Her entire body ached and her head hurt from the last desperate headbutt she had tried against Winter. Did her sister hide some metal plates under her clothing or was Weiss' skull just so fragile? She didn't know which one of the options would be better. The pounding in her head was so intense that she almost overheard Weiss congratulating her. Was it possible to dream when knocked unconscious? Then she blinked and realized that there was a tiny splotch of blood on her rapier's blade. It could have been her own. It should have been her own.
Nevertheless, when she looked up, Weiss saw a hair-thin scratch on Winter's face. That wasn't something she had caused on purpose. Her muscles ached from overuse as she slowly pulled herself up to stand in front of her sister.
"Congratulations, Weiss," repeated Winter.
That's not fair, Weiss wanted to scream at her. This wasn't beating Winter: this was just an accident. How dare Winter mock her like that?
She looked around the small town square. Everyone had to see what had just happened. Why wasn't anyone protesting? Couldn't Ruby or Blake say something? Both of them were just standing there looking at the sisters in the middle of the open space. When Weiss caught Blake's eye, the Faunus returned the look and smiled slightly in away Weiss didn't know how to interpret at that distance.
She looked at Winter who was offering her a hand to help her get up. "This was just an accident," said Weiss, "I want a rematch."
Winter looked down at her, her gaze colder than even father's. "Are you a child?" she questioned Weiss, "If not, then stop acting like one."
Weiss ignored Winter's still extended hand and got up from the mud on her own. She met Winter's cold gaze with her own. "I thought you wanted to make sure I was capable of protecting myself," she retorted, her voice getting angry.
"I made sure," replied Winter who was still completely calm, "You might have been lucky, but you held your own well enough."
With Winter not rising to the challenge, Weiss' anger quickly abated, She wasn't satisfied with her own performance, but if Winter was satisfied, it might had been enough. "Fine," she said shortly.
She turned around to walk towards Blake and Ruby. Even though her whole body ached from fatigue, she was not going to show any weakness in front of Winter and the townspeople. "I guess we can set out now," she said to Blake.
Blake looked at her wordlessly for several second, her golden eyes studying Weiss' face intently. Then she nodded. "Let's go," she agreed.
"I got some supplies for you guys," said Ruby, offering Weiss a small pack, "But you've got to look out for my big sister Yang. She ran off to Vale a few years back. You can't really miss her, she's got lilac eyes and blonde hair like you've never seen before."
Weiss accepted the pack from the younger girl. "I'll try, but I can't promise anything," she said, "Vale is a big place."
"I know, don't worry," said Ruby cheerfully, "Winter's got to check on a few more towns around and then we'll head to Vale ourselves. If you find her, leave a message or something."
The girl was overly optimistic if she expected them to not just find her sister, but to also manage to leave a message with someone who knew Winter when they themselves did not know anyone at all in the city. Still, it did not cost them anything to keep an eye out.
The pack felt very heavy, but Weiss slung it over her shoulder, gave Blake a quick look and started walking across the town square passing by Winter along the way. "I'll try to stay in Vale until you get there," she said in place of a goodbye, "I don't know how it'll work out with no money, though."
Winter smiled almost imperceptibly and nodded while Weiss continued on her way. Every step reminded her just how much she had exerted herself in her fight with Winter, but she was absolutely determined not to show any weakness. As the sounds of the town square died behind her, Weiss could hear Blake's footsteps next to her. They should probably talk about the future plans and what to do once they arrived in Vale, but right now, it took all of Weiss' strength to keep walking without keeling over.
Each second felt like eternity until the town finally disappeared from sight behind a bend in the narrow path leading to Vale. Once it did, Weiss immediately half-collapsed, half-sat down on the side of the path. The moment she stopped moving, the pain in her limbs she was pushing away until then returned. Weiss groaned.
"We can set up camp here," said Blake and set her own pack down.
"Please," replied Weiss, too tired to say anything else.
She was rapidly falling asleep on the patch of grass where she had settled down. It was just a few hours and the sun was still high in the sky, but Weiss didn't care. She needed rest. Her last impression was Blake deftly removing her pack and placing a blanket over her.
Her sleep was the deep, dreamless sleep of exhaustion and when she woke up, there were stars and the moon in the sky. She was warm and she heard the soothing crackling of a campfire nearby. When she sat up, she saw Blake, still awake, sitting on a smooth rock by the fire. Weiss no longer felt tired, but every movement of her muscles hurt.
