I lied. The summer rerun event is easy to grind when you're averaging +20 mat drops per run. Anyway, changed something about the titles of each chapters to better reflect the schema I have for all the major 'arcs' of this story. For the record, we're in the introduction arc. Expect… two more chapters for this arc, then a couple of interludes, before we head to Volume 2.5 territory?

Have an extra-long Weiss chapter, because as we all know she sneaks the treats; ergo, she is the best girl. 😊 Best girls deserve long chapters!

-0-

Volume 1.5 (Friday): please dont, i happen to like my legs and spine

Welcome to Pollination!

BFF: Has anyone seen my binder?

Team Leader: nope

Sister: nope

Sister From Another Mister: nope

Sister: this is like the fifth time you asked this today weiss

BFF: Unbelievable.

BFF: It was just on my desk!

BFF: You're telling me that none of you saw it this morning?

Team Leader: no me and Yang woke up late today, remember?

BFF: "Yang and I."

Team Leader: Bless you.

Sister From Another Mister: weiss, why are you worrying about your binder right now

Sister From Another Mister: shouldn't you focus on class instead of being distracted by… this? we're in the middle of history with oobleck.

Team Leader: Doctor Oobleck!

Sister From Another Mister: if he catches you using your scroll in the middle of class that's even more detention

Sister: yeah you don't want to be VB and ren right now trust me

Sister: im surprised theyre keeping up with oobleck while doing the TA thing

Team Leader: i think jaune's falling asleep actually

Team Leader: how you can do that while operating the screens i don't know

Sister From Another Mister: thats what he gets for staying up late all night

Sister: doing what? he said he was tired after we got back!

Team Leader: anyone would be after what you pulled

Sister: i said i was sorry!

BFF: Everyone! Please!

BFF: I need that binder! All our preparations for the Vytal Festival are noted there!

Team Leader: pfft itll be fine

Team Leader: besides as team leader i should be the one preparing the documents

Team Leader: learned that in leadership class

BFF: Oh, please, as if I can rely on you to properly chart and organize all the Vytal Festival documentation for our team.

BFF: Knowing you, you probably pawned it off on that idiot Jaune

Sister: rude weiss

Sister From Another Mister: yeah thats p harsh

Team Leader: its ok! she didnt mean it

Team Leader: shes just showing us she cares 😊

Sister: still not a nice thing to say to you or VB sis

-0-

It probably isn't, Weiss agreed in her head. But like so many things she had wanted to say, it sounded… marginally better in her head. It was not in her nature to belittle people (really!), even ones who were clearly in the wrong, like her Team Leader or her incompetent best friend. (Weiss never truly believed Ruby's claims that she and the strawberry reaper were… ugh, BFFs, not when Ruby and Jaune were so obviously good friends it was nauseating. She wasn't jealous, though! She wasn't envious of their close bond, the way they easily gravitated towards each other, or the way they got along as if they could read each other's minds, swapping jokes and insulting each other without accidentally hurting the other's feelings, even if Weiss never really had a friend like that before, with the closest people in her life being her elder sister and her butler. And Weiss had a sinking feeling both were obligated to like her!) No, she never meant to demean anyone, even those who were so clearly inferior to her. She was a Schnee. She had to be perfect. She wasn't, she admitted that, not yet, anyway. But she was leagues better than most of them!

Am I, though?

Weiss shook her head, realizing that she was missing most of Oobleck's rapid-fire lecture. Her notes were hopelessly behind Oobleck's outline (meticulously prepared by, of all people, Ruby and Jaune, during one of their many detentions of the week) and so she gave up, hoping to borrow Pyrrha's notes after class instead. At least that gave her an opportunity to talk to Pyrrha…

Thinking about Pyrrha made Weiss pause. She could admit, in rare moments of honesty, that she probably was coming on to Pyrrha too strong sometimes. But she couldn't help it if she admired Pyrrha, who was just the most perfect individual she had ever met. Studious, incredibly skilled, polite to everyone, an international celebrity with nary the scandal to her name… she had even deigned to care for Weiss and her emotional instability last weekend during the whole Blake mess! (Weiss did her best to ignore Jaune's presence, of course.) And she did it with such ease that Weiss suspected everything came naturally to the Mistralian champion. (Not like her, who still needed a lot of practice to master one part of her semblance, never mind something like summoning…) Now if only she could have been partnered to the Amazon, instead of that buffoon she called a partner, then they would have been perfect! At least Weiss wouldn't waste Pyrrha's time! Poor Pyrrha certainly must be frustrated, having to drill in the most basic of the basics of combat to her partner!

