Crimson XXIII: Project Hell Part 2

'I'm pretty sure that tulips aren't supposed to last this long, but even now Blake is still obsessing over them,' Weiss thought to herself as she watched her Cat Faunus teammate tending to her flowers.

Currently Ruby and Yang were elsewhere, probably at the library trying to work with their random partners to work on their assignments. It was Sunday, meaning most of the students were out rushing to finish this week's section of assignments. The pressure from the second quarter's Project Hell hadn't lessened, in fact by this point it had at least tripled. Everyone's workload had become so overbearing that it had been difficult for the members of Team RWBY to spend time with anyone outside of their projects... least of all with Ragna.

"Did you need something?" Blake finally asked, having felt Weiss's gaze at her for some time now.

"Just admiring your flowers," Weiss said as a fitting white lie. "Who did you say you got them from again?"

"A friend of mine in town," Blake answered with her own half truth. "It was a gift from her to say thanks."

"Really? Then they must have been especially grateful. Those black tulips aren't easy to find and they'll clean out your wallet for a single one, let alone a full bouquet."

"I didn't realize you were so informed of flowers." Blake tried to keep her tone neutral, but it was hard when it felt like Weiss was putting her on trial.

"I'm not, but my father had tried to create a version of these flowers by implementing some of our dust," Weiss said, realizing how she was coming across and backing off for the moment. "I don't know how they came out however. Sadly, I'm not as informed of the Schnee Company's actions as I'd l like to be... nor do I have any say in our policies."

"...If you were, I know you'd be making some serious changes," Blake said giving Weiss a smile filled with melancholy which was returned by the Heiress.

"If you trust me enough to say that, can we both drop the facade now?" Blake only gave a nod to the question. "It's clear that Ragna bought you those flowers."

"...He did," Blake sighed.

"And you're trying to hide that fact because...?"

"Because I'd been tricked into going out with him by two of my friends, I don't need them thinking that they succeeded and try that again."

'Blake was tricked into going? Why did she never let us know about any of this? And she wouldn't have a problem with going with him in the first place. Unless...' "Were they trying to make things romantic?"

"They were and it's still a little hard for me to forgive them for trying something like that," the Cat Faunus admitted irattely. "...They didn't succeed if that's what you were wondering. Ragna and I have agreed to stay as friends; we're obviously very close as friends but that's all there is to it."

'I doubt that it is... and I don't think those two would have needed to try that hard to romanticize things in the first place,' Weiss decided. 'When... If I decided to make a move to stay near Ragna like Jin had suggested, would I be stealing something else from Blake? First her people's honor as the Schnee heiress, and now her potential love as her teammate... And is it really something that I even want? I'm close to Ragna too, but...'

"You alright?" Blake asked her friend. "You look like you're pretty deep in thought." She decided not to play into Weiss's own insult the last time this observation had been made.

"Just trying to process a few things," she explained honestly enough. "...Are you free at all today?"

"...I think I'll have some time after we work on our Group Project, but we'll have to squeeze it in before dinner," she admitted. "What did you need?"

"I was wondering if you were up for a spar later; all of this work on our project has likely dulled my combat senses." 'I'm not sure that this will do the trick, but at this point it couldn't hurt.'

"I... guess I could always use the practice," Blake admitted. "Sure, I can spare some time for that later. Is there a reason you're asking me?"

"Just that I've heard that a good spar can sometimes be just the thing to clear your mind and ease a few doubts," Weiss explained. "Also this might give me the answers I'm looking for..."

"If you're looking for answers, then what are your questions?"

"...Would you believe me if I said I'm trying to figure those out as well?"

Blake honestly wasn't sure if Weiss was joking or not.

Substory 21: Dealing With It

"Dang it, why does it feel like I'm doing this wrong? Normally if I need to get answers out of anyone all I gotta do is beat up their lackeys, glow with fire during the fight, and glare angrily at them... But can't be the answer to all of Goodwitch's questions, right? What am I supposed to do, flirt with them like I would with Ragna? Not with the type of huntsmen I'm supposed to be using."

With her usual straightforward approach to powering through anything that stood in her way and letting her fists do the talking for her, Yang was having trouble finding ways she'd be able to gather information out of criminals. Taking a look over the notes for the umpteenth time, she tried to find some glimmer of insight from Goodwitch's lectures only to face the same issue of escaping her current mindset. Letting out a loud groan, she faceplanted into her notebook. She couldn't stay there for long as she heard heavy footsteps approaching her.

"Heya blondie," said the voice of the Academy's Mad Dog. "We need to talk."

"Can't you see I'm busy right now?" Her muffled claim was less than convincing facedown.

"If you say so, but this won't take long," Azrael promised, not even bothering to take a seat at the breakroom table. "Your boyfriend let slip what you two have been going out to do, those little underground fights of yours. I want in."