"Feeling better?" asked Blake, "I left you some rabbit if you want to eat."
Blake pointed at few pieces of fire-roasted meat lying on some large leaves next to her. Weiss picked it up. It was cold already, but she did not care. "Thank you," she said to Blake and took a bite. The meat smelled of smoke and tasted slightly charred in places, but Weiss was hungry.
"I have to get some sleep," said Blake, "Would you mind taking the watch?"
"Wait!" implored Weiss, "We should talk."
Blake looked at her intently, her golden eyes meeting Weiss' blue ones. "Is something wrong?" she asked.
To be perfectly honest, Weiss didn't know. Everything was going as well as could be expected, but there was still something off. Blake just seemed completely unreadable to her.
"That's not it," she started slowly then took a deep breath and continued straight to the heart of the issue, "Why do you put up with me?"
Blake's face betrayed no immediate emotion, but her cat ears twitched. "What do you mean?" she replied.
Weiss stayed silent. It was difficult to say something like that. Even just thinking about what she wanted to say made her feel… worthless. "I'm just a burden for you," she said at length, "I can't hunt, I can't find water, I need to rest all the time."
She lowered her eyes in shame. She had just admitted weakness like that and she did it to a Faunus girl she barely knew in spite of travelling with her for several weeks. Had she just stayed silent, things would continue like before until they reached Vale. Now, Blake would have to do something. Weiss was going to get abandoned. Her father would probably be happy if he ever found out about it.
"Weiss." Blake's voice cut into her thoughts, slow and deliberate. "When someone gets too old in the White Fang to fend for themselves, they have to leave the village and lure as many Grimm as they can as far away as they can. It's supposed to be the last service they can give to the tribe."
Weiss didn't understand what this had to do with their current situation unless Blake intended for her to serve as Grimm bait in an emergency.
"I did it to my own parents," continued Blake, "Helped force them out of the village because they were getting old. That was a year ago. I thought it was the right thing to do, that it was necessary."
Hearing this, Weiss looked up at Blake. The Faunus wasn't looking at her. She was staring into the campfire and Weiss thought that she saw moisture glitter in the corner of her eyes. Weiss closed her own eyes, since she felt embarrassed at watching Blake like that. It was difficult enough to open up herself. Watching someone else do it just made her want to run away.
"I was wrong," added Blake after another pause, "It kept going on. My mom and dad's friends, the people who helped watch over me when I was little, the woman who used to tell me stories about human cities, they were all forced to go, one after the other. And in the end, I couldn't stand it anymore. I ran away. Ran away without helping anyone."
Weiss didn't know what to say. She was always told that Faunus customs were barbaric, but this in particular seemed sensible for life in wilderness among the Grimm. One look at Blake's face was enough to tell her that it would be a bad idea to vocalize it. The Faunus' sorrowful expression had turned into one of anger.
"In truth, it wasn't just the old and the weak. Everyone who disagreed with Adam was chased out to be food for the Grimm. And I helped. I thought it was what was necessary to do." Blake's voice fell to barely a whisper and Weiss had to strain her ears to hear her over the fire. "So I won't leave anyone behind just because they're weak ever again."
This was it. A knot formed deep in Weiss' stomach. Blake thought of her as weak. She only let her come with her out of pity. Weiss hated that. First, Winter had taken pity on her and let dumb luck decide their duel. Now, Blake practically admitted that the only reason she travelled with Weiss was because she pitied her.
In her frustration, Weiss barely registered Blake moving over to sit down next to her. "But Weiss," she said, "You're not a burden. When we get to Vale, it'll be me who needs help."
Blake took Weiss' hand in her own. Weiss flinched at the unexpected touch, but didn't draw her hand away. Her face was still grave, but Blake's gesture helped somewhat. Vale. Yes, that was their goal and she shouldn't be getting disheartened when they were almost there. She tried to recall her old geography lessons. The farthest outpost under her father's rule was a week's travel away from Atlas proper and she doubted Vale would be much different. Blake was still wounded, it seemed, but she was healing fast.
"Blake… thank you," said Weiss, "I'll take watch, you should go to sleep."
"Okay," replied Blake, "Wake me up if there's anything wrong."
