Hey guys, this is Zack, this is technically my first upload, because Bryan was the one uploading since now. I am really sorry that this chapter took so long, I am not gonna lie to you guys, I just procrastinated a lot, and there's no excuse for that. So if some of you want to unfollow us because of my amateur-ish-ness, I don't blame you, if you still want to follow us, then I thank you for your continued support in our story. So I shouldn't hold you guys any longer, enjoy the story. Again, terribly sorry.
-A few hours earlier-
Weiss approached Terra, him still talking with Pyrrha. A feeling of annoyance was still fresh off of her after he little exchange with Skar and Kellis. Weiss briskly walked towards Terra, wanting to give him a piece of her mind.
Terra paused his discussion with Pyrrha, he turned to face Weiss, as she briskly approached him. "So how'd it go?" Terra asked eagerly, an excited smile on his face, opening his arms.
Instead of a verbal reply, Weiss gave Terra a physical one, Weiss lifted her right arm and immediately punched Terra on his left arm, intentionally using her weaker arm.
"Ow!" Terra exclaimed in pain, grabbing his left arm, looking at Weiss in confusion, and a slight bit of restrained anger.
"Hey, what was that for?!" Terra immediately questioned, a hint of anger in his tone.
Weiss immediately retorted, angrily pointing her finger in Terra face, "Don't you ever make me do that again, EVER!"
"Why what happened over there?" Terra inquired, a face of genuine worry came onto him. "Did they make fun of you?"
"Well...yeah they kinda did." Weiss answered, a slightly embarrassed tone in her voice. "They kinda made fun of you too." Weiss stated as she gestured towards Terra with her hand.
"Made fun of me?" Terra queried, giving a face of confusion as well. "Why would they make fun of me? They don't even know me."
"Well they didn't even know me either." Weiss responded, a defensive tone in her voice. "But apparently they thought they knew us well enough to assume we're a couple!" Weiss exclaimed with a tone of anger.
Terra, looked at her with slight surprise. "Wait...So, that's all?" Terra inquired, in doubt, expecting more.
"Well...yeah." Weiss answered, stating it as an obvious.
Terra chuckled, slightly relieved it was such a small thing, expecting something much worse, also finding it amusing. "Seriously?" Terra questioned Weiss in doubt. "That's it?"
"What do you mean, 'that's it'?!" Weiss questioned Terra, a tone of shock and anger filled her voice. "That's still pretty bad."
"No." Terra retorted in a somewhat corrective tone. "That's not bad, that's funny." saying it in an amused tone.
"No it's not!" Weiss exclaimed in an argumentative tone. "It's not funny!"
"Yeah it is!" Terra retorted in a somewhat persuasive tone. "C'mon you gotta admit, it's kinda funny, if not funny at least amusing."
Pyrrha stood there awkwardly watching as Terra and Weiss verbally jousted with one another. She moved her head slightly back, not wanting to get involved in their little debate. She placed her hand over her mouth, worried about the possible outcomes to occur from this unpredictable situation.
Pyrrha watched from the side-lines as the argument continued, as it progressed however, she slowly grew a smile. Every second the argument continued, she grew ever more amused. Slowly, little by little, she saw the debate grow ever more entertaining as compared to nerve-wracking.
Weiss looked at Terra in confusion. "You have a weird sense of humour." Weiss stated.
"And you have none at all." Terra retorted.
Pyrrha immediately let out a restrained chuckled, covering her mouth to prevent them from seeing her laugh. She slowly turned away from Terra's and Weiss's view of her face, and proceeded to burst out into a silent laughter. She then slowly turned back to continue watching the "show".
"Hey!" Weiss exclaimed in an insulted manner.
"C'mon, look at the positive side of things." Terra said in a persuasive tone.
"Okay fine, what positive side?" Weiss answered, challenging Terra to prove his point.
