Here's chapter 53, everyone.
"Wow, you said all that?" Summer asked as she and Willow were out in the courtyard, sitting at one of the tables Klein set up for them. When Willow nodded, Summer smirked and took a sip of the tea Klein made them. "Dang, and you kneed him in the-."
"Let's not discuss every little detail that happened, okay." Willow requested before taking a sip herself. "Besides, it was all I could do when he pinned me to the wall like that."
Summer crossed her arms and looked pissed. "I swear you should just let me beat the hell out of him for that. A man should never lay a finger on his own wife that way."
"He's not a man though, he's a monster. One I'll figure out how to deal with, and only then will I break away from him." Willow stated.
"I don't know. I'd say you're breaking away from him already to be honest." Summer smiled, proud of her friend for standing up for herself. "I just wish I had video evidence of you kneeing him."
Willow chuckled lightly. "I'm sure you do, but… Thank you. I'm still nervous. It did feel good to put him in his place. If not for me, for my children."
"Hey, your children can handle themselves pretty well, Willow. You can't forget to think about yourself too." The blacksmith reminded.
"I-I just need to be sure they're okay first, Summer." Willow said softly, thinking about all three of her kids. "They're the most important to me."
Summer reached over and rubbed her arm. "I know they are, but they need their mom too, so don't let him hurt you either, kay?"
Willow remembered what Raven told her, so she nodded. "Right. And… About Weiss, I wanted to say thank you for hearing me out on that. You're the only one I've told outside of Atlas."
"Not a lot of people know, huh?" Summer asked, and Willow shook her head.
"She asked me to keep her a secret." Willow said in a quiet tone as she thought about Lazuria. "Even to this day, I'm unsure if she's still alive… And that hurts me so much because there may be no chance of Weiss ever… Ever getting to meet her real mother."
Summer sighed. "Willow, I already told you that you are her mother, and I know, her birth mother, but Weiss won't be upset with you about-."
"It's not about being upset. She deserves to know the truth…" Willow explained.
"I won't argue that, but until you feel it's best to tell her, do what you can to just… Be happy. You have a daughter who loves you. Two daughters, and a son." Summer smiled.
Willow took a breath, feeling the cold breeze of Atlas making her hair flow, while Summer shivered a bit, earning a light chuckle. "You're still cold out here, huh."
"Very…" Summer replied, hugging herself to keep warm.
"So dramatic." Willow sipped her tea and was glad she had a friend with her.
Moments later, Summer's scroll went off, and the blacksmith was surprised by the message she received. "Huh, didn't think they'd ask for me this soon."
"Hmm?" Willow looked curious.
"Raven and Qrow. They're in the middle of a big job apparently and might need my help at some point." Summer explained. "I'll let em know they can ask for me later though."
"How come?" Willow inquired.
"Keeping you company, duh. No way am I about to leave you here after what happened. And don't try to make me go, cause I won't." Summer said, her serious tone taking over since she refused to allow her close friend to stay alone in the manor with her husband.
Willow scoffed. "Honestly. I can take care of myself, Summer. Or should I remind you of the kneeing?" She smirked.
"Oh trust me, I want you to remind me about that a whole bunch. Still wish I had a video of it." Summer sighed. "But it's not that I don't think you can take care of yourself. I just don't want that man laying a finger on you again."
"Summer, I won't let him." Willow assured.
"Well think of me as backup, and because I wanna get a shot in on kneeing him too." Summer grinned, earning a playful eye roll from Willow. "No seriously, I kneed to have a shot at that."
"Oh… No, I am not dealing with that. You get your butt over to Raven and Qrow right now!" Willow yelled, Summer laughing happily at her friend's reaction.
"Feeling better, ice wolf?" Yang asked, rubbing Weiss' fur a bit since the team had gotten back in their dorm, but with Weiss not having as much aura, she simply stayed in her wolf form, not caring about the reactions she got from students who still didn't know of her 'semblance'.
"I'm fine." Weiss had fallen a bit into a depressive state when the thoughts of her brother invaded her mind. It wasn't something she could control, as the pain of not being accepted by her brother was too much to think about.
"No you're not. Look, you can talk to us about this." Yang offered, wanting to the white wolf to not distance herself. "Please, Weiss."
Her name. The only times she knew Yang was being serious, so she sighed while she was laid on laid down on the floor of their dorm. "I'd rather not talk about Whitley, okay…"
Ruby hated seeing her like that, even kissing her forehead now that they were together. "Then why don't we do something fun? Maybe to keep your mind off of it."
Weiss shrugged, not feeling like it would help. "Don't let me stop you from doing something for the rest of the day, Ruby."
"But… It's still our partner day, and I wanna spend it with my partner, hence the name." Ruby tried to lighten her mood a bit.
The white wolf sighed and got to her paws. "Okay… But what should we even do? I don't feel like going back into town right now, and my aura is too low to train or spar."
Ruby took a bit to think of something, and she snapped her fingers when she figured it out. "Oh! Maybe we can scare some people." She grinned, Weiss looking unimpressed with her idea.
"Seriously? Is this about my semblance, you dolt?" Weiss questioned, knowing the answer before Ruby could even say it. "Don't even answer. I know it is."
"Heh, well I mean… It could be fun, and besides, remember that one guy who was messing with you first day? You can so scare him to death." Ruby reasoned.
Cardin Winchester. Weiss remembered hearing his name when teams were being named, so she growled a bit at the mention of him. "Honestly, I wouldn't mind doing that… But I don't know, Ruby."
"I won't pressure you to, Wolfy." The nickname stuck. "I just don't want you to be sad." Ruby spoke softly, reaching over to hug her wolf partner. "You mean so much to me… And when I can't help, it hurts."
