Chapter 31 – Checkmate
In which Weiss Schnee finally executes her prom proposal to Blake Belladonna.
In hindsight, having this discussion during breakfast was a mistake, if only for the fact that Weiss knew classes were coming immediately thereafter. She really shouldn't have burdened her teammates with this information knowing that they wouldn't have time to process it before having to put up their masks and pretend like they didn't know.
The worst part was that Roman Torchwick, the man in question, was restarting his own lectures this next week. He'd finished his interviews with the first years and was going to be revealing his findings.
"Oh my gods," Blake groaned. "How did you two sit on this information for a full week?"
"We need to…we need to tell someone," Ruby whimpered.
"It wasn't easy," Yang said in response to Blake. "And the whole Weiss-n-me fight thing kind of took up more mental real estate for a while."
"We need to tell Ozpin," Ruby said. Her head swiveled around between her teammates. "Guys?"
"It won't be that easy," Blake pointed out. "We have no real proof."
"But he's a killer!" Ruby hissed, somehow embodying the spirit of the cat more than the literal cat Faunus at the table.
"Voices, ladies," Weiss calmly pointed out. Having had her own internal freakout at the club itself upon learning of this information, she was able to remain far more level-headed about things like unwanted attention.
"He's a killer!" Ruby repeated, softer this time. "We have proof!"
"Proof of what? Proof that a criminal who will appear in a courtroom the day Nevermore grow gills and start deep-sea diving can accuse Roman of vague crimes that he assumes were committed by the professor?"
"The…The…The paladin!"
"Ruby," Weiss breathed. Her partner was getting too worked up about this, both for their own anonymity and for her own mental and physical health.
"Blake's dad said that the paladin was working for him. Atlas, they know!"
"It was my father," Weiss explained. "And he said that Atlas saw a single minute discrepancy and chose to ignore it. Thus, we can logically conclude that three seventeen-year-olds and one fifteen-year-old asking the most powerful military in the world to reopen an investigation will bear not fruit.
"You have to keep in mind, they've probably thoroughly investigated the loss of their machine. This political blunder on their part is humiliating the government. People will question how the leadership, both military and civilian, can be entrusted with their safety if they can't even keep their hands on the tools to protect us. General Ironwood is probably the laughingstock of Atlas. I wouldn't be surprised to learn that Father is throwing a pre-emptive goodbye party in case the general resi–"
Weiss froze midsentence.
No. No, he wouldn't.
H̶e̶ ̶k̶n̶e̶w̶ ̶a̶b̶o̶u̶t̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶p̶a̶l̶a̶d̶i̶n̶.̶ ̶ ̶H̶e̶ ̶k̶n̶e̶w̶ ̶i̶t̶ ̶e̶x̶i̶s̶t̶e̶d̶,̶ ̶h̶e̶ ̶h̶a̶d̶ ̶a̶c̶c̶e̶s̶s̶ ̶t̶o̶ ̶i̶t̶s̶ ̶b̶l̶u̶e̶p̶r̶i̶n̶t̶s̶,̶ ̶a̶n̶d̶ ̶h̶e̶ ̶c̶o̶u̶l̶d̶ ̶h̶a̶v̶e̶ ̶l̶e̶a̶k̶e̶d̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶m̶.̶
No, it would be too risky. If it ever got tied back to him…
Y̶o̶u̶ ̶k̶n̶o̶w̶ ̶h̶e̶ ̶d̶o̶e̶s̶n̶'̶t̶ ̶c̶a̶r̶e̶ ̶a̶b̶o̶u̶t̶ ̶i̶n̶n̶o̶c̶e̶n̶t̶ ̶l̶i̶v̶e̶s̶ ̶l̶o̶s̶t̶,̶ ̶W̶e̶i̶s̶s̶.̶
But why? How would Torchwick, a thief and scoundrel, coming to Beacon benefit him?