Terra started with a strong confident approach, "Well!" However, Terra took a small pause, unable to say a positive to retort Weiss with. His tone soon turned into an unconfident voice of doubt and uncertainty. Terra awkwardly placed his hand on the back of his head and started scratch it, trying to find an answer. "Well...uhhh…You see...uhh…"
"Yeaaahhh?" Weiss jeered towards Terra, taunting him, using her hands to motion towards him, inviting him to say his piece. "Come on, say something." Weiss mocked, confident that Terra would not find an answer.
Terra was baffled, he looked at every imaginary nook and cranny of his brain to find a positive, he knew there was one, but he just could not find it. He looked for a positive like a mad dog, his brain was working fast, faster than usual.
Pyrrha looked at Terra, she could knew him well enough to see the difference in him when he puts in extra effort, even if it was in his own head. "Why would he go through so much effort for this girl?" Pyrrha silently wondered to herself, looking as Terra's brain was working its damnedest to find an answer. Pyrrha looked at Terra with much fascination. Terra reminded her of a time before Beacon, a time where things were less complicated. Pyrrha felt something, a feeling which had been gone from her long ago, but was suddenly revived, like a fire that was put out but was relighted again. A smile grew on her face as she realised Terra's motivation. She said nothing, she could not even if she wanted to, and she just stood back and watched as Terra searched his brain.
Only a short time had passed, barely a few seconds. Terra looked up in discovery, having finally found a positive, albeit, not a very good one. "Look on the bright side, they think that we get along well enough to appear to be a couple."
Weiss gave a confused, shocked at the idea that Terra would think that that would be a positive. "How the heck is that a positive?!" She beseeched Terra, incredibly sceptical of his so-called positive.
"Well, I mean, that we look so good together that we appear to be a couple." Terra retorted, trying to persuade Weiss of his idea.
Pyrrha, amused by Terra's claim, smiled as she looked at him, her stance in a more analytical position. She chuckled, "You say that to all the girls, Terra." Pyrrha stated in a playful tone.
Terra smiled and turned to her, pointing his finger, he looked at her with eyes of amusement. "You and I both know damn well that that's not true." Terra exclaimed, chuckling as he said it.
A sudden realisation came over him, he placed his hand on his head in foolishness. "Oh, I forgot!" Terra exclaimed in self-claimed embarrassment. He nonchalantly turned to Weiss, "Pyrrha this is Weiss Schnee, of the Schnee Dust Corporation. Miss Schnee, this the Miss Pyrrha Nikos, top scorer and winner of the Mistral Festival four years in a row."
Pyrrha reached her hand out for a handshake. "Thank you for the introduction, Terra, but there's no need, I'm well aware of who she is." Pyrrha said, acknowledging Weiss as she said it, looking right at her.
Weiss, acknowledged Pyrrha and reached to meet her hand, looking directly at Pyrrha as well. "And I too am aware of who Miss Pyrrha is and her endeavours." Weiss stated in a fairly sophisticated and formal tone.
Pyrrha shook Weiss's hand and then nonchalantly turned to Terra. "You forgot to mention Pumpkin Pete." Pyrrha stated with a smile on her face, playing with Terra again.
Terra chuckled again, "We agreed never to speak about that." Terra stated as he looked at Pyrrha, both of them chuckling in amusement.
Weiss looked at both of them, she knew there was an obvious strong connection between the two of them. She looked at both of them with much curiosity...and maybe a bit of jealousy. "So uhh...you two seem to know each other." Weiss stated, using a hint of sarcasm for the obvious statement. "What's your relation?" Weiss asked as she pointed back and forth at Terra and Pyrrha.
Terra stood there, feeling a slight hint of awkwardness. "Oh uhh...well...we uhh...we-"
"We're long-time friends!" Pyrrha immediately exclaimed, cutting off Terra halfway.
Terra looked at Pyrrha with query. Pyrrha looked at Terra with some level of concern, Terra could see she did not want to reveal a past she much wanted to be forgotten. Terra looked at her, a slightly disappointed look on his face, but the imploring of her eyes persuaded Terra to agree.
