I fell behind a little bit so I decided to add both chapters 38 and 39 at once. Make sure you don't miss one!
With a single swing of Myrtenaster, Weiss created a glyph below her feet, the same way that she had been instructed and launched herself up into the air, already preparing the next glyph so that she would have a landing point when she reached it.
The training session was something that she had been looking forward to some time, but that wasn't something that her sister and the General didn't need to know. For the moment, Weiss was much more concerned with the knowledge that she was the one that all eyes in the room were glued to. Everyone in the room were there for her.
Weiss landed and she let the glyph turn, beginning to prepare the next glyph to leap onto once it was ready. It appeared and waited, and when she launched herself and landed there it turned black. Moments later the next instructions came to her in the sound of a shout from her sister. They were simple enough- focus on the next place until she was up at the rafters of the training room that she'd been allowed to commandeer for that day.
So Weiss followed them, chaining glyph after glyph together until she was resting on the rafters with her feet dangling down from them. She'd been told that she would get a chance to rest, and so now that she had it she had every intent of using it.
She took in a deep breath in an attempt to calm down and relax, since she was already feeling the strain from the practice session. The first half hour had been spent on simple swordplay, and semblance had come soon after. Weiss had no illusions that actual combat was going to be the next step. She just needed a chance to catch her breath first.
No matter what, it appeared that both of the people that had come to teach her that night had come with the full intent of pushing her to her absolute limit. Weiss had no doubts about whether that was a good thing or not.
"You did well." Winter shouted from the balcony where Weiss had seen Qrow stand so many times before, or Ozpin, or one of her instructors. Seeing Winter there was foreign, but it was more than welcome. The fact that General Ironwood was there at her side and seemingly beyond focused added a dimension that Weiss hadn't expected. Truthfully, she hadn't been expecting him at all, but Winter had insisted on his presence since he had helped teach her.
"Thank you!" Weiss called back down, allowing herself to lean on a support beam as she caught her breath. "May I have a moment?"
"You know that the grimm and bandits you face won't give you a chance to rest." Winter said, smirking. She glanced over at General Ironwood and got a nod in response. Permission. "But I suppose that it wouldn't hurt."
"Thank you." Weiss sighed and there was a quiet mumbling between Winter and the general, them both clearly conspiring about something. Winter nodded and Weiss cocked her head to the side, wishing that she would have been able to hear more of their conversation. She would have really just liked anything that would have told her what she was going to have to expect next. "Is there anything that I could have improved on?" Weiss said loudly, hoping to get some sort of guideline.
"Your times could have been better, Miss Schnee." General Ironwood said, standing up tall with his head held high. Even from where she was, Weiss could tell that he was watching her closely. "In true combat the potential speeds that you can reach with your glyphs will be one of your greatest strengths. I would recommend that you work on how fast you can create your glyphs, but remember to train your stamina in the process."
Weiss nodded, because it made sense, but she was curious about why the General seemed so confident.
"Was there anything else that you would recommend?" Weiss asked, blinking and looking from the man to her sister. The General closed his eyes and let out a quiet breath that she could see where she was sitting before picking his gaze back up and smiling up at her.
"You're going to want to be able to sustain multiple glyphs at once." He said. "You should come down. We have waited here for you."
"How do you want me to come down?" Weiss called.
"Create your own landing strategy. As a huntress you'll need to be able to do so with no time to prepare." The General responded, and Weiss took a quick moment to survey the area and the way down. The easiest way for her to do it would be to create a few glyphs and leap down on them, but if she was worried about getting tired then that was a strategy that had a chance of not working very well, or coming back to hurt her later.
Winter looked like she wanted to say something or make an offer, but before she got the chance the General waved it away with a gloved hand. Weiss could appreciate it. She looked down at Myrtenaster and picked it up before finally coming up with something.
All that she was going to need was a landing pad that wasn't too hard, and that was something that she could achieve herself.
Weiss pushed herself off of the perch that she'd taken and allowed herself to plummet down, already doing her best to judge just how much of a distance she was going to have before she it the ground. If this was going to go well, she was going to need at least a few feet.
