Co-Authored by ToxicExotic
Disclaimer: All characters belong to Rooster Teeth Productions
Training and Regret
"Alright, Teeeeam RRRWBY!"
Everybody in the room let out a low groan, even Blake herself. Though Ruby was apparently quickly recovering from her post-awakening grogginess, the rest of the team were far from catching up to the young reaper; even Yang, who was normally quite capable of receiving a random burst of energy from nowhere. While Blake had slept rather well the night before, it was very clear that Weiss had not. From what Blake could tell having found the girl splayed out on her work desk, the heiress had been up until the early hours of the morning getting ahead on some work for reasons Blake didn't know, but the resultant lack of sleep had left her in a more bitter mood than usual.
"Keep shouting and I will glyph your mouth shut," the girl scowled venomously while stifling a yawn.
"You should have slept earlier," Ruby replied, though her voice was definitely quieter than before as they all knew what Weiss was capable of in her current mood. "That homework is supposed to last us over break, it doesn't all need to be done now."
"Whatever," the snowy-haired girl said dismissively and adjusted her ponytail, which was just as immaculate as always, even with the lack of sleep.
"Sorry Rubes, but I'm with Weiss on this one," Yang groaned and stretched her arms above her head. "Just because you have unlimited energy after spending the night cuddled in bed with Blake, doesn't mean we're all eager for a five in the morning training session."
Blushing slightly as she recalled falling asleep while studying, Blake averted her gaze away from the group and placed the book that she had brought along for the downtime on the bench, stifling a yawn of her own. While she had indeed slept rather well, she had been strangely disappointed by waking up alone. She wasn't a fool and didn't expect things with Ruby to progress as fast as things did with Adam, but the closeness was still sorely missed.
"Well you try getting the room at a more reasonable time so close to break!" Ruby snapped at her sister and let out a low sigh, a sigh that Blake could easily tell was full of just as much tiredness as their earlier groans were. "It's not as easy as you think."
"Alright," Blake interrupted, seeing that Yang was about retort and not wanting to see a fight between the two so early in the morning. "Why don't we take out our frustrations on the equipment instead of each other?"
"Blake's right," Weiss scolded the two and crossed her arms. "If you two want to fight then I am going back to the room to sleep."
"We're not…" Ruby groaned, but cut herself off as Yang moved over to one of the numerous different training equipment scattered around the room, a punching bag that hung from a rail on the ceiling. "Well I guess we are doing that today."
The groan that escaped the redhead was also shared among the rest of the remaining girls as they all knew exactly how the next ten minutes would pass. The equipment was rather simple, but played brilliantly to Yang's strength as all that was required was to punch the bag back and forth between each person that stood on the four squares labelled out on the corners of the rail. The exercise itself however was rather popular among the students of Beacon, to the point where they had turned it into a game that involved knocking everyone out of their area until only one remained. Needless to say, Yang had quickly taken to the game and become one of the best in their year.
Watching Weiss slump, a rare sight indeed, towards the blonde, Blake sidled up to their team leader and nudged her slightly. Seeing the silver orbs turn to her, Blake gave the girl a small smile in an attempt to cheer her up.
"She's just tired," Blake reasoned, knowing that with a full night of sleep Yang would have backed Ruby on anything.
"I know," Ruby sighed and looking back at the two girls, her earlier attempt at excitement abandoned and she began to make her way over to them; Blake following along. "At least they actually showed up this time though."
The tone in which the final statement was said made Blake's ears perk up a little, though the demoralized sound made her heart go out to the girl. She knew it couldn't be easy trying to rein in a sister who was so free spirited and a partner who liked to take control of every situation she was in, but she knew that Ruby was trying her best. So taking a mental note to maybe talk to Yang about it later, Blake shook her head and joined her team; taking her place in one of the square sections.
The game itself was rather simple. While the main goal was to knock the person from their area, there were certain rules… well, only three that really mattered.
The first rule was easy enough. Should a person place one foot out of their area, they were out. And easy rule to understand but one that still caused a few arguments from time to time.
The second was also a simple one, but an important one nonetheless as it kept things fair. No semblances. Aura channeling was fine, but under no circumstance were you allowed to use a semblance as those with strength based ones were at a natural advantage. That rule was one that Yang had always said was dumb.
The third rule however was the one that made things a little trickier. Whenever someone hit the bag to someone else, they had to call out one of two words. Block, or deflect. Should they call out for a block, the person on the receiving end would have to stop the bag completely. If deflect was called out, then the receiver would have to force it to another opponent while maintaining as much of the punchings bags momentum as possible.
