Two and a half months had passed, now, and no longer could Adam lie to himself: he was starting to see RWAY as his team, and its members as his partners... even if Ozpin had not seen them fit to remove CFVY's influence, just yet. What had started as a small reassurance towards Ruby to combat Weiss's whining about not being the leader had become genuine suggestions and bonding over the idea of leadership itself.
Yang might've been adamant in slipping out of more fights with him after her single victory, but she was still the one he found himself talking to the most, even if she was equally as insistent at teasing him. Especially about Velvet-related matters.
Even Weiss, the Schnee, had become his primary sparring partner, and while it would be difficult to call them friends even without the sneaking suspicion both held contempt for what the other truly was, they were definitely closer than they were during initiation. Weiss had her grating moments—there was no doubt about that—but ever since they'd offered each other the olive branch, she'd become polite. Nice, even. She'd begun hanging out with Ruby more often and even escaped Yang's watchful eye. Adam supposed that, to them, if even he could get along with Weiss, there must be something redeemable about her.
Even if, after the two finally returned that night, Yang didn't let go of her personal theory that there was more than redeeming going on.
Yes, maybe he really was beginning to see RWAY as... friends.
"Pfft, I don't have a clue why you thought you were going to win against him, Weiss. You take the bull by the horns, and it just might take you for a ride~" Hm, maybe 'acquaintances' was better.
"Weiss, watch! I can fit this whole strawberry up my nose!" Well, just saying that he cared for them was a step, wasn't it?
"Aw come on, it's a good thing you didn't become the leader, Adam! We wouldn't have wanted all our plans to go AWRY, right?"
...
He tolerated them.
Cardinal Sin
In a strange way, Adam almost considered Ruby his student. Someone to protect while Yang wasn't around for her. A shy, clumsy girl two years younger than her peers at the least? Who fought the minimum amount of combat training battles and didn't show off? An outstandingly easy target for humans wanting to boost their pride by stomping on others.
Which was why the first thing that Adam noticed was that Ruby had started wearing her cloak even as part of her school uniform. He'd asked Yang about it on a whim, but she'd waved it off.
"It's fine," she had said, "I expected her to start wearing it eventually, anyway. She's had it since she was a kid! It's sorta like a... mobile security blanket." She chuckled. "Just don't tell Rubes I called it that."
A security blanket. He didn't know why, but he was not all that trusting in Yang's belief that it was just the stress of additional classes getting to her.
So, Adam decided to take matters into his own hands. His mind was very keen on reminding him of the absurdity of his situation: a former White Fang member following around this human, teenage student not for information or for an ambush, but to keep her safe. Two months had softened him to this extent. That was... substantially worrying, but it was a problem for later.
He crouched down atop one of the many long dormitories of Beacon, hand at his brow and eyes faintly glowing from the aura he channeled into them. Ruby was a sniper, and a smart one. Her even spotting a familiar face across a football field wouldn't have been entirely out of the picture... if she were focused. Instead, with her head down and her eyes locked to the books she carried in her hands, she was anything but. Ruby had no clue he was here. Adam knew his intuition was right: something was wrong.
From the smattering of students walking along the paths, a pack of four broke off, and any doubt Adam had was wiped clean from his mind. Team CRDL("Cardinal"). Cardin. Adam sneered as the leader clapped a hand on Ruby's shoulder and led her away from the main road while his teammates relieved her of her books. From this distance, trying to hear would be an exercise in futility even with his aura. All he could rely on were his eyes.
And they saw a situation just growing worse and worse. Cardin kept a tight arm around Ruby. Sweeping hand motion, feral grin. Signs of confidence. Ruby, on the other hand, looked like she was trying to look as small as possible. She fidgeted with her hands. Never met his gaze. Adam didn't understand: Ruby was surely stronger than that overgrown thug of a human. Not to mention that, considering her tale of how she got in here in the first place, she was no stranger to defending herself. She wasn't Velvet.
Even with the rest of CRDL lurking around her like a pack of hyenas, it answered nothing. Their team could crush them. Annihilate them. It would barely be a challenge for him alone: RWAY combined would pick them apart. So, what was it? What did Cardin have over Ruby? Blackmail? Threats against family? Threats against her reputation—
Cardin flicked out his Scroll and snapped it open in a fluid movement. Adam squinted, but even with his control over aura, he couldn't make out exactly what was on the device as Cardin made sure to waggle it in Ruby's face.
