Here's chapter 56, everyone.
A month had passed, Ruby and Weiss had grown even closer after telling even Team JNPR of their relationship. Summer had begun working at Beacon as intended each week, but would return to Raven and Qrow to support them on their mission.
Willow was doing her best to continue living with her husband in the manor, but ever since they had argued, or in her eyes, fought, they haven't said a word to each other. So she did her best to find time to continue her training with Raven, who in turn had to come up with excuses to get away from the mission she was on.
And Lazuria was still doing her best to stay alive, having recently killed another Relentless that was sent after her a week prior.
At the moment, Ruby was sitting in combat class with her team, and Team JNPR, along with other students. "Why won't she let me go down there and show off what I can do?" Ruby whined as she watched Nora fighting against Blake.
Yang slung her arm around Ruby's shoulders. "Just be patient, sis. Goodwitch will pick you at one point. And besides, we get to watch Blake kick Nora's butt."
"Ahem." Ren coughed, getting their attention. "Clearly you haven't check the aura levels."
The blonde looked up at the screen, seeing that Blake was at seventy four percent, while Nora was still at Eighty. "Eh, a six percent difference is nothing to be proud about. My partner is so kicking your partner's butt."
Weiss rolled her eyes. "This isn't a competition. It's training, and before you go and say I should be rooting for Blake, don't. She can handle herself well in a fight."
Hearing the confidence in her friend's voice, Yang grinned. "Heh, yeah, you're right. Blake doesn't need us to show off her skills."
Pyrrha lightly chuckled. "Don't be too surprised if she loses. Nora tends to go overboard on sparring, so-."
Before she finished her sentence, Nora yelled out as she slammed her hammer down on Blake, at least what would have been Blake if the cat Faunus hadn't used her semblance to dodge the attack.
Blake sighed, looking over and seeing her aura depleted even more, so she needed to end the fight quick. From the blabbing Nora would do during lunch, she knew her semblance was powered by electricity, so in the fight they were having, she knew not to use lightning dust on her.
Nora smirked as she ran over to Blake once she lifted her hammer up. She swapped it to its grenade launcher form while running and fired off two canisters, hitting Blake as she held her blade up to take the brunt of the damage.
She slid close to the edge of the arena, which if she fell off, would cause her to lose.
"Come on, Blake. You got this." Yang muttered, her eyes locked onto her partner.
Blake recovered from the attack and quickly responded with several swings of her Gambol Shroud, sending out waves of fire towards the orange haired girl, who yelped and tried to dodge, not seeing that Blake used her semblance to get out of sight.
Once she was right behind her, the cat Faunus grabbed her arm and used all of her strength to throw Nora right off the arena they were on, making her land right on her butt. "Gah! Noooooo!" Nora exclaimed.
Glynda nodded, pleased with the demonstration. "Very good, Miss Belladonna. You managed to secure the win with your aura at a disadvantage, something you should remember during the Vytal Festival, but," She looked to Nora. "You, Miss Valkyrie, did very well though on combating Miss Belladonna. If this were a real fight, you may have been the one victorious."
Nora rubbed the back of her head as she was still on her butt. "Thanks, I guess…" She got up and looked over at Blake, pouting at the cat Faunus. "Lucky shot, Blake. Next time I'll win for sure."
Blake shrugged, putting Gambol Shroud away as she stepped off the arena. "We'll see." As she walked over to where her team was sitting, they congratulated her, especially her partner who quickly patted her back in pride.
"I knew you would win!" Yang cheered.
"It's not that impressive." Blake plainly admitted.
Yang had a cheeky grin on her face and continued patting her back. "I think it was."
"Miss Rose, Miss Schnee, both of you, down here. This will not be a combat match, but a demonstration of your semblances." Glynda called out to the white rose pair, mostly interested to see how similar Weiss' 'semblance' was to Lazuria's.
Ruby was giddy with excitement, almost sprinting down to the arena, while Weiss sighed at her reaction and simply walked down. "Great… Now everyone here in class will know what happens when I have to change back…" Weiss thought to herself, blushing as she hoped she wouldn't have to explain that part of her 'semblance' to the class.
"Both of you, please describe your semblances to the class." Glynda said, waiting on the two as Weiss groaned when she got on the arena with her partner.
"My semblance is actually not that complicated. It's speed. I can accelerate myself in battle to pack a stronger punch, carry people away if I need to get em out of a sticky situation, and I've been working on a new move, but I kinda wanna keep that a secret till I can actually do it." Ruby explained to the class.
