"Why don't you leave her-"
Yang's sentence was cut off by the orange-haired girl opposite, but her unsaid words inscribed themselves in the air.
While Wiess found the response from Yang unfamiliar, the situation was hardly new. She had - once more - run into somebody who'd been hurt by her family. This time a fellow hunter-in-training whose father had owned a small Dust shop which the Schnee company had run out of business.
Weiss had dismissed him and his partner to begin with. When it had been announced their opponents in the tournament's double round were from Atlas, Weiss had expected to face off against soldiers, like her sister. Instead they'd landed Neon Katt and Flynt Coal as their opponents. Respectively, a girl who looked like she'd picked up her wardrobe via skating through a box of glowsticks on those ludicrous rollerskates she wore, and a boy who seemed more sensibly dressed in a black waistcoat and fedora, but was wielding a trumpet of all things as his weapon.
Weiss knew she ought not to be so fast to rush to judgement. She had been proved wrong too may times before. Take Ruby for example. When she first the hyperactive goofball, Weiss never would have imagined Ruby was competent, let alone gifted. It was the same with Neon and Flynt. No matter how outwardly...well, frankly, clownish they appeared, one seldom made it to the second round of the Vytal Tournament simply by good fortune.
Having been drilled in the importance of first impressions almost as soon as she could walk and talk though, Weiss found the habit hard to shake.
Bend your knee more when you curtsy...that's right, and you must smile, snowdrop. Our guests tonight will be of great help to our family, so we want them to know how happy we are to see them, don't we?
Weiss had mastered the curtsy early on, there was a precision to the movement she'd enjoyed, but she'd never quite got the hang of smiling on command. Her only consolation was Winter had never seemed to give much of a damn about smiling either. Then again, her older sister had always carried herself with a chilly grandeur which Weiss could only dream of emulating.
Weiss had exchanged a few words with Flynt. It had been...pleasant to begin with. He had complimented her on her knowledge of Dust and she'd found herself genuinely interested to discover both of their families were involved in the same trade.
Then the truth had come out. Flynt wasn't sharing his family history to be friendly, but to let Weiss know he was part of another life her family had ruined. She supposed he saw the match as poetic justice – he'd been hurt by the Schnee, so now he was going to hurt her in turn.
Weiss wasn't willing to accept defeat though. Her team was relying on her. And, while her time at Beacon had opened her eyes to the fact there were many different, often extremely unconventional paths to success (Her mind snapped back again to a certain red-cloaked dunce), failure remained unacceptable. She didn't resent Flynt for his anger, but Weiss was wasn't going to roll over and give up for anybody, no matter how justified their cause.
She did apologise though. She owed him that much at least. Weiss wasn't sure what had troubled her more: How in her first semester the idea of apologising would have been anathema to her or how feeble the apology she'd offered sounded.
"I'm sorry to hear that," she'd mumbled, not even able to meet his eye.
Weak, Weiss had thought, contemptuously. Pathetic.
"Sure," Flynt had scoffed.
Then Yang had stepped in.
Weiss hadn't needed Yang's help. Hadn't wanted it. She remembered the three of them lying around a campfire in the ruins of Mountain Glenn. As she heard Yang and Blake talk about their plans for the future, Weiss had voiced her own ambition for the first time – her dream, no, her duty to salvage her family name from the mud her father had dragged it through.
She'd always known it wouldn't be easy. How part of that duty would be to shoulder the scorn and hatred of her family's victims. In a way she'd welcomed the challenge, it was appropriate. Despite what others might think of her, nothing she valued had come easily to her. She'd trained with a sword until her fingers were raw, rehearsed songs until her throat was sore, and she'd struggled and stumbled to make friends. The results spoke for themselves – her form was perfect, her voiced honed, as for her friends...
They stuck up for her.
Even when Weiss didn't want it. Didn't need it. Didn't deserve it.
Not because she was rich or because of her family name, but simply because she was Weiss and that was good enough reason for Ruby, Yang, and Blake on its own.
Which brought her to the present.
Weiss knew she shouldn't be so surprised. Yang hadn't even done anything. Not really. Just a glimmer of red in her lilac eyes and a half-finished sentence. Nothing which should have caused the shock or the rush of warmth and gratitude which flooded her.
Weiss had been staring at her team mate, dumbfounded, when their other opponent, Neon, had started insulting yang. Neon's words had hardly registered with Weiss – they were small and petty, aimed at Yang's appearance rather than her character. Caught between her surprise and her expectation Yang would brush them off (Especially given Neon's outfit - that girl was hardly in a position to be criticising anybody's fashion sense), Weiss hadn't registered the hurt in Yang's eyes until it was too late.
When she had realised, Weiss wanted to step forward herself, to defend Yang as Yang had defended her, or - at the very least - smack Neon hard in her smug face.
