Author's Note: I have no explanation for Deutsch Weiss. Just read it.

Chess. The figurative and literal game of kings. A hallmark of foresight, strategy, and above all else, wisdom. A game which left a very certain Faunus utterly befuddled. It wasn't for lack of trying, of course. Time and again, Blake Belladonna had thrown herself into the 8x8 checkered fray, but the marks afterwards were more war wounds than battle scars.

Sensing her plight, and in a typically unforeseeable act of goodwill, Weiss Schnee (heiress to the Schnee Dust Company) offered to tutor Blake in the subtle art of chess. Blake was reluctant at first, insisting that she would be self-taught through and through. But halfway through saying this, she realized that being self-taught really wasn't working out, and she accepted the heiress' offer.

And so it began. Just what "it" was, however, neither party could ever see coming.

No video recording of the Schnee-Belladonna sessions was recovered after the fall of Beacon. Only the following audio tapes survived.

Tape 1

Weiss Schnee: "Now, just a couple rudimentary questions before we begin, Blake. First and foremost, what would you say is your skill level when it comes to chess?"

Blake Belladonna: "Well… I know what the pieces are called, how to move them, white always goes first…"

WS: "So, just the basics, then."

BB: "Yeah, that's a good way to put it."

WS: "Well, that's good! Gives us a foundation upon which to build."

BB: "I guess so."

WS: *sigh* "Blake, look at me. Schau dir meine Augen an. Right here. There is no such thing as guessing in chess. Repeat after me. No such thing…"

BB: "No such thing…"

WS: "As guessing…"

BB: "As guessing…"

WS: "In chess."

BB: "In chess…"

WS: "Wunderbarr. That was lesson one. Now for lesson two."

Tape ends.

Tape 2

Weiss Schnee: "Alright. Say you find yourself in this position. How would you make your King safe?"

Blake Belladonna: "Oh, this one's easy. I just move the Rook over he-"

WS: "Not likely."

BB: "Pardon?"

WS: "Not. Likely. You move the Rook there, the Bishop nabs him up with ease. So you have Bishop here, Knight there, and the Queen right down the middle, and was schreibt er, meine Liebe?"

BB: "…Checkmate."

WS: "Exactly. Now, once more: How do you make the King safe?"

BB: "Use the Rook… to blockade the Queen, freeing space to get the Pawn promoted!"

WS: "Wunderbarr."

Tape ends.

Tape 3

Weiss Schnee: "Okay, I can't believe I haven't taught you this earlier. So simple, and yet soooo fun. All the pros do it, even if they never admit it. Have you ever heard of 'castling'?"

Blake Belladonna: "Based on my knowledge of movies, that's my cue to say, 'Well, it's illegal in Vacuo, I know that much.'"

WS: "Nicht schlecht. I also would have accepted, 'Bless you.'"

BB: *laughter*

WS: "But yes, castling. Now, how this works is, on your first move, you send out this Pawn here, then deploy the *mumbles*… that there… and move the King here, and once that's done, you can just put your Rook… here, and da bist du ja! A wonderful line of defense for your most prized piece."

BB: "Wow. That's legal?"

WS: "The simplest tactic one can pull off."

BB: "Hmm… 'Tactic,' huh?"

WS: "Your next lesson."

Tape ends.

Tape 4

Weiss Schnee: "Blake, I think it's time. Time at last for you to play against me."

Blake Belladonna: "You at last deem me worthy."

WS: "Indeed, my pupil. Be warned, I shall be bringing you all I have in me. And I only ask you do the same. You and me. Keine Gnade, und keine Sperren verboten. Right here, right now."

BB: "I'm ready."

WS: "Then the die is cast. I move my pawn. Katzenfrau, the floor is yours."

*What follows is minutes of near-silence, intermittently broken up by a gasp of surprise, a cocky chuckle, or concentrated humming.*

WS: "N…No…"

BB: "So the student has surpassed her teacher."

WS: "Just say it. Mach schnell."

BB: "Checkmate."

Tape ends.

Tape 5

Weiss Schnee: "I'm quite proud of you, Blake. You have taken to chess rather well."

Blake Belladonna: "Yeah, you should have seen me before these lessons. I was floundering."

WS: "Ein Barren aus Stahl kann nur ein Schwert in einem brüllenden Feuer und unter einem festen Hammer werden."

BB: "Just because I'm fluent in chess now, that doesn't go for Atlesian as well."

WS: "I was going to translate, dankeschon."

BB: *laughter*

WS: "It was a favorite saying of my opa. Carried me through most of my training."

BB: "What does it mean?"

WS: "'An ingot of steel can only become a sword in a roaring fire, and under a firm hammer.'"

BB: "That's… powerful."

WS: "He was a fiery old codger, that is definitely for sure." *laughter* "...I saw potential in you, Blake. You kept getting thrown down every time you played, even against yourself. But you just kept getting back in there. I thought, if I could infuse some weight into your resilience, then…"

BB: "I'd be unstoppable."

WS: "Genau."

BB: "Weiss… something I still don't get about chess: Why does white always make the first move?"

WS: "Well, it's really always been that way. No one can tell why, even those who made the game, I suppose."

BB: "I just don't think it makes much sense. Shouldn't black be allowed to make the first move once in a while?"

WS: "Look, it's how the game was designed, and it has worked for centuries. Tell you what. If you can give me one good scenario in which black moving first is warranted, then maybe-" *The rest of this sentence is greatly muffled, and trails off quickly.* "...Oh."

BB: "Checkmate."

Tape ends.