(Disclaimer: I do not own RWBY. RWBY, and all it's characters and settings, belong to the RoosterTeeth crew and the dearly missed Monty Oum.)
(Author's note: This will be my first multi-chapter story and my second story in total. I'm not the fastest writer, so don't expect a new chapter more than once a month, if even that. Thank you and I hope you enjoy.)
Time: Saturday evening, 8 days till 'The Best Day Ever'.
It was rather quiet Saturday evening in the RWBY dorm. A little too quiet for Yang Xiao Long's liking.
The blonde brawler was laying atop her bunk, staring aimlessly at the ceiling above her, bored out of her wits. She never realized it until now, but, when one of her teammates was absent, everything got rather dull very quickly.
Sitting up in bed, she took a look around the dorm room she had come to call her home during her time at Beacon Academy, hoping to find something to entertain herself with. Looking over at the study desk, she saw her uptight teammate, Weiss Schnee, in her usual position: holding a textbook in one hand and scribbling down notes with the other. She seemed really invested in her studies, even while on break. Completely unaware of anything that was going on around her.
However, Yang had to restrain herself from the perfect pranking opportunity. Leaning against the desk, right next to Weiss' leg, was Myrtenaster, Weiss' rapier. A few weeks back, during the middle of their first semester, Yang had pranked the heiress one too many times. So, Weiss decided to start keeping her weapon in the dorm with her and threaten Yang to, in her own words: "take a few feet off of that over-sized mop you call hair", if she disturbed her while studying again. Fortunately, Ruby was there to break them up before it turn into a fight. And with the young team leader away on her yearly 'pilgrimage' in Patch, there was no one to prevent Weiss making good on her threat.
Not wanting her precious golden locks cut, the brawler instead decided to see what her dear partner was up to. Hanging upside down from her own bunk, Yang inspected the bed below hers. On the lower bunk was a common sight in the RWBY dorm: Blake Belladonna with her nose in a book.
"Hey," Yang started out, causing Blake looked up from her literature and focused her eyes upon the upside down blonde smiling at her. "What's new, pussycat?".
"Yang." Blake responded in an annoyed tone. The cat Faunus in hiding glaring at her partner as the Blonde calmed down from the top bunk. "I thought we talked about this."
"Oh!" The brawler realized her mistake, chuckling nervously and rubbing the back of her neck. The raven haired girl wasn't too fond of Yang's regular humour. The cat puns were a really pet peeve for her and Yang knew it. "Sorry. Force of habit. It's practically a reflex."
"Puns aren't a reflex, you oaf." Weiss called out, not even looking up from her studies.
"They are for me, princess" Yang retorted.
"That's heiress to you!"
"Whatever."
Blake just rolled her eyes at the two before getting back to her novel. The interaction between the two teammates became very predictable very quickly. She could start a conversation with the two and predict, word for word, how it would go. This conversation seemed like it would end in a room-trashing fight and, with their leader away, it fell upon Blake to be the voice of reason of the group.
"Knock it off you two." Blake said uninterested, her eyes not leaving her book. "You know Ruby doesn't like us fighting with each other. And she'll be pretty upset if she finds the dorm in a wreck... Again."
Over the top of her book, Blake could see Yang sigh in defeat, while Weiss turned around in her seat to face them.
"Speaking of, where is Ruby?" the girl in white asked. The question caused Yang to huff in annoyance, which did not go unnoticed by her partner who looked up from her book.
"She went to visit her mom. She usually does around this time of year." Yang replied while stretching, not looking at either of them. If she was trying to hide the irritation in her voice, then she was doing a poor job at it. Her statement, however, raised a few questions for the monochrome pair.
"Her mother?" Weiss began, her voice carrying a rare element of concern for others. "Do they not see each other often? Did they fall out? Or-"
"Yeah, something like that." Yang interrupted, her voice was getting more irritated now. "It's hard to keep in contact when you're six feet under."
This little tidbit really caught Weiss and Blake off guard. Ruby always seemed so happy and optimistic all the time. Yang didn't seem like the depressed type either. They never thought the sisters had experienced such dark life changing moments.
"I-I'm sorry," Weiss stuttered out, having no intention of opening wounds like that. "I-I didn't-"
"What's with the personal questions anyway?" Yang interrupted again, her head turned to the heiress as she stumbled with her answer.
"W-well. I thought t-that, the more I know about my teammates. The more we know about each other." She began. "The more we can trust each other, and the better we can work as a team. I-It's a form of bonding exercise. Wouldn't you agree?"
Yang kinda got where Weiss was coming from, while Blake understood completely. The whole fiasco with her secretly being both a Faunus and an ex-White Fang member was quite a tense weekend for the entire team.
Yang sighed. "Weiss, you can't just dig into personal stuff like that. I know what you're trying to do, but it just doesn't work like that. You'll just make the team less comfortable around each other." Yang paused for a moment, in hopes for her words to sink in. "I mean, there's gotta be stuff that you don't wanna talk about, right?"
Clearing her throat and composing herself, Weiss responded. "For the sake of the team, I am willing to be as open as possible and answer any question you may have." She figured that if she showed how open she was, she would be the better teammate and win this argument. She observed Yang turn towards her, a serious look on her face. It made the heiress uncomfortable seeing the normally carefree blonde like this.
