Chapter 2: An Odd Invitation
(Insert Trumpet Noise Here) Fellow readers! It is I, Lord The Draigg! I have come to grace you with a most wonderful gift! Behold! Another chapter! However, there is one catch before you can have it: you must know that Monty Oum owns RWBY, not I. Now, be merry! This gold is now yours!
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Team RWBY fell silent as they entered Professor Ozpin's office. Every time a student walked in there, they would always be overwhelmed by a sense of sophistication and technological progress. Weirdly enough, however, Ozpin himself wasn't that big of a fan of the design of his office. Personally, he felt that the large spinning gears and other clockwork machinery was overkill. What he would have rather had was a large, poorly lit, mostly empty office, with only his desk in the middle. And, if he had to have decorations in there, he would have chosen a large carving of a tree of life on the ceiling, which would be reflected on the shiny floor.
"I should really get an interior designer in here," Ozpin thought to himself as Team RWBY walked up to his desk. But, now wasn't the time to worry about the look of his office. He had more important work to attend to.
"Team RWBY," He greeted to the girls on front of him. They all looked a bit tense. "Please, take a seat." He then offered, waving his hand over to the chairs in front of his desk. Once the girls sat down, he began to explain why he called them in.
"Now, I'm sure you're wondering why I called all of you in here." He began. That got him some small nods.
"Have any of you ever heard of the Azul Concern?" he then asked them.
Yang scratched her head, Blake looked around awkwardly, and Ruby shook her head. Sighing, Weiss spoke up. It looked like she was the only one aware of charitable organizations among her friends.
"They're a group dedicated to teaching proper dust handling," Weiss replied.
"Precisely, Ms. Schnee." said Ozpin. "Now, I received a call from not only them, but one of their major backers as well: the Schnee Dust Company.". His tone of voice indicated he wasn't very interested in talking to them. But, it was his job as headmaster to listen to all offers, no matter who suggested them.
Weiss visibly froze when she heard those words. Of course her family would try to barge into her life again. It was as if they thought the latest attempt to keep her under their thumb wasn't enough. She could already tell that this whole thing had her father's fingerprints all over it.
"They approached me with a most interesting offer. They want you, Team RWBY, to be the latest goodwill ambassadors for their organization in Vale,". continued Ozpin.
"Cool!" Ruby exclaimed.
"Groovy!" chimed in Yang.
"I refuse," Blake said bluntly. That got her shocked looks from everybody, including Weiss. How could she turn down an offer like this, even though Ozpin wasn't done explaining it?
"Please, let me finish. Now, since this would also reflect well on Beacon if all of you go, I'm willing to offer you full team credits for your work. In addition, the Azul Concern and the Schnee Dust Company said they would be willing to compensate you at an exorbitant amount,", Ozpin explained further.
"I still refuse," Blake said again, not giving in.
"And why not?" asked Ozpin, arching an eyebrow.
"Sir, I fell strongly for the proper treatment of Faunus kind, so I can't help those who abuse them for personal gain," Blake explained, her voice sounding restrained. It sounded like she was ready to start ranting on how the Schnee Dust Company was violating Faunus rights at the drop of a hat.
"You're going on the behalf of the Azul Concern, not the Schnee Dust Company," cleared up Ozpin.
"I'm aware of that. But… I can't." Blake said, hoping to leave it at that. To be honest, she was feeling rather conflicted. On the one hand, Weiss was a good friend, and she was the heiress to the company she had opposed in her past. On the other hand, her revolutionary ideal still held sway with her conscience. So, she figured the best way to deal with this was just refuse to go.
"Please, Blake!" Ruby begged, tugging at her arm. "We can't do it without you!".
"Yeah!", Yang added, "We wouldn't be a team without you. Just think of this from a different point of view!".
"Really? How?" asked Blake incredulously.
"Well…" Yang thought aloud. Seeing where Yang was going with this, Ruby thought quickly. She needed something to entice Blake into going with them.
"Think of it this way! If you go out there and talk about how dust also hurts Faunus people, then not only would you be raising awareness on dust injuries, but on how the Faunus are affect by all of this! It's a win-win!" suggested Ruby.
Blake unconsciously scratched at the bow covering her cat ears. She had to admit, Ruby had a good point. This could be a chance to lobby for Faunus rights! She could succeed where the rest of the White Fang failed! She could spread ideas, not violence! Why didn't she think of that before?
After a few minutes of silent thinking, Blake finally relented. "Fine. I'll do it." She agreed, sounding a little hesitant. She just hoped that she wouldn't regret this decision later.
"Yay!" Ruby cheered, patting Blake's shoulder. But, then she remembered that she was still in Ozpin's office. So, she shrank back into her seat.
"Are you up to this, Ms. Schnee?" asked Ozpin, his attention turning to the white haired girl.
"I'll fully support the Azul Concern," Weiss replied, almost sounding mechanical. It wasn't like she had a real choice in ignoring a direct order form her family's company. Plus, turning down a charity wouldn't speak well for her or her team.
"Excellent," Professor Ozpin said, before pulling out four print-outs and putting them in front of Team RWBY. They all picked up one and looked it over. Apparently, it was a mission objective from the Azul Concern.
"Now, in the message, it said you were to report to the air dock on Friday morning to leave. Since we aren't sure how long this excursion will be, your school assignments will be sent directly to your student e-mail accounts," Ozpin explained further.
Seeing the girls still looking over the print-outs, Ozpin had one last thing to ask. "Is all of this understood?".
"Yes, Professor," Ruby replied, snapping her attention away from the paper and to the man's face.