T̶o̶r̶c̶h̶w̶i̶c̶k̶'̶s̶ ̶b̶e̶e̶n̶ ̶i̶n̶t̶e̶r̶e̶s̶t̶e̶d̶ ̶i̶n̶ ̶T̶e̶a̶m̶ ̶R̶W̶B̶Y̶ ̶s̶i̶n̶c̶e̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶v̶e̶r̶y̶ ̶b̶e̶g̶i̶n̶n̶i̶n̶g̶.̶ ̶ ̶F̶a̶t̶h̶e̶r̶'̶s̶ ̶f̶i̶n̶a̶l̶l̶y̶ ̶g̶o̶t̶ ̶e̶y̶e̶s̶ ̶o̶n̶ ̶y̶o̶u̶,̶ ̶W̶e̶i̶s̶s̶.̶ ̶ ̶E̶y̶e̶s̶ ̶o̶n̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶p̶r̶i̶z̶e̶.̶
̶A̶s̶s̶u̶m̶i̶n̶g̶,̶ ̶o̶f̶ ̶c̶o̶u̶r̶s̶e̶,̶ ̶t̶h̶a̶t̶ ̶h̶e̶ ̶i̶s̶ ̶i̶n̶v̶o̶l̶v̶e̶d̶.̶
It made more sense than Weiss cared for it to. The big problem was that Torchwick himself was as disreputable as they came. If Father wanted to place a spy in Beacon, there was no reason to select that man.
Also, Blake had spoken to Father, and while she reported the expected heartlessness, he'd shown no signs of distress at Team RWBY being involved in an investigation of Torchwick.
Weiss decided to table the idea for now without airing it out before her teammates. If anything changed, it wasn't like she couldn't just bring it up later.
There's no need to publicly besmirch the Schnee family honor with nothing but suspicions and theories. And that's all this is – my own theory. It makes sense, but without a lick of evidence, I've as much reason to suspect Ghira, or Ruby and Yang's father. I'm probably just projecting my own dislike of Father and his manipulative behavior on the situation.
"Weiss?"
Blake's voice snapped her out of her trance. "Oh, I'm sorry. I was, ahem, distracted by…by your beauty."
"What? Weiss, we're talking about next steps."
Realizing that time had not stood still after she'd frozen up, Weiss dismissed her inane little conjecture and focused.
Next steps. As leader, she was responsible for this.
"We must collect evidence if we are to bring this to Ozpin, the police, or any other authority. As teenagers, our own credibility is only barely above the criminals we wish to accuse."
"So how?" Yang asked.
"Mountain Glenn?" offered Ruby. "You said that Mercury died there or something. Maybe if we fly out, find his body, and bring it to Vale, it would be enough."
"It wouldn't," Weiss said, tapping her forefinger to her temple. "But it might be enough to reopen the investigation if the identity of the pilot who, according to Atlas, seemed to have foreknowledge of Torchwick's victory were called into question."
According to Atlas…you mean according to Father. If he lied to Blake, then there's no telling what –
No. No, I said I wasn't going to do this, and I'm not. I am not.
"Maybe it'll be enough to spook Torchwick," Yang added. "You know, scare him off."
"But we wanna capture him," said her sister.
"Yeah, but right now he's a creepshow in a school full of children. I'd rather he scurry back off to whatever hole he crawled out of than stick around you, sis."
Ruby opened her mouth to retort, but a frown crossed her face, and the words died on her lips. It was another case of how Ruby no longer felt completely at ease with Yang. Had Ruby been about to invoke justice in favor of personal gain or gratification, she might've been thinking that such a comparison would have less of an effect on Yang.
But that's between them.
"As for our immediate next steps, we need to get going to class," Weiss decided for them all. "There's going to be no investigation if our grades slip and we get expelled from Beacon Academy."
In the meantime, Weiss would have to think of a way to justify an excursion to Mountain Glenn. The fallen settlement of Vale was not somewhere that first years typically got to tour on a passing fancy, for reasons that they couldn't explain to any professor or headmaster.
Weiss could barely focus on today's lecture. She was fortunate, then, that it was conducted by none other than the illustrious Professor Peter Port, whose lecture never needed to be focused upon.
