AN: Bit of a shorter chapter this time, since all we have to cover is Badge and the Burden Part 2. I hope you guys like what I did here.
Also, big news. At the time of this upload, this story is the ninth most favorited story in the RWBY/KH! Thank you guys so much! It means so much to me that you guys love this story that much!
And now, without any further ado, on with the chapter!
TW: Sexual harassment (not really sure if this is necessary, but just to be safe).
Chapter 17
Aqua looked nervously at the rattling cage while they waited for Weiss to come back from changing into her combat gear.
"So, uh, what exactly is in there?" She asked Peter.
"Why, a Grimm, obviously!" he answered in his usual jovial tone.
"Oh." She said. "Wait a minute. Grimm die in captivity. How'd you catch one and manage to keep it in a cage?"
"Very carefully," Peter said. "Ah, it seems Miss Schnee has returned."
Ruby watched from her seat as Weiss walked back into the room, her white dress on and rapier in hand. She raised her weapon while glaring at the rattling cage. Ruby could hear some voices snickering from the seats behind her.
"This should be good," she heard a boy say.
"It'll be fun to watch a Schnee get knocked down a peg," another one said. Those jerks. How could they possibly be excited to see someone lose?
"You got this, Weiss!" She called down to the heiress. She looked at her other two teammates, and wasn't pleased with what she saw.
Blake was reading a book, and Yang was scrolling through her scroll, neither of the two paying attention to Weiss's imminent fight.
"Guys, come on," she said. "Aren't you gonna cheer her on?"
"Nope," Yang said simply.
"I'm sure she can manage just fine without my encouragement," Blake said without looking up from her book.
"But—" Ruby tried to argue, but she was interrupted by the professor.
"Alright!" he shouted, lifting up a Blunderbuss with two axe blades at the hilt. Mom was standing at the ready by his side, clearly ready to step in if things got bad. "Let the match begin!" he brought the weapon down, breaking the lock on the cage. The Grimm trapped inside immediately charged at Weiss. It was shaped like a wild boar, identifying it as an aptly-named Boarbatusk. She deflected the Grimm's attack with her weapon before rolling away, raising her rapier again to prepare for its next attack. The Boarbatusk chose not to press the attack, instead just watching her.
"Ha ha!" the bombastic laugh of Professor Port echoed throughout the room. "Wasn't expecting that, were you?"
"Hang in there, Weiss!" Ruby cheered for her teammate, sending a pointed glare at her sister and Blake for still refusing to cheer her on.
Weiss summoned a glyph and used it to propel herself towards the Boarbatusk, pointing the end of her rapier at the monster's head. However, her weapon became lodged in the Grimm's tusks when they collided, causing the monster to wrestle her to the ground.
"A bold, new approach. I like it!" the professor said, completely baffling Ruby, and Mom, too, by the looks of it. Did he seriously think she was doing this on purpose?
"You can do it, Weiss!" Ruby called out, trying her best to encourage her teammate. She glared again at her remaining two teammates. "Guys, some encouragement, please."
"Fine," Yang huffed, looking down to the arena. "Come on, Boarbatusk! Kick her ass!"
"Yang!" Ruby yelled angrily.
Weiss looked up at her team after Yang spoke, and Ruby could swear she looked genuinely hurt, but the Grimm took the opportunity to rip her rapier out of her hands and use its tusks to knock her back.
"Oh-ho!" the professor said almost tauntingly. "Now what will you do without your weapon?" Ruby heard the voices from behind her laughing at Weiss again, Yang joining in this time, and Blake still reading and not watching. Mom looked ready to step in at any second.
The Boarbatusk rolled into a ball and charged at Weiss, who rolled out of the way, allowing the Grimm to crash into the desk. Ruby really hoped her team wouldn't have to pay for that. Weiss dove for her sword, and managed to retrieve it while the Boarbatusk was down.
"Weiss! Go for its belly!" Ruby yelled. "There's no armor underneath—!"
"Shut up!" Weiss screamed, making Ruby stop and stare at her in shock. "Just shut up! I don't need your help!" The Boarbatusk rolled itself into a ball again while Weiss wasn't looking. She turned around and raised her rapier again, ready to act. Right before it hit her, Weiss summoned a white glyph directly in front of her, knocking the Grimm onto its back. She summoned a black glyph in the air behind her, turned it blue, and launched herself at the downed Boarbatusk, impaling it in the stomach. It squealed and collapsed before disappearing.
