ONYX DATABASE VERIFICATION REQUEST
ACCESS REQUEST: █████
Item: A. Adamant
Threat level: {EXPUNGED}
Description: Matt Adamant, well-known for being a prodigious member of the Adamant Clan, sworn protectors of mankind. Winner of the award of most fashionably-oblivious Huntsman and also the youngest Huntsman.
LEVEL 2 SECURITY ACCESS APPROVED
(Matt Adamant, well-known for being a prodigious member of the Adamant Clan, sworn protectors of mankind. Winner of the award of most fashionably-oblivious Huntsman and also the youngest Huntsman.)
Target Adamant has important ties to Roman Torchwick, which ultimately lead to the {REDACTED}, including a loss of three-hundred lives and escape of Torchwick. Adamant proceeded to travel the world, taking an unhealthy interest in clandestine Onyx operations.
LEVEL 3 SECURITY ACCESS PENDING
Beacon Academy -21:44- Hangar bay
'At 14:02 I reached the target building, after having scouted the area eliminated two hostiles. There were multiple groups of the criminal association in question, confirming your suspicions. Their armaments consisted of various simple melee weapons, enabling me to keep the element of surprise.'
Huntress Glynda Goodwitch was a thorn. Her meddlesome behaviour and needs to exert her academic professionalism would eventually result in a critical snag, in turn leading to failure. That was unacceptable. At least Headmaster Ozpin possessed the common sense to let him work without disturbances… as far as that was possible, at least.
'After having dispatched of the two groups of criminals, an unknown source tripped the alarm however, compromising my stealth and causing me to go loud. At 14:16 I cleared the complex and intercepted the target as he was about to evacuate. I eliminated the guards and prepared to take the prisoner when an unknown tango initiated hostilities.
Operating within an Academy that trained Huntresses and Huntsman was not the most ideal condition. Students and Professors without proper clearance would get in his way and important people could even compromise his goals. The entire reason for his transfer to Beacon was need-to-know basis even for him –something which hadn't bothered him until very recently. Why go through all the secrecy and trouble to get him in a spot on Beacon when he couldn't even perform at max capacity? If he was supposed to kill one of the Professors, why not just get it over with? He knew that there were at least two Adamants at this school.
'I managed to clear the complex with the HVT in the escape vehicle after a brief skirmish with the female contact. I brought him to the drop-off coordinates and ensured the exchange of the valuable package into Oxford hands. Then I moved to secondary position to await exfiltration.'
He sighed and thought of a way to formulate his last few sentences. Having spent the rest of the evening since being dismissed from the Headmaster's Ozpin alternating between writing his mission report and taking care of his equipment, he eventually found himself done with the latter. A month of three back he might have felt less negative towards writing the summarizing report of his latest mission, but recently he was having some trouble finding the correct words to describe his actions. Whether that was because they were getting vaguer or not was up to debate, but in the end the result was the same.
Thinking back on exactly how the day had transpired for him, the Operative thought about the strange hostile he had encountered during the exfiltration of Warehouse six and how she had acted like she knew him. Fighting an aura-user on hostile grounds was one fight that he did not want to prolong so he hadn't gathered much Intel on her.
'Beacon Professor Goodwitch arrived, taking me back to the Academy. The huntress attempted to gain Intel, but it failed. Then she moved me to Headmaster position and had Ozpin communicate with me –before releasing me without giving the situation a second thought. Mission successful, request for update on Headmaster status. Alert: Goodwitch information about secondary exfil coordinates suggests source leak or spies.'
He wasn't exactly fond of the way he had to use when writing the mission reports. He wasn't some kind of writer creating a fictional story about girls fighting evil; he was a soldier. A mission report had to be short and to the point: mission successful, enemy casualties taken and engaged unknown hostile. That was good enough for him, but not for his superiors. They wanted him to write an extensive report formulated from his point of view.
The scroll buzzed as it received a message. Looks like the people on the other line had been waiting eagerly for him to report.
'Greystone, Goodwitch interference lies with us. We provided the coordinates of secondary exfil to enable her to find you; your disappearance caused quite the fuzz. Continue as planned, but be advised: Ozpin will from now on act as a replacement superior officer when no missions are available. You are to treat his orders as if they were given by one of us. Proceed with caution.'
That was not the best message he had ever received. Headmaster Ozpin was now his superior officer? Why was that? He had been sent to beacon for unknown reasons and now the man in charge of the school was also in charge of him? This was becoming troublesome.
But at least it couldn't get any worse.
His scroll buzzed again and a new message appeared. He sighed softly and opened it.
´Ps: your 'fellow students' might grow suspicious of your position here. You are hereby ordered to attend at least THREE colleges a week. The fact that you disappear every now and then might cause less suspicion if they were to think that you actually were a student. Meaning that you will also have to visit the Dining hall once a day.'
Why did something like that happen every single time he thought that things couldn't get any worse?
