Ruby swung her cleaver, relishing in the way its heft so easily fell at her command. It bit deep into the young evergreen, nearly splitting its trunk in two. Yang did the rest of the work by hugging the tree and twisting it fully off its base, leaving a ragged stump behind.

Weiss, ever helpful, offered 'constructive' criticism from behind them. "You have an ax, you know."

Ruby threw a small grin her way. "Yeah, but it's just a little handax, and I love my baby."

Weiss quirked an eyebrow at that, moving aside as Yang carried the trunk past her. "Your 'baby'?"

Ruby vigorously nodded. Weiss scoffed, but couldn't hide her smile of endearment.

"It's a sword, Ruby."

The smith gasped, feigning offense. "My lady! 'Tis not just a sword!"

Weiss crossed her arms, unimpressed. "You're right, it's a hunk of metal on a stick."

Ruby leaned forward and smirked. "It was enough to impress you."

Weiss huffed, mumbling "Well, it wasn't the sword…"

Ruby straightened back up, her eyes alight as if struck with an idea. She lifted the cleaver into both hands, arms outstretched towards the heiress. "Weiss, come here."

The heiress cautiously stood. "Why?"

Ruby lifted the giant blade a little, nodding to Weiss. "Try it."

Weiss recoiled as if she'd been handed a corpse. "What? No!"

Ruby lunged forward and gripped the girl's sleeve, pulling her closer. "Come on, what harm will it do?"

Weiss scowled at the smith. "Oh, I don't know, I could chop you in half, or maybe unhand it mid-swing and decapitate your sister, or even—"

"I'll make sure you don't," Ruby assuaged, pressing the giant blade towards the heiress. "Try it."

Weiss pushed herself away from the girl, her expression firm. "Ruby, I am a fencer. In case you haven't noticed, I'm not exactly built for something like that."

"I'm not saying you are," Ruby countered, "I just want you to try. I mean, who knows when you'll be able to get your own sword again. It'd be helpful to expand your horizons a little."

Weiss sneered, refusal on her lips, but the look that Ruby suddenly affixed her with gave the heiress pause. Her eyes were wide, her expression so desperately pleading that it was pitiful. She felt her shriveled heart traitorously beat, and huffed. "Fine. Give me the stupid thing."

Ruby pumped her arm triumphantly before handing over her sword. When she dropped it in Weiss' hands, the heiress nearly fell forward with the weight. Ruby moved to catch her, but a fiery glare made her retreat.

"Let. Me." Weiss seethed, straining as she threw the stupid thing over her shoulder, as she'd seen Ruby do before. Even the dull metal bit against her flesh, but she ignored it as she approached a tree, one with a trunk much thicker and older than the one Ruby had felled.

Ruby held up her hands, falling behind the heiress as she moved. When Weiss tensed up to swing, a hand suddenly landed on her shoulder, stopping her. "Wait, wait," Ruby said, giggling. "Not like that. You'll throw your shoulder out."

Weiss whirled on her, going bright red when the cleaver's weight threatened to pull her to the ground. Ruby reached out and steadied her, only furthering the heiress' embarrassment.

"It's big, heavy, and slow, Weiss," Ruby slowly instructed. "You've got to respect her."

Weiss scowled. "Stop personifying your damn cleaver, you dolt."

"Turn back around," Ruby continued, undeterred.

Much as she wanted to keep hurling useless insults, Weiss found herself entranced by Ruby's tone— caring, slow, and gentle. Not at all what one would expect from someone who wielded a giant iron block, but it was what Weiss had come to expect. "F-fine," the heiress turned back to the tree, her eyes set on the spot she intended to hack with this big dumb sword. "Now what."

"Now…" a hand fell on Weiss' back, between her shoulder blades. The other found her unencumbered shoulder. She tried not to think of the warmth at the smith's contact. "The cleaver wants to swing, it wants to move, and when it does, it won't want to stop. It'll take you with it, and you have to be ready for that."

That voice, right next to Weiss' ear, was enough to make her entire body erupt in a scarlet blush. "I understand the concept of momentum, Ruby," she tried to be sharp and cutting, to draw attention away from the effect the smith was having on her, but it just came out weak.

"I know, but this is important. Don't fight it, don't try to pull back. If you do, you could get hurt," Ruby gently pushed on Weiss' back, pulling her slightly at the shoulder. "Just move with it, even if it's not going the way you want. Swing like you're about to throw a tree trunk; move your whole body, but don't let go when it reaches its crest. Just follow it."

Weiss rolled her shoulder and pinched the blades back, silently indicating that she wanted Ruby to back up. "It certainly feels like a tree trunk," she grumbled.

She could almost feel Ruby's beaming smile, and the girl's quiet giggle made something flutter between her ribs. "That's the point."

Weiss huffed, but focused on her task, closing her eyes as she breathed deeply. She focused on the weight against her shoulder, how it would feel when she swung it. She would need to move as she swung, so she took a lower stance that would allow her body to pivot. She imagined pushing the blade off her shoulder, turning her waist, throwing it with all the might that her body would offer. She pictured it hitting the trunk, sinking deep, biting all the way through, the awful reverberation that—

"Weiss, stop overthinking. Swing."

With a frustrated grunt, Weiss opened her eyes and cast the blade from her shoulder, gripping it tightly as she twisted her whole body. She felt the weight sail, moving on its own, only thinly guided by her own commands. It rapidly gained speed, flying far off her intended course, but she pushed it along the way nonetheless, heeding Ruby's words.

