After the Storm

by Terkontar

The storm had passed and team RWBY left the grim clouds behind them, finally being able to take a breath, tend to their wounds and pick up the pieces of their shattered lives. And no matter what comes next, they'll brave this new dawn – together / Takes place after Salem's defeat, two years after the fall of Beacon. Mostly slowly burning Whiterose with some Bumblebee on the side.

22. Wishes, part two

Chapter XVI: Wishes, part two

Her eyes closed, Weiss pushed every unnecessary thought out of her mind, focusing on the flow of Aura in her body. The familiar energy that surged through her veins felt like water from a cool spring as she shaped its course in accordance to her will, guiding it down her arms and out of her body. A soft, high-pitched hum filled the air around her for a moment, after which there was a second of silence so absolute that the heiress could hear her rapidly increasing heart rate pulsing in her ears. Then, she heard footfalls – in front and behind her, to the left and to the right, coming from everywhere around her. Her lips curled into a smirk.

She opened her eyes, regarding the white Beringel in front of her with cold determination. The beast wasn't alone – in her peripheral vision, the heiress could see an Ursa and two Beowolves, and she knew that two more wolves – including an alpha – and a Lancer were lurking somewhere behind her. The ape and its spectral brethren began circling around the heiress, waiting for the right moment to strike.

Her elbow made an audible pop as she stretched her left arm. 'Seven targets. Use as little Aura as possible. Should be easy enough.' Taking a deep breath, she placed her right feet a step behind the other, a bit to the side and at an angle, then gently bent her knees and waited, her blade in her hand, waiting expectantly in a low guard. She needed not to wait long.

There was a soft rustle behind her, followed by a thump and a growl. Not wasting time to look around, she ducked her head in a graceful bow then slid back and to the side, avoiding the swipe of a clawed paw thrown at her from behind. She passed under the Beowolf's arm, then grabbed it by the shoulder and kicked its knee from underneath the beast, forcefully yanking the Grimm to the ground; before it could do as little as yelp for help, Weiss thrust her rapier straight into its open maw.

'Six.'

The alpha took a swing at her face but missed when she leant backwards. Putting her Myrtenaster behind her back, she ducked under the next high swipe and stepped forward. As she was passing by her opponent, she spun and brought her sword around, dragging the blade across the alpha's stomach in a long draw cut that she promptly followed up with a quick slash to her opponent's side. The beast howled and turned around in fury, swinging blindly in hopes of hitting her; just then, a massive shadow appeared beneath Weiss' feet, prompting her to get down. She let her body fall backwards, turning her descent into an elegant tumble on the ground. She recovered just in time to see a Beringel descend like a thunder onto the spot she'd been but a moment ago. Having missed its mark, the massive fist with Weiss' name on it connected with the alpha's bony head; there was a loud crack and the Beowolf crumpled to the ground like a wet rag, only to dissipate into particles of white light a heartbeat later.

'Five.'

Hearing some heavy, lumbering footfalls just behind her, Weiss knew that she had the Ursa on her. She sprung up from her knees and dashed towards the Beringel, jumping onto its back and then launching herself backwards, backflipping over the beast she had had on her tail. Feeling something on its back, the ape instantly spun around, blindly swinging its massive arm; there was another crack when the Beringel backhanded the poor Ursa and sent it skidding to the side, with the latter scuffing up a cloud of dust on impact.

Weiss landed in a crouch, giving the bear-like Grimm a quick look before clicking her tongue. The hit was hard enough to practically shatter the bone plate on the Ursa's head, but that damned oversized plushie was still somehow standing... figuratively speaking, anyways. Apparently, getting slugged across the face by a Beringel wasn't quite enough to put down an Ursa. 'Oh well.'

She briefly entertained the idea of putting the bear out of its misery, but the giant ape bearing down on Weiss did not seem particularly willing to wait for its turn; there were a couple of long gashes across its chest – likely a parting gift from that alpha Beowolf – and the Beringel seemed rightly pissed in that regard.

Weiss took off towards the attacker, throwing herself to the ground at the very last moment; she slid across the ground between the Beringel's legs and jabbed at its foot with Myrtenaster, freezing the Grimm in place, then promptly got back on her feet and scurried away before she could end up like that poor Ursa. The ape tried to turn and face her, but the ice encasing its leg made that rather difficult, quite nearly causing the Grimm to trip in the process.

A quick scan of her surroundings told Weiss that she had found herself between a rock and a hard place, with both remaining Beowolves closing in on her from two different sides and the Lancer about to fire. Dodging the Lancer's sting, Weiss rushed the wolf that was about to pass behind the Beringel's back. Right before making contact, she jumped to the side onto a newly-materialized glyph of hard light, then hopped onto the Beowolf's shoulder; kicking herself off of its head, she vaulted over the giant ape's back and gouged its eye out, plunging her blade deep into the Beringel's skull. The monster collapsed to all fours and Weiss dropped down from its shoulder to the ground. No longer needing to hold onto the Grimm, she grasped the hilt of Myrtenaster with both of her hands and pushed, driving her sword in all the way down to the cross. For a hot second she considered blasting the Grimm's head off with a charge of Dust, but that seemed like an overkill; instead, she settled down on twisting the blade inside the eye socket for good measure before tearing it out.

With a last, pitiful yawn, the Beringel was no more. 'Four.'

The kick to the head had knocked down one of the Beowolves, but the other one was still on her case – and rapidly approaching. She dodged to the side when it lunged at her, then, when it came at her again, she ran it through with her blade. To her mild surprise, it did not die, and even dared to throw a clawed swipe at her neck. She ducked and spun on her heel, ripping her sword free and in a single fluid motion bringing Myrtenaster around to cut off the offending arm; the wolf tried to attack her with the other paw, but she blocked it, then yanked the blade upwards, impaling the Beowolf through the underside of its jaw.

The body disappeared before it hit the ground. 'Three.'

There was a loud thumping to her right, alerting her that the Ursa was up and about; indeed, when she looked in that direction, she saw the Grimm barreling towards her. Not terribly concerned, she waited until the beast was maybe two feet away from her.

With a single flick of Weiss' wrist, the Ursa stopped dead in its tracks, crashing face-first into a low wall of hard light she'd just created. 'Sit.' Weiss' arm rose and fell, dispatching the Grimm with a quick thrust to the back of its neck.

"Two," she let out quietly, turning her eyes towards the sky. Looking up, she caught a glimpse of the gray clouds far off in the distance, but paid them no mind for now, following the low buzz of insectoid wings in search of her enemy. She spotted the Lancer as it was circling the training field, likely catching it in the act as it was trying to position itself directly behind her.

Off to her side, a muffled groan informed her that the Beowolf that had been so kind as to act as her springboard was slowly regaining its bearings. Suddenly, a certain idea crossed her mind and she took off running towards the downed wolf, showing her back to her winged opponent. The Beowolf, noticing her approach, rose to its hinder legs and stepped forward, reading itself to claw her head off just as the sharp whistle of a Lancer sting cut through the air. Weiss dodged to the side, and the harpoon-like projectile whizzed past her, hitting the Beowolf straight into the chest. Running past the dazed beast, she grabbed its arm just as the Grimm was being yanked into the air; the pull was uncomfortably close to ripping her own arm out of its socket, but since everything was going according to the plan, she figured she'd just grin and bear it as she was soaring towards the oversized wasp.

Of course, she could've just blasted it with her Semblance and be done with it, but what was the harm in exploring some alternative, more Aura-friendly ways of dispatching Grimm? Besides, it was kind of fun. Satisfying, too.

Suddenly, she felt that her hold on the Beowolf's arm began to weaken at an alarming rate; she had just enough time to shoot a quick glance at the Grimm before her ride dissolved completely into loose particles of white light, leaving her stranded mid-air, still a good ways away from her target.

Her feet crashed into a glyph she'd haphazardly created in a last-ditch effort to recover. Ignoring the pain in her knees, she bounced off the first hard-light platform and onto another, then took a leap of faith and jumped forward, mid-flight hurling her Myrtenaster like a javelin at the last of her enemies. For a heartbeat, she was afraid that her throw would not carry enough force to pierce the chitin, but she needn't have worried – her sword hit the Lancer in the middle section and sunk deep into the Grimm's body. The wasp swayed unsteadily in the air, but before she could see what became of it, it'd disappeared from her view as she flew past it on her way to meet the ground.

She landed on her shoulder and turned her forward momentum into a roll; it was still somewhat forceful, but far from the least graceful landing she'd ever done. Her eyes snapped in the direction her enemy had been, and she looked up just in time to see Myrtenaster fall from the empty sky. 'Done.' She then winced as her weapon bounced off the ground with a clang.

From start to finish, the whole encounter couldn't have taken more than ten seconds.

