Sorry this one took so long, there has been a lot going on. Hope you guys like this. Let me know by shooting a review!
NOTE: Recently edited for plot holes and stuff
Awoken
Now that she was out of Ruby's room she indeed noticed he left during the day and usually didn't come back until dinner. When she woke up in the mornings he was gone so she left for the little glade and practiced by herself. After a few days Qrow finally got some time to practice with her. The morning was the usual routine for Weiss, except after lunch Qrow followed her to the clearing. He observed her targets and noticed the gauges in the wood.
"You've been working hard."
"I need to get better."
"For what?"
"For the next time." she said simply.
"Sounds reasonable." He straightened up and drew his weapon. "How do you want to start?"
"Just a spar I guess." She pulled out Myrtenaster.
He bowed deeply and smirked. "Ladies first."
She took her stance and let a beat pause before she charged. He sidestepped her advance easily but she anticipated it, and rounded on him quickly. He jumped out of reach with raised eyebrows.
"You have been working hard."
This time he didn't let her do all of the work. In sword form, he raised his weapon and slashed. She flipped to a safe distance before spinning her chamber to an ice Dust. She activated a circle of glyphs around him and tried to execute her normal slashing attack but he knocked her off rhythm after the first slash. She flew almost ten feet before she stopped herself and turned around. He was already halfway to her, positioned in a vicious stab. She threw up a barrier glyph and he hit it instead of her. As his sword was bounced off, she flashed out and aimed for his ribs. She actually landed one hit before she had to bend out of the way of his sword. She landed solidly on her feet, but when she looked up he was already in her face. His tackle knocked her back into a tree. She slammed into the wood and slid down in a heap. Her head was pounding but she jumped up and braced herself for his follow-up attack. But his sword tip was on the ground and he was in a relaxed stance.
"Take a break kid, catch your breath."
She nodded and bent over a little, panting.
"Well, all your practicing has paid off. You've gotten better."
"I was just out of practice." She stood and walked over to him.
"Can you Summon yet?"
She cast him a wary glance. "How do you know about that?"
"Your sister and I have had our tousles in the past."
"A little."
"Maybe we can work on that one day. I don't know much but I have some tips that might help you. We should focus on basic combat for a while though. You're good, but you're not good enough yet."
"There is never good enough." Weiss recited one of her childhood lessons. "Someone is always better than you."
"Not a bad saying, but that's not very optimistic."
"The world isn't very optimistic right now."
He chuckled and nodded, pulling out his flask and taking a small sip. "It probably won't be for a while. But there are always just enough people left hoping that we piece ourselves back together again."
"Like Ruby." Weiss rolled her eyes. "She is always looking on the bright side, always has a plan."
"They both can be like that at times. Yang not so much lately, but she is understandably a little out of spirits right now."
Weiss nodded, refilling Myrtenaster. "Are you ready to go again?"
"In a minute." He took another swig before putting it away. "You should try and focus on not casting so many glyphs at once. It makes your moves easy to anticipate if you lay them out all at once."
"It's really hard for me to think on the fly like that."
"But it also makes it easier to adapt to any changes, and you don't waste Aura on glyphs that you end up not using."
She pursed her lips. "It takes a lot of concentration."
He gestured around the glade. "All we have is time right now. Just start out with casting all but the last glyph. I'll stay in place this time so you can get used to it."
She nodded and closed her eyes to focus. She cast her usual glyph sequence all except the last one, but kept it's desired place in her mind. She had just launched off of her second to last one when Qrow pashed her a little off balance. Already primed in anticipation, her Aura cast the last glyph out of reflex, saving her from a fall and allowing her to deliver her last strike.
"You said you were going to stay in place!"
"And battles never go as planned. You should never trust what your opponent says." He smirked. "It worked though, didn't it?"
She huffed but didn't respond.
"That is what you should do all the time. Always be prepared for the next glyph. Just like you were ready and you caught yourself. Trust your Aura. Let's try again."
He moved around the glade this time, and she was eventually only able to cast one glyph at a time to keep up with him. In a constant state of activity, her Aura weakened ten times as fast. After only thirty minutes of sparring she felt the drain and had to stop.
"Not bad for your first time." He smiled and sheathed his sword. "We should go back now; you need to rest. We can come out here again tomorrow. You need to work on it every day to build up your Aura's strength. It's a lot like a muscle, the more you use it, the faster it gets at responding and replenishing."
