Another day at Beacon and another spar between teammates as the Vytal tournament drew closer. Today it was Weiss and Yang, who were forced to practice in one of the fields since some third year teams had booked the arena for the entire day. It was just the two of them out today since Ruby had just vanished in the morning and Blake needed 'alone time', whatever that meant. They took turns honing their attacks and reflexes as much as they could, which was where Weiss had noticed something that only became more prominent as the training progressed.
Yang was a beast, and only improved when Weiss pointed out deficiencies in her style. When Weiss took advantage of Yang's bull-rush attack style, she started dodging and misdirecting attacks more. And even when the training started, Weiss started noticing Yang was aiming her strikes to debilitate more. A born fighter through and through.
'It'd be a bad idea to rely on her for the tournament though. Too much on her and she trips, we'll all come down. I can't risk that, not when we're so close.' Weiss gripped her sword a little tighter as she dashed at Yang and swung at her, being extremely careful to not hit her hair in the process. After all, no one wanted to end up like the tree that Yang had splintered the last time she lost a hair.
Weiss had little to worry about since Yang dodged it with room to spare and kicked in retaliation, which Weiss blocked with a glyph that Yang bounced off of. She flew back a few feet, bounced off the ground with her feet into a backflip, and stood in a ready stance. The back and forth like this had gone on for a while and Weiss was breathing heavily while Yang (damn her) looked like she wasn't winded in the slightest. Very annoyed at that fact, Weiss decided to call the training there and gave Yang the hand signal it was over before bending over to catch her breath.
"We're done already?" Yang asked while walking over to her, her arms lazily put up behind her head. "I barely managed to work up a sweat from that."
"Well we can't all be monsters like you. My legs are burning after all of that," Weiss returned. She took a few deep breaths and managed to stand up straight and sheath her rapier.
"That's true enough. If it makes you feel better, you lasted longer than the last time we sparred." Yang got next to Weiss and wrapped her arm around her shoulders, which threatened to crush Weiss even with her relaxed strength. "You should be proud of that Princess."
"I will be, thank you," Weiss said with a little humor before brushing Yang's arm off of her. "I'm famished after that. If you want, we can go get some lunch and see if Ruby and Blake will be up for a group exercise."
"I don't know about the exercise, but I'm good for lunch. I feel like I could eat a whole cow now." Weiss rolled her eyes at that and was just about to start toward the mess hall when Yang leaned to look around her with a curious look. "Hey, check out who it is." Weiss turned to follow Yang's gaze and felt a small jolt go through her body at what she saw. Yang had probably meant a nearby Summer Rose who was waiting near a tree with a look of irritation and a leash in her hand. Weiss however was more focused on what was on the other end of that leash.
"Oh my god, a dog!" Weiss said happily and ran in the direction of said dog, leaving behind a slightly bewildered Yang who shook her head and walked after her.
"Will you please choose a place to go Zwei? We have places to be," Weiss heard Summer say to the dog just as Weiss slid on her knees to a stop next to Zwei, causing both Summer and Zwei to jump at the sudden appearance.
"Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to scare you little dog," Weiss said softly and looked up at Summer, "Is he good to pet?" Summer blinked twice and slowly nodded, upon which Weiss carefully reached a hand out and started petting Zwei. Zwei lolled a tongue out and walked closer to Weiss so she could pet him more, which she gladly did so with a huge smile on her face. "I didn't know you had this little cutie with you."
"For now. Zwei belongs to Tai's folks and we're looking after him while they're away." Summer smiled and crossed her arms, "I gotta say, I didn't figure you for a dog person. You seemed more into cats."
"What's that supposed to mean?" Weiss asked, her face looking as though Summer had just offended her in some deep manner.
"Nothing, just the vibe I got from you." Weiss scowled a little harder at Summer, though that stopped when Zwei escaped from her hands to jump up and lick her face.
"Ah! He's a friendly one!" Weiss exclaimed, giggles escaping her as she pet Zwei.
"Oh yeah, Zwei loves people. I was hoping to take advantage of that to find Raven, but instead he's been running me ragged all over the academy." Summer fell quiet for a moment and put a hand to her chin in thought, "Or maybe that's Raven being especially sneaky today."
"Why would she do that?" Yang asked, stopping a bit away from Weiss and Zwei.
