A/N: Alright, big author's note at the beginning, this time, mainly about that 'Halcyon Days' bit. There are a few ideas that I have for drabbles or pieces of fluff that don't exactly fit in the pacing of the plot, but still did happen at some point or another. Think "bonus chapters." This chapter is by no means essential to the plot. Around V3(when some light is probably desperately needed) I might make a sort of offshoot of the fic called Halcyon Days just filled with fluff pieces.
And then one last thing, as we approach V2 proper(in the next chapter), some events will be jumbled. This is on purpose, don't worry.
Halcyon Days: Royale-les-Schnee
"Alright, alright, break it up, you two! Come on, it's the last day before break. At least save it until then!" Yang called out between giggles and laughter. She was on one side of the room, holding the shrieking, raging heiress up with her arms beneath Weiss' in a grapple. Glyphs fruitlessly attempted to form around her, but between a hangover—that Weiss herself wasn't helping—and her anger, nothing could form. Ruby, on the other hand, was jumping from side to side on the other side of the room, preventing the quieter yet no less aggravated Adam from leaping past her with his blade in hand.
"Unhand me, you brute! This is a matter of purity and pride! He took advantage of me!" Weiss thrashed about in Yang's grip, cheeks red and eyes blazing.
"Please. I should be asking what you were doing in my bed, in the first place!" Adam shouted over Ruby.
"You tell me!"
"Maybe you should get a little spray bottle for them when they get like this?" Ruby suggested, holding out her arms and unabashedly taking advantage of the fact that she was the least likely person Adam would just shove out of the way.
"You should get a spray bottle for her when she comes up with these asinine schemes!" the heiress shouted back.
"Oh, oops, you know about that, huh?" Yang let out a nervous chuckle. "Okay, okay, idea!"
"No more ideas," Adam immediately replied.
"It's a good one, honest!" She pointed at him. "Rubes and I are gonna head to Patch to visit our dad over break. All you two gotta do is hold it back for today, and then starting tomorrow, you two can... clear out the tension~"
Adam snapped a pillow across the room at her face. Not particularly fond of her teasing either, Weiss also slammed her foot down onto Yang's. Cursing loudly, she let Weiss go, and in a blur of white and grumbling about 'no concept of maturity', she stormed off to the bathroom. Adam rubbed the bridge of his nose and sat back down.
"Wait, break starts tomorrow?" Ruby asked, wide-eyed.
"Yeah, why?" Yang hopped up onto her own bed.
"That's when we had that"—she glanced down at Adam—"thing we had planned?" Ruby hushed her voice and hopped up with her.
Checking his Scroll for the time, Adam was pleased to find that it was only six in the morning. He could catch just a little more sleep...
"You're the one who planned it!"
"You never reminded me..."
The final day of the semester went smoothly: most classes were more relaxed, only a few having exams or work scheduled. It left plenty of time for the teams to chat amongst themselves on their plans for summer break. It was only then, watching Ruby gush about all the fun things she and her family were going to do to a mostly uncaring Weiss, that Adam realized that beyond Beacon, his life was rather empty.
No family(that he was on good terms with, anyway), only one close friend he could call, and even if he wanted to continue his teachings for the other faunus, few students—even his—really wanted to learn in a time of relaxation. The next two weeks were going to be dreadfully lonely, Adam imagined.
Which was why he was surprised when, after his goodbyes to Ruby and Yang, Weiss hadn't left.
They discovered something rather quickly: maintaining a tense silence took work. When there are two other people sharing your dorm that you might speak to, work to be done, studies to focus upon, and friends to visit, it is an easy matter to keep someone out of your mind. Unfortunately, when all there is to turn to is the quiet flipping of pages and an suffocating aura of boredom, the temptation to break the wall of ice grew strong.
The first day was easy: the two skipped ahead on their studies, Adam made some calls to Blake and soon left in the night to track down answers from the White Fang. By the second, however, unless they had plans to skip through the entire curriculum, something would have to be done.
In the end, Weiss cracked first.
"Not going anywhere?" she asked, not even looking up from her book.
Adam, laying on his back and watching the afternoon news muted on his Scroll, glanced off at Weiss. The tense silence only lasted a sparse few moments before he folded.
