Hello everyone! Nexus26 here bringing you the latest chapter you've all been waiting for. I decided to make this one a little special so I went and made you all an extra long chapter this time. YAY! Like two chapters in one I'd say.

I gotta say though the ending of last year was quite horrible for me since I got sick Twice! That's right, Twice! Can you believe that crap, the second time forcing me to go to the hospital for help of all things. Then once I got better the holidays were here and shortly after I was slammed with 12hr shifts until recently. Thinking back on it...damn the heaven's must really hate me. To bad God almighty but I'm just a little too stubborn to fall just yet!


This was exactly as she imagined it would be like. Hard but worth it in the end. Myrtenaster's tip dipped low before with a flick of her wrist the blade sliced through the air in front of her as she practiced alone in her family's training room. The room was constructed by her grandfather Nicholas Schnee and was left for them to use upon his passing. Weiss held Myrtenaster at attention, the blade held upward so from the other side it looked like it divided her face evenly.

Sweat slid past her brow and down her cheek until it fell freely to the ground. The past few months had passed by so quickly that she could hardly believe the end of her training was only a week away. So busy with her team training that she hardly had time to think of her fight against her sister. She had done everything she could think of to get an edge over her sister and yet she couldn't help but feel like it wasn't enough. Then again how could a few months of training ever hope to bridge the vast amount of experience Winter had gained in the militaries service?

Weiss sighed greatly and lowered her rapier in frustration. She was doubting herself again. As much as she wished she could just put it behind her, the truth only made each day more dreadful then the last. She didn't want to fail. Didn't want to see the disappointment in her sister's eyes when bother she and Jaune were defeated. Putting her rapier away the heiress walked to the closest wall and leaned her back against it's cool surface. It was sturdy and before she knew it she'd slid down the wall until she was sat on her rump.

She didn't know what to do so she decided to pull out her scroll and message the only person she knew who would respond quickly enough to put her mind at ease. As soon as she sent the message and put her scroll into rest mode there was a ping letting her know they had responded. When she looked at the message all there was was two words written. "Call me". Weiss unlocked her scroll and tapped on the person's face, waiting for the them to pick up. The scroll rang once before it was answered and Jaune's face appeared on her screen. Judging from his surroundings through the camera the blonde was outside with sweat dripping off his face from a long workout.

"Didn't my sister tell you to take it easy because you've been overworking yourself lately"?

Jaune chuckled and wiped his forehead off with the back of his arm. "If I remember correctly she said that WE needed to take it easy because WE'VE been overworking ourselves". Weiss was about to object but realized that Jaune could probably tell from looking at her face that she had been training as well. "Hmm, guilty I suppose but it's not like I don't have a good reason for disobeying my sister". The blonde nodded in understanding, "because we have to fight your sister in a few days".

Weiss brought her knees up and wrapped her free arm around them before hiding the bottom half of her jaw behind said arm. "You and I have already seen how strong Winter is and what she's capable of. It makes me feel like everything we've been working up to means nothing next to her strength and skill". Jaune nodded to her words and let out a sigh as he looked away from the screen. "You know it's kinda hard to stay confident when you start telling me reasons why we can't win to begin with". Weiss buried her face deeper into her arm as doubt began to sprout from her own words.

Time ticked by as the two sat in silence, neither of them saying a word for the longest time. With each passing second Weiss could feel her resolve cracking under the weight of her growing negativety.

"This isn't going to get us anywhere" Jaune finally said with a frown on his face. Weiss watched as the blonde turned back to the screen, his blue eyes clear and determined. "If we give up before we even try then everything we do will be pointless. I didn't go through all this just to be a failure and know for sure you did either". It was true that she didn't want all this to be a waste of time but she didn't know what she could do to change the situation they were in. "Winter knows all of our abilities and weaknesses. Even if we fought her with all we have she'd still have the advantage over us".

A smile split the blondes face, "then all we need to do is learn something new. Something that Winter hasn't seen before".

Weiss's frown deepened. "That's easier said than done. We've got less then a weeks time before our battle with my sister, even less because of my spar with that Soleil girl. It's all but impossible for me to bring anything knew to the fight then what I already have. And I highly doubt there's anything you can do since my sister has been training you longer than she has me". Jaune's smile didn't falter but instead grew in size. "Actually I have been working on something for awhile now that even Winter hasn't seen before" he said as he looked to his side. "I'm sure it'll give me a slight edge".

Weiss didn't believe him for a second but asked anyway. The blonde showed her what he meant by angling his camera to his side and waited for the heiress to take in his truth. "And your sure she's never once seen that? Your absolutely sure"? Weiss asked eagerly. Jaune nodded back once his screen faced him again. "Because of a certain incident I accidentally caused, Winter never got to see this and so I've been practicing with it in secret. At the time I didn't have a clue we'd be tested like this but it makes me glad I never brought it up".

