Author's Notes

ROBOLLAMAS (on AO3) dropped their ice cream while reading the previous chapter, so here's another one (chapter, not ice cream).

After this week, it'll be only Friday updates since I can't sustain 2/week on JSBMP (god that fucking 100% ass acronym).

Happy rats, and don't do crime!

Chapter 9 – R and Y and W and B

In which Weiss Schnee and her actual team must find common ground before their differences destroy them.

There was no way a team of huntresses would ever work with such transparent animosity being shared between its two halves. The only thing on which WB had found common ground with RY was in agreeing to put as much distance between them as possible.

I got what I wanted, which was to be leader, but that means the burden of mending what was born broken falls to me. I'm going to have my work cut out for me.

The quartet were assigned a room in the third floor of campus, and it was after a silent walk that they arrived at it. Team JNPR, led by Jaune Arc of all people, said their uncomfortable goodbyes to the RWBYs and entered into their own room.

They have it just as bad. Ren and Nora's first impression of their leader was him helping sneak away the relics from right under their noses under my command.

I truly have no idea what Ozpin was thinking here. Perhaps he feels some nonsense about making peace without enemies or obeying his silly rules, but any man, woman, or child with half a brain would have known that there's nothing gained by starting with a deficit. Team White Bread Peanut Butter and Jelly was working – it would have worked! Who benefits from this, other than Ozpin's smug schadenfreude at having the students of Beacon bend to his whims?

"I wish I had Nora back," complained Ruby as she and her new team stared at the door that heralded their upcoming misery.

"Seconded," Weiss said, letting out a forlorn chuckle. The only subject on which she could agree with Ruby was not wanting to be around Ruby.

I need to make this work. Beacon is the premiere establishment for up-and-coming huntresses, but even if it weren't, I'm already locked in. If I fled this school and attempted to try elsewhere, terms have already started in all four kingdom's academies. I'd have to wait a full year; the impact to my reputation would be irreparable.

Weiss clicked her heels. "Team RWBY. If I could have your attention."

Ruby and Yang didn't look at her, but they were listening. After all, there was nothing else to hold their attention in the empty hallway.

"I'm our leader, but I know that carries little weight among any of you just yet. But as leader, the duty of ensuring our cohesion falls to me. Thus, when we pass through that door, I'm making an executive decision. For today, we'll remain on separate sides of the room, which I doubt will be a great sacrifice for any of us. But tomorrow, the year is going to start in earnest, and we're going to have to become the four huntresses of Team RWBY of Beacon. I propose we wake up early and clear the air."

"What does that mean?" Ruby weakly asked, not taking her eyes off her boots.

"It means I'll have a long talk with you to discuss how we go forward in spite of the circumstances during which we met. Meanwhile, Yang will have a long talk with Blake."

Two drastically different colored heads of hair turned to protest to that, but Weiss didn't budge. "We have no other way. Talking out our issues should be the best way to proceed. If this doesn't work and shows no signs of improvement, I can petition for a team change, but I find it unlikely we'd receive one given how targeted our team formation ceremony felt. Beyond that, we have no recourse."

"Who made you the leader," Yang tried to protest, but there was no energy to it. She knew that Weiss could easily and quite literally retort back 'Ozpin,' and her little snip at Weiss felt perfunctory at best.

"Tonight, we just stay on our own sides?" asked Ruby, her silver eyes finally looking up to Weiss.

Those damned eyes. Everything traces back to them…

"Yes, Ruby. We're all tired from initiation, and I think it would be best if we have a night off."

Weiss honestly didn't think she could deal with Ruby and Yang right now, and she had a good feeling that the feeling was mutual.

Yang gripped the doorknob and turned it. The motion felt like the swing of an axe, for the sight of their shared living quarters truly enforced the notion that this was a real thing and not some nightmare. Team RWBY, the worst thing possible for all of them, was real.

At least I have Blake, even if I have nothing else.

"We'll take the beds on the right," said Yang, leading Ruby to their side. "Do you have a curtain we can put up in one of those million suitcases of yours, or…?"

Weiss shook her head.

