Weiss took a slow, deep breath to steady herself, gripping Myrtenaster tightly in her hand and pointing the weapon straight forward. Her icy blue eyes locked with her opponent's, peering into those silvery orbs that matched her look of determination.
The ice queen braced as Ruby readied her weapon behind herself, eyeing the large jagged scythe edge that was primed and ready to swing.
She and her opponent both turned at the clearing of a throat, Tai having grabbed both of their attentions while standing to the side of the battlefield between the two.
"Alright, are you both ready? Remember to try not to go too crazy, you will pay for any damages done to the house."
The heiress simply nodded as the taller blonde man regarded them both, offering him a nonchalant wave before she glanced towards the small group of spectators that had gathered. Jaune, Ren, and Nora spoke between each other excitedly, looking between Weiss herself and her redheaded opponent. Her eyes moved to Yang, who was seated slightly farther from the group of three, an unamused look across her face. Weiss could tell the girl was spaced out and not paying any attention to the little sparring match that had been set up.
The ice queen refocused her attention to the fight that was about to begin, offering her partner a smirk as she flicked her ponytail confidently to the side. She was thoroughly unamused as Ruby replied with a childish razzberry, sticking her tongue out, which earned an eye roll from Weiss.
She shut out every other sound as Tai began to count down, inhaling deeply.
"Three"
Her body became rigid for a moment, her full focus forward.
"Two"
She exhaled the breath, standing up straight and digging her heels into the ground beneath her.
"One"
Weiss narrowed her eyes as she shot forward like a bullet, a glyph summoned beneath her foot allowing her to skate across the ground as if it were ice, directing a vicious and calculated strike directly at the younger girl's chest. Only to grit her teeth in annoyance as in a blur of red rose petals the side of her rapier is caught by the curve of Ruby's scythe.
In one fluid motion she spun the dust chambers, the edge of her weapon sparking to life with flames, her wrist flicking upwards along the handle of the scythe to catch the girl above her, only to have the redhead counter by spinning the massive weapon backwards, parrying her strike with the backside of the blade and firing a single round. Weiss quickly pulled a glyph to block the shot, dismayed as Ruby used the momentum to fly back away from her.
The ice queen in annoyance continued her barrage of precision strikes, her movements quick and elegant like a dancer, but never quite fast enough to catch the redhead off guard. At the same time she had to focus to parry each of Ruby's swings, only just barely having enough time to deflect the much larger and heavier weapon away from her, each time causing her to grimace at the weight and shocks it sent shivering up her arm.
This was always how these fights went, Weiss was used to winning with her blinding speed that could always be enhanced further by her glyphs. Much to the girls dismay Ruby was always faster with her semblance, able to weave around or deflect any of the heiress's strikes. The ice queen hated that this basically meant the two always traded wins back and forth, one never having the edge over the other for long. Though that never stopped either of the girl's for teasing the other when it was their turn to win.
Normally she'd try to stay close to the girl, the largeness of her weapon made extremely close combat more difficult for Ruby. If Weiss ever allowed her the space she'd receive a barrage of sniper fire or a maximum strength and speed swing, something she did not enjoy blocking. Not to mention, while her own hand to hand skills weren't anything to be shocked by, she was confident they were significantly better than the redhead's.
Taking a gamble to try something she'd been working on for quite some time before the fall, the ice queen flew forward at the girl. Weiss intentionally swung more to one side of the redhead in order to force her to dodge a certain direction, and much to the heiress's content Ruby did exactly as she wanted. The younger girl smacked her strike to block it and used the momentum combined with a shot off of Weiss's deflected sword to fly to the ice queen's side.
The heiress couldn't help but smirk as Ruby landed exactly where she wanted, extending a hand and focusing to form a dark glowing glyph right beneath her feet. She could feel satisfaction as she watched Ruby squeak, reacting to try and leap away from it, only to find her legs locked in place.
Weiss lept back, putting distance between the two and summoning a glyph as a shield just as Ruby started to fire at her, the shots being easily repelled. The heiress breathed a single sigh, concentrating as she began to form a literal labyrinth of glyphs across the floor and in the air around herself and Ruby, finishing just in time for the redhead to swing down with her weapon to shatter the glyph that bound her.
Weiss opened her eyes as she did so, another confident and playful smirk coming to her lips as the redhead charged. To her surprise, the glyph she initially used as a shield failed to block the girl, her eyes following the blur of red that was her partner, watching as the girl seemed to split into three separate parts, each curving around the glyph and reforming just in time to strike her.
