The Second Step: Chapter 7

Swan Song

(Thursday)

Weiss jolted awake from her sleep. She blinked the blur from her eyes and reoriented herself.

She was laying in her bed. Ruby's own bed swayed hypnotically above. The room was quiet save for the rhythmic, near-silent snores of her teammates. Her blanket covered her snugly and her head rest on a luxuriously soft, lemon scented pillow.

Weiss noted that, from the depth of the darkness in the room that it was far to early to be awake and closed her eyes. Snuggling deeper between the two luxuriously soft, lemon scented pillows.

'Lemon scented..?'

Weiss's eyes jerked open. She lay absolutely still. In the exhaustion of the mid-morning, she had forgotten that tonight, she was sharing a bed. "Yang?"

"...What?" Came a reply.

Weiss gulped. "Where am I, in relation to you?"

"I'm here at the door, you're in bed."

Weiss carefully removed her head from its resting place. Sure enough, the pillows she had been lying on hadn't been Yang's...built in pillows. Yang herself was standing in the doorway, one eyebrow cocked, grinning like a loon. Weiss threw a pillow that surprised the blonde in the pitch black darkness. "You woke me up."

Yang cast aside the pillow. "You want some coffee? I'm buyin'."

"No thank you Yang, I'm fine." Weiss leaned back into her bed and shut off the world. Yang chuckled in the dark...and another pillow hit her.

Blake climbed out of her bed and glared at Yang. Yang held the pillow and looked around. "Um, okay. You're going to need to speak up so I can figure out who you are." Blake took her friend by the back of her shirt and dragged Yang out into the hallway.

Yang conjured a flame in her hand and smirked at Blake. "Morning."

Blake turned the lights on. "Morning. You say something about coffee." Yang smiled.

The walk to the smallish room that housed the communal coffee machine was filled with conversation, mostly one-sided in Yang's favor. Blake nodded and shook her head as Yang made small talk and got her caught up on what was happening in her classes.

"So, what have you been up to? Where'd you go Tuesday?" Yang asked. Blake rubbed the back of her head and shrugged. "Come on Blake. Cat got your tongue?" Yang giggled at her joke, but stopped when she noticed the glare that Blake was directing at her. "What?"

Blake turned at the junction to the coffee room. "Yang, can I ask you something?"

Yang assented, on guard from the surprisingly cold turn of Blake's personality. "Which city are you from?"

Yang cocked an eyebrow. "Atlas. Why do you wanna know?"

Blake racked her brain for a suitable reply. "Tell me Yang, if I called you a Forbor-."

CRACK!

Blake braced herself against the wall, blinking away the spinning lights. Yang's eyes faded back from red to lilac, but the smoldering glare and slightly smoking fist remained. Blake took her nose and gave it a hard yank, resetting it with a pulse of Aura. "I guess you'd do that. Now, imagine what I would do if we were in reversed positions."

Yang didn't relent. "You called me a Forbor."

"And it didn't occur to you that 'cat got your tongue' is just as insulting?"

Yang twitched. "Um. No. Is it? To you I mean."

The pair got to the coffee room. Blake set up her and Weiss's brew, a particularly acidic brew from Vacuo, as she let Yang's guilt stew a little. "You could say that it's as insulting to me as calling a girl from Atlas 'Foreign-Born'."

Yang shrunk in on herself slightly, ashamed. "Sorry. Thought the cat puns were funny. Didn't think it be so, well, problematic."

Blake got up in the counter and leaned against the wall. "Well, now you know." Yang got up alongside her.

"Sorry about your nose."

Blake pursed her lips and changed the subject. "I didn't know you were from Atlas. You don't look that part."

Yang shrugged. "Like you said, foreign born. I spent my early life dodging social services so they didn't deport me. A prostitute took me in, trained me, fed me, clothed me, shade she even named me." A smile creeped on to Yang's face. "She was the person who taught me to heal with my semblance, fight with it, even taught me a few tricks. She went so far as to break the law and unlock me Aura." Nostalgia misted Yang's eyes. "Luna was amazing. She was a great big sister."

