Hey all! Apologies for the lateness-I meant to have this out awhile ago, and have it be a bit longer, but I ran into some unexpected snags. I'll work through those as soon as I can, schoolwork's getting a little pressing right this second, but rest assured more is on the way. I'm aiming to update on a weekly/biweekly basis, which will mostly depend on how much time I can pry away from schoolwork. This chapter also isn't quite as long as I'd like, so there might be an update elongating this one in a little while(otherwise it'll just go into the next chapter). Thank you all for reading, I hope you're enjoying the story!
"So. Is that it?" Weiss said, frowning. She felt all the eyes in the room turn to look at her. Ren and Nora looked up from where they'd been embracing and comforting their teammate, with Jaune patting her on the shoulder. Pyrrha even stopped quietly sobbing for a moment.
"…what?" Pyrrha croaked, lifting her face out of her hands to look back at Weiss.
"Is that it? The whole reason you think he's a 'better person' than the rest of the Britannian aristocrats?" Weiss asked.
"Yes." Pyrrha said, voice only shaking a little. It was clear to Weiss that Pyrrha believed what she was saying, just as much as she was ashamed of what she had done. Weiss could understand that. Even so…
"I don't think that that's enough." Weiss said.
"Weiss…" Ruby began.
"I'm serious. So he did a good deed. Maybe he acted out of the kindness of his heart, but it's also an action that would do wonders for his reputation. He could have even planned for it," Weiss said.
"I don't know, Weiss," Ren said, shaking his head before turning back to look at Nora. "I think we might have been wrong on this one. Pyrrha's word is good enough for me."
"If Pyrrha thinks he's fine, then so do we!" Nora agreed, nodding. Weiss tried not to glare, but her frustration was growing steadily.
"He did a good thing, even though it could've killed him," Jaune the fool chimed in.
"There are certainly less dangerous things he could do to get a good reputation," Blake said thoughtfully.
"Sorry, Weissicle, I'm gonna have to side with them on this one," Yang said, with a smile that only made Weiss feel like hissing at her.
"You're not listening," Weiss said, gesturing at the whole group. "You're all so happy to buy into this 'noble prince' routine, you're missing the obvious fact that he's a member of the most nefarious royal families in all of history. His actions were good, sure—but they aren't the only important part of what he did! None of us know what motivated those actions, and good or no, his intentions in pursuing this course of action are the thing that matter the most!"
"Okay, then—why don't we go ask him?" Ruby said, startling Weiss. She'd forgotten that her new leader was sitting right next to her—Ruby'd been so quiet. Weiss didn't fully process what she'd said.
"What?" Weiss asked, staring at the silver-eyed girl.
"Why don't we go ask him why he did it?" Ruby asked. Weiss… couldn't have heard that correctly.
"You can't be serious," Weiss replied, but her leader just looked back at her.
"Why not, Weiss-cream? Seems like it'd solve your problem." Yang said, taking a moment to stretch. The audacity of that girl!
"My 'problem' is that all of you are trusting in the actions of a prince of Britannia without even a moment of hesitation and stop calling me that!" Weiss said, pointing directly at her flame-haired teammate, who frowned back at her. Weiss glanced around the room for support, and to her immense aggravation, found none.
"Asking him seems a bit… direct… but it can't really hurt," Blake said, looking at Weiss as if she was some sort of visual puzzle. Weiss gritted her teeth—was her entire team composed of fools?
"Of course it can," Weiss ground out.
"Weiss—" Weiss felt a tap on her shoulder and looked back at Ruby again, who waved at the door. "Can I talk to you alone for a minute?"
"I—" Weiss began, glancing around at the other members of the room. The ball of frustration that had been winding up in her chest stalled for a moment. If she'd taken longer to think about it, she probably would've said no, but her manners and upbringing responded for her. "I—suppose so."
Weiss followed Ruby out into the hall, not entirely sure what the younger girl was doing. She was glad to be out of that conversation, at least, but leaving it like that felt slightly shameful—which did not help her irritation or her nerves. She was about to say something along those lines, but then Ruby turned around, checked up and down the hall, and then spoke.
"Weiss, what's wrong?" She asked. Weiss frowned.
