15

Chapter 15:

The remainder of the class went rather smoothly. Aside from Ruby, Pyrrha was the only other member of Team RASP called up. She was matched against another first-year, and dominated the battle quite handily, showing precisely why she was so admired in Mistral. Aside from that, Ren and Blake were called up from Team RYNB, both of them performing well in their matches. It seemed that, between their two teams, they had some of the best-performing members of the first-year class.

"Listen, it's all well and good that you can fight," lectured Weiss. "But there's more to being a Huntress than just knowing how to swing a sword around. That's why Beacon has such a comprehensive curriculum."

"Well, you're right about that," admitted Ruby readily enough, surprising Weiss with her admission. "On that note, we've got our afternoon free-time until dinner. Let's hit the library, Jaune."

"What!?" exclaimed Jaune and Weiss at the same time, before looking at each other, just as shocked by the fact that they'd said the same thing as they were by Ruby's declaration.

"Yep, we need to get our homework and readings out of the way, pronto," said Ruby, latching onto Jaune's arm and pulling him away, also allowing her to lean in closer and whisper into his ear. "We need the time after dinner for training. I warned you this was gonna suck."

Jaune swallowed back his protest, admitting to himself that he'd made his bed, and now he had to lie in it.

"You two wanna come with us?" asked Ruby, looking back at Pyrrha and Weiss.

"I think a group study session would be grand," said Pyrrha almost immediately, before looking at her partner. "Right, Weiss?"

Weiss blinked, frowned, then relaxed a little. "I suppose it's true that it's best to get our homework out of the way as soon as possible." Deep inside, she was quietly impressed by Ruby's work ethic. Maybe she's not such a dunce after all...

I was wrong! Weiss fumed silently as she listened to Ruby ask question after question, seeking to clarify this or that part of their homework readings. It hadn't been too bad at first. In fact, prior to this, it had been Jaune needing the most help with the academics, having completely lost the train of Dr. Oobleck's lecture during History. But now, they had reached their Dust Science homework, and Ruby was demonstrating that she knew next to nothing on the subject matter.

"But if physical integration is so effective, why doesn't everybody use it?" asked Ruby.

"It takes a lot of practice," Pyrrha answered. "Channeling Dust into your body requires a number of things. It requires skill in manipulating Dust in its raw state, whether crystalline or powdered. It requires a great deal of physical integrity. People who fuse Dust into their bodies have to build up their muscles to handle the strain. It also stimulates your nerve endings, namely your pain-sensors."

"What about weaving it into your clothing?" asked Jaune.

"Again, it takes fine control," said Pyrrha. "That's the preferred method between the two. But it takes a great deal of practice to manipulate the effects through your Aura. On top of that, you need refined control, or a lot of Dust just goes to waste."

"Ah," said Ruby, jotting down the answer on her worksheet. "Now...Ugh! Another mixing question!" She reached over to the textbook and began flipping through it, consulting the tables within for the Dust-types and the ratios of each to determine the qualities of the resulting mixture.

At least she tries figuring it out herself before asking annoying questions, Weiss was forced to concede. She sighed. "Honestly, I'm appalled at your ignorance. Dust is the cornerstone of our civilization. You should have a thorough understanding of it if you aim to be a Huntress."

"I studied outside the Kingdoms," said Ruby. "I've never used Dust before in my life."

"That can't be true!" exclaimed Weiss, smacking her hands against the table. "What about that lightning attack you used against that Grimm during the initiation? You had to have used Dust for that."

"Nope," said Ruby plainly.

"You're lying," growled Weiss.

"Nope," repeated Ruby.

"I have to admit that I have trouble believing that," said Pyrrha shyly.

Ruby sighed slowly. "I don't want to talk too much about my teachers. Some people in Vale wouldn't like it. But I guess I should at least trust my teammates."

She spread her awareness around her, checking for any sign of someone eavesdropping. Fortunately, there weren't many people using the library during the afternoon free period, most students relaxing in the space between the last class of the day and dinner, intending to do their assignments in the evening, before curfew. Sensing that they weren't being spied on, Ruby relaxed a little and lifted up her left hand. Snapping her fingers, she sparked her Aura into life. With a snap and a flash, a crackling orb of crimson electricity burst into being, hovering above her extended index finger, occasionally extending arcs to down to the finger itself.

"That's-" protested Weiss, reaching out towards the the ball of elemental energy with her fingers, aiming to affect the Dust with her own Aura...only to find nothing, "...not...Dust?" She blinked, staring at the tiny flame in complete bafflement. "H-how?"

"Amazing!" gasped Pyrrha, her eyes shining as she stared at the flame.

"Whoa!" added Jaune emphatically.

"What...how can you do that?" demanded Weiss.