"This is good, great even, but I'm not sure it'll be enough to defeat Winter alone" Weiss admitted. Jaune nodded in full agreement, "that's why you'll need something too if we are going to win". The question was what could she do within the span of a week? There was no way she could use Jaune's route and anything else would take too much time to implement. Seeing Weiss at a loss for ideas, Jaune offered a suggestion of his own. "I can't do that" Weiss said miserably "if I did it wouldn't be a secret because only Winter could teach me".

"Is she the only one who could teach you"?

"Of course. There's no one el-" Weiss froze when the truth dawned on her. What she was about to say wasn't the truth at all but that was only if she was willing to seek out that person for help. "I take it you've figured something out" Jaune asked knowingly. Weiss ignored the blondes comment, "I've got to go" she said "but we'll talk again soon. I may have a plan but I'm going to need your help later to make it work". Jaune didn't even get to voice his own opinion before Weiss said her good byes and ended the call. She wouldn't have enough time to master the skill she was thinking about before the weeks end but she may be able to put it to use if Jaune was willing to offer his help.

The heiress left the training room and headed back to her room for a shower. After a change of clothes she set out in search of the person she knew who could help her with her last minute training. Honestly speaking if it wasn't for this fight against Winter, she'd never have felt desperate enough to turn to this person at all. Desperate times called for desperate measures and all that. Weiss's footsteps came to a stop at the door she knew for certain that person would be behind. She bit back her disgust and pushed onward into the garden.

The garden itself was beautiful, filled with a variety of flowers that colored their world in different shades then just white and grey. But as she followed the stone path to the resting area their family had built a butler stood stock still with his fifth bottle of wine, opened and ready to serve when asked. Weiss looked down at the woman she once called mother as the sloshed woman laid in her reclined chair with sunglasses on. Willow took a long sip from her glass and released a gasp as the red wine burn her throat ever so nicely. "What do want Weiss? I hope it wasn't your father who sent you for me".

The heiress closed her eyes and took a deep breath to calm herself. "Father would never waste his time in sending me here because he knows my words would never move you to do anything anyways". Weiss opened her eyes and glared down at her mother. "The reason I'm here is because I'm in need of your assistance in a family matter". Willow waved the request away with her free hand and took another sip from her glass. "Go ask your sister for help, as you can already see I'm otherwise preoccupied". With her glass empty Willow held it up for their butler to refill.

Just as the butler was about to grab the bottle from the tray in his hand a glyph appeared beneath the bottle and launched it through the air. He had no way of preventing it from happening because he was just an ordinary person so all he could do was watch helplessly as the bottle flipped countless times in the air before shattering as it hit the ground.

"How careless of one of our servants to not be able to handle pouring a drink" Weiss's eyes narrowed "once you finish cleaning up the broken glass take your time and carefully bring a new bottle". The servant got the hint and quickly made himself scarce. Willow on the other hand placed her glass on the small table next to her and looked Weiss's way with an annoyed expression. "Was it really necessary for you to do that? That was a waste of a perfectly good bottle of Mistral red forest wine".

Weiss bit back a growl that threatened to come forward and decided it would be best to just get to the point because anymore dancing around the issue would just make the conversation that more annoying. "I need you to teach me more about the Schnee family semblance and what else it's capable of. Even more than that I mainly want to focus on the summoning aspect of our semblance". Willow raised a brow in question. "Why haven't you asked Winter for such a thing? She's obviously far better at it then I am and she's honed her abilities to a level that even I haven't achieved. So why come to me"?

"Because later on this week I'll be forced to fight her and having the ability to summon might just give me the edge to pull off a win if I can keep it a secret".

This was news to Willow and quiet the surprise at that. Most of the time her family didn't even bother to remember that she was part of the family as well. But to hear her second eldest had no one else to turn to then her, all because of a match with her eldest...well she didn't know what to feel exactly. "You said you have to face Winter later this week right? Do you really think you'll have enough time to get the summoning down before time then? I should tell you that summoning takes not just time and effort but aura as well".

Willow sat up a little and removed the sunglasses from her face when Weiss nodded her head. Their eyes met for a moment before Willow looked away and sighed. She hadn't taught anyone since Winter and that was before everything went to hell with their family. Did she really want to waste her time on something like this again? She hadn't been a good mother to Weiss growing up but even she wasn't so heartless as to fully ignore her daughters plea for help. "I can give you the basics tomorrow" Willow said before sitting back in her chair "be in the training room early tomorrow morning. And if your late don't expect me to help you again".

