„…and do not use dust in offensive manner. Your weapons are noted to be particularly dangerous when loaded with dust and I don't not wish for there to be any unnecessary injuries." Miss Goodwitch said, concluding her list of additional rules that would apply to the fight. "Is everything clear?"
"Sure." Ruby murmured, not having paid much attention to what was being said.
"I promise to abide to safety standards to the best of my ability." Weiss said far more eloquently.
"I'm glad to hear it." Miss Goodwitch replied. "Now, are you both ready to begin?"
"Yes I am." Ruby said, this time much louder. She activated the Crescent Rose and assumed a defensive position.
"So am I." Weiss confirmed. She grabbed her weapon with one hand and pointed the blade towards Ruby like most fencers would. Her rapier was probably already loaded with some sort of dust she would end up using in a fight. It was good, since in order to make losing at least somewhat convincing Ruby needed Weiss to show some decent skill.
"Very well." Professor Goodwitch raised her crop. "On my signal, you are allowed to start fighting. Remember the rules and do not get carried away."
Gee, Miss Goodwitch didn't seem to believe that Ruby and Weiss would behave properly. Frankly, Ruby felt somewhat offended at this lack of trust. Hasn't she proven herself to be wise and reliable already? Then again, maybe the distrust was directed more towards the fencer with a bad attitude and several tons worth of explosives in her weapons' chamber.
Said girl was currently piercing Ruby with her gaze, like a predator admiring its prey – though come to think of it, most predators would attack if the prey was actively staring back, since it meant the element of surprise was gone anyway. Point was, that look was scary. There was some real determination there, maybe anger as well, both of which fit Weiss pretty well. She was dead set on winning the fight, which would probably make things easier for Ruby. Or harder, depending how you looked at it.
Don't get distracted. Ruby told herself. You have to be focused if you want to make this convincing.
In the last second before the duel started, Ruby mentally ran through all the steps necessary to achieve her goal of losing horribly. It shouldn't be too hard, really – she would just have to throw clumsy attacks and never dodge too agilely. Sooner or later her aura would get depleted and then she would just have to take the loss in stride. Which could be hard, but it was still necessary. As much as Ruby would want it, there was seemingly no way to make Weiss feel at peace without giving something up.
When the crop came down, signaling the start of the duel, Ruby dashed forwards. Not with her full speed and without an actual intent to score a blow, but fast enough to at least look like she was trying. She swung her scythe in a sideway strike, low enough to make decently sure Weiss would be able to jump upwards to avoid it.
She had. The chine missed Weiss by a wide margin, as the girl quickly shot up using her sigil thingies, in a similar way she did during their fight with the Nevermore. While midair, she created yet another glyph and pushed herself off it, coming down towards Ruby with the sharp end of her sword pointed towards the young reaper.
This time, Ruby didn't really have to fake anything. The strike was extremely fast and dodging it would have been a challenge even while fighting seriously. Since Ruby only made the barest effort to avoid the blow, the blade hit her square in the chest and would have inflicted a serious wound if not for the aura absorbing the blow.
Only then did Ruby actually jump out of Weiss' reach. A quick glance towards the board upon landing revealed that Ruby lost almost a tenth of her aura on that hit – her reserves were never particularly large. Depleting them all the way couldn't be very hard. All she had to do was to keep dodging-but-not-quite, maybe score a hit against Weiss for the sake of pretense. Now that she thought of it, she ought to at least launch a single attack.
With that goal in mind, Ruby grabbed her scythe tighter and swung it at Weiss as a counterattack. The swing was not particularly well-aimed, so it was no surprise when Weiss managed to jump out of the way, without even having to use her semblance. She simply jumped to the side, after which she made a longer jump backwards, wisely putting herself out of Crescent Rose's reach.
Ruby then made another bad-but-probably-not-obviously-bad move. She pressed a button that transformed Crescent Rose into its ranged form. Her baby was an absolutely devastating weapon a sniper rifle, obviously, but only when there was at least a decent range to shoot from. Here, Ruby wouldn't be able to get a clean shot at Weiss even if she was so polite as to stand in place as a stationary target.
Of course, Weiss wasn't about to stand in place. To the contrary, she lunged forwards propelled by one of her shiny circles, flying towards Ruby at an uncomfortable speed. Ruby could probably avoid that strike by using her semblance, but she instead decided to do less rational thing and try to aim a shot instead.
Obviously, it didn't work out. Despite all the experience Ruby had with her sniper rifle, there was simply no way to aim and shoot within less than a second. The tip of Weiss's sword scratched her shoulder, taking another bit of aura away from her. As for Weiss herself, she landed near the edge of the ring, immediately turning around to face her opponent once again.
Ruby took a deep breath. Her aura was still in the green, but it wouldn't remain such for long at this pace. Just keep repeating the same strategy and don't feel too embarrassed when it brings results.
This was going fairly well.
This was not going well.
Pyrrha watched the duel from her seat on the tribunes and with every moment found herself more and more worried about the outcome of this battle. Ruby was trying to lose – that much was obvious just by looking at her attacks and how clumsy they were. Perhaps it wasn't obvious to everyone, but Pyrrha could recognize when someone was holding back and so could multiple other students, undoubtedly. Miss Goodwitch definitely did, though there was no saying whether or not she would address Ruby's behavior or how she felt about it.
For better or worse, Weiss didn't seem aware of what was really happening. She was rather skilled and had a firm grasps on tactics, but she likely wasn't experienced enough in person-to-person combat to recognize when her opponent was holding back. She was just thinking about winning, too focused on her own moves to notice the flaws in Ruby's attacks, or rather how obvious those flaws were.
Even if Weiss did notice what was going on, she would probably just go with it for the sake of reputation. Which would be a mistake, a terrible one. If most students weren't able to notice Ruby's strange behavior now, they would put two and two together the moment Weiss got announced a winner. At worst they would be angry that someone decided to fight unfairly like that, suspecting Weiss to have arranged such an outcome herself, and at best they would think the heiress weaker than she actually was.
