As Weiss walked into the training grounds, she took in the details of the room quickly. A large sandpit with no roof was in the center, allowing natural sunlight to stream into the room. A cloister ran around the outside of the sandpit, with a small set of stairs leading down into the arena. Along the walls were various weapon racks containing swords, axes, spears, and various other unconventional weapons.

In the middle of the pit, two combatants swung their dulled practice swords at each other. Both wore full plate armor and helmets, concealing them from view. One of them held a longsword and shield, the other wielded their longsword with both hands. The two-handed blade crashed into the opponent's shield, which barely managed to push the weapon aside.

The fighter without a shield twisted their sword and slashed at their foe, who barely dodged away from the blade. In an attempt to put distance between them and their opponent, the shield fighter backed up to the edge of the sandpit. Weiss could see from where she was that their stance was all wrong. They needed to be more aggressive if they wanted to win, otherwise, their opponent would just whittle them down.

The warrior who had a shield stood with his feet to close together, and the other combatant took advantage of that. Charging forward, they brought their sword across their body in an arching slash, which the shield strained to block. The creaking of metal as the blade pushed into the shield, pushing it back slowly.

If the second person would just twist away, they could strike their opponent while dodging the attack. Instead, they simply continued to uselessly push against the blade, straining as they desperately wasted their energy trying to delay the inevitable. The warrior let out a grunt of effort as they held their shield up, but it eventually gave way.

The shield slid downwards, allowing the blunted training sword to slam into the shield knight's chest. They let out an oof and fell to the ground, rolling to the edge of the sandpit. As they laid there, Weiss couldn't help but wince. That hadn't looked gentle.

The loser just sighed loudly and removed his helmet, revealing a head of short blonde hair and blue eyes. The boy was tall, but his face looked youthful, only worsened by the pouting expression he wore on his face. His opponent just laughed heartily, and Ruby perked up when she heard the sound.

"Yeah, yeah, laugh it up Yang," He mumbled, only making his training partner laugh harder. They removed their helmet, and Weiss couldn't help but blink in surprise when an absurd amount of hair fell out from underneath it. How did she even see if there was that much hair under there?

"Sorry Jaune, but seeing you go flying like that gets me every time," The girl, Yang, teased. The boy just scoffed and began rising to his feet.

"Want to go another round?" He asked, but Weiss made out the girls head slightly tilting backward.

"One second, we should go see what our guest wants," She answered, shocking both Weiss and the boy she had called Jaune. Her back was turned to Weiss, meaning she must have noticed her while she had been fighting. She was observant, like her father.

The blonde-haired girl turned around and Weiss was able to finally get a good look at her. She had light lilac eyes and a playful smirk. Blonde hair cascaded past her shoulders down to the small of her back. As she made her way closer to Weiss, she could tell that she was of average height. She walked in her armor comfortably, telling Weiss that she had trained in it often.

The boy was unconfident, meekly hiding away behind his friend despite being taller. His mop of hair was messy, and Weiss could tell by his gait that he was still aching from the spar.

"Hi there. Need something?" Yang asked, and Weiss just gave her a respectful nod.

"Are you Yang Xiao-Long?" After receiving a nod, she continued. "Your father gave me a message to give you," She explained, fishing into her satchel to remove the scroll Tai had given her that morning. Yang eagerly snatched it out of her hands.

"Thanks! Sorry he made you do that, though. Did he make sure to pay you?" She asked exasperatedly.

"Yes. I did this to repay a favor he did for me," She eased the blonde's worries, and she let out a relieved sigh.

"Oh! Thanks for the help then, Ms...?" The taller girl trailed off, asking for her name.

"Weiss. Weiss Schnee," The ex-heiress stated, and the pair gained stunned expressions. Yang's lilac eyes momentarily widened, but quickly returned to normal size. Jaune's jaw dropped, and he straightened up with a loud cough. They both gave overly deep bows towards her, making her blink.

"My humblest apologies for offending you, Lady Schnee," Yang recited as if she were reading from a script, and Weiss just rolled her eyes. She was acting completely different now that she knew who Weiss was, and not even the densest of nobles would be fooled by that.