(Much, much later, admitting this to Jaune made him laugh harder than Weiss had ever seen from the boy. And yet Weiss couldn't ignore the wistful look in his eyes.)

No, no, I should stop thinking like this. Ren had, during one of their little meetings, explained to her that Pyrrha was uncomfortable with this kind of hero-worship. To her horror, Weiss realized, she was acting so much like a stupid fan instead of Pyrrha's peer and equal. She had sworn, both to Ren and herself, that she would do better.

(But that was the problem, wasn't it? Weiss always swore to herself to do better, to be closer to perfect. She tried. But sometimes, it felt like her best wasn't good enough. And how often did she slip back into old habits she swore never to do again, like accidentally insulting the people around her without making the effort to understand their position? It was difficult, soul-crushing even, to realize that, for all her grandstanding, she just wasn't good enough. Not good enough to properly utilize her glyphs, not good enough to summon, not good enough to fight off a boarbatusk without her leader's advice, not good enough to be a decent friend to her friends. How did she have the gall to consider herself anywhere close to perfect?)

Her thoughts a complete mess, Weiss abandoned her history notes and glanced at the unsent message to Blake she had begun drafting after her conversation with Ren the other day.

-0-

Welcome to the beginning of the Blake Belladonna and Weiss Schnee group!

Send your first message here!

Weiss Schnee: Good morning, Blake. May we perhaps talk after class? I wish to resolve the lingering tensions between us and facilitate proper teammate etiquette. We may not agree on everything, but as teammates, I feel it is appropriate that we find a way to work together and move past our previous interactions…

-0-

No, this is too dry and formal, Weiss reprimanded herself. She deleted the entire message she had typed and started drafting alternate takes, but each one sounded less like an apology with the appropriate conciliatory tone and more like the typical Weiss everyone knew, with the haughty, Ice Queen tone and the subtle put-downs of the other person's personality. Her intention was to apologize, for Dust's sake! Why were her messages sounding more and more like she was setting a business meeting? And why in the name of the Brothers couldn't she admit, even in a written message, that she was in the wrong?

At some point, she had to tell herself to stop worrying about the message, because she had other things to focus on, like her planned solo training exercise later that afternoon to work on some new glyphs (she was so close to mastering that dust-damned Time Dilation glyph, and maybe start working on the summoning glyph soon…), so much so that Yang had to nudge Weiss out of her concentration to inform her that class had ended. That was, in retrospect, a sign of things to come, as Weiss found herself sleepwalking her way through lunch and ignoring the rest of her classes that day.

And she still didn't find her binder!

-0-

Welcome to White Lotus!

Lie Ren: Good afternoon, Weiss.

Lie Ren: I can't help but notice you were distracted at lunch today.

Lie Ren: Did you… misplace your nail file?

Weiss Schnee: Huh?

Weiss Schnee: Wait, was that a joke?

Lie Ren: Yes. Was… was it in poor taste?

Weiss Schnee: No, no! I was just surprised. I rarely… see you crack any jokes.

Weiss Schnee: It just took me off guard.

Weiss Schnee: My apologies. You're allowed to make jokes, after all.

Lie Ren: I see.

Lie Ren: Even my own team is shocked when I make jokes.

Lie Ren: Nora has suggested I try to make them more often. So far it has achieved mixed success.

Lie Ren: Did you know that Jaune and Pyrrha are bad at hiding it when the force themselves to laugh?

