TW this chapter for heavy transphobia, drugs, mentions of domestic abuse, gaslighting and manipulation, homophobia, abandonment and neglect related topics, and mentions of intense child abuse.

I don't own RWBY

Weiss wanted nothing more than to stay with Winter when the weekend came to a close, but such an option wasn't available.

She begrudgingly went home, leaving behind the makeup, the clothing, the freedom she was given.

As much as she had wanted to just sulk on her own, Melanie and Miltia wouldn't have it, and wasted no time bringing their usual hateful discussions to her and wrapping her up in them.

Luckily, Ruby had, in a manner of speaking, come to her rescue when she had been confronted by Blake. Sure, Blake had clearly been the one Ruby had been trying to help, but Weiss was happy to take the excuse to leave the topic behind and move on.

Instead, she focused her time to walking around, putting up the posters she had printed off last night, reading, in bold alabaster letters, 'Warren Schnee for class president.'

Much to her surprise, she wasn't the only one working on their campaign today, and it culminated into an awkward interaction as she struggled to outclass her opponent.

"Should've figured you'd be doing the same," Robyn Hill said, while tacking her own poster to the wall right next to the school's main entrance.

"Robyn Hill," Weiss said, mustering up as much douchey pomp as she could. "I'm still surprised you're running for this position."

"Oh?" Robyn asked, as May handed her the next poster, a disapproving stare placed on Weiss. "And why is it so surprising?"

"Well, there's a myriad of factors," Weiss said. "For one, the position requires a certain degree of funding I doubt you have access to, and on top of that, I thought you hated anyone in charge."

"Funding isn't an issue," she remarked. "Every now and then, people do manage to get somewhere in life without buying their way in."

"Not that you'd know," May muttered, shaking her head.

"Yes, I see, you're having your lackeys pick up the slack. Tell me, are they running for the position as well? I don't see their names on your campaign poster, but I guess the school requires legal names, rather than... made up ones," Weiss said, snidely, as she finished hanging up a poster.

"My name's not real, that's original," May said. "You should copyright that before someone takes it."

Weiss rolled her eyes.

"Listen, Robyn," Weiss said. "This election won't even be a competition. I have superior funding, I'm far more respected here, and I have the backing of the staff whereas you tend to talk back to them. I'd recommend you save yourself the effort, embarrassment, and investment of competing any further."

"You're respected here?" May snorted.

"May," Robyn said, urging her to back off. "I'd like to keep this polite and professional. So I'll kindly say, with a smile, that I can't be intimidated out of running."

Weiss began to hang her last poster.

"Do you know what the difference is between your ability to lead and Cardin Winchester's?" Weiss asked. "You're both far from competent enough for the position, but at least people will listen to Cardin. Aside from your girlfriends... and your merry man, who follows you?"

"You don't even see it, do you?" Robyn asked. "The way you speak to people, just the way you've talked about May in the past two minutes... that's why you'll lose. Aside from Henry, Melanie, and Miltia, no one follows you, either. And between my supporters and yours, mine help people."

"Keep telling yourself that," Weiss said. "I'll apologize in advance for any... disagreement... that comes from this campaign."

Robyn rolled her eyes.

"Try it," May said, as they walked away. Weiss turned and walked in the other direction, burying more guilt.

Yang listened to Oobleck drone on, ranting at this point about the Battle of Yorktown, frustrated by a combination of Cardin Winchester flicking paper footballs at the back of Penny's head and May bickering with Melanie.

She had absolutely no energy for the chaotic nature of the school, but that hadn't ever stopped it before.

She still couldn't stop thinking about the pictures of Raven. Tai had gone looking for her, but he hadn't called the police, he hadn't had a professional look into what could have happened.

She couldn't shake the feeling that maybe something truly awful had happened to her, that it definitely seemed more plausible than Raven just leaving her behind. She knew what she had seen in that picture.

That wasn't the face of someone who would leave their child behind.

Ruby's words echoed through her mind, too.

Could she actually find her mother?

No one else was about to try to find her. If she wanted answers, she would have to look herself or hire an investigator at this point, and she didn't know how likely an investigator was to look into a case that's been cold for sixteen years.

Could she even hire one as a teenager? Even if she legally could, and one would be willing to accept her as a client, could she afford it on a part time minimum wage check?

She sure as hell didn't like the idea of waiting two more years to find out what happened.

She'd never been the Nancy Drew type, but the longer she just sat, trying to focus on school, the more she wanted to look into this herself.