Everything else however, was fair game. People could hit the bag as hard as they wanted, and to whoever they wanted; and naturally since Beacon was a combat school, the game became rather competitive despite its simplicity.
"Everyone ready?"
"Let's just get this over with so we can move onto something that isn't a huge waste of time," Weiss replied to the blonde bitterly, having never really taken to the game very well.
"You just hate it because you can't dodge it like you do everything else," Yang shrugged and prepped to start. "But unfortunately, Princess; some things just have to be blocked."
With very little warning, Yang thrust her fist forward and sent the sandbag careening towards Weiss. Contrary to popular belief however, Weiss was rather good at blocking. With her aura constantly being trained due to her semblance playing such a huge role in her fighting style, she had almost as high a welspring as Yang herself. And though like both Ruby and Blake she preferred to dodge and deflect, the heiress wasn't afraid to spend a little to take a blow head on. So with a slight shimmer of pale blue to show her aura activating, her arms came out with her forearms crossed to stop the bag dead; a slight puff of dust billowing from the leather.
"I don't need lessons on how to defend from someone who is always getting hit." Weiss sneered, despite having just used a block that Yang had taught her. "Deflect," rearing her hand back, Weiss used a flat-palm strike to send the bag towards Ruby.
"By choice!"
"Guys, enough. Deflect," Ruby groaned as she twisted her body and slammed both of her hands into the side of the leather to send it towards Yang, the move one that Blake could have sworn she had seen in on of the leader's manga.
"It's all in good fun, Sis. Deflect," Yang replied and twisted her body similarly to Ruby, but delivered an uppercut to the bad that increased its speed notably as it zoomed towards Blake.
"Until one of you takes it too far and the other gets annoyed. Deflect," Blake countered Yang's claim while reaching out with one hand to slow the bag enough to elbow it with her other to Weiss, having seen one of them get annoyed at the other's ribbing more times than she could count.
"Block."
Weiss' hands slamming into the bag and emitted a brief flash to show she had channeled some aura into the hit, something she had likely learned from Ren as the two studious students had struck up an unsurprising friendship. However, while the bag was little more than a blur as it streaked past Blake towards Yang, the blonde was practically unfazed and simply stopped it with a single hand; though the force behind it still made the wild mane of hair billow out behind her
"Gunna take more than that, Prin…"
"Yang!" Both Ruby and Blake said quickly, but they were too late.
"Stop calling me that!" Weiss snapped almost immediately, her eyes flashing dangerously. "Do you always have to be so condescending?"
The nickname was one that Weiss hated more than any other and everyone knew it. And while the team was allowed a certain leniency, just like how Blake allowed the occasion animal pun from Yang as she knew it was only playful; that leniency always came to an end when Weiss felt it was said in any way other than friendly.
"Case in point," Blake groaned as the usual having happened yet again.
Clearly though, even through the tiredness, Yang knew she had messed up and her face fell a little.
"Sor…"
"Whatever," Weiss interrupted, her tone one of indifference to show the apology was not accepted and that she was done talking.
"Will you two just stop?" Ruby cried in her own annoyance, her arms tensed at her side. "Can we just have one training session without a fight or an argument?"
"Sorry, Rubes," Yang replied with disappointment tinging her tone, though Weiss remained silent. Pulling her arm back, she punched the bag again towards the younger redhead. "Deflect."
Beyond the rattle of chains as the bag drifted towards the girl, Blake picked up on a small sigh from Ruby's direction and changed her earlier note to definitely talk to Yang about it later. However there was unfortunately nothing she could do about it until then, so preparing to intercept the bag as it came her way, Blake resigned to simply getting the training session over in peace, something that was far more possible with Weiss refusing to talk.
Stretching her back as she looked up from her weapon, Blake glanced over to the partners on the other side of the room. Weiss had refused to even talk to Yang since the training session, let alone sit next to her for their classes; so if only to ease the tension a little until they inevitably made up, Ruby had decided that the two should stay separate for a while so that Weiss could cool off. Much like when Blake had awoken that morning, it felt weird not having Ruby next to her for class as the girl had chosen the seat next to her everyday since their conversation on the roof, but it had produced plenty of opportunities to speak to Yang privately.
Though she had not taken them as their first and second classes had been with Professor Goodwitch and Professor Greene, two professors who would not hesitate to give out detentions for talking in their class. However with them being surrounded by the loud noises of weapon maintenance in Professor Mulberry's class, Blake knew she couldn't ask for a better time to have a quiet conversation with her partner.
