A/N
Before we begin, happy one year anniversary to Schnee: Hero or Huntress! I never expected to make it this far! This is the longest chapter I have written for any story, so I hope the wait was worth it. I'm sure some of you were surprised seeing its length compared to other chapters.
For this chapter, take a look at our spotify playlist and have This will be the Day prepared, on repeat even.
You'll know when to start playing.
The ending authors note will reveal the anniversary present.
Enjoy!
There was only one word, one singular word to describe the mix of emotions flowing through Weiss' veins, and it was a rare one too, or at least it was in her lavish vocabulary. It was a word often used by Yang, and others who were much cruder than the former heiress was.
Fuck.
Mr. Aizawa was the worst possible matchup for her, and it wasn't due to their differences in skill, Weiss was pretty confident she could take the man on, after all, his quirk only worked on other quirks. Which was exactly the problem, Weiss didn't have a quirk to turn off! And using her glyphs after Mr. Aizawa supposedly erased her quirk, however briefly, would raise too many questions, none of which Weiss would be particularly inclined to answer.
She didn't need anyone else finding out about her true origins, even her friends who would no doubt be watching her exam. To make matters worse, Mr. Aizawa was better than her when it came to unarmed combat, skillwise at least, and Weiss was pretty sure part of his plan was erasing her 'quirk' and disarming her of Dolt as soon as possible. She should be able to face him for a bit, Yang had ingrained some basic moves into Ruby and herself after the train incident, and Weiss had been practicing with Yu, but that was mostly for the blonde's benefit and not hers.
"Mr. Aizawa is going to want to erase our quirks." Todoroki said, stating the obvious. The two were sitting in one of the rooms that the school had prepared. Having him on her team was also another handicap, with his limited combat skills outside of his quirk usage. Someone like Kyouka, Mina or even that Ojiro guy would have been better with their physical mutations being unaffected by Mr. Aizawa's quirk.
Weiss could still fight without her glyphs, but keeping the appearance of having a quirk would be much harder than the actual fight. Hopefully he didn't wear those goggles, so she could at least see where Mr. Aizawa aimed his eyes, but that was never going to happen. Those goggles were a part of his standard equipment, which while useless to him, made the upcoming fight to hide her secret even harder.
"Try avoiding his capture scarf, and use your ice at range when you can." Weiss narrowed her eyes as she clenched her fist. "If you have the opportunity to escape, take it and forget about me." They just needed at least one of them to escape to pass right? She could stall Mr. Aizawa long enough for Todoroki to find the exit.
Timing the moments to make her glyphs disappear and reappear would either make or break Weiss' cover story, as well as downplaying her own aura enhanced strength and speed. If she messed up, she was pretty sure that it wouldn't be just Mr. Aizawa asking questions they had no business asking.
Todoroki nodded curtly. "They pitted us against teachers who we'll struggle against." His mismatched eyes looked serious. Hm, did he want to make up for his loss at the Sports Festival? Good, his loss was a bit embarrassing when it came to their classes image, and for his ego as well if Weiss had to guess.
"They're testing us to see if we can overcome our weaknesses." Weiss crossed her arms. Todoroki would be useless in close quarters without his quirk to freeze Mr. Aizawa in place.
Suddenly, the intercoms came to life.
"Team Sato and Kirishima retire due to both members losing consciousness."
"That was fast." Todoroki commented. He wasn't wrong, their test didn't even last ten minutes.
Weiss felt the grimace on her face return, and kept a hand on Dolt's hilt. This would have been easy if she didn't have a secret to hide, but it was the hand she was being forced to play. It was their turn now.
She would have prefered fighting All Might.
"Good afternoon everyone!" Nijika said cheerfully as she walked into Kessoku Band's practice studio. They only met a few days out of the week due to everyone's busy schedule.
"Mornin'." Ryo answered with a yawn. The blue haired girl looked like she just woke up, with a weed in the corner of her mouth, probably from lunch. She bought a bass that used to belong to some K/DA member apparently, using up her allowance for the month.
"It's not morning right nooow." Kita said with a large grin that almost blinded Nijika thanks to her kita-aura. She poked Ryo's cheek playfully. "Hello Nijika!"
