47

Chapter 47: A Sunny Winter's Day

Wednesday. Vale Docks, Atlassian Warehouse

"You're doing just fine, Ruby. Now focus on your other hand."

Ruby swallowed nervously. She peered down through her red glyph, the only thing between her and the cement floor thirty feet below. Winter looked up at her expectantly. With a small nod, Ruby lifted her arm, crossing her fingers as she kept her other hand steady. A second glyph formed a few feet away, slightly smaller. Moving fast, Ruby leapt the short distance, her first glyph fading away the second her foot left it. "Like that?" she called down, trying to stay steady as she came to a stop.

As Ruby wobbled precariously on her new platform, Winter nodded in approval. "Much better. Keep practicing. Remember: keep your fingers bent at the same angle, even when running."

"Yes, ma'am," Ruby responded, already forming her next glyph.

After another moment's watch, Winter moved away from the young leader, leaving her to practice on her own. She looked to the warehouse as a whole, and once again felt both impressed and disconcerted.

Once she knew the girls had been released from their detention (assisting Oobleck with grading papers, of all things), Winter had contacted Weiss, letting her know that, if they wished, she was available for another Semblance lesson. They had accepted eagerly, Ruby more so than the others given her newly healed leg, but Weiss had seemed just a tad annoyed. Winter didn't know the specifics as to why, only that it had to do with their training of Blake's Semblance that day, or lack thereof.

The plan for the day was to help them master the barrier glyph… at least that's how it started. Much to her chagrin, Winter quickly learned that one couldn't really make a plan for Team RWBY, so much as a general outline. It had taken less than fifteen minutes for her sister's significant others to take her carefully laid out training regiment, and promptly opt to create their own on the fly. Thus, Winter found herself delegated to be less of an instructor, and more of an advisor.

She had learned rather quickly that each of Weiss' girlfriends (and, no, Winter did not think she would ever get used to that) had vastly different strengths and weaknesses in regards to her family's Semblance. Ruby had trouble focusing on her glyphs while moving, while Yang had yet to create two glyphs of the same size. Blake was a bit better, having quickly grasped the concept of consistency and focus, but instead found that her glyphs lacked durability, shattering after a single hard blow.

Still, she had to admire their dedication to adapting. Ruby quickly set to recreating Yang and Blake's obstacle course from the previous day of training, hovering near the warehouse ceiling atop her ever-moving glyphs. Yang had taken to Winter's advice ("Try using an actual object as a base and attempt to match its size") with perhaps a little too much enthusiasm, spray painting a half-dozen circles of various sizes on the walls of her chosen corner, repeatedly forming glyphs over them with varied success. And Blake…

Blake had taken a more hands-on approach to her problem.

"Again!"

As Winter watched, Penny flew forwards, a blade in each hand as she held both swords out towards Blake. The cat Faunus blocked the charge with Gambol Shroud's blade, the grating sound of metal on metal forcing her ears back with a wince. Penny reacted instantly, spinning with her remaining momentum to bring her left blade to Blake's side…

...only for it to be deflected off of the small glyph hovering above Blake's left wrist.

Using a glyph like an actual, wearable shield. Winter shook her head at the thought. Just a week ago, she'd have thought the notion impractical, given the sheer focus needed to keep the needed hand sign steady during combat. Yet, Blake seemed to be pulling it off.

The Faunus and the android met again in a flurry of blows, Blake blocking most swings with her blade while dodging the rest. Winter couldn't help but be impressed with her reflexes. Penny had been crafted to be a master swordswoman, trained by Winter herself. Yet Blake was able to match her blow for blow, moving with a fluid grace that seemed almost like she was dancing around her opponent.

Penny took an upwards swipe at Blake's side, forcing the Faunus to block downwards. With a seemingly effortless leap, Penny flipped over Blake's back the second their blades touched, going for another slash once her feet hit the floor. Blake was already moving, lifting her left arm in defense. Penny's blade slammed the center of the glyph… shattering it.

