RWBY is owned by Rooster Teeth, of which I am not a part of.
"I'll try to see if I can get another chapter out within the next twenty-four hours." Congrats, Past Me, for making me look like a COLOSSAL moron. Not only did I make little progress during Saturday, but I was also almost completely booked from Sunday afternoon to Thursday evening. Great time management skills, Past Me.
So in conclusion, no more 'it'll be finished by…' promises from me. It gets done when it gets done. I'll just try to get at least one out every week, as I said before. Maybe two a week if I'm lucky.
Words.
More words.
Volume 2, Chapter 5, 'Extracurricular'
Trying to block out the static that had been plaguing her mind over the past week or so, Weiss decided to focus on her classmates. Looking down at the pit below, she watched as Pyrrha practically smashed in the faces of Team CRDL.
If they weren't such jerks, she might've felt sorry for how badly the ace was effortlessly dominating them.
Well aware of how the fight would go and not interested in mentally grading Pyrrha's already perfected moves, her gaze shifted to the right, conveniently ignoring the mess of black hair that had been part of the cause for much of the static on her brain.
Jaune was looking out at his partner below, with Nora cheering like a sports fan to his right and Ren sitting at the end of the bench looking very impressed. Though Weiss had expected the content look on the blonde boy's face from seeing Cardin Winchester getting thrown around like a rag doll, she was surprised at how seriously the reckless leader was taking the fight. His eyes tracked every movement that seemed to occur within the arena, occasionally looking down to write something on his notepad before looking back up when he heard one of the outmatched fools grunt in pain or his partner let out a shout of exhilaration.
Weiss almost felt impressed. Especially when she realized he hadn't actually bothered her over the past couple of days.
Maybe he was finally catching on.
Then, she heard a familiar voice. It seemed that the blonde wasn't the only one over-analyzing Pyrrha's moves.
"Look at that strike. She knows what she's doing. If we'd just talked with JNPR after Sun showed up, we…"
"Blake."
Weiss was rather surprised that her Faunus teammate seemed more interested in Pyrrha Nikos's form than the fact that CARDIN WINCHESTER was getting the snot kicked out of him.
The brunette closed her eyes and sighed. She'd been studying the class ace's form, as Professor Goodwitch had suggested to them, and had been muttering to herself, but the look Weiss had shot her was edged with frustration and concern.
Blake didn't understand why.
Okay, so she hadn't gotten much sleep the past few nights. She had been shocked by the massive bags that were forming under her eyes and her hair looked like a mess even after she'd brushed it. She'd accidently tied up her hand that morning while trying to wrap her white ribbon into her locks.
She'd definitely tried to sleep throughout the week, though. Yet every time she had closed her eyes at night, she saw that mocking smile on Torchwick's face, flaring up her anger. And that Neo, her eyes flashing with that stupid smirk on... on her…
Despite the boiling of her blood at these thoughts, Blake felt herself falling to fatigue. In spite of the enormous amount of effort she was putting into staying upright, her head came to rest on the heiress's shoulder, only managing to hear the small squeak of shock because her bound feline ears were right next to her teammate's mouth.
She'd never realized how comfy Weiss's shoulder was.
Weiss herself couldn't do anything but tense up. This was the first sleep Blake had seemed to have gotten in days so, of course, she didn't dare wake her.
That particular thought wasn't making her any less flustered as the brunette nuzzled against her arm.
More importantly, however, it had taken her a few hours to realize the other day that she'd rubbed herself all over... well…
She'd tried to shake the embarrassment by applying pure logic: she'd been scared for Blake's life (though she felt foolish for doing so; it was Blake after all), she was in the heat of battle, she'd just been bowled over by Blake, she wasn't thinking straight.
The thing was, most of those excuses were perfectly reasonable. That wasn't the issue.
The issue was that her mind kept going back to Blake. And it was mortifying to think about.
She definitely hadn't been thinking straight since then, anyhow. Especially whenever she noticed her own black ribbon in the mirror.
Or the way Blake's chest bounced with each sleepy breath.
Wrenching her stare away once more, with all her might, and doing her best to ignore the quiet snoring of the girl leaning against her, Weiss turned her gaze over to her other teammates.
Yang sat immediately to her left, the blonde brawler showing a satisfied smirk at the display below. Ruby was certainly enjoying herself, as the cloaked girl shouted out the occasional word of encouragement to her red-haired friend.
Not that she seemed to need it, of course.
Weiss quickly decided that keeping her eyes on the two sisters would be better for her sanity, rather than…
Surely, this couldn't be anything other than hormones, right?
