A/N: Hello, and welcome, once more, to Clout. Not going to lie, this was not the story that I was originally going to working on this week (Without saying anything, That story is also progressing, and will be uploaded later. Probably tomorrow, or later today, if I finish it in time.)
Yang's chapter is still my favorite, but I think this might be a close second. Enjoy.
RWBY is owned by Roosterteeth and the late Monty Oum
Clout
Chapter 6
Later that night,
In Team RWBY's dorm…
"Ruby's not just my best friend. She's first among the most amazing people I know. Yang is just an awesome person and probably the most motherly person you don't know. Blake's all cool and mysterious at the best of times, and an almost scary-cool sneak at the worse. Weiss, is simply beautiful; her voice is amazing, and she's probably the smartest person I know." Said a recording of Jaune's voice.
Weiss and the other four members of Team RWBY did their best not to really show any emotion as they listened in silence at the message on the Scroll. They failed miserably, in Weiss's opinion. Other than maybe Blake that is.
The recording continued with, "And that barely even scratches the surface. For any of them. They are all astounding. To me. In every way."
"I am simply in awe at having them in my life."
Ruby wiped at her eyes before strolling over and ending the message playback before it could begin again. She stood there for a moment composing herself. Or, at least, that's what Weiss. Only for her team leader to turn and glare at the figure in their doorway as she asked, "Why would you send us that?"
Cardin shrugged from where he was leaning up against the door frame and said in answer, "Thought you girls could use a pick me up. Figure you should know where you currently stand with the man, and all that."
"Why, though?" She asked again while waving a hand towards the Scroll on the nightstand and continued to glare at him. "What. Here to blackmail us now? Didn't learn your lesson with Jaune?"
"Hey. First, ow. Second, I'm not like that anymore." Cardin answered defensively as he stood up and pointed at her before falling back and rubbing at the back of his own head in shame and embarrassment as he said, "Look. I know that there are things that I did that I honestly can never atone for. Okay?
"Forcing Jaune to do everything for us while we held his transcripts over his head was cruel. Tormenting and bullying all the Faunus classmates we had that first year? Beyond cruel. Running like a coward during the Fall of Beacon and abandoning my friends? I, I have no words for that shame."
He shook his head as he looked down in shame at the memory before looking back up at his fellow team leader and said while glaring at her, "But, that is not who I am, anymore. I've owned up to all of that and more. If it wasn't for Jaune I would've failed so many times these past couple of years with my studies. With Velvet. With my team."
"So, when I say that I'm doing this for him, and not for you. You can damn sure believe me, okay!"
Weiss stood there with her teammates, watching him as the bigger man glared at the smaller woman while panting for breath at that declaration, her hand edging toward Myrternaster, just in case. Not that Ruby needed her to.
Finally, Ruby nodded and the tension in the room subsided as Cardin relaxed. "Okay," she said. "I believe you."
"Still, I want to know. Why did you do this?" She asked of him.
Cardin shrugged again as he crossed his arms and said, "Cause he's my friend."
Ruby then sighed and rubbed at the messy, chopped up-looking mess that was her hair before saying, "Sorry, Cardin. Thanks."
He shrugged again before turning to leave, saying, "S'alright. I know. I'm a shit."
Ruby watched him go, saying, "No, you're not. Not this time." She turned back to her team while rubbing her head and said, "Damn it, I should've handled that better!"
"Hey, don't sweat it, sis," Yang said to her as she leaned back on her bed.
"Yeah, what Yang said," Blake said from the chair where she was once again reading the latest her chosen smut series (Weiss declined to go further on the matter, even if she had read one or two of them herself over the years). "You've always been protective of Jaune. I remember you fearlessly jumping in there after he did that big Stupid move of his at Haven."
"He's not stupid, Blake!" Ruby immediately rebutted, proving her point instantly.
Blake, of course, took it in stride and shared a smile with Yang over it before returning to her novel. To which Yang then interjected while pointing at her sister. "And, point proven, right there, sis."
"I, ugh, I'll go apologize to Cardin later then," her team leader returned exasperated before going to flop face-down on her own bed with a groan. Weiss agreed. Dealing with Winchester, while easier now, was still a right pain in the butt.