She cast the glyph, letting it hover over the ground by several feet- probably about eight feet in total. Weiss landed on top of it and she felt the way that it seemed to stretch under her. It slowed her descent enough that Weiss was able to allow for the glyph to disappear entirely when she was close enough to the ground.
Her feet made contact with the floor gently, like she had simply floated down.
Both the General and Winter were looking at her, neither of them wanting to say anything about what they were doing. Weiss relaxed once she was on the ground and walked over towards the stairs and climbing them so that she could get some water for herself.
"You're doing well." Winter said to her, smiling as she held out a bottle of water. There was a slight layer of ice that had formed over it, and Weiss smiled at the realization of what it meant. "But there is room for improvement."
"I know." Weiss whispered back as she uncapped the drink for herself. "I'm trying."
"And you're doing well." Ironwood said, holding his head high and his voice surprisingly soft. "I saw the tapes from your combat examination. Between what I saw there and what I've seen here today, in addition to what I have heard there has been a marked improvement. Beacon has truly been serving you well."
Weiss smiled and she dropped into a curtsey in a way that was a little bit too practiced. Had her father been there it would have been more than expected, and the General would have normally dropped into a deep bow of his own.
But her father wasn't there. Instead, they were able to act more informally.
"Thank you, sir." She said before standing back up properly. "I've learned a lot since coming here."
Ironwood nodded with a slight smile on his face and turned to the console that he and Winter were standing by. He seemed to hold his hand over it, almost like he was reconsidering the possibility of using it.
Weiss wondered whether or not it had to do with her having fought the real thing. The simulations were good training tools, but she now knew that they weren't perfect. Far from it, actually.
"As you should have." Ironwood mumbled. "Whenever you're ready, we'll run you through with a simulation. I know that you have fought the real thing at this point-" He looked at her, something in his eyes that Weiss couldn't identify, "But you won't improve without practice, and practice against the real thing is hard to come by."
Weiss nodded and sipped from her drink, letting herself lean up against the railing at her side. For the time being, she wanted to do what she could to start a conversation and clear up some of her own worries.
"Has there been any word from Atlas?" Weiss asked, sure that she was about to overstep more than a few boundaries just by trying to ask. "I know that you were speaking to my father about a contract-"
General Ironwood looked at her, raising an eyebrow curiously but also looking more than a little amused by the question himself. Weiss almost shrank back from it, but was stopped by the General just waving a white gloved hand dismissively.
"You know that I would normally answer that sort of question as though it was classified."
"I'm sorry." Weiss averted her eyes and let her arms wrap around herself in a poor approximation of a hug. "I didn't mean to-"
"But," Ironwood sighed, not breaking his expression for so much as a second, "I suppose that you are asking me about this because you're concerned."
"I am." Weiss replied, her eyes flicking down. "Even if they... don't want me there anymore, or I have upset my father, Atlas is still my home. And there are people I care about there."
The General nodded, and for just a second Weiss could have sworn that she'd seen his eyes flick over to Winter for just a second. "Of course." He said quietly. "If you must know, there have been patrols in search of grimm around the main cities. Nothing has turned up."
Weiss nodded. She thought back to what she herself had faced out in the forest, and all that she could think about in the end was that if there had been a Beringel, and then a Deathstalker of that size out there in addition to the behemoth, there had to be even more. Maybe not there yet, but at the very least present.
She supposed it was just a matter of time before they knew for sure.
The General stared her down, stony and silent before gesturing back to the ring. "You do realize that these are rather severe things to be worrying about."
"I do." Weiss responded as she finished off one last sip of her drink. She capped the bottle and set it down on the balcony and reached for Myrtenaster. If this was going to get started, then she needed to be ready for whatever was to come next.
"Miss Schnee-"
"Weiss." She corrected the man, holding her head up high as she finally took her place in the center of the arena. "My name is Weiss." To almost punctuate the statement, Weiss gave Myrtenaster a swing at her side.
"Weiss," The General corrected himself, his hands slipping down to the console in front of him. "Your concern is a good thing. But you need to prepare for what is right in front of you."