It was the reason staged fights weren't actually as common as cynics would think. Throughout her career Pyrrha was only offered a possibility twice, maybe thrice. It had little to do with honor or respect for the rules, throwing fights and arranging for them to be thrown simply wasn't beneficial most of the time. Even if you managed to do it subtly, the victory achieved through trickery was only going to add one more win to your statistics and likely not a spectacular one, since you wouldn't actually be doing anything particularly impressive.
Upon seeing Ruby smash the floor with her scythe, Pyrrha massaged her palm. Watching this display was hard and dealing with the consequences would be even harder. Sadly, there wasn't anything she could do about that, not now that her two teammates were already on the battlefield and there was no way to meaningfully help either of them.
Or was there…
Pyrrha quickly made some mental calculations, trying to determine if the idea she just came up with had any merit. Miss Goodwitch would certainly disapprove of any type of cheating, but she also certainly disapproved of what was happening before her eyes at the moment and didn't react in any visible way. Besides, there was no telling if she would notice one more strange thing among this parody of a battle or if she would be able to place her suspicions correctly. It still seemed somewhat risky to go against the rules like that… but the tradeoff was probably worth it.
And so, having made her choice, Pyrrha concentrated on Ruby's weapon…
This going pretty well. Weiss thought, as she dodged backwards to avoid the scythe coming down to slice her. The dodge proved itself fully successful, as the blade came nowhere near the heiress and only managed to put a small crack in the parquet they were fighting on.
Honestly, dodging Ruby's blows wasn't too hard. The girl wasn't particularly fast or precise with her weapon, which really was to be expected. Scythes weren't the most popular weapons out there and making them so huge probably didn't help. Once you committed to the strike, the momentum of the weapon would carry it forward, making feints of any sorts practically impossible and giving your opponent enough time to react in some way. Weiss, on the other hand, had no such issue. Myrtenaster was light and elegant, enabling all kinds of maneuvers and making precision attacks perfectly possible.
Screw learning how to lose. I'm about to win this. Weiss thought, remembering Headmaster's words and brushing them off as worthless in this situation. Perhaps she was a bit of a sore loser, but it only made her more determined to win. And she would win. She had to score at least one major victory in that whole game, both to appear better than Ruby and to win her first fight where Jaune hasn't. Failure was not an option.
Keeping that in mind, Weiss produced a glyph to negate her backwards momentum and then immediately launched herself forwards with her blade aimed squarely at Ruby. She didn't intend to strike her team leader just yet, of course. That would be too predictable, making defense possible if not exactly easy. Instead, Weiss intentionally pushed herself sideways mid-flight, dodging a defensive strike of the scythe – although it was so slow she could probably just duck under it and still hit Ruby – and passing by her opponent. She only stopped once she was a few meters behind Ruby, upon which she used her semblance once again, this time aiming for the girl's back.
Now that would be a good strike. Ruby would probably be fast enough to turn around, but only to catch Myrtenaster's blade to the chest. In the worst case possible she would manage to jump sideways and avoid the attack, but she wouldn't be able to throw Weiss off balance by actually blocking, let alone to perform a counterstrike. With her unwieldy weapon and seemingly limited reflexes, there was no way for her…
By the time the blade flew towards here, Weiss had far too much momentum to turn around. She impacted the chine with full speed, having only enough time to activate her aura and avoid being cut in half. Feeling her aura deplete, Weiss instinctively used a glyph to back away, or rather fly backwards only to tumble to the floor upon landing.
How did that happen? Ruby had no right to strike that quickly, with that precision from that position. Even with supreme reflexes, she would have needed to have eyes on the back of her head to determine where to strike exactly.
"Sorry!" Ruby suddenly yelled. "I didn't mean to do it!"
"What?!" Weiss barked angrily as she got herself back upon her feet. "We are fighting. How could you have not meant to score a blow?"
"Oh, right. I did mean to do it then." Ruby amended. "Not that I enjoy seeing you get hit or anything."
Weiss gritted her teeth. She wasn't sure what Ruby was going on about, but it didn't matter. They were fighting, not having a conversation. And since Weiss had just lost a good chunk of her aura, the fight suddenly seemed a lot more dangerous.
She decided that maybe it was time for a small change of strategy. Instead of charging in once more, she raised her sword in a defensive manner and began circling around Ruby, daring her to attack as she did at the start of the match.
The brunette seemed unsure how to respond. She was undoubtedly trying to judge what mode of attack would do best, what tactic she should use in order to ensure her victory. Eventually, she turned her weapon into a sniper rifle once more, hoping to attack from a distance.
Bad move. Bad in a rather obvious, predictable way. Ruby already compromised her defense by transforming her weapon and earned a nasty hit for her trouble. Perhaps she thought that now she would be able to repel Weiss' attack, but that seemed highly improbable.
Before the rifle had a chance to fully formed, Weiss rushed forwards, with her sword aiming for Ruby's neck. The brunette had already lost about half of her aura and all that was really needed was one, maybe two powerful hits to bring her down. All Weiss had to do was to aim carefully…
In hindsight, Weiss shouldn't have expected for Ruby to make the same mistake twice. This time, the sniper didn't even attempt to use her weapon in the intended way and instead smacked Weiss with the barrel of the rifle – which was just as heavy as the scythe's chine, if not as sharp. The hit didn't require too much aura to be absorbed, but it was strong enough to drive all the air out of Weiss' lungs and knock her to the ground.
Suffice to say, the strike didn't connect. Once again, Ruby successfully defended herself against Weiss' attack and scored a hit in return.
"Sorry again!" Ruby exclaimed. "Even though I totally intended to do that!"