Terra turned to Weiss, "Right, we were just friends." Terra said calmly. He turned to Pyrrha, "Long-time friends." Terra continued, giving Pyrrha a small smile and a subtle nod. Pyrrha acknowledged back with a smile and a nod of her own.
"Well, I guess I should be going now." Pyrrha exclaimed, turning her head to face Weiss.
"No, come on, stay." Terra immediately suggested, a tone of much persuasion. "W-We could all sit down somewhere and talk."
"No no, thank you Terra, but we've talked enough for now and I'd very much like to go on my own for now." Pyrrha beseeched Terra, still polite and humble, as always. She gave Terra a smile. "And beside Terra, you have some unfinished business to attend to." Pyrrha stated, moving both her eyes and head in Weiss's direction.
Terra let out a very small chuckle and smiled. "Alright." Terra said. "So I'll see you soon?"
"Of course." Pyrrha said happily, reassuring him that they would see each other again. She proceeded to give Terra a hug. Terra wrapped his arms around her and smiled.
Pyrrha slowly whispered into Terra's ear, in a playful tone, "Good luck with her, Terra."
"Very funny." Terra retorted, whispering into Pyrrha's ear, causing her to quietly chuckle in amusement.
Pyrrha turned to Weiss, "Miss Schnee." Pyrrha said, acknowledging her before she left, bowing as she did it.
Weiss replied, slightly bowing her head. Pyrrha turned around and walked off into the crowd, Terra looked on as she disappeared into the crowd.
Terra turned to look at Weiss, her eyes locked directly at Terra. An awkward silence filled the air, a short silence.
"Now what?" Weiss asked, genuinely wondering whether or not to continue their verbal joust, to talk about something else, or to simply just go their separate ways. She looked to Terra for some sort of guidance. She thought he knew what to do next.
Terra looked at Weiss, surprised she even wanted to continue talking. He looked at her with gentle eyes. "Wanna sit down and talk somewhere?" Terra asked Weiss, giving her the option to continue or to suggest something else.
Weiss looked at Terra, evaluating the options in her head. Before she knew it, she was sitting down with Terra. Weiss and Terra both sat down with a large sigh. Weiss looked around at her surroundings, a garden area for students to relax or study in peace, surrounded by a calm environment of nature. The wooden tables, a gazebo over each one, vines wrapped around each pillar like a cobra wrapped around its prey. The chairs circled each table, also wood, to match the aesthetic of the surroundings. Concrete seats were placed on the side, acting both as a seat and a large solid pot for plants.
Weiss and Terra looked at the ground, one waiting for the other to start talking. Terra took a sigh of calmness; feeling relieved to have a small break from the loud commotion of the hall and to relax in a slightly more serene environment. He slowly moved his hand closer to his pocket.
"It wasn't that bad." Weiss suddenly stated in a nonchalant tone.
Terra looked at slight, however his face changed to that of expectancy. He wasn't surprised Weiss changed her opinion on the situation, he was surprised at how fast the change was.
"I know it wasn't. But what made YOU change your mind?" Terra asked, as he gave a somewhat confident look on his face. The confidence was further implied with his tone of voice.
"Common sense?" Weiss stated in a nonchalant manner, not really knowing the BEST answer, but just giving what she felt was the RIGHT answer.
Terra chuckled. "Common sense?" Terra asked, giving a doubting tone.
"Yeah, common sense." Weiss replied, giving more confidence in her answer.
Terra chuckled again. "Okay then." Terra said with slight disbelief.
"What?! What's wrong with common sense?" Weiss questioned, evidently unpleasantly surprised someone would question her reasons.
"Oh, there's definitely nothing wrong with common sense." Terra reassured Weiss. "It's just something not a lot of people have nowadays."
"What?" Weiss questioned, "Are you going to start ranting about how nowadays, people lack the proper amount of common sense and that it's a rare thing, hearing someone use that as an answer to a question?"