"Aside from the potential Britannian menace in our midst, you mean?" She replied.
"Sort of. It's just… I feel like there's more to it that you're not saying. This doesn't seem like you," Ruby responded. Didn't seem… what?
"Well, you're hardly an expert on who I'm like—we barely know each other!" Weiss responded— only to feel a pang of regret and confusion when the younger girl frowned at her. Ruby didn't say anything for a moment, just looked back at her with searching silver eyes that seemed somehow too wide and too honest to bear looking into. Weiss began to feel the pressure of the silence.
"Look, Britannians are dangerous. That's all there is to it, and anyone who thinks otherwise is in for a rude awakening." Weiss said.
"But how do you know?" Ruby asked.
"I just—" a memory rose halfway to the forefront of her mind of a stunning smile, a sunny day, and the scent of peaches, and it almost made it to the surface before she could crush it back into place—"I—I've studied. I pay attention. I've even met some of them while they were doing business with my father, and I can't believe that you'd all just trust him so easily," Weiss said.
"I don't trust him, Weiss, but I trust Pyrrha." Ruby said, agonizingly calm. She paused, and Weiss was about to reply with a cutting and very clever remark when she abruptly continued, "I trust you, too, Weiss—it just seems like we don't know enough about this Lelouch guy to think he's up to something."
Weiss couldn't meet Ruby's eyes anymore. No, of course they wouldn't see it. And, she didn't care if they trusted her—she was mostly sure… and the part of her that was aching with hurt at the thought that they might not, couldn't itself be trusted. Why would they trust her, when they'd only just met? That foolish part of her had thought that they would believe her, their teammate, about the danger in their midst instead of just ignoring her… but that wasn't important.
"Pyrrha's clearly made up her mind, but she's never even met or had more than one conversation with this prince. I can't believe that you would all just—just follow along with her like sheep to the slaughter!" Weiss said. She looked back up and met Ruby's eyes, not sure what she expected to see—only to be met with a small smile and more affection and empathy than she could entirely handle.
"Weiss… you don't have to worry about us," Ruby said. Weiss almost flinched back.
"I—no, that's not…" Weiss began. Ruby just smiled wider, before looking at her with the same serious face she'd seen on her back when they'd seen the Prince's battleship.
"We just have to try and find out what he's up to and prove it to the others. If we don't try, and you're right about him… I know they'll change their minds eventually, but it might be only after something really bad happens," Ruby said.
"Well that's just absurd! He's probably being extremely cautious—Britannians are masters of deception, there's no way we could ever find anything without breaking into his room or something." Weiss protested, though she had to admit Ruby had a point. It was clear her word wasn't going to be enough, but what kind of proof would be necessary to—
"Or… we could just go talk to him and find out that way," Ruby said.
"That won't help at all!" Weiss said. Hadn't she explained that already? You could never tell who these Britannian nobles were by talking to them—it was like they'd made their own personalities into masks, far more so than even the Atlesian upper class.
"It couldn't hurt," Ruby said. Weiss scowled—how could she be such a dolt?
"Of course it could—talking is exactly how they start to get to you!" Weiss said.
"But he couldn't get to me, not with you there," Ruby said. Weiss took a second to respond to that.
"And where did all of this faith in me come from all of a sudden?" Weiss said, more quietly. Ruby frowned back at her.
"Darn it Weiss—you're my partner! And my friend, and the smartest person on our team, and you've saved my life more than once—I'd be pretty dumb to not have faith in you. Heck, it's part of my job! How could I lead people I don't trust?" Ruby said. Weiss stared back at her leader, whose eyes were almost hypnotizing in their intensity. She felt a sudden surge of warmth, somewhere in her chest. Ruby really did trust her, then. If her silver-eyed partner really thought this way… maybe Ruby wasn't so bad of a choice for group leader after all.
"So, they aren't going to worry about the prince unless we give them more of a reason, and you aren't going to be happy until they listen to you—so I think we need to go talk to him. It's the only way," Ruby said. Weiss clenched her teeth.
"I just told you, that's not an acceptable option. Britannian nobles enjoy using words as their weapons," She said. Ruby just shrugged.
