As Blake looked at the scene before herself, fighting the urge to bury her face in her hands, she reflected that it looked a lot like a heavily guarded interrogation room – not a thought that settled her nerves at all.

In truth they were in a small private study room in a quiet corner of the library: it had seemed like good neutral territory where they might get some privacy, so Ruby and Coco had decided between them that this would be the best place. What they'd failed to consider was that EVERYONE from both teams wanted to be there, so it was standing room only.

There was a table with four chairs at it. There were eight people in the room. Considering that the two parties most directly involved in the incident and their team leaders had to be seated at the table, that meant that the others had to stand at the sides, each on their team's side. It would have been nice to have a big round table for everyone to sit at, of course, but then the atmosphere would've been way less tense and that simply wasn't acceptable, it seemed.

So it was that Weiss (staring with unnerving fixity across the table at Velvet) and Ruby (feeling a bit sheepish but doing her best to look dignified as leader of her team) had ended up on one side of the table (the side farthest from the door, Blake noticed, because she always noticed exit routes and how easy they might be to get to), while Velvet (trying not to look directly at Weiss but still curious as to why she was being stared at so intently) and Coco (silently fuming with righteous indignation and completely prepared to go full Momma Bear mode on Velvet's behalf) sat on the other. Blake and Yang were in attendance, as were their counterparts from CFVY, Fox and Yatsuhashi.

At one end of the table Blake stood next to Fox (an ironic name given that he was not one of the two actual Faunus in the room, Blake thought idly), which meant that, at the other end…

"So, uh… funny how we're both the Y in our teams, huh?" said Yang to her immediate neighbour Yatsuhashi. "Plus we're both at the end of our team names."

"That is… indeed a coincidence," Yatsuhashi replied woodenly, unsure of how to respond. Even by Yang's standards this was talk so small you'd need a microscope to see it – but then, given the agoraphobic atmosphere in the room, her attempt to relieve some of the tension wasn't entirely unappreciated.

"Overwhelmingly unimportant coincidences notwithstanding," said Coco through gritted teeth, shooting a meaningful look at Yang (who promptly zipped the lip), "you all know why we're here."

"Oh yes. That is to say, we do. Absolutely." Ruby was on top of her game today.

"Good. Then in that case, I see no reason to hesitate. Weiss, apologise to Velvet."

Weiss – for half a second – transferred her cool stare from Velvet to Coco and then back.

Blake held her breath. They'd coached Weiss on this for what felt like hours. Even with Blake encouraging her it had been like herding weaselcats.

Weiss looked Velvet up and down. Velvet got the feeling she was being… measured. She was used to stares from people who found her odd, but usually they stared at her ears, the most obvious indicator of her non-human heritage: Weiss seemed to be looking at every part of her that wasn't her ears.

'She's probably trying to see me as a human to make apologising to me easier,' Velvet thought with some disappointment.

Velvet wasn't entirely incorrect, but even so she would've been surprised to learn the whole truth: every time Weiss saw Velvet's Faunus ears she couldn't help but think of the times (precious few and short, they seemed to her) Blake had allowed Weiss to touch hers. Ignoring Velvet's ears was Weiss's way of keeping her mind from wandering to places it should not wander to, at least not now.

Weiss took a deep breath.

"I'm sorry."

Silence.

That Fox broke by failing to suppress a sarcastic laugh. "Oh, yeah, that's convincing," he remarked. "Why don't you go ahead and add 'that you're a Faunus' onto the end of that?"

Fox could feel the cold glare Weiss shot his way, like an icicle-point landing directly between his eyes. He wasn't one to be easily cowed, but a glare that could be sensed even without sight was clearly one that took some reckoning.

"If you are trying to suggest – in a singularly disingenuous way, I might add," which Weiss did add – "that I am some form of racist or bigot, allow me to inform you now before you make any more slanderous allegations that I am most decidedly not."

"Oh?" Coco leaned forward, commanding Weiss's attention with a frosty glare of her own. "I wasn't present when the argument happened, but from what I heard it sounded pretty decisively to me like you discriminated against Velvet on the grounds of her being a Faunus."

Weiss looked back at Velvet before she spoke – and to Velvet's eyes there seemed to be a faraway, almost invisible sadness behind Weiss's apparent anger. "Yes… Yes I did."

"Then what more proof do you need?" Fox protested. He turned to his neighbour, looking for allies. "I mean – what about you, Blake? You were there. You've always been a friend to the Faunus. Are you going to tell me that Weiss's behaviour doesn't bother you?"

Blake opened her mouth to speak, her tongue feeling uncomfortably dry – but was interrupted by Yatsuhashi's resonant baritone, switching everyone's attention to him. Blake gave a silent sigh of relief: she'd had no idea what she was going to say.

"If I may," Yatsuhashi cut in, giving Blake a respectful bow of the head as he did so, "we are not here to seek recrimination, or to judge Weiss's character: all we wish for is a genuine apology."

"Yatsuhashi's right," Velvet agreed, surprising most of the people there. "Responding to hate with more hatred doesn't fix anything. I must admit that I'm… disappointed that one of my fellow Huntresses feels that way about me and my people, but I am not here to fan the flames any further."

