Chapter 27 – Freezerburn

In which Weiss Schnee and Yang Xiao-Long have a night on the town.

The Club was the kind of place that Weiss would never have visited in a million years if her father had his way, and she found herself agreeing with his views in this instance. The bright explosions of light that seemed to rain down from the ceiling in inherently chaotic showers, the DJ's booth that must have housed a heavily addicted drug user in order to play such crass filth and call it music, the less than stellar clientele such a foundation attracted – all points against, and nothing to be seen in its favor for miles. Even the color scheme was offensive to the eyes.

"Let's go, Yang," Weiss said, not wanting to spend another minute in here now that the junior have given them the information that they needed.

"Hold up," Yang called, loudly slurping on her beverage. "Wanna finish my drink."

As much as Weiss desired to vacate the premises and ideally bath in disinfectant (and get checked for STDs after merely breathing in the air), she could think of no valid way to do so. The cups were glass and thus had to be returned, meaning Yang couldn't take her strawberry sunrise with her. At least she hadn't requested alcohol; Weiss might have had to put her foot down if that transpired.

However, Yang seemed to be in no rush. Every now and again she sipped, but there was no sense of urgency in the way she casually sucked. Her eyes wandered about the room, seemingly expressing great interest in all of the things Weiss so thoroughly despised. In that sense, Weiss supposed, the math did track.

"Would you like to stay, Yang?" Weiss offered. Something told her the answer was going to be yes.

"Heck yeah!" Yang shrilled. "I'll meet you back at Beacon, Schnee."

Weiss nodded. "Don't be too late, and try not to cause…"

Weiss looked around. This was Yang she was talking about, so there was practically no chance of hernotcausing some manner of trouble. Furthermore, it had only been Weiss' calming influence and numerous bribes and/or namedrops that had kept Yang from running into problems with the staff so far.

"On second thought, I'll stick around," Weiss announced. "To keep an eye on you."

"The atmosphere finally got to you, eh?"

It had not. When the atmosphere of this place got to here, Weiss would clutch her throat and gasp for the clean, fresh air of the outside world, only to expire from the cloud of vaporized sweat, pungent alcoholic scent, and generally pervasive human excretion aroma.

"I won't stay for too long," Yang promised, picking up her drink and stepping into the crowd. "But I did kinda like the idea of coming here, and we were the first ones through the door. It seems like a shame to not capitalize on that."

It wasn't long before Yang was gone, mixed into the masses of writhing bodies that could barely be described as dancing. Dancing was a series of elegant patterns to be repeated in perfect maneuvers by only the greatest practitioners in a finer setting, such as a ballroom or other specialized zone. What Weiss saw here were beached fish flailing about on an entirely flat stage.

Most of the walls were grayscale, but to Weiss' utter dismay, the shades of gray never went down to pure white, her own favorite color. The business side of her did have to appreciate that this cacophony of lights and sounds that assaulted the senses managed to reel in such large crowds; regardless of her personal beliefs on its appearance, the management of this place had to be doing something right if it was so successful.

Perhaps the people are friendlier here than other places, even if they aren't so well groomed.

"Hello," Weiss politely said to a young woman who was seated next to her at the bar.

There were a few seconds as the woman's eyes focused in on Weiss after crossing several times.

"My name is Weiss. It's a pleasure to meet you."

"Can you shuck mah digggggck?" slurred the woman. "Pleez?"

Welp, it wasn't the people then.

The drinks?

Weiss looked over towards the junior, several stools down on the other side of the bar. He spat into a cup, then began to polish it with the same scummy rag from before.

Okay. I suppose I no longer need to wonder what hell looks like now that I've seen the inside of this place.

Out of nowhere, someone stumbled right onto Weiss' lap, grasping a shoulder of hers with one hand. Before Weiss could even get a look at the person, they were already gripping the bar and pulling themselves in the other direction away from her, leaving Weiss with nothing but confusion, discomfort, and a small volume of sweat in the form of a handprint.

Weiss looked at her shoulder again. Against her better judgment, she sniffed it.

It wasn't sweat.

Her eyes jumped back to the disoriented fool of a patron who was now crawling on all fours towards the bathroom and leaving behind a small yellow trail.

Weiss stood up.