"Bravo!" the professor cheered, and Mom visibly relaxed. "Bravo! It appears we are indeed in the presence of a true Huntress-in-training!" Weiss stood up, facing Professor Port. "I'm afraid that's all the time we have for today. Be sure to cover the assigned readings, and stay vigilant! Class dismissed!"
The students began packing up their notebooks and filed out of the room, Weiss storming off in a huff, not bothering to look at any of her teammates. Ruby packed her stuff up quickly and followed her out of the room.
"Weiss!" Ruby called out to the heiress after chasing her out into the hallway. The white-haired girl ignored her and kept stomping down the hall. "Weiss! Wait!"
"What do you want?!" Weiss snapped.
"I just want to talk," Ruby pleaded. "I'm sorry about Yang."
"I don't want to hear your apologies. She's your sister and you're the team leader. If you can't even keep her under control, then maybe you're not cut out to be leader."
"Weiss, please, if we can just talk—"
"There's nothing to talk about!" Weiss snapped, interrupting her. "This team is never going to work, Ruby. Half the team hates me, and we have an inexperienced child as a leader. The first chance I get, I am going to speak to Professor Ozpin about changing teams, because frankly, I deserve better than teammates that don't care if I lived or died." Ruby's eyes widened after hearing that. Did it really look to her like the rest of the team didn't care about her?
"Weiss, I care about you," Ruby said. "I care about this whole team and I want to make it work. So please, just talk to us."
"Just leave me alone," Weiss said quietly before continuing to walk down the hall. Ruby looked sadly at the floor for a few seconds before deciding that she needed to talk to Yang about her behavior.
Yang had a very different reason for following that stuck-up snob out of class. Where did that bitch get off yelling at Ruby like that? No one spoke to her little sister that way. She stepped out of the classroom, determined to find the heiress and teach her a lesson. Thanks to her sister's Semblance, she had left before Yang, so she had some catching-up to do. Parting ways with Blake, who wanted nothing to do with the heiress, Yang marched down the hall, trying to figure out where Ruby and Weiss went, when a large body suddenly stepped in front of her.
"Hey there," a tall boy with slicked-back dark red hair said. He was wearing the standard Beacon men's uniform, a black gold-trimmed suit with a red tie. He pressed his arm up against the wall, leaning on it and placing himself directly in Yang's way. "The name's Cardin. And you are…"
"Not interested," she said, trying to move past him. He pressed his other arm against the wall, positioning Yang between the wall and himself.
"Now don't be like that," he said, leaning his face close to hers. "I think you and I could have a lot of fun. What do you say?"
"I'd say you need to back off," Yang said, getting more and more aggravated. This moron was in her way from giving Weiss the beating of her life. She didn't have time to deal with his sad attempt at flirting.
"Come on, don't be a tease," he said, the tone of his voice indicating that he was getting angry with her.
"What the hell is that supposed to mean?"
"Look at you," he said, his eyes roaming up and down her body. "You're clearly looking for some action. If you don't want it from me, then who's that outfit for, huh?"
"It's for no one, jackass."
"Bullshit."
"Yang, what's going on?" Yang heard Ruby ask. She looked to the side and saw her sister standing next to her and Cardin, a concerned look in her eyes.
"Fuck off, pipsqueak," Cardin said, roughly shoving Ruby with one hand. "Can't you see she's busy?" Yang saw red, and a crunch noise resounded throughout the hallway. Cardin fell to the ground, holding his cheek in pain. "Ah, you bitch!" he said, glaring back up at Yang, her fist still extended from the punch she had just thrown. "What was that for?!"
"Don't you ever fucking touch my sister again, do you hear me?!" Yang screamed, her hair lighting on fire. He slowly stood up, his fierce glare never leaving her eyes.
"I don't think you know who you're messing with," he growled.
"Do I look like I care?"
"You will."
"What's going on over here?" a new voice said. Yang, Ruby, and Cardin recognized it as belonging to Professor Ozpin. "Is there a problem?" Yang and Cardin glared at each other for a few seconds before Cardin finally answered.
"No, sir," he said. "There's no problem. Is there?" Yang kept glaring before finally shaking her head. Cardin turned around, sending her one last glare, and walked away.
Ruby watched the boy walk away before turning to her sister. "Yang, are you okay?"