"There's no need to apologize. You didn't offend me, and I doubt I'm still considered a Lady of house Schnee," Weiss reassured them, making them straighten up to look at her.

"Speaking of, why are you in Vale?" Jaune began to ask, but was cut off by Yang's elbow crashing into his stomach. "I-I mean... Vale is honored to have such an illustrious guest such as yourself visiting," He stuttered out. Weiss couldn't help but giggle; the thought of them having to act like this in front of the nobility was humorous to her.

"Like I said, I left Atlas and the Schnee family behind. I'm just here in Vale to finish something my grandfather started," She explained to the pair, who still seemed slightly on edge. "On second thought, I'm here as a representative of the Atlesian Council to declare war on Vale," She teased. Yang just let out a barking laugh and Jaune paled at the thought.

"Heh. I like your style," Yang complimented. "Your not just some stuck up noble brat. If the rumors about you running away from home are true, then I guess that's pretty cool," The blonde girl said with a confident smirk.

"Thank you. I think," Weiss said unsurely, not able to tell if the blonde was teasing her or not. Yang just laughed loudly and placed a hand on her hip. Her gaze flicked from the sword on her waist to the armor slightly visible under her cloak.

"Are you much of a fighter, Weiss?" Yang asked, and Weiss gave her a resolute nod.

"I consider myself to be rather skilled, yes."

"Then did you see what Jaune did wrong in that last battle?" She quizzed, and Jaune just let out a loud groan and buried his head into his hands. He sent Yang a pleading look, but she just ignored him.

"He wasn't aggressive enough. He tried to defend against your superior offense, dragging out the match and wasting his stamina," Weiss recalled. "If he had tried to overwhelm you from the beginning, he would have fared better. He still likely would've lost, but it would have been a closer fight," The noble surmised, and Yang's smirk turned cocky.

"Smart. But a fight is about more than just strategy. Want to test yourself against me?" Yang challenged. Weiss just flicked her gaze to Jaune, who was staring at the two of them with curiosity. She quickly glanced at Ruby, who gave her two large thumbs-up, and back to Yang, who was resting against a pillar. Her expression hardened, and she drew her rapier.

"Very well. I accept your challenge," She declared, making her way to the center of the pit. Yang did so as well, picking up a large heater shield that covered her forearm. Jaune made his way to a bench to the left of the entrance and sat down, prepared to watch the fight. Yang twirled her sword absentmindedly, before shouting out to Weiss.

"How should we do this? First hit?" Receiving a nod in response, she continued. "What about magic? I only know enhancement, so let's go ahead and just say no using it," The blonde knight-in-training decided. Weiss just shrugged. Yang was a larger foe and had an aura that was roughly the same size as her own. She would be physically stronger, with or without enhancement magic.

Weiss tossed her cloak to the side as Jaune began to count down from ten. At five, she tightened her grip on her sword. At four, she shifted her left foot slightly forward. At three, she bent her knees slightly. At two, she tensed the muscles in her leg. At one, she narrowed her eyes on Yang, who had her shield raised and her longsword held in her left hand, pointed forward.

With Jaune's cry of "Begin!" the two shot towards each other. Weiss tried a quick thrust towards Yang's chest, but the edge of her shield knocked the blade off its course. The noble rolled out of the way of a slash from the heavy longsword, trying to put distance between her and the stronger opponent. Yang's longsword was built more for slashing, and Weiss's rapier would never be able to outperform it when it came to sheer force.

Instead, she danced just out of Yang's range, testing her defenses with quick lunging thrusts before leaping away when she saw the blonde prepare to counter. Yang, however, perfectly blocked each of her strikes with either the center or the edges of her shield. The blonde twisted her body around and slashed at her foe, who threw herself to the side to avoid the blow.

The dulled steel hit the ground and kicked up a small cloud of sand. Ruby's sister turned the blade in her grasp so the edge was facing Weiss and brought it up in a slash. The young woman brought Myrternaster up and deflected the blade from its course, causing the blade to sail above her head. She slashed at Yang four times, but was stopped by the heavy wooden shield on each occasion.