"…and then, gripping with both hands, I wrenched the genetically modified Beowolf's antlers clean off and pierced its hide with them. One from the front, one from the back, slip-de-dip, and boom! The hide was cut clean off. It was in that moment that I realized just how long the fight had taken – why it was the season of winter itself! But lo, with the fur from the Grimm I had just tanned, my survival was assured! Using them in conjunction with the bones, I fashioned a crude glider out of parts and used it to fly myself straight off a cliff into an active volcano, sparing me from the cold."
That was simply stellar. Weiss wondered whatever had become of Team Port, if there ever was such a thing. After all, huntsman and huntresses formed teams of four no matter where on the kingdom they were trained, but no adult hunters Weiss had ever spoken to had ever referenced their own teams. None of the professors of Beacon seemed to have any, nor did Winter or her own boss, General Ironwood.
I̶r̶o̶n̶w̶o̶o̶d̶,̶ ̶w̶h̶o̶s̶e̶ ̶d̶i̶s̶g̶r̶a̶c̶e̶ ̶o̶v̶e̶r̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶p̶a̶l̶a̶d̶i̶n̶ ̶b̶e̶n̶e̶f̶i̶t̶s̶ – don't think about it, Weiss.
Mother was said to be an accomplished huntress as well, as exemplified by the crowded pool of summons to which she had access. However, she never spoke of a partner or team either.
It makes me wonder if teams are only a school thing. Are we going to break up and go our separate ways when the end of four years comes around? I mean, I do have my role as heiress to the SDC to think about. We'd surely keep in touch, but it just wouldn't be the same.
Weiss was still dating Blake, and she hoped that that would continue and ultimately lead to…to…to a successful long-term relationship, so it was unlikely that they would all just graduate and scatter immediately. And after four years of studying together as huntresses, Weiss would be keenly tuned to fighting alongside Ruby and Yang as well. To eschew that practice would be a waste of the highest order.
It only makes me wonder even harder as to why all adult huntsmen and huntresses I know all do so.
But I'm getting ahead of myself. Just because others separate doesn't mean I have to, and this is something I'll have years to plan. We're only a few months into our education, still untested in the field. It's no exaggeration to say that thinking out our endgame before we've even had our first mission is jumping the…
"GUN!" Weiss shouted aloud involuntarily, as her brain suddenly snapped into place.
The entire classroom turned to look at her. Weiss blushed ever so slightly, realizing she'd just loudly interrupted an ongoing lecture with a complete non sequitur. No doubt, she'd ruined the flow of the lesson.
"Precisely!" said Port. "Why, Miss Schnee managed to answer the question mere seconds before I even asked it!"
"O-Oh." Well, only a fool looked a gift Nuckelavee in the mouth. "As intended."
"Anyways, as I was saying, I was trapped within the catacombs beneath the volcano, and bereft of map or compass. So I said to myself, I said, 'Peter, you've got to find a way out!' And as Miss Schnee pointed out, there was always my heater. My trust trigger. Old reliable. Or, as Miss Schnee so kindly put it, a goddamned gun. And so, loading up my last bullet, I said my goodbyes to the world one at a time, starting with all of the children I groomed over the years…ah, the list goes on and on…"
Something had clicked in Weiss' head, and the solution to all of her problems suddenly had appeared before her as if by magic. Team RWBY needed a way to get themselves into Mountain Glenn, and commercial bullhead flights wouldn't take them beyond the walls of the kingdom without a license. But the upcoming first missions of all new teams was advertised as such – a time to tour the colonies beyond the kingdoms and see the world out there. If Weiss could find one going to Mountain Glenn, they could easily search for Mercury's remains. In a city where most corpses would be decayed by over a decade of exposure to the elements, a fresh, month-old one would stick out like a sore thumb.
The only drawback would be whichever teacher got assigned to them. Giving a professional huntress or huntsman the slip would probably be challenging.
But not impossible.
"Alright, girl," said Yang, the millisecond class ended. "No one shouts 'gun' in the middle of class…well, except Ruby. Erm, twice. But not you! You thought of something. Spill."
