Quick Author's Note before I begin. A reviewer on the last chapter pointed out that I've been refering to Weiss as Mrs. Schnee, which is used for married women, as opposed to Ms. Schnee, which is the proper way to say it. I guess I wrote it that way out of force of habit, but I'll go back and fix it at some point. Sorry, and I'll try to avoid doing it anymore throughout the rest of the story. A few more might slip by however, but I'll try my best. Anyways, here's the newest chapter of Silver Spectre:
The wind carried with it a sense of decay as the group stepped into the ruined city. Tall, half-collapsed stone buildings were evenly spaced along the roads, with piles of debris dotting the landscape and the scent of rotting wood pervading throughout the desolate settlement. Several Grimm could be seen in the distance, and even more could be heard from within the dilapidated structures.
Noticing Weiss flick her gaze toward her, Ruby gave her friend a reassuring smile and floated upward. She may not be able to do much, but being able to fly meant that she could act as a scout for the group, even if she could only warn Weiss about the incoming danger, forcing the ex-heiress to figure out a way to tell the others.
Her silver eyes scanned the destroyed buildings for any sign of danger, but instead only saw an expanse of grey. Due to Mountain Glenn's main industry having been mining, stone was an abundant building material. And because of its nature as a former military outpost turned city, the buildings were all boring, squarish boxes with few windows. Further into the city a few buildings stood out, but they could not compare to the opulence of Beacon Castle and the Schnee estate, nor the homeliness of Dad's farm back on Patch.
Thunder grumbled loudly above her, and a few raindrops began to pass through her ghostly form. Shivering at the unnatural feeling, she floated down toward Weiss and ducked under a collapsed roof for shelter.
"Of course it starts to rain once we reach this damned place," Yang mumbled under her breath, and Ruby just gave her a sympathetic look. It wasn't easy for her to be here either, but Yang had more to grieve. Ruby had lost her mother, but Yang had lost both a mom and a sister. The cloaked girl wanted to reach out and hug her sister, but couldn't thanks to this stupid curse.
"Are you okay?" Jaune asked his fellow blonde concernedly, stopping to look back toward her. Yang just nodded mutely and sighed.
"I will be as soon as we get out of here. Let's go find that book," She said with forced cheer, convincing absolutely no one. Jaune just nodded while Blake and Weiss sent confused glances toward their friend, who trudged onward toward the center of the city.
"Right. They wouldn't know that this is where Mom died," Ruby reminded herself, casting a glance toward the nearby mountain. She knew that underneath it was sealed the Grimm that Mom had died fighting, and being so close made her nervous. Uncle Qrow had said that breaking the spell Mom used to trap it would be nigh impossible, but if someone could rip out her soul then they could free it.
Shaking off her dark thoughts, she turned to face Weiss and fell into step beside her. The members of the group each held a hand on their weapons as they traversed the Grimm-infested terrain, keeping a careful eye out for any lurking Beowolves or Creeps. Occasionally, a solitary Grimm would encounter the group and was swiftly killed by one of Weiss or Blake's spells, or by Yang's heavy longsword.
"Why are there so many Grimm here?" Jaune questioned at one point. The five of them were huddling inside a ruined tower, waiting for the rain to calm down. Storms had been raging on and off throughout the afternoon, forcing them to seek shelter on more than one occasion. Luckily, the weather was fickle and swiftly calmed down after around half an hour.
"Because it's a ruin," Weiss snarked, and Jaune just gave her a confused look.
"But why does it matter that it's a ruin? It's not like there are any people here, so why are there so many more Grimm here than in the forest?" He asked, and Blake just let out a loud sigh.
"Jaune, what are Grimm attracted to?" She quizzed, trying to help him find the answer.
"Negativity."
"Close, but not quite," Yang, who had been quiet since their arrival in Mountain Glenn, spoke up. "They're attracted to negative auras."
Jaune looked perplexed. "What do you mean by that?"