Eventually, the match ended with a victory for Ms. Nikos, to absolutely nobody's surprise. As Professor Goodwitch scanned the room, she set her eyes on Blake, who was still sleeping on Weiss's shoulder. Her expression set in stone, her commanding voice reached up to the stands easily.
"Ms. Belladonna."
Blake's eyes shot open and somehow kept her ears under her bow from moving, likely through years of training. She sat straight up, barely catching her book as it nearly fell out of her lap; tired or not, she was trained just like every other student to fear the discipline of Beacon's harshest professor.
She woke up so fast that she hadn't even realized that she'd been sleeping on Weiss's shoulder.
Glynda's eyes narrowed. She was not one to tolerate students sleeping during her sessions. "You've been rather… docile these last few classes." Blake bristled at the word 'docile', but the sharp look coming from her teacher forced her to break contact from a battle she couldn't have won even if she wasn't on the verge of fainting from exhaustion. Her mind remained clouded and she didn't think she'd make it down the steps to the arena without falling on her face and embarrassing herself in front of the rest of the class.
Goodwitch's command barely concealed her annoyance. "Why don't you-"
"I'll do it."
The professor moved her gaze to the source of this interruption. A silver-haired young man was standing in the back row, raising his arm lazily.
Blake didn't know the student; apparently he was Emerald's partner, though even then, she only knew the green-haired girl through Ruby.
Professor Goodwitch adjusted her glasses. "Mercury, is it?" She briefly considered Blake before deciding that a volunteer would certainly perform better in combat than the half-awake brunette; she'd just have to think of a punishment for the girl later. "Very well. Let's find you an opponent."
Blake silently thanked the other student for taking her place. She could only just keep herself awake, even with the professor's icy glare on her. She was so relieved that she plopped back down on Weiss's shoulder with a sigh.
The heiress hissed in pain. Internal flustering aside, Blake had practically thrown her entire weight on her shoulder. Still, the renewed thought of her teammate's exhaustion turned the annoyance into concern. She looked back at her other two teammates, both of whom had noticed Blake's condition by now.
Ruby and Yang could only return her worried look.
Only a few more minutes of class passed before the bell yanked Blake from her slumber. Oblivious once more to the source of her pillow, she gathered her books up as Glynda mentioned something about a dance and a mission as she followed her team out the door. They only managed to make it a few steps out the building before something caught her shoulder.
"Hey Blake! What's up?"
The girl in question furrowed her brows. She was definitely not in the mood to be dealing with other people right now.
Turning around, Blake came face to face with Sun. The monkey Faunus gave her a sheepish yet peppy grin. "What do you want, Sun?" Blake snapped, taking the boy aback. He hadn't noticed the bags under her eyes until now.
Sun rubbed the back of his head, not sure what to say after receiving such a harsh rebuttal for his greeting. Deciding that something was wrong by from her looks and her tone, he tried to diffuse the tension. Clearing his throat, he started, "Say, uh, you heard about that dance this weekend, right? Seems pretty boring if you ask me." He started to sweat as Blake simply narrowed her eyes at his words. "But, I mean, if the two of us went together, you know, it might be kinda… fun?"
The cat Faunus couldn't help but shake her head. She only barely understood what he was asking her over the constant tumbling over his own words, but the suggestion only made her steam. Sun had only just blown their cover to Torchwick the other day and now he had the NERVE to ask her with him to a dance she didn't care about? That HE didn't care about?! Even as her vision clouded with fatigue, she fixed her fiercest grimace at the boy. Her blood began boiling once again as she imagined the last guy that had asked her out on a date. The last person she'd been in a relationship with.
"I don't have time for a stupid dance." Blake hissed through her teeth, making Sun nearly jump out of his skin. He definitely hadn't been expecting THAT kind of answer, despite her sour mood. He reached out a hand, trying to say something in a vain attempt to salvage something out of the train-wreck of a conversation, but the brunette was already marching off, looking like she was about to tear the notebook in her arms in half.
Weiss's eyes followed her teammate as she stormed off in the direction of the dorms, heeled boots clicking hard against the stone path. The heiress swung her head back towards Sun, who had his own head down and his arms hanging limply. For once, she felt sympathy for the boy; she knew Blake wasn't thinking clearly and he had likely taken the brunt of her frustration. Her mind immediately flew back to their talk about Torchwick, who she'd figured over the past few days was likely the source of the Faunus girl's rage and self-torment. She looked back at Ruby and Yang, whose gazes were also following after their friend.
"Hey," The sisters jolted at Weiss's voice, but focused their attentions back on her to hear what she had to say. "Maybe we should talk with her. I mean, she's certainly not in the mood, but she CAN'T keeping doing this to herself."
