The morning breeze was brisk and steady. In the cloudy sky above it shepherded large fluffy clouds with impressive speed, and on the ground it whirled and blew with abandon. It was playful, swirling between Blake's legs as she walked, tugging at the slight curl at the ends of her hair as she made her way to the Library. Her normal clothes weren't quite warm enough for the weather, so she was wearing a white turtleneck that ended halfway down her calves. To make her a bit more comfortable she had a black scarf around her neck that tickled the bottoms of her ears. It was a cozy feeling, and her morning was going rather well though she felt a bit awkward given her company.
Beside her, if a distance of eight feet could still be called 'beside', walked a Schnee. Weiss was wearing what she normally did, her Atlesian upbringing clearly making her immune to this level of chill. The imperious little girl had her arms crossed, her expression rather severe as she scanned their surroundings.
Blake opened her mouth to start some small talk before closing it again a half-moment later. Did she really want to be chatting with Weiss?
"What was it like growing up outside the Kingdoms?" Weiss asked out of nowhere.
"Uh?" Blake spluttered a moment, glancing sideways to see Weiss looking at her intently. The deep frown she was wearing hadn't lessened at all, but it clearly wasn't directed at the faunus.
"I've lived my entire life, at least up until a couple months ago, in Atlas. I've seen the outside world, spent hours there, but never lived there." Weiss explained with a click of her tongue.
"It's stressful." Blake answered carefully, her ears flicking nervously under her bow. "Encounters with Grimm are basically a daily thing, and bandits are a constant threat." She left out the fact that, as a member of the White Fang, she very rarely had to deal with the latter. She'd only been away from Menagerie for a few years after all. "The people who make a living out there are strong, they have to be."
"Is that how you trained?" Weiss finally turned her gaze to the path in front of them and Blake let out a bit of a breath.
"I learned a lot more recently. I trained a little bit at home, but it wasn't until… someone started teaching me that I really improved." A grimace, an unbidden thought about Adam, a shiver. Blake hugged her arms around herself and took a deep breath. "What they say is true; you learn fast out there."
"And do you think that's how Ruby became the person she is?"
Ah. This is a Ruby thing. Blake thought, almost laughing out loud. She couldn't tell if Weiss had a crush on Ruby, or hated her, or what, but the fact that Weiss brought her up all the time was… Well, amusing and a hair annoying. It was like a pet obsession.
"Ruby probably isn't the person she is now because where she lived." Blake answered, unable to keep the amusement from her voice. "She's naturally talented with a powerful semblance, and has clearly fought her way out of hell. There's a reason her entire life history as far as you, I, even her sister know it is essentially blank." Blake stopped and looked at Weiss seriously. The Heiress sensed the look and stopped, eying Blake warily. "In all likelihood, for her to be that well-versed in fighting, and as badly injured as she clearly has been, the only thing she could've been is a bandit."
"Impossible." Weiss nearly snarled.
"What else could she be?" Blake asked with a shrug. "Besides, it's not like it matters. You and I will probably never know for sure." Blake raised a hand, motioning between the two of them, "Neither of us are fighting on the same level she is. The only people I ever met who looked and fought like her were old soldiers and hellions."
"If she's dangerous you should have said something."
"Why?" Blake scoffed, feeling her hackles rise a bit. "Not everyone is a Schnee, Weiss. Some people want to be more than who they were. Whoever Ruby was she's treated all of us with respect, tried to make us better, make sure we're having fun," Weiss' scowl lessened as she turned away, her shoulders rising and falling with deep breaths, "so if you want to try digging at her past you're doing it on your own. Neither you nor Yang are going to be happy with what you find, and I won't help either of you with it."
This was getting a bit too personal. Blake rolled her shoulders and huffed a sigh. "I'm sorry if that came off as harsh."
"No, you're right." Weiss looked back to Blake with a surprisingly calm expression. The faunus was a little taken aback by the lack of even a slight frown. There was no follow-up, no qualification of her statement or anything.
Blake and Weiss stood there for a short while, looking at one another. Blake was a bit flabbergasted, unsure if a ghost had taken over Weiss' body. The girl was made of needles and indignation, not acceptance.
"What're you two up to?"' Rang the clear voice of one Pyrrha Nikos. The two teammates looked in front of them, and saw the redhead slowing down from a jog. She was wearing a full athletic sweatsuit that had her emblem embossed on the right breast, as well as a list of small logos running down the right leg. Her damn clothing had an advertisement on it.
"Just heading to the Library." Blake answered, nodding to the building in the distance. "Are you still on your run?"