I think it's time I headed home. I'll let Yang know so she doesn't worry, but I can bear this place no longer. It's unlikely she'll get into trouble if I don't babysit her, and besides, it's our time off. Keeping her on the straight and narrow is no longer my responsibility.

The truth was that Weiss' sense of self-preservation overrode the desire to care for Yang, but that sounded far less noble.

Weiss looked out towards the dance floor, hoping to get a glimpse of that distinct head of blonde hair, but there were just too many moving bodies, and she was at too poor an angle to see the entire room.

"Yang! Yang, where are you?!" Weiss hollered, but the volume of the room overpowered her delicate voice.

There is no way I'm going into that ocean of gyration. I'd rather swallow my rapier.

Maybe if she could get to one of the catwalks that lined the place, she'd have a better view to pinpoint Yang's location from above…except all of the catwalks were closed off with signs that said 'Employees Only.' Weiss' name had weight, but not that much weight.

Although, there is another way for me to gain altitude.

But that was stupid. She'd draw attention to herself like a cat at a dogpark. If she openly flew about inside an enclosed space, the papers would be reporting on her choice to attend such a venue before tomorrow morning.

Except these people are all too inebriated to make sense of their own faces, let alone a bird Faunus. I'm in my casual clothes, and the strobe lights would call my identity into question. And there's nothing strictly improper about me coming here. Perhaps Father would condemn it, but that would require him to pick up a scroll and call me, and he's not done so in the entire month I've been at Beacon.

It was decided then. Weiss took a few steps back towards a more secluded corner of the room, spread out her wings, and flapped.

Rising straight up was an ungainly procedure, as not even real birds tended to do such an effort intensive action. However, there was no chance of getting a running start, and gliding with such a small distance ahead of her was simply dangerous. Weiss had to flap like a madfaunus, but the height above the ground it gained her was just enough to pick out some distinctively golden lock.

Gotcha!

Now that she had what she needed, Weiss dropped back down to the ground…and onto someone.

"Mrrrhuuhhr."

"Oh my goodness, I am so sorry!"

"Heh. Hehh! Flying bitches…saw up your skirt right to your cooch…tight little girl…heeeeh."

The barely conscious man on the ground was clearly spouting nonsense, for Weiss' privates were covered by her underwear and an interior pair of shorts to prevent uncouth individuals like him from ever catching such a view, but the fact that a fully grown human being had chosen to get so inebriated that he was sprawled out across the floor only spoke to how horrendous this place was. Weiss wanted to depart doubly so now.

Stepping away from the man and what she now realized was a puddle of vomit in which the back of his head lay, Weiss made a beeline for Yang. Her wings tucked in as close as they could, and she wrapped her arms around her body to avoid unwanted physical contact, but several thrusting individuals' torsos slammed against hers several times. Weiss ignored it as best she could and kept moving.

"Yang!" she called out when her teammate came into view.

"Oh, Weiss. I was just looking for you."

She hadn't been, but Weiss couldn't care less at this point. "Yang, I think I've had my fill of this 'The Club.' I'm going to leave. You may stay if you wish."

"Awww, c'mon. Five more minutes, mom?"

Weiss shook her head. "I'm leaving, but as I said, you may –"

"Nah, it'd be a dick move to make you walk home alone."

Weiss felt her lips begin to tug upwards. "Yang…that is truly kind of –"

"I could just imagine – poor, lonely, socially deprived Weiss, all alone with entirely bereft of the gift of Yang. That'd be downright cruel."

"Of course," Weiss drawled. "Let's just go."

If there was one sight within this accursed club that Weiss could look upon with true joy in her heart, it was the exit. She'd memorized where it was the very moment she'd come in, not out of grotesque disgust but simply a huntress' innate sixth sense to always have an escape plan. Should the worst come to worst, Weiss could easily need to beat a hasty retreat, and receiving a piss shoulder was easily the worst. How did that even happen?

Bodily fluids aside, this had been an actually successful venture. They left knowing much more about Roman Torchwick than they had when they arrived, Yang had gotten her night on the town, and the two girls had completed a mission together without everything going awry.

