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This one is a relatively minor chapter in Weiss and Winter's training, but the end sets things up for next chapter…

Chapter 55: A Small Push and Ironwood's Folly

Bastion, Citadel Tower, with Weiss and Ruby

Weiss let out a frustrated sigh as she stared at the red crystal in her hand. She'd been sitting in the room for over an hour and couldn't even tell if she was doing anything right. "I don't even know what I'm supposed to do!" Weiss said in frustration. Ruby put a hand on her shoulder.

"Weiss, it's fine if it takes a while… Look how long it took me to figure it out on my own," Ruby said, getting a sigh from her mate. The wolf quickly put a hand on the girl's cheek. "Weiss… this is all about will. You don't just need to know what you're trying to make the Dust do. You need to actually picture the Dust's energy being drawn out, what you want it to do, and then use your will to make it happen."

Weiss blinked momentarily. "That… doesn't make much sense. Isn't that what I've been trying to do?"

Ruby shook her head. "No, what you've been trying to do is make the Dust raise the room temperature without actually focusing on the Dust itself. That's the reason this takes so long to learn; people focus more on the what than the how when they start and just think they have to focus on the task at hand. I had that problem, too."

"But with Myrtenaster-"

"Myrtenaster draws the energy out for you, Weiss, and it doesn't even do it efficiently," Ruby said, making the fox look down. "You've always used it to skip two steps and limit what you could do in the third. If I want to shoot a Beowolf with Crescent Rose, I can't just glare angrily at the Grimm until Crescent Rose unfolds, takes aim, and pulls its own trigger, right?"

Weiss let out a sigh. "That makes even less sense, Ruby…" The wolf pouted slightly, causing her to refocus on the Dust crystal in her hand. "Come on! Stupid Dust magic shouldn't be this hard!" After a few more minutes, she decided she hated the Dust crystal and started imagining every way she could possibly destroy the disgusting rock. As she thought about lighting it on fire and watching it evaporate in a fireball, she paused at the spark of light that shot through the crystal. "Wait… is that really how it works?" She tried again, focusing on the thought of the inferno held within the crystal coming to the surface and grinning as the crystal shone brightly.

"Nice work, Weiss, now you just need to draw only a bit-"

Ruby's instructions fell on deaf ears as Weiss focused on the crystal in her hand. "Heat," she thought simply before she felt a chill run down her body, protecting her from the explosion centered on her hand as the duo let out a scream. A beeping sounded before a strong surge of Frost Dust chilled the air.

"Gah! Cold! Too cold!" Ruby cried, moving to wrap her cloak around her, getting a gasp from Weiss.

"Ruby! Your cloak!" Weiss cried out, causing the wolf to look down at it. The ends were heavily singed and much of the fabric was darkened by the heat, but it was clear large parts of it were burned away. Weiss could already see the panicked look in her mate's eyes. "Oh god, Ruby, I'm so sorry! I'll get some new fabric to fix this, okay?" Ruby opened her mouth to protest before Weiss placed a finger on her lips. "You helped me when I needed it and this is my fault. I'm doing this, okay?" The wolf nodded and Weiss pulled her out of the room, coughing slightly. "Oh god, why does everything smell stronger lately?"

Ruby walked behind the girl, trembling slightly. "It's probably because you're a fox faunus now. Every faunus is better with a few things but suffers in other areas, such as any faunus with canine traits having a stronger sense of smell. I suppose you just get used to it eventually. You probably haven't noticed it yet because we've been so busy."

Weiss let out a sigh. "I guess so…" She looked up and saw a nearby fabric store and turned to Ruby. "Wait here, okay?" Ruby blinked and stood by the door while her mate ran in. After a few moments, the White Rose came back out with a roll of red cloth and handed it to the wolf. "Here, is this the right kind of fabric?"

Ruby hummed and focused on the cloth, letting out a content sigh as the edge of it started dissolving into rose petals. Weiss watched in surprise as the petals quickly filled in the holes and edges of her girlfriend's cloak with a relieved sigh. Once it was done, Ruby grinned at Weiss. "Yep, it's perfect, thanks angel."

Weiss blushed slightly. "You don't have to thank me, dolt," she said, the term taking on a more endearing tone, causing Ruby to grin. "How about we take a break for lunch?"

Ruby grinned. "Sure, that sounds like a great idea!" She quickly folded up the remaining fabric and stuffed it into her pouch before following along behind her mate.

Weiss rolled her eyes before a thought crossed her mind. "Hey, Ruby?" the other girl glanced at her. "When Aurelius confronted Ironwood about the restrictions that were placed on you, he told the general to embrace the Tempest… What did he mean?"

Ruby took a deep breath. "It's related to one of the two most powerful abilities of the Vigil, an ability that gets its name from the fact it strengthens the user's capabilities with the Rose Storm's transformative and Wind-elemental aspects. The most skilled masters of the Rose Storm and the Vigil were so capable that only other members of the Rose family or people with a semblance that had certain traits could have any hope of engaging them in close quarters combat and most ranged weapons can't pierce the storm. It got to the point that the phrase "embrace the Tempest" came to mean throwing yourself at a hopeless task or deliberately enraging one of the Rose family's most elite sages." Weiss shuddered at the thought before they continued walking down the street.

