Konnichiwa konnichiwa, Planeshunter here! How's everyone doing? I'm enjoying a well deserved day off-work, thanks for asking!
Now, before I confuse myself with the stuff I usually say cuz I feel awkward about starting the chapter just like that... jeez! look at me, doing it again!
Everything will be OK (What if?), 始まります!
The sound of Jolly's engine, so familiar after the long journey, quiets down. Blake lazily opens her eyes. Getting sleepy behind her partner's back is becoming a bad habit. She twitches her ears, the cold twilight wind tickling a bit, but stil nice enough. As she looks upwards, she can't help but feel like a bug before the impressive visage of Atlas' Schnee CCT. This one is nothing like the purely functional building in Vale, but an architecture masterpiece designed to glorify their builders. Even while inoperative, it still serves a capital for the Schenee Dust Company empire.
-"Here we are, Blackey, the Ice Queen is waiting for us."
She simply nods. The journey here has not been easy, and they have faced and triumphed over (or at least ran away fast enough from) Grimm, hunger, bandits, mistrust, racism… That one being specially…
-"Hmm… I don't want to get boring, specially when I was the one who talked you into int, but…" -Blake lets her partner keep talking, already knowing what she's going to say- "Are you sure you don't want to use your ribbon? You know what they say about the daddy Schnee..."
She softly shakes her head, allowing herself a smile.
-"I won't hide who I am anymore, that's what I promised you. Let's badass our way into this thing."
Her eyes veil as she sinks in the reverie of recollection, knowing her partner is doing the same. Some memories are just that meaningful.
It was a day like any other in their seemingly endless journey. There was no real reason for her to snap precisely then. Maybe she didn't had enough sleep that night. Maybe the long days of driving through the continent were finally getting to her. Maybe Yang made one dumb thing too many. But most likely it was all of it together.
-"Oh, for the sake of…" -Seeing how her partner had stuffed the empty right sleeve of her leather jacket, her voice came out stronger and harsher than intended- "Can you please stop trying to hide like that? You're only making a fool out of yourself!"
-"That's easy fer ya to say! Ya don't look like half a woman!"
The agitation is painfully obvious in her voice, and she doesn't face her. It all sounds like excuses to the faunus girl.
-"Now you're just being childish I have seen you practising those kicks" -She should've stopped there, but she is agitated too, and without really knowing why, she adds some shaprness to the intended appeasing- "You're at least three-quarters of a woman."
-"Yeah, ya know what?" -For a moment seems like she's going to talk back, but in the end the blonde just deflates- "You are not helping."
Oh, not again. In spite of the promising beginnings of the journey, a dark mood has invaded her partner quite often lately. Blake reprimands herself She can laugh at herself, you can't. Not when she's like this. How come you haven't learnt yet? Usually she would lose herself in apologies that wouldn't really help, and then resign to wait until Yang's mood improved by itself. But the same feeling that made her snap a moment ago prevents her from it. She's not going to have another black evening, she's not going to stay awake, worried sick about what to do if morning doesn't raise her partner's spirit back up.
-"You can take down a tree with a single blow" -She says instead, closing in to hug her from behind- "I have seen you deliver whirlwind kicks like it's nothing, and your knee strike can take down an Ursa in a single hit."
Feeling her partner's chest swell a bit at her praises, she goes for the kill.
-"And that beowolf that managed to piss you off the other day? That blazing chain kick looked beautiful!" -It was the honest truth, seeing her partner send the grimm upwards, only to jump behind him to connect a combo of kicks, her hair and talons blazing with rage… that visage really evocated the dragon in her name- "You'll be crazy strong when you get that prosthetic, but you don't need it."
Yang turns around, blushing slightly, and she releases her hug.
-"But still!" -She argues, but she's clearly in a better mood- "People won't take me seriously if I look like a crippled girl! They'll will come looking for trouble when they hear I'm a huntress, and we'll never hear the end of it!"
-"They won't take seriously a jester who stuffs her empty sleeve with rags" -Her counterargument is categoric. It's time to finish this discussion- "But missing an arm and nailing it? That's badass."
-"I… I like the sound of that" -Of course she likes, Blake was very careful with her choice of words- "As badass as a faunus showing her heritage without a care about who she ticks off with it?"
Choking with the surprise counterattack, she almost misses the grin of her partner. The cunning vixen! Did she plan this trap? No, Yang is crafty when she wants to, but she wouldn't lie about this. And she was the one who brought the matter of not hiding away after all.
Still, after all this time, taking of her ribbon…
-"So… badassing it is?" -Hesitantly, she reaches for her head- "It could be a nice thing to do… together."
Her self confidence apparently restored, the blonde simply keeps her unwavering smirk. Blake grabs her ribbon, but that very instant all her resolution fades away. All the hostility she has met in her life seems to pass before her eyes. Scorn and sneering first, as she foolishly strived to 'make a difference'. Fear and hate later on, when things began to go truly wrong.
Is her heart ready to face it again? Unsurprisingly, the answer doesn't come from her heart, but from the warmth of a hand in her shoulder. She answer's her partner's smirk with a weak smile of her own. What a mess they are, scarred in mind and body. But the strength they lack alone, they'll get relying on each other.
-"Yeah!" -She undoes the ribbon with a single pull. There, it's done.- "Let's badass it!"
Somewhere else, as our couple enters the Schnee headquarters...
-"I already have a team."
-"Be reasonable, Miss Schnee. Your father's still your legal guardian and he's decided you enroll you in Atlas."
-"A convenient tool to deny someone of their own free will. Because, unfortunately for my father and you, I do have a will, and plan to act according to it."
-"Even if that's what you really want, entertaining your father's wishes will be the fastest route to there. But think about it, finding a team willing not only to accept you, but to be led by you at this point of the school year was no easy task. WITR will surprise you if you give them a chance. "
-"Of course, I could play the good girl and meld with this… 'wither' thing, I could be best friends and we would do great things together and we would finally meet with my old team. And then, no matter which way I were to choose, I would hurt someone dear. No thanks." -Weiss looks eyes with the... 'headmaster'- "I'll entertain my father by enrolling the Academy without making a fuss, but if you dare assign me to a team, there will be hell to pay."
And this will be all for now. Damn, I keep getting short chapters… But I try to cut the story where it feels right to. And that's here. Also, I've had one heck of a week, with barely any time for myself (and with myself I mean writing) and a submission for RWBY's Reddit MonCon to get ready
Anyway, I really liked the idea behind this chapter. That concept of the girls seeing themselves as broken, and yet drawing strength on each other to not only keep going but actually 'badassing' their way through life.
I have to admit this one arguably deviates from canon, nothing has happened to make Blake feel 'broken', and I stand in very thin threads to make it believable. Oh, well… what can I say. No, seriously, I have no idea of what to say. Look behind you, a three-headed monkey!
*whoops away*
-Planeshunter