Interlude: The Heiress, Regretful

Weiss decidedly did not stumble as she entered the Beacon cafeteria, for that would have been inelegant. However, if she was less put-together than usual... well, so was everyone else. The ones that were even awake, scattered sparingly throughout the tables. Students and families alike. With no classes to mandate a set schedule, many of the students had drifted away from the standard Academy sleep schedule, especially those who'd volunteered for or been assigned night duties. As she began assembling food upon a tray, suppressing a yawn, she nearly missed the person on the opposite side of the counter. Might have completely, if the bright yellow apron hadn't drawn her attention.

She met a blue-eyed gaze across the counter, and Jaune scratched his cheek. "Morning Weiss. D'you... want anything special?"

"Uh," she managed with eloquence. Blinking away the sleepiness from her face, she tried again. "I... didn't realize you'd drawn kitchen duty, Jaune."

He shrugged. "I volunteered, actually. Turns out you learn a lot of extra domestic skills with seven older sisters. And... well." The smile of concealed pain on his face was frustratingly familiar. "I know I'm more useful in here than I would be out there, so here I am."

"I... see. I didn't realize you knew how to cook."

"It's not a skill that comes up that often for Huntsmen. Ren's pretty good too, it turns out, but other than that there was a shortage of volunteers for the kitchen. And... well, the students need to eat, not to mention the refugees, right?" He was working while talking, filling the trays with fresh food, and avoiding making eye contact. There was something there that... bothered Weiss, in a way she couldn't describe. No, that was a lie. People shouldn't be ashamed of their skills, regardless of what they are. That's the kind of thing Jacques would encourage.

"Well... Thank you, Jaune. For volunteering. I've eaten here every day since... well. Recently, and the food has been consistently... better than expected. I'm sure the others appreciate having fresh food readily available, as well."

"...Yeah. Thanks, Weiss. Here; coffee cake. Was one of my sister's favorites, so I got pretty good at making it." There was a small smile on Jaune's face as she accepted the pastry quietly. "Anyway, I've got to get back to cooking. Good luck out there."

"Thank you, Jaune." With a nod, she turned to find a seat, and consider. She hadn't thought about all the roles that were being filled since the battle, but there was a much greater breadth than she'd considered...

It had started simply. Students with nothing to do, in a broken city struggling to recover, turned to their skills to help. Depending on their personal skills or Semblances, students had begun volunteering for search and rescue, or to clear rubble, or to help out in the refugee areas. Some had volunteered to assist with Bl- with Kali Belladonna's effort to reunite families that had been split up by the incident, or to help people recover possessions that had been left behind during the evacuations. Eventually, as the Beacon staff – those who weren't injured or missing – had regrouped, they'd begun assigning different people to certain duties, giving an official weight to what had otherwise been a grassroots effort.

Vale was recovering, slowly. The Grimm were being pushed back and contained, and people's lives were at least stable, even if the rebuilding was only just beginning. She lifted her fork to her mouth and took another bite before pausing. She'd been distracted by her thoughts, forgetting to pay attention to the food she was mechanically putting away.

...Coffee cake, huh? It's good.

As she arrived at the rendezvous, the patrolmen turned to face her with familiar body language. Reluctant, disgruntled deference and disrespect. The leader cleared his throat and took a step forward. "Miss Schnee, my name is Celadon. We're at your service for the day."

She shook her head, glancing at the insignia on his Atlesian uniform and casting her memory back for what it indicated. "I'm not here to take command, Captain." Weiss adjusted Myrtenaster slightly, toying with the hilt. "I'm here to reinforce you." She chose to ignore the surprise she could see in his shoulders, and the way his subordinates glanced at each other and their captain as though unsure. "I'm an effective short- to mid-range combatant with a Semblance that lends itself to defense and battlefield manipulation, but I'm capable of being the vanguard if necessary. I also have quite a bit of practical experience with Grimm and their behavioral patterns. Consider me a specialist attached to your unit for the duration of your patrol; I'm under your command."

The silence stretched for a few seconds before he gathered himself. "Uh, right. Of course, Miss Schnee. In that case, I'd like you to take a position in the mid-center, between Vanta and Phoenix. That should give you some freedom to maneuver when we run up against the Grimm." She received nods from the indicated soldiers, and she returned them as she took up her position and matched their pace as the unit began to move.

