"So you understand what you have to do?" The white haired man asked, cold eyes staring at me seriously.

"Of course." I nodded my head in understanding. "I knew what I had to do the moment you contacted me and I accepted." I had to hold myself back from making a snide comment; this man was too important to insult.

Funnily enough, this was probably the most powerful man I'd ever meet. And not power in the physical sense, no. I could defeat him whilst blindfolded. We both knew that fact. Yet we also both knew I'd do nothing if he started spouting slurs and insults at me.

Why?

Because individual power is the weakest form of power for those who have a vested interest in society.

"Very well then." The man folded his hands, laying them flat on his desk. "It seems we are done here." The older man paused, likely for dramatic effect. "I hope you understand what will happen if you…fail me?"

I couldn't help myself. I snorted at his words. "I'm not a moron, sir." I tipped my head in fake respect, trying my best to hold back a sneer. "I'm aware of how workers under you are…allegedly treated, Mr. Schnee. No, not a hair on her head will be harmed. I will see to it."

The room was silent for a moment, the cold air of the room brushing uncomfortably against my skin. I'd always had problems holding my tongue. Seems it was no different now.

I waited for a reprimand. None came.

Jacques Schnee either didn't pick up on my disrespect or, more likely, just didn't care enough about me to call me out on it. "Well, I guess we have an understanding. You shall find my daughter in her quarters. The butler will lead you to her. Leave."

I stood and turned, walking to the door. Honestly, I just wanted to leave this office. It was cold and lifeless. Just like its owner.

Let's hope the daughter is better, yeah?

Bah, who am I kidding? I'd heard of how cold of a person Winter Schnee was. There is high doubt Weiss Schnee would be warmer.

Reaching the door, I turned the chilled knob. With a small creek of the hinge, the door opened into an equally blue hall. What was it with Schnee's and the color blue and white?

As I moved to step through the door and into the hall, Jacques called out to me. "And make sure you hold your tongue next time we speak, Mr. Dietrich. You are lucky I am as generous as I am—a lesser man would have not taken your disrespect."

I closed the door.

Gods I hated that man. Clearly that was a shared sentiment considering his eldest daughter fled home, his heir often had her songs littered with references to her loneliness, and his wife had barely been in the public eye for seven years.

Maybe, maybe someone could try to claim Winter was the problem. Or Weiss had an unlikable personality. Or the mother hated media attention. Maybe that could be claimed.

If you hadn't met the man.

Jacques Schnee was a tier one asshole and that's coming from a tier two asshole.

"Hello, Mr. Dietrich." A freckled man said, dragging me from my thoughts. "It seems your meeting went well?"

I smiled at that. "Was there any doubt?"

"I suppose not." The Schnee butler said, laughing. "Why, Mr. Schnee can be much of a worry-wart with his daughter. He'd have to have picked you to watch over her; it's not common for someone from Atlas to go to Beacon, afterall."

"A worry-wart?" I asked incredulously. "That's not the terminology I'd use to describe him…he's more, ah—" I cut myself off. I probably shouldn't talk bad about the butler's boss to his face. Technically also my boss, but who's counting?

"—obsessive?" The freckled butler added, leaving me wide eyed. "Yes, I am aware of my bosses, well, let's just say peculiarities."

So he was that type of man, then. The kind that knew what kind of ship he was on yet willingly rode it into a storm. It took a special kind of person to do that, one who had strong motivation.

"Then why do you stay here?" I questioned him. "If you know what type of man he is, why would you possibly want to stay working for him?"

"Hmm. A good question. But, let me ask you this first." The butler looked at me seriously for a moment. "Why is it that you want to work for him?"

Yes, just don't answer my questions, why don't you? I'd call him out for being rude if I hadn't just, you know, insulted his boss.

"Why?" I shrugged. "Money, I suppose. I never really wanted to go to Beacon, you know. I planned to stay in Atlas. Actually, I never signed up on time at all." Laughing, I met the bald butler's eyes. "I signed up late. For whatever reason, your boss thought I had signed up to go to Beacon. I managed to arrange a meeting with Professor Ozpin and he let me in, ignoring my terrible skills." I sighed at that. "Anyways, the rest is, well, you know."