Perhaps Yang isn't so bad when she's on my side. She certainly conducted herself amicably tonight. Maybe if I were to –

The thought was cut off by a thot…rather, by two thots. To call their dresses low hanging was an insult to the word low, and had either of them found themselves flying above a drunk as Weiss had earlier, he would have gotten the eyeful he claimed. Dust, Weiss was at eye-level with them, and she could practically see the tops of their thighs.

The women were clearly identical sisters, or at least they took very great pains to appear visually similar. One was dressed in a faux fur coat and the other boasted a feather boa that made Weiss itchy just by seeing it. And on top of that, they parked themselves right in Weiss and Yang's path.

"Excuse me. We're just leaving."

Weiss waited for them to make way, but they didn't.

"Excuse me.I said, we're just –"

"Yeah, we heard you the first time," said Miss White Fur.

"We both have working ears," said Lady Feather Boa.

"Excellent," Weiss proclaimed. "Then please allow us to pass."

"Melanie, this girl is being so incredibly rude right now. She's askingusto move so thatshecan go?"

"You're so right it hurts, Miltia. She should be the one to go around."

Any semblance of politeness disappeared at that. Both teenagers appeared to be similar in age to Weiss herself, and they both spoke clearer than a crystal of Hard Light Dust. This was not a pair of drunkards too unaware of themselves to know they were in the way; this had been planned.

"So rude…although I suppose it makes sense given the company she keeps."

Weiss heard a growl escape Yang's lips. "Get the fuck out of our way before we make you."

That was right. Yang knew these people from before, when she'd tried to get her money back. This could get ugly if they were looking for vengeance.

"Gods, they don't have an ounce of manners between them," said Feather Boa.

"Ladies, if you don't let us leave, I'm going to have to involve The Club's security," Weiss said.

"Uh, Schnee…"

White Fur's hand shot up to cover her mouth as it twisted like a snake into a wry grin. "Oh, she really is a dumb one."

"Little lady, we are The Club's security."

"And it seems like two problem children are causing a ruckus…I'd hate to have to report them to their parents…"

Weiss could have almost laughed at that last line. It was clearly meant to come across as humiliating, to be reduced to an infant, but the mention of Father nearly sent her into a fit of hysterics as she imagined him grumbling and promising punishment like a normal parent as two teenaged bouncers listed off Weiss' wrongdoings. The image alone was enough to break the tension in Weiss' body.

"That's fine, then. I'll just revoke the favor I owe the junior about Torchwick."

"It's Junior," said White Fur. "Not the jun– wait, did you say…"

"Oh, of course," Weiss said. "He and I negotiated a mutually beneficial business arrangement after he endangered himself by revealing all of Roman Torchwick's secrets to us. It's a shame to hear that I'm going to have to renege on our deal after it was only just struck." Weiss shrugged. "That's the shame of not getting it in writing."

Apparently, the name-drop of Torchwick did the trick. Weiss had a feeling that if these two children were employees for such an establishment, they were at least tangentially aware of the dangers that Torchwick posed and would react as such.

And react they did. The grins were immediately dropped, with scowls taking their places, but no further provocative words were uttered. While they didn't move out of the way, neither protested or acted to block Weiss when she deftly slipped past them. As much as she despised having to go out of her way for these two harpies, she would rather just be done with this entire club.

The cowed twin's smirks had apparently transferred into Yang, for she was smiling like the Beowolf that ate the juvenile Nevermore as they left. Weiss even though she saw Yang twinkle her fingers in a short wave goodbye, though she couldn't be sure. It just as easily could have been Yang folding up her fingers to shove into her pocket.

"…get bent, sweetheart," breathed Feather Boa as they left. She shook her head, and both of the sisters disappeared into the crowd.

Honestly, as insults go, they need to try harder next time.

"Sweetheart?" Yang seethed. "Sweetheart?! That fucking bitch! Weiss, Imma go whoop her butt. You can wait outside if you want."

What? What?! After all that, aftereverythingWeiss had done to get them out of here safely and conflict-free, Yang wanted to turn around and start a fight? Weiss didn't hesitate to let her know how bad of an idea that was.

"Yang, who cares what they call us? Let's not denigrate ourselves by starting a shouting match in a nightclub."

"Oh, I ain't gonna shout," Yang said. The braces on her fists deployed into full-on gauntlets, and she took a step forward. "This won't take long."