Blake hissed as the purple snowflake faded away, her fingers tensing with phantom pain.

Penny ended her aggressive stance instantly, releasing her swords to hover at her side. "Blake, are you injured?" She frowned in worry, green eyes glowing as she scanned the girl in front of her.

Blake returned a small grin, shaking her aching hand. "I'm fine, Penny. Just…" She hissed again as her fingers twitched, wincing. "That one hurt a bit more than the last one."

Penny hummed in thought. "Perhaps you should attempt to deflect blows with your glyphs at an angle, rather than block them straight on."

Blake flexed her hand a few times, looking thoughtful. "Maybe." She twitched her fingers, enveloping them with a violet glow. A new glyph formed over her hand. Raising her blade, she lowered into a battle stance. "Ready?"

Penny blinked, then beamed. Her swords flew back to her hands, and she clashed them together in anticipation. "Combat ready!"

Blake smirked, and the two locked blades.

A small smile pulled at the corner of Winter's mouth. It was heartening to see Penny interacting with someone so openly, given her origins. The girl needed friends, ones who accepted her for who and, more importantly, what she was. Team RWBY seemed to have taken the role with no qualms. Penny's robotic nature was a complete non-issue to them, and Winter was thankful for that.

A frustrated groan pulled Winter from her thoughts.

She turned away from the sparring girls, turning instead to the center of the warehouse. She watched as the massive glyph spread out over the concrete floor collapsed in on itself, taking with it a half-formed blob of a summon. At the far end of it, standing opposite of the Paladin wreck, Weiss let her arms fall limp to her sides. She scowled at the fading white light, eyes darting back and forth as the snowflake disappeared.

Winter frowned. That was the third failed summon in the last half-hour. She walked over to her sister, her critical eye scanning her. "Weiss."

The younger Schnee jumped slightly, startled by Winter's appearance. She looked to Winter, biting her lip nervously.

She should really break that habit, Winter thought idly. "Show me your form."

Weiss just barely stifled a grimace (Winter still caught her lips pulling back slightly), and instead just nodded. She lifted her arms, twisting and arching her fingers, bending her arms at careful angles. Her eyes went from her arms to Winter, looking for approval.

Winter looked her over, searching for any flaws in Weiss' position. After a long thirty seconds, she nodded. "Your form is perfect." Weiss' lips twitched up slightly, but she repressed any other reaction. Winter hummed thoughtfully. "You need to work on your focus. For your summon to take form, you must have every detail of it in mind. Try again."

Weiss swallowed nervously, then focused on the ground. Her hands glowed, and another large glyph formed… very slowly.

Her speed needs work, too, Winter thought, though she kept the notion to herself for the moment.

Across the warehouse, Yang watched the Schnee sisters from the corner of her eye. She absently kept forming yellow glyphs in front of her but wasn't really keeping track of their sizes anymore. She frowned slightly when she saw Weiss' brow scrunch in concentration, bringing another glyph into existence.

At the center of the glyph, something seemed to be moving.

Yang watched as Winter frowned towards the glyph. Her lips moved, saying something Yang couldn't hear. Weiss gave a stiff nod, her hands glowing a little brighter. The blotch at the center of her glyph moved and shifted. The formless mass slowly started to shape, creating something vaguely humanoid. Winter gave a small nod of approval, still frowning. Weiss' fingers twitched, and the form moved. It seemed to reach out of the glyph, like a diver moving to break through the surface. Metallic fingers poked out of the glyph…

And promptly shattered it. Weiss' glyph splintered into a million tiny fractals, taking the fledgling summon with it. Weiss let out a startled yelp of pain, bringing her arms to her chest like she'd been burned. She stared at the empty floor in disbelief, then slowly panned over to Winter. The elder Schnee frowned in thought, looking between Weiss and the empty space. She slowly shook her head, letting loose a sigh. Weiss' shoulders slumped, a defeated look on her face.