Ruby look down at the ground, gripping her skirt. She'd tried to get Blake to do something with the team every day since their battle with Torchwick and Neo, but she'd had little more success than Sun himself had just had. "Uh, okay. But what are we gonna say?"
Yang shuffled her feet, crossing her arms and drawing herself deep into thought. Then her face lit up. "Guys, I've got an idea." She suddenly shouted, throwing her arms around Ruby and Weiss (despite the latter's weak protests) as she whispered a plan in their ears.
As Yang drew out her idea for her sister and her teammate, Sun looked up as he received a pat on the back. He was surprised to find Jaune, of all people, looking down on him with a frown laced with sympathy.
"Hey, Sun. Can we talk?"
"You want me to do WHAT?"
Blake's team winced as she suddenly raised her voice. Admittedly, Yang had predicted that she'd dislike the suggestion, but she'd also expected a much lighter protest than Sun had received.
Yang and Ruby sat on Weiss's bunk while Blake and Weiss were on Blake's side. The Faunus girl was looking at them like they'd all just turned into three-headed Nevermores.
And considered how tired she was, that very well could have been what she was seeing.
Despite the severe edge on her friend's voice, Ruby pressed on. "We want you to come to the dance. With the rest of us. We'll go together as a team."
Even though Blake's glare didn't change, Yang appreciated her sister's optimism and continued. "Since Team CFVY is still out on their mission, Ozpin said Weiss and I could host the dance. We'll make sure to pick every one of your favorite songs and we'll all hang out and have fun the entire night! We even order your favorite tuna sandwiches for the buffet! Then we can go back to looking for that Torchwick guy after some well-earned rest!"
Her confidence was shattered as Blake's expression changed from 'sickened' to 'ready to spit fire.' Thankfully, Weiss picked up for her. "Seriously, Blake, you're being ridiculous. I know you wanted to catch Torchwick and be done with this, but even if he isn't behind bars, we've gotten a lot further than we could've hoped for on our first mission." She stood up and placed a hand on Blake's shoulder, in spite of the tingling heat she felt on her fingertips. "You need to relax. Please, do it for your own health. Even if not for that, do it for the rest of us. We can't stand to see you like this."
Eyeing the hand squeezing her shoulder, Blake didn't move for a second before closing her eyes. She managed a ragged breath. When she opened her eyes again, she glanced at each of her teammates one last time, letting out another sigh.
"You guys are the ones being ridiculous."
And with that, Blake got up and left, slamming the room's door behind her. Even as she entered the hall, she set her face in stone. She didn't need her friend's pity; she needed their help. If they were going to fool around at a school dance, fine. She could finish the investigation alone. She kept up her pace even as she started to sway back and forth from dizziness.
Back in the room, Weiss could already guess what Blake's issue was.
She's attaching all her self-worth to beating Torchwick, to the detriment of herself. She thinks we're pitying her. We're not PITYING her, we care about her; she's our friend!
Her hands balled up in anger.
What doesn't she understand about that?!
Still standing, Weiss crossed her arms over her chest, eyes fluttering closed as she lost herself in frustration. Yang, with a look of defeat, spared a glance at her sister, who looked like she was about to burst into tears. Throwing an arm around her younger sibling, she drew Ruby into an open embrace, the girl managing to hold back sobs from seeing her friend in such a state. The small gasps brought Weiss's attention back, her frown melting from one of resentment to something more… tender, rarely seen from the heiress.
Just as she was about to walk over and reassure her leader, three knocks came from the door. Weiss looked up and, being the one standing and closest to the door, stomped over and grabbed the knob.
I swear, Blake, if you think you're going to get off easily after THAT…
When she opened the door, however, the person behind it managed to make her flare up even more than she'd been expecting to.
Jaune stood in the hallway, a nervous smile plastered across his face.
The only reason Weiss didn't strangle him immediately was because she was too busy trying to determine why she was so angry at him. Thankfully, her vicious thoughts died down as she drew in a deep breath. Still, she drew up her lip in a snarl as she growled. "WHAT?"
Jaune gulped. He knew this wasn't the best time. He should run. He should definitely be running right now. Weiss was angry about something and it probably involved him. His face showed his severe lack of desire to do this; however, he knew he had to get this over with. It needed to be confirmed. He shook his head as he gathered up an almost inconceivable amount of courage.
"Weiss Schnee, do you want to go out? Not just to the dance, but, like, go out."
The words tumbled out quickly and the boy braced himself.
