It was the middle or the afternoon when Blake realized that she hadn't seen Weiss for a while. Like, a couple hours, so basically an eternity in relation to the normal amount of times Weiss left her alone. Except when Weiss was forcibly dragged away from Blake, like on Fridays, Weiss usually never let go of Blake for more then 10 minutes at a time.

So Blake looked around the mansion; she opened every drawer and looked behind every curtain and in every flowerpot and under every couch and chair. She considered conscripting one of the maids or security guards to help her, but if she did, she'd have fully transformed into a formal member of the Schnee household, and she wasn't willing to admit to that yet.

Eventually, Blake smelled tears, and she followed the scent into one of the guest bathrooms.

Weiss was there, in front of the mirror, her face in her hands, crying. Sobbing long, drawn-outs wails of despair. Her medical eye-patch was on the counter, and an empty tube of her pungent scar ointment lay discarded on the floor.

Blake walked over, to stand slightly behind Weiss, to the left - not too close, but enough that Blake is sure that Weiss would notice her presence.

Weiss didn't outwardly react. (Blake wasn't going to admit to being bothered by the knowledge that this was perhaps the first time ever in which Blake entered Weiss's eyesight and the human didn't immediately jump onto her to hug her.)

Blake didn't say anything, but she was there if Weiss needed her for anything. Weiss knew that.

"It's not going away," Weiss said. She sniffled. "They- they said that some scars, they'll fade almost entirely. We got this expensive ointment and I've been using it every day and- and-

Weiss choked a sob, again.

Blake wondered if she should try to hug Weiss or something, but she figured, she's here if Weiss wants to.

"It was supposed to have worked by now, and even though I've put the ointment on every day- I-" Weiss choked up, and she heaved another sob.

Blake lifted her hand, towards Weiss's shoulder, but at the last minute, she stopped, and pulled her hand back.

"I still have my scar. It's not- it's not going away." Weiss says. "It's- it's not ever going to go away..."

Weiss sobbed, again. Blake smushed her mouth.

"And -it was my fault, why I got my scar. I was so stupid," Weiss said. "It's my own damn fault that I messed up my chance to be beautiful. That- that I'll never-"

Blake then got over whatever it was holding her back and she tried to hug Weiss, then, but Weiss wouldn't have it.

But Blake had to do something, so she awkwardly sidestepped so that she could look at Weiss's face. Weiss turned her head away.

"but you are beautiful."

Weiss sniffled. "Y-you're just saying that."

Blake tried to hug Weiss again. This time was more successful.

"you're beautiful, Weiss."

Weiss stifled a smile and halfheartedly pushed Blake off of her. "No I'm not~

Blake put her arms around Weiss's shoulders and pulled, nestling Weiss's head to her chest, under her chin.

"you're beautiful, Weiss-"

Weiss failed to suppress a giggle, this time. "Stoo~ooopppp~" said Weiss. A hint of playfulness seeped into her despair. She put her hand on Blake's face and pushed her away. Or tried to, at least.

After Weiss stopped struggling, Blake pushed her face against Weiss's. She licked some tears off of Weiss's cheek; they were tasty.

Weiss giggled. For the first time in a long time, Weiss blinked.

Weiss formally turned to Blake and smiled-

And then Blake's breath caught. Turned out, Blake wasn't just being polite earlier; Weiss's scar was noticeable, yes; an elegant pink line from Weiss's brow to the top of her cheek.

It was so metal. Dust.

And, of course, Blake had looked into Weiss's eyes before. Well, Weiss had looked into Blake's eyes, and sometimes Blake didn't look away in time. This time seemed a little different, though; really staring into each other's ocular organs. Blake noticed some things she didn't feel she'd noticed before.

Weiss had brilliant icy blue eyes, Blake noticed. Cool and clear and kind, somehow all at once, like a mountain creek from a winter thaw or something. Shut up.

Weiss caught Blake's expression and came to the correct conclusion, apparently. "Oh, Blakey, you really do think I'm beautiful?"

Blake smushed her mouth together and looked at the ground, and she felt her cheeks heat up, just a bit.

"Oh Blakey!"

Weiss jumped on Blake, then, wrapping her arms around the Faunus's neck, pulling them both to the floor.

"You're so nice, kitty!" said Weiss. She hugged Blake, all over. "So nice, kitty! I love you, nice kitty. I love you so much," Weiss planted a smooch on Blake's cheek, and then Blake's face burned so much her eyes watered, "Blakey."

Blake couldn't help but smile. Weiss rubbed her tummy and the sensation felt good.

And after they finished rolling around on the floor, Weiss sat up and looked around.

