(Volume 1) Chapter 6 - Burden & Responsibility
RWBY Dorm
In the next morning of Beacon Academy, inside one of the dorms is Weiss Schnee sleeping soundly in her bed. Her eyes flutter open and she stretches her arms above herself, yawning, suddenly Ruby dressed in her school uniform with her red cape, creeps up on her side and suddenly blows a whistle, causing Weiss to yell in surprise and fall off the bed.
"Good morning, team RWBY!" Ruby yells with enthusiastic tone to the new team.
"What in the world is wrong with you?" Weiss questioned Ruby's action as she got up from the floor.
Ruby ignores the question from Weiss, "Now that you're awake, we can officially begin our first order of business." She states.
"Excuse me?" Weiss asks as she gets up and brushes herself off.
"Decorating!" Yang replied as she held a collection of objects: pillows, pamphlets, a candle-holder in her arms, also dressed alongside Blake in their school uniforms.
"What?!" Weiss responded.
Blake lifts her suitcase, "We still have to unpack." She said as the suitcase opened, spilling its contents "Aaaand clean."
Weiss does not look enthusiastic, and gives them a glare before Ruby knocks her back again with the blow of her whistle.
"Aaaalright!" Ruby replied as she stands in front of the door, "Weiss, Blake, Yang, and their fearless leader Ruby have begun their first mission!" She raises her fist into the air, "Banzai!"
"Banzai!" Blake and Yang as they do the raising fist beside her as Weiss lays on the floor sighs about her teammate's antics.
The team now starts decorating;
Yang places a poster of six guys in various poses named on her part of the room.
Weiss positions the painting of the forest to perfection and walks away.
Blake is busy putting away her books on the shelves, picking up a copy of Ninjas of Love and widening her eyes as she warily looks around before putting it back.
Ruby positions Crescent Rose at an exact angle against the curtains so she can perfectly slash a diagonal portion off.
After a while the girls admired their handiwork with one problem. The beds are cramped together in the center of the floor with all the stuff they decorated with.
"This isn't going to work." Weiss comment.
"It is a bit cramped." Blake admits with Weiss.
"Maybe we should ditch some of our stuff..." Yang proposes.
"Or we could ditch the beds... and replace them with bunk beds!" Ruby suggests this new idea.
"Umm, that sounds incredibly dangerous." Weiss warns about the dangers of bunk beds.
"And super-awesome!" Yang agrees with Ruby's idea.
"It does seem efficient." Blake joins in.
"Well, we should put it to a vote!" Weiss suggested.
"I think we just did." Ruby pointed out that Blake thumbs up the idea, Yang makes a double-rocker gesture, and Weiss angrily curls her fists at her side. Decided, they rush at the beds, where sounds of jack hammering and sawing are heard next to another dorm.
SANR Dorm
In their new dorm Rusty soon awakes, as he yawns and stretches he turns to see Silver already wearing his school uniform along with Albus and Nigel.
"Oh, morning." Rusty greeted his new teammates and noticed that near their own respectable beds is filled their stuff with a shelf, desk along with books except Silver's showing an empty desk with the arm gauntlets.
"Morning Rusty, we were waiting for you to awake." Silver replied.
"What's with your speaking, it's like I am a very important person..." Rusty notices the way SIlver speaks.
"Well, you are our teammate." Silver reasoned.
"...Oh." It took a moment for Rusty to understand.
"Anyways, get change we need to prepare for class." Albus replied.
Rusty groans and lays down the bed, "Great going to boring stuff of learning"
"It is necessary tho." Nigel admits Albus's words which he smiles back.
"Yeah..." Rusty replied before he muttered those words, "For nerds like you..."
"I heard it." Nigel replied pointing his wolf ears.
"Dangit." Rusty cursed as Silver smiles.
"Well you still need to get changed." Silver replied as he looked at Rusty's area that is empty, "And possibly change your area."
"Right." Rusty gets up and grabs the student uniforms beside his bed and gets changed in the bathroom.
Later on, the four wear the uniforms, as Rusty with an unforgettable look is tugging the long sleeves of the uniform shirt.
"What's with you?" Albus asks his teammate.
"Well, if your semblance can give you potential heat strokes, I best to keep it cool when it comes to clothes." Rusty explains with a discomfort.
"I bet you might enjoy Atlas." Albus added.
"Yeah, it will be a lifetime for me and my weakness." Rusty replied as he rolled up the sleeves.
"Your semblance has to do heat?" Nigel asks.
"Yeah, my semblance is literally getting caught on fire." Rusty added.
"Does it hurt?" Nigel asks again.
