Here's chapter 21, everyone.
"Okay, so let me get this straight. Your semblance is that you can be a big wolf?" Nora asked the white wolf who looked unamused, seeing as this was the third variation of how she asked her about her semblance.
"Ugh, for the last time, yes. Though I have grown a bit as a wolf. I suppose it's normal though, since we do grow normally." Weiss answered, sighing a bit. "Now can you please stop asking me the same question over and over?"
Blake was looking away at the time, still in shock at how Weiss was the wolf, but not specifically Weiss, but a Schnee.
"There's no way. The Schnee family semblance… It's glyphs. Adam informed me of that in the intel that day."
She shook her head a few times, wishing she didn't think about Adam, since that was a past she wanted to not go back to. "Hey, uh, Blake, right?" Weiss asked as she walked up to the black haired girl, making her tense up as she looked down.
"H-Huh?" Blake was face to face with a Schnee, wishing she wasn't, but there wasn't much she could do to avoid her at that point. "Oh… Um, yes."
Weiss remembered what Yang told her, so she sat down. "I'm sorry if my semblance makes you nervous. Not a lot of people… Know about it. They just assume it's glyphs."
Ren spoke up. "I'd like to apologize for aiming our weapons at you." He bowed a little, and Weiss shook her head.
"Please don't do that. I had servants in my home doing that so much I had to ask them to stop." Weiss said, hoping no one would try to treat her that way.
"Well if we're being honest, it wasn't because of your name. I just felt you deserved it for us wrongfully aiming at you." Ren explained.
Weiss let out a smile and her tail swayed from side to side, making Nora coo cutely. "Your tail even moves when you're happy like a dog! That is way too cute!"
The white wolf's tail stopped swaying and she growled at the orange haired girl, surprising her. "I. Am. Not. A. Dog." She looked beyond pissed, hating that comparison more than anything.
"Uh… Sorry?" Nora rubbed the back of her head, slowly getting behind Ren as she didn't want to be attacked by the pissed off looking wolf.
"Try not to take it personally." Ren requested. "Nora just gets a little too excited about some things. If I can do anything-."
"No, it's… It's fine. Just don't call me a dog…" Weiss said in a soft tone, almost like she didn't want to talk anymore about the subject, so she turned away and saw Yang walking over with two relics and Myrtenaster. "It's… Odd. Chess pieces as the relics I mean."
"Threw me for a loop too, but hey, we got em. I'll hold onto them for you." Yang said, holding Myrtenaster out for her. "You did manage to bring this with you, so… Are you actually able to hold it?" Weiss nodded, getting close enough to grab her weapon with her teeth, surprising Yang. "Well that answers that." She chuckled a bit and looked to the others. "You guys ready to head out?"
Ren and Nora nodded, while Blake was still staring at Weiss.
"She herself said it… People assume her semblance would be glyphs, but… If that's the case, then how isn't it?"
Her thoughts were interrupted when she felt someone shake her a bit. She turned to see it was Yang, surprising her a bit. "Blake, we're heading out. Come on." Yang said to her, pulling away from her partner.
"Y-Yeah, okay. Just… I'll be right behind you guys." Blake said, and Yang knew why she was like that, so she sighed and nodded, walking over with the others. Blake kept herself in the back, keeping an eye on the white wolf who was walking next to her partner.
"I can kinda see now why you never let us see you use your semblance before, Weiss." Yang remarked as the white wolf was leading them back to the cave. "What's it like?"
"Being able to change like this? It's… A seamless transition. I don't really feel anything when I use my semblance." Weiss explained as she had Yang carrying Myrtenaster so she could talk.
Yang nodded. "Well, I'm glad you finally got to show me. Does Ruby already know too?"
"Yes, though… It was only because we got into a fight I couldn't handle normally." Weiss whimpered a bit, remembering how Ruby getting hurt made her use her 'semblance'.
"Hey, don't sweat it. We all use our semblances, Weiss. You aren't barred from using it too, y'know." Yang pointed out.
Weiss remained silent for a moment, but when she saw the cave, her wolf ears perked up. "Over there." She started to run, so the others had to keep pace. "They're just inside" When Weiss made it to the entrance, she was greeted with Ruby aiming her sniper. "Ruby, it's me."
Ruby smiled and lowered her weapon. "I know. I wasn't about to shoot." She set Crescent Rose down and ran over, but then she knelt down and looked a bit upset with her friend.
"W-What?" Weiss knew why she was like that.
"You ran off!" Ruby shouted and hugged her wolf partner, tears threatening to fall. "Y-You can't just run off without me like that, Weiss! What if something-."
Weiss pulled away, giving her a stern look, or as best as she could as a wolf. "If we're going to be partners, you need to trust me more, Ruby… Or do you just think I can't handle being a huntress…"
Ruby gasped and shook her head a bunch of times. "It's not like that! I just-." She stopped when she saw her sister walking in with two others. "Yang?"