"Yang, stop!" Weiss rapidly maneuvered herself to take a step between Yang and the crowd. "What are you doing?"

"As I said. I'll kick their asses, and then we'll leave." She shrugged. "If it bothers you, I can do my best to leave the club still standing at the end."

"Have you lost your mind?" Weiss hissed. "There're civilians all around us, and you're talking about starting a fight? It's too dangerous!"

"So what, I'm supposed to let them get away with it?"

"Get away withwhat? Calling you a silly name? Yang, this is…"

This was…it was…

Fuck me. I wasn't expecting us to hash this out here, in public of all places, but it wasn't exactly my choice.

"Yang, this is disproportionate response."

Yang tried to slide past Weiss, but Weiss moved her entire body to block Yang.

"You need to stop before you do something you'll regret."

Yang continued to try to get past Weiss, who was equally devoted to not letting her. "The only thing I regret is not stomping them both the first time I came here, but they've given me a great chance to –"

"No, they haven't! Yang, they called you sweetheart! That's hardly an inconvenience, let alone an excuse to wail on them."

"Let me through, Weiss," Yang's head was stuck in a raised position, and she was craning her neck to try and see where the two girls had gone. "I can take 'em!"

"Yes!" Weiss yelled. "Yes! You probably can, Yang! And that's the problem!"

For the first time, Yang looked down and seemed to see Weiss standing there, and she realized that this was about.

"Weiss…"

"I'm your leader, and I refuse to see you maim the innocent and destroy yourself in the process."

Yang gestured with a thumb over her shoulder to the exit. "Then go wait outside. And I'd hardly call them innocent."

"But they are! All they did was use words, and you're preparing to use force. That's too much, Yang. You're a huntress; your body is a lethal weapon, and you have a responsibility to treat it as such. I forbid you from harming them."

"So they can just say whatever they want and get away with it?" Yang said, angrily motioning with her hands towards the crowd. "How the hell's that fair?"

"It's fair because they have a right to run their mouth. Vale is a free kingdom, and it's not like you were harmed by what they said."

"Weiss, they were looking for a fight."

"But they stopped once I defused it, and now you're letting them goad you into a new one. Use your head, Yang – you're helping them by hitting first. If they go to the police, then you'd be the instigator."

"Not many sober witnesses." Yang placed a hand on a nearby dancing drunkard, who responded to her touch by leaning forward and trying to kiss her, thus proving her point. She blocked it with Ember Celica and shoved him away. "Who's to say that I hit first?"

"I would say," Weiss resolutely declared.

And it was with those three words that Weiss found herself facing off against Yang Xiao-Long yet again.

There were no overt movements defined by aggression, but Yang clearly looked at Weiss differently. The fear of something like this had been waning in Weiss ever since their first fight, but it existed within her just the same until this very moment when it erupted like a dormant volcano.

Weiss hadn't packed her weapon, but she refused to back down. The twin sisters may have been reprehensible slatterns, but they were people just the same, and Weiss would defend them to the very end from what was sure to be grievous bodily harm regardless. Even if it cost Weiss everything, in every possible way.

At the very least, Yang didn't immediately resort to violence, though Weiss could tell it was certainly on the table. "Weiss, you're siding with those bitches over your own teammate."

"No, Yang. I'm doing my best to use reason to prevent you from making a tragic mistake. If we as huntresses are to use our weapons, it can only be justified by life-threatening danger to ourselves or others. Not petty vengeance."

No one around them seemed to realize that this was some sort of climactic showdown between two huntresses locked in a month-long spiral of words and weapons. The ignorant masses continued to dance their ways around the funnily-dressed women, one of whom had silly-looking gloves.

Again, Weiss truly despised this scene for the mere ridiculousness of being surrounded on all sides by random strangers, but this could wait no longer, not when Yang was apparently content to use her fists in response to trivial verbal barbs.

"Tell me, Yang, are you going to use violence every time someone irks you?" Weiss questioned. "Will you be the huntress who punches people in the face when they insult her?"

Yang nodded. "Seems fair to me. Talk shit, get hit. Or if you'd prefer, fuck around, find out. You may not hear these things in your upper crust floating island, but down here in the real world, you gotta abide by the rules. The real rules. Or you don't make it."