But, he could make out enough: humanoid figure, some form of large, pink clothing, reddish hair—oh. Oh, that explained plenty. Adam realized exactly who that was. Ruby. Worse, in something that he'd almost laughed at the moment he'd seen it: her giant, pink, Beowolf hoodie pajamas. The only thing that could probably beat Vomit Boy's onesie: Ruby's own. Supposedly, it was her favorite. At the time, he'd thought it comical. Dare he say it, adorable.
To a populace who already saw her as a child, however... even the military bases of the White Fang were petty, at times. He knew what a reputation hit like that could do, and how unreasonably long it could stick.
It certainly answered what Ruby was so afraid of.
His eyes aching, Adam stood, rubbed his temples and let his aura drop. Well, he had a handle of the situation. Now, what was he to do with it... making sure Cardin suffered for this was obvious, but Ruby's ability to be cowed so easily would need to change.
He just needed an opportunity.
"Aw, come ooon, Rubes, this is exactly what I meant when I wanted you to find another team! It'll be fun, I swear!" As Adam called Blake for... he couldn't even count how many times now just to check up and see if she made it to Menagerie safely, Adam found his attention locking onto the conversation on the beds above him. Namely, yet another attempt by Yang to get Ruby to socialize once in a while. The name of the game this time: hang out with her and her friends later that afternoon.
"No, no, I've... I've got leadership homework to do! Yep, super important stuff!" Ruby deflected and shoved her face into a textbook.
"You're just saying that because I wouldn't know if you're lying or not!"
"Uh... I plead the fifth!" Ruby cried and hid under her covers.
"Rubes, they're my friends! You can trust them, too, you know. Don't make me come up there!" Yang hopped off of her bed with a mischievous grin.
"I'll be charging you for any hospital bills," Weiss calmly warned her from below the safety hazard that was Ruby's bed, flipping through her notes and actually trying to study for the test. By some miracle, she'd managed to become adapted to the chaotic life in RWAY's dorm. Adam scoffed as he snapped his Scroll shut. Nothing.
"More like funeral services," he corrected her with a smirk, ignoring his growing agitation about Blake.
Weiss just rolled her eyes and returned to her studies.
"It'll be great, sis, you need more friends, anyway!"
"I already have friends! Like—"
"Outside of RWAY?" Yang cut her off.
The blankets shifted as Ruby stuttered and tried to think something up. "JNPR?"
"You mean Jaune."
"Yeah... yeah, I mean Jaune." Ruby sighed in defeat.
"Don't worry, I'm sure Adam will just do your homework for you: I saw him helping you out these past few days." The Schnee decided to simultaneously pour a little more gasoline on the fire and drag Adam into it.
He narrowed his eyes at her. "Assisting someone with their classes is not doing it for them. Really, I have some expertise in that area and decided it would be better put to use helping Ruby than being forgotten. Besides, she's been getting a lot of it, lately. I've never heard of needing to write the same essay, only in conflicting viewpoints..." His eyes trailed up to Ruby.
"Yeah, what's been up with that, anyway?" Yang added with a narrowed gaze. "Is that class really that crazy? I think I saw you taking more notes than every other class we've got combined!"
Ruby poked her head out, eyes darting between the two. "Oh, well, uh, gotta stay in tip-top shape to be a leader, yep! That's why I have so much to do and, uh..." Her eyes locked onto his, desperate for a way out. "Say, Adam, where'd you learn that stuff, anyway?" she asked just a little too loudly.
"Oh, that's classified. One of his many secrets he has to keep so he can have that 'aura of mystique.' " The heiress mockingly wiggled her fingers as she answered for him, a smug smirk on her face that only grew as Adam fumed.
"Don't be upset because unlike you, I can't be read like an open book," he shot back. Weiss flicked her notebook aside as she leaned forward and prepared her own retort. The dual arguments raged on like a mighty storm, right up until Ruby decided to throw a low blow at Yang:
"Actually, uh, Adam said he'd grab some ice cream with me later, so I'm kinda booked anyway!"
Adam had just pointed at Weiss, fully set to tear down her argument with a single well-placed snipe when overhearing that abruptly brought his finger up to Ruby. He never agreed nor even heard of this idea and was about to slap that down without mercy until he noticed her pleading puppy eyes and tiny, adorable grin aimed right at him.
