Shopping.

Ruby wanted to go on a day out shopping. That was her demand.

Weiss had attacked her, frozen and burned her, literally shot flames at her, and when given the total free reign to appropriately waste, or make an absolute hell, the equivalent amount of time, what did Ruby Rose say?

She wanted to spend said time as friends and partners, and to that vein, said they should go shopping. Just them, Blake and Yang not included, just the two of them. 'BFF's Day Out' as she'd put it.

Either that was Ruby trying to make the weirdest form of torture known to man, or she was legitimately this eager for Weiss and to go shopping with her.

The heiress to the world's largest supplier of Hero equipment wasn't going to lie - She was pretty gobsmacked about the logic being used here. She'd attacked Ruby with total intent to cause a serious fight between the two, out of pent up fury and frustration, two things that should never be expressed or felt between partners under any circumstances, and not only that, she'd actually hurt her too. Those attacks that she'd launched had been designed and calculated to cause bodily damage to Ruby, so she'd be less physically capable during their fight. She'd wanted to hurt her, fight her until one of them wasn't even able to stand up anymore.

Her use of her fire powers was proof enough of her animositic intent. It had been quite a while since she'd actually used it against a person. She was completely aware of how dangerous her flames were, so she restrained herself appropriately, so as not to cause collateral damage or harm anyone due to her own carelessness. She was a Schnee after all, she was expected to be able to maintain her own abilities, most of all her own Trait. She'd be the most unworthy heir in all of Remnant if she couldn't even control her own powers.

Of course, her injury that she had suffered meant that it was more difficult to control. Being unable to feel the temperatures generated around her, meant she was unable to feel them bouncing back towards her, which she relied on as a form of echolocation, to tell her when it was safe and when it wasn't to either press the attack, or bail out before she hurt someone she didn't mean to.

So every move she made, they were all intentional, deliberate and planned out for the effect that she desired. Every motion and discharge of her ice or her fire was calculated for the result that Weiss wanted. She didn't make mistakes in this regard. Her team knew this.

And Ruby's logic?

"Let's have some fun today, Weiss!" The hyper-energetic girl happily exclaimed, already skipping through the main district of the city of Vale, her red cape extruding about a good meter and a bit behind her. How she didn't trip over it constantly, Weiss really had no idea.

Still, the pale skinned Thermo user stood about three feet behind, still slightly daunted by how casually the other girl was brushing this off. She agreed to be here mostly because she had promised to be here, and felt guilty about the previous night, if not for those two reasons, she wouldn't have ever dreamt of coming here under these particular circumstances unless she desperately needed something from the stores there. She was here to keep her promise, a trait that she Schnee's were always supposed to uphold.

That didn't mean that she knew why Ruby was insisting on doing this today though. If it had been Weiss in the situation Ruby had been forced into, she would use the opportunity to enact some petty revenge. That was just how she was. Not Ruby though.

Her scar throbbed for a second in utter confusion and misunderstanding.

It didn't normally do this. This was thanks to Ruby's hit that had landed the previous night. Weiss brought up the corresponding hand and clutched it, hissing lightly at the unexpected flare. She'd felt it for a while after initially receiving the injury, but she'd gotten over it within a few weeks. With luck, this would be the same situation.

Still, she could feel the blood thumping through it rhythmically coinciding with her heartbeat. It would fade in a few seconds, she knew, since she knew what to expect from this sort of injury. It wasn't an unfamiliar sensation. She'd felt it multiple times before in the past.

"Hey, you okay Weiss?" Ruby's voice came up again, expressing concern for her partner. In spite of the many hits to the back of the head Weiss had given her for doing so, she had used her Teleportation to double back next to her in an instant. Just such concern from her voice, Weiss wasn't able to understand why.

"Y-Yes, I'm fine. Just a pain." She responded quickly, looking away. How could Ruby feel that concern? After what she'd done...

She couldn't. There wasn't any way that she was able to.

"You sure? You did go see the doctors, right? You promised you - "

"Yes I'm sure, and yes I got the wound treated, you dolt!" Snapped Weiss. "You were there! You were the one who took me there!"

Ruby smirked and rolled her silver eyes. "Yeah... But it's not like it'd be weird if you just up and left when I went away."

"In what sane world would I do that while they were gluing my eye back together?"

"...To keep up the whole... Weiss... Thing?"

"...Inform me, Ruby, what exactly is my 'Weiss thing'?" The Schnee heiress folded her arms and shifted her weight onto her left leg, quirking an eyebrow upwards and glaring at her younger partner.

