Leader Change

Chapter 6: A Mistake Too Big

A bit over a week had passed since Weiss had gotten into trouble for her report on her team, which meant that she was currently done with the punishment she had received from Professor Goodwitch. At the moment, the members of team RWBY were in Glynda's combat class, waiting for their turn to get to fight the other students. The students themselves didn't get to choose whether they would get to fight or not, as it was decided by the teacher herself. They could always ask if they could get a chance to show their skills, but the final decision would ultimately be with Glynda. Weiss herself was hoping that her team would get to fight, as that would give her a chance to show her leadership skills.

The match between team JNPR and one of the other first year teams had just ended, when the blonde teacher looked up at team RWBY.

"Alright, I think it's time for team RWBY to show how well they perform under new leadership," Glynda said. "How about you four come down here and fight against team CRDL? That should be a good match."

"Yes! Finally I get to show my skills!" Weiss said to herself in an excited voice, before getting up from her seat and starting to make her way to the arena.

"Just don't try anything too crazy, okay?" Ruby requested from her partner. "After all, no need to take any unnecessary risks."

"Trust me, Ruby. I'll make sure that we'll win this without any flaws," the heiress said confidently.

With the teams down at the arena, they were given a couple of minutes to prepare for a strategy. Since the boys in team CRDL relied more on brute strength than tactics, they were ready for the match almost immediately. However, the members of team RWBY were having some difficulties with their strategy meeting.

"Weiss, I honestly think we should think of a different strategy," Ruby said in a concerned tone. "What you're suggesting is way too risky. It can easily backfire on us."

What was this strategy that the former team leader was protesting? Well, Weiss' plan was for Blake to take on most of team CRDL's members, thus allowing the rest of their team to focus their efforts on Cardin himself. The idea was that while the cat faunus distracted the other three members of CRDL, they could take down the team's leader easily with numbers. This would result in an easy victory, as Cardin was not only the physically strongest member of his team, but also the closest to having any strategical skills. With him out of the way, the rest of the team would be easily defeated.

However, Ruby had a big problem with this plan. Having Blake face three opponents at the same time would put her in great danger. While Weiss said that the raven-haired girl would be able to avoid getting damaged due to her skills and Semblance, the redhead felt that her partner was underestimating team CRDL's members too much. This led to Ruby's other problem with their new leader's plan, which was how they were supposed to deal with Cardin. While they could certainly take on the team leader with three of their members, they would need to do it fast in order to go and support Blake. However, the redhead felt that Cardin wouldn't go down that easily, as his defensive skills were too good for them to be able to defeat him fast enough, thus leaving Blake in danger for too long. Because of this risk, the redhead wanted to change the plan.

Unfortunately for Ruby, her partner's mind wasn't easily changed.

"Ruby, I appreciate your feedback, but I think you are forgetting something important here," Weiss said in a somewhat stern tone. "You seem to forget that I'M the leader now, which means I'M the one who decides what we are going to do in this fight. Besides, I believe you wanted to see me lead a team yourself, so would you mind backing down and letting me do my job?"

The former team leader frowned at the heiress' response, not liking the way she spoke. Hoping to get some support from her other teammates, Ruby turned towards the other two older girls.

"Are you two really fine with this?" the scythe-wielder asked. "I'm sure we can come up with a new plan, if we ask Professor Goodwitch for some more time."

"Well, I'm personally kind of okay with it," Yang said with a shrug. "I mean, I do recognize the dangers that you pointed out, but I'm sure it'll be fine. Besides, this is training. What's the worst that could happen?"

"I'm also willing to go through with this, to be honest," Blake added. "While I know the danger I'll be facing, I should be able to handle it. Not to mention, this is supposed to be about testing Weiss' skills in leadership, right? I think it's for the best to let her call the shots for now and work from there. Not to mention, I also feel that there's no real danger, since it's just training."

"It's not the actual danger that we are facing that's bothering me, but what that danger actually represents!" Ruby said, trying her best to get her teammates to see things her way. "I just can't feel comfortable with such a risky and reckless-"

"Enough, Ruby. You have made your opinion clear," Weiss declared sternly. "However, since I'm the leader, I'll be the one who makes the final decision here, so we are going with my plan. We can talk about this later, understood?"

With their debate over their plan settled, the members of team RWBY started to get themselves ready for the match that was about to begin. However, while most of the team's members were feeling confident, Ruby couldn't help but have a bad feeling about this. She couldn't help but fear that Weiss was making a big mistake.

Now that both teams were ready, the match could finally start. Team RWBY initiated their plan the way they had agreed, with Blake drawing the attention of most of team CRDL on her, thus leaving Cardin on his own. Now that the other team leader was on his own the rest of team RWBY started to focus their efforts on him, hoping to take down the enemy as fast as possible. All seemed to be going according to plan so far.

