Note: From a Tumblr request.

Request: Weiss Schnee/Blake Belladonna (Monochrome), no prompt.

Promises

Summary: In which Weiss offers Blake the apology she…ahem…forgot at the end of Black And White.

"I know you're not looking forward to this, but I think it's gonna turn out okay," Yang Xiao Long told her partner as she strolled up to their dorm building, chivalrously holding the door for her. "Ruby's spitting mad. I've never seen her like this."

Blake Belladonna hummed in acknowledgement, not trusting herself to really respond. The plan, apparently, was to lock her and Weiss in a room until they sorted out the remaining tension between them. Somehow.

"Can I give you one piece of advice, though?" Yang interrupted her train of thought, as she often did.

Blake nodded.

"Listen."

Now Blake blinked.

"She's…probably bad at this sort of thing, y'know?" Yang explained. "Probably hasn't had to give that many sincere apologies. Try not to make it even harder for her to do the right thing." Her partner's concern was…wonderful to Blake; even now unused to being cared about for anything more than her skills.

"Do you think she will?" Blake asked quietly, allowing herself to bare her worry.

Yang bit her lip. "I think think she'll try," she said at last, emphasizing the last word. "It'll be up to you to decide if she's really sincere, or just trying to placate us."

Swallowing, Blake realized they were outside their dorm. With Yang and Ruby intentionally clearing out, they would be assured of privacy. Yang had said they would be arriving first, but Blake still wasn't exactly eager to enter. Her choice on the matter was limited, however, when Yang held out a hand for Gambol Shroud and then gave her a little push to the small of her back, nudging her inside.

"I absolutely will not!" Weiss Schnee balked, trying to dig her heels in, but her team leader was not to be denied.

"You most definitely, absolutely, will!" retorted Ruby Rose, an uncharacteristically harsh expression on her usually-cheerful face as she all but dragged Weiss bodily down the hall toward their room.

"I will not give an apology when I've done nothing wr—" Weiss began to snarl, but froze in shock when Ruby rounded on her and poked her hard in the chest.

"Nothing wrong? Nothing wrong? Is that what you were about to say, Weiss? You insulted your partner, her species, her beliefs, and her cause!"

Weiss tried to back away, but bumped into a wall, and Ruby continued to bear down on her despite being an inch shorter.

"You scared her off so she ran away for days, you barely helped us look for her, and your only suggestion in twelve whole hours was to call the damn police." Ruby's face was now less than six inches from hers, and the repeated pokes were starting to become painful. "Then when we finally found her, in danger and barely defending herself against the very group you were so eager to lump her in with, all you could manage to say was that 'you don't care'!" Ruby let out a frustrated breath. "Personally, I can deal with your behavior, because I understand what it's like to have a sheltering and overprotective parent, but I will not stand for you treating a member my team—our team—like dirt, Weiss! You keep saying that you're different from your father; it's time to start proving it, Princess!"

"What do you mean?" Weiss asked, not entirely sure she'd kept the tremor out of her voice. Ruby was…intimidating like this. Not that she'd ever admit it.

"I mean, you can't claim to be your own person and then just blindly regurgitate his bigoted opinions! You're supposed to be soooo smart; maybe try thinking for yourself for a change!"

Ruby spun on her heel and marched away, no longer dragging Weiss but obviously expecting her to follow. Seeing little alternative, Weiss found herself doing so. She had rarely encountered that sort of rebuke from anyone, even her father. The help had scolded her once, when she was small and had broken a vase practicing her fencing, but now she thought back she had never seen that maid again. Did Father fire her for telling me off? Even when I clearly deserved it?

Weiss knew she had been sheltered, but had she really been that sheltered? She barely registered that they were approaching their dorm room until she noticed Ruby stopped with her arms folded just past the door, which Yang held open for her. Taking a deep breath, Weiss drew herself up and marched in, trying to gather the fragments of her dignity.

"Think it'll work?" Yang asked Ruby softly, not as confident as she had appeared to Blake.

"It had better," Ruby said firmly. Her arms were still folded, but Yang noted her attempts not to shiver. She put an arm around her sister's shoulders as they both slid to the floor beside their door.

"Whatever comes of that," Yang tilted her head toward their room, "You did a good job today, little sister."