Weiss scrambled back to her feet. It appeared as though Ruby was a far more clever a fighter than Weiss had been willing to give her credit for. She spent first minute or so of the fight on the defensive, only launching half-baked attacks, not because she was forced to but because it allowed her to gain a better assessment of Weiss' fighting style. That was the only reasonable explanation for why she was suddenly fighting so much more efficiently. She was using psychological tactics too – why else would she be apologizing for her attacks other than to rile her opponent up?
And frankly, it was working. If Weiss wasn't angry at the start of the spar, she definitely was now. Their auras were now at a similar level, and Weiss was starting to feel quite tired from having used her semblance so many times. If the fight proceeded in this manner, she would soon face a bitter defeat at the hands of her team leader. The only way to change the tides would be to do something unexpected, something that Ruby had no response prepared against.
With a press of a small lever, Weiss activated the dust infusion in the Myrtenaster. She wasn't about to break the rules by using dust offensively, but there were other ways to utilize that wonderful resource. Weiss felt lighter and yet somehow stronger as the gravity dust fused not only with her blade, but with her semblance and aura itself.
It was a perfect mixture, one she used numerous times during combat by now. The Schnee family semblance was, incidentally or not, able to absorb almost any type of dust and be greatly empowered by it. In the case of gravity dust, it allowed Weiss to not only bounce off her glyphs or use them to change momentum, but to amplify her speed with almost no limits. Once again, that ability was about to become very useful.
Behind Weiss' back, a large, black sigil formed. It didn't have any immediate effect, but only because the huntress didn't will it to. Another glyph appeared on the opposite side of the arena, behind Ruby's back. The reaper didn't notice this, her eyes focused on Weiss instead as she stood there with her weapon back in its scythe form. She was either going to use said scythe to deflect Weiss' attack as she did before, or perhaps just jump out of the way at the last moment. Neither would work.
With a pure act of will, Weiss unleashed the power within her glyphs. The one behind her pushed against her back, propelling her forwards, while the one in front of her attracted her from a distance. More importantly, it attracted Ruby as well, making Weiss' opponent stumble, though not quite fall. Just as intended.
Weiss flew forwards with a speed of bullet. Her blade was drawn and aimed at Ruby, squarely at her center of mass. Absorbing a strike like that was bound to deplete most of Ruby's remaining aura, and if not, perhaps the sheer force would knock her out of the ring. That sort of attack wasn't very practical, it could be avoided by simply stepping out of the way in time, but now that Ruby was off-balance and Weiss was locked on her target, there was no way for her to…
And then Weiss missed.
She wasn't sure how. She could swear that she pointed her sword just at the right angle, just at the right spot. It was as though her hand moved involuntarily for no clear reason. Instead of striking Ruby with a weapon, all that Weiss managed to do was to slam into her opponent's shoulder, inflicting just as much damage to herself as she did to Ruby.
Sadly, that wasn't even the worst. The shoulder bump was rather painful, but it didn't entirely cancel out Weiss' momentum. Not even mostly. She just continue flying towards the second glyph, one that pulled her towards it, only increasing the speed. By the time Weiss realized what it meant, it was far too late to do anything.
Weiss passed through the glyph right before it dissolved, no longer maintained by her concentration. She fell down on the floor and onto her knees, only this time it wasn't the floor of the ring.
"The fight is over!" Miss Goodwitch announced loudly. "Miss Rose wins through knockout."
Weiss lost. Despite giving her all, despite having resorted to using dust and despite all her opponent's mistakes, she still got bested at the end. She didn't even have the dignity to lose properly, by having her aura depleted first. She instead knocked herself out of the arena, performing Ruby's task for her. For everyone in her class to see.
"There is a lot I would like to say about this duel, but we are running late and I respect your time." The instructor continued. "To all the students present, the class is over. You are free to disperse, or use this classroom to train on your own accord. To Miss Rose and Miss Schnee, if you sustained any injuries, please report to the hospital wing."
Weiss wasn't injured in any way, though one would be forgiven for thinking otherwise. Her aura was partially intact, not having fallen even below the designated mark, but the repeated use of her semblance had drained Weiss considerably. Back during the fight she was able to push through the tiredness, but now that the defeat had come, there was no more resolve to keep her up and running. Currently she couldn't even stand up due to how exhausted she was, both physically and mentally.
Ruby must have noticed it, as right after standing up herself, she approached her teammate with that damn weapon back at her hip. She extended a hand towards Weiss, though with visible uncertainty.
"You, um, need any help?" The girl asked sheepishly. Her silver eyes looked at Weiss with what seemed to be a genuine concern. If there was a feeling of triumph there, it was concealed remarkably well.
It was only natural for Ruby to feel concerned, really. Weiss was literally on her knees, defeated in a decisive manner. She no doubt looked pitiful, down and defeated like that. In that state, it was probably hard to feel anything but concern and pity for her.
And then it dawned on her.
It was quite obvious now that she thought about. Weiss was locked in a competition she couldn't win. If there ever was a chance that the faculty would reconsider making Ruby a team leader, it was gone now that the young girl won her first fight and then felt merciful enough to offer her opponent a helping hand. Weiss lost, completely and decisively. But there was more than one way to cope with defeat.
The purpose of learning how to lose… it wasn't about being satisfied with a loss, but rather at making the best out of it. Even if you lost, even if you lost completely, you could still take steps to manage your situation somehow. And perhaps the best way to this was the least pleasant one.
Think. Weiss urged herself. If you were in Ruby's place, what would you like to hear? What would make you more comfortable?
Weiss took a deep breath. She assembled the necessary words in her head, knowing how hard it would be to spew them out. But it needed to be done.
"I'm sorry." Weiss said, quietly enough to give an impression of reluctance – and it wasn't a fake one – but still loud enough for Ruby to hear her clearly.
"Huh?" Ruby was taken aback. As expected.
