Chapter One Hundred and Three
Weiss had woken, blearily, still feeling worn out, having been plagued by nightmares of endless Grimm, of screams, of the dead and dying, though, at some point, they… lessened. Still bad, but the sights blurred, the sounds muffled, and a sense of out of place comfort, of safety, creeped in, until everything faded to a warm, peaceful quiet.
It hadn't lasted long, but it had helped, and, as she'd slowly come to, the heiress had found herself tucked in, which… she wasn't really sure what to think about that. Slowly, and a little reluctantly, she pulled herself free, not wanting to leave that warmth, and while the pendant was cool against her breast, it was never cold, only making her more comfortable.
"Hey, Weiss, you're finally up!" Ruby chirped, suddenly by her bed, their bunks putting her right in the Schnee's face, and, not for the first time, the Dustcaster regretted going along with this silly room arrangement.
"Ruby, it's too early," the white-haired girl groaned.
"But it's almost night," the scythe-wielder replied, perplexed.
Suddenly wide awake, Weiss sat up, demanding, "WHAT!? But, oh, why didn't you wake me up!?"
"But," the younger huntress objected, "you needed the sleep."
"I didn't need to miss class!" the honor-roll student shot back, scrambling out of her bed. She needed to get dressed, needed to-
"Classes were cancelled," Ren informed her, sitting at his desk, sipping tea.
"On account of all the dead people," Nora added, sitting on hers. "Mass casualties, are, like, a real downer when it comes education, I guess."
Brain still waking up, Weiss blinked, "I, what? No. I. Yes." Turning, she saw a mug of what looked like hot chocolate, a very distinct rainbow flame stuck to the outside of the mug. "Wait. Jaune was here? While I was sleeping?"
"Yeah!" Ruby replied. "Their team ran into a Tide too! But they're fine. Because, well, it's Jaune, and Pyrrha, and Yang!"
"Not Blake?" Ren questioned, though he really didn't need to, as, while the other girl wasn't that bad, she was quite stand-offish, and wasn't a fan of Weiss, so obviously was a terrible judge of character.
Carefully picking up the mug, it was still warm, and, taking a sip, the Schnee sighed in enjoyment, the other team lead's cooking of a quality unparalleled.
Not for the first time, Weiss had a passing fancy of, after she was an established Huntress and the head of the Schnee Dust Company, Jaune could, she didn't know, be her personal attendant, cooking her meals, catering to her needs, and so on. Obviously, if he was with Yang, he couldn't, as that oafish girl wouldn't let anyone else near her man, not that Weiss necessarily blamed her, but the blonde slattern was out of the picture now, wasn't she?
"Uh, well, I don't know Blake that well?" her team leader shrugged. "But Pyrrha's the Invincible Girl, and Jaune's, well, Jaune!" Turning back to her partner, the dark-haired girl continued. "So, uh, yeah, they were here! He was actually the one that tucked ya in! Like you were a little girl!" the actual little girl tried to tease.
Though, taking another sip, and considering that, it was… thoughtful of him. "Do you… do you know where he is now?"
"He went to talk to Ozzie again!" Nora told her, peering at the Schnee as the Mistralian sat on top of her desk. "Why, you want to talk to him?"
"I, no. Maybe," she replied, as she felt… bad. Tired. Wrung out. And the last time she had felt like this, she'd gone to talk to Jaune, and doing so had… had helped, so was it really so strange that she wanted to again? The man had a, a presence about him that made her feel better about things. She wondered if she'd, subconsciously, known he was there before, while she was sleeping, or, perhaps, she'd just smelled his flame, the Semblance having a distinctive scent that was hard to describe, but carried a certain unmistakable freshness with it.
"Ohhh?" the orange-haired menace cooed. "Does our Weiss Princess want her big strong Dwagon? Wanna be carried up to the top of his tower?"
"No!" the Schnee spat, "I just… value his insight. And, if I'm the princess, and he's the dragon, what even is his 'tower' anyways?"
"His dick."
Having taken a huffy sip, the white-haired girl was not prepared for that answer, and spat a bit of hot chocolate onto Ruby, who'd turned bright red at that.
""NORA!"" both partners shouted at the same time, Weiss adding, "Must you be so crude!?"
