Chapter 3

A/N: It should be noted that I wrote this before episode 15 came out, and it's eerie how well some of this lines up with what became canon with that episode. Specifically stuff surrounding Blake.


Blake sighed. It had been a week since Weiss' little debacle with her father, and it hadn't taken long for the media to catch wind. A depressingly large crowd of reporters had been camped outside team RWBY's house for days now. It made going anywhere near the house a nightmare, especially for Blake. The "scandal" news of the Schnee heiress living with a faunus was sure to plague tabloids for weeks to come. For Blake, who had always preferred to avoid spotlights, the extra attention was particularly nauseating.

Preparing for what was to come after using the entire walk back from class to steel herself, she turned onto the street their house was on. Immediately, at least a dozen reporters surrounded her.

"Ms. Belladonna, how do you respond to the actions of the fauna-led group the White Fang?"

"Do you think fauna are truly oppressed?"

"Is it true that you are a faunus agent sent to kept tabs on the Schnee heiress?"

Ignore them, Blake thought. Only two hundred feet to the house.

"Are the rumors of you being Weiss Schnee's secret fauna lover true?"

"Are the fauna planning a full-scale rebellion?"

100 feet. Don't run, they'll think you're scared.

"Why do you think the Schnee heiress felt it necessary to hide her sexuality?"

50 feet, almost there.

"Ms. Belladonna, do you cough up hairballs?"

"Is it true that fauna have naturally higher libido than humans?"

Blake rushed in the door and slammed it behind her. She could still hear muffled voices through the hardwood, but the worst of it had passed.

"Have fun running the gauntlet?" Yang asked, lounging on the couch with a magazine.

"I swear their questions get dumber every time they see me." Blake said, moving Yang's legs to make room on the couch to sit. Yang promptly put them back in Blake's lap. "Is it true that fauna have naturally higher libido than humans? What does that have to do with what's going on?"

Yang looked at her over the top of her magazine. "Well?"

"Well what?"

"Do they?"

Blake glared at her.

"That's not a no!" Yang exclaimed teasingly.

"Be serious, Yang. We have enough trouble right now without you trying to get in my pants every chance you get."

"No fun." Yang pouted, going back to her magazine. "You should see some of the news they've managed to put out on this already. Apparently you've been naughty. Just look."

Yang handed Blake her magazine, and right on the cover in big red characters, was:

SCHANDAL! HEIRESS TO WORLD'S LARGEST COMPANY DISOWNED!

Turning the cover, Blake began to read:

Weiss Schnee, daughter of Gelb Schnee, president of Schnee Corp., was abruptly cast out of the family earlier this week. The true reasons behind the motive have yet to come to light, but our experts theorize that it may have something to do with the spotty reports of young Ms. Schnee fraternizing with a faunus girl that she attends Beacon academy with. This move has sparked heated debate, some saying that any heiress of caliber would never have attended the prestigious hunter academy in the first place. Others take the side of Ms. Schnee, arguing that young love should not be interfered with.

That was enough for Blake. She whipped the magazine shut angrily. If she had her way, everyone would just respect that Weiss didn't need all this extra attention being brought to her personal affairs, and everyone should just leave her alone. Especially when they claimed that she was Weiss' personal affair. Unfortunately, she knew that it was an impossible wish.

"How is Weiss handling this, anyway?" Blake asked, "She seemed surprisingly okay right after it happened, but I've barely seen her since."

"Not well." Yang said, "Ruby told me she's cried herself to sleep most nights. I think she's gotten over the shock, but the reality of it all is really starting to hit her. Like she said herself, we're literally all she has now."

Blake frowned. She knew what it was like to have nothing, but Weiss had always lived in the lap of luxury. Weiss was a tough girl, but she had never had to fight for scraps, like everyone else on her team had to do at some point in their lives. It was a lifestyle than one could really only adjust to if they had never known anything else. Blake wasn't sure if she was proud of her for giving it all up, almost enthusiastically, or if she thought Weiss was letting her pride cloud her better judgment. She wasn't sure if either was a particularly good option.

"Can't we at least get rid of all these reporters? Their babbling can't be helping." Blake asked, more out of annoyance than expecting an answer.

"Tried." Yang said, "Ruby went to Ozpin to see if he could kick them off the school grounds, but the street outside is apparently public property, so if they stay there he can't do anything." Yang smirked, and continued: "But, he also said that if they start getting 'invasive,' we can reply with any force we 'deem appropriate.' I'm really hoping one of them is dumb enough to try."

"Let's hope not. They don't need anything else they can twist into some slanderous story."

Yang pouted again. "You really are no fun."

"We can't all be dumb and pretty like you." Blake retorted, smiling.

Before Yang could pounce on that reply, the commotion outside grew tenfold. "Guess they're back from class. Come on." Yang said, getting up and heading for the door.

Blake followed, pushing through the crowd of reporters encircling the new arrivals. Weiss was quite a sight. Her expression was completely impassive, no doubt a sign of her training to not let her face betray her emotions. Ruby, Blake, and Yang got into their practiced formation around her, blocking anyone who tried to get too close. Slowly, they carved a path through the crowd and back into their house, ignoring the numerous inane questions being shouted above the din.

"Idiots!" Ruby exclaimed angrily. "They're not going to quit, are they?"

"Give it a little time." Weiss said, "They'll get bored and leave eventually."

"Time? Weiss, it's been nearly a week! I want all this to just be over!" Ruby said, her voice on the edge of cracking.

Blake had noticed that Ruby had been taking this whole ordeal pretty hard. She knew that it broke her up inside to see Weiss in such a state. Weiss wasn't acting either warmly or coldly to her friends, it was something… else. Like she had just checked out emotionally. As if she was just a shell of a person. Maybe it was something so emotionally complex that Blake couldn't really find the words to explain it. Either way, it was like Ruby didn't have her girlfriend anymore. Blake knew that Weiss would be back to her relatively normal self in time, maybe a bit quicker if she was able to get away from all this for a little while. Until then, however, the hugs she gave Ruby would be empty, the kisses chaste. And Ruby would have to endure the spike it drove through her heart every time she tried.

Yang looked like she was thinking along similar lines. It must have been a great deal harder for her; Ruby was her sister, after all. Yang had done a very good job at mustering up her usual chipper personality for Ruby's sake, at the very least.

"Hey, so…" Yang began, breaking the silence left by Weiss' lack of an answer, "Vytal Festival is coming back this weekend. I think it would be good for all of us to get a little R&R, don't you think? We can even use all those moves we've been practicing in the combat tournament!"

"Sounds great!" Blake said, sounding uncharacteristically enthusiastic. "We can all go out and pick outfits tomorrow! I know how you love your clothes, Weiss."

Weiss offered her a small smile. It was all Blake needed to know that it would all get better, in time.


A/N: I know, it's short and doesn't progress the plot all that much. The intended purpose of this chapter was to set up a long chapter 4. Keep an eye out.