Author's Notes

Welcome back, in the new year. Jacques Schnee's B- Parenting and Job Security will now resume posting on their usual schedules.

Happy rats, and don't do crime!

Chapter 32 – She is the Dancing Schnee, Only 17

In which I, the author, categorically refuse to title a chapter Enabler for any reason.

The night of prom rolled around sooner than anyone on Team RWBY truly expected. They'd all been so intently focused on either exposing Torchwick or getting past the plethora of issues that popped up their heads one after another.

Ruby and Yang had worked together to host it, but when the actual night of the event arrived, only one of them was needed to host the event. Therefore, Yang manned the door, and Ruby was thrown into the deep end to socialize.

"I should be the person working," she'd tried to protest to Yang, and when that failed, to Weiss.

"It'll be a good chance for you to talk to new people," Yang had said, with Weiss nodding along. "This is the one time of year when you get to just walk up to anyone you want and ask for a dance. It's societal convention-mandated socialization. You don't even need to think of an excuse to talk. Hell, you don't even need to talk."

"Unaccompanied gentlemen will fight tooth and nail for a chance to dance with you," Weiss went on. "But there will be teachers watching the ballroom for funny business, so if you stay within their line of sight, there won't be anything truly untoward."

"But…I don't wanna!"

"Sorry, Ruby," Blake said. "You can always come back to me and Weiss and interrupt our perfect night if you get overwhelmed."

Ruby let out a little whine at the thought of forcing herself between Weiss and Blake. She could do so in theory, but it would overwhelm her with guilt if she so much as tried it. Truly, her hands were tied.

"I don't have a dress," the fifteen-year-old tried as a last resort.

"I know," Weiss said, procuring a parcel she'd purchased preemptively. "Which is why I had one sent for."

"I-It might not fit?"

Weiss smiled and handed Ruby the box (or rather she thrust it into Ruby's unwilling arms). "Or it might."

The quartet arrived first at the auditorium that had been converted into a makeshift ballroom, and Weiss had to hand it to the Rose sisters – they'd done a good job. The entire theater was cleared out, and in place of chairs and other furniture was an array of lighting fixtures, speaker systems, and decorations. There didn't appear to be a theme to the dance beyond 'Party,' but that was the fault of the school for not furnishing them with the proper resources. Still, Yang and Ruby had set up what they did have in a very well-coordinated manner – the lights were equidistant around the edges of the walls, the flowers and banners were all well-placed in blank spots on the walls that diverted attention from the fact that this room was otherwise a drab and plain space.

"You've outdone yourself," Weiss complimented. Yang beamed at the praise, and Ruby's cheeks reddened a bit.

"Aw, shucks." Her eyes lifted upwards slightly. "Enough to earn trading places with Yang?"

"No," Weiss declared.

"Rats."

As Yang needed to be the first person there in order to let in the entrants, the team had accompanied her in a show of solidarity, and their reward was getting the ballroom all to themselves. Ruby made a beeline for the refreshments (probably good that she get her punch now before it was spiked), while Weiss offered out a hand to Blake.

"Care for the first dance of the evening?"

"Weiss and Blake, kissing in a tree. K-I-S-S-I…wait, it was supposed to be sitting in a tree, wasn't it?"

They had only smooched on the lips once at the end of a slow dance to no music, and that was all it took for Ruby's impish behavior to take over and fail spectacularly at taunting them. Weiss and Blake just rolled their eyes and kept dancing with one another.

The room had only just begun to fill up, but it was exclusively with partnered couples and the professor who were in attendance as chaperones, meaning that this function had yet to truly begin. Ruby had clued Weiss in on the selected music playlist (not exclusively The Achieve-Men as Yang might have wished), and it was going to be a varied night. There were pop songs to lift up the beat, techno-dance music to electrify the scene, slow songs interspersed throughout to give the couples a romantic moment or two, and even the odd movie theme music thrown in to satisfy Ruby's lust for 'epicness.' All in all, it sounded like it might be fun.

Weiss had normally attended concerts where she herself provided the entertainment, and anything else was a stoic, prim and proper meeting between people who were too important to enjoy themselves. Music wasn't strictly banned in Atlas, but it was considered an indulgence, and rich folks with too much judgment to pass around and no enough empathy tended to look on overindulgence with disdain. In short, this was Weiss' first party.

