Author's Notes

The story will be on pause until January due to me and stuff, so I'll be posting two chapters this weekend, one after the other, to make up for it.

Happy rats, and don't do crime!

Chapter 29 – Bumbleby

In which Yang Xiao-Long and Blake Belladonna do some magical spellcasting bullshit or something. I'm not really sure.

After the unnerving but quite productive meeting with the man who Blake couldn't and didn't want to get a good read on, she reunited with Ruby.

"Anything good?" Blake was asked by the nervous girl.

"I'm not sure I can say that, but nothing particularly bad happened." Blake had just been questioned with some things that hit a little too close to home for comfort. "But you heard what I did about the paladin; it's more or less proof that Torchwick was in cahoots with Black."

"Proof that Atlas command knows about and is ignoring," Ruby griped bitterly.

"But they haven't met Torchwick and seen how slimy he is in person."

"He's not…" Ruby looked away before she could defend her former crush. "Sorry."

"It's cool, kiddo. What he did really hit you hard, didn't it?"

"Oh, yeah, I guess I never told you." Ruby placed her hands behind her head as she and Blake walked towards the elevators down to the base level. It had gotten dark, but according to Yang's description of the little club where her ex-pimp worked, it didn't open until later, so Weiss would probably still be out in the city.

The two cross-partner teams were planning to meet up when their individual assignments finished, but it was starting to look like they were going to have to wait until tomorrow morning to do so. All four of them would surely be intensely curious about what the other found, but Blake didn't exactly relish the thought of a 2am evidence-sharing session.

The girls got into the elevator and headed straight down. Now that the CCT was closer to closing, fewer rooms were filled, and it was starting to look like a ghost call-center. The was Blake's first visit to the Valean one, and it was rather eerie after dark.

"I told him I had a crush," Ruby said at long last. "And he let me down hard."

Blake grimaced. While Ruby had probably dodged a bullet, even the concept of rejection made Blake cringe. She was lucky to have fallen for her childhood friend, which was almost a guaranteed shoe-in for romantic success, but Ruby had chosen the one man who couldn't be more wrong. Age, ethical alignment, student-teacher relationship – Torchwick wasn't the guy for her.

"I guess I won't need these," Ruby said, handing Blake a small plastic bottle of some sort. "You might as well have them."

Blake reflexively took the item, not entirely sure what it was supposed to be. Lifting it up to the light, she read the label.

"Ro…what? Ruby, what is this?"

"It's date rape drugs," Ruby explained. "I was planning on using them on Torchwick, but I suppose that ship has sailed." She let out a forlorn sigh. "Best they don't go to waste, I suppose."

Unsure of whether she was missing some critical context that explained this all away as some innocent gesture, Blake just pocketed the bottle and tried to look away as they traversed the many levels of the CCT in awkward silence.

At the ground floor, Blake stretched out her arms and legs and breathed in some of the cool night air. She had been indoors, cooped up in line and in that tiny room for far too long, and it felt good to stretch her legs.

"Hey," Ruby said, her face illuminated by the bright blue and yellow light of her scroll. "You wanna walk over to the bullheads and see if Weiss 'n' Yang are back? It's getting late."

There was no reason to expect that their friends would just happen to show up the same time they did, but Blake suspected that Ruby, like her, was up for a walk to stretch her legs. "I'm down."

They took the scenic route, if only to extend the time spent outdoors. The image of the castle of Beacon shrouded by the darkness of the night made it look like a scene straight out of a medieval fairytale. So many of the books she read had fair maidens, brave knights, trapped princesses, and courageous champions confined to such locations, and seeing one in real life gave Blake mixed feelings. On the one hand, it was a majestic sight that no other kingdom in the world could boast. But on the other, she'd built up a mental image of what those castles looked like, and no matter how artistic the fading light of the sky was as it illuminated the spires of Beacon, it wasn't what Blake had dreamed of for all those years. Better or worse, a small part of her felt saddened that the image she'd built up in her head wasn't what a fanciful moonlit castle actually looked like.