"I'm sorry for how I've been acting." As Weiss spoke, she listened to the sounds around her. Many students were leaving the classroom at this very moment, but certainly not all. Some were probably listening in, which was annoying, but ultimately beneficial. "I was rude to you. Obnoxious even. I know that and I'm really, really sorry."
"Weiss…" Ruby felt either too surprised or too awkward to form words quickly. "Look, I hold no grudge. I understand you…"
"No you don't." Weiss interrupted. In any other situation, this would be considered rude, but now it only made her look more pitiable. So struck with guilt she was unwilling to be comforted. It wasn't how people acted normally, it was more than a little on the nose, but it would do the job. "I felt a need to prove myself, to show how much better I am… but I'm not. I'm really not."
This time, Ruby was seemingly too shocked to reply, but she didn't seem to suspect anything. Not that it The funny thing about groveling was that it worked even if the target could see your intentions.
"And now, I failed. Again. I just…" Weiss paused, partially for dramatic effect, but also to reconsider the words she was about say. There was such thing as being too obvious and what she was about to say belonged more in a Mistralian cartoon than in an actual conversation, but it was definitely something Ruby would want to hear. "I wish I was more like you. You're just stronger than me. More brave. More inspiring."
"Um, thanks." Ruby scratched herself nervously. "I'm not sure about the stronger part… not that those other two are on point, I mean I don't think I'm that inspiring, though it's nice to think about it like that…"
By Dust, didn't Ruby know how to accept such compliments graciously? She wasn't really making things easier for Weiss at the moment… but it could be worse. Better to tell Ruby how awesome she is than to admit defeat to Jaune later.
"Anyways, I don't hold anything against you. For real." Ruby continued. "For all I care, we can just forget about all this and start with a clean slate, you know?"
Such naivety. There was no such thing as starting with a clean slate. Nobody could truly forget the insults they were once offered and only a fool would actively try to. But it was the kind of response Weiss had been hoping for.
"I would like that, yes." She muttered quietly, yet still loud enough for Ruby to hear. Only then did she accept the outstretched hand and used it to pull herself up.
While she was still turned towards Ruby, Weiss allowed herself to quickly scan the room just by moving her eyes. Indeed, it appeared as though almost half the students have already left the classroom, but those who stayed would have a good view on the scene below. Jaune was among them, as Weiss managed to spot, but she wouldn't meet him in the eye. It would be all too easy for him to throw Weiss off balance with a single mocking look. There would be no such victory of him.
As for the other familiar faces, Ren had apparently gotten up from his seat, only to get assaulted by Nora who was, from what Weiss could hear, oscillating between assuring Ren that his loss was no big deal and going on about how fun her own fight was. Pyrrha was coming down to the arena, Blake seemed content to keep sitting behind the desk for the time being, while Yang…
"Yang!" Ruby whined as her sister ran up to her with blinding speed and encased her in a bearlike hug. "I told you not to do this!"
"Sorry sis, but you deserve a hug, after a fight like that. The first part was a mess, but then… those were some nice moves you got."
"Yeah. Thanks, but they just kind of… came in naturally?" Ruby was clearly embarrassed by receiving praise like that.
"Still cool." Yang released her sister from the tight embrace and then turned so that she faced both Ruby and Weiss, her smile somewhat fading. "Will you two be okay and all? I haven't heard everything, but you seemed to have gotten a little emotional right now."
"I am alright, thank you." Weiss replied. "I just felt sorry for getting upset too much."
Yang nodded in response. She looked interested, maybe even suspicious of what just transpired, but she apparently didn't intend to question Weiss' words.
It was about then that Pyrrha reached the ground as well. She approached Weiss, with a surprising… lack of confidence in the way she walked. Nervous, perhaps even scared for whatever reason.
"Are you alright Weiss?" She asked. "I don't see any injuries on you but do you feel… well?"
Does she think I'm going to be mad for having lost? Great job Weiss, you almost sabotaged your relations with Pyrrha of all people. That advice really was important.
"I am just fine, Pyrrha." Weiss stated calmly. "If you worry that I'm going to be bitter, don't. I can handle losing in a fair fight."
"Right. Sorry for implying otherwise." Pyrrha's face flushed red as she spoke. Was she that ashamed of her little insinuation? "There isn't anything we need to talk about, then?"
"I don't think so. But if there is anything you want to talk about, I am open."
"Hey, how about we go hang out together?" Ruby said now that she was free of Yang. "Then we can talk about whatever we want, without so many people around. And maybe do some other stuff too. I have some fun activities in mind that we could do now that the classes are over."
Weiss felt an urge to ask what exactly those activities were and in what way they were 'fun', but she bit her tongue. It was better to go along what ruby said, at least when it came to unimportant matters such as this.
"I don't have anything planned." Weiss shrugged. "Might as well spend some time as a team."
Ruby blinked, as though she wasn't expecting this sort of reply. She then smiled widely. "Well, let's not wait! I just have to figure out when we start."
Ruby then began chaotically listing her plans for the rest of the day and considering which one of these should be utilized first. Weiss paid little attention to that, only listening carefully enough to react immediately if Ruby asked her something. Her eyes trailed behind the members of team JNBY as they exited the classroom in a group. Nora was practically walking backwards, waving to Ren on her way out of the room. Her teammates. including Jaune, only looked ahead. They were probably about to perform some 'fun activity themselves', though Jaune had no doubt less silly ideas than Ruby kept suggesting.
Leadership can only get you so far. Weiss thought, now certain she had made the right choice. While you manage your team and play the boss, I'll have someone else do it for me.
An operational team, one with all kinds of weapons at their disposal and a world-renowned champion as its trump card. against Jaune's team of close-ranged combatants, one of which couldn't even bring herself to get along with her leader.
When you looked at things this way... they really were going fairly well.
Blake wasn't sure how she felt about her first day of school.