I did get to attend Menagerian parties, but only the ones deemed by Father to fit with the image of the narrative we wished to portray – us taking part in our Faunus heritage – and even then I was given restriction on how I could participate and to what degree.

This was also Weiss' second true date with Blake. That alone made it a special night.

Ruby abandoned teasing them the very second Jaune entered, and Weiss might have suspected her partner had moved on from Torchwick and developed a crush on a new huntsman if not for the fact that Ruby didn't seem all that bothered by the fact that Jaune was a) arm in arm with Pyrrha Nikos herself, and b) wearing the same dress as Pyrrha Nikos herself.

I swear to the Gods, if my comedic proposal inspired some sort of awakening inside of Arc…

Weiss just smiled and shook her head. Arc seemed happy enough in spite of his poor-fitting vestments, and if he liked to crossdress, it was his life to live. Ruby didn't seem bothered by the fact that Arc and Nikos were apparently partners, so Weiss had no reason to hold ill will.

I'd better just focus on my own date.

"They really did do a good job," Blake repeated, her eyes peering about the room. Now that the prom proper had finally started, the room lights were dimmed, and the lights that Ruby and Yang had set up were revealed to be some snazzy disco-ball style projection systems that truly amplified the antique-futuristic theme.

"I concur."

Weiss and Blake both spun around to see that they had been approached by both Roman Torchwick and…

"General." Weiss lowered her eyes, making sure to keep her appearance respectful. It was difficult to not react with rage in the direction of the man who represented the last true bastion of human chauvinism. "I wasn't aware you were in Vale."

"Miss Schnee. Your father sends his regards. It's always a pleasure to –"

"And Miss Belladonna," Weiss pointedly interrupted, clutching her date closer to her. "Miss Schnee and Miss Belladonna. My girlfriend."

"Ah. Misses Schnee and Belladonna, then. My apologies."

While Weiss herself sometimes got a pass among the more intolerant communities due to her human father and presumed 'purer blood' compared to someone like Blake, she was just as much Faunus as her. Weiss would be accepted or rejected in equal quantities by any and all, regardless of how many shiny brass medals the speaker had awarded himself.

"My arrival at Beacon was accelerated due to the unfortunate circumstances of Atlesian military technology falling into criminal hands." The General nodded at Torchwick, who nodded stoically. "It was important I personally discuss the situation with all witnesses, especially the hero of Beacon."

If only he knew what Weiss knew…or perhaps he would give Roman a pass for being human. One could never tell.

"I assume that you're also accompanying the transfer students of Atlas and Mantle."

Ironwood nodded. "Correct, I am the chaperone for Atlas."

This man…there was no denying that he'd perfected the art of being a polished bellend. Atlas was the name of the academy, and it was plausible that he would refer to the kingdom as such, but it was just another way that an Atlesian from the floating city could erase the crater that so many viewed as a stain on their history.

"Any good teams we ought to watch out for in the finals?" Blake said jovially.

Ironwood's pleasant smile dropped into more of a neutral expression. "I'm afraid I can't disclose any information about participants in the Vytal Festival Tournament."

"Well, we wish your students the best of luck, sir," Weiss said.

The normal demeanor returned as soon as Weiss was speaking and being spoken to. "Thank you, and to your school as well. You know, I was rather hoping you might follow in your sister's footsteps and come to Atlas, Miss Schnee. We would've been pleased to have you."

"Would you?" Weiss asked. "Hmmm…I wonder how different my life would have been as a specialist of Atlas instead of a huntress of Beacon."

"Atlas does accept first-year transfers that have been approved by the headmaster and the board of reviewers. It's especially easy for expatriates."

"What do you say, Blake?" Weiss shrugged her soldiers. "It would be nice to be closer to home."

"Ah, I'm not sure Miss Belladonna might yield the same results when placed under review. It's merely a side effect of her being a non-citizen. Atlas is tightening its security after the paladin breach." He nodded at them, content in his sureness that they would understand.

"But we've both spent about the same amount of time in Atlas."