Blake was proud of her Faunus trait, but a small part of her wished she might've been able to trade with Weiss, as every instinct within her body desired to ascend like a bird into the sky. There was no smog or light pollution from the city to disguise the night, and it was so clear. The crispness of the black color called to Blake like a siren, daring her to melt away into the sparkling stars.

Poor Ruby – she was so glued to her scroll that she missed out on the picturesque scene of beauty before her. Blake truly pitied those who were addicted to technology and missed out. It was why she stuck to paper books and skipped out on e-Readers or other technology. The risk of addiction to alluring electronics was simply too much.

"Um. Blake."

"Yeah?" It took effort to tear her eyes away from the sky, but Blake managed to do so. "Is everything okay?"

"I got a message from Weiss. She says she's okay, and she's just boarded an airship for Beacon."

"Okay," Blake said, unsure of why Ruby was saying it in such a stilted way. Probably the ol' social awkwardness rearing its unfortunate head.

She hadn't really been expecting them to synchronize with the other girls and meet them, but she supposed that if Weiss was headed back, they could just wait at the airship landing platform and wait to greet her in person.

"Blake, it's, uh, it's really weird, though. She typed out that she's okay, but she's stressing it so much that I'm not sure everything is okay."

"May I see?"

Ruby handed Blake the device to read.

Weiss: Yang and I have finished in Vale and are heading home. I'll be heading back to our dorm, and I would like to use the washroom right away. The Club was rather filthy, and I need to clean off, so please leave it available for me when I return. I want to reassure you that I'm okay. There's no need to worry, as I am completely fine, just a little out of sorts. As such, I ask that you avert your eyes to my improper state until I am washed. Again, I am entirely okay.

Blake had to hand it to Weiss: she was just as articulate when she texted as when she talked. No emojis, no emoticons, no abbreviations – the damn paragraph was probably spell-checked.

"Yeah, something's fucky. Let's ambush Weiss at the dock and see for ourselves."

"You sure?" asked Ruby. "She said she doesn't want us to…to…to see her." It was such an odd request that even Ruby wasn't on board, and it showed.

"We'll let her use the bathroom if she wants, but something's fishy."

Ruby's eyes nearly popped out of her head. "What if she cheated on you with a dog Faunus and she smells like dog?"

"I somehow don't think it's that. This is Weiss we're talking about, refuses-to-be-touched-by-anyone-she-doesn't-personally-know Weiss."

"What if puberty happened and she's covered in zits, making her so ugly that you'd break up with her on the spot?"

"Again, that simply sounds unlikely. Weiss knows I'm not so superficial, and I've never heard of acne breakouts that appear in less than a single day."

Ruby's little theories were bonkers, but a small ball of worry began to accumulate in Blake's chest as she tried and failed to consider what rational alternative there was for why Weiss would be so cagey with her request. After all, if she had a reason to want something weird like that, she would surely be willing to share it with Blake of all people?

"What if her clothes got stolen at The Club and she's naked and that's why she doesn't want us to look?"

"If her clothes were stolen, she would buy some in Vale. And besides, Yang would just lend h–"

Yang.

Oh, that…

Calm down, Blake. You can't go about blaming her before you even know it's something she did.

But if she did hurt a hair on Weiss' head, I'm going to kill her. I'll…I'll…I'll gouge her eyes out with a goddamned pen and feed them to the Grimm. No, I'll challenge her to a fight in Goodwitch's class, just like she did with Weiss, and I'll tear out that stupid hair of hers and see how she likes having it shoved down her own –

Blake forced herself to look up into the calming sight of the stars and cosmos above her. She was heading down a dark path with those thoughts, quite possibly the same one Yang had gone down when she'd hurt Weiss. If she chose to lower herself to Yang's level and lash out for her own gratification, she'd be no better than the barbaric blonde, and Weiss would never be able to look at Blake the same.