Yang frowned at the whole interaction. Failure and Shame ebbed off of Weiss, muted as she tried to suppress the feelings. She caught sight of Ruby and Blake looking over, both sporting matching looks of concern. Weiss waved them all off, careful to use the arm out of Winter's line of sight. Yang's eyes narrowed when Winter merely ordered Weiss to try again, and the younger sibling did so with only the briefest hesitation.

Yang hummed. A thought nagged her. She might have been new to using glyphs, but something about the way Weiss and Winter were training seemed familiar. When she pieced together what it was, she resisted a groan.

She wanted to say something. She should say something. But, there was a nagging feeling in the back of her mind, telling her she should stay out of it. It wasn't her place. Winter was Weiss' only attentive family, as far as she could tell. She was just a girlfriend. She imagined reversing the rolls, how she would react if someone walked up and said she was training Ruby wrong.

Yang shook her head, coming back to her thoughts as Weiss yelped again. Yang looked up… then felt herself getting angry.

That expression… It was brief, but something flickered across Winter's face when Weiss' glyph shattered again.

Okay, she thought, fighting against her building temper. Decision made.

Leaving her practice rings behind, Yang started across the warehouse floor.

"Hey, Winter? Could I talk to you for a second?"

Turning away from Weiss' failed attempts, Winter met Yang's eyes. Though the blonde seemed as carefree as ever, there was something in her eye, behind that cocky smirk, that made Winter wary. She held her stare for a moment, then turned back to Weiss, saying, "Keep holding the glyph open for as long as you can. If it fails, break for five minutes, then try again."

Weiss nodded, her focus on the glyph only breaking to shoot Yang a curious glance. Yang just flashed her that soft smile, then waved for Winter to follow her.

Yang didn't lead her far, just to the other side of the warehouse. The blonde leaned against the wall, staring out at the area as she crossed her arms. When she didn't immediately say anything, Winter followed her gaze. They could see everything from where they were, from Ruby creating and leaping from glyph to glyph, to Blake and Penny having their spar.

"So, is this how you learned all this?"

Winter looked to Yang, but the brawler was still looking out at the warehouse, her eyes focused on Weiss. She glanced at Winter, then clarified. "Glyphs, summoning. Is what you have all of us doing the same way you learned to do it?"

Winter's head pulled back slightly, a small move of understanding. "Unfortunately not," she explained. "My grandfather passed away before I was old enough to learn from him. I mostly learned my skills through trial and error, with the help of his journals."

Yang nodded. "Okay…" she drawled. "So you're teaching us the way you figured it out."

The elder Schnee nodded. "In a manner of speaking. It seemed the best method to go by, considering you three's, shall we say, lack of experience."

Yang hummed, smirking slightly. "Well, can't say you're wrong." She held up her palm, a yellow glyph flickering to life. She flexed her crossed fingers, her smile widening as the glyph grew and shrank with the movements. "This is beyond cool, but after what you told us about how these things work, figuring it out blind must have been a real headache."

Winter allowed a small chuckle, her lips curling a bit. "At times," she admitted. "There were days, early on, when it felt like I was making little progress."

Yang laughed in return. Then she asked, "Does Weiss know that?"

Winter blinked, narrowing her eyes at the blonde in confusion. "Pardon?"

"Does she know you had trouble, figuring this all out?"

"She knows my skills did not come easy to me. That they required hard work and training for me to get to where I am." Winter's eyes narrowed further, now in suspicion. "Why do you ask?"

Yang shrugged, letting her glyph fade. Shoving her hands in her coat pockets, she said, "Well, maybe I'm wrong, but you seem kind of-"

Shrii-chk!

Yang and Winter flinched as a piercing sound filled the air, only to cut off with a sound like breaking glass. They both turned just in time to see Weiss' massive glyph shatter, the ghostly image of a robotic arm splintering along with it. They heard Weiss suck in a startled breath, gripping her forearm in pain. She hung her head, breathing deeply, before walking over to a cooler of water. Ruby, having seen all this, quickly leapt down from her fledgling glyphs, running to Weiss' side as she waved off Blake's look of concern.

