A/N: Enjoy.
X
The sounds were so familiar to her by now...
"All you do with my money these days is drink, woman! Each and every day, you skulk about in the garden drinking your weight in wine!"
Is this what normal is? Hearing your parents argue about whatever issues they deem appropriate for the venue?
Your money? It was my father that built the SEC, Jacques! If he hadn't been stupid enough to leave the company in your hands, you would have nothing without me!"
Across from her, Whitley was slowly savoring the cup of banana pudding in front of him, more numb to the situation than anything else. What he truly thought of Jacques and Willow fighting at the dinner table on a weekly basis, Weiss would probably never know. If she asked him, he'd probably make a remark about them having finally waited until dessert to start their fight.
"Stupid? Under my hands, this company has nearly doubled in size in the past ten years alone! I am the glue that keeps it and this family together!"
Family. Now that is a funny word. What does it even mean? Is it a group of people who love each other enough to die for them? Or is it just a word that signifies being physically related somehow?
Probably the latter.
"But what does the Schnee name even mean any more, Jacques?" Idly, Weiss realized she must've missed a few sentences in her pondering. "It used to be associated with honor and forward progression; now, the media sees us as a company that does the bare minimum to avoid infringing on labor laws. A company that forces the many smaller businesses to close their doors because they simply have no way to compete with your predatory business tactics!"
Crash!
Ah, there it was: the first thrown glass of the evening, and her cue to leave. Without making a sound, Weiss vacated her seat and walked out as the fight began to escalate further. Klein, the wonderful man that he was, fell into step beside her. "Madam Weiss-"
She interrupted him with a single hand in the air. Again, this was normal for the Schnee estate. They all knew how it would progress: some glasses and plates would be thrown, the butlers, Klein included, would clean up the mess, and a new set of dishes and appropriate cups would be prepared by the next day. Lather, rinse, repeat.
Without a single word more, Klein accompanied her to her bedroom and opened it for her. She muttered a 'thank you' as she walked in, and soon enough she was alone in her room. She'd stopped shedding tears several years ago and, throwing herself onto her bed, sought only to go to sleep when-
Ding!
Slowly, she reached over to where her phone was and turned on the display. It was a message from Crescent; he always did have phenomenal timing, whether he knew it or not.
Crescent: Hey, haven't heard from you in a bit. Wanted to check up on you.
'It's all a mess,' she thought with a laugh. Not wanting to be rude, she typed out a reply despite lacking anything substantial to say.
Crystal: I'm fine.
There. That should be reassuring enough for him. It's short, sweet, and rolls off of the tongue. Where had she heard that phrase spoken before? Ah, the Arc boy when he first met her. And just like that, she had managed to sour her mood further.
Ding!
Crescent: Are you actually fine, or are you f.i.n.e.?
What did that even mean? Her curiosity urged her to ask him that very question, so she did.
A moment later.
Crescent: Freaked out. Insecure. Neurotic. Emotional
As she read and re-read the message, it started to dawn on her that Crescent had somehow pegged her personality solely through written text. She wasn't sure how she felt about that at that moment.
Crystal: There have been some complications, but I assure you that everything-
She scoffed. The message sounded wooden even to her, and a part of her knew that he wouldn't buy it for even a moment. But what can you tell to a someone like Crescent?
...the truth, maybe?
It was a blasphemous thought: to air her personal issues to somebody she'd never met. But there was a piece of her heart that felt desperate to be seen. Desperate to be acknowledged for what it was and was going through.
With a few swipes of her finger, she deleted the original body of text without sending it and started over again. She'd keep it simple this time; simple and honest.
Crystal: I'm surrounded by people, but I feel so alone.
The few moments between sending that message and receiving the next felt impossibly long, as if Time itself was taunting her. 'Stupid girl,' it said. 'How foolish of you to trust some unknown malcontent who would only have you weak and-'
Ding!
It was with trembling fingers that she pressed the buttons to view the message.
Crescent: I want you to look up a song and play it. "She will be loved" by Maroon 5. You're never alone, Crystal.
A song. It was a bizarre suggestion to her mind, not the least because of all the time she'd spent learning how to sing and play the piano, only genuinely enjoying the former. Her fingers obeyed regardless of her doubts, and soon enough she found the song on Blutube. She hit 'play.'
Beauty queen of only eighteen / She had some trouble with herself
He was always there to help her / She always belonged to someone else
The first listening had her enthralled, both by the performance and by its message. The final notes had just finished when she set it up to go again.