Somebody clapped somewhere nearby. "Nice!" called a voice Weiss would recognize just about anywhere. She looked over her shoulder and saw Ruby grinning at her from the porch of her house. Weiss hadn't noticed her come out, and, in all honesty, she wasn't quite sure how she felt about the discovering that her little spectacle had had an audience.

Pleased, maybe? Just a little?

"Good work, especially with the way you've handled the Lancer – rather unconventional of you," Ruby commented, her words laced with some genuine appreciation.

Weiss felt a low, warm hum form in the back of her throat. She turned her back to Ruby and walked over to Myrtenaster lying on the ground a little ways away; scooping the sword up with her foot, she kicked it up from the ground and caught it, examining it closely in search of any damage. "I've had a fairly decent teacher of 'unconventional'," the heiress ceded calmly, the tiny smile present on her lips hidden from Ruby's view.

The silver-eyed girl cooed, fanning herself with her hand. "D'aww, you're making me blush!"

'Good,' Weiss was tempted to say, but ultimately held it in. Having determined that her sword wasn't damaged in any way, she eyed her friend up and down. Gone was the apron Ruby had been wearing the last time she'd seen her, while heavy combat boots returned onto the girl's feet, replacing her indoor slippers. Her cheeks were actually somewhat flushed, but the heiress knew better than to think the girl was indeed flustered, aware that the redness had more to do with the time Ruby had just spent working in the heat rather than Weiss' remark. "Already done?"

"Yep. I've left it to cool down for a bit."

Weiss nodded, then turned to the side and got into a combat stance, as if sizing up an invisible opponent; she was planning on doing some shadow fencing to let her Aura recharge a bit before going for another round of fighting her summons.

"Eager to get back into the fray, I see?" Ruby commented.

Weiss rolled her guard up as if pushing away a thrust aimed at her head, then stepped to the side and brought her blade around, leading her own counter. "You could say that."

There was a brief moment of silence, after which Ruby said something that quite nearly made Weiss sputter: "What would you say to a little spar, then?"

The heiress coughed up a surprised laugh. "As much as I appreciate the offer, I'm not sure if my body is quite ready for the full Crescent Rose experience."

Weiss said that in jest, but the words themselves came from a place of genuine concern – while she felt just fine in the moment, getting hit with that monster of a scythe seemed to her like a surefire way to change that by aggravating her cracked ribs. Sure, Ruby might not look the part, but that girl had been able to quite easily fell a tree at the age of fifteen. In a single strike at that. On Weiss' list of things she would rather not be hit by at the present, Crescent Rose ranked just below Nora's Magnhild, and that alone was saying a lot. And unlike with the Beringel she'd just fought, the white-haired Huntress was not at all confident in not getting hit if she went against her partner; quite the opposite, in fact.

It was all really too bad, as Weiss truly enjoyed sparring with Ruby.

The other girl, however, would still find a way to surprise the heiress, as was often her wont. "And who's said anything about Crescent Rose?" she replied amusedly, giving Weiss a pause. The heiress lowered her weapon and turned around, fixing her friend with a puzzled stare. To that, Ruby, looking exceedingly smug, pulled some metallic item from behind her back, where it had been lying in wait attached to a magnetic holster; with a flick of a wrist, the girl turned the object into a curved, single-edged sword.

A graphite gray blade, with the accents of copper and green and the circular symbol on a round hilt... Weiss knew that weapon. And the realization made her heart ache.

It was one of Penny's. Weiss... she'd had no idea that Ruby had kept it.

She felt the urge to say something, to comfort her friend somehow, but at the same time she found no words nor gestures that seemed appropriate in the moment. Perhaps it was for the better; perhaps all things that needed saying had already been said a long time ago. It could be that her sympathy was no longer needed, and that she was simply overreacting – after all, Ruby did not seem particularly troubled. Besides, what was there that she could possibly do at that point? For better or worse, grieving was not really a team game; at the end of the day, it was up to Ruby to take the steps, and all Weiss could do was to be there for her along the way.

She did wonder, though, what to make of the girl digging up that weapon – was that a sign of her moving on, or merely a symptom of clinging to what remained of the past?

Shrugging innocently, Ruby carried on, stepping down from the porch and walking in Weiss' direction across the lawn. "I mean, I love my baby girl as any other proud mom, but there's no need to just assume." Just then, the girl must've noticed Weiss staring at the object in her hand, for her gaze also turned in the sword's direction, her playful smile wavering slightly. There was an air of gentle wistfulness about her as she took a moment to admire the weapon. She tried the edge with her thumb, then, after a brief while of silence, she tore her eyes away from the blade, returning her attention back to the white-haired girl in front of her. "We could take it easy. No Semblances nor Aural strikes – swords and hand-to-hand only. Sounds good?"

Weiss was still somewhat uneasy, but Ruby's eyes were bright and sincere, so the heiress told her worries to can it for now. With that, she considered her partner's proposal.

In other words, what Ruby was suggesting was a handicap match. It was certainly a concept both of them were well familiar with, as such spars had been on team RWBY's agenda even all the way back at Beacon, only growing in prominence after their group's reunion. Those were matches with specific conditions, where the participants would be restricted to a very limited area, or only supposed to fight hand-to-hand, or be allowed to use only a given type of Dust, and so forth, you name it – Yang and Blake had even fought blindfolded, once. Essentially, any special condition imaginable could fly as long as it was approved by both parties; if no consensus could be achieved, the rest of the team would be brought into the conversation as referees. The purpose of the matches was twofold – one reason was to prevent the participants from the over-reliance on their respective strong points by removing them from their comfort zones, while the other was to simply spice things up a little; those fights hadn't always been fair, per se, but they'd been consistently interesting, and always good fun.

The conditions Ruby put forth had Weiss intrigued. While she and her partner had once fought with only their Semblances, the reverse had never happened – much less so with Ruby using something other than her trademark scythe. Surprisingly enough, the limitations proposed seemed rather fair as far as handicap matches were concerned. Sure, Weiss' Semblance was hands down her biggest strength and Ruby had her beat both in terms of speed and raw physical power, but what the other girl was giving up was her proficiency with the weapon, the importance of which in combat could not possibly be overstated.

Now, there was no doubt in Weiss' mind that Ruby would give her a good workout should she agree to fight her, Crescent Rose or not – the girl was a menace in combat, and merely changing the weapon would not get rid of her agility, nor her wit, nor her fighting sense. Hand-to-hand being free game was also something to keep in mind; while Ruby still couldn't hold a candle to her sister, thanks to all the training they'd undergone in the past two years, she'd improved significantly and was now perfectly capable of ruining somebody's day. Not that Weiss wasn't, but unarmed combat was where Ruby's physical advantage over the heiress truly shone through – if the Dolt somehow managed to knock her down and pin her, she'd be pretty much done for. Not that she'd allow it to happen.

Essentially, they would be pitting Ruby's physical prowess against Weiss' expertise with the sword. The way she saw it, it offered her a rather elegant way to eat her cookie and still have it... or, in other words, she'd get to spar with her friend while also preserving the already questionable structural integrity of her bones.

Weiss regarded her approaching partner with narrowed eyes. "Win conditions?"

Ruby was obviously pleased by the fact that Weiss had taken the bait. "The first one who gets below half of their Aura is out. Standstill also works. But," Ruby paused for emphasis, pointing her blade at Weiss' chest and giving the white-haired heiress a deadly serious look, "if at any point you feel like you're having any trouble breathing, or something, that's it – we're calling it. Full stop. Won't count as a loss."

Weiss gave her friend a wry smile. It stung a little that Ruby felt that it was necessary to spell out that last bit... but in all fairness, the Dolt was probably right to do so, as Weiss' competitive nature would still sometimes get the best of her.

That girl really knew her all too well.

"I'm not at full Aura," the heiress reminded. While she'd finished her fight without as little as a scratch, the few glyphs she'd used and the summoning itself had taken a chunk out of her pool.

"Right. Guess we'll just take that into account," Ruby said. Stopping maybe six feet away from Weiss, the girl suddenly got very interested in her own shoelaces and rocked back and forth on her feet, then glanced at her friend in a manner that was almost coy. "So, you game?"

Weiss pretended to consider it for a spell, then replied with a half-shrug. "Might as well." She did her best to sound nonchalant, but on the inside she was getting quite excited indeed.

"Great." Ruby grinned, and damn was her grin contagious. "You sit down and rest for a bit while I'm warming up, a'ight?"

While the silver-eyed girl put her sword back and went on with her usual warmup routine of stretches, Weiss heeded her partner's suggestion and plopped down on the wooden frame of a nearby planter. She unhurriedly unloaded the unspent Dust cartridges from Myrtenaster, placing them on the windowsill just behind her back. Once that was out of the way, she kicked back and relaxed, enjoying the views as she allowed herself to recharge a bit after her solo exercises.