I need to be better. It's like I said to Ruby – a huntress shouldn't have to try to be kind and compassionate.

If Yang had hurt a hair on Weiss' head, then Blake would do it right, even if it didn't make her gut feel as good. She would report it to the professors of Beacon, see Yang expelled once and for all, and tell Mom and Dad so that they could fix this and enact measures and rewrite policies to stop any other young Faunus from having to suffer as Weiss had. The world wouldn't be made better if Blake put more pain and punishment into it, but it always could make use of another smart choice done to help others.

It probably wasn't Yang, the more Blake thought about it. Yang had explicitly been warned that any harm she did would easily be traced back to her, and she clearly wanted to hold onto her Beacon career. There was next to no chance that she would lose her shit and do something to harm Weiss in this scenario where she would be the sole suspect. Dust, she'd even joked about being obliged to protect Weiss as a bodyguard.

And she knows that hurting Weiss hurts Ruby. Say what you will about Yang, but she does it all for her sister.

They arrived at the bullheads before Weiss and Yang did, as one would expect. The Faunus and human at Beacon had been walking across campus to the airship yard, a short jaunt, whereas the pain down in Vale had been making the long flight up the hill to the school.

To distract herself from worrying about Weiss, Blake played a little I-spy with Ruby, hoping to get her to appreciate the scenery that she'd ignored before. Ruby was clearly worried about Weiss' cryptic message as well, and she needed to keep her mind off heavier things just the same.

When the airship finally sailed through the clear sky into view, it somehow only made Blake feel even more frightened. Now that the moment of truth was drawing nearer, the unease in her stomach was only growing. Her brain rushed to churn out as many horror stories as it possibly could at the last minute – Weiss had been stabbed, she'd been assaulted by a creep, she'd had her drink drugged, she'd lost a limb.

It's okay. If she were hurt, she wouldn't have sent such a mundane message. Yang's hands are tied, and she couldn't have hurt Weiss.

The ship landed, and Blake had to step on her foot with the other to prevent it from tapping against the floor. As the ramp lowered, Blake bit her tongue and shaped her lips into the best smile she could muster.

"Heya, chicken w–"

The pet name died on her lips.

Weiss was covered in blood.

All of the unlikely horror stories that Blake had crafted were suddenly steamrolled by the reality that was so much worse than all of them combined. Weiss, bloodily murdered and dying in Blake's arms – it was the literal worst case scenario, the bad ending that Blake had been dreading at the back of her head.

She couldn't help but scream. The blood was simply everywhere, making Weiss look like a living corpse. It had spread across both of her legs and all of her skirt, and the mixed patches of red and white on her tops only somehow served to make it look even more morbid. Weiss' hair had stuck together in large bundles that resembled Grimm claws sticking out of her ponytail due to the volume of dried blood covering her…her everything.

"Blake? What are you…Blake, I'm okay! It's all dried, and my aura is up again, and all of the wounds are closed!"

Weiss' frantic words did nothing to quell the sheer horror of Blake's screams. She was never going to unsee this image that had come straight out of her worst nightmares. No other fears, not dogs, not Grimm, not breakups, not even death itself coming to claim her, could ever come close to the image filling her very eyes right now.

"Blake, can I hold you? Blake? Blake? Okay, I'm going to touch you, Blake. I'm fine. I'm right here, and I'm fine. It was just breaks in the skin on my arms and back from….it was just the skin breaking and bleeding, no internal damage. I checked."

The red specter wearing Weiss' face came closer to Blake, and as much as she wanted to keep screaming, some of her sense returned to her. Weiss was speaking and moving, meaning she wasn't dead. The words her girlfriend spoke finally registered in Blake's brain around the time Weiss' body got too close to be holistically seen as they held hands.

"You're…You're okay?"

"I am," Weiss said. "I was…injured, but it was only superficial. When my aura came back up, it closed the wounds, so now I'm fine, just lightheaded. I wasn't expecting you to be here, or I would have cleaned up before disembarking. I'm okay, Blake, even if I look a mess."

