Chapter Thirty-Seven: Setting The Board.

Weiss seethed slightly as she followed the scruffy Huntsman as he led them to the arena. She did not take kindly to him just lumping her in with her family without getting to know her first, he may have had interactions with them before but not with her certainly. He had also brushed off her own skills as a Huntress in training when she had accepted his challenge saying that they'd have plenty of time after their bout to go back and get some more breakfast. She knew that fully trained Huntsman and Huntress were not to be taken lightly but just because she was not fully trained didn't mean that she was not already a force to be reckoned with.

A slight increase in pressure in her hand drew the Heiress' gaze down to the wolf who was treading beside her. Ruby had a concerned look in her eyes and her body was full of tension. With a small sigh Weiss leaned in towards her girlfriend, "I'll be fine Ruby." She reassured her.

Ruby looked up at her and frowned slightly, "He's a fully trained Huntsman Weiss. He was one of the youngest scythe masters and he trained me. I know what he's capable of better than almost anyone."

"If he fights like you then I should be somewhat familiar with it already." Weiss tried to make Ruby see her point.

Ruby shook her head, "No. He taught me the basic moves and how to handle a scythe. After that I changed and adapted the moves to better fit my semblance and size. His style of fighting is very different from my own." Before they reached the arena the wolf pulled them to a stop and motioned for Yang and Blake to go in. Weiss looked at the wolf with a curious gaze but before she could speak her wolf continued, "His scythe has two forms; a great sword and the scythe. There are shotguns on either side of the blade if it's in the great sword from the blade will tilt down before he shoots it, don't know why it doesn't function when the blade is straight but it doesn't, he also isn't very accurate with them so he usually uses them to get his opponent moving. He won't use his scythe unless you either can force him to use it or he wants to bring the fight to an end, also unlike Crescent Rose his scythe is sharp on both sides and he can use them both to his advantage. Best way to win is to immobilize him or limit is range of movement, he's also not great against range attacks."

Weiss nodded as Ruby, "What of his semblance?"

Ruby shook her head again, "It's not useful in a fight so he won't use is. But he can take a beating so don't expect him to go down easily."

"So he's like Yang?" Weiss asked.

Ruby shook her head again, "Not really, he's just got a lot of Aura and is use to taking heavy blows."

Before Weiss could speak up Qrow's voice called back to them, "Hey you coming Ice Queen or are you having second thoughts? You know it's not to late to back out."

The Heiress narrowed her eyes as her expression hardened and turned towards the man, "I'll be right there." Not giving him a second look she turned back to Ruby to see the crimson wolf biting her lower lip in worry, Weiss felt her heart beat slightly faster, Ruby was just too cute when she did that. Leaning in she lifted her wolf's chin up and pecked at her lips lightly, "I'll be fine Ruby."

The wolf opened her mouth only for Weiss to peck at her lips again cutting her off. When the Heiress pulled back Ruby nodded, "Just be safe." Ruby quickly retreated up stairs to sit with the rest of her team. Once Ruby was settled Weiss turned towards Huntsman who was standing in the middle of the arena giving her a smug smirk. Irritation flashed through the Heiress as she walked forward head held high.

"Finally done with your little chat?' Qrow asked cocking an eyebrow up, "Let me guess, the pup decided to give you a rundown of my weapon and my fighting style." Weiss figured that he would know what she and Ruby had been talking about so she wasn't surprised. Qrow just chuckled and shook his head, "Well I guess that's to be expected." Weiss ignored the Huntsman as she drew her rapier and took her stance. Qrow gave her another smug smile and bowed breaking eye contact, "When you're ready."

Weiss narrowed her eyes, fighting back the urge to lunge at the man. He had broken one of the biggest rules of a duel, never break eye contact with your opponent, if he was that confident then she could not risk being the one who attacked first. Instead she held her stance and allowed her semblance to stretch out and place glyphs around the arena that she could use when she began her attack.

Charging her blade with blue Dust Weiss took a deep settling breath before activating a propulsion glyph below her shooting her forward towards the Huntsman. Myrtenaster sang as it pierced the air, the Dust in her blade causing it to chill as it passed. Just as the tip of her rapier was about to impact onto Qrow's shoulder the man moved in a flash of movement. Pulling his weapon from his back the Huntsman flicked his wrist causing it to extent to its great sword from and put it in the way of incoming blade causing it veer of course. Weiss blinked in surprise at the speed of the man and only just had enough time to dodge to the side as Qrow lashed out with his fist.

"Quick reflexes." Qrow smirked as he swung again causing Weiss to dance back again. "And you're very agile."

