Weiss wasn't ghosting anybody. She was simply not responding as much as she could have. Because she didn't want to. That didn't count. She stayed in her room the whole weekend. Ruby had texted her all weekend, and even Yang had sent off a couple texts. She responded with the bare minimum to let them know that yes, she was still alive, sort of. But the group chat was dead, and for some reason she kept half expecting to see Blake's name pop up on her notifications tab.

It was silly. It was a little bit stupid. She hadn't known them very long. It shouldn't have hurt that much, but there Weiss was, hiding underneath the covers in her bed, looking at the words 'No New Notifications' for hours on end. She kept going back and forth in her mind.

It was Blake's fault. No, it was her own fault. No it wasn't. It was the White Fang's fault. It was her father's fault. It was Weiss' fault. It was nobody's fault, it just wasn't meant to be.

Blake was a Faunus, and her family had hurt so many Faunus. They'd exploited them. Weiss knew it. It wasn't hard to see. Even the way her father talked abut them, with such open contempt for their kind. Weiss didn't feel the same way as him, of course. So she wasn't like her family, like her father, at all.

She was just... complicit.

She was a victim. Wasn't that enough? She hadn't stuck her neck out for the Faunus, hadn't fought her father, and she still got blown up. Wasn't it enough for Blake that she didn't- couldn't fight for her kind the way she wanted her to? Wasn't it enough for Weiss?

When Weiss entered class on Monday, she avoided Yang, Blake and Ruby, going to the back of the class without even looking at them. She felt eyes on her, and she couldn't resist looking away for long. Silver eyes bore down on her, and she felt all the hurt as she held their gaze. Ruby mouthed 'are you okay?', and Weiss looked away.

The day was a haze, like she was putting a movie on fast-forward, she just spent it all feeling blank and absorbing as much as she could. Luckily, she didn't have any classes with the other three that day. Weiss had fencing after classes, and she felt grateful. She needed to burn off some energy anyway, even if she didn't feel like it. The only downside was that she was going to have to deal with-

Ilia looked at her with barely contained irritation, like she was disgusted at having to look at Weiss. For a moment, she was back in Atlas, trying to avoid crossing paths with her father.

"Gear up," she said simply. Weiss nodded mutely, changing into her gym clothes in the locker room and putting on her fencing gear. When she entered the gym proper, there were a whole line of people at the mats.

"Today we begin our preparation for the qualifiers of Vale's inter-state fencing tournament. Form up, three groups, and we'll begin our warm ups," she spoke with a commanding air, looking over everyone. Her eyes landed on Weiss and she looked away.

Weiss wasn't exactly paying attention. She had her mind somewhere else, though if you asked her she wouldn't have been able to tell you where exactly. Winter would have smacked her by then. But since Winter wasn't around, all that happened was that Weiss stumbled and tripped and missed easy points, got hit by attacks that were telegraphed a mile away. None of the other fencers in her group were half as good as her, she knew that, but somehow she just couldn't work worth half a damn anyway. It frustrated her. No matter how many times she breathed, how many times she tried to let go her points of tension, to clear her mind and focus, she just wasn't getting it at all.

She got knocked flat on her ass again, and she growled in irritation. Her opposing partner, a freshman named Oscar, a mess of black hair and freckles immediately rushed over to help her up. She stopped him with a quick hand.

"It's fine!" she almost shouted at him, and she caught a glimpse of him cringing. She breathed, trying to control herself. "I'm fine, Oscar."

"Okay. Sorry," he spoke quickly, mumbling as he slowly backed off. Weiss sat for a moment, taking off her mask to hang her head in between her legs. Oscar paused. He sat beside her, hesitant and scared but not stopping. Weiss eyed him curiously.

"Sorry. It looked like you were having a bad day, I thought you might have wanted some company... on the floor," he mumbled again, not meeting her eyes. Weiss sat cross legged and put her chin in her hand as she looked at him.

"That's... kind of you," Weiss said softly. Oscar smiled.

"There's this show I used to watch. They had a, like saying. When you can't run, you crawl. When you can't crawl, you find someone to carry you," he said, never meeting her eyes while he spoke. Finally he turned to look at her, and Weiss burst out laughing. Oscar blushed a deep scarlet.

"I'm sorry. That was- you're a dork," Weiss said after she recovered from her laughing fit. "But that was nice, thank you."

