Chapter 3
It appears that you are all fine with the relatively slow pace that I'm going at so far, so that's what I'll be sticking with. Thanks for the input!
Regarding the admittedly atrocious delay of this chapter, all I can say is "I'm sorry". School has started for me and I have a VERY heavy workload this year (along with university applications causing me PANIC). I haven't given up on this fic and will still be working on it periodically of course, but I can't promise consistent updates.
D:
Please forgive me.
On the bright side, here's chapter 3!
Weiss blinked.
She was staring at the sky.
It's a very pretty sky.
She blinked again.
Penny's concerned face popped into her vision. "Friend Weiss! Are you okay? Are you hurt?"
"Er, yes. Yes, I am. I believe so. And no, I'm not. Thank y-"
Then Weiss' brain caught up, and her eyes widened. "Wait, no! Not okay!" She leapt to her feet. Penny went forgotten as she spun a full circle, taking in her surroundings with increasing horror.
"Oh, gods…"
Her suitcase lay on the ground, its reinforced lid blown open with the locking mechanism shattered into a thousand pieces. The pavement around it was charred and blackened, but that wasn't important.
What was important was her Dust! The containers of six variants of A5 weapons grade Dust once arranged in neat rows inside the case, was now nothing but a mess of shattered glass and multicolored streaks.
That was her month's supply! All gone, and the initiation was tomorrow!
Weiss was a specialized fighter who relied heavily on Dust, and extremely specific types of processed Dust at that. She needed it in order to imbue her attacks with power that they would otherwise be lacking in. Not to mention that if she wanted to do anything useful with her glyphs at all, then chances were she would need the additional effects provided by Dust.
Without Dust, her combat ability was crippled, and now she had none! There wasn't even enough time left for her to make the trip to Vale and buy more, what with candidates not being allowed to leave Beacon for the remainder of the day.
Panic gave way to a burning anger as Weiss' gaze focused onto the perpetrator. "You!" She seethed, stalking forwards.
The girl in question, still sat dazed on the ground, took one look at Weiss and immediately shrunk into herself. "I-I'm sorry…" She stuttered. "I didn't mean-" She cut off with an "eep!" as she received the full brunt of the enraged heiress' glare.
With a lengthy tirade already prepared in her mind, Weiss opened her mouth to unleash the avalanche of insults. Then a hand fell on her shoulder.
The surprise alone stopped her from tearing that imbecile a new one, if only temporarily.
Weiss was by no means an individual used to physical contact, having been taught all her life that it was to be avoided like the plague. She whirled around, fully intending to cut the offending limb off its owner before she realized who said owner was.
"Friend Weiss, let us retrieve your belongings together. I would be happy to be of aid!"
Penny's tone, of such bright and unwavering cheer, was so at odds with Weiss' current mood that she could only blink again.
"… What?"
At that moment, as if taking advantage of the momentary lull in Weiss' rage, Jaune stepped past her. "Let's not cause a scene." He said softly, out of the corner of his mouth, shooting her a look that was equal parts firm and pleading. "I'll talk to her."
"I agree with Jaune." Penny tugged at Weiss, then raised her voice. "Come, Weiss! We can discuss this unfortunate incident later."
...
They're right. A small, barely audible voice at the back of her head said. Weiss' eyes flickered left and right, finally noticing the crowd of onlookers that had began to form, no doubt eager for some early morning entertainment in the form of a Schnee making a fool of herself screaming at an unfortunate soul.
Weiss took a deep breath.
First impressions. First impressions are important. Calm down. Calm down. A Schnee is always calm. A Schnee is always logical. There are too many people around for you to be seen acting otherwise.
She wanted Jaune and Penny as her teammates, and losing composure in front of them would be less than conducive to that goal - yet she'd would've done just that if not for them. They seemed to think no less of her for it. No disguised condescension, no subtly patronizing remarks. None of what she had become so used to in Atlas.
Slowly, Weiss felt her anger recede. Not that it was gone, of course. Merely contained.
"Very well." She replied. "Thank you for offering to help, Penny."
Penny gave her an enthusiastic thumbs-up.
Sparing a grateful glance at Jaune, Weiss allowed Penny to pull her towards her ruined case. She knelt, deciding to try and salvage whatever was left of its contents.
Then, unable to fight the urge, she turned and glared at the black-haired, idiot-slash-buffoon again.
