Chapter 4
Author's Note: At first, I was going to make this chapter a filler so I could quickly get back to studying, but as I wrote, I saw the potential to add in a bit of background for my AU characters. So I did! This is my final exam week, so this chapter is still filler-ish, but it turned out a lot better than I though it would. Thank you all so much for reading, I love waking up and seeing more views, follows, favorites, and reviews for my story. Speaking of which, please leave me any reviews you can so I can do gooder at grammer. And now, on with the show…
It only took them about 45 minutes to get from Beacon to downtown Vale via airship. During their trip, Blake had decided to read a few more chapters of her favorite series, Ninjas of Love. Yang was listening to her music, which annoyed Weiss slightly since she could hear the voices of the vocalists in her 'screamo' songs, as Yang called it. Ruby was reading through one of her magazine subscriptions, Guns 'n Swords. Weiss, however, simply looked out the window and let herself drift off into a daydream.
Weiss often found herself reliving her past mistakes and wrong-doings. This isn't necessarily different from what other people do, except most people would relive these experiences to think of ways that an outcome could have been changed. Not Weiss, she relived her pain and misery for the sole purpose of reminding herself of who she is and what her goals are.
"I am Weiss Schnee, daughter of Wolfgang Schnee and Elizabeth Schnee. I live for the sole purpose of perpetuating the Schnee name. I am not free; freedom is for those who are too weak to hold power. The weak call this freedom the 'right to choose;' a farcical excuse told because they are too weak to obtain power. They believe that they can demand things from those in power, when in actuality, it is by the powerful's good graces that they may even speak. I am a Schnee, I am powerful, and I will prove it." Weiss thought of the words that her father told her is the creed she must live by. She believed every bit of it, right down to the letter.
Her father is a staunchly traditional man. He is extremely conservative of his values and beliefs, thinking that, should they ever be broken, the Schnee Dust Company would fall. The company was his entire life, and he expected it to be his daughter's as well. She was taught that should she waver from the path he had laid out for her, she would be punished. Weiss had never went to a public school in her life, and her only friends were the maids and butlers that took care of her, if they could be called friends. Ultimately, no one actually even knew that she existed, aside from the federal papers with her name on it.
Without ever actually saying it, her father had made it clear that no one would miss her should she ever disobey him. Weiss was able to figure out from an early age who ruled the world…or rather, what rule the world. Money. And her father was arguably one of the wealthiest men in all of Remnant. She was given all that she needed, physically…a roof, a bed, clothing, food, and other necessities. Her mental side, however, was left starved, deprived of any compassion or love. She remained sane only because of the rigorous study habits that were forced upon her, not allowing herself any time to wallow in self-pity.
Weiss' upbringing was cold and callused, causing a metaphorical wall of ice to form around the heiress' heart. She had practiced speaking to people in a formal manner as part of her teaching, but Beacon was the true test of her silver tongue. She was constantly worrying about what her father would say about Weiss not becoming the leader of her own team. Instead, the heiress was simply at another person's disposal; a tool to be used and discarded when the time arose…at least, that is what she believed.
Weiss looked at her young leader at the corner of her eye and truly was angry that this young girl was her superior. Ruby was constantly trying to make them train as a team as much as possible, to learn more about each other beyond fighting tactics, and worst of all, she treated Weiss like a long lost friend. "We are not friends, you pest. We are comrades. And a day will come when we go our separate ways…why won't you simply leave me alone?" Weiss thought to herself not noticing the doors to the airship opening.
"Hellooo~ Remnant to Weiss, come in Weiss. You okay?" Ruby asked.
Weiss simply scoffed, stood up, and walked past the young leader, leaving Ruby more than confused. Ruby stood there for a second, wondering what was bothering her teammate, before jogging to catch up to Weiss. Yang and Blake were walking a small distance in front of them talking about something; they had been talking about ways to improve their fighting coordination before they stood up and left Ruby with Weiss.