Looking like she was about to break into a fit of sweat, Ruby glanced left to right rapidly, like she was suddenly looking for an escape, by whatever means she had to use in order to escape Weiss's inevitable wrath. "Uh... Y'know, the Ice Queen deal."

Weiss twitched, still completely hating that nickname that she'd been bestowed by her team. She'd gotten better at hiding just the depths of her contempt for it, and gotten slightly more used to it, but she still truly despised it to no end. She came very close to growling, but stopped herself just before she did so.

Both of them then stared right at one another for a few seconds, neither saying a word, until Ruby suddenly found herself with the largest grin on her face, struggling to hold back the very clear laughter that she was desperate to let out. It didn't take her long to eventually just fail outright, and suddenly be reduced to tears from her constant giggles and guffaws.

It looked like her mouth had exploded from holding back an explosive when she finally gave in and began to laugh like a maniac. She wasn't quiet about it either, causing a small scene surrounding the two Huntresses-In-Training. Clutching her stomach and bent over like it was genuinely painful to laugh this much. "Bwa-ha-ha-ha!"

"Ruby?" Weiss asked, getting worried for her apparently now insane partner. For a moment, she was actually worried her attacks had made the younger girl hit her head or something.

"S-Sorry!" The giggling girl managed to get out in between her fits of laughter. "I-I was just... Th-This reminds me of the first time we met."

"The first time I met you, I nearly encased you in ice and fi -" Weiss caught herself before she finished, noticing the large grin on Ruby's face. "Okay, valid point, I suppose."

That had been an event and a half, Weiss thought to herself. Due to Ruby's Teleporting tendencies, the two had first met one another on the first day of the semester, before they had even been formed into teams, with the young Dual Trait user jumping all over Beacon, one location being right in front of an unsuspecting Schnee.

The end result of that had been a mountain of ice, and a sea of fire, shooting out due to complete and utter surprise.

Smirking, Ruby didn't show any sort of malice towards the conceding Schnee, before grabbing her wrist and dragging her down the streets with such force it threatened to knock Weiss over and drag her along, and leave scuff marks all along the ground beneath her. Thanks to her familiarity with how Ruby was prone to spontaneous acts like this, Weiss managed to re-acquire her composure and balance before this happened.

"So, where should we go first?" Ruby asked, energy clear in just her voice alone. Her head was turning from degree to degree, looking at every store in the near vicinity.

"How should I know? This was your idea."

A glare of fierce concentration appeared on Ruby's face, like all her brain cells were trying to decide the best course of action. Her eyes narrowed as she scanned around, eventually finding a through-the-window drinks service nearby. Good a place to start as any. "Hrrrmmm... You thirsty at all?"

Currently, it was a bit of a cold morning. No doubt it would heat up as Vale normally did this time of year. Weiss didn't particularly mind the cold so much, her Trait giving her a pretty good tolerance to temperatures around her as well, though it didn't do much for the slight sleepiness that she was dealing with right now. She'd only just gotten dressed before Ruby had Teleported them out of Beacon and declared their day out to have begun. She hadn't had time to grab her regular morning coffee.

"Well, yes. You dragged me out before I'd had the chance to have a drink this morning."

"You were being way too slow." Ruby's ever cheerful response came through, once again pulling Weiss over to the aforementioned stall she had noticed. Weiss still was surprised by the levels of physical strength that the younger girl seemed to possess, coupled with her endless enthusiasm. It was impressive, if nothing else.

Both of them purchased a beverage of their preference, Weiss going for the strongest and most caffeinated coffee she could, having a feeling she'd need the energy for the day. Ruby on the other hand predictably bought a hot cocoa, and filled said cup with about seven sugars. It amazed Weiss that she didn't have some type of diabetes yet, or gone into some kind of sugar induced coma.

The taste was enriching, and Weiss felt her eyes snap wide open as she ingested the liquid. Like liquid gold for the body. Energy forced itself into her veins, giving her the boost that she desired in a morning. It was exactly what she needed to face today.

"Blergh!" Ruby on the other hand, seemed less than pleased with her own drink. She's thrust it away from her at arm's length, and had stuck her tongue out, clearly none too happy with what she'd just drunk.

"You put far too much sugar in it." The elder girl lightly scolded, only quirking an eyebrow in her partners direction as a sign of her displeasure. She wondered if Ruby was ever going to learn this particular lesson.

"No, that's not it." Ruby argued, looking at her plastic cup and cardboard heat mask like there was some sort of riddle written on it in invisible ink. "It's freezing!"

