A/N: My apologies for taking so long to release a new chapter. I've been having troubles getting this chapter the way I wanted it. I'm still under impressed by the chapter, so I may edit it at a later time.
The melodious sound of birds singing outside the dorm windows roused Weiss from her slumber. While mornings were never her favorite time of the day, waking up before the team gave her a chance to mentally prepare for dealing with Ruby and Yang. She took care of her morning rituals, then woke her teammates. Team RWBY woke up with some grumbling, mostly from Yang. The test was going to be administered by Glynda Goodwitch in one of the spare lecture halls at noon time, about six hours from the time Weiss woke the team. She had intended to test the team's prowess and preparation before the test. The plan was quite simple: a brief hour long lecture, followed a two hour testing period, and a one hour debrief session. That would leave two hours for personal tutoring, morning rituals, and getting to the lecture hall. She had never done anything like this before, but after last night, she wanted to do something nice for her team. Seeing as Blake was the only other person on the team who had demonstrated more than basic knowledge of dust on a battlefield, she thought it would be an appropriate gesture of her affection.
As with any plan, contact with the targets left it in ruins. Weiss had begun to prepare for her lecture when she noticed her partner's fidgeting and nervous glances to Myrtlenaster. Her bed was swaying ever so slightly, but it was more than enough to send a jolt of pure terror coursing through the heiress. "Weiss? Can you help me?" Ruby softly asked.
"That's what this is for," she said, gesturing to the oversized card table once more dominating the room. "Why don't you get off that deathtrap, and we can talk about it?"
"I can't use dust. I have no abilities with it, I'm gonna fail the test. I'm going to fail you," she whispered, storm clouds blocking the argent eyes Weiss had come to trust.
"Are you going to get down?" Weiss asked, not expecting much an answer. Ruby would sometimes drop into a melancholy. Normally the task of breaking her from these cafardic states would fall to Yang, but she was taking one of her infamously long showers. Thus, the task fell to Weiss. "Fine. I'm coming up." She focused her will and a series of bright platforms, each emblazoned with her familiar snowflake, burst into being, creating a staircase for her. Climbing the staircase, she said, "Ruby, you won't fail us. You've been a fine leader and you are capable of using dust. I believe in you." She sat on the edge of the bed, a glyph conveniently placed near enough to allow for a quick escape.
"I'm allergic to dust, remember? I'll cause another explosion."
Weiss froze; she had forgotten Ruby's allergies for the moment. "Have you talked to Professor Goodwitch about this condition?"
"She said all huntresses have their own limitations. It was up to us to determine if they would define us. She let me write theoretical papers instead of practical assignments during the semester, but she won't let me do that for the final." Tears welled up in the team leader's eyes, before throwing herself into Weiss's shoulder.
Weiss stiffened at the undesired contact. One of the first unwritten rules the team agreed to was no touching the heiress. A lifetime of neglect had left her with emotional scars that refused to heal. "Ahem. I can show you how to activate dust crystals. Uncut ones shouldn't trigger any responses. You know the theory so it shouldn't disrupt the schedule." She gently attempted to lift her weeping partner from herself, only to fail. "Could you let go?"
Ruby pulled away from her partner, muttering, "Sorry, Weiss. Thanks."
With a sigh, Weiss handed her her last handkerchief, commanding, "Here. Take this and let's get off this monstrosity. We are not practicing dust in bed." Ruby wiped her eyes with the offered handkerchief, the brilliance of her silver eyes gleaming through the fading storms.
The pair leaped from the swaying bed, aided substantially by a series of glowing glyphs, landing gracefully next to each other. Weiss removed from beneath her bed a small white box with slight charring on the side, similar in color and shape as the ones Ruby blew up on their first day at Beacon. Within, a series of dim crystals, their powers mostly depleted, awaited the opportunity to use their last gasps of power in service to man. She removed a small handful of these crystals, a pair of Flame, an Aqua, a Wind, and a Bolt crystal, then closed the box. "Do you remember how to activate them?" At Ruby's nod, she continued, "Pick one."
Ruby scooped the iridescent white Wind crystal from the table and focused on the howling winds within. She could feel the trapped power, but despite her best efforts, she could not produce the blast of wind she knew it held. She couldn't even produce a slight breeze.
"Nothing? Are you following every step in Amara's Steps to Dust Mastery?" The textbook had a few flaws Weiss disagreed with, but its steps to use dust were fairly accurate. If Ruby was following the steps, then maybe she really was incapable of using dust.
