Weiss Schnee finally sheathed her trusted weapon, Myrtenaster. Panting slightly as she took a seat on a bench, Weiss closed her tranquil blue eyes and leant her head back slightly, relishing the cool morning breeze which brought her temperature down to a comfortably chilly normal. The wind flowed around her side ponytail and rolled over her white skirt gently. Opening her eyes again once again, she gazed over the grounds of Beacon Academy, which was only just beginning to stir with activity. Weiss allowed herself a smug grin as she watched a few students briskly walking across the campus. And these people think that they're the early birds? The heiress removed the grin from her face accordingly, reverting to an icy, neutral expression, and stood to begin walking back to her dormitory. She felt that the last hour and a half had been a useful allocation of her time; allowing herself to become worn out in practice served to increase her overall endurance in battle. And as always, Weiss was quite content to work however many hours were necessary, make whatever sacrifices she needed to; for it had long been drilled into her that a Schnee always makes victory their primary focus.
The heiress reached her dorm's door, opening it quietly; before remembering that the almighty alarm clock known as Ruby Rose had already pulled most of this tower's residents out of their slumber. Weiss entered normally, abandoning stealth, and approached her bed. Blake sat calmly on her bed, reading...something which Weiss did not want to inquire about. Aside from this, Blake was the essence of tranquility as she flicked another page aside. Yang had crashed back into sleeping on her bed after Ruby's wake up call. Ruby herself was sprawled on the floor doodling, and to Weiss's dismay, it looked like another parody of Professor Port. Unimpressed, Weiss sat on her bed and was immediately set upon by the energetic red huntress.
''Weiss! You're baaaack!'' Ruby said with that infectious smile plastered on her face. Weiss had to restrain herself from returning it, as she fiddled with her own alarm clock. Yang seemed to groan, having been awoken by Ruby's loud voice again. ''Yes Ruby. Well observed.'' Weiss responded; sarcastically, but not harshly. Ruby was undeterred, however, having grown a thickened skin to the heiress's chilly nature. She skipped over and plopped herself next to Weiss on her bed, fascinated by Weiss's fiddling with the clock. ''Whatcha doing? Are you going to bed now? Why?'' came the usual flurry of questions; and as per usual, Weiss took the calculative approach, tackling each of her queries one by one.
''Setting an alarm, Ruby. Yes, I am going to bed. I still have 44 minutes before I'll need to be up again to go to class, so I might as well catch some extra shut-eye.''. Ruby cocked her head to the side, and as cute as it was, Weiss dismissed the odd thought, ignored her, and laid her head down on her pillow. Ruby was still present on the bed, and she laid down on the bed too, facing Weiss. The heiress was taken aback a little, before sighing with a hint of agitation; she just wanted some extra sleep, she'd been training since 5:30 in the morning. Before the sun came up!
Ruby was laid down opposite Weiss, and she stuck a big smile on herself again. Weiss rolled her eyes, trying to move away from Ruby on the bed, but had only the wall to move into. ''Weiiiiisssss'' Ruby said, in that childish tone of hers, ''Why were you up so early training?''. A barely noticeable expression of worry appeared on the heiress's face. Ruby smiled harder, she had Weiss on the conversational defensive now. Blake removed the ear-muffs she had adorned earlier, intent on discretely absorbing whatever information was about to transpire. Weiss paused, just for a moment, to prepare her response. To lie or tell the truth...I should have practiced somewhere out of sight, Weiss thought. There was no feasible way out of this without telling the truth, and Weiss regretted that her irritating red partner knew it too, that smug grin still across the pillow from her. Weiss sighed and relented.
''The Vytal Tournament, Ruby. I was practicing for the tournament that's coming up, may I remind you, in a week.'' said Weiss with a huff. Ruby stared blankly back for a moment, registering the words and then threw her hands around her partner, hugging her excitedly. Weiss responded with a sound of surprise as she was crushed in the young girl's enthusiastic embrace. Even Blake seemed a little puzzled.
''I'm SO excited Weiss! The tournament is going to be so so so SO COOL! So many hunters and huntresses, so many cool weapons, we're going to BEAT THEM ALL! We're going to train every day and win it ALL!'' exclaimed Ruby, along with a collection of other excited noises and incoherent ramblings. Weiss pondered for a second amidst the hugging and over-excitedness of her partner...did Ruby not understand how this tournament works? How ANY standard tournament works?