Oscar smiled, and for a second he wasn't the freshman with a mop of black hair, he was a junior with red highlights and silver eyes. For the first time all day, Weiss felt clarity in her emotions. She missed Ruby. It was stupid to say, stupid to think, stupid stupid stupid. But there it was, there were very few kind people in the world, and Weiss had stumbled upon three of them and she was happy for the briefest of moments and she felt like she had messed it all up. She wanted to tell Blake that it was fine, it was all fine, and she was sorry. But that wasn't how it was going to be resolved. There was something deeper in play, something that was more than just how she felt about Blake. Weiss felt like she inched closer to some big realization.

"I see you're slacking off on the floor now, Schnee," a voice came from behind her. Weiss didn't need to turn around to know it was Ilia. Weiss scowled, standing up.

"She just fell, I was checking to see if she was okay-" Oscar craned his head to look at Ilia.

"I don't think I was talking to you, Oscar," she silenced him with a glare. He almost withered under her gaze. Weiss furrowed her brow.

"What is your problem with me?" Weiss came right out and asked, picking her sabre up from the ground. Ilia scoffed at her, and she felt her blood run hot. "No, tell me. Because you've had it out for me the moment I came in here."

"I've had it out for you longer than that, trust me," she snarled at her, and Weiss clenched her fists.

"Hey Weiss, don't-" Oscar tried to reach out to her.

"What did I do to you?!" Weiss practically shouted at her. The others stopped to look at the two of them. Ilia's skin shifted colours, taking on a red hue. Her eyes turned the colour of fresh blood.

"To me? Try to all of the Faunus, Schnee," Ilia spat out with venom. Weiss trembled, in anger, in anguish, in frustration.

"I didn't-"

"Don't come to me with that bullshit. You sit up there in your ivory tower in Atlas-"

Another student Weiss hadn't seen before came up behind Ilia, grabbing her hand. She was another Faunus, with big brown rabbit ears.

"Ilia, stop it," she said in an accent. Ilia shook her off.

"Get the hell off me, Velvet," she hissed at her. Ilia looked back at Weiss, all the hate for her clear in her eyes. "You sit up in your ivory tower in Atlas while the SDC makes millions off the backs of Faunus that they mistreat, that they exploit, that they kill," her voice never wavered, even as she got more impassioned. "My parents died in an Atlas dust mine. The Schnee Dust Company made me pay to retrieve their bodies. They make money, while Faunus everywhere die to make that happen. You benefit from all of that, and you think you're free from blame? You think just because you don't do it yourself, means you're any better than that bastard father of yours? It makes you worse. You see evil and do nothing to stop it and you think you're a good person anyway. You're not."

They stayed silent for a moment. Weiss, in barely contained anger. Ilia, in open contempt. Then Ilia turned her nose up at Weiss, scoffing and turning to walk away.

"Get back to practice," she said, her voice clipped. And Weiss was about a half second away from tackling her to the ground. How? How fucking dare she say all those things about her? Like she knew her? Like any of this was easy for her, that she could do it at all?

A strong hand gripped her shoulder, and Weiss was more than ready to throw it off, but she turned back and met lilac eyes. Yang looked at her intensely, appearing from seemingly nowhere. Weiss breathed heavily, the fight still in her.

"Not here, and not now, Weiss. Keep it together," she hissed in her ear, and Weiss could see in her eyes that this wasn't a matter up for discussion. Yang could easily overpower her anyway, no matter how much Weiss could try to escape from her grip.

She started loosening her grip when she saw Weiss deflate a little. Weiss shrugged her hand off her and walked out of the gymnasium, shoving the doors open.

Her blood still ran hot. She was still angry, maybe angrier than she'd ever been all her life.

Angry at Ilia, for saying all those things, that bitch. Angry at Blake, for doing the same, for being someone Weiss didn't think she was.

She was angry at herself, because it was becoming clearer that-

They were right. They were all right. In varying degrees, in some way or another, in the deep pit of her heart, they were right. It was something so clear, right under her nose.

Yang came up behind her. And Weiss cried. She hated that. She hated crying in front of people, and now she had done so in front of both Ruby and Yang, and she hated that so much, but she couldn't stop it at all. Tears, angry and hot came rushing down her face, even as she tried to clench her throat, tried to hold her breath, tried to stop it. Yang approached her, no hesitation as she hugged Weiss.

Oh god, the Rose-Xiao Longs were huggers, the whole bunch of them, weren't they? Weiss hated that it was exactly what she needed. She almost longed for the comfort of her family's cold disappointment, her father's harsh words, contemptuous looks, her mother's blank, emotionless face, barely registering anything around her anyway. It was familiar, more familiar than this warm, tight, soft hugs. Kind words and gestures and open vulnerability and trust.