"Weiss? What's wrong?" Ruby asked after catching up to the heiress. Weiss not only said nothing, but didn't even acknowledge Ruby's inquiry. "Weiss? Did I do something wrong?" The young girl asked, worry intertwined within her tone. Again, Weiss said nothing, leaving Ruby no choice but to push onward. "If I did, I'm sorry. Weiss? Please talk to me…" Ruby said the last three words very quietly.
"Heya! Sis! Me and Blakey are gonna to head to that book store and then hit the gym across the street! You two stay outa' trouble, kay?" Yang shouted while looking back.
"No problem." Ruby said pushing aside her worries for a moment. Weiss only gave a half wave at the two taller girls. With that, Blake and Yang turned and began their own escapade to their destination. Ruby was still waving until her sister and teammate turned around a corner; out of her peripheral vision, she noticed Weiss' eyes slightly downcast and staring into space.
"Weiss?" Ruby slowly inquired. "Please talk to me, I just want to try and help you. I can't fix whatever I did wrong if I don't know what it is. C'mon…friends should be able to work things out." Ruby stated not knowing that could have been the trigger to set Weiss off.
Weiss was about to turn around and give the young leader a piece of her mind, but seeing Ruby's face stopped her in her tracks. Weiss sighed and spoke softly, "I had remembered something while we were flying here and It left me slightly agitated. Please do not worry about it."
Ruby looked at her teammate and voiced her concerns, "Are you sure? I could–"
"Yes. I am sure." Weiss said coldly, cutting off Ruby.
"You can talk with me if you need to, I'm a good listener. Anyway, the ammo shop is this way, c'mon!" Ruby stated as she changed her expression to that of a care-free one.
The ammo shop that they were headed to was not too far away, only a few blocks from the air docks…placed there so that shipments to the Hunters of Beacon were not delayed. The hunting academies scattered around Remnant were not only places of education, but also a place for Hunters to restock and regroup before missions.
The walk to the shop was filled with a bit of empty words, conversations that ultimately led nowhere. Weiss didn't notice, but Ruby had been glancing at her every few moments to try to get a read on her teammate, and maybe find out what was bothering her. Before she could continue her survey Weiss' emotions, an annoyingly familiar voice was coming from around the corner.
"…crap is nothing compared to the stuff back home." The most familiar voice said.
"Yeah, I could mine better dust than this." Another voice stated sarcastically.
Ruby rushed up to turn the corner only to spot a man that she has disliked since her days at Signal. If there was one bad thing about skipping a few grades and going to Beacon, it was that she had to deal with Cardin Winchester. During her last year at Signal, she was relieved to see Cardin leaving, meaning that she would finally get two years of peace. That was no longer the case after she dealt with Torchwick, at the dust shop, all those months ago.
Cardin looked to see what red and black figure was disrupting his peripheral vision. Right as Weiss turned the corner, Cardin began to speak, "Ohhh, look…it's the dyke." Ruby had been the ass-end of more than a few jokes ever since she came out of the closet a little over a year ago. Cardin, by far being the worst, never showed any signs of stopping…even when Yang threatened him. He only acted this way because his father is the chief of the Vale Police Department; it is strange that he hides behind his father's title, since, in spite of him being an asshole, he was not weak, in any sense of the word. He was surely no match for Yang, but the older sister knew that Cardin would sue and, even though Ruby and Yang's father was not poor, he probably didn't not have enough money to fight a legal battle against the VPD. That, of course, didn't stop Yang from making his life a hell from the shadows, which was always fun for the sisters to watch the conclusion of…however, Cardin seemed to find some sort of sadistic pleasure in bullying Ruby.
"Ugh, why are you being mean to Beacon's dust supplier, jerk?" Ruby asked while clenching her fists at her side.
"Because, muff diver, this crap sucks. No wonder hunters have been dying more, recently." Cardin said, earning another laugh from his cronies.
"This 'crap' is mined from the largest mines in all of Remnant, and refined by state-of-the-art dust purifiers. I don't know where you're getting the idea that it is under par, but I assure you that it is near perfection. So, if you wouldn't mind, could you leave this establishment?" Weiss said in a very sarcastic way.
