Gods, why is she so stupid? Screaming at Jaune in the middle of the streets? What the hell is wrong with her? And then she says, I missed talking to you too. Ugh!
The last week messed with her head. The search for the Fang took up too much of her attention with sleepless nights full of worrying being the consequence.
And seeing Jaune possibly being recruited and thrown in the middle of apparently the friendliest group of White Fang members she has ever seen, has been the last string. And as embarrassing as it is, she exploded. And Jaune was a convenient outlet for her frustration. Part of it came from the concern she felt for him, and another part from the pressure she put herself under.
Having left Jaune behind at the bullhead, she has made her way through Beacon to get to her room. Maybe it's time to at least apologize to her teammates for all the time she has spent in the city in search of the Fang, but first, she needs to relax. Maybe take some time to read or just to sleep if her teammates let her, that is.
Arriving at her dorm, she isn't ashamed to say, that she is relieved none of her teammates are there. In the blessed silence of her room, she can finally relax, to put everything troublesome out of her mind; the White Fang, her team, and Jaune.
Grabbing her favorite book she makes herself comfortable on her bed. Bundled up in her blankets, she can relax reading the adventure of the kunoichi Kanae. It's been too long since she spent time just for herself.
Skipping ahead in the book, she rereads the scene of Kanae finally capturing a shinobi of an enemy clan, and preparing for her interrogation.
The Tanaba clan shinobi was finally in her grasp.
In front of her kneeled a hogtied man, his hands bound behind his back to his feet, forcing his posture to be upright. Even more, rope curled around his naked torso, fashioned into a harness.
"That's a good look for Tanaba scum," said Kanae circling the man.
Stopping behind him, she glides her hand across the front of his body, raking lines into it with her sharpened nails, and leaning forward to whisper into his ear, "What should I do with you?"
Hehe. Yeah, Kanae, show him.
Blake lets herself sink into her bed, only one hand holding her book now. The other hand slowly drifting down under her shirt down her naked stomach reaching her waistband.
Now for the good part.
Kanae's hand began to explore her captive's body from his firm pecs down to his six-pack. Her other hand drifted up to his neck, grasping it tightly and forcing him to look up. The tantalizing sight of his vulnerable neck made her want to scrape her teeth against his pulse.
He was just prey before her.
"I think I am going to" –
The sudden sound of the door unlocking makes Blake flinch back, hurriedly pull her hand out of her pants and close her book. And with a glare she looks who dares to interrupt her alone time and cuss them out for entering without announcing themselves, only to stop herself when she sees who it is.
Weiss.
But instead of the haughty Schnee heiress she is so used to seeing, the sight of her now is the furthest thing from it.
Not even noticing someone else is in the room she leans her forehead against the door with quiet shuddering breaths emitting from her, only noticeable because of her sensitive ears.
She should stay silent. She is probably the last person Weiss wants to see right now and if it were her in this situation she wouldn't want another person to see her like that either.
Having decided to let her be, she lies back down on the bed and tries not to move a muscle or make a sound. The only sound in the room is Weiss' breaths.
After a short while, even her shuddering breaths seemed to even out but before Blake could sigh in relief, she picked up a small whimper coming from Weiss, then a sniffle, and then muffled crying.
Weiss Schnee is crying.
Haughty Weiss went to her room so she could be alone and cry.
She never could have imagined she'd see a Schnee like that. Some part of her relishes in seeing the Schnee show any weakness, see one of them share some iota of pain they inflicted upon faunus, this part suspiciously sounds like Adam.
But another part of her, and the part that mattered most in this moment, just sees a teammate crying; a teammate she hasn't been on very good terms with, but a teammate nonetheless.
Still trying to keep silent, she slowly and carefully moves out of her bed to stand behind Weiss.
What is she even supposed to say to her? No, there is no point in hesitating.
"Weiss?" Blake asks carefully.
Weiss tenses up as soon as she hears Blake's voice, her back still turned toward her. Slowly, she lifts her head up from the door and stands up straight while wiping her face with the back of her hand. Only then does she turn around to address Blake.
"Blake? What are you doing here?" Weiss says, voice low.