"Please refer to me as Schnee, if it's convenient for you. As I said, treat me as a specialist under your command."

"Of course, M- Schnee."

"I notice you said when we run against the Grimm. Are you expecting heavy combat?"

"Well, some combat is inevitable once we leave the safe zones. Whether it's heavy or not depends on how successful we are." He paused for a moment as he swiped his scroll against the gate, logging that their unit was leaving the base. Weiss copied him, swiping her own scroll past the sensor before retaking her position. "Our objective is to pin down the coordinates of the remaining nests in sector Delta. We have a decent map of Grimm hotspots, and we expect there are at least three nests in the area."

"So, reconnaissance is the priority here?" She kept her eyes open and sweeping. Grimm ambushes had grown notorious outside of the safe zones, as though they were actively trying to keep people penned in.

"Yeah. We aren't equipped to deal with the nests, but if we track them down command will get it solved."

"Hopefully the solution will be of the 'fire from heaven' variety," chimed in the soldier to her left – Vanta? Or was this one Phoenix?

"We can only hope," the captain said solemnly, and the soldiers around her chuckled. Weiss merely kept her eyes up.

Breathe in. Feel the cold, as each movement of air brings more frost. Breathe out, let it expand and grow. Breathe in...

Her eyes opened slowly, locking immediately on the great spike of ice that jutted forth from the ground. The air swirled lazily around it in white curls, and she nodded to herself before reaching out and willing the magic to dissipate. Slowly, the spike began to crumble away, and she watched intently as it wittled away to nothing, counting the seconds in her head. Then she spun on her heel, raising a hand as though conducting an invisible orchestra, and whipped out with her soul. No glyph formed, but a wall of ice surged from the ground, taller than her and wider than her arms could reach. Without a pause she spun, raising another wall opposite the first.

Then, she spun again, raising a wall behind the first, and repeated it behind her. Again and again she spun, reaching into the well of her magic over and over until she was sandwiched between great layers of overlapping barriers and she was left panting, her mouth slightly dry and her head throbbing softly. She rubbed her wrist, feeling the cold of the air around her as her walls began to flake away.

She stepped over the fallen, smoking form of General Ironwood as Cinder loomed before her. The Maiden rained magic down on her from all sides as she scrambled to put up any barrier she could -

Blake stepped between them, the wicked glow of the Frozen Flame crowning her and flooding the air with the suffocating feeling of Obsidian's power -

Cinder spun away from Yang, closing the distance between them in an instant, blades of black glass striking around Myrtenaster at bizarre angles and disrupting her own weak stance until her Aura shattered and Cinder reached up to her heart and electricity surged through her entire body -

Her hand raised to her sternum, resting against her dress where she knew a fractal scar still stood, raw and red. A reminder carved over her heart. Still not fast enough. It has to be instant. Perfect. It has to be.

But her magic stubbornly remained dry, and with a final breath she strode from the training room.

She was quiet as she entered the workshop, because to be otherwise would have been disrespectful to the other occupant. So she lightened her steps as much as she could, moving past the workbenches and racks of reassembled equipment towards the center.

There Ruby stood beneath the warm light, dressed in the sleeveless tanktop she usually wore to bed and some loose-fitting pants Weiss didn't recognize. Her hands moved without ceasing, seeking tools unerringly and slotting parts in and out of place without fail. The weapon lying there was one Weiss vaguely recognized, some gauntlet-shield hybrid wielded by one of the bulkier students that she'd seen as part of the search-and-rescue team a few times. Ruby had all but taken over maintenance for many of the less-inclined students – much of the Beacon workshop staff hadn't made it through the attack, not in the condition to continue their usual work, and it hadn't taken long for Weiss' leader to realize where her niche for assisting lay.

Appointing Ruby as "interim workshop lead" was one of the first things Professor Oobleck had done upon the Beacon staff's return to authority... but she'd been staying later and later recently, and while Weiss couldn't blame her for it, the fact remained that as Ruby's partner it was part of her job to beat some sense into her leader's head when necessary.

"Hey, Weiss. What do you need?" Ruby didn't look up from the table, but Weiss knew she'd find dark circles under silver eyes if she looked.

"I'm here about your needs, actually. Are you planning to sleep tonight?" Weiss crossed her arms and tapped one foot, and she could tell Ruby saw even without making eye contact.

