Here's chapter 110, everyone.
Weiss stepped out of the airship, seeing as she already knew that not telling the others about not leaving for Beacon yet wouldn't be the best idea, so as she got out, her partner ran over to hug her. "Ruby," She sighed. "Let's not make a scene right now. I've got some things I need to say."
Ruby didn't want to let go of her, but after a moment of hearing back on how her partner sounded, she thought it was best to not make a big deal out of it in front of Team JNPR. "Are you okay?"
"It doesn't matter, Ruby. Right now we have to wait a bit longer than expected." The got Ruby to tense up, as Jaune looked concerned and spoke up.
"Wait, you guys kept saying we needed to leave sooner than later. What's the point of staying any longer than we need to then?" While he didn't want to upset Weiss with more questions, the safety of his friends mattered more to him.
Weiss wasn't angry, or even annoyed by the question, so she looked directly at the boy. "My sister found out that we're out here, and supposedly she's close, so… She's requested that we stay here until she arrives."
Ruby was taken aback, hearing that Winter was somewhere not too far. "What? No, you had to have told her that we need to go, right?"
"I did, but… Look, Ruby, I can't explain everything on this. All I know is that she asked me to stay here till she gets here. As long as we're safe-." Before she could finish, Ren spoke up.
"No offense, but Nora and I learned more down there than Jaune and Pyrrha. So I think before you continue with this, it's only fair to let them know too." Ren acted as a mediator at that point.
Weiss sighed, knowing he was right about keeping them in the dark, so she turned to face the two partners. "I'm sure that someone probably told you about me… Not being born as a human." After saying that, Weiss took note of how Blake and Yang weren't there, but since the others weren't freaking out about that either, she chose not to question it yet.
Pyrrha chose to speak first. "It doesn't sound possible, but yes, we were told you can become human, and not the other way around."
"That's the short version, and honestly, just learning the long version a bit ago doesn't help me explain this any better… But I guess my Mother… Which, at this point I need to explain this as well. My birth Mother is something called a Hidden. An animal that can, for a simple explanation, turn into a human…" Weiss trailed off, and Jaune was shocked by everything he was learning.
"Birth Mother?" Jaune looked concerned for the girl.
Weiss let out a somber chuckle. "Yes. I'm not… A Schnee by blood, but besides that, my birth Mother and Father, no not the Father I've lived with, had me, and… I guess that means I was born as a wolf."
Ruby bit her lip, wanting her partner to stop, since she felt it was hurting her too much to say.
"I… I don't know what to say… Well, no, I do," Jaune spoke in a serious tone. "Look, this doesn't mean anything. I mean, it does, but what I'm trying to say is that it doesn't matter what you were born as. You're still, well, you." The boy kept his promise to Ruby on not making drastic changes against Weiss.
The white haired teen looked to the ground. "Yes, I am, but… There's more. Hunters that look specifically for," She sighed. "Hidden. They want to kill them for whatever reason, which means that I can't use my semb… My power." Weiss truly felt pained at not being able to call her power to become a wolf, or in her case, a human, her semblance any more.
Ruby shook her head a few times and balled her fists up. "No, you can't be afraid to use what you learned how to control for all these years, Weiss. Especially when you know that you can still use it, and not use your glyphs while being a wolf. I know you'll be okay like that."
Weiss was surprised that Ruby was encouraging her to use her power, as she always felt that Ruby was too overprotective of her to begin with. "But… What if-."
"Nothing will ever happen, because I won't let it happen." Ruby unballed her fists and took her girlfriend's hand, looking as serious as she's ever been. "Those people… They're the kind of people that huntresses and huntsmen fight off. We're not learning to just beat Grimm, so I'm doing my job as a huntress in training, and making sure they won't go after you."
While her words meant a lot to Weiss, it wasn't a one hundred percent assurance to her that she was safe, but it still helped her feel somewhat better about the thought of using the power she's always had.
"Ruby… I'm still not sure… I can still learn to just fight with my glyphs instead." Weiss stated.
"But then you'd be forced to make huge changes… I made a promise to you that nothing will change, and… And I don't want them scaring you into not being who you are." Ruby frowned, and Weiss' eyes widened.
The Relentless not only hunted down Hidden, they put fear into them, keeping them as their namesake, and she was no exception, if she were to close herself off and refuse to use her Hidden power.
"You can't let them scare you." Ruby gently squeezed her hand. "I never knew about how you can be a wolf till initiation, but now that I do I wish I did, because I would've gotten to see how much you learned, and how much you've done trying to fight like no one else does." She let go of Weiss' hand and cupped her cheek. "You're Weiss, and you can't ever let those people change who you are." She didn't care that the others were there, as she leaned in and kissed her partner, and Weiss felt her heart flutter, as both the kiss and Ruby's words fended off some of the fear she had.
Jaune looked away and scratched the back of his head as he blushed a little, while Pyrrha let out a small smile for the white rose couple, and thought about how she herself wanted that with her partner someday. Ren and Nora both were happy for the two as well, with Nora grinned as she linked her arm with Ren's.
Weiss closed her eyes and melted into the kiss, as she thought more about her Hidden power.
"She's right. I can't let anyone scare me from being who I am."
Blake and Yang were still together, not wanting to go back to the others just yet. The blonde was taking it all in, having kissed her partner two times that night. "Tonight has been pretty crazy."