"I'm fine," she said, her eyes returning to her usual lilac color and the fire in her hair dissipating. "He was nothing I couldn't handle."
"I feel I should remind you, Miss Xiao Long, that if you are having any problems with another student, Miss Goodwitch's combat class does allow you to issue challenges," Professor Ozpin said with a knowing smirk. "I feel it is vastly preferable to students picking fights in the hallways. Less damaging to the school grounds, too."
"Thanks, Professor," Yang said, returning his smirk. "I'll keep that in mind."
"Now then, if that is all…?" he asked, leaving it up for them to chime in.
"Actually, Professor," Ruby said, pressing her index fingers together nervously. "I was wondering…" he raised an eyebrow, his cue for her to continue. "Why did you make me team leader?"
"It's very simple," he said nonchalantly. "I saw the potential in you to do great things."
"But, shouldn't the position have gone to someone more experienced?" she asked. "This team is a mess, and I'm not sure I can fix it."
"Ruby, it's only been a day," Professor Ozpin said as if her concerns were the silliest things he had ever heard. "No one is a great leader right away. It takes hard work, dedication, and teammates willing to stand with you. You may not feel you're ready to lead now, but in time, I'm certain the rest of your team will come to trust and rely on you, and you will truly blossom into your role. Believe me when I say that I've made more mistakes than any man, woman, and child on this world. But I would not consider your appointment as leader to be one of them."
"Really?" Ruby asked, her face lighting up.
"Really," he said, offering her a friendly smile. "Now then, I really must be off. First day paperwork and all that. A Headmaster's work is never done." He turned around, and walked down the hall, leaving the sisters alone.
"What was that about?" Yang asked.
"What was what about?"
"You doubting yourself," Yang clarified. "Why did you think you weren't cut out to be leader?" Her eyes widened. "Wait a minute, Weiss told you you weren't good enough, didn't she? Oh, when I get my hands on her…"
"Yang, don't you think you should go easy on her?" Ruby asked her sister, trying her best to make her voice sound stern.
"Why the hell should I?" Yang asked. "You saw how she's been acting since the minute we met her."
"But you don't have to antagonize her like you've been doing today," Ruby said.
"What do you mean I've been antagonizing her?" Yang asked, clearly offended at her sister's words.
"You woke her up by blowing a whistle in her ear this morning," Ruby said, counting on her fingers, "You tried to fight her in our dorm room, and in class, you cheered for the Boarbatusk. The Boarbatusk, Yang!"
"Well maybe if she hadn't acted like such a bitch, I wouldn't mess with her like this!"
"She's our teammate, Yang," Ruby pleaded. "We have to give her a chance."
"Ruby, trust me," Yang said. "People like her will never change. I don't even know why you're defending her. She treated you like crap when we got here. As far as I'm concerned, she will never be a teammate of mine." Without giving Ruby a chance to say anything else, Yang turned around and walked off, leaving her sister to look down at the ground dejectedly.
Aqua was walking back to her office, contemplating whether or not she should make sure that Glynda was aware of Peter siccing Grimm on his students (how he managed to capture one he still hadn't explained). She also wondered why he gave Weiss so much praise for her frankly subpar performance fighting the Boarbatusk. Peter himself had told her the first night that part of their job was to curb the egos of the students and heaping undeserved praise was pretty much the exact opposite of that.
She had heard the things Yang had said during class, her refusal to support her teammate was bad enough, but then she cheered for the Grimm of all things. She would definitely need to talk to her later. She knew her oldest daughter could be brash and sometimes rude, but she'd never been this bad before. It was honestly a little concerning. She could see that what happened had really hurt the girl, so she hoped that Yang just didn't notice and wasn't actively trying to be mean.
As she continued walking down the hallway, she walked past an entranceway into one of the Academy's courtyards, where a certain white-haired girl was sitting by herself on a bench. Well, this presented an opportunity to start getting to the bottom of the problems plaguing her daughters' team. She stepped outside and approached the bench, coming up behind Weiss.
"Weiss Schnee, right?" Aqua asked as she approached. Weiss bristled before turning around to see who addressed her, but visibly relaxed when she realized it was Aqua.
"Oh, hello Professor," she said, a hint of sadness in her voice that she seemed to be trying desperately to hide. "Did you need anything?"
"I saw what happened in Professor Port's class," Aqua said, making the heiress flinch. "It was pretty rough."
