Blake panted heavily as she ran through the dark corridors of Beacon's dorm halls, throwing glances back over her shoulder. She had no idea where she was trying to get to, just that she needed to run. Her ears strained over the sounds of her own flight, trying to listen for her pursuer. Smoke stung at her eyes and lungs, a dull crackle of flames audible in the background. And then Blake heard it, an awful, agonised scream of rage.
She quickened her pace, adrenaline giving her a burst of speed as she heard wood splintering behind her. She bounced off a wall as she turned a corner, losing precious seconds as she stumbled and regained her footing. The hallway she'd just turned onto seemed to stretch onwards into infinity, no other corridors and nowhere for her to hide. She sprinted ahead, tucking her head down, desperately trying to gather as much speed as she could.
She heard something slam into the same wall that she'd run into, that same howl of pain and fury ripping through the air behind her. Something inside her told her not to look back, and she listened to that instinct, even as the thing behind her screamed her name. "BlaaAaaaaaKe!" it shrieked. Tears started beading at her eyes, and she couldn't tell if it was just down to the smoke that created a light haze in the hall.
Her eyes widened as she heard an approaching, high-pitched metallic ring, and she dived to the floor to dodge the attack she somehow knew was coming. Something massive ripped through the air above her, a swirling mix of hot and cold washing over her as whatever it was landed a short distance past her. Blake lifted her head, a choked scream escaping her throat at what she saw.
The towering figure slowly turned back to her. Its limbs were made of twisted metal, all jagged angles and spider-like digits. One awful hand gripped a blade, longer than Blake was tall and covered in glowing, jagged runes. A ripped white dress was wrapped around a skeletal body, broken ribs poking through the material, crusted in blood.
None of that seemed important in that second, however, not compared to the face. Oh gods, the face. The face was the worst part of all. A serene, silver mask topped the horrific construct, eyes and mouth closed. Dark stains leaked from the mouth and right eye, whilst the mask itself was cracked and split vertically through the left eye.
Wet tendrils of gore were strung between the two separate pieces, whilst a piercing, glowing, blue orb filled the space between the halved eyelids. Something glistened behind the gore, but mercifully any details were hidden by that glow. White hair spilled out from behind the mask, tumbling down the thing's back and covered in ash, and it was at that moment Blake realised the whole thing was on fire.
"Blaaaaaaaaake,"
the Not-Weiss growled, the heiress' voice distorted as if coming through a damaged speaker, pitching up and down wildly and accompanied by an electronic shriek.
"You're running again, like always,"
it hissed at her, stepping closer.
"Running from the consequences of your actions."
"B-but I didn't do this!" Blake protested, crawling away on her back, eyes wide with horror. "It wasn't me! It wasn't even my branch of the Fang!"
"But you didn't leave after it!"
Not-Weiss roared at her.
"You stayed! You knew what happened, you saw the results, saw what happened to me! And you stayed!"
The blade came down with a shriek, and Blake rolled to avoid it. It cleaved through the floor like it wasn't even there, the strike continuing into the wall before finally stopping.
"The Fang destroyed my body and my life and you didn't care!"
"I'm sorry!" Blake screamed in terror, stumbling as she tried to get her feet under her to run away.
"I DON'T CARE IF YOU'RE SORRY!"
the creature howled.
"'Sorry' doesn't bring my body back!"
Blake flinched as Not-Weiss echoed Blake's 'sorry' back at her, carrying the same distortion. The awful glowing eye bored into Blake, its light getting stronger and stronger.
"An eye for an eye, that's how It works, right Blake? The SDC hurt you, so it's fine for you to rip a twelve year old girl's body to pieces, right? Well, the Fang hurt me, so now I get to rip you apart, RIGHT?!"
One claw lashed out at Blake's face, and she barely ducked below the strike, flames licking at her. The instant after, the blade swung at her again, too soon for her to dodge again. Blake's vision locked onto the gleaming edge, time slowing to a crawl as it drew closer and closer to her eye.
Blake sat up with a gasp, drenched in sweat and near-hyperventilating. Her eyes quickly adjusted to the dark room, her frazzled mind taking a second to register she was in her team's dorm room. Her heart hammered so hard in her chest that it hurt. She gripped her sheets so hard her knuckles went white as she tried to calm down.
Just a dream. Just a dream, Blake, she reassured herself, swallowing dryly. She slowly looked around the room, scanning across the walls and familiar belongings as she grounded herself in reality again, trying to put the nightmare out of her mind.
Then she saw a familiar blue glow in the corner of the room.