Blake mastered her blush easily. "You and Ruby lived with a hooker in Atlas. Impressive. I'd like to meet her one day."

Yang nodded. "I'll introduce you when I find her."

"Find her?"

Yang's smile vanished. "About four years ago the apartment we lived in burned to the ground. Nine people were killed, and six bodies identified. Luna, my big sister, wasn't with them."

Blake gulped at the mention if four years, but her eyes nearly bugged out when the penny dropped. "A fire?"

Yang chuckled darkly. It was almost like a sob. "Pretty unlucky when a fire starts in the same building as thirteen year old and twenty one year old metaburners. Don't you agree?"

Blake put a hand on Yang's shoulder. "It wasn't your fault."

Yang grabbed Blake's hand and removed it. "No. It isn't. It's not my fault that these people died, but that doesn't stop me from feeling bad about it."

The two girls sat on the table. Finally, Yang spoke up. "But hey, that's life. The world sucks, you make due."

Blake chuckled melancholically. "Exactly."

Yang smirked. "So there's my sob story. Let's hear yours."

Blake immediately went on the defensive. "Oh well, I never really had that hard a life. I helped out with people in the White Fang before it fell apart. Sometimes cooking, some easy carpentry, picked up piano playing, I once delivered a baby. I was a jack of all trades, mostly because everyone in the White Fang needed to be when half the shops in Vale were boycotted. When we changed over to more...illegal work, I-."

(Ding Ding Ding)

Both girls looked at the beeping coffee machine, which had finished heating the water and strained it through the ground beans. Blake swapped out one cup for another and sipped her own. "Where was I?"

"Illegal stuff."

Blake sipped her coffee, delaying. "I held back for the first few months. After that, well, I tried to keep my head down. Mostly I just helped repair weapons and tried to avoid doing anything to harmful. I helped fire bomb a store, and that was it. I quit when the new leadership wanted to ramp up what we were doing, and dedicated myself to protecting everyone from the Grimm." The statement regarding Blake's sole involvement in an arson wasn't true, obviously, but then, who'd admit to robbing trains, breaking and entering, battery, assault with a deadly weapon and theft.

Yang took Weiss's coffee and slurped it. It was too acidic for her taste, but hey, coffee was coffee. "Okay."

Blake rolled her eyes at Yang's dismissal. "So...if you and Ruby were from Atlas, how'd you get to living in Vale?"

Yang shrugged. "We didn't. I was alone in Atlas after my apartment burned down, and one of Luna's old...clients, if you would, showed up. My dad, Will, was on loan to the armed forces in Atlas for a few months, you know, stuff to do with the Vale/Atlas alliance. When he heard that Luna's apartment building burned down, he tracked me down. He saw I had an active Aura and offered to smuggle me out of Atlas so I wouldn't get arrested. Will offered to formally adopt me when we got to Vale, but we got held back because of his liaison conditions, and by the time we left, I was thirteen. I was legally a citizen of Atlas and when we got to Vale, I entered in as an independent. No adoption papers required." Yang smirked at her lawyering. Blake was unimpressed.

"But that still doesn't explain where your sister was, Yang."

Yang blinked and realized her mishap. "Whoops. Well, when we got to Vale, part of my cover was that I was his apprentice. My dad can't teach to save his life, so he brought me to his teacher, Qrow Rose. When we got there though, he was already teaching someone. Guess who it was."

"Ruby." Blake supplied.

"Ding ding ding, we have a winner. Well, after me and Ruby were introduced, Dad and Qrow needed to run a blood test to finish the documentation for residency. And, and it still blows my mind that this happened, when the tests came back, they said that me and Ruby were half-sisters." Yang giggled a little. "What are the odds? Two girls from two different cities happen to be half-sisters and meet at ages thirteen and eleven. What are the odds?" She repeated.

"They are long odds." Blake concurred. 'Especially long, considering that blood tests aren't needed for citizenship. Why would Qrow and her dad need a blood test?' Blake sipped her coffee and eyed the coffee machine. It was almost done, with maybe enough time left for one more question. "You said that you'd introduce me to Luna one day. What happened to her after the fire?"