"Professor Port seemed to think I performed well." Weiss said, her defenses raising a little bit.
"I wasn't referring to the fight," Aqua corrected, and Weiss's eyebrows furrowed in confusion. "I was referring to your teammates."
"It's a small spat, I assure you," Weiss said. "It's nothing to worry about."
"Is that why you're sitting by yourself on a bench looking like you're trying really hard not to cry?" Weiss shrank in on herself when Aqua asked that.
"I-I'm not sure what you're talking about."
"Weiss, I'm a mom," Aqua said matter-of-factly. "Have been for ten years. I know by now how to recognize when something's bothering someone. Besides, now I'm a teacher, too. Helping out my students is part of my job. Even the ones I haven't had in class yet." She sat down next to Weiss and looked her in the eyes. "So, what's wrong?" Weiss looked down at the ground, clasping her hands together nervously. She let out a deep sigh.
"I think coming here was a mistake," she said quietly.
"What makes you say that?" Aqua asked.
"It's my team. Half of them hate me and our leader can't seem to stop them from making their hatred known. This just isn't turning out the way I had hoped."
"How did you hope it was going to go?"
"Well, I had hoped to be the leader actually," she said a little sheepishly. Aqua's raised eyebrow made her blush in embarrassment. "Yes, I know, with the team I have there'd be no way they'd listen to me. But you have to understand, I'm a Schnee. There are a lot of expectations placed on me. My father expects nothing less than perfection from me."
"I can imagine," Aqua said.
"But the leader we do have can't seem to keep the other two under control," Weiss continued, almost as if she was just talking without remembering that Aqua was even there. "And if I'm being perfectly honest, I feel kind of bad about criticizing her since she's the only one that's even attempted to be nice to me."
"What have they been doing?"
"Well, my partner, Blake, has just been completely ignoring my existence. I have absolutely no idea what her problem with me is, but we got into an argument during initiation about my family and she's barely spoken a word to me since. That blonde brute, Yang, though, is even worse." Aqua had to hold back her flinch at Yang being called a brute. While she didn't like her daughter being talked about like that, she had to start getting to the bottom of why she's been behaving this way.
"What has she done?" she asked, almost afraid of the answer.
"She woke me up this morning by blowing a whistle in my ear. She got defensive when I got mad, and things got worse from there." Ah. That was it. She reacted badly to one of Yang's pranks and probably said something that made her angry.
"Did you say anything to her in particular?"
"No!" Weiss said automatically. "Well, okay, yes. I did make some remarks about her outfit that were, in hindsight, a little uncalled-for."
"And did you ever say anything bad about Ruby?" she asked, remembering the multiple fights that the sisters got into with Weiss on orientation day. The ashamed look on Weiss's face said everything. "That would probably do it. Yang is incredibly protective of Ruby, so saying something about her is probably what set her off. Look, Ruby and Yang aren't the kind of people to be mean to someone for no reason. In fact, I don't think Ruby has a mean bone in her body. While I can't speak for Blake, I think you just got off on the wrong foot with them. If you just apologize and explain to them that you didn't appreciate Yang's prank, I'm sure that you guys can start being proper teammates."
"How do you know them so well?" Weiss asked.
"Well, I'm technically not supposed to tell you this, but since you're their teammate, you'll probably learn this eventually anyway. They're my daughters." Weiss just looked at her for a few seconds.
"Huh?" she elegantly asked. "But you look so young!"
"Why thank you," Aqua said with a smirk. "I'm only 28. But I'm not their birth mother. I've been taking care of them for the last decade, so I pretty much became 'mom'. So trust me, they're nice girls. You just have to make it up to them. Now if you'll excuse me, I have to finish getting things ready for my class," Aqua said, standing up and smoothing out her skirt. "Oh, and, I know that you're disappointed about not being leader, but even the best leaders are nothing without supportive teammates. I'm worried about Ruby, so can you promise me that you'll be a good teammate for her?"
"I think I can do that," Weiss said. "Thanks, Professor."
"Anytime," Aqua said, and turned around to head back to her office.
Night had already fallen by the time Weiss made it back to her dorm room. Blake was still up, reading a book, and Yang was looking at her scroll. She could hear light snoring coming from Ruby's bunk. Without saying anything to her other teammates, she climbed up to her leader's bunk and gently shook her awake. To her surprise, the girl had a few open textbooks in her bed and seemed to have fallen asleep while writing something, if the pen in her hand and the now drool-soaked paper next to her face were any indication.