Day 4 – 7:54- JNPR dormitories
Jaune woke up with a loud yawn and checked the time on his scroll. The first college at Beacon Academy was due to start at eight thirty; giving them roughly half an hour to dress up, prepare and move. According to the schedule, they were supposed to sit there for ninety minutes listening to a man ranting about Grimm, before moving to the dining hall for breakfast. All in all, there would be a thirty minute break to eat and move before they would have to move to PE class. And that was where his chokepoint lay. He had no trouble in taking in a boring lesson about monsters before enjoying a meal; coupled with that break he would one hour to recover from that lesson. But when it came to PE…physical exercise…he had some serious doubts. The Initiation was a hell to fight through and he only succeeded on doing so because his partner was a famous athlete. Gym? Pyrrha wouldn't be able to pull him out of the fire that easily.
At least he had quite some time to prepare –time that he took accordingly. A message sent the previous evening had informed them that they would need their weapons during the first college and their complete combat outfit during the second. That spelled trouble.
"Alright guys! Up and at them! We need to get ready for the coming hours!" He said loudly and woke his teammates up. Nora and Ren slept in their pajamas, while Pyrrha slept in nothing more than a skirt and a top. He felt the tips of his ears grow warm as he watched her rise from her bed, shaking her beautiful hair over her shoulder and stretching her limbs. She really was very pretty…
"Isn't it a bit early to get up? We could have slept for at least fifteen more minutes…" Ren said and tried to assemble his neatly ordered clothes –all of which had been messed up and spread across the room in a spastic fit of his childhood-friend. Exactly how Nora had done so from her own bed was beyond Jaune's imagination
"We don't know how far away the room is." Pyrrha said and started dressing herself in her school uniform. "For all we know, we could spend a good half hour trying to find it."
He silently thanked the girl for coming up with a good argument to defend his cause and quickly thought of another reason why his randomly chosen alarm was a positive thing. "Breakfast is after the college, meaning that we have somewhere around fifteen minutes to get dressed and move out. I don't know about you, but I want to get to the place in time. Please put your hammer down…"
That last bit was aimed at Nora, who had grabbed her weapon and was not-so-subtly rising it above her head in an attempt to smash the alarm clock on her desk. "But it will ring! I know it will! And when it does, I will be ready…"
Ignoring that creepy plot to destroy school property, he started to fold his tie like his grandfather had told him to. Not the way that would potentially hang him, but the way that would make him look like a proper gentleman. Ladies liked gentleman.
"You don't need to kill the clock, Nora. Just get dressed and we will see about getting to the classroom in time, okay?" Ren told her, managing to calm the girl down.
"Okay…but one of these days the alarm will frighten someone and it won't be my fault!"
"I will keep that in mind."
It took them at least fourteen minutes and thirty-four seconds to get dressed and ready for action and between Nora bouncing all over the place and him nearly choking himself with his tie, he was starting to wonder whether they would ever get done. But then, at eight thirteen precisely, team JNPR was dressed up and in possession of the potential to be on the move.
"I told you we would need the time…" He teased his fellow male and then grabbed his scroll. The device was pretty useful when it came to checking schedules and messages. "Alright…we need to get the Daltium College room…which would be in the Daltium building…what is a 'Daltium?'"
"I would say that the name would probably be derived from the famous Daltium library in Mistral," Pyrrha said, demonstrating her major cultural knowledge once again.
"But where in Beacon is that?" Ren replied, already grabbing his scroll. "So many applications and not a single map on this thing…"
It was a strange thing indeed that their scrolls weren't outfitted with a map of the Academy. But that didn't matter much; there was a pretty accurate map hanging downstairs, in the staircase leading up to the dormitories.
"Let's go check downstairs on the map where we need to go." He said and started to move, before he felt Pyrrha reach for his hand. He turned around and faced her, half expecting some cryptic claim or mysterious comment to dazzle his head for a few minutes.
"Jaune, your tie is backwards."
What did she mean by that? It had to be some sort of deep, poetic remark about how a part of his being wasn't in balance. But where did she get that idea? What part of him gave any sort of unbalance away?
"How do you know whether it is or not?" He said, hoping that he didn't sound like some sort of idiot for asking about that.
"I…can see it?"
Wait…what? How did she…?
"Jaune, fix that before we go." Ren said and crossed his arms. Oh! So that's what they meant! He reached for his neck and found that his tie had indeed been tied neatly to hang on his back.
"I think I understand what you mean." He said and started messing with the piece of clothing. Ties were for adults…for boring men who didn't know how to enjoy life anymore. What would a young hero like him do with a tie anyway?
He was so busy with fixing his uniform that he almost didn't notice the commotion being caused in the room opposite to theirs. But one voice cut through both of the wooden doors and reached his ears without trouble.
"Did you check the time?" That sounded like Weiss Schnee…what was so important about the time?
He checked his scroll and realized that it was already eight twenty…ten minutes before they had to be in the classroom and ten minutes before they could even find out where that thing was.
"The time…" He muttered and opened the door. "We wasted too much time…"
"Perhaps it would be wise for us to move now?" Pyrrha suggested, something that was already lying on Jaune's mind before she said it.
"Good idea."
He opened the door completely and just in time to witness team RWBY barging out of their room and charge down the hallway.
"What…" Ren said, but he had a feeling that it would be a good idea to follow them to wherever they were headed.