Weiss grumbled a bit at how Ruby was easily able to talk about her semblance. Glynda nodded, but when she looked to Weiss, the white haired teen hesitated for a moment. "Miss Schnee, your semblance."
"Y-Yes, my apologies." She took a breath and faced the rest of the class. "M-My semblance allows me to take on the form of a wolf." That got a lot more people's attention. "My senses are increased to match those of an actual wolf, and recently I discovered I can change the size of my wolf form." Glynda took note of that part of her 'semblance'.
One of the students raised their hand, and Glynda nodded to allow them to speak. "So like, you become a wolf, but how do you fight?"
"W-Well I… Um, use my weapon with my… Teeth." When Weiss said that, some people began to laugh at how ridiculous that sounded, making her blush as she stomped her foot against the ground. "It's not funny!"
"It just doesn't seem believable." Another student called out while wiping away tears of laughter, earning a glare from Ms. Goodwitch.
"Children! Enough! Semblances are not a joke, and for those who continue to laugh will face detention, do I make myself clear?" Glynda darkly eyed the students, the ones laughing gasping and shutting their mouths instantly.
Weiss was taken aback by how Ms. Goodwitch had defended her just then. "I don't think I've ever seen her that angry before."
"Good." Glynda said to the class, turning back to Weiss and Ruby. "Now then, if you two would, demonstrate your semblances. Either one at a time, or together."
While Ruby looked ready to show off her semblance, Weiss was freaking out on the inside. "R-Ruby." She did her best to keep her voice down, but just loud enough for her partner to hear.
"Hmm?" Ruby scooted over to hear her better. "What is it?" She whispered.
"W-When I use my semblance, the flash of light that blinds people for a moment, could you please grab my clothes and make sure no one sees them?" Weiss pleaded.
"Uh, how come you want… Ohhh, yeah I gotcha." Ruby assured.
Glynda tapped her foot against the ground. "Enough chit chat, you two. I asked you both to demonstrate your semblances. Now get to it before class ends."
Weiss sighed and decided she would go first so Ruby wouldn't spend too much aura demonstrating her semblance, and using it to hide her clothes. The class watched as the white haired teen closed her eyes and took a deep breath, the same light shining on her body, blinding the class as Ruby quickly used her semblance a moment later.
Once the light faded, Weiss was back into her wolf form, the class gasping, though some weren't as shocked since they had seen her outside in the courtyard a few times. "Very good, Miss Schnee." Glynda praised, her heart racing however as it was just like how Lazuria would change too.
The white wolf was on her paws, looking up at the class. The ones who hadn't seen her wolf form already had many questions, but before they could ask, Weiss spoke up. "This is my semblance. Like I said, my senses are heightened to match those of a real wolf."
Due to being in combat class, they did have their weapons on them, so Ruby appeared next to her partner, having taken Weiss' clothes to a spot where no one would find them. "Sorry, had to get something real quick."
Glynda raised an eyebrow at that, and took note of something with Weiss' 'semblance', but chose not to bring that up. "I can only assume you used your semblance, Miss Rose." When Ruby grinned and nodded, Glynda sighed. "Well, I did say you can both use your semblances at the same time."
Ruby chuckled and showed Weiss that she still had Myrtenaster. "Yup, but now Weiss can show everyone that she can fight with her weapon." She walked over to her partner and smirked. "Ready to show those laughing jerks what you can do?"
Weiss chuckled in response, nodding as she took her weapon from Ruby with her teeth, the ones who laughed suddenly taken aback, as their thoughts on her being unable to use her weapon as a wolf was shot down.
Glynda held her hand to her heart, remembering more and more of Lazuria as she watched the white wolf handle her blade. "Okay… I didn't think she'd actually hold a sword with her teeth." One of the students commented.
Yang smirked as she crossed her arms. "You jerks better watch and learn."
Weiss looked to Glynda, wondering if she wanted her to demonstrate her skills. For a moment, the blonde professor didn't respond, but she snapped back to it. "Miss Schnee, if you wish, go on and demonstrate your combat abilities with your semblance."
The white wolf nodded, unable to speak at the moment with her weapon in her teeth, so she watched as Glynda walked over to the console. Once she pressed the button to activate the hard light program, Ruby took a step back as hard light human like enemies appeared on the arena.
The blonde brawler whistled, impressed by the hard light program. "Atlas tech is something else."
Weiss took a battle stance, Myrtenaster held tight with her teeth as it was in its sharp edged form. Glynda made it so that the hard light program was on attack mode, so they brought out what looked to be assault rifles in hard light form, taking shots at the white wolf.
Ruby yelped since she realized she was still on the arena, so she started using her semblance to dodge the incoming barrage of hard light bullets. Weiss however jumped from side to side, getting closer as she growled a bit.