Ruby leaned into the hug. "Thanks, Yang."

Blake didn't look up immediately when the door opened, but footsteps prompted her to do so. She knew it was Weiss—the click of her heels tapping out her characteristically measured gait and the slightly scent of high-quality perfume were unmistakable, as good as a photo ID of her beautiful face to anyone who paid attention. Humans rarely did, Blake found. It seemed somewhat odd to her, but then, not everyone grew up outside the Kingdoms, in constant fear of attack.

Not everybody had grown up in the White Fang…and that was rather the point, wasn't it?

When the scent was strong enough to make her lick her lips, Blake looked up. Her heart sank when she took in Weiss' upright posture, with her chin high and shoulders back; a bearing that screamed defiance…until she took in the slight color in Weiss' cheeks, and the fact that her hands seemed to be trembling very slightly, not with anger, but with nerves.

Did that perhaps mean that the attitude wasn't solely because the meeting had been forced and Weiss didn't want to be here? Could she possibly have wanted to say something, to get…closer…but been too nervous?

Did Weiss get nervous? Blake certainly was—her mouth was dryer than the leaves of Forever Fall, but now that she had looked up at her white-haired teammate, she was riveted, and couldn't look away.

Weiss, for her part, was doing her best to avoid eye contact, at least until she could sort her own thoughts out. Ruby had thrown her mind into a proper upheaval, and then immediately forced her in here with no time to prepare.

Ruby seemed to think that the two of them might hurt each other, and had even gone so far as to confiscate Myrtenaster while arranging this little meeting. Only the sight of Blake similarly disarmed saw her calming down slightly. Well, that and Ruby's blistering lecture, forcing her to look past the fact that her instincts were screaming that she wasn't safe unarmed in the presence of a Faunus.

Weiss may not have appreciated Ruby's phrasing, exactly…but also couldn't really deny that the reaction was nonsense.

This was a Faunus, yes, but it was Blake; Blake who she had lived with, eaten with, sparred with and fought beside. Blake, who she had saved and been saved by, more times already than she could count. Blake, who she disagreed with frequently even on small things, but respected as an academic equal. Blake, whose frequent, impassioned defenses of Faunus rights and scathing indictments of the Company's labor practices were beginning to take on a terrible sort of poignancy in light of the revelation of what lay hidden under that little black bow.

The lights were off, the room dim with the oblique rays of the sinking sun, and the black-haired girl's eyes seemed to shine like lamps in the gloom. She couldn't make much out, but she thought Blake was biting her lip, obviously in anticipation. Weiss drew a shuddering breath, and Blake seemed to flinch very slightly.

"Our…esteemed leader…brought me here so that I could apologize," Weiss said carefully. No, that was no good, it sounded like she was only here because of Ruby; it damaged her apology before she could even make it. "I mean, I've been…struggling…with what to say and how, and she…decided that it would be best if we just talked. I don't mean to imply that she's the only reason I'm here."

Blake just blinked, her yellow eyes vanishing for an instant.

"I am coming to recognize certain…biases that I was raised with; which I have sadly allowed to upset my capacity for reason. I believe I have reason to…" she paused to choose her next words with care. "…disagree with the actions of the White Fang where my family and company are concerned. But to project that onto all Faunus is just irrational."

Blake's eyes blinked again. She stood up in front of Weiss, but said nothing, which prompted Weiss to continue filling the silence.

"I'm not going to make excuses for the things I said or the way I've acted," she went on, wishing Blake would say something, but determined not to fail in getting her point across. "But I'm not completely lacking in self-awareness, either."

Blake was even closer now. Weiss had to look up to maintain eye contact. She licked her lips unconsciously.

"I am here, Blake Belladonna, to offer you a formal apology and a promise to change for the better. Not as the heiress to the Schnee Dust Company, but as your teammate. And, I hope, as your friend, still."

Blake was standing so close that Weiss could feel the taller girl's soft breath.

Blake could see Weiss clearly; could see plainly that every word had cost her as the tension in the room had mounted. She had heard Weiss' heartbeat; the rhythm steadily rising as Blake drew nearer, but never jumping in a way that would indicate she was lying. And she could see—could almost feel—the flush that now crept up the heiress' ivory cheeks.