Placing her backpack in the corner and grabbing her drumsticks, Nijika made her way to her beloved drum set. She eyed the bassist and their singer, and turned her head to the empty seat in the room.
"Where's Bocchi?" Nijika asked, a small frown om her face. As the self declared leader of the band, it was her job to take care of everyone, especially Bocchi when she had one of her psychotic breaks, which happened more often than most people would think.
"D-D-D-D-D-Down h-here." Bocchi's voice came from the floor. Turning her head and sitting up to look over her drums, Bocchi was now a pile of dust on the floor with her little ghost floating above her, holding a little guitar. "La, lalala, la…'
"What's wrong Bocchi?" Ryo asked, moving to grab a broom. The pink haired girl really should've applied to UA, with how strong her quirk was, but at least she was accepted into Shiketsu High School which was a respectable school in its own right.
"I-I-I feel like we shouldn't be here, like we're taking up screen time that should rightfully go to someone else. L-L-Like we're out of place." Bocchi stuttered. Her quirk was the Breaking the Fourth Wall, but at times Nijika felt that Bocchi really should go see a real therapist. Some of the stuff she said didn't make any sense.
"Man, Bocchi, whatcha talking about?!" Nijika swung her legs and helped Ryo push Bocchi's ashes into a Bocchi shape pile. "Rellllax. We're just here to practice, so don't worry about it. It's not like we're hurting anybody, or ourselves!"
Bocchi reformed her body, wearing the same pink tracksuit that she always wore. She held her guitar close to her chest as her bottom lip quivered.
"R-R-Really?"
"Yes really." Nijika smiled and helped Bocchi to her feet.
"Yeah!" Kita cheered, her body shining brightly whenever she was excited thanks to her Kita-Aura quirk.
"Ok…" Bocchi took her seat, albeit still a bit nervous, which was normal for the Boccher.
Nijika returned to her drums, and grinned. "What song should we start out with?" After they warm up they could work on their original songs.
Kita raised her hand in the air. "Let's do that one Weiss Schnee song we've been practicing! I know it's kinda hard, but I'm sure we'll be able nail it this time!"
Ryo nodded in agreement. Ooo, this was perfect, plus it would give Bocchi a chance to shine and hopefully help make her feel better! Most of Schnee's dark lyrics probably helped too.
"Okay! Start us off, Bocchi!" Nijikta held her drumsticks in the air.
"O-Okay." Bocchi muttered as she took a deep breath.
Suddenly, her hands started to dance over the guitar strings as the iconic heavy guitar riff filled the room. After a few seconds, Nijika slowly added her drums alongside Ryo's bass, making eye contact with the blue haired girl.
Kita started to sing, doing her best to lower the pitch of her naturally high voice, adding her own rhythm guitar to the fray.
"They see you as small and helpless, they see you as just a child. Surprise when they find out that a warrior will soon run wild."
Why did Mr. Aizawa schedule their team to go second, when he announced her partnership with Todoroki first? Did he want to show everyone that even the strongest students in class could fail the practical exam? Was it just a simple mistake? Or was he planning something else?
Their practical exam area was situated in a normal Japanese neighborhood, with dozens of houses lining the streets. They even recreated several corner stores.
"Are you nervous?" Todoroki turned to her. They were walking down the street, completely exposed, but fighting Mr. Aizawa in an open area was better than chasing him into some cramped space.
"Of course not." Weiss already held Dolt, ready for Eraserhead's ambush. This exam would be a game of cat and mouse. "Are you?"
Todoroki pressed his lips together and looked away. "No."
What a liar, but then again, so was Weiss. They needed to get to a good position before Mr. Aizawa was released to hunt them.
"We need to stay out in the open, it'll leave us exposed, but it'll give us some room to escape if we need to." Weiss said simply, not giving Todoroki a chance to argue. "And-"
"Team Todoroki and Schnee, the practical exam begins now."
"And make sure you have one of your hands iced up or on fire, the moment it goes out we'll know he spotted us." Weiss continued, she would summon a small glyph to play along, but there was no telling if Mr. Aizawa was observing them at this very moment.
Todoroki nodded in agreement. "A good plan, I was going to suggest the same."
"Great minds think alike." Weiss said, her voice having a bit of an edge, and gave him one of her idol smiles. Who knew which of their classmates were watching? Probably Midoriya, the quirk obsessed creep. "Now let's find that exit before Mr. Aizawa finds us."