"Sure?"

Weiss nodded. "Yes, I'm sure. I'd hug you, except I don't wish to soil your outfit."

Well, that explained why Weiss was hesitant to let Blake see her until she'd showered.

"Ruby, are you alright?" Weiss asked, turning her head to the side.

The shivering little Rose nodded. "Yup. I'm fine. Finarino. A-okay with the, uh, b-blood. Just trying not to…uh, I'm gonna sit down real quick."

Ruby's weak knees buckled, and she practically collapsed down into a cross-legged position on the ground. Blake might've been more horrified by Weiss' deathlike appearance, but that didn't mean Ruby was unshaken by it all.

Blake continued to squeeze Weiss' palm tightly, as though to feel her warmth and reassure herself that she had a pulse. "How did you even get hurt?"

There was the sound of smacking lips, and Blake suddenly remembered that Weiss hadn't been alone.

In spite of her promises to take the high road back when this all had been theoretical, the sight of Weiss Schnee's motherfucking actual blood staining Blake's goddamned bitch of a partner's hands was too much. She went straight for Gambol Shroud, and Gambol Shroud went straight for the throat.

Yang didn't even try to block the attack. Her aura protected her, and this stupid fucking vicious whore that called itself a person's semblance was probably powering up from Blake's very attacks, but Blake was too far lost to her own murderous rage to even consider stopping. All of her extensive years of training alongside Weiss at the Schnee Manor and the Belladonna Estate under prestigious tutors was lost, and her variable ballistic chain scythe was reduced to a baseball bat to wail upon the animal that had hurt her Weiss.

"I'll kill you! I'll kill you, you bitch!"

"Blake," Weiss spoke. "Stop."

There was force in Weiss' voice. It wasn't a desperate plea for mercy; this had been an command, and the power with which it was said was enough to actually stop Blake.

"Weiss, she –"

"I know," Weiss said. "I was there."

"Then why are you –"

"Because I ordered her to."

Blake had no idea what that was supposed to mean. Weiss had ordered Yang, who seemed to have a new vendetta against her every other day, to assault her? There was no way that it could be true, and Weiss had all too often covered up Yang's wrongdoings out of a misplaced sense of team-centric cooperation.

"Weiss, that can't be true."

Yang opened her mouth. "It's n–"

"Shut it!" Blake demanded, snapping her neck towards Yang.

Yang complied.

"I didn't verbally order her to," Weiss admitted. "But it was my intent for her to snap, and I used words that I knew would make her. This was my choice, Blake, and it was what fixed it. What fixed us. Talking things out was never going to be enough, so I decided invoke actions."

Stupid, stupid self-sacrificing Schnee! Did she never think these things through?

"You're mad," Weiss pointed out incredibly astutely. "And I get that. But what happened between Yang and me was by my design, and I will not see her ostracized for it. You don't have to like her, but I forbid you from blaming her over something I did."

"Weiss, I fucked up," said the dumb blonde bitch who was two seconds away from being filled up with a magazine-full of Dust. "You may have pushed me, but everything that actually happened was on me. I'm a huntress, not a child, and I need to be held responsible for my actions."

Blake, still staring at Weiss, pointed to Yang, for once agreeing with her. Come on, Schnee! Don't play the self-sacrificing idiot, not now!

"No," said Weiss. "You are a child, Yang. Just like how Ruby was too dependent on you to figure out how to take care of herself, you were too stunted by focusing on her to develop your own self-control and proper common sense. You always put her in the right and the rest of the world in the wrong out of necessity, and now you're finally learning to overcome that. It may be late, but you've learned, and that is what truly matters. It is my responsibility to aid you in this endeavor as much as it is to aid Ruby in…hey, where is Ruby?"

Blake looked left and right, but her tagalong seemed to have disappeared.

"She must've run off," Weiss suggested.

"Shit," Yang cursed. "She's probably royally pissed at me."

"You deserve it," Blake reprimanded.