Weiss had been genuine, against all odds. And now the tension between them was thick enough to cut with Gambol Shroud, if she had it. As her teammate? As her friend? Yes, but…what about…

Aware of Weiss' usual aversion to contact, Blake stopped where she was, not coming closer than she was despite how desperately she wanted to. Aware, too, that she had said nothing since Weiss had entered, Blake found herself whispering before Weiss could start babbling.

"This is a different you than usual, Weiss," Blake said, her voice huskier than usual. "A different side of you…" Blake shook her head. "More like…the sort of person I'd always hoped you might be, when I learned that the SDC's heiress was my age. Someone proud and strong and opinionated, yes, but willing to look beyond her ivory tower and actually see the rest of us. The ordinary people, and the Faunus; everyone she was used to simply glancing over as an inconvenient part of the background."

Weiss was opening and closing her mouth, whether in shock or disbelief, Blake wasn't sure. She stared up at Blake, now blushing red enough to put Ruby's hood to shame.

Well, if that was all Blake was going to get, it was just as well they could get this awkwardness out of the way now, along with all the rest of it. Perhaps now they could get back to something like normality. She made to take a step back, but Weiss grabbed her wrists.

"That's how you hoped I'd be?" the smaller girl's voice was trembling. "Yet you still worked with me after you saw I was so much like my father? You should barely have tolerated me even then; you have every right to hate me now, after everything I said."

"How can I hate you when I've finally seen that you can be who I'd hoped?"

Weiss' grip was almost tight enough to hurt. Blake twisted her wrists, wanting to get free, but Weiss held firm, so instead Blake sat back down on the bed, dragging Weiss with her. The heiress stumbled, but ended up sitting close beside her, just barely not touching.

"Ruby and Yang are sitting outside," Weiss hissed, face redder than ever.

A smirk curved Blake's mouth. "So let them think we're still arguing," she murmured. She brought her wrists together and slowly peeled Weiss' fingers off the wrist between them. Weiss sat there, still shivering, but let her do so. When her wrist was free though, rather than retract it, Blake laced her fingers through Weiss' and held her hand tight. Blake had promised to come to her teammates with her problems. Now Weiss had made a promise as well.

Weiss drew a sudden, shuddering breath, but released Blake's other arm. Then, after a long moment, she shifted on the bed so that they were actually touching—brushing shoulders and hips and legs. Her skin was cool to the touch. Blake felt a sudden urge to draw her even closer, to warm her up, but desisted. This wasn't a time to push boundaries—that would come. This, right now, was about the two of them coming closer…and sealing their new promise.

No more words were spoken, but Weiss' grip tightened all the same.

A/N: This, uh… Got long. Sorry? I guess I could have started when Weiss entered the room, but I thought the build-up with the sisters was important. (Since this was for a Monochrome request, the Tumblr response omits their section.) I'm still not very good at this whole one-shot thing, it seems. Anyway, this is one way that I think Monochrome could actually reasonably start, so that's what I decided to write this request about.

If it's not clear, I'm actually a huge fan of Weiss, but more of my headcanon than the way she's been presented in total thus far. To put it lightly, she's been a spoiled, sheltered, bigoted little brat, and the small improvements she's demonstrated are applauded a bit more than they deserve while little attention is drawn to the gulf she still needs to cross. Personally, though, I think she's capable of crossing it and becoming a better person entirely, and I think she really only needs a little nudge in the right place at the right time. She'd still be Weiss—proud, confident, strong, dispassionate—but not arrogant, brash, or aloof. Weiss is (appropriately enough) like the snow: it's harsh if you're unprepared, but it also provides insulation for the seeds of Spring (and blah blah blah, you've heard that metaphor a million times before).

Blake, on the other hand, is…troublesome. She's also calm and confident, or at least projects so, but there's definitely a fire underlying it that's very different from Weiss. She tries to be very tightly controlled, but there's undeniably a more playful side to her that she tends to hide. Beyond that, though, when her composure is ruffled, she tends to lose her cool and have trouble regaining it, to the point of obsessing over perceived injustices, but yet still somehow has her confidence shaken by simple questions. Blake is like black iron (also appropriately enough): she's hard, but she's also brittle, and like all the girls, needs more tempering to find a real balance and her true strength. Overall, I find Blake very difficult to write (and I understand I'm not the only one.)