With Winter

Winter ran her fingers across the red Dust crystal as she paced the room, deep in thought. "It would be too easy if I could simply think about what I want to do and have it happen… I doubt that it's that simple, however…" She watched the energy inside swirl lazily, bringing with it the sensation of the fire trapped within. She hummed as a thought crossed her mind and focused on the arcs of energy. "So much from Draconys is about the strength of will… perhaps that's what is needed?" Winter watched as the arcs shone brighter, slowing engulfing the crystal and gently warming her hand before she broke away, letting the Dust crystal return to normal.

"I'm impressed," a familiar voice said from behind her before she spun around. Aurelius calmly took the crystal from her hand. "Most people have difficulty with actually awakening the power inside a Dust crystal, but it seems you've discovered how to do that without help…" Winter smiled subtly while the Blue Rose was staring at the crystal. "…And yet you don't seem to have made an attempt to access the power within."

Winter quickly took the crystal back. "I wasn't sure how much energy I would need to heat the room by the required amount," she said simply before glancing at him. "How do you know how the amount of energy you need for a specific task when using Dust?"

Aurelius let out a sigh. "It takes practice. I remember more than a few mishaps of my own shortly after creating Dust for the first time…" He looked away, running a hand through his hair. "You have potential, Winter," he said, causing the woman to smile slightly at the praise. Before she could respond, Aurelius continued. "Unfortunately, General Ironwood wanted to speak with us, which means the next step of this test will have to wait."

Winter let out a sigh and followed quietly. As they stepped onto the platform, Winter decided to speak up. "Do we have a casualty estimate yet?"

Winter winced as she saw Aurelius' gaze darken. "Unfortunately. However, we need to wait until we can contact the headmasters of Haven and Shade before we can discuss that."

Winter nodded and waited as the lift rose, watching people wander each level as they drifted beside the Spire crystal. While she was still getting accustomed to the Bastion, she had quickly come to admire the architecture and design of the structure. "Who was it that designed this place?" she asked.

Aurelius glanced around. "Hundreds of people helped in the structural design, just like there were countless sages working on the lattices to power it. Much of the design was, however, handled by Vulcan and based off the construction style of Sanctuary itself. As I'm sure you could tell, Ozpin carried over many of the design choices when Beacon was constructed." Winter nodded as the lift stopped, stepping off behind Aurelius as he walked into his office. Once he sat at his desk, he tapped the console built into the desk, causing Dust to create a thin screen in front of the desk. Winter quickly stood behind him, hands behind her back as Ironwood appeared on the screen. "General, to what do I owe this pleasure?" he asked calmly.

"Aurelius," Ironwood said with a cautious nod. "The Atlesian Council is up in arms about the events of the Battle of Beacon and much of what's happened since. I doubt it's any better elsewhere after the brief communications blackout Beacon Tower's destruction caused. Between the massive destruction in Vale, the death of Ozpin, and the large number of casualties suffered protecting the kingdom, people are starting to go into a panic. If it wasn't for the fact that many of the participants in the Vytal Festival tournament were either seriously injured in the battle or returned home afterwards, we might have tried to continue the tournament in an effort to at least get everyone's mind off the situation, but now…"

Aurelius nodded sadly before Winter spoke up. "Perhaps a demonstration of the fighting abilities of some of Bastion's strongest defenders would serve as an acceptable distraction." Aurelius looked at the woman over his shoulder, a look of disbelief on his face. "There is an arena within the Citadel's walls and I'm certain knowing the strength of Sanctuary's forces might serve to give people a bit of hope."

Ironwood nodded. "Potentially, but at this point the only member of Sanctuary's defenders anyone is interested in seeing fight is Aurelius himself," he said, causing Winter to pale.

"Sir, I wouldn't recommend that. I've seen how he fights and what he's capabable of, and-"

"Schnee," Ironwood said, causing Winter to go quiet. "Considering your first-hand experience with Aurelius and the fact that you're the most capable fighter Atlas has in Bastion right now." Winter went wide-eyed as the general continued. "If I had a say in the matter, I feel that you would be the most appropriate person to fight against him in this exhibition match."

Winter started to protest when Aurelius spoke up. "Normally I would be against this idea entirely," he said, before glancing at Winter over his shoulder. "However, I can't say I'm not interested in a battle against Winter. That would be up to her to decide, of course."

Winter let out a sigh and ran a hand through her hair, ignoring the look she got from Ironwood. "I feel like this is a bad idea… If I refuse, though, would Aurelius be disappointed in me?" Winter weighed her options for a moment before taking a breath. "Very well… I will take part in this match…"

Ironwood nodded and Aurelius hummed. "I'll make sure that the arena is ready," the Blue Rose said as he stood up. "If there's nothing else…"

Ironwood shook his head. "Nothing else. I'll be in touch with you again when it's time to discuss the Battle of Beacon," the general said before the screen went blank, the Dust returning to wherever it came from. Winter followed Aurelius quietly, trying to decide what to do about her situation.

So, Ironwood may or may not have just doomed Winter to a lot of pain… I wonder what people will think of this chapter and if they're looking forward to next chapter.