"Nah, but it's fun!" the hammer wielder grinned. "And after yesterday, I'm gonna take my fun where I can get it. Though, you might wanna change first, unless you really want to climb his tower!"
"Nora," Ren stated, neutrally, and, to Weiss' surprise, the embodiment of chaos winced, and apologized.
With a sigh, and looking away, Valkyrie told them both, "Sorry. Not feelin' the best."
While the Schnee's first instinct was to tear into the girl, she, she was doing what Weiss wanted, and, if the white-haired girl was going to encourage that behavior, she needed to encourage it.
A bit like training a pet, really.
"That's… fine," the Atlesian responded, with proper aristocratic grace. "It's been… trying, for us all." Taking another sip, that helped as well, but, all too quickly, the drink was gone, and while she felt a warmth blooming in her chest from it, the feeling was already slowly fading. And as she stood there, awkwardly, visions of what she had seen yesterday started to creep in, she, if only to distract herself, moved to their bathroom, taking her teammate's suggestion to shower, to become presentable, as she was only clad in a nightgown. Drying off, a bit of Fire Dust taking care of her voluminous hair, she grabbed her Scroll, and, after several moments of indecision, bit the bullet.
IceQueen: Jaune? Do you have a moment?
The message was sent out, and she waited, feeling silly, because maybe he was busy? He had gone to meet with the Headmaster after all, and-
Her Scroll beeped.
Big_D: Yeah, what's up? Did you see the drink I left?
IceQueen: I did. Thank you. It was quite good. Could we talk?
Waiting for his response, she almost dropped the device when he suddenly called her, and, panicking, hit the reject call button.
Wait, why did she do that!?
Big_D: ?
IceQueen: I meant face to face. Unless you are otherwise engaged?
Big_D: Oh, sure.
And then, a moment later, there was a knock on the door, Ruby zipping over in an instant, opening it, and greeting, "Oh hi, Jaune! What's up?"
"Weiss asked me to drop by," he replied, as, hurriedly, she headed for the door herself.
In the process, however, she passed by Nora, who whispered, "Tower!", and, with a gesture, calling upon her amulet, the Dustcaster shot a snowball at the annoying girl's face, knocking her off her desk.
Without breaking stride, the Schnee heiress grabbed Jaune's han-grabbed his wrist and dragged him away from the rest of her team, lest they say something stupid.
Stupid-er.
"Have fun! Stay out of towers!" Ruby waved, and Weiss was reminded that idiocy was a ranged weapon.
"Will do?" Jaune waved back, clearly amused, so at least one of them was, asking, "Towers?"
"Don't ask," she grumbled, as she brought him outside, and then stopped, unsure exactly what to do now that she'd gotten that far.
However, while she'd paused, the man beside her gently, but firmly, twisted his hand to grab her own and directed her to follow him, walking down the nearly empty paths on campus, until they stopped at a bench which overlooked the lake separating Beacon from Vale which…
Was still on fire.
Weiss found herself, standing there, watching, feeling helpless, like she should be doing something, but… what?
Jaune's hand on her shoulder sat her down, the fact that he'd let go of her not registering, his arm shifting to lay along the back of the bench, and they sat there for a long moment before he spoke, his voice soft, but deep, and carrying, "Maybe this wasn't the best spot. I wanted to say there's some kind of macabre beauty to that, but… it's just horrible, isn't it?"
"I… yes. Yes, it is," she agreed. "It was…"
Weiss trailed off.
"I'm not sure if I should be a Huntress."
The words escaped her, bypassing her brain, but that didn't make it any less true.
It wasn't a concern she could share with her partner, as Ruby would just be childishly positive, and as for the rest of her team, Nora was insane, and Ren was… Ren was almost apathetic, and Weiss didn't need to talk to him to know he'd passively listen, and give her something spinelessly useless about how it was a 'valid concern', and 'ultimately the decision was hers', and 'he'd be supportive of her choice'.
She really did not get what the ginger girl saw in him.
But, as Jaune hadn't responded, now choosing the moment to not make his opinion known, she glanced up at him, but he was deep in thought, staring at the burning, ruined city.
"Would you like me to be nice, or honest?" he finally questioned, adding, "Pyrrha has informed me I can be a bit… much."
