The next day, team RWBY was woken up shortly before their alarms by the sounds of Weiss in pain. She whimpered, tangled in her bedsheets as she squirmed in discomfort, still not fully awake.
"Weiss?" Ruby asked quietly, rubbing the sleep from her eyes and peering over the side of her bed. She got no response, Weiss continuing to fitfully slumber. "Hey, Weiss?" she asked, a little louder. That got a quiet gasp from Weiss, eyes fluttering open before she groaned loudly.
"Ruby?" she asked blearily. "Gods, why does it still hurt?" she whined, thumping her head against her pillow in frustration.
"Still got phantom pains?" Yang asked carefully, frowning in concern as she carefully lowered herself down from her bed. Weiss nodded stiffly, starting to untangle herself from her sheets.
"Yes, because just taking a single evening from me wasn't enough, apparently," Weiss said bitterly. "Hey, Yang?" she asked, looking over at her.
"Yeah, Weiss?" Yang replied, raising an eyebrow.
"If I don't put my aura up, do you think you can punch me in the head exactly hard enough to knock me out for a few hours?" she asked, completely deadpan.
"... Yeah I can't tell if you're joking or not right now," Yang said, blinking once.
"Mostly joking, but if you can do that I would not object right now," Weiss said with a huff.
"I'm not that good," Yang replied with a small chuckle. Weiss rolled her eyes, finally extracting an arm from her sheets and fumbling towards the table by her bed. She grabbed her box of painkillers again, popping a couple of pills into her mouth and dry swallowing them with a grimace.
"Anything you need us to do?" Ruby asked, still perched on her bed and peering down at Weiss.
"Well, I doubt I'm going to make this morning's classes, so if you could take notes for me I would greatly appreciate it," Weiss said after a moment.
"I can do that," Blake offered, having retreated to a corner of the room during the talking. Weiss nodded her thanks.
"Thank you, Blake," she said.
"Want someone to get you some food?" Ruby asked, to which Weiss shook her head.
"Not very hungry, thank you. I wouldn't object to some more water, though." Yang nodded, grabbing her bottle and stepping into the bathroom to fill it up.
"What do you want us to tell the teachers?" Blake asked.
"Tell the teachers I'm unwell. If they object, tell them to lodge a complaint with the White Fang," Weiss said sarcastically. Blake flinched, very grateful that Weiss' eyes were closed and that Ruby was focussing on Weiss at that moment.
"Uh, sure, sure," she said after a moment, eyes widening a little.
Team RWBY and JNPR's usual table in the student dining room was a little emptier than usual, only hosting six students today. Jaune was still eating lunch with team CRDL for reasons unknown to the rest of them, whilst Weiss had yet to appear at all today. "Is Weiss alright?" Pyrrha asked Ruby. She shook her head sadly.
"Still dealing with the pains from yesterday," she said.
"Poor Weiss," Pyrrha said, frowning.
"She'd hate to hear you say that," Yang pointed out. "But I get you, I'm worried as well," she continued, frustratedly moving her food around her plate as her foot tapped against the floor.
"You good, Yang?" Nora asked, hearing the drumming of Yang's foot.
"Just wish there was something I could do," she said after a second, vexed.
"Has she had anything to eat today?" Pyrrha asked.
"She said she didn't want breakfast, so probably not," Blake said.
"Hmm. I'm going to take her some food," Pyrrha declared, quickly finishing up her own meal before standing from the table. Blake watched her leave, expression unreadable until Yang leant over.
"Jealous that Pyrrha's going to take care of Weiss?" Yang asked teasingly, causing Blake to yelp.
"Ah! Oh, no, no," she said, shaking her head. "I'm just worried about Weiss," she excused herself lamely.
"Uh huh, sure, sure," Yang said with a chuckle and a wink. "Your secret's safe with me, Blakey." Blake rolled her eyes and groaned, face palming.
Pyrrha walked quickly through the dorm halls, carrying a tray of food and heading for team RWBY's dorm. As she reached the door, she stopped as she heard singing on the other side. It was instantly identifiable as Weiss' voice, carrying hurt and sadness and remaining heart-stoppingly beautiful.
"Mirror, mirror, what's behind you?
Save me from the things I see.
I can keep it from the world,
Why won't you let me hide from me?"