Weiss nodded and turned to leave before she half turned back to her mother and said, "oh I'll also be bringing someone to help me with my training...just so you know". Willow waved her off and went back to enjoying the sunlight in their garden.

/

The next morning Jaune couldn't help but take in the sight of the Schnee mansion as he slowly exited the limo Weiss had sent. He was dressed in his hunter gear and was ready for some training until his car ride over gave him time to think things over. Weiss had never specified what type of training this was going to be nor what his part in it was as far as he knew. He strapped Crocea Mors to his side, took a deep breath and marched to the front door.

The front doors were a little ridiculous if you asked him, after all who needed doors bigger than most people? Jaune took hold of the door knocker and slammed it twice all but hoping he didn't slam it too hard to make him appear a rude guest. The right side of the door opened and an elderly gentleman walked out to greet him. "Welcome to the Schnee estate kind sir. If I may ask do you have an appointment with the head of the household? I'm afraid I was not made away of any guests that would be arriving at such an early hour".

"Actually I was sent for by Weiss. My name is Jaune Arc and I do believe I was told this should be enough to allow me passage". The young Arc handed over his scroll to the butler with the latest message opened for him to see. A few minutes passed as the butler read the short message the heiress had sent before he handed the scroll back over to it's owner. "My apologies for the inconveniences mister Arc, please follow me and I shall direct you to where my lady has asked me to guide you".

Jaune pocketed the scroll and followed the butler through the front entrance. They passed through several doors, down a long hallway and arrived at two large doors about the same size as the ones at the front entrance. All and all it took about a good ten minutes before they arrived and the butler announced his arrival to the people within. The elder butler took a step back and held the door open for him. "The mistress and lady are in the middle of training but they have allowed you entry at this time. Please enter".

Jaune nodded to the butler and passed through the door to see Weiss on one knee and breathing heavily. Sweat dripped down her forehead and splattered on the floor by her foot. Whatever training the young heiress was going through seemed to be quiet taxing on not just the physical side of things but also the mental as well. Weiss stood and placed the tip of Myrtenaster against the floor before turning towards him. "You've arrived just in time" she said with a tired smile "I need your semblance".

On the other side of the room sitting in a chair with a table on her right, Willow's eyes narrowed on the blonde as he entered the room. Weiss did say she had invited someone to help her with her training but in the elder Schnee's mind she expected an older man who had been paid for his service. Someone like a personal tutor of sorts, not some teenager barely as old as her second daughter. Willow stood from her chair and crossed the room to join the duo in the center of the room.

"Weiss do you not think it best to handle introductions before demanding someone's help". Weiss never got a chance to answer because her mother waved a hand as if to dismiss her before turning to the blonde. "Greetings young man, I am Willow Schnee, Weiss and Winters mother". She held out her hand lightly with her palm faced down.

Jaune had seen gesture's like that in old movies and in books but he wasn't exactly sure if such customs like that still took place. In the end he threw caution to the wind and went with what he had knowledge of...even if it was old fashioned. The young Arc held Willows hand gently to his lips and placed a chaste kiss on her knuckles. "It's an honor to meet you Willow, I am Jaune Arc and if you don't mind me saying, I can definitely see where Weiss and Winter get their beauty from".

Willow had heard praise like that all her life and even fell for a man who lavished her with them at one time. She was definitely used to the flattery and yet it didn't feel like mere words when the blonde said them. A small smile spread over her face as she withdrew her hand. "Thank you Mr. Arc, you are far too kind to this old woman". Willow placed a hand to her cheek and raised a brow, "I must say though I feel as if I heard your name somewhere before... your family wouldn't happen to have someone on the board of directors in our company would they"?

Jaune chuckled and scratched the back of his head. "I highly doubt that. Most of my family isn't exactly from the high society of Atlas. The only family I have that's even associated with this kingdom is my sister's wife who works in Argus".

Willow smiled knowingly and pointed out a simple truth he forgot. "Well your here in Atlas so wouldn't you be considered working with this kingdom". Jaune's eyes widened and he let out a nervous laugh, "I suppose you are right about that". Weiss, after realizing she'd been cut out of the conversation coughed loudly to Garner their attention. "Weiss if you have something caught in your throat you can be excused to get a drink of water" her mother said offhandedly. The heiress could feel the throbbing of the vein in her temple from having her own mother disregard her the way she was.

"I am fine mother but I would like to get back to my training if you two are done with your pleasantries".