"And where does it end? Will you respond to harsh looks with force next? Are you going to clobber a toddler when he calls you gross? You're being unreasonable, Yang."

"No, Weiss, you're being unreasonable by making up scenarios where I'm an asshole and you're right that have nothing to do with what's actually happened. I'm not beating up kids, and I don't knock someone's lights out when they look at me wrong. What's that, a skimming slope?"

"Slippery slope," Weiss corrected automatically. "But that's not the point. Who are you to decide what's deserving of physical violence? Or rather, who's deserving of physical violence?"

"Weiss, you made Ruby cry," Yang reminded her. "That was pretty fucked up."

Weiss sucked in a breath.Forgive me, Blake, for I must eschew your good advice of not being an idiot.

"Ruby Rose," Weiss said, keeping a straight face somehow, "is a dumb whore who's too retarded to figure out how to make her own friends or do her own schoolwork without just stealing both of yours."

It hurt Weiss on an emotional level to have to say such vile,foulthings about a sweet girl who'd never done Weiss wrong (well, never done Weiss wrong post-initiation), but Ruby was Yang's greatest temper trigger. If Yang were ever to truly grow as a person, she was going to have to be able to hear insults to Ruby without rushing in to defend her honor. Protecting one's sister was all well and good, but using her fists to do so as a first resort was not.

"Does that make you mad?" goaded Weiss with a sneer. The answer was very clearly yes, for Yang was practically panting with rage.

"You…You…grrrrruh!"

If their raised voices hadn't yet made the audience of drunks aware of their quarrel, the flickering sparks of flame in Yang's hair were. A small circle had formed around them, as though this were some ruffian's street fight.

Weiss dropped the unpleasant look on her face. "Then fucking get over yourself, Yang! Grow up! You're not a child in the schoolyard roughing up bullies. You're an adult who's being trained on how to fight with potentially lethal ability, and you're Beacon's best. You're dangerous, and you're only going to get more dangerous, but if you keep wielding your power like a rabid animal, you'll end up being even more of a threat than the Grimm you're supposed to stop!"

"Take it back!" Yang shouted.

Weiss flared her wings and held her arms straight out to the sides, baring her unprotected chest to Yang. "Go ahead and make me."

The fight was ended in one punch.

They were lucky that the crowd had slightly cleared out around them, because Weiss went flying, and not because of her wings this time. Her limp body shot through the air, leaving behind sprinkling fragments of the dissipating light of a broken aura.

It had shattered entirely from the single punch that she'd let Yang land on her, but Weiss survived that without injury. However, the lack of aura left her entirely undefended as she continued to sail through the air and collide with a wall far behind her. Weiss felt the full impact with no shielding.

The music and strobe lights slowly declined until they were no more, and for a second Weiss wondered if she were losing consciousness. However, when the dancing all but entirely stopped, Weiss realized that whoever controlled the acoustics and ambience had elected to turn off all effects when they saw a teenager get launched.

She still had the strength to pick herself up from off the ground, not realizing the several outstretched hands were offering her aid until she was already up. Taking a moment to assess the damage, Weiss ignored the deep taste of blood that seemed to run all the way from the tip of her tongue down to the base of her throat and looked herself over.

There was no exterior damage aside from decent amounts of blood seeping out of somewhere. It was impossible to tell where, as the patches of red were too large to pinpoint the source. Nothing felt missing from her face when she touched her head all over to check, and in spite of an aching pain in her neck from the whiplash of her landing, she felt no aching in her head.

It doesn't feel concussed. I don't think I was. I guess I should be glad my wings are okay this time.

There was now complete silence from both the residents and the audio equipment of The Club, and everyone seemed to be looking directly at Weiss. It was a feeling Weiss was used to, having performed several concerts that forcibly placed her at the center of attention.

Weiss attempted to take a step forward, but the puddle of blood in which she was standing made her foot slip slightly, and she ended up stumbling forward. All of the people in the audience fearfully backed away rather than lending her a hand, and Weiss landed on her knees.

Itwasa lot of blood, Weiss admitted, so her frightful appearance would reasonably appalled them. The entire right half of her bolero jacket was coated in it, and her dress was soaked through at this point. Parts of her face felt sticky, and both hands were coated after having been run over her face to check for broken bits.