"Velvet…" Weiss looked genuinely dismayed, further surprising the people who were already surprised. "No, you don't understand-"

"You're right," Velvet interrupted, despite speaking very quietly. She spoke slowly and deliberately, as though working something out in her head. "I don't. But the things you're saying make no sense to me. I don't know much about you, or what you've been through, so, although it would be the easiest thing in the world to dredge up some malicious rumours about the Schnee family, I won't make the mistake of saying anything prejudicial." It seemed to Blake in that moment as though Velvet had just skewered Weiss through her chest, her eyes wide and breath caught in her throat. "But since it's likely that we're going to have to work together in the future as Huntresses I do believe we should at least make the effort to maintain a cordial relationship. In fact…"

Velvet stood, shouldering the strap on her camera, her eyes shining with some new inner light. "I won't even demand you apologise if you don't want to. To tell the truth, Coco and Fox talked me into coming to this meeting, and I'll admit I was still hurt enough at the time to accept… but now that I've had the chance to see you again face to face… I don't feel angry anymore." Velvet turned away from Weiss, speaking in a hushed monotone as if to the empty air. "I've been a victim long enough. I'm not going to allow hatred to rule me – or turn me into a tyrant who would force others to pay me lip-service with apologies they don't mean. If there's a right way to live… that's not it."

Coco took a moment to process this. She seemed to reach a decision. "…Fine. Even though Velvet has every right as the injured party to demand an apology… if that's your decision, I stand by it." Coco smiled at Velvet, who returned it in an oddly serene manner.

The next moment was a complicated one. It involved everybody in the room moving or giving out some cry of warning except Velvet, all of it precipitated by Weiss standing very suddenly. At the end of that moment Weiss had her hand on Velvet's shoulder, everyone else frozen at various stages of trying to stop her from doing what they'd assumed was an aggressive move.

Everyone except Blake. She was the only one who'd been watching Weiss rather than Velvet; who'd seen her fight back tears rather than anger. To see such true regret etched into Weiss's face… it made Blake want to go to her. But she didn't. She couldn't. Not in front of everyone.

It became clear that Weiss hadn't tried to strike Velvet, so everyone who'd reacted relaxed – but only a little. Velvet stared wide-eyed at Weiss.

When next Weiss spoke, it was with an uncharacteristic sound to her voice. "I'm glad that you're free of hatred," she intoned dully, willfully shutting out all emotion. "I'm sorry that I'm not."

With that, Weiss let her hand fall from Velvet's hand and marched, face cast down, out of the room. Dumbfounded, nobody present tried to stop her, even as her shoulder brushed against Yang and Yatsuhashi: she stopped to open the door and then slipped through the smallest gap her slim frame would allow so as not to inconvenience Yatsuhashi by opening it too wide. Even the way she moved seemed like she was apologising merely for existing.

Velvet hadn't moved since Weiss had laid hand on her, seeming like a statue even as the door clicked softly closed behind her. "Apology accepted," she breathed.

-x-

Weiss was face-down on her bed when the other girls filed back into their dorm room. Blake was last, still cursing herself for not positioning herself near the door: having a clear route to the nearest exit would've been the first of the list of rules she would've written had she not already known the rules by heart, making listing them pointless.

Then again, Blake regretted, she wouldn't have had the courage to stop Weiss from going – not with everyone watching. They weren't quite at that stage yet. So what stage were they at? This thing between them was still so new, Blake wasn't sure how familiar she was allowed to be with Weiss in public: all they'd had were a few fumbling dalliances in private, it was impossible to say what Weiss was prepared to admit to the world if she was having trouble opening up even to her closest friends.

"Weiss?" asked Ruby softly, settling down on her knees by Weiss's bunk. "Do you want to talk?"

No answer. Weiss lay so still that Blake would've feared for her life had it not been for the gentle rise and fall of her back.

Ruby looked up at Yang, concern written in every line of her face. Yang took a rather more pragmatic approach to such things. "Is she sleeping?"

A quick turn of Weiss's head answered this – but she turned away from them, facing the wall. "I'm fine," she said harshly. "I don't need to talk. I'll be all right." Her voice was raspy and raw, making it pathetically obvious that she'd been crying, even in spite of Weiss's best attempts to hide it.

Under normal circumstances Blake wouldn't have felt so pained by this display – but somehow, after having seen how happy and passionate Weiss could be, seeing her so down seemed to hurt her physically: she could feel it like an ache in her chest, like her heart had turned into a stone that was pressing down on her lungs, making it difficult to breathe. Moving past Yang, Blake went to sit on the edge of Weiss's bunk.

"Everything's fine with Team CFVY now," said Blake, her voice sounding like pleading to her ears. "Velvet accepted your apology and we smoothed things over after you left. They aren't angry anymore. If anything, they're worried about you." Blake swallowed a lump in her throat. "And… we, too… are worried about you." Blake had desperately wanted to say 'I am worried about you', hence the pause – and had they been alone she might well have done so – but with the sisters looking on she went for the safer option.

A dangerous silence surrounded Weiss, during which Ruby and Yang exchanged glances. It was unclear to them what was happening here between Weiss and Blake: the two of them normally got on like a house on fire, with all the screaming and property destruction that implies. They tolerated each other as members of the same team, sure, but displays of tenderness like this…?

"Please Weiss," said Blake, reaching for Weiss's hand, "don't shut us out."

The MOMENT Blake's fingers brushed against Weiss's, Weiss jerked her hand away as though she'd been shocked. Blake, too, took her hand back, such a clear sign of rejection fazing her.

Weiss slowly rose to sit cross-legged, still facing away from them. Her shoulders were hunched in on herself: Blake couldn't help but think that she looked small and withdrawn, a million miles away from her usual proud bearing.

"You won't go away until I talk to you, will you?" Weiss asked. At least she sounded more grumpy than sad now.

"Nope," said Yang happily. "If friends aren't for annoying you, what are they for?"

Weiss was in no mood to laugh, but her silence indicated that she did not disagree with Yang.