Now, Yang gave her friend and teammate her largest smile so far and produced what looked like a pocket mirror. "This is what." She opened it, revealing the insides to be distinctly lacking a mirror, but instead holding two photos.

One was of a relatively plain girl who looked like he was about Ruby's age. She had the same black hair, albeit long enough to be cut off by the shot, and certainly enough to block out her eyes.

The other photo was a blurry shot of the burnout wreckage of a collapsed apartment building. A figure in a red dress was moving out of the rubble. "You see Blake, we never found her body. She was the only person in the entire building with an active Aura. Luna is out there somewhere, and I'm going to find her."

Blake starred at Yang. "Yang...I'm sorry to rain on your parade, but you do know that your searching for one women out of five hundred thousand, right? The odds of finding her are ridiculously small."

Yang cut across Blake. "You sayin' I can't do it?" She gave her nye sayer the stink eye. "I'll find Luna. I'll die before I give up looking for my older sister."

Blake gulped. "And what about Ruby? What about her life? Would you miss one sister's life for another?"

Yang stopped and looked at Blake. "Where'd that come from?"

Blake face-palmed. 'She calls me out for trying remind her she has a sister, but says she'll die before she stops looking for this Luna girl. I sure got a winner.' But to the matter at hand; "I just want you to know that sometimes you can spend time with the family you have. It's...wrong to leave them."

Yang pursed her lips and admired the clock above the door frame, avoiding Blake's gaze. "I know that. I'd never leave Ruby. If I can't keep the sister I have safe, how'll I ever find the one I don't."

"Luna isn't your sister." Blake pointed out.

Yang's face took a turn for the fond. "She's as close to one as someone can get without being one. I try to be like her for Ruby's sake. It's a sort of-."

(Ding Ding Ding)

Again, the coffee machine interrupted the girls conversation. Blake pulled the cup for yang gave it to her, and she proceeded to down the hot concoction in one gulp. The second joined Weiss's half empty one (Yang got a long glare for that, but she was, unfortunately, oblivious under the caffeine high). "I just want to be as good an older sibling to Ruby as Luna was to me. That make sense?"

Blake thought back to her parents and how well they had treated her, how much they had loved her. "Yeah. That makes perfect sense."

Yang missed the fact that Blake was looking remotely at her. She just grabbed her sister's coffee and started back to their dorm.

Unfortunately, when they got to the dorm, they were treated to the ever so reassuring sight of Weiss storming out and Ruby frantically following, alternating between apologizing and begging for an autograph. The lady in white ignored her though, and left Blake and Yang wondering what had just happened and Ruby wondering how she could ever fix this.

"Hey, Rubes. What just happened?" Leave it to Yang to be direct. Ruby blushed.

"Well..."

(Ten minutes ago)

TWEEEEEEEEET!

For the second time in so many minutes, Weiss was jolted awake. This time however, it was by the very loud and slightly painful method of whistle-by-the-ear. Ruby grinned behind the whistle. "...!" She said.

Weiss blinked in confusion before calling up and channeling her Aura into her ears. "I didn't quite catch that Ruby. Come again?"

"Good morning Weiss!" Ruby repeated, loud enough that had they been sleeping in the opposite dorms, team JNPR would have also been awakened.

The fact that team JNPR weren't sleeping in their dorm-room is a story for another day.

Bit by bit, Weiss awoke the rest of her mental functions, quickly gaining enough mental traction to feel properly irritated. "I thought we had moved passed the whistle stage Ruby."

Ruby blinked. "That was a stage? But we're not in a video game."

Weiss starred at her partner. Whether Ruby was being funny with the video game stage statement or was genuinely stupid enough to believe that Weiss needed to be told that they weren't in a video game nearly alluded her. Obviously, Ruby was joking.

"Don't make jokes like that Ruby. It's a bad habit of yours that shouldn't be cultivated."

"Only for you Weiss." Ruby smiled at her teammate and turned on her heel. Weiss extracted herself from her sheets, pulled open her drawer and removed the folded shirt, jacket, skirt and stocking combo that happened to be the school uniform, and took it with her to change into in the bathroom.