"Wait, seriously? So what, we're just supposed to pretend to ignore the other half of the room? Your master plan was t–"

Ruby tugged on her sister's arm, taking the wind out of her sails. "Yang, please. Not tonight. I'm tired."

"Oh, oh, Ruby…" Yang's mouth curled into a frown. "Alright. Just…I'll make a line out of some of my clothes. No crossing it, and nothing too loud."

Weiss nodded, appeased by the conditions.

It almost failed before they even made it through the first night. Rose and her sister for some reason decided that the most structurally unsound, ramshackle bunk beds would be to their liking, and they decided to do so in the noisiest way possible. Yang's line of cravats and leather jackets was at no point crossed, but the racket caused by all their dormitory reconstruction efforts certainly made it hard for Blake to read her books or for Weiss to get ahead on her studies. It was even so great a disturbance that Ren came to knock on their door and ask them to quiet down at one point.

That wasn't the only incident, of course. The twin girls proceeded to immediately ignore their herculean efforts to separate their beds and sat next to each other on the top bunk. The notion of bunk beds was hardly new to Weiss – her kingdom was Atlas and her sister a member of the military – so even she knew that it was a complete waste to stack their beds and then not utilize the advantages offered by this configuration.

Together, the girls rested their backs against the wall and opened up Yang's scroll for some videogames. It immediately produced a loud noise from the music, but they plugged in earbuds before Weiss could even shoot them a glare. Thus, when she did glare at them, it was over concerns regarding the bright light that they couldn't inhibit.

Ruby eventually broke first and popped out her audio devices. "Got a problem, ice queen?" she jeered.

Weiss did her best to keep calm. She'd been the one to request this, and it was her job to ensure the peace treaty was honored in both letter and spirit. "I'd appreciate it if you'd dim the lights of your device."

Ruby looked upwards at the ceiling. "It's not brighter than the room lights."

"Yes, but I'll expect to turn out the room lights when I go to sleep."

"Okay. I'll turn it off when you choose to go to sleep."

Weiss grit her teeth. "You're practically forcing me to put you out."

"What?" Ruby's voice rose. "What does that even mean?"

Weiss found her own volume rising to match it. "It means that you're guaranteeing conflict. I'd go to sleep and ask you to turn it off, and you'd be upset because I ended your frivolities."

"Or maybe I'd not be a dick about it and just let you –"

Yang put a hand on Ruby's shoulder. "Sis."

"She was glaring at me!" Ruby threw her hands in the air. "Was I supposed to –"

"She didn't cross the line." Yang looked over at Weiss. "And neither did Ruby's light. We can get through one night, okay? Please?"

While Weiss didn't particular enjoy Yang's presence, the weariness was enough to get through to her and inspire some sympathy. As much as she saw herself as the victim in this, Yang and Ruby weren't willing participants either, and they had even less power given that Ozpin had appointed Weiss leader. Weiss would represent Blake's will in her decisions as leader, but they were entirely at her mercy.

Not abusing my position is going to be tough. No leader ever thinks they are, but eventually they all convince themselves that their own values are merely what's 'right' and that everyone else is the villain. I may have been the victim during our introductions, but I can't use that to justify overrepresenting Blake's or my own interests when making decisions for the team.

"I'm going to go to bed," Weiss said. "You may leave the lights on, but please turn them off within the hour."

Ruby took the olive branch for what it was. "K. Th-Thanks."

"Goodnight, Weiss." Blake set down her book. "May I?"

Weiss nodded, and Blake kissed her goodnight on the cheek. Warmth flowed all throughout Weiss' cheek as she laid down in her bed, all four legs firmly on the ground.

Not becoming a despot is going to be tough.

Shortly after her alarm vibrated and rouse her, Weiss flicked on the lights and gently clapped to rouse her slumbering team.

"Look alive, ladies! Today's team Ruby's first day, and we've got a lot on the agenda, so it's time to wake up!"

"Uuuuugggggh," groaned Ruby, waving a limp arm up and down through the air at nothing in particular from her bottom bunk. "Dad, hit the snooze button."

"I'm not your father, and I don't have a snooze button."

Yang groaned as well, pulled her scroll from her nightstand (which itself was precariously suspended by rope). "What time is it? I feel like I just went to bed."