A strangled scream escaped her throat as she thrashed on the bed, backing fearfully into the corner where her mattress and headboard met the walls of the room. The glow turned to look at her suddenly, before there was a yelp and a thud from that side of the room. Then Weiss' bedside light turned on as Yang sat up and looked around.
As the light washed over the room, Blake realised she was staring at Weiss, the heiress tucked under her own covers, a book open in her lap, and looking up at Blake with concern and confusion. Ruby appeared to be the source of the thud, sprawled on the floor and rubbing her head, groaning.
"Blake? What's wrong?" Yang asked, peering down at her as she rubbed her eyes. "You screamed?"
"S-sorry," she stammered out. "Had a nightmare…"
"You screamed after you woke up, though," Weiss pointed out.
"I saw a blue glow from your corner of the room and it startled me," Blake said. Yang blinked slowly, reaching over and turning her lamp off. The room was plunged into darkness again, save for the blue glow emanating from Weiss' left eye.
"One of your eyes glows, Weiss?" Ruby asked, now sitting on the floor and looking up at the other three.
"The artificial one, yes," Weiss said after a moment. "It lets me see in the dark. I couldn't sleep, so I was doing some reading. Sorry for scaring you, Blake," she said, sounding regretful.
"O-oh, it's not your fault," Blake tried to reassure her. "Just my dumb nightmare, nothing to do with you," she lied.
"What was it about?" Ruby asked as she carefully clambered back into her bed.
"I'd… Rather not say. It was a pretty bad nightmare," Blake said evasively.
"Well, alright then. I'ma go back to bed," Ruby said, already starting to nod back off again as the brief surge of adrenaline faded.
"Good idea," said Yang with a yawn, following Ruby's lead. "'Night," she muttered, head hitting her pillow. Blake slowly laid down again, pulling her covers back up. She didn't close her eyes again, however, until the blue glow in the corner of the room faded.
By the time morning came around, Blake was still tired, the rest of her night spent in fitful bouts of sleep. As the team got ready for the day of school ahead, Blake kept catching Weiss' glances at her, concern and sadness visible in her expression despite the heiress' efforts. "We've got Goodwitch's Combat class again today, right?" Blake asked, yawning into her hand.
"Uh huh. Starting to gear up for the Vytal festival," Ruby said, bouncing in place. "We're definitely gonna try and qualify, right?" she asked, looking at her team.
"Of course," Weiss said with a nod. "Like any of us would sit something like that out."
"We'll need to work more on our team coordination, then," Ruby pointed out. "We're all great fighters individually, but we could do with some practice working together."
"Professor Goodwitch will probably set time aside for that," Weiss pointed out. "But some practice outside of school hours wouldn't hurt."
Later that day, just before lunch as usual, Beacon's first-year students were assembled in Glynda's training arena, looking into the centre of the ring as Glynda paced back and forth. "As you are all no-doubt aware, the Vytal Festival is only a few months away. Soon enough, Beacon will be hosting students from Remnant's other kingdoms. I would recommend you use this time to practice extensively, especially those who choose to compete. You will be representing Vale and Beacon academy. As such, we will start practising fighting in pairs and full teams in preparation for the tournament, as well as continuing with one-on-one bouts."
"Speaking of which, our first fight for the day will be…" As always, she looked up to the screen as the fighters were randomly selected. "Jaune Arc versus Cardin Winchester."
Cardin grinned confidently, hefting his mace onto his shoulder as he strode into the ring. Ten black, bladed flanges surrounded a red dust crystal, the whole weapon heavy and brutal. Jaune was less sure of himself, swallowing loudly and cautiously entering the arena. He drew his sword and deployed his shield, stopping opposite Cardin. His simple arming sword and white-and-gold kite shield contrasted against Cardin's weapon dramatically. Glynda left the field, standing just outside the ring, ready to intervene or call the match as necessary.
"Begin!" A klaxon signalled the start of the match, and Cardin went on the attack instantly. A bright flare fired from the Executioner, exploding against Jaune's shield and knocking him back a few paces. Cardin wasn't far behind the ranged attack, swinging the mace towards Jaune's head. The blond boy let out a yelp, raising his shield to block again, metal meeting metal with a loud clang.
The impact jarred his arm, distracting him from the solid kick Cardin lashed into his chest, boot meeting his breastplate and knocking him further back. Jaune grit his teeth in frustration before charging, swinging wildly at Cardin, who swatted the attack aside with contempt. During his rush Jaune had neglected to keep his shield up, and wasn't able to bring his guard back up in time to block the return swing.