"Of course. I just need to finish Crux Shift here. And if I don't put Greyweave back together-"

"Ruby."

"-the links might rust overnight which will just create more work, so I really need to get that done as well-"

"Ruby!"

"-And... uh, well, I have a couple more things to do. Is what I'm saying. But I'll sleep soon! Promise."

The sound of her toes rapping against the floor mixed with the clicking and clanking of Ruby's work for a few seconds before Weiss reached out, laying her hands over her team leader's. Ruby stilled, her eyes finally flicking up to meet Weiss' gaze.

"Ruby." Weiss kept her voice even and without judgement... mostly. "You need rest. You haven't been getting enough. I know you have a lot of responsibility to others, but if you don't take care of yourself then you can't meet those needs either."

"I know." At Weiss' flat look, Ruby pouted. "I do! I just..."

"You just...?" Ruby didn't respond, and Weiss gently squeezed both hands. The skin was rough along the back, and she couldn't help it as her eyes traced the jagged lines of Ruby's own lightning scars from the backs of her hands to the midpoint of her arms.

"...I won't be able to sleep anyway, so I might as well get work done instead of just laying there."

"Even if you can't sleep, resting would do you good."

"It isn't restful to lay there and think about-" Ruby clamped her mouth shut, avoiding Weiss' gaze again. She merely tapped her foot and held the look she'd learned from Winter.

Ruby fidgeted, and the look continued.

Ruby shuffled her feet, and the look continued.

Ruby's hands twitched in Weiss' grip, and the look con- "Ugh fine! I can't stop thinking about the battle! I... I keep thinking that I wasn't fast enough. So many people died in the city while I was trying to get from place to place, and I just..." She shook her head. "I thought that with all the super-secret Dream training that when the time came I'd... do a little better. You know?"

"Ruby..." Weiss reached for words for a moment, baffled by the sentiment. "You... you really don't have any idea?"

"Any idea of what?"

"Ruby, the Atlesian soldiers tell stories about you."

"...Huh?"

"They talk about all the units that got pinned down in the fighting until Reaper showed up and tore through the Grimm. They joke about whether or not you'll show up to their fights in the future. There's a specific soldier that's known only because you saved him in three separate battles. The callsign Reaper's been banned from use because, and I quote, 'It's already taken and nobody else can live up to it.' There are hundreds of soldiers that could have died without you, and everything they've done since then is partially because of you."

Ruby's eyes were wide and her jaw was slack. "Oh. Uh... heh, heh. I don't think... Um," she blushed, "I don't think I've earned that kind of praise. Not after everything that went wrong."

"Ruby. Just..." Weiss shook her head. "...My sister told me once that some missions will go wrong. There's nothing we can do to stop it. All we can do is make the best decision we can at the time, and learn from what happens. So. Do you think you made the right decision?"

As Weiss' voice shifted into her teaching tone, Ruby instinctively straightened, her face scrunched in thought. "I... Yeah. Winter knew what she was doing when she gave me my instructions."

"And what did you learn from what happened?"

Ruby looked down at the scars along her hands. "...That... I've neglected my magic. I... I almost caught Cinder's lightning. If I'd been a little bit better, I could have... She relied on that element a lot, when we fought her. If I'd taken that away from her..." Weiss remained quiet and let Ruby think for herself. Once she got going, she was frighteningly bright for her age. "...Weiss?"

"Yes, Ruby?"

"...Do you think we could practice our magic together?"

She smiled. "I'd like that, Ruby." They stayed there for a long second before Weiss finally released Ruby's hands, and they drifted listlessly back to the workshop table.

"...Thanks, Weiss. I... I feel a little better. Um... I really do need to finish these, though. They'll need them tomorrow."

Weiss searched her face, but couldn't find any sign that Ruby was lying or being evasive. Finally, with a sigh, she took a seat. "All right. What can I do to help?"

"...Weiss? You hate maintenance."

"I don't hate it," she sniffed. "I simply don't find it as fascinating as you do. But I do want to help. So, tell me what you need."

After a moment, Ruby did. The two of them worked in tandem, and it was... calming, in a way. I've missed... being a team like this.

"Hey, Weiss?"

"Yes?"

"...Thanks. I really..." Ruby sniffed. "I'm glad we're partners."

Click, click, snap.

Twist, click.

"So am I, Ruby."

Two action sets (four total actions) remain until the next Event.