Pyrrha swallowed stiffly, carefully balancing the tray in one hand and knocked with the other. "Weiss? It's Pyrrha. Can I come in?" Pyrrha strained to listen for Weiss' response. There was a rustling sound, before a glyph appeared around the doorknob, turning it and opening the door.
She smiled to herself, hip-checking the door open and walking in. The lights in the room had been dimmed, but enough sunlight shone through the curtain for Pyrrha to spot Weiss, curled somewhat miserably under her covers.
"Pyrrha?" she asked. "What're you doing here?" Pyrrha stepped in, knocking the door closed again with her foot before approaching the bed.
"Ruby said you hadn't eaten today, so I brought you some food," she said, smiling. "Where do you want me to put it?" Weiss was silent for a moment, before sitting up a bit and leaning over to flick her bedside lamp on.
"Oh, thank you," she said quietly. "Umm, you can put it on my lap, that's fine." Pyrrha nodded, leaning over and carefully placing the tray in Weiss' lap.
"No problem," she said, stepping back and grabbing one of the desk chairs. "We were all a little worried."
"Oh. I'm sorry," Weiss apologised, a touch sadly.
"Oh, no no, please don't apologise," Pyrrha said quickly, eyes widening. "No one was blaming you. We just care about you, Weiss," she explained. Weiss nodded, picking up a fork to start picking at her food, not making eye contact with Pyrrha. "You don't seem to be a fan of people taking care of you," she observed.
"... No, I suppose not," Weiss agreed. "Why, did you think I would?" she asked, to which Pyrrha shook her head.
"I've lived a lot of my life in the spotlight. I know how tiring it gets when people make assumptions about you, so I try not to make assumptions about others. I've just noticed you seem to resent this sort of thing," Pyrrha explained.
"I see… It's complicated," Weiss started. "I don't want to trouble you."
"It's no trouble at all, I want to help," Pyrrha gently insisted. Weiss nodded, sighing.
"I'm training to be a huntress. I shouldn't need this sort of help, I should be able to take care of myself," she huffed.
"Even the best hunters get injured and need help recovering," Pyrrha pointed out, frowning.
"That's just it. I should already be recovered," Weiss said bitterly. "... How much do you know about my injuries?" she asked, to which Pyrrha blinked.
"Well, all I really know is you got hurt in an explosion at your family's manor," Pyrrha said. "And I've seen your arms," she added a moment later.
"As have most of the school at this point," Weiss commented. "This is… Hard for me to talk about," she said, a lump forming in her throat as she swallowed some food. Pyrrha nodded, keeping quiet and letting Weiss take her time.
It was a few minutes before Weiss spoke again, spending that time slowly picking at her plate. "The explosion cost me my left eye and all of my limbs," she finally said. "Along with severe damage to the rest of me. I was twelve. It was months before the doctors judged I had healed enough to start using prosthetics. I was helpless all that time, I couldn't do anything. And more than four years later, I still end up bedridden with pain." Weiss stopped, a sniffle escaping her that wrenched at Pyrrha's heart.
"I just want to be normal," she finished, shoulders slumping, fork dropped on her tray as she bowed her head. Pyrrha sat there in silence, listening to Weiss' shaky breathing as the heiress desperately tried not to cry. Despite the heiress' efforts, Pyrrha still heard a couple of teardrops hit the tray.
Pyrrha slowly, gently reached out a hand, placing it on Weiss' shoulder. Weiss inhaled sharply at the contact, sitting up straight again and clearing her throat. "I apologise for letting my emotions get the better of me," she said flatly, staring straight ahead. Her eyes were red and slightly puffy.
"You don't need to apologise for that, Weiss. It's okay to cry," Pyrrha said kindly. Weiss shook her head.
"I should be stronger. I promised to be stronger," she said firmly, despite the wavering in her voice. Pyrrha frowned sadly.
"You can't be strong all the time. Take it from someone who is very good at putting on that act," Pyrrha said. When Weiss didn't reply, she sighed. Something about seeing Weiss in such a vulnerable state tugged at something inside her. "You remember how I said I try not to assume things about people?" She waited until Weiss looked at her before continuing.
