"Morning Blake!" the chipper voice, a lower, louder tone than she was used to, blared through Weiss' ears as she opened her eyes slowly, revealing a mane of blonde hair in her face.
Jumping back, she froze, shaking off the tiredness before glaring. "Get off of my bed, you utter dolt!" she barked, tension leaving when Yang backed off.
"Okayyyy, feisty," Yang jumped off her bed, hands behind her head as she walked off. "Someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed, you sound like Weiss."
As she walked off, Weiss blinked, feeling the tension coil up in her shoulders as she stared at the open doorway, feeling her ears flatten in a wave of confusion and sorrow.
…wait…my ears…?
Taking a deep breath, Weiss carefully reaching up to her head, expecting to feel her tiara safely in place. Instead she felt the soft tuft of…fur?
Biting her lip to suppress a scream, she bolted out of bed, running into the shared bathroom of team RWBY, slamming the door behind her. She gripped the sides of the sink, eyes closed as she prepared herself for…whatever situation she was currently in.
She lifted her head up, counted to three, her anxiety only rising, her chest tightening before she opened her eyes.
She felt relief at first, seeing the familiar ice blue eyes but within seconds, that relief turned to horror, as she looked at her reflection, placing a hand quickly over her mouth to suppress a scream.
Yes, the deep blue eyes undoubtedly belonged to Weiss Schnee, but there was no arguing the fact that she was staring right into the face of Blake Belladonna.
'Looks like you finally understand the predicament, we're in, don't you?' the voice of her faunus teammate echoed through her mind, and this time, she didn't hold back as she let out a scream that echoed through the room.
She was back in Atlas, if it wasn't the cold that gave it away, it was certainly the icy chill of anxiety and dread the settled deep in her stomach for days. This deep-rooted fear only appeared when she was near them. Her family.
"And what are you doing here?" the booming voice of Jacques Schnee would've made Weiss jump backwards years ago, and even now, she couldn't stop the tremble in her legs as she faced his wrath.
"It's a pleasure to see you too Father," she responded, ignoring his question, doing a quick curtsy instead, ignoring the disgust forming in her throat as she complied to old family gestures. "As you can tell, I have return—"
"That's not what I asked," Jacques responded in kind, taking an intimidating step towards his daughter and heiress, smirking as she failed to hide her flinch. "I asked you why you're here? Early? Not after Winter Break? This isn't some…leisurely home you can return to. Business matters are attended to in this manor – business matters, may I remind you, that you left when you decided to abandon the family for your ridiculous dreams."
"Father—" Weiss began, sighing softly. She knew it was pointless. She knew her trip home was to be regarded with negativity, but she had risked and hoped that she would at least be allowed inside her own home.
"No buts, now, Klein will escort you out," Jacques replied simply, turning his back on his shoulders. "And a word, Klein, beforehand. Weiss, be a good girl and wait in the front."
Holding back a retort, Weiss Schnee curtsied once more and exited the room. Better to be courteous now and not risk an even bigger meltdown by her father.
As she closed the door behind her, Jacques smirked, turning to her loyal butler. "Now, I have a request of you, before you two depart…"
"You were at home?"
"Yes Blake, for the last time, I was at home. Apparently, we have each other's thoughts, so I assumed it was clear," Weiss retorted, ears folding over in anger. She was sitting on her bed, trying to figure out exactly how she got into this situation. She knew she had been at home, in Atlas, and yet here she was, back in Beacon, as Blake.
At her retort, she could hear and feel Blake's frustration and anxiousness as her chest tightened up. Soon after Blake reawakened to herself, the pair found out the hard way that they could hear each other's thoughts, their memories, and feel what the other felt. There was no escaping Blake Belladonna now, and that terrified Weiss…although she knew that was the least of her problems.
"I was just asking, princess," Blake snapped, voice echoing through Weiss' mind. She always did resort back to nicknames when she was upset. "I'm not exactly happy to have no control over my own body either."