None of this was fair.
"That... that would be right. I completely forgot."
Still, this was exactly what he needed...
And that was how a twenty-one year old, brooding ex-terrorist cell leader ended up eating ice cream across from a giddy, fifteen year old Huntress-in-training. Ruby didn't even know how Adam could look grumpy eating a sundae, and really didn't know how anyone could look grumpy and pleased at the same time, but Adam was managing it. She'd settled with a strawberry milkshake, which Adam had grumbled something about 'not even being ice cream'. Halfway through Ruby's third milkshake and his only bowl of ice cream, Adam sighed and embedded his spoon into it.
"I'll admit it. That was a good plan." He held back a smile as Ruby smugly kicked back and slung an arm around the back of her chair, beaming with confidence. "That being said..." She blinked and leaned up again. "Yang's right."
Ruby groaned and slumped back into her chair. "Awww, she's gotten to you, too?!"
"And I know about Cardin."
She groaned louder and flopped forward, leaving her with her face planted on the table and her hood over her head. Her milkshake stood forgotten beside her. "I don't even know how he got the photo..."
Adam sighed. "You can't afford to be meek, Ruby. You are a leader, now: someone who gives orders. Someone to be looked up to by your teammates and feared by your enemies... It's a little difficult to be feared if you can be ruled over by a single photo. That is the mark of a coward."
Ruby just grumbled something under her breath.
Adam hummed to himself. "I suppose you do look a little tired, right now. I can save this talk for later. Since you are clearly too tired for that milkshake, however..." By the time Ruby reached out to snatch it, Adam had brought it over to his side, just out of reach. Ruby was left glaring and pouting at him like a child. He supposed it was fitting for her age.
"Fine, fine, I'll—" She was at his side in a rush of rose petals, but Adam was expecting this, already holding it in his other hand and pushing her away with Wilt's sheath.
"Wrong answer. If you wish to drink this milkshake again, you will have to listen."
"And what stops me from just getting another one?"
"With what lien?"
Ruby patted herself down, then slumped her shoulders in defeat. She'd forgotten her wallet.
"Alright, fine, I give up... no need to take hostages..." She grumbled to herself before plopping back down in her chair and crossing her arms. Adam slowly set the shake down beside her, and just... stared at Ruby for a few moments. Just as she started to fidget in place and glance nervously at her drink, he cut right to the point.
"You're training to be a Huntress. You're too shy."
She crossed her arms. "Well, yeah, Captain Obvious." His hand drifted towards the milkshake and Ruby locked up. "Sorry!"
"You cannot allow yourself to be pushed around. You need to be the one ordering Cardin to cease. Or forcing him to."
"Well, yeah, but what if I screw it up and just make more people bully—"
"Enough. You can't afford to be shy or worry about 'screwing it up'. You will need allies as a Huntress. Not many would want to partner with someone who cannot even talk to those she hasn't met before," he stated. This was something he knew Ruby would need to get over, and soon. One of the most selfish things he'd done was keep Blake to himself and himself only: it left the antisocial girl all but incapable of taking on leadership roles of her own. Blake was his partner. She would never be anything but his partner... until she tried to leave.
"That's why I've got you guys and JNPR!" Ruby protested.
"Will you, really?"
Ruby nodded before he had even finished his question, determination in her eyes.
"Always?" Adam leaned forward.
His 'leader' deflated. "No..."
"And will you leave a village to die because you can't play the hero when they're all watching you? Judging you if you fail?" It was often that it wasn't that people wanted to allow oppression to continue, it was that they were too afraid of what happened if they failed in trying to stop it.
Ruby groaned and slumped down into her chair. "Of course not..."
"Then you're going to have to get over it. Soon. A coward for a team leader helps no one."
Ruby flinched, but she knew there was no malice or anger behind Adam's words. Just bluntness. It reminded her a lot of Yang, though she always toned it down whenever it came to her. She sighed and tugged her hood down over her eyes.
"You win."
Adam leaned forward and brought a hand to his ear. "I don't think I heard you."
"You win! I give up, I'll make Cardin stop and go hang out with Yang's friends next time... but that doesn't mean I'll have to like it!" She crossed her arms and pouted once more: she was going to stick on that!
Adam leaned back and smirked in victory. "Fine. I still count that as another win to my flawless record."