"Woah," Weiss said. She giggled, and she and closed her right eye, staring at Blake with her left. "You're fuzzy, Blakey!"

Blake blinked. It was a sentiment Weiss regaled to her often.

"But I mean, fuzzier than normal," Weiss pulled Blake closer to her face. "See, here you look regular fuzzy, but then far away," Weiss held Blake out at arm's length, "You're super fuzzy, Blakey!" Weiss closed her right eye and opened her left, "Now, you look less fuzzy. But here-" Weiss switched eyes, "You're the fuzziest, Blakey!"

Blake frowned. It seemed like this was the point to seek out a medical opinion.

Blake accompanied Weiss to the optometrist, later that day. Well, obviously; Blake accompanied Weiss everywhere, even, as it turned out, to any and all doctor's offices. The eye doctor's office smelled like contact solution and glassware and faintly of tears.

Mum Schnee was in the corner, leaning against the wall, reading some sort of paper, pretending not to be worried.

Weiss held Blake's hand as the Schnee read some numbers on a wall, and got her retina scanned, and various other machines looked at Weiss's eyes.

The optometrist somehow managed to get pictures of the inside of Weiss's eyeball, and they were up on a nearby screen as a visual aid.

"The good news is, it doesn't look permanent, and I'm optimistic that the issue can be corrected without surgery," said the optimist.

"There is bad news, then?" asked Mum Schnee, just the hint of worry in her voice.

The optometrist smiled. "Well, 'bad' in that, because we won't be resorting to surgery, the issue will take some time to correct."

"Yeah?" said Weiss.

"And you're still young, so it's exceedingly likely you'll end up with perfectly fine vision, before you become an adult," the optometrist said, optimistically.

The eye doctor looked to Weiss. "So what happened was that wearing an eyepatch for so long has made your visual cortex overcompensate, and its gotten out of practice of interpreting images sent from your left eye, which is why everything you see out of that eye is fuzzy" the optimist said, optometristically.

Weiss nodded. She hugged Blake's head. "Except for Blake, since she's already so fuzzy!"

The optimist made a smile. "Sure."

"The way to correct it is simple. You need to practice seeing out of just your left eye, so for about three months or so, you need to wear an eyepatch over your right eye, as much as possible."

"Awww, but I was so excited to have depth perception again!" Weiss said. But she held her hand out in front of her to accept the eyepatch.

And for the last time in a long while, Weiss blinked. She put a medical eyepatch on, over her right eye, this time.

Weiss jumped out of the chair bed and walked forward, her arms stretched out, and she bumped into a piece of medical equipment. The optometrist ran to steady the device, and Mum Schnee ran to steady her daughter

"Oof!" said Weiss. "I guess I'll need some help to get around then- Blakey! Come heeeee~reee~"

Weiss reached out towards Blake, and Blake walked forward. Mum Schnee backed off, after giving a brief, almost imperceptible frown.

Blake scrunched her mouth, and she allowed Weiss to push her forward, like a shield or something.

Mum Schnee smirked. "Well, I suppose this will work out; Blake can be your seeing eye cat, for the next few months."

Blake frowned. "i'm not a cat."

"Yeah, she's a kitty!" Weiss said. She squished Blake.

Blake blinked. She cleared her throat. "also, wouldn't i need training for that?"

"We'll get you a crash training course in the relevant skills to simulate the important aspects of sight."

Blake shrugged. It wasn't like it would change much about her and Weiss's dynamic, and free education was free education.

It was a little weird to be the one to be in front of Weiss all the time, though.

OMAKE:

Weiss pushed Blake along. Blake stopped when they were in the right space, and Weiss stopped pushing.

"So, Blakey, lookit! Look at it! Do you see?" Weiss said. She hugged Blake. "What am I supposed to see here?"

Blake blinked.

"good hues. nice brushstrokes. draws eye to flower. refreshing, joyous."

"Wow!" Weiss said. "That's so cool, Blakey!" The wonder was apparent in her voice.

Mum Schnee nodded, from her corner. "Very good, Blake. At least for an art theory novice."

"is this really necessary?"

"Of course it is." Mum Schnee pontificated. "Why bother even having eyes if you can't appreciate art with them?"

Blake scrunched her mouth to the side.

Weiss then pushed Blake towards another painting. "Now here, Blakey, look at this art! Do you see? Do you see the art?"

Blake scrunched her mouth to the other side, and she tried to remember what she had learned about surrealism.

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- A POSSIBLE FUTURE -

It's the middle of the afternoon when Weiss realizes that she hasn't seen half her team like, all day. It had beens a slow week, and perhaps many of them were taking advantage of the lack of things going on to catch up on the more introverted activities available to them. But Weiss is trying to spend less time alone, so she decides to go find some of her friends.