Terra chuckled. "Well, you catch-on fast." He said as he turned to look at Weiss.
Weiss chuckled in amusement. "Yeah, well...You're not the only one who thinks that way."
"Sometimes I think that people lack the Common sense to not do things which are obvious not to do." Weiss stated as she looked down, a small frown started appearing on her face.
"What is she thinking?" Terra pondered to himself as he looked at Weiss. Shit, I guess it's time to change the subject." Terra stated to himself as he tried to think of a way he could charge Weiss's thought. "C'mon dammit! Think!" Terra tried to act smart, he tried to think of something to say. He could not. He just took a small deep breath and, "Hey, you okay?" just let it take its natural course.
There was a short silence before Terra spoke again. Weiss almost thought that she was putting on a show for him. As Terra asked, "Hey, You okay?" Weiss looked up at him and said, "Yeah, Yeah... yeah I-I'm fine. I guess I just...re-opened some memories that should've stayed closed."
Terra looked at Weiss, thoughts ran through his head. He quickly stood up. As he took a few steps forward, Weiss thought to herself, worried that Terra was leaving after that little depressing ordeal. Terra quickly turned, "In the mood fill a soda?"
Weiss looked at Terra, a small look of confusion came onto her face. "A soda?"
"Well I would offer you wine but this school ain't as fancy as you." Terror stated in a nonchalant manner.
Weiss looked down and scoffed, a smiled came onto her face as he did. "A grape soda would be nice." Weiss stated nonchalantly, giving an amused smile.
"People like grapes." Terra stated in a friendly joking manner.
"People like grapes." Weiss replied, giving the same friendly tone.
Terra smiled as he turned and left for the vending machine. Weiss took a moment to look around herself, the soft shade, the light sounds of birds chirping and the smell of the greenery...and dirt. Weiss reached into her pocket and pulled out her purse, as she opened it, she was greeted by its contents; a large amount of varying notes, cards and a picture of her family, as she grabbed the picture, memories and emotions began to fill her mind. A gamut of emotions filled her, ranging from happiness to guilt. As she gazed at the photo, she could feel her emotions begin to overwhelm her, she closed her eyes as she took a deep breath and quickly stuffed the picture away in her purse. She reached in and grabbed her money, a large wad, she scanned her notes and began counting. She gazed upon the large collection of notes, letting out a large sigh.
"Well you got this far on luck, Weiss, let's hope money doesn't mess with that." Weiss said to herself as she slumped forwards, quickly placing her wad of cash back inside her purse.
"Hey I'm back!" Terra exclaimed, holding two cans in his hands.
Weiss looked up, quickly placing her wallet back into her pocket. "Hey!" Weiss exclaimed, in a friendly tone.
"Hey, yeah sorry about the long wait" Terra apologised. "Machine was giving me a hard time." He stated as he passed one can to Weiss.
The crackling of Weiss's can opening ran through Terra's ears as he sat down next to her. Weiss took a sip of her carbonated drink with a soft slurp, followed by a sigh of satisfaction.
Terra took a sip of his as short few moments of silence went by. Terra looked at Weiss, hesitant to open his mouth. His reluctance to speak added to the atmosphere of silence.
Finally, he wetted his lips, "I don't wanna pry here but..." Terra took a short pause, trying to find his word.
"What?" Weiss asked as she looked at Terra with a pondering expression on her face.
"Well...you had a lot of bags...so why did you send those guys away?" Terra looked at Weiss as he asked.
Weiss looked forward as Terra asked her, she took a slow sip of her drink, hoping to draw out her time before she had to answer the question, as she looked down, "We all have our secrets."
Terra looked forward and gave a slight nod as he took a deep breath followed by an exasperated, "Yes, yes we do."
Terra turned to Weiss, Weiss slowly looked up at him, and eyes meeting as she gave a confused, "What?"
Terra looked at her with eyes full of curiosity, he implied to Weiss, he wanted to know what her secret was.