"Will you go away if I tell you a story?"

Yang and Blake were nonplussed by this, but Ruby burst forth enthusiastically "Sure! I love stories!"

Again, a silence during which Weiss might have cracked a smile had she been in the mood to do so – but the only thing that was cracked at that moment was her voice. "Then I shall begin.

"In a faraway kingdom bound year-round by snow, there lived a cursèd princess." Ruby's eyes widened in awe at Weiss's use of the appropriate fairytale language: Yang and Blake couldn't help but grin at her innocent wonder. "The princess's curse was to turn all she touched to ice. To protect her, her siblings and the kingdom's subjects, the king placed the princess in a room at the top of a high tower so lofty that none might ever reach her."

"But how'd she eat?" Yang asked, quickly replied by Ruby slapping her leg.

"Go on," Ruby encouraged, her eyes still rapt on Weiss and paying no attention whatsoever to the amused 'I'll get you back for that later' look Yang gave her.

Weiss continued as though there had been no interruption. "Although the princess had all the material goods that she could ever want or need in that tower, they brought her no joy. The only object that she treasured was a telescope, for it allowed her to see the kingdom and the lives of the people that lived in it, far below her feet."

The significance of this tale was not lost a jot upon Yang: she looked across at the only other listener who wasn't her helplessly enthralled little sister to find that Blake was equally as absorbed in the tale – but rather than joy, there was an indescribably profound sorrow in her face. She probably wasn't aware of it. Yang kept her peace, acting as though she'd never seen Blake's expression. There was something going on, but now wasn't the time.

"The kingdom was plagued by attacks from the forest: wild beastmen came to the human villages to plunder them for food." Ruby gasped in horror with perfect timing. "The princess saw the attacks through her telescope and cried for those whose lives were lost, powerless even to warn anyone from her high tower. She saw her father the king go out among the people to reassure them that guards would be placed in every village to protect against the threat – but every time she saw her father, the lines on his brow seemed deeper; his eyes grew steadily darker.

"Among those who went to fight the threat was the princess's elder sister. The king forbade her from doing so, fearing for her safety, but she had more love for the people than for her own life. The little ice princess saw her elder sister fighting and wondered at how gallant she looked. The princess despaired that she would never become strong enough to follow her sister's example, locked forever within her tower. Unbeknownst to the young princess, her father the king had disowned her elder sister for disobeying him. She fought the beastmen not at his command, but to pay back the people who looked after her in his stead."

Weiss paused for a moment. Not a soul disturbed her. Wherever this story led, it had to be told.

"Then, one day, a most miraculous thing occurred: the princess received a visitor. A boy her age climbed all the way up the high tower and through her window. The princess, both alarmed and overjoyed, asked him how he'd done it: the boy said he was the best climber in the kingdom; that he could scale any wall, climb any cliff-face, conquer any mountain. When the princess asked him why, he replied that he had heard rumours that the prettiest princess in the kingdom was in the high tower and had thus resolved to climb it, even if only to capture the merest glimpse of her beauty.

"Although just being able to talk to someone again was a pleasure beyond imagining for the princess, she mourned that she would not be able to play with the boy because of her curse and said so. The boy cared not, wishing only to look upon her, for it was the promise of that reward alone that had driven him to become the best climber in the kingdom. So overjoyed was the princess that she begged the boy leave something of his behind that she may remember him: his cap, for instance. The boy refused, taken by a sudden shyness, and the princess, not willing to be denied after dreaming of this moment for so long, snatched the boy's hat off his head.

"The hat turned to ice in her hands and shattered upon the floor when she dropped it, for atop the boy's head – hidden by the cap until now – was a pair of animal ears, just like those the beastmen had. The princess backed away in horror, even as the boy pleaded with her: he had not meant to scare her, the boy professed, and everything apart from his disguise was true – but the beast-boy's words fell on deaf ears, for the princess was unable to see him as anything other than one of those barbaric invaders who'd plagued her people for so long.

"She demanded he leave immediately and never return – that he stay among his savage, warlike people where he belonged. The boy begged forgiveness, explaining that he was one of the beastmen who was against the raids, that he felt in his heart of hearts that striking back against the humans for taking the lands in which they'd once hunted and felling their forest homes could never lead to happiness for either side, but again, the princess could not be convinced: all she had ever seen of the beastmen was their bloodshed and butchery of her people, so to her ears the boy's words of peace were nothing more than lies.

"Dismayed, the boy did as he was bade and descended the tower, promising the princess he would ne'er return. It took the princess quite some time to calm herself, for as she stilled her nerves a seed of doubt was planted in her head. Had she judged the boy too quickly? Was the boy's story true: was it her father's fault for driving the beastmen out of their hunting grounds, starving them to the point that they had no choice but to plunder? In a state of disarray, the princess went to her telescope for some solace.

"She found none, for as soon as she looked through her telescope she saw a sorrowful scene: the boy she'd sent away, without his cap to hide his head, had been spotted and hunted down by her father's guards. The boy hadn't even stolen anything or fought anyone: he'd been trying to run to the safety of the forest when an arrow had pierced his heart from behind.

"Overcome with grief and regret the princess turned her curse on herself, willing her own heart to become ice that she may never have to feel this pain again: the curse flowed through her veins, turning not just her heart but her whole body to ice.

"So it was that the kingdom lost its second princess and the king, in his grief, succumbed to madness. Thus the kingdom fell to ruin, the equally desperate humans and beastmen fighting each other forevermore."

There was total silence, save for the odd sniffle from Ruby.

