RWBY is owned by Rooster Teeth, of which I am not a part of.

Yeah, see, even if you guys don't panic over me missing deadlines, I DO. But I HAVE been busy editing old chapters of this and my other fics for spelling/grammar mistakes.

Excuses or not, it still left a knot in my stomach to leave this without updating it for nearly two weeks.

Volume 3, Chapter 5, 'Never Miss A Beat'


Oh brothers, not now!

Weiss gritted her teeth as she tried to force the two broken pieces of her tiara's coupling together, to no avail. The pitiful clanking of uneven metal rung out in the empty changing room, nothing else to accompany it but the distant loudspeaker calling out her and Yang's names.

The two had decided not to wear their team ribbons for the match on the off-chance they ended up getting damaged in the crossfire. Of course, that meant she had nothing to tie up her signature ponytail with now that her stupid accessory had decided to malfunction at the last possible minute before they went out to the arena. It was embarrassing for her to wear her hair down and now she was going to have to do exactly that in front of most of Remnant!

"You okay, Weiss?"

Thin steel clanged against the ground.

"Sorry, didn't mean to scare you."

The snow-haired girl didn't even turn around, settling her hands in her lap rather than reaching down for the useless hunk of metal. "Blake… w-what are you doing here?"

"I was… just gonna give you a last minute pep-talk." The Faunus girl smiled softly. "But it seems you may need some different kind of help."

The heiress bit her lip. Training with Yang, in spite of the blonde girl's persistence on pestering her on the subject, had managed to take her mind off of her crush over the past few weeks. Yet, the soothing sound of the brunette's voice was all it took to derail her train of thought once again.

She wasn't completely sure where her confidence in herself to maintain her composure had gone, but she guessed she'd left it with Winter.

She dearly wished to have it back.

"Here, let me see if…"

"What are you-"

The words caught in her throat as her teammate undid her trademark black bow, revealing her upper appendages. In the small changing room, there was no one for them to worry about seeing them, but the act still shocked Weiss.

As quickly as the ribbon fell into her hand, Blake brought her white ribbon up from behind her head and retied it around her ears before moving swiftly down to take a long handful of white strands as she brought the black cloth around Weiss's ponytail.

Her azure eyes traced over the velvety black silk adorning her hair. Her lips were incapable of forming the right words.

"There. Better?"

"I-" Weiss's fists balled up in her lap, but she spared another glance at her teammate. "Why did you use your black bow instead of one of your other ribbons for my hair?"

Amber pupils shrunk as Blake immediately reached up to the two ribbons still tied in her hair, holding them in silence.

I-I don't really know.

"-I… I just wanted to remind you that… you… you have people who care…"

And suddenly, regret washed over the Faunus at her poor choice of words, yanking at her hair in frustration as her ears flattened.

No, you idiot! She's gonna figure out that you heard her that night if you say that!

"…thank you."

The two words cut through Blake's panic with resounding force as she took a step back, hands clutched up against her chest as she stared at the small snowflake adorning the back of her teammate's bolero.

"It was nothing." She forced out.

The smile the heiress was hiding faded immediately. Right, nothing.

No reason to freak out, Weiss, she's just looking out for you.

"Okay. I'm off, then."

"We'll be rooting for you."

"…yeah."

Those few awkward seconds as Weiss walked off towards the arena seemed to drag on for far too long for Blake to handle. As the last of the white ponytail slipped out of view, the brunette stood stark still for a few more seconds before snapping to attention and turning back towards the changing room's door.


The cheering was still as annoyingly loud as it was the other day.

Weiss really did hate the attention, especially since her older sister had decided to point out every mistake she'd made on the battlefield to her. Before it was just obnoxious, but now if felt like the crowd was simply preparing to burst into laughter when she tripped up and fell flat on her face.

No, Weiss. You and Yang have been practicing for weeks. You'll be fine.

The blonde, at the very least, seemed to be enjoying the audience's attention, waving wildly and wearing her ever-present wide grin.

Turning to look around the stadium, the heiress noticed that Yang was actually waving in a particular direction. Blocking part of her view, Weiss squinted up into the stands, finally able to pick out two shapes, one red and one black topped with white.

Her leader seemed to be standing up, cupping her hands over her mouth and, judging by the fact that their other teammate was leaning away from her, probably screaming something along the lines of "GO FREEZERBURN!" at the top of her lungs.

The snow-haired girl smiled and offered a small wave in return, noticing the black shape shift slightly when she did.

Blake was so focused on not shuffling that she nearly jumped out of her skin when Ruby elbowed her.