They switched places and soon, Blake's breath slowed down as sleep claimed her. Weiss didn't watch her. She preferred to look into the dark forest and get her eyes used to the night. Except for the slow crackling of the fire and the slight sounds of Blake's breath, the night was quiet. No night birds disturbed the still air and no wind was blowing to rustle the tree-leaves.
Weiss had no sense of time passing. Occasionally, the moon would peek out of clouds, letting patches of light show between the forest's shadows. The patches moving slightly was the only way to notice that any time had passed since Weiss took watch. She tried moving her limbs to keep them from getting too stiff even though their movement still hurt.
She found herself almost nodding off again when sounds of something scraping on the forest floor. Weiss immediately turned to look in the direction the sound came from. Red eyes were glowing in the night.
"Blake, get up!" she yelled and drew her rapier from its sheath.
Blake's eyes flew open and she rolled to the tide to her blade, getting up and picking them up in one fluid motion. One by one, more pairs of red eyes appeared in the forest. In these numbers, it was probably Beowolves. Not taking her eyes off the forest, Weiss took position with her back to Blake, the campfire in between them. Moon once again appeared from behind the cloud cover and revealed several large, brutish shapes between the trees. Beowolves. Weiss counted three on her side.
One of the Grimm, slightly larger than the others, lifted its head and let out a mournful howl. The signal to attack given, the Grimm rushed forward all at once. Weiss slashed her rapier while dodging to the side, leaving a shallow cut on one of the monsters. A sharp cry dissolving into a gurgle let her know that Blake was more successful. One of the Grimm collapsed onto the campfire, extinguishing it with its body before dissipating into nothingness.
The remaining five Beowolves now clustered together on their campsite, one of them limping slightly. They started to spread out to the sides to give themselves more space to rush at Blake and Weiss. Blake started to move first, moving to the side to check the monsters' advance. A split second later, Weiss imitated her and move in the other direction. A pained whine told her that Blake caught her target. Her own movement was slower and less sure because of the dark night lit only by moonlight, but she managed to catch the wounded Beowolf with the tip of her blade. The beast died without a sound, Weiss' blade piercing its throat.
With half of their number gone and caught between Blake and Weiss now, normal animals would have run away, no matter how hungry they were, but Grimm were driven by blind bloodlust , not just hunger. The leader howled again and the remaining three rushed at Weiss together. Weiss took a step backwards, but a tree trunk blocked her way. In panic, she ducked and thrust her blade blindly upwards. It caught the leader Grimm, killing it, but not stopping its movement. The body crashed into Weiss and propelled her into the tree before slowly vanishing.
The body shielded Weiss for the moment while she had her breath knocked out of her. Blake was already intercepting the last two Grimm. Focused as they were on getting to Weiss who was temporarily buried under the carcass of their leader, the beasts did not have time to react to Blake's blades. They fell to the ground dead, dissipating moments later.
The rush of the fight left and all the pain Weiss had suppressed during the last few moments returned. Her limbs felt like they were on fire and her rapier fell from her hand. "Are you hurt?" asked Blake, concern evident in her voice.
"No wounds," forced out Weiss, "But I don't think I can move."
The forest started to grow brighter. Dawn had come and the sun would rise over the horizon shortly. No time would be better to set out, but Weiss' muscles refused to cooperate and any attempt to move was met with excruciating pain.
"I can help you walk," said Blake, "I'm fine, didn't even feel the wound just now."
Weiss didn't want to. She wanted nothing more than to just stay lying against the tree and let her overtaxed body relax. "We can rest a bit more," she mumbled, her eyelids closing, "It was a small pack, Winter must have cleansed most of the Grimm around here."
Instead of an answer, she heard Blake's steps coming close to her. Then, she felt herself being lifted into the air and coming to rest against what seemed to be Blake's back. Her face was buried in Blake's hair, but her sore muscles prevented her from fighting back. "Hold on to me," commanded Blake.
"You're wounded," protested Weiss feebly, but she forced herself to wrap her arms around Blake's shoulders.
"I'm fine," said Blake, "and besides, I won't be able to move very fast carrying you."
Weiss wanted to protest further, but Blake had already set out. She did not walk very fast and the warmth of her body, the smell of smoke and campfire In her hair, and the soft rhythm of her footsteps worked together to make Weiss fall asleep again.