"Is that good enough?" asked Weiss, still facing the wall. "Will you leave me alone now?"

Moving almost as one, both Blake and Ruby reached over to hold Weiss – although she trembled at their first touch, she offered no further resistance.

"You're really good at telling fairytales, Weiss," said Ruby, her voice sad in spite of what she said.

"…Even I was a child once," Weiss replied impassively.

Yang grinned and, figuring she couldn't beat 'em, decided to join 'em.

"Sorry sister," said Yang as she leaned in close to put her arms around all three of them, "looks like you're stuck with us."

"Well I know I'm stuck with – oh! Oh. Never mind." Ruby settled back into the hug.

As Ruby had started from the floor and Yang had to approach from behind, Blake was the only one who was positioned to see Weiss's face.

Tears rolled down her cheeks, but unlike Ruby – face all scrunched-up and sniffling like a child who'd fallen over in the playground – Weiss cried without expression, as though her face were a porcelain mask and her tears mere raindrops that had landed on her eyes.

Blake hugged Weiss tighter, burying her face in the curve of Weiss's neck.

With a motion so soft and subtle that no-one else sensed it, Weiss reached up and touched Blake's head, her fingertips slipping gently beneath the ribbon to touch the base of Blake's Faunus ears. The contact lasted but a second, but Blake understood its meaning fully. Unlike the other times, Blake felt no sense of excitement or desire: this was closeness, plain and simple.

It felt warm, like a beam of sunshine.

Blake closed her eyes, losing herself in Weiss's scent. She felt so safe she could fall asleep right here and now. She hoped that this moment would last forevermore.

Surrounded by her friends – and someone who was perhaps a little more than a friend – Weiss felt exactly the same way. But she knew full well that nothing lasts.

"All right you nuisances, get off me," said Weiss superciliously, shaking off her team-mates and then turning around to face them. They didn't see her wipe away the tears.

Ruby's face lit up. "She's back! Weiss is back!"

Weiss smirked at Ruby – it was a small, wounded smirk, but even that small expression made Weiss look much more her usual confident self. "If you acted any more like a dog happy to greet its master I'd have to put a collar on you and take you for walks."

"Oh don't worry about that," said Yang, waving a hand jocularly, "that's just Zwei rubbing off on the Rubester here. They say a dog resembles its owner, but honestly I think my little sister is so impressionable that for her it's the other way around. And of course Blake here-"

Everyone turned to look at Blake – and then looked at her again. Classic double-take.

Weiss asked, with a certain devilish tone to her voice, "Blaaake?"

Blake desperately looked anywhere but at Weiss. "Yes, Weiss?"

"Would you mind indulging me by telling me, oh, I don't know-"

"Why's your face so red?" Ruby burst out, unable to take all this prevaricating about the bush. Weiss shot her a look only a few degrees above freezing. "What?"

"Well… I just don't like dogs. You know that," said Blake evasively, her eyes shifting around so much they looked like pinballs being shot around their machine.

"Oh?" Weiss crossed her legs and leaned sideways on one arm, a cocky smirk on her face. "So how would you react if I put a collar around your neck?"

"You'd have to kill me first," Blake fired back.

"Well even I am not that bloodthirsty." Weiss stood and made a grand show of walking over to Blake. Weiss then whispered in her ear (one of her human ones, this time): "Thank you."

The solemnity with which Weiss said this took Blake completely by surprise, causing her freeze in place as Weiss pulled away as though the princess from the tale had just touched her. "How…?" Blake quickly came to her senses, remembering that Yang and Ruby were watching. "How dare you!" Blake spat at Weiss's retreating back, so used to playing tit-for-tat with Weiss that the anger came to her easily. Hopefully it was enough to throw the sisters off the scent.

"All right, ladies, break it up," said Yang lazily, holding Blake back by the shoulder as Weiss swanned away. "Let's just be happy that we've got the usual sassy Weiss back, okay?"

Although Yang didn't know it, Blake was happy to have Weiss back – incredibly so. But even so, that comment about the collar… that wasn't something that Weiss would ever actually do, would she?

Weiss shut the door behind herself and leaned back on it. After doing a quick check to make sure no-one was watching – and only once she was sure that there wasn't the slightest possibility of any living soul seeing her do this – Weiss smiled the biggest and most embarrassed smile she was capable of. Saying thanks to Blake and then keeping her composure until she left the room had taken every bit of self-control Weiss had. She'd known it was risky even before she'd done it, but there was something about Blake that made her want to take chances – chances she never would've taken for herself.

"Maybe one day," Weiss whispered to herself, "I'll have the courage to say it out loud."

-x-

Velvet was feeling more than a little apprehensive that morning: she had her elective with RWBY and CRDL, and most importantly without the rest of CFVY. (So without her, they were… CFY? Velvet reflected a little mournfully that the name sounded much more like 'coffee' when she WASN'T in it.) What Blake had said was true, they had smoothed things over with CFVY to the point where even Coco and Fox weren't angry anymore, but after the state Weiss had left the room in it was difficult for Velvet not to worry how their relationship would progress from now on.

Velvet peeked around the doorframe. CRDL weren't there, so thank goodness for small mercies at least, but RWBY was present in full force – and not only that but Weiss was the one sitting closest to the aisle, nothing more than a single empty seat separating her from it.

Velvet's eyes picked up on the slight flicker of Weiss's as she noticed Velvet, but then she went straight back to preparing for the lecture as though she hadn't seen anything. The rest of RWBY (RBY? RYB? BYR? YRB?) seemed oddly attentive this morning too: it wasn't unusual for Ruby to be found slumped over her desk asleep during these morning lectures, sometimes even Yang too if she'd not had time for her morning run.