Gross, by the way.
Ruby slowly opened her eyes, seeing Weiss looking at her.
"Weiss?" she asked, still a little groggy. "What's up?"
"Is it okay if we have a team meeting?" Weiss asked. "There's something I need to say to all of you."
"Sure," Ruby said, hopping off her bunk. "Come on, guys," she said to Yang and Blake.
"This should be good," Yang said sarcastically, putting her scroll down and hopping down from her bunk as well. Blake simply placed a bookmark in her book and got up.
"So?" Blake asked once the girls were all gathered in the middle of the room. "What did you have to say to us?" Weiss took a deep breath. This was it.
Moment of truth.
"I'm sorry," she said, bowing her head slightly. "The way I've acted over the last few days has been simply atrocious." She looked up and saw the shocked expressions on her teammates' faces. Well, Yang and Blake were shocked, at least. Ruby had a pleasant smile on her face. She looked at Ruby first. "Ruby, I'm sorry for yelling at you on orientation day. The Dust explosion was my fault. I was just too proud to admit it. I shouldn't have yelled at you and I never should have questioned your competency just because you're younger. There's clearly a reason Professor Ozpin allowed you to enroll early. I promise from here on out I will do everything in my power to support you."
"Aw, Weiss," Ruby said happily. Weiss turned to Yang next.
"Yang, I never should have said those horrible things to you this morning. While I was angry about being woken up by that whistle, calling you a…you know, that thing I called you…was entirely out of line. I'm sorry. Just please no more whistle," she added quickly.
"Just one thing," Yang said. Weiss looked up at her hopefully. "Did you mean what you said about supporting Ruby?"
"Absolutely," Weiss said, nodding her head vigorously.
"Then we shouldn't have any more problems," Yang said, giving Weiss a small smirk.
"Ahem," Ruby said. "Don't you have something else, Yang?"
"Ugh, fine," Yang said, hanging her head in disappointment. "No more whistles."
"Thank you," Weiss said, finally looking at Blake.
"Blake," she said, looking her right in her amber eyes. "While I'm not sure why you dislike my family so much, it probably has something to do with my father. I can assure you, I don't want to be anything like him. My father has abused the Schnee name in any way he can to make himself richer, not caring who he steps on along the way. I never want to be like that, and I realized that for the last few days, that's exactly what I was. I just want you to know that I want to change. I want this partnership to work. I want this team to work. So, what do you say? Can we start over?" Blake was silent for a few seconds.
"I misjudged you," she finally said. "I do have a reason to despise the SDC, but you're right. You're not your company. I should apologize, too. I'm sorry for lumping you in with everyone else. As long as you promise that you'll be better than your family's reputation, I think we can work something out." Weiss couldn't help the huge smile that plastered itself on her face.
"I gotta say, I'm pleasantly surprised, Ice Queen," Yang said, gaining back her trademark smirk. "I didn't think you had it in you."
"Can we please stop with the 'Ice Queen' thing?" Weiss asked. "I'm sure I've thawed enough by now." Yang's eyes widened.
"Did you just…?" She didn't get to finish her question, as Weiss was engulfed in a hug by their leader.
"TEAM RWBY GROUP HUG!" the girl shouted, pulling Weiss close.
"Let go of me, you dolt," Weiss yelled, only semi-seriously. "I never said anything about hugging!"
"Come on, Weiss Cream," you know you like it, Yang said, lifting both girls off the group with ease and pulling them into a hug.
"What in the world did you just call me?!"
"Blake, get in on this!" Yang called, completely ignoring Weiss. Blake just rolled her eyes and silently joined in the hug, a small smile on her face.
"Don't expect this to be a regular thing," the black-haired girl said.
"Team RWBY is gonna rock!" Ruby yelled excitedly.
Weiss honestly had to admit, while she could do without the noise, being on this team with these people…
It was nice. She could finally see that now.
AN: I can totally see Cardin being the kind of guy to try to pull something like this with Yang. He's already a bully and a racist, so being a creep too just fits perfectly with his character. People tend not to have just one asshole trait.
So, we have Team RWBY make up fully, and I hope you guys liked how it happened. Both Weiss's discussion with Aqua and the team meeting.
We're gonna do some original content before we get to the Jaundice episodes, so look forward to that.
As always, thanks for reading, and I'll see you next time!