She didn't get the chance. With little more than a slight rumble beneath her feet, the arena began to smoothly shift around her, signalling the match was about to begin. Even with her family's fortune, Weiss found it difficult to comprehend the cost of the mechanisms behind Amity Colosseum, which allowed it to easily switch the arena between landscapes of verdant trees,tropical beaches, and frozen tundra in minutes.
The arena was evenly split of four different landscapes, the standard pattern of the doubles round. Today's segments were a ruined city, a dry desert, rocky hills and a cracked, geyser-riddled plain.
As soon as the klaxon sounded, team FNKI attacked. One blast from Flynt's trumpet sent Weiss and Yang reeling backwards. Riding the shockwave, Neon catapulted herself into them. Weiss anchored herself with a well-timed glyph, but Yang was sent flying into the cityscape quarter.
Eager to regain initiative, Weiss charged forwards. She received a kick to the gut from Flynt for her troubles, sending her tumbling away.
Weiss picked herself up quickly, her aura saved her from being winded. She'd landed amongst the geysers which Yatsuhashi had run foul of in his and Coco's ill-fated bout against Emerald and Mercury. Yang meanwhile threw herself into combat with Neon in the ruined cityscape. Weiss was glad she didn't have to fight there. It reminded her too much of Mountain Glenn.
As expected Flynt followed her. He had a score to settle after all, she thought grimly. She'd make him regret his rashness though. Watching Yatsuhashi's match, Weiss had formulated several tactics she could use to turn the land to her advantage.
So there she was, facing off against the trumpeter rather than the roller-skater – a match-up which somehow remained only the second most ridiculous battle she'd fought during her time at Beacon (Weiss shuddered as she remembered charging across the dining table, swordfish in hand, while Nora raised a watermelon threateningly).
She really ought not to have rushed so fast to judgement.
Flynt's fighting style might have been unconventional, but he was formidable. And that day, although it killed her to admit, he had been better than her. Ten minutes into the match and Weiss found herself on the floor, disarmed, and her aura almost depleted. Satisfied she wouldn't be causing any trouble, Flynt had turned his back on her and towards Yang.
The blonde had been batting ineffectively at Neon like a lion swiping at a mosquito, with about as much effect. Neon was literally dancing rings around her. Distracted, Yang was completely open to attack. Weiss watched, horrified, as Flynt sighted his weapon on her oblivious teammate.
Frustrated, Weiss quickly run through her options. It didn't take long. Her weapon was out of reach and she didn't have enough aura for a single glyph. Not good enough, Weiss snarled at herself. Think. Think. You are Weiss Schnee. You don't roll over and give up for anybody.
She felt the earth beneath her cheek shake. Looking up she quickly spotted the source, a telltale vapour of steam bubbling from one of the craters just ahead. Weiss smirked. Maybe she would roll over and give up for the right somebody.
Not giving herself time to think, Weiss threw herself forward, tackling Flynt into the crater. She heard Flynt's cry of surprise and an angry, spiteful hiss.
Then her world had turned red.
Drawing upon her very last reserves, Weiss had strengthened her aura with everything she had. It still nearly hadn't been enough. Her clothes and skin were blackened with soot and felt impossibly hot, but she'd avoided burning up in lava which gushed from the geyser.
The sight of Flynt walking away hurt a hundred times more.
Staggered away, coughing up hot steam, was more accurate but the result was the same – she might have prevented his attack on Yang, but she'd failed to stop him. Her sacrifice had meant nothing.
Weak. She had thought. Pathetic.
She saw Yang looking at her. It wasn't pity at least, she couldn't have taken that. In fact, Weiss wasn't sure what Yang was feeling. Her teammate had lost the scowl she'd been wearing for most of her fight against Neon and her face had gone completely blank.
Then her lilac eyes turned a deep, angry red.
Weiss had seen Yang's eyes turn that colour just once before – when she had disassembled a 20 foot war mech with her bare hands.
She almost felt sorry for Flynt and Neon.
Weiss didn't entirely followed what happened next, the pain made concentrating...difficult. Soon enough though the klaxon signalling the end of the match sounded and through bleary eyes she saw Yang's faces flash up on the screens.
Oh good , Weiss thought vaguely, we've won.
"Weis...Weiss!"
Someone was calling her name. She felt a hand beneath her back, gently propping her up. Yang was kneeling by her side. Her eyes had returned to their usual colour and tight with concern. It was the same look she wore when Ruby got in over her head.
"Are you ok?"
You don't have to play big sister with me, Weiss thought. I've already got one of those. Though at least with you, I don't have the uncertainty over whether you're going to hug me or murder me for what I just pulled.
"I may not be singing for a while." Weiss joked, eager to show Yang she was fine.
Yang smiled wanly. "You know, I'm not sure that was proper form."
