Here's chapter 37.
Yang and Blake were happy to see that Weiss accepted Ruby's gift. Weiss went to thank Yang for being the one to make it, but Yang said there's no need to thank her. Yang was just happy to help her sister do something nice for the snow fox.
Ruby was in her room, waiting for the fox faunus. Once Weiss entered the room, Ruby almost jumped out of her bed.
"Hey Weiss!" Ruby greeted.
"Hello Ruby. You seem pretty excited today. What's up?" Weiss inquired.
"Huh? Oh I'm always like this. I was just waiting for you to get back." Ruby answered.
"Well, okay. Say Ruby, I never did finish telling you about my time with that group of faunus, did I?" Weiss asked.
Ruby frowned knowing that Weiss probably wanted to talk about it. She did want to get to know the snow fox more, but she didn't want her to be reminded of something that would upset her again.
"Weiss, it's okay. We don't need to talk about that. I know it isn't the easiest thing for you to talk about, and I respect your wishes to not talk about it." Ruby assured.
"No, it's fine. I've had some time to think about the last time I spoke with you about my past, and I think that it would be good to let some things out. You trusted me with that stuff Yang and I talked about, so I can trust you as well." Weiss smiled.
"I may have been okay with you knowing about my mom, but I didn't tell it to you. I got Yang to do that." Ruby reminded.
"Just trusting me with that information is enough for me to be okay telling you about this." Weiss assured.
Ruby sighed and said. "Okay, but please don't continue if something gets too hard to talk about. I'll understand if you want to stop."
Weiss smiled at Ruby concern about her and said. "Don't worry about that. I won't go too far into it."
Ruby and Weiss sat down on Weiss' bed, and she began her story.
Eight years earlier.
Weiss and Lyra were in their room waiting for Clara to bring them some food.
"So Weiss, now that you've been here for a year; how do you like the way everything is?" Lyra asked.
"You know that I like it a lot. I love living here, but the stealing is still something I don't like to do." Weiss admitted.
Lyra frowned and said. "I know that it isn't right, but you know we can't get enough food from just the hunts in the forest."
"I understand, but it's just that I feel that I'm just proving what the humans say about faunus. I'm just a thief." Weiss stated.
"No you're not! You're just trying to live. Those humans are the bad ones here, not you. If they weren't so dumb about giving faunus food, then no one here would have to steal." Lyra exclaimed.
Weiss looked at her friend and said. "Whether the humans are wrong here, I just wish I didn't have to. Thank you for trying to cheer me up Lyra."
"I know one day we won't have to do this anymore, Weiss. People here don't exactly want to leave, but I think that we could. It won't be for a long time, but I know that we'll get out of here and live an easier life. I promise." Lyra assured.
Weiss smiled and asked. "You think so?"
"Yeah! Clara would love to live in a place that doesn't hate faunus. It's okay down here, but I know we could live better than this." Lyra stated.
"Have you ever actually talked to Clara about this?" Weiss inquired.
Lyra looked away and said. "Well, no, but I know she would love living somewhere better than this. Not to say I don't love it here. It's great down in the Burrow, but I want to see the world."
Weiss frowned and said. "Seeing the world may not be something you'll like though."
"What do you mean?" Lyra questioned.
"You already know how I ended up in Hassendorf. I lived elsewhere and didn't know much about the world, and once I saw what it's like; I ended up hating it." Weiss explained.
"Don't you think that other places might be better though? I mean the place Clara and I lived in before wasn't as bad as Hassendorf; we just couldn't handle the money problems." Lyra said.
"I would love to find nicer places, but the Burrow is something that I don't want to lose. What if we do leave this place and find an even worse place than Hassendorf? We wouldn't have something like the Burrow to make life easier." Weiss inquired.
Lyra didn't have an answer, since Weiss was kind of right. What if they ended up in a worse situation? They couldn't deal with it like they have been in the Burrow.
Clara entered the room with two plates of bread.
"Okay you two, here's some food. I know it's not much, but the last little raid didn't go well. The last group almost got caught." Clara handed the plates to the girls.
"It's okay Clara. This is enough for us." Weiss smiled.
Clara smiled back and said. "Look, if you're still hungry later; let me know. I'll try to see if I could get you more, or I'll save you some of my food."
