A/N: I tend to overthink my responses to reviews, so I'm going to be replying to them less. That said, reviews are a huge motivator for me, and I love reading them, so please keep them coming.
Chapter 3 — A Chance
"That's the last of the food," Ilia said. "We don't have much water left, either."
Weiss sighed. She had known it would happen eventually. They were lucky Ilia kept some supplies on her in the first place.
"Well, we just have to keep moving," Weiss said. "If we find a way to the surface, we might be able to find food. I doubt we'll find anything with all the Grimm down here."
Ilia didn't respond, which made Weiss scowl. Ilia rarely communicated outside of fights, no matter how much Weiss tried. And she did try. At first, she had asked about life in the White Fang. Then, she had tried to talk about their current situation. She had even tried small talk! She, Weiss Schnee, had tried making small talk with a Faunus of the White Fang.
Her Faunus companion was too stubborn, it seemed.
Ilia, Weiss thoughts. That she is a Faunus, even that she's a member of the White Fang, doesn't matter. Blake had . . . something with her. She has to be better than the other criminals.
Weiss had to believe it, no matter how hard it was. And it was hard, not to revert back to old habits. Ilia's presence was a constant reminder of Weiss' feud with the White Fang.
Weiss would keep trying. For her team's sake. Blake had shown her how to forget the past, to give even those she should hate a second chance. Blake had undone years of hate ingrained into Weiss by her father.
For her, Weiss would keep trying. And she would return to Beacon a better person for it.
First, she had to find food.
Weiss walked to where Ilia knelt by the few supplies they had. "Here," Weiss said. "Let me help."
Ilia narrowed her eyes, but made room regardless. Together, it didn't take long for them to put what little they had into Ilia's pack.
"There's no point in stopping to rest anymore," Ilia said as she stood. "We have a strict time limit now."
Weiss bit back an automatic response at the obvious statement. The last thing she needed was to aggravate Ilia.
"Let's get moving, then," Weiss said. She rose as well, and started walking. "If we're anywhere near one of the villages outside of Vale, we may be able to find an exit?"
"We will?" Ilia asked, following close behind Weiss.
Weiss nodded. "One of the plans for Mountain Glenn was for it to have tunnels leading into nearby villages. It would be another way for support to reach the villages when Vale couldn't send Huntsmen to in time. They closed off the tunnels, but we might be able to force them open."
"Do you want to show off more of what you know?" Ilia snarked.
"Oooh, look at me! My name's Weiss! I know facts! I'm rich!"
Weiss snickered at the memory invoked by Ilia's comment.
Ilia glared at her. "What's so funny?"
"What you just said reminded me of one of my teammates." Weiss said. The smile that had been on her face vanished. "I was she was here," she muttered.
Ruby would have found a way out. Not because she was an expert on navigation. She just had an infectious sort of energy that would last no matter how dire the circumstance. Even if Weiss had wanted to give up, Ruby wouldn't have let her.
"You really care about her, don't you?" The question from Ilia brought Weiss out of her daze. She had a small frown on her face, and was staring at Weiss with her head slightly tilted.
"Of course I do," Weiss said, turning into another tunnel when it was clear there weren't any Grimm in it. "I care for all of them. Ruby, Blake, Yang . . . I miss them more than anything."
Ilia bit her lip and glanced away. Expecting more silence, Weiss turned away from her, focused on getting through the tunnels.
When Ilia spoke again, Weiss almost froze.
"What was Blake like? At Beacon."
Weiss didn't turn to face Ilia. Not because she was ignoring the question, but because she didn't want Ilia to see the dumb look on her face.
Ilia was actually asking about anything related to Beacon? Weiss supposed her curiosity on Blake would be the only thing that pushed her to talk to Weiss, but why now?
Weiss pushed the thought aside to answer Ilia's question. "Blake was one of the most hardworking individuals I've ever known," she said truthfully. "At first, it was her schoolwork. Her grades nearly matched my own, and she might have been the only person besides me to stay awake in Professor Port's class."
Weiss smiled at the memories. "We had our issues at first. I had a stubborn viewpoint, and she couldn't reconcile with her past. She ran away, and I was angry at first. But I had time, and I thought about our fight from her perspective."