Weiss leapt backward when Yang bashed the tip of her rapier away and charged forward. She twisted her blade to block another slash, barely managing to keep it from ending the match. She ducked under the blade and launched into an aggressive flurry of slashes and stabs, pushing Yang to the edge of the sandpit slowly but surely.

Yang desperately alternated between using the large wooden shield and her longsword to block Weiss's attacks. She was losing ground fast, and that was making her angry. The blonde warrior grit her teeth as she struggled to keep herself from losing even more ground to the enemy when she noticed her chance.

She threw all of her weight to her right, managing to block Weiss's swing, and slashed at her foe. Like she'd predicted, the white-haired woman avoided the attack giving Yang the opportunity she needed to win the fight. She deflected Weiss's counter downwards and slammed her foot down on the blade, wrenching it from her grasp.

Unarmed, Weiss stood no chance. She danced out of the way of several swings, but Yang refused to move from her spot. Her sword was pinned beneath her foot, and getting close meant she would have to challenge Yang without her sword. But if she didn't, she would lose the duel. So she charged forward, ducking under a swing and slamming her armored fist into Yang's unprotected face.

The taller girl staggered backward, giving Weiss the chance to grab her sword and thrust it forward. Yang slashed in a wide arc in an attempt to hit her first, recklessly opening her defenses so she could end the match as quickly as possible. The swords whooshed through the air before coming to a stop with a loud clang as they each met armor.

Weiss let out an oomph as Yang's dulled blade struck right beneath her rib. Yang grunted in pain as the tip of Weiss's rapier slammed into her armor, slightly piercing through and drawing a small amount of blood. The two dropped their weapons and began gasping for air as the adrenaline that had been coursing through them finally ran out.

"Damn... That was one of the best fights I've had in a while," Yang admitted.

"Likewise," The former Schnee heiress told her with a soft smile.

"That was incredible, you two!" Jaune cheered as he ran up to them with two waterskins. He handed them to the two girls, who greedily began to drink like they had been traveling in the desert and hadn't seen water for days.

"I hadn't been expecting you to be so good. I thought you'd be more of a mage," Yang explained as she finished chugging her water, wiping the remaining droplets off of her face.

"I prefer magic, but I understand the need for swordplay," Weiss told the pair of blondes, who nodded understandingly. She briefly glanced up at Ruby, only to see her beaming at the two of them, giddy with excitement. She shook her head fondly at the sight of her friend; she always got so excited whenever Weiss fought a spar.

"So... tie?" Yang offered a hand, which Weiss gladly took.

"For now. I'll get you next time, Xiao-Long," She declared half-heartedly. Yang's eyes gained a competitive glint and she gave her a cocky grin, crossing her arms over her chest.

"Just name a time and place, Schnee," The lilac-eyed woman teased. "You'll be sticking around Vale, right?" She questioned. Jaune also sent her an inquisitive look and Weiss just shrugged.

"I don't know. I am working with Doctor Oobleck on finishing my grandfather's translation of an ancient tome, but I have no idea how long that will take," She explained.

"Oobleck? That's Commander Port's friend, right?" Jaune asked, receiving a nod from Yang. "Isn't he supposed to be one of the greatest scholars of our generation? That doesn't seem like it should take so long."

Weiss just shook her head. "The tome is written in a language neither of us recognize. I have found a few clues that may help, but it seems Vale will be a location I will regularly return to," She explained.

"Where are you staying Weiss?" Yang asked, placing her training sword and shield back on a weapons rack. Weiss merely shrugged as she stood up and stretched.

"I have no idea. Doctor Oobleck will be taking me as his apprentice, but a servant is going to have to come and find me to show me where I am to be sleeping for my stay in Vale."

"Well once you know, feel free to tell us. I'd love to be able to spar with you again," The blonde-haired girl requested. Weiss gave her a nod. "Great. Thanks for entertaining me, by the way."

"It was my pleasure," Weiss said. "I'll be sure to let you know if I want another duel."