Stupid. Stupid, stupid, stupid, Weiss.

Eventually she stopped sobbing, getting her breath under control.

"C'mon, honey, let's go find a quiet place to talk," Yang said gently, pulling away. Weiss didn't particularly want to, but it sure beat going back into fencing practice. Yang took her by the hand, leading her to an empty classroom. She locked the door behind her. Weiss sat at a desk, arms crossed, moving them to occasionally rub at her nose or wipe away a tear. Yang sighed.

"You doing okay there, Weiss?" Yang took a seat at the teacher's table right in front of Weiss, cross-legged on the desk.

"Not really," Weiss sighed, suddenly aware that she was still in fencing gear. She took off her gloves, throwing them on the table. She rubbed her eyes, groaning. It was all a mess. All of it.

"Yeah, I didn't think so."

"How'd you find me?"

"I was looking for you. Happened to stumble upon the gym, heard the tail end of Ilia's little speech, and I saw you about two seconds away from tackling her to the ground and pummeling her, so. Hey, for what it's worth, I'm sorry," Yang drummed her fingers on the table. Weiss looked at her.

"What for?"

"All of it. I'm sorry you almost died. I'm sorry Blake hurt you like that. I'm sorry Ilia was being such a bitch," Yang half-shrugged. "Take your pick, I guess," she huffed a quick laugh. Weiss looked at Yang sadly.

"I know you and Blake are close. I-"

"Hey, c'mon. I love Blake, but I-" Yang caught herself, withdrew a little bit. Weiss looked at her, both brows raised. Yang cleared her throat. "I like you, Weiss. We all do. So I'm here to help."

Weiss paused for a long while, parsing Yang's words.

"How are you going to help?" Weiss asked. Yang smiled.

"Well, we're going to talk. Talk it out. That always helps me."

"I-I'm not so great with the talking about... feelings," Weiss blushed.

"You ever do it before?" Yang questioned, a knowing smirk on her face. Weiss shook her head. "Yeah, so. Never know if you don't try, right?"

"That makes sense. I don't like it, but it makes sense."

Yang looked at her, and Weiss could see that, much like her sister, Yang wore all her emotions out in the open. She didn't hide behind a facade, she didn't try to mask who she was, what she wanted. Yang was genuine, and right now she looked at Weiss like she genuinely wanted to help. It made it easier, to look at Yang and trust all of it. Weiss closed her eyes, took a deep breath.

"You know, Weiss. I know Blake said some hurtful things, but-"

"But she was right. I've been thinking about it and... Blake was right," Weiss cut her off. Yang blanched.

"That's... I wasn't going to say it like that, but yeah."

Weiss shook her head. Things in Vale moved quick, huh? She had gone from feeling angry just a few minutes ago to feeling regretful and tired. She felt like she was always on a rollercoaster, always moving up and down and up and down.

"She was right. Ilia was right. They're right. And you know who I'm angriest at? Myself."

"Pfft, fuck that," Yang scoffed. "You should be angry at your dad."

Weiss sighed. "Yeah, well. Fuck him, too."

Yang smiled, and Weiss couldn't help the small tug at the corner of her lips.

"It's not a binary, you know," Yang supplied then, twirling a finger in her golden locks as she pursed her lips. She shook her head, then shrugged. "You're saying she was right, Weiss. But that doesn't make what she said right."

"I understand. But for my part, I just have to face it. I... haven't done anything. My whole life, everything's been decided for me. My hair, my clothes, what I look at, what I do, what I eat," Weiss uncrossed her arms and stood up. "And I never fought back. Never really. I never really wanted to. Until now. It's like, that explosion knocked some sense into my head. Or maybe it was Ilia. She was so angry, Yang. I've never had to see that before. Why haven't I thought about any of that before? And now that I am doing things myself, I need to-"

Weiss sighed, running her hands through her hair, undoing her bun.

"I've always known that what my father, what our company was doing was wrong. I'm not ignorant. But I haven't cared. I didn't care about any of it and I didn't even think to do anything about it. So, I have to do something. Maybe not right now, maybe not tomorrow, but I have to work towards it. Towards making things better for the Faunus," Weiss spoke with conviction, a certainty she'd never had before. "I... I want to be better. I want to try."

Yang got off the table, affection and pride clear in her eyes. "Look at you go," she said softly, a hand on her shoulder.