"I get used to it thanks to my aura but there is a limit." Rusty answered.
Before Nigel curiously asks for more questions, Albus intervenues, "As much we would like to talk further, we still need to be early in class." He replied.
"Ugh fine..." Rusty groans.
"Let's go." Silver ordered his team to head for class.
As they were walking in the hallway, Rusty bent to Nigel's ear (Not his wolf's ear), "I swear this Albus guy wanted more growth on studies rather than his height?" He whispers to Nigel which Albus stops and slowly turns around with a twitching eyebrow and an angered face.
"What did you say?" Albus dangerously asked Rusty. (Note: Rusty is 6'0" and Albus is 5'4")
"Nothing!" Rusty quickly denies as Albus turns back and walks.
"Next time, don't speak about personal stuff that may impact themselves." Nigel whispers back with a monotone face.
"Noted." Rusty replied with a fear look on his face.
In front of the three, Silver looks back to his new team and thoughts, "They are just like them..."
RWBY Dorm
Back to Team RWBY, they finally have done their bunk beds.
"Objective: Complete!" Ruby announced.
As it shown that Weiss' bed is simply on the ground next to her art and luggage, Blake's bed is next to her books, which are used to raise Yang's bed over it by placing the novels on the posts, and Ruby's is hanging from ropes on the ceiling with a blanket used as a tent over it.
"Allllright!" Ruby yells, "Our second order of business is...!" The room spins before she lands on her bed and a book lands in her lap) "Classes..." She pulls out a pencil, "Now, we have a few classes together today. At 9, we've got to be-"
"What?! Did you say 9 o'clock?" Weiss interrupts.
"Uuuum..." Ruby responds.
"It's 8:55, you dunce!" Weiss tells her as she rushes out of the room and down the hall, the members of RWBY and sudden Team JNPR also peeking out from their doorways to look at her go.
Ruby was flabbergasted until she spoke out, "To class!" As Ruby runs out, followed by Yang, and Blake.
"Class...?" Jaune says in confusion until he loses his balance and ends up toppling his other teammates and on top of him. He manages to get out from under them and start dashing. "We're gonna be late!" He yelled.
Meanwhile at the courtyard, Professor Ozpin and Glynda Goodwitch watch the two hurry through the school. Glynda looks at her watch, and Ozpin simply sips his drink.
Professor Port's Class
Inside the class, the two teams already have made it along with team SANR with them besides team RWBY. In the classroom there are sight of an axe-blunderbuss pans down to the boards displaying various species of Grimm and behind is an elderly teacher named Peter Port or Prof Port.
"Monsters! Deeeemons... Prowlers of the night! Yes, the creatures of Grimm have many names, but I merely refer to them as prey! Ha-ha!" Port begins the lecture.
The members of RWBY, seated on the front row, are in varying stages of interest; Blake and Yang are sitting up and paying attention, Weiss is taking notes, and Ruby has her head propped in her hand as she takes a quick nap until she is woken back up by Port's bad joke, which receives a cricket-filled silence as a result. The members of Team SANR are behind the Team RWBY, as Albus and Nigel are interested and listen on the study, Rusty is trying to stay awake muttering something and SIlver is just watching but not as focused or interested as his other two teammates.
"Uhhhh... And you shall too, upon graduating from this prestigious academy!" Port continues, "Now, as I was saying: Vale, as well as the other three kingdoms, are safe havens in an otherwise treacherous world! Our planet is absolutely teeming with creatures that would love nothing more than to tear you to pieces! And that's where we come in. Huntsmen! Huntresses..." Port gives Yang a wink, which she groans uncomfortably at as all the sudden Rusty is snapped awake and confused, "Individuals who have sworn to protect those who cannot protect themselves! From what, you ask? Why, the very world!"
"Ayyyy-yep!" A random student calls out while raising his fist, stands like this for a moment as everyone looks at him strangely before sitting down, embarrassed.
"That is what you are training to become." Port announced, "But first: A story. A tale of a young, handsome man... Me! When I was a boy..."
All the sudden Rusty groans and places his head on the desk, Albus and Nigel are confused by why the teacher is speaking a story, while Silver remains the same as he sees Team RWBY.
Weiss notices Ruby is very focused on penciling the paper in front of her.
"...Despite smelling of cabbages, my grandfather was a wise man. 'Peter', he told me..." The teacher kept on talking. As Ruby chuckles at her creation and shows it to her teammates and Team SANR: a ball-with-limbs-and-a-head drawing of the teacher with stink lines coming from him and "Professor Poop" written underneath. Ruby blows a quick raspberry. Blake and Yang laugh, Rusty still is lying his face on the desk, not seeing the drawing, Nigel slightly chuckles, Silver does a small smile, Silver but Weiss looks annoyed then she heard a stiffen laugh as she turns to see Albus is the one doing it, Weiss stares at Albus with a look of betrayal as Albus notices it and tires to hid his face.
