Here's my first attempt at writing Monochrome. Yay! This story isn't as holiday-themed as the first two, but it does take place during the holidays. Hope you enjoy either way.

The dorms were blissfully quiet. Only a handful of students chose to stay at Beacon over the winter break, making conditions ideal for Blake. She could go outside and walk around the grounds without encountering anyone else and could read her books late into the night without worrying about idiotic people running down the hallways outside. She even felt safe taking off her bow when in the dorm room.

Despite the relative solitude, however, she wasn't spending the holidays alone. Weiss had also elected to remain at Beacon. As her sister would be away on an assignment, she had seen no point in dealing with her father's nonsense alone for multiple weeks.

The two spent most of their time in comfortable silence, with Blake reading and Weiss either studying or browsing through some of her favorite store's websites using her scroll. At night, they would usually sit on Weiss's bed, rent one of the small televisions available to students, and put on some classic black and white movie, glad of the chance to watch something other than the action/adventure flicks loved by Ruby and Yang.

They usually fell asleep after reaching their own beds, but one particular night involved a three-hour film that wasn't even over by the time the girls conked out.

Weiss found herself waking up after only a few hours. She blinked slowly, wondering what had woken her. Then, she felt thrashing next to her and turned to see Blake curled up on top of the blankets, gripping them tightly while whimpering.

Immediately, Weiss started shaking her shoulder. "Blake? Blake? Wake up!"

Blake let out a yelp as she jerked awake, her wide amber eyes reflecting what little light was coming from the television and window. She stared around for a moment before her gaze settled on Weiss. Letting out a breath, she felt her shoulders relaxing as she realized where she was. "Sorry, Weiss," she muttered, her ears flattening.

There was a light sheen of sweat on Blake's face. Weiss took a clean handkerchief out of her pocket and started wiping gently. "Don't apologize. We all have nightmares sometimes." She thought of her recurring dream of the giant knight and the even more common dream of her father beating her after receiving particularly-bad news concerning the White Fang.

She tossed the cloth toward her dirty clothes pile once Blake's face was clean. "Want to talk about it?"

Blake hesitated. The dream had been about the White Fang, and she knew how Weiss felt about anything mentioning them. However, the concern in her teammate's mist-blue eyes and the coolness of the hand that came forward to grasp her own caused her to nod. "I…I told you about Tukson, right?"

Weiss felt her eyes narrow as she nodded. She remembered the day Blake had come home, a vacant look in her eyes as she told them of the puma Faunus's death. "Your friend at the book shop. You said he was probably killed by the White Fang." She gave Blake's hand a light squeeze to show her sympathy.

Blake nodded, gratefully returning the grip. "Well, there's been news of other Faunus getting killed the same way. All of them are ex-White Fang members." She took a shuddering breath. "More and more, I've been dreaming of them…coming for me next. And killing all of you just to clean up any loose ends."

"That's…horrible." Weiss's brows furrowed. She often forgot about the struggles of Faunus not affiliated with the White Fang. While she liked Blake (liked her a great deal, admittedly) and tolerated Sun's antics, she knew that there was a long road between her and total acceptance and understanding of the Faunus. She was determined to bridge that gap, however.

"Would it help if I scratched your ears?" she asked. At Blake's surprised look, she hurriedly explained. "I read that some Faunus like having their ears scratched by people close to them. They find it soothing in some cases. I thought I should ask first, though." Her cheeks flushed as she hoped desperately that her teammate wasn't offended.

Blake felt a blush rising to her face and her ears twitched. No one had scratched them since Adam, and that had been a lifetime ago. They had gone untouched for a few years by everything but her bow. She wasn't entirely sure of how she'd react to them being touched now, but she found herself nodding her head anyway.

She initially tensed at the feeling of Weiss's cool hand brushing her exposed ears, but the first scratch at the base of her left one caused her to practically melt against the heiress. She slumped against Weiss's side, closing her eyes contentedly as a warm tingle spread from her head to the rest of her body.

Weiss blinked in surprise at Blake's response and started to lightly rub the fur on her left ear. She both felt and heard the purr that rose in her teammate's chest. She was grateful that Blake wasn't looking at her face, as it was likely as red as Ruby's cape at that moment.

"You don't need to be scared, Blake," she whispered as she continued to caress her friend's soft fur. "The White Fang won't find you. Even if they do, we can fight them. We've done it before. You're not alone in this." After a moment, she moved up her other hand so that she could rub both ears at the same time. The purr increased in volume, causing Weiss's cheeks to heat up further.

Blake snuggled unabashedly against Weiss, nuzzling her neck and purring happily. She would probably feel really embarrassed about this once the ear petting ended, but it just felt so good, especially after having gone without it for so long.

Weiss bit her lip to keep from giggling at how adorable Blake was acting. She would definitely have to find some excuse to do this again in the future. Movement from the window caught her eye, and she turned to look while still dutifully petting her friend's ears. Her smile widened at what she saw. "Blake, it's snowing."

Reluctantly, Blake dislodged herself from Weiss so she could turn to look at the window. It was true. White flakes were fluttering past the windowpanes and she could see a shimmering layer already gathering on the roof. "We should walk around in the morning," she remarked. "Around the school, there won't be a lot of people to spoil it with footprints."

Weiss nodded. "That sounds wonderful."

Blake continued to watch the snow, but found herself leaning back against Weiss. She sighed contentedly as the heiress wrapped her arms around her middle. "Weiss?"

"Yes?"

"I'm really glad you decided to stay." Blake blushed a little as she said this, her ears flickering shyly.

A warm, fluttering feeling filled Weiss's chest. Leaning close, she touched a quick kiss to the tip of Blake's right ear. She smiled at the surprised chirping sound the Faunus made. "Me too, Blake. Me too."

Yeah, I can't write a romance-themed fic with Blake that doesn't involve her purring. It's just too freaking adorable! Purring kitty Blake is life! Peace out.