"You know she hates that name," Blake said while cleaning the recoil spring of her for Gambol Shroud's gun, not bothering to beat around the bush as it was clear that Yang's mind was still on it by the fact she had been cleaning the same gear for almost three minutes with the occasional glance of their teammates.
"I wasn't trying to be condescending," Yang replied with a sad sigh, finally dropping the gear to the desk and picking up another. "I was just messing around."
"When she was tired?"
"Yes, yes. Stupid idea, I know," Yang breathed and begun to clean the new piece of metal in her hand. "But it usually blows over by now."
"She's under a lot of pressure at the minute," Blake said simply and slotted the freshly oiled spring back into its place. "I told you about her father."
"And I get that she's pissed about not being able to stay over the break, but she's been so moody about everything lately," Yang replied with a shake of her head. "Hell she practically bit off yours and Ruby's head last night when you asked to borrow her notes."
"I'm not excusing her behavior," Blake countered truthfully as it had annoyed Blake the night before too. "I'm just saying that you acting like you did this morning when you know she's in a bad mood certainly doesn't help."
Taking a deep sigh, Blake pushed ahead on what she really wanted to talk about.
"And it's affecting Ruby too."
While Yang's focus had remained on her gauntlets and Weiss for their conversation, that quickly changed at the mention of her sister. Her eyes quickly glanced over to Blake and all thought of the gear in her hand was forgotten.
"What do you mean?"
"I mean she's having enough trouble seeing herself as a good leader as it is," Blake explained while fiddling with her weapon. "You and Weiss fighting every week and not showing up for training just makes that feeling worse."
"Has she said something?" Yang asked, the concern in her voice evident.
"Not lately," Blake replied, though she was disappointed that she couldn't make her tone a reassuring one. "But I saw it again this morning when she snapped at you, and I'm guessing you did too. She feels like our lives are in her hands, and she's terrified she'll make the wrong call. And honestly, if you two continue like that and keep not showing up, our teamwork slips and the odds of her fears happening increases. I've seen it happen in the past."
"Oh."
Yang's reply was simple, but the way she looked down in shame was more than enough for Blake to know her words had hit their mark. She loved Yang and hated making her partner feel that way, but sometimes things required a firm hand and even she had grown increasingly frustrated at the temperamental friendship Weiss and Yang shared. Occasional fighting had a way of either wearing at a relationship or strengthening it; but even though Blake knew that the two girls cared for each other, she wasn't sure which one of those things would happen if the fighting continued.
"Guess I've been a pretty shit teammate lately, huh?"
"Self-deprecation is my thing," Blake joked softly to ease the girl's worries a little before letting the seriousness return to her tone. "You've been fine, Yang; but these fights with Weiss need to stop. I don't need to tell you what will happen if one occurs while we are on a mission. And talk to Ruby. She could use some reassurance from her big sister who I can say without a doubt she looks up to more than anyone."
Yang dropped the clean gear to the table and let out a sigh, the sounds getting lost in the loud noises of the classroom; but still audible to Blake. Looking up from her lap, the blonde glanced over to the pair and Blake followed her gaze to see Weiss looking pointedly away from them to clean her dust cylinder. Hearing a small groan from her side, she leaned back in her chair and shook her head.
"I'll talk to Ruby tonight," Yang said and picked up another gear. "But I guess I'll have to wait till tomorrow to fix that one."
"Probably," Blake agreed, knowing that Weiss would likely remain stubborn for the rest of the day given her lack of sleep. "You really had to call her that, didn't you?"
"I didn't mean too," Yang said in a low voice and held up the gear to remove a small speck of red that covered the silver metal. "It just slipped out. You know I just say dumb shit sometimes."
"Something else you should probably work on," Blake replied with a raised eyebrow.
"I know," Yang said, the lack of a witty counter surprising to Blake. "But I guess that's still how her life seems to me. With all the stories I read to Ruby as a kid and how perfectly Weiss appears to fit the princesses from them, it keeps slipping my mind that her life wasn't like that at all."
"I get that," Blake hummed in admittance, understanding how Yang could have that problem. "There are still days when I see her as more of a Schnee than as just Weiss, and I'm sure she still has her days where she sees me as White Fang. It honestly makes me wonder if Professor Ozpin could had made a more dysfunctional team if he tried."