"But don't think you're off the hook yet." She muttered.
Weiss walked to Jaune's right. To his left was Penny, and to hers Ruby.
It was probably a good idea to put as much distance between the two as possible.
As to why Ruby was even with them, Jaune had made the executive decision to bring her along the moment he saw those eyes - wide and frightened, like those of a terrified, lost puppy. He had been certain the tiny girl would break down into tears if they left her alone there, and that would've haunted his dreams for all eternity.
So that was all well and good, except for the fact that no one had spoken for a full two minutes now. Ruby would wilt and try to hide behind Penny whenever Weiss so much as twitched in her direction, and Weiss, well…
He had to give her credit. She'd managed to keep herself from exploding at Ruby, and clearly it was taking a plentiful amount of effort from the way her jaw would tighten and her fists would clench every few seconds.
A little sad that all it takes for a Schnee to impress me is for her not to yell at someone, eh?
Perhaps starting a conversation with her would help, but Jaune, being the coward he was, hadn't been able to work up the courage. Penny, for some reason, had yet to speak up either. Chances were, she just hadn't noticed the issue at all.
Another impossibly awkward twenty seconds passed.
"Sooo," Jaune began, finally breaking the silence, and promptly regretted it when he realized he had completely no idea what to say.
Three pairs of eyes zeroed in on him.
Damnit, think of something! Quick!
"… Nice weather today."
If, somewhere high above, there were any deities watching, Jaune had no doubt that their faces would be buried in their hands.
Penny perked up, and - thank the Gods - came to his rescue. "Yes. I agree! The weather is indeed very nice today. Vale certainly has a more pleasant climate than that I am used to in Atlas. What do you think, Weiss?"
Weiss blinked, which seemed to be starting to become something of a trend with Penny. "The same?" She replied, hesitantly. "Atlas tends towards much lower temperatures in general year-round." Then she picked up on what Penny was attempting to do, and closed her eyes, letting out a long breath.
"Alright. You."
Ruby started, reflexively jumping behind Penny again before peeking out at Weiss. "Me?"
"Who else could I be addressing? Of course it's you, you dol-" Weiss' mouth snapped shut. She drew in and released another deep breath. "Excuse me. What I meant to say, is that I… I- all is… all is forgiven. I do not blame you for an unfortunate accident, so do not misunderstand. I am not angry at you, Ruby. Merely upset."
Weiss finished by directing a death-glare at a nearby tree.
As immature as it was, Jaune, seeing the twitch of Weiss' eyebrow breaking through her mask of forced calm as if just to spite her, couldn't help the laughter bubbling up inside him. He had to turn away, masking his mirth with a cough lest the irate Heiress' ire be diverted to him.
Less than convincing, yes, but at least she made the effort. That is commendable. You shouldn't laugh. He scolded himself, then "coughed" loudly into his arm again.
"How absolutely sensational!" Penny exclaimed. Jaune caught her arm moving, and ducked out of the way in the nick of time, as she dragged the other two girls into a crushing hug. "So that means we can all become good - no, the BEST - friends now! Right, Weiss?
Weiss choked what might have been "yes", or might have been "help". He couldn't tell.
"Penny. Let them breathe."
"Oh. Oops." Penny said, and released her asphyxiating victims. She patted Ruby's back. "At any rate, friend Ruby- do I have your permission to call you that?"
A wheezing Ruby managed a weak nod.
Penny beamed. "Wonderful! Friend Ruby, as I was saying, it would appear that you have made a friend in Weiss!"
If Weiss wanted to disagree there, she didn't have the lung capacity to.
Ruby, once recovered though, looked hopeful - and Jaune didn't know whether to admire her optimism or pity her naivety. "Really?"
"Really!" Penny said.
Not entirely impressed with her lack of say in the matter but having no other option, Weiss threw her arms up in defeat when faced with the full force of Ruby's wide, pleading eyes. "Yes, yes! Fine! We can be friends! Stop with that pathetic-" She sighed and shook her head. "Never mind. What's past is past."
Jaune had to admit to being thoroughly surprised by the turn of events - this was not by any means behaviour he'd expected of Weiss. That did not, however, stop him from making the best of it. "Well put, Weiss." He said. "We'll see what we can do about your Dust later. I packed some reserves, so you can use that tomorrow if it's compatible with you. For now, I don't believe any of us have introduced ourselves to Ruby proper yet."