There was a sound, an alarm going off to tell Weiss that the battle was about to start and Weiss readied herself to strike, looking for the first sign that it was going to start. Whatever was selected for her to face- it was going to have been carefully selected for her.
That Weiss was certain of.
The floor below her lit up, and Weiss watched as the soft pulse of dust moving into formation created something.
Beowulf, Weiss' immediate thought told her.
It was her first time facing any sort of grimm alone, and she needed to prove herself.
The simulated grimm picked its head up, and then let out a roar. Weiss furrowed her brow, and gave Myrtenaster a swing, making sure to turn the dust canister in it so that she could send a blast of Dust at the grimm.
A shining bright blue spark hit the beast in the center of the chest, but it didn't seem to do much more than anger it. The Beowulf dropped to all fours and began to charge at her. Weiss crouched, waving her free hand by her feet. A glyph appeared there, and Weiss braced herself for movement, holding Myrtenaster so that she could stab straight into the grim which was charging at her.
She waited for the right moment to strike, and when she saw the opening, Weiss launched herself at it, piercing the beast's chest and flying through its dissipating remains. It was too easy, Weiss thought as she landed on the other side.
There was another sound, and Weiss watched as more Grimm formed right before her eyes, each one a Beowulf but this time instead of there only being one that rose, it was three.
The General had mentioned stamina.
Weiss took a breath, letting the three move in towards her. She took the quickest look around the arena in search of-
She saw it, a false broken pillar that could be the high ground that she wanted so badly.
Weiss cast a glyph as quickly as she possibly could and launched herself into the air over the Beowulves' heads. Mid-air, she twisted herself to face them and checked over her should to check that she could land properly. Weiss concentrated on the space where she was intending to land and waved a hand. The relief rushed through her when she saw the glyph form there.
It turned black, and Weiss was drawn to the center of it. She was several feet over the grimm, and Weiss intended to use that space. The glyph was going to hold for as long as she concentrated and did what she could to maintain it. Weiss turned the canister of dust in her weapon again, and smiled when the fire began to dance up the blade.
Weiss waited, the grimm all racing towards her. As soon as she as sure that they were close enough, Weiss swang Myrtenaster, flame flying out and hitting all three grimm as her weapon passed each of them by.
All three dissipated.
Regardless, Weiss wasn't sure that was going to be the last of it. If anything, she was sure that she was going to be pushed and pushed until she couldn't fight anymore. She didn't know if this was the exact same way in which Winter had been trained, but she was willing to play along anyhow. At the very least, she could trust in the idea that she was under the careful watch of several people that knew to stop it if it got too bad.
Winter wouldn't let it go too far either. Weiss was sure of that.
She stood up tall on the broken pillar and held her head high, looking out for what would come next.
What she saw instead of grimm was the general and her sister standing up on the balcony, the general leaning over to say something to Winter. Winter nodded and took a step back, and Weiss was confused until she watched her sister draw her own weapon. Was she about to be put into the fight with her?
But instead she watched as her sister waved her sword in a way that Weiss had seen before, a simple moulinet, and just like that there was a sound and Weiss watched as a snowstorm began to form around her. Not quite a natural storm, but the influence of Dust from her sister's use.
It was easy enough to figure out what the point was.
She was going to have to keep her head about herself as this went.
The roar caught Weiss off guard, coming from behind her. Out of the thick swirl of the Dust-made storm, a grimm shot out at her, this one a bit bigger than the other Beowulves that she'd already fought.
It knocked her off of the pillar, and Weiss landed on the ground with a thud. During the landing, her sword fell away from her grip, and Weiss nearly panicked over it. She waved a hand as quickly as she could and concentrated, creating a glyph between herself and the grimm. It wasn't going to be enough to push it away, but it was going to keep her safe for a bit.
She pushed back with it, and forced the grimm away just enough to keep it off of her.
The grimm was knocked back when the glyph dissipated and Weiss dove for Myrtenaster. She grabbed the sword and turned the Dust canister in it before plunging it in the ground in front of her. A bloom of ice crystals formed around her in a shield of sorts, but that wasn't going to be enough to hold off the beast and she knew it.
If anything, she would only see more trouble because she'd cut off her own line of sight for the sake of protection.