Weiss looked at Terra with irritated eyes and gave him a forceful, but yet calm, "Secrets we want to keep."
"I'll tell you mine if you tell me yours." Terra suggested, tone full of persuasion.
Weiss let out a small amused chuckle. "I don't think so." She said as she look at Terra, annoyed eyes turned friendly.
Terra sighed as he slowly stood up from his seat. "Well...there goes one way for us to get to know each other." He claimed in a disappointed tone.
"Don't be so dramatic!" Weiss exclaimed. "These aren't secrets you'd want to know."
Terra quickly turned to Weiss in an energised fashion. "That makes me wanna know about them more!" Terra quickly exclaimed as he bent his knees slightly, bringing his hands in a begging fashion.
"Oh quit your begging." Weiss exclaimed, annoyed yet slightly amused. "Why don't you find something to do, you're so smart!" Weiss daringly exclaimed, another challenge.
Terra looked around, trying to find some semblance of something to do. As he slowly entered into his own thoughts, a loud belch suddenly filled the air, his eyes widen. Terra made a quick turn to Weiss as he saw her, People Like Grapes can in one hand, the other covering her mouth. Weiss had a face of utter shock but as she looked up at Terra, in no time at all, it changed to utter embarrassment.
Weiss stared at Terra, eyes wide, as she let out a few chuckles of uneasiness. "You didn't hear that right?" Weiss asked nervously, hoping that Terra did not.
Terra quickly snapped his fingers, his head held high in inspiration. He looked at Weiss. "Weiss, your loud belch gave me an idea!" Terra exclaimed with slight delight.
Weiss leaned her head against her hand in disappointment and embarrassment. "Well I guess that answers my question."
"How about we go on the tour?" Terra suggested.
"You've got to be kidding me." Weiss said, giving tone of pessimism.
"What?" Terra asked, a tone of confusion.
"That's all you came up with?" Weiss asked, unimpressed.
"Well what else is there?" Terra asked defensively.
"Anything else but that!" Weiss exclaimed.
Terra, looked at Weiss with eyes of discontent. His eyes widened, he quickly rushed to Weiss's side.
"Okay how about this, heads, you go on the tour with me, tails, you tell me your secrets." Terra said in a persuasive tone, as he took out a coin from his pocket.
"Whoa whoa whoa whoa, wait a minute, that's not how it goes!" Weiss exclaimed, angrily. "Don't I get a choice in this?!"
"No, not really." Terra immediately answered, nonchalantly, but with a friendly tone.
Weiss looked at Terra with the same eyes of irritation, however with a slightly calmer face, after having that face used so many times, one would get used to it.
"Come on think about it." Terra said in a persuasive tone. "Think about how heart pounding it would be, having a coin decide whether to go on a regular, mediocre school tour, or to divulge a close, personal secret. Think about how heart pounding it would be, risk revealing something so close to you, to be so on the verge of telling it, but only to be saved by it landing on heads...In those three seconds of not knowing heads or tails, your heart is going at it...The fear of knowing, and knowing is going at you, it's giving you adrenaline. In those three seconds, half of you thinks its tails...the other...thinks it's tails. The half that thinks it's heads is sighing relief...but the other...the other half...it's screaming, wailing, praying, and begging...it not to be."
Terra's eyes slowly moved to see Weiss' face. "Where did this come from?" Weiss said to herself as she looked at Terra with gleeful curiosity and astonishment.
Terra gave Weiss a persuasive look as he brought the coin to eye level. "Sometimes...it's the little things in life...as little as a coin toss...that can give us such a blood pounding rush." Terra said with a somewhat whimsical tone.
Weiss looked at him with the same gleeful curiosity and astonishment as before, she looked at the coin, Terra's situation flashed through her head. She pondered for a moment, eyes at Terra.
"You just want to tell my secret, don't you?" Weiss, asked Terra with a forceful but friendly tone, her conclusion was made.