It hurt, on a physical level. But only on a physical level. Whereas Weiss has been torn apart in so many ways last time, this injury was weaker. It caused her greater pain, but the nature of the pain she something could manage.

I'm still here. I'm not going to come apart. I'm Weiss Schnee.

In some ways, Weiss considered this an evening of the scores. Yang had won their last fight, but Weiss felt like a victor right now.

"Weiss."

The single voice that was courageous enough to speak was, of course, the only person in the entire club who knew her well enough to call her by her first name: Yang.

"Weiss."

"Yes?" Weiss asked.

Weiss wasn't sure. After the heavy hit she'd taken and the copious blood loss, Weiss expected she should be feeling much worse, or at least numb if her nerves were damages. Instead, she just felt like she was slightly sore.

I think I simply split my skin from the impact, but I lacked the momentum for internal organ damage. Though I probably ought to see a doctorjust to be absolutely sure.

"Weiss."

Yang cryptically repeating Weiss' name was starting to get rather ominous at this point. If she was going to finish her off, Weiss would rather she just did so.

"Weiss."

The crowd parted as Weiss wordlessly walked through it and in the direction of Yang's disembodied voice. She could see the tip of her blonde head above the ocean of other colors, but Yang herself was just out of view.

The pain kicked in as Weiss walked, and it truly was bad, but not so much that Weiss couldn't just bear it. If anything, the absence of pain was more concerning that the rather mediocre level of it.

Weiss finally made her way to Yang, stepping past the final few patrons who stood in her way. Yang was standing upright, her hands held out in front of her stomach and trembling. Weiss noticed that they were bloody.

That's odd. I'm bleeding profusely, no doubt, but it was from my skin shearing when I collided with the wall. My aura insulated me from Yang's hit itself, so there should be no blood.

"Weiss."

Something caught her eye from Yang's hand, and she leaned in to get a better look. When Weiss saw a fragment of her own eye looking back at her, she realized what it was.

The mirror I was going to give Blake…I stored it in my breast pocket. When Yang punched me, it shattered, embedding some shards from the force of the hit alone.

Out of curiosity, Weiss pulled up her shirt slightly, briefly forgetting propriety and the number of eyes on her as she exposed her chest. Sure enough, several fragments of glass had lacerated her bosom in multiple spots, though none of them had pierced deep enough to endanger Weiss' heart.

It wasn't from the punch; I landed on my stomach after the collision, and the shards were floating about in my shirt.

"Weiss."

"Yes, Yang?"

Weiss looked up to see that Yang was still staring down at her hands.

"I broke your mirror," Yang said. "I broke your mirror."

"Fuck me sideways, are you okay?" shouted a gruff voice.

Weiss looked to the side to see that the junior had abandoned his post at the bar and run up to them. The audience hadn't parted for him as it did for Weiss, so he'd had to push people out of the way physically.

"Schnee?" he said. "You still alive?"

Weiss nodded. "I'm fine. Apologies for the mess; I'm sure you have a janitor to fix it up." She looked back and saw that the damage to the infrastructure of The Club itself was minimal. "If you need to be reimbursed for any structural damages, bill the SDC."

Grabbing a catatonic Yang by the scruff of her cravat, Weiss hauled her teammate out of the dingy club and finally breathed in a fresh breath of night air. The bouncers and entrance attendant who'd let her in were still on duty, utterly unaware of the literal bloodshed that had taken place within the soundproofed building, but they (along with the entire line) did a double-take when they saw a pristine heiress only tainted by the blood that covered more than half of her body.

It was dried at this point, and Weiss would've liked to wash it off as soon as possible, but she was through with Vale for the day. Beacon, where Blake and Ruby awaited, was her home, and she wasn't going to rest until she was on a bullhead departing for the academy.

To avoid any unwanted attention, Weiss flew herself and Yang up to one of the rooftops, exerting great energy to get up there. It was worth it, though, when the sound of sirens filled her ears down below.

Yang would probably be arrested if they caught her. She'd surely lose her place at Beacon.

The assailant in question was entirely speechless this time around. Before, she'd pounded Weiss with a smile on her face and defended her actions after the fact, but right now, all she could do was look at her blood-soaked hands in shock every now and again.