"I would like your honest assessment," the white-haired girl stated, trying to keep the worry out of her voice, finding herself caring what the Faunus had to say, which, if herfather could see her now-
"If not this, then what?" the blond asked.
Not having expected a question, the heiress replied with one of her own, "What do you mean?"
Pulling down his mask, revealing the scars that covered his mouth and chin, he scratched the slowly healing tissue. When she'd first seen them, the wounds were horrific, but, now, the reddened, raised ropy skin only seemed to give him an odd sort of character.
With a sigh that carried a few prismatic embers, the team leader elucidated, "If the world was at relative peace and if one's survival was likely, if there was no threat like that of the Grimm and if all we had to worry about was other people, if we were merely a form of law enforcement and only stopped bandits and the like, then I'd say perhaps you were correct. But none of those things are true. So, if you were not doing this, if you weren't fighting the Grimm, what would you do?"
She… hadn't thought of that. "Go home?" Weiss shrugged helplessly. "Take over the family business?"
"And when Grimm attack?" Jaune pressed, not angrily, sounding almost curious, though with an underlying intensity to his words. "When you saw people dying once more, would you, like your father, state that such a thing is someone else's problem, make sure you yourself were safe, and go back to reviewing mining reports? Or would you want to help?"
"I couldn't help now!" she argued, glaring at him, remembering the horrific-ness she'd just experienced not even twenty-four hours ago, but he still didn't look at her, just gazing out at Vale. "It wasn't enough! They still died!"
And then he laughed.
Laughed!
A single, derisive bark, before he questioned, "Even I couldn't've stopped that Tide without casualties, and do you really think you're better at mass aerial combat than a Dragon?"
"You aren't actually a dragon, you know!" she snapped, getting angry.
"One, I'm not a dragon, I'm a Dragon. Capital D, Weiss, I can hear the difference," he smirked, glancing at her, voice mocking, though his eyes were hard. "Two, do you really think I'm going to take the word of someone who, despite being, by far, the most effective member of their group fighting the Vale Tide, on a team that itself is so powerful they've been chosen for the Vytal Festival, believes they weren't good enough to be a Huntress? From Ruby's report, you worked as a living flak cannon, Weiss, and while that girl's assessment of risk is questionable, she does know her weapons. If killing your enemy in the thousands is not enough to be a Huntress, why, I'd say every woman in Beacon, except for my partner, should quit here and now."
"You didn't see what I did!" the heiress yelled at him, surging to her feet, the memories of the bodies, the screaming children covered in black, burned into her mind.
Jaune stared back at her challengingly, "So? Do you think giving up will make the attacks stop? Do you think less people will die if you put down Myrtenaster? Do you think that your unwillingness to fight will do anything but mean that, the next time something like this happens, you'll be, at best, no stronger than you are now, or, at worst, not even in a position to do what you claim wasn't enough? Thus, I ask you again, Weiss Schnee, and I would like an answer this time: if not this, then what?"
"I, I don't know!" she shouted, feeling cold, tears welling up, wondering why she'd asked this, this asshole if he was going to-
"Alright," Jaune said, simply, wincing slightly, as he reached up and directed her to sit next to him once more, moving his arm across the bench to wrap around her shoulders, when she didn't want him to, though his apologizing, "Sorry. That was… too much," helped. "Shit, I'm bad at this. My point is, Weiss, running isn't the answer. That said, I, I can't help you un-see it, but know that I'm there for you. As are all the others, I'm sure. Do… do you want to talk about it?"
"Not now!" she huffed, but she didn't pull away, and leaned against the man, shivering slightly. With a muted flap, the 'Dragon's' wings appeared, one folding over her like a blanket, and which was… nice. They sat there for a while, before, slowly, she stated, "Jaune, it was… horrible. I, I don't even know what happened!" Though, from the way the man tensed, he did, so she questioned, "Jaune?"
And so came the explanation, of the warning, of the team of professional Huntsmen sent to investigate, even of the warning that the Headmaster had given, only to be ignored.
"That would never happen in Atlas!" the heiress frowned.
"Agreed," the Faunus nodded, to her surprise. "They took care of their attack no problem."