"Good. All of you are dismissed. You may go back to class," Ozpin ordered, before turning his chair to look out the window. Seeing that Ozpin was done with them, Ruby stood up and walked out of the office. Soon, the rest of Team RWBY followed her lead.
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The group walked through the hallways to their next class in silence. In all fairness, there just wasn't much to talk about other than their upcoming 'adventure'. However, while sitting in their last class, Ruby watched Weiss with some concern. She was moving almost mechanically, as if she was running on instinct right now. Now, Ruby knew that she had some major unresolved issues regarding her family. Maybe she just froze up in response to them getting involved in her life again. Whatever the reason, Ruby had to get to the bottom of it. Not only was her duty as a team leader, but as a loyal girlfriend as well.
Ruby pulled out her scroll and typed a brief message to Weiss. It read:
"r u ok?". Clearly, Ruby was a student of the stereotypical teenage girl school of texting.
Weiss was pulled out her icy silence by a rumbling in her pocket. It was her scroll going off. When she opened it, she saw it was a message from Ruby. She groaned inwardly. What did she want?
Weiss then scanned over the message. Of course Ruby was asking if she was fine. Leave it to her to extend her big heart out to her right now. If it wasn't for the fact that Weiss knew Ruby very well, she would have otherwise thought she was a straight up psychic empath.
She typed out a message in response: "I'm fine, Ruby. Pay attention to class.". Weiss then hit the 'send' button, hoping to put this issue to rest. However, her hopes were squashed when she felt her scroll vibrate less than thirty seconds later.
Weiss rolled her eyes and read the message Ruby had sent her. "Dnt ly 2 me. Whts wrng?" it said. Damn, Ruby sure was persistent. There was no way she was going to let her intuition go just like that.
"If you must insist on talking to me, do it after class." Weiss typed out, making a concession to her girlfriend. She sent the message to her, hoping that at least she wouldn't bother her until later. She had to keep her grades up, after all.
Ruby quickly sent over another message. "Snck br?".
Now Weiss just wanted this exchange to be over with, "Sure." was the message she sent back.
Looking at Ruby out of the corner of her vision, Weiss saw Ruby read her message. Ruby briefly flicked her eyes towards her in concern, before putting her scroll away. It seemed like her plea had bought her some time.
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Oddly enough, as if the universe sped up time itself, the next major thing to happen to Weiss was said meeting. Okay, it was also partially Ruby's doing as well. As soon as they changed out of their school uniforms, she literally dragged Weiss by the wrist out to the snack bar. Just what was her obsession with this place, anyway? Maybe it was the atmosphere. After all, those white rose bushes nearby did smell rather nice, and looked absolutely radiant in the afternoon sun.
Weiss and Ruby were sitting in one of the wrought-iron tables near the snack bar, enjoying their respective beverages. Weiss had her tea, as she was trying to wean herself off of coffee, and Ruby had milk, into which she poured several packets of hot chocolate mix. Weiss had no idea how she drank that concoction. Why didn't she just get a regular hot chocolate? Man, Ruby was sure making Weiss ask a lot of questions to herself today.
Running her finger around the rim of her cup, Weiss finally asked, "What exactly are you so worked up about, Ruby?".
Ruby, who had been taking a sip of her drink, quickly swallowed to reply. However, some of the beverage went down the wrong pipe, and that sent her into a brief fit of coughing before she managed to say, "I'm *cough* really con-*wheeze* concerned about you. *hack* You seemed frozen today. *cough*".
Weiss sighed, and then took a sip of her tea. She never really got the positive buzz surrounding it. To her, it was just hot leaf water. But, if she wanted to kick her coffee habit, this was a crucial step.
Putting down her cup, Weiss then said, "It's just my family, that's all,". Ruby nodded knowingly, before letting Weiss continue.
"I mean, I know that this charity thing is good and everything, but I can't help but feel that my father has dipped his fingers into it for some plan he has. That's what's worrying me." confessed Weiss. It felt nice to speak her mind. Ruby was the perfect confidant to have. Plus, she also made a good ally in the fight for a freer life.
"Then why don't you just call and tell him?" Ruby immediately regretted asking. She cringed at what she had said. It wasn't her finest example of helping a friend.
If it was possible to do a full-body eye roll, Weiss somehow managed to accomplish it. What Ruby had said was even dumber than her invention idea she had pushed before: The Hot-Tub Microwave (Name Pending, TBA). And that was an invention that would fatally electrocute its user every time it was turned on.
"Ruby, are you dense? Do you really think that my father would even begin to understand what I really do and feel here? No, he wouldn't," Weiss said bitterly.
An uncomfortable silence fell across the table as Weiss' words sank in. It seemed like there was no real easy solution to Weiss' dilemma. If any action was to be taken, it would have to be large and drastic. And, that also meant that it might ruin lives in the process. No, Weiss wasn't in any real position to do anything.
"What should we do then?" Ruby asked, breaking the silence.
Weiss took a deep breath, and replied, "Do what I always do. Be a good girl and follow my father's orders,". It was tearing Weiss up inside to hear herself say those words. Those words weren't only a motto, but a lifestyle before she arrived to Beacon Academy.
And now, because of her father, she would be forced to act the same again. It was if the work she did to free her mind was all for naught.
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Drama bomb! But hey, it's the best I can do to make you wanting more of this story, right? Anyway, before I jet out of here to work on the next part, I just want to thank JimboYokimbo for editing this chapter. If it wasn't for him, you'd be seeing the equivalent of a caterpillar trying to write a novel. And thus, The Draigg is signing off, ready to write more.