"It's merely a matter of citizenship. Extra checks, unfortunately."

"Let's cool it on the poaching of my students, eh, Mr. General?" Torchwick let out a small laugh. "At least while I'm present in the general area, shall we?"

Weiss had no idea if he truly disapproved of Ironwood or if it was just more of the act, but either way, he was tied to his role as a loyal Beacon teacher, and Weiss knew he could be counted on as a bulwark between her and Ironwood's blatant behaviors, if only to keep up his own cover.

"Forgive an old general's enthusiasm; I tend to get overzealous when promising young cadets are nearby." The middle-aged man's polite smile returned. "If Vale is your home now, then I only hope you have the best experience that can be achieved at this school."

So dickish…not even Father was this insulting.

"We're quite happy on Team RWBY," Blake said, speaking on Weiss' behalf as if she could somehow sense Weiss' rising temper.

"Team RWBY…might I ask who your partners are?"

"Well, I'm afraid I can't reveal any information about participants in the upcoming Vytal Festival Tournament." Blake made sure to smile broadly to make sure her little comment was clearly interpreted as a cutesy quip – and it was also a clever way to not have to actually provide an answer to his question.

"I see." Ironwood's eyes tightened down slightly, and he didn't laugh alongside Weiss, Torchwick, and Blake. "Well, I'm sure this will be a tournament to remember. May the best huntsman or huntress win."

"Or athlete," Blake said, beating Weiss out by literal milliseconds.

"Or…?" Ironwood didn't even seem to recall the Menagerian delegation of hunter-level participants for the tournament. "Well, yes, I suppose, but it's highly unlikely."

Even Torchwick raised an eyebrow, hiding his pursed lips behind a sip of punch from a tumbler with his name on it.

"Highly…unlikely."

At the deliberateness of Weiss' tone, Ironwood seemed to realize he might have to justify that statement and went on the defensive. "Merely due to statistics, you see – fewer participants, with only a single team. Furthermore, they're less trained on average, with none of the four having attended a proper academy."

"A proper academy," Blake echoed. Ironwood could defeat himself with nothing but his own words at times.

He nodded, doubling down on Atlas policy. "The training regimes of Menagerian soldiers –" They never called them hunters. "– are simply subpar compared to Atlas, or any of the kingdoms for that matter. Their equipment tends to be poorer quality, and the knowledge that's been distilled through generations of huntsmen in the academies is simply not present."

"And yet they defeated two Atlesian teams last year," Weiss contended. "And that was without their strongest member being even allowed to participate."

It wasn't a comfortable feeling to be shilling Adam, but there was truth in her words. He was very easily the best Faunus huntsman/athlete in the world, and his age had technically disqualified him in the previous tournament. Atlas had called him too young to participate, portraying him as a mere child below the age of the average first year, and this time around they'd tried to present him as having an unfair advantage due to his now too high age. While he wasn't older than a third year academy student, he was taller, and so their evidence tended to be photos distributed in newspapers rather than figures like his actual age.

Ghira and Kali had tried to fight it the first time around on their own as the representatives of Menagerie on the world stage, but it had gone nowhere. But when Jacques Schnee, the money behind the cause, had stepped in this past cycle, he hadn't given up. It was one of the few times Weiss had been able to truly respect her father wholeheartedly. He had known that this was too important an issue to compromise for some trade deal – if Menagerie continued to be discounted as a lesser state, his own Faunus daughter and the everyfaunus would evermore be relegated to the position of the lesser person. That was not something he could allow, and he'd fought tooth and nail to let Menagerie choose their own 'athletes' provided they met the age brackets and had a full team of four.

Ironwood had eaten crow that day. He'd thought himself a brave boy, calling out the greedy, cowardly, money-grubber's bluff to withhold Dust sales to the military. No businessman would ever truly follow through with a strike that would hurt their profits.

He'd lost. He'd lost, horrendously, spectacularly, ruinously. There had been an actual honest to the Brothers Grimm incursion that overran a military base which had been rationing Dust.