Lie Ren: It can be very disheartening, but I do appreciate how those two are humoring me, despite how dry I can be at times.

Someone is typing…

Lie Ren: I fear I might be rambling. I'll leave you to your own thoughts.

Weiss Schnee: No, no! It's fine. I'm just… it's not been a good day for me.

Weiss Schnee: First I lost my binder, and then I fail to take any proper notes for the rest of my classes, and I don't think my training with my glyphs is progressing well enough… please remind me to work on that later today.

Weiss Schnee: Which reminds me, I should ask Pyrrha to borrow her notes from History. I think Nora and I also shared a class today, perhaps I could ask her… I've been meaning to talk to her as well…

Lie Ren: I won't stop you if that is what you wish.

Lie Ren: But are you sure you aren't ignoring anything else you need to do?

-0-

It wasn't often, but ever since getting to know Ren better, Weiss had made it a point to talk to Nora a bit more. In another move that made Weiss hate how she acted at the beginning of the semester, she had dismissed Nora fairly quickly into the sister teams' association, ignoring her outlandish, dream-fueled ramblings she shared during their breakfasts and lunches. She wasn't ignorant of the girls' skills – she had watched Nora act as the powerhouse of the team during initiation, landing the killing blow on the Deathstalker that was giving the combined teams much trouble earlier that day, after all. But the girl's hyperactive energy and enthusiasm didn't sit well with Weiss, who felt that she had to carry herself in a prim and proper way.

(There was a part of her who was envious of the kind of freedom that people like Yang and Nora exhibited, but Weiss was adept at ignoring her own desires in the pursuit of perfection.)

Still, at some point, familiarity trumped her prejudices, and Weiss, with some prompting from Ren, began piecing together bits of Nora and Ren's shared history from the confused jumble of stories Nora eagerly shared (and Ren helpfully edited and translated for the rest.) She soon realized that the two were orphans and had spent most of their youth looking out for one another. Ren seemed to exhibit a more well-to-do upbringing, but unlike Weiss, seemed to have adjusted to a more modest lifestyle, his poor sense for Lien notwithstanding (it certainly explained why Nora was the one handling hers and Ren's stipends, and the recent revelation that Nora was responsible for balancing team JNPR's finances went a long way in explaining the dynamic between Nora and Ren) which, combined with Nora's allusions to growing up in poverty, made Weiss feel ashamed for her callow dismissal of the pink-haired girl.

It was another reminder that Weiss, for all the loneliness and alienation she experienced growing up, was still a privileged and sheltered girl. It was easy to feel sorry for herself because she had an alcoholic mother who neglected her for most of her life and a father who treated her more like a trophy to show off to other people. But some people didn't get the live the life of luxury she lived and meeting all these people at Beacon forced her to confront her own privilege. Nora and Ren for example, reminded her that more people led harder lives than her, that some people grew up unsure of where to get their next meal or if they could even have a roof above their heads.

But it was meeting someone like Blake that drove that point about privilege home. Yes, the White Fang did commit acts of vandalism, sabotage, and even at times, murder, towards the SDC and its personnel, but a lot of it was borne out of genuine desperation at the cruel treatment of the Faunus, especially in Atlas, most of it due to her father's callous business practices. Weiss had always claimed she never had anything against the Faunus, just the White Fang for what it did to her family, but recent events told her much about how privileged a position that was. How easy was it for her to slip into hatred for the Faunus as a whole, when in her head she only denounced the White Fang's actions? It was that damned tendency of hers to demean others without meaning to. She couldn't claim to want to reform the SDC and treat the Faunus working for the company better if she didn't understand why someone would take up the political position the White Fang did (even if they were committing terrorist acts). She wasn't about to accept that the current White Fang were in the right, but they had a point.

So why is it so hard for me to just message Blake?!

The question remained unanswered all afternoon, even as Weiss and Nora dutifully performed their detention duties for the day. At least it was the last day they had to do this. And Weiss was able to borrow Nora's notes, as messy as they were… she was beginning to feel like she needed to have a proper talk with the girl – at least it was easier than finding her dust-damned binder, she thought to herself.