Weiss nodded and shared her theory with the rest of the ladies.
When she was done, she was met with frownier faces than she'd been expecting.
"It's the perfect solution," Weiss proudly said, unsure what the source of the hesitation was. "We could literally have an opportunity to fly out to Mountain Glenn handed to us on a platter."
"Assuming it's even on the mission boards," said Blake.
"But it's so far away!" Ruby said. "We'd be just sitting around on our dummy-thicc bums for a full week and a half. There's no telling what mischief Torchwick could get up to in that kind of time. A week and a half – that's enough time to steal everyone's pens and pencils, or to replace Goodwitch's riding crop with a T-shirt gun, or anything!"
"If you've a better idea, I'm all ears." Weiss realized how adversarial that sounded and rushed to rephrase before Ruby could begin pouting. "What I mean is, our options are limited. Mountain Glenn isn't normally accessible, and expeditions there can be separated by periods of months or even years. To have one when we need it, mere days away? I'd call that luck."
"Assuming, you know, there is a first-year mission there," Blake repeated.
"Of course," Weiss said, but her heart was full of hope. Luck had smiled upon her at the establishment of The Club, excluding the whole drenched-in-her-own-blood bit, and she just had a good feeling that it would extend to this first mission as well.
"Think of it as a week-long vacation," Weiss offered. Now that Team RWBY was done with its flagrant infighting, they could finally just sit back and relax. Prom was coming up, and Weiss still needed to do something about asking Blake out.
I've actually got a decent idea about how to do that, and I've started ordering some generic arts and crafts supplies, but I'm going to need help. Either Ruby or Yang…probably Ruby would be better.
"I don't like it," groused Ruby. Of the four of them, she was probably the most idealistic and least grounded. She'd expected justice to occur if they approached Ozpin about Torchwick without evidence, solely on the basis that it would be just. Weiss doubted she would be able to just take a break while an evil-doer lurked at her beloved school.
Blake and I are used to evil existing in the world and us being unable to do anything about it. No Faunus can bury their head in the sand about all of the hatred directed towards our species, except that White Fang ostrich woman, and she was already weird.
"But I guess you're right about us not having another other choices." Ruby forced a smile. "I'm sorry if I sound ungrateful, Weiss. It is a good idea; I'm just never been all that comfortable having to wait."
It made sense; her semblance was super-speed, so waiting around for time to pass didn't sit well with Ruby.
"If we're all in agreement, then?"
Three heads nodded, and Weiss' made four.
"Excellent. Now, if I could please speak with Ruby alone for a minute." Weiss coughed. "It's about our upcoming tutoring session in the topic of Dust Safety."
"Tutoring? But I thought you said that I was good enough in –"
"Ruby." Weiss couldn't wink (that would be too transparent), but she hoped that her tone and slightly raised eyebrows would be enough to convey to Ruby not to cause a scene here. "It will only take a moment."
"Oh, o-okay, I guess."
Weiss nodded. "Blake, Yang. I'll see you both later."
When they were alone, Weiss explained the truth to Ruby.
"I couldn't ask in front of Blake, but I need your help making my formal prom-proposal to her. If you'd be willing, that is."
"Ooh! That sounds like fun! How can I help?"
Weiss outlined her plans to Ruby, taking care to slowly go through the entire description of each and every step. What she had in mind was decently complicated, and it wouldn't do for Ruby to have a poor understanding of it at any juncture.
"A-Are you sure, Weiss?" Ruby had asked when Weiss finished. "I dunno, it just seems like there're a lot of things that could go wrong."
"If we both play our parts, everything should fall into place."
"Okay, Weiss. If you say so."
"Blake! Blake, come quick! It's Weiss!"
Ruby suddenly bursting through their dorm room was not what Blake had been expecting, but she had been expecting something after that ludicrous display. Seriously, though, Weiss was supposed to be less blatant than that.
"What is it?" Blake asked innocently, playing along for as long as she could. If Weiss wanted to do a bamboozle, it would be her own boozes that would get bambled. Or whatever.