Weiss stiffened, "Their attack!?"
"You… didn't check the news?" Jaune questioned.
"I, I had other things on my mind!" she informed him primly, as he pulled his scroll, and, typing with one hand, brought up a news report of-
"That's a Behemoth!" she exclaimed.
"That was a Behemoth," he corrected, as it was ripped apart by Atlesian artillery. "Though officially it's only an 'Ancient Alpha'. And then there's what my team dealt with," he continued, navigating the files on his device, opening up a video of a fortified city, though she couldn't tell which one. Valian, so it was likely Travertine, Gabbro, or Basalt, though her attention was drawn to the incoming Grimm Tide.
Marching.
In Formation.
And then the canons fired, and rainbow fire, Jaune's fire, exploded on the battlefield, the man himself barely seen diving into the fray in the distance, spewing more of it himself.
"We forced a retreat, like you guys did, but this kind of thing is happening globally Weiss. Vale was the capital city hit the hardest, but Oz was getting reports from everywhere. Well, not Menagerie," he added.
"Everywhere that matters then," the Schnee agreed absently, mind working. "How long has this been going on?"
"Couple days. Which, yes, means it's organized," Jaune stated, agreeing with her own conclusion. "Things are… changing, and running isn't going to help."
"I'm not running!" she argued, and he gave her a look. "I was being emotional. Women are allowed to be emotional."
"The same men who agree with that also state that women should be ignored because they're emotional," the Faunus observed. "But everyone has their doubts. Even me, occasionally. The trick is not letting them control you. That said, the situation is evolving, or devolving, and we need to prepare."
Mind still racing, a terrible thought struck her, "This. This is our fault."
"How is this your fault?" he questioned. "Mine, I could understand, but-"
"Nope!" she cut him off. "We're not doing that stupid 'sixth' thing again! We went down that tunnel, we fought that Behemoth, and now they're coming up everywhere!"
"Oh… huh," Jaune remarked. "Could that be it?"
"I, what else would it be?" she questioned. "Going down a Grimm Tunnel can result in an attack, I just, just didn't think it would be this bad. But, what did you do!?"
"… I'm just so awesome, I needed a worthy opponent?" the Dragon offered with a shrug.
Weiss facepalmed.
"Can you please be serious?" she pleaded.
"I'll try, but no promises," he offered, smirking. "Though, are you feeling better?"
"I've just realized that this is my fault!" she yelled, waving to burning city. "How am I supposed to be feeling better?"
"Emotions are weird like that," Jaune replied, not backing down. "Also, I didn't know you were the one who commissioned the closing of the tunnel to Mountain Glenn, Weiss. Nor that you were in charge of the Vale Council that blew off the Headmaster's suggestion to reinforce it. Or were on the team that was supposed to investigate it. You must be very busy."
"What? I'm not…" she started to reply, catching herself. "I know what you're doing, Mister!"
Smugly, he questioned, "And what am I trying to do?"
"You just admitted to it! You're trying to make me feel better!" the Dustcaster accused.
"Is it working?" he challenged.
"…Maybe!" she shot back, before hanging her head. "God, what is my life?"
"Heroic," the Dragon answered.
"That was rhetorical!" the heiress groused. "And, what do you mean?"
"Huntsmen and Huntresses are the modern incarnation of warriors from myth and legend," Jaune explained, easily, as if that was just a… thing. "Maybe not at the lower levels of their capability, but, Weiss, your team took on an entire Grimm Tide head on and not only did you all survive, but you made them run. And yeah, you had to hide out for a bit, but that doesn't make it any less impressive."
And the House of Mercy itself was like something out of a fairy tale, Weiss had to admit, at least internally, even if it did seem like some half-remembered dream, her recollection of Steven the Golden Wolf a little hazy, obviously overshadowed by what came after, but that 'man' was unforgettable.
"Now, my team did the same, but we've already got two mythical figures on our team," he added. At her questioning look, he explained, "My partner is 'The Invincible Girl' and I'm a fuckin' Dragon." Punctuating his point, he blew out a long stream of rainbow flame, that gathered in front of them to burn merrily seemingly on its own, the prismatic light obscuring Vale in the distance. "But I'm sure the rest of you will get on our level soon enough, once we start running missions for real."