'Well this is just about the last thing I needed,' Yang thought as she raised her head to eye the blue haired giant with a scowl, having both a look and mindset that reflected her "boyfriend's" usual features. She was glad for the absence of other students here, not that she minded what Azrael was implying, but knowing that this comment would likely cause more unneeded hell for Ragna. "Then why not ask him instead? He'd probably be easier to get the answers out of than me."

Hey, even if she wanted to keep Ragna out of unneeded hell that didn't mean she didn't have her own worries at the moment.

"If it was you asking him then maybe, but he's actually pretty tight lipped when dealing when anyone else," the Mad Dog admitted. "Come on, I'm DYING here. All of this damned studying is actually starting to dull my battlelust and I'm barely called on for any mock fights. I NEED this."

"Then go take up Yoga with Amane or find someone else to fight and get your fight boner down," Yang told him stubbornly as she looked back to her notes and tried to make it look like she was reviewing her work. "Even after what they pulled on us, I'm not just going to set you loose down there."

"Oh? Do I hear a score that needs to be settled? Put me on the hunt, that should teach them all a lesson!"

"I'll admit it's a little tempting," Yang admitted diplomatically, wondering how Ragna managed to put up with this guy. "But I don't think that-"

"Then stop thinking and give me what I want!" ...Yang's pity for Ragna was somehow growing; even after all of the times she'd thought it had peaked, she kept finding things to find sorry about him for. "...What about Cinder?"

"What's she got to do about this?" Yang asked irately, half because Azrael was continuing to pester her and the other half for other obvious reasons.

"She's the means to give me what I want. It's obvious enough that whatever bone you've got to pick with that underground ring pales in comparison to the issues you've got with that woman." He didn't get an answer, but anyone could tell it was because Yang couldn't argue with him. "Give me what I want, and somewhere down the line I'll give her some trouble."

"Now you're just insulting me, big guy," Yang said as her scowl seemed to focus. "You really think I'm about to get that petty? I don't need your help."

"Obviously... but this isn't just for your benefit," Azrael reminded. "After all, isn't it better for Ragna that he gets a break from her? Isn't it starting to look like HE needs it? I can give him some breathing room."

"I... Then why don't you?" Even Yang's will had its breaking point.

"Because everything has its price, I want a decent bargaining chip," the Mad Dog said evilly. "Don't worry, I'll make sure this doesn't come back to bite him... so do we have a deal or not?"

"I..."

Not long later, Azrael was gone... and Yang was only left with self disappointment. This side of the Mad Dog was far crueler than anything she'd experienced from him before. He'd seen her weak points, put her back against the wall, and when he needed to seal the deal he'd offered exactly what she didn't even know she'd wanted. She couldn't have possibly refused. It was... it was...

"...THAT'S IT!"

Now with renewed energy, Yang started looking over her assignments again and started using everything that Azrael had just used on her. She couldn't help but giggle as she looked at all of the problems that had given her so much trouble before; now it all made so much sense. She was just about to start correcting her old answers before a thought dawned on her.

"Dang, that's right."

Going into her pocket, she quickly fumbled out her scroll and started drastically typing out a contact number.

"Come on, come on..."

A few rings later, she thankfully got an answer.

"Azula? Hey sweetie, it's Yang."

Mummering on the other end.

"No we're not coming back after what the ring tried to pull, we'd be too busy to try again anyways. I'm calling 'cause I need you to stay away from the ring for the next couple of days."

More mummering, this sounding skeptical.

"No I'm serious, you're not ready for what's about to hit the ring. You and your dad need to leave, NOW. That place is about to become a smoldering crater! Maybe worse if he's eager enough!"

Substory 22: Caged

"Urk... Ugh... My head..." Ragna groaned as he picked himself off the desk. "How long...?"

"Only five minutes, but that's the fourth time it's happened since we started," Tsubaki said worriedly. "Are you sure you want to be here? You look like you need to sleep for an entire day."

"I slept every goddamn minute I had away from Cinder yesterday. If sleep really was the answer here, then I would've been back to normal after that," Ragna groaned. "Probably just over stressed, I'll be fine."

"I'm not so sure; last quarter you went completely undefeated and only tied with Azrael (the short exchanges that Goodwitch allowed anyway), Pyrrha, and those few fights you went easy on Jaune to boost his grades."

"I wasn't-"

"You were."

"...Fine."

"But my point is that you've already lost three matches this quarter alone. Something's happening to you and you need to figure out whatever it is and fix it before it becomes a real problem."

"Yeah... but I don't have the damndest idea what it is," Ragna told her. Tsubaki was wondering how honest he was being... but why on earth would he be intentionally making things harder on himself? "So where were we, before I passed out?"

