Surprise early chapter! I'm posting two chapters a week until the Overnight Initiation Arc is finished! There will still be one posted on Saturday, there will always be one on Saturday unless something unexpected comes up. For now there are two chapters a week until the Overnight Initiation Arc is over! (It won't take too long)
Weiss soared through the air after being launched off the cliff from the catapult. With the flick of her wrist, she summoned several glyphs to lower herself closer to the ground. Her landing strategy was nothing short of simple when she used her semblance.
The heiress landed perfectly and immediately scanned her surroundings for threats.
After whipping her head around to get familiar with the forest, she realized she wasn't getting anywhere.
Initiation was just beginning, so she needed to make the most of her time.
Higher ground, she nodded to herself. I need to find Blake.
Weiss remembered she saw some cliffs back when she was still gliding in the air. With a plan in mind, she headed to the general direction of where the cliffs were located. After walking around the forest for a few minutes, she was rewarded with a large mountain not too far from her.
Perfect!
She decided to use her glyphs to propel herself forward in order to move faster.
The faster she could find her sister, the better.
Around five minutes later, she finally made it to the top of the mountain with the excessive use of her glyphs. Weiss knelt over with her hands on her knees in an attempt to catch her breath.
After she regained her composure and controlled her heavy breathing, she was finally able to glance around.
With her new view, the whole forest was scoured in trees.
No shit, Weiss thought. It's a forest, what'd I expect?
In the distance, she could make out a person dressed in green who was fighting what seemed to be a king taijitu.
Looks like he wasn't so lucky.
The heiress had managed to avoid grimm so far. She considered herself lucky, but the other student certainly wasn't.
The random student chopped off one of the beast's heads. Weiss found herself wondering if she should go help the student, but decided to watch instead.
They were too far away from each other. Activating her semblance again after excessively using it would just be stupid. Plus, the grimm the student was fighting was almost half-dead as she watched the student slash it to pieces. She would only be in the way if she broke his concentration.
They'll be fine, she thought. They're too far away and I don't want to be their partner anyways, she squinted to try to determine if the student was a male or female, but the distance was just too much to tell the difference.
While sighing, Weiss shook her head to get back to the task at hand.
I need to find Blake before-
"LOOK OUT!"
Before she could finish her thoughts, someone or something crashed in the ground beside her with a harsh thump.
Weiss jumped back in surprise, shocked to see a blob of red sticking out of the dirt. Actually, she couldn't make out if it was red or brown because of the sheer amount of dust and dirt now clouding the air.
"Owwwww," the person rubbed the back of their head.
Weiss couldn't help but stare at the display. Her jaw dropped as she tried to process the events.
Did that person just come from the sky?
The ground was utterly obliterated from the impact. Grass and dirt from the forest floor stuck up from where a new dent in Remnant was formed. Curiosity getting the best of the heiress, she hovered over the newly formed hole in an attempt to see the person who had the nerve to crash land and almost kill her.
There was just too much debris for Weiss to tell who it was.
But one thing was for certain, the student's warning call sounded very feminine.
After the dust settled, the blob of red finally rose up after the crunching blow with her eyes squeezed shut. "Ow…" she groaned.
"Um…" the heiress mumbled. "How could you mess up a landing strategy? You almost killed me!"
The student stumbled out of the hole while muttering under her breath. There was a sudden breeze, and that caused the fabric on the random student's back to flow a bit.
The heiress continued the chiding even though deep down, she knew the red clothing was familiar.
"It's probably the easiest thing to do for initiation!"
"Ehehe," the girl giggled nervously. "I hit a bird before landing. It kinda messed up the whole thing."
That voice, Weiss thought. It sounds familiar…
The student who almost killed her during her grand entrance finally opened her eyes as she turned around to face the infuriated heiress.
Silver eyes met azure.
Weiss cursed under her breath.
There goes the idea of Blake and I being partners. And to make things worse… it's her.
"You're the girl we met in Vale," Weiss recalled.
Not only that, Weiss' eyes narrowed. She's the brute's sister.
This whole situation was like a kick to the gut. Of course this would happen to her. Weiss finally convinced her father to allow her, to allow them, to leave that prison of a castle, and now she was stuck with this… this child.
She couldn't catch a break.