"Ex-cuse me?" Weiss objected. "I'm already known!"
Waving dismissively, Jaune argued, "Businesspeople come and go, and unless Jacques really fucks up, no one's going to remember him as more than a footnote in history a couple hundred years from now, but people here still know of Ozlan, the first king of Vale. That's the level we're hitting, as long as we keep going."
Staring at the man, she declared, deadpan, "Never let it be said you don't think highly of yourself."
"Highly of you too," the Faunus corrected.
"What?" the heiress questioned, confused.
"I said we're all hitting that level," he stated, with a smile. "Everyone on our team has the potential to be absolute monsters, power-level wise. See the entire 'fought off a Grimm Tide singlehandedly as Freshman' thing."
Weiss frowned, "You… really think that?"
Rolling his slit-pupil'd eyes, he replied, "No, I'm in the habit of lying to people I like."
"You… like me?" the white-haired girl questioned, which, well, she'd given it some thought, because of course she did, but to have him come right out and say it!
"Of course I do," he replied. "We're teammates. Wait. Not a huge fan of Yang. Even if she's finally pulled her head out of her ass. But, yes, Weiss, I like you."
Feeling a little insecure at that, which was stupid of her, the heiress asked, "Then are you two…" At his blank stare, not taking the hint, she finished, "Are you and Yang getting back together?"
With a snort, the Faunus told her, "Yeah, fuck no. Literally none of the reasons we broke up she's even admitted to, she just stopped trying to ignore the fact that I exist without being rude about it. But, anyways, yeah, we're getting better, and…" he trailed off, staring at Vale in the distance. "You have to know, Weiss, that as bad as you feel about that," the blond waved towards the damaged metropolis, "everyone else on your team feels worse."
"I, what?" the white-haired girl questioned. "Why? I'm the one who wasn't good enough!"
"And what did they do?" Jaune countered.
"Everything they could," she argued. The Faunus didn't say anything, just giving her a look that practically shouted 'And?' "They aren't Dustcasters like I am!"
Nodding, in what she thought was agreement, he instead stated, "Yeah, which is why we're all going to brush up on it until we're good enough that this won't happen again. So, as our resident Dustcasting expert, can you show us the ropes? More than enough to pass Tim's class, we need to get combat capable. We're each going to work on a different type. Is it safe to assume you'd prefer to focus on Ice Dust?"
"I, you, do you know how long it takes to become proficient in Dustcasting?" Weiss demanded. She'd worked for years to develop her talent, and he expected the others to just 'pick it up?'
"I, in fact, have taken a full class in that, and am in the middle of a second one," the Faunus smugly informed her.
Right. Of course. You're taking the same courses, Weiss.But, no, wait! "Then you know how difficult it is to do," she stated in turn. "We can use our Semblances to help get a handle on it, but it's not something you 'brush up' on!"
Unconcerned, Jaune asked, "How long to learn how to do an anti-air burst attack? Nothing more than that one use?"
She wanted to say she didn't know, but she knew that wouldn't work on this, this lummox, so instead warned, "It could take months!"
"Then it takes months," he replied without hesitation, because of course he did. "Tell me, Weiss, if it took months to get better with your Dustcasting, so you could've taken out twice as many Nevermores, buy more time so more people can get to safety, would you?"
"Of course I would! … Oh," Weiss replied, getting his point. And, perhaps, she was in a poor mood, not that you could blame her. The hot chocolate had helped, but she hadn't eaten anything in over twelve hours, and, as the image of Nora suggesting what she could eat was quickly shoved away, she tried to move on, and quickly questioned, "So, everyone is choosing a type of Dust? What's yours, Fire?"
"…No," the Faunus replied, free hand reflexively rising to his scars, before he pulled it back down, and the heiress wished the world would just open up and swallow her, because of course he wouldn't want to use that one, Weiss! "That'd be Yang."
"Of course she is," the Schnee replied, the other girl her opposite in every way. "Then what are you using? Earth?"
"Oh, I'm going with Hard Light," he announced, and she looked at him in disbelief.
"What!? You can't use Dustcasting with Hard Light Dust!" she objected.
He blinked, "Oh? Huh. Learn something new every day. Um, then, maybe Ice as well? If you don't mind."