Terra rolled his eyes, as a groan flew out of his mouth and filled the air, a clear display of irritation. He reached into his pocket - using his free hand - and pulled out another coin.
"I'll tell you what." Terra said as he flicked the coin into the air, flipping it countless times. As he caught it, he quickly slammed it onto the surface, parallel to his other hand. "Since there's now another coin on the table-"
"It's not a table, it's a bench." Weiss immediately interrupted, eyes focus on Terra, correcting him.
Terra gave a resigned face. "Since there's now another coin on the BENCH, I'll risk my secrets too."
"You can't be serious?" Weiss asked, voice full of disbelief.
"Come on, it makes it more intense now." Terra said humbly, but voice still filled with enthusiasm. "Two people sitting down, both their deepest, close personal secrets risked being revealed by the flip of a coin. Will it be both of them...or will it be just one of them to reveal what they try to hide so deep...OR...will it be neither of them, and they're both safe?...Now both of us are at risk."
Weiss looked down at the hand covered coins, a small frown came upon her face. "It's easy for you to say. You want to tell your secret." Weiss stated with slight sadness and fear.
"Mmm, no, not really." Terra stated, softly "In my opinion, secrets are things of value, otherwise why would people try to hide them, right? And so with value comes a price, and I like to think of this as fair trade I trade something of value - my secret - with something of value of yours - your secret -."
Weiss looked at Terra with much worry and curiosity. "But would we know if your secret is worth mine, or mine yours?" Weiss asked softly, with curiosity and suspicion.
Weiss was curious about what he was doing. Slowly, it started to pull her in more and more. Her curiosity was a perfect sign of that. She wondered if the coin really was on heads or tail, the coin of Terra's as well.
Terra looked down at his hands, he wondered the same thing. "I don't know. But I guess we'll find out soon, won't we?" Terra stated softly, giving an assuring tone to Weiss.
Weiss looked down at Terra's hands, she pondered for a moment. Terra's words were sticking with her. She stared at Terra's hands for a significant amount of time. She was like a statue, immobile. Terra stared at her for a while, waiting for her answer, he stared right into her eyes, the only thing moving. She brought her hand to her mouth in a pondering fashion. After a few more moments of pondering, she slowly moved her hand back to the surface of the bench. Her hand slowly slid across the bench to Terra's hand. As the tips of her hands touched Terra's she slowly slid them under his, covering the coin with her own fingers.
Terra looked down to see Weiss's hand under his, covering the coin. He looked up to Weiss, eyes widening slightly in an encouraging fashion. Weiss looked back at Terra, dead in the eyes, and gave a nod of approval. Terra returned the nod and lifted his hand from hers.
Terra took a deep breath. "Alright." He said, in an exasperated fashion. "I guess we'll both go on the count of three."
Weiss nodded, "Yeah." She said nervously, as she tensed up.
"And when I say three...we both raise." Terra said nervously as he looked down at their hands.
Weiss nodded, too focused on the coins to look up. Their breathing becoming heavier with each breath. Terra's fingers began to twitch slightly.
Terra looked down, staring at both of their hands, his mouth slowly opening. "One." He said, with a trembling mouth, looking at Weiss as she let out a largely visible exhale. "T-...Two."
Terra took a moment for himself. Weiss's eyes made a quick dash of eye contact at Terra and just as fast, dashed back down to their hands. Terra followed suit, wanting to see his fate the second it's shown.
As his pause came to a slow end, there was nothing but silence. All other sensors than touch were gone. All his focus was on his shaking hand. A jolting shiver went down his spine. His heart was beating against his chest like the punch of an Ursa. Sweat came down his head like a fountain. And as his hand slowly began to move, as sudden feeling came over him, as he could feel his muscles tensing, he could feel something come over him, he could not feel the shivering jolt rush down his spine, he could not feel his shaking hand, he could not feeling the water trickle down his cheek and he could not feel his heart beating. There was a feeling stronger than all of those. What he felt...was nothing.
And as his body became numb, he softly exclaimed, "Three."