However, it didn't take long until problems started to show up. It seemed like Cardin had realized what his enemies were trying to do, but instead of trying to regroup with his teammates, he actually started to focus more on his own defense instead. While he wasn't as skilled as the members of team RWBY, Cardin had still been talented enough to earn his place among Beacon's students and team leaders. The armor-clad boy proved to be quite a difficult foe to take down, once he remained on the defensive, which began to drag out the fight between himself and the three members of team RWBY.

As time went on with Cardin still standing, Ruby became more worried over how Blake was doing. While she, Weiss and Yang were wasting time fighting one opponent, the cat faunus was taking on three all by herself. Those weren't odds that the redhead liked, which caused her to glance towards her third teammate.

Upon turning her gaze towards Blake, Ruby felt her blood freeze. Things had not gone according to plan at all, as Blake was struggling to stand up while being surrounded by the other three members of team CRDL. It was clear that the raven-haired girl wouldn't last long, unless someone went to help her. She was clearly exhausted, bruised and drained out of most of her Aura. Blake needed to be saved now.

Pushing her Semblance to it's maximum potential, Ruby ran towards her struggling teammate, hoping to save her in time. Upon reaching the place Blake was at with the three members of team CRDL, the former team leader caught Sky off-guard by hitting him in the back of the head with the blunt side of her scythe. This was strong enough to knock him out, leaving their enemy team with three members.

However, Ruby wasn't planning on taking down any other opponents at the moment. Instead, she quickly grabbed Blake and used her Semblance again to get her to a safe distance from their enemies.

"R-Ruby..." the cat faunus managed to say while still really exhausted and shocked by the sudden rescue. "I'm sorry. I-I didn't think that-"

"It's okay, Blake," the redhead said calmly. "Just rest up here for a bit and leave the rest to us. You've done your part already, even if it was a horrible part that was given to you by a person who doesn't understand tactics."

Now that her teammate was out of harm's way again, Ruby could focus once again on their enemies. She readied her scythe and started to walk towards Russel and Dove, who were frozen in fear upon seeing the look on the younger student's face.

"You two better be ready. Because I won't be holding even a bit," Ruby said coldly, before charging towards her two opponents.

After Blake was rescued, the match didn't last much longer from that point on. Both Russel and Dove were quickly defeated by Ruby, who used her superior speed and skills to defeat the two boys. With most of team CRDL down, it didn't take long for the team's leader to get taken out as well, as he faced a whole team on his own, ending the match in team RWBY's victory.

However, despite being victorious, there were two members of team RWBY who were not happy with how things had gone. One of these two was Weiss, who didn't like it how her partner had decided to disobey her commands and act on her own. The other person was Ruby, who was going to make her displeasure very clear to the heiress.

"Ruby! What were you thinking!?" Weiss yelled angrily at the younger girl while stomping towards her. "You disobeyed the orders of your team leader and-"

The rest of the white-haired girl's complaint was cut off by Ruby grabbing her by the front of her shirt and using her Semblance to slam Weiss' back against a wall. The heiress looked at the younger girl's face and was completely terrified by the expression she saw. Ruby looked absolutely furious, to the point even Roman Torchwick would have run away from her.

"Shut your damn mouth, Weiss. I'm not in the mood," the redhead growled. "Do you have ANY idea just how angry I am with you right now? Weren't you paying any attention during the match at all? Or were you too busy thinking about what kind of compliments you would be getting from Professor Goodwitch? Well, I was paying attention, and do you know what I saw? I saw how an incompetent leader put her own teammate at risk, just to protect her own damn ego!"

Every person in the room was watching the argument between the two members of team RWBY in shock, having not expected the former team leader to have a side like this. Even Glynda Goodwitch and the members of team CRDL were surprised by Ruby's behavior, and were now watching as to what would happen next.

"I warned you about your plan! I told you it would put Blake in too much danger, yet you didn't listen! And guess what happened? Exactly what I feared would happen!" Ruby continued to rant angrily. "You might be the leader, Weiss, but your teammates aren't some chess pieces that you can just sacrifice!"

"Whoa there, Rubes!" Yang called out to her sister, hoping that she could calm her down. "I know that the ice queen messed up, but I think you might be overreacting a bit. I mean, her plan didn't go the way it was supposed to at all, but there was no real danger, right? This was just a sparring match, so Blake would have been fine no matter what. Is it really necessary to tear into her like this?"

"It's not what could have happened here that's bothering me! It's what this match has shown me that is truly angering me!" Ruby yelled at her older sister. "A team leader is supposed to look after her subordinates, as their lives are in his or her hands! However, Weiss pretty much sacrificed Blake in order to win! Because of this, I can't trust her as our leader anymore! Who knows when she might do the same thing to somebody else!?"