After that was done, Weiss stepped out and grabbed her book bag, pulling out her personal project and started brainstorming.

'Okay, I have the Lyrics for the first and second versus, I just need the last verse. If its between two singers, should they be in stereo or sing consecutively?' Ruby leaned in next to Weiss. 'Perhaps...both. The two trade off in the first half of the verse, like they're arguing, and at the end sing concurrently to add weight to the final lines? Hmm. How would that- gah!' Weiss nearly jumped out of her skin when she noticed Ruby about six inches from her face.

"Whatcha doin' Weiss?"

Weiss bit back a retort of "It has nothing to do with you," and went with the neutral; "Homework Ruby. I'm writing more the poem for history class."

Ruby starred at Weiss blankly.

"The poem. The one that Yang tried to read on Tuesday night."

"I have no idea what you are talking about Weiss." Ruby certainly looked like she had no idea. Weiss rolled her eyes and put the sheet music away. Ruby spoke up again. "You know Weiss, if you want me to proof read your poem, I can do that for you."

"No thank you Ruby, I..." Weiss thought about it. Actually, all things considered, it couldn't be that bad. Ruby probably wasn't aware of who Snow White was, and if she did, well, Ruby was her friend. One of her first and best friends. Certainly Ruby could control herself.

On the other hand, Ruby was rather intent on proving herself to Weiss, and might over blow the whole situation. She might think that this would be another front where she'd have to try to prove herself. Then again, Ruby was more of a gun but then a music fan. She didn't seem to listen to music fanatically, so it was possible she could dismiss the whole situation, or even consider it was impressive.

These variables in mind and the innate urge to trust her friend swaying her opinion somewhat, Weiss made her decision. "Here Ruby. You can see my work."

Ruby took the papers and skimmed through them. "I couldn't take it, yada yada yada. Hmm." Ruby lapsed into thoughtful silence. Weiss rooted through her book pack and pulled out some more paper to work with. "Hey, wait a second. This isn't a poem for history class! This is a song!"

Weiss noted down a chord. "Your powers of deduction are astonishing Ruby."

"Thanks Weiss." Ruby positively beamed, almost prompting Weiss to face-palm. It was like Ruby deliberately tried to annoy her. "This looks like a nice piece of music. Why'd you write it?"

Weiss flipped a piece of paper to the opposite side and stared at the blank whiteness. "I like writing music. It's a hobby of mine."

Ruby glanced over the whole of the sheet, and then did a double take when seeing the title. "Red Like Roses Part 2? You wrote a fan sequel to Snow Whites Red Like Roses!?" Ruby starred at Weiss. "You write fan-songs?"

Weiss gaped. Was Ruby joking again? "No, that is not a fan song. It's an official sequel." Ruby's eyes went wide.

"You mean, you're...?"

Weiss smiled indulgently.

"You're Snow White's composer! Oh. My. Gods!"

(Slap) "No Ruby! I'm Snow White!" Weiss glared at her oddball friend, though the effect was lessened by the growing red slap mark on her own forehead. Ruby's eyes were as wide as saucers.

"You mean... You're... I'm teamed with... Eeeeeeeeeekkkkkkk!" Ruby squealed in fangirl delight. "That's amazing!"

Weiss permitted herself a small smile. "I would imagine it is, isn't it?"

"This is incredible! I'm partnered with a famous pop star! Oh pinch me I'm dreaming!"

"Hehehe yes, I am a pop star. And you get to help me with music."

"Ouch! Oh my gods I'm not dreaming! This is amazing!"

"Yeah, it is isn't it Ru-."

"I can not believe that you're are the Snow White! I listen to your work all the time! Oh I loved "I Burn."

Unfortunately for Weiss, she had unknowingly tapped into what Yang referred to as 'Fanby', Ruby tendency to dissolve into a shrieking fangirl whenever in the presence of a sufficiently skilled huntress and anyone she considered incredibly powerful and or awesome. Snow White happened to fall into the awesome category, and was ranked between Headmaster Ozpin and Pyrrha on the scale.

It also happened that a fangirl was the one thing that Weiss had been terrified of. "Oh I can't believe it. I read all about how you fought of a Cy-Knight after a concert and...Oh. My. Gods! That was you!"