But, as it turns out, Yang had been looking for her.

"Hey, Weiss," Yang says to Weiss, at some point.

Weiss smiles and nods. "Hey Yang."

After a quick, customary hug, Yang steps back and rubs the back of her head and makes a smile. "So, uh, I think you might want to check out the women's restroom on this floor, right now?" Yang pontificates. "Not in a gross way, I mean. It's totally fine, and it's nothing, like, weird or creepy going on in there."

Weiss blinks.

Yang smiles with the left half of her face and looks to the wall. "Blake is involved," Yang ventures.

"Umm," Weiss says, "I don't know if I should get involved in that- I'm here if she needs me, and she knows that-"

Yang sighs. "Ok, fine, ruin the mystery. I just saw Blake run in there, crying." Yang makes a shrug, awkwardly, "Also, Ruby's a jerk. Like in general. I can say that, 'cause I'm her sister, but that's all I'll say for the moment." Yang bites her cheek.

Weiss blinks.

"I-" Yang says, "I really think you should go see her."

And the next thing Weiss knows, she's in front of the door to the women's bathroom, a short walk away from their dorms. Weiss is out of breath and and really nervous, and she hears Blake crying from the other side of the door.

Weiss opens the door and peaks her head into the bathroom. Fluorescent light shines across immaculate tiled porcelain in repeated patterns, and the long mirror in front of the sinks gives the illusion that the room is bigger than it is.

But the main feature Blake is slumped against a wall, crying, long drawn out wails of despair. She's more of a dark figure while the bathroom is more of a beige and gold, so the eye is naturally drawn towards her.

Weiss takes a breath. She doesn't say anything as she walks up to her teammate and sits down next to Blake, not too close, but enough that Blake notices her presence.

Blake looks up, and then lays her head back against her knees. She continues sobbing, but in a more subdued manner.

Weiss doesn't say anything until Blake says something.

And eventually, Blake does. "It's my fault," Blake says, eventually. She sniffles. "It's all my fault. Ruby told me so many times what she wanted from me- from us- and- and it wasn't what I wanted."

Blake sniffles. "And I kept hoping that, maybe, she'd change her mind- that I'd be good enough to change her mind-"

Weiss bites her lip.

"I was so stupid," Blake says, "to think that forcing a confrontation would work."

"But that's what I did. I told her that we needed to talk- that I couldn't go on like we were."

"And I told her that she was my angel, and that I wanted to be the steward of her smile, but that the only way we could share a piece of what quickens the rot was if we were exclusive."

"And-" Blake bites her lip, "And she said no. That there was someone she loved more," she manages to say, before she lets out one last batch of sobs before falling silent.

They are silent for a while, but Blake isn't sobbing anymore.

Weiss looks at the wall. "So, um," she says, "Did you really think- think that much of Ruby?"

"I- I guess," Blake says. "She was nice, and cool, and eloquent."

Weiss blinks. "Was she?"

"And she was always respectful of my agency and we had compatible kinks and we spent a lot of time together, so like," Blake shrugs and exhales. "I don't know."

Weiss makes an empathetic smile.

"I'm sorry she didn't live up to your expectations," Weiss says.

Blake chuckles, forlornly. "Yeah..."

"Is there anything I can do for you?" Weiss says, "I just want you to know, I'm always here for you."

"Actually, um-" Blake says, and there's a hint of a blush in her cheeks, "Do- do you think you could give me a bath? I- I kind of miss being clean..."

"Shouldn't you know how to do that? I mean, you had like a whole year by yourself where you should have figured that out."

Blake scrunches her mouth and blushes, slightly. "I mean, theoretically. "

Weiss chuckles. "Well, if that's what you want, of course."

Weiss leaves for their dorm to get the relevant cleaning supplies and a change of clothes for Blake, and when she returns, she hums a slow, familiar ballad that she keeps up as she works.

Weiss draws the bath and fluffs the towels and sets the soap and shampoo and brush off to the side.

And Blake breathes and closes her eyes in serene obedience as she holds her arms out, so Weiss can disrobe her.

Blake steps into the bathtub, sinking up to her chin. Weiss starts cleaning Blake's shoulders and arms, and then the rest of her, leaving the head for last.

Weiss rubs Blake's scalp, entangling her fingers in Blake's cascade of raven hair, gently massaging her temples, rubbing the skin of Blake's adorable kitty ears.

Blake purrs, soft and low, sometimes in time to the humming, and sometimes just as Weiss massages her head.

