The containers don't explode, which is fortunate. Azula doesn't wait, doesn't pause and linger, she pivots with a fluid motion and then starts running in the opposite direction.
You're lucky that I caught on so fast just then! Weiss is furious. She had sent the glyph just barely in time. Couldn't you have given me the slightest bit more warning?
"The look on that woman's face!" Azula laughs. "Now, how do you use your stupid Scroll thing again—"
There's a transitory moment where Weiss stumbles as Azula abruptly passes the majority of her body's motor control back to her. A few quick swipes on her Scroll screen and then her emergency distress signal goes live. If it wasn't for the dire situation, Weiss would find it funny that Azula is still so bad with modern technology. For good measure, Weiss also calls Ruby directly.
"Weiss?" Ruby picks up on the first ring.
"So, I might be in a bit of trouble," Weiss says. She bites her lip. "Or a lot of trouble. Um. I'd prefer it if you don't actually wait until midnight to come find me."
A White Fang grunt rounds the corner with a shout. His gun is trained on her. The bullet, luckily enough, clangs off the blade of Myrtenaster, and she slashes through him.
"What was that?"
"Please go ahead and tell the Headmaster he owes me a big favor," Weiss continues. "The woman's name he's interested in is Cinder Fall, I'm at one of her hideouts right now, she wants to destroy the school, and if Ozpin's fast enough, maybe he can catch her before—"
Another White Fang grunt. Again, Weiss slashes through the grunt with ease. She's vaguely surprised and relieved that Cinder hasn't started launching fireballs from wherever she's at. Then, Weiss realizes with the way the Dust is stacked, if one container explodes, then the whole building goes up in conflagration. Using fire would be tempting fate on an extraordinary level.
Why does no one ever read the SDC's Dust safety pamphlets? Well, the situation's working out in her favor for the time being, buying her extra time. Where the hell is the exit?
Left, Azula directs, left, again, and just jump over this here—
Another line of her glyphs. Weiss runs up the side of a wall of dust containers and clears the jump, and there, across a fifty foot stretch of open floor, the big open bay doors—
She feels the heat and twists, a glyph mid-air forming a platform to throw her to the side. There's that fireball now, roaring by too close for comfort and dissipating into the ceiling. Weiss lands.
"Well-played!" she hears Cinder's call from a slight distance. The woman's voice is a tight mix of anger and begrudging respect and makes the hair on the back of Weiss's neck stand up. "You really are clever! But you're also incredibly naive if you think you're getting out of this alive!"
"I don't die that easily!" Azula shouts back. "I know when to pick my fights and when to back down!" As for Weiss, she doesn't need much more encouragement. She bolts for the doors.
This is quite unseemly, Azula says. But to win a war, you can't win all of the—
A white-hot flash of DANGER abruptly screams at her. The impact with Myrtenaster's blade is so jarring it almost rips the rapier out of Weiss's hand, sending her skidding back a couple of feet. Weiss's heartrate kicks up. She had barely been able to parry that strike. The tall Faunus in the dark gray suit embroidered with roses sheathes his sword. A pair of bull horns unfurl from his brilliant red hair. His eyes are not visible through the thin slits in his Grimm mask.
Weiss's Scroll drops to the floor, broken and bzzting.
"Hm," the bull Faunus says, in a low, thoughtful voice. "You know, I'm glad that things fell through. I really would have hated the idea of working with you, Schnee."
"Feeling's mutual," Weiss backs away slowly, trying to put a little more space between the two of them. She glances at the doors—still a good way to go. "I'm not overly fond of terrorists myself."
The bull Faunus lunges. I'm so outclassed! is Weiss's immediate, panicked thought. First of all, there's her Aura which is prone to fritzing out unpredictably. Secondly, it becomes apparent the bull Faunus is just plainly a better fighter than her. He strikes faster, harder, and she's on the backfoot within seconds, barely able to keep up.
Being left-handed is serving her well here to throw off her opponent a little bit, but the bull Faunus adjusts fast. His sword glows, he gets in close— Azula closes Weiss's right hand into a fist and slams it into his stomach.
It's an awkward punch considering the angle and it feels like it hurts herself more than it does him, but his attack, a glowing slice of crimson energy narrowly misses her, colliding into one of the Bullheads far behind her and bisecting it neatly into halves. He lunges again and Weiss is able to throw up a repulsion glyph in time this time that makes the bull Faunus bounce back. Cinder emerges onto the scene besides where the bull Faunus comes to a stop. Her orange eyes have non-proverbial flames coming out of them.
On a scale of one to ten, how much trouble are we in? Weiss asks.