And somehow, he still thought he could be the powerful headmaster he saw himself as and retake control. He and the all-human council had then tried to sign legislature mandating the SDC provide Dust to the military, claiming eminent domain and nationalizing the mines, but the humans and Faunus alike down there had thrown down their metaphorical pickaxes and refused to work, taking the knowledge of how to operate the heavy equipment with them. Another base fell before Ironwood was forced to accept the truth – that he wasn't the invincible man of steel he wished to be.

And he'd never forgiven the SDC, the White Fang, or the Faunus as a whole for 'what they'd done' – what he blamed them for. For the rest of his time as general, he'd dragged his feet on every proposal for improved equality and equity, resisted the Schnee and Belladonna joint bills to establish oversight to prevent discrimination, and had done his best to purge the military of recruits with animal parts or White Fang sympathies. In his eyes, they'd shown themselves as traitors to Atlas, and he would see them all on watchlists or straight-up incarcerated if he had the power.

Ironwood was the opposite of Father, in every way. Father had noxious personal beliefs that he'd yet to shed, but he rode the wave of change like a surfer and allowed it to carry him to success. Ironwood, on the other hand, dug in his heels and tried to survive the tides as they kept bashing against him, ignorantly denying the truth: that he would inevitably perish before the ocean ceased churning.

"I'm sure the best huntress will rise to the top this year," Ironwood said, in response to Weiss' claims about Adam. "I look forward to a prosperous tournament this year."

The two huntresses allowed the general to depart having said the last word, for neither of them wanted to have to endure his presence any longer. When he was far away and chatting up a slightly annoyed-looking Professor Goodwitch, Torchwick finally let down the tumbler he'd been pretending to drink from to cover up his expression.

"You, uh, you ladies familiar with that…gentleman?"

Blake nodded for the both of them. "He interacted with our parents a lot, as the heads of Menagerie, the White Fang, and the SDC."

"They got any tips for his new Beacon-appointed chaperone-slash-host?" he asked, whistling. "Hot damn. What a real sunnava. I'm not looking forward to pretending to like him."

"Bad energies?" Weiss asked sarcastically.

The professor merely tipped back his drink all the way, snagged the stray drop that spilled down his chin with the edge of the tumbler, and sauntered off in the direction of the headmaster.

Somehow, that was both the closest he'd come to lifting up the veil and revealing the blackguard underneath and also the most genuine, relatable emotion their new teacher had ever shown. Weiss was fairly certain he wasn't faking his disdain for the man – but then again, who would need to when it was James Ironwood in question?

Somehow, when the party was finally in full swing and there were tons more people surrounding them from every angle, Weiss herself could only find herself even more focused on Blake. It was as though the inverse of the expectations of a crowded prom was becoming reality – more distractions served to highlight what treasure was right in front of her.

She was a competent enough dancer to navigate the floor without bumping into any other people, and that was a most fortunate truth indeed because Weiss' couldn't even see them. She and Blake had spent their entire childhood together and spent many moments in each other's company – training at the manor under Father's best tutors, shadowing Kali on her daily routine in Atlas, frolicking about the beaches of Menagerie on its warm season, building snow Faunus in Mantle when winter struck – but the other Faunus just looked so different in this romantic context.

Still, I don't regret that things happened now, when they did. We're adults now, or close enough to treat ourselves with the respect we deserve. It was only because we spent our childhood so close that we can now communicate volumes to one another with just a look, a gesture, a mere syllable. I can tell that Blake is ready to keep dancing for a long while more from her energetic her movements are.

The two hadn't separated for the entire night so far. Others had requested dances from them – mostly transfers from other schools who weren't keenly aware of how Yang's first week stunt had put Team RWBY on the map, and both fortunately and unfortunately for Weiss, the off-limits list. Still, she'd turned down all of her own other suitors, as had Blake. Perhaps there would be nothing untoward about dancing with others, but Weiss felt like she deserved to simply stay with her girlfriend on their second proper date for as long as they could.

The hours passed quickly, and Weiss' dancing drive eventually faded over time. Much like her aura, her stamina was not the type to last for ever. Blake saw it coming a mile away, and when a particularly cacophonous and noisy song that neither of them appreciated was selected by the audio system, she took the chance to suggest to Weiss they escape from the dance floor and obtain some drinks.

"I think that's a lovely idea."