Not bothering to reply Weiss changed the Dust in her blade to red and flipped back catching herself in the air on a glyph before shooting down towards Qrow at an angle a thin of Dust following her. Qrow dodged to the side and before he could swing again Weiss pivoted, changed the direction of her attack and launched herself again.

Again Qrow dodged and once again the Heiress landed on a glyph in the air, a red trail of dust following her path. Smirking lightly Weiss shot off several more times just barely passing by Qrow causing him to dodge to the side only to have her quickly shoot to another spot before he could swing at her, the thin red trail of dust still following her. Weiss knew she had to keep his attention off the red trail until she was ready.

It was a known fact that at Beacon there were only two people who could use Dust at the same level of the Schnee Heiress, Velvet Scarlatina and Glynda Goodwitch. If she was facing one of them Weiss might have been worried that they might have caught on to what she was trying to do, however it was very unlikely that the Huntsman she currently faced understood. Weiss was laying a very intricate net of red Dust around her opponent, weaving the strands together in a dome shape around him. She had learned that if she left a small trail of her Aura in the Dust it would be suspended in that trail until she activated it. It was a technique that took a lot of precise Aura control and a lot of Aura to accomplish. Ruby had told her to limit his movements and if she could finish the net before he noticed then she just might stand a chance at winning.

With the final pass Weiss flipped out of the top of the dome, with a quick flick of Myrtenaster she let the small circle at the top close finishing her net. Landing on the ground Weiss glanced at the Dust dome, it was thin enough that she could barely make it out hanging in the air but it was there and Qrow barely seemed to notice. With a smirk Weiss ignited the thin stand of red Dust that was still attached to the tip of her rapier.

Qrow's eyes widened as he watched the line of flame trail from the rapier and quickly spread to the dome causing a massive eruption. Weiss had to block a few bits of ground that were kicked up by the explosion and shielded her eyes from the bright light. There was nothing she could readily do about the sound as it roared around her. Once the light and sound died out Weiss blinked towards the center of the dome and froze in her place.

Qrow was standing in the center still, his head thrown back, hand resting on his stomach as he laughed loudly into the air. "Oh that was good!" He laughed shaking his head, "You've got a real talent for Dust weaving there Ice Queen, boy oh boy that I haven't seen that much skill in a long time."

Weiss stood there in shock as the Huntsman continued to laugh, she had put enough dust in the air to vaporize a fully grown Ursa major and yet the older man just stood there and laughed like he wasn't even fazed as to what she had done.

"I'll admit you have me confused there for the first few passes." Qrow continued as he ignored the shocked Heiress. "I mean you're only in your fist year here and normally Dust weaving isn't covered until late your second year but I guess since you're a Schnee you've got a few tricks up your selves that most fist years don't have." Finally looking over at Weiss, Qrow just smirked at her shock, "What? Did you really think I've never seen Dust weaving before? I mean come on my team leader was the best Dust user in all of Remnant and Summer would weave several types of Dust simultaneously, you've got a few years ahead of you before you're going to be at her level, but I'll admit you've got a good start."

Finally shaking out of her shock Weiss readied her stance again switching to green Dust, another propulsion glyph activated below her feet shooting her forward again towards the Huntsman, their blades met in a shower of spark and Qrow pushed Weiss back.

Using the momentum form the push the Heiress flipped back and kicked Qrow across his chin causing him to grunt. Landing back on her feet Weiss lunged forward again not giving him time to recover. Again she was pushed back only this time it was further than before. When she landed she saw the sword tilt downward, jumping to the side the Heiress just barely dodged the shotgun blast as it kicked up dirt and chucks of the ground.

Suddenly Weiss went from being on the attack to being on the defense as she dodged blast after blast, causing her to jump and use her glyphs to stay ahead of the bullets that were fired at her. She could tell that Qrow wasn't really aiming so much that he was using the scatter effect of the pellets to keep the pressure on her. If he was to aim like Ruby did with her shots then she might have been in more trouble.

Landing on a glyph in the air Weiss spun Myrtenaster's chambers and laughed five projectile attacks towards the Huntsman, each impacting around him. Jumping to another glyph Weiss sent another volley of projectiles this time infusing them with blue dust causing them to freeze upon impact. One her next volley she sent more ice crystals raining down on to the Huntsman, the large icicles dug deep into the ground some that impacted the already existing ice shattered and sent sharp shards of ice into the air.

Once Weiss landed on the ground she glanced up at her Aura meter trying to keep her breathing even. She had already expended a large amount of her Aura from the Dust dome and launching all of the attack as well as summoning her glyphs was causing it to dip very low. If she took a hit she doubted that her Aura would be able to block it effectively. Looking over at the ice structure her projectiles had created the Heiress readied her blade again knowing that there was no way she had taken Qrow down from her attacks.