"You see that, Blake? She's waving at YOU!"

"She could just as well be waving at both of us, Ruby."

She received a pout. "You're not really good at this whole 'romance' thing, huh?"

Outwardly, amber eyes rolled. Inwardly, her stomach turned over.

I'm sure if you'd had my experience, you'd understand why.

Weiss strung her ponytail through her fingers, reaching the silk at the base before a light punch on her arm brought her mind back to reality.

"So, you're from Atlas. What should we be expecting?"

According to the loudspeaker, they would be going up against a duo known as Flynt Coal and Neon Katt, a pair from her home nation. Unsurprisingly, neither name rang a bell; the heiress had been tutored at home since she was a toddler and never attended any of Atlas's huntsman schools.

She couldn't offer much, but her mind got to reasoning. "Well, seeing as our kingdom, academy and armed forces are all merged as one, I think we can expect strict, militant fighters with advanced technology and carefully rehearsed strategies."

Just as she finished listing off points on her fingers, something shot past her and almost knocked her off her feet. As she righted herself with a hand from Yang, the heiress looked up to see their…

…opponents?

On the left stood a Faunus girl, a long feline tail extending out behind her. She swung a pair of blue nun-chucks as a jazzy-looking boy with a trumpet stepped forwards beside her. Both wore confident smiles despite their unusual appearances, the girl wearing what looked like a cheerleader's outfit whilst the boy's formal wear matched his instrument.

"…or whatever they are."

Okay. CLEARLY I don't know my own countrymen as well as I thought.

"Hey."

The sudden yell took Weiss aback, looking back towards their opponents with surprise.

Flynt dropped his shades slightly, a smile appearing on his face. "You're Weiss Schnee, right? The heiress."

The girl in question returned the grin, happy that she had recognition even despite her sheltered home-life. "I am!"

"I take it you're pretty good with Dust, then?"

The compliment humbled her. "I do my best."

"Yeah, my dad was good too. Owned a little Dust shop of his own." Suddenly, his brows dropped and a scowl crossed his face. "'Til your father's company ran him out of business."

"…oh." Taken by surprise, the blood drained from Weiss's face. Her grin disappeared and her shoulders hiked up, as though she was unconsciously trying to hide herself between them. "I'm… sorry to hear that."

The boy broke his glare with a roll of his eyes. "Yeah, sure you are."

The snow-haired girl closed her eyes and bit her lip.

Of course, my father's legacy has to follow me all the way here...

Blake couldn't make out what exactly the other kid was saying to Weiss, but the way the heiress's form shuffled back in discomfort was more than enough to get her hair standing on edge.

Suddenly, a hand landed on the heiress's shoulder as Yang pushed past, pointing at Flynt. "Hey! Why don't you-"

"Hey! Why don't you?"

The blonde blinked at the interruption. Neon stepped (or, rather, rolled) forwards, speaking for the first time. "That's what you sound like." She laughed, returning the accusing digit back at Yang, who brought her hand back behind her head, not sure how to respond.

Before Yang could get another word out, Weiss pulled on her arm, bringing her head down so she could whisper in her ear. 'Don't bother listening to her. She's probably just trying to psych you out, like the other kid was to me.'

…though she wasn't about to admit how much the comment had hurt.

Neon gave off a smile as flashy as Yang usually did, rolling back and forth in place. "Hey! Where'd you get your hair extensions?"

There was no reply, the blonde only crossing her arms over her chest.

Their opponent stopped smiling as well, throwing her weapon over her shoulder and turning to her teammate. "Oooooh, looks like they're tired of playing around."

Brown eyes revealed themselves from under his shades. "Good. Looks like it's time to get serious then." Flynt widened his stance whilst Neon crouched down as through she was ready to start sprinting. Yang cracked her knuckles while Weiss drew Myrtenaster out in front of her.

"Alright, Yang, just stick to the plan."

THREE.

"Roger that."

TWO.

"…"

ONE.

"…wait, what was the plan again?"

The heiress refused to dignify the question with a response.

FIGHT!

Immediately, Weiss struck her weapon into the ground, fire shooting out in front of them and quickly hissing as it met the icefield corner. The sound of Flynt's trumpet crashed through the firewall, scattering flames everywhere, but within seconds, the arena was clouded in a dense fog.

She kneeled to the ground, holding her blade in her fingertips and waiting. If Yang HAD remembered the plan, she would be crossing the area and trying to find their opponents whilst she waited for the signal.

That way, they won't see her coming and we'll catch them by surprise.