Weiss sighed, walking over to the windowsill, placing her hand over her face in frustration. "I…know. I'm sorry. This is a lot to take in. Magic isn't real and yet, here we are, it is quite a lot to take in."
As she spoke, she tried desperately hard to control herself, flashes of her past, her invasion of privacy by her father, her company, all of it coming into her mind at once. She shivered.
"Weiss…"
"Stop," she snapped, standing up straight. "You may be in my head, Blake Belladonna, but that doesn't mean we have to discuss everything in it. Let's just…figure out what the hell is happening."
She could feel the hesitation as Blake contemplated what to say. Finally, she got a response.
"…alright. So let's focus on one thing at a time. Did anything happen after you left? Did you eat anything weird? Anyone acting strange?"
It felt like an interrogation, even though Weiss knew Blake was simply doing her best to figure out their situation. "No there was not! Wait…now I do remember…that…."
They were driving through the snowy kingdom of Atlas, as Weiss prepared herself to be sent back to Beacon, back to her real home. She stared outside the window of the car Klein was driving, watching the steady fall of snow hitting the ground as she contemplated her next steps. She wasn't entirely sure what to feel – that dark pit of loneliness was so common for her, and had she been on any other team, she doubted she'd have let herself hope for any chance of a real conversation. Unfortunately, her team was team RWBY and because of that, she thought that maybe, just maybe, she could pretend to have a family for at least a few hours. Clearly, she was wrong.
As the car came to a halt, Weiss shook off those thoughts. She was still in Atlas, she couldn't afford to show her sorrow. Not here.
As Klein opened the door, she took a deep breathe. They were at the airport, but she couldn't shake the feeling of dread and defeat coursing through her body.
"Here, Miss Schnee," he said, wrapping a scarf around her, and giving her a treat – a fresh apple from their inside garden, just like her favorite thing from her childhood. He had a sad smile and Weiss couldn't blame him – the two had always been close.
"Thank you Klein," she smiled, taking a bite, ready to step back into the world of huntsmen and huntresses.
And then everything started to spin.
"Klein…?" she asked, knees shaking as she staggered, pain coursing through her veins. She felt like she was burning, like her body was on fire, and she couldn't stop the tears from forming in her eyes. She fell to her knees, not having the strength to stand up anymore.
"I'm sorry…" he muttered, eyes changing color as he looked away, missing the stare of utter betrayal that appeared in her eyes.
She barely heard the whisper of "what a troublesome daughter" from a familiar voice before everything went dark.
"Weiss…" Blake began, having relived the same memory just as vividly as her companion. She…wasn't sure what to even think. It was surely misfortune that she got wrapped into a mess that was, all in all, Weiss' problem but even then, she couldn't help but panic, not only for herself, but for her teammate as well.
"It's fine," Weiss scoffed, though the fast pounding of her heart, and the way her hands were trembling suggested otherwise. "It's my fault you're in this mess anyways and I…I'm sorry."
'Weiss…you're crying…" Blake pointed out.
"Only cause you can't!" Weiss scoffed back, as the tears fell from her face. There was so much going on, and she hated crying, but even so, she couldn't just let Blake not feel. She wasn't going to let her run from this one.
All of a sudden, the door to their dorm swung open, a girl with a red cape two sizes too big walking in.
"Hi Blake!" Ruby said, skipping in, grin wide on her face before stopping in confusion. "What're you doing on Weiss' bed? Do you miss her already? I do! But I…you're crying."
"Ruby…" Weiss said, ears perking up at the familiar voice of her partner and best friend. "I…I'm not Blake…"
The words stumbled out before Weiss could stop them, cause panic, from both her and Blake to course through her system. But she couldn't help it. Ruby was their leader, and logically deserved to know, but they also had been through so much together, it was hard not to open up to her at this point.
"Huh?" Ruby asked, tilting her head in confusion as she leaned in close. "Are you feeling okay Blake? Do you have a fever? You're eyes are weirdly…blue. Weiss?!"