Knowing that the punch could easily be tainted by alcohol, Weiss took only a small glass – smaller than an amount that would inebriate her. This was her night, after all, hers and Blake's, and blacking out or making a chump of herself in a drunken stupor would ruin it all.

I know alcohol wasn't the origin of Willow's sorrows, but it's certainly kept her in a vicious loop.

Weiss paused before taking another sip from her quarter-full cup.

I think that was the first time I ever thought of her as Willow, and not mother.

Back at the manor, Mother had always been Mother, the vague figure that remained in Mother's room and hid away. When she thought of the woman who had given birth to her, Weiss still sometimes pictured the image of younger Mother, from just before Whitley's birth. That image was much clear in her mind, for she'd seen the younger woman many more times than the current, elder version.

Now that she was at Beacon and starting to put some distance between what she'd left behind in Atlas, Mother no longer remained that constant fixture. She was starting to become Willow Schnee, the woman Weiss occasionally saw a news article about Father mention.

Weiss wanted to love her mother. She truly did. But Whitley had ruined mother, taking away Weiss' last female role model at just around the time her first one had fled to the military.

But I wasn't alone.

Weiss' gaze tripped over to Blake, who was trying not to fall into fits of laughter as Cardin Winchester's two left feet made him the laughingstock of all but his partner, Velvet.

I was never alone. I still had family.

"Blake, I love you."

Blake blinked at Weiss, who blinked back at her. It hadn't been intended to abruptly declared that; it had merely slipped out as Weiss recalled how both Blake and her parents had kept Weiss from going through her entire life with no social contact but for Father.

It wasn't the first time Weiss had said it – Weiss had told Blake she loved her before they were even together, for love needed not be romantic – but it was the first time Weiss had said it knowing that Blake was the one for her.

For her part, Blake seemed to realize that this confession was more meaningful. "I –"

"BLAKE! WEISS!"

Ruby came running over, a pout on her face as she skidded to a halt just a few steps short of Weiss' girlfriend.

"You guys, oh, it's horrible! Guys keep saying stuff at me! They don't stop! Please, one of you, dance with me or something, just so they don't keep bothering me."

Ruby seemed to have entirely forgotten that she'd been guilt-tripped at the beginning of the evening to not come between Weiss and Blake, as there was no guilt or shame on her face. It was blatant that the younger teammate of theirs simply had just run straight to the people she trusted looking for a favor, with no malicious intentions.

"Um, Ruby, we –"

"Please please pretty please with sprinkles far away from the please because sprinkles taste like plastic?" Ruby's hands balled up at her chin as she begged Blake. "I'll be your best friend if you do."

Blake turned to Weiss. "I…uh…"

"It's fine," Weiss excused. Still holding her drink, she splayed out her fingers as though to dismiss them. "You ladies go ahead. If you're up for it, that is. Otherwise, I can dance with Ruby."

Weiss was probably too tired to keep going, and Blake remembered that. However, she also remembered where their conversation had been just a moment ago and wasn't willing to let that moment go unaddressed.

"May I?"

Weiss lowered her drink. "Always, Blake, always."

As their lips pressed together, Weiss' entire life melted away and somehow reshaped itself into the form of this beautiful cat-eared goddess in front of her. Huntress, businesswoman, singer, heiress, all of it paled in comparison to standing alongside Blake Belladonna no matter where she went.

"Crud! I forgot you two were an item!" Steam may as well have poured out of Ruby's ears for how reddened her face become. "I'm so sorry! I wasn't supposed to interrupt!"

It was somehow utterly adorable that Ruby's scatterbrained little head could completely forget about a relationship she'd both created and recently aided in asking to prom, and it made Blake and Weiss titter slightly.

"It's okay, Ruby."

"But…your special night…" Ruby brushed her nose. "Please, I don't wanna ruin it."

"I'm too tired to keep dancing, Ruby, and there's no one else in the world I'd trust to hand Blake off to but you," Weiss admitted honestly. She didn't exactly have the right to decide for Blake who she danced with, but if she had to pick, Ruby would be the one. No one else was so innocently sweet without a selfish bone in her body. Ruby had come to ask for a chaperone to fend off predators, and Weiss knew without a doubt she had no ulterior motives.