"Well, I'm gonna go talk to him later. If you don't want to come, that's okay—but you're worried, and the rest of the team made up their minds, so I'm the only one who hasn't decided yet and I want to know more about him before I do," Ruby said.
"I…" Weiss paused. This was a very bad idea, but she knew that look—eerily similar to the one her teammate wore when she'd been told there was a fresh batch of cookies in the cafeteria—her partner wasn't going to be dissuaded, and there was no way that Weiss was going to let her go alone into that lion's den. She took a deep breath, then let it out.
"Fine. I'll go with you—but don't say I didn't warn you," Weiss said. Ruby grinned.
"Great! Let's go tell the others," Ruby said, walking back to the door. With a heavy heart, Weiss followed.
They couldn't catch him in their first class of the day, or their second. Before they could make it to their third, however, their pursuit was interrupted.
Weiss and Ruby were walking together a little ahead of their group when they ran into two of the Britannian's companions. They were facing each other head-on, and they did not look happy.
"I can't believe you," The red-haired girl—Karen?—growled. "You actually chose to betray us and side with them—with him?"
"Oh, so I'm the traitor now?" The boy—Soozakoo?—replied, voice seething with rage. "Are you even listening to yourself?"
"I was trying to avenge our people! Though maybe they aren't your people anymore, since you're so eager to throw your lot in with him—" the girl spat.
"He's my oldest friend, and you almost took him from me—and it would've been my fault for trusting you! How dare you try to turn this back on me?" The boy replied, practically bristling.
"Weiss, I think we should go…" Ruby whispered—apparently not quietly enough, because both of them turned to glare at her.
"This is a private conversation," The boy said. Weiss narrowed her eyes—he did not get to speak to her and her partner that way, not when he was the one choosing to make a scene out in the open.
"And this is a public pathway. Go find somewhere else to shout at each other if you don't want people to hear you," Weiss replied, crossing her arms. The boy grimaced, clearly becoming acutely aware of exactly where he was. That was more like it.
"You're right… my apologies," he said, bowing a quick bow and then striding off towards the arena. He was going to be in their class, then.
"Goddamnit, Suzaku—we aren't done!" The girl shouted, rushing after him. Weiss stared after them… rude as it had been, what in Remnant had they been talking about? Betrayal? Their people?
"What was that all about?" Yang asked, coming up beside them.
"I dunno…" Ruby said, shrugging. "We should probably get to class though—I don't want CRDL stealing our seats again." Yang nodded. Weiss certainly agreed.
CRDL had been an annoyance, to say the least. It was clear to her that they'd been trying to assert some kind of dominance among the first year students through intimidation and cruelty. Despite being utter cretins, they'd even succeeded to some extent, though they'd known well enough to stay away from teams RWBY and JNPR for the most part, the one notable exception having been the fool Arc, who they'd once tripped into one of Beacon's fountains.
It appeared that they had not yet arrived, however, as their seats were mercifully empty. Weiss was making her way to her own typical seat when she felt a tap on her shoulder. She looked over to see Ruby, who was nodding towards another part of the stands. She followed her partner's gaze to see—the Britannian. And his two teammates, who did not look particularly happy. Both sat on the complete opposite sides of the bench, with their team leader in the middle. The gaps between the three of them, however, were quite large… and Weiss believed she grasped Ruby's plan.
"I am not sure that we should—" She began, but Ruby was already walking over. Taking in a breath and doing her best to calm herself, Weiss followed.
They were halfway there before the Britannian noticed them, and Weiss again felt a chill of what-was-most-definitely-not-fear run down her spine when she accidentally made eye contact. She refused to look away, however, and she watched his gaze flicker between her and Ruby as they drew closer. And then they'd made it to his bench, and were standing almost next to him. The last time she'd been this close… well, it had been her most embarrassing, humiliating defeat, and even the mere memory of it lit a hot coal of fury in her chest that she had to struggle for a moment to douse. Schnees did not indulge in hotheaded rage. Frigid scorn and malice, on the other hand, was a household staple—but that was different.
"Hi!" Ruby said, sticking out a hand towards the Britannian, who blinked.