"I'm Ruby!" said girl introduced excitedly. The way she presented herself didn't help Weiss' opinion of her change in the slightest. "I met Blake last night in the bathroom, so I figured you were here too."
"The bathroom?" Weiss cocked her head in confusion. "What were you two doing in the bathroom?"
It was odd that Blake never mentioned the incident. Maybe she thought it was so small it wasn't even worth mentioning?
"Ehehehe," Ruby couldn't help but chuckle at the question.
Weiss gave her a glare. "Don't answer that."
"I never caught your name," Ruby realized. "What is it?"
"Weiss," said girl answered.
She figured it was no use keeping it a secret any longer.
No matter how she looked at it...
No matter how much she didn't want to be…
They were partners.
Might as well learn a little about each other, so Weiss asked the question that had been bothering her since she saw Ruby in Beacon.
"Aren't you a little young to be attending Beacon?"
"I moved forward two grades," Ruby replied. "You could say I'm a genius," she pointed to herself proudly.
She certainly doesn't look like it, Weiss thought. Still, looks can be deceiving. Although in her case…
Ruby couldn't lose that goofy grin of hers and rocked on her heels back and forth. This reminded Weiss of something a child would do if they were bored or just couldn't sit still.
… I highly doubt it.
"We'll see about that," Weiss irritably replied. "Now I'm going to the temple. I won't get a bad grade because of you slowing me down."
Ruby sped up beside her, which left a few rose petals in her wake. "You don't have to worry about that, see? I'm the fastest person around!" she bolted forward a few more feet and never lost that signature smile.
Weiss rolled her eyes and sarcastically mumbled. "Great…"
The two started walking where they thought the temple was located. It didn't take long for Weiss to get annoyed at her new partner.
The heiress had to admit; it took Ruby longer than she expected to irritate her. Things were going well as they walked through the forest, but then Ruby did something very annoying.
This wasn't a cute annoying. This wasn't a funny annoying.
Oh no. It was far worse.
Ruby was singing.
They were in a grimm infested forest during their very crucial initiation. The fact that her new partner was singing was beyond Weiss. That was the last thing Ruby should be doing.
"Stop singing," Weiss stated. "It will attract predators."
Technically, grimm were attracted to negativity. Singing might have the opposite effect, especially since Ruby was so chipper. But Weiss was desperate for any excuse to make her new partner shut up.
"Oops!" Ruby covered her mouth. "My bad."
Glad that Ruby would stop singing, Weiss focused more on her surroundings until the noise of Ruby humming reached her ears.
"Stop breathing," the heiress said. "It bothers me."
Ruby rubbed the back of her head in confusion. "Uh…"
"Just be quiet," Weiss snapped. "Can't you go two seconds without making any noise?"
Ruby stopped dead in her tracks, prompting Weiss to follow suit.
Ruby frowned. "Yang was right. You are a princess," she said in a mocking tone.
"Don't bring that bumbling brute into this," Weiss' eyes narrowed at the accusation. "Maybe I wouldn't be acting like this if you took this initiation seriously!"
"There's nothing wrong with having a little fun along the way!" Ruby countered.
"Only a child would say that," Weiss replied evenly.
"Only a stickler would agree with you!" Ruby exclaimed.
As the two continued bickering, the heiress caught a glimpse of menacing red eyes in the distance. In order to hone in on the possible threat, Weiss tuned out Ruby's high-pitched voice and focused.
A lone beowolf stealthily jumped out of the bushes and cautiously advanced behind Ruby, preparing for a sneak-attack.
Weiss kept watching the grimm and wondered what to do while the brunette continued her rant, unaware of the danger.
One thing stuck out to Weiss. Beowolves usually travelled in packs. Yet, no matter how hard she tried, she could only hear some bird's chirps. There were no signs of other grimm, either. She could question that later; right now she needed to think of a plan of attack.
I can't use zehn and impale it with ice, she thought. We are being watched… I'll do it the old fashioned way.
Ruby's question snapped Weiss out of her thoughts. "Hellooo?" she waved her hands in front of her partner. "Remnant to Weiss? Are you there?"
Weiss pulled out her rapier while rolling her eyes. Not a second later, there was a threatening snarl of the grimm directly behind her, which caused Ruby's silver eyes to widen in disbelief.