"A-Are you sure?"

Blake nodded. "Just don't go falling in love with me, Ruby Tuesday. May I take your hand?"

"Thank you guys so much!" Ruby gushed, awkwardly grabbing Blake's fingers in a way that suggested she had no idea how to dance with a partner. "Weiss, I promise I'll make it up to you!"

"There's nothing to make up," Weiss said, and she believed it. Perhaps Ruby had interrupted, but it wasn't as though Blake hadn't gotten to acknowledge Weiss' feelings with a kiss. And she truly had been too tired to keep dancing, so there was no harm.

We spent over an hour together with just one another. Our perfect night has already been perfect.

"I'll be on the second floor balcony," Weiss declared, waving a small goodbye to her teammates as they went off. "Try not to have too much fun, you two."

Well, I bet Blake's going to have a lot of fun teaching how to dance from scratch. I'd almost like to see it, but I truly was getting a little cramped. Had Ruby not intervened, I would've proposed Blake and I abscond to the balcony for some fresh air and clear space.

Perhaps it would have been a romantic moonlit moment, but Weiss felt no bitterness for the loss. She and Blake had all the time in the world to spend every moonlit midnight together if they so wished.

Passing by Yang on the way, Weiss quickly checked in with their last partner. "Everything alright?"

"Weiss? Where's yer girl?"

"Being Ruby's inverse-beard. It's fine."

Yang's head pivoted towards the bulk of the partygoers to see them together, with Ruby tripping over both her feet and Blake's. "Oh. Sorry, Weiss. I can have a talk with Ruby if it'd –"

"It's fine, Yang. I'm not so insecure that I'd ever fear Ruby stealing Blake away from me, and we've already spent the entire night dancing together." Weiss' eyes roamed over the podium at which Yang stood. "How have you held up?"

"Things have been right bitchin'! I get to literally see who's dating who and get the inside scoop on all the drama as they come in. An entire student body's worth of gossip, filtered down into a single prom – being a ticket attendant rocks!"

Weiss nodded. "If the huntress career fails for you, I'm sure you've a promising career ahead of you as a ballroom usher. I'll be upstairs if you need me."

It was a perfectly romantic moonlit night, the kind where kissing under the stars would have been an option.

And yet, somehow, the night Blake and I spent pretending to be witches for Goodwitch and Ozpin to chicane our way out of a punishment somehow made me feel closer. We could barely hold back our laughter when we got home.

Perhaps it was because that had been a Blake and Weiss moment, not a romantic moment. Just because the rest of the world defined certain circumstances as mainstream romantic didn't automatically make them more or less wholesome.

It's not unlike my prom proposal poster. It was unspeakably crude and might have been degrading or insulting under other circumstances, but I knew it would be just what tickled Blake's fancy more than some generic drawing of pink hearts with the message 'You're so pretty and funny and smart, please date me please.'

It was the two of them who got to define what their relationship would look like, and Weiss would wish it no other way. Every couple was unique in that way.

A small flash of black caught Weiss' eye as she rested her legs by leaning her weight against the balcony's banister.

Weiss squinted in the direction of the odd, slightly hunched moving shape. After a second to properly interpret what she was seeing, it became clear that it was…arms and legs moving?

Is that a person?

They had some objects in both hands, but it was too far away to see precisely what, and they were making their way through the schoolground in a quite bizarre fashion. Every now and again, they would stop and check over their shoulder…make that her shoulder, the figure was most likely female. But also, she was behaving in many a manner that made it look like she was specifically trying to avoid detection – sudden short bursts of movement, followed by hiding behind bits and pieces of cover just large enough to obscure a person.

And they were heading directly towards the CCT.

Weiss continued to watch them sprint about the trees, benches, and small bits of architecture for about ten more seconds before realizing that she needed to do something about this.

I should get a teacher…

Except they're getting away, and only I…auggh! Dammit!

Weiss hated the idea of not going through the proper channels to report wrongdoing, but she was a huntress, not an automaton. If she did things by the book in this case, the criminal would get away, and that was to no one's benefit.

I don't have my weapon, but I'm still a huntress in training. I know hand to hand combat, and I can make limited use of Glyphs.