As she walked down the corridor alongside her teammates, Blake tried to figure out why she felt this way. Nothing went badly for her, really. She didn't step on anyone's toes as far as she could tell, didn't end up revealing she was a faunus and found a nice hiding spot for her less reputable books. The only real challenge she faced over the course of the day was her fight against Nora and it went pretty well. Great, even – the duel was just hard enough to feel challenging, but she still ended up winning by a wide margin.
And yet, she didn't feel satisfied with how the day went. She didn't feel unsatisfied either, it was just... It was as though she got attacker by an Atlesian battle drone, but before she managed to shoot it out of the sky, it randomly started to break down and exploded. It didn't make her doubt her skills and it wasn't a bad thing in any real way, but it was weird to the point where it was hard to really feel happy with how things went.
Maybe she just felt uneasy being around so many humans after all her time in the Fang. Maybe she simply had a hard time adjusting to being on a team with a Schnee. Or maybe it was that fight she just witnessed, during which both Ruby and Weiss were acting rather strange to say the least, or maybe the scene after said fight which seemed even more bizarre.
Or maybe it was just being around Nora. That worked as well.
"You were awesome." Nora said cheerfully. "Seriously, you have some nice moves. As in fighting moves, I'm still into guys. But you are still awesome, have I mentioned that before?"
"Yes Nora, you mentioned that five seconds ago. And about seven times prior to that." Blake replied calmly, but somewhat tiredly. She was glad Nora didn't turn out to be a sore loser, but really, she seemed a little too satisfied with the fight.
"Well, I can't really mention that enough. It has been ages since I had an interesting fight like that. Lately I've been only fighting Grimm and Ren, and both got kind of boring after a while. Not saying that Ren is bad, he actually kicks my butt half the times, but… you know." Nora only paused when she struggled to put her thoughts into words.
"Everything can get repetitive after a while." Jaune suggested. "Especially something like fighting, where the excitement comes from overcoming challenges. It's not as fun when you do the same thing over and over again."
"Yeah, something like that." Nora agreed. "But you know, I kind of wish you used that brain of yours to actually figure out how to win your fight. Now I lost my fight and my partner did too. It just makes us look like the worse half of the team, you know?"
"Hey, don't be too hard on our brave leader. I'd say he did pretty well." Yang said, lightly punching Jaune in the shoulder. "Not everyone can take that many punches and stay standing."
"Thanks Yang." Jaune replied. "But for your information, I wasn't going all out."
"Right." Yang rolled her iliac eyes. "A standard excuse for losing."
"Come on. Do you really believe I would use all my tricks openly? In an unimportant spar such as this? Sometimes it's better to lose deliberately, just like Weiss did just now."
"Well if you have… wait what?" Yang stopped walking and tilted her head slightly. "You're saying your sister lost on purpose? I mean, that fight was weird, but Weiss seemed pretty dead set on winning."
"Trust me, I know how Weiss fights." Jaune replied, also stopping in place. "Even when she's angry, she doesn't miss attacks that easily. She seemed like she was fighting for real at first, sure, but that last part… it didn't seem natural. Not in the slightest."
"You sure? What she would even achieve by…" Yang paused. "Wait, I think I get it."
"I am already afraid of what answer I'll get." Blake said, tired of not understanding what the conversation was about. "But what exactly are you talking about?"
"Well, Team RRWP was having issues because Weiss wouldn't accept Ruby as a leader." Jaune replied. "That conflict would affect them negatively in the future and wouldn't really benefit anyone. Weiss might be uppity, to say the least, but she had to notice the problem sooner or later."
"Wouldn't a solution be, you know, just not being a jerk?" Nora joined the conversation. "Why would she go to the trouble of losing a fight on purpose?"
"It wouldn't have the same impact." Jaune shook his head. "For the team to function at its best, Ruby needs to feel secure. Now that she got to beat Weiss, she certainly feels validated. Not to mention, she got to establish her dominance."
"Dominance?" Blake raised her eyebrow. "Ruby doesn't seem like the kind of person who would want that."
"Everyone wants to feel dominant." Surprisingly, it was Yang who replied. "People just feel a need to look better and be placed higher than all others. Whenever there's a group, there are hierarchies. It's a natural instinct or something. My sis is sweet and all, but she is no exception. She wants her teammates to respect her and to follow her, I can bet on that."
"Does that mean that you want to feel dominant as well?" Blake asked. "If you were offered to replace Jaune as the team leader, would you go with that?"
"Hell no." Yang waved her hand as to dismiss that very idea. "Being a team leader means that you get extra responsibility for almost no gain, so I'd pass. I'd rather let Jaune feel proud of being a leader if that means he will take care of stuff like writing reports. But it's not like I want to be seen as weaker for the sake of it. If I did, I wouldn't have punched Jaune quite so hard in front of everyone."
"Again, I wasn't going all out." Jaune insisted. "But you are on point when it comes to psychology. People will generally try to achieve dominance over others unless there are some negative consequences to doings so. We don't wish to be under someone else's control or be seen as inferior. Not everyone wants to rule over others, but no one wants to be worse off either. Everyone wants to have it just a little bit better."
"How about being an equal?" Blake protested. "Why does everyone have to dominate or submit to others? Isn't equality the best option?"
"Maybe equality is the best option, but it's really rare." Jaune replied. "People will claim that they are equals or that they want to be, but they almost never practice what they preach. When two companies make a contract, each one is looking for ways to benefit disproportionately. When two people get to marry, one will almost always end up making most decisions as the dominant one, but not after frequent arguing and divorce threats. No one is ever satisfied with equality."