The heiress growled in response as she slid backwards across the ground, wincing at the rather strong slash her aura had just received. "Well THAT was certainly new…" Though Weiss found she didn't have much time to dwell on that thought as she had to leap out of the way of another broad and electrifyingly fast swing. The ice queen breathed a sigh of relief, thankful to have her trap finally set. She leapt up, letting her feet meet one of the glyphs she had anchored in the air, confidence retaking into her form as she stood sideways on it, full focus on the redhead below her.
Ruby skidded to a halt, dashing directly back at her, much to the ice queen's amusement. As the redhead's feet touched a glyph, Weiss became a blur of blue and white, satisfied to hear Ruby's gasp as she flashed between her glyph and the one her partner touched, fast enough to land a long and solid strike on the girl's side.
Weiss tracked her weapon as the girl recoiled and swung backwards, smiling as she was able to simply flash between the glyph the two girls stood on, and another directly above them, simultaneously parrying the strike and slicing directly up the redheads back.
This continued, Weiss satisfied to find the strategy had almost entirely worked after a plethora of unanswered blows rained down on Ruby. Though her confidence was briefly shaken as the redhead was able to predict one of her movements, catching the ice queen in air once and knocking her to the floor with a heavy and pained grunt, followed by said redhead letting out a meek "Oops, sorry Weiss!". The heiress let out a hiss of pain as she felt the impact in her chest and ribs, rolling on the floor for a moment. Weiss recovered, rolling to the side quickly enough to evade Ruby's next devastating attack. She breathed for a moment, regaining her focus as her foot touched another glyph, letting her easily dodge around the redhead's reach.
With a final flourish Weiss thrust in, landing a clean and precise hit on Ruby's hand, forcing her aura low by knocking her to the floor and disarming her at the same time, the heiress smirking at the effectiveness of that specific attack.
"All right that's enough! Weiss here wins." Tai cut in, gesturing to the ice queen before walking over and helping Ruby sit-up, offering her a smile and a shrug. "You got her next time."
Weiss wiped some sweat from her brow, breathing heavily and bracing herself against her sword as she stabbed it into the ground. "Well, that certainly worked… but it takes a lot from me." Despite the drawback and fatigue, realizing she had only just won that encounter, she felt quite satisfied with the victory, fights between the two partners were always back and forth.
The ice queen gave a confident smirk as the redhead trudged over to her with a slight pout. Weiss met her silver eyes and watched as Ruby exhaled, a grin almost magically reforming on the younger girl's face.
"Weissss! That was totally awesome!"
Weiss took a moment to haughtily flick a finger through her hair, letting her smirk widen from the praise. Though eventually the ice queen decided to step down off her self appointed pedestal.
"As much as I hate to admit it, that was very close, I still have a hard time keeping up with you Ruby."
Weiss rolled her eyes as she could almost see the redhead nearly explode at the small praise she was offered, the girl bouncing in place with a grin. She felt her attention almost instinctively wander to the side, frowning in disappointment slightly as she noticed a particular blonde teammate had left at some point during the fight.
The heiress found her attention returning to the group as the remaining members of team JNPR joined her and her winded partner, Tai giving them a quick wave as he headed back inside. She found herself hoping he'd go check on Yang, unable to not worry somewhat about the blonde.
Nora, ever the bubbly one exclaimed first.
"You two are like, sooooooo fast! I could barely keep up!"
Ren offered a nod in agreement, resting a hand on the ginger girl's shoulder.
"It is always an exciting match between you two."
Jaune scratched the back of his head sheepishly, tentatively mumbling.
"Glad to see I'm still way too far behind everyone."
Weiss had to admit, the blonde boy was a liability, but he had certainly gone from useless, to not completely useless. Which she decided to count as somewhat a victory, though as she mused this she watched Ruby quickly interject with a jab to the boy's ribs.
"Aww come on Jaune, remember that one time you actually managed to land a hit on Blake? Even I couldn't do that without the fight going on forever!"
She watched the blonde boy perk up some, seeming to gain at least a shred of confidence from her partner's words. Jaune looked to her, catching her eyes for a moment, a look of apprehension coming to his face. She arched a curious eyebrow, crossing her arms.
"What is it?"
He jumped slightly at her question, glancing at Ruby, seeming to seek help from the younger girl.
"Have you uh, told Weiss the plan?"
If the ice queen's eyebrow could arch further it would, curiosity taking over as she tilted her head towards the redhead.
"Plan?"
She saw Rub take a deep breath and pause, a look of determination taking hold on her face as she leaned in and quietly explained.