"It's Weiss, she's hurt, and it's real bad! Blake, she needs you to come over and hear her dying words before she dies!"
Okay, that explained it. Weiss probably had set up a decent little practical joke for the proposal, but Ruby's inability to deceive was bogging her down. Well, they said that the best way to approach a trap you knew was a trap was to spring it, so Blake just followed a pretend-frantic Ruby out the door.
The pair of huntresses-in-training ran all the way to an empty classroom that was in a building only one away from the dormitories. At least Weiss had the decency to not sustain grievous bodily harm somewhere that required Blake to run a long distance.
Ruby burst through the doors of the classroom. Inside, there was a figure in a Beacon overshirt and skirt lying down on her side, without even fake blood or internal organs to sell the deception. Seriously, Weiss had kinda cheaped out for this one.
"Blake, it's horrible! Weiss is dying!"
Blake couldn't help but grin ever so slightly. "Dying to ask me to the prom?"
"Whuh…buh…h-how did…I-I mean –"
"It's okay, Ruby," Blake reassured. "I think it's kinda obvious that Weiss didn't just randomly sustain life-threatening injuries out of the blue, especially after that little exchange you two had after class. We're days away from prom, and she just 'dies?' Yeah, uh, no. Nice try, though – A for effort. Up and at'em, Weiss!"
Blake prodded Weiss' corpse, and it rolled over onto its back.
"Heya babygirl," said the masculine voice of Jaune Arc, coming from the utterly unattractive face of Jaune Arc's smolder. "Wanna sex?"
"Sweet mother of all fuck!" Blake screamed, nearly kicking him on impulse. "What the hell?"
"Yeah, uh, no." Ruby broke out into a fit of giggles. "I may be garbage at sneaky stuff, but Weiss isn't, and she's the one who planned this. She even guessed that you'd guess the pun. I think she knows you pretty well."
"B-B-But…"
"We figured you'd be so sure of yourself that you'd barely spare me a second glance," said Jaune Arc, the 'corpse' dressed in a Beacon's schoolgirl uniform and wearing a long white wig. "I owe Weiss for a lot of things – back when I had my head superglued to my butt, she gave me the kick in the pants to dislodge it – so I figured I could do her this one solid. Not my first time in a schoolgirl uniform, though." The bastard had the audacity to follow that up with a wink.
Ruby opened up the door of the classroom and nodded out across the hallway. "The real Weiss is waiting with a bunch of rose petals from my semblance and other romantic jazz one room over, just across the hall from us." Ruby shot Blake finger guns with a grin that had no malice but every drop of smugness that the harmless girl could muster. "Go easy on her, tiger. Uh, shit, I mean –"
"It's fine, kiddo." Blake wasn't offended by a common turn of phrase. It was only when her trait was uniquely singled out that she got upset, and even then, it bothered Weiss more (mainly because of the seagull-swan business). "I guess I owe you an apology. You played your part perfectly Ruby."
That got Blake a mock salute. "Always happy to help out the happy couple. I'll see you around."
Blake stepped out of the room into the hallway, shutting the door behind her. She had to admit, Weiss had perfectly anticipated her. It had been fairly transparent bait, in hindsight, and Blake had been so sure that she had seen through it that she fell for it.
The room of the real proposal was directly opposite the one Ruby had taken Blake into, and its window had frosted glass – the kind where Blake could peek through if she got close enough without it being too obvious that she was looking through. Thus, just to be entirely safe, she had a quick glance.
Inside was Weiss Schnee, dressed in the same schoolgirl uniform as Arc had been, though she certainly wore it a lot better. Blake actually waited until she saw Weiss' face, just to be sure. She was pacing back and forth and biting at her nails from either nerves or excitement. As Ruby had said, the ground was covered in a scattered sprinkling of rose petals, but there was so much more than 'romantic jazz.'