"Ah-heh-hem!" Prof Port waited for everyone's attention again as he continued his story, "In the end, the Beowolf was no match for my sheer tenacity, and I returned to my village with the beast in captivity and my head held high, celebrated as a hero!"
The teacher takes a bow as Weiss slowly gets more and more frustrated with Ruby's antics.
"The moral of this story? A true Huntsman must be honorable!" Port pointed out as Weiss sees Ruby balancing an apple on a book with her pencil held only by her finger while making a silly face.
"A true Huntsman must be dependable!" Another mention from Prof Port as Ruby has fallen asleep again in the first class of the year.
"A true Huntsman must be strategic, well-educated, and wise!" The teacher finishes these lessons, and now Ruby is not-so-subtly picking her nose, much to Weiss' building anger.
"So, who among you believes themselves to be the embodiment of these traits?" Port asked and all the sudden an angry Weiss raises her hand.
"I do, sir!" She replied
"Well, then, let's find out!" Port turns to gesture at the glowing red eyes surrounded by shadow shaking the cage that traps it, "Step forward, and face your opponent!" The unknown monster continues to growl.
(Weiss POV)
Weiss now back in her regular attire, readying her Myrtenaster at the growling creature in the cage. Her teammates cheer her on from their seats in the front row as well some teammates of the Team SANR behind them.
"Goooo, Weiss!" Yang yells while raising her fist
"Fight well!" Blake says while waving a small flag saying RWBY.
"Yeah, represent RWBY!" Ruby cheers.
Then Weiss lowered her sword and looked over at her leader, "Ruby! I'm trying to focus!" She said.
"Oh, um... Sorry..." Ruby sheepish replies, Albus saw this and now starts to worry, Silver watches Ruby and Weiss interacting.
"Alright!" Prof Port announced, "Let the match... begin!"
The professor swings down and breaks the lock, dropping the cage door and revealing the Boarbatusk inside, which immediately charges at Weiss. She uses Myrtenaster to deflect its attack and roll to the side, readying herself for its next move. The Grimm stands a distance away from its enemy, studying her.
"Ha-ha! Wasn't expecting that, were you?" Port comments.
"Hang in there, Weiss!" Ruby yells to her teammate in support.
Weiss is now speeding towards the oncoming Boarbatusk, sticking her blade straight at its skull until they meet and Myrtenaster is trapped in the beast's tusks. Weiss is still hanging on to the hilt, and is tossed around as she struggles to get the rapier back.
"Bold, new approach. I like it!" Port comments again.
"She's losing focus..." Albus thought.
"Come on, Weiss, show it who's boss!" Ruby cheers again as well. Albus turns to see Ruby cheering and back to Weiss who looks very irritated, he knows what is going on and hopefully he will have a talk with her soon.
Weiss turns to glare at Ruby, only for the Boarbatusk to turn its head and rip the sword from her grip. Myrtenaster lands far away from its master, who is knocked back by the creature's tusks.
"Oh-ho! Now what will you do without your weapon?" Port questioned.
Weiss looks up just in time to see the Boarbatusk charge again, rolling out of the way just in time to avoid getting trampled and making it crash into a desk. Weiss rushes at her sword and slides to get it back in her hand.
"Weiss! Go for its belly! There's no armor underneath-" Ruby tries to advise her teammate.
"Stop telling me what to do!" Weiss interrupts.
Ruby looks hurt at Weiss' rebuttal. Meanwhile, the Boarbatusk leaps into the air and rolls into a ball, spinning rapidly in the air and landing on the ground, consistently gaining speed until it launches itself at Weiss. It comes closer and closer, but Weiss activates one of her blue-white glyphs and blocks the roll, leaping up into the now-black snowflake symbol and turning it blue again so she can drive the blade into the Boarbatusk's stomach. It squeals and falls silent while Weiss gasps in relief.
"Bravo! Bra-vo! It appears we are indeed in the presence of a true huntress-in-training!" Prof Port congratulates as Weiss stands up at attention from her exhausted position and Ruby continues to frown, "I'm afraid that's all the time we have for today. Be sure to cover the assigned readings, and... stay vigilant! Class dismissed!"
Weiss glares and turns away, walking hurriedly to the exit past her teammates.
"Sheesh, what's with her?" Jaune asked about Weiss as the remaining members of Team RWBY look at each other with the same question.