Wait, wasn't that girl a-

"SHOOT!"

Rolling out of the way, the heiress just narrowly dodged the blow. She tumbled, pushing herself back as a second strike grazed her leg, sending goosebumps along her skin at the frost emitting from the Faunus girl's weapon.

Flipping backwards, Myrtenaster sliced through the air, a trail of fire crashing down to the ground that forced her opponent away. But as Weiss righted herself, the figure faded back into the fog.

Gritting her teeth, her azure eyes flipped back and forth. Crap! Now WE'RE the ones at a disadvantage! How did we not think of that before; why didn't we prepare ourselves to fight a Faunus?

Off in the distance, she heard a familiar cry of rage, followed by the sound of Flynt's instrument.

Though the plan called for her to stay at long range to support Yang, being outflanked by Neon threw a wrench in their strategy. Taking no less than a second to think over her options, Weiss quickly decided to close the distance with her teammate.

At least that way, we can watch each other's backs more easily.

Though she heard the harsh rolling of wheels to her side, she smiled and drew up her fingers.

You're not the ONLY one who's adept at skating.

A glyph erupting under her boots, she shot forwards, sailing across the arena towards the other fight. Rolling over a figure she could easily identify as Yang and hooking out wide, she caught the instrument and pushed the boy back. Seconds later, she jumped to the side, a blast of air scattering broken ground where she'd just been a moment before.

Slowly, the fog started to dissipate and Weiss caught the shape of Yang as she turned to throw a punch at the rollerblading menace, the smaller girl twirling gracefully around her in circles.

Quickly turning her attention back to Flynt, the heiress drew out another glyph to block the next blast, though she felt the ground lurch under her as she skidded back slightly.

As he took another breath, Weiss directed a quick barrage of blasts from her weapon, which he rolled to dodge before firing off another loud note. This time, the snow-haired girl flew backwards, disoriented but still able to land on a glyph and launch back at her target.

Once more, steel clashed against brass, the boy parrying her strikes with blinding precision. Setting up a glyph between them, she pushed the two of them apart, skidding to a halt and running behind a small pile of what looked like building debris to avoid the next attack.

Kneeling for a second, Weiss caught her breath. The air in her lungs stung and her hands were shaking. She'd seen the look in his eye; he wasn't just into the match, he was mad. REALLY mad.

"WEISS!"

Her breath hitching, Weiss launched herself upwards, missing yet another strike from Neon as a large hunk of ice took her place. Jumping off another glyph, she landed beside her teammate, catching the low growl of frustration under-toning Yang's words.

"You okay?"

"Not really."

"Yeah, me neither."

As exhaustion began to set in, part of Weiss's mind drifted back to Blake as she caught sight of the black shape in the stands again. The face in her thoughts was giving off the same warm grin that she'd become familiar with over the past few weeks.

Without hesitation, she shook it out of her head.

NO. No distractions. Focus on the battle.

Flynt rounded the structure and played another rocketing note as Neon entered the stream of noise and jetted towards them.

Weiss set up a propulsion glyph, trying to trip her up. As the girl rounded the obstacle, Yang threw out another swing that she jumped over, smacking her weapon into the larger girl's arm. The brawler let out a cry of shock as ice encased her upper arm. As Neon shot past her towards Weiss, she forced Flynt to evade a blast from Ember Celica on her free side before punching the ground with the other and shattering the cast.

Ice extended out from Myrtenaster's tip as Weiss caught it against Neon's nun-chucks, mitigating the blow with her own dust. Rolling her revolver chamber, she struck out with lightning, forcing her opponent back. However, just as she felt satisfied at driving off Neon, the Faunus girl rounded back towards Yang. She shot off a glyph and pulled her teammate out of the way as the blonde let off another barrage of long ranged shots in the direction of their foes.

Gravity pulled at her shaking knees but she stood up and blinked the blur from her vision, making out Flynt approaching once more. Balling up a fist, she glided forwards and launched herself through the air again.

She looked down to see four Flynts, all blaring at Yang from the thermal vents section. Her brain barely took note of any of those facts.

If he wants a fight, LET'S GIVE HIM ONE!

Closing the distance quickly, she chose at random. Swinging with harsh and well-timed blows, she knocked the hat off one of the Flynt's head, this first clone dissipated. Glowering, she launched herself at the second.

This figure dodged out of the way as the real Flynt blew her backwards, landing on her stomach. She tried to push herself up with her hands, but the rapid aura loss shot pain through her body.

The sound of footsteps brought her head up and she reached out to try and set up another propulsion glyph, but her aura did little more than flare up a little before the energy dissipated.