"Ruby, plea-."

"This is spectacular! Oh I can't hold it in anymore! Please can I have your autograph!"

"Ruby-."

"I have a book somewhere around here! Just be a second!"

"Ru-."

"Found it! Oh this is unbelievable! Getting the autograph of the Snow White!"

"R-."

"Here, have this pen! You can keep it! Oh I can't believe this is happening! Oh miss Snow White is going to sign my autograph book! Oh!"

"..."

"I can't look! Actually, I will! Oh Snow White... Snow White? Where are you going?"

Weiss had spun in her heel and left the room.

"Wait! Don't go! I'm sorry for being so loud, but I can't help it! Please give me your autograph, please! No, wait, come back!"

Weiss walked away, leaving Ruby alone in the hallway and wondering what had jut happened.

"Hey Rubes," said Yang voice from behind her. "What just happened. Ruby turned sheepishly to her sister and Blake.

"Well..."

"...And the I told you the whole story." Ruby wrapped up. Blake and Yang sat on the bed opposite Ruby, which happened to be Blake's bed. Blake sipped her coffee in the awkward silence.

"Well... You messed up."

"Hey!"

Yang dropped her head into her awaiting hands. "Ruby, of all people to fangirl over, you had to choose Weiss. Your partner. I know that she's Snow White, shade, I'd probably fangirl over Snow White. But she's still your teammate. You don't see me putting on cat ears just be a use I think Blake is cool."

And to put that in context, we could consider that the Faunus equivalent of black-face.

"The thing is Ruby, she's still Weiss. And you needed to remember that. You can't keep doing this sort of thing, just losing control of yourself." Yang took on a stern look. "You need to stop and filter yourself first."

"I know Yang." Ruby said, dejectedly.

Blake finished the rest of her coffee. "Okay, I get that Weiss is famous and such, but who's Snow White?"

Ruby and Yang looked at Blake like she'd grown a second head. Blake cocked an eyebrow back. "Just saying. I've never heard of her."

"BUT SHE'S THE MOST FAMOUS POP SINGER OF ALL TIME!" Ruby practically shrieked, earning a thump at the floor as team CRDL below banged their roof at the noise. "Her Spectrum album has sold more cassettes then almost any musician ever. She's been at the top of the charts on multiple occasions. How have you not heard of her?"

Blake shrugged. "The White Fang boycotted a lot of music stores because they wouldn't sell to Faunus. We just got our own musicians."

Yang downed some of her coffee. "Well, to put its simply, Snow White was a famous pop star, but about two years ago, someone, and speculation says it was the White Fang, used a Cy-Knight to attack one of her concerts. She just gave up after that." Yang finished her drink. "I guess that makes sense. Not a lot of people would want to continue that sort of career after having a giant robotic knight attack you."

The three girls sat, silently contemplating the situation. This was the second time in so many days that Weiss had been the center or cause of one of these arguments. If it wasn't Blake and the Faunus, it was Ruby and her fangirling.

"I'm going to say I'm sorry." Ruby eventually decided.

"No duh. I never thought of that." Yang said. She got up and switched sides, plopping down next to her sister. "You're be fine Ruby. You and Weiss are the best of friends, one little argument won't ruin that."

'I hope not.' Ruby thought.

Blake, in her mean time, was running the information through her head. Weiss Schnee, pop star, heiress and all around unpleasant person. It was certainly a strange concept, but not inconceivable. But something just didn't add up about the attack. The White Fang hadn't avoided attacking major political and media figures, mostly because such attacks inspired fear in the populace. But an attack on a pop singer? Sure, it would seem like a good idea if they had been aware that Snow White was Weiss, but if Weiss had been operating under a pseudonym, how had they figured it out.

Weiss was rich enough that if she wanted too, she could have been untouchable, untraceable by the masses. White Fang spies were an option, but it raised another good question: if there had been spies and deliberate sabotage, wouldn't just rigging the stage to explode be a viable alternative to a Cy-Knight?

And that raised another question. A giant robot racing in, swinging a sword around was hardly conducive to a successful assassination. So why would they use one?