"Alright, if you're being so open... Mind telling me how you got your scars?" Yang asked. Weiss was about to give a response when Yang continued. "And I don't mean the one on your face. I mean the faded ones on your wrists and back."
Weiss flinched, unprepared for that particular question. She didn't know how Yang saw them. The scars were mostly faded at this point. When looking at her quieter teammate, she saw Blake shocked face trying to get a glimpse of her wrists from her bed. The heiress turned away from her teammates, wrists held close to her chest.
"I... I'd rather not talk about it right now." Weiss softly whispered out, feeling vulnerable and insecure about herself. She heard Yang walk up behind her before the blonde put one hand on her forehead and pulled the fencer in for a small hug. It was a method she had used many times to comfort Ruby whenever she needed to feel better.
Usually Weiss didn't like physical contact of any kind, her Schnee upbringing making it unfamiliar and strange to her. But right now, she wasn't complaining, instead looking up at the blonde brawlers sympathetic face. "H-How did you-"
"I'm a brawler. I'm trained to watch my opponents arms. First saw 'em when we all slept in the ballroom on our first night her." Yang said, stroking the girl's white hair. "As for the ones on your back... well, remember that time, like, three weeks ago? I accidentally walked in on you in the shower? That's when."
Weiss blushed at that memory. But something like that was bound to happen eventually when you lived with three other girls in a one bedroom, one bathroom dorm. 'At least we're all girls.' She thought to herself. 'I have no idea how Pyrrha deals with her team.'
After a few more seconds of comforting the heiress, Yang let go of Weiss and walked over to Blake's bed. She sat at the foot of the bed, looking over at the cat girl who had been quiet this entire time, probably trying to digest all the information being feed to her so suddenly. "You wanna ask something too Blake?" The Faunus in secret looked away from her partner, trying to focus on anything else. "Don't try and hide it. Just get it off your chest."
Blake took a deep breath in and put down her book before looking at the blonde in front of her. "You said Ruby went to see her mother, right?" She asked carefully, not wanting to upset the closest thing Blake's had to a best friend in a long time. Weiss looked over at them. It took her a second to figure out what Blake mean by her wording.
Yang sighed and looked up to her own bunk above her. "Yeah. I did. It's complicated." The blonde brawler laid back on the edge of her partners bed, her arms folded behind her head. "Do me a favour and don't mention it to Ruby. Ever." Yang put as much emphasis on the word 'ever' as possible to get the message across. She didn't want to go into detail on just how broken her family really was. Especially if it increased the chance of Ruby finding out. Let the innocent have her blissful ignorance, whatever keeps her smiling.
The dorm was quiet again. This time, however, it was an awkward silence that filled the room, the three girls letting the moment sink in. Weiss turned back round to her desk, looking at the near invisible scars on her shaking wrists. Yang had her eyes closed, practicing some breathing exercises she learnt from her anger management sessions back at Signal. Blake had put her book down and had her knees up to her chest in order to give Yang some room on her bed.
The cat Faunus wasn't sure what to do next in a situation like this. She thought about sharing her secrets, but that cat was already out of the bag. 'Dammit Yang! Now I'm doing it.' They already knew she was a Faunus and an ex-member of the White Fang. What else could she say? Her ex-boyfriend was the leader of that Faunus extremist group and she helplessly watched him turn into a psychopathic murderer? She doubted that would defuse the situation.
Fortunately, the ice was broken for her, as Yang's steadily increasing laughter broke the rooms silence.
"Heh-heh. When did it get so dark in here?"
The monochrome pair were puzzled by the blondes reaction to such an awkward situation. Weiss turned to look out the window. The sun had set over an hour ago, though she doubted that's what the brawler meant.
Yang continued to chuckle as she sat up. "Man, aren't we a depressing bunch. No wonder Ozpin made Ruby team leader. Only a day gone without her and we're completely miserable. How she can always keep so optimistic, I have no idea."
Blake couldn't help but smile, seeing her partner bounce back to a better mood so quickly. Was just thinking about the young leader such a pick-me-up? "Can't argue with that."
Weiss looked at her two teammates. It was good to see them in a better mood. She sighed to herself. While she may have had her differences with the red reaper at first, and the fifteen year old did act like a complete dolt from time to time. But her happiness was quite infectious, always seeming to brighten up Weiss' day... "Speaking of," Weiss began. "When is Ruby coming back?"
Yang got up and stretched her arms again. "Eh, sometime around tomorrow afternoon." After completing her stretches, the blonde found herself, bored again. What day was it today? "Hey, don't classes start again in, like a week or something?"
"The second semester starts next Monday, yes." Weiss responded.
"You got any plans for the rest of the week?" Blake asked her partner, picking her book back up from beside her. However, a sudden chill ran down her spine when she saw a dangerous grin on Yang's face.
"As a matter of fact kitten, I do have a few ideas." Yang said in a somewhat sinister manner, her partner still slightly annoyed by the nickname. "I plan on ending break with a Yang!"
While her teammates groaned and rolled their eyes at her lame puns, they couldn't help but feel a twinge of fear for what ever the blonde has in store.
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