Flynt scoffed down at her. She couldn't even muster the energy to glare back up at him.

Blue orbs flicked to her friend, their Faunus opponent rolling circles around Yang as her blonde mane caught fire, lilac quickly fading into crimson. Taking one last look at Weiss and then the aura tracker on the large screen, Flynt turned his back to the heiress and drew in another breath.

DAMNIT! I'VE GOT TO DO SOMETHING!

Somehow, Weiss brought herself to her feet again, adrenalin pumping despite the screaming protests of her muscles. Taking Myrtenaster in both hands and drawing it back over her head, she stopped only when she felt the silk of her black ribbon and her teeth clenched as she braced herself.

As the tip of her blade met the ground, the air around her swirled up quickly, scorching pain coursing through her body.

The sudden rushing of air from behind him caused the musician to turn back around in shock, bringing up an arm to block his face from the surging wind building around the heiress. Neon took note of the noise as well, only to hear the roar of rage behind her a second too late.

Her hair, her jewelry, the ends of her clothes flapped through the gall as the white-haired girl used every last bit of her energy to keep up the summon. She knew it was going to fail but she didn't care. If she could only distract them for a few seconds, give Yang an opening…

The sound of Flynt's song shot her eyes open. She brought up what little power she could into a glyph to block the attack, knowing full well that it wouldn't be enough to stop it, but hoping that this crucial moment would be still somehow enough to…

Suddenly, a large geyser between herself and the boy erupted. The steam was quickly caught up in the blast and hurtled towards Weiss. She felt her aura break as the wave crashed into her, throwing her off her feet and searing her skin.

There was no air left in her lungs for her scream.

Horrified cries of shock echoed through the colosseum. Flynt himself could only reel back in horror, turning around just to catch a glimpse of the fist that smashed into his head, sending him crashing along the ground. No sooner had the blow connected than Yang let out a pained scream.

"WEISS!"

A trail of afterimages were chased closely by the string of fluttering petals as Blake and Ruby descended quickly down the stadium stairs and landed on the battlefield, sprinting forwards towards Weiss as Yang clutched the smaller girl in her arms, shaking her in a desperate attempt to bring her back to consciousness.


Uuuuuugh. Why?! Why do I keep waking up in pain all the time?!

Letting out a groan that was mixed with pain and self-resentment, azure eyes slowly cracked open. The harsh light of the bright room made them close again, the heiress letting out a pitiful whine as her nerves awoke on fire.

As she tried to pull herself up and guide herself automatically to their dorm's bathroom to take a nice, cold shower in, a hand came to her chest and pushed her back down. Despite her frustration at the guiding restraint, she blinked her vision back and stared up at her partner.

Ruby's face was the definition of relief, even with the clouded terror obviously present in the silver orbs. "Glad to see you're awake." She shuttered, hand trying not to reach up and grab the colored roses on her chest.

Her voice did little to disguise her worried tone.

Wincing at the clear pity evidently radiating off of her leader, her head leaned back up as blue eyes searched the room, recognizing it as one of Beacon's nursery rooms rather than their dorm.

Oh. Right.

Plopping back down on the bed again, she let out a sigh. "Ruby, stop looking at me like that. I'm alright." She croaked out, confused by the unfamiliarly hoarse voice that left her mouth.

The cloaked girl let out a chuckle, though the heiress wasn't really sure what could possibly be funny about the situation. "Yeah, I know." Her voice low and somehow tinged with humor. "If you weren't, you would've gone-"

"-gone to a hospital out in Vale." Weiss finished for her, crossing her arms over her chest into a more comfortable position. "Is my ponytail tied?"

"Yeah. Blake made sure you still had it up when she came in here a while ago."

"…is she still here? And Yang?"

"Yeah. They're both out in the hall right now."

Weiss rolled her body back and forth a small bit. If they were all still here, there was nothing to worry about.

Leaning over, she noticed a small mirror behind Ruby. Ignoring the utter look of misery staring back at her from it, her face seemed fine, most of the burnt skin already healed (likely by her restored aura) and only a couple of bandages on what were likely more serious burns.

"So… did we win?"

"Yeah. Yang knocked both Neon and Flynt out while they were distracted. Flynt actually came by before and left you a small apology note. For what he said to you at the start of the match, apparently." She retrieved the envelope from a nearby table and handed it to Weiss for the heiress to read.

As she looked over the note, a small smile formed on her leader's lips. "You didn't tell us you could do… whatever that was, Weiss! It was incredible!"