Ruby turned her hand over, flipping the palm up and willing her plasma to drift to hover in the air over the center of the table. "With my Aura," she said plainly. "I've learned to change the quality of my Aura to manifest it as lightning. My technique's still incomplete. Its creator could do way more with it." She relaxed her hand, allowing the flickering spark of lightning to go out.

"And you can do that...with just your Aura?" breathed Jaune.

Ruby nodded slowly.

"Where did you...who taught you...?" Weiss was practically feeling her entire worldview crumbling away. People can do that without Dust? What does this mean? What about my company?

"Like I said, I'm not supposed to talk about them too much," said Ruby. "They don't get along well with the Kingdoms, an old grudge…sort of."

"I demand you tell me!" snapped Weiss.

"Weiss!" protested Pyrrha. "That is not how you ask for information."

"I'm not asking, I'm telling!" pressed Weiss, glaring at Ruby. "Where did you learn how to do this? Who taught you? Answer me!"

"Not if you're gonna be like that, Yukihime," replied Ruby dismissively. "Now, do you mind if we get back to our homework? We're almost done."

"I won't stand for this!" yelled Weiss, shooting to her feet. "What you do flies in the face of everything our very civilization is built upon. You come here and flaunt that kind of power in front of my face, and refuse to explain just how you came by it...What are you hiding?"

"It's none of your business, Yukihime," replied Ruby, in an annoyed tone.

"It's very much my business-and stop calling me by that nickname! What does that even mean?"

"Well, I don't feel like answering your questions, not if you're going to scream like a baby," answered Ruby, already paging through her textbook for the answer to the next question.

"I am not screaming like a baby!" yelled Weiss.

"You kinda are," said Jaune nervously, with a sheepish grin on his face.

"He's not wrong," added Pyrrha weakly.

Weiss looked back and forth between the other two members of her team, aghast. They're all turning against me. Pyrrha was her partner. How could Pyrrha not be worried by this development? It was as though the three of them were the actual team and Weiss was some kind of...entourage. This...this isn't how things are supposed to be. I'm supposed to be the one leading the way, setting the pace, deciding our course of action. Pyrrha and I should be working together to stand at the top of our class. But now...

Now it wasn't simply a matter of not being chosen to lead the team. Now Ruby was flaunting something that completely defied the logic that Weiss' entire world had been built around. On top of that, the others weren't just not questioning it, but were accepting it wholeheartedly. In the meantime, she was being kept out of the loop, left uninformed, essentially being sabotaged by her own teammates.

A mix of negative feelings swelled within her. Unable to stand anymore, Weiss bared her teeth. Clenching her fists so hard that her fingernails bit into the skin of her palms, Weiss turned and stalked away from her team, making her way out of the library at a fast walk, requiring every ounce of her restraint not to break into a run.

Ruby, Pyrrha, and Jaune watched her go.

"I...Maybe I could have handled that better," said Ruby, sighing and sagging down.

"Maybe," said Jaune. "But I do think that just demanding answers like she was, ordering you around like that...you were definitely within your rights not to answer her. Maybe if she'd asked politely…"

"I...I don't know," admitted Pyrrha, looking after Weiss. "As...difficult...as she can be, she's still our teammate. I feel like we're walling her out."

"If we're walling her out, she's bricking it up from the other side at the same time," grumbled Ruby. "She acts like everything should go the way she wants, just because she says so."

"Maybe," said Pyrrha. "But...things are going to come to a head and...if we aren't careful...I don't want to drive Weiss away completely."

"I thought you didn't want to be her partner," said Ruby, looking somberly at Pyrrha.

"I...I didn't," said Pyrrha, looking away. "But...the rules are the rules. I can't change my partner, not any more than we can change our assigned teams. I have to accept that, and I need to learn to work with Weiss. But...right now...we're just working against her. However much we may be put off by her attitude, she is our teammate, and we have an obligation to reach out to her as much as she has one to reach out to us. I can't accept it if we don't do everything we can to treat Weiss as a member of this team. If we do all that we can, and she's the one who refuses to budge, then..."

"What else can we do?" asked Ruby, painful tension in her own voice. "It's not that I don't get that. I don't want to just push Weiss away, and act like she's not a member of this team. But she won't give at all. Everything has to be the way she wants it or nothing at all. I'm trying to show that I'm serious about this, but she doesn't care, because, as far as she's concerned, she she's better than everyone else here, except you, and that apparently means that she should always get what she wants."

"I know..." said Pyrrha, looking down. "And...I think I have to be the one to go to her."

"You?" asked Jaune.

"I am her partner," said Pyrrha. "I...I never really wanted to be, but that's how the cards were dealt. I have to deal with that. And I seem to be the only person she's even remotely inclined to listen to."

"Pyrrha..." Ruby looked worriedly at her friend.

"It's all right," said Pyrrha, smiling back at Ruby. "You didn't want to be the leader either. But here you are, trying your best to make the most of it, and do the best job you can." She looked at Jaune. "And you're working so hard too. I'm not entirely sure what's going on, but I hope that you'll tell me at some point."