There was a cracking sound and the ice structure broke apart as Qrow rested his sword on his shoulder and gave a low whistle, "Impressive. You move very fluidly from glyph to glyph and being able to attack from them on the move shows you've been trained to use your semblance thoroughly. Though I guess since the Schnee semblance is genetic I guess you've had a lot of research done on it." Qrow gave her a critical gaze, "But I know Papa Schnee wouldn't bother to train you himself so you must have been trained in that chamber."

Weiss froze as her breath caught in her throat. No one was suppose to know about that chamber, only the trainers and a few of the upper military personal knew about it. He wasn't suppose to know how she was trained, how she had spent hours on end facing wave after wave of enemies.

"Don't look so shocked Schnee." Qrow chuckled darkly, "You forget your sister was one of Atlas Academy's best Huntresses and she worked side by side with ol' Jimmy Steelcock for a while. I don't know if you knew this or not but the General and my family use to be on pretty good terms before he sold us down the river. Winter was often with him and she told us all about how she was trained before she went to the Academy and about how she knew you were being trained. You know she was the first Schnee that I figured would actually do any good in this world but she just had to be a noble idiot and protect you from that damned project."

Weiss was shaking as he spoke, he should not know any of what he was saying, he shouldn't know anything about the camber, how she was trained, how Winter protected her. Fear and panic started to rise up inside of the Heiress' chest as the darkness in her mind slowly pulled her down. Slowly she realized she couldn't hear the words he was saying as the screaming and sounds of warning sirens started to blare in her ears, she could hear her sister scream in pain and fright as flashes of bright light crossed her eyes blinding her from seeing her sister bend and contort in agony, the coldness of the sterile laboratory sank into her skin as she once again clung to the metal railing as strong arms held her back from getting to her sister. Weiss could feel her heart race as her breathing became eradicate.

Qrow just ignored the trembling Heiress as he continued to approach her, "You know comparing the two of you it really is clear as to who was the more powerful, I mean sure your good with Dust weaving but I haven't seen you even attempt to summon yet. Hell, Winter would summon a whole legion of defeated Grimm with nary a thought." Qrow paused before he smugly grinned again, "Oh don't tell me, you're a late bloomer. You've not yet managed to figure out how the summoning aspect of your semblance works yet. Ha! Oh man, Winter was wrong when she said you'd be the better of the two. I think I'll just end this now if you don't mind." Qrow jammed his arm down causing a set of gears whirling on his weapon, slowly the sword started to bend backwards and the shaft extend.

"QROW!" A sharp voice cut over the arena causing the Huntsman to look over. Glynda was fuming as she stormed into the arena, green eyes were full of fury as the Deputy Headmistress and combat instructor glared at the Huntsman. "Don't you dare draw you scythe."

Before Qrow could respond a red growling bullet slammed into his chest and knocked him away from the Heiress. Ruby was standing in front of Weiss who had collapsed down to her knees in a low crouch her ears drawn back and low against her hair, her lips were drawn back exposing her fangs and her tail was bushed out and ridged. The growling that was emitted from the crimson wolf's throat was low and filled with a warning. If she had had Crescent Rose on her it would have been drawn and ready to strike. But what had Qrow worried were the wolf's eyes, the molten silver once again cracked with red lines.

Qrow once again held his hands up in surrender letting go of his weapon. Once he had knocked his weapon a few feet away from him with his foot the wolf seemed to relax slightly and turn back towards her partner enveloping her with her arms and pulling her cape around them. Yang and Blake joined them on the ground though they stayed a few feet from the pair, Blake glared at Qrow while Yang took an annoyed stance and shook her head.

"Qrow." Glynda growled as she reached him, her green eyes still glowing with fury, "Just what they hell do you think you're doing?"

With a small smirk Qrow shrugged, "Oh you know making sure my niece is well taken care of. You know it seems young miss Schnee has quite the talent for Dust weaving."

Glynda closed her eyes and took a very long and deep breath trying to calm her nerves, "Yes, I am very well aware of Miss Schnee's talent in Dust weaving, but that explain what you were doing." Before Qrow could respond Glynda shook her head and cut over him, "It doesn't matter, Ozpin want a word with you, now."

Qrow looked over at the group of girls again, Ruby was still wrapped around Weiss only now the Heiress had pulled the wolf into her lap and was hugging her back, Blake was still glaring at him and her hand would trail to her weapon from time to time while Yang was standing beside her partner glancing between her and her uncle. Shaking his head Qrow stood up and dusted himself off, "Right well best not keep old Oz waiting." Kicking is weapon up into his hand he placed it on his back.