If Weiss didn't know better, she would've thought several veins in her head had just popped. And to think she'd given the blonde boy the benefit of the doubt that morning, too! Several graphic images flashed through her mind, many of which ended with JNPR's leader laying on the floor in pain and possibly a pool of blood. She turned herself to look for her rapier, only to catch the sight of Ruby's head in her hands, Yang rubbing her partner's shoulder and looking down at her with glazed eyes, unsure of what to do to comfort her younger sister.
Reasoning that murdering another student in front of her fifteen-year old friend would almost certain traumatize them (and herself, probably) Weiss somehow managed to recompose herself. She didn't let up her glare, however.
"NO. Never. Not in a million years. I'm going with my teammates, anyway."
Though whether Blake is coming is…
"Okay, thanks."
Weiss blinked. Then she blinked again. Had… she wasn't hearing things, was she? She searched Jaune's face, finding closure with a slightly heartbroken smile. She stuck her head out the hallway door and looked in both directions. The heiress arched an eyebrow. "Uh… you're welcome?"
Immediately, the bumbling blonde put his hands together in the stance of plea. "Right. I'm sorry for not noticing earlier."
Weiss dropped her brow. Okay, so maybe he HAD caught on. Bit late, but if it meant being free from his obnoxious flirting, so be it.
Crossing her arms, she rattled her brain for a response to this. "It's… fine. Whatever. Can you go now?"
Jaune looked up, clearly glad to still be standing. He set a hand on his heart as he tried to calm himself. "Yeah. Sorry. I just wanted to say congratulations before I go."
Okay, now Weiss was confused. Really confused. What was there to celebrate? Am I missing something here?
Deciding her mind would find nothing of use on its own, she managed a less enraged expression. "What do you mean?"
Jaune suddenly looked very nervous. He seemed to be finding the rest of the hallway very interesting all of a sudden. "Oh, well, I meant congrats for finding someone you love. You know? Now that you and Blake are dating!"
Weiss closed her eyes, satisfied with the answer. "Well, if that's the cas-"
WAIT, WHAT?!
The heiress fixed the blonde leader with the most dumbfounded expression he might have ever seen. He chuckled a bit and rubbed his neck. "Yeah, Sun and I were talking about how close you and Blake have become. I noticed your matching ribbons the other day and, since you guys seem to be rejecting everyone else, including the two of us, we were able to figure ou-"
*BAM*
Team RWBY's door slammed in Jaune's face, sending him tumbling to the ground.
Ruby's head came out of her hands from the loud noise. She and Yang looked up as Weiss walked slowly back to the other bunk, sitting down. The brawler, who hadn't actually been paying attention to the conversation at the door, figured she must have exploded at Team JNPR's leader. She was about to make an quip about her 'Ice Queen' nickname until she realized the heiress was staring at the ground with a questionable amount of consciousness in her eyes.
In truth, however, Weiss's mind was going at speeds unmatched by even Ruby's semblance, her face rivaling the red color of said girl's cloak.
Wha- Blake?! What does he- how- why would I- I-
Gripping her knees as her knuckles started to turn white, she tried in vain to restart her mind and settle her attention on anything else. After what felt like several minutes, her heartbeat finally slowed to a point where she could finally hear herself think again.
Okay, deep breaths. Deep breaths. Okay. No, okay. It's alright. It's fine. It's fine. Everything's fine. Jaune's just being an idiot. Nothing new there.
And yet she couldn't shake the cloudiness in her mind.
What possessed him to think up something like that?! He mentioned Sun? Blake blew up at him this morning. And from that they just assumed…
The scarlet blush working its way up Weiss's face sprawled out to reach her ears.
They… assumed… but earlier I was… I…
The incident from the other day flew into her mind.
Weiss brought her hands to her temples as she grimaced. She could logic her way out of this again. Definitely.
She'd had only ever considered romance when her father had introduced her to each of her many suitors, trying to find a future fiance for his successor. However, even throughout her high-school years, Weiss never found anyone she could claim she'd 'fallen' for. Each guy had something wrong with him, something that just seemed off. For most of them, it was their hidden motives she could sense from how they talked with her. Like they could only see the gold in her name. Sure, some of them seemed to genuinely like her, but she never recuperated the flirting with anything more than slight curiosity or vague interest.
And that was just ROMANTIC infatuation.
Does that make me bisexual?
I've never thought of a guy like that; would that make me a lesbian?
DOES THAT EVEN MATTER?
She thought as she fell back onto the mattress beneath her, the back of her hand over her forehead. The heiress drew her hands down and caressed her ponytail, her fingers unconsciously tracing the outline of the black ribbon.