"It's 5:30am."

"Five what?" Yang slowly sat up and rubbed at her eyes. "Seriously?"

"Yesterday was our day off, but that only means we have all the more ground to cover today."

"Weiss, please," whimpered Ruby. "Can't I just have a few more hours? I went to bed later than you."

"Class begins at 8am, Ruby. If I gave you a few more hours and even skipped our scheduled morning activities, you'd still probably miss it. Anyhow, we simply cannot skip our morning activities. Between our four morning routines using a single bathroom, breakfast at the cateferia, and clearing the air on Team RWBY, we've barely enough time as it is. Factoring in travel time, we're actually late. But fear not, though; tomorrow, we shan't have any team-building discussions for the sake of interpersonal problem solving, so we'll need only wake at 6:30am then."

"I know that's still early, but it sounds like a dream come true," said Yang.

Blake was already out of bed and had begun changing out of her pajamas and into her combat uniform. "Do we have to do that stuff today, though?"

Weiss nodded. As much as she herself wasn't looking forward to it, she was mature enough to see the necessity of working out their problems. It wasn't as though there were going to be some magical inciting event where they suddenly realized they were the bestest of friends. Getting over an extremely bad experience like that would take time, and it would take work. Had Weiss the resources, she might've even hired a counselor or other type of mediator for their upcoming discussion.

"It's not going to take two hours, Weiss." Ruby blocked out the artificial light of the room's lamps by smothering herself with a pillow. "I'm going back to bed."

"Ruby, we aren't simply doing surface level apologies and pretending our issues are resolved. We need to address the root cause. I wish to hear your interpretation of events and reasoning for your actions to figure out what I did wrong. Then, I'll expect you to extend the same courtesy to me. This will be a chance to air your grievances without Goodwitch cutting us both off or sweeping it under the rug. Do you not wish for some, I don't know, validation? Or perhaps a chance to tell me how you feel to my face?"

Yang grumbled herself awake and made for the bathroom. "Don't they say catharsis is unhealthy?"

Ruby didn't move, so Weiss flapped her wings twice and blew the sheets right off of her. Ruby wailed a cute little cry of alarm at the sudden rush of cold air.

Weiss knelt in front the sleeping girl and placed a hand on her bedframe. "This is serious, Ruby. We're huntresses. The time for sleeping in has passed. We chose to come to Beacon to better ourselves as people and as servants of the kingdoms' greater good, and we knew that there would be sacrifices."

Yang was taking her turn in the bathroom, meaning that they still had a little time. It would be best for the entire team to be present when their peace meeting was held.

"You can be last in the shower, if that would be enough time for you to rest."

There was more gargled whimpering from the half-asleep teen, so Weiss just patted the mattress and got back up.

They had to see that this was necessary. In addition to it being critical that their team started the year strong, it was also good practice to wake up early in general. It wasn't as though Weiss set their classes' schedules, and she hadn't eschewed a second bathroom when rooms were assigned. Furthermore, as huntresses, they would potentially have to be on call for missions in the dead of night. If Rose chose to snooze then, lives would be lost.

Perhaps, if she'd gone to bed at the same time I did instead of toying around with her games…

Weiss let out her frustration as a slow rush of air that lasted nearly fifteen seconds. Today was about healing, not digging up new reasons to be mad at one another. She would do her best to keep an open mind; perhaps Ruby would truly astound Weiss and offer some justification for her actions.

I'm mature enough to admit that I probably misjudged the situation in my anger a little bit. Yes, Goodwitch was firmer with me than Ruby, but from her perspective, I was unharmed and she sported a pair of bleeding nostrils. Regardless of what actually happened, the most reasonable solution from the evidence she had in front of her was that I was the aggressor. I still believe I was mistreated, but assuming that there was some sort of conspiracy was a bridge too far.

It was tough, trying to balance her own opinions with neutral thoughts like this. Ruby claimed to have done some astounding feat of heroism to get into Beacon, something so amazing that the headmaster (a friend of her family, if Goodwitch were to be believed) was simply so impressed that he elected to offer her a scholarship to Beacon. To Weiss, or to any outside observer, that clearly sounded like a rubber stamp pulled out of the headmaster's nether regions to fast-track his favorite student.