Weiss took out a pen and began marking Nora's notes, writing down detailed instructions and observations on how to improve Nora's study habits and note-taking skills. Training her glyphs could wait…

-0-

Welcome to Nordic Winter!

Ice Queen: Good evening, Nora.

Ice Queen: I took the time to look over your notes from class today. Thank you for lending them to me.

Ice Queen: However, I do have some… criticism and comments I'd like to suggest.

Ice Queen: For better organization of your notes, of course. It would probably be more effective if I expressed them in person… whenever you are free, of course.

Thunder Thighs: WEISS

Thunder Thighs: Hey, Weiss!

Thunder Thighs: Didn't see you at the training grounds today! It's like you just disappeared after we finished detention stuff!

Ice Queen: Oh?

Ice Queen: I'm sorry, I just had a lot on my mind.

Thunder Thighs: Also, the rest of us are about to meet up for dinner! Where are you?

Ice Queen: Looking over your notes and fixing my own. Also, I'm still looking for my binder.

Someone is typing…

Thunder Thighs: Sorry! I told Ren that you were still looking for your binder.

Thunder Thighs: He asked me to remind you that, um…

Thunder Thighs: Something about a training session you were planning to do? Something for you to work on? Ren says that you should probably focus on what you need to do instead of using your binder as an excuse to put it off.

Ice Queen: I…see?

Ice Queen: In any case, I merely wanted to inform you of how disorganized your notetaking is. We've talked about this in the past!

Ice Queen: Also, I still need to admonish you for that stunt you pulled yesterday. It was mortifying, having that infernal song playing in the middle of the assembly!

Thunder Thighs: I said I was sorry!

Thunder Thighs booped Ice Queen!

Ice Queen: Gah!

Ice Queen: At least the sound effect isn't as intrusive now, I suppose…

Ice Queen: Nevertheless, I've been repeatedly trying to tell you to be a bit more… proper. If only for Ren's sake! Surely you must know how much stress you bring to the poor boy!

Thunder Thighs: I know, Weissy! I promise I won't do it again!

Thunder Thighs: Oh, but you don't have to make up all these excuses if you wanna hang out!

Ice Queen: I'm not sure what you're implying here, Nora.

Thunder Thighs: If you just want to chill with the cool kids, you're always welcome in Team JNPR's dorm! No need for all this correcting my notes nonsense!

Thunder Thighs: Seriously, Weiss! We're friends! Why do you have to justify yourself to me?

Thunder Thighs booped Ice Queen!

Thunder Thighs: Still, thanks for the concern! I know you mean well, and this is just how you show us you care! 😊

-0-

(Weiss wasn't smiling at Nora's comments. She wasn't!)

Weiss had to admit that she been putting off her glyph training for the past week, and that Ren's offhand reminder bothered her more than it should. Part of it was that she didn't want to think about the lack of progress with her semblance (not when she needed her binder!) because there were more pressing concerns, like her class notes and how she needed to ensure Nora's own note-taking habits were improved in the future. There was also the unfinished message, but that could wait! Plus, they didn't really have time to do any training or sparring, since the teachers were running them ragged with their detention slash unpaid internship for the school!

(Except that was false, and Weiss knew it. Everyone else found the time to sneak in some training, whether by going for late-night training sessions before the training grounds were closed, or just doing their own drills or spars in the mornings. And they had other hobbies they indulged in during the day. What was her excuse? All she did was study and fuss over other people. Hell, even Jaune managed to do more training, either with Pyrrha at night, or on his own. And Blake's veiled hints about what Jaune did late at night certainly put her in a bad mood, because if the idiot was staying up to try and catch up to his studies, why was she actively trying to avoid doing the same?)

Well, there was still time to catch everyone at dinner, and Weiss did want a chance to talk to Pyrrha and borrow her notes, perhaps even convince Pyrrha to spar with her. The binder could wait! It wasn't like she was forgetting to do anything else she had to do!

-0-

Welcome to Team RRAYNNBW!