She chuckled. "When we found her, I told her I didn't care about her past, and that was it. Nevermind what I had said, I was a Schnee, so I didn't need to apologize. It didn't matter that I outright said I didn't trust the Faunus. We were team RWBY, and we could put all of that behind us."
Weiss knew her tone had turned bitter, but she couldn't stop herself. "I never told Blake I was sorry for what I said. I was too stubborn, too focused on my Schnee pride, to say it." She sighed. "I tried to make it right. I changed my views on the Faunus. I tried to look after Blake when she hurt herself going after the White Fang.
"I don't know if that made it right . . . but this isn't about me." Weiss' face twisted into a sour expression. "The point is, when we put all that behind us, Blake decided to go after the White Fang herself. Her grades were abominable because she stayed up all night researching them. I respected her drive, but I was afraid for her."
They turned into another tunnel, this one full of Creeps. Weiss formed a gravity glyph behind her, and jumped onto it. Then, she launched herself forward, into the center of the group. She slammed her sword down, forming a wall of ice spikes to kill them all.
"It was Yang who got her to come to the dance and relax," Weiss said as she sheathed her sword. "I still don't understand Yang. She describes herself as a free spirit, but she's always looking out for us at the same time. Her attitude is an enigma that I don't think I'll ever understand."
The dance. It had only been a week ago, yet it felt like a lifetime. After all that had happened in Mountain Glenn, then days spent underground, Weiss couldn't imagine her biggest worry being getting a cute boy to accompany her to the dance.
That was all Neptune had been, really. A cute boy who didn't just like at her as a Schnee. He had been a chance for Weiss to be normal, to have a school girl crush. When she made it back to Beacon, would she be able to return to such simple pursuits?
"I love Blake," Weiss said, not noticing Ilia stiffen. "I love Ruby and Yang, too. They're my team. And I will get out of here so I can see them again." She smirked. "I might even hug Zwei before hugging them, just to tease them."
"Zwei?" Weiss smiled at the confusion in lia's voice. They ran into two paths, and Weiss chose the left one. There wasn't much she could do other than guess.
"Ruby and Yang's dog," Weiss said. "And yes, Blake hates him. How she can't adore such an beautiful little boy, I'll never get."
"I take it you like dogs?" Ilia asked, sounding far too amused.
"Like them?" Ilia might as well have asked if Weiss liked breathing. She folded her hands together. "I've loved them since I was a kid. Ever since—" Her mouth snapped shut.
"Ever since?" Ilia prodded.
Weiss' eyes found the cave floor. "When I was little, my father assigned personal bodyguards to me. One of them had a dog, a dalmatian named Snow, who I loved to play with."
Weiss took a deep breath. She was already opening up to this girl too much. Schnees couldn't show vulnerability. If they did, they would be torn apart. Their enemies, even those they called friends, wouldn't hesitate to ruin them, out of pettiness or out of greed.
What would Ruby say to that?
Weiss knew the answer, and spoke. "One day, when I was 7, my father ordered me to accompany him to Atlas Academy, to gain a greater understanding of our company's dealings with Huntsmen. Aurum was assigned to protect me. He knew how stressed I was about the whole thing, so he brought Snow to calm me down."
Weiss told herself that her shudder was because of the cold cave air. "A group of White Fang attacked our limo. I tried to run, and got separated from Aurum. I got cornered in an alleyway, where one of them drew a weapon on me."
Closing her eyes, Weiss was back there. Cowering, eyes wide, waiting for the pain that would come when a bullet struck her. The pain that had never come.
"Aurum saw, but he didn't get to me fast enough. It was Snow who saved me, biting down on the man's leg, giving Aurum time to detain him."
Realizing she had stopped walking, Weiss resumed her footsteps. It had been long enough for Ilia to notice, and Weiss could feel the tension in the room.
"Sorry," Weiss whispered. "I shouldn't have brought up the White Fang."
When Ilia didn't respond, Weiss wondered if she had fallen behind. Glancing back, Weiss saw Ilia tiptoeing behind her, lost in thought. Weiss frowned seeing her. What had Weiss said to provoke this reaction?
