The darkness had always been comforting. The lack of illumination – even if it did not affect her much – had always granted her solace, if only because it hid her terrified expression from the rest of the world.

Tonight, it bared its fangs against her like a ravenous beast.

Panting, Weiss gripped the front of her pajamas with icy fingers. Even though the night was by no means cold, her whole body still shook uncontrollably, assaulted by a strange, overbearing chill.

She had thought those nightmares were a thing of the past. She had prayed that they would leave her alone, but they never let her have her way; unrelenting, they would rear their ugly heads over and over again, haunting her in the dark – her only place of recluse.

"Calm down, Weiss…" she whispered shakily, trying and failing to reassure herself. "Ca-"

Eyes suddenly widening in shock, Weiss froze. She had believed herself to be safe since she was under the cover of night, but she had forgotten something important: she was not back home, and she was sharing a room with her three teammates.

On top of that, one of them could see through the dark like she could.

Turning somewhat reluctantly towards said teammate's bed, Weiss cast a cautious glance towards the woman known as Blake Belladonna. Sure enough, the raven-haired Faunus was awake, and her bright hazel eyes were staring in her direction.

An awkward silence descended, hanging in the air as Weiss and Blake continued their staring contest, with neither side saying anything or breaking the eye contact. The heiress had no idea what to say or do, which was shameful for a Schnee, but now was not the time for such trivial worries.

Why was Blake looking at her like that? Did she say something weird in her sleep? Did she… spill some secrets she wasn't supposed to?

"Bad dream?" Blake asked, breaking the silence with a hushed question.

"Y-yeah," Weiss stammered, breaking out in cold sweat.

"What was it about?" Blake went on, getting up and sitting on the edge of her bed.

You guys found out about me, and detested me for it.

The reply almost slipped out, but Weiss managed to force it back in time. If she actually said it, there would be no going back. She wouldn't be able to cover it up, and her life at Beacon would be over. She couldn't let it end here, all because of some stupid dream.

"O-oh, I just dreamt that I was falling," Weiss fibbed. "You know; it's one of those common ones that make you jerk awake… It's nothing to worry about. T-thanks, Blake."

Blake said nothing, continuing to look at Weiss with a stern expression on her face. Then, for no reason at all, the cat Faunus raised a hand, moving her fingers in weird motions.

"W-what're you doing?" Weiss asked, raising an eyebrow.

"So you can see in the dark."

The world stopped, and time itself grinded to a halt. Weiss, unable to contain her shock, let it show openly on her face. Her whole body began trembling once more, this time far more violently than before. She tried to say something – anything – but nothing would come out; it was as though an invisible hand had wrapped its fingers around her throat, gripping it so tightly that no sound could be made.

The air around her grew thinner. She was having problems breathing, and her palpitations skyrocketed, leaving her helpless in the darkness she had once believed her ally. Her mind was a maelstrom of utter chaos, filled with panicked thoughts and frightened pleas, struggling to escape and ease her pain. She wanted to throw up, and it took all her remaining willpower to hold in the bile rising up her throat.

"W-what're you talking about?" she managed at last, even though her composure was completely lost. "I-I just wanted to know what you were doing up at this hour."

"Is that so," Blake stated plainly. "Don't worry about it; it's nothing. Go back to sleep."

And with that she lay back on her bed, pulling the sheets over her body and turning away. With her back to Weiss, there was no telling if she was really going back to sleep, but that was the least of her worries.

"Goodnight, Weiss," she said, her tone even.

"G-goodnight," Weiss replied, not moving from her sitting position. The ominous creaking of Ruby's bed reached her ears, seemingly mocking her current predicament. It slowly dissipated back into silence, leaving a minimal trace of its former presence, as though trying to remind her that it was still there. Not that it mattered to her right now; for once, Weiss was not concerned about the death trap her partner slept on.

For another reason altogether, Weiss did not sleep a single wink that night.

For the fifth time that morning, Weiss sighed. She wanted to believe that whatever happened last night had been a dream, but she was not that naïve; there was no taking back what she had said and done, and there was no denying what had already transpired.

Opening her mouth wide, the heiress absentmindedly began her daily inspection of her teeth. Normally, she would have taken extra care to make sure each and every tooth was not growing into a fang, but today she was just too preoccupied with her thoughts. Instead, her body simply went through the motions like clockwork, moving about in the same way as they usually would. When she was finally done, it felt like nothing had been accomplished whatsoever.

Sighing for the sixth time, Weiss unlocked the bathroom door and stepped out-

"Weiss?" Blake spoke up, leaning against the wall with her arms folded across her chest. "What were you doing in there?"

"O-oh, um…" Weiss fumbled with her words, unsure of what to say. Blake had not mentioned anything about last night, but the heiress was still unable to maintain her composure as she struggled to meet her teammate's eyes. "I-I was flossing my teeth."

"With fingernails?" Blake asked skeptically, raising an eyebrow.

"I was… going to floss them, b-but then I remembered I ran out of floss," Weiss replied apprehensively.

"So you spent ten minutes looking for some?" Blake went on. Her eyebrows were in danger of disappearing into her hair, but Weiss left that detail alone.

"Y-yeah," Weiss answered. "Couldn't find any, though, so I gave up."

"I see," Blake said flatly, walking past her teammate and into the bathroom. "Oh, and one more thing. Weiss."

"W-what is it?" Weiss stammered, trying her best to look natural. Or neutral. Or whatever she was supposed to look like right now.

"You haven't been… making contact with another Faunus, have you?"

Weiss froze. Of all the things Blake could have said, she had not been expecting that one.

"Why do you ask me that?" she asked at last, managing to produce a proper sentence without stuttering.

"You... never mind," Blake sighed, shaking her head. "Forget about it."

And with that, she closed the door, ending the conversation right then and there.

Leaving Weiss thoroughly confused and white as sheet, Blake absentmindedly splashed some cold water on her face. It hardly cleared her head, and it certainly did nothing for her worries, but it kept her occupied.

She had almost said it. In front of the heiress of the Schnee empire, Blake had almost said something that would definitely have insulted Weiss's pride. Last night aside, this was simply inexcusable; to tell her she smelled strongly of Faunus was one thing, but it was another thing altogether to say what she had almost let slip:

That Weiss had smelled like her mother.

Sorry for the short chapter; been a little busy as of late.

To clarify, the 'her mother' at the end was referring to Blake's mom. I didn't know how to make it less confusing in the end, so I left it as is. Sorry about that.

Anyway, I'll see you next chapter!