And eventually, Weiss is finished. Weiss moves to start packing up the cleaning bottles-

There's a quick splash as Blake hand darts out, to grab Weiss's hand, before it's too far away. Blake holds on, tightly, a little desperately. Weiss had managed not to flinch that much, and after a moment Weiss smiles and gives Blake's hand a squeeze in return. It's- nice.

They hold hands there, for a little while.

"Hey, Weiss," Blake whispers, "I- I realized something. About me, and you."

Weiss cannot answer. Her throat feels raw despite the humidity in the bathroom.

Blake clears her throat. "Remember, that night, when you asked me what I wanted?" she says.

Weiss nods. How could she forget?

"I- now I realize, I think I was looking for someone I could devote myself to, who I could always be there for and who would always be there for me, and who cared about me in the same way I cared about her."

Blake looks into Weiss's eyes. It's been a while, and Weiss had often gazed into those brilliant amber windows, but now, it's like Weiss is seeing Blake for the first time.

"And you know," Blake says, and her breath shudders and she bats her eyes at Weiss, "-that was always you, wasn't it?"

Weiss doesn't trust herself to speak, and the thundering of her heart against her rib-cage leaves her paralyzed.

"S-so," Blake says, "I'm saying that, I'd like to be yours, Weiss."

"And," Blake looks downwards, sheepishly, "Since I'm already naked...if you wanted..."

Eventually, Weiss answers, with a breach of eye contact. The words come after.

"A few months ago, I'd have said immediately said yes," Weiss says, "You've been such a fixture in my life, Blake, and it hurt to think that that might change."

Blake blinks.

"But-" Weiss makes a smile. "With everything you said to me, that night three months ago," Weiss says. She resumes eye contact, "Those feelings won't have gone away, Blake. I know I can't erase a decade of mistreating you so easily. And I get it; you think you've made a mistake, right now, and you're trying your hardest to fix it as fast as possible. But I don't think you're really seeing things clearly, Blake. I think you're just rushing back into something that's familiar to you, when you were right all along- we all need to move on."

Blake inhales, as if she's trying not to show emotion. "So you - you don't want me?"

"Blake, I want you to be happy," Weiss says, "I want you to feel like you're valued, and that you're loved, - and if you're sure you'd get that from me, then- I don't know, maybe- But I want you to make sure you really want this."

Blake looks into the bathwater.

Weiss grimaces in memory, briefly, "And I've looked at myself, recently, and I know that I'm not perfect. I don't know if I deserve you, but right now, that doesn't matter."

"I don't think you'd be happy, Blake, so I have to say no," Weiss manages to say. She looks away.

Blake chokes back one more sob. She lets go of Weiss's hand, and she sinks into the bath, again. "O-okay," she whispers.

Weiss can't think of anything to say.

Blake chuckles another forlorn chuckle. "I- I guess I'm not good enough to make someone want to say, huh?"

Weiss immediately turns to her friend. "No! That wasn't what this was about- You are good enough, Blake. You're amazing. Don't let anyone convince you otherwise."

Blake sniffles. "Y-you're just saying that. You're supposed to, when your friends are down."

"I'm not just saying that," Weiss says, "Just because you've been- unlucky, doesn't mean you're not pretty and smart and cool and funny-"

Blake fails to stifle a smile. "I-I'm really not," she says.

"Blake," Weiss states, and she puts on her most commanding voice, "You are the most beautiful woman in all of Beacon and any girl would be honored to have you."

"Stoooo~oooop," Blake says, a hint of playfulness seeping into her despair. She hides her mouth and creeping blush in her hands. "You've always been so embarrassing, Weiss."

Weiss smiles. "You know, someone wise once said, 'dignity is a lie based on imperialist standards of propriety designed to trick nonconforming people into regulating themselves."

Blake laughs, for real.

"Tell you what," Weiss says, "Let's get you dry and dressed and I can take you out to dinner, tonight. We can catch up and talk and- and see where it goes from there?"

Blake nods. "I'd like that."

Weiss drys Blake off with a towel, and then she dresses Blake.

On the way out, Blake makes to grab Weiss's hand. Weiss allows it.

"Um," Blake says, "S-should we invite our other teammates?" Blake says.

"I was thinking this would just be the two of us."

Blake breaths a sigh of relief. "Ok."

Weiss nods. "You don't have to see Ruby anytime soon, don't worry."

Blake rubs her head. "I- was it that obvious?"

Weiss shrugs. "I mean, it'd make sense that you'd want some space." Weiss waves the air. "But seriously, forget about her. If she can't see how great you are, then it's her loss," she says.

Blake makes a smile. "Yeah, okay."

And they walk back to their dorm, together.