Trying to act casual but unable to keep herself from being anything but highly alert, her Faunus ears standing at attention like miniature sentries posted atop her head, Velvet entered the lecture hall with her satchel clutched close. Although she did a passable outward impression of serenity, her inner state was far more confused.

'Should I say good morning? I'm on decently good terms with the members of RWBY but if I say it now it might seem like I'm doing it just to make a special effort to paper over the cracks, which might just set Weiss up against me even more – but ignoring her-'

"Oh. Good morning, Velvet," said Weiss, looking up from her notes as casually as one might dare. There was a heavily implied 'didn't see you there' lingering on the end of that sentence, but even Yang would've deemed saying that out loud too on the nose.

"Good morning, Weiss," Velvet replied. Her own voice sounded so stiff that it annoyed her – she had just been trying to match Weiss's formality in an effort to be polite, but even so. Trying to sound more forthcoming she added "Hello girls!" to the rest of the team.

"Hey Velvet!" Ruby replied even more vivaciously than normal. Velvet winced a little at how hard Ruby was trying to cover up her nerves: clearly the entirety of RWBY had been nervous about this meeting, but they were doing their best to cover it up. Yang waved heartily and Blake, ever the cool cat of the group, merely-

"Hello Velvet," said Blake, smiling warmly at her.

Velvet reeled a little, but tried not to show it. She'd been expecting the usual cool nod, maybe a casual 'hey', definitely not such full-on engagement. But, Velvet had to admit, it did put her at ease. Perhaps that was why she'd done it, Velvet conjectured.

"Uhm… hello," Velvet replied. Again, her own woodenness annoyed her, so she decided to put her best foot forward. "Weiss, about the other day-"

"Mmm?" The ascending tone Weiss used was agreeable, putting Velvet in mind of an absent-minded professor, but her abrupt use of it warned at something. "Oh, right. Yes. That." Velvet was a little taken aback by how off-handedly Weiss referred to the incident, as though it was something that she'd already put behind herself and almost forgotten about. "Well, you know, such disagreements will occur. The important thing is that we continue on amicable terms, is that not correct?" Velvet got the feeling that Weiss was putting on a show of being even more formal than usual: perhaps this was how she dealt with feeling awkward, Velvet thought.

"Well, yes. Of course," Velvet agreed, somehow feeling obliged to match Weiss's formality. She could feel the rest of the team watching her across the long desk: there was a definite grin of amusement twitching the edges of Yang's lips which Ruby was desperately trying to hold back by shooting her badly hidden meaningful looks – to which Yang replied with equally badly feigned naïveté. It was amazing how much communication passed between the sisters without them ever actually saying anything to each other.

Blake, in the meanwhile, merely looked on at the exchange (from the closest seat save the empty one, as she was sitting beside Weiss) with a look of sedate – almost lazy – acceptance, as though she'd been expecting Weiss to behave like this all along.

But Weiss surprised even Blake by leaning forward at this point (indicating with a quick gesture that Velvet should do the same) and saying, with a tad less of the formal display, "Look, Velvet, if I may speak candidly… you know that my apology was genuine, yes?"

"Of that, I have no doubt," Velvet replied feelingly.

"Good. Because…" Weiss looked aside for a moment before re-engaging Velvet: Velvet got the feeling from a brief pained look flashing across Weiss's face that she was wrestling with some internal contradiction. "As I've said before, I have reasons to dislike your people – illogical reasons, perhaps, more grounded in emotion than reason, but…" Weiss took a deep breath to steady her nerves. "That does not mean that I dislike you, Velvet Scarlatina."

Velvet was genuinely taken aback – pleasantly so. She'd never have imagined in a billion years that the stuck-up heiress to the Schnee fortune would deign to learn her full name, much less use it to address her in conversation with such apparent empathy.

Weiss leaned back a little, her voice raising so the rest of her team (and indeed, any other students who were listening) might hear. "In fact, according to your appearance, dealings and intents thus far, I have no reason to believe that you are anything other than a decent individual – and I care not who knows it. So, Velvet… would you like to sit beside me?"

"Wow, get this guys," said a voice from behind Velvet that caused her to spin about – and indeed it was, as she'd suspected, Cardin speaking to his gang as they entered the hall. "The Ice Princess getting all buddy-buddy with Long Ears over here."

"Are you sure that's in your best interests, Young Miss Schnee?" asked Sky, affecting the manner of an aged butler and doing an elaborate bow that the rest of his team seemed to find riotously hilarious. "Your father might be disturbed to hear that you are keeping company with lowly beasts."

The Young Miss in question shot to her feet with her hands upon the desk before her, bringing to bear the full force of her personality: she spoke in a white-hot torrent of righteous anger, spitting her words from on high like a volley of arrows with the absolute air of superiority that only a Schnee could achieve. "I will have you know, Sky Lark – and my goodness, do your parents ever need a class on choosing less obnoxious names for their children – that I would never keep company with 'lowly beasts', which is why I do my absolute best not to associate with the likes of you and your misbegotten ilk."

"Wow, you go girl," Yang cheered in quiet awe from the sidelines.

"She really does speak like she's from a fairytale," Ruby commented, her eyes shining.

"Woah, okay Snow Queen, calm down," said Russel, stepping in with a mock placatory gesture. Sky play-acted having been fatally wounded by Weiss's outburst, much to the delight of his fellows. "If you're going to get that upset about being accused of hanging around a Faunus, maybe you shouldn't, you know, do it?"