I left out a lot in that story but it was close enough. The meeting with Professor Ozpin was…

I shook my head.

Ozpin was the second most dangerous man I'd ever met. He just hid it behind a nice demeanor. His eyes, though…

"You should give yourself some credit. Terrible skills? I'd call you humble but that's a bold-faced lie, Mr. Dietrich."

I raised my hands in a 'what can you do' manner. "It is what it is. I wouldn't call myself particularly talented."

The butler hummed. "Very well, if that is how you wish to be."

How I wish to be? I ponder.

"Regardless, seeing that you made the cut, I imagine I am to take you up to see Ms. Schnee?"

I nodded.

The man clapped. "Excellent. Let's get to it, then, Nigel. To give my own name, I am Klein."

Like a mantra, I nodded again. "Nice to meet you, Klein. I hope the meeting with Weiss goes just as well."

That seems to damper the mood a tad, the air growing just that much cooler. An impressive feat, considering where I was. The halls may have been warmer than Jacques office—that didn't mean they were particularly warm.

Klein blew air out of his mouth. "Ms. Schnee…is a…let's just say troubled girl. You've seen her father, afterall." Klein led me through the halls. "You can imagine what having a father like that would do to someone. Ms. Schnee really is a lovely girl," he sighed deeply, like several years left him in one breath, "just…troubled."

"What do you mean?" I couldn't help but ask. "Troubled can mean a lot of things, you know. Aggressive? Moody? Violent?" I list off, preparing for the worst.

"Heavens no!" Klein exclaimed, leading us by a painting of the family. One very depressed family. "As I said, Ms. Schnee is a lovely girl. Why, she is quite kind. Very friendly. It's just that, well," the man seemed hesitant. Were Weiss's faults really that bad? "she is troubled. Give her time and you'll be best of friends."

That was a very, very…promising statement. This was going to be troublesome, wasn't it?

We reached a door. Like the rest of the mansion, it had too much blue. And white. It was excessive. I liked my blues and whites as much as the next guy, but really? The amount of the two colors here would have me so oversaturated that I'd see the snow as black in the winter and the sky as orange during the day.

"I will leave you here, Mr. Dietrich." Klein tipped his head. "And I will repeat Mr. Schnee's warning. You seem like a good man, Nigel." I held back a wince. "But I must ask you to not hurt her."

Klein walked away.

That was probably the oddest warning I've had in my life.

So, now I was at the door. A daunting door. A door that was representative of the fact I'd just signed four years of my life away to be a glorified bodyguard. Sighing, I raised my fist to knock.

And then immediately pulled it back.

Sue me, I was nervous.

Weiss was, apparently, troubled. What an ambiguous statement that was. Sure, she wasn't moody. Or aggressive. Or a sociopath—actually, maybe? She might be. Apparently sociopaths are made by bad childhoods. I'd met Jacques; he didn't seem like dad of the year material. If she was a sociopath, she could act nice, right? Act normal. But not be normal.

That's terrifying.

I could spend the next couple years of my life being manipulated by some scary competent girl who seemed kind and innocent.

But that's only a maybe.

She might also just be socially awkward. I pray she is. I could deal with a socially awkward, sheltered teen. Socially awkward, lonely people were easy to make friends with. Just be the first to offer a hand and they'll move mountains for you.

The desire to never be lonely again drove people to do great and terrible things.

I could work with a socially awkward girl.

I could not work with a sociopath.

She might also be a daddy's girl, but with how Klein was talking, doubtful.

Okay, I can do this.

I raised my hand to knock on the door. Repeating Please be socially awkward like a chant in my head, I thumped my knuckles on the door.

I sat with bated breath, my heart thumping in my chest nervously.

Please, please be socially awkward.

I stood there with my palms sweaty. Moments later, the door opened. I had to look down to see her. She was shorter than I had been expecting. Weiss was, maybe, five-foot-three? That was with me being generous. She had long white hair held in some kind of off center braid thingy. She wore a white dress that ended around her knees, red ribbon stuff going around her neck area.

Overall, she was clearly wealthy.

Please be socially inept, I pray one more time.