Those words had an impact on Blake, greater than Jaune could ever have predicted. She had spent most of her life fighting for equality between the races of Remnant, or so she thought, but as time went on the White Fang seemed less and less focused on achieving that equality and instead aimed for revenge, for dominance over humans. Was that them getting frustrated with the lack of results, or have they just shown their true colors…
No. Maybe they were some people who would never accept equality and maybe they even made up the majority of White Fang right now, but not the majority of faunus as a whole. Certainly not all. Blake couldn't imagine her parents, or Ilia, or herself being ever unhappy with the world in which everyone was treated equally. People dedicated their whole lives to the pursuit of equality. It was impossible for so many people to live in a lie like that.
Everyone wants to have it just a little bit better.
"Regardless." Jaune continued, luckily not noticing anything awry with Blake's reaction. "I'm actually surprised that Weiss was able to see the situation for what it was. She has a bit of a blind spot for strategies that involve humility. She acted this out pretty well too – I thought she was going for the win until the last minute of the fight. Her performance afterwards was somewhat on the nose, but still, she displayed some surprising clarity of mind."
"Right. So… are you just going to keep those observations to yourself?" Blake asked, hoping to divert the topic to something she would be more comfortable with. "I mean, if you think Weiss is deceiving Ruby and the rest of her team, shouldn't you tell them about it?"
"Tell them what?" Jaune asked in response. "That I think Weiss isn't being honest with how she feels? I would have no way of proving that, and it wouldn't help them to know that anyways. If anything, it would just make them even more divided and bitter."
"Wouldn't that benefit you?" Blake asked. "You just said that team RRWP would work better unified. If they continue to fight one another, there will be less of a chance that Weiss will outshine you, isn't that right?"
Jaune sighed, as though he suddenly felt tired. "Contrary to how it may appear, I do not seek to make Weiss' life harder than it needs to be. I hope I'll get better grades and more attention than her, sure, but I don't want her to spend the next four years with people who dislike her. Moreover, I consider Ruby to be a friend of mine, even if we have only known each other for a short while. I do not wish her team to fall apart."
"Aw, such a nice guy you are." Yang commented. "Still, I don't like how you didn't go all out against me. Some people would consider that disrespectful, you know?"
"I know, and I'm sorry." Jaune raised his hands in the air, as though gesturing surrender. "I just thought it would be best for both of us not to reveal just how much we can do. It might serve us well during the Vytal Tournament if we decide to participate, don't you think?"
"I guess you have a point. It's good that you didn't…" Suddenly, Yang paused. Her expression turned into a frown, though a thoughtful one rather than angry or sad. "Wait. Just in theory, what would you have done if you wanted to really beat me?"
"I would take your semblance into account and mitigate its effects." Jaune replied, though there was something… unconvincing about his tone.
"No. I'm asking what you would have done exactly." Yang specified. "Just so I know what strategies I should be afraid of."
"Does that really matter?"
"Well yeah. You want all your teammates to be aware of their weaknesses, don't you mister team leader? Unless, of course…" Yang's lips quirked up slightly. "You didn't have any idea how to beat me after all and all that talk about holding back is bollocks."
A long moment of silence came after that sentence. Finally, Jaune sighed in defeat. "No. I did not know how to win that fight. Maybe I would come up with something if given enough time, but back there I had no way to defeat you."
Immediately upon hearing these words, Blake felt a tinge of satisfaction. Maybe it was petty, but it did feel nice to know that her partner was able to defeat a Schnee in one-on-one combat without any tricks being involved. But when she thought about this for a moment, Blake started to doubt these words. An idea came to her, one that didn't feel very comforting…
"Well now I really feel dominant." Yang's smile grew much larger. "So much so I think I can call this day a win. Or at least I will if we actually finish decorating our room. Are we going to do that now?"
"Yeah, let's do that." Nora said. Her voice was unusually downbeat for her, but it quickly filled up with enthusiasm again. "Yes, I think I have an idea or two how to make it even cooler. Team JNBY ready for action?"
"Actually, why won't you go on and wait for me in the dorm?" Jaune proposed. "I would like to check if my armor wasn't dented by that last punch, maintenance at all. I will join you shortly."
Blake wasn't sure if Jaune legitimately needed to check his equipment for damage or if it was just an excuse to get away from Nora and her glitter for a moment, but if the latter was true, then she definitely sympathized with him. She also was somewhat tired of her overly energetic teammates… and just so happened to have a question that was best asked in private.
"And I'll grab us some snacks from the cafeteria." She offered generously. "You can start without me if you feel like it."
"We won't." Nora promised with a smile. "Just bring us something tasty, won't you?"
Blake nodded in response.
"Alright guys then, you do you. Just not in that sense, not unless you can find yourselves a quiet room." Yang grinned stupidly and then turned around before either of them could respond. "Let's go, Nora. There is a lot to be done before the sunset."
"Sure there is!" Nora responded and, after throwing Jaune and Blake one last glance, headed deeper into the corridor. Yang followed, the two girls marching together and eventually disappearing behind a turn.
The two other members of team JNBY were left alone in the corridor. Blake had an opportunity to ask her question now, but didn't know how to form it so that it wouldn't sound accusatory.
"So..." Jaune started. It was a testament to how awkward the scene was that even he wasn't sure what to say. "Was there anything you wanted to talk about?"
"Your fight against Yang." Blake finally said upfront. "Were you really trying to win?"
"Well yes. I told you as much, for all I tried to pretend otherwise."
"Were you honest though?" Blake decided that she needed to be direct in order to get any sort of meaningful answer. "Is it true that you had no idea how to beat Yang on that arena?"
"Of course." Jaune predictably replied. "Why would I lie?"
I imagine it's like breathing to you. Blake thought, but had enough tact not to say it out loud. It probably wasn't fair and would definitely not help her get an honest answer out of Jaune.
"Well, you believe that Weiss only pretended to lose her fight and that it will benefit her in the future. Doesn't the same apply to you? Wouldn't it make sense for you to make an impression that you lost, when in reality you had everything under control?"