"Hello," He said, reaching out his own and giving Weiss's partner's what looked like a firm shake.
"Could we please sit with you?" Ruby asked. The Britannian boy's eyebrows shot up.
"Ah…" He glanced to either side, then looked back at Ruby, and then at Weiss, who narrowed her eyes. The Britannian frowned, then looked back at Ruby.
"That's okay with me, but are you sure your partner wants to be here?" He said. Wait… was he trying to scare her off? The nerve.
"I'm not leaving my partner alone with the likes of you." Weiss said, glaring.
"Uh… yeah. So, we're sitting here then!" Ruby said, gleefully plopping herself down next to the now bemused-looking prince. Weiss sat on the other side of Ruby, with the Soozakoo boy to her right, and glared as best she could at the Britannian.
"I think we met before, at the docks—what was your name again?" The Britannian asked Ruby.
"I'm Ruby! Ruby Rose—and you already know Weiss." Ruby said with a grin, gesturing to Weiss, who gave him her most give-me-a-chance-and-I'll-stab-out-your-eyes glare. She was satisfied to see that he looked appropriately disturbed… unless… could that just be an act? The thought was infuriating.
"…nice to meet you," the Britannian said, looking back at Ruby with what seemed to be a genuine grin.
"Nice to meet you, too! Prince…" Ruby actually seemed to have forgotten his name, the adorable dolt. "…lettuce?"
The Britannian just stared for a moment, and Weiss began to tense up… but then he practically exploded into laughter. Ruby looked a bit put out, and Weiss wasn't entirely sure what to think.
"Ah! Ah… uh, I'm sorry, I just—I really wasn't expecting that." The Britannian said, wiping some moisture from his eyes. "I can't say I've ever heard that one before."
"Good one, too." Someone said, and Weiss almost jumped out of her seat as she realized that the Britannian's green-haired partner was sitting in what she would've sworn was an empty seat mere moments ago. Ruby actually did jump a little—even the Britannian looked surprised, although it was shifting rapidly into irritation.
"It's Lelouch—just Lelouch is fine. She's C.C." Lelouch said, causing the green-haired woman to stick her tongue out at him.
"I didn't say you could introduce me, prince lettuce." C.C. said. Weiss had to resist the urge to snicker at that.
"And I didn't say that you could plaster Pizza Hut posters all over my wall, but, here we are," Lelouch said, smiling with obvious strain.
"You're just upset that I decorated your gloomy-grey corner-of-doom with something that was more interesting than replica Grimm skulls or old maps. You should be thanking me, it looks nice," C.C. said in her strange monotonous voice, causing the Britannian to scowl.
"Nice? You can't be serious, it looks absolutely—" he glanced back and apparently became aware once again that he had company. "ah, well…anyway, what brings the two of you over here?"
"Well…" Ruby said, and Weiss noticed where her partner was staring only too late—the back of the Britannian's boot. He followed her gaze, then looked back up, confused.
"I wanted to ask if I could maybe justforasecond have a little tiny look at your weapons please?" Ruby blurted out. If Weiss had had any less self control, she would've groaned.
"Uh… why?" The Britannian asked. Weiss was barely certain the confusion on his face was genuine, though who could tell.
"Because they look so cool!" Ruby cried. Weiss could've flinched. She glanced around, and saw that some of the other students were turning away from their conversations to take note. She shot a glare their way, and was satisfied when they hurried to look away again.
"Not so loud you dolt!" She whispered, poking Ruby in the side and causing the other girl to squirm.
"Oww… uh, sorry Weiss," Ruby said, looking appropriately sheepish. Her bright, embarrassed grin made it difficult for Weiss to stay made at her, however.
"Well… I guess it couldn't hurt," the Britannian said, leaning down and pulling a dagger from where it was sheathed in his boot. Weiss had seen it before, of course, and inwardly bristled. Ruby just squealed with glee, although the Britannian boy paused before handing it over.
"Just be careful with it," he said. Ruby nodded over-enthusiastically in response, lifting the thing delicately out of his hand and appearing to take in every aspect of it. It was fascinating to Weiss how much interest Ruby took in weapons, though Weiss would never admit it. The girl poured over every detail of a weapon with the same enthusiasm and intensity that Weiss devoted to reading the Schnee Dust Co. quarterly report or studying for an examination, although Weiss had to admit Ruby could more than match her for overall enthusiasm.