RedLikeStrawberries: ok so hear me out

RedLikeStrawberries: weapons are an extensions of ourselves, right? they're a part of us

RedLikeStrawberries: meanwhile, semblances are expressions of who we are as individuals

RedLikeStrawberries: that means that your weapon and your semblance need to be in sync!

Ren-sensei: Sure, but not every hunter knows their semblance or has the lien as well as the skills to design a unique weapon suited for semblance.

Ren-sensei: Plus, not everyone has a semblance suited for combat.

Ren-sensei: I know students from your combat school design their own weapons, but that's not true for most hunters or hunters-in-training.

Queen of the Castle: We're lucky Ren knew a local blacksmith who helped design and build StormFlower and Magnhild!

Big Kitty Goth GF: to be fair i think ruby has a point

Big Kitty Goth GF: i was already working with an early version of gambol shroud before I unlocked my semblance. it was mostly just a katana at first.

Big Kitty Goth GF: when i unlocked my semblance, my movement options grew a lot so i asked for help to redesign gambol

RedLikeStrawberries: is that when you added the ribbon?

Big Kitty Goth GF: yeah, and turned the sheathe into a cleaver design, since i needed more damage and my semblance wasnt providing that

Big Kitty Goth GF: plus i needed some dust mechanisms to use with Shadow, so i added the pistol and had dust cartridges installed on gambol

RedLikeStrawberries: well, i designed my Crescent Rose because scythes and sniper rifles are cool

RedLikeStrawberries: but it honestly works well with my semblance. uncle qrow uses his scythe more as a sword since he can't dash around as much as i can

RedLikeStrawberries: meanwhile the recoil from the sniper mode works well with movement and extra power since im not strong enough cut through Grimm hide with just my own strength

Queen of the Castle: So how come Yang just has Ember Celica, if you can design way more complicated stuff?

RedLikeStrawberries: well, signal students are meant to design their own weapons, and Yang already got a lot of hand to hand training from dad. so when she unlocked her semblance it just made sense to just let her have the gauntlets. most of the design was her throwing ideas and me trying to make em simple

RedLikeStrawberries: plus yang has like no eye for maintenance. would you want to hand something complicated for her to fuss over? ember celica's like, really easy to maintain. no threats of yang's arm getting like, blown off. i wouldnt want to imagine arm with a robot arm!

Ren-sensei: Well, Nora's Magnhild is more shock resistant to account for her semblance, but I didn't pick StormFlower to suit my own semblance. Admittedly, I just chose a weapon that felt practical.

RedLikeStrawberries: well, StormFlower is fairly simple and the upkeep's easy

RedLikeStrawberries: lacks stopping power though

Ren-sensei: Yes, but Nora swings a giant hammer around and shoots grenades at Grimm.

Ren-sensei: I don't feel the need to compete with her on that front.

RedLikeStrawberries: ohhhh

RedLikeStrawberries: so instead of choosing your weapon based on your semblance, you based it on the role you and your partner occupy?

Ren-sensei: That's a good way to look at it.

Vomit Boy: man, at least you guys know what your semblances are

Vomit Boy: hard to decide what your weapon should be otherwise.

Vomit Boy: although i wouldnt want to ignore the reliable sword and shield

RedLikeStrawberries: i keep telling you, we can at least add a gun to your shield

Vomit Boy: thats a bad idea! i block with my shield! what if the dust rounds explode or something?

RedLikeStrawberries: dust doesnt work like that dum-dum!

Vomit Boy: i wouldn't know! they don't teach you stuff like this in regular schools

Vomit Boy: besides, i have terrible aim! remember when you let me shoot Crescent Rose?

RedLikeStrawberries: she's different and you know it! she only responds to my touch!