Depends on how fast reinforcements arrive.
Eleven, then.
A wall of White Fang grunts close around the bay doors, blocking off the exit. So. Weiss is outnumbered twenty-to-one, and it's not even the kind of situation where her enemies are all goons that are easy to pick off. Even if she was in tip top form, she's still facing off on two people with one hundred percent capability of crushing her.
Her eyes scan her surroundings. There's still the stacked containers of Dust, about twenty feet away to her right. Behind her is a good deal of equipment and ammo, the Bullheads and Paladins. Above? The ceiling.
Weiss begins backing away again, towards the Bullheads and Paladins. Maybe she could hijack one of them…? No, that would take way too much time, and she doesn't know how to pilot any of the things. There is a window in the far wall behind her however which she spied. With a little bit of effort, she could probably make an exit through there. Undignified, sure, but drastic times call for drastic measures.
Cinder holds out an arm, blocking the bull Faunus from advancing.
"Her head is mine," he growls.
"But of course," Cinder says, all too casually. "First, however, let me get what belongs to me."
Cinder starts to approach her. Weiss uses her glyphs to topple the various machines into her path but Cinder simply melts through them with a steady stream of flames. That's ridiculous fine control right there, Weiss thinks, and also ridiculous confidence, to be sure a stray spark won't send all of them sky high. Cinder walks leisurely. The distance between them closes. Weiss's back hits the wall. She glances for the window.
The molten lance that skewers the space above her lightning fast, quivering, disabuses her of the notion of escape. Yeah. So, there's no way she'll be able to make it through there in any time.
Perhaps we can stall, then, Azula says. She won't kill you immediately as long as you have the information about where the Fall Maiden is. It's too valuable to her. So, obviously, do not give her what she wants to hear.
Way easier said than done, Weiss responds. Her grip tightens around Myrtenaster. This might've been a bit of a horrible idea.
We'll be okay. Probably. Don't be too stressed. You know, actually, I've just come up with a fantastic backup plan.
"I just don't understand why you would say 'no'," Cinder muses as she gets even closer to Weiss. "How did I misread you?"
"You didn't misread me," Azula sneers. "It really was an oh so tempting offer. But you're delusional to think if I would fall for any of your sweet talk."
"Oh?"
"Just admit that you're doing what you're doing for your own greed and for your own personal gain," Azula says. "Cut the savior, change the world nonsense. You just want power for power. I'm not saying there's anything particularly evil about it. It's quite human. But a person like you will backstab the first second it suits you. You'd destroy the school— and me along with it."
"Ha!" Cinder says. "You think you understand me at all?"
"You're a megalomaniac," Azula says, "who happens to have a little bit of power, and flaunts it like it means anything."
At that, Cinder's expression hardens. "It is my destiny, " Cinder hisses, her tone cold.
"Big talk when in the first place you have to be worthy in order to have a destiny."
Azula's gotten under Cinder's skin. Excellent. Weiss rolls to the side and the twin swords Cinder makes carve deep gouges into the wall where she just was. She brings Myrtenaster up, parries a strike. Activating the ice dust in the hilt of her rapier, the next exchange of blows sends a cloud of steam into the air, obscuring her vision. Whups. That was supposed to have formed a makeshift barrier or frozen the twin swords but Cinder's fire, apparently, is just too powerful. Weiss lunges, blindly, and Cinder's next attack rips through her guard and strikes her solidly. Weiss's Aura flickers at the impact.
A few moments later, Weiss loses Myrtenaster. It clatters to the floor, far out of her reach. One of Cinder's hands closes tight around her throat, squeezing as she lifts her into the air like she weighs nothing. Weiss is getting uncomfortable deja vu.
"Tell me where the Fall Maiden is," Cinder says, all business-like, "and I might just consider letting you live."
"Fat chance," and it's Weiss who musters up the courage to say that, who smirks now, even as she struggles for air, "please kindly screw yourself."
The hand around her throat tightens even more, starts to heat up. "I'll give you ten seconds to start talking," Cinder says. "Ten. Nine."
That backup plan, I could really use it now! Weiss thinks with some desperation.
So, we're going to firebend.
What?!
"Seven. Six—"
Weiss scrabbles at Cinder's arm ineffectually. You can't really be serious? We can't firebend!
We will, Azula says, seriously. Because if we don't, we're about to die.
"Four. Three—"
Azula!
It's now or never. There's some grim satisfaction leaking through from Azula's end, and Weiss is struck by Azula's calmness, the realization that this really is the quote unquote 'backup plan', and that there is a part of Azula who wanted this to happen. If being pushed to the limits doesn't make our bending come back, then nothing will.