The dagger itself wasn't particularly interesting to Weiss. It had a strangely curved handle, to be sure, and the coloration was interesting—a black-with-violet-slanted-stripes grip with a rounded silver pommel, a thick silver-colored guard, and a gold-colored blade with a bright crimson line running up the middle. Flashy, sure, but not particularly interesting.
"What's he called?" Ruby asked.
"Fragarach. I built it a little more than a year ago," the Britannian said. "He's beautiful… ooh, what's this do?" Ruby asked, pointing at a button.
"Secondary mode, mid-to-long range—you can press it, but make sure that there's nothing cuttable near the blade," The Britannian replied. Ruby pressed the button, and Weiss watched in horrified fascination as the dagger blade split down the middle and rotated, shifting from dagger to what was clearly a revolver of some kind in an instant, finishing with a trigger sliding out of the base of the guard and audibly clicking into place.
He'd had this the whole time. He'd had this gun in his dagger, and in the entirety of their admittedly brief fight the other day he hadn't even needed to use it. Weiss couldn't decide whether she wanted to scream in frustrated rage or curl up and cry, but she very much did neither. Composure, as always, came first.
"Wow, that's a really smooth mechanism!" Ruby said with a grin, handing the blade/gun back to him. "And what's your sword called? Does it have any special modes?" She asked.
"Moralltach, and no," He said, actually returning her smile.
"Well, that's okay—have you seen mine before? I had that match with Fergus on Thursday…" Ruby continued.
"That was the guy with the bow-sword, right?" The Britannian asked, and Ruby nodded. "It looked like you beat him pretty handily with your gun-scythe—it's an impressive weapon."
"Aw, thank you!" Ruby said, grinning. Weiss knew better—compliments were easy. From someone like this, they could mean absolutely nothing.
"What's it's name?" The Britannian asked.
"She's called Crescent Rose, I built her myself back in Signal," Ruby continued. The Britannian nodded.
"Why Crescent Rose?" The Britannian asked. Ruby shrugged, although Weiss was admittedly somewhat interested to hear this as well, and a little alarmed at the realization that she hadn't asked this of her partner before.
"Well, my last name is Rose, and she's shaped a bit like a crescent moon—it felt right, you know? What about your weapons? Why Fragarach and Moralltach?" She asked. The Britannian boy paused for a moment.
"They're both names of weapons from old legends of Albion. It's a little embarrassing, but I honestly couldn't think of anything better." The Britannian said, with an embarrassed smile that Weiss didn't buy for a second.
"Ah, okay!" Ruby said, pausing for another moment as if searching for words.
Before she could say anything else, however, Professor Goodwitch arrived. The class chatter died down, and she went through the introductions for the day before beginning the challenge roster. The first name she said was—
"Kallen Stadfeldt, you're up first. Are you prepared?"
The other two turned to look at the red-haired girl, and Weiss looked over as well. 'Kallen' stood up stiffly and nodded.
"Very well, then. Is there anyone you would like to challenge?" Professor Goodwitch asked. Kallen stared back for a moment, saying nothing, before looking to her right—passing over Weiss, Ruby, and the Britannian—to glare at her target.
"I challenge Suzaku Kururugi," she said, practically growling. Professor Goodwitch narrowed her eyes for a moment, before turning towards Suzaku.
"Mr. Kururugi, do you accept this challenge?" Professor Goodwitch asked. There was a long pause before Suzaku stood, glared back at Kallen, and nodded.
"I do," He said. Without even being prompted, both set off in opposite directions towards the prep rooms.
Weiss heard a heavy sigh and turned back to see the Britannian with a hand to his forehead and a frown on his face.
"What's wrong?" Ruby asked.
"Well, my teammates are currently in the middle of a fight. Bringing in actual violence like this could get… bad," the Britannian said.
"Bad? But… Professor Goodwitch won't let them hurt each other or anything, right?" Ruby asked.
