Stop Trying To Cheer Me Up

It had been nearly a week. The entire team had been walking on eggshells. All because of this stupid Dust Theory exam.

The exam that Weiss Schnee failed.

But it hadn't been one of those nearly there failures where you scored ten percent or less from a passing grade. No, it was one of the ones where your first answer determined whether you got the rest of the questions right. And Weiss got the first question wrong. So she ended up getting all the questions wrong.

After Goodwitch had returned the exams back to you, there was that moment of initial shock. The 'how could Ruby AND Yang score higher than Weiss?' kind of shock. You know, the one that no one has ever experienced before and probably will never again.

Once that had settled down, Weiss seemingly entered into some really odd form of a grieving process. What was she grieving for exactly? Who knows, at this point it might as well be your sanity. Because it was all downhill from there.

Of course there had been the obvious denial that she got the question wrong, that the exam was flawed. That somehow all of you but her managed to get the same answer, but hers was actually the correct one.

There were also some short lived attempts at trying to bargain with Goodwitch. All of which were futile. "The results are final, Miss Schnee." That was the response when she asked to retake the exam. Or when she offered to correct the exam and hand it back in for partial credit. "The results are final, Miss Schnee." Every. Single. Time.

And you had done your best to try and help her work through this. But she wanted no assistance getting over her loss.

"It's just one exam Weiss. It's not the end of the world. We have four more exams left in the semester. You have plenty of time to boost your grade."

"Blake, you have no idea what this does to my average! It will literally destroy my untarnished record."

"How terrible that must be." You cared that she was upset. You just thought her reasoning was a little ridiculous.

Striving for and expecting to achieve academic perfection was a little unreasonable of a goal to have. No one was perfect. Not even Weiss Schnee, although you would fight anyone that attempted to suggest otherwise.

"Do you understand how this looks?"

"Like you made one mistake, just like any of us could have just as easily made?"

"Not just that! I am a Schnee. I failed a Dust Theory exam. My family IS Dust Theory."

"So, you basically failed yourself twice?"

That was the absolute worst thing you could've possibly said. Because the onslaught of tears and boisterous sobbing that followed was heart wrenching.

From there, Weiss sank down into the gutter of depression. She barely ate anything. She slept all day when you all weren't in class. She didn't talk to any of you unless it was some mumble of yes, no, thank you or no thank you.

And you had to give Ruby and Yang credit. At first they respected her space. Ruby brought Weiss coffee every morning. Sometimes she drank it, sometimes not. She reminded Weiss to shower and take care of herself.

And Gods bless Yang. It took all she had to just be quiet. And she did it for a solid four days. She didn't bother Weiss at all. No puns. No shoulder bumps. No outrageous gestures of any kind.

And you, you just gave her space. Any attempt to ask if she was alright or needed anything was always met with a hushed "no" or "I'm fine."

But silence is temporary. Very temporary if Yang Xiao Long is nearby. So when the three of you are sitting at the lunch table together on the fifth day of The Silent Schnee, Yang finally breaks.

"I can't do it anymore."

"No one is making you eat vegetable soup. There were plenty of other options." You gesture towards the food line with your spoon before dipping it back into your own soup.

"I'm not talking about that. I'm talking about Weiss."

"I agree." Ruby's participation pulls your attention from your soup and up to the table in front of you. "It's unnatural for me to have to remind Weiss to study and do her homework. It needs to stop. We have to do something."

"See? Helping Weiss wins, two to one. You're outvoted, Blake."

"I never voted. I'm abstaining. You two can do whatever you like. Just don't come crying to me when she freezes you to a wall, or sets your hair on fire." You grab your tray from the table and start to make your way to the trash to clean up after yourself.

"Oh come on Blake, you aren't going to help us at all?"

"Ruby is Weiss' partner. She should be able to handle it. And you, well, just good luck."

"I know I'm her teammate and combat partner but you're her…"

"Her what?" You look at Ruby, unamused by her not so subtle suggestion.

"What Ruby is trying to say is, you are Weiss' non combat partner."

"Ha. Well, since I'm non combative, I'll be in the library."

The days that followed were filled with over the top gestures of kindness, jokes, puns, tons of junk food and overall loudness. All of which seemed to do nothing but agitate a stoic and ever silent Weiss.

Honestly, it was annoying you. So you could only imagine what it was doing to Weiss. She had repeatedly asked that Yang lay off. And insisted that Ruby not bother. Then finally, one day when you were returning from the library late one evening, you hear it. The moment you knew would happen.

"Quit it Yang! Enough is enough." You can hear Weiss' voice echo down the entire hallway. "Let me go!"