The coffee Weiss had wasn't cold in any way. It had actually been pleasantly warm, not scolding so, but enough that when she let out a sigh after her first sip, condensed water vapour shot into the air from her lips. Wouldn't they be roughly the same heat if they came out at roughly the same time? All that had to be done when brewing was adding hot water, what was making Ruby's cold?

"Let me see." The Thermo Trait user ordered, holding out her hand to receive the drink. When Ruby passed it over, Weiss removed the heat mask from around the cup to discover that yes, the contents of what was inside were cold. Ruby mist not have noticed since the heat mask had prevented her from being able to tell before she took a mouthful.

Certainly odd, but nothing major to be concerned about.

"Just give me a moment." Using her Traits most basic function, Weiss begun to transmit heat into the plastic carefully, not enough that the cup would melt, but that the liquid would detect said heat and begin to warm up. It only took about fifteen seconds before it was done. A small trail of steam was being released from the lid, so it had reached a good point to decide that it was done.

Slipping the mask back on, Weiss held the beverage for Ruby to reclaim. "There. That should have fixed it."

Taking back her container, Ruby took a small, careful sip of the now warm drink. She was very gentle, so as not to end up scolding herself. Weiss may have done it a little bit too warm, but that was understandable, since she couldn't feel the effects of temperature from ones she herself had created or altered. It didn't matter too much. It would cool down.

"Thanks Weiss!" Chirped the younger girl, but with a very slight lisp to her voice. She had wound up slightly burning her lower lip, but it would wear off after a few moments.

The older girl blinked, and took another sip of her own warm drink. "So, what exactly are your plans for today?"

"I 'unno." Came the reply Weiss had practically predicted. "Just thought we could wander around, see what we find." Neither of the girls had really had the chance to just explore around the city as of late. To go to specific places and look around, yes, but not a full explore. Certain streets and alleys hadn't even been glanced at by the members of Team RWBY.

Then again, it was Ruby's call. Weiss had told her she intended to allow her to make up the time she had used up. She intended to keep that promise.

"Okay then. Lead the way I suppose." Weiss relented, slowing down her walking pace so Ruby would be ahead of her.


It was both simultaneously a very long, and very short day for the Schnee heiress. The time seemed to go quickly, but by the end of it, she'd never felt more tired in her entire life. It was a long day because of what it was.

Seldom was there any rhyme or reason to what either of them were even doing in the city, and Weiss was incapable of comprehending why Ruby even wanted to be out here like this with her. She had always attributed Ruby down to the usual childish careless, but it was almost worrying how quickly Ruby seemed to have forgotten that she'd basically been assaulted.

And was frequently asking the person who had assaulted her what she thought looked cute, showed interest in the few things that managed to catch Weiss's eye, and still treat her the same way that she always had done. It honestly only went further to making Weiss feeling guilty about what she'd done.

It was becoming clearer and clearer that Ruby didn't have a single antagonistic bone in her body, and Weiss couldn't decide if that made the younger girl more endearing, or all that more frustrating to deal with. Like she was some kind of saint, and that was what had led to many frustrations with her in the past. As time had gone on, Weiss had been able to release more of this frustration more and more, able to be more comfortable around her friend, but those feelings of animosity had still built up.

Which was one reason she'd attacked her, and the same reason why she wasn't actually hating this experience. Why she was actually – amazingly – enjoying it.

Now that the slowly building up negative emotions in Weiss had been released, now there was just the positive feelings towards her. It kind of felt like it had been some sort of negative restart. Every little gripe that she'd had with her junior teammate was out in the open now, vented and expelled from her. The guilt came from these feelings, and what she had done, but at the same time, it made this experience more enjoyable.

It was hard to explain.

It was an odd feeling for Weiss, but again, it wasn't a bad one at all. She'd surprised herself by catching herself smiling at the various quirks Ruby had, and the silly things that she did. Her constant Teleporting all over the place didn't even bother her right now, although she did wish she'd slow down before she ended up knocking some bystander over.

Still, a few things did make the white haired girl wonder.

"Hey, Ruby?" the heiress asked, turning to find the excitable girl with her face pressed up against glass that showcased a type of weapon used by Heroes in the field. Most specifically, it was a type of laser pointer used in recognisance missions. It would make sense for someone with Ruby's abilities to have one, but Ruby was looking out of obsession, not out of any desire to actually possess it.

Superpowers and weapons. That was what this girl was crazy over. Yang had told some… Certainly amusing stories about various times Ruby's interests had led to some comical situations.