"Really Ragna..." she sighed at his attitude, but conceded as she returned her attention back to their work while he was still conscious. "We were looking at this set of hieroglyphics. While it's impossible to decipher what the language itself is trying to convey, the illustration itself seems to show someone being imprisoned. You see the marking of a person with that box around it? It seems to tell the story of someone being jailed."

"I mean I see what you're getting at, but there seems to be something else to this mess," Ragna said as he looked closer at the photo. "It's hard to tell with the markings around the figure, but it looks like it might have more than two arms. See the bits just outside the scratch marks? Those might just be the edge of a drawing of hands in chains. It's possible that it's implying that whatever it was they jailed wasn't exactly human."

"You think so?" Tsubaki went for her own look and saw that the Reaper wasn't wrong. "Good eye for spotting that, but what could it represent? A Faunus with additional arms, maybe?"

"I think a few of those exist, but they're pretty rare. I'd have to research to see what type this could be," Ragna said as he started looking over the rest of the illustration. looked around the drawing. "Damn problem is that the head's completely obscured from these scratch marks. If I could see at least part of it, this would go a long way to narrowing down what we're looking for. As things are now, I can think of at least three books that I'm going to need to check, and those were the ones that Relius Clover wrote."

"I thought he was a researcher of Souls and Semblances," Tsubaki noted.

"Doesn't mean he didn't dabble in other areas, I'm pretty sure he's gotten involved in every field of study in the book... and he probably wrote that book too," the Reaper muttered as he took his scroll out and started searching the school's catalog. "Huh, two outta three ain't bad. The third book's supplemental stuff anyways."

"You seem to know everything that he's been involved with," Tsubaki noted as she started making a list of reading materials that they'd need. "It sounds like you respect him as a researcher."

"It's kind of hard not to; until recently he'd been the author of every damn book I'd read."

"Recently... Right..." Ragna was wondering why his partner looked so disappointed, but then she leaned in for a whisper. "Is there any reason I found four different romance novels under your bed when I went to vacuum?"

"They're..." Ragna began with a slight cringe (and a faint blush). "Recommendations... from a friend."

"I see... and your thoughts on those recommendations are?"

"Complicated... very complicated." Trying to change the subject, Ragna looked back to the illustration. "Another thing I'm not sure of is the markings around this thing's prison. They almost look arcane, like they were using magic to seal away some sort of great monster."

"Given how far back the society that made these markings could go, they very well might've thought they were doing something like that," Tsubaki guessed. "Of course now we know that those things are just superstitious nonsense."

"...Right."

Substory 23: A Little Perspective

"Ugh..." Nora groaned as she slouched down at her cafeteria room seat, fighting to barely stay awake. "When will this all be over?"

"Not for a while" Ren answered remorsefully, one of the few times that he could relate to his partner's attitude. "We still have a while to go before we even get to the camping trip."

"At least we're almost to the end of our lectures. After that all we need to do is make sure all of our projects are as good as we can make them," Pyrrha tried to encourage, though it was pretty clear that she was feeling pretty wiped herself.

"Come on guys, we're in the homestretch now," Jaune reminded energetically. "We don't have too much left this quarter, and soon enough we'll all be able to relax for a bit on that camping trip. Blue skies, fresh air, Ragna even promised he'd barbeque."

"Yeah, I could use a break," Ren admitted with a sigh. "But how are you still so chiper? Everyone else is about to pass out, but you're here looking ready to jump back into studying."

"I mean... taking notes during the lectures and researching our project isn't that bad compared to last quarter," Jaune said as he scratched the back of his head, feeling uncomfortable at the blank stares coming from the rest of his team. "...Right?"

"NO! IT'S HORRIBLE!" Nora shouted as she grabbed her leader by his collar and started shaking him violently. "YOU'VE BEEN THROUGH THE EXACT SAME HELL AS WE HAVE! HOW CAN YOU SUDDENLY BE FINE WHILE REST OF US HAVE HAD TO SUFFER THE ENTIRE QUARTER! IT'S NOT FAIR!"

"Nora, let him go. People are staring at us," Ren groaned, though made no physical attempt to stop his own partner. "That being said, she does have a point."

"RIGHT!?" she shouted again, as a dizzy Jaune groaned in her grasp.

"Last quarter you were doing about as well as everyone else in your studying, but now you're saying that you can take one of the harshest study periods without a problem," Pyrrha analyzed. Is it possible that you're being overconfident?"

"I don't think so, at least I hope not," Jaune said as Nora finally let go of him. "I just feel like I've been able to take it, you know? Sure the classes are tough and there's a lot of stress and pressure to go along with these projects, but I feel like I'm up to the task and I've got all of you backing me up too. I guess... you could say I've hit my stride."