"Let's follow them!" He said and started the chase. It was always a good idea to follow team RWBY whenever they were desperate. At school at least.
8:34- Daltium College
The Professor had yet to arrive at the classroom, but it would be a tight race against the clock. Because the large lecture hall was currently holding the teams LACG, CRDL and that was about it. There were several more teams sitting scattered throughout the hall –all of them unknown. RWBY and JNPR had yet to arrive...and Lisa seriously doubted whether Peter Port would accept latecomers. So it would be a race between the two missing teams and the missing Professor.
"Where are they?" She softly asked her teammate. Cho merely shrugged and Grace didn't even respond to her. What was so interesting about the drawings on the board that she couldn't stop staring at it? Yes they were good representations of the monsters of Grimm, congratulations! A monkey could have made them…and she was starting to think that this Port really was a monkey in disguise.
The clock hit eight thirty-five and at that exact moment, the door opened. The large-set Professor entered the lecture hall from the room at the back and started walking down the stairs. Everyone sitting in the room turned to face him –and the dozen people sneakily following him. It looked like she wasn't the only who thought that getting to class too late was a bad idea; teams RWBY and JNPR were sneaking after the Professor in an attempt to enter the classroom without being noticed.
Something that she had seen happening a few times before back home and it never worked. They forgot about the three essential steps of sneaking! One: direction and area. Two: distraction and rear guard. Three: back-up plan. They had One and Three covered, but they didn't have a distraction!
"You are being awfully quiet…" the man muttered to the students in general and she could see him turning around. It was happening in slow-motion; his massive body was turning slowly turning and there would be nothing between him and the twelve unfortunate students who had attempted to use him as cover. Nothing at all.
"Oh professor!" Grace suddenly yelled. RWBY and JNPR froze in their sneaky movements and gazed at her, despair and fear clearly visible in their eyes.
What was she planning? Was she going to rat them out? That was very unlike her.
The man stopped in mid-turn and his head turned towards her general direction. "Yes?" He asked.
"Could you perhaps explain what good a 'spleen' does to the human body? That part was very vague. I have the page here, if you want to read what they said about it."
"Ah yes! The mighty human spleen! I will explain that shortly during my lesson, if you possess patience."
And with that the bulky moustached man continued down the steps, allowing the eight illegal students behind him to take their places in the banks without being noticed.
Lisa gave her friend a thumb up and was delighted to see that the lesson wouldn't be as dull as she had feared it would be.
"Now then class…" Port said and stepped up to his desk, which was covered with papers and ink. "Today we will discuss several terms and subjects…the first chapter of your fabulous book being one of them. But let me introduce myself to you properly! I! Am Professor Port. I will be your teacher during Grimm studies…at least the competent one."
What? Was this guy serious? Did he seriously just insult Matt just like that? The nerve of him!
"But let us not dwindle on unimportant matters. The most important one of today will be the most important one of your lives! You may have many modules and classes throughout your study here, but none of them will be as important as Grimm studies! For your most mortal enemy are the creatures of Grim. They are monsters! Demons! Prowlers of the night! But I refer to them as…prey!"
He laughed loudly, but when he noticed that nobody was sharing his humour, he quickly stopped and nervously scraped his throat. He did not notice that only half of the attending students were actually paying attention to him: Blake, Yang and Cho were listening with rapt attention, as were Ren and Pyrrha. But the rest of them were doing something different; whether that was taking notes or cooking up a new form of high-explosive grenade wasn't very important.
Lisa wasn't one to immediately lose interest in a teacher like that…but the prospect of having to listen to the stupid rambling of a fat overconfident teacher for ninety minutes wasn't exactly enticing. New ideas of sharpening the blade on her rifle came flooding to her mind and soon, the words of the professor became lost in a torrent of 'blah's'.
"And in due time, you will do so as well, upon graduating from this prestigious academy! Now as I was saying…"
8:36 - Daltium College
Time had the annoying habit of moving very slowly, even when people actually wanted to pay attention. The many, many words coming out of that man's mouth were filled to the brink with information, Weiss was sure of that. But the way he spoke them made it…difficult for her to actually follow them.
"But first! The tale of a handsome young man…me! Namely. When I was a boy…"
Weiss sighed and tried to listen to the coming story, but something else caught her attention. Or rather stole it away from her: Ruby was seemingly very busy with taking notes…too busy for it to not be suspicious.
Just when she was about to ask her what the hell she was doing, the girl rose her head and showed what she had been writing. Or drawing.
"Despite smelling of cabbages, my grandfather was a wise man. Peter! He told me…"
It was a doodle of her and Ruby walking hand in hand through the city. 'Friends.' Was the title. Why would she make something like that…was her friendship with her seriously the most important thing on her mind during this lesson? The professor was telling a very interesting…boring…tale and she was busy making drawings of them? Together with cute little titles saying Weiss and Ruby? That was…was…actually kind of cute.
"Ah hem!" The Professor barked in an attempt to get their attention and when he was satisfied that he had it, he continued. "In the end, the Beowolf was no match for my sheer tenacity! And I returned to my village with the beast in captivity and my head held high, celebrated as a hero!"
No! It wasn't cute! It was childish and irresponsible and it wouldn't do them any good!
