Professor Ozpin's office had been quiet for what felt like hours. As team RWBY had entered the room, Yang went straight to the Professor's desk, and put the mask on it. Not even a single word was spoken since then, about ten minutes ago. Weiss could see everyone tense up as the time passed, and she felt it in herself. Yang had clenched her fists, Blake gritted her teeth, the heiress combined these things, and Professor Ozpin just stared at the mask. Weiss moved closer to the desk, and looked at the mask herself. It was made of simple, black wool, and adorned with a stylized skull on the front side, just as the security guard had described it in the news. Assuming, the Emerald Ghosts had team RWBY deliver a message by giving them this mask, only the professor seemed to get it. But he would not talk about what was on his mind, until asked, so Weiss decided to finally break the silence.
"Professor, do you understand-"
"I understand that the Emerald Ghosts want to deliver a message, Miss Schnee," Ozpin interrupted the heiress, which earned him curious looks by her and her team mates, "but I don't understand the message itself, because it doesn't seem to be addressed to me." He leaned back in his chair, and turned the mask around, so that Weiss and the others could see, what he saw: The stylized skull also depicted something like a round building, a castle even, considering the teeth of the skull as battlements of said castle; with a lot of imagination. However, neither the teeth, nor the battlements, were symmetrical to each other, which caught Blake's immediate attention, as far as Weiss could tell. Yang, on the other hand, looked at the woolen accessory in obvious confusion.
"Excuse me?" she asked, as she took a look at the mask.
"Yes, Miss Xiao Long?" the headmaster replied, politely as always.
"If it isn't for you, for whom is it?" Obvious question, but fair enough. I wonder myself.
"I assume someone, who knows them, Miss Xiao Long," Professor Ozpin answered, "Tell me; how did you find the mask, my dear?"
And Yang started to tell Professor Ozpin about what happened in the warehouse. She told him that the forensic unit of the police was still at work when team RWBY arrived, that they started their search of the warehouse after the professionals had finished their job, and that Blake noticed people, who entered the building via the windows at the rooftop.
"There were at least three, one of them a woman. She said… Well, let me see if I can get this right…" Yang explained, and took a short breather. "'Oi, be dunn wit ya bus nezz dawn their' or something along those lines – seriously, who talks like that?"
"Diana Woods," Professor Ozpin answered coldly. Another moment of silence befell the office, before the headmaster sighed. "So the Emerald Ghosts are definitely the remnants of EMRD-squad, led by Erydias Grey."
"But is the message for her?" Blake asked. "Oh, I'm sorry, Sir. I didn't mean to interrupt you."
"No need to apologize, Miss Belladonna. In fact, this question needs to be answered next, if we wish to solve the mystery at hand," the headmaster explained, pointing at the mask on his desk, "Maybe she can decipher the meaning behind this pictograph." Professor Ozpin leaned forward again, placing his elbows on his desk.
"So, we're supposed to take the mask to her?" Yang asked again. Weiss already agreed on that suggestive question, since they were already acquaintances, but was cut off by the professor again.
"Not directly. I want you to bring her here. But not today, since it is already getting late, and you had an eventful day already. So-"
His words were interrupted by Professor Goodwitch, who entered the office with a mixture of confusion and urgency expressed by her face. "I'm sorry, Sir, but I got all information on the Emerald Ghosts, I could find," she explained the interruption. It was not much, though. She put a single file on the headmaster's desk.
"Ah, yes, thank you, Glynda," he said, and faced team RWBY, "Maybe you can use this to help you convince our forlorn daughter to return home. You can go now, prepare for your next mission. The last one was a success, of course. Well done."
Back in their room, Yang screamed joyfully at the sight of Ruby, sitting on Blake's bed. Her right leg was still bandaged, and the little rose needed two crutches to be able to move around the Academy on her own. She was not allowed to put any weight on her injured leg. While looking at her partner, Weiss spine started to feel cold again, fear crawling up to her neck, which made her shiver. There was Ruby, totally oblivious that Yang still did not know about how her injury came to be, and it was only a matter of minutes, until that question came up.
"Nothing can keep you in one place, eh Ruby?" Yang asked, while holding her sister in one of her infamous bear hugs, lifting the little one off the ground.
"Hey, stop it! I'm not supposed to run around, Yang. Put me down!" the leader of team RWBY demanded, more or less comprehensible. And Yang put her down immediately.
"Sorry, sis. I'm just so excited! I didn't even tell you I'm in a relationship!" Yang simply pulled Blake to her side, and before anyone else in the room could react in any kind of way, the couple exchanged a passionate and somewhat wild kiss, turning Ruby's head as red as the hood she put on after looking at them for about ten seconds.
"Guys," she laughed embarrassed, "Take a room or something."
"You don't mind that?" Weiss asked her partner, and moved between the lovebirds and Ruby in order to obscure the view on the scene for her.
"Why should I?" Ruby answered.
"Because… Oh, I was just surprised, that's all…" Weiss answered, and laughed both nervously and embarrassed. Now that the heiress was literally in the center of attention, the tale of Ruby's bandages demanded to be told. The truth behind Weiss' betrayal demanded to be brought to light. She was about to start, when her fear took control over her mind, and the heiress stuttered and mumbled to herself instead of actually speaking.
"Weiss, are you alright?" Blake asked, and put her left hand on the heiress' right shoulder, which startled the latter. "I don't think so," the Faunus answered her own question, gently pushed Weiss towards her desk, and let sit down on her chair. The heiress' whole face was tingling, she could barely hear anything besides her own breathing, her heart was pounding, and she knew that she was about to panic in front of her team mates.