Jaune paled slightly and nodded.

"So I shouldn't let this team fall apart, just because I'm afraid to deal with my own partner," said Pyrrha. "I'll talk to her."

"Well...all right," said Ruby. "You're right about you being the only one she'll think about listening to."

Pyrrha nodded and began to close her books. "I hope you two can make it through the rest of your homework all right. We're almost done for the night."

"Is it all right if I check my answers with you, before we turn it in?" asked Ruby hopefully.

"Of course," said Pyrrha. "Remember, we'll have tomorrow too."

Taking her books, Pyrrha headed to the door of the library. Outside, she paused, then drew in a shuddering breath and let it out. It was time to do what she'd been dreading, confronting her partner.

Yang stared at the scroll, her father's contact icon visible in the center of the screen. One tap, and she'd be speaking to him directly. It was the same position she'd been in the night after Initiation, or last night. And now, here she was again, staring at the screen, realizing she should touch that icon, call her father, and let him know...let him know that Ruby was here, that she was alive, that she was back.

He's been worried for so long. Hell! He mostly thinks she's dead by now. I can't keep him in the dark. Her thumb hovered a little bit closer to the icon.

Her mind went back to that morning, listening to Ruby's story of the trials she'd been through, simply walking down to Vale, traveling by foot across the continent...alone. She'd slept in trees and caves, always having to keep one eye open, in case a Grimm happened by. She'd moved from settlement to settlement, living off the land, supporting herself with the skills she'd been taught, fighting monsters every step of the way. Was it any wonder that Ozpin had invited her in?

Then there had been her match against Russel. Yang got the impression that the boys of Team CRDL were probably not amongst the top students of this year's class, but that didn't change the fact that Russel had gotten defeated handily by a girl two years his junior. Ruby had barely even taken any damage during that match as well. Ruby wasn't just able to get by here, she seemed to be thriving. And it was just the first day.

And yet, she knew that none of that would matter to Taiyang Xiao Long. She still remembered those first emotional days after Ruby disappeared. She remembered him yelling over the scroll at Qrow, accusing him of taking Ruby away to foster her "idiotic fantasies." She remembered him yelling at her, saying that none of this would have happened, had she kept a proper eye on Ruby. Worse, Yang agreed. She should have been watching Ruby. It had been her fault that Ruby had been in danger, that day in the woods, then it was her fault that Ruby had gotten away.

Taiyang had called the police in Vale proper, telling them what happened. Then he'd gone and purchased a tracking anklet, the kind of thing criminals on parole normally wore. He was going to make sure that, from then on, he knew exactly where Ruby was at all times. As far as Yang knew, he still had it.

If he learned that Ruby was here, at Beacon, he would come within the hour. He'd pull her out of school, drag her back by force, if that was what it took. And now Yang knew that Ruby would never accept that. She'd either run away again or, worse, fight back. Taiyang may not have been an active Huntsman anymore, but that didn't mean he'd let his skills deteriorate any.

So it's better to leave her here...where she could get herself killed? Yang blanched at the thought. If she dies, then it's my fault. I might as well still be pulling that wagon through the woods.

The more she looked at her scroll, the more indecision gnawed at her. It wasn't right to leave things like this. But telling Taiyang didn't feel right either. She needed to talk to someone...Oh!

Yang reopened her contacts and scrolled down to the list of the persons she trusted most, probably even more than her own father. She didn't hesitate to tap the icon, looking wistfully at the portrait of her Uncle Qrow.

The scroll rang for a few seconds before he answered. "Hey there, Firecracker. How ya doin'? Heard you got into Beacon all right."

"I did," said Yang. "Uncle Qrow..."

"What's up? You sound pretty upset."

"Uncle Qrow...Ruby's here," Yang finally managed to force out.

"Huh?"

There was something about her Uncle's response, just that one syllable, that felt off to Yang. There was surprise, but not as much as she would have expected, not from a man who'd been looking for Ruby for years, and come up empty-handed. Instead, there was more confusion than surprise.

"Uncle Qrow...?" Yang asked warily.

"Sorry, just...trying to wrap my head around that," said Qrow quickly. "Still, it's not a complete shocker. If she was gonna pop up anywhere, it would be over at Beacon. Didn't expect her for a couple more years though."

"Didn't expect...?" Yang frowned, her eyes narrowing. "Uncle Qrow...I thought you never found Ruby."

"I'm just sayin'," said Qrow, his reply even more hurried, the tone of a man realizing he'd dug himself a hole and was now desperately trying to clamber out of it. "You know how she was. It was about the only thing she ever talked about when she was little, 'til Tai put a stopper on it."

"Uncle Qrow...you found Ruby before now, didn't you?" growled Yang. "Don't lie...not to me."