I shall be fair, even if I have to force myself to do so. Until I see evidence that Ruby did not perform this magical act of fantastical heroism and astound Beacon, I shall refrain from denying it.

Yang finished her shower, and Weiss went next. When she was done, Blake took her turn, leaving their last member who had yet to get out of bed.

"Ruby, it's your turn," Weiss said. "Ruby."

"Mmmmmnotgunna."

Weiss heaved out a sigh. This was rather problematic. "Ruby."

"Just let her sleep," said Yang. "We can do the team building bullshit tomorrow."

Weiss checked her scroll. "That would give her about forty-five minutes of sleep more than today, and I half suspect she'll do the same tomorrow."

"Class starts in an hour and twenty minutes," Yang explained, tying up her hair in a ponytail.

"But we have breakfast, and she needs to shower."

"Ruby doesn't mind skipping those."

This was getting out of hand. Weiss was supposed to be the leader of this team. If she let them walk all over her, she wasn't truly the leader of anything. If she put her foot down, she was the tyrant waking up her sleepy partner out of her overexaggerated villainy.

"How about we do the whole friendship bracelet signing after class?" offered Yang. "There's no reason we need to do it in the morning."

That's…actually fair.

"Fine," said Weiss, watching her partner unconsciously snag her blankets and curl up in them as she went back to sleep. "But I expect her to be out of bed in precisely one hour. I refuse to be late to class, not on our first day."

Yang shot Weiss a look that she couldn't tell if it was supposed to be pleased at the compromise, offended at the demand, or anything in between.

One hour and ten minutes later, Ruby still wasn't getting up.

"I have my limits," Weiss said. She'd already agreed to let her teammate smell like her sleeping clothes, go hungry, and delay their team activities. No more.

"Weiss, she's not used to this," Yang tried to say, but Weiss would not have it.

"None of us are used to this," Weiss pointed out, pulling out her scroll. Setting a timer to one second with the maximum volume, Weiss hit the button and waited for it to go off.

BZZT-BZZT-BZZT! BZZT-BZZT-BZZT!

Ruby screamed so loud at the explosion of noise that she jumped right up and flew into Yang's top bunk. The impact (which Weiss suspected was enhanced by her semblance due to the presence of a handful of rose petals she noticed afterwards) caused their unstable bunk beds to wobble for a moment before beginning to collapse.

"Crap!" Yang screamed, rushing forward to catch one leg while Weiss and Blake stabilized the other. Ruby toppled off of her mattress and fell right onto the ground in her strawberry pink pajamas.

"Lift from the side, and see if we can balance it on the bottom bunk's legs," Weiss said.

"No, we'd be better off trying to pivot it onto one leg at a time," said Yang.

Blake grunted with exertion, not having had time to get a good grip. "No offense, but you built it the first time, and it wasn't exactly structurally sound then."

"It was fine until you blew out Ruby's eardrums and broke it!"

When the bed was finally placed back into a semi-stable position, all girls were unexpectedly ruffled. Weiss' perfect hair had been utterly ruined, and Blake's makeup was smudged in several places from sweat.

"Why did you do that?" screamed Ruby.

"You wouldn't wake up! I had to resort to drastic measures!"

"No, you didn't! You could've just shaken me! There was no need to blast that loud noise right up against my ears!"

Weiss tried to come up with a rebuttal for that, but nothing came to mind. Ruby hadn't been waking up, but she had agreed to let her sleep for that much longer. In truth, she'd simply been so sure that it would take the noise equivalent of an explosion to wake her that she hadn't bothered to try anything else first.

"I…I…"

"She had no choice," said Blake at Ruby, covering for Weiss. "You were the one who said Ruby could sleep in. Weiss accommodated you, but it was with the agreement that you would be woken up."

"I didn't agree to anything!" Ruby complained.

"Your sister did!"

"H-Hey, I didn't say to do that. There was no reason you had to resort to the trillion decibel option as our first resort."

"She only did that because Ruby had just refused to wake up when called out to."

"Yeah, when she was super tired, but after she'd –"

"ENOUGH!"