The sooner this was over, the better. Too bad she couldn't end this in one strike. And she had to make sure this idiot didn't mess things up.
Yeah, this was going to be pretty annoying.
Shoto ran, his right arm covered in a thin layer of ice. With Schnee right beside him, who was surprisingly able to keep up despite wearing boots with high heels, he felt his stomach churn. He wouldn't fail, he wouldn't lose, not again. While he was in shape, and knew how to punch and even kick, Shoto knew he didn't stand a chance against Mr. Aizawa or even Schnee without his quirk.
"If we run into him, make sure to keep trying to use your quirk and freeze him in place." Schnee whispered. "I'll draw his attention."
"I know." Shoto paused at the mouth of an alleyway. There was still no sign about the exit. "We need to force him into a long engagement so his eyes dry out-"
The ice on his arm disappeared.
"He's here!" Shoto quickly looked up, just to see Mr. Aizawa hanging on the electricity wires. Schnee was already moving before Shoto could even speak, she jumped in the air using the side of a nearby fence, and swung her sword. Mr. Aizawa dropped to the ground, avoiding the hit. He started running towards Shoto.
"Good reaction Schnee." Mr. Aizawa said boredly. "But now you've left your teammate alone and unsupported."
Shoto kicked his leg in the air, attempting to summon ice, but nothing formed as Mr. Aizawa dodged the strike. Damn it!
"Go Todoroki!" Schnee shouted. She charged Mr. Aizawa the moment her feet touched the ground. Their homeroom teacher avoided each of her stabs. She didn't use any of her snowflakes yet, or maybe she didn't get a chance to.
That was supposed to have been the plan, but was he really going to run away? Even without the use of his quirk, was he going to leave Schnee all by herself? Mr. Aizawa used his capture scarf to launch himself into the air to avoid Schnee.
Shoto felt the use of his quirk return, and he immediately formed a wall of ice, cutting them off from Mr. Aizawa.
"Let's go." He grabbed her arm and started running away from the wall. It wouldn't take long for Mr. Aizawa to find them again.
"W-What are you doing?" Schnee sounded angry as she freed her arm from his grasp. She still kept running by his side though, despite her annoyance.
"He'll pick us off one by one if we split up." Shoto didn't look back. He honestly should've expected that from the beginning. He should have spoken up earlier.
Hopefully he made the right decision.
Shota sighed softly as he finished squirting some of his eye drops into his eyelids, he would need it soon enough with the weights causing him to sweat a bit faster. A part of him had underestimated Todoroki, who had lost some of his confidence after his loss during the Sports Festival. It wasn't a lot, but it was enough to be noticeable. Shota placed his goggles back on his face, and continued the chase.
It took him a few minutes since he had to go around the ice wall, but Shota managed to catch up to his two students, using his capture scarf to swing through the air. He glared at Schnee, not activating his quirk just yet.
Out of all of the diverse quirks in his class, he understood hers the least. Shota had investigated her official papers, Schnee's quirk was initially called 'Glyphs', what she called those snowflakes she summoned, but the registration eventually changed it to 'Aura'. Apparently, Schnee's quirk allowed her to use her body's 'Aura' to act upon the physical world, manifesting through her glyphs.
Shota wouldn't have questioned the paperwork, that was, until he saw Schnee during the USJ attack. Sure her quirk was strong, but there was no way she could avoid that many hits from the Nomu that had taken him down so quickly, and had gone toe to toe with All Might. And then there was that White Knight that appeared from one of her glyphs that disappeared as soon as it came.
Principal Nezu covered it up alongside All Might, and none of the police reports mentioned it. What was it? Some vigilante? Another villain who was snuck in? It had come out of Schnee's glyph, so it was a part of her quirk? It didn't make any sense, Schnee's quirk made no sense, and her bogus background too.
Silently, Shota grabbed the end of his capture scarf and threw it towards Todoroki's back. Schnee quickly turned around and used her sword to knock it out of the way, not being able to use her quirk since they were both in his field of vision.
Shota pulled back as the capture scarf wrapped itself around the sword's blade, tearing it from Schnee's hands. Eraserhead narrowed his eyes. She was stronger than that, why was she still holding back?