Willow rolled her eyes and turned to her daughter with a perfectly raised brow. "There is nothing to get back too. You've already gone and exhausted your aura for today, of which is necessary for your training. We shall call it a day for now since later on today you have that spar with the Soleil girl". Weiss shook her head and sighed, "I already planned for my consumption of aura. It's why Jaune is here in the first place". The heiress turned to the blonde with a raised brow of her own, "I need you to restore my aura whenever I run out so I can keep going for longer. With your help it might be possible to master the summoning aspect of my semblance before our fight with Winter. Of course I'd understand if you don't want to".

Jaune crossed his arms and closed his eyes for a minute, losing himself to his thoughts as he weighed the pros and cons of such an arrangement. On the one hand it would mean he'd practically be Weiss's battery pack until she could master this so called summoning of her's. Then there was the up side of having another weapon in their arsenal for when they faced Winter. Honestly he wasn't sure what to do because it would cut into his own training time and he needed all the practice he could get. It was then that an idea struck him like a thunderbolt after remembering the previous mission.

"I think It would be a good idea if I helped you Weiss, since I'll be using my semblance it'll give me a chance to fine tune my build up". Weiss had to ask what he meant by that so the blonde explained as best he could. "You remember when Winter was hurt on the ship and it took me time to raise my aura high enough to fully restore her"? The heiress nodded and let him continue. "Well I think it's possible I could replicate that but at a faster speed. We've already seen the benefits of having such power on hand and it could even be used on multiple people if I can learn to limit how much I discharge to each person. Wouldn't want to shatter my aura in one go like last time".

As the two continued their conversation, Willow listened in intently. She was able to piece together from their words that the blonde had the ability to not only increase his own aura reserves but also do the same for anyone else's. Such an ability would definitely tickle the fancy of her husband, which is why it brought a smile to her face when she decided to keep that little bit of information to herself. "Really, these children need to learn that there are selfish adults lurking everywhere and hoping to capitalize on the young" she whispered to herself.

Watching her daughter speak so casually with someone her own age was also surprising in it's own right. Willow couldn't fault her though because the more she listened to the young man speak the more he reminded her of the man she once called father. His voice promised greatness and always made her feel safe and at ease. To see it happening to her daughter with some boy she'd just met today... well, she wouldn't be surprised if Weiss fell for such a man.

Big Nicholas was what the people of Atlas called her father after he founded the S.D.C and amassed his wealth, but before that he was known by another name. A name that had been lost to history as was the event that led to his name. Suicidal Nick. Willow looked over the blonde from the bottom of his boots to the top of his hair and could see some small similarities between them. It was almost instant that she knew this boy would become something else in the distant future. Someone who like her father would change Atlas in ways they couldn't imagine. "Jaune can you please hurry and heal Weiss? We still have much to do and our time is short".

The blonde nodded and got to work as Willow returned to her seat. Her eyes narrowed on the blondes back as she remembered her father endless optimism. On the spot the blonde saw the bright side of things to come much like her father. The parallel wasn't lost on her.

It was a short while after that Weiss was up and starting again, leaving Jaune to focus on his own training.

/

Their training dragged on longer then he'd expected but Weiss didn't want to waste a second of her time unless it was getting one step closer to creating a complete summon. That being said his own practice in manipulating his aura with his semblance also bore fruit in and unexpected way. Though he did get in trouble with Weiss at first for not warning her, he was going to test his new skill on her while she was in the middle of training. It all worked out in the end.

Jaune looked down at his hand and smiled as it all of a sudden ignited with white intense aura. The aura crackled and engulfed his hand like fire on a torch as it flickered and danced. The funny thing about this knew change was that it wasn't an offensive power as one would expect from just looking at it. In fact it was nothing more then his aura amp boosting his aura and then all that power being condensed into a single location in his hand. If he had to give it a name he'd call this skill "aura flame" because of the way it looked like fire burning in his palm.

The only downside was the fact that by focusing his aura into one place he essentially left the rest of his body defenseless. Being able to build up much faster was a good thing though but unfortunately it wouldn't mean much if he got himself killed. It looked like this skill would best be used only for rapid restoration of aura and in truly dire moments when it was needed. "So no combat applications then" he said with a sigh.

"Jaune are you gonna restore my aura or keep playing with...that thing in your hand" Weiss said as she looked down at the flame like aura coating his palm. His deep blue eyes found her pale one's and he smiled. "Don't worry Weiss I haven't forgotten" he said before holding out his burning hand to her. As kid's we naturally learn to fear fire because of all the warnings we are given by the grownups around us. So seeing Jaune aim something that resembled flames at her caused the heiress to lean away on instinct. Jaune smiled at the display, "don't worry Weiss this won't hurt you, it's just my semblance and aura focused into one spot on my body".