"I already discussed it with Jaune, but I wanted to ask the rest of you. Cinder and her team, the ones responsible for everything that happened at Beacon, I want to go after them."
The ice queen couldn't stop her mouth from hanging open for a moment, shocked by this seemingly insane proposal. Where and how would they even start something that crazy? She glanced over to see Ren and Nora wearing similar surprised expressions, most likely thinking the same thing.
"Apparently they came from Haven, which means that's the best place for us to start looking. I'm going, and I want you guys to come with me. Only If you want to, obviously."
Jaune nodded in agreement with her, looking to his two teammates.
"Cinder… she's responsible for what happened to Pyrrha." His fist clenched tightly, a pained look coming to his face before he looked back to Ruby. "So I want to come with."
Weiss felt herself well up with conflict, of course she wanted to go after the ones responsible, but could she really justify it? It would only be a matter of time before her father came to take her back to Atlas, a thought that sent shivers of despair down her spine. If she disappeared now, she might never earn the chance to clear the Schnee family name and reputation, which was not something she could afford to lose. Any more slights to the head of the Schnee family from her at this point would only bring his icy wrath down upon her, and she shuddered further at that thought.
The ice queen felt another wince of pain in her chest, her mind deciding to bring Yang firmly into focus, the thought of leaving her so soon felt… awful. It felt like a disgusting sludge bubbling up from her stomach, tightening around her heart and lungs, the guilt she'd feel would be immense. Her vow came to mind, she knew she couldn't leave yet, but the idea of leaving her teammate and other friends alone on such a dangerous mission didn't sit particularly well with her either. The warring feelings in her heart almost made her sick as her eyes flicked to Ren and Nora, both of which wearing a determined look on their face. Ren confidently speaking up.
"We will go with you as well."
Nora grinned and chimed in, placing her hands on the taller boy's shoulders to lift herself up in the air.
"Yeahhh! We'll kick their butts for Beacon!"
Weiss winced as she saw Ruby grin happily, only to feel her blood run cold as the young girl turned her silvery eyes to the ice queen expectantly. The uneasy look on her face must've been obvious, as she saw Ruby's expression shift to one of disappointment.
"Weiss? You'll come with us, won't you?"
As the other three turned to look at her, she felt a violent migraine stabbing into her brain, closing her eyes for a few moments and rubbing her temples. She exhaled slowly, opening her eyes but keeping them to the floor.
"I… can't. I want to but I just…"
The image of Yang, painfully pouring her heart out about the people in her life abandoning her flashed through the ice queen's mind again. Bringing with it an aching pain that shot through her chest, feeling it burn her insides as she let out a shaky breath, her voice breaking slightly.
"…can't."
She heard Ruby make a small disappointed sigh before feeling a hand on her shoulder, looking up to see the redhead smiling at her brightly.
"I get it Weiss, I don't expect you to drop everything just to come along with my crazy plan."
Weiss breathed a sigh of relief, glad her partner wouldn't be upset with her lack of willingness to go along. She met those silver eyes with a small smile.
"Thank you Ruby, I'm sorry."
Weiss watched her friend's face fill with concern as she looked down in slight embarrassment.
"I'll have to tell Yang… she probably won't be happy with me." The redhead looked up, glancing towards the other three present. "At least we won't be leaving for… about a week. Just about the start of winter, is that enough time for you guys?"
Three enthusiastic agreements seemed to set the redhead's mind at ease, and silently Weiss was thankful they wouldn't be leaving for some time. Though the heiress did tilt her head as Ruby placed a hand on Jaune's shoulder.
"Can I talk to you? Alone please?"
The tall blonde boy looked confused but obliged, and as the two walked away from the group Weiss caught a brief glimpse at the source of the talk, the golden crown Ruby was thumbing behind her back, purposefully hiding it. The ice queen felt another twinge of sadness hit her at the sight of it, but chose to swallow that and bid a farewell to the remaining duo.
As they left Weiss found her eyes wandering to the second floor of the house, gasping softly in surprise as she spotted a couple of golden locks moving away from the window. The ice queen's brow furrowed in concern, now knowing that Yang had clearly overheard their conversation.
Weiss paused to take a shallow breath, regretting that this had even come up in the first place. Though she'd rather let Yang's sister be the one to handle this, the thought of what the brawler must be feeling put enough pressure on her heart to turn towards the door, intending to speak to her blonde companion. Though she stopped dead in confusion as said blonde stood in the doorway, a familiar unamused expression splayed across the brawler's face along with a hand on her hip.