Before I had the chance to talk, I was cut off. "Oh." And wasn't that such a kind, not scathing tone. "You must be the ruffian father hired to watch over me." Weiss sighed, shaking her head and crossing her arms. "Really, I don't know what father was thinking, hiring the likes of you to babysit me. Honestly, it's quite ridiculous. I'm better than all the other students going to beacon this year, it's ludicrous that I'd have to be watched over by—"

I tuned her rant out. Gods, this girl had a mouth on her.

As I happily ignored her, she kept speaking at me. Not to me, of course. I don't think she cared enough about me to actually talk to me.

Yes, an exciting four years ahead of me.

Or I could turn this around. She wasn't a sociopath, that was for sure. So socially awkward it is!

"—I like your hair." I said, cutting her soliloquy off. This girl should take it to a publisher, because gods know I don't want to hear it.

Weiss choked on her own spit, face flushing. "Wha—what?"

"I said I like your hair." Quite solemnly, I nodded. I tried to sound as serious as I could. "It's pretty."

"Wha..?" Weiss gaped like a fish at my words. Like she couldn't compute what I was saying. Her face was red, making the girl look like a beetroot. "Wha..?"

It was a bit odd, considering she must have been complemented at the political events and operas she has been to. Likely, she wasn't expecting it. And also lacked the social capabilities to adjust.

I wouldn't call myself a gambling man but, well…right now I had the desire to hit a casino and bet my life savings on red.

Finally, it seemed like Weiss managed to catch her thoughts. "You—you can't just say that to me, you—" Weiss paused, like she was scouring the depths of her brain for an adequately insulting adjective to describe me. I was actually rather eager to see what she'd come up with. "—you dolt!"

"...dolt?" I managed to say, holding back snickers.

"Yes," she said emphatically, nodding seriously, "dolt. You're a complete and utter one. What kind of fool goes up to me and says—"

I groaned. "Please, please don't do this again, Sunshine. I get it, your voice is lovely. But if you want to use it so much, at least try to serenade me properly. I'd maybe want to listen, then."

"Serenade you?" Weiss said, tasting the word. She seemed to dislike its flavor with how her face scrunched up. "You? I have—"

I cut her off again, "are you going to speak concisely, Sunshine? You know that brevity is the soul of wit, right? So be concise, don't speak, or sing it so I at least want to listen."

Weiss clenched her hands in annoyance. She opened her mouth, paused, and seemed to think. Probably realizing she'd prove my point if she talked, she huffed and turned around. She walked to her bed and plopped herself down rather ineloquently.

I averted my head.

Actually, how can I annoy her more?

I flopped onto the bed next to her. And what a bed it was. This was probably the nicest best I'd ever touched in my life. I bet it cost more than my family line, but honestly, I could see why.

Comfy.

My fellow bedmate groaned next to me. With her face cushioned in her bed, Weiss spoke muffledly, "Idonotwantyouhere."

"What?"

Weiss turned herself over and sat up. "I refuse to have you work for me." She said, refusing to meet my eyes.

"Well, luckily, I work for your dear old dad." I cheerfully said, giving a thumbs up. "So you're stuck with me. Also, I must say this is a very nice bed."

"And it is my bed." She hissed out. "So get out of it!"

"Sorry, Sunshine." I said as apologetically as I could, still trying to absorb myself into the bed. "But this is a really nice bed. And I'm supposed to stay near you at all times, so…" I grinned up at her, "I guess I'm colonizing it!"

"No."

"Yup!"

Weiss looked at me like I was the worst person she'd ever met. Funny, considering who her pops was. It was also funny that her cheeks were twinged red.

"Anyhow, Sunshine—" I began, only to be oh so rudely cut off.

"Stop calling me that!" She said, glaring at me while imitating a tomato. "It doesn't even make sense."

"Nope, it makes complete sense, Sunshine." I told her, ignoring her blistering. Now, would I go for the nice reason for the name or the rude one? Bah, who was I kidding? "It's cause you think the sun shines right out of—"

A hand smacked my shoulder, cutting me off. Weiss, continuing her tomato cosplay, seemed like she couldn't decide whether to hit me again, curse me out, cry, or do all three.