The heiress still watched the ominous looking fire warily for a minute before she slowly started to extend her hand to it. She was definitely going to make Jaune pay if she got burned by this the heiress thought as the flames engulfed her fingers and climbed her arm. It wasn't hot like she expected, in fact the moment she touched the fire it felt like getting hit with a cool breeze of air that made you feel like you were floating. Then as soon as it had started the feeling vanished and she was left there with her hand hovering over the blondes.

"Wait, what"?

Jaune's smile grew at the heiress's mounting confusion. "I told you already didn't I? Those flames are just my aura and semblance focused into one spot on my body".

Weiss pulled her hand back and stared at her palm. She could feel her aura had been restored but the fact it took such a short time then before left her speechless. "How are you so versatile"? Her words caused the blonde to look at her with a shocked if not curious expression. Weiss closed her hand and squeezed it tight, "I've never seen anyone use aura the way you do...it feels almost like you can do just about anything with yours. And after the small bit of training you did, now you can pull off something like this? How"?

The silence between them stretched on for a whole minute before Jaune put a hand to his mouth and started to laugh. The very thought that he had the ability to do anything he wanted with his aura was just too funny to understand. Weiss looked completely offended at the fact that he would laugh at her when she was being serious. Unfortunately that only made Jaune laugh even harder. "I-I'm sorry" he said in between giggles as he held a hand up to stop the young heiress from getting violent.

Once he finally composed himself he looked over to his friend with a smile on his face. "I'm glad you think so highly of my abilities Weiss but even I have my limits". Jaune lifted his right hand and set it a blaze with his aura flame. "This technique is nothing more then the combination of my aura and semblance but fully focused into a single location. It's basically just a way to improve the restoration aspect of my aura amp. When I use it I can restore a person's aura even faster than before but that's because I removed the protection aura naturally gives us".

Weiss's eyes widened at the truth, "so then right now your as defenseless as a regular civilian"? The blonde nodded and put the flame in his hand out. "The ability of my semblance doesn't change. It's either I boost a person's aura or I'm amplifying my own, but in the end all I'm doing is amplifying what's already there and making the most of it. Oh and healing a person is just a side benefit of boosting a person's aura in case you were wondering". Weiss's eyes slide down to Crocea Mors, "but your sword can fire aura slashes, can't it? That's an offensive power".

Jaune rubbed the back of his head and chuckled nervously, "let's just say that's an exception to the rule". When the heiress narrowed her eyes at the blonde, Jaune held his hands up in a mock surrender. "Sorry but it's a state secret" he said after being glared at for a few minutes.

She didn't like it much but she knew Winter would be angry with her if she tried to force the answers out of him. With a heavy sigh Weiss let it go. It wasn't like this secret had anything to do with her and their friendship so it really wasn't necessary for her to know. She looked away and looked outside of the aircraft they'd been riding in for the past few minutes. They'd been picked up at the mansion at Winters request and were well on their way to the sparring match between her and Ciel.

Weiss's eyes widened a moment later as she saw the structure the were flying to got larger and larger. "That's -"

"Woah, what the heck is that"?! Jaune asked as he leaned over and stared out the window. Weiss could feel his chest push up against her arm and felt the blood in her body rush up to her face. This was the closest any boy had ever gotten to her and she ended up reacting as best as she could in such a situation. "Wei-woah" the blonde knight fell back and crashed on the floor with one of his legs remaining on the seat he was just in. The heiress sat their with both hands stretched outward as she had pushed him away with all her strength.

"I-Idiot, haven't you ever heard of personal space before"?! She ran a hand through her hair and flicked it behind her before turning away with a huff. From his spot on the floor the blonde grumbled an apology but didn't bother moving.

/

The aircraft touched down on the landing pad and opened it's door for it's two passengers. Winter stood with both of her hands behind her back and smiled when Weiss and Jaune both joined her. She quickly looked between the two and instantly knew something had happened but chose to ignore it for the time being. "Welcome to Amity colosseum" she said and easily saw the look of shock on Jaune's face. "This place is technically off limits to everyone but the scientist working on it repair, but luckily I reserved it's use for you and Ciel's sparring match with the help of the General".

Weiss instantly raised her hand and waited for her sister to call on her. "Isn't this a bit much though? Wouldn't it be good enough just to have our spar in the academies training room"?

"It's true we could reconstruct a battlefield for you there but the General felt it necessary to test the colosseum's systems before the coming year". Left unsaid was the fact that Amity coliseum was going to be used when they were in their first years at the academies of their choice. Weiss smiled realizing that this was going to be the opportunity to show the world just who she was. Not just Weiss Schnee of the Schnee dust company but Weiss Schnee, future huntress of Beacon academy. It was then that she realized something of great importance that she had forgotten. She turned to Jaune and remembered that she never told him that she was leaving or why this spar was happening in the first place.