She nodded a little wearily and fell into step behind him for the walk back. It pulled out his flask again and took a deep draft.
"How do you fight drunk all the time?"
"It's an art." He smiled. "You learn to get used to it."
She had nothing to say to that and so they walked on in silence.
They were almost to the house when he spoke up again. "Do you think you could talk to Yang? Get her to come out here with us?"
She shook her head. "She never listens to me."
"If she doesn't start soon, she may never start again. The longer she goes without it, the more her resentment will grow."
"She doesn't do anything she doesn't want to. She can be very head strong." The house came into view. "The only person she might listen to right now is Blake or Ruby, and both of those options are kind of unavailable right now."
He nodded, deep in thought. Weiss walked in first and headed directly to the shower. The hot water restored her strength but she remained a little weak. She hadn't been put through anything like that before. She ate like a starved cow at dinner and Taiyang smiled at her renewed spirits. They made small talk and then parted their separate ways after dinner as usual. After dinner she left the house in her usual routine. She didn't bring her weapon this time, this wasn't for combat training. It was dusk, and the birds were singing in the trees. She stood in the middle of the clearing and listened to their tunes for a while. Then she opened her mouth to sing.
She didn't sing anything in particular. There weren't even words, it was just tunes. She responded to some of the birds and they sang back. She pushed out every emotion she had been feeling for the past weeks. Every lost friend, every gained ability, every tear, and every laugh came out in her song. Her voice traveled around the glade until she had expelled every feeling she could have ever felt. As her song died she heard all the birds go quiet too. Night had fallen, she had better go home. She stopped herself. Home? She hadn't realized she had come to think of this little island as a home, but it felt right to call it that. Her thoughts explored this as she walked back.
She was so focused on her thoughts, she noticed the lumbering footsteps a little late. It wasn't until a twig cracked about five feet behind her that she turned around. A Beowolf stood almost twice her size, eyes glowing in the darkness. She opened her mouth in fear, thinking of her trusty rapier standing dutifully in the corner of Ruby's room. She activated a rune and jumped away as it delivered the first swipe. It clipped her heel, sending her into a nosedive. She rolled head over heels twice before coming to a stop. Her ankle was bleeding through the slice in her boot. It growled and jumped for her, claws aimed for her head. It's huge paw bounced off the protective bubble she'd thrown up but she was running out of ideas fast.
A flash of light, a yelp, and it was all over. The Beowolf's body was smoking at Qrow's feet. His weapon was in scythe form and stood silhouetted in the moonlight next to his dark figure. He collapsed his sword and put it away before turning to her. She was shaking a little but trying to keep it under control. He noticed her clutching her ankle and knelt down to assess it. He saw her boot and her hand were wet with blood and her face was twisted in pain a little. He cursed before picking her up in his arms. She protested but he shushed her.
"It's bad enough I have to cart you home, don't make it worse by complaining all the way."
"Excuse me?" she shrieked
"Just keep quiet, I have to listen. There might be more around here. Beowolves travel-"
"-in packs. I know, I'm not stupid."
He chuckled but didn't respond to her jab. The house came in view soon enough and he kicked open the front door. He laid her on the couch and Taiyang rushed in.
"I was about to leave to go try and find you. What happened?" he saw the blood.
"Weiss ran into a Beowolf without her weapon." Qrow filled him in. He left and returned with bandages while Taiyang worked off her boot as carefully as he could.
Qrow knelt down and began to wrap her foot. The gash was deep, but it was a clean cut.
"You're Aura is too weak to heal it right now, but you should be better in the morning. You just need some rest."
She nodded and winced as he set her foot down.
"I'm glad you're okay." Taiyang smiled. "Monty knows we have enough injuries in this home."
"I can take you to your bed." Qrow said and scooped her up without pausing for consent.
She huffed but bore it, and he set her gently on the bed. He handed her a nightgown from her drawer and left the room. She changed as best she could, dumping her remaining boot on the floor. She laid back and tried to push away the ebb of pain. Her ankle was throbbing and she felt her Aura straining to heal it. After what must have been hours she felt the wound seal up. It was tender to the touch but the skin was smooth again and there was no more bleeding. She walked around the room to test it and found it was only a little tender. She left the room to go get a drink of water from the kitchen but stopped on the stairs when she heard the two men talking. She hesitated, not wanting to interrupt them.
