Ruby was stressed, sleep deprived, and terrified. She had never had a more difficult task put in front of her in here entire life. She had already written her will and left everything to Zwei. If by some miracle she survived, she would a completely different person. It was midterms week. Being moved up two years was nice and all, but the amount of stuff she didn't know was a huge pain. Even though she spent half the summer going over the classes she'd be missing with Yang, she was still always playing catchup all semester. Plus she had all of her duties as team leader. It was just so much. Beacon put a hold on all combat training for the week to give students time to study, but even with that extra time she didn't know if it'd be enough. She was deep in her books when she heard a knock at the door that startled her half out of her chair. She had to use her semblance not to land on her back. She opened the door and it was Jaune. That was nice.
"Oh hi Jaune. What can I do for you?"
"Oh well my team and I were going to the library for a group study session and I thought we could invite you guys as well. Pyrrha says that studying with a partner can make it easier to learn things, so I though studying with 7 partners would make it way easier."
"Oh well I'd love to join."
"Count me in too" added Yang.
"I guess I'll tag along," said Blake.
All three girls looked at Weiss, who hadn't even looked up from her notes. She could feel their gazes though.
"Alright fine, but only because it'll be harder for you three to get away with slacking off. We are graded as a team you know."
"You heard them Jaune, team RWBY is ready for operation study group."
The girls gathered their things and left their dorm. The campus was practically a ghost town. The normal buzz and hum had been replaced with an eerie silence and an energy of stress and anxiety. Maybe that's why the upperclassmen had midterms on different weeks, so they could help with the extra grimm presence. As they walked into the library it became clear they weren't the only teams with this idea. Lucky for them then that Pyrrha had gone through the trouble of scoping out the library a few days ago and realized not many people studied in the basement. She had even booked some time in a private study room. How kind of her. The teams sat down and pulled out their various textbooks and notes. Ruby pulled out her history textbook and a highlighter and got right back to where she left off in her dorm.
"I have some flashcards for our history exam if anyone wants to go over them with me. We'll use the study room so we don't bother the others." Pyrrha said, looking over at Jaune.
"Why thank you Pyrrha I'd love to study with you." Replied Weiss.
Ruby could've sworn that behind Pyrrha's kind smile her eyes were staring daggers into Weiss. Weird, probably just imagining things. She did need help with history though.
"OOOO Weiss can I join you? We can go over them together."
"That sounds like a great idea." Replied Pyrrha, handing Ruby the flashcards.
"Wait, but-" it was too late for Weiss. Ruby was already taking her hand and dragging her to the study room.
Jaune pulled out his textbook on the flora and fauna of Vale. He was okay at most of the material in the survivalist class, but for some reason he was terrible at telling the various plants apart. They just all looked the same. How was he supposed to know what shade of blue the poison berries were?
"Hey guys, does anyone here have some advice on telling plants apart? I can't remember all these little details."
"REN IS GREAT AT THAT!" Shouted Nora.
A loud "SHSSSSHSHHHHHHHHHH" echoed throughout the floor.
"Sorry," she continued, lowering her voice. "Ren is great at that. I would've poisoned myself every week without him."
Yeah that checks out, Jaune thought to himself. "Can I get some help then Ren?"
Ren closed his book and looked at Jaune. "I guess it can't be harder than teaching Nora. I'll do my best."
"I knew I could always count on you." Jaune said happily, taking a seat next to Ren.
Pyrrha was less than thrilled with how the day was going. She went through all the trouble of setting up a nice quiet place to hang out with Jaune, and yet again she was separated from him. Of course he'd ask others to join. He's so kind like that. It was one of the things she liked most about him. She was barely able to focus on her work, so she was a little caught off guard when Yang tapped her on the shoulder.
"Pyrrha?" Yang whispered?
"Oh? Yes, what is it Yang?"
"You must know a lot about weaponry and armor right?"
"Why do you say that?"
