Chapter 18 – Scared Straight
In which Weiss Schnee's team is fully reunited once more.
When there was a knock on their door on Tuesday morning, Weiss thought nothing of it. In hindsight, it should've been obvious who was returning that morning, and they weren't expecting any other company. Of course, Yang had been gone for so long that her existence had nearly been pushed out of mind by Weiss.
It was with that ignorance that she opened the door to answer the knock, perhaps expecting a mid-morning visit from someone on Team Juniper to discuss their lesson just a half-hour ago, or maybe an administrator from Beacon to discuss the exemption request she'd put in for use of the upper year training rooms. It might have even been Doctor Oobleck, having come to personally thank Weiss for asking such engaging questions during his lessons.
Instead, the blonde hair that had solidified itself into one of her worst fears just one week prior met her, though they were not joined by red eyes.
"H-Hey," Yang said.
Since Weiss had not been expecting her wayward teammate (rather, she had been expecting it, but she hadn't truly internalized the knowledge that Yang would actually be returning), she spent the first three seconds trying to discern if this was a waking nightmare of some sort, perhaps a fear-induced hallucination of her enemy sent by her brain to torment her for the crime of staying up late to study last night.
Results were inconclusive as to whether or not this Yang was real or just another bad dream; Weiss needed more data. The terror she should've experienced had been eclipsed by the shock, and before it could set in, Weiss reached a hand forward to tap against Yang's shoulder and confirm she was real. Her arm made it three-quarters of the way through the distance between them before deep-set instincts that she'd developed observing her foster mother Kali kicked in, and she paused to ask consent.
It was in that moment, when her mind formally requested that her voice do its bidding, that reason returned to Weiss once more, and she realized that this was not, in fact, a dream.
Yang was back.
Yang was here.
Yang was in front of Weiss.
Weiss' hand retracted back as though it had been in a viper's maw, and she reached to her hip for Myrtenaster to defend herself. Yang was back, and Weiss was in danger. Her wings had only just healed, but if the bone were to be broken further, there was no telling what sort of long-term damage could transpire.
She was in her school uniform, and her sword was securely stowed in her weapons locker; with the comfort of Blake and Ruby and mostly Blake, she'd gotten through her period of fear and no longer needed to carry it on her person to secure a feeling of protection. It was just Weiss' luck that the very moment she'd gotten over her issues, they showed up once more right in front of her.
Yang was back.
Weiss fell back a step, hoping to get into a defensive posture and summon a Glyph before the fist that Yang was raising struck her in the face (a direct punch was no doubt the prelude to an attack on her wings), but this was real, and Yang was back, and Weiss was too shell-shocked to properly attain footing. Her ankle buckled when her heel contacted the ground earlier than she'd been intending, and she fell.
Her wings seemed to develop a mind of their own and spread out, flapping to give her just enough propulsion to direct her fall away from Yang. Yang was back, and while there was certainly a risk associated with revealing her wings, the decision to move away from Yang was never the wrong one.
For the life of her, Weiss couldn't remember how many windows there were behind her. There almost certainly was one, for the room was too well-lit, but she'd only been living here for about a single week, and the floor plan wasn't something she'd internalized yet. It was a rookie mistake for a huntress of her caliber, to not know how many exits were in the room in which she resided, but there had always been schoolwork or Ruby or some other distraction that seemed more pressing at the time, and Weiss' brain blanked out and simply couldn't remember where the window was. Her brain was actually fully blank, but she somehow determined that the window would logically be opposite the door and thus behind her, so she frantically crawled backwards, without taking her eyes off of Yang's hands as they reached out to rip off her feathers and shove them down Weiss' throat.
"Weiss!" shouted a voice that sounded like friendship, and before Weiss knew it, there were hands grabbing her and lifting her to her feet. They weren't Yang's hands, since Yang was back and right in front of her, so they couldn't be too bad.
Arms in black and white sleeves wrapped around her, and the sound of an apology for touching her without asking was in her ears, and Weiss suddenly felt a little bit safer. She felt some of her sense return to her, and she could recall that there was one window in the center of the room between the bunk beds.
And then, as Blake hugged Weiss, Ruby leapt forward and put herself between Weiss and Yang, and Weiss felt a whole lot safer.
Yang was back.
This was real.
Yang was back.
The whole exchange had probably only taken a grand total of fifteen seconds – Weiss processing it for three, then reaching out for two, then falling down and scrambling away for four, and the rest being her team rushing to her aid.