The white-haired noble just sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose. "Aura is the energy produced by the soul. If a person is feeling a negative emotion, their aura will match it. But aura is different from just negative emotions," She explained, Yang and Blake nodding along.
"I... don't get it," The blonde fighter admitted shyly, and Blake sighed.
"What do you have to have for emotions?" The cat faunus asked. Jaune shrugged, forcing her to sigh again. "People. You have to have people who are feeling those emotions. But you don't need people for there to be aura present," The raven-haired woman told him.
"You don't?" He asked, making Weiss roll her eyes.
"No. Aura is a byproduct of the soul, but you can only have so much of it. Aura is like a muscle in that the more you use it, the stronger it'll be. But when your aura is full and you produce more, some of the aura gets stuck to objects," Weiss informed him, causing Jaune's eyes to widen as he nodded in understanding.
"So when Mountain Glenn fell, people's auras clung to the ruins, and the negative emotions lured the Grimm here?" He deduced, receiving a patronizing slow clap from Yang.
"Nice job. It only took you five tries to figure it out," She teased. "But that's why Grimm are always hanging around old ruins. People tend to be pretty upset when they die, so their residual aura sticks around. Normally, it's not enough to trick a Grimm, but when an entire city is being destroyed, it creates an effect big enough to trick even the most intelligent of Grimm."
"So they're just wandering around, looking for people that are already dead?" Jaune asked incredulously, receiving three nods, as well as another he couldn't see. Ruby gave him a disappointed look; this was all relatively basic knowledge, meaning he had been slacking in his studies.
As they talked, the storm began to calm from a raging downpour to a light drizzle. The four living members of the group all stood up and pulled their tight around them as they walked out into the streets of Mountain Glenn.
They snuck around through tight alleyways and over large piles of rubble, trying to avoid large clusters of Grimm. On more than one occasion, Blake darted ahead and killed a Grimm as they rounded a corner. The solitary Grimm were easy to manage, but they needed to avoid large clusters otherwise the resulting fight would draw even more Grimm.
Ruby jumped off of Jaune's head to boost herself onto a roof, quickly running to the edge to peer out into the street. Finding nothing, she signaled for Weiss to come forward. The white-haired woman informed her friends that the coast was clear and took off down the street, sprinting into an alleyway with her friends right at her heels.
They were nearing the center of the city, and the buildings were becoming more like those found in the city of Vale. Ruby could imagine them in their former glory, with smooth stone pillars and smooth, shingled roofs. She could picture the smashed windows as they might've looked when they were unshattered, or how the rotting wood likely would've looked when it had been cared for.
Ruby's silver eyes flicked upward when she saw a two-legged creature with bony protrusions leap atop a pile of debris behind her friends. 'Weiss, Creep at twelve o'clock!" She exclaimed. Her best friend whirled around and drew her rapier, warning her friends as she ran forward to kill the Grimm before it could draw more to them.
The bipedal Grimm roared and leapt forward, attempting to devour Weiss with one bite. Ruby smirked to herself as Weiss rolled to the side and launched a series of thrusts right into the monster's eye, piercing all the way through its head and out the other side. As Weiss sheathed her rapier, Yang let out a low whistle of appreciation.
"Man, you sure are good with that thing," The blonde woman commented, making Weiss smirk confidently at the praise.
"Thank you. I was fortunate to have a good teacher," She explained, not wanting to sound arrogant.
"Who taught you?" Jaune asked.
"My sister, Winter," She said, receiving a nod of understanding from Blake. Jaune, however, sent a hesitant glance toward Yang, who rolled her eyes.
"Jaune, I'm not going to die every time someone mentions their sister. I'm fine; she died almost two years ago," Yang told him with a hand cocked on her hip. Jaune flinched in embarrassment, but Ruby just looked down. Yang might say she was fine, but it was obvious to the small girl that her older sister wasn't as over her death as she pretended. Weiss and Blake didn't notice, but Jaune knew the old Yang and thus knew this wasn't her.