"Well, your weapon and armor. Only Ruby has something more elaborate than your spear… sword… gun… thing."
"I guess that's true, I've never really thought about it before."
"Can you help me study then? I've relied way too much on Ruby for my own weapon knowledge. If we do bad in the armory exam cuz of me I'll die of shame."
Pyrrha was honestly more shocked that Yang could feel shame than that she didn't know much about weapons and materials. She had just assumed she was team RWBY's Nora. But then again, no one was as extra as Nora.
"I'll do my best, though I'm still no Ruby."
"You're a lifesaver Pyrrha."
Nora and Blake were the only ones left studying alone. Nora looked at Blake expectantly, but Blake was far too busy reading to notice her. She looked harder, trying to send a telepathic message into Blake's mind, but Blake's mind was caught in her book. Eventually, Blake looked up from her book as she heard the study room door close. Ruby and Weiss were done studying, and Weiss looked surprisingly calm. Maybe their relationship really was beginning to smooth out. That was good. As they sat down she spoke up.
"Can I borrow those flashcards? My history lessons were a bit biased, I feel like I still have some unlearning to do."
"CAN I JOIN YOU?" Nora shouted again, desperate to interact with someone.
Blake chuckled. "If you can keep your voice down, sure."
Nora beamed and skipped off to the study room, Blake and flashcards in tow.
Yang noticed Ruby was eying her very suspiciously. Had she already caught on? Was her secret finally going to be revealed?
"Hey Yang, what are you and Pyrrha working on?"
"uhhhhhhhh" She hadn't actually thought this far ahead.
"Oh just going over Grimm types. The ones we have in Mistral are a bit different."
Nice save Pyrrha
"Yeah, and I could use some review too. You know how I am with names."
"Well you wouldn't struggle with their names if you had just played huntresses with me when we were little."
"Are you ever going to let that go?"
"Nope." Ruby pouted.
"Huntresses…?" Pyrrha asked.
"Oh, Ruby had a huge collection of toy Grimm and huntsman action figures. I think she had a toy of every type of grimm in Vale."
"Yeah, I was pretty cool." Ruby added.
"How did the history lesson go?" asked Jaune, looking for a distraction. Ren's lecture, while very helpful, was putting him to sleep. His monotone voice was perfect for putting anyone to sleep.
"Surprisingly well" replied Weiss, assuming Jaune was talking to her. That was what he tended to do after all.
"Jaune focus" Ren snapped.
"Yes sensei Ren," he replied immediately shifting his focus back to the lecture.
"What are you two studying anyway?" asked Weiss.
"They're making sure Jaune doesn't poison himself" joked Yang.
"Hey I never said I was that hopeless at identifying plants."
"Jaune you once gave Weiss a bouquet of roses and called them tulips," said Ruby sighing.
"I thought I told you not to tell anyone about."
Everyone looked at him as if to say "is that really the most embarrassing story of you hitting on Weiss. Weiss chuckled.
"I'll join you," she said. "It's not like we have a lot of flora in Atlas. I could use the extra help."
Jaune was not expecting that. Weiss didn't usually go out of her way to spend time with him. Well, he guessed this wasn't really spending time with him, but still. She sat in between him and Ren. How was he supposed to focus now? Was this on purpose? Some form of revenge maybe? If he failed his survivalist exam Weiss was going to be at fault.
"Jaune?" Ren snapped his fingers to get his attention.
Weiss snickered.
Ren sighed and got up. "I'm going to print out some flashcards for you two to study. You better study hard, because if you don't get at least 70% right, no pancakes for you two tomorrow.
"Ren…" Jaune pleaded
"Don't worry Ren, I'll make sure Jaune stays focused." Weiss said patting his leg.
Pyrrha tried so hard to not listen to them. She really did, but this was like pouring salt on a wound. And worse, Yang was just hopelessly behind in her armory knowledge. How did she grow up with Ruby and learn nothing? She should've at least learned something through osmosis. She thought about just telling Ruby the truth, but she needed Yang as an ally to fight against the ice queen. But should she really do that? Wasn't this what Jaune wanted anyway. She only wanted Jaune to be happy, should she really interfere?