...Perhaps, to send a message?"

Blake got off her bed and got her clothes to dress for the day. Such questions bore further consideration, possibly after Ruby and Weiss had made up.

Yeah, that was the plan.

Weiss growled as a pair of Huntsmen made a pass at her. The rest of the school seemed to understand exactly how pissed off she seemed though, as an entire group of students immediately turned and walked away as Weiss stormed through.

Her target quickly appeared around the corner, talking with his perennial friend about old tales of how he once outwitted a Beowulf or wrestled an Ursa barehanded. "Good morning Professor Port." She said cordially.

Peter Port stopped at the sight of the girl that everyone seemed to be avoiding like death itself. The faint glow of raging Aura around her body was the probable cause. "Why, good morning Miss Schnee. How may I be of service to you this fine dawn?"

Weiss smirked internally, her Aura settling somewhat. "I was wondering if we could speak if you had the time?"

Port shared a glance with his converser, Prof. Oobleck. Bart took a sip of his coffee. "Sure, why not." To Weiss; "Hit us with your best shot."

Weiss's Aura had a very visible twitch and roll, mirrored by the girl herself, suppressed annoyance at the unwanted inclusion. She trudged on bravely anyways. "My friend recently learned of a... former occupation of mine. Now she won't stop badgering me about it."

The two teachers stared at her. Oobleck took a sip of his coffee, and finding the cup empty, refilled it from his personal thermos. Port coughed into his hand. "Well Miss Schnee, while I can give you some advice pertaining to this situation, it is my recommendation that you explain further."

"Give us the Who and Why and we can help." Bart explained. Weiss kept a huff to herself, though her Aura was dissipating and her mood was harder to read to the untrained.

"It's Ruby."

"Isn't it always! I mean, look at the title!" Port guffawed.

The three shared an awkward silence. "Of your team. Title of your team that is." Port corrected.

Weiss continued. "Ruby found out I was the vocalist formally known as Snow White and...didn't take it well." Weiss's Aura kicked up again, relaying her true feelings to the two teachers. "I still can't see why the headmaster assigned her to lead our team. She's so juvenile at times."

Port and Oobleck stared at Weiss, then at each other. The pair had known each other for years after the death of Port's fiancée and Oobleck's sister, but in that time, they'd never actually encountered a situation quite like this. However, they knew someone who had dealt with a fanboy once.

"Miss Schnee, while we are well versed with the issues of the teenage and young adult interaction, I must admit..." Port began.

"We have never seen something exactly like this. You see, most people trying to avoid fangirls don't have them on their team." Oobleck continued. "We can't quite help you, but we can send you to someone who does."

Weiss's Aura flared around her before being restrained. "Please professors, just get to the point."

Port scratched his chin. "On the western side of the school, you will find a terrace, raised above a natural slope leading to the forest. On this terrace you will see a tall oak tree, with a carving of the letters J, E, G and R just above head level. Go to the tree at, oh, six o'clock tonight and don't be a minute late. It doesn't reflect well with our friend."

Weiss nodded, then cocked an eyebrow. "Can I know who it is I'll be meeting?"

Port and Oobleck shared a look and chuckled. "Well, where'd the fun be in that?" Unspoken and unnoticed by Weiss was the implication that the heiress might not like their choice of assistant. "You go to class Miss Schnee. We'll talk later if you need it." Port wrapped up. Weiss's Aura finally seemed to settle.

With the assurance that she could, at least get a little help, Weiss gave a curt nod of thanks, turned around and left for her first class. Oobleck and Port kept looking calm and reassuring until she turned a corner. When she did, Oobleck had this to say:

"We're calling in your favor. Actually, scratch that. You are calling in your favor. I'm going to be behind a brick safety wall in the interim."

"Now now Bart, you know she isn't that bad."

"She's terrifying Peter. She's a very mean lady."

Port thought about it and shuddered. "I know Bart. I know.

The day proceeded from there. Weiss attended her classes, and except for Ruby not speaking to her, everything seemed like normal. Contrary to her assumptions, it seemed like Ruby hadn't in fact blabbed to the entire school that she was Snow White. The concept that Ruby could actually keep a secret was...unsettling.

