"Man I am so pumped for this!" shouted Yang, lightly punching Blake on the shoulder. It still hurt a little...did that blonde not realise how much force those gauntlets of hers packed? Yang was just too excitable today...almost as bad as her sister.

Blake rubbed her shoulder a little to ease the ache. "Yang, I understand your...zealousness over this event, but please, try not to hit me or anybody else in the queue? Please?". Blake gave the bruiser a stern look, and Yang returned it with a mock-serious gaze. Blake broke first; she laughed at Yang's stupid attempt to look anything but ecstatic. Yang followed suit, giggling as she jumped up and down on the spot. She literally had to work off the excess energy...and jumping seemed to help her.

Behind them in the queue stood Team JNPR, and Ruby, who was having a rare conversation with Ren.

"So Ren, what do you think your chances are in the tournament? I'm pretty stoked myself!" exclaimed Ruby, who was happily swaying between her two feet. Ren politely smiled. "My chances...are as good as anyone's, Ruby. But...there are a lot of strong competitors signing up for a tournament of this magnitude. Only natural, of course." Ren replied, as he looked up and down the long line of Beacon students queued outside Glynda Goodwitch's office. Ruby followed his gaze; he wasn't kidding.

Several familiar faces lined the corridor. Team CRDL, led by the ever repulsive Cardin Winchester, was present. Velvet Scarlatina was stood quietly and patiently further down, and just at the edge of Ruby's sight, she got a glimpse of...Penny?! What was Penny doing here? Ruby knew that Penny wanted to compete in the tournament, but why was she applying through Beacon Academy?

Ren continued, breaking Ruby from her thoughts. "...and being a singles tournament, I have to worry about my own team, and yours too." Ren motioned to Pyhrra, Yang, Blake...and Nora. Jaune looked a little disappointed that Ren didn't motion to him, but kept his head held high regardless. Nora then took the opportunity to share her wisdom with the two of them.

"Oooooh Ren! I have a plan to make sure you don't get knocked out of the tournie! If anyone beats you, I'll drag them backstage and BREAK THEIR LEGS! Hee hee!" shouted Nora, a grin adorning her face. Ren shook his head in amazement. "I...don't think that that would bring me back into the tournament, Nora..." he replied, as Ruby smiled nervously, backing away slowly, and tried not to get mixed up in their world of madness. She returned to her sister and Blake's side as the queue moved up. Ruby looked to Blake inquisitively.

"Blake, is Sun joining the competition?" the red huntress asked, hands on her hips. Blake twitched her ears, apparently intrigued by the mention of his name.

"I...think so. Yeah, actually, he probably will." Blake replied with a warm smile. "He does have considerable skill, after all. He proved that much when he fought that Roman Torchwick guy...I could have been injured or worse had he not fought with me.". Ruby donned her thinking face, trying to think of ways she could beat Sun and his weapons, Ruyi Bang and Jingu Bang. A staff which was a pair of nunchakus, which were a pair of shotguns...and he could use them very quickly. Ruby found Blake and Yang grinning at her. They could both see exactly what Ruby was thinking about.

"Don't worry sis, I'm sure you'll think of a strategy" Yang remarked, winking at her sister and ruffling her hair. Ruby only seemed to pout in reaction to being treated like this. She decided to go talk to Ren again, down the line.

"Next..." came Glynda's tired voice from her office. Blake turned, realising it was her turn to enter and sign up, and left the blonde and the red. After that, Yang went in; then Pyhrra, Jaune, Nora, Ren...then Ruby found herself the last of their little group to be waiting.


Ruby racked her brain over and over again as she slumped against the wall next to Glynda's office. Where IS Weiss? It had been a couple days since she'd last talked to Weiss, in the middle of the night...when Weiss has given her a kiss on the forehead. Ruby lingered on the thought...just for a few seconds. It made her happy. Weiss made her happy. She shook her head, trying to get back to what was important.

Ruby knew that Weiss was entering, so where had she been? Ruby stood on her tip-toes as she had three times already, and looked over peoples' heads, looking for a trace of white ponytail; but nothing. She must have signed up before us...but why? Why wouldn't she be with us to put her name down for the competition? Ruby began to question her own involvement in the tournament. Did she want to even be part of this? She scowled to herself, a mixture of confusion and discontent. She snapped out of her troubles as Glynda called her through.