"Yeah," Yang weakly eked out. "I guess I do."

Blake nearly bit off her own tongue from how tightly her teeth clenched. "But…I won't harangue you. Because of Weiss, not because of you."

It went against every fiber of her being to not chew out her partner for the rest of the night, but things had changed. That much was true. Blake didn't know Yang well enough to recognize whatever internal problem she was supposed to have fixed, but Weiss was different now. She no longer looked at Yang with the same lingering fear that had been there in the back of her mind since their spar.

Weiss, in spite of her grisly appearance, was still the same person Blake could read like one of her books, and she was telling the truth about having 'fixed' Yang. Blake didn't believe a person could be so miraculously repaired over the course of a single night, but Weiss was a worker of miracles. Just as her very birth had defied all paradigms Blake held true, her leadership was something special.

This team of theirs, the four girls of Team RWBY, had never meant to be grouped together. Since the beginning of the year, everyone had known that they were meant to fail. Heads butted, tempers raged, harsh words had flown, and even fists were raised. But now, they were…

We're friends. All four of us are friends, and it's because of Weiss.

Blake gritted her teeth.

Yang is my…my friend.

"I'll let this one slide…partner." The word tasted like poison, but just like the acceptance of the Faunus by humans, nothing was going to get better if people didn't set aside old hatreds and come together.

Besides, much more importantly than anything to do with Yang, Blake had promised Weiss her full support – twice now, as a matter of fact. If Blake decided that 'full support' meant support only when she agreed with Weiss' word as leader, her promise meant nothing. Unconditional love by definition had no limits or requirements.

I want to hurt Yang; it's all I want, right now. I would wring her throat if I could. But it's not about Yang. Weiss is my guiding star, and she's now Yang's as well, apparently. I'll trust her at her word because it's her who said it. Yang could make me a monster if I let her, so I'd much rather have Weiss make me a huntress.

"But you better prove that you're good now," Blake tacked on, furious at Yang. She'd promised no aggressive reprisal for tonight's events, not to like this bit…this girl. "No more bullshit!"

Yang choked a little bit as she swallowed. "No more bullshit. I swear."

"Ahem!"

All three heads turned to the sound of a new speaker interrupting their private conversation.

"I'm not sure I'll like the answer I may receive," said Headmaster Ozpin, accompanied on one side by Professor Goodwitch and the other by Ruby Rose. "But I'm afraid I'm going to have to ask we're all up so late, and also why Miss Schnee is coated in what appears to be dried blood."

"Witchcraft," said Weiss impulsively in the spur of the moment, without skipping a beat.

"Witchcraft?" asked Ozpin, raising an eyebrow.

"Witchcraft," she confirmed, rubbing a hand through the bloodied locks of her ponytail. "It's menstrual blood. For the spell."

In hindsight, it was probably the worst answer she could've gone with, but it was too late to back out now. Weiss had to commit.

"The spell." Ozpin did not sound amused. "Elaborate?"

"My family is descended from witches," Weiss explained, not exactly sure what she was even saying anymore. "It's believed that our semblance is hereditary because of an ancient pagan ritual that keep us in touch with the…in tune with the planet and the stars."

"It's a Faunus thing," Blake added, putting emphasis on the F̶a̶u̶n̶u̶s̶ ̶c̶a̶r̶d̶ word Faunus. "We wouldn't' expect humans to have heard of it." Weiss breathed out a sigh of relief, pleased to see that Blake was helping cover for her.

"And why are we performing this in the middle of the night at the bullhead docks?" inquired Goodwitch.

"Gotta be done during a full moon?" Yang tried.

Ozpin looked up. "The moon's been shattered since the dawn of history."

"That it is, headmaster, that it is. I guess I'm shit at astrology," Weiss said. "My goof, then."

"Sir, we're going to have to a-ask you to leave," Blake said, a slight hitch in her voice from nerves. "Men cannot bear witness to our coven's arcane spellcasting. It's forbidden."