Weiss appeared to rein in her temper, weighing her next words more carefully. When she spoke, it was not to the members of CRDL, but rather to Velvet (who still stood beside the empty seat in stunned silence).

"Maybe… some things are worth getting upset about." Weiss smiled fragilely at Velvet.

Although CRDL continued to jeer the girls, their words seemed like little more than background noise at this point. Velvet spoke, in slightly halting words, "Is… this seat… free?"

Weiss responded with a calm, slightly cocky smile that was entirely becoming of her. "Why yes, I do believe it is."

Not saying anything further, Velvet took the empty seat next to Weiss – and as Glynda forayed into the room, whipping the CRDL boys into proper order as she swept them up in her considerable wake, Blake used the hubbub of more entering students to lean over and whisper in Weiss's ear.

"You know, if you keep being so nice to Velvet, I might start getting jealous. I'm beginning to think you don't like me for me, but that you just have a thing for Faunus."

Weiss sniffed casually before looking sidelong at Blake. "You may expect retribution for that comment."

Blake smiled on the side of her face that only Weiss could see. "I look forward to it… my Queen." She retreated back to her seat.

As the students settled down and Glynda took up her position at the front of the hall, Weiss thought to herself – with a not inconsiderable measure of satisfaction – that being called a Queen was not an entirely unpleasant experience, depending on who happened to be doing it… and how honest they could be made to be.

Weiss's little fantasy was cut short by Velvet leaning across her. "Sorry Weiss, I just wanted to ask Blake: is it okay if I talk to you too?"

Blake raised an eyebrow at this, but responded amicably enough. "Well if you've got anything to say, I'm listening."

"In private."

Blake and Weiss looked at each other. What could this mean?

"…Sure, okay," Blake agreed. "You free next period?"

"I will be, yes."

"Then let's meet back at the dorms: I'll let you into our room, I'm sure the girls won't mind."

"Mind?" asked Yang, reaching across Ruby to include herself. "I wanna BE there! What super-secret business does Velvet have with our Blake?"

Velvet smiled quietly. "That's between us."

-x-

"So what is this about?" asked Blake as she locked the door behind them. Velvet looked about the room, admiring the way the bunks had been constructed in a way that almost certainly wasn't safe but which seemed, against all laws of physics, to be holding up just fine.

"I don't know whether it's because I'm a photographer," said Velvet, absent-mindedly running her fingers along the length of her camera strap, "but I tend to notice details that other people don't."

Blake eyed her suspiciously. "Excuse me?"

Velvet turned to her, suddenly bursting into smiles. "I'm sorry, I've just always wanted to say that – I don't get many opportunities to act cool, you see," said Velvet, chuckling in a way that entirely disarmed Blake.

"…Well, that's fine, I guess, but…" Blake trailed off uncomfortably.

"Yes, yes, of course. To business." Velvet crossed to the window, drawing the curtains and thus casting the room into – well, not exactly darkness, but certainly dinginess.

Blake frowned. "Just how private is this private business?"

"You're a Faunus."

There was a long pause.

"What?" asked Blake, taken completely off guard. She saw through the gloom Velvet's lips bend into a soft smile.

"Takes one to know one," said Velvet, twitching her nose with remarkable ease. "I can understand why you'd want to hide it, of course," she continued easily, her tone suggesting that she was talking about nothing of any more import than the weather that day, "and indeed there have been times when I wish that I had done the same, but…" Velvet looked at her through the half-dark, knowing that Blake's sight would have no trouble in such low light. "…I think that I should have to be terribly ashamed of my heritage before I started hiding it as well as you do."

Blake's jaw tightened. "…I trust you, Velvet."

Velvet nodded. "Thank you. We're of a kind, after all."

Blake shook her head, looking away with a mixture of sadness and regret. "That doesn't mean anything, necessarily – especially not when the people you care about become something you hate."

Velvet said nothing for a moment, perhaps out of respect for what was clearly a troubled past. "…I'm sorry."

Blake's eyes shot back up to meet Velvet's. She held her gaze for a long, dangerous moment. Velvet could almost smell the tension in the air… but it simmered down as Blake withheld her anger.

"You wouldn't understand," said Blake at long last, "nor would I wish you to. No-one should have to live the life that I live."

Blake took a long, deep breath.

"You're right, in a way. I am ashamed. But not of my heritage – rather, of what our heritage causes people to do." Blake's fingers balled into fists at the memories. "What you said before, about freeing yourself of hate… if only more people could follow that example." Blake looked at Velvet with a deep sadness. "More humans… and more Faunus."

Velvet considered her next move. She ended up approaching Blake, taking Blake's fists in both her own hands: in response Blake, slowly, allowed her fingers to uncurl.

"Whatever secrets you have I shall keep, I swear on our bond as kin," said Velvet earnestly. "But, that being said… do you think you'll ever be able to tell them?"

"You mean my team?" asked Blake, looking down at her hands held in Velvet's: both pairs palm up.

"Your friends," Velvet clarified. "Will you ever trust them enough to tell them?"

At the word 'trust' a pang of clear guilt manifested on Blake's face: Velvet wondered what it was Blake saw in her mind at that moment. "It isn't a matter of trust. What they don't know can't hurt them. Just so long as I don't mess things up. And when I do, because I always do…" Blake turned her hands around in Velvet's so they touched palm-to-palm: Velvet reciprocated the gesture, slowly pullling her hands back so they could curl their fingers together. "…I'll run. I'll run like every time before. It's me they're after. If I can sacrifice myself to save them… nothing will have been lost. Nothing of value, anyway."