"The moral of this story? A true huntsman must be honorable!"
But the innocent smile that Ruby gave her, even when she had been glaring angrily at her was…confusing. It made her think about why the leader of team RWBY would waste time and effort to make a drawing of them together…without Yang and Blake, nonetheless. Was it because she was just being a child? But a child would be unable to understand how people felt…so there had to be more to it!
"A true huntsman must be dependable!"
She felt her cheeks stinging with heat and wondered why everything that the girl did caused her so much confusion. Surely she would understand her own feelings? Right?
"A true huntsman must be strategic, well-educated and wise!"
It did not make sense…Ruby's behavior was completely unacceptable! First she acted like a child, then a responsible adult and then she was being childish again! Making a drawing of the two of them walking happily through the town…why would she do that…why?
"So who among you believes themselves to be the true embodiment of those traits?"
If she didn't distract her thoughts soon, she would only get entangled in a web of her own confused feelings and that was not acceptable –it was not!
"I do sir!" She yelled and raised her hand. Ruby's happy smile disappeared and turned into one of wonder and confusion at her decision.
Yes! Some people had to make tough calls in order to remain in control!
"Well then, let's find out!" The Professor said and turned towards a large object standing next to his desk; which appeared to be a large cage.
"How come nobody saw that until he pointed it out?" Cho said, raising a very valid point.
"Step forward and face your opponent!" Port cheerfully said.
Weiss did as he said, brandishing her Myrtenaster as she tried to think of what could possibly be sitting inside of that physics-defying cage. It had to be a Grimm of some sorts…perhaps a Beowolf?
"Go Weiss!" Yang yelled.
"Fight well!" Blake added.
"Show it who's the boss!" Ruby yelled, much to her annoyance. Why couldn't that girl simply take the hint and shut her distracting mouth?
"I'm trying to focus!" Weiss yelled, hoping that it wouldn't look like she was yelling at the redhead in particular.
"Oh…uhm…sorry…" The girl in question replied and dropped her head. Damn…it hadn't been her intention to make Ruby sad; the only thing she ever wanted was a moment to clear her head.
But she should have realized that a fight with a Grimm wasn't one of those moments.
"Alright." Port said and grabbed the strange axe from his wall. "Let the match…begin!" He smashed the lock on the cage and the door flung open instantly, revealing a black, bulky creature.
A Boarbatusk. Not the strongest Grimm out there, but a strong opponent nonetheless. And seeing as it was very well defended, the fight would be dragged out to a very long one.
As soon as the creature spotted her, it bellowed a loud cry and charged at her. It crossed the distance of seven meters within two seconds and nearly flattened her; the only reason she was able to evade the attack was because she used Myrtenaster to deflect the attack and rolled to the side. The sheer power and speed of the creature nearly tore her arm out of her socket!
The professor laughed and pointed at the creature. "Wasn't expecting that, were you? Now, take note of how well developed the legs are; they are capable of launching the beast to great amounts of speed. Keep up the work!"
From the corner of her eye she could see Ruby watching her with clear worry visible in her expression. She was honestly worried about her…that was a good thing, right?
"Be careful Weiss!" She yelled, causing her to return her gaze to the enemy she was fighting. The boar-shaped Grimm possessed four tusks and multiple white plates of armour surrounding its limbs. It was a tank in appearance and she had never actually faced one before…but how hard could it be to beat such a thing? If she speared it with her rapier in its head, it would die. Simple as that.
She utilized a glyph to use as a starting point and accelerated towards the monster, using her great speed as the driving force behind weapon.
But instead of delivering what had to be a lethal hit, her weapon got caught on the tusks just when the point met the skull. Her arms came to a jarring halt and she felt her shoulders ache from the sudden strain. How? How had the Grimm resisted her attack? Her stance had been good and her aim had been accurate.
"Bold! I like it!" Port yelled loudly when he saw her struggling to maintain her stance –which didn't take longer than a second. As soon as the Boarbatusk had realized that she was stuck, it started shaking its head like a terrier would to kill a rat.
"Notice the powerful neck muscles; there are very few creatures of Grimm that are capable of delivering as much power with their heads as these Boarbatusks are. "
Yes. Great to know. And as Weiss was flying through the air in one direction and her weapon in the other after a particularly powerful swipe, she thought about how the anatomy of the monster would be so very interesting AFTER the fight.
"What will you do without your weapon? These creatures are so incredibly well-armoured that unarmed attacks will NOT hurt them young lady!" The Professor told her.
She swore as she saw the creature charging at her again and she quickly rolled to her side, nearly bumping her head on the ground in the process. She could see a shimmer of metal lying directly in front of her and realized that this might be the only chance she had to actually grab it before the creature would charge again.
She dived towards her weapon-
-and the Grimm charged again. She was just barely able to slide the rapier back in her hands before the Grimm raced past her and sailed right into Port's desk. An anguished cry of the Professor and several mutters of surprise made her realize just how lucky she had been that the Boarbatusk missed her. She couldn't allow herself to slip up like that again; it would be the death of her.
"Weiss! Go for the belly, it isn't armoured there!" Ruby let her voice sound again, causing Weiss' patience to run out.