"I don't always succeed. People have fawned over me and my success for years. Before I came to Beacon, it got to the point where I didn't have any meaningful relations with anyone. I was always 'The Invincible Girl'. When I got here, I was convinced it was going to be more of the same, people only interested in me because of my fame and too intimidated to actually want to get to know me." Weiss flinched a little, remembering their first encounter.
"Sorry," she reflexively apologised, only for Pyrrha to wave her off.
"Oh, you were fine. Honestly, I was terrified you were going to be fawning constantly when we first met, and I'm sorry for making that assumption." Weiss chuckled a little at that, wiping her eyes.
"I mean, I guess my family has a bit of a reputation, huh?" she joked. "But why are you telling me this?" she asked.
"I'm telling you this because trying to be strong all the time is very, very lonely," Pyrrha said. "I always wonder what would have happened if I was a little less 'invincible'. If I lost a couple of my early matches, or took a few bad hits in the arena. I probably wouldn't be as famous, and I probably wouldn't be 'The Invincible Girl', but I think I'd have had more friends before I came here. I'd be happy with that," Pyrrha continued, smiling at Weiss.
"No one can be strong all the time, and that isn't weakness. You survived horrible injuries, suffered things I can't even imagine, and not only did you make it to Beacon, but you're one of the best students and fighters in our year. And you've already beaten grimm that none of us have even seen. You don't need to prove that you're strong, you've already done that." Weiss was silent for a full minute, looking into Pyrrha's eyes before she swallowed stiffly again, cheeks flushing at her praise.
"T-thank you, Pyrrha. However, my father expects that I uphold the image required of the Schnee heiress. I can't afford to look weak in public." Pyrrha's expression started to crumple again.
"B-but!" Weiss said, holding up a finger. "Maybe I can try letting myself… Not be strong all the time in private? With friends?" Pyrrha's smile recovered at that, and she nodded.
"I don't think you need to worry about any of us running off to the press," she said jokingly. "The less I interact with journalists the better." A rare tone of bitterness escaped Pyrrha there.
"Oh gods, they are the worst, aren't they?" Weiss agreed, becoming a little more animated. "General Ironwood had to post soldiers at the hospital to stop them sneaking in when I was recovering, can you believe that?"
"Absolutely. A reporter snuck into the locker room during a tournament to try and ask me some questions one time. All I saw was a stranger in the room when I was trying to change. I panicked and ended up breaking his wrist. He threatened to press charges over it until my agent pointed out why he got his wrist broken." Weiss looked appalled, but giggled at the end of the story.
"I can believe that. Winter almost got in trouble for throwing one out a window. I don't know the whole story, but I think they were asking questions about her love life." Pyrrha laughed at that.
"I can sympathise. Winter's your sister, right? Am I remembering that correctly?" Weiss nodded.
"My older sister, yes. She's… She's fantastic. I wouldn't be here without her. I'd probably still be back in Atlas, broken bird singing for father's guests."
"I… Heard you singing a bit outside," Pyrrha admitted. Weiss stiffened a little. "I didn't hear too much though," she added, causing her to relax fractionally. "It sounded very good!" Weiss flushed again, coughing.
"Oh, thank you. It's not something I do often," she admitted, breaking eye contact and looking away.
"Why not?" Pyrrha asked curiously. "You have a beautiful singing voice." Weiss blushed a little at the compliment.
"It's… Complicated," Weiss found herself saying again. "When he found out I could sing and wanted to get better at it, father encouraged the idea. Paid for the best singing coaches in Atlas, had me trained in a variety of different styles, and I picked up a few myself."
"It… Quickly stopped being things I wanted to sing, and more things he wanted me to sing. At public events, Schnee galas… It wasn't something I did for myself anymore. That's why no one's heard me sing at Beacon. I hate it when people ask me to, and if people here learn about it, then someone will ask me."
Pyrrha was speechless after that, sitting in silence as her mind raced. Internally, she was analysing and comparing the small glimpses Weiss had given her into her family life. The picture being painted was far from happy. Constantly being required to keep an image of strength in-line with family expectations, made to fight frighteningly-powerful grimm, her own hobbies and interests stolen from her… It all made Pyrrha's heart ache for the young heiress.
"Well, I promise I won't ask you to sing," she eventually said, smiling at her. Weiss looked at her in surprise, before her features settled into a small smile of her own.