''Ruby...'' Weiss said, sighing. She paused to realise she was actually quite enjoying the one-sided cuddle. No. She dismissed the thought, repressed it. She came back to her senses and continued. ''Ruby, the tournament is a single participant entry format. You do understand, don't you?''
Ruby pulled her head back to stare into Weiss's eyes blankly again, this time her face depicting a lack of understanding. Weiss sat up from the bed, forcing herself - no, easily leaving the embrace of her partner, she corrected her mindset. The heiress sat on the side of her bed, posture perfect, and opened her mouth to further explain.
''Single participant entry is the standard format for tournaments in all of Remnant's regions. This means that every fighter is pitted in one on one fights against each other. It's the easiest methodology for crowning the true champion of the region.'' Weiss explained, simultaneously day dreaming about being declared the victor and a rapturous applause commending her. She snapped out of her thoughts and turned to Ruby. Who still wore that blank face. Weiss couldn't believe the blend of this girl's stupidity and optimism. Perhaps that was what made her so dangerous, Weiss pondered.
''No tag teams, Ruby.'' said Blake from the opposite bunk, finally ending the red huntress's confusion. ''You can't team up with Weiss in your battles. If you choose to enter, just as I intend to,'' Blake nodded to Weiss mid-sentence, who gave a respectful nod back, ''you will fight one on one with whichever opponents you are matched against. Just like I won't be fighting alongside sleepy-head up there.'' Blake finished, looking with a pout up at her blonde partner, who had yet to awaken.
Ruby threw her head back to Weiss, who nodded, confirming the truth. For once, Ruby was speechless. Her desires to give Weiss company, to spend more time with her, seemed ruined in an instant. Ruby had been so thrilled about the idea of her and Weiss dominating the tournament together...and now, that thrill was but a memory. Ruby's face dropped into a solemn frown.
Weiss could not help but feel saddened for her partner; the hurt visible on her face was painful to the heiress too. She squeezed Ruby's hand softly for a couple seconds, who looked up still glum, before releasing and encouraging Ruby to stand up.
''You'd best get ready Ruby. Classes start soon.'' said Weiss, returning to her usual nature, ''Oh great, only 32 minutes left to nap now...'' she continued, resting back on her pillow. Ruby headed to the bathroom before turning and pouting.
''Don't you have to get ready too?'' Ruby questioned, a hint of sourness in her voice following the recent revelation.
''I'm already ready you dolt, don't you remember?'' replied Weiss from her bed, motioning to her combat skirt without so much as opening her eyes.
Oh yeah, that's right, Ruby thought to herself glumly, dressing in the bathroom. Weiss is already dressed. Because she was practicing for the tournament.
The singles tournament.
Yang sighed loudly as she burst open the door of their dormitory, her team-mates following her inside. It had been a long ass day, Yang thought to herself. Too many notes to take, too many assignments to complete...and far too many of Professor Oobleck's high velocity rants, coupled with far too many of Professor Port's awful, awful anecdotes.
Yang climbed to her bunk and almost immediately fell asleep. Had it not been for this morning's rude awakening, she might not have been so exhausted...
Blake watched Yang's instant drop into sleep mode with amusement...but had to admit, she was pretty tired too. She elected to read over some of the material Oobleck had recommended, before she would retired to bed. With a slight sigh, Blake pulled out Remnant: A Complete History and settled down to begin her studying. This was a monster of a book, totalling around 2,200 pages. As much as Blake was a fan of reading, she dearly hoped she would not have to memorise this book's contents by the end of the year...
Weiss was, yet again, fiddling with her alarm clock, adjusting its time and ensuring the alarm would be just loud enough to wake her up, and her alone. Ruby watched sneakily from above on her own bed, noting the time Weiss set...and setting her own alarm similarly, except 15 minutes prior to Weiss's.
Weiss finished off a few notes in her notepad, and promptly changed into pyjamas, got between the covers of her bed, and drifted off to sleep. And Ruby Rose mirrored her.
Bzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz. The drone of the alarm clock filled Ruby's ears and she mumbled incoherent complaints...before her senses returned to her, and remembered why she'd set the alarm so early. Panicking, Ruby slapped at the alarm clock, desperately trying to switch it off and prevent it from awakening her team-mates. In the end, Ruby opted to skilfully throw the stupid thing out of the dorm window which happened to be ajar. Three seconds later, Ruby heard a faint crashing noise. Sheesh, she thought. I forget how tall this tower is! Ruby checked her team; all were still asleep as far as she could tell. Even Blake, with her superior sense of hearing, remained still. Ruby sighed with relief, and began her task.