"No, it's okay. Please make sure you eat your food. Lyra and I will be okay; right Lyra." Weiss looked at her blue haired friend.
"Yeah, don't worry Clara. We have enough here." Lyra assured.
"Well, okay you two, but if you do end up being hungry later; don't hesitate to let me know." Clara said.
The two girls nodded and Clara left.
"See Lyra, this is what I mean. We don't have too many issues here." Weiss stated.
Lyra sighed and said. "Okay Weiss, I get it. Maybe you're right about this, but I really think we could live even better elsewhere. For now though, I admit that we have it good here."
"What made you want to leave in the first place?" Weiss asked.
"It's not that I want to leave right away. I'm just thinking about the future, and how being able to live in a house would be better than living in this underground tunnel system." Lyra explained.
"The Burrow is more than a tunnel system, Lyra. Most people here have been digging this place out for years to give people a place to live. It's our home." Weiss stated.
"It's a good home, but there are less people even joining us. You were the last faunus to come here, and that was a year ago." Lyra said.
"What does that have to do with anything?" Weiss asked.
"I'm just saying that eventually this place will get smaller and smaller, and there won't be a lot of us left to support each other. We can't live here forever." Lyra responded.
Weiss thought about what Lyra said, and she realized that she may be right. The Burrow was a place where the faunus here could live, but what if it doesn't last for a long time? Weiss didn't have other options, and Lyra was truly just thinking about their future.
"Lyra, maybe you're right, maybe you're wrong. Either way, how would we even find a place for us to live at?" Weiss inquired.
"Clara is strong enough to take us on one of the paths to the other towns. We could go now, but I would rather wait till we get stronger too." Lyra answered.
"Us? Why would we need to get stronger?" Weiss asked.
"We could help Clara fight grimm through the paths leading to the other places, if we learn to fight." Lyra explained.
"I've never actually fought before though. How would I even learn?" Weiss frowned.
"You have your rapier, and Clara can teach us." Lyra stated.
"I've never really used my rapier though." Weiss said.
"I never did ask you this, but why do you have a rapier in the first place? I'm pretty sure that having that means you would want to learn to use it." Lyra pointed at the rapier on the wall.
"My mom wanted to give me that rapier when I got older. I only have it because I tried to defend myself." Weiss frowned.
Lyra took note of the fox faunus' frown.
"Weiss, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to bring something up like that." Lyra apologized.
Weiss sniffled a bit and said. "It's okay. We've known each other for a year now, and I never told you about my rapier. I trust you with this."
"You know what; we don't need to learn about fighting. Let's just relax and enjoy our food. It is getting cold by the way." Lyra suggested.
"I still don't know about leaving the Burrow, but maybe it will be good to learn to fight." Weiss stated.
Lyra was overjoyed with Weiss wanting to learn to fight, and said. "If you're sure you're okay with it, then maybe we could ask Clara to teach us soon!"
Weiss laughed at Lyra's excitement and said. "Calm down Lyra; I don't think we should just jump into fighting just yet. How about we wait a bit, and then we can learn little by little."
"Well, sure, but how long do you want to wait?" Lyra asked.
"How about we wait a year?" Weiss suggested.
"A whole year? Are you sure that isn't too long?" Lyra frowned, wanting to jump right into learning to fight.
"Trust me; a year will go by so fast, you won't even notice. Let's just spend some time relaxing in the Burrow." Weiss smiled.
Lyra nodded and the two girls began to eat their food.
One year later.
Weiss ran into her room and cried on her bed. Lyra was there and immediately ran to her friend's side.
"Weiss! Whats wrong?" Lyra asked.
"I- I did s-something, and I don't know what it was." Weiss answered.
"What? What was it?" Lyra frowned.
"S-something appeared in front of me w-when I went to get some food." Weiss continued to cry.
Suddenly Clara walked in and said. "Weiss, what happened to you sweetie? Lyra, move over for a second."
Lyra scooted over to allow Clara some room to comfort Weiss.
"I saw you crying and running over hear. Are you okay?" Clara rubbed Weiss' back.
Weiss lifted up her face, which was covered in tears. Clara went to hug the fox faunus, who continued to cry.
"T-this thing just showed up in f-front of me. I don't know what it was." Weiss stated.
