RWBY is owned by Rooster Teeth, of which I am not a part of.
Yet again, I can naught but apologize for the delays.
I like to upload on a schedule because it lets you guys know that I am not dead. However, due to real life stuff, I've found myself running behind schedule because I don't wish to sacrifice too much of the work's quality simply because I don't have tons of time to write when I'm so busy.
Oh, and that's not the only reason I've been less productive in my writing.
3 words: CROSS. TAG. BATTLE.
Thus, be wary of more delays in the future, which I will hopefully try to avoid.
Volume 3, Chapter 4, 'Lessons Learned'
"You oaf! That's the third time!"
"Well, maybe if you watched where you shot your ice shards, I wouldn't have run into them!"
"Well, maybe if you paid any attention to your teammate, you would have seen them coming!"
Yang heaved out a heavy sigh as she hoisted herself to her feet. "I don't think this move is working."
Weiss pinched the bridge of her nose. "You think?"
With a whisk of Myrtenaster, the large blocks of ice embedded in the ground vanished as the brawler began pacing back and forth.
"Hey, Weiss. Can I ask you something?"
"My crush on Blake doesn't involve you."
The blonde resumed pacing.
"Seriously, Yang. Let it rest." The heiress flipped open the chamber of her weapon, spinning it casually to check that she wasn't running low on her dust reserves. "I can handle it on my own and any unwanted intervention is NOT going to be appreciated."
"You guys have been circling each other for weeks!"
"It's none of your business, Xiao Long."
"Of course it's my problem! You're my friend! Friends are supposed to solve each other's problems and I'm telling you, for real, that the only problem that exists here is you believing that you're not capable of getting my partner to fall for you!"
"I don't- how do you act so confident all the time?" Her blue eyes flittered shut as she brought up a hand to massage her temples. "Why do you seem so sure that she'd like me back? I know we care about each other but it takes more than that for someone to fall in love."
Her eyes opened when she heard the sound of fabric being pulled. She turned to see Yang tightening the black cloth around her arm.
"I'm sure because you guys are my team. You guys all mean the world to me. That means I gotta look out for you, know what goes through your guys' heads and help out with anything that comes up."
"You're not my mom, Yang."
"Well, I had plenty of practice with Ruby."
Weiss didn't have a reply for that. She looked down at her rapier, checking it over once before bringing it out forwards, aiming at the darkening clouds in the sky. Her brows dropped and she took a deep breath as the wind picked up, the ribbons in her hair dancing.
Yang sighed again, crossing her arms. "Look, I get it if you don't wanna talk about it anymore. But we have to think of SOMETHING for Freezerburn. Any ideas?"
Weiss didn't reply.
"Princess."
"…"
"Ice Queen."
"…"
"Snowflake. Snow Angel!"
"…"
Yang gave up in frustration. "OH, FOR CRYING OUT- WEISS SCHNEE!"
"SHUT UP, I'M TRYING TO FOCUS!"
When she noticed the small glyph forming at her teammate's feet, the brawler snapped to attention, ready to start up their training sequence again. But her face twisted into awe as the glyph expanded outwards quickly.
Weiss grit her teeth. Pain was coursing through her. Something was almost certainly going to go wrong.
The glyph started to spinning quickly as the center started to glow.
'I… I was hurting people. I was hurting people because he told me to and because I thought it was right because he SAID it was right and I-I… I just…'
She had to focus.
'I believe I owe you a dance?'
Focus.
'Don't be. I'm just glad you're alright.'
FOCUS!
'I… I hope you know that we're always here for you if you need us, so… don't hesitate to say what's on your mind.'
And then, all at once, the symbol shattered.
Myrtenaster fell to the ground with a clatter. Her knees felt weak. Everything ached even as her heart rate fell once more. Her head was in her hands and she felt pretty close to shattering to pieces herself.
It's hopeless. I can't even summon. What kind of confidence can I build if I can't even bring myself to do that?
Why does everyone think it's so easy for me to fix myself? Like talking about it will solve everything?!
The sudden grip on her shoulder had her tense up, her head snapping back to see what was touching her, only to look up into deep lilac, warm and sparkling. "Weiss, that was awesome! Where did you learn to do that?! Why didn't you tell us about it earlier?!"