"Holy..." Ren muttered, looking at this newer and more confident side of the blond. "What brought this out of you?"

"Huh? I mean..." Jaune wasn't making eye contact and they could see the pink in his cheeks starting to rise. "I just... found my stride, like I said... That's it."

"Ah ah ah." Turns out that Nora can regain her energy in an instant when there's a hunt to be had. "There's a reason for your improvement, and a reason why you're not telling us." Her prey was wisely staying silent, turning his head to the side so that Nora wouldn't be able to look him in the eye. "Does it have anything to do with... Noel Vermillion?"

Ren and Pyrrha both saw Jaune's obvious grimace at the suggestion, surprising the both of them.

"It's... something like that," he finally admitted as Nora backed off to give him some physical space now that he was confessing. "She... starting off she was sort of as bad as I was. You know; timid, weak, low self-esteem. That sort of thing. After working with her for a bit I started to notice that and... well I thought I'd try helping her out."

"That's a really good thing to do," Pyrrha said with a smile at her leader's kind heart. "And being able to help her is what started to give you confidence in your own actions?"

"...Kind of?" Jaune sounded very awkward and unsure, almost reverting to his persona from the start of the year. "My idea from the start was to act more confident than I actually was. Give off the illusion that I'm some awesome, unstoppable force. Most of it was just copying you and Ragna, without his usual swearing of course."

'Unless Jaune wanted to put himself on Goodwitch's list, that was probably the right thing to do,' Ren thought silently. "And your acting was so good..."

"That I think I started fooling myself," Jaune admitted. "I mean I can't do it in the middle of combat, and I need to work with Pyrrha on my partner project and the rest of you on our group project. I guess I need to improve if I'm going to stop faking and start making it."

"Fair wordplay there, leader. So what you're saying is that you can only do it when you're around Noel," Nora summarized before giving an odd sigh. "Well this is a pickle. If she can bring this out in you then I guess that's a good way to go. But all this time I've been trying to work something out with you and-"

"NORA."

A single bead of sweat formed on Nora's brow as she shakily turned to her team's redhead who (despite smiling much brighter than normal) had an aura of Bloodlust around her. Whilst Jaune didn't notice this, Ren could see the shift in the air only too well and had already begun shivering where he sat. Keeping his wits about him as always, he quickly recovered and began darting his eyes around for a viable means of escape or a distraction to keep them alive from Pyrrha's-

"Didn't you say earlier that they were putting out scones for today's treat? Why don't you grab a few for us?"

...Sweet tooth? That didn't make sense given her disdain for Pumpkin Pete's sugar levels, but Ren managed to see through the front quickly enough.

"You both enjoy," he said as he rose to his feet. "Come on Jaune, we should get started on the rest of today's work."

"But what about-?"

"They'll catch up! Come on! Move it!" Ren said, probably the most forceful and panicked he'd been in quite a while. Once the boys had cleared out, Pyrrha could handle Nora unabated.

'Did Ren just leave me to the wolves?' "Sooooooo are we actually getting scones?"

"I'll make my point quick and then you can get your sweets," Pyrrha said as her eyes narrowed into an actual glare. "Don't even think of trying your tricks on Jaune and I. I heard about what you did with Makoto from Blake."

"She told you about that?" Nora was a little surprised that her Random Project Partner would let the events of that night slip.

"She gave me the gist, mostly because she wanted me to warn her if I ever thought you were planning something like that again,"

"Sounds about right," the mallet user admitted. "But what is the story between you and Jaune? I can't help but feel like you're crazy about each other, but there's something in the way." She gave a flirty wink as she pressed her luck a bit further. "If you want I can try to pull a little something to help speed things up."

"Nora..."

"Hey hey, I'm not saying I'm going to put something as big as I did with those two. I can just give him a couple of nudges for you. Put things on the right course, you know?"

"NO." Pyrrha's glare was scathing enough to tell Nora that she needed to back off, but the redhead wasn't done with her. "Listen to me, I want to find a normal relationship while I'm attending Beacon. Not one that I managed to get with my celebrity status OR one that was set up by someone else... I can't have that if you get involved."

"...Say no more, I can respect what you're going for in that case," she relented (partially so she wouldn't have to get scolded any longer). "But unless I'm completely wrong, you've got your sights set clearly on Jaune?"

"Maybe I do, but it's for me to decide," Pyrhha told her, not moving an inch. "Why do you care so much about everyone's relationships? Sorry for being blunt, but I figured you'd spend more time worrying about your own romance."

"Actually I'm multitasking here," she explained mischievously. "If the people around Ren start getting more involved in relationships, maybe he'll start to see the benefit as well. Think about who I've been working with; Ragna, the only guy that Ren spends any time with at all outside of his own team. When I hook you and Jaune up, he'll be surrounded with people in happy relationships and maybe he'll be a little more willing to give it a shot himself."