"Anyway, I was planning on asking where you got such a fancy sword?" Yang interrupted Jaune before he could apologize.
"My grandfather had it commissioned for me along with this armor before he died," She explained. Blake shot her an odd look.
"That same one whose journal we're trying to translate?" The cat-eared woman queried, receiving a nod.
"Indeed. Might I ask where you obtained your sword, Yang? It is remarkably well made, and I can tell it's enchanted," Weiss asked, already knowing the answer. Ruby always bragged about how good Yang's sword was, and how she'd helped forge it. Hopefully, Yang would remember how happy she had been with her work on the blade.
Yang gave a wistful smile. "My little sister made it for me. She and the blacksmith from Patch. But she did the enchanting. She even gave it a name. Ember Celica," Her lilac eyes were watering up slightly, but her grin was genuine, as if she were recalling some fond memories. "She also gave it a few surprises in case I was ever in a pinch."
Weiss gave her a sympathetic smile. "She sounds like she was a wonderful sister," She stated. Yang just looked up at the sky and nodded.
"Yeah. She was," The blonde warrior said, blinking the tears out of her eye. Ruby frowned at the sight. She wanted nothing more than to run up to Yang and hug her tightly, reassure her that she was here and she was never going away again. But she couldn't do that, and was forced to do nothing but watch as her beloved sister clenched her fists and looked ahead. "Come on, guys. We're almost there."
Neo twirled her dagger in her hand as she stared through the small hand mirror she held with the other. The image of those four idiots walking down the streets of this ruined city greeted her in its reflection, but when she looked up she saw nothing. That was a good sign. If she couldn't see them without the mirror, then they couldn't see her at all.
The long, thin blade of her weapon sliced through the air as the multi-colored girl followed alongside the quartet. It would be laughably easy to kill one of them right now; she just had to activate the magic mirror in her hand and thrust her dagger through their throat. But the instant she did that, she'd be pulled out of this mirror world and have to deal with the consequences.
Initially, she'd planned to simply wait for them to find the book before knocking out the Schnee and killing whatever bodyguards she brought along. But after seeing said bodyguards fight, Neo was having second thoughts. She was one of the toughest assassins on the streets of Vale, but she knew that she stood no chance against the blonde girl in a direct fight. And the faunus just reeked of danger. Even the wimpy boy proved that he was no slouch when he fought against that big Grimm.
The Schnee had been strong enough to nearly kill Roman, and she was only slightly stronger than her surrogate father. She couldn't beat just one of them, let alone three of them. Now, she needed to figure out how to nab the book and the Schnee brat without leaving the safety of her mirror world. Easier said than done, since she couldn't interact with anything outside said mirror world while she was in it.
But she couldn't fail Roman; not after everything he'd done for her. She'd never failed Roman, and she had no plans to now. She needed to succeed here, otherwise Roman would be disappointed. Steeling herself, Neo gripped her dagger tightly and grinned ferally. The dumbasses had led her right to the library, and all that was left to do was to get what she came for.
The girl with mismatched eyes felt a rush of adrenaline as she placed her fingers on the cool glass of her hand mirror, activating it. Her fingers began to break apart like glass and reform on the other side, followed by her arm. She felt the magic begin to pull the rest of her through, meaning she had only a few seconds left to do what she needed. With a vicious smirk, Neo drew her dagger and threw it towards her target.
Their footsteps disturbed the thin layer of dust that had filled all parts of the floor for over ten years. The floorboards creaked in protest as they walked across them, and cobwebs tore apart as the four living members of the group walked through the abandoned library. Tall shelves towered around them on all sides, with books covered in a layer of filth that stemmed from the lack of use.
The tip of Myrtenaster glowed with a bright light that casted long shadows along the walls of the library. All of the windows on the first floor were blocked with piles of rubble, and the lanterns along the walls had long since extinguished. Tables full of books sat unused, as though their inhabitants had left in a panic. Likely, due to what Ruby knew about what had happened here.