She heard Qrow sigh heavily. There was a lot of tiredness in that sound. "Dammit, Firecracker. You could stand to be a little less perceptive." Then he groaned. "I've got too much on my plate to waste time dancing in circles, so yeah...I found her a few months after she left."

"A few months!" gasped Yang, glad no one else was in the dorm room right now.

"Yep," said Qrow. "It was a lot harder than I thought it would be, mainly because she hooked up with a couple of travelers, and headed out of the Kingdom proper, post haste."

"You mean she left with strangers?" gasped Yang.

"Pretty much," said Qrow. "That was what scared me at first. Then things got weird. The kinda people we'd be worried about taking Ruby wouldn't be a sort to travel through the wilderness on foot."

"They walked out there?" gasped Yang.

"Yep," said Qrow. "And Ruby walked with 'em. I followed their trail up to Dunedain, then to Barrowdown, then I caught up with 'em in Anduin."

"You caught up to them? You mean you actually found Ruby?" asked Yang.

"Yep," said Qrow. "Let me tell you, kiddo. She wasn't in the mood to come back."

"That shouldn't have stopped you," growled Yang.

"I didn't let it stop me," said Qrow. "Unfortunately, the people who picked her up did stop me."

"Who?" growled Yang.

"Couple of odd sorts for sure," said Qrow. "They have something of a rep out in the settlements, one that I really couldn't wrap my head around. When I asked about them, people stopped talking, like they were afraid. But, in private, they were looking forward to the next time the pair visited."

"I don't get it," said Yang.

"I didn't either, not at first," said Qrow. "There were two of them. One was a fox-faunus, short little thing, went by the name of Sasame. The other was a swordsman by the name of Kyo. When I tried to force the issue...Kyo handed me my ass."

"You lost?" Now Yang was completely shocked. Her Uncle Qrow was the coolest, most-badass Huntsman she knew. The idea of him losing just did not compute.

"Badly," admitted Qrow. "And, from what I could tell, that guy was taking it easy and playing at my level. I didn't even rate him getting serious. Afterwards, they made sure I wasn't in any shape to keep up the chase, so I couldn't follow them after that, even if I wanted to."

"Which means you didn't want to," said Yang in a low tone.

"Not after I saw what they'd done for Ruby, how happy she was..." Qrow sighed. "You didn't see it Yang, Ruby's eyes were lit up like they hadn't been in ages. She was laughing and smiling, like she didn't have a care in the world, even though she was working her butt off with the training they were giving her. It was everything that she wanted, everything that we all denied her."

"We...but you wanted to train her," Yang pointed out.

"Not badly enough," admitted Qrow with the voice of a man fully aware of his own inadequacy and unhappy to admit it. "Listen, Firecracker, my gig as a Professor at Signal was my side job. My work as a Huntsman has always been my number-one priority. Yeah, I definitely didn't approve of what Tai was doing, but other than shouting at him about it, I was too stupid to see just how much he was hurting Ruby to really do something to stop it, not until she up and left on her own.

"If I'd wanted to really fight for Ruby's future, I'd have taken Tai to court over it. I'd have tried to prove that he wasn't fit to be a parent. Of course, that would have other repercussions. If he was unfit to be Ruby's parent, then he was probably unfit to be yours as well. Both of you would have been out of that house.

"And then there'd be the question of what to do after that. Sure, I was willing to help Ruby with her weapon-training and design, but that was under the assumption that I'd be helping her as a Signal student. I couldn't just give up my work and take the two of you in myself, the courts wouldn't have found me to be much of a better fit than Tai, not with how much I drink. Well…there was that guy too…but he wasn't in the best position at the time…"

Remembering how Qrow almost always seemed perpetually drunk, Yang couldn't help but agree with that sentiment. She wondered who this other "guy" Qrow mentioned was, but figured it was one of his friends. Qrow seemed to have a lot of unusual friends.

"So there would have been a lot of nitty-gritty crap to wade through, in order to try and ensure that you two were looked after, but in a way that would still let you follow the paths you wanted. I...it was too much work for me then...that's my excuse. I didn't fight for Ruby hard enough because it would've been inconvenient. And, because of that, she did something stupid, reckless, and desperate. She got lucky, obscenely lucky. For her story, there must be a few dozen other kids in similar situations who met ugly ends on the street. But she made it...and the people who were with her sincerely cared about her. So I made a decision...I decided to let her go."

"And you didn't tell us?" said Yang, the words emerging along with a choked sob.

"I knew it would hurt you and...yeah," said Qrow. "I ain't gonna apologize, because that doesn't make things right in the slightest, and I have to admit, if I could go back in time and do it all over again, the only change I would've made was not picking that fight in the first place. I would've let her go without a fuss."

Yang didn't know what to say about that.

"Have you talked to her?" asked Qrow.