I drove for miles and miles and wound up at your door / I've had you so many times but somehow I want more
She shakily hummed along the second time, the notes not being particularly difficult to follow. She did her best to ignore the water forming around her eyes.
I don't mind spending every day / Out on your corner in the pouring rain
Look for the girl with the broken smile / Ask her if she wants to stay awhile
By the time the third playthrough finished, she was crying softly into her pillow. She felt overwhelmed over something as simple as a song; it was ridiculous! It was- It was-!
And she will be loved / And she will be loved
Tap on my window, knock on my door / I want to make you feel beautiful
It was liberating. For the first time in a long time, she poured her heart out and let herself cry.
Over the course of the next few weeks three plays became a dozen; and from a dozen, two. She actively practiced it in her bedroom. She began talking openly with Crescent more, and when he later admitted to not being in the best of times himself, she imagined herself singing this song for him. To him.
Please don't try so hard to say beep beep beep BEEP BEEP!!!
Weiss awoke with a start, her alarm clock unceremoniously making its presence known to the room. Angrily, she grabbed the clock and threw it across the room, slamming the off button as it ricocheted off of the wall. A torrent of emotions swept over her once more, and it took several moments for her to calm down. Grabbing her phone, she read the latest message from "Crescent" again; it had been sent to her late Sunday evening.
Crescent: I understand if something came up, Crystal. Just let me know that you're okay, alright?
It was too late, her mind said to her heart. She'd already said goodbye to Crescent. By not responding to the message, she had already bid farewell to Jaune.
Telling herself that did nothing to relieve the pain in her chest.
As she prepared for the school day, her thoughts drifted to what happened after she left the blonde boy where he sat. Neptune had quickly picked her up from the front of the mall, and together they went to go see "Hamlet." The boy had been a gentleman, and the evening had been pleasant. Quaint. And almost entirely a blur because she hadn't been a hundred percent there. Neptune seemed to grasp that fact after a half-hour or so of him trying different conversation starters.
At the end of the night, Neptune drove her home and she was met at the front door by Klein. Her butler seemed to believe that Neptune was her promised escort; it was a misconception she was in no hurry to correct. Wishing Neptune a good night, she'd quickly disappeared into her bedroom to avoid any questions from Klein, who had no doubt sensed that something was wrong.
Dressed and ready for the day, Weiss took a final look in the mirror: she looked to be the poster child for fatigue, what with her shoulders sagging and the excess make-up to cover the bags under her eyes. Hoisting up her satchel, she couldn't help but feel that today would be a very long day.
Before long Klein was driving her to Beacon, the air between them awkward as she stared out of the window. She didn't want to speak to anyone, and prayed that she would be allowed to focus on her schooling in peace.
"He~llo, Weiss Queen! And to you too, Klein!"
And then Yang Xiao Long happened.
As soon as they reached Beacon and Klein opened the car door for her to exit, Yang seemed to materialize out of thin air to greet both of them with a positively chipper voice. Weiss barely refrained from grunting in frustration, while Klein was much more amicable. "Good morning, miss Yang. Did you have a good weekend?"
Yang was positively beaming. "I did, thank you. Would you mind if I talked to Weiss for a bit? I have, like, a million questions for her."
"Of course," he answered. "I was just taking my leave. Madam Weiss, do have a good day."
"Thank you, Klein. I'll see you this afternoon." Resigned to the fact that she would soon be bombarded with questions, she began to walk into the school accompanied by Yang. The blonde seemed to be in a particularly good mood, but didn't say a word as they made it to their lockers.
Yang only spoke once the proper textbooks had been retrieved for the next few periods, putting an arm around her shoulders as they resumed walking past a crowd of students. "Soooo? How did it go?"
"It went." She mentally begged for Yang to drop it.
"Come on, you can tell me! I mean, I only spent a couple hours helping you prepare."
She winced despite herself, as Yang wasn't exactly wrong. "Still, I'd really rather not talk about it."
"But why?" Yang did an overly dramatic gasp, briefly covering her mouth with her free hand. "Did something bad happen? Are you okay, my friend?"
"I... I'm fine, Yang." Yang didn't seemed convinced, of course, and Weiss realized that she'd soon be forced to talk to some extent or another. She sighed. "I didn't meet with him on Saturday."
"Oh? How come?"