"Perhaps meditation can help," Blake offered.
The sound of their silent partner startled the partners. "Gah! Blake, when did you get here?"Ruby shouted.
"You should have to wear a bell around the dorm." Weiss paused, then blurted out, "Because you're very quiet, not because you're a faunus. You are a valued friend and not an animal."
Blake rolled her eyes at Weiss's blunder, continuing, "Focus is as important as talent."
"Right. Ruby, sit." Weiss nimbly slipped into a cross legged meditation pose, gesturing for Ruby to join her.
"On the floor? But you said -"
"Just sit," Weiss exasperatedly growled at her partner. Ruby hastily joined Weiss on the floor. "Now close your eyes, and let the world fade away."
The soothing melodic sounds of her partner's voice carried her thoughts to the depths of her mind, to the very caverns of her soul. Despite what Weiss wanted, Ruby discovered she couldn't quite cut the ties binding her mind to the material world. She simply could not rid her mind of her team, of Penny, or of any of the other people she's met while at Beacon. They were her strength. They were her reason for fighting. What would she be without them? Time trickled away for the young leader, wrapped in the love and friendships she had earned over the past two years.
She was pulled from her trance by the sounds of Blake and Weiss arguing in hushed tones. She couldn't hear what they were complaining about, but she could guess. One of Blake's books, one she didn't recognize, had a single page partially torn, flapping in the breeze. The windows were closed, so there was no obvious source for it. The dust crystal in her hand had blackened, thin hairline fractures raced down the once perfect facets. "Weiss, Blake? What happened?"
Blake's amber eyes seemed to burn through Ruby's soul, before softening. "You managed to get the dust to work properly." Her attention shifted to Weiss, who was now picking up the damaged book. "Of course, someone failed to take the proper precautions."
"Hey! Ruby was supposed to create a light breeze, not a tornado." She carefully closed the damaged book, reading aloud, "Ninjas of Love. Was this a particularly rare one? I can get you a replacement one."
A flush of crimson raced up Blake's face before she lunged to grab the book. "N...no. It's fine, I'll replace it when we go to Vale next."
"Tornado? Did I do that? Blake, I'm sorry."
"Next time, try not to put so much of your aura into the dust. Let it do the work for you. Take the power into yourself and shape it into your desired effect. But, that was… acceptable. Now, come on. We'll be late for our test." Weiss grabbed Ruby by her cape and dragged her for a few minutes.
"But we only practiced for a few minutes," Ruby asked, utterly confused by the rush.
"Dolt, you meditated for the better part of six hours," she scolded, a hint of a smile curved her lips. The incident brought back memories of the first time she had learned to use dust. Her childhood had many memories she would prefer to forget, but this was one of the happier ones. Embarrassing, but happy. The trio, once Blake hid her favorite book out of Yang's reach once more, ran throughout the hallway to the lecture hall were the test was destined to be taken.
The lecture hall had a few new additions to it. An old fashioned wood stove sat in the middle of room, next to the lecturer's podium. A massive heap of chopped firewood lined the wall on the opposite side of the door. The lecturer's podium was graced with a crate of ground dust. Professor Goodwitch stood in front of the stove and greeted students as they entered.
Once the entire class entered the lecture hall, Glynda said "Good morning class. Today we will testing your ability to utilize dust. The task is simple: using what is in this room, you are to light this stove within five minutes. You will be called one at a time to complete this task. You will graded on your ability to create the fire. The method utilized will have no bearing on your grade. Miss Schnee, you will be first."
Weiss stepped to the front of the lecture hall, confidence radiating from her. She stepped to the crate of dust. If she was given Bolt dust, then she would light a torch using a piece of firewood. If Aqua, she would ice over the windows to create a lens. Hopefully that would focus the light enough to create a fire. If Wind, she would -. Her thought process was cut off when she realized the crate contained Burn dust, power over fire silently vibrating within the ground dust crystals. "Professor, was there a mistake in the dust?" she asked, barely hiding her confusion. Why would Glynda test her with Burn dust? Was this some sort of joke? Had Yang switched the dust the previous night?
Glynda walked over to the crate. "No, that is what I intended. Is there a problem, Miss Schnee?"
Weiss's eyes twitched in suppressed rage. She was Weiss Schnee! Dust was her birthright. She had been starting fires since she was seven years old. The bed wasn't her fault. "You expect me to start a fire in a wood stove with red dust? This is a ridiculous test of my abilities," Weiss snapped, forgetting for a moment who she was addressing. Glynda's eyes narrowed. Taking the message, Weiss snatched a vial of dust and strode over to the stove. With the barest trickle of her aura, she lit the wood within the stove on fire.
