It was a seemingly unremarkable day at Beacon Academy. The school was just getting back into the swing of education after its students had finished enjoying a few weeks of freedom in between semesters. Textbooks were opened, teachers lectured, and young huntsmen and huntresses did their best to take in as much knowledge as they could.
That is, except for the ones that didn't. In one of the many lecture halls, a cheerful and energetic young girl was fighting to stay awake while a professor droned on about some topic that was surely very important to her future as a huntress.
Her partner gave her another jab in the side.
"Ruby!"
The drowsy girl's eyes snapped open for the third time in twenty minutes. She sleepily rubbed a hand in one of them while glancing at her attacker, giving her an apologetic smile.
"Sorry, Weiss," she whispered back. The other girl gave her signature eye roll and returned her attention to the professor.
Ruby let her gaze linger just a bit longer. Weiss Schnee, her partner of more than a year, was as impressive as ever. Her posture was perfect as she jotted notes in her book, standing out like a torch next to every other student slouching over their desks. The quick bun she'd tied her white hair into that morning had been done hastily, but so skillfully that not a single strand was out of place. Sharp blue eyes flitted between diagrams at the front of the hall and her notebook as she worked. A long scar drew itself over her left eye, but the young woman was blessed with such good looks that the damage only seemed to enhance her beauty.
Returning her own attention to the lesson, Ruby rested her head in one hand as she tried to focus. She'd always had trouble with the more traditional parts of her education (not unexpected by her teachers, given that she'd been admitted under special circumstance and was two years younger than her classmates), while Weiss was an academic superstar. Since part of each girl's grade was dependent on the performance of the other, Ruby was frequently the target of her partner's frustration..
She jolted awake once more to the shrill noise of the bell ringing. Looking around, she just barely caught a glimpse of her partner's white hair slipping away through the lecture hall door. Grabbing her books, she ran to catch up.
Ruby only made it about two feet out of the door before something caught her hood and yanked her off her feet, making her let out a yelp of surprise before her rear end met the cold hallway floor.
"Ruby Rose, do you want both of us to fail?" asked an irritated voice behind her. Ruby groaned in pain as she stood up and dusted herself off before turning around to face Weiss.
"Of course not!" she replied.
"And you understand that if you don't pull your weight, my grades are affected?"
"I know, I know! Weiss, I'm really really sorry. It's just that being in that lecture hall just sucks the energy out of me, or something. I can barely keep my eyes open in there."
Weiss looked her younger partner up and down. Ruby certainly seemed to be awake and alert now.
"You've been getting enough sleep? Eating proper meals?"
Ruby nodded vigorously.
Weiss sighed and crossed her arms.
"Alright. Come back to our dorm after your classes are finished today. If you're just incapable of listening to Professor Port's lectures, then I'm going to go through the material with you until you've learned it."
"What? B-but Yang and I were gonna-" Ruby started, but Weiss Schnee cut her off with an icy glare.
"No partner of mine is going to be dead weight. We're studying tonight, and that's final. And don't give me any excuses about being late; you have super-speed."
As Ruby left for her next class, Weiss made for the dorm. She was still supposed to go to a lecture from Professor Peach, but since she'd already memorized the reading material on which the lecture was based, she opted to use the time to prepare for their study session instead.
Weiss entered their shared dormitory and was completely unsurprised to see Ruby's older sister, Yang Xiao Long, lounging on her bunk with a magazine.
"Hey, Weissy," said Yang cheerfully, blowing a huge bubble with her chewing gum and somehow not getting any of it on the wild bouquet of long blonde hair framing her face. Weiss gave her a polite half-smile and carried on toward her desk.
"Skipping class again, Yang?" she asked.
"Yeah."
"Are you even going to study for Port's test tomorrow?"
"Nah."
Weiss couldn't help but feel a little annoyed with Yang as she rummaged through the desk for supplies. They were teammates, but not partners, so Weiss' grade wasn't affected by Yang slacking off. Still, it wasn't a practice she approved of.
"Speaking of skipping, what are you doing here?" asked Yang. "Don't you have a class to get to?"
"I do, but I already know Peach's lesson today so I'm using the time to put together a lesson plan for Ruby. I'm making her study tonight instead of doing whatever stupid thing you were going to waste her time with."
"Aw." replied Yang with a dejected tone. She put her magazine down and pulled herself up to sit on the edge of the bunk.
"Well, Ruby's not dumb but she doesn't do the whole 'study' thing well. Good luck with that."
Weiss stopped mid-rummage to look up at Yang.
"How can you be so casual about this? Don't you want your sister to succeed?" asked Weiss.
"Obviously, yeah. But I know her pretty well, and I can tell you that plonking her down in front of a textbook isn't going to work as well as you might be hoping."
Yang's words echoed in her mind as she set out for Beacon's library. Weiss knew Ruby was having some trouble, but it was nothing a little Schnee ingenuity couldn't fix. She was sure of it.
Ruby entered the dorm an hour later to an unusual sight: The desk she shared with Weiss had been completely rearranged, organized and decorated with various learning implements. Her partner stood next to it, glancing back at her in greeting.
"Hi, Ruby. Come sit down," she said. Ruby obliged, quietly taking a seat at the desk. A fancy, sleek study lamp cast a white glow over the blank note paper in front of her. On either side of the paper lay an assortment of pens, pencils and rulers. A large scroll, like the ones the teachers used, sat propped up on the desk for easy online access. An odd-looking box lay on the floor next to the desk.