"Y-yeah..." Yang sniffled. "She hates me, Uncle Qrow. Whenever she sees me, she glares...or she pretends I'm not here at all."

"I'm not surprised," said Qrow, eliciting a choking sound from Yang. "I'm not saying she's right to treat you that way. In some ways, you're as much of a victim of Tai as she was."

"I'm not a victim!" protested Yang.

"So Tai never got angry at you, and blamed you for her leaving?" asked Qrow.

Yang's silence was answer enough.

"Thought so," said Qrow. "Tai's...twisted. Saying he's in grief doesn't cover for it anymore. He's been warped and, to some degree, he's done a lot of that warping himself. What Ruby did wasn't smart or mature, but sometimes the only thing you can do is make the least-bad of a host of bad decisions. I can't lecture you about it, because you were a kid too, and Tai was always feeding that guilt complex over taking Ruby with you, that time in the forest."

"But it was my fault!" exclaimed Yang. "I put her in that wagon and pulled her along with me, going on some stupid quest to find my real mother, like some kind of idiot fairy tale..."

"A quest you wouldn't have been on if Tai had gotten his act together like he was supposed to," Qrow countered. "Tai doesn't have any right to hold that over your head, not with the way he was acting at the time. But that's a bit beside the point.

"Yeah, Ruby's probably bitter about how things were. Tell me, have you told Tai yet?"

"No," said Yang.

"Good choice," said Qrow. "Right now, I'm not sure he's fit to handle that kind of truth. He'll find out eventually. But, hopefully, Ruby will have a chance to get settled and comfortable there, so she'll have some traction when she resists him."

"But she can't, can she?" asked Yang.

"Well that's the thing..." said Qrow warily. "It's a bit of a gray area, what with her being fifteen and all. But, knowing Oz, he has that angle covered. Unless Ruby's on the verge of expulsion, Tai won't have any leverage."

"Oh..." said Yang.

"Listen, I'd be the last person to lecture you on healthy relationships, I don't really have any idea how you can repair yours with Ruby," said Qrow. "Just...try not to come onto her in some condescending or worried manner."

"You mean, don't try to act like her big sister," said Yang glumly.

"Well, not the kind of big sister you were before," said Qrow. "She's where she wants to be, so try encouraging her instead. Cheer for her in her sparring matches, maybe offer to help her with her homework, that sort of thing...I don't know." He sighed.

Yang frowned, uncertain of what to say, so she changed the subject. "Do you know anything about the people she was with...I mean...more than you did then?"

"Quite a bit," said Qrow. "But they ain't the sort of people you ask about unless you're looking for trouble. Me, I've got a special source, but I suggest you don't dig too deep. It's not illegal to ask about them, but you can ruffle the feathers of some nasty people if you do."

"I don't get it?" asked Yang.

"All right...I'll tell you, on the condition that you don't start asking around," said Qrow. "I'm serious, here."

"All right," said Yang with a gulp.

"Okay, Firecracker. So, here's the deal. Sasame and Kyo, those two that took Ruby in, they're from a group called the Mibu Clan..."

Weiss wasn't sure what to do, after she'd stormed out of the library. She probably should have finished the rest of her homework, but she couldn't concentrate, not with the storm of emotions surging through her. Didn't Ruby realize how dangerous a revelation like this was? It could completely upset the world order. But she refused to share anything about her mysterious power and how it worked.

And Pyrrha's taking her side, thought Weiss furiously. This wasn't how things were supposed to go...

Ultimately, she ended up going back to their room and slamming the door shut behind her. From there, she'd kicked off her boots and huddled on her bed, unsure of what to do. Part of her felt ashamed, sulking like the child she so often accused Ruby of being, yet she couldn't figure out what else to do.

Her train of thought...or lack thereof...was interrupted by a faint knocking on the door. "Weiss?" asked a soft, polite voice. "Are you in here?"

"Pyrrha?" Weiss looked up as her partner slowly opened the door.

"Can I come in?" asked Pyrrha, as polite as ever.

"Sure," said Weiss. "It's your room too."

"I know," said Pyrrha, folding her hands together nervously as she stood in the doorway. "But if you wanted to be alone..."

"I'd be better off finding somewhere else," said Weiss with a sigh. "It's not like Ruby or Jaune would let me keep them out if they wanted to come in."

"Jaune would," said Pyrrha, "though I think that's more out of fear than respect."

"Good enough for me," muttered Weiss. Truth be told, as much as Ruby aggravated her, Jaune Arc was pretty much beneath her notice. For all that it was worrying to share a room with a male, with no telling what kind of restraint, or lack thereof, he possessed, every time he was around and said anything, Weiss was always put off by it. It was like one of the dust bunnies had started talking.

"You shouldn't be like that, Weiss," said Pyrrha with a sigh. "Ruby and Jaune are our teammates."