As soon as she was right in front of one, she swung her blade horizontally, slashing through it with ease. "Easy enough, but I can't drop my guard." The white wolf quickly backed away when one of the hard light enemies slammed its gun down.
"Now I've seen everything." Cardin spoke, the boy who messed with Weiss on her first day crossed his arms. "A wolf fighting with a sword. Weird as hell."
Jaune didn't like the way he said that. "What about it is weird? Just because she's good with her semblance, or because you can't get that other people are way more skilled than you?"
"What the hell you say, ya wimp?" Cardin questioned as he stood up from his seat.
"Enough!" Glynda's voice boomed. "No speaking during a demonstration."
Cardin grumbled as he took his seat, while Pyrrha smiled as she nudged Jaune's shoulder. "Huh? Oh, what's up, Pyrrha?"
"It was nice of you to stick up for Weiss like that." Pyrrha praised.
"O-Oh, well I mean… Uh, he was being a jerk about it." Jaune rubbed the back of his head. "So I just said how I felt is all." He thought back to initiation. "I don't wanna stand by and do nothing again after all…"
Pyrrha knew what Jaune meant. In the time they had been partners, Jaune would sometimes bring up how he felt useless during initiation and wished he could've helped her when she was injured.
The sounds of Weiss' 'semblance' demonstration were heard in the background as the scarlet haired huntress in training sighed. "Jaune, we've talked about this. You're just getting used to this and-."
"I can't slow down, Pyrrha." Jaune cut in, his palms on his knees as he watched the white wolf fight off the hard light program. "Ruby has a full squad that can handle themselves… You, Nora and Ren can too. I need to be able to handle myself too."
"But you did, Jaune. I remember what Ruby and Weiss told me about your plan during initiation." Pyrrha reminded.
Jaune sighed. "Just because I came up with a plan, doesn't mean I can let that be it. I didn't even know how to activate dust for crying out loud." Their conversation was quiet, so only the two partners could hear each other, since the other students were focused on Weiss' demonstration.
"I just don't want you to feel like you have to put so much pressure on yourself." Pyrrha sadly spoke.
"Everyone here pushes themselves to get better, so I have to try too." Jaune said, taking note of how Weiss fought. "The times you and I trained this last month has really helped, but I have to do better."
Pyrrha managed to smile, proud of her partner as she folded her hands and looked over at the arena. "You will, Jaune. I know it."
Jaune felt a bit more inspired, hoping to be able to catch up to his team soon.
Weiss was hit by one of the hard light bullets, making her groan a bit since her aura was slightly drained. She growled and dropped her weapon, but her eyes widened when she remembered what would happen when she did that. The white wolf refused to give in like last time and quickly picked her weapon back up with her teeth and charged at the final hard light enemy.
She jumped up high when it shot at her again, flipping forward as she slammed her blade vertically down, slicing it in two as it shattered, ending the program.
After seeing it was over, Weiss sat down and gently dropped her weapon. She was panting a bit since the fear of losing control was on her mind when she had dropped her weapon a few moments ago. "Calm down… You were able to suppress it."
Glynda walked back on stage and nodded to Weiss. "Very good, Miss Schnee. You have a good grip on your sembla-." Before she could finish her sentence, the bell rang, signaling the end of class. "Hmm. Class, remember what you've learned today. Proper semblance control is key in combat."
Some of the students nodded, while others simply got up and headed for the door to go to their next class. Ruby groaned after she had heard the bell. "Ugh! So unfair! I was just about to show off my semblance…"
Weiss wasn't paying attention to her partner's whining, since she was trying to calm herself down. "Come on, relax… Just relax…"
Decided to go with a month time skip since having things move forward too quick felt unbelievable. So with this, characters will have grown a bit closer to one another, and you'll see that moving forward.
To JJ- That's the fun of writing this story. I know what I have planned for certain parts, while the rest writes itself as I'm a go with the flow writer. Oh, and with Raven, I more meant she knows about what it's like leaving a kid behind with another parent, as in she left Yang with Summer, while Lazuria left Weiss with Willow. Also glad you liked Qrow stepping in. He got sick of their arguing.
To the guest on chapter 55- Team STRQ is a fun team to work with, so to add Tai, well yeah that's the next step. As for Ruby and Blake interactions, I still wanna have them in the story since it's a problem in the show and I don't want to have them ignore each other. Still, I'm glad you like Weiss and Ruby's relationship.
I hoped you all enjoyed chapter 56. Remember, reviews are welcomed, but not required. See you all in chapter 57.