Weiss had really gone all out. The walls were decorated in velvet ribbons hanging down in low droops from the ceiling, and there was even a checkered salt-and-pepper balloon arch filling the back of the room. There was a thick cardstock poster lying flat on one of the desks, but Blake decided to not read out what she assumed was a romantic message, lest she spoil the surprise; she could tell that it was in cursive, though. Blake could see Yang with her scroll out in the corner, filming the entire thing as she said some goofy thing that Blake couldn't lipread to Weiss. Whatever she said seemed to multiply Weiss' nervousness by a factor of ten, for her pacing increased in speed for a moment, and she began to fiddle with the balloon arch.
Blake pulled back from the window and briefly double-checked her appearance for camera-readiness.
She's probably worried herself sick. I shouldn't drag this out. I mean, it's not like I'd say no or something. Weiss' sign could read 'Hey bitch, wanna fuck?' and I'd still tick the box saying yes. Honestly, though, that would actually be pretty funny in an ironic way, given how uptight proper old Weiss can always be.
No time like the present.
Blake grabbed the handle of the door and twisted, letting herself in. "Hey there, beautiful. You really got me back there."
Weiss, her back turned to Blake as she made last-minute adjustments to the balloon arch, stiffened suddenly. It was actually kind of sweet how much she cared about this.
Closing the distance behind them, Blake smiled at Yang, who gave her a thumbs up from behind the recording scroll.
"Well, I think I'm thoroughly romanticated," Blake said in a sultry voice. "So, you got something to ask me? I think you probably already know my answer."
Weiss turned around.
"You…You fuuucker!" Blake screamed at Jaune Arc in the same goddamned wig and uniform.
"Damn babe, someone's thirsty," he said, wiggling his brows. "Don't worry, gurl. There's plenty of Arc to go around."
"How…"
"Speed semblance," said Ruby, who Blake hadn't even noticed hiding behind the back of the door she'd entered through. "Speed semblance, backdoors in both rooms, and some excellent timing, if I do say so myself."
"Okay, I'm done. I surrender." Blake raised her hands and twirled around an imaginary white flag. "Where's the real Weiss? Is she hiding in one of the balloons in the balloon arch or something? Or will that just be another Jaune fake-out?"
"I'm here," said that familiar voice that Blake just loved to hear.
Weiss rose from behind the teacher's podium where she'd hidden. Blake sighed a deep sigh of relief at seeing her face and not Arc's ugly mug.
She'd asked for an over-the-top proposal, and Weiss had delivered. For a while, Blake had worried that this vacation from their duties of investigating Torchwick might be boring, but if this was what Weiss could pull off with an afternoon of planning and a little help from around the team and their next-door neighbors, there was no need for concern.
Weiss walked towards Blake in a perfectly practiced stride, her hands clasped together and lightly resting in front of her stomach. Blake couldn't help the stray thought of the image slightly resembling a bride walking down the aisle at a wedding ceremony from popping into her brain unannounced. It was far too early to be thinking of such things, but…she still smiled, just the same.
Then, Weiss stopped. Her trajectory changed as she made a hairpin turn. Blake's confusion was quickly resolved as Weiss picked up the cardstock poster and lifted it up. The handwriting was immaculate, and it was in the finest cursive that could've been mistaken for calligraphy. At long last, Blake read the perfectly spelled message of flawless grammar that Weiss had written to ask her out to prom.
Hello, bitch. Do you want to fuck?
"But…But…But…how did you…" Blake put her hands on her head in dismay. "...I never even said it aloud!"
Weiss just smiled.
"I take it that means she guessed it somehow?" Ruby said from behind. "Well, I said it before, and I'll say it again: Weiss knows you pretty well, Blake."
Next Chapter: She is the Dancing Schnee, Only 17
In which I, the author, categorically refuse to title a chapter Enabler for any reason.
Author's Notes
In, like, ten years or whatever, when I've finally gotten to the bottom of my outlined drafts, the 'Nevermore growing gills' reference will make much more sense.
We've finally received a possible explanation for what Torchwick is after. But is it Weiss projecting, or did she hit the nail on the head? The fic is titled after Jacques, but we know I do so love me some red herrings...
This is as far as we go in 2024. Expect more come next year.
Happy rats, and don't do crime!