Weiss hopped over the edge of the balcony and slid quietly through the night sky. Her white dress and wings probably would've made her stick out like a sore thumb if the assailant looked back, but she'd already reached a side window of the CCT's first floor, slid it open, and snuck in.

That's…not good. I know from personal experience that those windows are for show, meaning she or someone working with her must've tampered with it during the day, and the CCT rarely sees civilians on weekdays. That means she's a huntress student. It was too far to see who it was, but it could be anyone – Beaconite, transfer, first to fourth year. And she had something in her hands. I need to assume that she's armed.

This was going to be a trickier situation than she'd anticipated, but Schnees didn't back down in fear when there was danger. Weiss was the only one who knew about this, and thus the responsibility of addressing it fell to her. She just hoped someone at the dance noticed her absence and decided to go investigating.

Unlikely, since I told them I would be stepping away. Maybe help will come, but I shouldn't count on it.

The infiltrator had left window ajar behind her, so Weiss slipped in through the opening, taking care not to make any noise. If she maintained the element of surprise, she might just be able to swing things to her advantage.

Honestly, this was probably stupidly dangerous, but what other option did she have? Coming to Beacon to risk her own life in the name of saving others was her choice. She knew she was going to do this one way or the other, so there was nothing to be gained from worrying about just how right or wrong this choice was.

As she entered the ground floor of Beacon's highest tower, Weiss surveyed her surrounding, being especially careful when cornering blind spots. She expected she had the upper hand in terms of awareness of her opponent, but there was use risking waltzing right into a trap.

No one. The floor was empty. That meant she'd either slipped out for some reason, or she'd ascended. Weiss glanced at the elevator.

The floor reader was lit up, reading 12. Then, it blinked to 13.

They're still in it.

It was unpleasant to sit and wait while a potential adversary was moseying about the CCT with utter impunity, but a plan was beginning to form in Weiss' mind, and she needed to know exactly what floor they were on. If their target was some particular terminal or facet of the CCT, they would likely stay there while the theft, sabotage, or other vandalism was conducted.

14…

15…

16…

16…

It stayed at the sixteenth floor, and Weiss knew she had her target.

The elevator would be so easy to use, but it would give away her presence like a flare gun being fired into the night sky, just as it had given away the intruder's presence to Weiss. Thus, she had to find another means of gaining altitude. Fortunately, however, gaining altitude was less of a challenge when one was blessed by nature with a beautiful pair of swan wings.

…a beautiful pair of…

Who am I even lying for? It's the privacy of my own head, not a press conference…

That was a topic for later. Right now, Weiss needed to focus on both her plan of assault and preparing for whatever resistance lay in the sixteenth floor of the CCT.

She maneuvered back to the still open window to the outside world and crawled through it but stopped before her feet hit the ground. Instead, she placed them on the frame, crouched down in the space of the window, and leapt straight up.

It took a few flaps to go straight up, but she didn't need to fly all the way to the top. No, her goal here was to make short skips from floor to floor, and her current ascent had only taken her from the ground floor to the third floor.

Her fingers caught hold of the exterior ledge of another window, directly above the ground floor one. Pulling herself up was no challenge, as Weiss was lithe and probably weighed less than a full hundred and thirty pounds, wings excluded. Then, she crouched down on the ledge, hopped up with as much force as she could muster, and flapped her way to the fifth floor. It was a perfect way to balance the load – flying straight up would exhaust her, but this put some of the strain on her arms and legs, thereby giving her wings a chance to recuperate before another short jaunt.

Still, by the eleventh floor, the climb was beginning to make her burn, and she had to switch from leaping two floors at a time to just one. It was probably for the better, as she needed to conserve her energy for the upcoming assault.

At the fifteenth floor, Weiss' heart was pounding, from the workout in conjunction with the anticipation and fear that threatened to take hold of her. Her life had been imperiled every time she faced down the Grimm, and she'd fought humans and Faunus many times before, but this was the first time she would be engaged in real, life-threatening combat with an enemy that could think. It was the worst of both worlds.

But somehow, I'm also…a bit eager. This will be a chance to test out my skills and myself. My first genuine crucible.