Winter escorted them to the arena where General Ironwood was waiting with a dark haired girl, Jaune could only assume was Ciel. "I'm glad you all are here, some of the scientist are eager to get the arena tested and prepared for use as quickly as possible after it's last use" the General said with a smile. The group met in the center of the arena where Winter laid out how things were going to go down for the spar. A battle with only two different biomes were going to be used, generated at random before the count down begins.

Ciel saluted her superior officer's and turned to face her opponent, offering not a word as she prepared herself. Ironwood wished them luck and escorted the other two who wouldn't be participating outside the arena.

Weiss took a few seconds to check her weapon before looking over to Ciel. "Have you been informed of the reason this spar is taking place"? Ciel met the heiress's eyes and nodded, "I have been told, but I still don't agree with the reasoning. I have trained with the best and even received praise from the upper brass like General himself, so I don't understand why I need to prove myself to someone like you of all people". Weiss hid her feelings behind a mask of calm but wanted nothing more than to tell this girl off for being rude.

"The team you'll be joining in place of me are filled with good people who I care about. This spar is meant to do more than show how adequate you are in a fight. It's meant to prove how well your strength can be used to the benefit of my team".

Ciel shook her head in disappointment. "Every soldier is prepared for the inevitable. Just because you care about them doesn't mean there won't come a time when you won't lose a comrade in a fight against the Grimm. Sacrifice is the mark and badge of a true soldier. Whether it be one's life, ones honor or one's pride. I will do as I have been trained to do and if one of my teammates should fall it will not be because I lacked the skill to protect them. It will be because they failed to protect themselves. And if their sacrifice can complete the mission at hand then I will gladly allow it".

Such cold logic rubbed Weiss the wrong way but-, "your right I suppose, in a way. If you believe that is what a soldier is then I can't fault you for that mind set, but your whole logic has one very big flaw". Ciel's eyes narrowed slightly, "oh? And what would that be"? Weiss's calm mask broke as she smirked. The count down began as the arena's biomes were chosen, one for ice and the other for anti-gravity. "We aren't soldiers we're hunters" the heiress said as she pointed Myrtenaster at her enemy.

/

Jaune didn't know what they were talking about because he was so far away but judging from the look on Weiss's face he'd say she won whatever argument they were having.

Winter looked to her young student and sighed knowing her sister hadn't worked up the courage to tell him yet. "Jaune, I don't know if my sister ever explained this to you but-".

"It's fine Winter" he said cutting into the specialist train of thought "it really isn't that hard to figure out if you take into account everything that's been happening". He smiled a little sadly as he watched Weiss and Ciel relocate to the gravity biome. It didn't take a genius to figure out what was happening when this sort of thing was all but shoved into your face. Winter watched her young student for a moment before turning to the fight happening before them. She guessed that he wasn't the leader of his team for nothing.

/

Weiss created a glyph beneath her feet and launched herself in the air, pulled off a backflip and landed on a platform one level above where she used to be. Not wasting anytime she created another glyph in front of her that stopped Ciel's fist from caving her face in. Looking passed the dark haired girl, Weiss saw what she needed and created a new glyph under Ciel's floating form that shot her upward to be caught in the gravity field of another platform. Being unable to control the way she was flung about, Ciel smashed into the upside down platform.

She shook her head and looked up to see several ice shards flying towards her. Ciel pushed off the floor and dived forward, dodging the attack before rolling to her feet and rushing over to another platform that had a white outline around it. Jumping from platform to platform wasn't exactly easy when the Schnee could shoot at her from a distance and in different directions. Since the heiress wanted to play like that all she needed to do was get close enough to bring the fight into her specialty. Ciel's eyes landed on another platform that had a purple outline indicating that the gravity was reversed.

She dove over the platform and all but flew over it while using her martial arts skills to knock away and shatter the ice shards aimed at her. Weiss saw just how close the dark haired girl was and turned tail, running up a wall that had a white outline on it. Ciel wasn't about to let her get away so she front flipped once as she came to the end of her platform and landed on her feet when the gravity corrected itself. She then chased the heiress up the wall and assumed that the Schnee was going to fire more ice shards behind her to keep her away. When Weiss stopped running and turned to face her though, Ciel felt nothing but confusion.

Overconfidence was the only thing she could think of for these turn of events. In the end it wouldn't matter because she'd just have to teach the Schnee why underestimating a soldier was a terrible idea. Ciel raced forward and engaged Weiss in close combat, throwing combination of punches and kicks that she had all but learned from Ironwood after long hours of training. Her fist found it's way under Weiss's guard and she nailed the heiress in the gut cause the girl to double over before she followed up with a hook that sent the heiress crashing to the floor.