"It doesn't feel like that to me," growled Weiss.

"Because they won't automatically do what you say?" pressed Pyrrha.

"Because they won't listen to me!" exclaimed Weiss. "I've studied and trained. Do you have any idea how humiliating it is to have all that hard work snubbed, so that Ozpin could hand the position that I rightfully earned to his...his...pet!"

"Weiss!" snapped Pyrrha, a degree of anger in her tone that Weiss had never believed that Pyrrha was capable of. "How dare you suggest that about Ruby?"

"Why not?" asked Weiss. "How else to you explain her being here, at her age?"

"Maybe because she worked hard too," said Pyrrha plainly. "Maybe because she worked harder than us."

"That's impossible!" protested Weiss.

"Is it?" asked Pyrrha darkly, almost glaring at Weiss now. "Is it really?"

"She was out in the forests, training like some kind of barbarian," protested Weiss, "sleeping on the ground and fighting-"

"Grimm," said Pyrrha plainly. "She was out there fighting Grimm, the very things this Academy is supposed to be training us to fight. She's been out there and faced down more than most people her age have probably even seen in their lives, and you think that makes her unqualified?"

"B-but it's so...so..." Weiss couldn't find the word she wanted. She didn't even know if the word to describe her protest existed.

"Because she didn't have a rich family that could afford the finest instructors money could buy?" asked Pyrrha bitterly. She'd been originally aiming for some kind of reconciliation with Weiss, but now she realized just why Ruby got so frustrated and bitter with the heiress. "Because she doesn't have the resources of the Schnee Dust Company to supply herself with the best equipment or all the Dust she could ever use?"

"I didn't buy my way in!" snapped Weiss.

"I never suggested you did," said Pyrrha. "But, you have to admit, because of your family, you had access to things that Ruby never could, things you've apparently come to take for granted, things that apparently make you think you're automatically better than her.

"I..." Weiss was at a loss for words. The truth was, she did think that the resources she had access to made her more qualified than Ruby. After all, Weiss was groomed for leadership from the very beginning. Ever since Winter had gone into the military, Weiss had been the choice to lead the Schnee Dust Company into the future. She'd been trained to run a massive, worldwide corporation. Compared to that, a four-person team was simplicity itself. She was overqualified for the position.

But it was clear that line of thought wouldn't fly with Pyrrha. So she decided on another. "But do you have any idea what this is going to do to our reputations?" she pressed. "Ruby Rose is two years younger than us. I'm the heiress of the Schnee Dust Company, and you're Mistral's Invincible Girl. How do you think it looks to have the two of us taking orders from a fifteen-year-old? And don't say you don't care about your reputation, or some such drivel."

"I do care about my reputation," said Pyrrha darkly. "And I hate that I care about it."

"What?" gasped Weiss.

"I never wanted to be the Invincible Girl," said Pyrrha. "I didn't want to be a celebrity or have endorsements. I had no idea what I was getting into, when my parents pushed me into that. I didn't realize what baggage that all came with, until my agent started regulating what I did and said, how I behaved and acted.

"I don't want to live, feeling like I'm forever being watched and assessed by people who have no right to judge me. I don't want to live in mortal fear of making a mistake, worried that people will tear into me at the first sign of weakness. If I'd really wanted that kind of life, I would have stayed in Mistral, gone to Haven. But I chose to come to Beacon, so that I could escape that."

Pyrrha fixed a bitter glare on Weiss. "So, yes, I care about my reputation. But I don't want to care about it. I want to make friends, Weiss, real friends, not fans who mindlessly praise everything I do. I want to become a Huntress. I want to fight the Grimm. I want to protect people. That's all I ever wanted to be. That's why it upsets me that you're trying so hard to chase the first real friends I've had in years away."

"They're just ignorant," said Weiss. "I don't know how Arc didn't recognize you, but Ruby has no clue what's going on in the world."

"I'm fine with that," said Pyrrha. "Maybe it's a bit silly that that's the basis for our friendship. But for the first time, someone actually saw me for me, and not the celebrity image that's been built up around me like some kind of stupid monument. Ruby has zero context to understand the weight of the things you told her about me yesterday. That allowed her to meet me as a friend and as a peer."

"But she's not qualified to be your peer," insisted Weiss. "She doesn't have anything to match your accomplishments."

"Weiss! This is Beacon Academy!" shouted Pyrrha, amazed at how bullheaded her partner was. "Do you think that, even for a minute, Professor Ozpin cares how many endorsements I have? Do you think that Dr. Oobleck will test the class on my sponsors? Do you think that Professor Port will fudge my grades on the basis of all the autographs I've signed? Do you believe that Professor Goodwitch cares about my tournament record more than how I perform in the ring before her own eyes? I came to Beacon specifically to try and leave that behind."