It was easier to get from rooftop to rooftop than it had been getting from the ground up. Weiss could simply clutch Yang to herself and do an awkward hop-skipping motion that she'd seen real birds use. Her wings flapped to give her enough extra lift to remain airborne until there was solid tile or shingle beneath her feet.

Fragments of moon now filled the sky, and Weiss' scroll indicated it was well past midnight when she checked it, but she refused to stop for rest. Beacon was the only safe place, and her team was the only safe people. Nothing couldn't wait until they'd buckled their seatbelts on the airship.

"I broke your mirror, Weiss."

"It's okay, Yang," Weiss grunted, exerting herself slightly as the weight of propping up her companion started to wear her down. She hadn't gone down to 0% in a while, and she'd forgotten just how weak her unenhanced body was without aura. "I can buy a new one."

"It was so nice," Yang weakly replied. "The one you got was so nice. N.R. Brand – that's designer. You tested it and the other one at every angle and stared into them while pantomiming putting on make-up to test how it would feel. I thought the one you bought had such a nice pattern along the outer rim. It was so thoughtful."

Weiss couldn't say anything, as she was too focused on not losing her footing to speak. The only building that could take them in the direction of the Beacon bullhead landing area was rather sloped, meaning that Weiss could only walk directly along the center path.

"It was a kind gift for Blake," Yang repeated, letting Weiss lead her along by the hand. "You're a kind person, in everything you do. And I hit you because I…because…I don't even know why."

Yang suddenly stopped walking. The change in cadence nearly cost Weiss her balance and sent her tumbling down.

"I'm wrong, aren't I? I've been the wrong one this entire time."

Mindlessly replying with an affirmative answer, an accusation, or an acceptance of what Weiss deciphered as Yang's apology felt too empty, so Weiss simply held her tongue. If Yang had figured it out for herself, then she could be the only one to speak.

Before, back during their spar, Weiss had been a mere acquaintance, someone Yang could discount as a bully without having gotten to know her, but Yang had viciously smacked someone who was basically her friend this time. With the benefit of a cooler head, she had no doubt seen that Weiss' obviously false condemnation of Ruby was obviously false, and that she'd basically let her temper get the better of her. Hopefully, it was the full realization that she needed to be more judicious with her fists, not just some partial one.

I just hope this is finally the time she gets it. I'm not sure I'll survive if we need to keep doing this.

Yang looked down to Weiss' fingers, which had wrapped around Yang's wrist. Weiss let go, assuming that it was what Yang wanted, and the two girls tiptoed along the top of the building towards the edge.

Weiss had finally rejected Ozpin's belief that the students themselves had to be the ones to suffer in order to learn from their mistakes. This had been an obvious lesson, and Weiss had been the one to suffer so Yang could learn it. It was both her duty and her pleasure as a leader to bleed for the team so that they didn't have to.

When they arrived, the leap was far too great for a terrestrially-limited human being to make it in one jump. Weiss knew she would need to carry Yang, or at least boost her, in order to get across.

Yang seemed to recognize it too and held out a hand.

"May I?" Yang asked softly.

In that moment, Weiss was absolutely sure with every fiber of her being that she wasn't going to be having any problems with Yang ever again.

She nodded at Yang. "You may."

Next Chapter: Ladybug

In which Blake Belladonna and Ruby Rose visit the CCT and hit up the most powerful CEO in the world.

Author's Notes

'Freezerburn - In which Weiss Schnee and Yang Xiao-Long have a night on the town.'

Get it? Because they're ON the town? Jumping from building to building? G-Get it?Ah, RatCrimes, you're really outdone yourself this time, you stupid lump of cow shit.

We've been building up to this one for a long time, and it's finally here, and I know for a fact that it won't satisfy everyone. In fact, it may not satisfy anyone. But I wrote it, and it is what it is.

To be clear, this is the end of the bad blood between Weiss and Yang, but what happened is not going to just poof away in a flash of smoke. Weiss is still visibly injured by Yang's hand, and no one is going to just forget what Yang has done. Especially not a certain someone who's awaiting their return in Beacon. What's changed this chapter is that Yang's realized she's wrong, for real this time.

Happy rats, and don't do crime!