"So what's the book we're looking for even called?" Yang asked in an attempt to break the oppressive silence. Weiss turned around and regarded her companions before nodding.
"It's a rare book, so it won't be found on any of these shelves. Doctor Oobleck informed me that it would likely be held on display upstairs, unless someone was reading it at the time of the attack," She told them, before continuing. "But the book itself is called A Treatise on the Ancient Languages of Sanus by Maria Calavera. It's one of a few remaining copies, so we need to be careful with it, Yang," She hissed that last point to the reckless blonde.
Said blonde threw her hands up in exasperation. "What, do you really think I'd be the one to ruin the book?" She asked in an offended shout. Receiving a deadpan look from Weiss and an embarrassed nod from Jaune, she turned toward Blake, who looked down at the floor shyly. "Not you too, Blake."
"I mean... she is right," The raven-haired girl mumbled, causing Yang to recoil as if struck.
"Well I am just appalled at your lack of faith in me!" She exclaimed in an exaggerated tone, with a hand placed on her chest and her best scandalized expression decorating her face. "I can't believe you of all people would say that about me! I never should've introduced you to Weiss; she's a bad influence."
"Get over it. I'll make it up to you by buying next time we go drinking," Blake declared, immediately shutting Yang up. Weiss snickered as Jaune cracked a small smile. "Now let's go find this book; Seeing all these books that are untouched is depressing me."
Jaune just gave her a look. "So the abandoned library makes you sad, but the hundreds of destroyed homes we passed on the way here did nothing?" He teased, making the feline girl blush.
"Let's just go. I want to be out of the city before sunset. I'd rather camp in the woods than here." Weiss stated, finding a set of old stairs that led up to a second floor. She nodded to her companions and began to ascend, Ruby leading right in front of her. The spirit ran up the stairs and made sure it was safe before turning around and nodding to Weiss.
The second floor was better lit, with several large windows running along the walls to the left and right. In the back stood a massive arched window that let the afternoon sunlight stream into the room, revealing the particles of dust as they floated through the air. A few bookshelves dotted the wall, but most of the space was taken up by oak tables running along the center of the room. A large carpet bearing the crest of Vale ran along the center of the room, running from end to end.
Behind them was a staircase leading to a large balcony that overlooked the rest of the room. Ruby floated up and found several plush couches and small tea tables sitting around. "It must be some kind of lounge," She thought to herself. Turning around, she looked toward the other end of the hall. Her friends were approaching a large display case bearing what she assumed was a book. She was around fifty feet away, so it was hard to make out.
"This is it!" Weiss's excited scream echoed through the dusty room, causing Ruby to jump up excitedly. She could hear her friends' excited chatter, but couldn't make out exactly what they were saying. Leaping up onto the banister, she let out an excited squeal before freezing. Just below her, she spotted a curious sight that made her nonexistent blood run cold.
A plain, silver hand mirror floated in the air. Several shards of pink, white, and cream colored glass drifted out of its reflection before forming into the shape of a hand. More shards floated out of the mirror, forming an arm, followed by a shoulder. Someone was seemingly pulling themselves out of a mirror, and judging by the dagger they bore, they didn't have good intentions.
Ruby noticed the hand's wrist snap back and her eyes widened. Her gaze shot to Weiss and she screamed as loud as she could. "Look out! Behind you!" The wrist snapped forward, launching the silver dagger toward Weiss with pinpoint accuracy. Luckily, Weiss was able to whirl around quick enough to draw her sword and deflect the dagger. The others all drew their weapons and whirled around to face the threat, seeing the arm.
More of someone's body poured out of the mirror, but the arm wrapped around to grab the floating item. Grasping it tightly, the hand threw the small object up into the air, carrying their body with it as it soared up towards the balcony Ruby occupied. Landing on the carpet with a thump, the arm pushed off the ground, pulling the rest of its body out of the mirror.