"She has therapy today, but she hates going to things like that and ditches whenever she can. I end up having to drag her there every time. Honestly it's a huge pain in the ass, but partners are partners. We have to deal with it."
"Tell me about it, Ruby's the same way. At least we don't have to deal with that today, right Weiss?" Weiss gave Yang a flat look while rubbing Zwei's ears.
"And what are you doing? Just training for the tournament?"
"Yup, and just about to get some lunch."
"And… nothing else?"
"Not at the moment. Why?" Summer crossed her arms and closed her eyes, tapping a finger against her arm as she thought before sighing softly and looking at Weiss.
"I need to talk to you Weiss. It's very important and, to be perfectly frank"—Summer shot Yang a brief look—"I'd like to do it alone."
"Why?" Weiss asked and stood up.
"It's… complicated to explain, so it'd just be easier to ask. It won't take long, I promise." Weiss hummed in thought and looked at Yang, who returned her own curious look and shrugged.
"Hey, she doesn't want me around then who am I to be a third wheel?" Yang said and knelt down to get a look at Zwei. "But good news, you get to spend more time with this little cutie. Aren't you precious." Yang held out a hand and wagged a finger in front of Zwei. He silently stared at it for a second and sniffed it cautiously.
Then he tried to bite her, though Yang managed to pull her hand back before he could.
"Whoa!" Yang exclaimed as Zwei ran at her and was stopped short by the leash, where he barked and growled and snarled at her. Yang took an extra step back just to be safe.
"Zwei! Bad dog!" Summer shouted and pulled back on the leash, slowly reeling the corgi back even as he continued growling. "What's the matter with you!?"
"What did you do?" Weiss asked while giving Yang a glare.
"Nothing!" Yang answered holding her hands up, "Dogs just hate me! I don't know why."
"That's no excuse!" Summer shouted as she gave the leash another tug and held firm so Zwei stayed next to her. "Bad dog! You don't bite at people!"
"I think that's my cue to leave," Yang said and backed away from Zwei, their eyes meeting for just a moment before she turned to Weiss. "I'll chat with you later Weiss. I'm going to try and find Ruby." Yang then turned and ran toward Beacon Tower, her eyes wide with worry. 'I hope they bought that. I do not need any bad questions. Damn bloodhounds.'
"Well…" Weiss started, only to stop and shake her head slightly before looking at Summer. "So what did you want to ask me?"
"I'm in no mood to ask right now," Summer answered and gave Zwei another tug, very annoyed at how he still tried to go after Yang. "I'm going to walk this off before I can even think of what I wanted to ask you. And you," she pointed at Zwei, "are not getting a treat with dinner!"
That finally got Zwei's attention and he turned to Summer and gave her his best 'puppy dog' eyes and whined.
"Don't give me that look! You know better! What's wrong with you?" Summer turned and walked down the path with Zwei lagging behind her still whining. Weiss stood still for a moment, awkward about what happened and a little guilty too, before she walked after Summer.
On the other side of the academy, under the shade of an oak tree, Blake was relaxing with a book. She didn't know how, but Yang had recently found out about Blake's taste in literature and the teasing had been relentless since. She had even gone out of her way to purchase a new copy of 'Ninjas of love' specifically to taunt Blake with. If it was anyone but Yang, Blake might have actually been upset.
As it stood though, Ruby had more than made up for that. Who knew the girl had such… strong opinions on those kinds of books, and Blake wasn't sure if she was kidding or not. Still, she had managed to get the book out of sight while Ruby was dealing with Yang.
Which leads us back to now, with Blake attempting to recapture the feeling of when she first read this book on a calm day. It wouldn't be calm for long.
"Whatcha reading?" Blake jumped and let out a smaller shriek as she looked at Raven, who was leaning against the tree with a smirk. "Nice scream."
"Where did you come from?" Blake asked as she scrambled to her feet and pointed at Raven.
"You're not the only one with ninja skills. So what are you reading?" Raven leaned to the side to try and see the book cover, which Blake quickly hid against her chest.
"It's nothing! Just a book!"
"...Is there fucking in it?"
"WHY ARE YOU BOTHERING ME!? DON'T YOU HAVE SOMEWHERE ELSE TO BE?"
"Not particularly, I'm just trying to avoid therapy for as long as I can. Back to the point, why are you hanging out here alone? I'd figure you'd be hanging with your super rich girlfriend or something."