Jaune blinked. "I don't think I follow. Weiss was acting, well, like a brat and had to make up for it somehow. My loss against Yang doesn't make me look any better."
"But it made her feel satisfied. Less threatened by your dominance, you could say." Blake replied, suddenly feeling less reluctant to be blunt. "And she felt even better when she caught you on trying to excuse that loss. Were you honest, right there? Or did you pretend to be pretending that you lost on purpose, hoping that someone would call you out on this?"
"What? Blake, I think you are being a little too suspicious here. I don't scheme on that level. I don't think anyone does."
Blake wasn't surprised that Jaune denied her accusation, that much was to be expected regardless of whether he actually did deceive Yang. What worried her was the manner in which Jaune defended himself. He didn't even argue that he wouldn't do something like that, only that he shouldn't be able to. As if he found the idea interesting.
"Well I can't really know on which level you scheme, can I?" Blake replied, her voice raised now. "Maybe you really are that smart. Maybe even that exchange is a part of some complex plan of yours?"
"Blake…"
"Actually, scratch that." Blake carried on, letting her emotions take the better of her. "What about that whole speech about caring about your sister and her team? Was that honesty, or just something you want us to believe?"
"Can you maybe show me some trust here!?" Now Jaune appeared agitated as well. "Fighting should be reserved for the arena. How are we supposed to get along if you don't trust anything I say?"
"Maybe give me a reason to trust anything you say!? I know you are not above letting people believe what you want them to. You admit as much yourself. Why would I think you are being honest with me, of all people?"
"What is that supposed to…" Jaune started, but then paused as to collect his thoughts. "Look, I'm not sure why you are being so distrustful of me. I don't doubt you have a reason, perhaps even a good one. But you have to give me some credit if we are going to make an effective team."
"Can we make a team?" Blake asked, both expressing her anger and asking a genuine question. "Not saying I don't want it, but it may be kind of hard for me to follow someone who might be lying to me at any given moment."
"I… I get that." Jaune replied, sighting quietly. "All I'm asking is for you to trust me unless you catch me on a straight-up lie. Then you have my blanket permission to punch me in the face, or whatever makes you feel satisfied. I'll assume the same attitude towards you, though without a threat of violence."
Blake felt anger slowly abandon her. For all her suspicions, she didn't have any proof that Jaune ever lied to her… though that thought did little to ease her unrest since it possibly just meant that Jaune was a very good liar. Still, her leader was definitely right on one point – they were better off not fighting one another outside of the ring.
"I don't wish to punch you or anything." Blake replied, with less than pure honesty. "But… I guess I can accept that. I will give you the benefit of the doubt and assume you are just a bit of a sore loser."
"Never claimed otherwise." Jaune replied. He probably tried to make that sound like a joke, but the attempt failed horribly due to the tension between them. "But I am above manipulating my teammates. I bear no ill intentions towards any of you."
"Never claimed you do." Blake muttered, averting her gaze. It was just about the best she could say about her feeling towards Jaune without being dishonest herself.
"Alright, I guess this is workable." Jaune said without much enthusiasm. "If you really want to grab something to it, you can go ahead. I'll take care of my armor."
"Do you want me to bring you anything?" Blake asked, in a last-ditch attempt to ease out the tension.
"I'm fine. I want to be able to fit into that armor after all."Jaune made another weak attempt at a joke, after which he walked away and into the corridor.
Blake sighed. Now that the argument was over and she was left alone, her emotions became much less clear. She felt partially upset, partially guilty, but mostly confused. And, perhaps more importantly, exhausted.
She was just so tired of all this scheming…
Glynda Goodwitch was mad.
She was mad in a completely different way than she was at the students who caused trouble or broke the rules. That was more of a case of mild irritation, often exaggerated for the sake of appearing firm. She bore no ill will towards those children and if she punished them, then it was for their own good.
Now she was mad at Ozpin, and it meant something completely different than being mad at students. She wanted to smack him across the face for the trouble he caused her, but since engaging in physical violence was beneath her dignity, she would have to be satisfied with chewing the old man out.
When the elevator finally reached its destination and the door opened, she marched into the room to see Headmaster Ozpin sitting behind his desk. He had some papers scattered across the deck, though there was no telling whether or not he had actually been attending to them. Naturally, there was also a mug of hot chocolate placed on the desk – given how often Ozpin drank this particular beverage, it was strange that he wasn't suffering from diabetes by now.
"What exactly was your goal her?" Glynda asked bluntly, approaching the desk.
"I am not exactly sure what you mean, Glynda." Ozpin said, standing up and facing the newly arrived guest to his office. "Can you please elaborate?"
"Obviously, I mean your last minute change to our combat curriculum. You told me to instruct them to fight other members of their team and do not interfere in the fights unless there was some extraordinary danger involved. I was supposed to divide them into groups and have them test their weapons in the ring. They were not supposed to fight one another for a few lessons, and then it would be against students from other teams. What is the point of having them fight their own teammates?"
"I can see why you would be opposed to such an idea." Ozpin said in response. "And yet you carried out the instructions as give. I must thank you for that."
"You will not distract me with words of approval." Glynda retorted. "Now I would like an answer to my question. Why did you decide to change the plans like that and sent my students against one another?"
"My apologies." Ozpin said with a slight smile. "As to answer your inquiry, I think my exercise was a good way to strengthen team bonds. Few things bring people together as much as a friendly spar and there are few things our new students need more than unity and comradery."
Glynda glared at her boss harshly. They both knew how untrue those words were – fighting someone was a poor way of improving relations them, which was why humans and Grimm weren't all friends by now and why exercises such as this were not something routine. Now she was just waiting for Ozpin to give his real reasons.
"Besides, the current situation is somewhat extraordinary." Smile left Ozpin's face as quickly as it had appeared. "I want to know just how strong our students are, preferably before Vytal Festival. And I mean mostly the female ones."