The room then went back to the previous comfortable sense of silence before it had been interrupted by Winchester's bombshell of a message as each girl went about doing their usual nightly rituals before bedding down, reading for Blake, playing video games for Yang and/or Ruby, and studying for Weiss. Or, at least, it should've.
Weiss found herself unable to study, her mind constantly drifting to the image of a certain blond idiot. No, not Yang. That blond idiot.
Jaune Arc. Her blond idiot…
She sat up at that an d shook her head to clear the offending material from her mind. For shame, Weiss! she thought. What would Mother or Winter think? Gods above what would Whitley think?
She didn't even want to contemplate it.
She sighed as she went back to her notes. While Jaune was studying for his Mid Terms as well as the new test Dr. Oobleck had prepared for them on Monday. Weiss and the rest of the two teams only had the latter.
It was an easy test. Weiss should be able to pass it with flying colors. After all, only Blake and Pyrrha were better than her in the class.
The image of a blond-hair, no-longer-noodlely knight smiling as he looked down at her past through her mind then.
But not if she couldn't focus on her notes! She sighed again, dejectedly, before surrendering to the inevitable and setting the notes down on her desk.
No studying for her tonight it seemed. Nope. No way.
She closed her eyes as she leaned back in her chair and rubbed the bridge of her nose with two fingers as she sighed once more. Darn it, Jaune. Now, look what you made me do.
She frowned at that thought. It was unbecoming of her. And, Jaune wasn't to blame for this. She was.
She sighed at that and slumped down in her chair, pouting. It was most unladylike to be so… enamored, with a boy, of all things. It was certainly unbecoming of a Schnee, as Winter would say.
To say nothing her and her relationship with that AceOps with the tail. What was his name again? Tarrow? Barrow? Marrow! Yes, Marrow.
/ /
Far up in the barracks of Atlas Academy a certain white-haired woman sneezed suddenly. Her partner, a darkly tanned man with a tail, chuckled at how cute it sounded. Only to stop as she gave him a look with her eyebrow raised. Then she smiled at him as she rolled over on top of him and started kissing him deeply.
The sheets falling away from her bare back then.
/ /
Weiss hmphed to herself as she crossed her arms and continued to pout cutely in her seat. It remained quiet like that for a moment more and then…
"Hey. So, what did you all think about the message, anyway?" Yang then said from where she laid on her bed, not playing on her Scroll.
"Idiot!" Weiss declared from her spot, throwing her arms up in the arm. "He's an idiot! And I love him! But, he's an Idiot!"
"Ooohh-kaayy," Yang said in response to that before turning to her girlfriend and asking, "Blake! What about you?"
"It was, nice," Blake started, trying to gather her thoughts from where she sat, not reading her book.
"It was beyond nice!" Ruby interjected, waving her arms in the arm as she protested. "Why couldn't he have said something like that to our face! It's only been six months! A girl needs to know if she's getting through, or not!"
"Ruby," Blake then said into the sudden silence generated by that. "You're doing that thing again where you say something that true, but not what you meant, again."
The girl in question huffed a breath as she let her arms fall back on her bed as she turned to her dark-haired friend and said, "I know. I'm just so frustrated right now. I just, I want him to know, to realize that we care."
"I know, Rubes." Yang then responded as she rolled onto her arms and stomach to better see everyone else. "Just give it time. He'll come around."
"We've given him time!" Ruby then interjected back, frustration clear in her every move as she sat up. "WE've been coy. WE've been cute. And supportive. And playful. And, and,! and, still, he hasn't gotten it!"
She then flopped back on her bed in defeat as she said, "I just, feel like giving up. You know." She placed the back of her hands over her eyes as she tried to keep the frustration and tears in as she whimpered, "Relationships are hard."
"I know," Yang said with another look, and a small smile, shared with her girlfriend. "But, that's how relationships work sometimes."
"She's right, Ruby." Blake then said. "And, it's not like we haven't gotten through to him, over these last few months. You heard the message. We all heard what he said to Yang."
The girls all turned to watch their leader as she silently nodded and said, "Yeah. You're right, Blake. I guess, I'm just tired of keeping it all in."
"Those were the rules you put in place when we started this whole thing. It was your idea." Weiss replied then, speaking up for the first time from her chair, her arms still crossed and her demeanor still one of annoyance at not getting any work done.