Blake's eye twitched at the had heard a few people say that exact same thing when they thought she hadn't been listening and it really got to her more than anything else. She took a quick breath to steady her nerves because, as her short time knowing Raven Branwen showed, this was a girl who thrived on screwing with people. She shouldn't show that it got to her, it'll only spur her on.
"As much as I love Weiss, and I do," Blake couldn't help throwing that out along with a glare, both of which Raven shrugged off, "sometimes I just want to be by myself for a bit. It's… refreshing to be able to do that, especially with how crazy my team can get sometimes."
"I feel you on that, my team gets the same way." Raven clenched a hand into a fist and growled quietly, "Qrow had better have fixed that fucking toilet when I get back." Blake wisely decided not to ask about that as Raven pushed off the tree and crossed her arms. "And you're only just now figuring out that wanting space from your SO is normal?"
Blake flinched at that and pushed down some particularly bad memories. "I don't want to talk about it."
"That says enough," Raven said and took a step closer to put a hand on Blake's shoulder. "Listen, you ever need to put some dick head into a shallow grave, I'll be happy to help. I won't even charge you for it." Blake hoped that Raven was joking, but she certainly didn't look like she was. She shook her head, took a few steps back from Raven, and put a hand up.
"I appreciate the offer, but no thanks. I just want to focus on the present. I'm fine where I am now."
"The offer still stands. So what's this book about anyway?" Blake didn't know what she meant until she realized two key facts: her book was gone, and was now being held by Raven and examined curiously. She hadn't even felt the book leave her grasp, and hoped that Raven didn't notice her bow perk up.
"What the- give that back!" Blake said and lunged for her book. Raven deftly stepped to the side and gave Blake a kick to the back, just hard enough to knock her off balance and send her to the ground.
"Now hold your horses, I just want to see what all the fuss is about," Raven said calmly and opened the book to a random page. Whatever was on the page caused her to hold the book out at arms length and gawk. "Oh damn! There is fucking in this!"
"GIVE IT BACK!" Blake shouted and moved to lunge for her book again, this time using her Semblance to give her a boost. She missed again when Raven moved her arms enough for Blake's arm to slip through and then closed the book on her arm. Blake was then flipped over Raven's shoulder and landed roughly on her back, recovering in time to see Raven was back to reading like nothing had happened.
"A ninjato? Does he even know how big those are? Dumbass author."
'So that's how we're playing it huh?' Blake thought before she jumped to her feet and rushed Raven. She dodged Blake's first punch, ducked the following straight, and when Blake tried for a spin kick Raven knocked it down with her own foot and used that to hop onto Blake's shoulders and then jump onto a branch of the tree. Blake got her footing and looked up at Raven, who had turned the book to the side so a centerfold could unfold.
"Whoa! Now that's a katana!" Raven said, suitably impressed. For the record, it actually was a picture of an ornate katana. Sword or no, Blake was furious at the indignity.
"GIVE ME BACK MY FUCKING BOOK!" Blake yelled and kicked the tree, probably a little harder than she intended as the bark cracked a little on impact. It did knock Raven off balance though and she had to flail her arms to regain her balance, which led to the book slipping out of her hand.
Blake wasted no time in trying for the book again and jumped onto the tree and pushed off toward the book. Raven, not one to give up easily, crouched and fell backwards with her hands holding onto the branch so she could launch herself down toward the book. Blake was slightly faster and finally managed to reclaim her book, though the elation only lasted a minute before Raven tackled her out of the air and back toward the ground.
Blake landed roughly and saw Raven roll forward and took the book from her grasp. Blake planted her hands and kicked her legs over her in a half circle. Raven dodged the kick, which left Blake on her back and with her feet just under Raven's hands. Blake threw her leg up again and managed to catch the book in her foot and kick it out of Raven's hands. Blake then scrambled to her feet and tried to dash after the book as it soared through the air, only to get tackled from behind by Raven.
"Let me go! Why do you even care so much!?" Blake shouted.
"It's funny!" Raven returned. There was a soft thump and Blake, fearing the worst, looked up to find her book hadn't hit the ground. Nope, it was far worse than that.
It had been caught by Ruby. Raven had gotten off of Blake when she also saw Ruby and Blake quickly got to her feet. She shivered as Ruby's red eyes bore into her and Blake gave her a quiet wave.
"Uh, hi Ruby. Um, thanks for catching my book?"