"Thank you, Pyrrha," she replied. "... I don't think I've even told Winter that," she said after another moment, sounding slightly amazed.
"You share a lot with her?" Pyrrha asked, glad to help steer the conversation towards the only family member she'd heard Weiss speak favourably of. Weiss nodded.
"She kept me sane during my recovery, even when I was being… Difficult during those first few months. We had a lot of time to talk… Gods, it's a morbid thing to think, but my injuries are probably the reason we ended up so close," she said.
Pyrrha once again found herself not knowing how to respond. Both of the obvious replies that came to mind could very easily be taken as insensitive or offensive. Weiss noticed her awkward silence after a moment. "Sorry, that was… I say a lot of things that make you all uncomfortable, don't I?" Weiss apologised, cringing a little.
"It's okay," Pyrrha reassured her. "You've been through a lot," she said, gently patting her on the shoulder again. Weiss made an unhappy noise. "Tell me more about Winter? She sounds nice," she prompted. Weiss perked up immediately, smiling again.
"So, she's a Specialist up in Atlas, one of the best. She's a little shorter than you, white hair obviously…" Pyrrha smiled as Weiss began talking, more energetic than she'd seen her since their dust lesson together.
Two days later, it was finally time for the first-years' trip to Forever Fall. Weiss' phantom pains had finally abated sometime after her talk with Pyrrha, and she was grateful for the opportunity to be up and about again. Leaves crunched underfoot as she walked, looking around in wonder at her surroundings.
True to its name, Forever Fall was a forest that looked to be in the midst of a permanent autumn. Tall, grey-barked trees were covered in red leaves, and an earthy smell filled the air. In the distance, away from the intruding students, Weiss could pick out the sounds of wild animals, and a light breeze whistled through the forest.
"Yes students, Forever Fall is beautiful," Goodwitch said as she led the gaggle of first-years through the trees. "However, remember that we're not here to sight-see. Professor Peach has asked that you all collect samples from the trees here. I'm here to make sure none of you die in the process. Please, try and avoid doing anything that makes that job more difficult," Goodwitch finished, glancing around her students.
"You are each to collect a full jar's worth of sap. There are grimm in the forest, so no one is to go alone. Regroup here at four o'clock."
Pyrrha looked around the group, eyes settling on Jaune. As she expected, he was already heading off with team CRDL. Her expectations being met didn't make her any less disappointed, however, as she instead went to find Weiss. As ever, she wasn't hard to find, towering over the rest of the group, looking down at Ruby as her partner spoke animatedly. "Hello!" she said as she wandered over to the pair.
"Hey Pyrrha!" Ruby called, hopping in place. Weiss smiled at her.
"Pyrrha, what brings you over here?" she asked.
"Well, Jaune is still in lock-step with CRDL it would seem," she replied, giving a baleful look over her shoulder, a rare note of anger entering her tone. "So I was going to ask if I could tag along with you two instead."
"O-oh, of course!" Weiss said, eyes widening a little as she nodded. She then cleared her throat. "That should be fine, right Ruby?" she asked her partner, who nodded quickly.
"Yep!" she said, grinning. "Come on, let's get to work!" she cheered, dashing off. Weiss rolled her eyes and chuckled, following in the wake of red petals at a more sedate pace, Pyrrha walking alongside her.
"She's certainly energetic," Pyrrha observed good-naturedly. "How do you keep up?"
"I don't, really," Weiss confided. "I usually just let her burn off the excess before engaging."
"That sounds like how people deal with puppies," Pyrrha observed, giggling. Weiss paused for a moment, before a small laugh escaped her as well.
"I mean, it's not an unfair comparison I suppose," she said. "High-energy, exceptionally friendly, doesn't seem to have an unkind bone in her body. And have you seen the look she gets when she thinks you're going to deny her something she wants?" Weiss asked, glancing down at Pyrrha.
"Hmm, once or twice I think, never directed at me though. Oh, there was that time you stopped her having cookies for breakfast," Pyrrha said.
"Yes, that's the exact look I'm talking about," Weiss replied. Whilst the trio wandered off into the trees, Yang put her arm around Blake's shoulders.
"So, partner, want to get started?" she asked with a blinding grin, causing Blake to smile as well.
"Sure. Those trees over there look good?" she asked, pointing. Yang followed her finger, humming to herself. They looked good for sap collecting, but they weren't as isolated as Yang would like for the coming conversation.