"According to the ancient texts," Yang added, sweat dripping down her forehead. "The Ars GoSchneetia."

"Mm-hmm. This certain makes much more sense than the exceedingly complicated explanation that Ms. Xiao-Long has been fighting with Ms. Schnee again." Goodwitch's deadpan tone was so dry, it could have been mistaken for Vacuo. "You three dabbling in witchcraft."

"I'm glad you agree," said Weiss.

She glanced at Ruby quickly, just to gauge whether to be expecting resistance or aid from her partner. All she got was a glower before Ruby turned her narrowed eyes and frowning mouth away.

"Well, don't let us interrupt," said the headmaster, brushing his hands. "Go on with the spell. I shall depart, but Miss Goodwitch will supervise your rites, being a witch herself. It's in her surname, you see."

"I'm sure I'll be amazed by your magicks," Goodwitch declared. "Though if they are not up to snuff, we may have to engage in some private training sessions with just you three during my detention hours. But there is no need to feel any pressure, as I'm sure you three are accomplished witches, mages, and/or druids." She folded her arms and adjusted her spectacles with raised eyebrows. "Please. Cast the spell."

Damn it. Weiss had really backed them into a corner with this witchcraft bullshit. Well, if they humiliated themselves enough, then hopefully Goodwitch would consider it punishment enough and spare them of their potential detention sessions.

As long as we don't admit the truth, they can't get us for anything.

"Very well. Let us begin the ceremony. Sister Xiao-Long, as the newest padawan of our coven, would you like to begin the traditional chant?"

Since Yang had truly been the cause of this colossal cockup, Weiss figured that it was only fair she put in the work to bail them out of it.

"Yep. Yep, yes, that is what I'll do." Yang nodded up and down, paused, then nodded up and down again. "Here I go."

Weiss hadn't been expecting an acting performance at the level of Spruce Willis himself, but she would've preferred it if Yang had put more effort in than just making up nonsensical mumbo-jumbo and gutturally grunting it out like the words were stored in her throat.

"Bam hurger, bam hurger bam hurger bam. Beese churger, beese churger, beese churger. Mig bac, mig bac, mig bac. Ppo-wher. Bam hurger, beese churger –"

"And so!" Weiss loudly interrupted, before it could get any worse. "On this night, Sept…October 3rd, the holiest eve of the Mantlean calendar, we, the…the RWBY coven, congregate to cast our most sacred spell. Let us five witches stand in the five-pointed star and summon forth the revenant spirit of my Schnee ancestors, so that they may bless my esteemed lineage and curse all enemies mine."

Goodwitch had somehow not broken out into a mad fit of cackling at their stupid antics (which would have actually somehow fit the theme of it all), and Weiss had to commend her stoicism as she wordlessly played along, no doubt willing to watch Weiss dig the hole deeper and deeper. But putting down the shovel would be admitting defeat, and Schnee never admitted defeat.

Weiss reached out a hand to Blake. "Give me the totem, Sister Belladonna."

Blake, the only one among them armed with a pointed blade that Weiss could use, seemed to understand and handed off Gambol Shroud, cringing as Weiss hummed rhythmically upon receiving the sword.

"Schnee ancestors – I bid thee return!"

Weiss threw her pride into the wind and summoned a large Glyph at the center of the 'coven' using her girlfriend's sword. It was a snowflake, but this particular one was rather weak due to her lack of practice with the weapon and had only five points. Weiss had to admit, it did look mighty nice lighting up the bullhead docks.

"Now, we must render ourselves skyclad," said Yang, reaching for her belt. "Let us all –"

"No," Goodwitch declared authoritatively.

"And so it is decided that our sacrosanct robes, imbibed with the light of a senior witch and blessed by Grandmistress Goodwitch of the…of the Goodwitch Coven, shan't interfere with the spell." Blake touched a finger to her forehead and hummed. "Blessed be."

"To the positions, sisters."

The three willing participants, one unwilling teacher, and one unreadable Ruby all took up their places on the five points of Weiss' Schnee snowflake.