I mean, sure, her hair is really beautiful. And her cat ears are adorable. And her amber gaze makes my body feel light. And I bet she looks really cute when she blushes. And she's got an impressive bust…
Okay, she wasn't doing a good job of thinking her way out of this.
ASSUMING that she'd ever fall for her teammate, Blake was a Faunus. She might not care about that fact anymore, but Blake had previously been a high-ranking individual of an organization that was her family's main adversary. An organization that still expressed a gracious amount of hatred for the Schnee name. Hatred for her father. And even worse, that hatred would most certainly be received back in full. Heck, even her older sister might not think too fondly of the girl, either.
The issue of gender, however, raised its head again.
Her parents had given her 'the talk' when she was twelve years old. No matter how embarrassing it had been, how awkward it was to sit still in front of her parents and have them explain human anatomy to her, she was slightly grateful they hadn't cut corners.
Even if Blake didn't have a target painted on her back via the White Fang, she wouldn't exactly be able to continue the family line if they got together, which was grounds for disinheritance.
Maybe… maybe if they adopted…
EXCEPT THAT I DIDN'T REALLY FALL FOR HER. THIS IS JUST A HYPOTHETICAL SCENARIO BECAUSE OF WHAT THAT IDIOT JAUNE SAID.
Weiss rolled around in the bunk, eventually giving up to the mortification within her brain, which hurt from these embarrassing subjects. Ones that she hadn't thought up in years, hitting her all at once. Propping an elbow up, her other hand grabbed a handful of sheets as she moved to stabilize herself.
Then she realized.
She'd been laying on Blake's bed this whole time.
Jaune fell to the concrete roof as Pyrrha swept his legs, rubbing his tailbone where he had fallen earlier from Weiss slamming the door in his face. Wincing, he looked up at the shattered moon in the night sky above the dorm rooftop before it was obscured by his tutor, who seemed to have caught that something was wrong. Offering a hand to him, which he gratefully took, her face had fallen by the time he pulled himself back to eye level. "Are you alright, Jaune?" She asked.
Her leader gave her a small smile. "Yeah, don't worry about it."
Okay, that was a bold-faced lie. Truth be told, it was starting to really hurt. Still, he didn't want to let it keep him from practicing, even if her worry was likely warranted. Though he knew he'd never reach Pyrrha's level of expertise (not in this lifetime anyway), she'd said that he'd been doing incredibly well over the past few weeks. "Come on," he started, trying to draw the conversation towards something else, "I wanna try Arkos now." They still needed to perfect that move for the tournament. It might be best to practice it out in the field, but considering the danger it would pose, some extra training wouldn't hurt.
Pyrrha saw right through the ruse, however, and shot down his feint. "I think we can save that for later, since we have the dance tomorrow." Smiling, she began to build off of this new idea. "Speaking of which, are you planning to go with anyone?"
"Uh, not really…" The blonde sighed. He had held out a small hope before, but Weiss had confirmed it herself; she didn't like him. Period. Though technically, it wasn't like he had anyone else on his mind at the moment.
Pyrrha brightened up immediately. "Well, if that's the case, maybe you would like to go together. I mean… with me?"
Jaune answered the question with a wide grin. "Yeah, that sounds great! We could go with Ren and Nora too, as a whole team! Weiss said she was doing something similar with her team!"
The ace's grin dropped once more. "Oh, uh… actually, I think Nora said they'd be going together. Though she clarified that it wouldn't be 'together' together."
Jaune rubbed the back of his head. "I... right, okay, well…" Part of him started feeling really concerned. It wasn't that he hated the idea of going with Pyrrha, but… "I doubt you'd have much fun going if it's just me."
"That's not true, Jaune." Pyrrha's voice became stern, startling her partner. "I'm sure we'd have plenty of fun. I mean, you don't have to if you don't want… but…"
"But you're PYRRHA NIKOS!" He interrupted, gesturing to all of her. "Ace student and champion fighter! Cereal box celebrity! You really think I'd compare to someone of your stature? You probably already have guys swarming you!"
Pyrrha bit back her retort, that she'd still rather go with him even if that was true, but she knew that Jaune wasn't going to listen to reason anymore. He'd already shot her down and a terrible feeling was stirring in her stomach, so she opted to simply response to his insistence, "I'm pretty sure you're mistaken on that."
The boy let out a scoff, "Please, Pyrrha. And you tell ME that I sell myself short. If you don't get a date, I'll wear a dress to the dance."
Walking off, Jaune figured that he shouldn't be expecting someone to ask him, but he could probably still hang out with his friends at the dance.
The red-haired girl remained on the rooftop, looking crestfallen as moonlight shone onto her from behind.
Oh, Jaune…