"Didn't Yang beat you?"
"I was distracted, and that never happened," Adam replied in warning.
"I think the school records and that fist mark on your face for two days says otherwise." She tapped her chin. "I also think the other students would, too."
"And I think you've forgotten who has the hostage." Though Ruby's eyes widened in shock and her arm reached across the table in naught but a second, it was already too late: Adam chugged the rest of the milkshake in an instant.
Utterly defeated, Ruby flopped down onto the table, fake tears gathering in her eyes. "He had so much to live for!"
For the first time in what felt like years, Adam had to hold back a genuine, lighthearted laugh.
Unfortunately, Ruby ended up with the last laugh upon realizing he had to pay in the first place, ordering three more milkshakes while he was flipping through his Scroll for any signs of Blake in Menagerie: she was the daughter of its ruler, after all, surely there would be something in the news. He had sighed and looked up only to find that she'd now had a shake of each size sitting next to the now-emptied one. Rose petals had found their way around it. Adam raised an eyebrow.
"What? They're paying their respects!"
"... So, what do I do about Cardin, then?" Ruby asked as they walked through Beacon's grounds, the shattered moon shining high overhead.
Adam sipped the milkshake he'd claimed as repayment. "Simple. You march up and force him to concede to you. Don't wait for him to come to you again."
Ruby knitted her brow in thought. "Wait, wouldn't he just throw out the picture anyway? You know, 'you've forgotten who has the hostage,' and all that?"
"Clever thinking. That's why you must be aggressive. Storm up there and make it clear that there is nothing to question about you, only to fear. Cardin, like all oppressors, are cowards at heart. He'll back down, I know it. In other words, show him who's boss."
They walked in silence for a brief time, and Adam kept a close eye on Ruby during it. The faint hardening of her gaze, a shifting of the jaw... good, good, his words were sticking.
Finally, Ruby grinned and pumped her hand in the air. "Alright! This is the last day he's gonna have anything over me! But... uh, what if he just does something else, instead?"
Adam popped his neck and smirked, the glint in his eyes decidedly darker than that of just determination. "If Cardin continues being a pest, I'll just have to deal with him. Personally."
"You aren't going to hurt him or anything, are you?"
He scoffed. "It is only what he deserves."
"But he hasn't done anything that bad!" Ruby protested.
"Do you really think he's going to stop with you or Velvet? He'll only grow worse with time until his actions are far worse than this. It's in his nature. Better to kill a Beowolf while it is still a harmless pup rather than let it grow into an alpha." The relation to a Huntress' work was what really seemed to strike home with Ruby, just as he expected it to.
Her eyes widened with realization and, though she tensed and glanced away as her conscience no doubt tried to dissuade her, she finally nodded.
"Yeah... yeah, I think I get it."
Adam grinned and placed a hand on Ruby's shoulder. "I can assure you, Ruby. By this time tomorrow, everything is going to change for you."
As Ruby slammed her books down at Cardin's table during breakfast, Adam smirked and took a bite of his apple. Velvet may have had the slightest point about giving peace a chance with Weiss, but when it came to someone like Cardin, Adam wasn't going to simply sit by and let Ruby be pushed around. He'd be paying him a visit later, anyway...
"Geez, it took her long enough to stand up to him!" Yang muttered next to him, watching the show play out ahead of them. Nora, the only one of JNPR who had come for breakfast over a bit of early exercising(or sleeping, in Jaune's case), nodded sagely.
Adam turned. "You knew this entire time? Both of you?"
She chuckled. "Uh, duh? Come on, what kind of big sister would I be if I managed to miss something that obvious?"
"And you did nothing?" He was incredulous. She had practically just attacked him over just rebuffing Ruby's attempts at friendship!
"Well, I mean, she's gotta start doing stuff by herself some time, right?" Yang offered with a weak shrug, sounding more like she was trying to convince herself than him.
"What she means to say," piped up Weiss, "is that Yatsuhashi and I had to kindly remind her of how thin the ice we were on before she did anything rash. I was hoping that Ruby would have been beyond this, too."
Yang gritted her teeth and turned to snap back at Weiss, but Adam's attention was drawn back to Ruby. Cardin stood tall above her now, sneering while the rest of his team were half-risen from their seats, crouched like animals waiting to strike.