When the cleaver hit the trunk, it did so with a deep shunting sound that painfully reverberated into Weiss' hands. She hadn't even realized she closed her eyes until she opened them again, finding the blade barely sunk past the tree's gnarled bark. She blinked.

Ruby appeared in front of her suddenly, materializing from a cloud of vibrant petals, her expression just as bright. "That was great!" She cheered.

Weiss stepped back, unhanding the cleaver and leaving it in the tree. "H-hardly, I barely made it in."

Ruby scoffed and brushed her off, laying a hand on Weiss' shoulder. "Well, yeah, this tree is huge! I wouldn't have done much better."

Weiss tensed at the contact, her face growing red. "You don't need to patronize me, Ruby."

Ruby blinked, confusion overtaking her bright expression. "I don't know what that means."

Weiss pursed her lips. "You don't need to talk down to me like I'm a child, I know I could've done better."

Ruby's brows knit together with concern. "Weiss, you did fine. It's your first time swinging the thing, I didn't expect you to be perfect."

Weiss gave her a doubtful look. "Well, it's just a hunk of metal. I've dueled almost my whole life, I should be able to use something so simple with ease."

"Why?"

The heiress blinked, confused. "Why what?"

"Why should you be able to?" Ruby asked. "You said you've dueled your whole life, but I imagine you never fenced with a giant iron cleaver, let alone someone wielding one."

"Still, I'll never be able to use it like you."

A doubtful eyebrow crawled up Ruby's forehead. "Not without practice; I've been swinging this thing for years."

"No, you dunce," Weiss gestured to her figure, then to Ruby's. "I'm— haven't you seen me? I'm bloody skeletal! It's a miracle I even have the strength to lift a fork, let alone this thing. Compared to me, you're huge!"

Ruby's face twisted with confusion. "Was that an insult?"

Weiss stepped back, her hands waving defensively. "No! No, I just mean…" her eyes fell on Ruby's arms, the sleeves of which had been rolled up to reveal girth and muscle befitting one of her trade. Weiss beat down a blush. "You're… strong."

"Well yeah, I'm a blacksmith— it comes with the job. You could do it too, y'know."

"No, Ruby, you're not…" Weiss pinched the bridge of her nose and let out a frustrated sigh. "You're not understanding."

"I'm sorry," Ruby apologized. "I'm trying to."

"Well, stop," Weiss insisted, biting more harshly than the smith deserved. She couldn't stop now, though, the words came boiling up past her throat like a river undammed. "You don't have to understand, okay? Do you think I haven't tried to put a little on? Because I have, but it turns out I'm just eternally stuck with this… ugh, insectoid shape that the gods have so graciously gifted me! Of course, it's not like anybody actually cares! It's all on me; 'Weiss, put on some weight, Weiss, entertain these snotty brats we want to marry you off to, Weiss, come watch this stupid bloodsport full of more people we want to marry you off to!' Gods, it's like I've been stuck in this endless bloody limbo where my marriage is the single most important thing my parents have ever been faced with, but they simultaneously make no effort to ever include me in it— which is hilarious, because the whole tournament was my idea! So really, it was all my fault that you came in, swinging your stupid fucking sword with all the ease and freedom the world could give. Could you even imagine how much I envied you? Enough to run away, apparently! Gods, what a fucking idiot I am. I ruined everything!"

Now that the words were free, Weiss had expected some kind of weight to be lifted from her panting chest, but she just felt empty. No, worse than empty, she felt as though a heavy tumor of guilt had budded on her heart.

Ruby blinked and recoiled at her sudden yelling rant, but reached towards her nonetheless. "Weiss, you…"

Weiss rapidly turned on her heel. The magic and tenderness of the moment had all been sucked away, and it was entirely her fault. She'd made that feeble attempt for Ruby's sake, but here she was, making everything about her again. It was her own selfishness that made her leave the palace that night, the night that she ruined all their lives. Her own selfishness put those nails in Ruby. Her own selfishness is what had her following this group like a leech, and now her parasitism would come to infect Ruby.

Well, she wouldn't let it. Ruby deserved better. Perhaps, if she went back to father on her hands and knees, she could beg for forgiveness. She could convince them that everything was just a mistake, and that the only one who deserved punishment was her. That much was true. She'd follow her father's wishes, marry whoever he wanted, and ensure that Ruby and her friends would be spared the Schnee's wrath.

Weiss walked away from Ruby. When the smith tried to follow, Weiss ran. When Ruby gave chase, Weiss used her magic to retreat under a shroud of invisibility. She easily escaped the smith's pursuit, and began retracing her group's footsteps out of the Emerald Forest, keen on making things right.

"Weiss!" She heard Ruby shouting through the thicket. "What's wrong! Come back!"

Weiss ignored the voice. At least, she tried to.

"Please, Weiss! I'm sorry!" The words staked through Weiss' back.

She kept trudging forward.

A/N: tee hee man i hope nothing bad happens

also my gf comes up with bangin chapter titles, if i do say so myself. this one, 'the rose and the dove', 'thorns and feathers', 'the thing about pyrrha', and 'what's a father, anyway?' are some of my favorites of hers. its actually our anniversary today, and god i couldnt be a luckier woman. she totally could, tho, she got food poisoning lmao. dumb bitch. i love her.