When the bell rang and she stood, she realized her second conundrum. She had no idea where to start looking. As Warren had so tactfully put it, most of her skills were oriented around physical feats. The only thing she could think of was to look at news headlines from the time Raven vanished, and maybe ask Tai, Qrow, Glynda, and Ironwood if they'd picked up on anything unusual from around that time.

It wasn't a guarantee of anything, but at the very least, it was a start.

Out of all the classes Weiss had, there was one she loathed above all else. P. E. had just about every downside she could think of, all rolled into one. To start, Coach Theodore was a noisy, obnoxious, overgrown jock and it showed in his every action.

Making matters worse, she shared that class with Cardin, one of Theodore's favorite students, who could do little wrong in his eyes. Melanie, Miltia, Yang, Neon, and Pyrrha all also attended, so on the days where the class wasn't split by gender, she also had to contend with that volatile mix that she had no chance of avoiding.

Now, if it was just for all of that, P. E. wouldn't stand out as bad, it would just be one of her worse classes. She had plenty of other classes she disliked the teachers of, and also shared with several people she would rather avoid.

But no other classes expected her to undress, surrounded by irritating boys that had no concept of boundaries.

Very little felt as uncomfortable for her as changing in the locker room. She didn't like how she looked normally, but having to expose even more caused her dysphoria to skyrocket. It certainly didn't help that the room also smelled like a rancid pile of dirty clothes, bathed in sweat and left to marinate in a pile of rotten eggs, with the slightest hint of chlorine.

If it was up to her, she would never attend this class ever again.

The only silver lining was that movies had clearly been inaccurate to her experience, as students didn't have a communal shower. Four stalls in the back of the locker room could be used for showering, though few students actually took up their offer.

"Hey, Flynt!" Dove smirked, while Flynt opened his locker. "Outta curiosity, do you take it up the ass?"

Cardin laughed, and Flynt rolled his eyes, not giving a response.

"Come on, sourpuss," Cardin said. "I thought you wanted to be included."

Weiss sighed, changing as quickly as she could. Mercury, from the next locker over, grabbed his gym uniform and, as per usual, went over to one of the shower stalls to change in private. Weiss was grateful that a majority of the students were quieter, like Ren and Jaune, who seemed just as eager to get out of here as she was.

"Hey, Merc," Cardin chuckled, turning his attention off of Flynt. Mercury didn't reply, as he closed the stall door. "Why do you always change in there? Scared of getting seen in your undies?"

"Fuck off," Mercury said from the other side.

"Someone sounds sensitive," Dove sneered.

"Yeah, come on, we're all guys. Well, all of us but Arc, anyway," Cardin smirked. Jaune glared back at him, while putting his gym top over his undershirt. "Do you think you're better than us or something?"

"I thought you were a tough guy," Dove chuckled. "But you're too scared to change without a stall."

"I bet he has a third nipple or something," One of the other jocks said.

"What's your deal, man?" Cardin asked, as Mercury opened the door, now in his gym clothes.

Mercury crossed his arms, glaring up into Cardin's eyes.

"What's it to you?" Mercury spat back. "You're in a hell of a rush to see me change."

For the first time this period, Flynt laughed. Cardin, on the other hand, wasn't happy with that.

Cardin grabbed Mercury by the collar, about to deliver a comeback, when they both froze. Cardin had stopped the moment his hand had grazed Mercury's shoulder.

"Let go of me, freak!" Mercury snapped, trying to shove Cardin away.

Cardin pulled his shirt up, while Dove held Mercury still. The shirt came free, and Weiss' heart sank the moment she realized what Cardin had felt.

She knew a binder when she saw one.

"Dude's wearing a bra!" Cardin laughed, as Mercury fell back.

"What the fuck?" Dove asked.

"Hey everyone!" Cardin called, grabbing Mercury's binder from the back and yanking. Mercury struggled against him, but after a moment, Cardin pulled away, Mercury's binder coming with him.

Dove's grip on Mercury was loosened when Mercury, now panicking, punched him square in the nose, and before Weiss knew what happened, Mercury was back in the stall.

"Mercury's got tits!" Cardin jeered. "Merc's a chick!"

"Shut up!" Mercury spat from the stall.

"That's not funny," Jaune said. Cardin turned to face him, still laughing.

"Hey, I'm not complaining," Cardin said, throwing the binder across the locker room. "I've always wanted a few ladies in the locker room."

Dove and Cardin continued their jokes, as they walked out of the locker room. Most of the students funneled out, while Weiss was still changing, her mind still processing the recent events.