Glynda felt anger leave her as those words sank in. Yes, they were hard-pressed to find a dependable young woman to fulfill the role of the Fall Maiden and they have agreed to at least consider making that offer to one of prospective huntresses at Beacon. In light of that, her anger over having to make last-minute changes didn't seem particularly justified.
"I see." She said after a moment. "Looking for a suitable guardian already?" She avoided saying 'maiden' out loud, just in case someone was listening in.
Ozpin nodded. "Sad it may be, Amber's condition is not improving. Sooner or later, we will need someone to fill her shoes, and the ranks of our students are an obvious place to look first."
"And any test involving Grimm would be inadequate, because it's not the Grimm that our guardian will have to be afraid of, correct?" Glynda took a guess.
"Precisely." Ozpin nodded once more. "But there is also another level to this little test. I refuse to consider any candidate whose ethics are in question, and while it doesn't provide sufficient evidence either way, the exercise should tell us a little about the character of those involved. Who they chose to fight, how harshly they went on them… I am yet to properly analyze those fights, but I'm sure they will tell me something interesting."
Glynda considered this for a moment. Seeing those kids fight did tell them a thing or two about each one of them. Some of the students used all their abilities to defeat their opponents, others held back and refused to show their full strength and some even threw their fights intentionally for one reason or another. And there was of course the comedy of a fight between the Schnee heiress and Ruby Rose, which seemingly involved all three of those attitudes on top of Miss Nikos interfering in a… no, outright staging the fight. Yes, there were certainly some interesting conclusions to be reached.
"I concede your point." Glynda finally said. "For all the trouble it caused, your plan does bring us closer to determining if any of our students is worthy to fulfill our guardian role. Speaking of, do you believe any of the first years has potential in that regard?"
"Everyone has potential, but living up to it is a difficult task." Ozpin said philosophically. "But yes, there are some promising candidates among first year students. Miss Nikos caught my eye as soon as we met, but some of the other ones are almost as skilled and similarly well-intentioned as her, a group that includes her fellow teammates."
"You do realize that Mr. Ren is not a woman, at least not in any biological sense?" Glynda asked with her eyebrows raised. "Because I can't imagine you are referring to either Miss Schnee or Miss Rose, not with how they have been acting thus far."
"I believe Miss Rose will become a worthy huntress in time, as all she truly needs is to take her responsibilities more seriously and make up for the gaps in her education. Nonetheless, she likely possesses the gift of Silver Eyes which I fear could interact badly with a purely magical power, therefore she definitely wouldn't be my first choice. Miss Schnee, on the other hand…" Ozpin picked up his mug and sipped from it, as though buying himself time to think of the right words. "I wouldn't make her that offer now, not with her current attitude. But if that aspect of hers changes, which does not seem improbable with the positive influence her companions will inevitably exert, she will be indeed worthy of consideration."
Would she? From what Glynda saw thus far, Weiss was in many ways similar to her older sister, only without all the discipline learned in the military. Emotional, proud and, frankly, remarkably entitled. Her actions during and after the spar did paint a more positive picture, but the idea of giving her a maiden power just didn't seem very reasonable.
"I believe you just said that everyone has potential." Glynda pointed out, deciding not to discuss her student's specific faults just yet. "It doesn't seem congruous to assume Miss Schnee might be
"I understand that it's unwise to put our hopes in an uncertainty such as this. Yet I do believe Miss Schnee has more potential than most people we would consider. I recently gave her a piece of advice which seemed contrary to her character, and yet she had apparently taken said advice to heart."
"Why do I feel like you had some additional reason for arranging that exercise?" Glynda sighed, realizing that there was some hidden dimension to all of these, as usually when it came to Ozpin's ideas.
"Perhaps. I have and will expend additional effort to shape Miss Schnee into an exemplary huntress, if not for the sake of making her our guardian, then for the sake of Remnant having one more noble warrior to protect the people. I will consult with you regarding those efforts, of course. What happened today was more a result of impulse on my part than anything else."
"I just hope you don't have too many of these impulses. As much as I care about Miss Schnee's education, there are thirty nine other students who will also require my attention."
"I understand." Ozpin nodded. "And I apologize once again for the inconvenience."
"Apology accepted. But now I have some other matters to attend to."
"The first day of schoolyear is never an easy one, is it?" Ozpin smiled understandingly. "I shall not keep you here any longer than necessary. And I wish you luck in your battle with notes and paper forms."
Despite herself, Glynda smiled in mild amusement. She then recalled that she was supposed to still be somewhat mad at Ozpin, so she put on a neutral expression, nodded and then left the room the same way she entered it.
Actually, I don't think I will mind the paperwork. She thought as the elevator was lowered down the shaft. It is better than having to figure out what Ozpin is doing, what the students think they're doing and which one of these students should have another soul put into their body.
Glynda sighed loudly and massaged her palm. She hasn't felt quite as tired for a long time, even on the other busy days.
She was just so tired of all this scheming…
Probably not my best chapter, despite all the time that went into it. I feel like I made some choices that I might regret later down the line, but I wanted to stay true to the theme of machinations and continue exploring the psychology of the characters. I also had to make Weiss lose her duel against Ruby – I might mess with characters' personalities, but having Weiss win a fight would be too OOC even for me.
Anyways, the mini arc of Weiss having to adjust to her team has ended in a similar manner to the show, except not quite. She hasn't really grown as much as she adjusted her tactics. If you want to win in the long run, you have to accept small losses along the way. Weiss was groomed to become the head of Remnant's most influential corporation, so her social skills are somewhat lacking in this area. Her family aside, she probably never had to interact with anybody who wasn't at least somewhat respectful of her status. Jaune has less problems in that particular area, which I suppose is ironic seeing how he is the one who gets to lead here.
Not that his team is in particularly good shape. That will be the focus for the following chapters, whenever I manage to spew them out.