"And if you ever need anything else, feel free to ask us," Jaune offered the girl, and Yang agreed with a nod.

"Yeah! You're pretty fun to talk to, Weiss," The blonde swordswoman cheered. Weiss just brought an armored hand to her chin, thinking. Eventually, she worked up the resolve to ask a question.

"Actually, do you happen to know of any dust shops in Vale?" The ex-heiress asked. She had been running low after traveling Solitas and wanted to know where to go to replenish her supplies. Yang just pointed over her shoulder with a thumb, gesturing towards the direction of the entrance.

"Out in front of the castle there's a bunch of merchants. You'll be able to find any kind of dust you need for a reasonable price," She explained, but Weiss just looked towards her feet.

"I'd prefer if it were a more... locally sourced establishment," The white-haired girl said meekly, receiving a look of confusion from Yang and a nod of understanding from Jaune.

"There's a store in the commercial district I know of. They get their stock from a mine up in the Forever Fall, so they shouldn't have much interaction with the Schnee family," Jaune told her. Weiss gave him a grateful smile and thanked him. She hadn't wanted to run into anyone who would send information back to her father this early on. It would inevitably happen, but she wanted to avoid it as long as possible.

"I see. Well, I must be off," She declared after Jaune gave her directions to the store. "It has been fun. I'd love to speak with you both again," She said sincerely. At that, she opened the large doors and began to head back to the main hall.

"I didn't realize Yang was training Jaune," Ruby piped up, making Weiss glance towards her.

"Did you know him?" The ghost had never mentioned Jaune, but Weiss could hardly be considered an expert on Ruby's life before being cursed. Ruby gave a wistful smile and a little nod.

"Yeah. He was my best friend. We both wanted to be knights, but he wasn't very good," She explained sadly. "So I made sure to train him so we could both be knights together. After I passed, I guess Yang took over the role of instructor for him."

"He seems like a good friend," Weiss said neutrally, not wanting to offend Ruby by saying how mediocre of warrior the boy had been.

"A good friend, but not a good fighter," The ghost said with a shake of her head. "He was even worse when we started his training. But he never let his lack of skill shake him. He wants to be a knight, so he'll keep trying until he becomes one," Ruby explained.

"That's very admirable. Skill can be learned, but determination can't," Weiss said a little bitterly, surprising her. Why did she care if Ruby thought Jaune was impressive? She barely knew him, but felt confident he was a good person.

"He kind off reminds me of you," The spirit stated, and Weiss shot her a surprised look. "Both of you have this drive to be better. You're both so determined to help people, and both of you are the bravest people I know," Ruby elaborated further, but Weiss was only more confused. She could see the drive to be better, but what did Ruby mean by the bravest people she knew?

Before she could ask, Ruby just walked further ahead. The silver spectre turned back to look at Weiss and cheerfully called out. "C'mon Weiss! Let's go see if your room is ready!" With that, the girl took off down the hall. Weiss just smiled and hurried after her, her question fading away as she chased after her closest friend.


As the pair entered the great hall, an elderly servant approached them and cleared his throat. In his hands was a key and a piece of paper. Weiss turned to face him as he began to speak in a soft voice.

"Would you happen to be Mrs. Schnee?" She nodded. "I have been instructed to show you to your room. Here is a map should you ever get lost," He said slightly condescendingly. She merely grasped the paper out of his hands and followed the man as he headed back to where she had meet Oobleck.

Twisting and turning through the halls, the servant led Weiss to a long hallway with doors placed periodically throughout it. He gestured to a door she assumed was hers and handed her the key. At that, the elderly man walked off and left Weiss alone with Ruby. The two glanced at each other and shrugged. They unlocked the door and opened it, taking in the sight of their new room.

A small desk sat to their left, with a short bookshelf to the right. Further in, a decently sized bed took up the space against the back wall, with doors on either side of it. One led to a closet, the other a washroom. The entire space was lit by candles, as there were no windows. The floors were made of polished oak planks, and the walls were a smooth stone brick.

Setting her satchel down, she glanced at the desk where she saw a leather pouch and a small note. Picking up the note, she made out the neat cursive handwriting of doctor Oobleck.

