…"

"The second I can…"

Blake's ears were quivering, the little tufts of fur at the end looking like palm trees in a hurricane. Yang rolled her eyes and handed her a disk of mascara. Blake refused, still fuming. Weiss looked back apologetically, and realized instantly it was a bad move.

"You know what Weiss, I expect something like this from Yang and Ruby from time to time, but not from you. Aren't we supposed to be the responsible ones?"

Weiss attempted to feign innocence, and played dumb, saying "how do you know that they aren't dragging me along as well".

"Please," Blake huffed, "I've been to your place before, and I've seen your music collection. You have like six CD's from this band."

Ruby looked up at that, and said "seriously Weiss? I wouldn't have thought you liked the 'Grimm Reminders', aren't they a little screechy for your tastes?"

Unable to say anything, Weiss pretended to be very interested in the road at this point.

After that point, the event was actually a lot of fun. While Ruby's earlier comment on their screeching had been fair, everyone enjoyed the band a lot. Even Blake, once she got over her anger enjoyed herself. Weiss broke off at one point, giving Blake back her keys beforehand. Weiss-less, the group returned to beacon is high spirits, although Blake made sure she wasn't followed home when they finally broke up for the night.

"I think we traumatized her" Yang said, after they had both snapped out of the reflective mood they had fallen into.

"You think? Yang, she had a peep hole and a deadbolt installed the next day. I'm pretty sure that counts as trauma."

Yang shrugged, saying that "Blake needed to get out of her shell. I think we accomplished that quite well. She comes out with us now doesn't she?"

"Only because she's now afraid what you will do if she says no."

Yang replied simply "fear is healthy". Standing up, she offered a hand to Weiss, and helped the heiress up. "I had always meant to ask, where did you go when you left us?"

"I got invited back stage by Tony." After the blank look she received from Yang, she elaborated by saying "the drummer".

"Oh my… Weiss Schnee, did you…?" While the question was left open ended, it was obvious what Yang was asking.

"Nope" Weiss answered simply. While a few things happened that night, nothing that she either A: wanted to share or B: though Yang was actually asking about.

"Ah… hey, is everything going okay between you and Ruby? You guys have seemed a little uncomfortable around each other lately".

Weiss still felt bad about the events at the train station, and didn't want to talk about it. She simply said that they had had a little "argument" and that everything would be back to normal soon.

Yang was sure that Weiss hadn't been completely honest, but was fine with it. She decided to give Weiss some advice though. "Look, I know Ruby can be a little… abrasive at times, but she really does think of you as a friend, probably her best friend. If you did something to her she is over it, and if she did something to you, you should get over it."

"Don't you ever feel as though things would be easier if our partners were switched?"

Yang thought about that for a moment as they walked back to the locker room, and finally thought of the perfect way to fraise what she had to say. Looking directly at Weiss she asked "sure things would be easier if our partners were switched. But do you think things would be better?"

As Yang walked away to her locker, both of them simultaneously thought:

No.

Authors note: Please comment on this when you're finished reading, so I can know how I can begin to improve over time. This story is pretty much about Weiss, with the other members of the team as back up. Also, while it's not necessary, some of the things said in the third part of my story won't make sense unless you have read Tearful Trials along the track, and I would advise you to read that first before you go any farther. Thank You All, and please continue enjoying (I hope) what I write!