Still, whenever she saw Ruby, it seemed the girl in red always wanted to say something, but could never spit it out. Weiss assumed she was barely controlling herself and keeping herself from asking for an autograph or for her to sing in public. Ruby was quiet though, which was both a plus and a negative. On the one hand, she was quiet, making working easier, but it was so disconcerting that, well, it put her on edge. The last time Ruby actually took anything seriously, Team RWBY had needed to kill a Nevermore.

But for now, that was behind her. Weiss walked through the grounds to the mentioned terrace almost half an hour ahead of schedule. The terrace itself was isolated from the main school, but it was quite beautiful. The land slopped away at just the right angle to create the effect of a wave like pattern. The terrace itself looked like the prow of some exotic ship breaking from the wave, with trees and light shrubbery dotting it.

The oak tree had the best spot to see the surrounding mountains and thanks to its positioning, the branches help shield the eyes from the midday sun. Standing up, you could see the sunset, while laying down in the roots, the terrace wall blocked it out. It was a beautiful place to rest. Weiss took her Scroll out and made a note to bring the rest of team Ruby here when she got the chance.

Time past and the sun sank low amongst the mountains. Orange, pink and baby blue colored the cloudy evening, the sea clouds forming a brilliant band of sun shades and magenta light that shown down to the earth, all against the sky.

It was breath taking.

The sun grew lower, and just as the clock on Weiss's scroll ticked down to six, she could hear the crunch of leaves underfoot from behind. Behind her was both the woman who could probably help her the most, and the one woman she wasn't quite sure she'd ever want to talk to.

"...Hello Weiss." Said Prof. Goodwitch.

"Hello professor." Weiss replied.

Neither spoke for a moment. Weiss coughed awkwardly. Glynda groaned. "Okay, well. Ahem. What seems to be the problem."

Weiss crossed her arms and tapped her fingers against them. Her relationship with Goodwitch had been...strained, almost since the beginning. Their had always been this cold unease that the professor gave off whenever she was in close proximity. The effects were disconcerting, and more then a little annoying.

On Glynda's side of the issue, it was less about how Weiss acted around her and how Weiss acted in general. Weiss was the textbook example of how her teammate Joshua had been before she had graduated. Controlled, cold and calculating, these traits had mellowed out after Josh had been placed on her own team with Evanora and Roman. In all honesty, Joshua Ozpin may have been a better choice to talk to the girl.

But Glynda was one of the people who knew why Ozpin had chosen Ruby Rose and not the trained, older girl before her. And she also knew that she, unlike Ozpin, would be able to get through to Weiss. So she had come.

"Miss Schnee, I was told that Ruby was, to quote Port, 'Fangirling over you.' Is this true?"

Weiss rolled her eyes. "Yes. It's true."

Glynda nodded, the turned around, walked up to the tree and sat between two roots. She patted a spot next to her and Weiss joined her. "Weiss, I know that you don't particularly like it when Ruby is, well, Ruby. I've dealt with that issue as well. When I was on my original team, one of my teammates thought he was in love with me. It was incredibly difficult to be around him because of this. But what separates him from Ruby is that he was isolated from our teammates. He never was able to get advice with this sort of thing. You going to Port though, that makes this different."

"So what are you saying?" Weiss cut across Goodwitch's monologue. To her credit, Glynda let that one slide, but only because Ozpin had been liable to do the same.

"I'm getting to that Miss Schnee. Have patience. Eventually it took me rather strongly rejecting his advances after a particularly severe...incident, for him to back down. But that permanently damaged our relationship."

Weiss's gaze dropped slightly in shame. "How damaged was it?"

'It's gotten so bad that he isn't afraid to try and kill a fifteen year old girl when I'm around.' Glynda thought. Aloud though; "We haven't seen each other on friendly terms in years. Looking back, I know I should have let him down gently, but I had no idea how to when I was your age. But your situation has two differences. The first is that Ruby isn't alone. She has her teammates for help. The second is that you have the chance to try to stop it now, before something crazy happens."