Winter's lips pursed as she watched Weiss retreat. She should have been able to hold out for at least a few-

"That."

Winter turned back to Yang, only to find the brawler frowning at her.

"Excuse me?"

Yang crossed her arms again, meeting Winter's stare with her own. "That look you gave Weiss. You're disappointed she's not better with her summoning."

Winter was startled, not of the accusation, but by the matter-of-fact tone Yang used. Feeling her hackles raise, Winter stood up a bit straighter. "I won't deny it. I'd expected her to have progressed further than this in our time apart."

"Why?" Yang asked, unnervingly calm.

Winter frowned. "When I was her age, I could already summon a full-sized Deathstalker. I'd hoped Weiss would be capable of a similar feat by now."

To her surprise and ire, Yang laughed, seemingly to herself. "Ah… yeah, that's what I figured."

Despite herself, Winter's face pulled into a slight scowl. "You disagree?" she asked, her tone warning.

Yang either didn't notice or didn't care, chuckling as she did. "Well, if you're going to try using yourself as a measuring stick for Weiss, then yeah, I disagree."

Winter's eyes hardened. "And what, may I ask, do you find wrong with that?" Her voice grew colder with every word, challenge building.

Yang lazily put her hands up, a slight frown on her lips. "Hey, I'm not trying to start nothing. I was just wondering if there was something Weiss should be doing differently." She looked over Winter's shoulder, watching as Weiss' hands trembled. A bead of sweat trailed down the heiress' forehead, her eyes never leaving the glyph at her feet. Yang made a small sound of worry. "She looks like she's having trouble."

Winter's eyes narrowed a bit, following Yang's gaze. She stared for a moment, the intensity in her eyes fading. She gave a brief sigh as she turned back. "She's doing everything perfectly. She just needs practice."

Yang raised a brow, catching Winter's brief hesitance. "You're sure about that?"

Winter frowned, trying not to scowl. "Yang, Weiss and I are… well, I suppose, were… the only people on this planet with our abilities. As you said, it took great pains on my part to reach the skill level I have, and I've passed everything I know, all that I've learned, onto her." She turned to watch Weiss, eyes growing softer and voice growing more confident. "She has everything she needs to reach my level."

Crossing her arms, Yang hummed. "Yeah… I'm not so sure."

Winter huffed in irritation. She may have been willing to give these girls some leeway, for Weiss' sake, but Yang was quickly pushing dangerously close to Winter's breaking point. "And I suppose you have experience in this field?" The barbed words slipped out, Winter's voice briefly dipping into the same sarcastic, superior tone Weiss had been known for in their early days.

Unexpectedly, Yang grinned. "Well… yeah, actually. Kinda."

Winter blinked. Her eyes squinted as she looked for signs of deceit, but Yang seemed genuine in her statement. "You'll have to explain that to me."

Yang breathed a slight laugh, then looked towards the ceiling. "Okay, how to start?" she asked herself. She scratched the back of her head, trailing her fingers down her unruly blonde mane. After a moment, she nodded to herself. She met Winter's eyes, asking, "Can I ask you something first?"

Winter quirked a brow, her annoyance at the blonde still present. "I suppose."

"Do you know what my Semblance is?"

Winter blinked, unprepared for the sudden change of topic. She tried to recall the information Ozpin had sent her before, as well as the deluge of insanity she'd heard in Ozpin's office the past Saturday. "You can redirect kinetic energy if I recall," she answered after a few seconds.

Yang's lips pulled back in uncertainty, her head swaying side to side in thought. "Well… kind of, I guess. That's the short version, at least. Whenever I get hit, I can take the energy from that hit, and add it to my own strength." She re-crossed her arms, her lips curving back to her usual smile. "Now, the thing is, my dad's Semblance works the same. So, when he started teaching me how to fight, and we got to me learning about my Semblance, he taught me the same way he figured it out."

