A/N:

Hi friends!

Welcome back to RWBY: The Selection, where ships are a-sailing, princess lessons are a *struggle*, and Salem is up to something :) Coming at you today with some stellar Weiss Schnee, and her one-on-one with Prince Jaune.

Also, okay, so I woke up this morning to 6 new emails with reviews to this story, and all I can say is "whoa." Y'all are awesome. Prepare for a long list of shoutouts before the chapter actually starts (feel free to skip but do so at your own risk XD, some people might have the same thoughts or questions you do.)

To Ravell Aqim, first of all, thank you for your four reviews XD I'm really glad you like the character work. Getting strong motivations for all these characters was something I really strove for and I'm happy you're liking it so far :) Same with sympathizing for all the characters (especially Weiss-y Weiss). Depicting Blake and Adam's relationship in an unhealthy but very real way is also something that I put a lot of work into, so thank you for that comment as well :) Considering Ozma and Salem, more will come on that, but this is essentially an AU of what would've happened if Ozma had kept the relics a secret from Salem for far longer than he actually did. They were happy in ruling the Kingdom for many centuries (it's a little weird with the reincarnations, but they made it work), but then Ozma told Salem about the relics, and she lost it. She was already on the crazy/destructive end (having established a totalitarian state with a rigid system of social stratification and a bunch of Grimm to attack people), but this made her lose it. I don't want to say more at risk of spoilers, but there is more coming on the Salem/Ozma backstory :) And the RWBY Chibi vibes will remain! :D

To TheReckless1One, thank you for your review! I'm not going to lie, I had to google some of the ship names included in that message XD but yeah, you're pretty spot on. If I had more room in the description for this fic, I would include all the ships that are included in this: Arkos, WhiteRose, Bumblebee, ReNora, plus hints of so (so) many others. I do ship (and really like) Chocolate Bunny, but that... might not be what's endgame for team CFVY in this fic (After the Fall got me shipping another ship in that team so hard it's not even funny, and I haven't even started Before the Dawn yet), but team CFVY as a whole in this fic is just so slow burn you won't even realize you're on fire XD. Also, a lot of ships start together that are not endgame (ie: Tauradonna, other spoilery things, and more), so bear that in mind too. Homosexual marriage is okay in this version of Remnant, Saphron really was a way-paver in that. It's not very common though, largely because it gets complicated between castes. I kept the Selection's caste rule that, when two people of different castes get married, the female's caste switches to the male's caste, and to my recollection that book never offered an explanation for two males or two females. So, intracaste homosexual marriage is not a problem, but intercaste homosexual marriage might indeed be one. There's a scene or two coming up on that in the next 50 chapters or so though so I don't want to give too much away ;) Same with Winter's mysterious ex-husband ;) ;)

To Dax379, thank you for your review1 I'm glad you don't think WhiteRose is that bad XD. I can get behind Lancaster, I really can. Arkos is just so good. And Weiss is just so Weiss-y :D

A few people mentioned Topaz (Jaune/Emerald) as a ship (which is one of the ones I had to google the name of... RWBY has such creative ship names!) I LOVE Emerald, she's one of my favorite characters to write. I ship her a lot with Mercury, just because in the show they've got a lot of scenes together and pretty good banter chemistry. That being said, Emerald's got some stuff coming up ;)

Without further ado (because wow has there been sufficient ado already), enjoy!

Chapter 41: Weiss

Even Ruby's constant screaming could not dampen Weiss's good mood today. With the second group date out of the way, she now understood why Prince Jaune hadn't sought her out first. A small card with a poem and a date invitation was resting outside of her door when she arrived from the Women's Room. Jaune hadn't forgotten about her. He had simply been saving his time for a special one-on-one with her tonight, and that meant the world to Weiss. Of course, she didn't really care for Jaune in a romantic sense, or even in a platonic sense, but she had too much on the line to lose this competition. If she had a one-on-one date with Jaune tonight, she had to bring her A game.

"Weiiiiiiiiiss!" Ruby cried, throwing open her door.

Weiss sighed, putting down her mascara brush. By now, she was used to Ruby barging into her room at odd hours. "What is it now, Ruby?"

"I'm bored!"

"I'm working,"

Ruby squinted. "You're not working, you're doing makeup."

"That is working, Ruby,"

Ruby groaned and fell down face-first on the ground.

"Can't you go and bother one of your other friends?"

"No, I want to bother you," Ruby argued, her voice muffled by the floor.

Weiss sighed, turning back to her makeup. Everything about tonight had to be perfect.