Stars erupted in Jaune's vision as the Executioner met the side of his head, sending him reeling. Cardin grinned as Jaune stumbled away, raising his mace above his head in both hands before bringing it back down on the ground at Jaune's feet. A dust-fuelled explosion detonated under Jaune at the point of impact, launching Jaune into the air with a wail. Cardin lifted his mace again, continuing to wield it two-handed as he wound up his next swing like a baseball strike.
The powerful swing caught Jaune in the gut, launching him across the ring and landing with a tumble. Jaune groaned, staggering back to his feet, panting and leaning on Crocea Mors for support as Cardin laughed. Jaune let out a yell before charging again, sword held over his head before swinging down. Cardin jumped to the side, evading the attack and then lashing out at Jaune, who barely got his shield up in time. The blow caught the edge of the shield, flanges catching it and ripping it out of Jaune's hand, sending it flying across the ring.
Now without a shield, Jaune wielded his sword in both hands and swung at Cardin again, only for him to block with the haft of his mace. Cardin grinned, pushing Jaune back and looming over him. "This is the part where you lose," he taunted cruelly.
"Over my dead- hurk," Jaune's response was cut off as Cradin kneed him in the gut, sending Jaune sprawling to the floor. Cardin stood over him, laughing and raising his mace. Jaune gulped, looking fearfully up at the weapon before screwing his eyes shut, waiting for the blow to come.
"Enough!" Glynda called, ending the match. Cardin grunted in disappointment, lowering his arms without bringing the mace down on Jaune. "Jaune's aura is below the safe limit." Jaune pulled his scroll out, checking his blinking aura metre and frowning. "Mr Arc, it's been weeks now. Please try and remember to check your aura level during a match. It will help inform you when to be aggressive, and when to move to the defensive." Jaune nodded, slowly getting to his feet. "Now, next let's have some pairs fights. Team RWBY, please step forward." The four girls shared a look before entering the arena.
"The second phase of the Vytal tournament is the doubles stage. At this stage, each team is reduced to two combatants, and then one of them will proceed to the finals, provided the team isn't eliminated beforehand. As such, it is important to learn which two members of your team fight together the best in this setting. This may not be two partnered students, so we'll be mixing up the pairings." Glynda tapped at her tablet, looking up at the screen again as team RWBY shared another glance.
The screen changed, now showing four aura bars total, before their pictures appeared. "The match will be Ruby Rose and Blake Belladonna versus Weiss Schnee and Yang Xiao Long." Weiss and Yang looked at each other in surprise, before nodding at each other. Ruby and Blake also looked at one another, though the latter's eyes held barely-restrained panic. "You will have a few moments to discuss your strategy. Let me know when you are ready," Glynda said, vacating the ring again. The two pairs split, whispering to one another.
"Alright," Yang said to Weiss. "How do you want to handle this?"
"Hmm. I think you take Ruby, and I take Blake?" she suggested. "You've got more experience with her fighting style than I do, and we're both as familiar as one another with Blake's. Blake's also started using dust, something which you don't have a lot of experience against."
"Ruby's a pretty terrible hand-to-hand fighter," Yang said, nodding. "Alright, makes sense." Meanwhile, a similar discussion was happening between Ruby and Blake.
"Ok, so, I think you should fight Yang, and I'll fight Weiss?" Ruby said, sounding a little uncertain. "I can sort-of match her reach advantage, and I know I can't beat Yang up close."
"Yeah, sounds good," Blake said, glad Ruby wasn't asking her to try fighting Weiss. Both pairs stopped their whispered discussions to nod at Glynda, signalling they were ready as Weiss slipped on her helmet.
"Very well. Begin!" As Glynda signalled the start of the match, Weiss and Yang launched themselves forwards, each going after their selected target. Blake froze up as Weiss charged her, panic settling in. Ruby managed to briefly intercept Weiss, briefly forcing the heiress onto the defensive as Crescent Rose was swung at her. However a moment later Yang arrived, tackling Ruby and leaving Weiss free to focus on Blake.
Instincts reasserted themselves as Weiss swung Lilie at Blake in an upwards slice, prompting Blake to parry with the flat of Gambol Shroud. She grunted as her massive sword crashed against her guard, knocking her slightly to the side before Weiss wound the blade back again. Weiss pressed the advantage, stepping forwards with a lunge that forced Blake to backpedal, knocking the tip aside with her scabbard.