Winter arched a brow. Admittedly, Yang's training did seem to parallel Weiss'. "And how was that?"

Yang smirked a bit. "Get hit really hard and try to store the energy as long as I could. Problem was, it worked great for him, but for some reason, I couldn't store the energy like he could. I could hold it in for a while, but eventually, my insides started feeling like they were on fire. The pain would just keep building until I finally let it all out." She shook her head, chuckling. "Took us six months before we figured out what was wrong."

While now curious, Winter still wasn't quite sure where Yang was going with her tale. Still, she had piqued her interest. "And that was?"

Yang snorted. "Well, turns out that while our Semblances were similar, mine is a lot more unstable than his." She pulled away from the wall, fully facing Winter. "See, Dad can absorb energy, and then store it, as far as I know, forever. And he can just keep stacking that energy with every hit he takes, growing stronger and stronger, until he lets it out."

Yang then brought her hands up, clenching her fists. To Winter's surprise, her eyes turned red, and her hair started glowing. "Mine's a little different. We can both absorb energy, but Dad can only unleash as much energy as he's been hit with. Me though, when I absorb energy, it turns out my body doubles it." She relaxed her hands, and her eyes and hair faded back to normal. "Pretty cool, but it has a pretty sucky drawback. Unlike Dad, I have to release that energy pretty quickly, otherwise, it starts tearing me up inside. Torn muscles, fractured bones; it ain't pretty."

Winter winced slightly. For all the trouble her Semblance had given her in the early years, she'd never been physically hurt by it. She was still confused, though. "That sounds like a rather troubling issue, but I fail to see what that has to do with how I've been instructing Weiss."

Yang rolled her eyes, much to Winter's annoyance. "Okay, I'll spell it out. You know why it took us six months to figure this out?" Winter gave a tiny shake of her head. "Because, since our Semblances seemed to be the same, my dad kept teaching me how to use mine exactly like his, when the whole time it was the wrong thing for me to do. It wasn't until pretty much all the bones in my right arm shattered for apparently no reason that we figured out I was different from him."

Winter's eyes narrowed, now understanding. "And you think I'm doing that with Weiss." Winter considered it for a moment. She could see what Yang was implying, but she disagreed. "Your logic is flawed. Unlike you and your father, I do know that Weiss and I share the same Semblance. It's not the same."

Yang hummed, her eyes looking up in thought. "Maybe not exactly, but close enough. I kept doing what my dad said was the right way to learn my Semblance, and ended up beating my head against the wall until my bones broke." She then looked back out at the warehouse, towards where Weiss was standing. The young heiress was back at it, a large fresh glyph suspended in front of her, its center rippling slightly as Ruby watched. Yang bobbed her head towards them. "Weiss is doing exactly what you keep saying is the right way to learn her Semblance, and is beating her head against the wall with this summoning stuff."

Winter's eyes widened at Yang's implication. She felt a slight twinge in her chest, but she quickly forced it away, replacing it with cold anger. She scowled at Yang. "So you think I've been teaching her incorrectly all this time?"

Yang threw her hands up again, apparently sensing Winter's change in mood. "Hey, I'm just speaking my mind here. You know a lot more about this glyphs stuff than Weiss, and way more than me. I just think you both might be overlooking something."

Seeing the honesty in Yang's lavender eyes, Winter forced herself to calm. However, she couldn't help but feel a little insulted. Crossing her arms and lifting her chin, she asked, "Such as?"

Yang groaned in frustration. "Look, all I'm saying is, as someone who's been there, it really sucks when you keep comparing your own progress to someone else, and despite doing everything they're telling you, you never seem to measure up."

Winter's stare held strong, but she couldn't help feeling another slight twinge. Her eyes darted to the side again. Another of Weiss' glyphs had shattered, and the younger Schnee was now resting on the ground, scowling at nothing. Ruby was at her side, speaking lowly so that only Weiss could hear. The heiress' scowl faded, but never got any better than a small frown.