Weiss rolled her eyes. "Thank Yang, then. She's the one who gave me the idea in the first place." She looked down for a second. "Hey, you're not beating yourself up over this, right?"

The words caught her partner off-guard. Ruby looked away, a frown returning to her features.

"Ruby, I'm TELLING you not to beat yourself over this."

"But I'm-"

"-not the one that was giving me orders down in the arena." She took her friend's hand in her own, despite the aching in her limbs from the sudden movement. "Nor are you at fault for me going into that battle. Tell me, if we'd left it up to you instead of voting, who would YOU have chosen to fight in the doubles round?"

The red-haired girl shuffled her shoulders sheepishly as she closed her eyes. "…y-you and Yang." She admitted.

"Exactly. And I'm not…" She tilted her head, trying to find the right word, "...mutilated, so everything worked out. And…" She leaned forwards towards the room's door, "…I'd really like to see the rest of my team now, if you don't mind?"

The two whispering voices behind the wooden panel both let out yelps. After a few seconds of silence, the door creaked open, revealing her blonde and brunette teammates. The blonde's colored bandanas were tied back around her shoulder whilst Blake was still wearing her white bow on top of her head.

Giving off a warm grin, she watched as relief melted into Yang's expression. The last of her teammates, however, was looking down at her own feet, still looking utterly devastated.

It hurt to see and most of her normal embarrassment from staring at the girl she'd fallen for dissipated instantly.

So, naturally, she decided to crack a joke instead.

"Geez, Blake, if I really look that horrible, you can just come out and say it."

The Faunus girl immediately looked up, her white bow drooping despite the evident blush on her cheeks. "YOU'RE NOT- I mean, that's not why I…" Her voice failed, the words fading off into muttering as she drew her fingers together.

Weiss let out a quiet giggle, tempering down her own flustering at the girl's reaction. "Calm down. I already saw myself in the mirror and I'd say I look pretty fine, all things considered." Her lips drew down once again. "But I don't feel alright seeing you guys so upset with yourselves over a decision that I made and that only affected me."

Ruby finally let her hand go and drew it back into her own lap.

Yang was the first to break the silence. "You say that, but if I could've done SOMETHING-"

"-is EXACTLY what I was thinking when I made the decision to distract Flynt, Yang."

The brawler's mouth closed.

"…you scared me."

Three pairs of eyes shot to Blake, who shuffled. "It's- I just…" Once again, her voice gave up, not bothering to resolve her teammates' confusion.

Weiss straightened herself up. "Well… I didn't mean to. But it's still my fault so… I'm sorry."

No replies.

Weiss barely stopped herself from letting out an annoyed groan, most of her physical pain losing focus as mental frustration with her team and her crush took over the forefront of her mind yet again. "What do I need to do to prove to you guys that I'm alright?"

...

When no answer came, once again, she returned to her own mind, looking for a way to convey her stable health. After thinking for a few moments, she cleared her throat, catching the attention of her teammates.

And started singing.

"Some believe in fairy stories, and the ghosts that they can't see. I know that I could do so much, if I could just believe in me."

Within a few seconds, smiles returned to Ruby and Yang's faces, both looking towards each other, their gazes silently agreeing that their friend was, indeed, okay.

Blake, on the other hand, only felt herself freeze.

"Mirror, mirror, tell me something…"

This… this is…

The Faunus girl moved over past her partner and leader, kneeling at the edge of the bed and taking the heiress's dainty hand as she continued the song. Droplets wetted the sheets, but no one said anything.

As Weiss finished, she brought her other hand up and rubbed the brunette's hair just below the bow, satisfied with the purr that erupted from her crush's throat.

"I know I already chastised you guys for freaking out over me, but… all the same, thank you."

Blinking away her tears, Blake nodded up to her.

Yang chuckled and shook her head. "You are just full of surprises, Princess."

Weiss looked up, contemplating for a moment. "Well, if one good thing came out of all this, at least we don't have to choose which one of us will be moving on to the next round, right Yang?"

"…right." She looked away for a moment but the lilac that returned shined bright. "Right. Leave it to me, then. I'll crush our competition for sure!"


Yeesh, dialogue AND fighting?! It's like my writing nightmare! And would you believe me if I told you most of this was written in around 3 days (not consecutive)?

Just so you guys know, I didn't realize I accidentally made the part with their ribbons in the same way one of Dashing's Monochrome photos was (the one where Blake lends her ribbon to Weiss to tie up her ponytail); I was actually just trying to make a scene similar to the picture WCG made for my fic.