"Hey Pyrrha, you there?" Yang waved her hand in front of Pyrrha's face. "Earth to Pyrrha, come in."
She snapped back into focus. "Oh, sorry Yang, lets get back to studying the material properties of steel." she said on autopilot.
"The what?" asked Ruby.
Good side lost.
"My dearest sister yang did you lie to me?"
"What? I have no clue what you're talking about. Pyrrha must've been daydreaming."
"Sure…" Ruby's eyes narrowed as she gazed into Yang's soul for the truth.
"No really I swear. I already have you why would I need help learning about stuff like that."
"You told me you liked listening to me talk about weapons," Ruby said with a pout. The jig was up, and Yang knew it too.
"Okay… well… I did, I do. But not because I pay attention. I just like seeing you happy."
"I KNEW IT. THAT'S WHY YOU NEVER SHOWED ME YOUR REPORT CARDS."
"You went that far to hide this from Ruby?" Pyrrha asked, a bit shocked.
"I just didn't want to ruin your fun. It always made you so happy."
Ruby crossed her arms. "HMPH. You owe me an apology." She turned her head up dramatically. She had gotten this from Weiss.
"Ruby I'm sorry-"
"Not that kind of apology." Ruby stood up and walked over to her sister. "You're going to have to listen to me lecture about weapons."
Yang blinked in confusion. "You're not mad?"
Ruby giggled. "Mad? Why would I be mad. Now I get to tell you all that stuff again" she said excitedly. "And look, Blake and Nora and done." She pointed to their friends. Nora was carying a catatonic Blake. What happened to her? Pyrrha feared for Yang as Ruby dragged her off to the study room. She turned her attention to Nora, who sat Blake down on a beanbag by the table.
"Nora what did you?"
"I think I broke her." Nora poked at Blake's face to no response.
"We can see that Nora but how?" asked Weiss, concerned for her teammate.
"She, sh-she goes s-s-so fast. Sh-she go-got every an-answer ri-ight, in-in one min-u-inute. My arms, the-ey can't." Blake passed out. Nora was scary.
The rest of the study session went smoothly. Blake recovered thanks to an apology tea from Nora, though she sat as far from her as possible for the remainder of the day. Ren promised her extra pancakes as well. Jaune and Weiss were barely able to pass Ren's flashcard quiz, which meant they would be allowed pancakes, but Ren wasn't satisfied. He sent them to the study room to go over the cards they missed until they could both ace the whole set. They had to find a new room, as Yang was trapped in the one Pyrrha had reserved with Ruby. Neither group returned until dinner time. Yang fell asleep halfway through Ruby's lecture, but Ruby was too excited to bother making sure she was paying attention. She agreed to let Pyrrha be the one to teach her, much to her dismay. Weiss got her extra cookies at dinner to cheer her up.
After dinner the gang went to JNPR's room to watch a scary movie and decompress a little. Pyrrha had brought a big TV that she used for studying combat tape, so their room was the de-facto destination for movie nights. Jaune, Pyrrha, and Weiss sat on Pyrrhas bed. Nora and Ruby were banned from beds as they wanted to eat popcorn. Blake was barely able to watch the movie, much to Yang's amusement. She spent most of the movie with her eyes buried in Yang's shoulder. And Ren didn't speak or move all movie. They were pretty sure he mediated through the whole thing. By the time the movie was up, Pyrrha had fallen asleep on Jaune's shoulder. Team RWBY quietly said their goodnights and Ren and Nora fell asleep, but Jaune just sat there, not wanting to wake Pyrrha. When she woke up, it was just her and Jaune. She wanted to ask him to stay with her, just sleep in her bed for once. But her words failed her, and Jaune passed out in his own bed after hugging her goodnight. Maybe tomorrow things would go her way.