Weiss stared at Glynda, who stared back. "That is barely any advice at all."

Glynda shrugged. "Few people ask me for advice. Mostly they're intimidated by me."

The quiet of nature descended around the two glyph-users. A bird chirped in a tree above. The wind rustled through the leaves. In the distance, the waves crashed against the coast of the school.

"How did you find this place, professor?" Weiss asked.

Glynda sighed at the memory. "My friend found it. He said it was a great place to train. We came here, but we always ended up doing something other then training. It drove Joshua to distraction trying to keep us on track, when he wasn't one of the ones who was reading under an oak tree or just admiring the forest. We'd come up with the craziest of strategies here, or tell about how we took one an Ursa or Beowulf in some far off corner of the world. This place was...after school, this terrace was paradise for us. We became a team under this oak tree." Glynda rapped the trunk and pointed up at the carving. The letters JEGR were underlined just above head height. "Here, we became team Jaeger."

Weiss looked at the carving, an then asked, "Even though your friend still thought he loved you?"

Glynda nodded. The two women watched the sun creep into the mountains, and when it was gone, went their separate ways.

Weiss walked through the deserted hallways of Beacon. Most students had returned to their dorms, though one or two were glimpsed turning corners or disappearing into rooms. Weiss thought about what Glynda had said.

'A team, despite what her teammate was like.' It was a minor issue, it seemed. What professor Goodwitch had said was thought provoking. Her own situation wasn't too dissimilar for Goodwitch's, or was it? Weiss knew she couldn't deal with a fangirl Ruby for an extended period of time, but if Yang and Blake helped her wean Ruby off it, the maybe they could deal with a diluted version of her fangirling.

Weiss stopped in the hallway as Blake came from the other direction. "Where are you going?"

"A. F. L. A. C." Blake answered. "Ruby's in our room. If you want to talk to her, she wants to apologize."

"...Eh?" Weiss realized what she had just said and mentally reprimanded herself. "I mean, she is? She does?"

"Yep." Blake checked her scroll for the time and left. "Good luck with Ruby." She called back.

"Hope you enjoy your club." Weiss added.

Weiss got to the Team RWBY dorm and paused at the door. So this was it. Either Ruby would be able to get past her fangirl tendencies or Weiss would have to put up with them. Either way, she decided, team RWBY would go beyond this. And with that in mind, Weiss stepped in.

Ruby was sitting on her bed. Yang laid in Blake's, reading a magazine. A magazine that made Weiss want to stick her nose up in disgust, but she moderated her reaction to a minor sneer.

Ruby looked at her and watched her sit down Blake's bed. "So, Weiss."

Weiss. Not Snow White. A good sign. "So, Ruby."

Ruby gulped. And then said; "This is all your fault."

"What!" Weiss gasped. Yang put her magazine down to watch the fire works happen. "How could you say that?"

Ruby winced, but pressed on. "I mean, why didn't you try to tell us earlier. When we were still a young team. We...might...have handled it...well." Ruby rallied again. "I don't know how I would have acted back then, but I know that it would have been a better idea to at least put all the chips on the table. Right Yang?"

Yang waved her off. "Don't drag me into this sis. It's your fight."

Weiss however had an enormous vein pounding in her head. "My fault? You selfish, immature, annoying little brat!" She found herself standing, even though she didn't remember getting up.

Ruby suddenly rose to match her height. "I know that Weiss. I'm a terrible leader. We're barely a team. I have no experience leading anyone. But I do have some common sense. These secrets we keep from each other, they're only going to fester and hurt us. We need to be true to ourselves." Ruby put her arms on Weiss's shoulders. "We nearly came apart when you and Blake first started arguing about the White Fang. I nearly drove you away because I was surprised that you were Snow White. We need to trust each other with ourselves."

Weiss's eyes had actually widened in genuine shock. "Ruby, I don't know what to say."

Ruby gave her friend and soft smile. "I do. I'm sorry Weiss." And she hugged Weiss.

Yang smiled at her sister. She doing so well now. Her birthday was only four days away and Ruby was already acting her age.

A/N: oh god, I'm done. Woo hoo!