"Yeah, you're right." Ruby said as she heaved a sigh and round over onto her side. "I know right now that its just my emotions running rampant, and that, by morning, I'll be all better. But, I'm really tired all of a sudden."
"Well, then, it's best if we all go to sleep, I say." Weiss responded as she got up from her chair and moved towards the door.
"And, just where are you going, Weiss-cream?" Yang asked following her movements as Blake got up to go change into her night wear.
"I'm, going for a walk. I need to clear my head for a bit, if I'm to get any sleep tonight." Weiss said with her hand on the door. She opened it and walked through, closing it back behind her but not before saying, "Especially, with the way you snore."
"Hey, I don't snore!" Yang protested, only to then get in an argument with Ruby.
Weiss closed the door with a smile, knowing full well that another epic pillow fight was about to ensure. It should be enough to get everyone's thoughts off of what just happened.
For Weiss, though, it would take something else.
/ /
The air was dreadfully chill that night, and just her luck Weiss forgot to get her coat. She wrapped her arms around herself as she walked, lost in her thoughts.
Inevitably, they turned to Jaune. As they usually did these days.
That boy. Just what was she to do with him?
Love him, obviously.
But, it was so much more than that. To her.
See, Weiss knew, she had not been a good person during much of her first year at Beacon. And, the people she had been the worse with, were her friends. Espeically Ruby. And, Jaune.
She snorted and smiled to herself at that.
Well, just look at her now. Her BFF, whatever that was, Ruby still refused to explain,much to her dismay,was the delightfully erratic, super talented little reaper in red with the glowing, magic eyes and a gigantic scythe, and the boy she was in love with was the still awkward, goofball of an idiot knight in shining armor who could run laps around her with his strategic mind and dancing ability.
And, yes, she admitted it. In love. With him. Not a crush, not anything else.
Love.
And she had been for a long time, too. Before what happened at Haven, before the Fall. She had just been too scared to do anything about it.
And then there had been Pyrrha, too.
She stopped as she felt tears prick her eyes and gasped for breath as she tried to hold in the emotion. Then she wrapped her arms about her tightly as she stalked forwards quickly.
She had been so scared! Of everything!
She thought that she was going to lose him! She thought that she was going to lose Yang! First to some form of imprisonment or expulsion, then to her losing her arm! And, blake!
She felt herself suck in a breath harshly, and then she was running, tears in her eyes.
Then her father had come and taken her away before she could even see if any of them were going to be okay. And when she had ran, escaping with Klein's help, she had been attacked over Lake Matsu, shot down and captured by the Branwen Tribe. If it hadn't been for Yang's unexpected arrival, she…
She gasped for breath as she continued to run, trying to outrun all the memories and the emotions alongside them.
And then, at Haven, with Cinder and Adam and Mercury and Emerald. When she had been injured. When she had almost died and, if not for him?
She paused beside the the statues of the Huntsman and Huntress as they stared down a Beowolf, gasping for breath before then sitting down there on a low, stone bench. She sniffled, the tears still streaming down her face.
After that, they had traveled to Atlas, as per Mr Branwen's instructions. And, along the way, she had realized what she felt for him, for Jaune. And, there with her found family, the boy she secretly loved and his adopted siblings, she had been Happy. So, truly, happy. For the first time in her life.
And then Pyrrha had returned in Argus and she… lost her chance. Just like Ruby. Just like Yang and Blake, even if they hadn't realized it at the time.
And, she had accepted that. As much as it hurt, she had accepted it.
Pyrrha had always been the better person. A better friend. A better teammate. A hero.
She was more famous and was a better, kinder person. She had always loved Jaune, too. She could make him happy where she, and her twisted upbringing, wouldn't. Couldn't.
And, she had accepted it. Or, at least, that's what she told herself. And, it had been a lie.
A Schnee never lies!
That had been one of many lessons that abusive, hypocritical father had taught her over the years a Schnee never lies. A Schnee is always proper. A Schnee is always perfect. A Schnee was the best.
Well. She had lied and she was certainly not perfect. Not the best. Not by a mile. And there had certainly been times when she had been anything but proper, thanks to Ruby. To her friends. Her family. Jaune.
Always Jaune.