She heard and could see the outline of the simulated grimm thumping and trying to claw at the ice around her, and then a second set of claws appeared, and then a third after it.
There had to be more, but Weiss couldn't be sure of it. The ice was going to hold- but not for long.
She stood up properly in the dome of ice and took a breath, doing her best to ignore the cold so that she could instead come up with some sort of strategy. There weren't many options at her disposal, so Weiss needed to do what she could with it.
Slowly and carefully, Weiss slipped into the smallest battle stance that she could manage, holding Myrtenaster out in front of her. She was going to have to concentrate and wait for the best possible moment, Weiss was sure of that, but she at least had an ideas.
More claws appeared against the walls of her shield, and the sound of ice cracking and beginning to break mixed in with the sound of the monster's roaring and clawing.
The shield broke, and only then did Weiss allow herself to make her move. She thrust her sword down into the ground and concentrated, and let another bloom of ice form around her, but instead of controlling it and allowing it to form around her as a shield, Weiss ensured that the ice shot outwards in large spikes.
The shield crumbled entirely, and Weiss just watched as the grimm were impaled all at once, and all four of them began to float away in simulated smoke.
There was quiet, but it was near impossible to hear through the sound of her own heartbeat and her heavy breathing. Weiss felt like she was about to drop, and she let her arm drop down to her side. She watched as the storm disappeared, and finally let her arm drop back down to her side now that it seemed like it was over with.
She blinked, like she was clearing the snow away from her eyes and looked up.
Still standing on the balcony were her sister and the General, and she was just nodded to when she locked eyes with him. Weiss nodded as her response and took the moment to store Myrtenaster back away. She walked to the stairs slowly, and then made her way up to where the others would join her.
Winter immediately pressed the bottle of water into her hand again. "You did well." She cut in immediately, before so much as a word could be gotten in edgewise. "It was quite impressive."
"Thank you." Weiss replies before unscrewing the cap of the bottle of water that she'd been given and drinking deeply from it and gracelessly. She didn't care about looks at the moment, not when she was exhausted and she felt like she was about to drop at any second because of what she'd just been through.
She'd thought that fighting with a team was hard enough, but that had been something else entirely.
That was the point of the exercize, Weiss had to guess. She finished her drink and looked up to Ironwood, who was just standing there stony faced and with his eyes far away. He didn't even see like he was paying attention to what was going on.
Weiss looked to her sister for any sign that she knew what was happening, and was just nodded to.
Finally, Ironwood allowed himself to speak up. His eyes were far away, like he was trying to make sense of something. "Weiss," He asked, taking his time before launching into what he wanted to say. "Have you watched footage of old hunters in action?"
"I haven't." Weiss replied, her eyes flicking down to the floor. "I just... did what I felt I needed to do."
"You did well." Ironwood said as he began to walk to the door, and Weiss felt her heart plummet immediately because she couldn't imagine a single way in which that was good. "You should be proud."
"Sir?" Weiss took a few steps forward, hoping that something was going to be said. "Is something-"
He looked back over his shoulder at her. "You have a strong sense of instinct, Weiss. It should carry you a great distance-"
"But-"
"Miss Schnee." Ironwood stopped her, turning slightly and raising a hand in a universal sign of quiet. Weiss almost wanted to shrink back over it, but she wasn't going to go ahead and say or show why. "You are on a great path already. The best that you can do is continue to train."
Weiss nodded, but she couldn't act like there wasn't something that was wrong. Something terrible that made her want to run and hide or cry.
But Ironwood just smiled at her. "You will do great things. I am sure of it."
"Thank you, sir." Weiss said quietly, and she and Winter watched as Ironwood left the two of them alone. She swallowed past the lump in her throat and looked up to Winter. "Did I-"
"You didn't do anything wrong." Winter said, reaching out to pull Weiss into a hug. "He's impressed, he just doesn't always show it."
"Oh." Weiss blinked and looked back to the door, still closed. "So there isn't anything wrong?"
Winter sighed, and she looked sad herself. Weiss had to wonder how many times she had been put through the same thing herself. She wondered just how much the General actually knew about what was going on. "I never know," Winter murmured. "But I know that he thinks you did well. He never lies to students. I've learned that."