"Very good, Miss Schnee. Please take your seat. Miss Xiao Long, you are next." Weiss chose to prove a point and quenched the fire with a bit Aqua from her personal supply. Glynda replaced the wood within the stove.
"Miss, you said we can use anything in this room, right?" Yang questioned, an idea already brewing. She might be a liability at dust usage, Weiss having banned her from using dust after the cooking incident. Burn is not an acceptable substitute for a working oven. But, creating a fire is speciality of hers.
"That is correct."
Yang walked over to the stove, activating Ember Cecila. She threw the door to the stove open and fired an explosive shell into the stove. A roaring flame proved her success. "Nailed it," said Yang, triumphantly.
"Thank you, Miss Xiao Long. Miss Belladonna, you are next."
Blake darted down the steps. Anything? "Yang, could you please start a fire for me?" Grinning madly, Yang repeated her earlier performance.
"Miss Belladonna! What is the meaning of this? Miss Xiao Long has already been tested." An audible murmur began to fill the room at the possibility of Blake failing the test.
"Professor, you said we could use any resource in this room, yes? And Yang was in the room at the time you made that statement. Ergo, she was a resource available for the purpose of the test." Blake responded, a smug smirk creeping across her face. If Glynda was going to leave an obvious loophole, then Blake was going to use it. The library was due to get a new shipment of books today and the sooner she finished here, the sooner she could devour the adventures awaiting her.
Glynda paused, then pinched the bridge of her nose. "So I did. Very well, you succeeded." Weiss's hand was visibly trembling in barely repressed rage by this point. "Is anyone going to use the actual dust to complete the test?" She waited a minute for someone to answer. Silence reigned supreme. "Fine, I see no reason to waste time. You are free to go. Team RWBY, please wait." The class emptied as if by magic, ready to start their summer break. The team walked to the front of class, carefully avoiding Weiss. "You will clean up this mess. Miss Schnee, as the one person who actually completed this test, you are free to go." Weiss stormed off, her mind racing. Why would Glynda allow such underhanded means of completing the test? Was she under someone's control? Did someone blackmail her? As a future huntress, it was her duty to right the wrongs in the world. She had to save Glynda. Weiss stopped on her way to her dorm, then headed to the library. The library would have the answers she sought.
Twilight had begun to creep across Remnant by the time Ruby, Blake and Yang staggered into the dorm. Sweat and charcoal stains covered the trio. Glynda had had them clean the stove until it shined, replace the firewood in the storehouses, then clean each of the lecture halls in that particular hallway. By the time they were done, Yang and Blake wanted to do nothing more than relax in the dorm and attempt to ignore their inexhaustible team leader.
Weiss had returned to the dorm about an hour earlier, her scroll loaded with the past final tests Glynda had administered and all of the writings the library had on the possibilities of mind control. She hadn't discovered anything noteworthy yet, but she was sure she was on to something. She had just settled into her chair when the door slammed open. The door jolted her from her thoughts, though she already knew who it would be. Only two people felt the urge to slam the door. She yelled, "Gah! Ruby, don't do that! Can't you dunces be quiet for once?"
Ruby walked behind Weiss and gave her a hug. "I'm sorry-" Her words suddenly cut off in the middle of her sentence, though her lips continued to move.
"Don't touch me!" Weiss took a calming breath. She still experienced bouts of panic at contact, but over the past year, she was quite proud she no longer threw the offending party away. "It's fine, just try to be more considerate of others." She stood up from her desk and turned around. Blake had buried her nose into her latest book. Yang was lying on her bed, surfing the net. Ruby was standing next to her, hanging on Weiss's every word. "Excellent, you're all here. I fear someone may have gotten to Professor Goodwitch. In past years, her tests have been nearly impossible. Last year, her class had to clear out all of the Grimm in the Emerald Forest using only red dust. She failed anyone who started a forest fire! Does that sound anything like our test?"
A shower of rose petals float around Weiss as Ruby darts in front of her, arms flapping wildly. "What is it, Ruby?" Weiss sighed. Ruby must want to play games again. She started pointing frantically at her mouth, mouthing something at her. "We are not playing charades, Ruby. Goodwitch could be in trouble."
Ruby walked over to her desk and grabbed a piece of paper. She wrote, 'HELP! I can't talk!', then shoved the paper into Weiss's face.