"Stop telling me what to do!" She yelled at the girl. The sole reason for her being in this fight was to get away from the girl who had received her position as a leader so easily and whose words and actions confused her so intensely. If Ruby continued to talk to her like that, there would be no way she could ever focus on the damn Grimm!
The redhead looked seriously hurt at her comment and she quietly bowed her head again. Good; now Weiss would finally be able to focus on the task that lay at hand!
The boar roared at her again and jumped into the air. She could hear Port saying something about powerful muscles propelling the creature high into the air, buowH mHt she didn't really listen to him. She only had senses for the Grimm and how it formed its body into a tight sphere, before using some sort of organ to propel itself to incredible speeds. The moment that the rolling body hit the ground, it picked up speed and came charging at her again with a velocity that she had never seen before in an enemy.
She yelped with surprise and in a desperate reflex, used the first move that came to her mind. She raised her Myrtenaster and activated a blue-white glyph in midair to stop it. The rolling builder of a monster came crashing against the dust-powered circle and was stopped to a halt. Seeing her opening as clear as it could ever get, she prepared to use another technique. But the idea of team RWBY and how it was led by the fifteen-year old girl entered her mind again and she lost her focus. The moment that her concentration dissipated, the glyph blocking the Grimm did too.
It roared and charged at her again in one final all-out charge, jumping high in the air to flatten her underneath its mass. She gasped in surprise and tried to back away, but nearly tripped over her legs.
Nearly, nearly tripped. Losing her balance completely, she tumbled backwards and immediately brought her weapon up in defense. The body of the boar came closer and closer and she tried to crawl backwards away from the monster, but she couldn't get the speed to get back on her feet. The Grimm landed on the floor a meter from where she was and jumped at her again, intending to spear her with its tusks. She could see the shining teeth coming closer and closer to her head and she sucked a deep breath of air in when they suddenly stopped, coming together with a loud unearthly squeal.
What had happened? Had someone interfered with their battle to save her? Please don't let it be Ruby, do NOT let it be Ruby!"
"Look at that ladies and gentlemen! This huntress-to-be actually managed to lure the Grimm in a position where she could kill it without trouble!"
What was the Professor talking about? Had she actually killed it?
The dead weight of the Boarbatusk weighed down on her body like a…a dead boar. Her Myrtenaster had speared it in its unarmoured stomach when it had jumped at her, actually causing its own death.
It was mortifying to realize how easy it was for a full-blown attack to turn into a mortal mistake so easily. It served to shake her into seeing that she still needed much practice and training. And the entire first year of Students had been there to witness her doing so…
Ruby had seen her nearly messing up with the Grimm. And that was the final straw.
"Class, I know that I promised you a long lesson with much interesting topics, but I am afraid that this is all the time we have! You are dismissed and remember: stay vigilant!"
The moment that Port told them that they could go, she turned towards the exit and stormed off, ignoring a perplexed Jaune asking her what 'her deal' was. This entire day had been a complete mess! First of all they had very nearly missed their first actual college, then Ruby had proceeded to screw with her head by making a little drawing during the lesson and finally she had went through the most embarrassing fight ever in front of everyone she even remotely cared about.
And she didn't even know what her biggest problem with Ruby was: the fact that she wasn't even remotely competent to be a leader or the fact that she was the biggest source of confusion and wonder that she had seen up to now. Or at least the biggest source she had seen for years.
She heard running footsteps and turned around to face a new source of nuisances.
"Weiss!" A voice yelled and she could see Ruby Rose coming around the corner, apparently looking for her.
"What!" She replied with a much harsher tone than she had wanted to use.
"What's wrong with you? Why are you being-?"
What was wrong with her? What was wrong with HER? "Why don't you tell me little miss I know better than you! The entire time on Beacon you have been switching back and forth between acting like a stupid child and acting like a…like…I don't even know what you are supposed to be acting like!"
Ruby was obviously taken aback by her words, looking shocked and insulted at the same time. "What did I do?"
"That's exactly my point! You have done absolutely NOTHING to deserve your position as a leader! Back in the forest you were being such a child and here again! You –you-"
"Am I being a child…or are you just trying to give meaning to the things you don't understand?"
"There you go again! If you are not being a childish girl you are acting like a know-it-all!"
"Where is this coming from? Was it because of your fight with the Grimm, or did I do something to activate a nasty memory?"
Memories? Oh the nerve of that…Weiss was on the verge of something and she didn't know whether that was reaching out and slapping Ruby in her face or simply walking away.
"I thought you believed in acting as a team!"
Yes. Yes she did. An actual team, not a ragtag team of idiots. "Not a team led by you."
She thought of a way to formulate her feelings and decided to settle for what had to be the major choking point in their relationship. "I have studied…and I have trained…" Her voice was starting to quiver and she didn't know how long she could keep this up. The very image of Ruby standing there with a slight frown on her face caused her own head to go haywire. "…and frankly, I deserve better."
She turned around was about to walk away when she heard Ruby speaking up again. "Weiss…please…just talk to me. Continue talking and make me understand-"
No. She wouldn't do that again. Ruby Rose wouldn't cause another disaster in her mind just like that. "I don't care what Ozpin decided…he has made a mistake."