"So that's your scheme here," the redhead sighed. "What about Azrael? He's Ren's random partner isn't he?"

"...If you know anyone else who's the literal embodiment of combat, let me know. Otherwise, I got nothing for his romance."

"Aptly put," she admitted. "But what if your plan doesn't work? What if you go through all of this effort and the people don't want to end up in a relationship or even if they do it's not enough to persuade Ren? What then?"

"Then at least I'll have tried. I'll have to go through the trouble to find and execute a plan E, but at least I might've been able to help someone else to find a happy match. I don't give up that easily, and with Ren I'm in it for the long game."

'At least she's committed and confident,' Pyrhha thought... with a touch of jealousy. 'That's more than can be said for most of us in this situation.'

Substory 24: Monochromic Clash

(Cue BBTAG -Weiss Mix-)

'I hope I'm not making a mistake by doing this,' Weiss said as she unsheathed her rapier from her hip. Blake approached her from the other side of the other side of the training room, stopping a short distance from her teammate in the center. Watching the skillful movement of separating her weapon into two, Weiss saw no hesitation in the Faunus's actions. 'Nothing ventured, nothing gained I suppose.'

"Let's not hold anything back, since we're both past the point of facades like you said," Blake requested as she got into a battle ready stance.

"I never hold back, not even in sparring. To fight at anything other than my best is discourteous to those I'm fighting, my family, and myself," Weiss agreed as she saluted with her rapier. "To a worthy match... and a strong equal."

"Save the sweet talk; we're sparring, not fighting," Blake returned seriously. With the foreplay done with, the two immediately charged into the heat of battle.

Starting with a ranged offensive, Black used the Gambol Shroud's bladed whip to swing in an arc. A quick swing from Weiss's rapier, the Myrtenaster, deflected the attack before she placed a glyph at her feet and used it's forward moment to lunge forward in a rapid thrust. As she quickly retracted her bladed whip, Blake blocked the attack with her weapon's thicker half before quickly swiping and causing sparks to fly as their weapons clashed again. Using her versatility with twin blades to her advantage, Blake stabbed with her small blade forward for Weiss to sidestep the attack before clashing with her thicker blade again.

Now using both seperated blades in a single move, Black made a pincer attack that would force her opponent back as she would be unable to guard with just her rapier... had Weiss not been ready with her semblance. A more powerful Glyph stood guard before her and canceled out her opponent's attack. Making a hefty swing with her rapier in retaliation, she stopped the blade a hair's breadth of the Faunus's neck to secure the victory... had Blake not been ready with her own semblance. Acting out of pure instinct was rare for her, but proved vital as her desperate swing again connected with Blake's blade whip as her shadow copy faded between the two. Using the fading copy as cover once more, Blake went for a low sweep of her opponent's feet. Weiss's short hop was enough to avoid the attack, but she needed to launch herself with a semblance to dodge Blake's gunfire.

'At least I know these are training bullets,' the Fanus thought bitterly at more traumatizing memories. She didn't fire off too many shots, saving ammo as the fight progressed.

Done with dodging and staying on the defensive, Weiss used her glyphs again to lunge forward. This time she also placed a glyph right before Blake and used it to launch herself into the air. Going for a slash in her blind spot, Blake managed to deflect the attack with an upward slash strong enough to send them both into the air. Both of them exchanged a flurry of attacks with a final connection that sent them both flying back. Utilizing a glyph as a platform, Weiss pushed off it like a springboard and nearly caught Blake with her dive had she not guarded. Sliding back on a crouch before rising upright, Blake saw Weiss standing with another salute.

"I thought you said you weren't going to be holding back," Blake noted with a scowl. "Your skill and movement using Glyphs is impressive, but why aren't you using the full power of your MADR (Multi Action Dust Rapier)?"

"I meant what I said, I just thought using Dust here would be an unfair advantage if you weren't going to be using any yourself," Weiss admitted... though she also gave a small smirk. "If I start using those techniques, then can I count on you to start using all of your tricks in kind?"

"...You caught on to that?" the Fanus asked with a small smile of her own.

"Does this mean the Cat's out of the Bag?"

"Oh I'm more than that, Ice Queen."

Weiss didn't even have the time to rebuke Blake for using her hated nickname as her opponent rushed forward, going against the more careful and reserved approach Weiss was used to seeing from her. Trying to figure out the new plan of attack, she went for a basic thrust to coax out Blake's next move while trying to stay on guard. This turned out to be the right move as Blake's shadow disappeared and Weiss had to guard behind her with her rapier to avoid being kicked in the back of the head. Firing a single well placed shot on the tip of Weiss's sword, Blake managed finally break through her and send her off balance. Going for a strike with her blade whip, Blake narrowly missed as Weiss managed to conjure a movement glyph at the last instant. Utilizing her rapier's power as she'd promised, Weiss stabbed the blade point into the ground to both stop her emergency retreat as well as send out a wave of ice to attack.