"Kidding!" I rubbed her head with my palm, ignoring her personal space. "It's 'cause of your sunny demeanor!"

She blinked at me dully.

Well, time to confuse her more. "But I wasn't lying, I really do like your hair. But, well, it'd be kinda lame to call you Ice Queen or Snow Angel. Generic, you know?"

Weiss just kept looking at me blankly. I took that as a good sign to continue. "But if you don't like Sunshine, I could think of something more appropriate for you…" I hummed in faux-consideration. "Well, what about Starfall? Cause your eyes are like stars and they make me wanna fall!"

Have I ever mentioned I love being cringy? It was oh so fun, especially with someone like Weiss who, well, didn't seem to be able to process it.

I'll take pity, though. "Anyways, I should probably introduce myself!" I sat up on the bed and stuck my hand out. "I'm Nigel Dietrich."

It seemed like the world caught back up to her.

Shockingly enough, she giggled. Giggled. What am I, some two-bit comedian? "You're…weird." Weiss told me, processing her words as she said them. "But…" She inhaled, probably considering her words, "I don't think I hate you."

Now she had me startled. "What?"

She huffed. "You're really going to make me explain?" She asked me. She then continued, not letting me respond. "I'm not stupid, you know. I can see what you were doing. Breaking the ice, yes?" Weiss looked down at her hands, analyzing her nails. "You're weird but nice, I think."

Not to be outdone, I added my two lien. "I wasn't really spouting crap, Sunshine. I do think your hair is pretty."

Hah! I had her blushing again. "...thank you." Weiss said, still looking at her hands. "You aren't sharing my bed, though."

"But it's a very nice bed." I whined, trying to absorb myself into the fluffy mattress.

"So is every single bed in the manor."

"And?" I said, looking towards her, trying and failing to raise an eyebrow. "We're gonna be partners for the next four years. That means we will share the same room." I paused, hesitating to add the last piece of information. I pushed forward. "And we won't have two more teammates, so it will literally just be you and I in a room."

Weiss finally looked up from her hands and met my eyes, face shocked. "What do you mean we won't have teammates?"

I shrugged. "Exactly as I said. Beacon has one extra person this year, me. Ozpin let me in after the deadline. There'll be one team of three and one team of two. The Professor said that my team will only be my partner and myself. And you will be my partner."

Technically Weiss being my partner wasn't decided officially, but it was all but reality. As in, her father would kill both of us if it wasn't so. So, basically, already written in stone and found ten thousand years in the future by some archeologist.

"But—" A million emotions flashed across Weiss's face at once. "I didn't agree to that…" She tapered off there, voice maybe disappointed? I couldn't tell. "Also," Weiss continued without heat in her voice, "there is no way Professor Ozpin will let a woman like myself be alone in a room with an animal like you."

"Hey!" I protested, still trying my damndest to merge with the cushions below me. "I'm not a faunus, so I'm not an animal, per say. And Professor Ozpin is," there's a million terms I could use to describe what I felt for him. Some good, some bad. What I decided on was, "weird."

"Weird?" Weiss asked me, looking at me oddly. "Professor Ozpin? The most powerful man in Remnant, the headmaster of Beacon?" She gave me a look. "That Ozpin?"

"That Ozpin." For the millionth time this day, I nodded solemnly. "It's not that surprising, really. Powerful people tended to be a tad bit…" I swirled a finger around the side of my head. "Y'know?"

"That's completely false."

"Nope, totally true." I proclaimed, patting her shoulder comfortingly. "It's just the truth of it. Look at me, for example!" With pride, I poked my chest.

"You, powerful?" Weiss gave an unladylike snort. "You? You're just weird."

"Ouch." I stood up, patting her head. My hand got smacked away. "But, if you think I'm so weak, wanna bet?"

"I don't gamble." Weiss said definitively.

"C'mon! Don't be lame, Sunshine!" I got another light wack. Already I had warmed her up. That's good, I guess.

"It's not being lame," she said, defending herself. "Gambling is just not a good thing to do."

I gave a suffering sigh. "Next you'll say drinking and driving is bad." I shook my head sadly, looking up to the heavens. "Because if it's so bad, why is it so fun?"