Weiss stamped her foot down, once again failing to control her temper.

"We have five minutes to get to class. This and all other problems will be addressed immediately after our final lecture, but we cannot be late on the first day. Our reputations would be ruined."

Yang snorted. "Yeah, cuz tha–"

"Quiet!" Weiss demanded. "No more arguments! Everyone out, now!"

A hand tapped Weiss' shoulder, and she quickly recoiled.

It was Ruby's. "Um, Weiss, I kinda need to get changed. And shower. And pee."

Weiss rolled her eyes. "Let me guess. You need to eat breakfast as well, since you're incredibly hungry. But hey, at least you aren't tired in the slightest."

The snarling hatred she injected into the word tired was enough to make Ruby back away in fear, and Weiss was once again made into the wretched seagull who frightened innocent children and menaced those around her.

Damn you, Ozpin, and damn your thrice-damned eye contact.

"Go." She shooed Ruby into the bathroom. "Yang, Blake, please explain to the teacher that Ruby is having a feminine emergency, and I am waiting with her. This will make me late, but it appeared to be unavoidable."

Ruby opened the door a creak. "Y-You don't need to –"

"Get in that shower, or I will cut the dirt right off your body using Myrtenaster!"

"Eeek!"

They arrived to their Plant Studies class fifteen minutes late. The entire class stared as they entered and briefly drew away the teacher's attention, but Weiss kept her head held high and led Ruby forth without her demeanor flickering. Furious though she may have been at the girl, one never showed weakness in front of a rival, no matter how much a so-called ally might've been despised. Pretending to be Jacques Schnee's special little girl for seventeen years had taught her that lesson.

Furthermore, she was Ruby Rose's leader. Pest or not, Weiss refused to abandon her squadmate to the humiliating solitude of coming to class late and alone.

"Everything alright, ladies?" said Professor Peach, an incredibly muscular dark-skinned man who stood well over 6 feet off the ground and bore several tattoos on both arms.

"We're fine," Weiss responded curtly, adding no further commentary.

"Excellent. On with the lesson, then."

Classes passed rather quickly, as the first day seemed to be every teacher's chance to explain the curriculum, outline the schedule of their office hours, and review other logistical and administrative concerns. As such, the saying 'times flies when you're having fun' applied to Weiss. Make no mistake, she would be pleased when the academics began and new knowledge flowed her way like water, but there was something so perfectly pure about a lesson describing other lessons. It was like an entire scholastic year of Beacon's lesson plans had been distilled into a single delectable day of learning.

In the final class of the day, Professor Goodwitch's combat class, Weiss sat herself down next to Ruby to ensure the little rat didn't scurry off and escape her duties as a member of Team RWBY. When the lecture ended and Goodwitch dismissed them, Weiss blocked Ruby from exiting.

"Oh no you don't. Please follow me; we have team business to attend to."

Blake and Yang followed just behind Weiss, who had to resort to leading Ruby at pencil-point back to their dorm. When all four girls were inside, Weiss slid the lock onto the door behind her and also propped up a chair against the knob, just for good measure.

"Holy cripes, Weiss. I'm not gonna try and flee the country or something to get out of your little dressing down."

Weiss shook her head. "The fact that you and your sister continually refer to it dismissively and using terms like 'little' or 'silly' only serves to reinforce how I must be the one to guarantee this is taken serioiusly."

"Fine." Ruby sat down on her bunk, leaning over to the side as Yang climbed up to hers to lie down. "Alright, let's get this over with."

That wasn't a good spirit, but Weiss had a feeling that pushing Ruby to have a more chipper attitude would only backfire. Had Ruby been the team leader, Weiss would have instantly obeyed her every instruction without question – that was just who Weiss was and how she respected authority – but it was clear Ruby would not be sharing the same courtesy her way.

"Here's how I think we should do this. One of the four of us will be given the chance to speak their mind. This will be a safe space to express any concerns about what happened, how it made you feel, or any others subjects you feel are relevant. No one else will speak unless a direct question from the speaker is granted. Please refrain from harassment and try and keep the focus on either constructive criticism or a way forward in the wake of our…less than stellar circumstances of introduction. Our goal is to gain an improved understanding of the other side's actions so that we may forgive and move forward."