The snow-haired girl simply stood rigid. "I- What are you talking about? It didn't even work…"
Yang was barely fazed by the rebuttal. "Uh, whatever it was, it looked stupidly powerful! Give yourself more credit! Even if it didn't work, it practically scared the crap outta me! We gotta use that in our battle!"
Once again, the heiress found herself at a loss for words. Everyone kept holding her up so high, as though she had some incredible source of might. Yet, no matter what happened, even when she failed, they'd always give her encouragement. They'd always tell her how strong she looked or how talented she was or how confident they were in her abilities.
Even when she didn't have confidence in herself.
That's… that's what teamwork is all about, I guess…
…haven't I done that for them before though?
…
…maybe talking WOULD do me some good…
The blonde's smile grew. "Plus, it can totally help you show off to Blake when we're fighting."
The returning stare turned back into a glower as Weiss suddenly struck out with her elbow at her larger teammate's gut. Of course, by now, Yang had learned, on reflex, to protect her stomach and block the blow.
What she hadn't learned how to block yet was the acceleration glyph that appeared under her feet.
"Uh, Ruby? Maybe we should do something about-"
"Its fine, Blake. They're teammates; they can learn how to get along."
"Is that why my partner's flying across the courtyard right now?"
Ruby dropped her fists from her fighting stance as her silver eyes followed the brunette's finger to see her elder sibling crash into a tree on the far side of the large field. After briefly flicking her gaze to her own partner and back, she waved a hand and scoffed. "Please. Yang's faced far worse before. Now come on! I want to finish this stupid close-quarters-combat stuff and go do something that's actually fun!"
Blake chuckled. "Calm down, Ruby. Yang only wants you to do them because she cares about you, that's all. Plus, YOU said yourself back in Mountain Glenn that you wanted to learn how to fight with your fists."
The cloaked girl brought up both her arms to block a punch from her teammate. "I know. I just wish it could be more… engaging, that's all."
"What, trying to avoid getting punched in the face isn't engaging enough for you?"
"That's not what I-OOF!"
Crashing to the dirt, Ruby rubbed her cheek vigorously. A hand offered by Blake brought her back up to her feet as she dusted off her skirt.
"Focus, Ruby."
All the Faunus got was an annoyed glare from her esteemed leader.
After a few more tries, the younger girl gave up on the move and plopped down on the ground, hanging her head in defeat. Her brunette teammate crouched over next to her, hugging her legs under herself.
"You know, I'm supposed to be the leader of this team, yet I'm the one who everyone had to come to the rescue for back at Mountain Glenn."
"Ruby…"
"Blake, I know Yang and I are helping you build up the confidence to ask Weiss out-"
"I really wish you wouldn't say that out loud."
"But what's the point if I can't even be a competent leader? How can I help you guys when I can't help myself?"
The bow on top of her head crumpling slightly, Blake closed her eyes, searching for the right words. When she opened them again to bore back into silver, her tone was low and soft.
"I know I'm not exactly the one to be giving out advice on confidence, but I can tell you that I've seen you do amazing things. Even before our initiation test, you managed to convince me of a perspective on the world that I'd never really thought of before then. One that was probably just as important to me as my realization that not all Schnees are bad."
She gave off a wary smile as the two pairs of eyes glanced over at their teammates, the blonde leaping off a large shard to land on a glyph before smashing her way through another block of ice whilst the heiress twirled her rapier through the air.
"You're a leader because you… you inspire. Your ability to assess a situation and think up a crazy plan that still manages to work keeps surprising me to this very day. You're so kind and sweet and you've made my days here unforgettable. Even if you don't trust in yourself, I do. Because I've experienced firsthand what it can do and I can say, without doubt, that you've had a great impact on my life."
The red-haired girl gave off a smile, reaching out a hand to pull her teammate into a side-hug that was gladly returned.
After letting go, she pulled out Crescent Rose from its place on her back and got to work cleaning her scythe-sniper, while Blake pulled out Gambol Shroud and looked it over. They sat together for a few minutes, silently polishing their weapons, before the cloaked girl spoke up again.
"Say… do you think you can tell us more about your life in the White Fang?"
"I don't think I'm ready for something like that quite yet."
"Okay. Then how about you tell me just how much you love Weiss?"