She was so caught up in the petty argument she'd failed to focus on her surroundings!
The heiress wasted no time and launched herself at the beowolf, effectively impaling it in the chest. After the beowolf howled in pain, Weiss struck it several more times while dancing around the dangerous creature.
Ruby could only watch her partner's fighting style in awe, her jaw agape. Unlike Ruby's harsh landing, Weiss' fighting style emitted several specks of the purest white. It was so graceful and elegant. Just watching her new partner fight put Ruby at ease, which was odd, considering fighting should do the exact opposite to a person.
Once the beowolf dissipated, Weiss expertly sheathed her rapier before moving forward.
Ruby was stuck in a trance as she watched her partner walk ahead of her.
"Woooow," Ruby gawked. "That was amazing! Thanks for the save, Weiss."
"Don't mention it," the heiress kept her eyes forward. She just wanted to find Blake and the temple.
"What's your weapon's name?" Ruby asked the girl while the two continued their trek. "My sweetheart is Crescent Rose."
Ruby just wanted to learn as much about her new partner's fighting style as possible. She was still in absolute awe.
Weiss heavily sighed. "Myrtenaster."
Weiss' new partner sure was tiring. Ruby didn't seem to be able to stop talking for a second.
Weiss decided to just accept her laughing fate and sighed again.
"Ohhhh," the brunette drawled in awe. "That sounds cool! Is the name German?"
"Yes but I didn't name it, so I don't know the meaning," Weiss revealed.
"Who did?"
Weiss gave her a glare.
"Ehehe," Ruby chuckled awkwardly. "Is it a secret?"
The heiress didn't answer and kept walking forward.
The background of her weapon was a personal thing to her. There was no way Weiss would give the answer to her new child-like partner. Weiss felt like Ruby didn't deserve to know.
Besides, Weiss didn't name Myrtenaster, and she didn't want to reveal the background behind the weapon in general.
It was a personal thing.
And Ruby seemed like the kind of person to ask questions… and a lot of them.
Weiss wanted to avoid that at all costs, so she kept silent.
The two hacked and slashed through the thick plantation in relative silence, something Weiss was grateful for. Maybe Ruby realized she'd overstepped her boundaries.
After a few minutes in this manner, the temple was in view.
"There are the chess pieces!" Ruby pointed.
Weiss looked around and saw a certain blood-faunus sitting on the grass with an ever-present poker face.
"She's here."
Her vampire sister was okay and that was all that mattered to Weiss. The fact that the chess pieces were also there was a bonus.
Blake was still wearing her bow, which bothered Weiss, but it was Blake's choice. No matter how many times Weiss tried to convince her sister to take it off, she adamantly refused, saying it was easier to fit in, which was the whole point of enrolling in Beacon.
Before Weiss could bolt to Blake, the ground shook and trembled. Ruby and Weiss almost lost their balance when the mini earthquake was drawn out for several seconds that felt like an eternity. A few trees fell from the large impact in the distance. The heiress kept her gaze on her sister, amused when Blake pulled out her weapon.
"Wh-what was that!?" Ruby yelped.
Weiss followed her sister's lead and took out her rapier in case of a threat. Before the heiress knew it, there was a yellow blob flying across the forest floor.
"It's Yang!" Ruby exclaimed, which confirmed Weiss' thoughts.
What's she so desperate to get to? the heiress asked herself.
That's when a giant deathstalker came into view when it jumped out of the tree line. It then shrieked in alarm from one of the blonde's notorious hard punches.
I need to get there before-
Weiss didn't even finish her thoughts as she summoned a trail of glyphs to skid across like a bullet.
Thinking on her feet, Weiss threw one of her dust bottles on the ground as she slid across the forest floor just as the beast lunged its deadly tail at Yang.
Although using zehn would be quicker, there was no way she could use it here, so she elected to use dust instead.
The ice from the dust stopped the grimm's poisonous tail from impaling Yang just in time. Weiss was there a split second later, holding up her rapier to block the deadly tail, making sure it wouldn't advance so much as a millimeter.
Once the heiress was sure it wouldn't budge, she glanced behind her to meet the blonde's lilac gaze.
"It seems our roles have reversed."
Seeya Saturday and hope you liked it!
Stay dandy,
~Toto