There, that was bound to cause some severe emotional reactions in her. You see Ruby? You are not the only one who can mess with people by talking to them.
She didn't stick around to continue talking to her and left the hallway.
Her words hurt. Badly. Because Ruby knew that they were true…she had never done anything to deserve her position on Beacon, let alone a position as a teamleader. Weiss was worried about her not being able to live up to her position and that caused her mind to develop feelings of doubt.
But she could at least give her a chance…Blake and Yang had done so…they had trusted her with the position of teamleader…so why couldn't Weiss do the same? Had that little drawing been too much? It had merely been a form of expression…and attempt to let the Schnee Heiress realize that she was so happy to be on a team with her. Things had been going so well…but with that act, she had seemingly messed everything up.
And the strange thing was that Weiss had actually looked puzzled by her drawing. Not the kind of puzzled that meant that she had no idea why, but the kind of puzzled that meant that she had no idea why…no, that didn't make any sense.
Weiss had wondered why she would draw something like that in the sense of 'why you and me together' instead of 'why now during the lesson' and that was a good thing. Her reaction to the drawing had been positive…yet it seemed like she needed to compensate for feeling positive by acting even meaner than usual. Could it be that Weiss didn't like liking her?
A sudden shadow behind her nearly caused her to jump. She turned around and saw the Headmaster himself standing behind her. "Now…that didn't seem like it went well." He was holding his cane and his cup of coffee and his appearance was just what she needed.
Because even though Weiss might have said these words out of her own conflicted feelings –with emphasis on 'might'- but that didn't mean that they didn't sting. It was funny how she had used the words 'quite frankly' because 'quite frankly' she was on the verge of crying. She turned to face the headmaster and hoped that the man really was as nice as he seemed to be. "Is it true?" She asked him, hating how her voice sounded like a desperate whisper. "Did you make a mistake?"
"That remains to be seen." He said with a faint smile. Why was that?
~0~
There was the man she was looking for. Professor Peter Port, the man who had just given them the fine lesson. Weiss walked up to him and tried to think of a way to formulate her thoughts so that they would make sense to him. "P-Professor Port?"
"Ah! Miss Schnee! How are you doing? To what do I own this fine pleasure?"
Yes…to what…how could she give meaning to her feelings? What was the very first thing that lay on her mind…Ruby's childish side or her confusing side? "I…I enjoyed your lecture!" She said, hoping that she could win more time to think about what it was that she truly felt.
She wanted to be recognized for the things she did herself…and with Ruby as a leader, that would not happen. That had to be it!
…right?
"Of course you did child, you have the blood of a true huntress in you!"
That caused her to smile. At least one person out there who saw her potential. "You really think so?"
"Most surely!"
No…that wouldn't do…it wasn't the Professor whose opinion she sought…
For some reason, Port noticed her distress and called her out on it. "Hmmm…something is troubling you?"
No point in lying about it; this was the sole reason she had come to meet him. "Yes sir…"
"Dear girl, confess to me your strife!"
"Well…I…I…" Yes, what now? Would she tell him about the leader issue or the Ruby issue? Or were those two linked together; causing so many problems because they both existed? In that case, she should at least try to take one out of the mess. "I don't know how to deal with my teamleader, sir."
That didn't come out as strong as she had hoped it would. Still, the Professor took the time to ponder over her words. Or at least it looked like that. "And what do you need to deal with, then?"
"I don't know!" she exclaimed. "I didn't think she could be a good leader, but then she proved to be capable of talking like an adult. And then she's like a child again! I don't know how to deal with that…" now that she was actually close to explaining her reasoning to someone, she found that she actually lacked said reasoning. She didn't think that Ruby was a poor leader. But she didn't like how…how odd she acted.
"Dear girl, if you have a problem with how your leader acts, talk to her!" said Professor Port. "There are no problems in this world that cannot be solved through talking and I am fairly certain that Ruby will be easily susceptible to the right words."
He was totally right…it didn't matter how she felt about Ruby being the teamleader…she was chosen for a reason and she had demonstrated the ability to do something that Weiss could never have done in such a way: figuring people out. "You are right…" She sighed and looked the Professor in his eyes. "Thank you."
The man's moustache curled upwards in a smile and she turned around to leave. It was time to find Ruby and…perhaps apologize for her behaviour.
It didn´t take Weiss very long to actually find the dormitories; Professor Port had aborted the lesson at least one hour too early…meaning that they had ninety minutes to simply lay back and relax. And she was planning to utilize that time to the best of her capabilities.
She opened the door to the room and looked around. It looked like Blake and Yang had already left to go to the dining hall. Good; that would make it easier for her to swallow her pride and tell the girl what was on her mind. It looked like the redhead was still in the room though –a conversation would be virtually impossible if she wasn't, so that was good.
She climbed on top of the bunk-bed and wondered what the girl had been doing. Ruby had created a small tent surrounded her bed, enabling her to make her homework undisturbed.
"Ruby?" She softly said, not wanting to disturb the girl so roughly after what had happened. "I wanted to talk to you."