The idea of using Schnee summons for training purposes wasn't anything new; Winter had done that for Weiss even before Beacon, and so when Yang had suggested adding it to team RWBY's training regimen, the heiress had readily offered her assistance. Though the idea had seemed simple on paper, they'd quickly realized that there had been certain... kinks that needed working out in order for the whole team to benefit from such an exercise.

The main issue had been that while she could provide training scenarios for her teammates, the nature of Weiss' Semblance had been making such exercises pretty much useless to her own self. Since summons were subject to her will, obeying her specific instructions, there had been no unknowns in fighting them, which had been trivializing the whole experience to the heiress; every attack, every bite, she'd have known of them all well in advance. To complicate matters even further, her minions were also prone to faltering in their directive of hurting her whenever she acted on pure instinct. For example, she'd had her Beowolves freeze on her awkwardly mid-swipe after she'd made a last-minute dodge or parry; the way she understood it, it was due to her subconscious desire not to be hit stopping the summons from hurting her – handy in actual combat, less so for practice.

She'd turned to Winter for help, but her older sister couldn't offer much assistance, having never found any need for simulating Grimm encounters for herself. And so Weiss had resigned herself to the sidelines, limiting her involvement in those exercises to providing her teammates with training dummies. It hadn't been all bad; even though she hadn't gotten to fight alongside her friends, it'd been a good practice as far as her Semblance was concerned. All of that being said, she had never given up on figuring out a way to make it all work.

Having a generally good grasp of what Weiss' Semblance could and could not do, Ruby had gladly offered to help with the brainstorming... though probably not entirely out of the goodness of her heart. It had been just after Blake and Yang had officially started dating, so... needless to say, Ruby and Weiss would often times find themselves with plenty of time on their hands. Both of them eager to find something to occupy their thoughts with, the girls had gotten to work.

Those had been some frustrating evenings... but they'd been fun, too. They would hole up in their room with a thermos full of coffee and plenty of snacks, then bounce ideas off one another while listening to music; once they'd inevitably grow weary of their little trial and error, they'd drop it and talk about things both big and small, or maybe watch a movie until the lovebirds would return from their little outings.

At times it had felt oddly reminiscent of their times at Beacon, almost as if they'd been working on some sort of a group project for class, or coming up with a new team tactic. Those instances would fill them with a sense of nostalgia, bringing to mind the future that could've been and giving the two of them a deeper appreciation for those fleeting moments of peace they shared, reminding them that those, too, would eventually be destined to pass.

Ruby's assistance had proven quite helpful in terms of the much-needed intellectual stimulation. That girl truly had a beautiful mind, even though you couldn't really tell that at a glance, seeing how goofy she could sometimes act. It wasn't even about her intelligence, or emotional maturity; what was truly special in Weiss' opinion was the way the girl looked at the world around her. Ruby could find some logic in what others saw as mere chaos, patterns amidst a seemingly random white noise. Her mind was unchained, her thought free of preconceptions or common pitfalls; she'd notice little details or connections others would miss, ask questions others wouldn't even think of, or make certain conclusions that were so out of the blue they seemed silly until you actually stopped and thought them through. Her way of thinking wasn't always correct, per se, but she could be counted on to bring some valuable insight into a conversation.

The breakthrough had happened after Ruby had made an observation on the behavior of Weiss' summons, remarking on their high degree of autonomous function and asking whether they'd ever disobeyed Weiss. The heiress had reluctantly admitted that yes, it had happened – without divulging the embarrassing circumstances back at that time – and had gone on to ask Ruby where that question had come from. Completely ignoring Weiss' query, as if not having heard it, the other girl then had inquired the heiress for more details regarding that one time she'd lost control – things like what she'd felt back then, or thought, or what she'd done. It'd taken Weiss a moment to realize what her partner had been getting at, but once she had, everything just clicked. Wasting no time for explanations, right then and there, Weiss had dragged Ruby out of the room to experiment.

Well, maybe not everything had clicked back then; she'd still had to figure out what exact frame of mind would do the trick, but she'd been fairly confident that Ruby had set her on the right track. She sure hadn't managed to get it right on her first try, nor her first day, or the day after... but she hadn't given up, and on day three she'd succeeded in summoning a Boarbatusk she'd had no control over – one that would attack her indiscriminately, just like a live Grimm would.

She hadn't stopped there, nor after getting down the technique; she'd been on fire, and simply being able to consistently replicate the effect hadn't been enough to satisfy her. She'd pushed herself harder, reached further, tried different things; when she'd gained confidence in summoning various types of Grimm that way, she'd cranked up the numbers, then variety, only to quickly clean up her summons in tandem with Ruby and then try again. It had been quite an educational endeavor, and she'd learned a couple of interesting things: one, having multiple Grimm summoned in that manner was far less mentally taxing; two, with some concentration, she could re-establish the control over her Grimm if she so desired; and three, she could still dismiss them at any time.

The two of them had been at it until she'd completely drained her Aura reserves, and only when she could no longer summon had she finally called it quits. By the end of it, she'd been completely exhausted... but it had been the good kind of exhaustion, one that had left her with a sense of clarity and fulfilment. She'd succeeded in taking a moment of her weakness and reforging that shameful memory into a valuable tool of bettering herself... and she'd reveled in that notion.

Weiss remembered Ruby's beaming face from back then, and how the girl had held out her hand for a high five, only to yelp in surprise when the heiress had gone ahead and all but crashed into her, pulling her into a tight hug. In all honesty, Weiss had surprised even her own self back at the time; sure, she had nothing against physical affection, but, excluding a couple very emotional moments, she'd never been the one to just glomp on people. She'd acted on impulse, knowing only what she'd wanted to do and not really worrying about why's. Ruby's help in that little project of hers had certainly been at least partially at fault... but, in retrospect, what had really left the heiress so moved back then was Ruby's ability to help her develop her Semblance, and what that fact had actually meant.

Some people say that Semblances are, in a way, a manifestation of a given person's personality and mind. Weiss herself wasn't sure whether she subscribed to that theory, at least as far as the broad public was concerned... but it most certainly checked out in her case. Her mind and her will were what made her Semblance. Her gift was all about perception and discipline, and by changing her frame of mind she could control the minutia of how her Semblance worked. Sometimes she relied on her feelings, sometimes on internal visualization, sometimes her memories; at the end of the day, it was all a mental exercise of one kind or another. To really understand her Semblance was to understand the inner workings of her mind.

A Gravity glyph could push, hold, accelerate or pull, all depending on the thought or feeling that accompanied it. Creating a glyph was like drawing a pattern in her mind, with images and feelings being her ink and her will serving as a pen she could use to imprint her desires onto the canvas of the waking world. To summon a Grimm was to call onto a memory and will it into existence, giving it the form of a creature she'd conquered and through destruction made hers. She was pretty sure her summons had no consciousness of their own, in spite of how intelligent they seemed to be; they simply acted that way because that was how she expected those Grimm to act. Summons were her understanding of those creatures made material, and should her cognition of them change, so would the nature of her minions – or so she theorized, at least.

The trick to summoning a Grimm she held no sway over had been to change her approach and to focus on the emotion she associated with the Grimm in question, not her knowledge or experience with the creature. Her understanding of the beasts was the chain that bound them to her will; remove that, reduce them to something as basic and abstract as a feeling, and the chain shatters, for there can be no mastery without comprehension.

Ruby being able to guide the heiress to that revelation had proven that she understood the inner workings of Weiss' Semblance, at least to a large degree... that she understood Weiss, how she thought, felt, and what made her her, all of that on a level so fundamental Weiss had never dreamed possible. That, the heiress believed, was what had prompted her on that day to embrace the girl the way she had – the gratitude to the one person in that harsh world who cared enough to try to really, truly understand her.

While the girl in question was occupied with her warmup, Weiss busied herself with her Scroll. Each doing their own thing, they chatted on and off and on again as Ruby was going through progressively more advanced exercises; when they talked, they spoke of their mutual friends or their plans for the evening, exchanging a couple of sentences before letting silence fall between them once more.

Every now and then, the heiress found herself watching her partner in quiet appreciation. There was something strangely fascinating about the way that girl moved, but it had less to do with her ability to perform all those stretches, and more with how she was doing them. There wasn't really anything in Ruby's routine that Weiss couldn't pull off herself – and a couple of those exercises she would've done more by-the-book than her friend – but every move had an undeniable grace to it. It was not to say that Weiss herself wasn't graceful, of course... but while she stuck firmly to the proper technique, Ruby flowed as easily as water. A difference in approach – form versus nature.