"...Weiss feels that way?"

The words had been spoken softly, intended only for Winter herself to hear. Yang, however, apparently had exceptional hearing. She let out an amused huff. "Not that she'd ever admit it. She tries to keep her feelings locked down tight, especially when something's bothering her. Except… well, she can't really hide that from us anymore."

Winter turned back to Yang, perplexed. In answer, Yang just smirked and lifted her hand, tapping a finger against the colorful Mark on her neck.

Winter felt a spark of annoyance, this time towards herself. "Right… I'd forgotten," she admitted ruefully. "That must be a useful skill."

Yang chuckled. "Yeah… though, Weiss calls it cheating." She turned to watch Weiss and Ruby again. The two were standing, Ruby speaking excitedly with numerous arm movements, while Weiss frowned, looking… apprehensive? Their emotions reflected their looks, piquing Yang's curiosity as to what they were discussing.

She kept focus on her current conversation, however. With a sidelong glance, she told Winter, "Weiss really looks up to you, you know that?" Winter shot her a surprised look, which Yang ignored, continuing her point. "She's working her ass off to impress you… but I think that might be part of the problem."

Across the warehouse, Weiss formed another glyph, even slower than before. Her eyes kept flitting towards Ruby, the younger girl watching her hands attentively.

Winter watched Weiss struggle for a moment, unease plain on her face. "...I don't mean to seem hard on her." Winter murmured, making Yang look over. "I just want to make sure that she…" She struggled to find the proper words.

"You want to make sure she'll be okay when you're not around to protect her?"

Winter stiffened, not expecting Yang's words to hit so close to the mark. With a sigh, she admitted to the blonde, "Precisely."

Yang grinned ruefully, staring off across the warehouse. "Believe me, I know the feeling."

Winter followed her gaze, her eyes landing on Ruby, still speaking softly even as Weiss focused on her summon. "Could you elaborate, please?"

Yang heaved a great sigh, putting a hand to the back of her head. "It's… a really weird situation." She looked down for a moment, then met Winter's eyes with a muted smirk. "You know why Ruby and I have different last names?"

Winter blinked in surprise, her brow raising. She tried to hide her shock at the question, only slightly succeeding. "I… have an idea," she admitted. "Your school records have you and Ruby listed as having different birth mothers. I assumed that was partly the reason."

Yang nodded, her smirk fading just a tad. "Okay, that saves time, I guess." After a brief moment, Yang took a deep breath, her face brightening a bit. "Well, I'll save you the gory details… mostly because I still don't know them myself…" she muttered, her tone growing annoyed and slightly angry, before returning to normal. "But the short version is, for whatever reason, my mom took off when I was real little. Not even a year later, I had a new mom and a new little sister."

Winter swallowed discreetly. The way Yang said that left… implications. She was quickly becoming aware of just how out of her depth she was with this subject. "That seems…" She fished around for the least accusatory thing she could say. "...quick."

To her relief, Yang merely snorted, though with little humor. "Yeah… Rubes and I have some theories on that whole thing…" Yang waved the whole subject away. "It doesn't matter right now. Besides, Ruby's mother, Summer, was basically supermom. Took care of us, kept us happy." She smiled softly. "She treated me like I was her own daughter. As far as I'm concerned, she was my mom."

Winter smiled at that but sighed when she caught Yang's words. Trying to sound as sympathetic as she felt, she said. "I noticed you said 'was'."

Yang let out a long breath. "Yeah. Add it to the list of questions I'll never get answered. When I was about four or five, she went out on some solo mission… her first in years… and never came back."

Winter nodded, expecting as much. "I'm sorry."

Yang shrugged, nodding in thanks. "Things got… complicated, after Summer disappeared. Since Dad's got his teaching job and our Uncle was always out doing Hunter stuff, Ruby and I were kind of on our own a lot. And, without a mom… I tried to fill the role for Ruby."