No response. Strange…
She moved the blanket to the side and looked inside of the makeshift tent, seeing what Ruby had gathered inside. There were at least two different notebooks lying on her bed, accompanied by the large Anatomy and Mentality of Grimm. Had she seriously tried to drown her own hurt feelings by making homework? That was…kind of admirable.
"Ruby?" She reached out and gently touched the girl's shoulders, instantly awakening her.
"Weiss!" She yelled and started flailing in surprise. "I-I was studying and fell asleep and…I'm sorry!"
There was no way of telling who might be listening in through the walls, so she softly placed her finger on Ruby's lips in a silencing gesture. The girl's cheeks turned red at the touch and Weiss realized that the contact might be very intimate to her….a bit like a lovers touch.
She withdrew her hand and thought of a way to make it seem more innocent to the girl. Then she spotted an empty Beacon mug and realized that the best way to make something look innocent was to use a good distraction.
"How do you take your coffee?" She asked her.
"I…I don't…" The girl started, but Weiss wasn't having any of that.
"Just answer the question!" She said, once again speaking a lot louder than she had intended.
"Uhm…cream and five sugars!" She hastily yelled.
Weiss smiled at her innocence and left the bunk bed, beginning to search underneath her own bed. She had a can of coffee stored there for emergencies and this seemed like an emergency to her. Pouring her teammate a nice cup of coffee, she once again appeared at her bed.
"Thanks…" Ruby said and took the cup. Now for the hard part…emotions.
"Ruby…" She started. "I am not always acting like the nicest person to you…and there is a reason for that. I never…I never actually met a person like you before and you…your actions and attitudes are so confusing to me."
The girl frowned and appeared thoughtful for a second. Then she looked her in her eyes and gave her reply. "Can you…tell me what it is what I do that confuses you?"
Oh yes! Yes she could! "I think that you will be a great leader for our team…but your past childish behaviour caused mixed signals. At one moment you can be so wise and responsible…but the next one you act like such a strange kid…like that drawing at the college. Why would you make something like that?"
"I did that because I am so happy that you and I managed to get to a working dynamic. We had so much strive…but that changed when we became team RWBY. I just wanted you to know that I…I really like you. And that I only want the best for our team and its future!"
Ah…that stung. Not because Weiss didn't like Ruby –hell, if her conflicted emotions were any indicator then she adored the girl – it was because she felt guilty. She had acted so mean against the Rose and all that she had ever wanted was to be friends…right?
"And it was that kind of behaviour that confused me so…I didn't know what to feel around you. But now…now I think I do! I want to…no, I will be the best teammate you can ever have!"
Ruby smiled at that and Weiss could actually feel the atmosphere warming up. "Thank you Weiss…that means a lot to me. I know that emotions are tricky things…I struggle with them frequently myself, you know? But…I think that if we work together…we will unravel them. Together."
She might know a lot of things about people…but Weiss knew that Ruby had NO idea how much that actually meant to her. Without actually telling her that she was feeling conflicted, the younger girl had still proposed a way to combat the rising tensions in a way that everyone could feel good about. She truly was a good leader.
"Thank you…" She whispered and tried to think of something that could be said, anything that could express her gratitude at that moment. But she couldn't find the words…which wasn't a bad thing. Both of them knew that it went without saying.
"You're welcome!" Ruby shined and before she could say anything else, Weiss found the words she had wanted to say.
"You know…I've always wanted bunk beds as a kid."
Ruby laughed at that and together, the two girls stayed in the dormitories of team RWBY, spending at least another half an hour talking.
9:17, Beacon Academy.
"Any idea what was up with Weiss and Ruby?" Jaune carefully asked. It had been on his mind for quite some time now, but it was a tough thing to ask about.
"No idea…but it looked bad." Pyrrha replied and took a closer look at her scroll. "We still need to wait until ten until we can have breakfast, by the way."
"Damnit…" Nora muttered.
"You would think that we could start breakfast before ten…" Ren said.
"At least they still let us have coffee and tea…" Blake muttered in turn and took a sip from her own cup of tea.
"I don't think that they accounted for the Professor breaking his lecture off halfway…" Lisa said, who was still messing with her weapon. Teams LACG and JNPR had been sitting in the dining hall for five minutes now –being the only teams to actually show up, seeing as Yang and Blake only made up half of team RWBY- and the girl had spent every second sharpening the bladed section of her rifle.
"Well…it was an amusing lesson wasn't it?" Yang replied.
"You could say that…" Blake added.
"So…" He tried again, laughing nervously. "Physical Exercise coming up huh? I wonder what we will need to do during that one."
"My guess? Physical exercise…" Lisa replied, running another stone down her blade in her attempts to sharpen it.
"Do you have to keep doing that?" Cho asked her. "I would say that it is sharp enough now."
"He told me that I need to take care of it regularly; otherwise the blade will turn dull and blunt. And seeing as I use it on a daily basis, I chose to sharpen it twice a day. Simple."
"'He'? Do you have a boyfriend?" Yang teasingly asked her, causing Cho to spray the contends of his drink all over the table in front of him –narrowly missing Alessa, who instinctively brought her hands up to defend herself from the spray.