"That's my name." The blonde brawler grinned and walked over, placing Myrtenaster down next to Weiss and pulling out two of the relics from her pocket. "Someone order chess pieces? Ala relic style?"
As Weiss rolled her eyes, Ruby could only smile in joy as she got up and quickly grabbed one of the knight pieces. "Yeah! We can pass initiation, Weiss!" She exclaimed, reaching down and hugging her partner again, but the wolf was still a bit upset.
Yang looked over to see Jaune holding his partner's hand, so she walked over, doing her best not to startle the boy. "Hey." She said in a soft tone, and the blonde boy looked up, seeing her holding out a rook piece. "We brought you guys one of the relics. Take it." She had a reassuring smile on.
Jaune hesitated for a moment, but when he heard Pyrrha groaning a bit, he felt a bit better and nodded. "T-Thanks." He took the relic in his hand and set it down, watching as Pyrrha opened her eyes. "Pyrrha… Um, how do you feel?"
"May I… Come back to you on that?" She groaned a little and the scarlet haired girl sat up slowly, looking around the cave they were in. "Did we come here… Because of me?"
"Hey, don't say it like that… I'm the one who distracted you." Jaune reminded, taking the blame. "But, we did win that fight… Thanks to Ruby and Weiss. Still, we got our own relics now and-."
Pyrrha let out a smile, surprising him. "Thank you for keeping watch over me."
Jaune chuckled nervously. "O-Oh, no, you should thank Ruby for-."
"Sheesh, Jaune, just take the compliment from a pretty girl." Yang teased as the boy blushed a little in embarrassment. "You two get ready when you can. We're probably gonna be heading to the cliffs as a group if you're cool with that." With a nod from Pyrrha, Yang gave them a thumbs up and walked back to the others.
Weiss pulled away from Ruby again, looking away from her partner. "Weiss? What's wrong?"
"You never answered me…" Weiss reminded, her tail sagging on the ground, showing she was saddened that her friend could possibly think she wasn't capable of becoming a huntress on her own.
Ruby frowned, walking over and kneeling next to her. "I do think you can be a huntress, no, I know you will be a huntress. I was just… I was scared, Weiss."
"But why when I do something, huh?" Weiss questioned, the others staying out of their conversation. "Why is it that you can go around and have so much fun being reckless, but when I try to do something that can help us, all of a sudden that's too dangerous? Tell me, Ruby…"
"I-I…" Ruby was at a loss for words.
"Y-You really don't think I can handle this…" Weiss whimpered and felt like she wanted to cry, but Ruby threw herself on the wolf, crying into her fur and surprising Weiss.
"No! I would never think that! I just don't want to lose you okay! I… I had nightmares a few days ago… And I just don't want them to come true." Ruby said, gently crying more and more.
Weiss was surprised that Ruby never told her about the nightmares, since she usually would. "Why didn't you just tell me?"
Ruby pulled her face away and wiped some of the tears from her face. "I-I thought it was stupid… And I didn't want you to worry about me-."
"That's what I want too, Ruby. For us to have enough trust as partners to the point where we can both be confident in the other's abilities to not fear for one another so much." Weiss explained.
It was the truth. In the field of hunters, trust was a strong variable, and Ruby took a breath at the realization. She wiped away all of her tears and placed her hands on her knees, nodding to the wolf. "R-Right. I'll remember that, Weiss… Just, next time I would rather we talk it out before you go running off. Deal?"
Weiss' tail swayed a bit, so she nodded. "Deal." As the two reached the agreement, Yang could only smile at them, feeling proud of both her little sister and best friend.
"We about ready to go?" Yang asked after the group took about twenty minutes to get their things ready, but when she noticed Weiss looking a little nervous, she raised an eyebrow and walked over. "You doing okay, Weiss?"
"Um… Yes… But I would rather not have everyone in here right now, so can you get them to all please leave the cave?" The white wolf requested, and Yang seemed confused by that.
"Sure? But isn't that what we're doing alre-." Ruby cut her off when she walked with Weiss' clothes, making Yang realize what was going on. "Oh…"
Weiss lowered her head in embarrassment. "Please, Yang... Can you get everyone out?"
Yang nodded, not saying a word as Ruby hid the clothes a bit, trying not to let the others see. The blonde brawler rounded everyone up and told them to clear out of the cave, getting them out and leaving Weiss and Ruby alone in the cave.
"Okay, Weiss. Do you feel like you can use your semblance without losing too much aura now?" Ruby asked as she set Weiss' clothes down.