Weiss rolled on her back and got to her feet holding her rapier in front of her to block the punch Ciel aimed at her face. It was at that moment where the white outline of their platform changed to purple and the gravity reversed itself. Ciel couldn't hide her surprise nor her frustration after finally getting in range but she squashed those feelings as best she could. She needed to be rational and not lose herself to her emotions otherwise she'd make more mistakes than her opponent.

The both of them floated off the platform after the sudden change in gravity. As Ciel floated in the air she start to think about what was going to happen next. The Schnee heiress had the advantage because of her long range attacks that could be fired from their positions. It would hurt but if she could withstand whatever she was blasted with then the force would push her back down to the platform below. It was there where the table would turn in her favor because she'd be free to move around under the normal gravity while the heiress would be stuck floating helpless for her.

Taking a quick glance passed the young Schnee, she could see the platform above them still had a purple outline. If the force of the Schnee's attack propelled her up there she'd still be in the same position she was in now. As soon as Weiss began to move, Ciel crossed her arms and raised her legs while focusing her aura into them for the best protection she could muster. To Ciel's surprise Weiss hadn't begun her attack, she instead created a glyph under her feet that allowed her to stand on the platforms surface without being affected by the anti-gravity field.

That one simple act blew a whole in Ciel's thoughts because everything she had thought up relied and the heiress being unable to maneuver thanks to the anti-gravity field.

Weiss looked calm as she raised Myrtenaster before her. Her left hand came up and she ran two of her fingers over the back of her rapier before she spun on one foot, came to a stop and pointed the tip of her blade at her enemy. The revolver on her blade switched to hard light and she shot a single stream of light that split into four different beams that bound themselves to Ciel's wrists and ankles before forcing them apart. In one move Weiss had broken Ciel's defense and left her open for a direct attack, one in which she was going to exploit to the fullest.

Pulling Myrtenaster back she thrusted her left hand forward and pointed two fingers out creating several glyphs around the dark haired girl. With everything in place the revolver spun once more and the heiress stabbed her blade into the glyph beneath her, enhancing it's power with lightning dust. The combination of the two resulted in a time dilation glyph to appear. Everything was in order as Weiss pulled her blade free and took aim before vanishing with such speed that one could have easily lost sight of her if they weren't paying close enough attention.

From Ciel's point of view it wasn't so much a movement but a flash. One minute the heiress was there before her and the next there was a flash of light before intense pain ripped through her gut. If it wasn't for her aura she would have surly died from the blow. Unfortunately it was nowhere near over as more pain exploded from her back as another attack landed successfully. With no gravity to help her, Ciel was stuck as Weiss landed a barrage of attacks too fast to defend against even when the hard light around her wrists and ankles vanished.

Ciel's body jerk back and forward, left to right and any other way you could think of. She couldn't even register what parts of her body were hurting and just decided that it was all of her. The speed in which Weiss whipped around in grew too much to handle so she darted towards the floor and shot herself up into the dark haired girl, knocking her away from the platforms gravity field. Another glyph appeared and Weiss propelled herself to it faster then Ciel body could keep up. As soon as the dark haired girl came within Weiss's line of sight the heiress shot forward one last time and struck Ciel from the side sending her flying away from the gravity biome.

/

Ironwood eyes widened at the display of skill in which Weiss used to tear his student apart. This was by no means a spar or even a match at that, this was a clear one sided fight that he could tell Ciel had no chance of winning. He looked up to the aura meter that the arena had built in for the tournament and saw Ciel's aura was already past the halfway point and getting dangerously close to red.

"THAT'S IT WEISS NOW FINISH HER OFF"!

The General and Winter both looked to the one yelling and saw Jaune gripping the railing tightly as he cheered his teammate on. At least he was before feeling their eyes on him. Jaune froze and turned to look at his superiors with an embarrassed smile. "Hehe, uh sorry" he said as he timidly scratched his cheek. A smile split Ironwood's face as he turned back to the fight going on in the ring. It was only natural for a teammate to cheer on one of their own, so Ciel was gonna have to work hard to fill in for the heiress once she's gone if she wanted the same treatment..

/

Ciel couldn't tell up from down as she flipped and spun through the air uncontrollably. The only thing she knew for sure was that she was free from the Schnee's barrage and if she didn't prepare herself, she was going to hit the ground hard. She curled up into a ball just before she hit the hard ground and started rolling from her momentum. When she sprawled out it was to try and stop herself from sliding any further so she could focused on her opponent. The only problem was that even when she tried to use her hands and feet there was no stopping herself from sliding over the icy floor of the ice biome.