Blake's shadow was struck as she appeared above the icy spikes, skillfully running towards Weiss and firing off her gun to avoid giving her a chance to retaliate. Instead of raising another glyph for her protection, Weiss instead managed to use her rapier to block every bullet with a rapid series of swings. Even if she still used her usual manner of skill and grace, Blake could still see a new underlying roughness in her for even attempting such a move. Leaping off the crystal, she came down with a powerful helmbreaker swing from her combined weapon. Weiss utilized her weapon's Fire setting to give an increase of power as she deflected the attack with a heavy upward swing that created an explosion of fire when the two attacks connected.

Switching her element yet again while she had mere seconds to act, Weiss selected the lightning option to give her weapon additional range. Taking her turn to keep her opponent at a range, she slashed before Blake had managed to regain her footing. The attack was still blocked, but Blake was sent sliding further back. Stepping into a long ranged lightning stab, Weiss expected her teammate to again dodge with her Shadow semblance. Instead she got an X-form slash that connected just at the tip of her lightning extension... shattering the Dust Enhancement.

'What the-?' the Schnee hair thought with a moment of surprise. Blake didn't even pause at the events and ran forward at full tilt while she drew her gun. 'This isn't like her at all... is this coming from-?'

Whatever she'd been about to consider was interrupted as Blake showing her gun was merely a faint as she instead spun into a heavy parallel slash. Weiss couldn't help but yelp as she blocked the attack and stumbled back. Instead of using her whip as a standalone attack, Blake combined it with the thick blade and launched it a single hefty projectile. Weiss was forced to rely on her semblance to save her once again as it clashed against her glyph's guard.

Dropping her defence as Blake recollected her weapons, she made a vicious thrust which was guarded against before attacking with a heftier overhead slash... a technique brought about by someone else. Pushing those thoughts aside, she made a low sweeping motion with her sword and forced Blake to leap into the air. Using both other hands in a powerful swing, she managed to lunch Blake further into the air. Utilizing a stronger force from both her Rapier and her Semblance, she shot a collection of light orbs at Blake, hopefully pinning her in midair to end the fight.

What Blake instead did was turn her smaller weapon into a whip form and spinning it with a fury while in midair, destroying each of Weiss's attacks in under a second. Blake then activated her Shadow as a speed boost, bringing her to the ground with a downward slash that Weiss barely guarded against, but this time she held her footing. Both girls gave one final lunge forward... their blades just stopping shy of the other's neck.

(End theme)

Weiss and Blake both held their weapons firmly in place, each of them a hair breadth apart. Though the trying battle had left the both of them nearly drained, they kept a steady hold on their postures and their glares. Neither of them broke eye contact, forcing themselves in place for a full minute as the dust (both kinds) settled around them.

"So..." Blake began, not moving her weapon as she broke her silence. "Did you manage to find the answer you were looking for?"

"...Without a doubt," Weiss confirmed as she took her rapier away and sheathed it, a move then followed by her sparring partner. "I can now say for certain that I don't have to worry about you."

"Worry about me?" the Faunus asked with an eyebrow raised. "You were testing me?"

"I was testing both of us, but this wasn't just our combat prowess on the line. I needed to see just how strong our resolves were." She gave a confident smirk. "I was worried that I was about to take something from you, but now I know there's nothing I'd accidently steal from you that you couldn't get back."

"As someone from the White Fang?"

"Hardly; as Blake. As my teammate and my friend."

"Friend, huh?" Blake said with a bit of uncertainty. "Not that I didn't think we were friends by now, but it still feels a little weird to hear it from the mouth of the Schnee heiress. What would your father say about it?"

"Oh please, the more time I spend at Beacon, the less of a damn I seem to give about that man," Weiss said with a huff. She then noticed Blake staring blankly at her. "What?"

"I... don't think I've heard you cuss like that before." Weiss's checks turned the slightest of pinks at her own improper conduct.

"B-Blame Ragna! Enough time around him and even a Saint would be swearing like a Sailor!" She pouted at the laugh Blake was having at her expense. "...I'm not wrong."

"I never said you were," Blake said, sounding much more comfortable and open. "Well, I'm glad we managed to put those doubts of yours to rest, but what was it that you were worried taking from me?"

"...If it comes to that, you'll know it soon enough," Weiss said. "This is the part I'm still trying to figure out for myself."