"Oh ha ha," Weiss said sarcastically, playing along. Her attempt to put Yang at ease was ruined somewhat when she broke into a hacking cough.
Yang wasn't the only one to rush over. She glimpsed a familiar flash of red and black and even before Ruby and Blake spoke knew they were by her side.
Under other circumstances Weiss might have rolled her eye's at Ruby's expression. Their glorious leader was caught between celebration for their victory and concern for Weiss. Watching the two emotions war with one another on Ruby's too-easily expressive face was an interesting sight to say the least. Blake was a little more reserved, gently placing a hand on Weiss' shoulder.
"Good job you two."
"Yeah," Ruby chipped in, though rather subdued.
They were not the only ones to approach. FNKI were also coming over. Neon was ranting about...something, but Weiss couldn't quite follow and didn't quite care. She wasn't sure whether the garish girl was happy or sad she had lost, but unfortunately it seemed her mad energy was undiminished from Yang punting her out of the arena.
"Oh my gosh, you guys are super, crazy, awesome! We should definitely party together some time," Neon finally finished.
"Err...what?" said Yang, her outward confusion matching Weiss' inner thoughts.
"I said I want to hang out, stupid. Though I might need to teach you a few moves if you lumber about like that all the time -"
Anger giving Weiss strength, she unsteadily propped herself up on her hands, "Hey, why don't you leave her-"
Once more, her sentence was cut shout by a damnable fit of coughing.
The quick, grateful glance from Yang made up for it though. She had made back a little ground at least.
Flynt gave Weiss an appreciative nod. "That was a gutsy move out there, Schnee. Not many people out there who'd threw themselves on a grenade like that. I can dig it."
Weiss nodded back. She gathered up her courage, making sure she was looking him in the eyes this time. "I meant what I said earlier, Flynt. I am sorry what happened to your father. I'm sorry my family hurt yours."
Flynt's face turned blank. "It was a good fight, Schnee. Let's leave it there."
With that the pleasant atmosphere before had been banished. Ruby glanced nervously at Flynt, then back to her, then back at Flynt. Meanwhile Blake's grip on Weiss' shoulder tightened by a fraction.
Weiss swallowed to clear the tightness in her throat. What did you expect? She thought to herself, ruthlessly. That one little apology was going to fix everything after what happened to his father. You knew this wasn't going to be easy.
Suddenly Weiss felt herself heaved upwards as Yang picked her up. "Well, we've had a blast kicking your butts, but I need to deliver this moron to the infirmary before she blows herself up again. We'll see you guys around. Maybe I'll take you up on that offer," Yang said to Neon. "I should warn you though. I party hard." She finished with a cheerful wink.
"Sounds great!" Neon's smile was a little strained, but she waved goodbye to them cheerfully enough.
Flynt didn't move at all.
"I can walk myself, Yang" Weiss protested as she was carried away. Ruby and Blake fell into step either side of her.
"Sure you can, but I've got better things to do than spend half an hour watching you hobble across the stadium." Suddenly Yang's face lit up. "Your speed would be totally glacial."
Weiss pointedly did not respond
"Get it? Because you'd be like, slow - "
"I get it, Yang," Weiss groaned.
"- and you've got this whole ice thing going on," Yang continued.
"I liked it, Yang," Ruby said. "Heh heh, glacial," she chuckled to herself.
Weiss turned to Blake for support, but the Faunus looked too amused at her predicament to offer any sort of sensible help.
Giving up, Weiss relaxed into Yang's arms. There was one more thing she needed to do, which was already going to be awkward on its own, without being carried in Yang's arms.
"Yang," Weiss said softly.
"Yeah?"
"You know you really shouldn't have taken that Neon girl's words so seriously at the start of the match. It was clearly a psychological tactic to put you off balance before our match. I expect better from you in future. Especially when she was clearly talking rubbish." Weiss said primly.
There. That wasn't so bad. Professional and to that point.
"Clearly?" Yang repeated, raising an eyebrow.
"Yes, you look..." 'Fantastic'...no. That's really overdoing it. How about 'nice?' Good grief, absolutely not. That's just insulting. "Good. Yes, you look good."
"That bad, huh? Do I have a great personality too?" Yang teased.
"Shut up, Yang, I'm being serious," Weiss huffed. She was more cross at herself than her team mate. Today it seemed she couldn't even give a compliment without mucking it up.
Yang grinned. "I know. Thanks, Weiss. I mean it" Her grin died away. "Don't let what that guy was saying get to you. We know you're doing the best you can."
"I don't want to do my best. I want results," Weiss said seriously.
"It doesn't work like that," said Blake. "Sometimes even when you try your hardest nothing changes. But that doesn't mean we should stop trying."
"Yeah Weiss," said Ruby, punching the air. "Team RWBY is with you all the way!"
And for a brief moment, smiling came very naturally to Weiss indeed.