"Because... he wasn't there when I showed up." Yang suddenly pinched the shoulder she had her hand around, causing Weiss to jump a bit from the sting. "Ow! Why did you do that!?"
"Because of personal reasons," Yang chirped, still unnervingly peppy. "Come on, Weiss. Last chance here: what really happened?"
She opened her mouth to retort, but held it as she looked at her surroundings. Yang had somehow led them outside the building, out the back of the school where the only thing present was a few windows and the brick wall of the main structure. Weiss suddenly felt very cold, and it wasn't the chill of the approaching winter. Her mouth flapped open and shut as she grasped for the right words to say, until Yang cut her off with that oh-so-thick layer of sugar in her voice. "You know what I think happened, Weiss? I think you chickened out! Because according to my sources, and my sources are very reliable, it was Crescent who was stuck all alone."
Her mouth went dry. She had made it a point not to share his username with her. Yang's nails began digging into her shoulder, and it took every ounce of effort she could muster to not yelp from the pain. "Y-Yang, why are you-?"
In one swift move, Yang grabbed the collar of her uniform with both hands and lifted her up into the air. Slowly, her jovial attitude shifted into seething rage; indignation so pungent that it froze Weiss even as her feet dangled in mid-air. Every scrap of civility had been abandoned as Yang gave her a quick shake, her head coming within inches of the wall. "Do you know what it was like seeing Jaune the next day, Weiss!? To see him so heartbroken because somebody was a 'no call, no show' to their date? He tried to cover up his little slip of the tongue, but I'm not stupid. I figured out what he meant to say pretty easily."
Weiss was lowered until she was almost nose-to-nose with her. "Two. hours. That's how long he waited for you to show up. And do you know what the kicker is? He wasn't even mad at you!"
Even in her petrified state, Yang's words made their way into her brain and began to fester. "What...?"
"Yep! He was depressed, for sure, but once all was said and done he was concerned more than anythingelse." The grip on her collar became even more restricting. "So what's your excuse? Why'd you do it?"
"I...I..." She didn't have an excuse. If she told Yang the truth, that she'd seen who it was and fled, she knew that she might very well be red with blood in a matter of moments. Yang didn't say anything, clearly waiting for some type of response, so for lack of anything better to say she stammered out, "I-I don't have an excuse, Yang. I'm sorry..."
"Sorry?" For a moment Yang's eyes seemed to turn from lilac to red. Was that a trick of the light? "Sorry? I'm really not the one you should apologizing to, Weiss! I have half a mind to drag you to Jaune right this second so you can beg for his forgiveness!"
It seemed that fists would indeed be flying; but just as Weiss began to brace herself, Yang let her go. Her terrified legs failed to support her weight and she wound up sprawled on the ground, staring up at her aggressor. Yang glared down at her, anger giving way to contempt on her face. "Jaune is a great guy, Weiss, and I know now that he deserves better than your shallow friendship. I hope you spend the rest of your time at Beacon regretting what you've done."
Yang marched off without any further discussion, leaving Weiss in a heap on the grass. As she pulled her legs into herself and stuck her face between her knees, Weiss knew beyond a doubt that she was the guilty party in this scenario. Jaune, as Crescent, had given her nothing but friendship, and she had thrown that back into his face. The bell for first period rang as she began sobbing, guilt eating away at the very fabric of her heart.
"I'm sorry," she whispered to herself, to the Crescent she'd held so dear. "I'm so sorry..."
-Yang-
To say that Yang was mad would be perhaps the greatest understatement of all-time. She was furious, to a degree she had never thought possible. In the back of her mind she'd been hopeful that Weiss just had something come up that required her attention, because then she and Jaune could just reschedule their meeting after any number of apologies for the lack of communication.
But the look on the heiress's face had told her everything she needed to know: Weiss had, one way or another, figured out that it was Jaune and backed out of the arrangement without a word. Her callousness made Yang want to pound her face in until it was black, blue, and red all over; but she had somehow held herself back. She didn't know if she held back for Jaune's sake, or so she didn't get in deep water for assaulting the daughter of a very influential family, or if the side-ponytail-wearing sack of pompousness just wasn't worth the effort.
Any of those reasons worked, really.
All she knew for sure was that she was now determined to fill the gap "Crystal" had left in Jaune's heart. Yang Xiao Long would be the best friend her fellow blonde could ever ask for.
First period flew past in the blink of an eye, the schoolwork giving her a decent focus outside of her anger. When second period rolled around and Weiss was due to be in the same class as her, the heiress was instead absent. Yang felt no remorse for what happened, content in the knowledge that she had gotten her point across without actual violence.