"Ruby, didn't we just talk about this!" Weiss pulled the paper from her face and read it. "You can't talk? You were just talking a minute ago." Weiss's gaze fell on the window as the moon began to rise in the evening. She had a sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach. "Have any of you heard of the Umbraporium? I met someone who claimed to be from that place. He mentioned that this test was going to be easy, then gave me a quill. He told me something about the power of the written word, and everything I've written with it has come true. He might be involved with this."
Blake put her book down, the gestured for everyone to follow her. Blake guided them to the Umbraporium, a quaint little shop nestled into the heart of Vale. "Blake, do I want to know why you know where this place is?" Weiss puzzled out loud. There was nothing the young faunus would be interested in, a least at first blush. Blake pointed to an empty shop nearby, then mimed a book. "Was there a bookstore here?" She sadly nodded, as if the closed store had meant something.
The Umbraporium was a poorly lit shop, three long glass cabinets splitting the room into quarters. Within each cabinet, artifacts ranging from rings sparkling with internal power to golden lamps, impeccably cleaned. At the back of the small shop, a tall man, dressed in a black leather jacket stood behind a register. "Good evening, ladies," he announced to the team as they stepped into the shop. "How can I help you, this evening?" Weiss and Ruby walked to the cashier while Yang and Blake wandered off to look at the other products available.
"You! You were the one at the library last night!" Weiss yelled at the man.
"Ah, you're the maiden of the Peann Cumhachta, the Pen of Power." The man looked Weiss up and down, appraisingly.
Weiss crossed her arms glared at him with one her patented ice cold stares. "I don't care what you call it. I want to know why my team is incapable of talking and why you knew Glynda was going to give us an easy test."
"Tell me, did you use the pen? Write something with it?" he said, a hint of a smile danced across his lips, as though he found it amusing.
"I wrote something, yes. But not for something like this to happen!" she snarled defensively. She cared for her team. Yes, they drove her crazy most days, but they were family.
"That pen is a magical artifact. It translates your will into reality via the written word. As long as the written word exists, so shall the magic of the pen. I would recommend not to create, destroy, or meddle with time. As for your little test, a blond boy came here a few days ago looking for help. I gave him a one time charm that encouraged an easier test."
"Magic?" Weiss scoffed. Ruby smacked her on the back of her head, then ran to join Yang and Blake, who were gazing at artifacts near the entrance. "Ruby! Dolt," she muttered. "There is no such thing as magic. Magic is what the uneducated call aura and dust."
"Ma'am, do you know any dust capable of stealing someone's voice? No, because there isn't any. It doesn't really matter what you call it. Just know you can reverse the pen's effect by destroying the paper. Now, will you buying anything today?"
Weiss glared at the man, then grabbed the rest of her team and left, returning to Beacon. Weiss rushed to her desk to take out her journal. With a single motion, she ripped the page out of her journal then hid it once more. She tore the page into shreds. Holding her breath, she glanced expectantly at her team.
"So much for my quiet reading space," Blake muttered to herself.
Ruby bounced up to Weiss. "Youcanmakeanything! Thatissocool!" She excitedly shouted. "What do you want to do with it?"
"We are not using the pen. We don't know enough about it." Weiss opened her locked drawer and tossed the pen in it.
"But, if we did, what would you want to do?" Ruby asked pleadingly.
Yang offered, "I'd want to go on an adventure. Fight dragons and gryphons, rescue maidens from a fearsome beast. That type of thing."
"I would live out one of books," Blake added.
"I want to be able to spend more time with you and Team JNPR," Ruby said softly.
Weiss sighed at the comments. There was no way she could avoid it. "I'd like to try being a faunus for a while. It might be fun to explore the world hiding in plain sight. I could be Weiss Schnee, huntress in training instead of Weiss Schnee, heiress to the Schnee Dust Company. But, no one should be trusted that much power. It's like something out of a fairy tale."
Ruby offered her partner a hug, expecting it to be rejected, but her mother and Yang had taught her to at least offer it. The heiress surprised the entire team by leaning into the hug. The young hooded huntress whispered into her partner's ear, "I think of you as my friend. I know it's not much."
"Thank you, Ruby. It means more than you know." She straightened from the hug and said, "It's been a long day. Let's get some sleep." The team got ready for bed, and fell asleep.
Under the cover of darkness, a figure picked the lock to Weiss's desk. The person removed the pen and began to write. A soft fuchsia glow filled the room, then faded to black once more. "I hope you enjoy."
A/N: If there is something you want to see, let me know! The first real usage of the pen will happen next chapter!