As Blake looked into the eye sockets of Weiss' helmet, she quickly realised exactly where her brain had conjured Not-Weiss' mask from in her nightmare. The realisation didn't help her panic at all as she desperately fended off another strike, this one sweeping from over Weiss' shoulder. Weiss' zweihänder flashed around insanely quickly for a weapon of its size as she practically fenced with it.
As the point of Lilie slipped past Blake's guard, she finally remembered to use her semblance, leaving a shadow behind to take the hit as she darted to the side, cutting at Weiss' arm. The blow cut into her aura, and Weiss responded by lashing out with an elbow jab to fend Blake off before advancing on Blake again. Lilie twirled around her head in sweeping patterns to prevent any future surprise attacks from Blake's semblance.
I need to slow that thing down, Blake decided as she dodged another cut aimed at her head. Thinking quickly, she tapped her aura into the ice dust cartridge loaded into Gambol Shroud and then let the next attack through her guard. This time when she used her semblance a statue of Blake rendered in ice was left behind instead of a shadow, Weiss' blade trapped halfway into it.
Weiss grunted, trying to extract Lilie, ice cracking around the blade as she made progress. Blake quickly interrupted, charging her and swiping at her with her sword and scabbard. Weiss raised her arms to fend off the strikes, chipping away at her aura before blue light flared, a hard-light dust shield springing between the pair before flinging Blake back.
Blake looked in confusion between the dissipating shield and the dust loaded in Lilie. How'd she do that without holding her weapon? She didn't have much time to dwell on the question as Weiss grabbed the hilt of her sword again. The runes emanated a black aura, gravity dust activating as a glyph formed around the ice statue. Blake's eyes widened as Weiss lifted both the sword and the statue, hefting it before she charged Blake and swung her weapon like a hammer.
Blake leapt clear with a yelp, the ice statue shattering on impact with the floor and showering her with shrapnel. Blake rolled under the horizontal follow-up sweep, her own return attack fended off by Lilie's crossguard. Weiss tried for a drawing cut as she created more distance between the pair, but Blake let another shadow take the hit, earning a blow to Weiss' mask with the tip of Gambol Shroud.
Weiss growled as Blake scored another hit, sweeping Lilie around in a broad motion to force Blake to back off again. Taking the time to glance at their aura levels, Blake felt some hope swell. Blake's aura had only lost a few chunks, mostly from her semblance usage, whilst Weiss' was down by about a quarter. Now confident that her hit-and-run tactics were working against Weiss, she went in for another strike. As expected, Weiss took a swing at her to dissuade her attack, but this time Blake used her semblance with some fire dust. A burning afterimage of her was left behind, which then exploded as Weiss' blade hit it, knocking Weiss back.
She stumbled, flailing her sword around her as she reeled from the explosion. Blake could hear Weiss' breathing rattling around in her helmet, suddenly quick and ragged. The eye sockets of Weiss' helmet met Blake's eyes again, something glinting dangerously behind them, and Blake knew she'd made a mistake.
A sepia-toned glyph sprung to life under Weiss' feet, styled like a clock face. It spun rapidly beneath her with an odd sound like a bell ringing backwards and an accelerating spinning blade. Blake blinked, and suddenly Weiss was right in front of her, swinging Lilie at her even faster than before. She barely had time to create another shadow to evade the hit. As she landed again, Weiss was already part-way through an upwards slice, catching Blake and lifting her into the air. Weiss struck her twice more, launching her further up before leaping after her.
Blake couldn't keep track of the strikes as Weiss juggled her, losing her grip on her weapons at some point during the flurry of attacks. She desperately tried using her semblance to avoid at least some of the strikes, but Weiss was moving too quickly, always landing an immediate follow-up attack. An especially strong blow to her back launched her back into the ground, landing hard enough that she bounced, aura breaking on contact. "Blake is eliminated!" Glynda declared as Weiss landed next to her. Blake looked up at her, dazed from the assault, a little confused as Weiss seemed to move in slow-motion, languidly turning towards Ruby and Yang's battle.
The other half of the fight was less dramatic than Weiss' and Blake's, mostly consisting of Ruby trying to keep Yang at a distance and Yang attempting the opposite. It wasn't too much longer before Yang finally pinned Ruby down, getting her sister's arm in a lock and whaling away at her aura until Glynda called the match.
"Ruby is eliminated, Weiss and Yang are the victors," she said, stepping into the ring. Weiss, no longer apparently locked in slow-motion, looked down at Blake and offered her a hand. Blake took it with her own shaking hand, grunting as Weiss hauled her to her feet with ease.