You provoked her on purpose?
"One—"
She pours all her energy, every single bit ounce of her concentration into it. She feels the flow of her chi. Her chi is there. Weak, but it's there. She can feel it inside of her, curling in her stomach. She can do this. She's done this thousands, millions times before. If she doesn't do it now, she will die. It is now or never.
She tries for a side strike of flame. Nothing comes out. Cinder doesn't even bat an eyelid at the movement.
"Nothing to say to me? Such a shame," Cinder says. She sounds almost disappointed. "You might've been able to do something great with me, firebender. Instead, you've thrown your life away to slightly delay the inevitable. My apologies to you, Mr. Taurus."
Cinder's palm roars with heat. Weiss screams. Something inside her breaks, cracks open, tips over. And then, huge and white and glowing, a broad-edged sword crashes through Cinder, sending her flying. Weiss falls to the floor. The tip of the giant sword cleaves through the nearby wall and rips it wide open, revealing the outside air.
The frustration she feels is immense. No! That wasn't what was supposed to happen, not at all! But at the same time, the relief Weiss feels is so palpable she could almost sob. The feelings collide inside of her, mixing together tumultuously, with no easy discernment from one and the other. The knight she summoned kneels down, picks her up in its hands, and takes off running, into the moonlight.
Weiss dissipates the knight when she thinks she's far enough away. She finds a pharmacy that's still open at the hour and goes inside and makes a beeline for the bathroom and locks it. She slumps over the sink. The adrenaline still hasn't quite faded.
"Just to reiterate, next time you're planning on doing something like that," Weiss says, "tell me first ."
"It was important that that woman think that I was really on her side," Azula argues. "A single misplaced expression could've given us up."
"For a second, I was convinced you really were on her side, too!" Weiss says. She pauses, then groans. "Oh, god, you really were."
"When you think about it, what she said made sense," Azula points out. "There are obvious things wrong in this world. Inefficiencies. Redundancies. My world was the one at war, and yet the violence and conflicts that exist here in supposed peacetime equally rival it."
"If you could have been absolutely sure that Cinder Fall wouldn't have backstabbed you, would you have joined her cause?"
"No. To put it in other words, I'm not a follower. I'm a leader."
"So that's the one thing out of all her rhetoric that you take issue with…"
Weiss inhales, exhales, and rubs her eyes. Gold and slightly raw, they stare back at her. She's not really upset about Azula obfuscating her intentions to double-cross Cinder Fall from her until the very last second. That gamble paid off. What she is upset about is the other thing, with the firebending. Always the firebending. It seems to be such a source of strain and tension between the two of them.
Azula's never going to give up trying to get it back to the point of obsession. Weiss knows it. Azula knows Weiss knows it. Weiss doesn't feel like getting into an argument about it just now again. Back on the topic of Cinder Fall's grandiose plan, Weiss says, "Maybe there are things wrong in Remnant—okay, a lot of things wrong—but allying with terrorists and killing innocent people really aren't going to fix them."
"Yes. That woman is a megalomaniac." But at the same time, there's a slight hint of uncertainty to Azula's voice. Weiss reaches for the uncertainty and feels Azula pull away from her, and the gold color recedes from her eyes, returning the blue (the color seems somewhat paler and more watery than it used to be).
Weiss frowns. "Is something the matter?"
Sometimes, a little privacy is nice is all, Azula says. Then, she tacks on, Please, don't for a second mistake our relationship for friendship.
Weiss sighs. What a typical thing for Azula to say. Her gaze inadvertently drifts to the scar down the side of her face. The knight that gave it to her, she was able to summon it tonight. It saved her—their— life. She concentrates a little bit and a white glyph manifests easily in her palm, and the knight, in miniature, jumps onto the sink in front of her.
Weiss feels her Aura attenuating at an alarming rate, winces, and dissipates the knight once more.
Congratulations, Azula says. Weiss can practically feel the note of resentment that ripples from that one, dryly said word.
"So your 'backup plan' sort of worked," Weiss says. "Well, if not you, maybe Winter will appreciate my improvement…"
And your teammates for the start of the tournament in seven days' time.
Privately, Weiss thinks she would trade being able to summon for being able to firebend in a heartbeat, if only to stop Azula from stewing in what obviously continues to bother her so much. Weiss can't figure out the exact reason why they can't firebend either, but it makes sense that if they haven't been able to do it ever, there's no reason they should suddenly be able to do it despite their lives seemingly having hinged on the fact. Azula suggests a repeat near-death experience. Weiss declines. One of the employees of the pharmacy knocks on the bathroom door, asking if she's okay since she's been in there for such a long time. As an afterthought, Weiss leaves behind the five thousand Lien's worth of cash cards as a tip for the inconvenience, and goes back out onto the street.