"Sorry…" He muttered and wiped his mouth on his sleeve.
"No!" The girl replied loudly, her cheeks turning red at the suggestion. "What made you think that!"
"Just kidding!" Yang laughed. "You said 'he' and I filled in the blanks."
"I do wonder…what 'he' are you talking about?" Pyrrha asked her.
Lisa started to stutter in her next attempt to answer; "I…w-well…I just…it…he…t-that is…"
"Don't worry about it girl, it doesn't really matter." Grace said from her position next to Alessa.
"Yeah...thanks Grace…" the blonde grumbled and proceeded to bravely face the table underneath her. "When I talk about my weapon…and a 'he' talking about it…I…mean my brother."
What? Lisa had a brother? Since when?
"You have a brother?" Ren asked her. "What does he know about your weapon?"
"He helped me design it…" She said and coughed very subtly.
"He helped you design your bladed rifle?" Jaune asked her, feeling a bit confused. "Is he a Huntsman as well?"
"You can say that…" Lisa replied, looking very uncomfortable now. "I don't really want to talk about that…can we drop the subject?"
Cho suddenly shot upright in his chair and muttered "Ouch!" and at the same time, Grace loudly scarped her throat and looked at him with a very nice smile –that totally didn't look faked. "Yes Cho? You wanted to say something?"
The boy narrowed his eyes and sighed. "Yes…I wanted to propose…to walk towards the counter…and ask if we can't start breakfast a bit earlier."
Alessa snickered and Grace seemed very interested in her own cup of tea.
"That's actually a good idea!" Pyrrha said. "If we can get them to start spreading the food earlier, we might be able to get Miss Goodwitch to start her own lessons earlier…"
"Which leaves us with an entire day to spend at the city of Vale!" Jaune finished her sentence, feeling happy that he could finally say something useful as well.
"One problem…" Blake added and finished her cup of tea. "We already asked them to start earlier and they said that only a Professor could get them to."
"That leaves us with no other alternative…but to eat THEM!" Nora yelled, causing everyone but Ren to jump in surprise.
"No Nora…just patience…" He said and patted her on her head.
"So we need a professor to come get us food? We will become hunters! Can't we do anything on our own here?" Yang angrily yelled, seemingly uncaring about the consequences of her loud voice.
"I don't think that the solution to our problem comes walking through the doors just because you yelled…" Blake said with a sigh…
…and virtually one second later the doors opened and revealed Ruby Rose, Weiss Schnee and Professor Adamant.
"And don't let me catch you doing that again!" The older man said with an angry tone to his voice. "That is your easiest way to get yourselves burned!"
"I thought that the easiest way to get burned would be to touch Grace's weapon?" Jaune jokingly said, but the Professor didn't hear him.
"I will remember that sir…" Ruby said and looked very ashamed of herself; even going as far as to stare at the floor while replying to him.
"Good." The Professor replied and was about to turn around and leave when Pyrrha called him out.
"Professor? Ehm, sir?" Pyrrha asked, managing to catch his attention just as he was about to turn away.
"Yeah!" He yelled and instantly spun around on his heel, turning to face the now complete trio of teams. "Shoot!"
"I was wondering…" She continued, "we were dismissed a bit too early from our class. We want to have breakfast…but without an order from a Professor, the people serving said breakfast will be unable to actually do so. Could you possibly?"
"I can cook an egg…" The professor said without taking his eyes off Pyrrha. "Well…cooking is an understatement…more like…" He swallowed and smiled nervously. "Combusting…and exploding…so what can I do?"
Lisa groaned in frustration and bonked her head into the table.
"Uhm…talk to the canteen-people?" Jaune suggested, hoping that the solution would be so simple to solve.
"What a silly idea!" replied the man. "Why would I do something as…as silly as to talk to canteen people! No offense to you of course…" He muttered those last words at the lady standing behind the counter, who have him a thumbs up.
"So that we can all have breakfast earlier…sir?" Weiss asked him with a tone that was very obviously reserved for butt kissing the people in charge.
"Yes…I can try that…sure!" The Professor said and moved towards the counter.
"Don't say a thing…" Blake muttered when Yang was about to tell her something.
"A Professor came walking through the door after I shouted!" The blonde blatantly ignored her. "It worked!"
"Hello people!" Ruby happily said and walked up to them. "What did we miss?"
Pyrrha looked at the sudden happiness that was hanging in-between Weiss and Ruby and wondered at what could have happened to make them all happy again.
"Oh…" Grace said and poked Alessa with her elbow. "Not much."
"No I don't want eggs!" Professor Adamant cried out, causing all three teams to cringe. Perhaps asking that man hadn't been the best of Pyrrha's ideas…
"Governments have come and gone, but the system remains. A system that determines the order. The government of Vale exists out of a Council of self-proclaimed wise humans. They take the decisions and serve as the major political group. Of course, as always, others do it better. Organized crime in Vale is not reigning as it has in other cities in the Kingdom, perhaps because of the Academy. But that does not mean it has to stay that way. Even now, an abandoned industrial street has become a hive of corruption. If only your government saw fit to act…we shall Watch. We shall serve. We shall protect."