Swinging the captured sword in the air, Shota threw it away from the duo, they could always find it later once the exam was over, and if it was damaged, she could always repair it.
"Damn it!" Schnee cursed. Shota kept his gaze on the two, preventing the idol from using one of her glyphs to catch the sword like she did the dodgeballs during the Sports Festival.
Shota jumped in between them, and kicked Todoroki in the kidney before the boy could react, sending him to the ground. A glyph quickly formed beneath his feet, but it disappeared just as he turned his head towards Schnee, he used a part of his capture scarf to tie Todoroki up in the air, hanging from the electricity wires. He moved his head to the side, just as she tried to deliver a haymaker with her gauntlet. Shota threw some caltrops beneath Todoroki.
"You were expecting me to erase your quirk just now to draw my attention." Shota said boredly. He disarmed her, but that didn't mean she was defeated yet. Her snowflake had disappeared before he even turned towards her. Why did she do that?
Schnee raised her arms in a defensive posture, an American one if Shota knew his martial arts correctly, boxing maybe, with her blue eyes glaring at him. "You chose to fight us for a reason after all."
Shota threw another end of his capture scarf, and was already on the move as Schnee avoided his attack. She was definitely holding back, Shota could tell by the way she held herself, and her eyes, they didn't belong to someone her age. He noticed the way she analyzed the class, checking them for weaknesses and threats, she looked down on each and everyone of them except for a few. Schnee had more experience than she let on.
Her eyes reminded Shota of retired pro-heroes, the haunted look of things that no one her age should have any business seeing.
He tried sweeping her legs, but Schnee jumped backwards and dodged the capture scarf that Shota used like a whip.
"Stop holding back." Shota sighed, giving Todoroki a brief look, who was still struggling against his restraints. She was only reacting fast enough to dodge his attacks, but Shota remember how fast she reacted against Iida, who she caught off guard during the Sports Festival.
Schnee didn't answer him as she tried punching him in the side, but Shota twisted his body at the last second, grabbed her armored wrist and swung with his free hand. Why didn't she summon one of her glyphs when he looked away? She should have been able to sense her quirk returning.
"No promises." Surprisingly, Schnee caught his fist, and slammed her forehead against his, catching Shota off guard. She had never used any 'dirty' moves before in class. Good, she was adapting.
Closing his eyes, Shota ignored the pain and pushed Schnee away with his elbow. She formed a glyph beneath his feet, attempting to launch him towards his own caltrops.
Shota opened his eyes, and the glyph disappeared a few seconds after, making his tired eyes widen in shock. They should have disappeared as soon as he deactivated her quirk! He caught himself in the air, and landed back on the ground.
"You'll lose one day if you keep holding back. Do you think you can handle that? The regret, the guilt that someone got injured or died because you refused to use all your strength?" Shota was disappointed. Schnee was more aggressive compared to Todoroki, and he could tell she had been in combat before, real fighting. He noticed that the first time during the hero vs villain pratice spar.
"You may be right." Schnee didn't even look injured after slamming her forehead against his goggles, she didn't even have a scratch. If that was an effect of her quirk, it shouldn't have been possible! "But that day won't be today."
Grabbing the capture scarf wrapped around his neck, Shota was about to move when he felt a sudden chill. Todoroki! He started moving his neck, when Schnee shot forward using one of her glyphs, and tackled him to the ground, grabbing his head with her hands using the strength that he knew she was hiding.
Strength a girl her size shouldn't have unless it was a side effect of their quirk, one that should've been temporarily erased. The ground beneath their feet froze, and it trailed up their clothes until half of Shota's body was covered in ice.
Todoroki was the one who placed the handcuffs on his arms, with ice covering Shota's body up to his waist alongside his arms. Schnee had placed her hands over his goggles, blocking his view and preventing him from erasing Todoroki's quirk.
"You both got lucky." Shota said. Schnee finally removed her hands, taking his goggles with her. He gave his students a bored look. Throughout the entire exam they had been sloppy, Schnee allowed him to disarm her, and Todoroki needed to be more careful when it came to his surroundings which allowed Shota to ambush him. "But not bad overall."
He was caught off guard by Schnee's quirk not deactivating as fast as it should've been. Something wasn't adding up, and Shota was always a curious cat. She would stop holding back one day, Shota's bored eyes met Schnee's cold ones.