"Who the fuck are you?" Russel asked from Cardin's left.
"Weiss Schnee. Heiress of the Schnee Dust Company, the organization which supplies Remnant with this 'crap' as your boyfriend says." Weiss stated in an uncaring tone.
After Cardin had heard what Weiss had said, he began to walk up to her. The difference in height was quite staggering; the heiress was about 5'3 and Cardin was easily over 6' and was built like a bodybuilder. "You know, I don't swing that way like little red carpet muncher over there. Luckily for you, of course." Cardin said in an unbelievably confident tone. Weiss glanced at Ruby after hearing Cardin's previous insult towards the young girl, who stood there clenching her fists, but had a look of pity on her face rather than anger. "So, what do you say? I can show you a good time…" Cardin continued.
"Get out of my face, you deplorable wretch." Weiss said in a very monotone voice.
"Wha– Listen here, bitch: don't you even speak to– " Cardin was immediately quieted by Weiss' rapier digging into his neck, slightly. He didn't expect a fight, so his aura wasn't concentration on his aura.
Though it was very slow, she kept pushing Myrtenaster deeper into his neck while she spoke. "How dare an inferior speak to me in such a tone…" Weiss stated in yet another monotone voice.
Before Weiss could continue what would be a scolding to remember, she was stopped by the younger girl standing next to her. "C'mon Weiss, we're here for the ammo. Let's just go; they were on their way out anyway." Ruby said while grabbing Weiss' arm and pulling Myrtenaster away from Cardin's neck, revealing almost a centimeter of blood on the blade.
Weiss and Ruby walked past Cardin while he was covering his neck, clearly pissed off. "Couple of cunts…" Cardin said. He then looked back at Ruby who was walking away and directed his voice toward her, "…still not as bad as the rejection you got, right Red?"
Cardin's words obviously phased Ruby quite a bit, causing her to pause for a second and hide her face. The girls continued inside and headed straight to the back of the store where the .50 caliber rounds were held. The owner saw the two girls and greeted them with a smile, "Hello ladies, if you need any help let me know."
"T-thank you, sir." Ruby said while smiling towards him, her face still hidden from Weiss. The young leader quickly found the ammo she wanted, she handed it to Weiss while still looking down and asked, "What would be the best concentration of flame dust in the gunpowder for max recoil, but minimal damage to the barrel." Ruby's tone has become very serious.
Weiss sighed and began to explain a few things about dust bullets, "You should purchase the lead rounds infused with charged electromagnetic dust. When fired, the agitated particles will push some of the air out of the path of the bullet, making it fly faster, straighter, and farther. Also, don't get the flame dust gunpowder, get the low concentration ice dust." Ruby then looked at her in confusion, wondering why she should get ice dust in her gunpowder.
It was then that Weiss noticed Ruby's slightly bloodshot eyes, she had been holding back tears. "The electromagnetic bullet is going to give you more stopping power, like you wanted. The flame dust is probably ruining your barrel even faster than normal gunpowder, since it is overheating the barrel. The initial combustion will still give your bullet the power it will need to fly from the barrel, and the ice dust will have a cooling effect on the barrel as the bullet exits the chamber." Weiss explained to her young leader.
Without a second to spare, Ruby brought a few of the materials to the counter to test out. "I'm gonna to buy these and test them in the shooting range, and if it works well, I'll stock up." Ruby said to the owner who gave her a nod. After putting on ear plugs, the two girls made their way to through the metal doors to the shooting area. Ruby sat down and began mixing the dust to Weiss' exact calculations. All that was left was to load the powder behind the bullet and load the rounds into the magazine of her gun.
"Darn." Weiss said as she felt her pockets.
"What's up?" Ruby asked while still loading the powder.
"I figured it would be a good idea to purchase myself some more dust while I'm here, but I must have dropped my wallet in the airship. I'll be right back." Weiss said as she walked out of the shooting range.