"Indeed we have not." Weiss puffed up immediately, her earlier anger dissipating to be replaced by pride. "I, as you should already know, am Weiss Schnee."
"Nice to meet you, Weiss! I'm Ruby." The small girl had stopped cowering behind her Penny-barrier, and had quite jarringly transitioned into a rather infectious cheer. She paused. "I think I've heard your name somewhere. Are you a famous person or something?"
…
Jaune could've sworn that in that instant, the temperature around them dropped by full ten degrees.
Even Penny's eyes widened - it was that bad.
Sorry, Ruby. You're on your own here.
"Truth be told, I… may have overreacted. Just a little." Weiss admitted several minutes later, somewhat sheepishly, as she walked. "I apologize for my misconduct."
That was, well, an understatement. Nevertheless, Jaune found himself caught off guard by her words. He'd thought the mutual exclusiveness of a Schnee and the state of being apologetic all but a proven fact.
Which, if he were to be perfectly honest with himself, wasn't at all fair to Weiss. She was not her father, and he had no right to judge her for the actions of the SDC. All that he could accuse her of right now was having a short temper, and any more was unfounded prejudice.
He'd need to keep reminding himself of that.
Penny spoke before Jaune could come up with a diplomatic enough response. "There is no reason for you to apologize to us, is there? I would assume that it would be more appropriate for you to do so to Ruby."
Said girl had, upon catching a glimpse of someone in the crowd, frantically fled in the middle of Weiss' do-you-have-any-idea-who-I-am-and-how-important-my-family-is speech with an "oh my Gods she's over there SAVE ME YANG!"
And I still haven't figured out where those rose petals are coming from.
Weiss scoffed. "Why on Remnant would I do that? She was the one who ran into me, and it was her fault that I no longer have my Dust!"
She wasn't going to make it easy for him to like her, was she?
"But did you not just say that you had overre-"
"About your Dust," Jaune said quickly. "I did say you could use me and Penny's extra for tomorrow's initiation. Your casing was that of… A5, if my memory serves me right?"
"It was." Weiss confirmed. Then she fell into a brief silence, and he barely noticed her subtly biting her lip. "I will accept your offer with utmost gratitude." She sighed. "As much as I'd hate to inconvenience you, I would appreciate having access to Dust for something as significant as our initiation."
You know, Weiss, a simple "yes" would have sufficed.
She cleared her throat, then continued. "Rest assured, you will be compensated the cost of any Dust I expend. It would not be fitting of a Schne-"
"That won't be necessary." Penny interrupted for him. "This isn't business. We're all fighting together as comrades. Besides, you're our friend! Me and Jaune always help our friends."
Weiss shook her head. "No. On this, I am firm. I will pay you for your Dust that I use."
Strange thing to be so adamant about, Jaune mused internally. A5 Dust was expensive, for sure, but one mission's worth of it really shouldn't be significant by anyone's standards. He wasn't about to argue, though. "We can hardly object to that." He laughed. "I'll do my best to get a vial to you tonight so you can calibrate your equipment."
"I can help with that!" Penny added, to which Weiss nodded distractedly in response.
They had passed the set of double colonnades encircling the glass-domed amphitheatre then, joining the bottleneck forming at the entrance to the assembly area, and the Heiress' attention had swiftly turned away from them and to the throng of bodies pressing ever closer.
And the most-indignant-expression-of-the-year-award goes to…
"Eventful morning." He whispered to Penny.
She giggled. "Oh, quite! I do find interaction with friend Weiss enjoyable. I am, in fact, pleasantly surprised by her."
Jaune wasn't sure if Penny was trying to whisper back to him. If she was, then she failed miserably, if the very-visibly reddening Weiss beside him was any indication.
You and me both, Penny.
"I am also excited to hear Headmaster Ozpin's speech! General Ironwood gives the same one every year and I'm afraid it has consistently been…" She lowered her voice. "Exceedingly boring."
Jaune rolled his eyes. "You don't need to tell me. I was there with you."
I swear, if I have to listen to a "Courage, Discipline, Perseverance" speech again I am leaving and jumping off the cliff.
Then he frowned.
Focus. Don't get too comfortable. He chided himself. You can relax and let your thoughts wander after you successfully avoid getting murdered in initiation.
Next chapter will be a small bit of the "everybody sleeps on the floor" scene, and then we'll be moving onto the initiation proper.