Snapping her fingers to get her attention, Weiss called, a bit louder, "Ruby!"

"Kyaa!" Shooting straight up to attention, like someone had just poured ice cubes down her back, Ruby yelped and spun on her feet to look at her partner with an expression that showed shock and surprise. Most people wouldn't be too chocked, but when Ruby got interested in something, the rest of the world basically ceased to exist. Being thrown out of that was always a shock to the younger girl. "Y-Yes, Weiss? What's up?"

"There's something I don't quite understand from yesterday." In questioning her, Weiss brought her hand back up to her eye, pressing against the scar to ease some of the pain she felt already. "You said that I outdid you in all the events yesterday… But that's not what happened at all. You placed higher than me in a few of the events, and I only placed first in one."

For a few seconds, it didn't look like ruby understood what Weiss was saying. Thinking back to the previous night, she recalled the last bits of conversation that they'd had before they returned to Beacon. "Oh, I did say that, huh?" Ruby chuckled, scratching the back of her head with a sheepish grin. "I dunno, I guess I just meant that you seemed stronger than me was all."

"But you placed higher than I did in the assessment..."

"If we kept fighting like that, I'm pretty sure you'd've won." Ruby admitted. "I only got you like, once or twice. I only lasted because I kept dodging out of the way… That's not really saying much about my fighting abilities. And you had some awesome strategies and counters too. Your Trait is super awesome, letting you do all sorts like that. I'm jealous."

It only now occurred to Weiss how sincere Ruby was truly being. In the heat of a fight, it was easy to dismiss any arguments your opponents were making, but Ruby seemed to be truly genuine in everything that she was saying right now, when she stood not to gain anything from it.

What was it, Weiss wondered, that made her act this way? Was it just how she was? Atlas had never shown her any treatment like that before. Not in the Schnee manor. Everyone was always working at some angle, some sort of play to better their own profit. Ruby didn't seem to have that sort of agenda. It wasn't… Something Weiss was used to. It was that simple.

All this time in Beacon, and she still wasn't completely used to it yet.

"You're jealous?" She asked, tilting her head to the side. "You've got a Dual Trait. Thermo isn't as rare an ability. There are lots of Fire Traits, and lots of Ice Traits too."

"Yeah, but both of mine are based on movement. They aren't great in a fight." Explained Ruby. True, her mutation was incredibly rare, but that didn't mean it was all powerful. She had weaknesses with it too. Her lack of offensive abilities being the main one. It was why her Hero Costume was always outfitted with the wrist-mounted blades. "Your power lets you do anything with it!"

"Not anything." Weiss had her limits, just as everyone did. All Traits had limits and drawbacks. If Weiss wasn't careful, her own could be deadly to everyone around her.

"More than mine does. But… I think you're stronger than I am, Weiss. I really do think so. Even without your Trait."


Before Weiss had even realized it, the day was basically done. Both she and Ruby decided that it had been long enough to call it a day when they realized that it was 19:23, and they were still going around the city, like there was something else that they were looking for. Armed with a bag in each hand, Ruby had certainly made the day an air quotes productive one. Weiss hadn't purchased anything. There wasn't anything that she had really wanted, that she couldn't get with ease at any time, or already possessed back in Atlas.

She had enjoyed spending the day with her teammate though. That had been worth it in of itself.

They had been to practically every store near Beacon that they could possibly think of. Each and every one that was even on the map, practically, according to their scrolls. It amazed Weiss the sheer variety of shops that were on display, and found herself enamoured by the cultural diversity displayed by Vale, even in its day to day existence. All sorts of wares from Atlas to Vacuo were on offer. She couldn't imagine how much it cost a kingdom like this to import all those goods to be sold in their stores.

Atlas received all of them as well, naturally, but they had more than enough money to be able to sustain themselves on it. It was surprising to find out that Vale had this much wealth as well.

"Hey, are you going straight back to our room?" Ruby asked suddenly, once they reached the front door to the school.

"I imagine I will be. Aren't you?"

"I wanna go do some training for a bit. There's a few more things I wanna try and get better at."

"Do you want me to take your bags back to the room?" Offered the older girl. The training rooms were in the exact opposite direction to the dorm rooms, meaning that Ruby would have to double back. Weiss suspected that Ruby might have been subtly asking Weiss if she would take her belongings back to the room with her, or at least hinting at it.

"Do you mind?"