"I'll find your binder," Jaune said, as he began to look.

"Just leave me the fuck alone," Mercury snapped.

"I can-" Jaune began.

"I don't need your sympathy," Mercury spat. Jaune sighed, and followed Ren out, leaving Weiss and Mercury in the room.

She had made a lot of mistakes in the past, but maybe, just maybe, she could do the right thing here.

She grabbed his binder off the ground, and then grabbed his shirt from where Cardin had left it.

"Everyone else is gone," she said, and held both garments under the gap of the stall door.

Mercury immediately snatched them from her hand, and she could hear him getting dressed while she sat down on one of the locker benches.

"I said I didn't need anyone's sympathy," Mercury said, before he opened the stall door. "Especially not yours. What is this, some kind of trick?"

"No, I just..." Weiss said. "I just wanted to help."

"Yeah, real helpful," Mercury said. "Why do you even care anyway?"

"Because that wasn't right," Weiss said, beginning to worry that her carefully constructed mask was beginning to shatter away.

"And suddenly that means something to you?" Mercury scoffed. "I'm surprised you weren't helping him. Now I'm supposed to trust you?"

"Trust whoever you want," Weiss sighed, standing up. "I did you a favor, let's just leave it at that."

She walked over to the door, hoping no one else had realized what she was doing. Mercury, still by the stall door, didn't say anything until the moment her hand touched the door handle.

"How long?" he asked.

Weiss froze in her steps, making sure she had heard him correctly.

"What?" Weiss asked, turning back to face him.

"How long have you known?" Mercury asked.

"About you? I didn't know until just now," Weiss asked.

"No," Mercury said. "Stop playing dumb. How long have you known you were different?"

"What are you talking about?" Weiss asked, panic beginning to flood her mind.

"I mean, you helped me," Mercury said. "The only other person who tried was Jaune. And now that I think about it, whenever anyone calls you 'Warren' or 'he', you look like you were force fed a sour lemon."

"You think I'm transgender?" Weiss scoffed, feigning confusion. "You just said it yourself, I'm just like Cardin, right?"

"No," Mercury said. "You've got some shitty views, or at least you act like you do. And that's weird, too. Cause every time you go on one of your rants, Henry and the twins are having a blast, but your heart's never been in it."

Weiss crossed her arms, becoming more and more aware that she probably wasn't going to deceive him.

"You're not acting like this because you hate us," Mercury said. "Are you?"

Weiss scanned around the room, making sure no one else was here, before sitting back down, several feet away from Mercury.

"Is it that obvious?" Weiss asked.

"Not to cis people," Mercury said. "You don't have to worry about any of them figuring it out."

"Right, not unless you tell them," Weiss said.

"For one, no one would believe me even if I did," Mercury said. "And on top of that, I wouldn't do that. I'm not one of your gossip rats."

Weiss sighed.

"I never wanted to be like this," Weiss said.

"Why would you? Being trans sucks," Mercury said. "It's a hundred nightmares all compacted into one, and-"

"No," Weiss said. "I never wanted to be a Schnee. I never wanted to be discriminatory like this, I never wanted to be like Henry."

Mercury let out a half laugh, half scoff.

"Then fucking stop," Mercury said. "Because if you think you hate it, let me tell you, the rest of us hate it so much more."

"I want to," Weiss said.

"Not enough," Mercury said. "What is it, what's keeping you up on that high horse? Is it popularity?"

"It has nothing to do with popularity!" Weiss snapped. "It has to do with my father and his unreasonable expectations. He just wants me to be like him, in every single way, and if I let him down he is perfectly willing to get physically violent!"

Mercury sighed.

"That's rough," Mercury said. "And I'm sorry, that sucks. But that's no excuse. You think my old man's kind about who I am? Every day I go home to a beating. Last night he tried to give me a black eye, night before he put out his cigar on my shoulder. And despite all of that, I don't stab my community in the back."

Weiss was stunned, and every attempt to find words was met with shocked silence.

"This isn't a rare thing, either," Mercury said. "I know for a fact you know how May's family treated her. Coco lives with her aunt because her parents disowned her when she came out. Flynt's been attacked three times since coming out. Hide all you want, but stop using all of us as your shield to do it."

"Like I said, I want to," Weiss said. "I wish I was strong enough to be out, like you. I wish I wasn't so scared of my father, I-"

"You're not listening," Mercury said, standing back up. "You don't have to be out. Not until you're ready. That's your choice, not anyone else's. But we don't deserve to keep taking shit from you so you can blend in."