"What's got you so spooked?" Raven asked while Ruby carefully looked at the cover. After a second of silence, Raven shrugged, "Well you two have fun. I gotta get back to running from responsibilities. Later."
"You're not leaving," Ruby said.
"Uh, the fuck I can't. Who are you to stop me?" Raven tried to prove her point by walking away, but only managed a single step before Ruby appeared in front of her in a flurry of petals that caused Raven to flinch. "Gah fuck!"
"You. Aren't. Leaving," Ruby said and opened the book to a page, her finger going to a passage, "because as this book you were fighting over says, 'For the crimes you have committed against both our clans, your punishments will be most grave." Ruby shut the book with a small slam and stared right into Raven's eyes. "So it is written."
"... That shit has an actual plot?" was the last thing Raven asked before Ruby raised the book over her head with her face twisted in anger. The last thing she heard as the book came down was Blake yelling 'Ruby no!'
Weiss had been walking with Summer and Zwei for a while and she still wasn't sure if Summer was in a better mood. She had spent muttering to herself and sighing angrily while Zwei trotted along beside her doing adorable doggy things. She was starting to wonder how long she'd have to wait until she was finally calm when Summer looked at her.
"Hey, sorry about earlier," she said, still a little irritated, "I didn't mean to go off like that."
"It's ok," Weiss replied and waved a hand, "things can get to you, I get it. I still don't know why Zwei would hate Yang so much."
"Good question. He's so well behaved otherwise." Zwei perked up at the praise and looked at Summer. "He still isn't getting any treats with dinner though." His ears drooped down and his gait slowed a little, which Summer shook her head at. 'If he didn't want to get punished, he wouldn't have acted out.'
"Hm…" Weiss felt a little sorry for the dog, but there wasn't much she could do for him. "So, you wanted to ask me something?"
"Right, that whole business," Summer said with a sigh and stopped walking. Weiss and Zwei stopped as well and both watched Summer as she crossed her arms and thought for a moment. Soon she nodded and turned to face Weiss. "Well, I guess I should be straight to the point. Where were you before the Breach?"
"I beg your pardon?" Weiss asked and raised an eyebrow.
"The night before the Breach. Where were you?"
"Why would that matter to you?" 'Such an odd question.'
"Just answer the question." Weiss flinched at the tone Summer used, authoritative and with little patience for jokes. Weiss watched Summer for a moment before straightening up and matching her look. 'I don't understand why she wants to know, but it might be important.'
"I was in my dorm room all night with my team, getting some early rest before our mission. Well, I was resting, Ruby and Yang decided to play video games until 11:30 before going to bed. Aside from one moment where I woke up from a bad dream, I slept the whole night until the klaxon came on."
"When did this 'bad dream' happen?"
"Um… two, three in the morning? I was still half asleep and didn't really notice the time." Summer uncrossed her arms and rubbed her chin in thought, her free hand playing with the end of Zwei's leash.
"Can anyone corroborate your story?" Weiss gave an annoyed huff and Summer raised a hand. "I do think you're telling the truth. I just want to be absolutely sure about this."
"Oh I bet you do. Blake can vouch for me, she woke me up from the nightmare. Yang can too since… we may have woken her up?" Weiss scratched her cheek and gave Summer a sheepish smile.
"Hey, I'm not one to bad mouth young love, as long as you keep it quiet," Summer said with a smirk and a shrug, which made Weiss blush. "In any case, I'd like to check that. You mind calling one of them? I don't have their numbers."
"Sure, I don't think Blake would mind." Weiss took out her scroll, called Blake, and handed it to Summer. "So why are you asking me all of this?"
"...I saw something that spooked me pretty bad before the Breach. I'm just covering all of my bases," Summer replied and held the scroll to her ear. Weiss wasn't sure what to make about that, but she didn't voice that and watched silently as Blake finally picked up.
"Hi Blake, it's Summer. I was talking with Weiss about something and need you to confirm it. It's kind of important." Summer listened for a little bit, so in the meantime Weiss started playing with Zwei again. She was thoroughly enjoying watching the corgi hop around on his hind legs while Summer huffed in annoyance. "Well don't sound overly enthused or anything." Weiss looked up at Summer, who shook her head and waved her off.