"Just finishing up." Pyrrha smiled. "I was waylaid heading out into the forest for my exercise." The girl shifted a cardboard box she was carrying under one arm to the opposite hand and spun it on one of her fingers. "In fact, this is some pretty good luck. I have a delivery for Ruby from the mail room. Where is she?"
"Out." Blake shrugged. "She wasn't in the room when we woke up, Yang thought she might be with you."
"No." Pyrrha shook her head, finally stopping the box from spinning by holding it with hands. "I didn't think she even woke up that early."
"Early requires us to quite literally knock her out of bed." Weiss grumbled with a shake of her head. One particularly ill-planned outing required them starting their march before the sun had even risen and Ruby had come close to killing Oobleck over it. "So it's a mystery."
"Have you tried her scroll?"
"She replied with a series of emojis. Running man, running man, cold sweat, rocket ship." Blake chuckled. "We couldn't figure out what it meant."
"A woman of many mysteries." Pyrrha said whimsically. "I guess I'll drop this off at your dorm if you don't mind?"
"I can do that." Weiss offered, holding out a hand.
Pyrrha looked to Blake, who shrugged. The redhead handed off the package and with nothing else said Weiss turned on her heel to walk back the way she came. She didn't bristle when Pyrrha came close, didn't even frown at the heft of the box. The fact she even offered in the first place was…
"Did something happen with Weiss?" Pyrrha asked once the girl was sufficiently far enough away.
"I have… No idea."
Jaune paced the clearing with his arms crossed over his chest. He wasn't far from the school so there was a low chance of a Grimm showing up but he still felt a shadow of nerves. He mumbled to himself a short mantra of different lessons Pyrrha had taught him about how to properly hold a sword, how to feel the flow of aura through him. He paused in his walking to draw his blade and started shadowboxing, swinging his sword in long arcs in sets of four. Overhead, forehand, backhand, thrusts. All practiced dozens of times, and he was starting to feel like they were natural movements.
His focus started to break when he heard a distant whining noise. He paused mid-slash and turned his head to look to the sky. He could see just barely a streak of blue rocketing his way. Raising a hand to visor his eyes from the sun he could see it getting closer and closer with startling speed.
Moments later, with all the force of a crashing jumbo jet, the blue cylinder impacted the ground thirty feet away from him. An explosion of noise forced him to drop his sword and cover his ears and shovel-fulls of earth were launched into the air.
When the dust settled Ruby was standing right next to a half-buried locker. The girl was staring at it with an air of disapproval, shaking her head and giving it a light tap with the toe of her boot.
"Ruby?" Jaune squeaked,
The girl whirled on her heel with a surprised look on her face. She quickly brushed off her clothing and offered an awkward smile. "Hey Jaune! How's it going?"
"Uh, Fine." Jaune lied. This wasn't very fine.
"That's… totally tubular." Ruby gave Jaune a double thumbs up and walked away from the crater her rocket locker was currently keeping company. "I'm not late am I?"
"Even if you were, I'm guessing something came up since," he gestured in her direction, "well, that."
"Yeah, I don't wanna talk about it." Ruby laughed awkwardly as she came to a stop a few paces away from him. "Moving swiftly along, it's time for some training!"
"You didn't really say what you meant by training when you offered." Jaune said with a frown.
"Jaune allow me to ask you a question," Ruby began, her voice brimming with bluster and pride, placing a hand on her hip and jabbing a thumb towards her chest "am I not the strongest person you know?"
Jaune nodded.
"Do you not wish you had such a physique as mine, as if your body were a bulwark for your enemies to break upon?" Ruby asked, her voice a rising chorus, a fair storm that electrified Jaune.
"Yeah!" He cheered back.
"Then we have a long road ahead of us." Ruby said with a smirk, her bluster calming to amusement as she clapped a hand on Jaune's shoulder. "Drop your weapons over there, let's start with some basics."
An hour later the pair were sitting side-by-side next to one of the trees in the clearing. They were sharing some protein bars that Ruby had squirreled away in her locker for a rainy day. They were toothsome and a bit bland, but Jaune tore through his and half of Ruby's in no time flat. The young man was feeling a tad exhausted, and while his breathing was calm his shirt was soaked with sweat. He had half-drained the canteen of water that Ruby had offered him and was still feeling a little dry.
"How are those hands?" Ruby asked through a mouthful of dried nuts and chocolate chips. She motioned with her thumb to Jaune's reddened digits, which Jaune was now massaging gently. Where his thumbs connected to his palm it was a bit swollen from being wrenched and bumped.
"Eh, could be worse." Jaune mumbled after finishing his sip of water. He held his hands out in front of them and frowned a bit. "You could be a bit gentler though I think."
"If I was any gentler I'd be Pyrrha." Ruby scoffed after swallowing her mouthful of food. "You need to keep that thumb tucked down or else you're going to hurt yourself."