And if things go wrong, I can fly out the window I came through. There's no real threat to my own safety here.

She didn't stop at the sixteenth floor. No, Weiss was smarter than that. Doing so would force her to spend precious time fiddling with the window and opening it, which would no doubt produce enough noise to alert the enemy woman to her presence. Instead, Weiss rose past the seventeenth floor and stopped at the eighteenth floor.

This should be enough elevation.

She granted herself a minute to fully recover her strength. There had been sufficient racket from within the sixteenth floor when she'd quickly passed by to confirm that the enemy was still within, and she was fresh for the fight.

When she was sure she was ready, Weiss kicked off and glided out into the sky away from the CCT.

It was impossible to explain, but the air somehow felt clearer at these higher elevations. Perhaps it had something to do with being closer to the clouds and higher wind currents, but Weiss just felt more at home in the open skies than on the floor of Remnant.

When she was at roughly the height of the seventeenth floor, she reversed course and faced towards the CCT. Flapping twice to give herself a little extra speed, she aimed herself directly at the window that was fifteen above the ground.

As soon as I breach, all hell is going to break loose. I'll be ready, and hopefully she won't.

Weiss braced herself and raised her aura to shield her upper limbs. Retracting her wings at the last moment, she gritted her teeth and smashed through the glass.

A jet black haired woman who was probably twenty or so years old had been seated before she'd broken through the window, and she'd jumped up in alarm upon seeing Weiss. Weiss charged towards her, recognizing her as the one she'd seen before sneaking about.

This is it!

But about four steps in, she skidded to a halt.

Wait…

"What?" Weiss blinked and reviewed her surroundings. "W-Wuh…W-What?"

What she'd assumed to be a weapon was actually a glass bottle in the woman's hand. Actually, as Weiss looked about the bizarre scene, she saw several more bottles, mostly empty and on the floor. There were also several full bottles in a pair of cardboard six packs holders, one untouched and the other missing about as many as were on the floor.

I saw her carrying something, and that's roughly the right size…

And they weren't alone, either. With the two women was also a tall, male figure holding a bottle. But this guy, he looked a lot like…

"Adam?" Weiss asked. "What the hell are you two doing here?"

The Menagerian athlete, who was the captain of his Vytal team, also had a bottle in hand.

"Oh…uh…" Adam bit his lips. "H-Hey, Schnee."

"What is freaking going on here?" Weiss asked, throwing her hands up in confusion. "What…how…why?!"

Adam's eyes darted down to the bottle in his hand, and he rapidly hid it behind his back. "It's, uh, not what it looks like?"

The woman's eyes darted both ways, and she awkwardly coughed. "Um, do a girl a solid and don't call the teachers?"

Weiss rolled her eyes. Fucking Adam, of course he was up to his usual shenanigans. The drinking age in Vale was just a year higher than his own, and he'd clearly decided to get a head start with a new friend.

"Do you have any idea what stress you caused me?" Weiss raged. "It looked like a break-in!"

"S-Sorry," said the girl, awkwardly. She bit her lips, glanced at Adam, and plastered on a fake smile. "I'm Cinder, by the way. Oh, I just love your dress –"

Weiss shook her head, teeth gritted, and the woman stopped talking.

"Just…" Weiss put a hand to her forehead and began massaging her temples. "…clean up the mess before you leave, okay? And maybe be more circumspect with your vices. Atlas is here in force."

"A-Okay." Adam nodded and gave her a thumbs up. "Readin' ya loud and clear, chicken wings."

This motherfucker. Where's a gelding knife for cattle when you need one?

Weiss shot him her finest death glare as she made her way back to the window. "I'm going back to the prom. You're more than welcome to follow me."

Then, to make it precisely clear just what that last statement meant, she leapt out the window of the sixteenth floor.

Next Chapter: Glountain Menn

In which Weiss Schnee's first mission to the wild world outside the kingdom begins.

Author's Notes

Even Roman is taking a break from all the doldrums of daily life and just having a chill night. What a chad...

Ironwood is sort of a villain by default. Not because he's evil, but just because he, as Atlas military, fills the role of the antagonist a little too well, given the themes of this one.

Happy rats, and don't do crime!