"Yang, stop!"
"I wasn't! I didn't do anything! She fell down, and I was offering her a hand up!"
"Yang, just stay back," Ruby said. She turned around, and while Weiss appreciated the attention she was being shown, she still found herself wishing that Ruby focused more on the potential threat at hand. "Are you alright?"
It took embarrassingly long for Weiss to realize that the question was one that required an answer. Intent on not leaving Ruby hanging, Weiss tried to steady her own breathing to say yes. When she found that she couldn't, she began to wonder if yes was even the right answer.
In the end, when Weiss c̶o̶u̶l̶d̶n̶'̶t̶ didn't respond, Ruby took that as a no.
"Yang, let's talk outside. Blake, you got her?"
Weiss felt the Faunus' arms wrapping around her even tighter. "I got her."
Yang was back, but now Yang was gone, and so was Ruby, so that left Weiss alone with her girlfriend.
"It's okay, Weiss, it's okay. She startled you, but I've got you now."
Weiss let out another breath.
"I know she's back, but you have to remember, if she tries anything at all, Ruby and I will stop her, and you'll never have to deal with her again."
Weiss breathed again. Time to accept that Yang was back helped, as did Blake's reassurances. The more Weiss breathed, the more she could calm down.
"I've got you, chicken wings. Um…you don't mind that I hold you?"
Weiss shook her head. Then, realizing that that might be interpreted as a negative response, she nodded.
Blake seemed unable to interpret the response and let her go, but when Weiss pulled closer to her again, she apparently accepted that.
"I just…I thought it was a dream at first," Weiss said or thought. She couldn't tell if the words were coming out of her mouth or staying within her head. "You know I had the nightmares, and then she was here without warning, and I couldn't tell if –"
Yang was back.
Yang was back, but Weiss was okay. A bit tripped up, but she was okay. Her wings and her feathers were okay.
"She should've called and let us know," Blake said, a cattish hiss slipping into her voice.
Yang was back, but Weiss was okay.
Weiss was okay.
"I-I'm okay," Weiss said at long last. "I'm alright."
Blake pecked her on the forehead, and Weiss felt a lot better.
"Thanks, kitty cat," she said. "F-For helping me up, and for protecting me."
"I think we should wait for Ruby to vet Yang first," Blake said. "Before, you know, we go out and see her again."
Weiss nodded in agreement. As much as she might've started off on the wrong foot with Ruby, she'd come to appreciate the little tyke, and she was more than willing to trust her judgment in this matter. If Ruby felt that Yang was fit to come and see Weiss again, she would go out there and…and…and face her fears. And if not…
I'm okay, and it's going to be okay.
More than that – I'm the leader of Team RWBY, and my team will be okay, even if have to force it to be.
Weiss stood up and extricated herself from Blake to stand on her own two feet. Fear may have gotten the better of her, but Weiss knew she had it within herself to conquer her fears – and that was because she had her teammates for support. Not to depend on, but to count on for having her back when Weiss faltered.
She was a huntress and a leader, but that didn't mean she had to stand alone. She kept Blake's hand in her own as she rose up and faced the door.
Ruby and Yang spoke outside for almost half an hour later. Weiss' proud moment of courage had turned into a bored period of waiting, and that had turned into Blake and Weiss separating and working on some homework just to avoid letting the time go to waste. They were still sitting alongside one another at their desks when Ruby escorted her elder sister into the room.
"Sorry for startling you," was the first thing Yang said to Weiss.
She had to bite her tongue to keep her face from displaying any emotion. Weiss wasn't sure if she was going to exhibit fear, incivility, rage, or acceptance, but whatever it was, she knew that it would be a mistake to let everything out before she could properly work out her own emotions and decide how she truly felt.
"Yang," she said, remaining seated in her chair. Weiss kind of liked the look of regency it gave her, like a queen in her throne. "It's been a while. How was your return home?"
"Dad and Qrow got me all fixed up," the blonde said, altogether ignoring Weiss' small talk and diving straight into the primary issue. "I learned my lesson."
"I'm glad to hear it," Weiss offered neutrally. If Yang was truly repentant, she would probably have a lot more to say – apologies and such.
But she didn't. Yang just stood there in the doorway, wrists brushing against her thighs as her arms lulled back and forth. No one spoke – Blake and Ruby were as silent as slabs of cement.