Ruby yelped, stumbling back before shaking her head and hands in shock as she watched Weiss curl up into herself. "Ah, I'm sorry! It just threw me off! It's okay! Really! Um…what exactly happened?"
She fumbled with words, pressing her fingers together as she waited – a nervous habit she picked up – until Weiss patted the spot on the bed next to her.
"It's a long story…" she muttered, still curled up on herself, ears flat against her skull.
"Okay…" Ruby nodded, turning to look at her partner. "So besides that, you have no idea how you ended up in Blake?"
Weiss shook her head, staring across the room before sighing quietly. "Nothing at all. I was at the airport and next thing I know, everyone's calling me Blake."
Ruby nodded once more, jumping out of the bed, letting out a yelp as she hit her head on the railing. She took out her Scroll and started dialing.
"Wait, what are you?" Weiss started, jumping up once more.
"Calling Yang?" Ruby asked, small smile on her face. "She needs to know about this too,"
"Wait Ruby—" Weiss tried to lunge for the Scroll before hearing the loud voice of Blake inside of her.
"Weiss! It's okay. I trust my partner, the same way you trust yours. It'll be okay,"
Weiss sighed, knowing she couldn't deny Blake anything. She had already taken away her body, the last thing she wanted to do was take away her will too. She knew how the faunus was feeling, and didn't want to make things any worse than the situation already was.
Everything felt wrong, but Weiss knew that they needed all the help they could get.
Weiss flinched as Yang clapped her hands together.
'How do you deal with her every day?' she thought, glaring at her loud teammate. Her new enhanced faunus senses would definitely take some time to get used to.
'I was born with it. You just learn to deal. Tone her out sometimes, it works,' Blake responded back, and Weiss could easily picture the smirk that would be on her face, had she control over her own body.
"Alright! So, we have Weiss and Blake in a body, no biggie. We got this!" Yang grinned, making Weiss scoff.
"It's not that simple!" she yelled back, clenching her fists as she stood to face Yang, not used to being so close in height.
Yang simply smiled in response, placing a hand on Weiss' shoulder. "I know Weiss, I know."
Weiss couldn't ignore how happy she was when people called her by her name. Less than a day had passed and to simply be acknowledged as her own person had become a lifesaver for her.
The blonde continued. "It's more complicated than anything we've dealt with so far, and right now, we have far more questions than answers – all of us – you, me, Rubbles and Blake. All I'm saying is that we need to keep moving on, cause just sitting around angsting over this isn't going to help any of us."
'She's…right." Blake responded.
"I know…" Weiss mumbled back, looking up when Ruby let out a snort of laughter, eyes widening when she was caught. "What is it Ruby?"
"Sorry, sorry," she chuckled, silver eyes shining. "It's just funny to watch you and Blake have your little…inner conversations. It's cute,"
"Cute?" she bristled, glaring at her partner.
"Right?" Yang teased, nudging Weiss playfully, not phased by her glare. "Ice Queen over here makes Blake so much more expressive too! It's adorable!"
"I'm not—" Weiss retorted, placing a hand on the bridge of her nose in frustration.
She hated her team.
'You love them dearly," Blake snarked back, making Weiss regret even more that all her thoughts and feelings were now shared.
"Anyways," Weiss continued, giving a pointed look to no one in particular, "We just have to…pretend everything's normal?"
Ruby sat back down on her bed before nodding. "I think it's our best course of action. Everyone thinks Weiss is on vacation, so we'll just have to act the part, as we figure out these answers. Together."
Weiss nodded, laying back down on her bed.
"Alright then…let's…try this."
She closed her eyes, listening to the many sounds of her dorm as conversation died down. Her and Blake had so much work to do, but she figured, as long as they were together, they could get through anything.
They were two sides of the same coin, after all, and in the end, she knew they'd escape this binding of their souls. One day. Together.