Silver sighs seeing what he sees and decides to do what friends are supposed to do and turns to Albus, "I know what you are about to do, do it." He said as Albus realised what he was talking about and nodded as he walked to where Weiss was heading.
Rusty notices what is going on and smiles, "Go on, Cap'n." Silver turns and smiles as he now follows Albus which leads to Weiss and Ruby.
(Weiss & Ruby POV)
Weiss is still storming off, but Ruby turns a corner and manages to catch up with her.
"Weiss!" She calls out.
"What?" Weiss replies as she turns to face Ruby, meanwhile Silver and Albus slowly poke their heads out listening to this conversation.
"What's wrong with you? Why are you being-?" Ruby asks.
"What's wrong with me?" Weiss interrupts, "What's wrong with you? You're supposed to be a leader, and all you've been so far is a nuisance!"
Ruby scoffs, "What did I do?"
"That's just it... you've done nothing to earn your position! Back in the forest, you acted like a child, and you've only continued to do so!" Weiss points out the flaws of Ruby.
"Weiss, where is this coming from? What happened to all the talk about 'working together'? I thought you believed in acting as a team." Ruby reminded Weiss.
"Not a team led by you." Weiss says, "I've studied and trained. And quite frankly, I deserve better." She turns her back to Ruby, trying to reach out but dropping her hand with the following words until she says those words "Ozpin made a mistake." She walks away as Ruby looks dejected.
Silver and Albus watch this, Albus turns to Silver and nods he does the same.
(Ruby POV)
Ruby is about to go on a verge of tears until a tap from a shoulder, she turns to see Silver as Albus passes them by to follow up Weiss.
"Are you okay?" Silver asked.
"I-I am fine..." Ruby sniffed.
"You already have trouble with your teammate Weiss." Silver mentions causing Ruby to look down even more.
"Was she correct?" Ruby asks as Silver raises his eyebrow, "Did Ozpin make a mistake?" She added.
"I..." Silver tries to speak but pauses for a moment until he replies, "That will depend on different perspectives."
"Huh?" Ruby replied with confusion.
(Weiss & Albus POV)
Meanwhile Weiss is still walking around the halls until she comes across a balcony where the sun is set over Beacon Academy's rooftops. She stands there for silence.
"Weiss!" A voice is called out, Weiss turns to see Albus running towards her, he stops.
"Albus?" Weiss asked.
"Yeha, wanted to say you did well against that Grimm." Albus slightly lied, trying to figure out what was wrong.
"Thanks." Weiss replied but has Albus notice the small frown and lack of eye contact
"Are you okay?" Albus asked.
"Albus?" Weiss replied, leaving Albus to listen to what Weiss is about to say.
"Should I have been the leader of Team RWBY?" She asked.
Albus stares with confusion as he sighs, "I don't believe that."
(Ruby & Silver POV)
"What do you mean?" Ruby asked.
"It's been the first day since we've become leaders." Silver explained, "Everyone makes mistakes, but it shows how they become better by learning that mistake, can you improve it?" His words made Ruby think about it.
"Do you make mistakes?" Ruby asked again.
"I... Made plenty in my pastimes..." Silver replied, "But it led me to who I am, if you keep holding on, you might not become better of yourself."
(Weiss & Albus POV)
Now back to Weiss and Albus and Weiss are not happy to hear that answer.
"Excuse me?!" Weiss asked in an angered tone.
Albus sighs, "Weiss, we've known that Professor Ozpin is the greatest headmaster of all time, do you think he will lead something disastrous when he chose Ruby?"
"So by that you would just blindly accept his decision even after seeing how exceptional I am?" Weiss questions with a tone of arrogance.
"No, but I know better, especially your attitude during battle." Albus replied.
"How dare you!" Weiss blurted out.
"See!" Albus pointed out, "As for me who is also exceptional, how come I wasn't chosen leader?"
"I..." Weiss has no words to reply.
"My point exactly." Albus sighs, "I've seen you times when you just wanted exactly what you wanted."
"That's not even remotely true!" Weiss crossed her arms before looking at Albus' look of concern, "Well... not entirely true." She reluctantly relents.
"Weiss..." Albus places his right gloved hand on hers, "I may be the same but I risk something greater harm."
Weiss knows what he is talking about and looks down with guilt, "I-"
"I know." Albus interrupts, "You understand what I have witnessed for myself, I could never return it back."
(Ruby & Silver POV)
"Becoming a team leader isn't just the looks or the title, but a reminder like a badge you wear." Silver continues to explain, "If you think you failed due to a mistake, does that make the badge you wear considered a waste?" Ruby looks thoughtful with Silver's words.