"You're hurting me." Jaune grumbled dramatically, crossing his arms with a faux harrumph. His face was drawn with a little bit of consternation, and it was clear he wasn't genuinely mad at Ruby. "But I've stopped doing it."
"For now. You'll forget again and I'll remind you." Ruby pointedly promised with a chuckle. She side-eyed Jaune and quirked a brow. "How did you get into Beacon in the first place?"
Jaune froze. "What do you mean?"
"Well," Ruby held up a hand and started counting off digits, "for one, you still aren't remembering how to hold a fist," Jaune self-consciously rubbed his thumbs, "you didn't have an aura when you joined, which is a strict requirement," Jaune grimaced a little and shrunk away, "and while you carry yourself with an impressive swagger, it falls apart on contact with the enemy." Ruby tapped her middle finger against the tip of her ring finger and quirked a brow at the young man.
"Do you think everyone knows?" Jaune asked quietly.
"Anyone who's thought about it for more than a couple seconds." Ruby confirmed.
"Shit."
Ruby stood, brushing off any blades of grass or dirt that might have collected on her pants. Walking a few steps away from Jaune into the clearing she looked up towards the bright blue sky above. Clouds were starting to build to the east, where the mountains in the distance corralled any moisture in the air. Jaune could see her staring at the lone rocky peak visible over the trees. He held his breath, not liking the tension in the air.
"I'm sure you've already realized this," Ruby began, her tone soft, "but you've set yourself on a dangerous path. By the time you're finished in Beacon — if you survive that is — you'll be just confident enough to get yourself killed. Every summer third years from this school get tossed into the forests and deserts and tundras of this world and many, many of them never make it home."
"You made it back." Jaune pointed out, uncrossing his legs and standing. He wasn't particularly fond of where this conversation was going. "Others do all the time, they wouldn't build us up just to die out in the middle of nowhere."
"How many Huntsmen do you see in this city, Jaune?" Ruby kept her eyes skyward, not turning to face the young man. "How many of your family members that you claim are hunters ever came home? How many of them supposedly settled down in a little hamlet that doesn't exist on any map?" When Ruby finally turned to face him her expression was impassive. "You've signed yourself up for a losing war."
"What are you saying?" Jaune seethed, anger flashed within Jaune, a rare emotion that was only fanned by Ruby's indifference. Was she mocking him? Saying he couldn't do what she thought the others could?
"I'm saying that I'm worried for you." Ruby didn't react to the anger in his voice, instead rolling up the sleeve on her arm to show twin gashes that ran up and down the back of her right forearm. "When I was younger I survived on luck alone, and the price I pay I wear on my skin. You aren't burdened with six or more years of your life training to become a Hunter. Everyone else here is. If they decide that no, they don't want to send themselves into the wilds they have nothing to fall back on. From the moment they entered a combat prep school their path was set but you," Ruby shook her head, "you can still become a baker or a lawyer or an anything. The others may very well survive until times change, but you're rolling the bones Jaune."
"But I want this." Jaune argued, motioning around them. "I didn't want to be just myself. I grew up hearing stories about how heroic and cool Huntsmen were. That they were the real deal, the heroes in stories. Savers of damsels, slayers of dragons." He placed a hand on his chest, over his heart, and shook his head. "I'm not going to give up just because things are a bit crazier than I thought."
Jaune had wondered what he'd do if he was caught. Would he stand tall and say he deserved it anyway? Would he grovel, cry, beg? What would he do if he was sent home? A million different nightmares considered and he never thought he'd be angry. But here he was, grimace settled on his normally jovial features, teeth clenched as he tried to stare down someone terrifying. And the woman was, her militaristic clothing, her impassive silver eyes, the calm in her demeanor.
As a cloud began to pass overhead, he could swear he saw a glimmer deep within those silver eyes. There was something sad deep within, and Ruby's shoulders sagged slightly as she exhaled.
"If there's nothing I can do to convince you, so be it. I won't teach you how to hold a sword, Pyrrha can do that." The tension in the air broke, letting the blonde breathe as Ruby pulled her scroll out and muttered something to herself about scheduling. "For now though, I think we should stop for the day."
"So soon?" Jaune asked, a little incredulous. They'd only just begun!
"Yes. We'll pick this up again another day, I'm going to have to give some more thought about what exactly I need to teach you." Ruby's voice was firm. "If you want to walk this path I'll do my best to help you, but that means being a bit more thoughtful than I'd planned." Ruby cast a glare at her locker, which was embedded in the earth a short distance away. "I also need to figure out what to do with that."
Jaune frowned, feeling a bit cheated.