"It wouldn't surprise me if he knew what would happen before we even entered the forest," Yang countered as she started to reconstruct her gauntlet. "That guy gives me the creeps."
"Another thing I can understand," Blake agreed and slipped the latch back onto her swords upper hinge.
Professor Ozpin had caused her to be suspicious numerous times since she started Beacon. The man had a certain air about him, an air of knowing that bordered on clairvoyance. She remembered the meeting she had with him after her confrontation at the dock, that every answer she gave felt like a lie because he already knew more than she did; and not just about the incident, but about her herself. Despite her not mentioning it on her application, he knew she was a Faunus and from the way he talked, also knew about her past. However, while he had made no comment about it and even seemed like someone who genuinely didn't care about her heritage, there had been a quality about him that she just couldn't trust.
"Thanks, by the way," Yang said while slipping the hammer into place. "For telling me about Ruby. She has it in her head that she has to be just as amazing as she thinks our mom was, though that's probably my fault too since I only ever told her about the good things."
"It's fine," Blake hummed, remembering having thought during the date that Yang and everyone had left out certain details when talking about Summer. "I kinda have my reasons for not wanting her to be depressed."
"Yes I know. You want her happy so you can be all kissy kissy together."
"I doubt we will be getting that far until she's ready."
"Because of Him?"
"I know it's not the same," Blake said with a nod. "I just know what it's like to feel pressured by someone older, and I don't want that with Ruby."
"I can say that she's definitely not feeling pressured," Yang replied, a certain cadence to her voice that implied she knew something. "So what's this thing you want her happy for anyway?"
"Well…" Despite it being in three days, she had still not talked to Ruby or Yang about the party; and since Weiss was still refusing to go, Blake felt safe in believing the heiress had not said anything either. "Neon…"
"Ugh."
"... and Flynt are throwing a party in the transfer dorms, and I was thinking it might be a good second date."
Receiving a raised eyebrow from the blonde, Blake looked away to save herself from Yang potentially seeing the blush that may have been painted on her face.
"Ok well putting aside the fact you have known about a party and not told me about it," she said with mock scolding in her voice. "Are you of all people really considering going to a party of your own free will?"
"I'm not completely against group interaction, Yang," Blake chuckled, casting her partner a sideways glance. "Weiss on the other hand is refusing to go."
"Yeah, no," Yang said immediately, holding her her reconstructed gauntlet and extending it to check everything. "We may be in the middle of a falling out, but she is definitely going."
"Figured as much," Blake replied and finished reconstructing her own weapon. "But yes, I'm pretty confident now that she won't say no, but I'd still really like her to be happy for the date."
"Then I will make sure she is," Yang said firmly, the certainty in her voice telling Blake that there would be nothing more important to the blonde in the coming days than to make Ruby happy.
"Thanks."
Giving her partner and appreciative smile and earning a nod in reply, she turned to look at the younger sister across the room so see her watching them. Unlike most, the reaper's weapon was resting at her side as it had likely been finished long ago. Catching the beautiful silver orbs that were eyeing her and Yang with intrigue, she raised her hand slightly and saw a soft smile break out on the girl's face; one that she happily returned.
With lunch being next and having not talked with Ruby much that day, Blake hoped that she would be able to enjoy her leaders company for a little while; just in case the other two members of their team needed to be separate a little longer.
A/N
Hello everyone, Raalm here. So this chapter is a little shorter than usual, but I hope you enjoyed nonetheless. Some chapters may be shorter since I'm trying not to make my whole life about writing right now. Before my break it was pretty much waking up, turning on my laptop and staying like that until I went to bed. It wasn't very healthy and I felt my creativity slipping, so this works a little better for me as I'm putting aside time to do other things I enjoy. But anyway, onto actual notes for the chapter.
We wanted to show a couple of things in this chapter, the main things being that they are still relatively new as a team. They may have been together for a few months, but they are still adjusting to each other. As much as I love Freezerburn, as most of you may know xD Weiss and Yang are two characters who would naturally butt heads a lot. They may care about each other and have a lot in common, but they are rather different people with different ways of doing things. Weiss comes of as rather cold this chapter, but I promise you we have that for reasons.
The other things we wanted to show was more of Blake and Yang's relationship, and how Ruby affects that. The last time we had Blake and Yang have a 1 on 1, it was not under the best of circumstances. This time we get to show how close they really are. We also get to show Blake confronting Yang on behalf of Ruby this time.
Anyway, that's it from me. I hope you enjoyed.