RedLikeStrawberries: look, i can design a mechashift function for crocea mors so you at least have a ranged option! im thinking we can add some dust stuff for your shield too, im imagining great things with gravity and hard-light dust…

Vomit Boy: ok that i kind of get, but isnt hard-light dust kind of hard to get outside of uh… atlas? i think. that's what they say in the textbooks

Vomit Boy: plus that sounds expensive! theres a reason only weiss can use that much dust regularly

Big Kitty Goth GF: well someones been paying more attention to Dust Studies

Vomit Boy: blake i literally only learned how to use dust as a weapon when i got to beacon, i need to catch up to everyone and learn this stuff

Ren-sensei: Ruby makes a good point, though. There is no harm in having more options to your weaponry. A ranged option adds more battlefield tactics at our disposal.

Vomit Boy: i am not wasting our ammunition and weapon maintenance budget just so i can add a gun I can barely use to crocea mors! not when i can barely use my sword effectively as is!

Vomit Boy: besides, nora's grenades eat up like half our budget already

Vomit Boy: we're lucky pyr has sponsorship deals for her dust rounds and weapon maintenance, and team JNPR gets discounts from em

Vomit Boy: that way we can afford half the stuff nora and pyr do with their weapons

RedLikeStrawberries: speaking of, i still have to finish filling out our requisition form. Hey Snow Angeldid you give me the dust list already?

Queen of the Castle: Oooh, you're not making Fearless Leader do it this time?

Queen of the Castle: Or are you worried he'll mess up your dust orders?

RedLikeStrawberries: no weiss and yang are getting on my case about making jaune do everything

RedLikeStrawberries: besides our team uses way more types of dust than you guys, i cant make jaune worry about all that when me and weiss use a lot of specialized dust

Vomit Boy: true, only specialized thing we usually get is nora's lightning dust and the grenades

RedLikeStrawberries: also weiss tends to use stuff we can only get from the SDC, and we get good deals buying from em bc you know

RedLikeStrawberries: SDC princess

Big Kitty Goth GF: heiress, actually

RedLikeStrawberries: although weiss has seriously been slacking on managing our dust stuff lately

RedLikeStrawberries: i checked out myrtenaster today and shes running low on her dust vials and her poor rapier's not being maintained right

RedLikeStrawberries: where is weiss anyway havent seen her since dinner

RedLikeStrawberries: she didnt eat yet right

SunnyLittleDragon uploaded a streaming video!

SunnyLittleDragon played a video over the chat!

SunnyLittleDragon: oh man guys check this out

SunnyLittleDragon: p-money's schooling weiss-cream so hard

RedLikeStrawberries: where are you yang?

SunnyLittleDragon: training grounds watching pyrrha and weiss spar

Queen of the Castle: So that's where Weiss and Pyrrha went after dinner!

Big Kitty Goth GF: Should Pyrrha be sparring right now? She just had dinner.

Queen of the Castle: That's ok, she eats really light for dinner. If it wasn't for Jaune begging her to eat more, she'd probably just have a salad and soup every night!

Someone is typing…

Ren-sensei: Oh dear.

Big Kitty Goth GF: i knew pyrrha's like this fighting prodigy but some of those moves…wow

Queen of the Castle: WOOOOOO

Queen of the Castle: You go, sister! Kick the Ice Queen where the sun don't shine!

Queen of the Castle: Team JNPR represent!

Vomit Boy: nora! dont be mean to weiss

RedLikeStrawberries: Snow Angel use your dust! you should have enough to keep pyrrha away!

SunnyLittleDragon: she cant hear you from here rubes

Ren-sensei: It's true, though. I'm not sure why Weiss seems insistent on using her swordplay to match Pyrrha's.

Ren-sensei: Would it not be more prudent to use her dust to overwhelm Pyrrha? She can't use her semblance to block dust as easily.

RedLikeStrawberries: also, weiss prolly shouldnt be using Mysternaster to clash with Pyrrha's Miló, considering either the javelin or xiphos forms can snap weiss' rapier in half

Ren-sensei: And Akuo can defend from Mysternaster's thrust strikes as well.

Big Kitty Goth GF: yeah this looks like it for weiss

Someone is typing…

RedLikeStrawberries: huh, i dont recognize that glyph weiss tried to use

RedLikeStrawberries: not sure why her body froze up after that initial flurry though

Big Kitty Goth GF: welp there goes Weiss' aura

Vomit Boy: wait, watch this. pyr told me she hasn't gotten a chance to do this in a while.