Weiss honestly had no idea whether it was Ruby's fighting style that was responsible for her agility, or if it was her agility that had enabled the former, but the degree of control that girl had over her body was nothing short of incredible. It really showed in gymnastics – she made it all look easy, moving with the verve and lazy confidence of someone who doesn't even need to think about what they are doing, having transcended such petty concerns as gravity or balance. It carried a certain sense of natural strength and beauty – one that would've left Weiss captivated even if not for the pair of form-fitting pants very nicely complimenting Ruby's figure.

Weiss jolted when her partner's voice suddenly broke the silence.

"It really looks like it's gonna rain, huh?" the girl said, speaking in the voice of someone who'd been expecting to be disappointed yet clung to their vain hope until the very last moment. Her back turned to the heiress, Ruby stood astride with her legs spread wide, looking dejectedly towards the leaden clouds that hung low in the northern sky like fruits ripe for the taking. "Good thing we've decided to keep everything inside, after all."

The white-haired girl felt one corner of her mouth curl upwards. "You mean to say 'thank you Weiss for reminding me to check the weather forecast'."

Ruby put on a grumpy scowl as she looked at Weiss over her shoulder. "Hey, can you blame me for being slightly too eager to spend the evening outside with everyone? It's been ages since the last time I've had a proper BBQ." Looking at Ruby's expression, Weiss really couldn't tell whether the girl was being serious or not.

Having said that, the girl faced forwards and swung her left leg to the side in a wide, upwards arc, bringing it high above her head where she caught it by the ankle with her right hand. Her grounded foot shifted slightly on the barren earth as she applied a small correction to her stance; once she made sure that her footing was steady, the girl wrapped her arms around her raised leg and remained in that standing split for a while before eventually letting her foot fall back to the ground, after which she went on to repeat the same exercise with her other leg.

"Mhm," Weiss let out a hum of acknowledgment, her eyes lingering on Ruby's form for a spell before she turned them towards the graying skies. A tiny frown formed on her forehead. "I hope they get here before rainfall."

There was an audible thump when the heels of Ruby's boots clashed together after the girl had finished her second split. She took a moment and gazed at the clouds for a while before speaking. "Eh, we've still got some time before that happens." With that, she looked over her shoulder at Weiss and soon a smirk that was both playful and cocky crept onto her lips. "Certainly enough for me to kick your butt."

Weiss let out an amused huff, matching her partner's sly expression with one of her own. "Those are some daring words, little Rose. But can you still bite without your weapon?"

Ruby laughed, melody of her voice light and free and pure. "Bite? Oh, for sure. But don't worry-," she turned around and held Weiss' gaze, and there was something about her smirk that made the heiress slightly... well, not uncomfortable, but nervous, "I'll be sure not to leave a mark."

Ruby winked and then took off for her usual run around the training field, leaving the heiress alone with an absolutely fierce blush burning right under her skin with the intensity of what felt like a wildfire. As soon as she pieced herself together after her initial shock, Weiss shot a long stare at her running partner's back. 'Oh screw you, Ruby,' she thought as she let out a heavy sigh, unconsciously rubbing her shoulder. When Ruby was about to turn the second corner, the heiress forcibly pried her eyes away from the girl; not willing to give Ruby the satisfaction of being glared at, Weiss gave her Scroll her full, undivided attention, making it a point not to look at the running girl.

A part of her wanted to be annoyed at Ruby for messing with her just before their fight, but even if distracting Weiss had been on the girl's agenda – which, in all fairness, was possible – it had more to do with simply wanting to tease her rather than being an underhanded method of gaining advantage in combat. Weiss had set herself up for the joke, Ruby had seen it, and it had been innocent enough that the girl wouldn't have been herself if she hadn't gone for it – that's all there was to it. If there was one thing she was truly annoyed at, it'd be herself and her reaction – she'd believed she'd gotten really good at just rolling with that kind of punches, so it was pretty disappointing that she'd let it get to her.

The more she thought of it, the less she knew how she should feel about Ruby's latest quip – she was lost on the sea of mixed feelings, far North of embarrassed, stranded somewhere between flattered, amused and disbelieving. She wasn't bothered by any of it, not really, just... she didn't know. Sometimes the fact that she was physically attracted to that girl made things needlessly complicated. On days like those, a part of her often found herself missing the time before Ruby's puberty had kicked in in earnest.

'I seriously need to get my mind out of the gutter,' Weiss chided herself in her thoughts. After all, it wasn't as if she would ever ask Ruby to sleep with her. It just wasn't Ruby's way, nor was it something Weiss was interested in for that matter... and she was genuinely terrified by the notion that her friend trusted her enough to just maybe go with it had she asked, just to make her happy. Having that kind of sway over someone was a scary responsibility indeed, and Weiss would never forgive herself if she ever stooped so low as to use Ruby in that way. She'd much rather let her friend share her first time with the girl's future one-and-only, whomever that might turn out to be, than to selfishly coopt it for herself.

But Weiss wasn't complaining. She considered herself blessed, and truly believed that what the two of them had going on was nothing short of perfect. Whether it was in search of company, comfort, advice, a willing ear, or simply somebody to hold them close, one could always turn to the other without the fear of being used, pushed away or unfairly judged, knowing that the other would try to understand and help them to the best of their ability. It was freeing, having someone in front of whom you could be vulnerable without being afraid they'd come to premature conclusions or use your weakness against you.

Ruby and Weiss supported one another unconditionally, but without turning their relationship into an echo chamber of mindless validation; they'd speak their minds freely, not shying away from harsh truths whenever the need for them arose, with the receiving party always knowing that said truths, no matter how painful, were a sign of love and concern, not malice. They respected the other's feelings and boundaries, and did not abuse their bond to forcibly impose their will onto the other. In dark times, they helped each other survive – in good ones, they helped each other grow. Theirs was a relationship built on love, trust, understanding, respect and mutual effort; what else could Weiss possibly wish for?

She would've lied if she said that her physical attraction to Ruby wasn't a bit of a pain in the neck at times, but at the end of the day it was a relatively minor inconvenience, and one she could bear with. There was nothing that was forcing her to ever act on it, after all, and while she wasn't particularly proud of herself for occasionally checking out the girl, Ruby herself didn't seem to mind, so that wasn't really a problem either. Sure, it made it easier for Ruby to get her flustered, but the teasing was never mean-spirited, and all that flirting certainly didn't hurt her ego. Weiss wasn't sure if she would go as far as to say that she liked it... but it did have a tendency to make her feel a bit better about herself. Hearing her friend's laugh was a nice bonus.

Thankfully, Weiss' attraction to Ruby didn't really get in the way of their day-to-day interaction. Granted, there were times when it would lead them to getting overly conscious of each other – such as back in the Beacon's infirmary a week prior, when Weiss had offered Ruby to share a bed for one night – but those had been rather rare occurrences, and were more about them simply being considerate of the other rather than uncomfortable; most of the time, the two of them were perfectly able to act naturally, without needlessly overthinking every little touch or gesture... even if Ruby's teasing did make it pretty difficult at times not to be self-conscious.

Still, with practice comes perfection – even though that latest quip did rattle Weiss a bit, she recovered quickly and soon only the faint redness still clinging to her ears remained to tell the story of her blush. All that time, she had been keeping track of the number of times she'd heard Ruby pass her by; when the girl was about to finish her ninth lap, Weiss left her spot on the planter and marched out onto the field, knowing that Ruby would join her right after her usual ten full circles.

The heiress felt how her heart began beating with more force and purpose in anticipation of the fight, turning into a war-drum the moment Ruby left her orbit around the field. The girl walked over to the heiress, stopping maybe two feet outside the striking distance and pulling out her Scroll.

"Let's see... alright, you're at eighty nine percent." The girl's fingers darted across the transparent screen of the device, with Weiss watching every single move like a hawk ready to strike. "Set alerts... me at fifty... and Weiss at thirty nine... done." Ruby stashed her Scroll inside a small pouch affixed with straps to her thigh, then reached for her weapon, once again unfolding the blade with a flick of her wrist.

Their eyes met. Weiss pulled her own sword from behind her belt, whipping out a curt fencing salute. A daring smirk tugged at one corner of her mouth as she continued to stare her partner dead in the eye. "Very well, Ruby Rose. Let's see what you've got."

Their blades crossed... except that Ruby stood in the most stereotypical fencing stance one could think of, with her off hand trailing far behind her body, held at her head's height. Weiss quirked an eyebrow, and Ruby's demeanor made it quite clear that the other girl wasn't being serious just yet.

'Well that's anticlimactic', Weiss thought with a hint of irritation, relaxing her shoulders a bit. If it was anyone other than Ruby, Weiss likely would've chewed their head off right then and there. With Ruby, though... she actually felt somewhat relieved.