"Not at all." Weiss smiled, opening up both her hands for Ruby to place the bags into. They were mildly heavy, filled up with goodies Weiss was certain Ruby didn't even need. About half the bag was probably filled with sweets of some description, another quarter probably books that she'd spied, and the final quarter filled with God knew what. Knowing Ruby, probably more sweets again.

"Thanks, Weiss!" Ruby chimed with a giant grin on her face. "I had a lot of fun!"

"I had a pleasant time as well." Weiss admitted with another soft smile. She found herself not particularly minding that she'd spent far longer than agreed on this excursion. It had been enjoyable, which was the most she could ask for.

"We should do it again – Only, y'know, with less fighting needed before we hang out!" The younger girl chimed, before bursting into rose petals as she Teleported away.

Weiss blinked. 'Wait a second, she could have just Teleported back to the rooms and dropped off her own things instead of giving them to me!' The Schnee heiress huffed in her own thought process, before sighing lightly. It didn't matter that much in the end. Why Ruby had decided to do it in this manner confused the pale skinned girl, but it wasn't going to change the course of history.

It bothered Weiss more that she'd forgotten about Ruby's Teleporting for even just a brief second.

She made her way back to the dorm rooms with each of her hands holding a bag off the floor. It wasn't a lie, she had enjoyed herself today. It had been one of the few days she had actually just completely forgotten about studies and work and everything else, and just allowed herself to relax. It was more fun than she had ever expected to have when it came to Ruby.

Her offer to do that sort of thing again was one Weis thought she might actually take her up on, if they were both ahead of work. Knowing Ruby though, that was going to be an impossible task, but still, the thought was in her mind.

A few twists and turns later, and Weiss found herself outside the door of her teams dwellings. She quickly put one of the bags down, opened the door slightly, and then picked it back up. She then used her shoulder to shove the door open slowly, so if someone was stood behind it, she wouldn't end up hitting them accidentally.

"There you are." Blake was the first person Weiss saw when she entered the room, laid on her own bed, using her shadow manipulation ability to hold a book in the air to read while she was fiddling with her Hero costume in her hands. Perhaps a tear during practice earlier while she and Ruby were out. Weiss had no way of knowing.

Yang was also in the room, though her mouth was currently full of liquid, in her hand was a glass of water, and apparently she'd filled her mouth with far more than she could intake in one go. She had to just give Weiss a short wave as a greeting. Weiss just nodded in response.

With a final pull, Weiss managed to move the bags filled to the near brim with stuff to the bunk bed she and Ruby shared. She dropped both of them at the foot of the bottom bunk, which so happened to be hers, so Ruby would see it the second she walked in through the door, or Teleported in, whichever she chose. She let out a long sigh, and stretched.

"So, the date go well?" Blake asked, returning her gaze to her Hero costume.

Yang failed to hold back a spit take as she burst out laughing when Weiss literally erupted into flames.


Okay, I'll level. I am fully aware this isn't the best thing I've written, but this was astonishingly difficult to do. I don't know what it was, but this was super tricky to do, so I've done the best I could. After this, I have some pretty neat ideas, including Hero names, Weiss's perspective, and Ruby especially, so I'm gonna have to ask you guys to bear with me on this one. I'll do better next time.

Regarding the concerns about Ruby and Weiss's fight... Look, there's only so far I can take this without it becoming "My Hero Academia: The RWBY version." Midoriya fought Bakugou In the manga of My Hero Academia, Weiss fighting Ruby here? I'm on a fine line here as it is, guys. Traits and Quirks are basically the same thing, so I'm having to include a hell of a lot more stuff later on to help differentiate this. I have plans, but again, I can only walk this line for so long.

Also, because I'm a bitter son of a bitch, and since I recently learned you can't delete, only moderate guest reviews, and since this is the only way I can respond to them - To the guy who keeps leaving his guest reviews to avoid getting a reputation - You already have a reputation. I recognize your writing style. It's a self-defeating prophecy. I didn't think I needed to spell everything out to people. I have a very ambiguous writing style for a reason - I kind of want people to come back.

No doubt I lost followers of the story for that dick move on my part, but like I said - I'm an immature dick sometimes : P

Regarding Bumbleby... Yeah, I'm not doing that anymore. I can't deal with it right now. This isn't turning into a ship war, but I am beyond confused with people regarding that ship. I find no appeal in it anymore, so I'm just staying clear away from it. Volume 4 killed that one for me. that's all I'm saying regarding it.

At any rate, I do hope you all managed to enjoy this... somehow! Next chapter will be a lot better, I promise ^_^