She doesn't have to wander for long. When the Atlesian airships and Bullheads from Beacon start flying in overhead, Weiss cautiously circles back to the warehouse. Her heart seizes for one second when she sees the charred remnants, the flattened scrapyard, and comes to the conclusion that the Dust containers which occupied the former warehouse have, in fact, definitely and very violently exploded. Damn. Her rapier had still been inside there. She doesn't hold out on much hope that Myrtenaster survived that. This is very unpleasant. It will be almost impossible to replace it on such short notice, in time for the tournament.
But it's fine, her team is okay, she spies Ruby's red cloak and Yang's bright hair and Blake's vague monochrome outline as they converse with who looks to be Professor Goodwitch. And now there's Winter who's spied her, marching right up to her, mouth set in a furious line.
"Charging into enemy territory without any immediate backup?" Winter snaps. "Do you have any idea how unbelievably reckless that was?"
Weiss defends, "I didn't want to tip that woman off that anything about the situation was strange, and I did have backup, just not immediate. I'm… I'm not going to say I'm sorry. I think we made the right call."
Winter gestures at the charred remnants of the warehouse and her voice gets a little louder. "Last we checked from your Scroll you were still inside there when it went up in smithereens!"
"And that was just a misunderstanding," Weiss responds. "You can see for yourself that I'm okay. It went well. And now the situation is all the better for everyone."
Winter seems like she's about to push the matter further. Weiss steels herself for more scolding and shouting, to try and stand her own ground. But ultimately, Winter simply shakes her head. Winter seems to take a moment to gather herself.
"The last time we talked, I think I was a little too harsh on you," Winter says, quietly. "You, and your team leader. I'm… sorry if you felt betrayed by what happened."
"If you already apologized to Ruby, then it's completely forgiven, there's nothing to apologize further," Weiss says. She feels herself soften. "I understand."
Winter doesn't hug her this time but puts a hand on her shoulder, squeezes once. "I'm just glad you're safe," she says. Weiss's shoulder twinges briefly with pain as Winter pulls back. Azula tries to mask it under a derisive snort, but Weiss feels her melancholy.
Winter goes off to talk to an Ironwood whose barking orders, while Ruby, Blake, and Yang approach her.
"See, I knew she wasn't dead!" Yang says, brightly. "Yo, Weiss. Looking good."
"I can't believe it's you I'm saying this to, but you're kind of an idiot," Blake says.
"You're an idiot," Ruby says.
Leave it to Ruby to be the most direct about her unhappiness. Weiss takes in those worried silver eyes and feels herself soften even further. "The three of you had that adventure without me with Sun and Neptune that one time," Weiss says. "So it's only fair that I got one for myself, right? It turned out well. It wasn't really a fight. Just, um, reconnaissance."
Looking Ruby square in the eye, Azula says, "I made your partner come along with me. I'm taking full credit for this accomplishment." To which she then points in the general direction of the destroyed warehouse as if it's something to be proud of. "See?"
Ruby declares, solemnly, "You're also an idiot."
Azula bristles. "I am—"
"Don't do this again," Ruby warns. "Leader's orders."
Pause.
"Last time," Weiss agrees.
It's the morning after her second meeting with Cinder Fall, and in that period of time where Weiss stumbled back to Beacon Academy to sleep like a zombie, a number of things have happened. It's determined the explosion at the warehouse was self-inflicted, and the site has been sectioned off by the Atlesian military and the local police force who are combing through it with greater detail. Cinder Fall managed to escape, unfortunately, as did a good number of the White Fang grunts, including that bull Faunus whom Weiss briefly clashed with. According to Ironwood, the inventory that was stored accounts for less than twenty percent of the Dust that was stolen over the past six months in Vale. Bit of a damper, there, although with Weiss handing over the list that Junior had given to her, maybe the authorities will be able to recover more.
The information Azula and Weiss obtained also helped Ozpin discover that Cinder Fall had been masquerading as an exchange student for the Vytal Festival, and that the rest of her team were also fakes, although those other two students—Emerald Sustrai and Mercury Black—also managed to get away. There's going to be a bit of an internal investigation to figure out how they infiltrated the school in the first place and what malicious things they were doing while they were at Beacon.
The infinite leverage was nice while it lasted.
Azula is duly unimpressed by the bureaucratic incompetency.