"N-Now wait just a minute!" Weiss yelled, angered and shocked by the way her partner was accusing her. "You're going way too far here! I would never sacrifice others for my own sake, like the way you're accusing me! Just what gives you the right to say such things about me!?"

Upon hearing the heiress' words, Ruby turned her attention back to her partner. Upon seeing the angry look on the younger girl's face, Weiss began to regret opening her mouth.

"How about you give me proof that I'm wrong?" the scythe-wielder asked in a cold tone that sent chills down the spines of everybody who heard her. "I really hope you do, too. Not just for my sake or the rest of our team, but for your sake as well. Now that you're our leader, the lives of your teammates are your responsibility. If anything goes wrong and one of us gets injured or worse, it will be on your head to carry that burden. Are you ready to live with that? I seriously doubt you are."

After giving her warning, Ruby let go of her partner and left the classroom, being too upset to stay near the heiress for any longer. Other students that the redhead walked past on her way out stepped away from the younger student, afraid of getting attacked by her as well.

Once Ruby had left, silence fell over the classroom. Weiss' face was pale and her body was shaking a bit, as she was still in shock over what had happened. Never had she ever imagined that her partner could have a side like this to her. It was honestly a scary thing to witness, let alone to be the one who had angered the former team leader in the first place.

"Ms. Schnee?" Glynda Goodwitch called out to her student, breaking the silence in the room. "While she might have been a bit extreme, you should honestly think about what Ms. Rose just said to you. I was watching your match against team CRDL and I saw what you were trying to do with your plan. While there was somewhat of an idea there, it was honestly way too risky. If this had been an actual battle, I fear what might have happened to Ms. Belladonna."

"Yeah, I kind of have to agree with both the teacher and the kid," Cardin added, surprising everyone. "I know I'm not all that smart, but even I saw through what you guys were trying to do. Once I had figured that out, I knew that I should just turtle up and focus on my defense, so my teammates could take out Blake, whom you had pretty much abandoned. Once they were done with her, we could have taken the rest of your team with all of our members. I might not be one for strategy, but even I wouldn't sacrifice my own teammates the way you did."

All Weiss could do was stare at the brown-haired bully with wide eyes. The idea that she would hear such words from Cardin of all people had never even crossed her mind.

"I can't believe I'm saying this, but I agree with Cardin," Yang said. "What you did was honestly pretty bad. Had this been a serious battle, we could have lost one of our members."

"Now wait just a damn second!" Weiss yelled at the blonde girl. "When I made the plan, you didn't voice ANY complaints at all! How the hell can you just start making complaints now!?"

"That's because we trusted your judgement, Weiss," Blake said. "The two of us aren't really all that great when it comes to strategy, so we went with what you said. Not to mention, you did tell us that there was nothing to worry about and that we would win easily. It's your duty as a leader to make the decisions that are for the best of your team, and make sure that your subordinates get through battles as safely as possible."

"But... But you can't just pin all of the blame on me!" the heiress tried to argue. "We are a team! Some of the responsibility falls on your shoulders as well!"

"And we did fulfill our responsibilities, didn't we? We followed your orders, like we were supposed to," Yang said. "However, you failed to notice how Blake was struggling and needed help. Instead of looking after your team, Ruby had to do it. It was honestly thanks to her that we got out of this match the way we did."

Weiss tried to defend herself, to find some sort of an argument to save herself. Yet no matter how much she tried, she couldn't think of anything. The fencer knew that it was ultimately her fault that Blake had been put into danger and that their team could have lost the match. There was no denying that.

As the class came to an end and everyone left, Weiss couldn't help but think about what had just happened, specifically the mistakes she did as a leader. No matter how much she tried to push it out of her mind, the heiress couldn't help but think about the match they had with team CRDL, except this time it was an actual battle. The thought of one of her teammates ending up dead because of an error in her judgement brought chills down her spine. If something like that were to happen, it would be her responsibility. And if that were to happen, could Weiss be able to live with it?

For the first time in her life, the white-haired girl had to seriously question her abilities. For the first time, she asked herself one simple question. Was she really qualified to be a leader?

Author's notes: Before anyone says anything about this chapter not being funny, I'll say one thing right away. This chapter wasn't meant to be funny. This chapter is essentially where Weiss' mistakes go too far, causing her to question her own capabilities on being a leader. The next chapter will also have a similar tone, as it's about Weiss trying to find out what it actually means to be a leader.

I've been thinking about focusing most of my writing on this story for now, as it's almost finished. This was always meant to be a relatively short story, so I feel it could be a good way for me to clear up some of my work, so I may move on to other things. I'll still be working on my other stories, but my focus will be on this one.

Also, just had my birthday recently... The most awful day in the year for me...

Anyways, until next time.

RWBY is owned by Rooster Teeth.