"That's the idea. Still, it's bad enough when they spar and they aren't angry at each other. I'm a little worried for the sake of the arena," the Britannian said. It occurred to Weiss, however, that they were getting very much off-topic.
"Ruby, didn't we have something else to ask him about?" Weiss said. Her team leader blinked.
"Yeah, of course. Lelouch, Weiss and I heard from Pyrrha that you guys competed in a championship together—how was that?" Ruby asked. Weiss would've groaned, if groaning wasn't entirely unSchneelike. She didn't want to be here, with their present company, for any longer than they had to be—and Ruby seemed to be scheming to make her stay as long as possible, taking an extroardinarily roundabout route to asking the one stupid question they need to ask for this line of inquiry to be over and allow them to be able to leave. The Britannian, on the other hand, reacted with surprise.
"Oh, that? It was… I guess I'm not completely sure how to describe it. Fun, at times, and challenging. Also occasionally terrifying. Almost no one was happy to see us do well," the Britannian said, smiling sadly before continuing, "when did you meet Pyrrha? Are you all old friends?"
"Oh, no—we just met!" Ruby said, laughing. "I didn't know anyone here other than my sister Yang—" she gestured towards their blonde teammate, who seemed to be in the middle of an arm-wrestling contest with Nora—"before the first day. I, uh, jumped ahead a few years, so all of my old friends are still back at Signal…" she finished. The Britannian's eyebrows rose.
"You… you jumped ahead a few years? How did that happen?" He asked. Ruby chuckled uncomfortably.
"Aw, it was no big deal—I just helped stop an, ah, dust store robbery," Ruby said.
"She took on a master criminal and an entire squad of his heavily armed goons and drove them back singlehandedly," Weiss corrected. She couldn't let her teammate sell herself short—it was a reasonably impressive feat, and if Ruby wasn't going to take pride in it, Weiss would do it for her. Judging by the further raising of eyebrows, the Britannian was suitably impressed, or at least making himself appear to be.
"Well, that's not something you hear every day." The Britannian's green-haired partner commented. Then, without any warning, she lay down across the Britannian's lap, resting her elbows on his thigh and her chin in her hands as she stared at them. Weiss couldn't help but stare back. That was… brazen didn't even begin to describe it.
"You're a proud one, aren't you?" The girl asked, golden eyes burning into Weiss's own. A 'proud one'? Of course she was proud, but… what was that supposed to mean?
"Or… at least, you pretend to be." The green-haired girl said with a strange smile. Weiss kept her composure and did not look away, though she very much wanted to.
"What in the stars do you think you're talking about?" Weiss said, crossing her arms.
"C.C." The Britannian said.
"I'm not sure. It's hard to see through all the ice," C.C. said. Ice? What…?
"C.C., get off." The Britannian said. Then girl's gaze shifted mercifully away from Weiss and back towards her partner.
"How lecherous of you, Lelouch. Right here, in front of all of these people? What kind of woman do you think I am?" She replied. It took a moment for Weiss to understand the joke—apparently a little longer for the Britannian.
"Get off of me. Please." He ground out through clenched teeth. The girl obliged. It took more than usual for Weiss to restrain herself from laughing at his expense, which would've been unSchneelike indeed. One laughed at others behind closed doors, not in public.
"So, what happened to the criminal you mentioned?" The Britannian asked.
"Oh, he got away. He got into a helicopter with some sort of crazy fire lady. He's robbed a couple more dust stores, actually," Ruby said. The Britannian looked alarmed.
"I… are you serious?" He said, looking between the two of them. Ruby just shrugged.
"They'll get him sometime, I guess," she said. Weiss was getting very tired of this back-and-forth, however, and was acutely aware of how far off-topic they'd skewed.
"Look, there was something else we wanted to ask you abou—" She began. Before she could even complete her question, however, the doors on one end of the arena violently slammed open, accompanied by a gust of wind that sent unsecured papers fluttering into the air. Out strode Suzaku Kururugi, whose scowl could've curdled milk.
Then, the doors on the other side of the arena burst open and Kallen Stadfeldt emerged, glowing a bright shade of magenta and each step screaming of fury.
"Brace yourselves," the Britannian warned, grimacing.