"What happened to the dog?" Ilia finally asked. Weiss had to turn away at the question.
"My father fired Aurum for letting me almost get hurt," Weiss spat. "I never saw him or Snow again."
To anyone else, it would have seemed insignificant, such a minor problem in the grand scheme of things. But for Weiss, who'd had few companions as a kid, having Snow to turn to for comfort had kept her sane some days. Then, for her to never see two of her closest friends because they had saved her . . . it had been that day Weiss had realized she would never be able to make friends.
Only to be proven wrong years later.
Weiss shook her head to dispel the thoughts. "Let's pick up the pace," she said. "I don't know if I can spend another full day down here."
Ilia nodded at Weiss' words, despite the heiress being turned away from her. Weiss hadn't exactly given her a sob story, but she had still shown Ilia a side of a Schnee that she had never seen before. A human side, and not in a way that separated them from Faunus.
Weiss cared for her team. She missed the dog she played with as a little girl. How could either of those concepts be associated with the image of a spoiled brat who got whatever she wanted at the expense of Faunus?
Could Weiss actually be different? It shouldn't have been possible, but they had spent days together, and Ilia hadn't heard one racist comment. Then there was the fact that Blake had gotten close to Weiss. Even if she had left the White Fang, Blake would never befriend a Schnee unless she had been truly impressed by her.
It might have just been wishful thinking on Ilia's part, but if Weiss really was different . . .
"Weiss," Ilia sound, prompting the heiress to turn around with a questioning look.
"Why don't you hate me?" Ilia asked. "I'm a member of the organization at war with your family. I personally tried to kill you. Yet you've been trying to make peace the entire time we've been down here."
The silence that followed Ilia's question had her shuffling her feet. Weiss was clearly thinking about how to phrase her answer, but just how complicated was it?
"I didn't like my team at first," Weiss admitted, and the sheer pain in her voice showed how much regret she was harboring. "A hyper kid in over her head, a brooding bookworm with disrespect for my family's company, and a party animal who would always take her sister's side. I had to push my disgust down around them." She spat the word like it was a slur.
Weiss clenched her fists hard enough for her nails to bite into her skin. "I fought Ruby for team leadership, going to one of the professors to complain." She blurted out the next words as though rushing to explain herself. "I didn't think she was qualified, and I was still fresh to the world outside my family's manor. I couldn't imagine following a kid I had no respect for as a leader."
Just as Ilia was getting worried Weiss would start to deplete her aura, she relaxed her hands. "My professor showed me how foolish I was acting, and he said to be not the best leader, but the best person I could be.
"That was when I realized what I had done. I was so used to pushing people away, that I wasn't giving my team the chance they deserved. I was going to lead myself further down the path to isolation I hated so much. I decided then that I couldn't be the same Weiss Schnee that had entered Beacon. I had to change. By doing so, I made the best friends I could ever have. I can't imagine life without them."
Weiss met Ilia's gaze, and Ilia's heart rate spiked at seeing tears in her eyes. "After losing Snow, I had no one. I can't go through that again."
Weiss wiped away the tears, turning away from Ilia. "You want to know why I'm giving you a chance? I gave three people a chance who I never would have in any other circumstance, and it proved to be the best decision I ever made. I want to give that to you as well." She exhaled deeply. "And I hope you'll do the same for me."
Ilia stared at the girl practically pouring her heart out. A chance. That was what Weiss wanted, and what she was willing to give. Not for any greed, but because she believed it was the right thing to do.
Who was this girl, to grow up as a Schnee and turn out this way? Just looking at her still made every aggressive instinct Ilia had scream at her to attack. Years of hate were telling her one thing, while Weiss' words were telling her another.
But wasn't that a point? Wasn't putting aside their pasts exactly what Weiss wanted? If it was anyone else, Ilia would have given in by now. The only reason she hadn't was because Weiss was a Schnee. Could Ilia still preach about human scorn while she refused to let herself near someone only because of their name?
Ilia held out her hand before she could think about it any more. "A chance," she said. "I can try."
Weiss eyed the hand for a moment.
Then shook it.