She looks a mess; her face is blotchy and red, her eyes puffy and her eye makeup ruined from crying. Her whole demeanor seems so wrong in this moment; looking everywhere but Blake's face with her shoulder hunched forward as if to curl into herself. She seems so very fragile at this moment.
"I just wanted to take a nap, when you came in," Blake responds after inspecting the heiress.
"Oh, I will leave you to it then. I will just freshen up."
Weiss moves towards the bathroom still not making eye contact with Blake.
"Weiss, wait," Blake stops her just before she reaches for the bathroom door. "Are you – alright?"
"..."
"You are asking if I am alright?" She answers after a moment of silence. "Why would you care, Blake?"
"We are teammates, aren't we?"
"Ha," Weiss barks out a harsh laugh and turns to face Blake, looking directly into her eyes. "In name only."
The harshness in her voice isn't enough to hide the quiver in it.
"Teammates? Don't make me laugh."
"Weiss–"
"Don't!" She almost shouts before hunching into herself and hugging her arms. "Just, do not try to deny it. I have been terrible to all of you."
Moving to her bed, Weiss sits down and looks to the ground.
"I thought it'd be different here," She says quietly. "I really hated it back in Atlas; I hated the balls my father forced me to attend, I hated how I had to play the perfect heiress all the time lest I disappoint and shame my family, I hated every interaction with the elites of Atlas, and the sycophants trying to get into our families good graces through me. Everything in Atlas just reminded me of how lonely I was. And now, here I am in Beacon with a chance to be someone different; a new beginning for me."
Before Blake hast the opportunity to say something, Weiss continues.
"Did you know that in the first week, after Ruby was just appointed team leader, I went to Professor Port and tried to convince him, I should be the leader and not her. That Ruby was inadequate for the position, that she didn't deserve it. And let us be honest my attitude has not changed very much. I push and I push and I know that you Yang and Ruby must hate me for it. Now I know it never was the fault of the people in Atlas. It always has been me."
"I– I don't hate you," Blake says, and what else can she say to that, she didn't hate Weiss, did she?
Who is she kidding? The Schnee name, for the longest time, evoked a feeling of disgust and loathing in her. What her family, her father, has done to faunus on the whole of Remnant can never be forgiven. And Weiss never gave any indication that she might be different, that she is not like him.
"See, you do not even believe your own words," Weiss speaks up and looks up at her again with tears in her eyes. "I'd hoped coming here to Beacon, I would not feel so alone anymore, that I would find some friends but now that I am here, I feel lonelier than ever."
Blake can't bear to look at Weiss anymore and averts her gaze. There are no words she could say that would make Weiss feel better, no words from her at least.
"I'm sorry," Blake whispers and flees the room.
The next morning team RWBY gathers to enjoy their breakfast as always but instead of their usual talks about the day and their upcoming classes, their table is silent. Weiss looks immaculate as ever with no sign of her crying to be seen, Yang sits with a permanent glower on her face not looking at Blake and Ruby looks glum after having tried to initiate conversation which no one reprocriated.
Blake knows that the tension in their team is mostly her fault with her pursuit of the White Fang in the city she neglected her team and did not talk to them about where she was or when she would come back.
She didn't really think about how her teammates would react to her absence and, after Blake left Weiss in their room, not feeling equipped to handle that situation, she wandered into the library to read in silence just to run into Ruby and Yang who of course had questions to which she could not really give satisfying answers.
And that's that. She really fucked up. Where is team JNPR when you need them? Nora's babbling would be really great right now.
Oh, speak of the devil.
As if they had heard Blake's plea, team JNPR appears at the cafeteria entrance. Jaune in the lead with his tail happily wagging behind him holds the door open for his team with an exaggerated bow and only thanks to her great hearing can she pick up what he says.
"My ladies," making Pyrrha giggle and Nora grin only for her to adopt a pompous look. "And the gentleman Ren, of course." Who lets out a small snort.
Without any conscious input, Blake feels herself smile and her mood lifts at Jaune's antics. What a dork, he must be in a good mood.
After getting their own food team JNPR sits down and greetings are exchanged, one team is more chipper than the other.