"I…"
Pausing to consider her words and her thoughts, she flipped over her cleaver to inspect the other side while flashing her leader a deceivingly calm look. "I think I'm fine with what I have now. There's no point in risking our friendship on a gamble that won't get me further than I already am."
While Ruby didn't respond outwardly, her mind was tearing her own hair out. Rules sometimes suck, but rules that you yourself created that get in the way of solving simple problems suck HARD.
Alright, come on, Rubes. You just got a pep talk from her; time to return the favor!
She took a deep breath, clutching the trio of roses on the chest of her outfit before bringing out a gentle grin. "Blake, you shouldn't be worried about things like that. Even if you don't think it'll work, that doesn't mean you can just give up. I'm sure she'd appreciate the compliment and, if you truly think she doesn't have feelings for you, she very well might afterwards."
Amber eyes opened wide. Her gaze became questioning. "That's… quite the optimistic outlook."
Ruby's grin only grew brighter. "Sounds like the thing you said to me on our first night at Beacon!"
Not sure what to say, Blake looked down at Gambol Shroud, her reflection staring back with the same amount of confusion and worry that she felt.
What if she's wrong, though? What if it's all just a big misunderstanding? What if Weiss just thinks I'm a cute cat Faunus with adorable ears and that's all there is to it? Maybe that's all I mean to her.
I'm sure caring has plenty of meanings.
She shut her eyes and breathed in.
'You need to relax. Please, do it for your own health. Even if not for that, do it for the rest of us. We can't stand to see you like this.'
'You owe nobody ANYTHING.'
'Don't say that! I'd trust you with my life!'
'You certainly have a unique taste, Blake.'
'…I just want to remind her, she has people who care…'
The image of her face on her blade returned to greet her with a much more confident and assuring expression. She couldn't stop the smile forming on her lips.
That's what I get for being pessimistic on a team with two huge idealists. There's no point in feeling down about this.
"Oh, look, Winter's back!"
AND there goes all that bright and shining optimism.
The four words drained all color from her face. Though she stood back up, at attention, the brunette wasn't able to turn to face the visitor as the elder Schnee sibling walked by, straight up to her little sister.
"Weiss, I'm afraid we won't have time for a tour today, but I'd still like to talk to you. Do you mind if we go get something to drink while we chat?"
Cheer returned to the smaller girl's face. "Really?! Er, that's, uh, that's perfectly acceptable."
Weiss offered a wave to Ruby and Yang but paused as her gaze fell on her crush. Looking away for a second as her face turned pink, she gave a small nod and a crooked smile.
Blake's cheeks heated up as Weiss turned away to leave. Winter then filled her vision, a massive frown on her face as her gaze froze the blood in the Faunus girl's veins.
The woman loomed over as her voice hissed out.
'If my sister falls for you, you better believe that I will make sure you keep her happy. You hear?' Her words were laced with venom, undaunted and extremely hostile. 'If you do anything to break her heart, I can assure you there will repercussions of the highest order.'
Every hair in her black locks stood on end. She couldn't even keep her bow from twitching, though if the Schnee woman noticed, she made no outward note of it.
Blake's mouth fell open but nothing came out, which was probably for the best because she wouldn't have been surprised if she'd simply produced a croak instead of actual words.
She was also quite surprised when Winter walked off after her sister, leaving the brunette frozen in place instead of cutting her down where she stood.
Yang stalked over to her partner and waved a hand in front of her face. "Uh, Blakey? You okay? How bad did Officer Frigid get you?" When she got no response, she turned to Ruby, who simply shrugged. Turning back to the Faunus girl, she uncurled a finger from her fist and poked Blake's cheek, causing her to rock back and forth but remaining otherwise motionless.
"Uh, sis? I think she fainted standing up."
DON'T BELIEVE IN YOURSELF! BELIEVE IN THE ME THAT BELIEVES IN YOU!
*gets hit with copyright infringement*
Cyclic trust. Symbiosis. Synergy. There are many concepts and words for it, but 'teamwork' seems to represent it best.
You don't have to have others in your life, but you won't usually get as far on your own.
And hopefully those others will pick you back up when your lover's overprotective older sibling knocks you down with the 'If you ever do anything to hurt them…' line.
On another note, my three-month anniversary of starting this fic just passed. Less than halfway to Volume 6 of RWBY and I'm already three-quarters of the way done with this story!