Someone is typing…

Ren-sensei: That was a very well-executed series of moves, Cereal Girl.

Queen of the Castle: That last combo was sick! I didn't know you could do all that in mid-air!

SunnyLittleDragon stopped streaming a video!

SunnyLittleDragon: yeah using her shield to propel herself off the air and keep on wailing at Weiss was so cool

SunnyLittleDragon: man i rly wanna spar with p-money one of these days now

SunnyLittleDragon: maybe i can beat you up in a spar enough that p-money steps in to defend your honor VB

Vomit Boy: please dont, i happen to like my legs and spine

-0-

Okay, so that sucked.

While it was conventional knowledge that Aura healed external injuries to a certain extent, it wasn't some magical, cure-all solution to pain. Aura patched up wounds, sure, but unless you were some freak of nature with stupidly large aura reserves, Aura wasn't enough to get rid of all the cuts and bruises one accumulated throughout a fight. And even if it did, theoretically, do that, the pain would still linger. All Aura did was mitigate the damage. Weiss was many things, but her Aura supply was perfectly average, and her mastery of her semblance was such that her Aura usage was still not as efficient as it could have been.

Which is why her entire body was still wracked in pain.

She spent almost thirty minutes in the showers, allowing the extremely cold water to try and soothe the burning sensation of her muscles. Her entire body reacted violently to every single step and sudden movement she made, and even the simple act of scrubbing her body and rinsing it proved difficult. She could feel an acute pain from at least three different joints, an uncomfortable crick in her neck, her arms bruised and battered from Pyrrha's savage strikes, her legs feeling like jelly, and her heartbeat still irregular and frantic.

Weiss chided herself, internally, for that last, desperate move she did, which led to most of the pain she was currently feeling. She knew that she was at a disadvantage from the start – Pyrrha could easily overpower her strikes, and her mastery over her own body far surpassed Weiss. Weiss knew she didn't stand much of a chance exchanging blows with the Mistralian Champion, although Weiss hoped that her glyphs would even out the odds. Instead, Pyrrha relentlessly broke down Weiss' defenses, never her strongest suit, forcing Weiss to absorb numerous punishing blows. She had hoped to turn the tide with her Time Dilation glyphs, even if her practice with it had yielded little positive results in the past.

To her surprise, she was able to properly activate the Time Dilation glyph, the first time she had done so in a while, and especially the first time she did in a combat environment. Previous activations of the glyph were limited by her access to Lightning dust, which wasn't always the easiest dust to acquire, so she didn't get to practice the glyph as much as she wanted, but the few times she was able to activate it properly took a lot of concentration and effort. The end result, a powerful glyph that boosted her speed and reaction times to almost superhuman levels, seemed almost worth the expense, but the drawbacks of the glyph proved deadly: while the Time Dilation glyph increased her body's movement speed and her mind's processing ability, the same was not true for when the effects of the glyph wore off. She was especially vulnerable in the few seconds it took for her mind to catch up to her body when the time dilation wore of, causing her to slow down considerably. Too many times did she feel herself stop in the middle of an attack sequence thanks to her body physically slowing down and her mind failing to consider the change in speed that the body was experiencing. If she had to describe it, it was like her body was submerged in molasses, refusing to act as her mind dictated.

Still, Weiss felt, the adrenaline rush of defending against Pyrrha's assault must have given her the push to successfully use her Time Dilation in live combat. There simply wasn't any opportunity for her to panic and overthink her glyphs when that beast of a fighter came down towards her like a rampaging warrior of old, and her body moved on its own to summon the glyph. For a few seconds, she felt she was keeping up with Pyrrha Nikos, famed four-time Mistralian Regional Championship winner and quite possibly the strongest fighter Beacon had seen in years.

Until she felt her body slow down, and she was unable to react when Pyrrha noticed this and prepared her counterattack.