Blake's voice trembled slightly, as did her hands. Velvet looked into her eyes searchingly, pleadingly, hoping Blake would look back into hers – but she closed them.

"The time that I spend here is… like a dream. A dream that I've wanted my whole life, but… a dream that I will have to wake up from, one day. I've enjoyed my time here, and I cherish my friendships, but…" Blake opened her eyes, letting her hands fall from Velvet's. "There will come a time when I will have to cut all the bonds I've made. For their sakes."

Velvet felt the immeasurable sadness in Blake's voice as she said this: a voice in her own heart yearned to reach out to Blake, to give her hope. "Blake… we can help you."

Blake shook her head, just once. "Not when I haven't the first clue of how to help myself. There might have been a time, once, but…" Blake turned away. "No-one can help me now."

Blake walked away without another word, leaving Velvet in an empty, dark room.

Velvet might've been tempted to go after her had she not been shocked beyond words or action. In that last moment, Blake had seemed very small, very alone. It was hard to believe that this was the same cool young lady she'd seen messing about with the other members of RWBY. Did she really see all her relationships as nothing more than temporary – just weights to be cast off so she could run away faster?

"I'm sure your friends would disagree… if they knew." Velvet's promise to keep Blake's secrets had seemed such an easy thing when she'd made it… much less so now.

-x-

"Blake?"

Blake snapped to her senses. Of course. Weiss. This was one of the precious few times each week they got alone together in their room, when Ruby and Yang were busy with their electives – and here she was wasting it thinking about other things.

"Sorry, what did you say?"

Weiss sighed. "I was saying you seem a little distracted. I was wrong: you seem a lot distracted."

"Sorry, I…" Blake looked away. "I have some things on my mind."

"Clearly. And you don't need to keep apologising to me: you've done nothing wrong." Blake looked to Weiss's eyes as though she disagreed, but she said nothing. "Look, Blake, whatever happened between you and Velvet, I promise I won't pry – if you say everything's fine between you two then I'll take your word for it – but I would be grateful if you'd at least let me comfort you."

Blake looked slyly back at Weiss. "You mean like all the times you let me comfort you?"

Weiss had the decency to look guilty. "Well… all right, fine, I guess I have no right to ask you to let me in on whatever it is that's bothering you. But I still want you to be happy."

Blake did not look happy. Perched on the edge of the bunk hugging her knees, she looked decidedly glum. "Yang said something a while ago about the two of us having a lot of secrets to keep. Said that's why we understand each other so well."

"She isn't wrong." Weiss joined Blake in a spot of floor-staring. "Well then… isn't there an indirect way for you to tell me?"

"I don't do fairytales."

"Not that, I mean…" Weiss shifted to face Blake. "Is there anything I can say or do to make you feel better? You don't have to tell me any specifics, just ask me for what you want and I'll do it if I can."

Blake felt reluctant, but given the effort Weiss was making she felt as though she should at least show willingness.

"All right." Blake let go of her knees and fell back, resting her head against the wall. Weiss did the same. She was a little surprised when Blake snuggled into her, resting her head on Weiss's shoulder, but allowed it to happen without comment. "So, Weiss… if I were to be in a situation where my life was in danger, and the only way to save me was to stand in the way, would you?"

Weiss blinked. "If you're asking whether I would fight by your side, yes, of course I would."

Blake very suddenly shifted around, propping herself up on an elbow to look Weiss in the eye. Weiss missed Blake's head on her shoulder. "This is about more than that. I know some very dangerous people, Weiss: people who would stop at nothing to either take me back or, failing that, kill me."

"And if they tried to do anything to your against your will, I would stop them," said Weiss calmly.

"You don't understand," Blake fired back heatedly. "The one who wants me, he…" Blake faltered. It hadn't been her intent to mention him, but in the heat of the moment she'd forgotten herself. "He's a skilled fighter, strong-willed and ruthless. Once he sets his sights on something he will cut down everything in his way." Blake looked down, crestfallen. "He wasn't always like that. There used to be a time when talking to him might have worked. But not anymore."

"That doesn't change my answer," said Weiss, sitting up properly against the wall. "Blake, could I ask you to sit in front of me?"

Blake complied, nonplussed: she blushed a little as Weiss laid hands on her back, behind and legs to lead her to the position she wanted. Blake ended up straddling Weiss's joined legs so they were at eye-level to each other.

Weiss then reached up and undid the ribbon from Blake's head – but not to touch her ears, not this time. Instead, she took the ribbon and, entwining her fingers with Blake's on the one hand, used the other to bind their joined hands together.

Weiss continued, her eyes distracted by the process of tying the ribbon. "Your fight is my fight. I would say that I'd die for you, but that would be self-indulgence on my part. I wouldn't want to leave you alone in the world. Not even I am that cruel. So, should it be the case that we're in a fight we can't win… I would run with you."

Weiss finished tying the ribbon and then smiled ruefully at her shoddy work. Blake couldn't help but smile too: for the dramatically romantic gesture that it was, tying a ribbon with one hand is not easy and Weiss had ended up making a bit of a mess of it, only loosely tying their hands together. Blake moved hers, finding that there was some wiggle room, but not quite enough space to get away – not while Weiss kept her fingers interlocked with Blake's.

"I think we're both lonely souls by nature," said Weiss, her smile fading as she observed their hands together. "The only reason we have so many secrets is because we've had no-one to tell them to."

Weiss looked into Blake's eyes, her expression clear as a cloudless sky. Blake looked back into hers. Blake was painfully aware of the fact that this was the moment in any romance novel when the hero and heroine would kiss, so…

"What was that for?" asked Weiss, amusement playing on her lips along with Blake's lingering taste.