"Nope. Sometimes you just need someone to hug you when you're sad! I'm not gonna let go until you say you aren't sad."

"I'm not sad, I'm FURIOUS!"

Ruby's voice cautiously fills the air.

"Maybe, Yang maybe you should just let her go?"

You can see the eyes of Nora and Jaune peeking through a sliver of a crack in the doorway of the room across the hall from your own. And you can hear what you are fairly sure is Pyrrha trying to pull them away, insisting they not be so nosy.

You roll your eyes to yourself as you slowly open the door to your room, trying to balance the books you have in your other arm as you push the door open.

When you step into the room you see what looks like the aftermath of a war. Stuff is everywhere, books on the floor, the curtains and corners of the bedposts look like they've briefly caught fire at some point, and there's coffee spilled all over the desk. You remain in the door way because you aren't really sure where to go.

"Stop trying to cheer me up!" Weiss yells as she squirms to get out of Yang's grasp.

"If I let you go, will you stop setting stuff on fire?"

"Fine!"

Any other time, you would've believed Weiss would honor her word. But as soon as Yang releases her from her bear hug, all you see are shards of ice heading directly for you from out of clouds of dust.

Without thinking, you use your semblance and end up landing halfway on a pile of books. Next thing you know, you scream out as you slip and fall to the ground. Reaching out for anything that can break your fall. Only finding the edge of an open dresser drawer, which follows you down to the ground. Which is where you lay, groaning in pain with multiple books underneath you, the ones you were carrying are now covering your body and the drawer you dislodged lays beside you, broken into three pieces.

"Oh Gods! Blake!" You hear Weiss call out as you close your eyes.

"Good job Snowflake! You killed my best friend."

"Are you okay, Blake?" Ruby calls out to you. And all you can do is give her a small thumbs up, not even bothering to open your eyes.

When you finally do open your eyes, you see Weiss kneeling down beside you, with Ruby and Yang standing over you, behind Weiss. There is a look of concern on the sisters' faces. But Weiss has her lips pursed together like she's, wait, is she laughing?

She grabs onto your hand and pulls it to her chest, leaning her head back as she continues laughing. Yang exchanges a worried glance with Ruby.

"I think you broke her, Blake."

"I think the only thing I broke is my back. Maybe my ribs. I can't tell. It all hurts." Weiss begins to pull the books off of you as she continues to giggle. Once you can sit upright, she stands up and offers you her hand and helps pull you from the floor to your feet. "I'm glad my clumsiness has provided the necessary humor to knock you out of your funk, but can you please help me get to the nurse's office?"

"Of course." She says, sliding her hand around to the other side of your waist to help support your weight.

"Do you want me to help? I can carry you."

"I think you've done more than enough helping today, Yang. You and Ruby have Grimm Studies homework that's due tomorrow and I know for a fact that neither of you have even started."

"Old Weiss has returned." Ruby says, throwing her fist into the air in victory.

"And the two of you can clean this mess up while we are gone too."

"Oh yeah, Weiss is definitely back to her old self. No fun." Yang mumbles as the two of you make your way down the hall towards the nurse's office.

"You don't have to help me walk, I'm fine."

"Are you sure? That fall was pretty bad."

You take an agile jump forward. Completely unharmed by your fall. The benefits of Aura.

"Blake Belladonna," she fakes a gasp, "were you faking it?"

"Maybe?" You give her a smirk. "But I got you to hold my hand."

"Look at you, ever so sneaky."

"I also have some good news for you." Your smirk turns into a full blown smile.

"And what would that be?"

"I talked Goodwitch into dropping our lowest test grade of the semester." You nudge your shoulder against hers.

"Are you serious? How?"

"It took me a while to convince her. I prepared a speech and demonstrated the benefits and how the alleviation of stress helps students perform better over the duration of the semester and some other stuff that I found while I researched in the library."

"You did research for me? How sweet."

"Well, you are Ruby's combat partner. But as Yang likes to say, you are my non combat partner."

"That's quite suggestive, though not inaccurate."

"I'm sorry that I said you failed yourself. It was thoughtless and I didn't intend to upset you."

"Thank you. Although I must admit, your apology is mostly unnecessary. If only for the fact that I grossly overreacted the past week. Being overdramatic doesn't suit me. Far too much work."

"So you think we can stop by the cafeteria on the way to the library, or is that far too much work too?"

"Absolutely not, I'm starving."

"I'm not really hungry, but I'd love something to drink."

"Coffee?" You roll your eyes, knowing she's just teasing.

"Tea."