Yang stayed silent, and Blake was on her bed, ready to step in if she needed to. "Ruby, it's not that serious… I'm just… Whitley is not an easy person to talk about nowadays."
Ruby frowned, remembering how sometimes on video calls she'd talk with Weiss about how she'd feel like Whitley was talking to her less and less every day. "He just needs to stop being a big dummy and be happy for you."
"I wish he was…" Weiss whimpered, nuzzling sadly into Ruby, the rose girl biting her lip because she felt like she made it worse. "Ruby… I told you this already… But… Blake and Yang..."
When Weiss trailed off, Ruby got a little worried for her. "Weiss, I'm here."
"He called me a mutt…" Weiss said, silence soon following after.
Ruby felt her heart drop, remembering when Weiss told her about that, but Yang looked pissed and clenched her fists. "He said what?! That little shit may be your brother, but I'll-."
"You'll do nothing!" Weiss yelled, spinning around to face the blonde. "I am not about to hear you say you'd lay a finger on my little brother, Yang!"
The blonde brawler was surprised by that, and Blake decided to step in. "Guys, come on. Calm down. We don't need to yell about this." The cat Faunus did her best to get in between them, since Weiss looked angry enough to attack Yang.
Weiss took a deep breath and looked down, feeling bad for yelling at Yang, but she still didn't deny that hearing her say she'd hurt Whitley got her upset. "Look, he's my little brother. Yes, he said a horrible thing to me, but… I still love him, Yang. So don't hurt him."
"Damn, Weiss… I didn't mean it like that." Yang rubbed the back of her head. "It's just that he's your brother, so he shouldn't say shit like that."
"Yeah…" Weiss couldn't say much else.
Ruby spoke up, not wanting to stay quiet. "Come on. Let's have a team day instead." Her suggestion got their attention.
"A team day?" The white wolf repeated.
"Mhmm! We're making our partner day a team day, so that means all four of us finding something fun to do for the rest of the day we got left!" Ruby cheered, doing her best to lift her partner's spirits.
"Well, if Blake and Yang aren't opposed to it, but that still doesn't give us an idea on what to do." Weiss reminded, and the blonde perked up.
"Why don't we have a race?" Yang suggested.
Blake was the one who looked confused that time. "A race? What, like around the school?"
"Yeah, but Ruby, you can't use your semblance, and I won't use my gauntlets to shoot myself forward either." Yang said.
Ruby pouted. "But if we have a race, Weiss will get to use her semblance!"
"That's the point, sis. I wanna see if we can beat ice wolf here in a race on our own. Oh, and no semblance use for you either, shadowcat." Yang grinned.
Blake shrugged, deciding not to comment on the nickname, since Weiss did warn her Yang would use it from time to time. "I wasn't planning to, but should we really be doing this? I'm pretty sure this is breaking some kind of rule here."
"I have to agree with Blake. This doesn't sound like it'll end well for us, Yang." Weiss voiced her concern, but yelped when Yang planted her palm on the top of her head.
"Come on, ice wolf. I wanna see how fast you can run like this. Besides, it's not like running is against the rules. Maybe in the hall, but we won't be in the halls for it." The blonde backed away when she heard the white wolf growling at her for planting her hand on her head.
"Oaf, and even so, I don't see why you want to go against me on that. My senses, and my skills as a wolf are about what you'd expect them to be, so you'd lose." Weiss snidely remarked, while Yang smirked.
"I mean if you're so sure of yourself, then why don't you prove it?" Yang shot back, while Weiss rolled her eyes.
"You're just trying to goad me into accepting this ridiculous race." Weiss countered.
Ruby clapped to get her team's attention. "I know it may sound ridiculous, but it really could be fun, Weiss. And hey, if you are faster than us, then we can at least race for second." Her cute grin was all Weiss needed to see to fall for the trap.
"I… You… Ugh, fine, but if we get in trouble, I'm not taking the blame for it." Weiss stated, walking over to the door. "Well? Come on already."
Yang pumped her fist in the air and Ruby ran over to get the door opened, while Blake sighed and followed the others, wondering just what kind of trouble they really were going to get into, since at that point, she wasn't expecting much less.
"Okay! So we're gonna start from this point right here, and make it back to the airships after doing a circle around the school. That sound cool?" Yang asked, the four girls starting from their favorite spot under the tree.
"How many laps around the school? And what about obstacles?" Weiss asked, the white wolf ready to prove that she was much faster.
Yang thought about it for a moment. "I'd say… Rule of three, so that many laps, then a straight shot to the airships."
Ruby paced in place, looking ready to go. "You know, even without my semblance, this is still my element, so don't be surprised if I take home the gold medal on this one, sis."
Weiss playfully rolled her eyes. "There are no medals, you dolt."
Blake spoke up. "I wouldn't be surprised if Yang hid one somewhere just for this kind of occasion."
"Like I'd spend the time finding a gold medal." Yang remarked with a laugh. "Alright, you three ready?" When they nodded in sync, Yang punched her fists together. "Three, two, one, go!"
All four teammates took off, and with some students turning their attention to them when they started running, it was one of the oddest sights, as watching three girls and one wolf running at full speed was not an everyday thing.
One person however watched them, mostly in shock as she hadn't seen a wolf around Beacon yet, more so she hadn't seen Weiss Schnee use her 'semblance' yet. "A… White wolf…" Glynda said to herself, memories of her former teammate entering her mind.
"Lazuria…"
Getting Glynda involved more since she does have history with Lazuria in this story, and hey, gives me more characters to work with and get more practice writing for.
To JJ- Yeah Willow is tired of his shit, so we'll see how far things get and if her plan will work. For now she just has to play nice and focus on getting her life back. That and… A few other things that will come up later.
I hoped you all enjoyed chapter 53. Remember, reviews are welcomed, but not required. See you all in chapter 54.