The comment made Blake nod, as she pulled away from her partner and glanced back over in the direction of the airship. "More than I ever expected would happen. We should get back though. No telling who else may show up."
Even though they both wanted more time to themselves, Yang instantly agreed, seeing as it was Weiss who was more in danger of possible Relentless members showing up. "Yeah, but, well, I wanted to ask if you could keep what happened here to just us for now. With how much Weiss is dealing with, just up and saying we kissed isn't really something to announce."
Blake understood what she meant, since Ruby and Weiss would both need time before receiving any kind of news. "I won't say anything." As the two began to walk back, Yang started speaking.
"Hey, uh, about what we did." Yang let out a light blush. "I'm not trying to ask dumb questions, but we're, y'know, together now, right?"
The cat Faunus rolled her eyes. "If the kiss meant something to you, yes, if not, I'll have to claw your eyes out."
Yang was surprised that Blake would make a clawing joke like that, so she snorted and wrapped an arm around her partner. "I'm glad that my jokes seem to rub off on you, Shadowcat."
"This may be the shortest relationship I've been in if you keep calling me that." Blake threatened, though of course jokingly, as Yang grinned.
"Heh, okay, okay, I'll lay off on the nickname for a bit, but you should know from how much I call Weiss, Ice Wolf, that it won't be gone forever." As she said that, Blake couldn't help but smile.
In response, the cat Faunus shrugged. "My threat will still be in play here and there, but… If I can say something," Both of them stopped and Yang unwrapped her arm from her partner, as Blake got her scroll out.
A few moments of looking through her photos later, the cat Faunus took a breath and showed Yang the art she took a picture of.
Yang's eyes widened, as it was the same picture she caught a glimpse of before. A cat and a dragon. "Blake, this is-."
"It's what I feel represents us… And I know I made myself obvious, but you always made me see you as a dragon." Blake let out a blush, and Yang stayed quiet to hear why. "It's your fiery personality… And dragons are mythical, and… meeting you, for awhile now, you always seemed mythical to me, as in… Too good to be real."
The blonde wasn't about to joke or laugh. "Me? Blake, I… I don't know what to say." She gently pulled her partner over, and Blake leaned her herself against Yang. "Mythical. That's not something I thought anyone would ever call me."
"You've always been the one. The person I never thought existed, yet here you are." Blake teared up a bit, since she remembered her time with Adam, and how abusive he was. And how Yang was the complete opposite of that monster. "You never once hurt me…"
Yang's body tensed up, and she bit her lip, picturing Blake's scars and hating the person who caused them to be there, so she placed her hand on the back of Blake's head. "And I never will."
Blake took a breath and nodded, pulling back a few moments later, as she didn't want to be overly dramatic. "Thank you, but… We really do need to get back now."
"Right, and by the way, the art," Yang let out a smile. "I love it."
Winter was sighing to herself, as she walked into the room that Olivia was in on her airship. The Hidden woman looked over, seeing the expression on Winter's face, one of concern. "What's wrong?"
"For the time being, I need to delay searching for your husband." Olivia tensed up, but Winter continued. "My sister, she's not too far from here, and she's near a town that was overrun by Grimm not too long ago… I need to make sure she's safe. I'm sorry."
Olivia's heart almost dropped, but she knew that family always came first in some people's eyes, so she held her breath and gripped the sheets. "Will you… Will you still let me try to find him after?"
Winter couldn't take many risks, but with learning more about the Hidden, she knew just how serious things could get, and with her sister being one of those Hidden, a bit of bias made her want to help Olivia. "I can at least promise to still try with the less time we'll have. It's all I can do."
"Okay… If we're going there, may I request something?" The bear Hidden's question was a bit odd, since Winter was already offering help on finding her husband, so she had no idea what else she'd want.
"Go ahead, and if it's something I can do-."
"Your sister. I'd like to talk to her." Olivia made Winter freeze, and the Atlas Specialist almost said no.
"Why would you want to? She has no idea about your kind, and while I will warn her about it, that doesn't mean I wish to drop this all on her when I get there." Winter said in a serious tone.
Olivia frowned. "It's just rare to meet other new Hidden in the world, and I just, I wanted to meet her, since you yourself have been very kind to me."
Winter held her arms behind her back. "I'll only let you speak to her if you don't tell her that she's a Hidden. I don't want her learning in such a way."
"If that's all, then I'll agree not to." Olivia promised.
Too bad Winter doesn't know that her sister has already learned of who she really is. And while these chapters seem a little slow, I promise that once we get back to Beacon, it'll pick up. This is just the last set up/explanation of Weiss' heritage for both Winter's arrival, and JNPR learning about who Weiss is.
To JJ- Honestly, that chapter was something I wanted to get to for so long. The kiss was a curve ball, as I wanted to show that Willow truly doesn't hold any feelings for Jacques any more. And while people hate Jacques (Trust me, I do as well), he is still (technically) human, and people can regret their actions. How much he regrets is still to be seen though.
To Obsessive Reader- Thank you for understanding. I like to try and get chapters out as soon as I can with the schedule I run, and sometimes chapters end up being short or focus solely on one group, so I'm just grateful that a lot of people still enjoy those chapters.
I hoped you all enjoyed chapter 110. Remember, reviews are welcomed, but not required. See you all in chapter 111.