Yang fell silent for a moment, and Winter tried to absorb her words. She could already draw the parallel Yang was hinting towards. "So… you worry about her."

Yang laughed lightly. "Constantly. I am so thankful she earned early admittance to Beacon. Otherwise, I'd probably be going nuts every day, wondering if she was okay or not. Plus, you never know if she's going to have… questions that only I can answer." At Winter's curious brow, Yang smirked. "Hey, don't get me wrong. Dad and Uncle Qrow try their damnedest, but there's, um, certain things that are just easier to learn from another girl, if you know what I mean."

Winter nodded in understanding, conceding the point. "Yes, I suppose I-" Then her eyes shot wide, something in Yang's words triggering a memory. Her head snapped towards the blonde. "Wait… Uncle Qrow? As in, Qrow Branwen?"

Yang blinked in surprise, then beamed a smile. "Yeah! What, you know him?"

Winter felt her eye twitch slightly, her gaze panning mechanically from Yang to Ruby, chatting animatedly with Weiss as the heiress practiced. A scene played in her mind, one of multiple repeated events, as while having to speak with the man, she was forced to listen to Qrow Branwen rave half-drunkenly about how proud he was of his two quote-unquote 'kickass' nieces.

Two nieces that, apparently, her sister was now dating at the same time.

Her head throbbing with a coming headache, Winter closed her eyes, massaging her furrowed forehead. "We are… colleagues of sorts." Winter forcibly shoved the thoughts away. She could focus on that revelation and its implications later… perhaps, ironically, with the help of the bottle of Vacuoian bourbon Qrow had given her as a gag birthday gift.

Instead, she returned to the conversation… albeit reluctantly. She was aware of what Yang was trying to do, but still… asking for help was a blow to her pride. "Then… as one elder sibling to another… what do you suggest?"

Again, Yang just shrugged. "Not sure, honestly. This summoning stuff is a bit over my head at the moment." She looked back towards their younger siblings. "Maybe start by asking if she has any ideas about… oh, no, Ruby, what are you thinking?"

With a start, Winter's head snapped towards the two, expecting the worst. Weiss had apparently given up on her latest attempt and was now holding Ruby's hands in her own. Weiss' eyes kept flicking from their hands to Ruby's face, full of apprehension, but the leader just smiled away, practically bouncing with excitement. After a brief moment and a resigned smile, Weiss had Ruby hold her hands up, curving the fingers of each hand into a particular pattern.

Winter's eyes shot wide in disbelief. "She's not serious."

Yang looked the two over, quickly coming to the same conclusion that Winter had. "Knowing Ruby… yeah, she is."

Winter shot Yang a quick glare. "I meant Weiss! She can't even create a summon of her own yet. Why is she showing Ruby how to do it?"

A small snort escaped Yang, her lips quirked up in an amused grin. "Probably because Ruby asked." She raised an eyebrow at Winter. "Think she can do it?"

Winter looked at Yang like she was crazy. "Of course she can't! She has no experience with anything but barriers." She shook her head, incredulous. "We have to stop this. They're going to hurt themselves." Winter took a single step forward…

...but she was too late. Ruby's hands glowed red as Weiss stepped to the side. After getting a hesitant nod from Weiss, Ruby threw her hands out excitedly. A massive red glyph spread out over the floor, right at the feet of the wrecked Paladin. It spun in place, faster than any Weiss had ever created.

For a single fleeting second, the outline of something large and winged appeared on the glyph's surface. But in the next, the glyph failed. However, unlike Weiss' before, Ruby's glyph didn't just shatter.

It exploded.

Violently.

Shards of broken glyph flew out in all directions, either dissolving or shattering again on contact with the walls. A bolt of red lightning shot out of the dying glyph's center, webbing out and striking the Paladin corpse in the shoulder, making the whole thing sway in place. Ruby and Weiss jumped back, throwing their arms over their heads in fright. At the other end of the warehouse, Blake and Penny stopped sparring, looking over just in time to see the red particles rain down on them.