A short girl stood up and smirked. Her hair was a mix of brown and pink with white streaks running through it. She wore a white bolero jacket over a tight, dark grey tunic. Black trousers covered her lower half, with numerous knives being strapped to them. Most curious, however, was the girls eyes. At first Ruby thought they were brown and pink respectively, but they switched sides when she blinked.
The girl let out a cruel grin as she flipped onto the bannister, unknowingly next to Ruby. With a smooth motion, she drew two thin daggers from her belt and brandished them menacingly. Yang held her arms up in an attempt to placate the girl.
"We don't want to fight. Why are you attacking us?" She asked with only slight hostility in her voice. Ruby nodded to herself; if there was a chance that this could be resolved peacefully, then it was good that Yang was willing to try and be diplomatic. The girl just smirked and pointed to her mouth with the tip of her dagger and shook her head.
"You... can't talk?" Jaune guessed. The girl nodded happily, clapping her hands together and grinning widely. "Then let's try to figure out what it is you want. Why did you attack us?" He said peacefully. The girl pondered that for a moment, before pointing her blade toward Weiss.
"Me? What did I do to you?" She asked in shock. The girl just shook her head and pointed slightly upward, toward her hair. "My hair...?" The girl made a motion for Weiss to keep going with her hand, twirling a knife through the air. Weiss thought for a moment, before gasping. "Is it because I'm a Schnee?" She asked, receiving a nod.
"Why do you care about that? Are you with the White Fang or something?" Yang shouted angrily, making Ruby slap her hand to her face. So much for diplomacy, and just when it had started to look like it was working. The girl shook her head vigorously, doing a little twirl to show them she wasn't a faunus.
"Then why attack her? Did the Schnees do something to you?" Jaune asked, receiving another head shake. "Did you just attack us because you thought we were a threat?" The girl laughed soundlessly, scaring Ruby with the unnatural sight. "I'm going to take that as a no, then," Jaune remarked bitterly.
Yang clenched her fists before dragging them across a nearby table, throwing the books off. "Gods damn it, why did you attack her?" She growled out, making the heterochromatic girl chuckle, the slight gasping breaths being the only sound she made while doing so. "Do you think something is funny?" Yang screamed out to the girl, who laughed harder at the three below her.
"Wait, three?" Ruby thought to herself, noticing the girl do the same. The girl glanced at one of her polished silver knives and noticed the reflection of an angry Blake dashing toward her stealthily, tantō flicking out of its scabbard. The black-haired woman glowed with a mysterious purple energy as she shot toward the multi-colored girl, who threw herself off the banister toward one of the couches to avoid Blake's slash.
Landing in a roll, the girl spun around to face Balke, only to find the faunus had already closed the distance and was slashing at her with her shorter blade. The mysterious assailant crossed her daggers to catch the strike, resulting in a loud screech as her daggers met Blake's silver tantō. Ruby could see the strain on the smaller girl's face as she struggled to push back the razor sharp edge.
The ghost also saw the girl's eyes glisten mischievously as she kicked her leg out, trying to trip Blake. The faunus shrugged off the blow, but the newcomer merely rolled to the ground, locking Blake's leg between her own and throwing her off her feet. She quickly twisted to a crouching position, only to find Blake once again far closer than she should be.
The stealthy cat faunus drew her longer wakizashi from her back and began to let loose a flurry of slashes. Her two Mistrallian blades cut a pattern through the air as they lashed out, forcing the attacker to desperately swing her own blades in response. The difference in skill between the two was staggering.
While the girl was fast and deadly, her skills seemed to lie in landing one good, often lethal, blow on her opponent. She had a few tricks to open up an opponent's guard, but she was clearly not used to combat against an experienced opponent. Blake was, however. Ruby could tell from the skillful slashes and counters that Blake had honed her skills by training with other powerful fighters.
Her swords darted back into their sheaths before flicking back out with terrifying speed. Ruby recognized her technique as the Mistralian Iaido sword fighting style. Uncle Qrow had told her once about how some Mistralian swordmasters trained to draw their blade and strike in a single motion, to the point where they kill a foe with a single motion.