Weiss went quiet once more.

"I've gotta get back out there," Mercury said. "No matter what I'll face. Can you do the same?"

Without waiting for an answer, Mercury left the locker room, leaving Weiss to her thoughts.

Blake usually spent her lunch in the library, but today the weather had been relatively nice and she hadn't wanted to run into Warren, who also spent his lunch in the library, so she took her book with and went outside, finding a bench out of the way of the football field. She was surprised how easy it was for her to relax, despite the gentle wind blowing her hair into her face every thirty seconds.

She had been tense all day, due to her morning argument with Warren, and if it was up to her, she would just avoid him entirely.

She still didn't understand why someone as wealthy as him was using the bus to get to school. If he didn't, she would be able to just spend the mornings in relative peace, which she would give anything for.

She knew she'd at least take the small victory of a peaceful lunch.

At least, until she picked up on a familiar voice, halfway through the lunch period.

"Double?" a masculine voice said. "Yeah, it'd be one-twenty."

"Ugh, I could get this much for a hundred somewhere else," Nebula said.

Blake looked up from her book, her blood having gone cold at the masculine voice. About thirty feet away, right by the treeline near the school's property, Nebula was handing several bills to Adam Taurus, who was wearing his signature black hoodie.

"Yeah, well, dealing here's risky," Adam said. "So I charge extra."

"You're lucky your shit's good quality," Nebula said, looking through a clear plastic bag, with several white pills inside.

"Alright, if you need me again, get ahold of Junior," Adam said. "Don't use it all at once."

Nebula turned and walked off, and Adam began to leave, as he looked up.

And he and Blake made eye contact, for a long moment.

"What are you doing here?" Blake asked, standing up. Her hands trembled, her legs felt like jelly.

"Just business," Adam said, stepping closer. "Didn't expect you here, thought your parents wanted you homeschooled."

Blake stepped back, her heart racing.

"They changed their minds," Blake said.

"I'm actually glad you're here," Adam said. "I've been thinking, and breaking up with you was the biggest mistake I've-"

"Adam," Blake said, her mouth going dry. "We're done. I'm not changing my mind about that."

"Listen, I know things got a little out of control," Adam began.

"Hey, is this guy bothering you?" another familiar voice asked, from behind Blake. She turned back to see Sun Wukong, who was picking up a frisbee a few feet back.

"Who's this?" Adam asked.

"Uh, I'm her boyfriend, dude," Sun said, throwing an arm around Blake's shoulder. "Who are you?"

Adam glared back and forth between the two of them, before turning away. Within a few seconds, he was off school property, and Blake sat back down, shaking.

"Thank you," Blake said.

"No prob," Sun said. "But seriously, who was that creep?"

"My ex," Blake said. "I just... I didn't think I'd see him here."

"I've seen him from time to time, mainly sells adderall, xanax, norco, and oxy to whoever's willing to pay," Sun said.

"Good for him," Blake said, rolling her eyes. "How do you know what he sells?"

"I talk to, like, everyone," Sun said. "Anyway, if he tries anything, give me a holler."

Blake nodded, taking a deep breath to try to calm herself down.

"I just... didn't expect to see him here," Blake said.

Ms. Salem's class had been one of the most painful classes Ruby had ever been through. After listing out the grades again, she had singled out Ruby, who had tied with Jaune for the lowest grade in the class.

"I really do hope that my memory is more reliable than it seems," Salem said. "Because it very much looks to me like you both managed to somehow get fifty-four percent each. And I do remember making it crystal clear that such failure wouldn't be tolerated in my class."

"I'm sorry, Ms. Salem," Jaune said, looking down.

Ruby looked over the notes Ms. Salem had left on her paper, feeling shame sink in at the mistakes she had made.

"So, I think the solution is clear," Ms. Salem said. "Every student who got less than an eighty percent will be attending lunch detention until their grades improve."

"What?" Ruby exclaimed.

The class went quiet.

"Ruby Rose," Salem said, after several seconds of chilling silence. "I had hoped when you came to my class several weeks ago, that you would impress me. I was eager to see what sharp potential this prodigy student possessed. The other staff members couldn't stay quiet about you, after all. Since you attended my very first class, however, I must say I have been incredibly disappointed. Your highest grade all semester was a seventy-two. Here I thought you'd show potential similar to Cinder."

Ruby felt her blood freeze over with each word, deeply regretting her outburst as every single student watched her.

"And yet, despite these shortcomings, it seems you find it acceptable to speak out of turn," Salem said. "Perhaps you should be the one teaching the class?"