"Why was it so close to the house?"
"I'm sure it was attracted by all the negative emotion that's been going on lately. With Yang and Ruby, we've all been a little down. There was no sign of a pack."
"It's a good thing you went to search for her."
"I guess." Qrow shrugged
"She's exactly as Ruby described her." Taiyang chuckled. "A Schnee through and through. I'm going to go check on Yang before I go to bed, see if she needs anything."
"I'll do it. I want to talk to her anyway."
Weiss heard Taiyang leave and head for his own bedroom. She was just about to turn away when Qrow's voice stopped her.
"You can come out, you little snoop."
"I was coming to get a glass of water." She snapped, making her way down the rest of the stairs.
"And you just happened to stand there for a couple minutes."
"I didn't want to interrupt you." She crossed her arms and stared at him.
"Water is that way." He pointed to the kitchen.
She flipped her hair and walked away, pulling a cup out of the cabinet and filling it in the sink. The water gave some moisture back to her throat and she was grateful to be rid of the scratching a healing always left her.
"I see you're all better now."
"It fixed up a little while ago."
"You'll need to take it easy on it tomorrow. You should stay inside."
"I'll see what I feel like doing." She scowled and drained the rest of the glass.
He chuckled and took another swig, holding it out to her when he caught the look of displeasure on her face. "Want some?"
"No thank you." She turned up her nose as she put her dirty glass in the sink.
"Suit yourself." He drained the rest of it and she smelled it from where she stood.
"Are you ever not drunk?"
"Not if I can help it." He smiled, walking over to refill it from one of the bottles he kept in the cabinet.
She rolled her eyes and turned to leave. He followed her into the living room and sat on the couch while she slowly made her way up the stairs.
"Don't break a nail." He quipped as she made it to the top.
She huffed but didn't grace his comment with a response. The room was dark and she had to move even slower to make sure she didn't bump into anything.
The next day she stayed inside, under the pretense of healing. It wasn't a complete lie, but the real truth was the Beowolf encounter had left her far more shaken then she should have been. She'd felt so helpless and resolved to never be without her weapon ever again.
Qrow had left during the day as usual and he must have gone into town or something because he filled Taiyang and herself in over the meatloaf.
"The dragon's still frozen, Ruby did quite the number on it, but the Grimm are still increasing. They're asking for any Hunters who can spare the time and Dust."
"What about the other Vale students?" she asked him.
"Well, there's still quite a few missing. A lot of them stayed behind to help but a lot of them also left. Most of the focus has been on protecting what's left of Vale. Shifting through Beacon's rubble isn't high priority at the moment."
"I've been thinking about offering to send Ruby and Yang to one of the other schools next year if they want to. They need to continue their education."
"Are the robots still in the city?" she asked Qrow.
"Yes, but the people aren't liking them. No one trusts the Atlesian soldiers anymore. People want real humans protecting them again. It's a bit of a setback." he gave a dark chuckle. "No one knows who to trust anymore. And Ozpin being gone isn't helping."
"Is he…dead?"
The men exchanged looks. "Nah. Old Oz will find his way back soon or later. One way or another. He's not that easy to get rid of."
She nodded slowly. She finished her plate and put away her dishes, going into the living room to read. Qrow walked in and sat on the couch across from her. It was quiet for a while before he spoke up.
"Thank you, by the way." she said to the silence.
"Schnee's can actually be grateful for something?"
"Of course we can." She snapped her book shut. "If you hadn't been there I don't know what would have happened. So thank you."
"Don't make me regret it." He met her eyes. "We can go train again tomorrow. I'll be leaving a little sooner than I thought. I'm going to try and wait on Ruby but I want to make sure you are ready when I do go."
"Do you know where you're going?"
"Of course I do, not that I'm going to tell nosy teenagers."
"I am making conversation."
He nodded with sarcasm. "Sure. I was wondering if you could do something for me."
"Yes?"
"When I leave, keep Ruby and Yang…I don't really know how to put this. Taiyang will keep them safe, but keep them company. They both will need to bounce back and get in the game."
"It'll be hard. We really have nothing to focus on."
"I can fix that." He gave her a sneaky smile and stood up. "I'm running into town tomorrow to get some things for the house. Do you want to come?"