"Like a little runt like you has any room to talk!" Cardin growled and shoved Ruby back. Yang's grip tightened on the table. Adam supposed keeping to her own word was something she had trouble with.
To her and Adam's surprise, however, Ruby managed to straighten herself out and stomped closer. "The 'little runt' who has a better combat record than you do!" She jabbed a finger at his chest. "Oh! Better grades, too," she added with a saccharine smile.
"That doesn't mean crap when you're Ozpin's little pet project!" His team snickered around her. "So you better watch who you're talking to. I don't care if you're his little lovechild or your pops donated, I'm gonna make you suffer. Starting with that little thing we talked about, earlier." He snatched Ruby by her cloak and lifted her up.
"Hands off the cape!" She kicked her legs about, one kick catching Cardin in the stomach and leaving his grip to drop. As one, his team finally stood. Adam and Nora jumped up as well, only for Yang to grab onto his arm.
"Wait! Wait..." she grumbled through gritted teeth. Yang forced herself to continue, "Let her stand up for herself. Look." She glared down at CRDL. Rather than ganging up on Ruby as she and Cardin growled at one another, the rest of his team circled the two, their eyes locked not on the two leaders, but on them. "They're waiting for us to jump in. If they go at Ruby, we go in. But until then..."
Adam scoffed, snatched his arm away and sat back down. Nora, on the other hand, glanced between CRDL and Yang. She shifted her jaw before scowling—an expression Adam hadn't ever seen on the normally-cheery girl before—and sitting down as well, pouting.
"Your team, your rules," Nora grumbled under her breath, so quiet that Adam was the only one who heard it.
This brought along with it a keen observation: the cafeteria was eerily quiet, now, even for the smaller crowd that came with breakfast. Only hushed mumbles went through those gathered. Everyone was watching.
Ruby had noticed, as well... and even from where Adam sat, he could see her confidence crumble in an instant.
"Come on, brat! You're talking a big game, what are you gonna do!" Cardin gave Ruby another harsh shove, but this time it left her stumbling. Her eyes weren't focused on Cardin anymore, instead flickering around the cafeteria. Her response was mumbled quietly enough for it to barely carry over the excited mutters of the crowd, not even loud enough to be understandable.
Adam narrowed his eyes. Something was wrong. "What's happening?"
Yang cursed under her breath. "Ruby... doesn't do well in crowds."
Cardin's shouting had grown louder, and Adam found himself glancing between Yang and the growing situation. It was already getting out of hand. Ruby started to back away, any and all backbone she'd shown just moments prior missing. Like it'd never been there at all.
"How?" the Schnee asked. "She's more of a show-off than him!" She motioned towards Adam, but Cardin stalking towards Ruby again brought his attention back to them.
"Tell you what, 'Rubes'. Why don't you wrap yourself up in that little kiddy cape of yours and scurry off? You're in over your head." Cardin reached for her cape again, only for Ruby to slap his hand away.
"Just... j-just back off, alright?" She turned to leave. Perhaps Ruby didn't want to look like a coward, and did not activate her Semblance as she made to bolt back to her team.
That was a mistake.
Cardin slammed his foot down onto Ruby's cloak.
The sound of tearing fabric was all too clear in the nearly-silent cafeteria. Ruby crashed to the ground out of sight. Adam barely had time to look over before Yang was sprinting over to her sister's side, thoughts of leaving her to stand on her own abandoned. There was another shouting match between Cardin and Yang, now. Her eyes were blazing red as she led Ruby away. The younger sister was cradling her cape, a ragged tear scoring across its center, leaving it nearly in half.
Yang had shepherded Ruby out of the door before Adam or Weiss could even question them.
The sudden change when the room grew quiet was one thing, but that whirlwind of movement and noise only left one thing on Adam's mind.
"What the hell just happened?"
The Schnee barged into their dorm room like a storm, Adam following close behind. "If someone would please be so kind as to explain—" The rest of what she wanted to say was muffled as Yang zipped over from Weiss' bed to the door and slapped a hand over her mouth.
As Yang all but bulldozed the two of them back out of the room, Adam put his superior height to use and just peered over their heads. Ruby sat despondent, clutching her cape on the Schnee's bed, curled up and staring down at that tear running clean through it. He narrowed his eyes. Certainly not for the first time in these past few days, he knew something wasn't right.
The door slammed shut, snapping Adam's attention back to the two girls in front of him.