"Thank you."
"You're doing well, Weiss."
"Thank you."
There were a lot of upsides to weekends at Beacon Academy, Blake had realized. She'd come to understand that during the weekends there was very little ever going on. People would go on their recon missions, but everyone was given time away from their classes. That didn't mean that the training rooms weren't constantly booked or anything like that.
It was just a quieter time.
She'd been doing her best to figure out the best ways in which she could use that time. The possibility of her getting to have time to read was there, but that wasn't how Blake wanted to spend her time. Not when she already had other things to worry about, things that couldn't be resolved or dealt with easily.
Ever since arriving back at Beacon, Blake had heard a lot about her decision to run off on her own like she had. Nobody was letting her forget about it, but she hadn't talked to anyone about what it had been like when she'd been off on her own. The one that she needed to talk to was just hard to find.
Blake slipped out of Beacon late at night when none of her teammates would think much of it. She gave them an excuse that she was going to go to the library to find something to read, and nobody questioned it.
Instead of going to the library, Blake went down to the city of Vale and wandered through its streets. She had a feeling that she knew where she was going to find the person that she needed to speak to so badly.
She wandered through the city streets until she was at the bar that she had dragged herself into out of the rain. She'd met Qrow there before, and she was willing to bet that it was a place that he went to fairly regularly.
On the way in, Blake caught a few weird looks from some of the workers. She didn't say anything to them, choosing to hold her head high as she went in and make a beeline for the bar counter.
It was mostly empty, but the bar was clearly preparing for some sort of business later on that night. Blake slipped into the seat where she'd sat the first night that she had come there, and leaned against the counter.
The gigantic man behind it approached her, in the middle of cleaning out a glass as he walked. He just held his head up high just the same before speaking.
"You're a little young to be here." He said calmly. "But you've been in before, haven't you?"
"I'm eighteen." Blake deadpanned with a slight roll of her eyes. "But I'm here because I'm looking for someone."
"And what makes you think you'll find them here?" The man responds. Blake's eyes flick down to the badge on his shirt, the name Hei Xiong Jr. printed there. The bar had been named Junior's, so Blake could only guess that this was the man that owned the place.
"I'm looking for a huntsman." Blake said, still holding her confidence about her. "Qrow Branwen."
Junior hesitated and sighed before setting the cleaned glass on the rack behind him. "And what has you looking for Qrow?"
"I go to Beacon." She paused after the explanation, because she knew that it wasn't going to be anywhere near enough to make things work. "I need to talk to him about something. I figured I might be able to find him here."
Junior sighed and nodded, letting himself lean against the counter himself. "He tends to come in after missions." He explained calmly, eyes flicking to the door himself. "I'd expect him in a few hours. Until then, you're just wasting your time." He shook his head, almost like he was dismissing her. "Look, kid. I get that you need something, but this isn't a place to hang around."
"I know that." Blake replied, but she didn't make any move to go or do anything else. This was a place where she could look for answers, and Blake had every intent on doing what she could to get information out of this man. "I just need to talk to Qrow, but-"
"But what?" Junior responded, and he sounds decently annoyed as they stand there. "You come back in an hour or two, and he might be here. Waiting around won't get you very far."
Blake hesitated and looked back over her shoulder at the door to the building. There were a few members of the club's staff that seemed to be paying some attention to her. Blake didn't like it, and when the urge to let her ears flatten back against her head came, she did everything in her power to resist it.
She hesitated, because she could go to the door at any time if she wanted to. She could have even gone out of the city in search of Qrow herself, but Blake didn't want to do that. Not when she already knew what was out there and she was already worried about what would happen if she didn't find Qrow soon.
"Kid?"
"How about-" Blake started, keeping her voice down. She turned her eyes onto Junior and they locked. She didn't allow herself to even so much as flinch because there was very little that this man could do to scare her. No matter what, she was fairly certain that she'd dealt with worse. "You answer some other questions for me."
"What sorts of questions?" Junior asked, giving a few of the employees of the club a look himself. All at once they all seemed to seep back away from the two of them, and Blake could appreciate the space. "Because I don't know what you think I do here."