Weiss waited for Yang to articulate her presumable journey of self-discovery or offer up an apology for her actions or say anything at all, but there was nothing.
"Is there anything you wish to say to me?" Weiss asked at long last. She was the leader of Team RWBY, after all, so perhaps the responsibility for prompting her teammate fell to her.
"Yeah, I'm sorry," Yang said. She bit her lips. "I was being a bit of a jerk, I guess, and you didn't deserve what I did to you."
It wasn't the grand gesture of apology that Weiss had been expecting, nor was it the defiant statement that she'd done nothing wrong that Weiss had been fearing. In the end, it was somewhat of a middle ground – a muted, slightly uncomfortable expression of regret. Yang was speaking as though she'd used Weiss' favorite binder without asking, not violated her bodily privacy and viciously assaulted her. Blake was invisibly frowning, and Ruby was clutching her own forearms like her stomach was in danger of falling out.
But she really has apologized, albeit with prompting. While I don't like that wording about deserving and how it implies her actions might've been justified under other circumstances, I suppose there's really nothing else for me to do here, is there?
"I accept your apology," Weiss said, hoping she didn't sound disappointed. "Now then, have you seen Miss Goodwitch? You must be behind on your lessons, and I can't say I recall the deputy headmistress ever having formally granted you an exemption from completing your schoolwork. I believe Ruby's been collecting your assignments on your behalf."
And just like that, the awkward apology broke into an awkward conversation about logistics and catch-up work. Even the pleasant topic wasn't enough to change Weiss' mood.
All of the pain she'd gone through, all of the trauma she'd endured, and it culminated in this. An apology that barely sounded sincere, and then they moved on to the next thing. There was no grand sorrowful kowtow from Yang over the horrible things she'd done to Weiss, nor was there any rage on Weiss' part over the mistreatment she'd endured. Both girls just realized they needed to work together out of necessity, said their pieces (neither genuine), and continued along.
This can't be what a team is meant to be, but it's not like there's a chance I could scrape true contrition out of Yang if her own family only just barely managed to get this. I can't tell if she's just expertly hiding her true feelings or if she's actually sorry, but whatever it is, she and I seem to have different ideas about the scale of her transgression.
Honestly, Weiss would've preferred an unrepentant Yang to this. Even a violent explosion of hate-fueled vitriol would have been a real emotion compared to this non-issue, and at least then Weiss would've had a chance to air her grievances. As it was, she was stuck in a chokehold of societal convention – Yang had apologized, and so Weiss raging and shouting at her would theoretically be wrong.
Theoretically, because Yang's apology was horseshit. But no one needs me picking at a bandaged wound. At least this way, we can remain a team.
Weiss didn't like to admit it, but she probably would've let Yang go a while ago if it hadn't been for Ruby. It wasn't out of debt to the younger sister but out of fear – Weiss worried that Ruby would side with her sister over her leader, even though she'd vocally expressed otherwise. Ruby might know Yang did wrong, but if faced with the prospect of truly turning her back on someone she'd spent her entire life around, she herself probably couldn't say what she'd actually do.
It would be like discovering Blake were a serial arsonist. Weiss might say now that she would side with the right side and turn away from her companion, but when the actual choice needed to be made and a teary-eyed cat Faunus stood before her, there was no telling how her willpower would fail.
At least Yang was unlikely to relapse. Weiss and Ruby were no longer at odds every other day, so there should theoretically be no reason for Yang to lose her mind again.
…Weiss hoped.
No one even acknowledged it, when they went to their next class. There were a lot of askance looks when people thought Weiss' head was turned the other way, and many a time she caught the last motion of the more cautious students averting their eyes, but none of these brave defenders of the kingdom had the courage to even acknowledge the return of their missing classmate or the presumable friction that it was cause with her leader.
Weiss imagined their curiosity must've been burning like a funeral pyre as they tried to figure out just how much drama remained. Had Yang apologized? Had Weiss chosen to forgive her, or did their beef remain?
It would be so much easier if I myself knew the answers to those questions.
The teachers didn't acknowledge her return either, but it was from a place of professionalism on their part. Yang came to them individually after class to discuss any make-up work she would need to do, and Weiss waited for her in the doorway.
It was to be a fine line, the one Weiss would have to walk. The whole point of everything was to make peace, and if Weiss lorded her power over Yang, they would never be able to do so. It didn't even require antagonism; if Weiss simply chose to favor Blake or Ruby, she could theoretically make Yang's life miserable, and then Yang would grow to resent her for it, and a new conflict would spark.
