Day 2 Morning

[Weiss Schnee]

The Evening Before

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“Ruby…” Weiss whispered, checking her partner’s pulse - again - as she checked the makeshift wrappings she’d made over her comrade’s wounds. there wasn’t exactly a lot of material in the snowy mountains that was soft - unless you counted all the snow, Weiss supposed - so Weiss’s shoulders were quite chilly at the moment. It was hard cutting through high-quality silk properly with your tools amounting to “rocks and sticks.” But with some maneuvering Weiss had managed to prop Ruby’s gigantic new sword up at a suitable angle to cut her vest into usable strips.. It was sharper than something it’s size really needed to be, or even should have been given how durable the thing was - which was good given just how often Weiss had dropped it.

Having to crawl around on one leg really affected your ability to handle objects with care.


Weiss growled to herself at her own stupidity, thinking back to the fight. She still had the ability to move faster with her aura, and instead of actually using it, she’d taken a bad hit to the leg like a complete amateur. And then Ruby-
And then Ruby got hurt rushing in over you.
the wounded huntress winced, and not because of her leg. Her blunder had left her best friend unconscious in the cold, and while Weiss had managed to take care of her friend’s wounds as best she could, she knew that there was no way she could move her without opening them up again.

Weiss was scared. Blood loss could be fatal, and while she knew the basics of first aid, she wasn’t a doctor. What if there was more internal damage? What if she was still bleeding heavily on the inside? What if this was a coma and Weiss had unknowingly helped substantiate it. What if-
Weiss took a choked breath.

She refused to think about that. There was plenty of other, more important things she needed to be thinking and doing right now. Grabbing the last scraps of her vest, and a stick she’d managed to find that was suitable enough for her needs, Weiss grunted as she started the relatively less painful task of making a splint for her leg. She’d need to find something that could pass for a cane after that, clear the area enough for a fire...

Hopefully it would keep her too busy to think, until she grew tired enough that the dirt and rock underneath them would finally be an acceptable bed to her aching body.

After weiss falls asleep

“Weiss!” A small voice echoed through the training chamber. Weiss didn’t even look back to see her partner. She knew her voice well enough, and she knew better than to look away in a spar - especially against robots she didn’t trust nearly as much since the incident where her home nation’s own roboticized military was used against her .
“Ruby.” Weiss answered with a controlled tone. “I’m busy. What do you want?”

She could almost feel the frustration emanating from the redhead. “Weiss, everyone else is out celebrating after the mission, and you just came in here to train? You’ve said barely a word since we got back! What’s up with you?”

A robotic hand came for Weiss’s head with a vicious hook, and she backflipped with barely a care. At this point, even beacon’s hardest robotic trainers were less than challenging for her, so they were used more for perfecting her form than actually testing Weiss’s limits. This specific set of programmed armor was based on Atlas models, and actually emulated Yang’s style… though rather poorly.



“So why aren’t you celebrating? If I recall correctly, you couldn’t stop talking about how you’d beat that Deathstalker with your clever planning, while we handled that group of Ursae by ourselves.” Weiss replied with venom, parrying the bullets the dummy fired into the reinforced concrete beneath them with a quick flick of Myrtenaster.

“W… well I mean, it was pretty impressive, even by your standards, Weiss. I haven’t seen a Deathstalker that big before. I think it was even bigger than-”
“Yes, Ruby!” Weiss cut her leader’s ramble off. “I could see it just fine!”
“Weiss… what the heck...” Her partner mumbled, and Weiss sighed as she realized that with the same breath she’d yelled at Ruby, she’d impaled the training dummy.

So much for distraction. With the sparks shooting out of it’s damaged torso, she figured it wasn’t likely she was going to get to train with it again anytime soon. Not to mention how much smaller her paycheck was going to become with the repair costs.



“Now look what you made me do…” Weiss muttered, before sheathing Myrtenaster, the bright lighting of the training chamber reflecting off of Myrtenaster’s polished surface.
“Weiss… you haven’t been like this since we started off as Huntresses… what’s wrong?”
“What’s wrong?” Weiss asked blandly. “What’s wrong is that I stopped thinking you’d change from the little girl that I met in the forest.”
“What?!” Ruby squeaked.

“When you attacked the Deathstalker, did you even have a plan of attack? You caused a landslide. It happened to pin it down long enough for you to get a good shot. That’s not clever planning. That’s blind luck.” Weiss spat, and Ruby’s face changed to anger.

“Oh, so I didn’t do it right, and now you’re mad, Weiss?” The petite girl asked as Weiss finally turned to face her, her cheeks glowing red as her own fists clenched.

“You ran off in the middle of a fight, through a group of Ursae, to engage a giant Deathstalker, all by yourself.”


“We were near a village! It was heading straight for them! Someone needed to distract-”
“Villages have defenses of their own!” Weiss cut Ruby off again, practically yelling. “More than enough to distract a Deathstalker while we caught up! But then you wouldn’t be able to brag about being the hero, right?”

“Oh, so I’m not allowed to do anything, is that it, Princess?” Ruby asked, one hand practically shaking.