Blake sighed. "Just... whether or not certain sorts of people have come through."
"You're going to have to be more specific." Junior said, coming off more annoyed than he had been when the conversation started. "I don't intend to sell anyone out if I don't have to."
That was something that was definitely going to complicate things. Blake shook her head and spoke up anyways. "I wanted to know if you've seen anyone in White Fang regalia come through."
Junior took a half-step back, his eyes widening in surprise. Like he'd been slapped.
Blake didn't move at all, she just sat, waited, and stared Junior down. He took a deep breath and leaned back against the counter once more.
"What is a kid like you looking to know about that for?"
"Consider it a long story." Blake said, tearing her eyes away from him. "I just need to know if anyone from that group has come through."
Junior looked worried, and he locked his eyes with Blake's. "Should I be worrying about you being here?"
"No." Blake sighed. "I just needed to know for... personal reasons."
Junior was silent for a long, long time, and then he finally allowed himself to say something. "Are you one of them?"
"No." Blake hesitated. It felt dangerous to discuss it with anyone. "Not anymore."
And that seemed to be all that Junior needed. He stood up tall and let out a quiet sigh. "They don't tend to come through here," He began to explain, though he kept his voice down the entire time. "I figure if they go to certain bars, they aren't coming to this one. Not much of a mystery why. I get the feeling that you're mixed up in things that I don't want to know about."
Blake frowned and nodded before she reached into her pocket and set her scroll down onto the counter in between them in a show of nonaggression. "If Qrow Branwen comes in, can you tell him to call me?"
"I can." Junior said, staring her down. "Should I give a certain name to let him know who is looking for him?"
"Blake Belladonna." Blake responded, and she watched Junior's face for any sign of recognition there. His expression went carefully blank for just a second before he relaxed again and nodded.
"I'll pass the message on." He says, keeping his voice down. "You should watch yourself though, Belladonna."
"Why?" Blake asked as she took her scroll back and tucked it back away.
"I get the feeling I know why you're worried about the White Fang." Junior says. "I've heard the stories."
"Have you, now?"
"They kill their deserters." Junior stated it plainly. Like he was talking about the stock market, or making a food order. "Watch yourself."
"Consider it already done."
The truth was that there wasn't a single thing about the conversation with Junior that Blake liked. She didn't like that he had figured her out, and she didn't like feeling like she needed to run because of his last words to her. For just a second on the way out the door, Blake let the urge to flatten her ears take her, and they moved and shifted under the bow she wore uncomfortably before she took a deep breath and relaxed again.
She walked away from the club, taking the pathway through the city until she was at the gates.
If Qrow was out on a mission, then she was going to be able to cut him off on the way in.
Blake just made herself comfortable by the gates and kept herself aware of everything that was going on. Late that night, too late, Qrow finally walked through the gates alone, looking tired and bored all the same.
He gave her a weird look, and Blake just stared him down in a way that showed just how annoyed she was herself.
"Blake." He greeted her, relaxing slightly and letting his hands drop down to his sides. He reached into his pocket with one of them in search of something. "What has you out here?"
"I need to talk to you." Blake replied to him, keeping her voice even. Qrow shrugged and began to walk through the city himself, taking the path back to Junior's. Blake simply fell into step at his side and let them walk. "About the forest."
"You know we aren't supposed to be talking about that." Qrow said, his volume dropping significantly. "To keep the people at bay."
"It isn't about what you think it is." Blake said, turning and placing herself directly in Qrow's path so that he couldn't pass her or ignore her. He grit his teeth and reached out to brush her aside.
"I don't care to hear about that little stunt you pulled-" Qrow snarled at her. "Because you put everyone in jeopardy. Including my family."
Blake grit her teeth and sped back up to walk beside Qrow again. "I saw something out there."
"Monster?"
"No." Blake responded, keeping her voice down and getting into Qrow's path once more. "In your office, you had three photos. You and Ruby and Yang's family, them on their first day of school, and a photo of you and your sister."
"So?"
"I saw her." Blake said, staring Qrow in the eyes. "Your sister."