"Hmm, maybe. Oh, let's check out over here!" she declared, quickly walking to a more secluded area, Blake following behind her. Once Yang was satisfied they were out of earshot of the rest of the students, she turned back to Blake. "So! You and I need to talk." Blake froze mid-step, eyes wide at the sudden declaration.
"... What about?" she asked carefully.
"Why are you scared of Weiss?" she asked. Blake winced as Yang cut straight to the point.
"I'm not scared of Weiss," Blake lied defensively, folding her arms.
"Well, Weiss seems to think you are," Yang said. "And it's bothering her. And we both know her well enough by now that if we can tell that it's bothering her, it must be really bothering her." "
So, either tell me what's wrong, tell Weiss that you aren't scared of her, or we just stay like this, with her feeling awful and you flinching every time she raises her voice or moves suddenly." Blake looked down, letting her arms hang back at her sides again.
"... Ok, fine. I'm afraid of Weiss. I don't want to talk about it," she huffed, turning a little to look away from Yang.
"I get that, but not talking about it isn't going to help," Yang said, stepping a little closer. "Even if it wasn't making Weiss feel like shit, it'd still hurt the team. You've been avoiding doing any sort of doubles training with Weiss, and when you can't avoid training with her you just slip into the background." Blake closed her eyes, letting out a frustrated growl as she ground the heels of her palms into her forehead.
"I know, I know," she said angrily. "Fuck, I know, you're right," she huffed, turning fully away from Yang. "Did Weiss tell you why?" She eventually asked.
"She said something about her dad's policies hurting people," Yang said, to which Blake nodded.
"That's part of it." Blake lowered her hands and turned back to Yang. "I have a lot of faunus friends, and a lot of them have been badly hurt by the Schnee Dust Company. One of them lost both her parents in a mining accident thanks to deliberately-lax safety. Weiss is the heiress of the company and Jacques Schnee's favoured daughter, so it's very difficult to separate the two in my mind." Yang nodded a little, still frowning.
"Is that all? Weiss said there was other stuff as well."
"Yeah, there's… Other stuff. I'm only going to talk about it if you swear that you won't tell anyone else. Especially Weiss, this is something that would make her feel even worse," Blake insisted.
"... Well I guess if you won't talk about it otherwise, sure," Yang reluctantly agreed. Blake nodded her thanks, her shoulders relaxing.
"Would you say that 'tall, exceptionally-skilled two-handed sword wielder with a scar over one eye' is an apt description of Weiss?" Blake asked. Yang blinked at the unexpected question.
"Uhh… Sure, yeah? It's missing a lot out but all of those things apply to Weiss I guess?" she answered, tilting her head a little, slightly confused. Blake nodded.
"That description also fits someone… Someone I used to know. If you think Weiss scares me…" Blake paused, swallowing around the hard lump that suddenly formed in her throat. Yang frowned in concern, taking a slow, careful step closer to Blake.
"So… It sounds like you're less scared of Weiss than you are of things connected to her, or things she reminds you of?" Yang ventured. Blake nodded after a moment, grimacing.
"That's… Not inaccurate," she agreed, guilt swelling up at the continued lies and omissions. "It's just going to take some time. Spending more time with her will probably help me separate her from all of that in my head," she said. Yang nodded.
"Alright, that makes sense I guess. But you do know that means you'll actually have to spend time with her, right?" Yang prodded.
"I know, I know," Blake agreed, sighing. "Not like I can avoid her for our whole time at Beacon, right?" she said sarcastically.
"Probably not, no," Yang said, laughing a little. "Alright then. Let's get some sap, yeah?"
"So, Weiss, there's something I've been wondering about," Pyrrha started as the pair looked up into the trees, watching Ruby clamber up the trunks looking for a place to tap for sap.
"Oh?" she asked, glancing over and down at her. "What's that?"
"You said you have a familial semblance? So you and your sister have the same semblance?" Weiss nodded at the question.
"Yes. As far back as we have records, the Schnee family have all had the semblance of Glyphs."
"I've never heard of anything like that before," Pyrrha said, slightly awed.
"I've been told there are, or have been, others, but I've never actually been given any examples," Weiss admitted.