"Are you alright?" Weiss asked her once Blake was standing. "I may have overreacted a little there," she admitted, sounding a little regretful.
"I… I'm fine," Blake croaked out, wincing. "That was… Ow. That was ow," she decided, still trembling as she collected her weapons, returning them to her back.
"Sorry," Weiss said, removing her helmet. She did look sorry, Blake supposed, but that didn't change how shaken she felt. The fear that had been gnawing away in her gut had been confirmed; Weiss absolutely could kill Blake if she wanted to.
Blake spent the rest of the class in a bit of a daze, nursing an aching shoulder and trying her best not to dwell on the fight. By the time lunch came around, she'd regained her full mental faculties, but unfortunately this morning's panic returned with them. She had her nose buried in a book to both block out everything around her and to mask her own emotional state, not even attempting to keep track of what Nora was saying.
She only started to tune back in as the conversation switched to Jaune, catching onto the fact that Jaune was apparently being bullied by Cardin. She jumped a little as Nora leapt up. "We'll break his legs!" she declared excitedly, grinning from ear to ear.
"Guys, it's fine, really! Cardin's a jerk to everyone, not just me," Jaune said. There was a yelp of pain, and all eight heads swivelled to look towards the source. Team CRDL were all clustered around Velvet, taunting her as Cardin tugged on her rabbit ears. Before any of them had the chance to say or do anything, Cardin released her ears and Velvet dashed away, ducking her head and covering her face as she left the room, sniffling quietly.
"Atrocious," Pyrrha said, glaring in CRDL's direction.
"Cardin's a pig, same as the rest of his team," Weiss said, continuing to eat. Blake turned her attention to the heiress again. Weiss's expression was blank, tone carefully neutral. Blake wasn't sure how to feel about the fact she was getting good at detecting when Weiss was hiding her feelings.
"Cardin's been picking on you as well?" Yang asked, frowning.
"No, just a couple of comments about my prosthetics," Weiss said flatly, taking another bite of her food. "Nothing I haven't heard before."
"Again, we should break his legs," Nora repeated, putting her hands on the table and leaning in for emphasis.
"Maybe we should avoid actually committing assault," Ren counselled. "Cardin isn't the sort of person worth risking getting expelled over," he reminded Nora. Nora grumbled, sitting back down and pouting, sulking a little at Ren's wisdom.
"We'll get the chance to take him apart in the arena eventually, don't worry," Yang said, grinning at Nora.
"School-sanctioned beatings, the best kind!" Nora joked, perking up again, Ruby and Yang snickering. The seven of them then looked at Weiss as her scroll started ringing. She slowly blinked, taking the device out of her bag and looking at the caller ID for a moment.
"Excuse me, I have to take this," she said, standing and walking away from the table, waiting until she was out of the room before answering.
"I need to go as well," Blake declared, closing her book and leaving through a different door, hurrying away before anyone could stop her. Pyrrha looked at Blake as she left, frowning before looking back to Yang and Ruby.
"Is Blake alright? She seems… Quieter than usual today," she said, concerned.
"She had a pretty bad nightmare last night," Ruby mused, humming.
"Dunno," said Yang. "Weiss is under the impression that Blake is scared of her for some reason."
"She's right," Ren commented, looking up from his food.
"Scared of Weiss? Why?" Pyrrha asked, eyes widening a little.
"Weiss said something about her dad's policies hurting people Blake knows," Yang explained.
"That doesn't explain fear, though," Pyrrha pointed out. "Not that either is right, but people tend to dislike people related to people they hate rather than fear them."
"I don't get it either," Yang admitted. "Weiss says she can deal with it, but… I don't know. I don't know if there's anything we can do either?"
"Have you tried talking to her about it?" Pyrrha asked.
"No. I mean, how do you even approach that topic?" Yang asked. "'Hey Blake, I noticed that you're terrified of our teammate. Wanna talk about it?'," she said sarcastically.
"Well, if something doesn't change, you might have to ask her that," Pyrrha pointed out. "Especially for Weiss' sake. I can say from experience, people being afraid of you feels pretty terrible."
"Yeah, yeah, you're right," Yang said, sighing. "I'll keep an eye on it. We've got the trip into Forever Fall soon, right? I might talk to Blake during that, make sure no one else is around."
"Pyrrha and I can keep Weiss distracted whilst you talk to Blake?" Ruby offered, looking at Pyrrha, who nodded at the plan.
"Alright, in Forever Fall then," Yang said, nodding decisively.