Weiss turned to look at Ruby, making sure she was with her. Though what she saw threw her off, as a look of pure terror was plastered on her face, directed at her. After a moment, it shifted into rage.
"Ruby..." was the only thing that was able to pass her lips as the scythe came flying towards her wildly. Weiss dodged the first one, the next coming shortly afterwards, a quick glyph deflecting it away.
"HOW DARE YOU TAKE AWAY WEISS FROM ME! SHE DOESN'T DESERVE TO DIE HERE AND NOW! NOT BY YOUR HANDS! SHE DESERVES TO LIVE A BETTER LIFE!" Ruby screamed, tears falling from her eyes as the blade came faster, her semblance kicking in.
Weiss used another glyph to widen the distance between herself and her wild attacker. "Ruby, stop! What are you doing? I'm right here!"
Ruby stopped for a moment, a look of confusion on her face. She shook her head, anger returning, and started to charge Weiss again. "No, you can't confuse me! I know what you did, Emerald, AND YOU'RE GOING TO PAY!" Rose petals started falling as the leader used her semblance to zigzag between one side and the other.
Weiss knew that without her weapon, this fight wouldn't last much longer. Preparing a plan, she waited for the strike, the training between them meant she knew exactly what Ruby's next move was. Anticipating the scythe, Weiss created a glyph on her right side, Crescent Rose connecting right when it formed. The glyph then turned black, holding the weapon in place. She quickly created another glyph underneath herself, sending her to Myrtenaster.
Just before Weiss could grab her weapon, a shot threw her off course. Stopping herself, she looked towards the direction of the bullet. Emerald had one revolver pointed at Weiss, the other sitting in the holster. "Nu uh, can't have that. That would ruin the fun. Now, why don't you be a good girl and Whoa-" The glyph under Emerald sent her flying up, giving Weiss enough time to retrieve her weapon and attack. She struck her from behind, sending her across the school grounds.
"EMERALD, GET BACK HERE! I WILL AVENGE... WEISS?"
Weiss looked back to her partner, who seemed to snap out of whatever control Emerald had on her. That didn't stop Weiss from being tackled to the ground by her leader in a crushing hug. "You're alright! I saw Emerald kill you, but here you are! Wait, where's Emerald?" Ruby removed herself as Weiss only pointed towards where the red eyed opponent was sent after her attack. "Ok, what happened?"
Weiss huffed, shoving Ruby off and standing up. "You started attacking me! After spouting something about what I deserve, you started swinging your scythe at me. Pretty viciously, might I add. What happened?"
Ruby stood up herself, refraining from looking at her partner as she simply said "I thought you were her."
"That's probably the best answer I'm gonna get right now. Come on, we have to stop her before Cinder gets away." Weiss made to rush her opponent, but stopped as Ruby spoke up.
"Actually, I need to go after Cinder now. I need to know what she knows about my mother."
"What?" Weiss looked at her partner in disbelief.
Silver eyes finally locked with blue, "I can't let her escape if I can learn something about my mother. Please, I have to know." Ruby's face formed a look of pleading
Weiss sighed, looking away from her leader, "And you think I can deal with Emerald by myself?"
"Nope."
The heiress looked back at her partner, "What do you mean 'nope'?"
Ruby sighed and took Weiss' hand, "I mean you won't be by yourself. Even if I'm not here, I'll still be able to help you. Same with Yang and Blake. We're a team. We're always there to help each other, even if we aren't physically there. Does that make sense?"
Weiss scoffed, "No. What are you talking about?"
Ruby sighed before continuing "I mean that we can accomplish a lot if we believe in and fight for each other. It'll help us oof-" Ruby was knocked back by a blast.
"Are you two done holding hands and staring longingly into each other's eyes? It's gross to watch."
Weiss looked back to make sure her leader was alright before turning to her opponent. Emerald held one revolver to her side, a bored look on her face. The heiress felt her blood boil, "How dare you attack in such a cheap and callous manner. Do you have no regard for the rules of - Hey!"Another bullet was fired, blocked by a swipe of her sword.
"Come on, Ice Queen. Stop babbling and fight me already!" Emerald drew her second pistol and started firing. Weiss quickly built up a wall of ice, turning to Ruby, who had recovered.
"Alright, you go and hold off Cinder, and I'll be around to help. Don't overdo yourself, and remember I'm not there to help you out. Now go." Weiss stood poised for the fight ahead of her.
"Weiss..."
"GO!" A flurry of rose petals were all that answered her as Ruby bolted off towards the airship port where she saw Cinder headed.
Weiss turned her attention towards Emerald, who was watching the disappearing mass of red with a smile. She stepped out of her protection, and Emerald turned her attention back to her. With both pistols ready, she waited for her opponent to make the first move.
Weiss took advantage of this, rocketing towards her opponent with her weapon in a thrust. Emerald giggled, and moved to block the attack as she did last time. It would have been executed perfectly if the blade was still there. Instead, a glyph changed the position of the attack, as Myrtenaster struck her from above, continuing strikes down her back before a final thrust sent her stumbling.