The white wolf nodded, having focused on her aura a bit before. "Yes, though… You know you can't look either…" She blushed, and Ruby as well, so the rose girl nodded, turning around. "I didn't mean like that, Ruby. The cave, don't be in it at all."
"R-Right." Ruby walked outside of the cave and Weiss sighed.
It only took a few moments, but Weiss focused on using her 'semblance', the light that would encompassing her body. She took a breath and looked down, blushing heavily as she quickly gathered her clothes up and began putting them on, though she did enjoy how she still had her necklace on after the change.
Ruby was waiting away from the cave, doing her best to show Weiss she'd respect her privacy, but also stay close enough to make sure no beasts would try and sneak inside of the cave.
"I know she wants me to not worry, but that doesn't mean I should just up and ignore her safety either."
The scythe wielder said to herself in her thoughts as she looked over at the group, watching as they talked amongst themselves. She smiled a bit, imagining what it would be like when she herself would become a fully trained huntress, going on missions and being part of hunting squads. With how she snuck onto an airship with a huntress that one time, it was just a small taste of what she would one day be able to be part of.
"Ruby…" Weiss called out to her, so the rose girl turned around, seeing her friend, as a human again and wearing her clothes. "Um, I'm ready to go." She gave her a sheepish smile.
With a returning smile, Ruby nodded and walked over, offering her hand to Weiss. "Then let's go, Weiss. Let's go finally become huntresses together and pass initiation."
"You dolt… Saying such things." Weiss brushed some of her bangs from her forehead, lightly taking Ruby's hand in her own as she and her partner went to catch up with the group.
"So… How come we have to wait to be called up? I mean, shouldn't we just get some paper saying where to go or something?" Yang asked as she, Ruby, Weiss and Blake were told to stand side by side each other in the main hall, as many other students were too gathered up.
"It's the ceremony, sis. You should be excited." Ruby said with a pure look of excitement on her face.
"Don't get me wrong, it's awesome. I'm just surprised is all. I didn't think the headmaster would try and praise anyone here after the way he handled speeches." Yang remarked.
Weiss spoke up. "Can we get through this without having someone come over to shush us, please?"
Yang stuck her tongue out at her white haired friend, who rolled her eyes in response as the four girls were called up on stage, Blake looking a little nervous as she kept an eye on the Schnee still.
As they got up on the stage, Ozpin walked up to them, standing ten feet away from the girls with his arms behind his back. "Blake Belladonna," Yang made sure to remember her last name after hearing it. "Ruby Rose, Weiss Schnee, and Yang Xiao Long. You four retrieved the white knight pieces, though…" He trailed off and looked over at Ruby and Weiss. "It seems that only one of you ever made it to the relics themselves."
Ruby gulped a bit, but Weiss spoke up for her. "Sir, the objective was not to find the relics themselves. It was to retrieve one. Ruby and I did, and we brought it back before the five hours were up, so if you were going to say we failed, then-."
Ozpin lifted his hand up to stop her. "If you would let me finish, I was going to say due to how you both handled the situation you were dealt with, I wanted to congratulate you both. The way you handled both the objective, and protecting a fellow student was admirable."
Weiss blushed in embarrassment of her small outburst, while Yang chuckled and threw her arm around her white haired friend. "Got a little ahead of yourself, huh, ice wolf… Oh wait… That so works better now!" Yang exclaimed, and Weiss groaned in response as Ozpin coughed to get their attention.
"As I was saying, you four retrieved the same set of pieces, so that makes you girls a team." Ozpin's words echoed in Blake's mind, her worries having been multiplied, but she stood still. "And as such, you will be led by, Ruby Rose."
Ruby's eyes widened, and Yang gasped happily, moving over to hug her little sister. "Ruby! I'm so proud of you!"
Weiss looked a little saddened, but when she saw that Ruby's surprised look turned into a happier one, she couldn't help but gain a small smile of her own. Still, Weiss held her wolf pendant close, thinking if she did something wrong to not be made the leader.
And with that, initiation is finally done. As of this point, I will be straying away from the canon path. Got my own story to write here, and if anyone has any questions on certain people for this story, I'll do my best to answer. Meaning people who have been involved so far and what they may be doing.
To JJ- JNPR side of things does sadly take a huge break, but I won't forget about that forever. I just have bigger plans for the main four, Willow and her family, and Raven with her team. So more on that later.
To Lotus-one- I did have to google translate your review, so I will do my best to answer your questions. First, I'm glad you like the story. As for your first question, it isn't her semblance actually. Her true semblance will be revealed later, and yes, it was already written out by this point. For your second question, when her kind gets older, they too grow. So eventually she'd be the size of a house at an older age. She does at one point grow in this story, so I'll point out how big she'll be when it happens.
I hoped you all enjoyed chapter 21. Remember, reviews are welcomed, but not required. See you all in chapter 22.