Ruby forced herself up and walked over, staring at Weiss's reflection in the mirror. "What's that?" she asked, pointing to the mascara.

"Mascara," replied Weiss as patiently as she could muster.

Ruby narrowed her eyes. "What's that?" she asked, pointing to the blush.

"That would be blush, Ruby,"

Ruby pointed to the nine shades of lip gloss that formed a perfect pyramid on Weiss's desk. "What's that?"

Weiss huffed. "Ruby!"

"Yes?"

Weiss turned to glare into the girl's wide, innocent, silver eyes. "I have a date with Prince Jaune in a little under an hour. That means I have a little under an hour to prepare. You are not helping."

Ruby pouted. "How can I help?"

Weiss sighed. The short answer was that she couldn't, but, as much as Weiss complained, she didn't want to be alone in this moment. "Tell me everything you know about the Prince,"

Ruby raised an eyebrow. "He has a sword,"

Weiss snorted. "Of course that's the first thing you say,"

"He's also nice and funny," Ruby continued loudly.

"Okay, what else?"

Ruby thought for a second. "Oh! He likes chocolate chip cookies."

Weiss rolled her eyes as she brought the mascara to her left eye. "Helpful. Very helpful."

"Thanks," Ruby beamed, "I try."

"Salutations!"

Startled, Weiss jolted the mascara across her face, making one long black streak from her eye to her ear. She looked through the mirror to see Penny Polendina standing by the doorframe, her hand raised in greeting and a wide smile across her face.

"Penny!" Ruby cried, bursting into rose petals and reappearing next to her friend.

Weiss looked in the mirror. That mascara made her look like a disaster: a complete disaster.

"Salutations, Weiss Schnee!" Penny exclaimed, "are you getting ready for your date with Prince Jaune?"

"I was," Weiss grumbled, "but you two are making it rather difficult,"

Penny's face fell, but Ruby rolled her eyes. "I always make things difficult for Weiss," she explained, "but we're still best friends. Right, Weiss?"

"You're wrong, Ruby," Weiss called back, angrily dabbing at her cheek with a makeup wipe.

"Like I said, best friends,"

"Sensational!" Penny cried. "Weiss, are we best friends too?"

Weiss opened her mouth to negate that, but was cut off by a loud knocking at the door. Weiss groaned, resigned to the fact that her room had somehow become another Women's Room, and picked up her eyeshadow palette.

"Salutations, Neon Katt!" Penny exclaimed.

Weiss snapped the eyeshadow palette shut. "Do not let her in!" she ordered, but it was too late. In a flash of color, Neon rollerbladed into the room, grinning widely and dancing circles around Weiss's desk.

"Wow, your room decorations are really boring. Are you color blind?"

Weiss growled.

"You should see my room. It's so bright and happy. Lots of color. It's popping. Prince Jaune came in the other day and he was like 'whoa this is so bright, Neon', and I was like 'thanks!'. He totally loved it."

Weiss's eye twitched. "When was Prince Jaune in your room?"

"Oh, yesterday after mini-golf. It was such a fun date, we had such a great time. Probably hard to follow…" Neon mused. Weiss wished the cat Faunus would stop spinning around her desk. Her head was already spinning enough as it was. "I wouldn't worry though, at least you're not going last,"

"Wait, what? Why is going last bad?" Ruby panicked.

"I guess it's not bad," Neon shrugged, "it's just a lot more pressure, whereas, when you're sandwiched in the middle like Weiss, Prince Jaune probably isn't likely to remember you,"

Weiss straightened. "Well, we'll see about that. Personally, I'd consider myself very memorable."

Neon laughed. "Maybe you're right. After all," she coughed, "he can probably smell that perfume from a mile away."

"Doesn't it smell good?!" Ruby exclaimed, while Penny sniffed the air, confused.

Neon shrugged. "Depends on your taste. It definitely smells expensive. To me, that just smells tacky,"

Weiss's mouth dropped open in horror. Tacky? She smelled tacky?

"Okay, Neon," Ruby said hesitantly as the two made eye contact. Weiss felt like she was going to burst into tears. She smelled tacky? "Let's go party it up in the Women's Room. We can have a roller skating rave,"

Neon's face lit up and she skated from Weiss to Ruby. "I am so there," she grinned, and skated away. "Have fun on your date," she called to Weiss as she went through the door. "I hope the Prince has some nose plugs!"

Penny followed, chatting with Ruby about how excited she was, as she had never been to a rave before. But she walked on as Ruby stayed behind.

"Weiss…" Ruby started, and then it was too much.