“I thought things had changed since the forest!” Weiss spat back. “But it’s always the same!”
“What the heck are you even talking about?” Ruby clutched her head in exasperation.

“The first time I met you, you charged at the nastiest Grimm I had ever seen.” Weiss stated sharply. “Then you decided to go investigate a lead all alone in Mountain Glenn! And since that just wasn’t exciting enough for you, you go ahead and attack Ironwood’s stolen flagship, all by yourself!”

“Well… yeah, I mean, maybe those weren’t the most well thought-out plans, but… I mean, Vale’s a better place because of them, right?”

Weiss snorted. “And I’m sure none of your teammates would have been helpful in any of those situations, right?”

Ruby’s eyes avoided Weiss at that mention. “Well, I mean, I learned after the first time-”
“You didn’t!” Weiss snapped. “You’re supposed to be a leader, and you train like you actually mean that, and then you leave your team to fend for itself constantly, just so that you can try and do everything yourself!” Weiss yelled, and part of her wanted to stop there. Part of her realized that she was going beyond just shocking her teammate and was starting to bring her to tears.

“Two years.” Weiss added suddenly.
“W-w-what?”

“That’s the time until you graduate, assuming you don’t fail any courses. And that’s all I’m asking from you. As soon as we graduate, you’re no longer bound to lead team RWBY. Once you’ve hit that point, go, be a solo huntress! There’s a high mortality rate, but I’m sure that’s no problem for the great Ruby Rose! You’re better than all of those run-of-the-mill Huntresses, right?”
“Th-that’s not what I-”

“All I’m asking for is two years where you pretend you want to be a leader, and try to act like one. Then after beacon I’ll let you do what you want. Maybe I’ll go find a new team myself. It’d be nice to have a leader that thinks of their teammate as more than a hindrance.” Weiss spat.

“I.... I just…” A sniffling voice started, and stopped. “Weiss… am I… just a teammate to you?”


Weiss sighed, her face softening, before she spoke with an icy cold tone, adjusting her skirt as she turned her back to the girl. “Teammates are supposed to trust each other. You won’t let me watch your back, and all I can trust from you lately is that you’ll be gone when I turn around. That’s not really even a teammate, is it?”

Weiss walked out of the training chamber with her heels clicking in tune to Ruby’s sobbing.

Her own tears were silent, but no less numerous.

The Next Morning

Weiss woke up with tears in her eyes, the memory still feeling so vivid despite feeling like a lifetime ago. She remembered that fight - it happened just before the last school term ended. But she didn’t know why it was bothering her now. It was definitely not Weiss’s finest moment, but she’d apologized with ice cream and hugs the very next day, and it ended up being just another terrible argument they’d moved past.
So why was she remembering it now?
Her eyes opened blearily as the sound of a tiny sigh escaped her partner, and Weiss was relieved to see that her face had regained its color. She wasn’t awake, but she was definitely more peaceful than she was last night. Weiss put a hand to Ruby’s face to check her temperature, only to realize she was still crying.

With a sigh, she pulled her hand away, glad to see her best friend safe, even as she managed to push herself up to an awkward sitting position. A gurgling in her stomach informed Weiss she was hungry, and she couldn’t imagine her anemic leader was doing that much better.

Weiss didn’t know if she could find much in the mountainous area they were in, but they definitely needed to find some food. It’d be good if she could find something before Ruby woke up. Had she seen any bushes or anything closer to the-

A flash of recollection hit Weiss as she smiled. She got up to her feet with a shaky hand as she put most of her weight on her cane, her smile not leaving even as she winced with every step.
She may not be able to do everything for her leader… but she knew she could at least make her pretty happy in just a little while.

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Weiss smiled as Ruby finally, just a few hours later, opened her eyes, groaning loudly. “No drinking at the birthday party Uncle…” She mumbled, before her eyes opened suddenly. “Weiss! Are you okay! Am I okay? Where are we? What happened with the Creepy guy? Should I be keeping my voice down?” Ruby asked in a panic.
Weiss sighed. “Yes!” she said with a grimace. “We’re fine. I’m not going to be walking properly anytime soon, but it’s nothing life-threatening.
“Unless I pinch a leg nerve or something like I’m risking everytime I walk, but let’s not bring that up.[/i] The damaged huntress thought to herself, limping over to Ruby from the fire. “There’s a bowl behind your head. I’ve already ate, so the rest is yours. We’re not in a rush for once, so take your time.” Weiss said, as she watched Ruby slowly get up, her face scrunching up. “I don’t suppose we could track down a cookie tree or-”
“Hush. Eat.” Weiss stated shortly.

It was all Weiss could do not to grin as Ruby’s face lit up, looking in the bowl-shaped rock Weiss had managed to gather everything into.
“Strawberries! Oh my gosh! I don’t think I’ve had any since I got here!”
“To the omniverse or here spe-” Weiss started to ask, before realizing her partners mouth was far too full of berry to be answering any questions for the time being. Instead she leaned back onto the nearby cliff face with a slight smile sneaking its way onto her expression.

“Fangh you Weissh!” Ruby slurred through her overstuffed cheeks.

“Finish what’s in your mouth before trying to talk, you dolt!”

“Hee!”