Ruby's eyes had glazed over at the wordy description, so Weiss pointed to her. "Rose. Would you care to go first?"

Ruby dug her butt into her mattress as she got comfortable. Yang and Blake did the same in their own beds, and Yang, who was lying down in her top bunk, had to lean her head over the edge to even see her sister.

"Okay. So, my big problem is that you got super mad at me even though I didn't do anything at all to you, Weiss."

If Ruby had been expecting a snappish denial, it never came. Weiss had meant every word about holding her tongue until Ruby had a chance to at least express herself (and she had every intention of holding Ruby and Yang to the same rules when her turn came around).

"I bumped into you – big whoop. I said I was sorry, and there had to be, like, a thousand other students everywhere. You shouldn't have yelled at me like you did. I don't think that was fair."

Again, Weiss held her tongue. Rose had proven herself deserving of some condemnation at that point, but at the time, Weiss supposed it was right. She'd bitten Ruby's head off because she'd been expecting prejudice and judgment from the other teenagers.

"And then, you got all mad at me for some reason when it was your Dust that caught on fire and blew up in your face. Sure, I nudged it, but I didn't light the match or shove your face into that suitcase or anything. You…it…" Ruby shook her head. "I don't know how to say how mad it made me, that you were so much of a meanie about it. It was my first day in a new place, and I was all alone, and you made my first experience off of the airship such a bad one. Coming to Beacon was my dream, and getting to go early made it extra special, and you just took so much of the magic out of it. There were probably about thirty boxes of Dust, and you didn't get hurt, so it meant nothing to you, but it was my entire world for that brief moment.

"And then it only got worse. I just petted you on the wings, and – okay, I started the wrong way, but when you said I was supposed to go the other way, I switched right back! I still don't know why you hit me?" Ruby rubbed at her nose as though she might've expected it to start bleeding for having relived the memory. "It really hurt."

Weiss nodded, saying nothing. Blake was silent as the grave, apparently content to stay out of this until it involved her. Weiss honestly might have kidded that this was the kind of moment where she would crack open a good book.

She wouldn't though. The Rose twins might not have realized how much doing this means to me, but she did.

Yang was clearly angry at hearing the full details solely from Ruby's perspective, but she either respected Weiss' rules or her sister's moment in the spotlight enough to not butt in.

Ruby wasn't yet finished. "But what really made my opinion of you plummet was when we were with Goodwitch. Yeah, we argued a bit and she said her stuff – I really don't feel like we need to go over that again. It was when Yang came to check up on me that you really crossed the line." Ruby put a hand to her chest, her face solemn. "I got into Beacon, fair and square. I stopped a crime and chased away the bad guys who were doing it. Our parents were students here, so Ozpin and Goodwitch know them, but that had nothing to do with it. I know I can fight. For you to come to Beacon expecting that you would get to own the world because you, ohhhh, rich and famous…"

Ruby wiped a tear and shook her head. It seemed like she was content to stop there, but Weiss wanted to wait until she was sure. This was Ruby's moment, and Weiss would get her own.

"Is there anything else you'd like to say?"

Ruby shook her head. "Not really. We were all there for the Emerald Forest, and there's not much to say there. You screwed us out of a relic but then decided to help us out for some reason."

Before Weiss could open her mouth, Ruby's eyes briefly widened, and a smile spread across her face. "Oh, and I was right about us being partners, back when we made eye contact. So, yeah."

Ruby had no questions to ask Weiss when prompted, so Weiss went next. Yang clearly wanted to give her a piece of her mind, having been swayed by Ruby even further into the 'Seagull' camp, but Weiss felt it her earned right to rebut Ruby with counterpoints.

No. No, I can't think of this as some court case I need to win or rumor I need to dispel with extreme prejudice. The goal of this isn't to 'win;' in fact, if I did 'win,' I would imagine that would only alienate the Roses from me further.

"Alright, Ruby. You've said your piece. Now here is mine. Firstly, you're right."

Ruby didn't know what to make of that admission. Yang looked at Weiss like she was leading her sister into a trap, but Weiss had no foul intentions.