While the others had quietly accepted the truth. Or, at least, they had seemed to. They had sat back and watched, thinking that as long as he was happy, then they were happy.
Weiss, completely paradoxically, had not. She had not simply sat back and accepted it like she thought she would. She watched, as everything crumbled around the two.
She had seen how Jaune struggled with Pyrrha's fame after they got together. She watched as he bravely put up with all the rumors, the mutters of his inadequacy as Pyrrha smiled and paraded around for the public. Watched as those once proud shoulder had slumped under it all.
Watched as his health deteriorated. Watched as his smile dimmed. Watched as his grades and skills faded away almost to what they had been all the way back in their first year.
And, still, he had said nothing. Not to his teammates. Not to his friends. Not to Pyrrha.
And, Weiss had realized, as she watched, that he would have been in the same situation, had he been with her. And it had crushed her.
She sat there and started to weep. Quietly. With dignity. As was proper of a high born Atlesian like herself.
With snot and everything.
She was so ashamed of herself. Just as much as she had been at the time that she first realized the situation she could've put the boy she loved in.
How could she be that selfish? To do that to some so kind, so sweet?
And, how could Pyrrha not realize what she was doing herself? Was she really that oblivious? Or, did she just not know?
That was the one thing that kept circling through her head at the time. That one question. Did she know? Because how could she not?
She was the Pyrrha Nikos.
So, how? How?
True, as soon as she had returned with them to Vale, and the newly reopened Beacon, she had been set upon by the Nosies, as Nora had so delightfully called them, and Weiss had secretly taken to doing the same, not that she would ever tell anyone. Then there had been all the new sponsorships and press conferences, and the commercials. But, really… Had she really not known what was happening?
Really it baffled her. Truly.
Pyrrha had gone on and on in private to her over that first years about how Weiss didn't seem to understand just what made Jaune so special in the first place. He hadn't know who they were. At all!
She, Weiss Schnee. Heiress (Ex, now) to the Schnee Dust Company, and famous new age Opera singer from Atlas. And, her. Pyrrha Nikos. Four tiem Champion of the Mistral Regionals, a new, and still unbroken, record and the (Former) Mascot for Pumpkin Pete's Marshmallow Flakes box!
And, he hadn't even heard of them.
It took Weiss far too long to realize the good in him. So, selfish she had been, assuming that he was like every other boy before him, just wanting her for her family's name. Just like she had assumed thing s with Blake.
And, to top it all off, she had immediately fallen for Neptune!
She buried her face in her hands and let out a very Ruby-like groan then. How could she be so shallow?!
It had taken far too long to realize that that boy flirted with every girl he met, including all of Team NDGO. At the Vytal Festival! While dating her! Who did that?!
Neptune. That's who.
She had broken up with him immediately after his team's match. And the fool hadn't even bothered to say hello when they had reunited with his team in Mistral!
She gritted her teeth at that.
Oh, she so hoped that they had a match with Team SSSN during this year's Vytal Festival. She was going to make him pay all over again. You did not ignore a Schnee!
She sighed then and wiped the tears from her face as she continued to gaze up at the statue. It was when Pyrrha had that big to do with Jaune in public that finally made Weiss realize the truth. She was nothing like the girl that she had compared herself to after all these years.
After, discovering just who she was, she knew that she would never had done something like that to someone who honestly loved her. Not for her sponsors, not for her agents, and certainly not for Jacques Schnee.
She was better than that. At least, now, after she had grown up a bit. But, that meant that she wasn't right for Jaune in the first place. Because, she would only have hurt him. Just like Pyrrha had.
She sighed again as more tears started to flow down her face then. Sometimes, it was all so hard.
"Weiss? Is that you?"
She turned as someone called out to her and found him there. Jaune. Her White Knight.
He walked up to her, still wearing the school uniform and paused as he noticed the moisture on her face then. "Weiss, is everything alright?"
She rubbed at the tear on her face vigorously before sitting back up, prim and proper as always, and said, "Yes. I was just, lost in the past for a bit, I guess. It, hits me sometimes like that. I'm quite alright now. Nothing to worry about."
/ /
A little earlier…
Jaune grumbled to himself as he walked down the hallway. He had just gotten a text from Cardin earlier that he had gotten "The stuff" and had excused himself from his study session with Blake. Now, the idiot was saying he was going to be late to their usual spot-read, Team CRDL's dorm.