"Nowhere to go. I should be asking the same: I expected a princess like yourself to be on a Vacuan beach, by now."
Weiss scoffed. "Normally, I would. A shame I don't have the lien for it. I don't even know why I listened to you."
"It's not too late to change your mind and run back to your father. I expect he would want you to visit." Adam sat up and noticed Weiss tensing: it seemed he was right.
"I'd rather not spend such a wonderful summer like this off in the frozen north, thank you."
A poor excuse, but one hard to argue with, Adam thought.
"I doubt you'd need to spend the entire break there to satiate him—"
"If all we're going to talk about is my family, I think I'd prefer the silence, thank you!"
With only a withering glare and scowl as Adam's response, Weiss got her wish.
In the rapidly reforming sea of ice that followed, Adam's mind began to wander to warmer alternatives: two weeks was a long time. If he could collect enough funds, he might be able to make a brief trip to Menagerie and visit Blake. As a former follower of Sienna Khan, it was... unlikely that her parents would be willing to let him do so, but the two could always work out a meeting place somewhere else, just like old times.
But that left the question of exactly how he could get the money. He could easily turn the Ace of Spades'—he grimaced from the name Ruby came up with coming up so easily to him, now—gaze onto the Torches for funds, but that brought the risk of being questioned: Weiss and Yang didn't know the exact amount of money he had, but they knew enough for long cruises and vacation money to be suspicious. Adam slipped out the lien he'd already gathered: 750. It might've been enough to live for two weeks in Menagerie, but it was nowhere near enough to get an airship there and back.
Adam glanced up at Weiss. That 750, however, came from the previous night; a portion of the 1,500 they'd won, triple what he had arrived with.
"... What?" Weiss had noticed him staring, and was just a bit put off by his sudden smirk.
"I have a plan. We don't have much money to leave this place, correct?" He flourished the lien cards in his hand. "How about we rectify that?"
Weiss carefully looked him over, examining him for even the smallest flaw or give to any ulterior motive.
"You're joking," she flatly replied.
"I'm completely serious: I know the streets and strategy more than anyone else you're going to find, and combined with your admittedly high poker—or hustling"—Adam ignored Weiss' complaining at the accusation—"skills, we could make ourselves a nice profit."
The heiress snorted and returned to her book, not even dignifying it with an answer.
Sighing, Adam returned his attention to his Scroll. "Of course, if you wish to remain under your father's thumb..." His smirk grew back larger than ever as the sound of a book slamming shut filled the room.
"Two rules," Weiss began.
Hook, line and sinker. Adam would feel bad for manipulating her, if it weren't so easy.
"The first is no drinking. I'd prefer not to wind up in... that situation again." Her nose crinkled in disgruntlement. "Two, I get a seventy percent cut."
Adam scoffed. "Try again: fifty-fifty."
"Sixty-fourty."
"Fifty-five to forty-five and I won't play into Yang's insinuations."
Weiss growled. "Fine. Now then, how, exactly, are we going to do this?"
"That's the simple part..."
"What we need first, is a story."
To say Weiss was agitated was putting it lightly: an entire day of planning, and it got her in her normal combat outfit watching Adam play against a bunch of ruffian faunus who would barely even stand out amongst a criminal line-up. It was now that she felt a little bad for Junior: now that she'd seen what other, less reputable clubs looked like, Weiss could appreciate how much work he put into it. Of course, she would have fought her way out anyway, but it was the thought that counted.
Speaking of thought, it was clear that Adam had not put a single bit of it into his plotting! Already, he'd managed to throw 50 lien, and he was just barely scraping it back in the next round. She could feel the disdainful and condescending looks towards the two of them. Unable to take it for any longer, Weiss stormed up and leaned down next to Adam, speaking in harsh whispers:
"Are you going to let me salvage this disaster or not?"
Adam glanced up to meet her gaze with a condescending smirk all too similar to those around him. Weiss' eyes widened for the briefest moment, and she had to fight the urge to smile.
"Do you really think you can do better than me, Princess?" he asked, as if he'd never seen her play once in her life.