"For helping me to calm down," Blake replied, still wondering which one of them would be the hero and which the heroine – or whether it even mattered. "I'm still not convinced that a problem shared is a problem halved, but… it didn't hurt anywhere near as much as I expected it to."

"Jacques Schnee."

Blake was taken aback by Weiss's abruptness. "Your father?"

Weiss nodded. "You spoke of a ruthless, strong-willed man who would stop at nothing to get what he wants… well, since we're sharing, that's my father in a nutshell. He isn't a fighter, but he is most definitely a killer: he kills by degrees, crushing the life out of those he oppresses until they have no choice but to escape or die. And he never lets his hands get dirty." Weiss spoke with an odd sense of detachment, looking out of the window as she did so, as though merely repeating a fact she'd read in a book once.

"The things that he's done to your people… and the things they've done back to us. That's the reason why the Faunus make me uneasy, but even I can see that they aren't at fault for hating him. My father can't see past his own ambition; his own greed and thirst for control. There might have been a time, back when my mother married him into the family, when he was still kind, when he still acted out of a desire to help others, but…" Weiss trailed off, realising that Blake was crying. "Blake?" she asked, looking up.

"How can people change so much?" asked Blake, her shoulders trembling. "How can someone be so controlling, so cruel, even when you try to give them everything?"

Weiss didn't reply, her eyes wide as she stared at Blake crying. The sight pierced and froze her with an almost physical force, as though she'd been staked to the wall – and not just because it hurt her to see Blake being sad.

'She understands.'

Weiss enfolded Blake's shaking frame, slipping free from the ribbon-tie so she could put both arms around her partner. She stroked down the length of Blake's head, from the top where rested the Faunus ears that had started all of this down to the nape of her neck, running her hand through Blake's hair again and again to soothe her. Blake limply hung onto Weiss's shoulders.

"I can't say I know the answer," said Weiss, softly as a lullaby. "Fear. Sadness. Anger. Regret. There are any number of things that can cause us to become blind to the suffering of others. Perhaps it is because, when your own suffering becomes too great, you can't but help unleash it on the world around you. But that doesn't make it go away. I see that now." Weiss continued to hold Blake until she was ready.

Blake pulled back, her eyes still shining with tears. "His name is Adam. Adam Taurus. He and I, we used to be-"

Weiss put a finger to Blake's lips, silently shushing her. Weiss's expression was solemn. "Whatever you were, that's in the past now. All I need to know is that he's a danger to you. If you ever see him again, you tell me, or one of the others. But if you have to run, then run. I promise I'll understand."

Weiss took Blake's hands in both of hers, the black ribbon still roughly twined around one, stark against her snow-white skin – but to Blake Weiss's hands had none of the stinging coldness of snow, only warmth overflowing.

"And, should it come to it, I would rather die than let him take you."

"He'll kill you without hesitation, should you stand in his way," said Blake, entirely serious. "Not just because you're a human, but because of who you are."

Weiss put two and two together. "So he's White Fang." It wasn't a question, but Blake nodded anyway. "Which means that you…?"

"I was," Blake answered earnestly, wiping away her tears, "but no more. Like I said, people change. My parents left before I did – I should've followed them. The only reason I stayed was because I believed in Adam. I put my trust in him, time and time again, believing he could still be a virtuous man, that he was merely struggling but his conscience would win out in the end – and then one day, after he'd broken my trust one too many times, I left."

Weiss nodded absently. "Well then. You're stronger than me. If my sister ever comes to Beacon, remind me to introduce you to her." This seemed unrelated until Blake remembered the fairytale: the disowned elder sister who'd disobeyed the king's orders by leaving to fight.

"Does that mean you'll tell your father about us, one day?"

"One day, yes. If you're serious about us, and keep being serious, then… that's a future I'm willing to fight for." Weiss smiled a quiet little smile. "I have to confess that I'm somewhat looking forward to seeing that puffed-up poppinjay explode with rage at the idea that my partner is not only not a man, but not even human. But long before that, we should probably tell our friends."

"Yes. When the time is right."

There was a grateful silence. It seemed the girls had both told all the secrets they wanted to, at least for now. There had been so many strong emotions that they both felt too tired to feel.

It was Weiss who broke the silence. "I don't mean to ruin the moment, but my legs are going numb."

"Oh!" Blake realised she'd been sitting on them for a while and quickly shifted her weight off. "Sorry, I didn't think."

"Well I was the one who asked you to sit there, so…" Weiss shrugged, smiling nonchalantly. "Here's your ribbon back, by the way."

"Thank you." Blake took it, but then hesitated. "So do you want to… pet me, or…?" The word 'pet' to refer to an activity related to herself was still difficult for Blake, but it was barely any less embarrassing than the other ways of putting it. "We've still got a quarter-hour left before Ruby and Yang get back."

Weiss looked at her with half-closed eyes, cocking her head on one side. "Well I don't know, Miss Belladonna. I'm not accustomed to doing things to people that they don't want me to do."

Blake, very slowly and with infinite irony, passed her hand across Weiss's face as though slapping her. Weiss played along by allowing her head to be turned, again equally slowly.

"I'm asking you because I do want it, you big idiot," said Blake, smirking despite herself.

"Well, why didn't you just say so in the first place?" asked Weiss pleasantly, smiling back.

Blake chuckled. "Oh, you'd definitely be the hero."

Weiss raised her eyebrows. "Excuse me?"

"Nothing. Now pet me, you fool."

"Well, if the lady insists…"