"I was in a bad mood when you bumped into me, and it was primarily because of that that I yelled at you, at first. I was perturbed at having been interrupted, but had I not been so upset over other matters, I probably wouldn't have been so harsh in my reply."

Ruby now seemed uncomfortable, unsure of what to do with this admission. Her entire speech had been an indictment of Weiss, and it was possible she was having regrets upon hearing that Weiss actually was intending for this to be a way forward and not a look back.

"As for the Dust, it was stable. Your disruption may have caused minor sparking, but it wasn't until you mixed your own in that it exploded. In this case, the fault is –"

"Oh come on!" Yang said, shifting uncomfortably in her bed. "You're telling me that your Dust was on fire, but it somehow only blew up when Ruby's Dust got –"

"Yes," Weiss said. "I am. My Dust was stored in accordance with SDC protocols for safety."

"Great, here comes the commercial." Yang rolled over, turning her back to Weiss. "Never your fault, always someone else's. You're a real class act, Schnee."

"Yang," Weiss said, carefully choosing her words. "Why does everything I say have to be a well-planned lie? Why must I be wrong on a subject which I've studied my whole life when neither you nor Ruby have any experience in the field of Dust mixing?"

Yang turned back. "And what makes you think we don't know all about that?"

"Do you?" Weiss asked.

"No, but if you're assuming we don't –"

"I'm assuming you don't because you both keep insisting that my Dust was dangerous, whereas Ruby's act of mixing two types was harmless. The opposites are true in both cases, suggesting you aren't experts."

Yang's face grew even more sour, but she had no response to that. Weiss suspected that she probably wasn't keen on pushing the issue and being proven wrong. And in this case, she was wrong.

"But you can't blame me for not knowing that," Ruby said. "All I did was give you some Dust."

"Dust is dangerous," Weiss said. "It's an explosive. If you can't be careful with it and know the hazards…are you sure you should keep using it?"

"Every huntsman or huntress in the world uses Dust," Ruby said. "If you think they all need to stop if they aren't experts on the field, then go right ahead and tell them. Though I think you'll lose some business."

"It's common knowledge," Weiss said. "They have classes on basic Dust safety in the last year of most…of all primary combat schools."

That made Ruby frown even further. "That's not fair, Weiss…"

This wasn't going as well as Weiss had hoped. She had had this image in her head of being this impartial arbiter of facts, whose clear and calm tone soothed the Roses and convinced them to forgive and forget. Unfortunately, they were reacting to this poorly, while Weiss was getting a bit too defensive about the smaller things. They'd already spent a long enough time debating Dust theory and hadn't even approached the biggest of Weiss' qualms.

"I'd like to move on from the Dust issue. Regardless of who was at fault, Goodwitch was correct that it was covered by Beacon's insurance."

"You're the leader," said Ruby, shrugging.

"I think the bulk of our problems come from the next incident," said Weiss.

Ruby nodded. "The hitting."

Weiss shook her head. "The groping."

"I didn't grope you," Ruby said, seething with anger. Her eyes grew narrow.

"You touched me without my consent. Furthermore, you did it in a way that caused me great discomfort."

"I petted you on your wings," Ruby said exasperatedly. "And that's enough to smack me into next week?"

"Would you feel it acceptable for me to pinch your breast with such force that it hurt you? Rather, on that first day, would you have found it acceptable then, with the action coming from a stranger who neither asked for permission nor received it?"

"There's no way that's the same," Yang answered quickly.

"It is to me," Weiss said softly. "It's my body, regardless of which part."

That seemed to make everyone quite interested in their shoes. Even Weiss had to look away.

In the end, it was Ruby that spoke up at last. "But you said to go the other way."

"No, I said to stop since you were going the wrong way."

Yang cleared her throat. "Weiss, arguing over details and phrasing isn't – you don't –" Yang stopped. From the way she stumbled over her own words, Weiss wasn't sure even she knew what point she had been trying to make. "But was it really okay to hit Ruby, though?" Yang asked quietly. "She thought you had okayed it."