"I suppose." She nodded and stood up. "Goodnight."
He grunted and she made her way up the stairs. Her ankle was feeling better and she was glad not have to do a balancing act just to get to the bathroom. She changed into her pajamas and laid on the bed, staring at the ceiling. Around midnight she heard rustling and looked over to see Ruby stirring. She jumped out of bed and flipped the light on. Ruby eyes were moving under the closed lids and she was making small grunting noises. She flew down the stairs on and banged on Taiyang's door, shouting at him to get up. He opened the door, still dressed, and Qrow woke up in a groggy state from the couch. They ran up to the room together and Ruby was still tossing and turning. She tried shaking her gently but Ruby was still out cold. After an hour of this they guessed she was dreaming. This was a good sign but it didn't fix their situation. Weiss finally said she would stay up with her and they set up a sort of rotation. Ruby tossed for hours, tangling the sheets around her feet multiple times and nearly falling off the bed twice. After a few hours Taiyang came up and told her to get some sleep. She laid down in her bed and passed out immediately, but her dreams were as unsettling as Ruby's probably were.
She was on top of the tower with Ruby. Everything was white, she felt the screech of the dragon Grimm hanging in the night air like a dying piano note. Ruby laid collapsed on the stone floor. She ran over to her and shook her viciously. She was mumbling incoherently and crying silver tears. Weiss herself started crying because she couldn't get Ruby to wake up but she knew she needed to. She looked around and saw a huge bird perched on one of the stone pillars. Its whiteness blended in with the light of the night and it was difficult to keep focused on it. It looked at her with its red eyes and cocked its head.
"Please, we have to help her." She asked it.
It gave a little jump before fluttering down next to the pair of girls. It looked at Ruby and gave a small caw before looking at Weiss and fluttering its wings a little. Then it attacked her.
It pecked her in the hands when she tried to shield her face. Then it went for her eyes. The pain was blinding and she felt blood on her fingers. She jerked awake with a scream to Qrow shaking her awake. He had to pry her fingers away from her face. But when she looked at her hands she saw only tears. She was panting heavily. She looked over at Ruby who seemed to have calmed down a little. She was still in her slumber for now. Weiss had to fight her body from shaking. Once he saw she was awake Qrow leaned back and sat on the end of her bed. She took a minute to get her bearings before she looked at him.
"I'm sorry. You can go to sleep now if you want."
"No need to apologize. Are you alright?"
"I'm fine."
"You don't have to lie, no one but me can hear you." He pulled out his flask and offered it to her.
"No thank you." She scrunched up her nose and he smiled.
"That's more like it. Now tell me what it was about."
"I said I'm fine." She shot back, standing up to get a drink of water. When she returned back to the bedroom he hadn't moved.
"It's bad to keep things bottled up."
"Should I talk to the bottle, like you do?"
He held his hand to his heart in fake shock. "You wound me."
She didn't respond and instead checked on Ruby. She was still out cold. She gave her partner's hand a supportive squeeze.
"Go to sleep, Princess. You need it more than I do."
"I said I'm fine."
"No need to get snippy." He quipped. "I've been meaning to talk to you about something anyways."
"Yes?"
Before he could say anything, Ruby stirred a little. They both looked at her and her eyes fluttered open. Weiss gave a wide smile and yelled for Qrow to get Taiyang. She grabbed Ruby's hand as she woke up. She saw Weiss and immediately hugged her. They stayed locked in the embrace until the men walked back into the room.
"Dad!"
"Ruby!" he rushed over and took Weiss' spot, giving his daughter a hug.
"Uncle Qrow?" she looked over Taiyang's shoulder
"Hey squirt."
"Why is everyone here? Why is Weiss here? Where am I?" she started to look a little confused.
They exchanged glances. "Ruby, it's been a while. What exactly do you remember?"
She looked away in thought. "I remember the tournament. And Penny got hurt." She cast her eyes down and Weiss knew the memories were coming in clearer. "I remember the battle starting, and I watched Roman get eaten by a Griffin. When I came back I saw Yang and the dragon appeared. Weiss and I left to go fight it but it went to the top of the tower. Cinder was up there with Pyrrha and she…she…" Ruby stopped.
Weiss walked around the bed and took her free hand.