Everyone stared at the blackened, scorched concrete at Ruby's feet. Then they jumped as an ominous creak sounded throughout the building. The wrecked Paladin creaked and groaned its shoulder smoking. With a metallic snap!, the cable holding the mechanical corpse to the ceiling gave way, making the entire mech sag. With the sudden lack of support, the other cables broke in quick succession, sending the Paladin to fall on its nonexistent face with a cacophony of metallic sound.

When the echoes of the mech's collapse finally faded away, stunned silence was all that was left.

"...snk…"

All eyes suddenly fell on Weiss, her hands covering her mouth since the mech's fall. A light laugh escaped her lips as she looked at Ruby's… results. She cut herself off quickly, guilt in her eyes as she turned to apologize to her girlfriend…

...only to find Ruby having a giggle fit of her own.

After a moment of seeing and, Winter suspected, feeling Ruby's humor over her failure, Weiss started laughing with her, making only a token effort to hide her giggles behind her hand. Across the way, Blake rolled her eyes at the two, smiling fondly, before reassuring Penny that everything was okay. Getting a nod and a smile from the android, the two resumed sparring.

Winter watched all of this, completely gobsmacked. Neither she nor Weiss had had a glyph fail so catastrophically before. Yet, no one, neither Weiss nor Ruby herself, seemed the least bit concerned. If anything, given Blake's reaction, they treated the event as if it were… normal.

"Insanity," she breathed out.

Yang chuckled beside her, reminding the elder Schnee that she was still there. "We prefer 'unconventional'." She cocked her head to the side, eyeing the scorch marks on the ground. "The heck did she try to summon, though?"

Winter glanced at her, then straightened her back, trying to collect herself. "I believe it looked to be a Nevermore."

Yang blinked, then laughed. "Go big or go home, I guess." She shot Winter a grin, bobbing her head towards the giggling pair. "We should probably go over there before our sisters blow themselves up… again."

Winter nodded, her lips quirking upwards. "Agreed."

Yang nodded to her, starting to walk towards the other two. Winter followed at a slower pace, watching Ruby and Weiss in consideration. The partners were now talking normally, Weiss trying to answer Ruby's barrage of questions as she gestured with her hands. Winter was surprised to see how… relaxed Weiss seemed, grinning as she described in great detail how a summon was supposed to work. Ruby nodded along with her, matching each hand signal, without the glow of her hands, thankfully.

Winter looked between the two, her eyes trailing to the smoldering stone at their feet. She listened as Yang joined the conversation, already laughing as Ruby started laying out exactly what happened in great detail, Weiss quickly translating her mangled explanations.

As she watched the three interact, Winter considered Yang's earlier words. She thought of the numerous journals their grandfather had left for them, laying out his own experiences with glyphs. She thought about reading through them again… this time, with fresh eyes by her side.

High in the rafters of the warehouse, tiny red eyes watched the group. They lingered on Yang, then Ruby, watching the two interact with the Schnee sisters. A moment later, black wings flapped silently, and a raven soared through one of the warehouse windows, no one inside any the wiser.

Betaed by Covert Weapon

Old A/n: Two years writing this wacky little story… and I'm just getting started.

So… yeah, I made up a Semblance for Taiyang. I think it works and may work into something later on in the story.

The chapter title, in addition to referencing Yang and Winter's interaction, is also inspired by the fact that, despite not seeing a cloud in three days, the temperature where I live hasn't left single digits in almost a week. Ain't the wintertime great!

Next chapter: Blake's Semblance training, a check-in on Mama and Papa Belladonna… and I introduce yet another character I have to juggle along with the rest of them.

Yay.

Seriously though, considering how much reworking I had to do for this one, I'm looking forward to this. I think it's actually better than my original plans.

See you all in 2018!