The young Rose looked up at Weiss.
"So, uh, what are we doing?" she asked the older girl.
"I'm glad you asked. Since the traditional teaching method used by Beacon's faculty isn't effective on you, I've researched many alternative methods that we're going to try, including some more esoteric ones used by the most esteemed private tutors in Atlas. In fact..."
Ruby looked back at the desk as her partner went into more detail. She had a feeling it was going to be a long night.
"Alright, let's try this one again: Where is the beowolf's perinimal gland located?"
Weiss stood patiently as she waited for Ruby's answer.
Ruby's brain struggled to find one.
Thirty seconds passed before she sheepishly looked up at Weiss and shrugged.
Weiss' textbook hit the ceiling.
"I DON'T UNDERSTAND! We've gone through every method I can think of! I've literally asked you that exact question and told you the answer two times earlier tonight! Even the alligator didn't work, and that's how the last three kings of Atlas were groomed for the throne from childhood!" shrieked Weiss, glaring daggers at the reptile on the floor.
Ruby cowered as the verbal barrage continued. They hadn't really made any progress, and the sun had long since gone down. Ruby felt miserable and Weiss had lost every shred of her former dignity. The younger huntress dared to look at her partner while Weiss stopped hollering to catch her breath.
"I'm really sorry, Weiss! I don't get it either. I promise I'm trying, I just can't seem to get any of this stuff to stick. Please don't be mad, I really don't want you to fail because of me."
Something in the way Ruby looked at her caused a little puff of warmth in Weiss' chest, and she felt her frustration begin to melt away. She gave a tired sigh and let her hair down.
"Look, let's just get some rest and try again tomorrow. We can come back and study during lunch before Professor Port's test," said Weiss, walking toward her bed to slip into her nightgown. Ruby nodded silently, yawning as she got up to go brush her teeth.
As Weiss stood next to their bunk beds, she noticed a hint of red metal peeking out over the edge of the upper bunk: Ruby's weapon, Crescent Rose. Feeling curious, she stepped on her own bunk for a better view and peered down on Ruby's bed.
She'd seen Crescent Rose fully deployed many times, but never like this. The weapon lay atop Ruby's sheets in a million pieces – not broken, but meticulously separated and placed. Ruby must have stripped her down for maintenance this morning and never got the chance to put her back together because of their study session.
Weiss was stunned at the complexity of the weapon. There had to be at least several hundred tiny gears, rods and other mechanisms strewn across the bed. She had known the weapon was more mechanically sophisticated than her own Myrtenaster, but she had no idea it went this deep.
And Ruby had built this weapon from scratch? Designed it? Her partner Ruby Rose, who couldn't even study for a simple Grimm Studies test?
"Isn't she beautiful?" asked Ruby, making Weiss jump. The younger girl had joined Weiss while she'd been gawking at Ruby's weapon.
"You really built this?" asked Weiss quietly.
"Yup!" she exclaimed, beaming. "In my first year at Signal. Well, she's changed a lot since then, but that's pretty much when Crescent Rose was born."
"I had no idea your weapon was so... complicated."
Ruby looked at Weiss with barely contained glee. She'd never had the chance to show off Crescent Rose like this since her Uncle Qrow first helped her make it.
"That," Ruby said, pointing at some of the parts, "is her main firing mechanism. And those are the compound blades & actuators that combine to make up her fully deployed scythe."
"And you know what every single one of these parts is for?"
"Yup."
Weiss grabbed a nondescript spring and held it up to Ruby with a questioning look.
"That goes in the firing chamber; it's a shock absorber that keeps her from shaking apart when I fire her standard ammunition. The thicker ones over there are mostly for the high velocity rounds."
The Schnee put it back and picked up a plain-looking metal rod, listening for another explanation.
"That's one of the connectors that the magazine port is fitted to."
She grabbed another important-looking doodad.
"Those are the synthetic muscles that help her transform quickly without needing a huge motor, since she's heavy enough already. And those are gears that help articulate the finer parts of her transformation and allow me to switch between modes on the fly. And those are collapsible nanofiber rods that run the length of her handle; they keep her strong and rigid but also allow her to flex under stress so she won't break."
Weiss could hardly believe what she was hearing. She looked at Ruby with a rare expression of surprise.
"You really know this weapon inside and out, don't you?"
"Yeah. She's my baby," replied Ruby, looking down at Crescent Rose fondly.
It was then that Weiss realized Ruby knew her own weapon as intimately as Weiss knew Myrtenaster. While the rapier wasn't nearly as complex, Weiss still knew every facet of its construction, its distribution of weight, the way it would vibrate as she swung it through the air. Just from the way it felt when she struck with the blade, she could detect if something was amiss or repair was needed. It was this love she had for her own weapon, that she now knew Ruby shared for Crescent Rose.
She gave Ruby a genuine smile, climbing down from her bed.
"I'll let you put her back together so you can sleep. And... thank you for showing me how she works. She's pretty amazing."
The compliment made Ruby's cheeks burn. She squeaked a quiet thanks and quickly climbed into her bunk for the night. In the bunk below, Weiss wasn't sure if she had meant it for Crescent Rose, or Ruby herself. But what she knew for sure was that she'd discovered how she was going to tutor Ruby.