The young huntress moved at a snail's pace, obtaining her combat skirt and other attire from down below and slipping them on back on her bunk. She grabbed Crescent Rose from the foot of her bed - Ruby reasoned that she could never be too far from her 'baby'. Ruby estimated she had roughly 10 minutes before Weiss awoke. And so, Ruby Rose waited silently.
Eight minutes ticked by on Weiss's clock, before it faintly gave off a melodic sing-song. Ruby peered over the edge of her precariously dangerous bed, angling her eye so the rest of her face was still hidden. She watched as Weiss awoke and silently got out of bed, pulling her own combat skirt from under her pillow. She began to undress from her pyjamas and slipped into her attire, whilst Ruby watched shamefully from above. Look away, this is really really rude! Ruby tried to tear her gaze away, but nevertheless kept watching, silently in a frenzy of confusion. Why am I watching this?! This is my partner, not a boyfriend or something! Ruby twiddled her fingers, blushing like there was no tomorrow, completely lost in her conflicting emotions of guilt and...lust? No! Ruby buried the thought and finally tore her eyes away from Weiss's perfectly slender form. In doing so, Ruby bumped into the wall beside her, and froze in terror. She heard Weiss Schnee turn, though she dare not move a millimetre...Ruby waited. She heard Weiss turn back around and continue to get ready. Ruby listened; she dare not peek over her mattress again. The sound of the door creaking open and close caused the red huntress to spring into action, tip-toeing after the heiress.
Weiss strutted silently down the hallway towards the staircase. She lamented having to get up so early, as her groggy first step onto the stairs almost caused her to trip. Sleep was something the heiress valued greatly, even if she did not indulge in it as freely as some. The echoes of her boots clacking on the stairs bounced off the walls and interrupted the silence of the night rhythmically, as she descended the stairs and approached the exit to the first years' tower. She creaked the door open - slowly, she reminded herself - and strode out into the freezing air of the September nighttime. The cold had little effect on the white haired girl, as it never had; the eerie glow of the shattering moon, however, was somewhat unnerving. Weiss was about to continue on towards the training courtyard, when the sound of shivering and chittering behind her triggered her to draw her sword and swirl around rapidly, assuming a defensive stance. A girl in a red cloak and hood stood before her, guilty written all over her face, like a deer in headlights. They stared at each other for a few moments; neither knew what to say, do, or not do. Eventually, the heiress cleared her throat.
''...Go back inside, Ruby.'' Weiss said calmly. She wasn't angry at Ruby. But this wasn't something she could allow Ruby to join her with, no matter how she felt. Ruby looked back at her, sorely disappointed.
''But Weiiiisss! I want to train with you!''. Ruby had those entrancing puppy dog eyes on again, the ones you really couldn't say no to. ''I know it's a singles tournament, I do...but...but that doesn't mean we can't practice together! We could be the best!''. Ruby paused a second, looked at Weiss, and decided to try another angle to convince her. ''I'll be better for training than those practice dummies in the courtyard ever will be, I promise you!''
Weiss seriously considered the prospect for a few moments. It was hard to refuse, she did love the thrill of practicing with a real opponent as skilled as she was. But the heiress knew. She knew why she was putting herself through this in the first place. Succumbing to what Ruby wanted - what Weiss herself wanted - simply wasn't feasible, given what the heiress was aiming for. She allowed herself to crack an affectionate smile towards Ruby.
Ruby watched as the snowy haired huntress gave her a warm smile. Her heart fluttered a second...Weiss truly was breathtakingly beautiful when she smiled. Weiss walked towards Ruby slowly, stood opposite her. She took Ruby's cheeks in her hands and kissed her on the forehead. Weiss looked at her with those blue eyes again, still smiling weakly, with one hand on Ruby's shoulder.
''I know you'd be a great opponent. But I'm sorry, Ruby.'' Weiss took in a breath and sighed. It wasn't a sigh of anger; Ruby had seen those, and recognised the difference. This was a sigh of...regret? ''I have to do this alone. You can't help. Get some rest...for me.'' Weiss finished, letting go of Ruby's shoulder, and disappeared slowly into the darkness, headed for the training grounds. Ruby stood alone, a melting pot of emotions, watching her partner leave. Ruby's hands hung at her sides, and she slowly turned to the door.
But I'd do anything to help you...if you'd only let me in.