Once upon a time, that girl had used to love combat, and no wonder – she was damn good at it. Whether it had been sparring against their classmates – once she'd gotten used to her fights being watched, that is – or slaying Grimm, with her scythe in her hands, Ruby had been right in her element, enjoying every challenge and every minute of the thrill... but that fire had begun to fade with the Fall, turning into nothing more but smoldering embers of a memory sometime that past year.

For months now, the girl had seemed to draw no enjoyment from their various sparrings or training sessions... but that was not to say that those had become any less frequent as time had gone on. To the contrary – lately, Ruby had been pushing them harder than ever before, all in a desperate effort to get their team ready for what had been to come. It'd been a long time since she'd allowed herself for any moments of levity during training... which was why her goofing off was actually refreshing to the heiress. If Ruby wanted to play, Weiss could humor her.

Ruby tried to use her sword to push Myrtenaster aside, but the moment Weiss felt the slightest pressure against her blade, she dipped her sword down and to the side, causing the other girl to miss and then bringing it back around in a small circle. Ruby tried again, and then again, and every time she did, she ended up exactly where she'd started, brought there with the tiniest move of Weiss' wrist. The heiress felt an amused smirk spread across her face when a tiny frown appeared on Ruby's brow.

The fourth time around, Ruby's more aggressive approach caught Weiss by surprise, with the heiress being a heartbeat too slow to move her sword out of the way. Ruby's strike against the weak of Myrtenaster blew Weiss' guard wide open and the silver-eyed girl rushed in with a follow-up strike. Weiss backpedaled, stepping outside the striking range and, as soon as her partner's blade flew by in front of her face, she brought her sword around and lunged forwards, planting the point of her blade squarely in the other girl's sternum.

Ruby froze in place in an instant. By design, Weiss' thrust hadn't been particularly strong – compared to what she could have done, anyways – but it was enough to stop her attacker's momentum, on top of shaving off at least one percent of Ruby's Aura. Her arms spread wide, the younger girl looked down, staring blankly at the sharp point pressing against her chest.

A soft, low rumble of amusement formed in the back of Weiss' throat. With a lazy smirk, she brought the tip of Myrtenaster to Ruby's chin, lifting it up and forcing her partner to look at her. The girl held her gaze with ease, and as their little staring contest went on, something changed in those pretty silver eyes of hers – a hard, dangerous glint had appeared, and, paired with the wolfish smirk that had found its way onto her lips, it sent a clear message, one that sent Weiss' heart racing.

Their playtime was over... and the game was on.

Ruby's speed, even without her Semblance, was sometimes quite tricky to adequately quantify. One could just say that she was 'really fast' and call it a day right there, but then there were times when 'faster than you think' seemed like a more accurate of a descriptor. The bout that was about to start would soon prove to be one such instance.

A light tug at the tip of Myrtenaster was all the warning Weiss had gotten. In a snap, Ruby was already in her face, having completely ignored the opponent's blade as she breezed past the point of Weiss' rapier like the madwoman that she was, the skin of her neck practically brushing against the steel. The heiress tried to step back and parry, but soon found that Ruby had already trapped the wrist of her leading arm in one vice of a grip. Ruby yanked Weiss' hand downwards, forcing Myrtenaster out of the way as she went swinging for her partner's neck.

Weiss did the only thing she could in that scenario, ducking her head and stepping to the side. Ruby wasn't letting go of her hand and the heiress didn't even bother trying to tear herself away; instead, she relaxed her grip on Myrtenaster and let her weapon slip from her grasp, only to snatch it mid-air with her off-hand. She blocked the upcoming strike to her head; having caught Ruby's blade with the crossguard of her rapier, Weiss immediately threw an awkward thrust at the opponent. Threatened, Ruby moved to the side and let go of Weiss' wrist, and the two of them disengaged briefly.

The heiress had barely enough time to swap hands before Ruby returned, bearing down on her with a flurry of blows, continually forcing her into the defensive. Weiss saw some occasional openings, but it was damn hard to make use of them without risking being hit immediately afterwards. She had to take the initiative away from Ruby, and fast; back foot is not where you want to be in a fight, and that went double for dueling that Huntress in particular.

Grabbing Myrtenaster near its tip with her free hand, Weiss caught Ruby's strike onto the strong part of her blade and smashed it against the opponent's weapon, shoving it as far to the side as possible. She let herself flow with the momentum and spun around, getting ready to throw a nasty jab at Ruby's thigh... but the moment she turned, she realized that Ruby had also let herself be carried by the force of their latest exchange; having jumped into the air, Ruby was coming out of a pirouette, her blade already rushing towards Weiss' head at lightning speed.

The heiress' heart skipped a beat. She knew she wasn't going to be fast enough to strike first.

She tried to nope out of there, or to at the very least guard herself in time, but was too slow to do either. In the last moment, acting on instinct, she lifted her free hand to create a shield of hard light, only to stop herself short of accessing her Semblance; it was against the rules. Besides, it wouldn't have worked anyways, since she'd purposefully emptied her Dust chamber beforehand.

Ruby struck hard and without mercy, delivering an absolutely brutal slash to Weiss' neck. The strike caught the heiress off-balance, just when she was scrambling to simultaneously straighten her back and retreat; hit, she stumbled backwards, quite nearly tripping to the ground in the process, a fate she'd saved herself from only thanks to wildly flailing her arms. Once she found back her footing and saw that Ruby was not advancing, she brought her right hand to her neck and rubbed the sore spot, all the while giving her partner a look of wide-eyed surprise.

Ruby whirled her sword in a small flourish, visibly pleased with herself. It was a damn good strike, Weiss would give her that – if not for her Aura, it would've lopped her head clean off. The girl was watching her with the same confident smirk she'd been wearing the moment she'd attacked the heiress. She held her blade in a low guard, as if inviting Weiss to strike at her head, while her right hand remained close to her chest, ready for grappling.

After a short while, Weiss' surprise gave way to a smirk that matched Ruby's own. 'Now, this is the Ruby Rose I know.'

They clashed time and time again, only briefly leaving the other's side to catch a breath before engaging once more. Locked in a dance of death and cold steel, they swayed to the wild cadence of colliding blades, feinting and parrying and countering the counters, each of the girls trying to make her partner take that one wrong step.

Ruby's lack of experience with the sword showed; while she fared admirably, quite a few of her attacks were well telegraphed, making it easier for Weiss to parry or evade. Nonetheless, fending off that girl, let alone landing a strike, remained a challenge – Ruby was a bloody demon, barraging Weiss with blindingly fast slashes, switching hands to throw her off, and often harrying the heiress whenever the latter tried to disengage for a second of respite. The younger Huntress knew that she had the edge over Weiss in terms of raw stamina, and it was pretty clear that she was trying her best to tire her partner out. Worse yet, it was working, and she was smart enough about it not to get winded herself.

Both of them had managed to score a couple of glancing blows, but the heiress didn't like her situation. In theory, Ruby putting pressure on her opponents was nothing new... except that now Weiss had no glyphs to stall her. And since Ruby was surely not going to cool it with that onslaught, she'd have to make her.

Weiss bid her time, focusing on her defense as she waited for the right moment to strike. She danced around her partner for a couple of seconds, keeping her distance whenever she could and parrying if the former failed. At one point Ruby missed one of her attacks and brought it around her back for a two-handed overhead strike... a golden opportunity Weiss had been waiting for.

The heiress lunged forward before Ruby could follow through with her attack, striking within the same tempo; she thrust high, passing her blade right under her opponent's joined hands, in one well-timed motion stopping Ruby's blade from moving any further down and driving the point of Myrtenaster into the girl's chest. Hard. Hard enough to knock Ruby's feet right from underneath her and to sit the girl to the ground.

Weiss rushed in to follow up with another strike, but her opponent didn't just sit on the ground waiting to be skewered. Ruby tumbled backwards over her shoulder, landing on her knees, then sprung forwards and intercepted Weiss' thrust; locking Myrtenaster in place, the girl hooked her own blade behind Weiss' knee and pulled it from underneath the heiress, throwing her off-balance just before ramming her with her shoulder.

Weiss was sent sprawling backwards and landed on her back, regaining her bearings just in time to see Ruby standing over her, ready to pin her to the ground with her sword. She guarded with her rapier, pushing the incoming attack aside and riposting with a jab of her own, only for it to be promptly parried by Ruby, who then disengaged. Wasting no time, Weiss scrambled back to her feet.

It could've gone better, but it quickly became clear that Weiss' gambit had paid off – Ruby was now far less aggressive in her approach, which freed some room for Weiss to launch her own offensives. Sadly, Ruby's adaptability also meant that she was highly unlikely to fall for the same trick twice... but Weiss could work with that. She'd much rather have one ace less up her sleeve than cough up her lungs.