"Anyway, I was talking to Weiss about the night before the Breach. She says she was in her room asleep all night save for after a nightmare at around 2 in the morning. Can you vouch for that?" Summer listened and squinted her eyes in annoyance. "Yes, it is important. Especially the 2 AM bit. Can you confirm it?" Summer listened a bit more and her annoyance melted away. She raised an eyebrow and asked, "Yang can vouch as well?" Another pause and Summer snorted a laugh. "No, it's not that. Weiss said the same thing. You two have to remember there's other people in the room."
Weiss burned with anger and wanted so badly to strangle Summer right then and there, but released it calmly via giving Zwei vigorous pets. He didn't mind at all.
"No, that's pretty much all I needed. I'll let you get back to whatever it was you were doing. Actually, have you seen Raven? She's being extra slippery today." Summer blinked at whatever Blake's response was and wrapped her free arm around her stomach. "Really? And where are— was that Yang?"
It did sound like it, even Weiss could hear Yang's laughter from the scroll. Summer yanked the scroll from her ear as Yang screamed through the speakers. "YOU GOTTA COME SEE THIS! THE WESTERN INTERSECTION, THIS IS FUCKING HILARIOUS! AHAHAHAHA—" the line went dead and Summer and Weiss stared at the scroll for a moment before Summer closed it and held it back to Weiss.
"Well, good news is I know where Raven went. You want to see what kind of trouble she got herself and Blake into?"
"Why not? I'm probably going to miss lunch at this rate anyway," Weiss replied as she stowed away her scroll and walked with Summer and Zwei to where their respective partners were. After a few minutes of silent walking, Weiss clasped her hands behind her back and asked, "So am I off the hook for whatever all of this was?"
"You weren't on the hook to begin with, but yes," Summer said. She sighed and rubbed her eyes with a tired groan. "I'm getting too paranoid again. I can't wait for this shit to be over so I can sleep all day."
"Rough week?" Weiss asked and got a nod from Summer, "Is there anything I can do to help?"
"Yeah, stay the hell out of my way."
"Fine. That works for me anyway, I need to focus on winning the tournament."
Summer couldn't help a laugh at that. "That's cute that you think you can beat my team."
"Hey, we've been getting better," Weiss defended, crossing her arms.
"Granted, but you're still nowhere close to us. Team STRQ is the best in the world!"
"We'll have to see about that." Weiss giggled and Summer joined her. Once the laughter died down they fell into small talk as they walked, both more than happy to let Zwei lead them and to leave darker topics behind them.
Blake, on the other hand, was not having a good time. Her head hurt and Ruby had taken her book to parts unknown. At least the punishment that she and Raven had been hit with at least seemed easy to get away with, which of course was when Yang found them and immediately blabbed about her state to Summer and Weiss. She was now laughing uproariously at her and Raven's state and all Blake could do was wait for the inevitable.
"Oh wow." Blake opened her eyes and looked at Summer and Weiss, the former smirking at them and the latter holding her hand up to her mouth to keep from laughing. They also had a dog with them, if only to further Blake's humiliation. "Welp, I'm in hell now," Blake muttered.
"You just got here?" Raven asked flatly. Summer walked over to them, taking extra care to keep Zwei away from Yang, and stopped in front of Raven. She, like Blake, was sitting down with her legs tucked under her with a sign hung around her neck. She knelt down and read the sign, which got a snort out of her.
"'Under one hour punishment for crimes of Horny.' You had fun Rae?" Summer asked.
"Oh yeah, 'fun'. That's what you call this. Kill me."
"Later. Are you ready for therapy now?"
"Sure, why not? It's bound to be better than what I'm going through right now."
"That's the spirit Rae!" Raven scowled at Summer's cheer, but did nothing else as Summer wrapped her arms around her and foisted Raven onto her shoulders. She hung limply like a rag doll, utterly pissed off at the world and just wanting the day to be over already. Summer adjusted Raven a little and turned to Blake, who had gone back to quietly accepting her punishment.
"I'll leave you with your teammates. Is that okay?"
"It's fine," Blake answered.
"Great. Have a nice day."
"Oh I AM!" Yang shouted and fell onto her back in another laughing fit and started kicking her feet in the air.
"Blake…" Weiss started and fell to her knees. Bless her, she was trying to hold it in, but the laughs still slipped out. "Wha-what happened?" She finally gave into a giggle fit and Blake simply sighed.
"I just wanted to read." Her teammates laughed harder and Blake hoped the hour passed quickly. She had just gotten to a good part after all.