This was the story: the rise of a 'princess' who turned out to be far better at poker than her appearance let on.
"I know I'll do better than you, Adam. Now move."
"Something that anyone can trace this all back to instead of the truth."
"An origin story."
Upon returning to Beacon, that night, Weiss had expected the two to perhaps change and move to a true venue or—even if it still scratched her the wrong way—a casino. When Adam returned to the room in his nightclothes of a plain red T-shirt and black sweatpants, however, she was left confused.
"We only made two hundred! What do you mean we aren't going anywhere else tonight?" she complained.
"Let the story spread a little: when you plant a seed, do you expect it to grow and bear fruit in only a day?" He dropped onto his bed and rolled over.
"Cute," Weiss grumbled.
"Alright. Say that little plan works, then what?"
"We move onto bigger targets."
At this point, Weiss was just happy to have found a place bereft of the stench of smoke. Another back room, this one attached to a store serving as a front for the illegal racket going on just feet away. It was a known fact that a certain criminal had been frequenting the tables and spending quite a bit. So Adam said, anyhow. Weiss would not have willfully touched the place with a ten-foot pole, but upon hearing two important pieces of news, she changed her mind: the gangster spent one thousand lien each time he showed up...
And it was one of Torchwick's goons.
These ruffians were louder and more boisterous than the last, openly laughing when she and Adam took their seats. Upon dropping five hundred lien in front of the dealer, however, they shut up awfully quick. Instead came that increasingly, annoyingly familiar gaze: they were like predators circling their prey. If only they knew just what their supposed 'prey' was...
"And how exactly are we going to stop them from just shouting our names to everyone they know?"
"We? They'll stop themselves. Getting beaten by a little princess wouldn't do well for their reputations. The news will spread, but only to friends and rivals. No further."
The look on the goon's face when Weiss cleaned them out made every moment worth it. The expressions of the rest of the room upon seeing a Schnee heiress collect the lien of known criminals and those who simply weren't caught yet, made it even more so.
Weiss giggled openly as the two walked out one thousand lien richer, each. Even if the Torch gangster won his lien back, the same could never be said for his dignity. Never before was she so happy to have someone see her name and appearance before who she really was.
"So, where to, tomorrow?" she casually asked Adam as they readied themselves for bed.
"The same location: we'll let him get his grudge matches in. We may lose one, but that will only invigorate him."
"After them?" She still wasn't convinced.
"Said rivals: they will want to prove themselves, and will be quicker to make excuses for how they aren't at the same level or worse as their foes."
It wasn't Junior's, but this nightclub was both well-kept and popular. Bright, flaring lights of all the deep colors of the night flashed and swayed across the dance floor, people laughed and called to each other over the music across tables, and the bar didn't have a single seat free. That, however, wasn't the target. No, Adam and Weiss were making their way right to the VIP section and the little tournament within.
She could get used to this, Weiss thought: comfy couches, a space away from all the loud noise, and if it wouldn't break her rule, all the drinks one could want. A clever little trick to likely get any players off their game. Most importantly, though, was the emotions in their gazes: fear and tentative respect. The seed planted before was bearing fruit. They knew who she was now, and they wanted to prove themselves. Whether it was against her as a Schnee or as the one who drained out that Torch gangster, Weiss didn't know.
But it still made them quick to make mistakes. They were no professionals, but there was no doubting their skill: she had only come in third place. Adam scraped by in sixth.
"Easy to pick apart."
"Ten thousand lien?" For Weiss, it was no large sum, but for a heiress whose only access was through a credit card, there was a certain appeal to seeing this many lien cards scattered about between them. Adam sat down across from her on the dorm room floor, idly flipping a fifty-lien card between his fingers.
"And you doubted me," Adam teased with a smirk. Weiss rolled her eyes, smiled and began counting out her share.
"This will cause all kinds of trouble, you know!"
Two days later, Adam and Weiss found themselves staring down the barrels of several guns in the same club. The Torch goon they humiliated leaned over the table, the only one to have not pulled out a weapon of their own, and motioned for them to hand the money right back over. Adam's hand twitched near his blade.