Lady Schnee, I have taken the liberty of requesting a small sum of money be appointed to you for personal use. You will still receive a salary from the apprenticeship, but I thought you might appreciate having an advance on your first payment.

Sincerely, Doctor Bartholomew Oobleck

Grabbing the purse, she undid the pouch and poured the contents out onto the desk. She counted the lien, finding seventy-five golden coins. She added her own meager wealth to it and returned the pile of coins to the pouch. She closed it and placed it on her belt before turning to Ruby.

"That was nice of him," The cheerful ghost stated, and Weiss gave a nod of agreement.

"Yes. Now we can go out and purchase some dust with this," She said, placing her bag of clothes down at the foot of her bed and putting her satchel back on. "We can go to the place Jaune suggested. It'll pass the time without wasting it."

"Sounds good to me!" Ruby remarked. With that, the pair left the room and locked it behind them. They walked through the grounds of Beacon Castle, heading out towards the city. Weiss kept her cloak pulled tight around her, mentally thanking Tai for giving her something lighter than the heavy winter robe she'd been using before. The cloak kept out the cold without causing her to overheat, and worked nicely to conceal her crest.

Heading down the lift, Weiss mentally recalled the directions she had received from Jaune earlier. Head across the bridge, take a right into the Commercial District, then head down the northern road until you saw the sign for the shop. Simple enough. When the lift came to a halt, she stepped off and crossed the bridge, marveling at the sight of the sunset reflecting off of the lake.

The Commercial District was far less crowded during the evening, as only a few gossiping women occupied the road Weiss was traveling. Ignoring them, she walked down the cobblestone street and scanned the names of the shops. Many only had pictures to signify what they were, but Jaune had told her that the dust shop had a name, From Dust Till Dawn.

Finding the building near the end of the road, Weiss entered. It was a large marble building, sticking out from the surrounding brick and stone. Selling dust was a profitable business after all, and even an average merchant could make a small fortune trading it. The interior of the building was as impressive as the exterior, with lush purple couches arranged in a waiting area. Several display cases held crystals of various colors.

An elderly man with wild hair sat behind a large mahogany desk and looked up at her when she entered. The noble approached the desk and looked at his selection, mentally adding up the cost of the amount of dust she needed then subtracting it from her funds. Once she was happy with the remaining amount, she spoke up.

"I'd like one fire crystal, a lightning crystal, and some ice and gravity powder," She requested to the man, who just gave her a kind smile and nodded. He headed to the back of the shop to grab what she requested, as people rarely kept powdered dust on display.

Dust was an extremely important substance as it was the single most magically conductive material on Remnant, with the exception of one's own aura. It came in various types, but dust was often used for all sorts of things in all sorts of ways. Some used it as raw crystals, others refined crystals into powder. Some even wove it directly into clothing in lieu of enchanting it to allow it to use devastating elemental effects.

Weiss personally needed the dust to fuel her rapier's enchantments. Certain enchantments used dust as fuel, and could not be used without the proper dust being absorbed into the object. The magic in her sword made it unnaturally strong, sharp, and light, but also could imbue the blade with elemental power that required the respective dust. This dust was absorbed by the colorful gems in the hilt of her blade, each absorbing a specific type.

She also used the dust to augment her glyphs and make them more powerful. Creating glyphs out of raw dust was an expensive process, but sprinkling dust powder throughout a glyph evenly could make it even more powerful. Elemental power could be drawn out of dust crystals to strengthen innate magic. Even enhancement magic could be empowered by dust, although not without causing extensive damage to the body.

When the older gentleman running the store came back with a case containing two large crystals and two vials of dust, she handed him a pile of sixty four lien. The man counted it and gave her a nod, passing her the case. Weiss thanked the man and took her newly purchased dust and left the store, finding that night had fallen quickly on the streets of Vale.

The chilly winter air made Weiss think of Atlas. The Valean winter was like an Atlesian summer, which made her remember the festivals that occasionally happened in midsummer. She could almost see herself at one right now if she closed her eyes. Artisans toiling in their workshops, vendors calling out to anyone who passed by, her father's men walking right toward her.