"No, she didn't," Weiss said, with equal volume. "It might seem like nitpicking over words in hindsight, but at the time, I clearly asked for it to stop. I kept asking her to stop, even when you changed directions." Weiss pulled her arms and legs in closer to herself. "You wouldn't stop. My feathers were…and you…and then Goodwitch just…like I…like I didn't even matter."

Leaders weren't supposed to show vulnerability in front of their subordinates, but Weiss couldn't really do anything to stop her tears. She at least managed to look away so that no one could see them.

Ruby's mouth opened.

"I'm…I…"

Ruby's mouth closed.

Weiss forced herself to swallow the pain and keep speaking. "You said I ruined your first day, but you ruined mine too. And Miss Goodwitch, she made every possible accommodation for you while at the same time shutting me down every time I so much as spoke in my own defense."

It took saying it aloud for Weiss to realize.

"She saw a broken nose and a bloodied fist and let that bias her judgment from the get-go. But that's not your fault. None of what she did was your fault. And I've been operating under the assumption that everything unfair that happened to me somehow was. Ruby, Yang. I'm sorry."

Weiss brushed a tear out of her eyes. That first day, she might've pushed down the pain by commiserating with Blake, but it really had hurt. Beacon was a fresh start, but being shoved around like her voice meant nothing by anyone and everyone had just brought her back to the manor. Back to her father.

"Anyways, I suppose I must also apologize for the dispute regarding our eye contact," Weiss tacked on, her voice slightly shaky. "It would appear that you were right and I was wrong on that count. And, Yang, please don't call me a pigeon ever again. That's not who I am. I'm Weiss."

Yang gave Weiss a weak smile and shot finger guns at her. "Can't say I won't make some sick bird puns, though."

It was clearly an attempt to lighten the mood after Weiss' unanticipated foray into the topic of consent when touching, but Weiss shook her head nonetheless.

"Please don't. I know it may seem like a minor phrase here or there for you, but it's my identity. Even joking about me being a…a…a sea…even joking about my Faunus trait is akin to me referring to you as a stereotypical blonde bimbo." Weiss looked over at Blake, and added on, "And before you bring up our nicknames as a counterargument, we've mutually agreed to those. Perhaps one day I'll be comfortable enough for you to…but right now, I'll only just remember the time you referred to me as a pigeon as an insult."

Yang was now ashen-faced. "W-Weiss, it wasn't meant to be some dig at you being a Faunus, I was just –"

Weiss held up a hand, and Yang stopped. She considered adding more on the topic, but this had already dragged on for too long.

"I think that's everything I have. Yang, would you go next?"

Yang shook her head. "After all that? Dust no." Her mouth curved into a frown. "But one thing – don't ever hit my sister again. No matter what."

Weiss had to hold back her own frown at that. Yang, after all that talk, still seemed to think that Weiss pushing back against mistreatment was nothing more than an unjustified outburst. Or perhaps she was of the opinion that Ruby was exempt from things like boundaries or rules.

But if I couldn't convince her there, nothing will. I'll let this go – hopefully Ruby will be mature enough to not do anything warrant a response of self-defense.

Weiss turned to her friend. "Blake?"

"Heh." Blake rubbed the back of her neck. "Everything I had was trivial in comparison to you and Ruby. Uh, let's all just try to get along?" She shrugged. "And, I guess, don't make cat puns or something, and I also want to be asked before being touched? Same everything as Weiss for me, then."

That was that, then. RWBY's first conflict had been resolved, and it was now a true team.

Hopefully this will mark a new chapter in partnerly cooperation.

Weiss crossed her fingers.

Hopefully.

Next Chapter: Two Years Difference

In which Weiss Schnee is an excellent leader to her partner, Ruby Rose.

Author's Notes

They aren't suddenly going to become BFFs, but they have gotten over their initial animosity. For now.

I do like the idea of Weiss actually trying to lead, as opposed to Team RWBY originally just sort of falling into friendship and all of their problems disappearing because Ozpin/Port gave them a pep talk or they agree to bury the root causes and move on (cough, Blake having been a part of the people that killed Weiss' friends and family apparently, cough).

Only Weiss follows the rules of their peace talks, but to be fair, she was the one who made them and thus cared about it a little bit more than the others.

Happy rats, and don't do crime!