Suddenly a wolf faunus walked in and said. "Hey, kid you in- oh there you are."
Clara let go of Weiss and asked. "What's going on? Why are you looking for a kid? And which kid?"
"The little white haired girl there summoned up some sort of rune in front of her. I was just here to see what that was about." The wolf faunus explained.
"Well she doesn't know. Now if you don't mind; could you please allow us some privacy?" Clara glared.
"Alright relax; I was just making sure everything was okay." The wolf faunus left the room.
Clara turned to Weiss and said. "Weiss, honey. it's okay. What you did is called your semblance."
The fox faunus wiped her tears and asked. "My… Semblance? What's that?"
"Semblance is one's personal ability. It's unique to you. That's what the thing that appeared in front of you was." Clara explained.
"H-how do you know that was my s-semblance?" Weiss sniffled.
"When a man says they saw a child summon up a rune in front of them, then I'm pretty sure there is no other answer there." Clara smiled.
Lyra jumped off her bed and said. "That's so cool! Weiss you have a semblance now."
"You think it's cool?" Weiss asked, wiping away some tears.
"Of course it is! You have like superpowers now." Lyra exclaimed.
Clara laughed at her adoptive daughter's joy and said. "It's not a super power Lyra. Everyone has a semblance; you just need to discover it."
Lyra's eyes widened. "Does that mean I'll get a semblance thingy too?"
Clara smiled and said. "Of course you will."
Lyra jumped up and down in excitement. Weiss giggled at her friend's excitement.
"Looks like you're feeling a lot better. " Clara noted.
Weiss looked at Clara and asked. "Is it okay to have this semblance? No one down here will find it weird, right?"
"Honey, I already told you. Everyone has a semblance; some people here have their semblances unlocked already. No one is going to find you to be weird. Just try not to use it down here. Some people don't like the use of semblances down in the Burrow." Clara stated.
"What if I do it again by accident?" Weiss asked.
"Just try not to think about it, and it won't show up again. If you want, I'll try to help you deal with your semblance." Clara offered.
"You can help me with that?" Weiss inquired.
"You're semblance is linked with your aura, which I have experience dealing with aura. Though I do have to explain aura to you as well, but for now just relax. I promise to help you with this Weiss." Clara assured.
Weiss smiled and said. "Okay Clara. Thank you for this."
Clara smiled and went up to leave.
"Just stay calm, and try not to think about the rune again. Lyra, make sure to keep Weiss relaxed." Clara stated.
"Got it." Lyra assured.
Clara smiled and left the room.
"Hey Weiss, are you okay?" Lyra asked.
"I'm okay now. I was just scared, because I thought I was a freak with these powers." Weiss explained.
"Well like Clara said, that's your awesome semblance. I can't wait to get mine." Lyra exclaimed.
Present day.
Weiss took a breath and said. "I think that's enough for today, Ruby. I don't really want to keep talking about this right now."
"I understand Weiss, and thank you for stopping when you felt it was best to. I don't want you to be upset like you were the other day." Ruby said.
Weiss smiled and asked. "Okay, so what should we do now?"
"Let's just relax and study for a bit. You go to the training area a lot, and I think studying would be either relaxing enough for the rest of the day, or it will bore us to sleep." Ruby giggled.
Weiss laughed and said. "Okay, but you better not pass out on me. I don't want to sit hear studying and find you drooling on your pillow."
Ruby slightly blushed. "That was one time!"
Weiss laughed again and said. "Yeah, yeah; now be quiet and read."
More back story, yay. I'm dumb for finishing this at two in the morning btw. I started a lot earlier, but I just couldn't think of how to write it. I need to work on writing these earlier.
To guest on chapter 36- Quick question to you- Is this NotUrAverage, or another person entirely? Sorry to ask that, but I just wanted to be sure who this was. Anyway, I'm glad that my story starts your day off with a smile. It's not cheesy if that's how you feel btw, at least I don't think so.
To YX- The gift was definitely something I thought would fit very well here, especially since Weiss now has her battle attire. We'll just have to wait and see how Weiss feels about Blake and Yang's relationship. Good night.
I hoped you all enjoyed today's chapter. Remember, reviews are welcomed, but not required. See you all in chapter 38.