"Because it's reckless!" The blasphemer said, looking at me like I was insane. "You risk your life and others."

"So does normal driving. And being a huntsman." I said pointedly.

"That's—that's totally diff—" Weiss cut herself off. "You're riling me up again, aren't you?"

"Yup." I popped the p at the end of the word. "But, really, I just wanna make a little bet. Trust me, I'm not usually a gambling man. But you called me weak, yes?" I did a dramatic pause as Weiss nodded. "Then let's spar! If I win, I get something. If you win, you get something. No money, no favors, nothing major. Just some fun as friends."

Weiss froze. "As friends?"

"Yup," I nodded, "as friends."

Maybe it was a bit shitty of me to manipulate the friendless, lonely girl like that…but, well, I couldn't really care. She clearly needed some fun in her life. Seriously. When the color scheme of her home made it appear like a mental ward, it did not signify a fun life. Or something like that.

"Fine." Weiss said. "A spar. When I win, you have to do something for me."

"You mean when I win." I rebutted, already moving to the door. "And when I win, you have to…" I hummed. What exactly did I want from her? "The bed."

"The bed." Weiss said flatly. "You want the bed?"

"I told you, it is a rather nice bed. Don't worry, I'm not kicking you out of it. We can share."

"No."

I gave her a smirk. "Why? Scared you'll lose?"

"Wha—! No! I won't lose." She shook her head, dragging herself from her thoughts. "And when I win, you have to be my personal servant."

"For how long?" I asked her.

"All four years." She responded, matching my smirk with her own. "Seems fair. You want to share a bed, I want a servant. Anyways, scared you'll lose?" She shot back in my face. "Because I'd understand if you wanted to…change the terms?"

This girl was pure evil. I wasn't really intending to stick with the whole bed thing, but now?

"Course not." I merrily said.

Weiss clapped. "Lovely! Let us go to the training room, then."

Training room. Of course.

I could not comprehend how rich this girl was.

"Let us go, then."

"Let's."

Weiss opened the door and practically dragged me through the halls. Her cold, small hand was grasped tightly onto my own as she pulled me through the halls.

Let me add, this place was massive. Like, so massive it would make a sports stadium look small. No one needed this much land. It just went to show how rich the Schnees were. It made sense, though. When one mega corporation controlled the only power source on the planet, it was obvious they'd be rich. Nearly half a billion people relied on the SDC for dust. Vale, Atlas, and the unimportant places wouldn't last a day if the SDC embargoed any of them.

Which honestly made me wonder why they didn't. Theoretically, the SDC could just take over a country if they wanted. They wouldn't even need to do it violently. All they had to do was slowly control every facet of the nation's economy and then, with the nation so interlinked to the SDC, they could just threaten to cut their resources and, well, win.

Hell, if I was Jacques that's what I would do. I'd probably just slowly take over Mistral's economy up until it could no longer separate. Mistral was the perfect place for an economic take over as its economy sucked. No free market and most of the nation was in severe poverty. Which was ironic as they had the most people by far. Probably half of the world's population lived in Anima, and subsequently, Mistral.

That meant workers. Lots of workers. Ones who would work for dirt cheap.

So why didn't Jacques do it?

I was pulled out of my thoughts by Weiss. "We're here."

"We are?" I state out loud, pulling myself out of my thoughts.

"Yes, you dolt." She gave me a challenging look. "Why? Already ready to surrender?"

I looked around the room. It was white, blue mats laid out across the floor. And, get this, it was massive. My childhood home could likely fit in here.

I wasn't a poor kid.

"Nope. I was just about to ask you the same thing." I cheerfully responded, moving to the center of the mats. "Get ready, I'll throw a…" I searched my pockets, "a pen. When it lands, we start. Fair?"

Weiss nodded, moving to stand across from me on the mats.

I pulled the pen out of my pocket and prepared to toss it.

"Where's your weapon?" Weiss asked before I could start the match.

I held my fists up. "Here and here."

"You're going to fight a sword with…fists?" She gave me a look. "That's stupid. You won't even be able to block my strikes without losing aura."

"Well then," I began, tossing the pen high up, "I guess it's wonderful that I don't plan to get hit."