The red cloaked girl closed the door behind her and approached cautiously. She just didn't know what she wanted to do anymore. Glynda handed Ruby a pen, and tapped on the application form. Ruby scribbled her details down onto the paper in her usual nigh-unintelligible handwriting, and was just about to hand it over to the senior huntress, when she stopped. Forget it, Ruby thought, as she turned and prepared to drop the application form in the trash can.

Glynda looked sternly at the young girl, who avoided eye contact.

"Why are you doing that?" Ruby ignored her. Glynda sighed, exhausted from a full day of paper pushing. "This is about Weiss Schnee, isn't it, Ruby Rose?" The words tore at Ruby, the cookie-loving youngster turning to pout at her teacher. But Ruby couldn't find it within herself to lie, so she dodged around the words.

"What's the point in joining anyway? This tournament's a joke anyway, Professor!" Ruby exclaimed, gesturing with her arms in frustration. Ruby didn't truly believe a word she was saying...and Glynda could see through the thin veil of her question dodging.

"You didn't know about this being a singles tournament until very recently, did you?" Glynda postulated. Ruby's expression gave it away. "I'm not joining, Professor! And that's. My. Answer." Ruby folded her arms defiantly and turned to face somewhat away from Glynda, but continued on with somewhat more personal details. "She won't even train with me, Miss Goodwitch. What's UP with that?!" Ruby shouted, realising herself just how angry she was about being left alone.

"Well you'd better start forgetting about Weiss in this tournament," came Glynda's reply, to which Ruby turned slightly to listen, "because Weiss has already forgotten about you, Ruby."

Glynda's final words hit Ruby like a freight train.

That hurt. That really seemed to hurt. The young huntress felt hot blood flow through her cheeks and her silver eyes, fury and upset blending inside of her. Ruby bowed her head a little, still scowling, trying to hide the water brimming up on her eyes. She had no chance to recover the tear which rolled quickly down her cheek, however. Glynda did not regret her actions, this was the wakeup call Ruby needed to get her head back in the game. She continued on, a little more carefully this time.

"Think about it this way, Ruby. Weiss left you behind. Not because she wanted to, but because she had to. She left something she deeply cared for, because she also cares about having the chance to win this prestigious tournament. You say she won't train with you; did you ever care to think about why that might be?" Glynda questioned, to which Ruby wiped a tear off her cheek and shook her head.

"Because she doesn't want you to see, Ruby Rose." the Professor said, keeping her stern gaze on Ruby, who now looked confused by her words. Glynda continued to elaborate, "She doesn't want you to see her strengths. Her weaknesses. Her old moves, her new moves, her tactics, her most intricate movements on the battlefield...Ruby, she respects you as one of her most powerful rivals, perhaps her greatest."

Ruby looked at Glynda in shock, stunned at the words...they seemed to elate Ruby's feelings, and the situation between Ruby and her partner began to make sense.

"And ultimately Ruby, think of it from your own perspective. Do you want Weiss to know all of your moves? Your tactics? Would you want Weiss to be able to plan how to defeat you before you met her in battle?". The words all began to click into place for Ruby; finally, she understood her partner's recent behaviour. Ruby shook her head, a modest smile forming on her. "No, Miss Goodwitch. I wouldn't." she replied, handing her application over to her. Glynda returned her smile with one of her own, albeit a tired smile. Ruby nodded, and left Glynda's office confidently.


On her way back to her dormitory, Ruby finally saw her: the proud, beautiful Schnee daughter, heading in the direction away from their dorm. They spotted each other as they crossed paths; as they walked past each other, Ruby turned and grabbed Weiss's forearm, to the latter's slight surprise.

"Weiss, I just wanted to tell you...that it's okay. I understand now." Ruby said confidently, looking her partner in the eye. "And when we meet in the tournament, whenever that may be...I'm going to give you the fight of your life!" Ruby said proudly with a devilish grin on her face.

Weiss paused momentarily...then returned Ruby's grin, nodded politely, and turned to walk towards Beacon's library.