"Does that mean we need to start another dance with blades so you can figure it out?" 'Crap, that's one of the books I lent to Ragna. Now I really want to read it again myself.'

"Dance..." Weiss repeated aloud, but mostly in her own thoughts. "I doubt that'll be necessary since you've certainly given an idea moving forward. That said, I certainly wouldn't mind a second round for the extra practice."

"Sounds good to me, this cat still has a few tricks left," Blake said as she brought her weapons out once more. "Besides, I've needed to let off all of this steam for a while now. These projects really are hell."

"For some of us more than others."

Substory 25: A Dangerous Game

"So... rough day studying?" Mercury asked Emerald as she laid face down in her bed.

"Mmph," came the muffled response.

"Right, you were supposed to work with Celica today. How long did you spend in the library before she showed up?"

"Mmph."

"That long? And you decided to stick around until then?"

"Mmph."

"I guess you really didn't have a choice. So where'd she end up?"

"Mmph."

"The hell? That's nowhere near school grounds."

How these two managed to hold a conversation like this was beyond the mute Neo Politan (who already had to put in more effort than most to make sure that she was understood). Trying to get her question across she used her semblances and took the appearance of Cinder.

"Hey, we told you not to make a habit of doing that," Mercury said, oddly stern and serious for a change. "You get in the habit of doing that and show the school your talent and we won't be able to complete our infiltration without raising suspicion. It's bad enough that we've needed Emerald's illusions to make Ragna suffer in his matches, anything more and we'd risk being found out. Doesn't matter how strong your semblance is if you're careless enough for them to see it."

He said that last sentence bitterly, very bitterly. Even if Neo saw that, it wasn't enough for her to drop the guise as she crossed her arms and tapped her foot expectantly for Mercury to pick up on her question. He rolled his eyes, but answered nonetheless.

"My guess is that she's still in the library; she's been spending so much time trying to make things horrible for Ragna the something that she's fallen behind in her own work and had to spend today for catch up. I can't say I'm too surprised, it's hard to find much time that she's not with him."

"Mmph."

"Oh Bloodedge, right. Weird name," Mercury was able to tell from another of Emerald's grunts. He also noticed that Neo (still with Cinder's face) was confused, looking for an explanation. "I don't know why she's doing it. All she told us before we got to the academy was that there was someone here whose life she needed to make a living hell. At first I thought it was that kid with the red hood that she and Torchwick brought up and she was just messing with Ragna so that she could get to her. Now she just wants him to suffer and the girl's misery is just icing on the cake."

Neo seemed to be thinking that info over pretty intensely. Even if Mercury could pick up on some of the odder signals on display, he wasn't a psychic and there was no telling what was going through the mind of Torchwick's right hand lady. The three then heard soft sounds coming from outside, enough to put them all slightly on edge and Neo to drop her Semblance.

"Thanks again for sticking around to work a little further in our project, I feel like we managed to make a ton of progress today thanks to you." The voice on the other side of the door was Cinder's and the grunt that they heard was obviously her victim in question. "We've put a lot of effort into our assignments, but I get the feeling that we should be finished with this soon enough."

"We better be, I feel like we've been going non-stop for months now. This better be worth it."

"It will; with all of the extra work we've put into double checking our answers we'll be free those last few weeks. All thanks to you."

"Not like I had much of a... choice..."

The last bit of Ragna sentence sounded a bit uncomfortable, and the three inside the team room swore that they heard other murmurings coming from down the hallway. When the door finally opened, Cinder was looking like her regular cocky self and her victim looked a bit taken aback.

"See you around... and thanks," she said... a little sultry at that.

"Yeah... good luck with work," Ragna muttered as he headed off in an exhausted daze. As Cinder closed the door behind her, Emerald forced herself upright off the bed.

"What the heck was that?" Mercury had to ask.

"Don't be so dramatic, just a friendly hug to show my good nature and keep my cover up," she told them sweetly. "Of course with how uncomfortable Ragna is when I do it, it's a double win."

"Weren't you supposed to be working on your own project today?" Emerald finally spoke. "You told us that you weren't even planning to bother Ragna."

"Plans can change, and when I saw him actually starting to make progress in the library I just couldn't help myself." She said it proudly, only to notice Neo's gaze. "What's with you?"

"She's wondering why you're putting this guy through so much hell, and frankly so are the rest of us. I get that putting down some of the students is a great distraction and at first I thought that's all this was, but why go all in on him? You've ruined three of his matches and made his studying torture."

"Two matches, Emerald tells me that the last one came about with no interference. He lost that fight to that bizarre dancer fellow without any help on our end, which is good for keeping our cover."

"Which would have been even easier for us to keep if we hadn't tried it in the first place," Mercury said. "Even if the people here are complete morons, they still have the chance to figure us out. If that happens it doesn't matter if they catch us afterwards or not... she'll put us down."