Weiss tried not to admit to herself how exhilarating this was: finally rebelling against her father—however small this victory was—breaking the rules, stopping crime in a roundabout and more than likely criminal way, and with the least likely of people, no less.
The poor Torches didn't stand a chance.
"Nothing we can't handle."
"Are... are you sure this will work?"
Exactly how she ended up laughing with Adam over drinks in one of those casinos and clubs, Weiss couldn't recall. What she could recall however, as the two shared stories and complained about family and 'military' life alike as if they weren't speaking of times when they would be mortal enemies, was that she didn't care in the least. She only wished it didn't take alcohol to force herself to forget titles and histories.
"Well! I broke my rule, so I think it's time to break yours." She insistently pulled at him and jumped to her feet. "Let's dance."
His mouth opened and closed as he tried to think of something, anything to dissuade her. Unfortunately, the truth decided to free itself, instead:
"I can't." As his lips betrayed his mind, Adam was worried to find that Weiss was still pulling him along.
"Great, because I only know ballroom dancing!" Weiss called back without missing a beat, and the two became one with the crowd.
"You wouldn't be asking me these questions if you didn't believe me."
"Ugh, I can't believe I'm actually agreeing with you: we have a deal."
With the rest of their team gone and even JNPR off in Mistral to visit Jaune and Pyrrha's families, Adam and Weiss didn't have to silence their laughter as they led one another back to their dorm.
"Alright, I will admit it: this was a brilliant idea worthy of even being one of my own." Weiss sighed happily as she plopped down on Adam's bed and flicked out their winnings from her pocket.
"Who would have imagined: strip away your inhibitions and you're even more arrogant than usual," Adam teased in return, earning an elbow to the side for his troubles.
"And strip away yours and you're still without any form of manners!" she chastised without any true malice behind her words. Idly looking over her portion, she motioned off to Adam to get his own lien. "How much did we win tonight?"
Adam counted some of his own up before, with a short laugh, just flicking them over his head to rain back down onto the bed.
"What does it matter, by now! It's not about the lien, it's about winning!" he proclaimed.
The heiress huffed and, after tossing away her hair clip, laid back next to him.
"The last time I checked, that was my line."
A hundred lien card bounced off of her nose.
"There's your royalties."
Adam wasn't entirely sure when Weiss started sleeping on the top bunk rather than on the other side of the room; however, he was not entirely sure if he minded.
Weiss wasn't entirely sure when their big 'rules' crumbled away; however, she was not entirely sure if she minded, either.
"Do you ever get the feeling that you're forgetting something rather important?" Weiss asked from Adam's bed one afternoon, shuffling lien as if they were playing cards. The days and nights had gone by quickly, leaving them set for many weeks to come, but something was bugging her, like they weren't remembering a key fact.
Adam, who was resting on the floor up against the side of the bed and idly scanning through his Scroll, paused. Had they? He rifled through his memories: there were no loose ends with the criminals, he'd called Blake at his usual time yesterday, there were no other arrangements he could think of, or tournaments coming up—wait.
"Like the endgame of the plan?" Adam suggested.
Weiss stifled a snort and leaned over just into his sight.
"You managed to forget that? And here I was thinking you were supposed to be a strategist."
"I apologize. It managed to slip my mind between the eight and nine thousandth lien."
"Not much of an excuse when it was lien I was winning, in the first place." She tapped his cheek with a small stack of hundred lien cards.
"Entirely due to my strategy."
"Which you forgot the end of."
Nodding slowly, Adam closed his eyes in thought and leaned back. As he stealthily reached back towards the head of the bed, he contemplated his next response. Just as Weiss smirked, believing the argument won, Adam slapped her with a pillow. He decided upon the course of action he was most familiar with: violence.
"Aaaaand we're back! Did'ja miss us?"
It was only when Yang and Ruby threw open the door to find the two laughing with pillows in hand and thousands of lien worth of cards scattered about that Weiss and Adam realized exactly what they had forgotten: going on a vacation in the first place.
A/N: This chapter was originally going to be the second half of the second chapter(of the second volume), but, the club scene just got away from me entirely. So, I decided that it might be better as a mention or just the first part of the third chapter, but then it just didn't fit. Primarily because it just kept growing.