Weiss pulled out her ear plugs and placed them into her pocket, next to her wallet. She summoned a glyph under her feet and used it to rise up into the air. It took her only a few seconds to locate her target a few blocks away: Cardin. She used her glyph to quickly fly toward them and drop to the ground.
Team CRDL was currently eating subs from a sandwich shop they were at. Cardin glanced her way as she landed and spoke, "I knew you couldn't stay away from–" He was cut off by a quick slash from Myrtenaster against his chest. He had no armor on and had is aura relaxed, so it ripped right through his skin. The rest of Team CRDL got into their fighting stance before Cardin managed to get back to his feet.
Sky was the first to attack Weiss, swinging his halberd toward her. A quick glyph blocked his attack and a strike from Myrtenaster disarmed him. Cardin then made his move, along with his teammates. After dodging Dove's sword and attempting to strike Russel, Weiss looked as though she was open for an attack, which Cardin took advantage of. He swung his mace and slammed it into Weiss' back, causing her to be pushed forward. After noticing that she was open for an attack, Weiss placed a glyph onto the ground, which Cardin had stepped onto after attacking the heiress. The glyph propelled him forward, towards Weiss' back, and, with a quick swing of her elbow toward his face, Cardin fell back to the ground.
Dove and Russel looked on toward the short girl who was making them look like fools. They attacked in unison, Dove attacking the front, and Russel attempting to flank. Weiss quickly used a glyph to propel herself into the air a few meters, causing Russel and Dove to slam into one another. Weiss turned upside down in the air, using another glyph at her feet to, again, propel her at her target. Cardin was just standing up as Weiss flew past him and hit Sky with the butt of Myrtenaster, knocking him down and launching his recently acquired weapon from his hands.
She turned around and faced Cardin, pointed her rapier into the air, and, as it glowed red, formed a small glyph at its' tip. She then pointed her weapon at Cardin and fired two bolts of fire at him, which curved around his body, as he guarded himself, and hit Dove and Russel, who had just stood up. She pointed her rapier slightly behind her, toward the ground, right at Sky's face, and fired again. The three men were on the ground, groaning in pain; they were without injury since their auras were still intact, but their pride had been shattered.
Weiss walked toward Cardin who still had his mace drawn and ready. She had seen him fight in the Emerald Forest momentarily. She knew that he had a very 'tank-like' approach to fighting. "Are you quite finished?" She asked him in a mocking tone.
"Me?! You attacked us you crazy bitch!" Cardin yelled.
"Because you are an ass who needs to be taught a lesson." Weiss state very clearly.
"Fuck you!" Cardin sneered.
"I rest my case. I've seen your father giving speeches before, how did he have a hand in creating scum like you? And don't try to play off the VPD card on me, the Schnee Dust Company helps to fund and supply the police." Weiss says while walking toward him. She stops right in front of Cardin, smirks at him, causing him to lower his weapon in defeat. She then hits him in the stomach with the butt of her rapier, bringing him down to face level with her. "And you had better not ever insult her again…" She says as she points the tip of Myrtenaster at his head from under his chin. Without any hesitation, she fires and watches as he falls back onto the ground unconscious.
"Call and ambulance." She says to a few of the bystanders who were watching the fight. When he lowered his weapon, he dropped his aura as well. "That should teach him a lesson." Weiss thought to herself. She didn't cause any permanent damage with the flames, but it was enough to hurt like hell. She holstered Myrtenaster and began walking back to the ammo shop where her leader was waiting. Her walk back, however, was filled with thoughts as to why she was so angry with Cardin for insulting her leader. She didn't want to think about it, but after seeing Ruby's bloodshot eyes, Weiss suddenly felt worse than she had felt in a long time. "At the very least, I owe it to her to become acquainted with her more. After all, we'll be spending quite a while together." Weiss thought while walking back.
After returning into the shooting range, she was greeted with the sight of Ruby aiming her sniper rifle in its' semi-compact form. She was amazed at the accuracy her leader managed to fire her weapon with. After running out of ammo, Ruby turned around and saw Weiss watching her. "How long have you been back?" She asked.