Even Emerald with her undying loyalty towards Cinder couldn't help but shiver at Mercury's phrasing. She'd had the occasional horrible thought of what could happen if any of them went rogue, and no matter how horrible those dark ideas went she knew what would actually be in for them would be far worse.

"So, Leader..." Mercury asked, stressing Cinder's responsibility. "Why bother with all of this?"

"Because there's a certain someone within our organization that needs a long overdue reality check... and making Ragna's life a living hell is my way of doing that."

"You're not... is this a fight with Hazama?" Now Mercury was getting angry. "Do you have a deathwish? You don't know what that monster can do to us, no one does. Not a soul on Remnant has seen him in action and lived to tell about it."

"It doesn't matter," Cinder said sternly, a brief flicker of fire seen in her eyes as a warning. "I refuse to be mocked by that idiot. If I can't put him in his place with my special edge, then I can at least take away something that he finds important. I don't know the exact details, but he's let on that he's ruined the life of someone very special a few times, almost like he was bragging about it. All it took was one look at Ragna and I knew; he was the one that Hazama was so invested in."

"So you're just attacking Ragna to get even with him? And you're putting all of our lives on the line?" Mercury asked with a disappointed shake of his head. "You really are something, you know that?"

"...I acknowledge what you said earlier; should Beacon show any signs of catching onto us I'll stop my advances on Ragna until we have the proper cover again. It's not worth risking the mission just for him." Cinder then gave a wicked smirk. "And you don't need to worry about Hazama, all I'm going to do is shut him up for a bit."

"That'll be worth it," Emerald muttered.

"Of course you're going along with this without question," her partner added bitterly. "Okay, but don't you think it's a little odd that he hasn't done anything to screw with us yet? You'd think if you're trying to mess with him so much he'd make his own power play by now."

"Then he'd just be admitting that he has something to worry about with me; either way I win this," the villainess said sinisterly. "And it's not like I need you to get involved; Ragna's losing streak brought from Emerald's illusions and his own weakness can carry his suffering for a short while... I just need to get things ready for my own moves."

"So in short I can take the bench while I watch how this plays out," Mercury decided as he flopped into bed. "Whatever, guess I can enjoy the sparks at least."

"And you?" Cinder asked Neo. The mute gave her an uncommitted shrug. "Then feel free to stay back and observe as well. I'll put on a proper show for all of us."

"I'm with you," Emerald added readily.

"I know. Now if you'll excuse me I need to be getting ready for work," Cinder said with a sadistic smile.

Meanwhile -Torchwick's Secret Base-

"Hide the chocolates. NOW."

Next Time: Desire

Author's Note

HAPPY 2021!

...Now obviously all isn't magically right with the world just because we've gone into a new year, but with hell the last one put us through it's hard not to see this as a major milestone.

Anyways, I'm finally backing after needing some much needed time off to deal with work and my own piling stress. Moving forward I'm planning to do one chapter each month and use the time between each as a chance to work ahead. I'll be focusing on this story until we get done with our current Arc... which honestly might take the rest of this year.

We done? Cool. Let's get some reviews looked at.

Guest (1): I mean I kinda prefer it myself, but it makes some sense why I couldn't use those parts here.

Primus1661: This story for a while at least.

Wlyman2009: When it comes to schools, there's always either testing or project bullshit... often both.

The Unplanner: Don't worry, I made sure. Not sure if that character's going to show up again, I was thinking of keeping her a one and done annoyance.

P3R50N4: A few that I can think of already, some which will be addressed in her chapter.

Fernandamichelleraya: I wouldn't say the advice is horrible per say, just a bit pushy.

Guest (2): In her defense, Makoto should know better than to push the Adam Button... shouldn't have done that.

Monkeymerc: Hol' up, you want more?

Leo0074: Glad to be back too... I was almost gone permanently. (Clarifying: Just off of FF, but consoling and other help is available if anyone needs that help)

Yuki Terumi: Like I said, this story NEEDS some serious development... Well all of them do, but this one has a few issues that need to be addressed.

Bismarck Alexander: Those are ideas, but for now I'm going to stick to my own roadmap. Whether or not they go along with your plans... you'll just have to see.

Guest (3): I have ideas on that one... we'll just have to see.

Guest (4 and 5): 2020 happened... and all of it sort of just caught up with me. I'm doing better now and work's started to calm down.

pendragonZx: My pleasure.

Danksupe: YAY! I have enough written to be bingeable!

Carlom2408: At the moment she seems to be the most outspoken one at least.

HAVE A GREAT NEW YEAR EVERYONE! NOWHERE TO GO BUT UP!

...Oh god, I just jinxed us all didn't I?