The pen hit the ground with a gentle thud. Instantly, Weiss was dashing at me, barely giving me enough time to activate my semblance.

But still just enough.

Time crawled to a halt as my perception of reality sped up. Within inches of my face was Weiss's blade. And it was still moving quite fast.

Rotating my body, I twisted to the side, golden-orange energy glowing off of my body. I kicked out my foot, moving it to where Weiss was going. I saw her eyes widen.

Weiss tripped right over my foot, flying forward and crashing into a matted wall.

"Guess we're sharing beds, then?" I commented snarkily, staring at her as she groaned. She'd get back up, probably. And probably try and hack my head off.

A glowing glyph appeared as Weiss lunged back at me again. Yup. Guess it's try and slice Nigel day. I always hated that day.

Dodging a slash, I leapt back, making distance. "Did no one ever tell you that you are using a rapier wrong?"

I dodged another slash as more glyphs appeared all around me. Another slash came. And then ice started pouring on me as Weiss gracefully moved around me, trying to chop me from the sides.

I just bobbed and weaved, moving around each slash and blast and gust and whatever else the dust was doing.

Leaning back from a thrust, I grabbed her wrist. "Good! You finally used a rapier right." I didn't let go. A glyph appeared, throwing me back.

At least I know what I was working with, now.

As Weiss moved back in again, I smacked her on the back of the head, causing her to fall face first into the ground.

"Weiss, I've already won." I told her, moving to stand over her. As the tenacious girl moved to get back up, I put a foot on her back. "Please stop before I actually have to hurt you."

She stopped.

Then, she sighed. "You…you win, I guess."

"Great, now get up. We are fixing…all of this." I said, moving my foot from her back and letting her get back up.

As she got up, I saw the look on her face. Several emotions were on it—embarrassment, anger, and a mix of a dozen other not fun feelings.

"What'd you do wrong?" I asked her.

"What?" She bit out, face aimed down. Seems she didn't like losing much. Or badly losing.

"What'd you do wrong?" I repeated, pushing my hand onto her forehead so she'd meet my eyes.

"You aren't my—" Weiss cut herself off, looking vulnerable. Or more vulnerable than I'd seen her ever appear. "Everything."

I exhaled. "That's…only kinda true. You fought, well, wrong. You used your blade wrong, you used your semblance wrong, you used your movements wrong. Yet you also did a wonderful job of moving as quickly as you did. You did a good job keeping me at an arm's length when I fought you. You messed up in places, but you didn't do horrible."

Weiss remained silent, moving her head to look back down, only for my hand to move it back up. "You beat me—easily beat me. Like I was nothing. Weak."

"Technically speaking, you have way more potential than me. You just aren't using that brain you told me you have." I sighed. Sighing was going to become a habit, wasn't it? "I said you used your rapier wrong, right? Tell me what I mean by that."

"But don't you already know it?"

"Duh. I want to know what you think I mean by that."

Weiss twiddled her hands around. "Well…I kept slashing, right? I shouldn't do that?"

I clapped once, nodding. "Correct! A rapier, as a weapon, is not best suited to slashing. It can certainly do it, sure. And you could definitely kill someone by slashing. Yet that isn't its forte."

"Thrusting is?" Weiss questioned hesitantly.

"Bingo!" I cheered her on. "A rapier is much like a spear in that it is a thrust weapon. And, well, there's a reason the spear was the best weapon till guns. And there is a reason the rapier is considered by many to be the best sword."

I took a breath of air. "When you cut someone, it's not likely to kill them instantly unless you manage to get really lucky and either bisect them or slice through a major artery. But," I continued, "when you thrust, you have a high chance of hitting many parts of the body that no one can easily live without. People survive dozens of cuts. Rarely can people handle more than one or two thrusts to the midsection."

"So I shouldn't be cutting things?" Weiss asked me, looking at her sword.

"Nope. While I have zero doubt you could bisect any grimm or person, it'd take way more energy than a simple thrust to any vital. And in a fight, you need to conserve stamina."

Weiss gave a small smile. "Got it."

"Good." I gave her a warm smile. "Now, your semblance. What'd you do wrong?"

Weiss frowned at that. "I don't know."

