Since Ruby had gotten nowhere with her partner, she decided to try talking to Blake next. The perfect moment presented itself just a few minutes before Professor Goodwitch's combat class.

"Hey Blake!"

"Mm."

"What's up with you and Weiss?"

"Huh?"

"You and Weiss haven't been talking lately. What's going on?"

Leave it to Ruby to notice. Ever since Weiss (and her team, but it was Weiss she was concerned about) had found out about her Faunus heritage, she'd had an anxious pit in her stomach. Sure, Weiss had treated her far better than she had expected, still referring to her as a teammate and cutting back on the scathing comments. But she'd also made a pointed effort to interact with Blake as little as possible, which was still discriminatory.

I guess I ended up being right after all. She'd been minding her own business when that vial of dust had rolled to her feet. It hadn't taken long for her to put two and two together, having seen the Schnee logo too many times to count. She couldn't help but answer Weiss's disdainful arrogance with a snarky comment, and was a little surprised when the heiress retreated rather quickly. Cowards, all of them. Hiding behind white-washed walls, she'd thought at the time. Prissy, arrogant, condescending and sharp as an icy snowflake…just what you'd expect of a Schnee. And she had been certain she would never get along with the heiress.

But then suddenly the cold-hearted ice queen turned the tables and decided to save the little red-headed dork she'd been yelling at the day before (and probably yelled at a few minutes ago). Blake shouldn't have been surprised; she supposed the heiress wasn't going to let anyone die. But then she did it again, pulling Nora out of range of the Deathstalker with her glyphs while herself and Ren tackled it long enough to distract it. And then she would turn around and make some sort of look-down-your-nose remark that turned off all but the master of being nice, Ruby herself. Only for her to suddenly start being actually nice to Ruby. Relatively so, because she still barked, but somehow the two of them had managed to strike a balance between sharp and teasing in their retorts. She wasn't sure what had happened between the two, but Blake could see some of that child-like Ruby excitement slowly seeping into Weiss's character at times. Blake didn't know what to make of it, and remained wary. Being on the same team made her even more certain her decision to hide her true identity was the right one.

After weeks of observing Weiss though, she shocked herself one day when she realized she'd begun to develop a certain respect for her. Her dedication to becoming a Huntress and the effort she exerted to reach that goal was admirable and inspired even their goofy leader to buckle down. Weiss was skilled in many areas, though her boasting confidence in her exceptional skill made her annoying that way. Still there was more to the heiress than met the eye, and it was only a matter of time before some of these qualities began to show themselves. She'd been surprised to discover that Weiss craved solitude almost as much as she did. And Blake realized relatively early on that the heiress's sharp bite was simply a mask for her doubts and lack of self-worth. Plus, it was a credit to the SDC princess that she studied the Faunus Revolution just as diligently as she did other subjects, though perhaps her desire to excel in every area prompted that particular behavior. Still, Blake had carefully watched Weiss' interaction with other Faunus, and while she didn't exactly go out of her way to be nice to them, she didn't tease them either like curdled Cardin, which was more than she had ever expected from a Schnee. Other than that, she'd found her discussions with Weiss delightfully insightful and appreciated Weiss' consideration for others, even if she had a more hardened way of showing it. She could be counted on to be honest, and it was clear she cared about all of team RWBY, Blake included.

Until that day. Blake still cringed inside thinking about it. She'd begun to think that maybe she and Weiss would be able to get along after all. And then Sun had shown up, and everything she'd thought went out the window. She'd tried to give Weiss a chance to take back her words, but when it was clear she wasn't going to, Blake had stepped in. Normally she enjoyed a friendly debate with Weiss; Weiss had a strong mind and followed trains of thought that Blake would never have thought of on her own. But that argument had been the most mentally and emotionally exhausting conflict she had ever faced.

Back in the White Fang, she'd only been pitted against strangers. But this was on a whole different level. This was Weiss, her teammate, and someone she had started considering a friend. This was the girl who knew she preferred tuna over salmon and tea over coffee, who knew the current book she was reading and actually enjoyed hearing her thoughts on it (unlike her blonde partner), and who had teamed up with her to get the two sisters up to academic par. This was the girl who had saved Ruby and Nora on the second day of school, and was working her butt off so she could save others. And it was this same girl now judging the very essence of her character, calling it filth, trash, and a whole score of other names that made Blake's heart hurt. She had never been so angry and so hurt at the same time.

After defeating Torchwick, her stomach had dropped when Weiss appeared. She had been prepared to defend herself against all sorts of verbal and potentially physical attacks that Weiss would inevitably throw at her. But she had still been utterly unprepared for Weiss's response.

Stop. Do you have any idea how long we've been searching for you?

Wait what?

Twelve hours. That means that I've had twelve hours to think about this.

All those weeks spent watching Weiss, and Blake still didn't know what to make of the heiress. After mulling over their short exchange, Blake came to the shocking conclusion that Weiss still cared about her, even though she knew now that she was a Faunus and potentially a White Fang member. She had searched for twelve whole hours. She could have refused to accompany Yang and Ruby and just go back to their dorm. She was the Ice Queen after all; she had no problem turning down anything. But instead, she had gone out with the other two in search of her. It was this fact alone that made Blake wonder if there was any hope at all. Because all of the Ice Queen's other actions seemed to say otherwise. Between walking out the moment Blake walked in to any room, to asking Ruby to get books from the library for her, to always making sure Ruby or Yang sat between them in class, Weiss was clearly doing her best to ignore her existence. She wouldn't pretend it didn't hurt. But she could play the same game.

"Blake? Hark to Blake!"

The sound of Ruby's voice brought Blake back to the present. "Sorry, what were you saying?"

Ruby crossed her arms. "You've been spacing out for the last three minutes."

"Oh, I was?"

Ruby sighed. "Don't play dumb with me. It's bad enough Weiss already did."

"What…what do you mean?"

"There's something going on between you and Weiss, and ever since that Torchwick fight nothing's been the same! What's going on?"

"N—nothing." Blake put on her best wide-eyed innocent look as Ruby glared at her.

"There isn't nothing going on!"

"Umm…yes there is?"

"Iorderyouasteamleadertotellmewhat'sgoingon!"

Blake sighed. Like that kind of order would ever get me to talk seriously. "Weiss and I are fine Ruby."

"Pfft, likely story."

RRRIIIIIIINNNGGGG!

The bell signaling five minutes until class startled them both.

"Blake?"

"Come on Ruby, we can't be late for class."

"But you still haven't—"

"Please, Professor Goodwitch has already yelled at us twice this week, and I'd rather not face another unhappy Goodwitch again."

Ruby narrowed her eyes at the cat faunus. "…Fine. Have it your way." Ruby gathered her books into her bag and headed toward the door, then looked back at Blake. "But I will get to the bottom of this."