"I never said that," Ruby said, forcing as much courage as she could muster. She still felt terrified of each word, but Salem had been pushing her to the breaking point.

"Oh?" Salem asked. "Then I'll be patient, and allow you to make your point. But I don't appreciate my time being wasted. If your point lacks validity, I'll see to it that your time is wasted appropriately in after-school detention."

Ruby took a deep breath, then spoke again.

"I think you're being unfair," Ruby said. "The questions on our assignments are usually only briefly referred to in class, and between all the textbooks we have, we have no way to reliably find the answers we need. On top of that, regular lunch detention for a C plus is unreasonable."

Salem let Ruby finish speaking, giving only an unsettling slight smile as she spoke.

"Is that all?" Salem asked. Ruby nodded. "Well, allow me to clear a few things up. First, you not only have adequate resources, but you should already know the answers. Your textbooks have an index and a glossary, do they not?"

"Well, yeah, but-" Ruby began.

"Have you not been shown how to use them?" Salem asked. "Did you skip the year that was covered?"

"A lot of these books assume we already know what a lot of this stuff means," Jaune said. "Last time any of us had a class like this was seventh grade life science, and this is way more complicated."

"I don't believe that question was directed at you," Salem said. "But if you're so eager to join her, then you can join her in detention. I'd like to meet with both of your parents about this outburst. Tomorrow, after school. Does anyone else feel that my lessons are unfair?"

No one spoke or raised their hands.

"Cinder," Salem said, turning to her. "You've gotten a hundred percent for the fifth day in a row, perhaps you could weigh in on this matter. Surely, if the assignments are so unfairly written, grades like yours wouldn't be possible."

"It's easy," Cinder said. "You just have to actually try. You can't just try to blow through it, if you actually study and pay attention it's not hard."

"I think this concludes this matter quite nicely," Salem said. "And since there is an actual lesson to get to, I'd rather not waste more time. Open your Advanced Cell Function textbooks to page one hundred seventeen, and your standard textbook to page three hundred forty three."

"Warren!" Melanie asked, waving her over on the bus. "You have P. E. with Cardin and Mercury, right?"

Weiss felt her heart sink, already knowing exactly where this was going.

"I do," Weiss said. Several seconds passed with the twins waiting for her to say more.

"Well?" Miltia said. "Was Cardin right? Is Mercury a girl?"

Weiss felt herself sink into internal conflict.

I don't want to be part of this anymore. I especially don't want to out Mercury, more than Cardin already has.

But if I don't, they might know.

It's wrong. It's wrong to do this. I might be able to fix all the things I've done up until now, but if I do this, I can't take it back.

What I should do is tell them both to shut up, and that it isn't their business. I'd finally be free of their superficial views, and I might even be able to make real friends afterwards, who would accept me for who I am. I could just be done with it all, I could finally be myself.

But... father... he would be furious. If I did this, not only would I be defying his orders for who I'm allowed to socialize with, I'd probably be throwing away my chance at winning this stupid election. And if I did that... he would probably get violent...

Shouldn't it be me, though, instead of Mercury, that suffers for this? It's not fair to put him in harm's way just to keep myself safe.

"Warren?" Melanie asked, snapping her out of her focus. Weiss immediately felt her irritation rise with the name that was spoken. "Is Mercury a girl?"

It was actually partially because of that irritation that Weiss found the strength to answer how she did.

"I wasn't paying attention," Weiss said. "And honestly, I'm above gossiping about something that happened behind closed doors. It's not my business, and it isn't yours, either. I have an election to focus on, if you don't mind."

Weiss caught the startled reactions of several surrounding people. Both Jaune and Blake seemed surprised for the better, while the Malachite twins both folded their arms in annoyance, in unison.

"What's your problem?" Miltia scoffed.

"I have better things to do than talk about students behind their back. If you really want to know, ask Mercury, he's a more reliable source than Cardin Winchester," Weiss said. "I know you two don't have expectations to meet, but I do."

As the bus came to a stop, Weiss stormed off, taking a deep breath once she had gotten off the bus.

"I can't say I expected that response," Blake said, from behind her as the bus drove off.

"You may think you have me figured out," Weiss said. "But you don't."

Blake rolled her eyes.

"Are you just... incapable of friendly conversation?" Blake asked. Weiss looked down, sighing.

"I'm not usually offered friendly conversation," Weiss said. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I have a campaign to manage."

Thank you for reading! Stay tuned for chapter 12