Ruby's pity. Neon's comments. Penny's constant, oblivious enthusiasm. How was she expected to go on a date and act like everything was okay, and perfect, and beautiful when everything was wrong?

Everyone was so mean to her here. No one wanted her to be here. She didn't even want to be here. All she wanted was to keep her title as Heiress to the Schnee Dust Company, and now that was on the line too. If she didn't make Prince Jaune fall in love with her, if she didn't win this competition, she would lose everything. But how was he supposed to fall in love with her if she smelled tacky? Weiss sniffed. Her chin trembled. Her eyes stung. And then, she burst into tears.

"Weiss!" Ruby exclaimed. She stretched out a hand, but Weiss slapped it away. She ran from the room, trying to contain her sobs. "Weiss!"

Weiss ran down the hall and raced down the stairs, the long silver dress she had spent so long picking out twisting around her legs as she ran. She wasn't sure where she was going, away from the other contestants for sure, away from the palace, maybe even away from the ultimatum her father had given her. She ran aimlessly through the palace, her face in her hands, until she bolted right into someone and hit them with a force strong enough to knock her to the ground.

"Weiss?"

She looked up through blurred eyes at the man she had collided into, and, as her vision sharpened, she saw the image of Jaune Arc come into focus. Tears swam in her eyes all over again. "Great," she thought "Just great."

He extended a hand to help her up, concern in his deep blue eyes. She took it. "Prince Jaune," she sniffed, forcing a smile to her face. "How are you doing this splendid evening?" she asked through sobs, following her script to T.

"Are you okay?"

She stared at him for a moment, then broke down again. "Stop crying!" she thought to herself, "he wants to have a fun date, like putt-putt, or the botanical gardens, not comforting some sobbing brat," but her negative self-talk only made her cry harder.

She felt him close the gap between them and felt his arms wrap around her. Her face pressed into the black fabric of his tuxedo, staining it with her tears. She felt herself overwhelmed with shock. No one had ever hugged her when she was crying before. She'd been scolded for crying, snapped at, and ignored, but never before had she been comforted for crying, and she'd certainly never been hugged.

They stayed there like that for a while, Jaune just holding her until her eyes dried and her breathing slowed. When she finally felt stable enough to pull away, she stepped back.

"I'm sorry," she said, wiping her eyes as gracefully as she could.

"No need," replied Jaune instantly. The concern was still thick on his face. "What happened?"

"Just... some of the other girls," Weiss shrugged. She resolved right then and there that she wouldn't tell him what Neon had said to make her so upset. She wouldn't let the girl's comments get to her. She wouldn't let them ruin her night or ruin her chance for the crown. "Don't worry about it. I feel a lot better with you here."

"Really?"

"Yes," she replied, unsure whether or not she was telling the truth.

Their date was okay. She followed him along a path of rose petals to a starlit table. There, they had an elegant five-course meal, followed by some musical entertainment (Jaune had brought his guitar and tried to sing). Jaune had clearly put a lot of work into the evening, and Weiss tried her best to enjoy it. There was just something about the situation, however, or perhaps something about him, that irked her.

"I had a lot of fun tonight," Jaune commented as they walked back to the castle.

"I feel the same," Weiss smiled. "I certainly wasn't expecting to get a concert after dinner,"

Jaune grinned sheepishly. "Yeah…"

"Where did you learn to play like that?"

Jaune looked away. "My dad,"

Weiss nodded, trying to fathom that concept. Her father would never bother to spend the time teaching her to play a musical instrument. He had people for that. "Well, he taught you very well,"

Jaune beamed. "I'll be sure to bring it on the next date,"

Weiss's smile faltered. It had been torture enough to listen to Jaune play that guitar tonight. If she was forced to listen to it next week as well, she might have to invest in earplugs. "That would be… lovely,"

He escorted her back to her room. "Lady Weiss," he said, bowing to kiss her hand.

"Prince Jaune," she smiled, responding with a curtsy. After he left, Weiss sighed. Other than its rough start and Jaune's awful guitar playing, the night had been objectively perfect. They'd had a pleasant conversation, they'd shared a good meal, they'd interacted enough for Weiss to feel that she had a sufficient head start on the rest of the competition. So why did she feel so miserable?

She wiped off her makeup before changing into her pajamas and brushing her teeth. After laying down on her princess-sized bed (even bigger and fancier than her bed at home in Atlas), Weiss found herself wishing Ruby would come in, shouting about Dr. Watts or complaining that she was bored or even asking for a makeup lesson (because gods knew she needed one…), but Ruby never knocked.

"She's probably sleeping," Weiss scolded herself. "She's got a big day ahead of her."