Author's Note: For the 40 minutes before I stood behind the podium of a tiny backroom to present my senior capstone, "The Final Countdown" ran through my head in an endless loop. A few days later I got the idea for a classic tale told at a classic time, and wrote it in approximately 1.5 hours. So it's not the best. But here it is.
Happy finals week.
The sun shone overhead in the perfect temperature as the entirety of Beacon's campus was swept under pressure. Students filled the library. They threatened the world's supply of coffee beans. Every floor of every dorm was filled with the presence of future Hunters and Huntresses, muttering factoids and techniques and life hacks as they aimlessly wandered the halls. Some were found sobbing on the floor of an isolated corner. Those who happened upon the succumbed would turn away, saying nothing and leaving them to the privacy of their meltdown.
In one particular first-year wing, Weiss Schnee looked outside her dorm room door to see someone shuffling along the carpeted aisle. His eyes were glassy, his lips slanted in an open sag. As Weiss's eyebrow creased with her hand on the doorknob, the boy took a long breath and communicated.
"Ugggggggggghhhhhhhhhhhhh—"
Weiss closed the door, muffling the vacuous stupor. She went to the middle of the room, where her three teammates had been worked to the floor preparing for the inevitable.
"Weiss. Save me," Ruby pleaded from the rug, reaching a shaking arm towards the heiress. Weiss couldn't tell if she was kidding.
Blake was sitting against the foot of her bed, surrounded by a cascade of books and papers. She read very intently off some notes as Yang lay sprawled by the window, her copy of The Anthropologist's Bestiary panned over her face. They were a trio of worried, weakened commoners, and Weiss had to admit at the moment, she didn't feel any better.
She bent down to Ruby, who stretched her arm farther to receive her. Weiss dodged the extension of camaraderie to pick up one of her leader's notebooks. "What are you studying right now? I'll help you." She scanned through the open page. "Wait, are these cartoons? Have you been drawing when we have final exams next week?"
"I can't help it!" Ruby said, lunging at Weiss's heel in desperation. Weiss stumbled from the sudden force. She rocked wildly as Ruby clung to her, arms flailing in attempt to keep balance. Weiss leaned too far to the right and crashed, sending a pile of printed review sheets across the room. Yang bolted up, pointing to the ceiling.
"The Boarbatusk War of 1859!" she yelled, textbook sliding into her lap.
"Will you guys be quiet?" Blake demanded, throwing her notes to the floor. "You're always shouting. Seriously. People complain about you." The dark rings familiar to those who'd seen her stressed had returned around her eyes, gradually, over the past three days. She gathered texts from another class and shoved her nose in them.
Weiss lay in the center of her team, a dull ache forming where she'd hit her head. "Get off me," she said to Ruby, shaking her leg. When Ruby crawled backwards to give her space, Weiss stood.
She considered it an important time to be effective. "You guys, we have been in much more perilous and high-risk situations than this," she began.
"We have?" Ruby asked, with genuine confusion.
"Yes. And every time, we surpassed the obstacles."
"Yeah!" said Yang, leaning on one palm and curling the other in a fist pump. "Like that time the Vacuo coast battalion surpassed the threat made by the earliest identified ancestors of Grimm. Or maybe it was Vale's inner-city battalion, or something."
Weiss ran a hand through the tangles in her hair. "What I'm saying is, finals are a natural part of schooling, and they never killed anyone." She put her fingers together, considering the others. "What I see in front of me are three smart, capable students readying themselves for something they take very seriously. And a fourth student who shouldn't even have to mention she's smart and capable," she added, turning airily to the side. The mirror across the room caught her hunched reflection. Weiss stared into the glass, an unfixed faraway gaze staring back at her. She looked again at her teammates, going for a strong finish.
"We're a team, and I've seen each of you in action. And I can say with perfect confidence"—with a bend of her knees, she lowered her voice—"we can do it."
"We can do it!" Ruby said. Her legs shook when she got to her feet.
"Yeah!" said Yang. "No Grimm ever stopped me. I'm not about to get beat down by one in a book." She slammed it on the windowsill for emphasis as she stood.
Ruby was swaying on the rug. They all turned to Blake, giving expectant, tired smiles.
Blake sighed. "Fine," she said, and set her notes down. She joined the group, and a tiny grin crossed her lips as her eyes flicked to each of her friends.
Ruby took a step forward for her declaration. "We're the best team on campus," she insisted. Her cape fluttered as she fought for balance. "Nothing can us defeat us during finals week," she said, raising her arm another time. "Nothing! Because we're Team RWBY!"
"We're Team RWBY!" the others said, shoving their fists to the sky.
In the silence they all briefly registered each other. With their hands still in the air, they fell to the floor.