A couple hours later it was time for lunch, and after going through the food line she immediately found her way to Jaune's table. Pyrrha was sitting on one side of him while Ren and Nora sat across from them, so she sat down on the unoccupied side of Jaune and offered the table at large a smile. "Mind if I take this spot, guys?"
Nora immediately reached over and put a hand up for a high five. "Of course not! Welcome to the cool table, Slayer of Jaune's K/D ratio!"
"I wasn't that bad yesterday," grumbled Jaune as Yang met the high five enthusiastically.
"Yeah, you kinda were." She pat his head like she would a child. "So, what's going on?"
"Not much," offered Pyrrha. "Ren was just discussing doing a dance choreography for this Saturday's dance, but Nora had to break it to him that it's a little too... last minute to work out."
Yang gave a small 'hm' as she digested that. With all the Weiss/Jaune drama going on, she'd honestly forgotten all about the dance. "Ren and Nora are going together, but not 'together-together', I assume?"
Jaune chuckled as Nora pursed her lips. "Pretty much. I'm not scheduled to work that day, but I'm also not really sure if I'm even going after what happened last year."
To Jaune's left Pyrrha flinched, an action that was caught by everybody present except the boy himself. Yang felt a bit bad for the red-head. Jaune being the object of her affection was a pretty open secret for students in their year. But what could she do?
Unless...
An idea formed in Yang's mind, and it rapidly developed into plan 'Matchmaker'. Pulling out her phone, she typed a quick message into a blank notepad app.
Now's your chance, Pyrrha. Ask him to the dance.
She didn't have Pyrrha's phone number, so she improvised a bit. "Hey, Pyrrha, can you look at this picture and tell me what you think of it? You might be able to use this on the field."
"I guess?" Yang passed her phone behind Jaune's back, and when the target girl read the message she blushed a bit. After a moment, though, the blush disappeared and was replaced by a look of determination; the same look the track star usually had before a big run. Pyrrha met her eyes and nodded as she passed the phone back. "That was... interesting, but I don't think that would be allowed in a competitive track and field event, Yang."
"What wouldn't be allowed?" The group turned to see Ruby standing nearby with a tray of food. "And where are Blake and Weiss?"
"In order of how you asked: a funny pair of running shoes, the library, and around somewhere I'm sure." Yang ticked off her fingers as she answered. "Take a seat. This is the cool table, apparently."
"Well, duh. I'm here now." Ruby smirked as she sat by Nora. "I'm the person that does maintenance on your bike, so I'm automatically the coolest person around."
"Maaaybe. We'll argue about that later, sis." Yang laughed even as she eyed Pyrrha again.
Thankfully, she seemed to get the message. Clearing her throat, Pyrrha put a hand on Jaune's shoulder to get his attention and slowly said, "On the topic of the dance, Jaune, I was wondering if you'd like to go. Together, that is."
Jaune looked at her in silence for a couple seconds as he processed what had just been asked of him. Across the table, Nora was practically vibrating with excitement while Ruby and Ren remained silent. "You wanna go to the dance... with me?"
"Do you not want to?" Pyrrha seemed to shrink a little bit, and Jaune quickly jumped after seeing that.
"No- I mean, yes, that sounds great. It's just that I'm surprised. Weren't you just asked out by Sky the other day?"
"I was," she confirmed, "but while Sky is nice, it's you that I-" She cut herself off, clearly still uncomfortable with the concept of truly confessing her feelings. She reset by saying, "I know that I'll have a good time with you as my escort. So, would you like to go together?"
"Of course," he answered with a smile. "Sounds like a good time to me, too, Pyrrha." Pyrrha began beaming in response.
"YES!" Nora's shout rang throughout the cafeteria. "This. is. happening!"
While Ren worked on bringing Nora's volume down a level, Pyrrha spared a moment away from Jaune's face to look at Yang and mouth 'Thank you', to which she responded with a lazy two finger salute. In less than a day she'd set Weiss straight and encouraged Jaune's love life to improve. She felt so good about herself right then.
If she ignored the tug of her heart, of course.
X
Poor Yang, putting others ahead of herself.
Also, a full chapter two days later. What the hell has you inspired, Muse?
Muse: Life, maaaan. Life.
I hope you enjoyed this chapter. Please consider leaving a review, and I'll see you next time.