Once Ruby had turned back towards away from her Uncle her heart broke as she saw her girlfriend trembling. She had been on the edge of her seat during the entire fight watching how Weiss moved about the arena weaving her dome, she was once again struck with awe on how fluid the Heiress could move about during a fight trusting that her glyphs would be there when she needed them. Ruby was amazed at her level of control over Dust and how devastating her attacks could be when she had activated the dome. She knew that it would take more than that to bring down Qrow but she had figured it would at least stun him a bit, but it hadn't even fazed him. Then when Weiss once again went on the offensive Ruby couldn't take her eyes off the Heiress as she fired projectile after projectile creating an icy bombardment again she knew it would take more than that to effect Qrow but she was still hoping that he would back down after seeing Weiss' abilities.

Then he had started to attack Weiss, not physically attack but verbally. He had spoken of things that Weiss never had and the effect was profound. It had taken everything the wolf had to not launch herself down into the arena when she saw Weiss freeze. She had dug her nails into the bench trying to hold herself in her seat when the Heiress began to tremble but when Qrow had activated the transformation for his scythe Ruby could hold herself back no more, Weiss was in no condition to continue the fight and Qrow should have seen that. Ruby couldn't hold herself back anymore, activating her semblance the wolf launched herself at her uncle again for the second time today knocking him back away from her mate. Her anger flowed through her as the desire to protect Weiss fought with the desire to attack and destroy anything that had hurt her mate.

Heat flooded through her body and a dark hatred started to bubble up as she glared at her uncle, she wanted nothing more than to tear into him and make him pay for hurting Weiss, the only thing holding her back was the shaking breathing of the Heiress behind her, she could not leave Weiss while she was under duress. Finally when Qrow kicked his weapon away and showed he was no longer a treat did Ruby look away.

Weiss was on her knees trembling, her eyes unfocused as they widely stared a head of her. She had lost her grip on her rapier and her left hand was now cradled to her chest. With a slight whine Ruby went to her mate and wrapped her arms around the trembling girl pulling her cape around them trapping their body heat in together.

"It's okay Weiss." She whispered as she nuzzled into the Heiress's neck and placing light kisses onto her neck. "I'm right here you're okay." Slowly she felt Weiss responding and wrap her arms around her and pull her into the Heiress lap.

"Ruby?" Weiss asked with a shaky breath, she blinked a few times to get her eyes to refocus.

"Right here Princess." Ruby smiled as she reached up and pecked Weiss' lips. "I'm right here."

With a shaky sigh Weiss pulled Ruby in closer and placed the wolf at her neck breathing in the scents of roses and earth that naturally clung to her wolf. With each breath she could feel the panic and fear slowly bleed out of her system. Slowly she regained control of her breathing and could feel her heartbeat slow to match her wolf's. She could feel the slight pulse of Ruby's Aura against her own as the crimson girl tried to help calm her down. "Thank you." Weiss breathed into Ruby's ear causing her wolf to shiver slightly. "Promise you won't leave me?"

"Promise." Ruby nodded as she took a deep breath at the Heiress' neck.

Blake stood between her Alpha and the man watching to make sure that nothing would happen while the wolf comforted her mate. She hadn't had many interactions with the man but from what she had heard from Yang and Ruby she hadn't expected him to act like he had towards Weiss. She knew that he had known how his words were affecting the Heiress, it was very obvious and he was a fully trained Huntsman, he knew to pay attention to his opponent for any small changes. She glared at the man trying to figure out what he was trying to do.

Yang came up beside her and gave off an annoyed huff and muttered, 'bastard' under her breath as she shook her head. Qrow had taken it to far. This wasn't a training exercise where he would manipulate his opponent into breaking down just to make them stronger. This wasn't Patch and it wasn't his responsibility to train them any more. Letting her eyes drift towards Blake she saw the girl's hand drift towards her weapon which made the blonde extremely thankful Ruby had not had hers on her at the time, an angry wolf with a scythe was not something they needed to deal with right now. Deciding to intervene before Blake drew her weapon Yang drifted over to her side and shook her head, "It's not worth it Kitten." She whispered.

Blake glanced at her before returning her glare towards the Huntsman that was now being berated by Professor Goodwitch, "He went to far and he knows it."

"Yes, I'm sure he does." Yang nodded but still kept her voice soft, "Qrow can be a right bastard towards people he doesn't like."

"He doesn't even know Weiss." Blake returned.