Qrow sounded almost reassuring. "It's alright, Ruby. You've been through a lot. Yes, the battle did happen. After everyone saw what happened at the Tournament, everything went crazy. Grimm swarmed the school, the White Fang infiltrated it too. Hunters were fighting everywhere. Vale was almost overrun. When the Dragon Grimm appeared you two left. What you saw was true, Pyrrha is gone."
Ruby closed her eyes tightly and Weiss rubbed her back.
"There are a lot of unanswered questions from that night, Ruby." Taiyang lifted her chin up. "But what's important is that you girls are safe."
"And Yang? Did she really…?"
"She is healing well, but she is hurt pretty bad." He squeezed her hand. "She will want to see you when you're ready."
"If you two wouldn't mind, I'd like to talk to my niece in private."
Weiss nodded and after giving her friend a quick hug she followed Taiyang out of the room, who left a lot more reluctantly. Weiss went into the living room and sat on the couch, planning to wait out the two Hunters. But she dozed off almost as soon as she sat down. She didn't wake up until the early afternoon, and she had to rush to get ready in time to go with Qrow into town.
It was very depressing. The people looked haggard and worn, and no one smiled anymore. She saw a few Hunters from Beacon but after a hurried hello they went about their business. Qrow led her through town as he made his stops. He ditched her when he wanted to go to a bar and she wandered the streets on her own.
After nearly an hour, and bringing a strong stench with him, Qrow found her and they got on the plane to head home. He just stared out the window and she did the same, thinking about Ruby. She wasn't sure how the happy girl would be taking the crushing news that had happened at the Battle. For that train of thought, she didn't even know how Yang was taking it. She resolved to talk to both girls before dinner.
They arrived at the house and unloaded their groceries. After everything was settled Weiss went in and checked on Ruby. She was on her Scroll, trying to catch up on the time she had been out. Weiss walked in to brush her hair after the plane ride and Ruby watched her.
"Where's Blake?"
Weiss thought about her response, not wanting to upset Ruby but also not wanting to sugar-coating it. "I don't know, Ruby. Off dealing with her own problems."
"Why did she leave us?"
"She had to fight a White Fang member, and they hurt Yang. I'm sure she feels guilty." She moved to sit on the end of Ruby's bed. "There might even be something going on that we don't know about."
"I don't blame her; I just wish she was here." Ruby looked in the mirror that was across her bed. "She'll come back though, I know she will."
"I'm sure she will Ruby. She just needs some time."
"Jaune wrote me. He wants to go after Cinder."
She had figured they were Jaune's letters Qrow had been bringing from town. "We don't even know where she is, Ruby. And after what happened to Pyrrha, I really think we should think about it. It's dangerous."
"Everything's dangerous. But we can't just sit here."
"We won't Ruby. We need to train some more. I've been going out with your uncle sometimes, or by myself. We need to get better. Your Father said he could send you to another academy in the fall if you wanted."
"No! I want Blake back, and I want to take out Cinder." Ruby gave a very motivated look. "I can't sit at another school while she runs free out there. And besides, Uncle Qrow said something about going to Haven soon on something for Ozpin. I'm sure it has something to do with her."
"Ruby, we can't know that for sure. And you have no idea what you're running into."
"We'll figure it out on the way." Ruby leaned in closer. "Come on Weiss, it'll be fun."
"It's a suicide mission. Jaune is just acting out, Ruby. He's upset about Pyrrha and I understand but we need to take things slower."
"That's not what Uncle Qrow says."
"Qrow drinks alcohol like it's water, he isn't the best for life advice."
"Uncle Qrow is the best!"
"I'm not saying he isn't." Weiss rolled her eyes at the younger girl. "I told you he's been helping me with training. But we need to be cautious, now isn't a time for rash decisions. Yang needs you right now."
Ruby looked at the covers. "I don't know what to tell her."
"Just be there for her. You know I can't talk to her like you can."
"I just don't know what to say. It's all wrong. This isn't how things were supposed to go. We were supposed to win. We're the good guys."
"We did win, Ruby, just not the way we wanted. Not completely. The Grimm were stopped, we saved a lot of people. That wasn't nothing. We just need to stay focused and work on what we can."
"I'm tired Weiss, I think I'm going to take a nap."
"Okay, I'll let you sleep." Weiss patted her friends hand and stood up. "I'll come wake you up for dinner."
"Thanks Weiss." She smiled and pulled the covers over her.