Nora apparently not noticing the tense atmosphere around them promptly begins to tell Yang about one of her dreams and slowly coaxes out a smile from her and involves her in an actual conversation that is more than just grunts and her glower.
Thank the gods for Nora.
"Hey, Craterface," Jaune greets Ruby while sending Blake a smile instead of a verbal greeting.
Ruby forgetting her morose mood only sticks out her tongue at him, making him grin back at her.
"So, anything planned for today, Ruby?" Jaune asks.
"Mmh, not really. Maybe visit the workshop for a bit, my baby needs pampering."
Jaune lets out an awkward laugh at Ruby's outrageous statement, not that Blake can blame him. She can understand taking proper care of your weapon, but calling your weapon your baby? That's going a bit too far for her.
"What about you, Jaune? Anything planned?" Ruby asks.
"Well, I'm glad you asked because I actually have plans for today," he says with a satisfied smile.
"Is your date with Pyrrha today?" Yang interrupts Jaune with a teasing smile.
His what? With who? What the hell did she miss? When did Jaune ask Pyrrha out on a date?
"It's not a date!" Jaune sputters.
"He is right Yang. It's only part of an apology," Pyrrha says. "If he wants to go on a date with me, he has to ask properly."
Wow, how bold of Pyrrha. She didn't really expect that from her, she only needed to work on her poker face with how red she was after saying that.
"Pyrrha!?" Jaune looks at her in shock while Nora and Yang laugh loudly.
"So, what is it then?" Ruby asks after stopping herself from giggling.
"Well, I am actually helping a group with organizing breakfast for kids in need this evening."
"Woah, that is awesome Jaune," Ruby says with stars in her eyes.
"Yeah, Vomit Boy that actually sounds really nice," Yang says.
"Aww, guys stop," Jaune says rubbing the back of his head in embarrassment but his tail shows his real feelings, wagging as fast as she ever saw it from the compliments. "I am just helping with gathering the donations from the markets today and maybe on the weekend I could help with the kids."
"I think it's really commendable of you Jaune," the usual stoic Ren looks at him with a smile. "As someone who was dependant on the help of others, I can tell you even the smallest gesture from those helpers make a huge difference for those kids."
She doesn't think she ever heard Ren talk so much at once, it really must mean a lot to him.
Pyrrha looks at Jaune with a look full of pride and even the silent Weiss gives him the tiniest of smiles before going back to her emotionless mien she wore the whole morning.
The soft atmosphere is only being disrupted by a sudden shout from behind her.
"Ow, stop! That hurts!"
Surprised by the outcry, their teams turn around looking around for the source.
As soon as she sees it, Blake has to suppress her reaction and only glares impotently.
Of course, it's Cardin again. He found another faunus to bully. Her long bunny ears are being pulled by Cardin while the rest of his team only laugh and mock her.
"See, I told you they are real."
How disgusting.
"I can't believe someone like him wants to be a huntsman," Pyrrha says with pursed lips.
Everyone else at the table is holding similar looks of disgust and dislike on their face, even Weiss seems to disapprove of Cardin's actions.
Well, almost everyone.
Jaune is the only one who is not watching Cardin, he instead is looking down at the table with a small frown on his face while sinking into himself, almost like he wants to appear smaller than he is.
"Okay, fuck that," Yang says with a growl, seemingly having enough of Cardin and his team. She begins to stand up only for Jaune to hold her back by gripping her arm and forcing her to sit back down.
"Don't!"
"What the hell, Jaune?" Yang asks him, bewildered by his action.
"Yeah, fearless leader. Why'd you stop her?" Nora asks.
The rest of their table looks askance at Jaune.
"You'll only make it worse for her if you stop him in front of so many people," Jaune says.
Yang looks skeptical but doesn't try to stand up again but still glares in Cardin's direction.
Blake doesn't like it either but Jaune is probably right. She still can't stop herself from feeling a bit disappointed in him.
With no one intervening, Cardin keeps harassing the faunus girl for a little while longer until he loses interest and begins to leave with his team, all the while future huntsmen, the protector of humanity watch.
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