"You need to remember why you got the badge, Ruby." Silver replied, "Why you are a leader, you are supposed to be and will be a leader." Ruby smiles by those words, "Because that's who you are."
(Weiss & Albus POV)
"We both have outcomes that did not come to our favour." Albus said, "We both lost something we cannot get back and that acting in such a manner would cause those to reconsider these choices?" Those words calm Weiss down as she listens to Albus' words.
Albus continues, "So instead of staying behind hindering the choices, learn to accept it, become the best person in this situation like I do. "Albus removes his gloved hand from her and smiles to Weiss, "Promise that to me?"
Weiss smiles, "I promise, Albus." As these two hugged each other.
(Silver & Albus POV)
"You've now become the burden of a leader, learn to improvise and learn to encourage not to your teammates but to yourself as well." Silver finished.
"Thanks so much, Silver it means a lot to me." Ruby replied.
"No worries, that's how friends do." Silver responded, as he noticed they had been talking for a while, "Let's return back to the dorms."
Ruby, with a last look of consideration, nods and walks away with Silver. They come to the balcony where they see Weiss and Albus walking to them. The two girls smile back and walk to another hallway, leaving the two boys behind.
"So I see you boys have done great encouragement to the other team." A voice was called out as the two turned to see Ozpin and Prof Port.
"Professors!" Albus blurted out as Silver glare but not noticeable.
"You two have done excellent conversations to support them." Port approves of it.
"Well don't thank us too much." Albus sheepliy replies.
"Indeed, we are only trying to help our friends." Silver quickly added to prevent Albus' embarrassment.
"Right, even that you've already done a great job to inspire the teams." Ozpin replied, "It's time for you two to go, enjoy your days."
"We will." Silver nodded and the two left to their dorm, the two Professors watched them leave.
"Such great men they've become." Port encourages, as Ozpin smiles to see these two walk by.
(Team RWBY Dorm)
The full shines over the green lights of Beacon, and inside the room of Team RWBY, the door opens and Weiss' shadow is seen against the hall's light. Blake is sleeping under the covers, Yang is spread out on her bed and snoring, and when Weiss lifts the blanket of Ruby's tent, she finds the occupant with her head resting on notes, a pencil in her hand, and open books all around her. Weiss, looking amazed at Ruby's determination, clears her throat and gently shakes the other girl awake, who takes a second to regain consciousness and start flailing in surprise.'
"Weiss! I-I was studying, and then I fell asleep! I'm sorry..." Ruby quickly fretted.
Weiss places a hand over Ruby's mouth and puts a finger to her own so Ruby understands the need for lowering her voice. Weiss looks near Ruby's pillow and spots an empty Beacon coffee mug.
"How do you take your coffee?" Weiss asks as she lowered her hand.
"I... I don't..." Ruby responded in confusion.
"Answer the question!" Weiss interrupts, getting irritated.
"Uhh, cream and five sugars!" Ruby quickly replied.
Weiss sighs by her leader's choices, "Don't move." She replies as she ducks under to her own bed and comes up a moment later with a fresh cup, offering it to Ruby, "Here."
"Um... Thanks, Weiss." Ruby with a slight surprise of her partner's change in temperament.
Weiss smiles, then looks apologetic, "Ruby, I have a chat with a friend of mine." She explained, "And I think you have what it takes to be a good leader." Ruby smiles appreciatively, "Just know that I am going to be the best teammate you'll ever have!" They share a smile, "Good luck studying!" She ducks under, only to come up and point at one of Ruby's papers, "That's wrong, by the way." She pointed and ducks under again, and her voice comes from the doorway this time, "Hey, Ruby?"
"Uh-huh?" Ruby responds.
Weiss stands in the door with her hand on the knob, "I always wanted bunk beds as a kid." She starts to close the door.
Ruby, grinning at the progress with her friend, goes back to her notes.
Team SANR Dorm
Silver and Albus are in the pajamas, lying in their beds as Nigel and Rusty sleep.
"Hey Silver." Albus speaks as Silver hums in response.
"Thanks for helping me to explain to Weiss." He replied.
"No worries." Silver replies back as they both return to sleep except Silver who still stays awake. He gets up without a sound, not even Nigel could hear him. He stood in the middle of the dorm watching the windows of the night sky.
Hmmmm... What is Silver doing at the end? Something mysterious about this new leader...
So what do you guys think of the speeches made by Albus and Silver? And you guys wonder what Albus has lost something? Well that maybe revealed sooner or later.
See you guys in the next chapter!