A key problem was that Yang apparently seemed to think Weiss hadn't been a victim in their previous interaction last week. Thus, if they clashed again, it wouldn't be muted embarrassment from the blonde but the same fiery righteous rage as before.
I need to balance being a fair leader to her with not creating any new conflicts, and I highly doubt I'm going to be getting any help from her on either part.
Perhaps Weiss could quietly inquire via Ruby just what had happened at Patch and how much progress Yang's family had made with her…except if Yang ever found out, that would lead to a volcanic meltdown and the end of their team. Had it been Blake, they could have been discrete, but Weiss knew Yang's younger sister didn't know how to properly lie if her life depended on it.
Flying blind it is, then.
It was when they got to Professor Goodwitch's class that Yang truly wilted. Whether or not she felt she was wrong, she certainly feared the elder huntress – and that was what Goodwitch became: a huntress. Gone was the teacher, and in its place, the uncompromising visage of a warrior who was watching not only Yang but everyone for even the most minor infraction.
"Mr. Arc, come to the front of the class. You will be fighting Ms. Belladonna."
Neither Jaune nor Blake protested, whether or not either had intended to. Their fight was perfectly by the book, and although Blake demolished Jaune, she used kiddie gloves when doing so. No excess force, no swift movements, not even any bullets, despite Gambol being fully loaded.
At one point, Jaune's hand slightly tapped over the edge of the ring when he picked himself up from being knocked back by a kick from Blake, and Blake had immediately dropped her weapon and looked to Goodwitch.
Goodwitch raised an eyebrow.
"I…don't wish to fight if the match is over," Blake had explained. "Ma'am."
"I will call the match when it ends. Continue."
It ended in a ring-out, likely because Blake controlled the flow of the duel due to Jaune's inexperience, and she feared pushing Jaune into the red.
"Victory to Ms. Belladonna," Goodwitch said, though the sound of her voice was overshadowed by both opponents dropping their swords in a loud clattering noise.
The fact that Goodwitch said nothing to reassure either student or to dismiss concerns that she was not going to expel the next student to move out of turn did nothing to comfort anyone. There seemed to be a very real possibility that Yang's return had actually put her on edge just as much as everyone else, given how she'd stopped one step short of expelling Yang for extreme violence when last they'd met.
Ren fought against one of Winchester's team next, and it was the same result. They fought nervously, and the Cardinal actually managed to secure a victory over the Juniper by pressing against his overly cautious style at a critical juncture in their fight and faintly bump him juuuuust outside of the ring. Still, in spite of Lark or Bronzewing or whichever one's victory it was (Weiss could barely tell them apart), his hands were shaking by the end of it.
Honestly, winning is becoming undesirable, given how the victor fears the method by which they secure a victory will be mistaken for barbarism. I suspect the only reason we haven't seen several declarations of yielding is because no one wants to be the first and risk Goodwitch's ire if she finds that inappropriate.
Weiss sighed and raised her hands as the two utterly unharmed boys returned to their seats. This was partly her fault, and she had an idea of how to fix it…assuming Goodwitch played ball.
"I volunteer to fight next, Professor."
"Very well." Weiss couldn't help but notice the way her eyes darted to Yang. "But I will decide your opponent this time."
"Actually, ma'am, I was hoping to –"
"Ms. Schnee!" Goodwitch exclaimed exasperatedly. "I will not have you fight Ms. Xiao-Long, under any circumstances. This in nonnegotiable, regardless of how you or she feels."
Weiss shook her head. "I understand, ma'am. It was actually Ruby I was hoping to fight."
That gave Goodwitch pause, and Weiss saw Yang (who was sitting two seats away from Weiss) tense up. The room fell silent, but it wasn't fearful this time. No, people seemed to slowly be piecing together Weiss' strategy – thought it would almost certainly be unsuccessful, as they lacked critical context.
"Miss Schnee. Miss Rose. Please rise, but do not draw your weapons."
The two members of Team RWBY approached the professor, who met them in the center of the ring where they spoke in low enough tones to afford them some privacy from the class's watchful eyes. Ruby seemed to figure out what was going on here, but she held her tongue and let Weiss do the talking.
"Please explain, Ms. Schnee," said the professor. "I will head this proposal out, but it will ultimately be my decision."