Judging by the slight whoosh of wind that roared outward every time Blake drew her blade, Ruby could guess that her blades must have been enchanted. But, curiously, they didn't seem to be activating any complex enchantments when she drew them. The ghost could tell that the two swords were enchanted to be sharper and harder than usual, like most enchanted weapons, but she could not see any complex enchantments activating.
Ruby's silver eyes flicked to Blake's weapons as they soared through the air. She could sense that the blades held more enchantments then merely making them stronger and sharper, but without holding the weapon herself, she wouldn't be able to figure out what they did. So what was the source of that power every time she drew her sword?
Ruby found her answer when she took a glance at the sheaths. Made of black leather with gold Mistralian lettering decorating them, Ruby could tell they were enchanted. She couldn't help but feel excited at the sight of them. The girl had never thought to enchant something like a sheath, instead preferring to focus on the basic weapons and armor. But this was ingenious! As soon as she got a body, she was going to make an enchanted sheath for everyone she knew!
The girl who attacked Weiss had a panicked expression on her face as she leapt away from Blake, only to find the swordswoman closing the gap quicker than she could create it. Her hand shot forward in an attempt to stab Blake just below the clavicle, but the faunus's wrist twisted, flicking her blade upward and sending the multi-colored girl's knife spinning through the air.
Ruby looked over the edge of the balcony, watching it tumble to the floor. She couldn't find the rest of her friends anywhere, which meant they were heading up the stairs underneath them. The girl seemed to realize this too, seeing as how she cast a worried glance toward them. But she had more to worry about with Blake quickly slashing at her several times, with her only just managing to avoid them.
Suddenly, Jaune burst onto the scene by charging in and leaping forward with a slash. The girl was able to easily dodge the telegraphed attack, but was defenseless when Blake leapt over Jaune's back and slashed at her, cutting a shallow gash into her stomach. The girl grit her teeth and leapt back, only to find that Yang and Weiss had arrived from down below.
Ruby grinned at the sight of the girl's face. It was like she had suddenly realized that she had made the worst mistake of her life. Her eyes flicked to Blake, then Weiss, then Jaune, then finally Yang, who she snarled at. The blonde, however, merely gave her a vicious smirk.
"Realized what I did, did'ya?" She teased. "You must've been pretty dumb to not notice Blake sneaking away like that," The girl with pink and brown hair clenched her fists and began to point her dagger forward, alternating her gaze between them as she waited for one of them to move.
"Give the girl some credit. I didn't notice her sneaking off," Weiss said, making Ruby pause. The spirit could understand not noticing herself, and she didn't exactly know how perceptive this girl was, but Weiss was way more observant. How could she not notice whenBlake had been standing right next to her?
Yang just grinned wider. "Looks like you fell for our little trick. Blake used magic to disguise herself, making it so people wouldn't notice her unless they were paying attention to her. But with my natural charisma, I stole all the attention in the room and gave Blake all the time she needed to get close enough to apprehend you," The lilac-eyed girl boasted.
Realization dawned in the assailant's eyes, making her growl and curse wordlessly. Blake just rolled her eyes. "Don't be too upset. We've gotten a lot of people with that little trick, many of them far more dangerous," the amber-eyed girl mocked. Ruby just gaped in surprise; since when had Yang been so clever? She was great at strategy when it came to a one on one fight, but distractions like this had never been her strength.
Suddenly, the purple energy surrounding Blake flickered and vanished, causing her to let out a gasp. Everyone but Yang turned their attention toward her, but the blonde just pointed her sword toward the attacker. "Don't worry, it's just her spell wearing off. She used it for a while, so she needs some time to catch her breath. Not that I doubt this'll go on much longer," Yang explained.
Ruby watched as the girl's mismatched eyes darted from Yang, to Blake, to the book at the end of the hall, to Weiss, then finally to the hand mirror she'd dropped earlier, lying less than a foot away from her. The silver ghost cried out when she saw the resolute expression cross the mystery girl's face, and she screamed out toward Weiss.