Someone who didn't hesitate to kill at her age would snap eventually and be a danger to herself or others. Either that, or they would become a great hero if they didn't snap, but that was a risk Shota wouldn't want to take.
He should have failed her when he had the chance, but for now he would have to keep a closer eye on her.
"Team Todoroki and Schnee pass!"
Shota was going to have plenty of questions for Principal Nezu and Hound Dog, and they definitely weren't going to be pleasant for either of them.
Not one bit.
Izuku stared at the screens with wide eyes. Todoroki and Schnee were amazing! Even without access to their quirks for the majority of the exam, they managed to beat their homeroom teacher. It was a bit weird that Schnee was able to physically take on Mr. Aizawa without the use of her quirk, but she also could just naturally be that strong? Or did she have some type of mutation that wasn't as visible as other quirks?
That could explain why she was able to headbutt Mr. Aizawa's goggles without getting injured. Izuku wanted to know more about her quirk, to learn more. The only notes he had in his journal entry on Schnee were observations that he had made during class and the Sports Festival. They only amounted to a few pages despite her quirks versatility, from the way she used her snowflakes to match and even surpass Iida in speed, to the way she caught all those balls during the dodgeball match with them.
He placed hand on his chin, replaying the match in his head. During the Sports Festival, Schnee had a bluish glow to her after Katsuki's attack, it disappeared as quickly as it came, but Izuku knew what he saw. His eyes didn't play tricks on him despite the official recording being too blurry due to all the smoke. Too bad Schnee avoided him, and when they did speak she responded curtly refusing to meet his eyes. Did he do something to offend her? What did he do wrong?
"Well, it's my turn now Deku." Uraraka said, patting Izuku's shoulder. The contact made his body freeze and made his cheeks heat up. He still wasn't used to girls being so close to him. "I'll see you afterwards!"
"Y-Y-Yeah." Izuku stuttered, a small smile on his face. He was doing much better now, being able to respond and be in the presence of the opposite sex without tripping on himself, or on thin air, literally. "Good luck!"
"Thanks!" Uraraka smiled and left the observation room, leaving Izuku on his own. She would do fine in her own exam, Izuku was sure of it.
The green haired boy turned his attention back to the screen. His class was full of amazing people, like Todoroki, Iida, Katsuki, Schnee and Uraraka. They would all be strong heroes, saving lives and inspiring others to follow in their footsteps. Izuku hoped he was still worthy of wielding One for All. He would make All Might proud, hopefully.
Izuku would have to go Plus Ultra if he wanted a chance at beating the World Symbol of Peace of Justice.
Along with a few prayers too, y-yeah.
"In time, your hearts will open minds, a story will be told, and victory is in a simple soul!"
The moment Bocchi played the last chord on her well used guitar, she turned into another pile of ashes much to everyone's surprise.
"What's wrong this time, Bocchi?" Nijita jumped up from her drum stool. Perhaps they had been pushing the guitarist too much?
"I-I-I-I feel like we've overstayed our welcome."
Nijita was pretty sure that was going to be the most normal thing Hitori was going to say today.
Ryo snorted, earning herself a glare from the blonde.
"Bocchi's fun."
A/N
I can't believe it's been a whole year since I started writing Schnee: Hero or Huntress. We've accomplished a lot in such a short time!
We have a TV tropes page and-
On FF we now have over 500,000 views, as well as being the most reviewed and second most followed My Hero Academia and RWBY crossover.
On AO3 we have over 1,000 kudos and close to 70,000 hits
On Wattpad we have close to 200,000 views and have ranked number 1 under the RWBY, MHA, and anime tags several times!
And on Space Battles we now have over 1,000 followers! And this is one of my most followed stories on Sufficient Velocity.
Thank you all very much for your support!
Now it's time for the special present for you dear readers:
Do you remember the Pyrrha omake I wrote a while back? I know quite a number of you hoped that I would make it canon or expand upon it.
Today, I'm proud to announce the release of a new, NON-CANON, story featuring Pyrrha in the Schnee: Hero or Huntress world! It diverges shortly before Weiss attends UA and while some plot points will be similar or the same, it will have a different feel and storyline overall.
Welcome to Remnant's Finest!