Great! And Jaune had been looking forwards to studying with the reclusive Faunus of RWBY. The two of them didn't get to hang out as much as they used to ever since Velvet and her team had graduated, and, he missed her.
She was the only member of RWBY that make him laugh instantly. No matter what Rubes and Yang said, she was the one with a direct path to his funny bone.
Now, if he went back he'd have to come up with some excuse, and with Blake being Blake would see right through it, and then scold him for it. He did not want to be a part of that.
And that was only if Blake was still there! Which he doubted, being as late as it was.
That's when he noticed the figure out by the Statue. He paused and looked harder, narrowing his eyes as he did. Was that Weiss? he thought. What's she doing there?
He walked over, curious. And saw that it was, indeed, Weiss.
He called out to her then as he got closer, not wanting to get reamed for scaring her. Like last time. "Weiss? Is that you?"
She turned and he saw the tears on her face and immediately became concerned. It took a lot for any of the girls to cry. This must be serious. So, he asked, "Weiss, is everything alright?"
She rubbed at the tears and said some excuse, but he wasn't buying it. Too often he had seen his sisters do the same thing. And, he knew. When a girl said that they were "fine" they were never fine.
He walked over as she continued to talk, taking off his dress jacket as he did so. Once he reached her he put it around her shoulder, saying with a smile, "Here. It's a bit cold out."
"Oh," She returned with surprise before wrapping it more tightly about her. And, did she just sniff it? Well, he understood. Wouldn't want to wear something that stunk either. It's why he careful clean everything he wore and sprayed it down with his favorite brand of deodorant. "Thank you, Jaune. You didn't have to."
"Ah, don't mention it," he returned as he sat down beside her.
They sat there in silence for a time. Eventually, as a rather convenient breeze blew by, Weiss leaned in against him. He dutifully wrapped an arm around her, drawing her in close. She glanced at him then but said nothing as he observed the statue.
"You know," he finally said, pointing at the statue holding it's sword aloft. "I used to wish I was like that Huntsman there. Even imagined that the statue was of an ancestor of mine. Our swords are similar, you see. Or, well, they used to be."
He drifted back into silence then, while rubbing at his head. Too embarrassed to continue after the slip up. Weiss scooted even closer before asking, "And you don't now?"
"Nah," he replied with a small, sad smile. He leaned back then, taking his arm off of her as he thought about it while saying,"I'm not a hero like them, like you and the rest. I'm just the guy that holds your flank, heals your wounds. I suppose that's a hero in some capacity, and I'm fine with it. Honestly."
He looked down at her and smiled as he said, "I'd rather you guys not get hurt anymore, you know? You all do so much. All the time. And, sometimes it just blows my breath away when you do… If that means that I can't be as cool and awesome as you guys and the rest of my team, then so be it. It's not much of a sacrifice, after all."
Weiss listened in silence as he spoke to her, gazing into his eyes all the while, like she was trying to say something. Then she smiled at him before standing up and said, "I do understand, Jaune. And, I know that feeling, too. Like I'm lacking something, on occasion. Especially, when I see Ruby or Yang or Blake do something that I never could."
He nodded before turning to stare up at the statue again.
"But, you know," she continued. He turned and felt his breath get knocked away as he saw her silhouetted there in the moonlight. She said with a smile, "Just because you sometimes don't feel like a hero, doesn't mean that you are. I, and the others, we all think of you as a hero. You certainly are to us, to me."
She nodded at him before she once more wrapped his jacket around herself and said over her shoulder as she walked away, leaving him there, "Thanks again, Jaune. I'll return this first thing in the morning."
Jaune smiled as he watched her go.
A/N: Alright. I hoped you enjoy that. Lancaster is my OTP but White Knight is a close second. And Weiss is by far my favorite of the RWBY girls, so I had to do her justice.
Already I'm almost done with the final chapter for Clout. Might be uploading it soon.
Alright, love you guys! Essiter out!
P.S. I'm actually uploading this on my labtop and not my Chromebook since it's all I have on hand right. Damn thing is not only a hand-me-down and old to boot, but it's got only 2G of Ram. In short, it sucks. As soon as I get my next paycheack I'll be buying something better.