"The only reason Yang exploded last time was because I'd spoken…uncharitably with Ruby. I figure that if she can restrain herself when we fight, and I go as far as potentially harming her, we can dispel this tension by determining once and for all if she's better. Furthermore, Ruby and I know one another and can fight properly and set an example for the class without pussyfooting around."
Goodwitch didn't look like she was buying it. "It sounds like you're advocating baiting her."
Well, it sounded like that because Weiss was. However, it had been out of over-defensiveness in Ruby's direction that brought out the rancor in Yang, and if she truly had 'learned her lesson,' as she so concisely put it, then she would have no trouble watching Ruby and Weiss conduct a friendly spar.
And if not…
"I'd ask you have your semblance at the ready, ma'am."
Weiss had no intention of rushing headfirst into peril again. If Yang as much as flinched, she would have her removed from Beacon.
She could easily bide her time and wait for a less obvious chance to claim revenge, but this is a crime of passion sort of thing. If she can't restrain herself from seeing her sister in combat with her enemy, I somehow doubt she'll not act.
But Weiss wasn't going to rely on her assumptions this time. She'd assumed Yang wouldn't try something with Goodwitch watching, and she'd ended up with a pair of broken wings and a mouthful of her own molt.
I won't go to sleep in any place Xiao-Long knows without someone watching over me, and I'll have Blake or Ruby accompany me whenever I'm not in a public space. On top of that, raising my aura at all times just as an added security measure won't hurt. I'll also have to watch out for any attempts to sabotage me academically or by reputation.
This wasn't going to be easy.
It was plain as day to each and every member of Team RWBY why this was happening, but the audience must've thought it was just their leader being the oddball again and requesting private intra-team fights.
Weiss kept her eyes on Ruby, but she could practically feel Yang's gaze boring into her skull, and she suspected that Yang herself was probably under Blake's less obvious but just as watchful eye.
If Yang has truly learned her lesson and doesn't intend to defend her sister's honor, her heart will reflect that change, and there will be no danger. If not, she'll act, and we'll catch her now.
Somehow, Weiss couldn't help but recall how much faith she'd had in her little scheme last time she'd stepped into the ring.
Ruby raised her scythe and nodded at Miss Goodwitch, and Weiss did the same. She responded to them with a wave of her hand, and the match began.
Weiss wasted no time bringing up a Glyph barrier the very second it did, knowing that Ruby was too much of an excitable frontal attacker to not charge her. The knowledge of her teammate paid off, as she blocked the initial attack, but Weiss' partner seemed to know her quite well too, and she hooked her scythe over the top of the runic barrier. A sniper round fired, and Ruby vaulted over Weiss' head and landed on the other side.
Weiss brought up an arch of Glyphs to stand between her and Ruby at each step of her parabolic jump path, substituting the last one with a Dust-based projectile Glyph. A wave of ice shards buffeted Ruby directly.
Don't look. Don't look. Trust Goodwitch, and have faith in Blake. Don't look, Schnee.
A bullet caught Weiss' shoulder, taking her down by a sizable portion of her aura. Multifaceted though her semblance may have been, it did nothing to change her small pool of aura other than providing the means to block attacks. When something got through, it was devastating to the glass cannon behind the rapier.
But a glass cannon by definition had exceptional offense. Ruby's aura baselines was around average, but that ice attack from before had probably decreased it to an equal percentage as Weiss'. Weiss sped herself forward using Lightning Dust with enough speed to match Ruby's own semblance and met the scythe with her own sword. Ruby may have had the larger weapon, but Weiss knew that she was utterly defenseless without it.
I need to disarm her. Even if it cost me Myrtenaster, I'd consider it a worthy trade.
Weiss held many advantages (and perhaps just as many disadvantages) over Ruby, but she decided to employ one of the most ignoble of them to gain a leg up. Pressing forward with all her strength and bolstering her own strength with several Glyphs around her feet for support and leverage, she leaned forward so that her head stuck between the crux of their two weapons. Before Ruby could react, she swiftly twisted her neck, and her ponytail slapped into Ruby's eyes. The reaper might've been able to employ a similar strategy if she hadn't cut her hair so short.
The moment of blindness was brief, but it was all Weiss needed to kick Ruby between the legs, slide her rapier forward so that it impacted Ruby's forehead while still holding back the enormous red scythe of hers, and then violently tilt her sword back around. Pressing up with her knee so that it collided with Ruby's stomach, Weiss endured an uncoordinated but surprisingly effective punch to the throat in order to push off of Ruby. Both of the huntresses lost hold of their weapons as they fell backwards, just as Weiss had intended.