"Just a few minutes." Weiss said as Ruby picked up the used cartridges from the ground.
"Well, I love the rounds you told me about. They're really doing great." Ruby said.
"But, of course. It's me we are talking about…I do know my dust." Weiss said in her snobby heiress tone. A tone which is easily played off as being genuine to people that don't know Weiss, but Ruby knows better.
Weiss was still looking up from her gloating when she felt herself suddenly get squeezed. She looked down to see the young leader hugging her very tightly. "Thank you!" Ruby said in a very excited tone.
After a second, Weiss succumbed to defeat and closed her arms around the young leader also. "You are welcome, I suppose." She muttered while blushing.
After breaking their embrace, the two walked back out to the front for Ruby to purchase her supplies. Weiss, in order to protect her earlier lie, bought herself more flame dust, to replace what she had used, recently. "You hungry? There's a sandwich shop a few blocks away that has great subs." Ruby asked.
Weiss immediately remembered that Team CRDL was eating subs when she attacked them and quickly put two and two together. "No. How about some ice cream?" Weiss asked
"Ohhhhh! Cookie dough ice cream! Yeah, follow me!" Ruby said as she began running toward an ice cream shop just a few buildings down. The girls went inside and began looking around. Ruby, true to her word, got cookie dough ice cream and Weiss got herself chocolate mint. The two girls sat their belongings onto the table and began to eat.
"…and thank you…" Ruby said quietly.
"You already said that, dolt." Weiss said, bringing a spoonful to her mouth.
Ruby began to speak once again, "No, thank you for not judging me about liking…"
"Girls?" Weiss cut her off. "It's not my place to judge you. Besides, it's perfectly normal." Weiss said in a soft caring tone.
Ruby slowed her eating down to a stop, causing Weiss to look at her. As she studied her leader, she saw Ruby crying. "Ruby…?" Weiss asked.
Ruby was rubbing her eyes with her free hand, as the other held her spoon for the ice cream. "T-t-the only…other p-people…who…accepted me after I-I…came out…was m-my family a-and…the girls who w-w-were…already my friends…" Ruby said in between gasps of air from her sobbing. "You're the only…p-person… I've met after t-t-the fact…who accepted me." She continued.
Weiss couldn't help it, her instinct took over and she brought Ruby in for a close hug. As Ruby cried into the crook of the heiress neck, Weiss slowly raked her hands through her leader's hair. "I'm sorry." Weiss stated.
"For what?" Ruby said in a muffled tone through Weiss' clothes.
"For being rude to you when we exited the airship. I was irritated from my own problems and thought that you were too young to understand, so I blew you off. And for that, I am sorry." Weiss explained, earning a giggle from Ruby.
"Don't apologize, I probably can't compare. I just get a few mean words thrown at me, but you've got a lotta stuff on your mind from the dust company thing." Ruby said as she backed away and rubbed a few remaining tears from her bloodshot eyes. "But, it's nice of you to care~" Ruby said right before placing a kiss on Weiss' cheek, causing the heiress head to turn very red.
"You dunce! I don't want people getting the wrong idea!" Weiss said as she covered her cheek and looked around the ice cream shop to notice a few people staring at them. Ruby only started to giggle more as she continued to eat her ice cream.
While Weiss swallowed her pride and began to eat her ice cream again, with a deep blush, Ruby's scroll buzzed. After reading the text, Ruby said, "Yang wants us to meet her and Blake at the gym."
"Well, I'm ready to go if you are." Weiss said still blushing.
"Yup~" Ruby said.
The two girls picked up their belongings, got up, threw away their trash, and began heading for the exit. As they were leaving, an elderly woman from the store spoke very softly, "Ahhh, to be young and in love…"
Weiss' face was nearly as red as Ruby's cape from the statement. Ruby stared giggling more and said, "Relax Weiss, you'll probably never see these people again!"
"Ugh. You owe me." Weiss said as she folded her arms and walked along side this giggling mess of a girl.