"So, your father has it as well?" Pyrrha asked, to which Weiss laughed loudly, startling Ruby who let out a squawk of alarm.
"Oh, no," she said between laughter. "No. Of my parents, it would be my mother who has it, but I don't think she even has an unlocked aura," Weiss explained. "My father married into the family and took the Schnee name."
"I never knew that," Pyrrha said, blinking.
"A lot of people don't, or at least they never think to question it. It's not something he advertises," Weiss said.
"Well, I've learnt something new today," Pyrrha said, smiling widely at Weiss. "Doesn't that put you at a bit of a disadvantage when fighting other people, though? Since they'll already know what your semblance is," Pyrrha asked.
"Hmm, I suppose it does, but the family semblance is… Almost hilariously versatile, especially when combined with dust. Additionally, there's something one of the Specialists who trained me said that I think is appropriate to this topic," Weiss said, smirking a little.
"Which is?" Pyrrha asked, tilting her head.
"It doesn't matter if your opponent knows what you're going to do if there's enough of a skill gap," she said, her smirk becoming more than a little self-satisfied. "Lilie is not the fastest weapon around, nor is she especially unpredictable. But none of that should matter, because I should always strive for perfection."
"To be fair, I've never seen someone move a weapon that big that quickly before, with a couple of exceptions. Ruby and her scythe, for instance, though she has the advantage of recoil," Pyrrha pointed out.
"Well, I suppose not," Weiss conceded. "I would have to admit I do have an advantage there. If it was natural muscle I'd probably get called 'freakishly strong'," she said, raising an arm for emphasis."
"How strong are you, if you don't mind me asking?" Pyrrha questioned.
"What, trying to scope out the competition?" Weiss asked jokingly. "You've seen me stop a boarbatusk mid-charge, remember," she reminded Pyrrha.
"True, I was just wondering if you had, say, a heaviest deadlift or something of that nature," Pyrrha clarified.
"Ah. Well, I do, but that starts getting into specifications for my prosthetics and I don't like dwelling on that too much," Weiss said uncomfortably.
"Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't know," Pyrrha apologised, wincing a little. Weiss waved her hand.
"It's fine, you weren't to know." Weiss paused for a second, during which time Ruby dropped from the tree, holding three full jars of sap.
"I filled them all!" she declared happily. "I didn't wanna disturb your conversation so I just did 'em all."
"Thank you, Ruby," Pyrrha said gratefully, smiling at her. Weiss nodded her thanks as well, before blinking and turning to Pyrrha.
"You know, I still don't know what your semblance is," she said.
"Oh, well, I do try to hide it in tournaments," Pyrrha said. "It's-" She was suddenly cut off by a loud roar in the distance.
"Did you hear that?" Ruby asked, eyes wide as she deployed her scythe. "Ursa," she decided after a second. A moment later, three members of team CRDL burst through the trees, screaming.
"Ursa, ursa!" one yelled. "It's got Cardin!" The shouting continued as they fled past Weiss, Pyrrha and Ruby.
"Jaune!" Pyrrha said, eyes widening. The three turned and sprinted back in the direction the other students had come from. Another roar drew them towards the conflict, quickly coming across the scene. Cardin lay prone on his back, shielding his face with his hands as the ursa loomed over him. Between them stood Jaune, shield raised as he blocked a swipe from one of the monster's claws. Weiss drew Lilie, twirling it around and prepared to charge, before Pyrrha held her hand out to stop her.
"Wait," she said quietly, eyes locked on the conflict. As they watched, Jaune extracted himself from the bind by slashing at the ursa's stomach, causing it to reel back in pain. The two exchanged a few more blows, Jaune launched back twice only for him to charge back in each time. Jaune let out a yell as he charged in again, shield briefly forgotten even as the ursa winded back to swipe again.
"He's open," Weiss said warningly, raising her sword again. Pyrrha nodded and raised her hand, a dark red aura forming around her hand. A matching one haloed his shield, and it seemed to lift of its own accord to block the strike.
Jaune recoiled from the impact, planting his feet and pushing back against the claw, yelling again as he swung for its neck. His sword passed cleanly through the monster's neck, decapitating it in a single swipe. The head rolled from its shoulders, landing heavily at Jaune's feet before the corpse toppled over completely, starting to dissolve into smoke.