No longer needing to devote her full attention to the sole purpose of fending off Ruby's attacks, the heiress began analysing her opponent. She soon noticed that the girl had a deceptively open style of fencing, often goading Weiss with relaxed low guards that seemingly left her whole torso exposed, only to come up with a nasty counter to many of Weiss' attempts at striking her in the chest area. She was especially good at sniping Weiss' dominant hand, it appeared, and after the third strike the heiress' fingers became numb with pain.

Still, as their fight went on, Weiss was fairly sure that she was in the lead as far as the number of confirmed hits was concerned. For all her agility, speed and cunning, Ruby lacked the proficiency with the weapon that would let her use her strengths to their full potential, costing her quite a few exchanges. What hurt her the most was the fact that she wasn't used to her sword's reach, and her lack of experience and the feel for the blade were relatively easy for Weiss to exploit. Playing the distance was really effective, doubly so by the virtue of Myrtenaster being the longer weapon in that bout, and Ruby didn't fare very well in binden either, with nearly every bind ending in the heiress outmaneuvering the girl and scoring a hit.

Ruby's style was bold and fluid, with each attack smoothly flowing into another in a manner strongly reminiscent of her scythewielding. Nonetheless, the longer they fought, the more similarities to other systems Weiss noticed. It had started with a slight sense of deja vu, but soon the heiress had begun to recognize certain tricks and moves she'd seen before, influences from other sword wielders Ruby had seen in action. There were quick slashes taken straight from Blake's book, a couple of wide sweeps that brought to mind Yatsuhashi, one or two of Pyrrha's counters that did not require a shield... and a whole slew of thrusts and quick pokes that mimicked Weiss' own. The latter was how the heiress had realized, and she would've lied if she said that her chest didn't swell with pride at that discovery. 'Somebody's been paying attention.' The source of certain techniques Weiss couldn't quite place, however, even though they did seem oddly familiar.

The heiress was genuinely impressed. Even if all those tidbits Ruby had picked up from other people lacked the proficiency of the original users – and on occasion weren't quite properly executed in general – the girl still had managed to learn from others through observation, finding things she felt worked for her and adapting them for her own purposes.

There was one thing that seemed amiss, however, practically absent in spite of Weiss having expected it to be there – hand to hand elements. No grappling – save for that wrist grab at the beginning – no kicks, no punches... nothing. Lunging at Ruby with a thrust, she felt a pang of disappointment in her heart, starting to suspect that the girl was, after all, going easy on her due to Weiss' recent injuries...

Barely had that thought crossed her mind when Ruby parried her attack aside and rapidly spun counter-clockwise, giving the heiress a brief close look at the heel of her heavy combat boot the split second before it connected with Weiss' head.

It was as if something had suddenly shut down all the muscles in her legs when Ruby's reverse turning kick hit her in her temple. While she could tell how heavy of a blow it'd been, it didn't hurt that much in the moment; the sensation felt akin to what Weiss imagined as being briefly knocked out of one's own body. The world turned into a hazy mess for a short while, as if Weiss was looking through a pane of murky glass, and a jarring, high-pitched buzz vibrated inside her skull as she fell to the ground, not quite comprehending yet what was going on.

Weiss collapsed to all fours, and she barely had enough time to register what had happened when she saw something move in her peripheral vision. She lifted her right arm on instinct and a pained hiss escaped her throat when another kick aiming for her head crashed into her forearm. The force behind the kick was enough to help her back onto her feet and send her stumbling backwards.

Still in a daze, she was desperately trying to defend herself from Ruby, who was attacking her with the ferocity of a shark that'd smelled blood. After having been hit to her elbow, wrist and thigh, Weiss bound Ruby's sword with her rapier and threw herself at the girl in a last-ditch effort to get her off her case. Catching Ruby off-balance, she succeeded in pushing her away, and she might even have stabbed her – she wasn't sure.

The heiress whipped her head around to shake off the remainder of her stupor. She soon noticed two rather worrying things: one, Ruby was already running at her, and two, white energy had begun to shimmer here and there across Weiss' body; judging by the intensity, her Aura level was approaching sixty percent, which meant that she had about twenty to go, give or take.

Weiss blocked Ruby's swing and stepped forward, passing by her partner's outstretched arm and kicking at the back of the girl's leading knee; at the same time, she put her right arm over Ruby's shoulder and under her chin, shoving her opponent to the ground. With Ruby's sword arm secured, she moved Myrtenaster high up and brought it down on the girl before the latter even hit the sand, hoping to nail her to the ground.

Acting unbelievably fast, Ruby slapped the descending blade aside with her free hand; the edge bit into her palm as it sliced downwards, but it missed her torso completely. As soon as her back hit the ground, she kicked up her lower body and caught Weiss' head between her lower legs, only to bring them back down and drag the heiress to the ground.

Weiss rolled over her shoulder, holding onto Myrtenaster for dear life. As soon as she came out of her tumble, even before getting up from her knees, she turned around and held out her rapier in defense. A couple feet away from her, also crouched on one knee, was Ruby; her blade clutched in both of her hands, she, too, was in a defensive position, her brilliant red Aura sparkling brightly.

A smirk of excitement made itself apparent on Ruby's lips, mirrored by the one Weiss wore on her own face. The heiress' heart was hammering wildly against her ribcage, sending out burning blood to course through her adrenaline-infused body. Colors seemed brighter in that moment, shapes sharper, and everything more beautiful. She was acutely aware of her every heartbeat, of every hot breath and every second that passed her by. It'd been too long since she felt so free and so wonderfully alive. No worries, no danger, no fear of tomorrow... just two good friends having some fun. It was cathartic.

Their eyes locked, Ruby and Weiss rose from their knees in a near-sync. The two of them stared at one another for a while before slowly closing the distance that separated them. Another heated exchange ensued, at the end of which Weiss trapped Ruby's blade underneath hers and pushed it downwards. Before she could make use of the opening she'd just created, Ruby grabbed her by her arm and bolted past her; suddenly, a considerable weight bore down on her spine as the other girl rolled across her back, suddenly appearing on her right side, her sword already moving in for a strike at her head. Weiss lifted her rapier to defend her face, but Ruby redirected her swing, hitting the heiress in the thigh... and since that left the girl completely open, Weiss smashed her coiled around the hilt of Myrtenaster fist right in Ruby's jaw.

The silver-eyed Huntress shuffled away, holding her free hand to her face. Hoping to strike iron while it was still hot, Weiss rushed the dazed girl, only for Ruby to snap to attention and sweep the strike away with her blade; turning her motion into a full turn, she spun around and knifehanded the heiress to the base of her skull. With the whole world swimming in her eyes, the heiress staggered away from her opponent, hearing Ruby let out a pained moan behind her; it didn't seem that she was chasing her.

As her vision regained focus, Weiss shot her opponent a wary look. Giving the heiress a relatively wide berth, Ruby seemed to be shuffling aimlessly across the training field, rubbing her sore cheek as she walked on. Weiss continued to watch her partner closely, and, after a while, the silver-eyed girl threw her head back and let out a loud, enthusiastic cry, throwing both of her arms in the air. "Awww maaan, I missed this!"

Weiss felt a smile tug at the corners of her lips, and she chose not to fight it. It was almost as if she could breathe more easily in that moment, freed from a yet another burden of days past. Seeing Ruby so happy and bright was a much needed reminder that while there was no getting back to how the things had been, they could still heal; in time, the girls could reclaim at least some of what had been lost to the waking nightmares, little by little, a day at a time.

"Are we going to finish the match, or are you feeling tired perhaps? You can always yield, you know?" she yelled.

A short laugh fell from Ruby's lips. She shot the white-haired Huntress a sly look, sporting a smile that had just a bit of a predator's edge. "Yield? And where's fun in that?" Weiss shared the sentiment.

They began circling one another like a pair of hungry wolves, each watching their opponent's every move, calculating, biding their time before going for the throat. Every step they took was slow and measured, every their breath steady, their bodies prepared to spring to action at the shortest notice.

Weiss was the first to leave their little orbit, charging towards the other girl. They clashed with great speed, but neither managed to score a hit during the next two exchanges. Ruby opened the third one with a slash aimed at Weiss' neck; the heiress arched backwards in response, turning the motion into a nimble backflip and catching Ruby's wrist with her foot, kicking her weapon out of the girl's hand. She landed back on her feet just in time to see Ruby's eyes snap from the soaring skywards blade to Weiss; disarmed, the girl stared on like a dear caught in the headlights. Ruby's gaze never left Weiss as the heiress rushed in for a strike, certain she'd just won the fight.

But she missed.