"Fair, I suppose. Well, Weiss, why didn't you root me to the ground when you charged me?"

Weiss froze, her eyes widening. "I—I don't know."

I continued onwards. "And why didn't you use your semblance to control the flow of the fight? You can control momentum, that's stronger than any other ability your glyphs can do."

"It is?" Weiss weakly said, like I was turning her world upside down.

"Yup. In any battle, it's not just yourself you want to control, but your enemy. Thinking of this, what could you have done differently?"

Weiss scrunched her eyes and stayed silent. I almost was going to repeat my question when she spoke up. "I could've used it to force you into my strikes? I shouldn't have moved towards you, but should have had you move towards me?"

"Are you asking me this or telling me this?" I question.

"...telling?"

I clap again. "Good! And what else could you have done?"

"Forced you into areas I could control better? Or moved you into the air so that you couldn't orient yourself well?" Weiss said, still scrunching her eyes.

"Asking or telling?" I repeat my question from before.

"Telling." Weiss says, more confident this time.

"Excellent. You're right. With your glyphs, you have complete control over both how you move and how your enemy moves." I give her another warm smile as the girl seems to visibly glow. "So, Sunshine, how should you have engaged me in that fight?"

"What about my movements? Weren't they also wrong?"

"Yup, but we can fix that at another time. We have four years together. For now, I want to fix your fundamental skills. That is, how you utilize your blade and how your utilize your semblance."

"That…I guess that makes sense." Weiss gives me an odd look. That seemed to be the only look she gave me. "Why are you being so helpful?"

"Why wouldn't I?" I shrugged helplessly. "I told you that we are friends. We may have only known each other for hours, but I genuinely think you're a good person. As we will be roommates for the next four years, I'd rather be your friend, not your enemy."

"...thanks." Weiss said oddly. Hesitantly, she continued. "I guess…I guess I'd like to be your friend, too?"

"Then, Sunshine, we'll be, like, totes besties!" I told her, doing a preppy voice.

Weiss gave me an unamused look. "You're still weird, though."

"Good enough! Anyhow, the fight. Different, how?" I spoke in broken english.

"When I charged you at the start, I should've held you down with a glyph before you could activate your semblance." Weiss told me. "And in the fight, I shouldn't have been moving around you trying to slash you. I should have maintained my distance and forced you into a position where I could land a thrusting strike."

I nodded, giving her as bright of a smile as I could. "You got it. With the knowledge you have of my skills, that seems like it should work!"

"With the knowledge I have?"

"I haven't told you what my semblance is, have I?"

Weiss shook her head. "I don't believe you have."

"Well, it's the coolest semblance around." I say in mock arrogance. "Basically, my semblance is what I call chi. It doesn't run off of my aura. Instead, it runs on my body's energy." I held out a hand, an invisible, heatless flame appearing around the organ. The energy was only visible due to having a black outline, making it flicker strangely against the air.

"And what does this…chi…do?" Weiss asked me, looking towards my hand.

"Actually, it's pretty terrible." I laughed when she looked at me aghast. "You know how aura can only enhance strength, speed, and durability? Well, I can put my chi in parts of the body I want to enhance, like my eyes, and then they work better."

"That's all it does?" She seemed somewhat disappointed.

"To my knowledge, yeah." I put a hand on her shoulder. "Anyways, the bet—" I began, ready to tell her I hadn't been serious.

"—you won fair and square." Weiss flushed, returning to her tomato cosplay. "As a Schnee, it'd be dishonorable for me to not respect our bet. We can…share a bed."

I was going to regret this, wasn't I?


The one and only author's note.

So I'm not usually a fan of OC's but I'm writing a big boy book and I need experience writing a type of character that RWBY doesn't have. And I want to write an RWBY story. Essentially, Nigel is going to be a very moral person. Shame his morals aren't what anyone would call good. Not evil but misguided. Like Pain from Naruto. Or, really, most Naruto villains.

Trust me, he won't be a Gary Stu. The character flaws alone could make the canon cast flush.

Oh! I also haven't finished the series yet, I'm at the end of v5...and I started two weeks ago. Stuff might be a bit AU, but considering canon RWBY, that might be good.