"Watch out, she's planning something!" She reached a hand out to her friend, trying to warn her. But the white-haired girl reacted too late. The attacker threw her knife at Yang, who deflected it, before kicking the hand mirror up into the air and catching it. With a mocking smirk she elegantly flipped over the banister and sprinted toward the display case containing the translator.
Weiss ran to the edge of the balcony and drew up a glyph desperately, slamming her palm into it. Unfortunately, in her haste, she had made a small error while drawing the glyph, causing it to crackle with arcane energy on being activated and send a pulse of magic out, knocking Weiss on her back. Jaune shot to his feet and tried to hurl the girl's dagger back at her, but the attempt fell short.
The girl reached the display case and slammed the heel of her foot into the glass. It flickered with magical power, but she kept striking it with her heel. Eventually, the glass shattered along with the protective sigils, sending a rush of wind that blew through their hair. Blake finally got to her feet and thrust a hand forward, sending ribbons of darkness out of her sleeve shooting toward the girl.
But the girl had already picked up the translator tome and was giving them a cocky smirk. With an exaggerated bow, she held the magic mirror up, causing it to glow with blinding white energy. The girls form flickered before shattering like glass, leaving no trace of her, the mirror, or the book behind. Ruby, Weiss, Blake, Jaune, and Yang could do nothing but stare in shock at the spot she had just been as Blake's spell struck empty air.
Weiss fell to her knees, struggling to breathe. Ruby sent her a concerned glance, but was unable to move due to her own emotions. Her friend let out a frustrated scream and slammed her armored fist into the floor, causing it to splinter. Yang and Blake both had guilt-stricken expressions on their face, but Jaune could barely move his eyes from the ground.
They'd failed. The girl had disappeared, and there was no almost no chance they'd ever see her again. Without the translator, this trip was meaningless. But Ruby wasn't concerned with her chance at living again being stolen right before her eyes, as she was too busy staring at Weiss as she seethed in anger, a burning hate raging in her cool blue eyes. The spirit couldn't ever recall a time Weiss bore such an expression. Honestly, it scared her.
Oh boy, writing Neo is weird. Since she doesn't talk, I have to be more descriptive with her emoting. But because I have to be descriptive, sentences about her responding to simple questions can be extremely long. And since the characters don't know her name yet in this story, I kept having to write "The girl" or "The assailant". Descriptions can break up monotonous writing, but sometimes it can be nice to just write someone's name instead of some description of them.
I wanted to have Blake fight Neo this chapter because she hasn't had a good solo fight, but I'm not sure how I did. I have been mentioning several Japanese martial arts and weapons when writing her, but I'm not sure if I should keep doing that or just call her weapons "the smaller blade" and "the larger blade". Regardless, Blake is very fun to write when she's fighting a speedy opponent, thus I made her fight Neo.
Also, I just realized that this is the first taste of failure Weiss and Ruby have had. Sure, they didn't find any information for a while, but that was more that their objective took a while and not that they failed at it. In the grand scheme of things this isn't a massive failure, but Weiss knows this will set her back a long time.
I also wanted to address something from last chapter. When I used Yang's POV at the beginning of last chapter, that was a one time thing. This is a primarily Whiterose story, meaning that characters who aren't Weiss or Ruby won't be getting a ton of parts written from their perspective. The only exception to this is villains, who I write scenes about to give foreshadowing and to establish threats without actually having them come and kick the group's asses. So that Yang POV will not be happening again for a long time, if ever.
Also, thanks to a helpful review from Fazadragonhart, I've decided to use Ruby as the POV character more often as opposed to almost completely from Weiss's POV. It's still kind off awkward having Ruby be the POV character for really dialogue heavy chapters, so I'll try and keep it a 50/50 split between the POV from now on.
Thanks for reading this new chapter, and please review if you have any constructive criticism. I hope you all have a nice day!