Now I need to act before she can rearm herself.
Ruby's first thought was on clamoring over to her scythe, which was something Weiss would have to have a talk with her as leader about. After all, if an enemy (like Weiss herself) intentionally disarmed her, the obvious next step would be for Ruby to go for her weapon, which made her predictable.
The two pale outstretched arms were caught by Weiss own hands just before they gripped the haft of Crescent Rose as Weiss anticipated Ruby's movements down to the millimeter. Ruby let out a frightened cry as Weiss jumped into the air, pulling her smaller teammate up with her. She braced her knees for landing back down on the ground…
…but the ground never came. Weiss lifted Ruby straight up into the air.
"Darn it, I keep forgetting you can do that!"
Instead of the ground, Ruby was swung into the ceiling, but she seemed to anticipate that and ran her legs along the ceiling, inverting fully upside down and then flipping over onto Weiss' backside. Weiss herself had fallen victim to the same flaw of being predictable, though to be fair, it wasn't as though there were many weapons to use while flying other than the ceiling.
Ruby's arms wrapped around Weiss' neck, putting her in a chokehold, but Ruby pressing so tightly to Weiss' back left the Faunus unable to fly, and they both ended up dropping right out of the air like a concrete brick. They'd been upright when they did, so they both landed on their feet, but neither had been expecting the sudden impact. Both girls' legs buckled, and they tumbled to the floor.
Weiss grunted out in pain as her hands tried and failed to catch her, nearly breaking her fingertips as they bent at unpleasant angles, but she was the luckier of the two. Ruby fell directly onto both Crescent Rose and Myrtenaster, which had remained right where they'd been left when Weiss had picked Ruby up – right beneath them.
"That's enough," said Goodwitch. "Weiss Schnee is victorious, by aura depletion."
It was a relatively short match, but that was how Weiss fought best – overwhelming force to blitz an enemy without giving them any chances to get past her defenses towards the soft flesh beneath her shell. Seagull though she was, her fighting strategy tended to resemble that of a crab or other pincer-based shellfish.
"Owwwwie," Ruby moaned, rubbing her backside as she extricated both weapons from her rear end where they'd poked her.
"Are you alright?" Weiss asked. Ideally, she would've picked herself up and offered Ruby a hand up, but her own body was still smarting from the drop.
"M'fine," Ruby bit, with a smattering of anger in her tone that took Weiss by surprise.
It seemed to take Ruby by surprise as well, for she immediately repeated herself in a softer voice. "I'm fine, Weiss."
That was good. They were partners, after all, and –
Shit! Yang!
Weiss' eyes darted over to the forgotten focal point of their fight, but the blonde remained seated. She was perhaps on the edge of it, but she hadn't intervened (Weiss imagined she would have noticed if a blonde boxer had pried her and her opponent apart), so this was presumably a victory.
The hilt of Myrtenaster tapped Weiss' stomach, and she looked over to see Ruby holding it by the blade and handing it to her. Weiss nodded and accepted the weapon with a brief word of thanks.
Goodwitch offered them both advice, as was the norm. It had been skipped for the other combatants due to the somber mood of the room at the time, but now the breakdowns of the fights were back. Ruby was advised to vary her movements when facing an opponent that might be able to foresee them, and Weiss was reminded that she could work on a better balance of offense and defense that didn't involve sacrificing a hit to inflict a hit.
"Given your aura level, I think you'd tend to run out against other hunters before long. Furthermore, Grimm can be innumerable, so when we bring them down, it cannot be at the expense of our own continued well-being."
Weiss accepted the criticism and sat back down with the rest of her team.
Yang patted Ruby on the back and consoled her over the near victory, but she didn't say a peep to Weiss. That could've meant she was intentionally ignoring her because she had some grand revenge scheme in mind, but it could just as easily be that she was too embarrassed to congratulate her on her victory. Or perhaps she just wished her sister had one. Or perhaps Weiss was overthinking this severely. There was simply no way of knowing.
Next Chapter: No Right Choice
In which Weiss Schnee ponders her not-quite-a-villain teammate and her not-quite-a-hero professor.
Author's Notes
Weiss wasted no time in poking that hornet's nest, did she? In spite of herself, she really can't resist forcing a confrontation to know just where she stands, even at great personal risk.
Happy rats, and don't do crime!