"How did you do that?" Weiss asked, eyes wide as she lowered Lilie, looking at Pyrrha.
"My semblance is called Polarity," Pyrrha explained. "I can control magnetism." The words caused Weiss to freeze in place, suddenly tense again.
"... I think I now know why Professor Goodwitch hasn't had us fight," she said, mouth suddenly dry. Her mind, trained extensively in identifying strengths and weaknesses and taking advantage of them, automatically began running through all the ways a semblance like that could be used against her. The results it produced were, in Weiss' opinion, terrifying.
"Why's tha-" Pyrrha cut herself off as she looked at Weiss, seeing her suddenly scared expression. "Oh. Oh gods I hadn't even considered…" she tailed off, eyes widening and lifting a hand to her mouth as her brain reached a roughly similar conclusion. "Weiss, I would never-"
"I know, I know," Weiss said, swallowing dryly, quickly masking her emotions again. Ruby looked between the two, a little alarmed and confused, before she realised what the concern was. "Let's umm… Let's get back to Goodwitch? There might be more usai out here," Weiss suggested, already turning and starting to walk back.
Pyrrha watched her leave for a few moments, brow creased in concern and sadness, until Ruby nudged her arm.
"You okay?" she asked.
"I'm fine. I think I scared Weiss, though," she said mournfully, hanging her head a little.
"She'll be fine, she's Weiss!" Ruby said encouragingly. "She's probably just surprised." The two looked back as Jaune's voice raised slightly, watching him talk sternly to Cardin, who looked intimidated for once. "Well, at least it looks like Jaune's going to stop hanging out with Cardin?" she pointed out, which did cheer Pyrrha up a little.
"That's good. Weiss is right, though, we should get back," she said, nodding and starting to walk after Weiss, Ruby following along with her.
That evening, after everyone had returned from the trip to Forever Fall, Pyrrha stood on the roof of the dorms, looking out over Beacon and Vale with a sad expression on her face. Hearing the door open behind her, she glanced over her shoulder to see a sheepish-looking Jaune peering through. "Pyrrha? W-what are you doing up here?" he asked.
"Just thinking. No Cardin tonight?" she asked, causing Jaune to wince.
"No, no. Pyrrha, I'm sorry. You were just trying to help me and I had all this stupid macho stuff in my head, and I was a complete jerk." Pyrrha stopped him, placing a hand on his shoulder.
"Apology accepted, Jaune," she said, smiling. "We've all been missing our leader. Ren's making pancakes, you should come down!" she invited him, heading for the door.
"Wait," Jaune said, turning to look at her again. "I… Not tonight, but, is your offer to train me still on the table? I could use the help," he asked.
"Hmm…" Pyrrha started, letting Jaune stew for a second, before nodding. "Of course. Now come on, before Nora eats them all," she said, leading him back inside.
"Thank you so much!" he said gratefully, following her. "What were you thinking about, by the way?" he asked. Pyrrha frowned slightly again.
"I think I scared Weiss today," she said, walking a little slower.
"Scared Weiss?" Jaune asked in disbelief. "But… Weiss? I mean, I've seen you fight and that can be pretty terrifying, but Weiss can be as well…" Jaune tailed off into muttering, trying to get his head around the idea of Weiss being scared of something.
"You remember I told you my semblance is Polarity?" she asked him, causing him to nod. "All of Weiss' limbs are prosthetics. I told her about my semblance today, in the forest." Jaune blinked.
"Wait, all her limbs? Oh man, I thought it was just her hands or something," Jaune said, his tone sympathetic. "Hang on, but if your semblance is… Oh." His eyes widened as his mind reached the logical conclusion. Pyrrha nodded sadly.
"If I were a cruel person, I could literally rip her apart without even trying," Pyrrha said, sighing. "People being scared in a fight is one thing. Scared of losing to me, I've dealt with that before and that's fine. I don't like people being scared of me like that, especially not a friend. I feel awful…" Jaune nodded, thinking.
"I mean, maybe try talking to her about it?" he asked. "I know, I know, me, saying you should talk about your issues," he said, chuckling a little.
"Oh, I want to," Pyrrha said, nodding. "I still feel terrible."
"Well, maybe some pancakes will cheer you up? And come on, it's Weiss. She'll be fine."