Recovering quickly, Emerald released her sickles, sending the kusarigamas back around her. Weiss landed on the ground, using another glyph to retreat outside of the range as they sailed away. Channeling her aura through Myrtenaster, she spun the chamber, landing on blue, before sending it to four glyphs, icicles shooting out from them.
Emerald jumped and spun, the kusarigamas spinning around her, destroying the icicles, before landing and reverting one of her weapons to pistol form, firing at Weiss. The heiress used another glyph to escape the blows, setting up a circle of glyphs around her opponent. After the circle was complete, Weiss jumped to one, sending herself to another, striking Emerald as she passed, then jumped to another.
After three jumps, a kusarigama came from outside the circle, wrapping around Weiss' foot, and dragging her out of her attack. She was hurled through the air and into the ground, causing a small crater in the ground as the stone gave way to Weiss' aura.
Weiss slowly regained her footing, searching for her opponent, but not finding her anywhere. Hearing a soft sound, she turned to see Emerald coming in for an attack with her sickle from her left. Positioning to defend herself, she was suddenly hit from behind, sending her into an image that disappeared, before she landed on a glyph. Turning around, she heard another sound, seeing Emerald charging her from the front.
Not being fooled a second time, Weiss channeled her dust and sent a wave of ice all around her, a hit coming from beside her, sending Emerald back from her sneak attack, the faint, fading. 'Now I know what her semblance is. All I have to do is listen and keep track of her.' Weiss thought as she moved to her opponent.
Weiss shifted Myrtenaster, revolving her dust chambers, settling with wind. Repositioning herself, she swirled her sword around, creating a mini tornado, lifting up light debris, and Emerald, spinning her around and sending her flying once again, colliding with the side of the school before settling into the ground. Weiss moved closer to her opponent, making sure she was down.
Cautiously, she approached Emerald, who was sitting against the building, unmoving. She stood for a few moments before being satisfied with her work, turning away to follow her partner, until she heard a soft noise. Turning back, she saw that Emerald was gone. She looked around, taking small steps to keep moving. She was suddenly hit with something, causing her to stumble. After she recovered, she looked around for her attacker. But she couldn't see anything. Even as another strike hit her from her left. Attempting to counterattack, her blade sliced through the wind, missing its intended target.
Looking around, she realized what was happening as another hit glanced her side, spinning her before another hit sent her stumbling forward. 'Alright, that's it.' Weiss flipped the chamber of Myrtenaster to blue as ice started to flow through the blade, forcing it into the ground, causing a large area around her to freeze. 'Just because I can't see you doesn't mean you're not here.'
Weiss removed Myrtenaster and continued looking, this time focusing on the ice. After a moment, Weiss found what she was looking for, a reflection in the ice, showing her exactly were Emerald was. Her opponent also picked up on this, attempting to make a retreat, but being unsuccessful in the ice. Weiss, on the other hand, used a glyph under Emerald to stop her from returning to sure footing, ice slowly encasing her feet, legs, and arms in ice.
Emerald struggled against her restraints, but to no avail. She was stuck solid. Weiss moved up to her, grabbing her face, forcing her red eyes into her blue. "Why are you doing this? What do you gain?"
The captive simply laughed, looking into Weiss' eyes with defiance. "It doesn't matter if I tell you, you're gonna die anyway, whether it be by Cinder, or her."
Weiss looked back in confusion, "Her? There's someone else?"
Emerald continued to laugh, "Of course there's someone else! Who do you think got all of these grimm into the school?"
Weiss was getting frustrated, "So what can you-"
"Oh, big bad Schnee, what're you gonna do, throw your money at me?" Emerald interrupted
Weiss gave a look of rage, "Hey, I-"
"Oh, maybe she'll call for her daddy! She can't do anything by herself anyway! Can't even be a leader of her own team! How worthless do you feel knowing how much you f-Aahh!"
Weiss was done talking, deciding to teach Emerald a lesson, sending her in her ice prison hurling through the air, breaking on contact with the ground. She was fuming, stomping towards her previous captive, still lying on the ground, laughing hysterically. "And what, might I ask, is so funny?"
Emerald was rolling on the floor, clutching her side as her laughter grew. She could barely contain herself before she finally revealed something. "You- You fell for it, you totally fell for it! How stupid can you be?"
Weiss was confused, until she realized what she was laughing at. It was a realization that came too late, as a sickle came from her right, slowing slightly as it pierced through her remaining aura, and embedding itself into Weiss' right eye.
AN: And here we have it, another week, another chapter. Seems like a long time, yet no time at all, since I went on vacation between chapters. A little bit of a different style, focusing more on Weiss than on everyone around, but still familiar.
Shout out to Gorsouul for the awesome reviews on my story so far. He's given me some good advice and made me want to go back and redo certain sections of chapter 2 and 3, which I might do at the end of this.
I hope you all enjoyed this chapter, and please review, follow, and favorite. It's always appreciated!
-MM