"And you think I didn't?" asked Weiss. "All my life, my father has tried to control everything about my upbringing. I liked to sing, so he made me put on charity concerts so that he could pat himself on the back in public about what a generous benefactor he is. He brags about how much he's built our company, while running my family's good name into the ground. I've been watched too. I've had to act the way everyone expects the Schnee heiress to act. I've had to uphold our company and family name with everything I say and do. Becoming a Huntress, coming to Beacon, those were the first real decisions I made for myself."

"Your father didn't want you to come?" asked Pyrrha.

"He didn't want me to become a Huntress," said Weiss darkly. "And even after he realized he couldn't stop me, he wanted me to go to Atlas Academy instead, where he could still have some control over me. When I didn't budge, he made me take a 'test' to prove my fitness." Her finger went up to trace the scar over her left eye. "That's how I got this."

"Weiss..." said Pyrrha softly.

"I came to Beacon because it was what 'Weiss' wanted to do, not 'Ms. Schnee,'" said Weiss. "I have to prove that I'm capable of making my own decisions, deciding things for myself, without Father looking over my shoulder and pulling my strings.

"And I know what it's like to not have friends. All I've ever had were self-serving sycophants who talked me up to my face, and then schemed behind my back about how to best take advantage of their relationship with me."

"You mean like approaching someone and buttering her up about how everyone must be so eager to be her partner?" asked Pyrrha ruefully.

"Ye-" Weiss' stopped mid-syllable, her mouth hanging open as she realized what Pyrrha was talking about. Weiss suddenly felt cold inside, a bitter, painful feeling she'd thought she'd left behind in Atlas. Now that Pyrrha brought it up to her, Weiss realized that was exactly what she'd done when they'd talked in the locker room. No! I hate those selfish imbeciles who think I'm too stupid to see through their paper-thin flattery! How could I go and do the same thing?

Because that wasn't what she'd been thinking about when she'd gone to Pyrrha. Weiss hadn't been thinking about friends. Going to Beacon and becoming a Huntress weren't good enough, not to her. If she wanted to definitively throw off her father's yoke, she needed accomplishments. It wasn't enough to be here. She had to be the best. She had to secure every achievement and earn every accolade. Perhaps she couldn't be the best combatant, not when she was going to the same school as the Pyrrha Nikos. But if she could become Pyrrha's partner, then she would have that power at her side. With Pyrrha as her partner, as a part of her team, Weiss was certain she would rise to the top.

But in order to do so, she had become the very same thing she'd hated. She wanted friends too. But the first person she'd approached herself she'd done so for completely self-serving reasons. She hadn't cared what Pyrrha wanted, just fed her the lines, assuming it was what Pyrrha wanted to hear, completely blind to realization that Pyrrha had seen through her just as plainly as she'd seen through the people who'd tried to use her.

I...what have I done? Weiss was horrified, disgusted with herself. How could I have done this?

Suddenly, she didn't want to look at Pyrrha anymore. She was terrified at the prospect of meeting her partner's eyes and seeing the thoughts and feelings that lurked there, the hatred and resentment Pyrrha must have had for her.

"Weiss..." Pyrrha's voice was stern and firm. There was an authority to it that Weiss hadn't felt before. "...look at me."

Unable and unwilling to resist, Weiss did as she was bid, lifting her head to look into the emerald eyes of Pyrrha Nikos. Weiss had expected hatred and disgust. Instead, what she saw was sadness.

"I can understand what it's like," said Pyrrha softly, "to get so wrapped up in a persona that it becomes you, that it dictates the decisions you wanted to make for yourself by the rules you've been forced to live by. It's so hard to break out. I nearly threw up yesterday, when I said 'no' to you in the dining hall. And, when you brought up my reputation, it became too much for me entirely. I couldn't keep the impulse back for a full minute."

"Why?" asked Weiss.

"Because Pyrrha Nikos: The Invincible Girl is always supposed to say 'yes'," said Pyrrha, a restrained sob in her voice. "Pyrrha Nikos can never turn down an adoring fan, never turn away a chance to sign an autograph, never dismiss an offer to do a promotion or a photo shoot. I've always had to be gracious and give the people what they want, in order to be their celebrity, their hero. I got so used to it that I'd almost completely forgotten what it was like to stand up for myself, to say what I want to say.

"So I understand that, when you don't have any idea what to do, even if that's not what you wanted to do, you defaulted to being the 'Ms. Schnee' you've always been, instead of 'Weiss'. But if you want to keep going here, if you want to stay here and be a part of this team, you need to accept that things won't always go your way and you can't just make them go your way."

Pyrrha took a deep breath, closing her eyes before opening them again and staring pointedly at Weiss. "I'll be honest, Weiss. The way you approached me before Initiation, that made you the last person I wanted to partner with."

Weiss drew in a shuddering breath and choked back a horrified sob, partly because she knew that she, had she been in Pyrrha's shoes, would have felt the same way.