Yang nodded again, "Right but he does know the Schnee's. Qrow isn't like mom and her attitude towards never judging a person by their name. He holds a grudge until it dies or he kills it." Blake narrowed her eyes again as Qrow stood up and retrieved his weapon. Once the two older Hunters were gone Yang let out a loud sigh and looked down at Ruby and Weiss who were still cuddled together and couldn't help but smile at the sight. "He's gone Rubes."

Ruby gave off a soft growl and pulled Weiss closer making the Heiress chuckle slightly, "It's fine Ruby, I'll admit he shook me up but I will be fine after awhile."

"He didn't need to do that." Ruby muttered as she stayed in the Heiress lap. "He should have stopped once he realized something was wrong."

Weiss shook her head, "If it had been a real right Ruby, do you think an opponent would have stopped? No, while I may not appreciate how he taught the lesson I do recognize the value of it."

"Still…" Ruby tried but was cut off by a finger across her lips as Weiss shook her head again.

"It was a valuable lesson and next time I'll be ready." Weiss smiled at her wolf, though she still felt uneasy inside. "When I can, I would like to talk about what he said. I believe that it would help me if I did but right now I can't."

Ruby nodded in understanding and slowly got off of the Heiress lap and offered her hand out to help her up, "Well then do you want to go back to the dorm and relax?"

Weiss smiled and took her wolf's hand, "Yes." Ruby's smile widened, "But after we finish our report on Grimm populations."

The smile from the wolf turned into pout, "But Weissssss."

"What were you thinking?" Glynda yelled at Qrow again as the reached the Headmasters office. "You saw the shape Miss Schnee was in! How could you continue your attack?"

Qrow shrugged as he leaned against a wall, "Well if she learned the lesson then she'll know she has to confront what I said and learn to not let it affect her."

Glynda seethed with anger as she stormed up to him again, "Oh it was another one of your half baked lessons was it? Do you remember what happened the first time you tried one of those on Summer? What about Raven? Or Tai? Do you remember how much Summer hated you after you did that to Raven? She only just barely forgave you after you explained. How do you think Ruby or Yang is going to take this? Ruby already attacked you once today and now you set her off a second time."

"It was necessary." Qrow shrugged only to receive a hard smack across the face.

"You're a bastard Qrow." Glynda growled, "And if you try that again I will hold nothing back when I come after you. Do not forget that I am in charge of the training her at Beacon not you, and I will not let you harm any one of my charges."

"Enough Glynda." Ozpin said calmly, "I think Qrow has learned his lesson." Glynda continued to glare at the Huntsman making Ozpin sigh, "Perhaps you should explain yourself Qrow."

"I just wanted to make sure another Schnee wasn't taking advantage of my family." Qrow shrugged, "I wouldn't put it past a spawn of Augustus to try, even if Winter was one of the good ones we know next to nothing about Weiss."

"We know enough to know that she is not like her family before her." Ozpin explained, "She had been against the practices of the SDC since she was a young girl and had decided that she is going to change them even if it means tearing it apart."

"That is if the SDC survives the revolution." Qrow snorted, "Speaking of which, where is Jimmy?"

"James is with the counsel again trying to avoid being sent to prison for the attack on Vale." Ozpin shook his head, he had tried to explain to the counsel that Ironwood had had nothing to do with the attack but they were looking for someone to blame and would not stop until they had one. "And as for news out of Mantle, it is bleak at best. The people are fighting back and stealing Dust and ammo from the military. The violence is spilling over into other cities and soon the whole Kingdom will be involved in the revolution. Augustus has evacuated Atlas and had gone underground for the time being but we know he is still pulling the strings. The rest of the Generals of the Wall are set to attack at his word. Atlas Academy has also been evacuated and the students that haven't joined the people are now being sequestered in Lux under military control, and the Adel's are not happy. The only thing we have going for us is that the White Fang is laying low for the time being. Though I doubt that they will for much longer."

"What about the puppet?" Qrow asked, "It's not coincidence she's here. My money is she's here on Schnee's orders."

"Penny has shown no signs on any hostile intent or even being in contact with Augustus." Ozpin shook his head, it was still a mystery as to why Penny was at Beacon, "She's been under constant surveillance and right now we shouldn't worry about her as she had been nothing but a model student."

"Oh and what should we concern ourselves about?" Qrow snorted.

Ozpin looked at the two Hunters in his office, "I believe the Doctor is alive."

A/N: So sorry for not posting last week, my computer went on the fritz and decided to not work so I had to give it to my tech guy and let him fix it and I didn't get it back till Wednesday then life got busy and I couldn't write so yeah... Basically my bad. Anyways next week is going to be fun because of some things ;) And Winter's tail will soon be revealed!

With that: Thank you all for sticking with me for this long, please let me know what you're thinking, and may you find a reason to smile today.