The silver-eyed Huntress sidestepped the thrust in the nick of time, moving forward and grabbing Weiss by her sword-arm. If Ruby's ponytail smacking her right across her face hadn't managed to confuse the heiress, what followed shortly thereafter certainly did the trick – one moment she felt Ruby's back pressing firmly against her chest, and the next thing she knew was that her feet had been torn off the ground and that the world had been turned upside down. Ruby threw Weiss over her shoulder like a sack of potatoes, trying to slam her against the barren ground. The heiress attempted to break her fall by crashing her feet into the earth first; she succeeded, but the brunt of it all traveled up her shins, sending a painful spike she felt all the way up in her knees.

She kind of expected Ruby to pin her to the ground and pummel her with her bare hands, but nothing of the sort happened, maybe because the girl didn't want to risk getting stabbed during the scuffle – Weiss could still take a couple of punches, but it likely would've been enough for the heiress to land a single good shank between them to end the fight in her favor. Instead, Ruby backed away a step or two and watched how her sword continued to spin rapidly on its way towards the ground; as soon as the whirling blade entered her arms' reach, the girl snatched it right from the air like it was nothing. Their eyes met, and Weiss got off the ground as quickly as she possibly could, hurriedly retreating beyond Ruby's striking range.

The longer they fought, the more opportunities there would be for Ruby to get her somehow, and so the heiress was determined to finish that fight quickly, lest another kick to the head tipped the scales in her opponent's favor. In theory, playing it safe and using her weapon's range seemed like a viable option at the first glance, but Weiss didn't really like it. It was the most cheap and obvious trick in the book, and Ruby would immediately know what's going on; while the girl might not possess the feel for her striking range yet, she knew how to close in on somebody, and Weiss would rather not give her any more reasons to do so. The heiress felt that her safest bet would be to do something radical, something she haven't tried yet and thus her partner would not expect.

An idea crossed her mind, one that involved a certain grappling move that Blake had passed on to her a while back; if she could pull it off, it should leave Ruby wide open for the finishing blow. She considered it for a few heartbeats, ultimately deciding to risk it and go ahead; with that resolution in her mind, she mentally prepared herself to act as soon as her opponent attacked her.

Ruby came at her with a two-handed descending slash. Weiss closed in and intercepted the strike, pushing the blade down. With her off hand, she swooped around and under Ruby's arms, threading her palm between Ruby's wrists and yanking it upwards like a hook. Her intention was to lock the girl's sword arm in place and then stab her to the stomach... but before she could properly secure the arms, one of Ruby's hands let go of her blade. For the briefest of moments, blue eyes locked with the ones of silver, causing Weiss' heart to stumble in its mad dash... then, Ruby's head shot forward.

The world dissolved in a blinding flash of white as searing pain exploded from Weiss' face. Her head snapped back from the impact, her ears were ringing and her eyes closed shut against her will and began to tear up; she could not see, was disoriented to hell and back, and the thick, sticky haze of pain enveloping her mind made it hard to think; she was in the dark, and all that she did know was that Ruby would follow up at any moment.

She moved on instinct, ducking her head as low as possible and stepping forth and to the right, blindly thrusting her rapier onward. It connected, and Weiss' arm was jerked backwards right at the same time as an icy cold breeze breathed down on her neck. She shuddered, not knowing it herself whether it was because of the chill or the short, ear-piercing sound that cut through her daze.

Everything came to an abrupt halt, and for a brief moment it seemed to Weiss that her heartbeat and the white noise still filling her head were the only sounds that still remained in the world; then, a soft moan resounded somewhere really close by.

"Ow."

Weiss opened her eyes. Her vision was slightly blurry because of her tears, so she blinked a couple of times before assessing the situation. Ruby stood still right beside her, frozen in a rather awkward position just after completing her swing; it seemed that Weiss had guessed correctly that the attack would come from the left, and had narrowly dodged it. Her gaze then went to her sword-arm and followed it down to the tip of Myrtenaster, only for her to discover that she had hit Ruby right under the girl's left breast. Finally, realization settled in her hazy mind and she lowered her weapon, only to be pulled into a warm hug by her partner.

Weiss had won.

"Nice one." Ruby's breath tickled Weiss' neck when the girl spoke.

Letting herself melt into the embrace, the heiress closed her eyes and released all the air she'd unknowingly been holding in her lungs. "Likewise," she breathed out, wrapping her own arms around Ruby. They were both sweaty, but she didn't care; it was nice, being held like that while her pain was gradually fading away.

After a few moments, Ruby patted the heiress on her back and pulled away. Weiss turned around and shuffled towards the veranda; in the meantime, Ruby reached for her Scroll to check the exact score.

"Weiss 53, Ruby 48. Nice."

It took her tired self a bit longer than it usually would, but the heiress did the math. It seemed that she had still had 14% of her Aura to spare when she'd dealt the deciding blow – a pretty decent score in a match to fifty. Wiping off what remained of the wetness around her eyes, she plopped down on the step leading onto the porch and grabbed a bottle of water she'd left nearby before she'd begun her training session, then took a swig. It was lukewarm – certainly warmer than she would've liked – from standing in the sun, but it'd suffice in the pinch.

Ruby walked over, examining Weiss closely as she approached. "So... how are you feeling?" Though she was trying to hide it, some of her concern bled into her expression, manifesting as a tiny crease upon her brow. "Nothing hurts, I hope?"

Weiss shook her head, then laughed weakly. In the meantime, Ruby sat next to her. "No; I'd say that the only thing hurt in that duel was my pride."

"Why though?" the girl nudged her with her elbow, flashing her a smile. "You've won, by a good margin at that!"

The heiress let out a small chuckle, passing her bottle to Ruby. "Well, yes, but I had to work for that victory harder than I anticipated." There was a brief moment of pause while the other girl was drinking, after which Weiss shifted slightly on her spot, turning a couple of degrees more in her partner's direction. "Ruby, could you perhaps explain something to me? I feel like there's something I don't quite understand."

"Shoot?"

"Now, forgive me if I'm misremembering anything, but haven't you once said that you were 'complete, utter garbage' before Qrow started teaching you to fight?" Ruby gave her a small nod, motioning her to go on. Propping herself up on her elbows, Weiss leaned in slightly. "What's changed, then? You clearly have no problem picking up new things."

Ruby looked down and a tiny, somewhat embarrassed laugh left her lips. "Ah, yeah. Well, you see... it wasn't really about me being crap at fighting, and more about li'l poor Ruby being too damn terrified of her teachers to actually, y'know, learn anything," the girl said, shooting the heiress a passing glance before once again breaking the eye contact; a sheepish, lopsided smile lingered on her face as she continued. "Confidence wasn't really my strongest suit back then. You'd think that being so self-conscious would help me with good stance and footwork, but nope," she said, popping the 'p'. A low, warm hum rumbled quietly in her throat and her features eased into a slightly dreamy, nostalgic expression of someone recalling a fond memory. "With Qrow, there was nothing to be nervous about. Sure, he might've been a teacher, but at the same time he was still the same fun, irresponsible uncle I was looking up to so much. Instead of worrying about making a fool of myself, I was able to actually follow his instructions. And wouldn't you believe it – it turned out that I wasn't so bad at fighting after all," she finished, finally looking up for real and cracking a small grin.

Weiss nodded solemnly. "I'll say. Still, I'm impressed." Seeing how Ruby amusedly quirked her brow at that remark, the heiress laughed under her breath and added: "Now, don't get me wrong – there's plenty of room for improvement as far as your technique is concerned, but you've done well for someone with no actual training in swordsmanship."

Much to Weiss' surprise, Ruby's smile fell a bit, reduced to a simper. Her gaze downcast, she had a somewhat sheepish, almost guilty look on her face. "Heh, about that... aren't you forgetting something?"

"Like what?" the heiress asked, raising her brow.

Ruby glanced up at Weiss, giving her a look both amused and awkward. "Like one of the three forms of Qrow's Harbringer?"

Weiss recalled the image of the Huntsman's scythe, with its massive engraved blade, shotgun form and the ability to...

She facepalmed as soon as the realization formed in her mind. "He taught you the sword," Weiss uttered, in disbelief that she could forget something so obvious. Everything made so much more sense now, from all those familiar manouvers she could not put her finger on to how well the girl had fared. It wasn't just Ruby's combat experience that had been at play there; she hadn't seemed completely clueless how to handle a sword because she wasn't clueless!

Ruby rocked back and forth on her spot, nodding. "M-mm. Started with it, actually; he figured it'd be easier to grasp for a total noob than the scythe, so he taught me the fundamentals." Lightly biting her lower lip, the silver-eyed girl gave Weiss an apologetic look. "Sorry, probably should've told you so before the fight."

But Weiss shook her head. "No, it's alright; it's my own fault for not asking."