"I don't, but…" Weiss replied, looking down, trying to remember something that was poking her at the back of her head, like Nora whenever Jaune was cooking and she thought the others were taking too long.
"If it's an issue, I'll go Wind, like Ruby is," he offered.
"No, be quiet," she absently ordered, then realized how that sounded, but, glancing up at the man, he was just waiting, and she filed that away, because she just did not know what could set off her pseudo-team lead, the man taking offense at the oddest things, but then… not.
Back on topic, Weiss, she commanded herself, trying to recall… "That's it!" she announced, snapping her fingers, remembering. "I'm able to use them with my Semblance, and researched it, but, as a new form of Dust, there's no Dustcasting tradition to fall back upon. Atlas Academy has been running experiments, to develop new techniques, but while it harmonizes with a large percentage of Dust-compatible Semblances, and can be used by devices far more easily than other types of Dust, attempts to Dustcast with it have been… inconclusive."
"Inconclusive isn't can't," Jaune noted. "Have you been able to do anything?"
"A barrier, for a moment, but it's incredibly hard to even do that," she warned, then realized what he wasn't getting. "It's possible to cast with that Dust, but Dustcasting is a great deal more than that. There's formation, and imbuement, and, and so much more!"
Lifting a hand to touch her pendant, the one that Jaune and her had created together, she stated, "And, the more I learn about it, the more I realize there's things I just don't know, the information on it… annoyingly contradictory. Doing more with Hard Light Dust than throwing up a basic wall might be impossible, and you'd be better off spending your time learning how to use a different type of Dust."
With a smirk, the Faunus noted, "Eh, I think I've got a Talent for such things. Though, if you could maybe make some calls and see if you could get a copy of some of those studies, I'd appreciate it."
Not pouting at having her opinion ignored, she agreed, after a moment, "… I'll see what I can find."
"I appreciate it," he thanked her, turning back to stare out across the water, his arm, and wing, still around her shoulder, as he'd never removed them, which… wasn't terrible.
"Jaune?" the heiress finally asked.
"Yes Weiss?" the 'Dragon' replied.
"Do you really…" she started to question, wanting to ask if he not just liked her, but liked her liked her, now that he wasn't with Yang. However, she chickened out at the last moment, realizing she'd waited too long, and quickly finished, "think we could become as strong as the First King of Vale? Some of the reports on him went as far as to say he had 'magic powers'!" she scoffed, the lack of proper Atlesian science making researching such claims, and thus disproving them, a massive pain.
Jaune didn't hesitate, answering, "Easily. And as long as we work hard, work smart, and stick together, there's nothing that could stop us, at the end of the day."
That was an… impressive amount of confidence, though, it was in not just him, but her as well, which was… nice. Weiss knew she was amazing, but to have someone else recognize that fact, not because of who her family was, but because of who she was, was something she'd wanted, and the simple, matter-of-fact way he'd stated it somehow made it even more meaningful.
Trying to figure out a way to bring up the subject, she couldn't, so the heiress finally asked, "Jaune, which do you like more, Fire or Ice Dust?"
"Oh, Ice, no contest," he smiled, and she felt her face heat up.
It wasn't exactly a romantic declaration of love, made on one knee, after a proper courtship, and surrounded by Edelweiss artfully arranged into her family's sigil.
But it was a start!
I need a plan, Weiss realized, as, fumbling around, like Ruby, or, worse, 'winging it' like that girl's sister, obviously wasn't the way to do this.
No, the Schnee heiress was the smartest one of either of their teams, so, clearly, instead of being some blushing maiden, she needed to turn her talents towards this goal as well!
Perhaps she could ask Blake for some of her… literature, because, as shameful as such things were, she needed to do research!
And, speaking of, she should talk to Pyrrha!
The Invincible Girl would likely have a better handle on her partner, after all, and, while the Schnee's attempts to get on the same team as the celebrity had… backfired, resulting in her current placement, they were still on the same 'team', in a manner of speaking, which meant the Dustcater's plan was technically a success!
Yes, Weiss thought, nodding to herself,there's no way this will go wrong!
AN: I'm sure things will go exactly as she planned. Yep, totally.