The ice queen met the girl's gaze cautiously, surprised to see her out. Yang, seemingly noticing her confusion, shrugged and rolled her eyes, walking over to join the shorter girl.
"So, she's leaving huh?"
Weiss grit her teeth slightly, nodding in response, slightly fearful for the blonde's reaction. Though further confusion seeped in as Yang simply sighed deeply, a tired and dull look in her lilac eyes.
"I'm not surprised, this is Ruby afterall. Running off to stop a villain at the first chance she gets like some hero from a story is exactly what I'd expect of her."
The heiress paused for a moment, contemplating her words and ultimately realizing that yes, that is exactly something their leader would do.
"She did always want to play the hero, I suppose she thinks this is her chance to make a difference then…" Weiss trailed off for a moment, circling to the real question that was gnawing away at her insides. "Are you okay, Yang?"
The heiress felt unimaginable anxiety, worried that her friend may spiral into another bout of loneliness and despair. She watched Yang exhale slowly and close her eyes, the ice queen's gaze being drawn to her hand which began to shake. Gradually the blonde opened her eyes, striding forward wordlessly towards a quaint forest path. Assuming her presence wasn't unwelcome, Weiss opted to follow the girl, partially out of worry for her well being and partially out of curiosity.
The scenery slowly began to shift around the two as an awkward silence formed between them like a chasm, the sound of crunching leaves and the occasional birds chirping overhead being the only things to focus on. Weiss observed the brown and red leaves slowly falling to the forest floor around them, forming a slow but near constant 'rain' of them. The air had a crisp chill to it as it slowly combed through her ponytail, the combined factors being the tell tale signs of the end of autumn.
Weiss noticed the trees finally thinning as Yang wordlessly walked a path she's clearly walked many times before, the ice queen growing more curious the longer the pair walked. Unfortunately for her, the answer came from a sight she was not quite ready for. As the trees parted, a cliff side opened up before them, Weiss gasping for a moment and pausing in her step as her eyes caught the sight of a lone white gravestone at the edge of it.
Yang paused as well, Weiss catching a solemn glance back from the girl before she resumed her slow walk forward. The heiress took a slow breath to compose herself and moved to join her teammate, the wind biting slightly more aggressively on the open cliff top. She stopped next to the blonde, her eyes tracing Yangs down to read the headstone as her friend took a slow breath, lips parting.
"Summer Rose. Ruby comes here pretty often, me too, though I usually come alone."
Weiss glanced at her companion, worriedly seeing the brawler's hand start to shake much more violently than before. She briefly had the impulsive thought to take a hold of it, only to have a small smile come to her lips as Yang reached into her pocket and palmed a familiar crystal snowflake. The heiress visibly saw the brawler's hand settle somewhat, watching her thumb slowly run across the surface.
"I've always been there to protect Ruby, as much as I can. I want her not to rely on me so much, but at the same time I wouldn't be able to look at myself if… she left and…"
Weiss felt her heart waver as Yang's voice cracked, trailing off as she's unwilling to say what both girl's understood as they stared down at the gravestone. Each silently paying a level of respect, the heiress's icy eyes took in the name "Summer Rose", remembering Yang speak about the woman. She wished she could have met the mother that seems to have been so good to the pair of sisters.
The ice queen leaned closer, gently touching her shoulder to the blonde's.
"Ruby will be okay, I'm sure of it. You can't let yourself dwell on a past you had no way to prevent, and let that influence your decision to prevent a future that might never even happen."
Weiss felt herself relax as Yang solemnly nodded in response, stepping past the gravestone. The heiress quickly followed and joined the blonde seated on the cliff, legs lazily dangled off the edge. The slowly setting sun gleamed streaks of light off the surface of the ocean, the water seeming to light like dazzling flames.
Though she stared at the sight for quite some time, Weiss couldn't stop herself from letting her eyes wander to Yang, the girl's wild mane of golden hair shifting and swishing with each small gust of wind. She felt a lump catch in her throat as a ray of sunshine caught just below the blonde's jawline, highlighting her face in a beautiful golden light and causing her hair to be as radiant as the sun.
The heiress felt herself blush softly, her thoughts wandering to her admiration for the blonde. How much she wished she could match the girl's strength and self confidence. She compared Yang's traits with her own constant feelings of self doubt, she always strived to be as perfect as she could, and yet it never felt like it was perfect enough. Weiss felt her heart melt at the sheer comforting warmth that Yang always brought, which upset her that much more when she remembered the horrible burden the brawler always carried. She wanted desperately to take the burdens away, if anyone deserved happiness it was Yang. As if it would somehow transfer said burdens, Weiss felt her fingers wrap around the calloused knuckles of the brawler, a smile coming to her lips as Yang's hand stopped shaking entirely, the charm now held between the two girl's sets of fingers.