"I…" the heiress began to explain, "I… I did… This…" she stuttered, pointed at Ruby's bandaged leg, and looked with eyes wide open at an angry face staring back at her. Of course Yang would react in such a way, since she was so protective of her sister. A black and white blur intervened, however, before the fiery anger of Yang could build up completely – Weiss needed to take a second look to recognize Blake.
"You did- You better have a good explanation for that, or else even Blake won't be able to stop me!" Yang snarled at Weiss, who slowly became more and more awake again.
"I… I didn't notice a Beowolf that had snuck up behind me. Ruby intercepted it, while I attacked one in front of me, and I… Hit her instead. Then a Deathstalker came out of the ground, and I grabbed Ruby, and ran… Yang, please, by no means did I mean to do this, I swear." Now back to full awareness, Weiss realized that she never even mentioned the Death Stalker; neither the Headmaster nor team JNPR knew about the creature lurking in the forest, Miss Grey was living in. And to make things worse, Yang noticed that as well.
The brawler jumped off her bed, she had taken a seat on, and started walking around in the room, like a lion inside its cage. Weiss could clearly see the rage boiling inside Yang, who let the flames of her semblance dance around her hair to let off at least some of it, she assumed. Blake walked up to her, and tried to calm Yang down.
"Yang, please listen to me. I-" the Faunus started, but was interrupted by a furious blonde brawler.
"Jaune and the others don't know that they're up against a Stalker, we didn't know there is one in the area, either, and Weiss didn't have the guts to tell us at least that, because Miss Perfect here had to cover up a totally normal combat accident! THAT'S WHAT'S GETTING ME!" Yang screamed, kicked open the door, and left the room with a trail of fire behind herself. While Blake just stared at the door in disbelief, Weiss got a lump in her throat she never had before, standing in the middle of the room apathetically. How could she have forgotten that? She must have written it down in the report for the Professor, who then instructed Jaune and the others properly. But Weiss was not sure about that, however, since the report was created late at night and as fast as possible by her, while Yang and Blake were already sleeping. Did she note the Death Stalker, or not?
While Weiss tried to figure that out, Ruby nudged her left shoulder. The heiress diverted her attention towards her young partner, who held a Scroll right in front of Weiss' face. Of course! She grabbed the device, and noticed that Ruby already warned Jaune about the Death Stalker via a simple text message: -=Update: Death Stalker in the Area. Watch yourselves.=- His answer, simply being the letter 'k', had followed shortly after Ruby's Message. "I'm sorry, Ruby, I… I didn't…" Weiss started to stutter and mumble again, while Ruby used one of her crutches to pull Weiss' chair towards her own, and sat down on the latter. "Sit down…" Ruby almost whispered, and Weiss obeyed the order immediately. Blake had left the room, probably to find Yang. Ah, yes, Weiss… You have initiated the first crisis of a newly formed relationship, well done…
"Well," Ruby said after a moment of silence, "at least now it's out of the way, hm?" That said, the little rose looked at the heiress, and smiled.
"Yeah… At least…" Weiss repeated silently. "Now they hate me…" she sighed afterwards.
"Why do you think that?" Ruby asked in return, took Weiss' hand, and placed it on her right thigh. "She is not mad at you, because of this," the young team leader explained, using the gesture to underline her statement, "You didn't listen to her."
"I could… Barely hear anything…" Weiss tried to explain herself, but ended up in a lack of words to describe what had been going on in her head; What IS going on in her head. A chaotic mixture of emotions, ranging from confusion to anger, hatred even, against herself; all on the foundation of fear.
"You looked really terrified, Weiss," Ruby confirmed Weiss' suspicion.
"But of what?" Weiss asked silently, looking at the ground while doing so.
"I'd hoped, you'd tell me," Ruby replied, and started to caress the back of Weiss' hand with her thumb. Somehow this gesture calmed down the heiress a bit, and she looked at her partner, still confused. But Ruby stayed silent. In these minutes, which felt like hours to Weiss, the heiress did not dare move the hand away from Ruby's thigh. The caressing was too comforting, the warm smile on Ruby's face too fascinating, the warmth on Weiss' own face too strange to be ignored. The confusion, the cold crawling on her spine, and the feeling of guilt were wiped away completely, and Weiss felt at ease for the first time since the accident.
"Weiss?" Ruby asked, disturbing the peace, the heiress had found in this moment, "Can I sleep in your bed until my leg is okay again?"
"W-wha- Yes, of course," the heiress answered, "which means, I would have to sleep in yours, right?"
"Well… You could use Blake's bed, when she's with Yang, or the other way round, Yang's bed, when she's with Blake…" Ruby suggested. Weiss' thoughts revolved around the couple being together in one bed, and went into an inappropriate direction almost instantly, which made her head heat up even more.
"Why is your face turning red?" Ruby asked. Are you really that innocent, Ruby?
"Ehm… I tried to imagine, how that would look like…" Weiss replied, and tried to wipe the blush off her cheeks. Ruby seemed to think about it for a short moment, and grinned afterwards.
"Awww… That would look adorable…" Weiss could not help it, but admire Ruby for an unknown reason, while her young leader rose, and crutched over to the beds of Blake and Yang. Yes, you are.
Weiss stood up, went to her end table, where her nightgown used to be stored during the days, and moved into the bathroom.
"You're going to bed, already?" Ruby asked in complaint.
"Yes…" Weiss answered. "I'm tired. Let me deal with Yang tomorrow, okay?"
"Well… I can't guarantee she won't wake you up."
"It's ok…" Weiss whispered, almost incomprehensible for Ruby. "However, now your sister knows that I fear her."
"Oh, don't worry about that, Weiss," Ruby then replied…
The next chapter: Awakening