Schnee was fuming and wiping at her lips. "Ugh, absolutely disgusting..." She shook her head. "Well, Yang? Plan on telling us what is happening?"
Yang sighed and leaned against the wall. "Look, her cape is really important to her. It's the last thing she got from... from our mom."
Adam's eyes widened: was Ruby Raven's child, as well? Did she leave later than he thought? The way Yang was putting it, though, sounded far more like she was dead... and he severely doubted that was the case. Right?
"Why can't she just get it fixed?" The Schnee asked and almost instantly regretted it from Yang's glare down back at her. She stumbled on her next words before trying to make a save: "Look, I'm not saying it'll fix everything, but she's acting like it's the end of the world! It'll be like nothing happened at all."
Yang shook her head and rubbed her temples. "Yeah, well, it's not that easy. It's a special cloak, Princess. It's made with aura infused into the thing, sorta like Adam's glowy clothes. It's why it gets all weird when she uses her Semblance like that. Same kinda thing. It's really expensive: you can't just... stitch it back up normally."
Adam's eyes widened, but mentioning lien practically had the Schnee's eyes sparkling. With a bounce in her heel and a proud puff of her chest, she crossed her arms. "Well, then, I'd be glad to pay for it, whatever the cost!" With her head held high, it was clear that what she was expecting was praise and maybe even tearful thanks.
... When that didn't come, she was left glancing around with unease. She cleared her throat. "I said—"
"The reason it's expensive is because of its rarity," Adam interrupted. "Beyond sentimental value, much of what it is capable of in a pragmatic sense is better done with Dust. It's not something that took off well in the Dust-rich areas of Vale and Atlas. Mistra and Vacuo: that's where people knowledgeable enough to fix it are, but there isn't enough time to find one. Not with a tear like that probably leaking what little aura is left in it. These things are like circuits and hearts: they need to circulate the aura constantly, or it'll fade."
He gazed past Yang at the door. "You said it was the last thing from your mother. Are you saying..."
Yang nodded and gritted her teeth. "Yeah. It's last piece of her we have left... literally." Her eyes flared red. "And Cardin destroyed it." She kicked off of the wall hard enough to crack the plaster. She didn't exactly care. Any shred of resistance towards putting Cardin in the ground was long gone.
"Yang," Adam started as she began to storm off.
Yang turned. Fiery-red glared into emerald-green.
Adam only nodded. He knew exactly what Yang was thinking. Without another word shared between them, Yang continued on. Adam followed behind her, hand clenched tight around his weapon. He was planning on paying Cardin a visit already, but this changed things. Adam didn't plan on killing him, no, no, but were his blade to simply... slip through Cardin's aura and filet him like a fish, well, he wouldn't be missed.
Suddenly, the source of Ruby's devastation was so clear to see. As was the extent of Cardin's crime, known or not. He snarled, eyes fading from emerald to crimson with each step, Yang leading the way and leaving Weiss confused and alone.
"Where... what are you two planning to do?" Weiss called behind them, warning in her tone and worry in her gaze. More for herself than anything, Adam assumed.
When the two looked back, their eyes were both a matching pair of livid, hateful red.
"What does it look like?" Yang said.
"We're going to give Cardin what he deserves," Adam sneered.
Then, Weiss was alone. Her leader needed support in the room beside her. Her teammates needed her support to stop them from getting their entire team expelled in the halls ahead. Sure, she was upset, too, but that didn't mean she was going to help them brutalize another student! Worse, it wasn't as if they'd ever listen.
She scoffed. "Unbelievable," she muttered under her breath and brought up her Scroll to the door's lock. It beeped, she grasped the handle... and paused.
Back in Atlas, Winter was the one who handled comfort when she was younger, not her. Her younger brother, Whitley, was always too prideful and petty to be helped by Winter, let alone herself, even after an attack that had him held hostage. Heavens knew her parents were too busy snarling at one another or their work to try to help their children in time of need. All of this left Weiss with a sudden, keen realization of how she didn't have the slightest clue on what to do. She didn't even know where to start with Ruby.
The door locked once more.
There was nothing she could do. Frustration and the festering knowledge that this could very well be her last day at Beacon left her growling and stomping off in the other direction.
Maybe she could just pretend like this never happened.
At least, that's what Weiss thought until she rounded the corner and nearly ran into Coco and Fox.