"Spirits and shades, apparitions and eidolons, phantoms and pneuma. I, High Priestess Weiss Schnee of the RWBY Coven, bind thee to my will!"

Weiss shouted the last part with some vigor, splaying out her wings, and she had no doubt that any who could hear it from the dorms of the school would no doubt be mocking her from here back to Mantle come tomorrow.

Of course, nothing happened. No ghosts of Schnees past came forth from the night sky to…Weiss honestly wasn't sure if she was trying to commune with them for power or bring them back to life. She'd kind of forgotten what she'd originally said this spell was supposed to do.

Or was it Blake who said what the spell was for?

Goodwitch placed her hands behind her back and clasped her palms. "Now, then. Precisely when is this spell suppo–"

A humungous white sword composed of spectral light shot straight out of the Glyph, piercing the night sky.

Weiss and the other four 'witches' fell backwards in alarm, not one among them having actually expected anything to come of the nonsensical chants and vaguely pagan iconography. The most surprised one was probably Weiss, though, as it was her own Glyph from which the sword had appeared as if by…

…magic?

It was nothing short of a miracle as a familiar suit of armor pulled itself from the nothingness of the Glyph on the ground and came into existence. This armor, however, was not a random suit. It just so happened to been a Schnee family heirloom that had been passed down from Nicholas to Weiss' father, who had used it most recently for possession by a Geist as Weiss' final exam to prove her worthiness to leave home.

It's the Arma Gigas, the one I destroyed. It's a Summoned Grimm.

Kneeling before Weiss as though expecting a command, the armor stood still, sword in hand.

…the armor emblazoned with the Schnee snowflake crest on its breastplate and the backhand of both gauntlet, that was.

Weiss couldn't help but let a smile spread out across her face. Tonight was some fucking night, wasn't it? Yang was finally cooperative, Weiss had learned how to summon by accident, and to top it off, she and her 'coven' were victorious.

"Mighty Schnee of old, I thank you for your cooperation. May you bless me and bathe me in your holy aura."

The Arma Gigas was Weiss', and it instinctively obeyed what she wished it to do, even if what she said was more or less rubbish. Rising to its full height, which was probably around twenty feet above the ground, it raised its sword up, blade first, and then slowly lowered it down. The blade stopped just as it brushed against Weiss' hair with literally perfect accuracy, as this Summon was merely an extension of Weiss' own will.

Letting go of the feeling that made this Glyph (and also committing it to memory for future use), Weiss allowed the apparition to cease, and it slowly faded away into lurid white smoke and a tornado of snowflakes.

Weiss was so pleased with herself, and even biting down on her tongue wasn't enough to keep the wicked grin off her face as she turned to address a still downed Goodwitch.

"The spell was a success, ma'am. My powers are now multiplied, and our coven has completed its first communal ritual. I take it this shall be enough to satisfy you?" Even though she'd been the one to ask the question, Weiss herself nodded to answer it. "Please give my regards to the headmaster, and thank him for the generous use of the airship dock's space to cast."

The existence of summons were not well-known information globally, as most people didn't care enough about the rich Schnee family to research its pool of powers. Weiss herself had never used them before, so no one in Vale short of Blake had ever even heard the word before.

To Goodwitch, who thought she knew Weiss' semblance in-depth, this sudden development must've seemed like a defiance against all logic. To her, it must've looked like whatever ritual they had just performed had actually worked.

Weiss let out a little air from her mouth and shivered slightly, both from excitement and the cold temperature around her. "Witches of the RWBY Coven, our work here is done. Let us away, and into the night sky."

Yes, in spite of the fact that Weiss was currently bathed in her own blood, tonight had been a good night.

Next Chapter: Whiterose

In which Ruby Rose is upset with Weiss Schnee, and no one can say why.

Author's Notes

Just a little silliness to offset the doom and gloom, or the drama and glama if you prefer.

Happy rats, and don't do crime!