"Wait, what?" Weiss snapped herself out of her thoughts when she saw two figures wearing armor with the Schnee crest decorating their surcoats walking up to her. She pulled her cloak tighter around her and hurried away, knowing that if they saw her distinctly Schnee white hair they would try and take her back to her father. It would take more than two men, but her greatest advantage was that Father didn't know where she was.

As she quickly moved away from the pair, Ruby just looked at her in confusion. The guards noticed the figure hurrying in the opposite direction and pointed, chasing after her. Weiss cursed and darted into an alleyway, running away from her father's men as Ruby just shouted after her.

"Weiss, what's wrong? Where are you going?" The ghost called out, but Weiss just headed further into the alley. If she stopped to talk to Ruby, they would catch her. The runaway noble eventually stumbled into a square behind several buildings that several alleys fed into. Soft mist rolled across the ground as Weiss hurried to the middle of the square and stopped to catch her breath.

"Weiss, what was that? What are you running from?" Ruby asked her. "That street was empty and you just sprinted off like you saw a ghost!" Weiss's eyes widened as she looked around. The mist that had been covering the ground seemed a lot heavier now, concealing the alleyways around them in a dense fog. Weiss sensed that the fog was magical in origin, and could detect the exact point it was coming from.

"Well well well, what do we have here?" A cocky voice drew her attention to a tall shape coming out of the fog. A tall, orange-haired man wearing a fancy hat stepped into view. In one hand he twirled a cane, in the other was a dull grey orb that was emitting this magical fog. "Looks like a little princess got lost. We should probably help her find her way home, huh boys?" The man said to four other shapes that came out of the fog. It was an ambush, and she'd walked right into it.


Oh boy, this chapter was not fun to write. Originally, it wasn't meant to end on such a cliffhanger. There was supposed to be a big fight scene at the end, but then something happened that made writing this chapter take a lot longer than expected. I am not proud of how I wrote the beginning of this chapter. The dialogue with Yang is some of the worst I have ever written, and it took me forever to figure out why.

See, with other characters like Klein or Tai I wasn't confident on how to write them because they don't really have that many lines in the show, and Tai and Weiss have never even spoken to each other in RWBY. That is obviously not the case between Jaune, Yang, and Weiss. So as I wrote and rewrote that scene over and over again, I couldn't figure out why it felt so stiff and awkward. There were plenty of examples of how to write them interacting properly, but I just couldn't write them well.

Then it hit me. In the show and almost every RWBY fanfic I've read, Yang and Weiss meet each other through Ruby. Weiss and Ruby argue, Yang sticks up for her little sister, they argue, etc. Yang didn't interact with many people throughout volume 1, so there isn't really an example of Yang talking to Weiss on her own with one exception. That one exception was unfortunatley while Blake was running away, so it was more about Weiss being mad at Blake and Yang being sad, not them interacting together.

That's not to say that Weiss and Yang never interact; far from it. There are countless examples I can draw on from both the show and fanfics written by better authors where Yang and Weiss are really well written and have an interesting relationship. But I could not think of any examples where they meet without Ruby or the teams system in Beacon forcing them to interact.

In this fic, Ruby is dead and there is no huntsman academy, so I had to write them meeting in a way I'm unfamiliar with. The end result was the poorly written beginning of this chapter. A better writer could've done it better, but I wasn't able to think of a way to make it less awkward. On the bright side, I know how to write Weiss and Yang as friends, so once we get over this awkward meeting phase things should go a lot better.

And I needed Jaune to be introduced here, but his presense was only making things more awkward by forcing me to keep him in the conversation. The writing hopefully won't be this bad as it continues, so please don't just drop this story thinking I can't write characters.

This was meant to come out yesterday, but because I kept rewritting the meeting between Yang and Weiss until I wasn't super upset with it. Sorry. I hope you were able to enjoy it, despite the terrible and rushed meeting in the beginning. Next chapter should be out tommorow, but I have finals so it may take a little while longer to come out. Have a nice day.