She didn't feel cheated in the slightest. She sincerely doubted that Ruby withheld that piece of information from her on purpose, and no matter how laser-focused on her scythe-wielding the girl might've been during their time at Beacon, just assuming that Ruby had no other combat background was Weiss' own mistake. If anything, Weiss felt silly for not having realized that sooner. In any case, even if the the girl had been less clueless with a sword than the heiress had expected her to, it still had been a far cry from her mastery of the scythe, so the trade-off was still fair as far as Weiss was concerned.

For the next while, Ruby continued to watch Weiss warily with a rather distressed look on her face, as if afraid that the heiress actually had taken issue. Given no indication that it was really the case, the girl eventually relaxed a bit. A short, nervous laugh escaped her throat and she moved on.

"Yeah, in any case, eventually I picked up the scythe and..." She paused for a short moment, as if searching for the right words to express herself, only to throw in the towel and give Weiss a small shrug. "I dunno, it just clicked I guess. Never really looked back... until recently."

The heiress quirked her brow in interest. "Oh? And what changed your mind?"

"Remember that one Grimm-infested cave that was so narrow I couldn't fully extend my scythe, and so I had to club some Creeps and whatnot to death?" Noticing the spark of recognition in Weiss' eyes, Ruby bobbed her head. "Yep, that's the one."

There was a moment of silence, after which Weiss asked: "So... a secondary weapon, is it?"

Ruby nodded, leaning slightly back and propping herself up on both of her hands as she looked towards the sky. "Is something I'm considering, yeah. Modding Crescent Rose would be the other option, but I'd probably have to just redesign the whole thing. And compromise on a thing or two with the rifle, bleh." She scrunched up her face as if genuinely disgusted by the idea, much to Weiss' amusement.

The two of them fell quiet for a spell. Slowly, a playful curl appeared in the corner of Weiss' mouth. "Huh. Never would've thought to suspect you of infidelity."

At those words, Ruby reeled back and just gawked at the heiress for a heartbeat, speechless. "Wh-..." she stammered, then, as soon as she'd recovered, lightly punched her friend on the shoulder in faux indignation. "Crescent Rose is my baby, alright?!"

"Alright, alright," Weiss laughed, only to wince in pain when her laughter put too much strain on her bruised face. She massaged her cheek. "Actually, you know what? Nevermind what I've said about only my pride being hurt – I can certainly still feel that kick." She then gently pressed her nose with her thumb, only to regret it immediately when a sharp hiss of pain made it through her teeth. Thanks to her Aura, her nose wasn't broken – and thank goodness for that – but it still stung like hell. "The headbutt, too." She smirked, leering at the girl sitting next to her. "You really were out to get my face, weren't you. Do you really hate it that much?"

A surprised laugh made its way past Ruby's lips. "Hate? Why, I'm rather fond of it."

"Didn't seem that way during our spar."

Tilting her head slightly, Ruby replied to that with an innocent shrug. "What can I say – it was effective."

"Can't really argue with that," Weiss ceded, chuckling. She clasped her hands together and rested them in her lap, falling silent for a spell as she fiddled with her fingers. "Thanks for treating me seriously back there. For a moment I was afraid you'd go easy on me, seeing that I'm recovering," she spoke quietly, then let out a small giggle. "Didn't think I'd ever be relieved to get a boot to my teeth."

Ruby snorted. "Happy to be of service, I guess?"

In hindsight, it had been kind of silly of Weiss to suspect Ruby of holding back any more than had been specified in the terms of their match. It could've happened back in their Beacon days, when the girl had been sparring against someone who'd been going through an off day... but, even if it wasn't always obvious, Ruby had changed in the wake of the Fall, and had since stopped pulling any punches.

She was ruthless inside the ring, to a point where some Atlesian students who had been so unfortunate as to have their asses handed to them accused the girl of being unsportsmanlike and hellbent on winning, or of downright taking pleasure in crushing her opponents. Some others, like Neon, had found her zeal admirable, while most of their circle of friends believed that she simply wanted to give them all a push to do their best. The latter was certainly a part of it... but more than that, Ruby had simply been terrified of losing anyone else. She might have managed to loosen up a little and just have some fun during that latest spar... but it'd take much more time before she'd allow herself to go easy on someone.

"So..." Weiss started, leaning in with a playful smile, "will it also be a gun?"

Ruby blinked, seeming quite lost. "Pardon?"

"The secondary."

"Oh." The girl scratched her cheek in thought. "Maybe? Not sure if I really need it to; I can fire Crescent Rose in narrow spaces just fine." She then jolted all of a sudden, startled somewhat when Weiss pressed a hand against her forehead, as if checking for temperature.

"You alright in there, Ruby?"

Ruby snorted and gently swatted Weiss' hand away. She looked towards the treeline, then rose up from her seat. As her eyes followed her partner's gaze, Weiss noticed two silhouettes emerging from the forest, spotting Blake and Yang just in time to see them wave in their direction.

Waving back, Ruby and Weiss went ahead to meet the other two in front of the house. After a warm welcome home, the reunited team RWBY found themselves looking at their place of residence for the upcoming few months.

"Guess the house didn't burn down after all," Yang quipped at her baby sister. "Nice going."

Ruby retorted without missing a beat. "You not being here made things a lot easier."

Yang flashed her tongue at the girl, then raised her hand, holding out a white pastry box for Ruby to see. "Fridge?"

"Fridge," Ruby affirmed. When Yang pushed past her and entered the house, the silver-eyed girl turned to look at Weiss. "You cool with me taking a shower first?" she asked, pointing over her shoulder at the house.

"Go ahead."

With a small 'thanks', Ruby headed inside. When it was just her and Weiss in front of the house, Blake quietly walked over to the heiress; her amber eyes were averted in a clear sign of poorly concealed embarrassment, and it seemed that she had something on her mind. As Weiss waited patiently for her friend to speak up, she kept her face straight, if not without a degree of difficulty – she had a feeling she knew what it was that Blake wanted to talk about.

"Hey, Weiss," Blake spoke up after a while of silence that had been just a bit too long not to get awkward. "Um... Thanks for the warning."

Weiss did her best to appear dejected. "Just for the warning? Is the book not to your taste?"

"I-... I mean yes, thanks for that too," Blake corrected herself nervously, only to furrow her brow when she remembered that Weiss had been pulling her leg all along. She leaned in and spoke in a quiet voice, as if afraid that the others could hear her. "For how long have you known? And how?"

Weiss snickered; rather than reply, she wrapped her arm around the brunette's shoulder and led her inside. "Oh Blake, Blake..." The girl had a grumpy look on her face, but did not otherwise protest as the heiress walked her through the door.

What was she to say? That Blake just wasn't very good at hiding her smut?

As soon as they crossed the doorstep, they were welcomed inside by a sweet, slightly fruity fragrance coming from the kitchen. Blake slowed down abruptly and sniffed the air, her cat ears perking up with interest; taking her luggage off her back, she tossed the bag onto the nearby couch and made a beeline for the kitchen.

By the time the heiress made it into the other room, Blake was already hovering over the freshly baked apple pie Ruby had left in the open oven to cool. Yang, who had just closed the fridge, exchanged amused glances with Weiss.

Smiling ear to ear, Blake turned around and hollered into the house. "Ruby, you're the best!"

Ruby's voice rolled down from upstairs, and Weiss could hear the grin the girl must've had on her face. "Don't I know it."

---

Author's Note:

Hi. The update was originally supposed to be out in a week and a few scenes longer, but something has just thrown a wrench into my plans and I would no longer be able to finish it in a timely manner. Since I figured you'd much rather have a slightly shorter update than wait for another month, here it is.

I decided to have some fun with this one. If you really look for it, you can actually find bits of genuine techniques in that fight between Ruby and Weiss. I've dabbled in historical fencing once upon a time and figured I might as well sprinkle some of that combat manual goodness on here, since I won't get any better opportunity to do so further down the line. Most of the fight is still your typical fantasy bogus, of course; I would've written a far more divergent of an AU if I wanted realistic combat in my fic. Besides, I can still appreciate some good ol' Rule of Cool.

So, what's your take on the combat in this chapter? Yay? Nay? Too drawn out? Want to see more action in the future? Not interested? I also hope you didn't find that little tangent on Weiss' Semblance particularly boring; I do like such bits of worldbuilding myself, but I know it's not everyone's cup of tea.

Also, a big thank you to all of you who posted a review on the previous chapter – it was really heartening to hear that I'm not writing this story the way I am solely for my own enjoyment. Your comments sure motivated me to get this done ASAP!

Apologies for cutting the update short. I still have some things to wrap up at my uni and it's likely I'll be at it throughout the better part of September. Thankfully, the remaining part of Wishes is mostly done, so once I'm available it shouldn't take me long to release it; a couple of days, I think.

Hopefully I'll see you again in just over a month, this time as a free man. Love y'all.