"So I was miserable when we met up anyway. I was glad when we ended up with Ruby and Jaune. Yes, I befriended them because they didn't immediately realize who I was, but it meant that I was actually able to make real friends, to deal with people who aren't obsessed with my fame. I'm glad that Ruby is the leader of our team. But having them made me afraid of dealing with you."

Pyrrha reached out and gently cupped Weiss' cheek. "And I'm sorry about that. Because of that, I haven't been a very good partner to you Weiss. And, I think that, once you stop trying to take over because you're obsessed with what you think you deserve, there might be a person in there that I really would like to be partners with. I'd very much like to meet her someday."

Weiss sniffled. Then Pyrrha pulled her into a tight hug. Weiss' restraint snapped like a thread, and she broke down sobbing, clinging tightly to Pyrrha.

"I'm sorry! Oh God, I'm sorry!"

"It's okay," whispered Pyrrha softly, rubbing Weiss' back.

She held Weiss for a little while longer before they finally pulled away from each other. Pyrrha looked at Weiss. "Now...do you think you can manage something like that with Ruby and Jaune."

"I'll...I'll try," said Weiss softly. "But I've probably already burned my bridges with them."

"You haven't," Pyrrha assured her. "Ruby's been trying her hardest to reach out to you, to show you she's serious about doing things right. But even she knows that she needs help. That's what you need to be, Weiss. You need to stop trying so hard to be the leader of this team and simply be the best teammate you can be...for all of us...Jaune too."

"Do we have to include him in this?" asked Weiss petulantly.

"Yes, Weiss," said Pyrrha, laughing. "Jaune's our teammate too. You need to get over the fact of his gender sooner or later, because it makes you sound like a ten-year-old."

Weiss groaned and clapped her hands over her face. "Oh God! I do, don't I! I sound like some brat who still thinks boys are gross and icky."

"To be fair, they can be," said Pyrrha with a roll of her eyes. "I mean, have you heard Cardinal in the dining hall?"

"Who can't?" scoffed Weiss. "They make sure everyone in the damn hall can hear them."

"Better Jaune than them, right?" asked Pyrrha.

"Yes," said Weiss, the word exiting her mouth in a defeated sigh.

"So...think you're ready to try?" pressed Pyrrha.

"Yes, I think I am," said Weiss after a moment's hesitation.

It was another hour before Ruby and Jaune arrived at the room, planning to put their books away before dinner and their evening training. They were surprised to find Pyrrha and Weiss waiting for them. Pyrrha gently patted Weiss on the back, urging her to follow through on what she'd promised earlier.

"I...I'm sorry," said Weiss, looking nervously at Ruby and Jaune.

Ruby gulped, her entire body going tense. Her eyes flashed to Pyrrha, who smiled and nodded approvingly, before going back to Weiss.

"I...I got too full of myself," Weiss continued. "I overstepped, and I said things that were inappropriate, and let my temper get the better of me. I haven't been a good teammate to you these past two days and...I just want to say I'm ready to try."

Ruby looked at Weiss intently. Deep inside, a part of her was raving. What Weiss said didn't even come close to addressing her snubs and dismissals, her insinuation that Ruby was somehow her inferior because of the difference in their stations, only to turn around and ask for forgiveness with an apology like that. She hadn't merely overstepped, she'd actively attempted to usurp leadership and turn Ruby herself into some kind of puppet or proxy. She'd behaved as though she should be privy to every secret in Ruby's life, simply because she thought she needed to know them. And every time she insulted the quality of Ruby's training, she, by proxy, insulted the people who had saved her, and worked so hard to help her.

Yet...it was a start. And Ruby realized that it was something of an obligation, as leader of this team, for her to accept the olive branch, and see if she and Weiss could build a real working relationship as teammates. So she took a deep breath, and forced her anger and resentment back, where she could deal with them at another time. Even though she was two years younger, she had to be the bigger person here. "All right," she said with a small, but warm smile. "I accept."

Weiss smiled. Ruby noted that her smile at least looked sincere. Maybe we can get along...we'll see.

Pyrrha sighed, relaxing a little. She could see that, while the storm had passed, the tension remained. She could tell that Weiss would have to work hard to rein in her domineering habits, coming from a life of being groomed to lead a world-spanning corporation, and follow someone else's lead, rather than making others follow hers. She could also see that, for all that Ruby had accepted Weiss' apology, the hurt from what the heiress had said earlier remained, and that Ruby hadn't completely forgiven Weiss yet. Looking over at Jaune, who was standing a little behind Ruby, Pyrrha caught his eyes and saw the same wariness in them, the realization that they still had a rocky road ahead, before they could truly say they were a working team.

It's not perfect, she thought. But it's a start. I know that, somehow, we can be a real team.

And Pyrrha supposed that a start was good enough for now.