The red and pink hue in her cheeks intensified at the contact as Weiss slowly processed these emotions, she felt her heartbeat quicken, a pounding sensation thumping in her chest and through her whole body. Her head felt somewhat light, as she slowly observed the beautiful golden girl next to her, only to feel her body go rigid as those deep pools of lilac came up to meet her own pale eyes. The heiress took them in for a few moments, feeling as if she lost herself in them for an eternity, the light feeling in her head finally fading. The ice queen felt herself strangely happy and eager as she saw Yang's face had also taken a light reddish hue to it, painfully aware of how close the two sat next to each other. She could feel ice melting from her heart, her chest free and glowing with a radiant warmth as her mind returned her to reality with a new realization. "I…I have feelings for Yang."
The thought was oddly freeing to the girl, like she had been released from an icy cage. A weight had been lifted from her shoulders, a pressure releasing from her chest as she was finally able to place the strangeness she had been feeling. Weiss wanted to lose herself in this feeling, for as long as she could. She could feel the warmth of Yang's rough fingers seeming to radiate up through her own and spread a heat through her whole body.
She blissfully soaked in and held that feeling like a warm embrace. Until a bitter shard of ice formed in the back of her mind like a dark shadow. It was uncomfortable, and try as she might she couldn't shake the feeling as the coldness spread through her mind. Weiss felt herself frown as she tried to push it away, but the warmth she felt soon turned icy at the revelation. "You fool. What are you doing? Yang already has feelings for Blake and you know it. Throw away these foolish ideas." The heiress's gut tightened, her mind straining as she tried to push the thought out, but the harder she tried the louder it became, a mocking rhythm from her own mind. Dread creeped through her body like a slow poison as she realized it was right, the beautiful, confident, and kind souled blonde already had her heart set on another. Weiss felt a bitter hurt shoot up her spine, like the shards of a shattered mirror as she replaced the icy jagged cage around her heart. She almost had to stop herself from chuckling out loud at how foolish the fleeting idea had been.
As futile as it was, some part of her head tried to justify her feelings, thinking back to the recent compliment she had been given, only to bitterly toss the idea away. Weiss felt her body grow colder with each shred of logic that was shattered, leaving her with the hopeless feeling of loss as she let her eyes slowly fall to the ground with defeat.
"Weiss, you good?"
The heiress felt herself snap to reality, realizing she had deflated all too obviously next to her friend. Choosing to ignore her torn and bleeding heart, she chose to focus on making sure her friend was okay. She painfully raised her eyes to meet Yang's again, hiding the twinge of pain those concerned orbs gave her by stuffing her feelings deep and far down into herself. Never intending to let them see the light of day again, the sensation almost made her sick. She let out a shaky exhale and composed herself, regaining her rigid and unwavering Schnee demeanor for a moment, deciding to quickly flip the topic.
"Of course… just wondering if you're okay, especially with Ruby leaving."
The ice queen cringed internally as she heard the shade of sadness her wavering voice had taken on. Weiss slowly slid her hand from the blonde's only just remembering their fingers had been intertwined this whole time. A longing stabbed her chest as she felt those warm fingers leave hers, wishing she could hold the girl's hand forever. She watched Yang's concerned look deepen slightly as her brow furrowed at the heiress's words and actions. The ice queen felt herself confused as she saw what looked like guilt splay across the brawler's face, before the blonde looked down and processed Weiss's previous concern.
"I… I'll be fine. People leave all the time, and it would be kinda selfish of me to try and stop her…"
Yang trailed off, Weiss receiving another pang of heartbreak as she felt the blonde's concerned gaze once more. The ice queen couldn't help but feel guilty for inadvertently making the brawler worry about anything other than herself, the girl had plenty on her plate already.
Weiss felt the awkward silence settle in between them once more as they gazed into the setting Sun, the golden streaks of light dancing across the water doing a poor job of distracting the heiress from her lingering thoughts of the blonde brawler beside her. The ice queen felt the longing well up within her once more, and had to grit her teeth to push it down deep. After today she knew she had to lock these feelings away, never to see the light of day. Weiss knew they'd eat away at her for a very long time, and she hoped her icy walls around her heart would be enough protection from the blonde's golden and inviting warmth.