"In summary, everyone of any importance escaped without consequence," Azula says.
"It was still a victory," Ozpin says. "Thanks to you, we learned more about Cinder Fall's plans and you've brought several concerning details about the school's safety and security to my attention. I'm glad that you decided to come to the right side after all."
"Let's make it clear, I didn't do it for you, and you already claimed that woman was 'a serious threat to the peace of everyone in this world', so your flattery will get you nowhere," Azula says, flatly. "What are you going to do about the problem of the dying Fall Maiden and her half of her powers?"
"We do in fact have a plan for that."
"Which is?"
"I'm afraid I would rather not reveal the details to you."
"You know you owe me. If, just as a hypothesis, if you're somehow going to send the Fall Maiden's powers to some other person in order to prevent them from reaching that woman, I think I am by and far the best candidate for receiving them."
Ozpin takes a long drink from his mug. "I think that would be a very poor idea," he says, calmly. "The introduction of possibly a third soul to Miss Schnee's body? Complicating powers? There are too many ways that it could go wrong. It is too risky. Don't you have any concern for the additional undue stress such a procedure could place on her, your host? Don't you have some compassion for her?"
Azula stares steadfastly at him. Ozpin meets her eyes.
Ozpin says, "Miss Azula. What do you think I should do about the Vytal Festival?"
"I think you can do whatever you want with it. I don't have a particular stake in it either way."
"'By the end of the week, Beacon will burn,'" Ozpin quotes. "It can't be a coincidence that that timeline lines up with the start of the Vytal Festival, can it?"
"I want the Fall Maiden's power, headmaster," Azula leans forward on the other side of the desk. "If there's a way to get it without killing her, you ought to tell me. You do owe me, and you should know that I'm not a person you want to cross."
"Why don't we move past this discussion for the time being and talk about the Vytal Festival?"
"I don't believe in coincidences."
"The General's in favor of keeping the festival but upping the security detail even further," Ozpin says. "Despite the risk it poses, I think I agree. There is symbolic importance to the festival that goes beyond a simple celebration. To cancel it on such short notice would be a risk of its own, attracting unwanted questions, causing unease, stirring negative emotions."
"It seems you've already come to a decision. Why did you even ask me for my opinion then?"
"It's nice to get another perspective."
"...Right."
"May I speak with Miss Schnee?"
"Go ahead."
Weiss.
...Hm? Oh.
Weiss takes control of her body. She feels exhausted, sluggish for some reason, even after a night's worth of rest, which should have rejuvenated her if anything. She was following along Azula's conversation with the headmaster from somewhere in the recesses of her head, half-asleep. She straightens in the chair.
"Headmaster?" she says.
"I've had most of the materials you requested sent to Miss Rose's Scroll, seeing as how yours is out of commission. The other files are here." Ozpin reaches down for something at his feet and puts it on the desk: a stack of papers at least two feet tall. "I took a cursory glance through some of them. If you need any help, please don't be afraid to ask."
Is he being sincere? Is he mocking her? Like always, Ozpin's intentions are utterly opaque to her and Azula. Weiss really can't tell. Muttering a thank you, Weiss picks up the stack of materials and makes her way to the elevator.
The delayed reaction comes on the ride down.
"Oh, come on," Weiss groans. "The Fall Maiden's power? Even supposing you're right that it's going to be moved to another person, no. Just, no. The Headmaster's right, Azula. That's a horrible idea."
"I didn't really expect him to say 'yes'," Azula says. "But if anyone deserves it, it's me. Us. Now that you've lost your weapon, too, you're weaker than ever."
Weiss is annoyed at what Azula's trying to imply. "You don't really want it."
"I do."
"You don't want it. It's cheating. It's not even real firebending. It's imitation. You don't want to stoop to the same level as Cinder Fall. I know you. You said it yourself. It's got to be 'of your own right'. Don't you have pride about this?" Weiss monologues all of this at once.
"Sometimes, I hate that you can see into my head," Azula says under her breath.
"Mm," Weiss says. She blinks, bleary-eyed. Why am I so tired?
She readjusts her grip on the stack of materials. They feel ridiculously heavy. The elevator doors open and she steps out into the hall. Every one hundred or so steps, she has to stop to put the papers down onto the floor and take a quick break. The stupid dorms have never felt so far away.
Her Aura feels… okay, considering the activity of the previous night. Her shoulder doesn't hurt that much anymore. She should take a new dosage of boosters. It's odd that her energy has so abruptly cratered.
Let me do this, Azula says, irritably, and takes over. She picks up the papers, hefts them, and starts a steady pace down the hall.
Weiss dozes.