Ciel finally came to a stop when she crashed into a glacier in her path but by then Weiss had caught up to her and was practically skating across the icy floor with the help of her semblance.

"You should surrender" the heiress said calmly as she circled around the dark haired girl. "Your aura is already low and it doesn't look like you have any weapons on hand that can help you continue this fight". While true Weiss found it odd that a girl like Ciel who's supposed to be proficient in every type of weapon the military has didn't bother to even bring a handgun to the fight. Ciel got to her feet slowly as Weiss came to a stop with Myrtenaster pointed at her. She took one look up at the aura meter, noticed her aura was well below the orange, then proceeded to raise both her of hands.

"I surrender" the dark haired girl announced with ease.

There didn't seem to be any lie within her words so Weiss let out a relieved sigh as she put Myrtenaster away. The match came to an end there and Ironwood saw that the arena was returned to it's original state with both of the biomes sinking below after they returned to the center.

"An impressive performance from the both of you. It's truly a shame that we couldn't witness the full combat capabilities of you both since Ciel hasn't finished assembling her own mechashift weapon yet". The General turned to the dark haired girl and smiled, "although at such a disadvantage you've definitely shown your not one to shy away from a difficult fight. That being said next time you might want to take a secondary weapon so your not only relying on close combat against a ranged fighter. Wanting to fight fairly is certainly admirable, but as you've seen Weiss had far more then just her rapier for you to contend with".

Weiss eyed the dark haired girl closely, looking at her hands and noticing a pair of gauntlets that were nothing more than basic by design. Picking apart what the General had just said it seemed Ciel wanted to fight with only one weapon like she did to keep things fair. She agreed it was admirable of her opponent to do so, it was also foolish to go into a fight like this thinking her fists were ever going to be enough. As Weiss watched the dark haired girl, she couldn't convince herself that Ciel would be so foolish as to do something like that without knowing the consequences.

Weiss's thoughts were interrupted when Jaune bumped her shoulder with his elbow before giving her a large grin. "And here you called me versatile" he said as he lifted his hand and counted on his fingers all the different ways he'd seen Weiss manipulate her semblance. "Gravity control, the ability to not only stop an opponent completely but also send them and yourself flying like that. Being able to fire elemental attacks from your own glyphs at different angles. Traping an opponent with hard light dust, increasing your own speed" he leaned in and whispered "and summoning. I'd say your semblance is the most versatile there is and that's with just what I've seen so far".

Weiss blushed lightly at his word's. He wasn't wrong by any means but having it all relayed back to her like that definitely put things in perspective. The conversation between them all went on a little longer until they all decided it was best to let the scientist handle the rest. As they made their way out of the colosseum Weiss decided exchanging a few words with the dark haired girl wouldn't be such a bad idea.

"You fought very well with what you had so I hope you don't feel ashamed of your performance".

Ciel looked to the heiress with a cold gaze devoid of any emotion. "Only a fool reveals all they have to a future enemy" she said as they drew closer to the landing pads. Weiss reached out and tugged on the dark haired girl's shoulder forcing her to spin and face her. "What's that supposed to mean"? Ciel regarded the heiress for a moment before shaking her head in disappointment. "Specialist Schnee has already told us that Amity colosseum was going to be used this year, the same year we will all be first years, correct? No doubt you plan to join the tournament this year, but you'll be representing a different kingdom since you'll be going to Beacon academy".

Ciel reached up and adjusted her beret before meeting the heiress's eyes once more. "We will fight again when my team enters the tournament, you can be sure of that. And next time you'll see first hand what I'm truly capable of. And because you were so willing to demonstrate your abilities here I'll be sure to put that to good use in the future. For the glory of Atlas".

"It won't be YOUR team it'll be Jaune's" Weiss countered.

Ciel crossed her arms behind her back and looked down her nose at the heiress. "It matters not because in the end it is all for Atlas". The dark haired girl about faced and walked off ending the conversation there leaving Weiss clenching her fist in anger. She just couldn't believe that holier than thou attitude. A person like that didn't deserve to be associated with her team let alone her friends. The heiress look down at her feet and growled. In the end there was nothing she could do since this is what Ironwood and Winter decided what was best.

She just hoped that was really true.


Ciel, Ciel, Ciel. Your gonna need help to get that stick out of your ass I'll tell ya lol.

I bet you all are surprised I brought Weiss and Winters mother into the story. She's gonna be around again later on but I'm hoping to bring in some more characters to help build this Atlas story before we get to the Vale Arc. Gotta have this new team come together nicely before that. If I may I would like to ask what do you think I should name the team of Jaune, Ilia, Ciel and Penny. Best name I might run with.