That was the most painful part.

Weiss left the showers and sat on a bench in front of her locker, allowing the cold water to drip in the floor. She felt no energy in her arms, still throbbing slightly with exertion, and she was unable to lift them without effort. Pyrrha had checked up on her after their fight, but Weiss simply gritted her teeth and told Pyrrha she was fine, causing the red-haired warrior to accept her words and leave her be. Instead, she suffered her pain on her own. She didn't need any help. She didn't want any help!

Pyrrha must have been in far more difficult fights than this, Weiss argued in her mind. You didn't become a multiple time champion by fighting weak opponents. Yang's semblance meant she won most of her fights after taking an obscene amount of damage. Who knows what kind of life Nora and Ren led that turned them into the fighters they were now? (Gods, how did Nora even discover how her semblance worked? Did she actually get struck by lightning on accident?) Blake must have been in hundreds of fights for her life during her time in the White Fang, each one far more difficult and dangerous than this spar held in a controlled environment against a fighter who, despite all her skill, was still holding back on her. Her toughest fight was against that damned Arma Gigas, and that was in a controlled environment. If she lost, she still had a home to come back to. Compared to the others, she had it easy.

Weiss rarely felt the need to cry. And she certainly didn't want to start now, not when it was just a little pain and exhaustion from a spar she lost badly. Her physical pain certainly couldn't equate to the pain the rest of her friends carried. Most of the people in her new life had suffered much more pain, both physical and emotional. Ruby and Yang lost their mom. Ren and Nora didn't have parents anymore. Blake was born a Faunus, and Dust knew how much their race suffered. Compared to them, what did she, poor little miss heiress of the SDC, need to cry about? Who was she to complain? She had been spared so much pain, having been born with all she needed.

Funny. Just like my songs, she laughed in her head. Even that mental laugh hurt.

Gods, but did she want to cry. She couldn't even do a simple thing like use her glyphs right. Or find a stupid binder. Or compose a dust-damned message, or admit she was wrong. Even her one act of independence, defeating that damned Arma Gigas for the chance to study in Beacon, left a scar on her eye, an eternal reminder of her weakness, her inability to overcome her trial on her own strength. And it wasn't even like she was actually independent! She still relied on Daddy's dust to defeat the Arma Gigas, for gods' sake!

More and more, Weiss realized, she hated how her semblance was hereditary. If a semblance was the representation of one's individuality, what did it mean that hers was tied to the Schnee legacy? She was proud of the Schnee name, the name her grandfather made powerful, but it seemed like the name was a curse as much as it was a blessing. She was the heiress of the SDC. Her semblance was passed down the family like an inheritance. It possessed much power that she could tap into if she were willing to put in the effort. She led a privileged life, she had all she could ever want. All because she was a Schnee.

Where did that leave Weiss though? What did Weiss have to herself?

Weiss grunted in pain, the water dripping down her face feeling oddly warm. She didn't feel like talking to her team right now.

-0-

Welcome to the Weiss Schneeand Pyrrha Nikos group!

Pyrrha Nikos: Weiss?

Pyrrha Nikos: Ruby told me you haven't returned to the dorms yet, and that you haven't been responding to everyone's messages.

Weiss Schnee: No need to worry. Just reviewing our combat footage to spot my mistakes. Also, I'm still looking for my binder.

Pyrrha Nikos: Right. I'll make sure to inform Ruby not to worry.

Someone is typing…

Pyrrha Nikos: Still, it wouldn't hurt to inform everyone before you go missing. Everyone was worried for a bit. I had to stop the rest of my team from enacting Operation Find Weiss Schnee.

Weiss Schnee: …what?

Pyrrha Nikos: We have protocols for locating everyone in our little group in case someone goes missing. With different permutations, different combinations of people shared between our two teams, for the different scenarios where one or more of our circle disappear, as well as different reasons as to why they go missing. Jaune was working on it on and off throughout the semester, but Blake running away motivated him enough to complete it. The previous weekend was actually our first time enacting those protocols.

Pyrrha Nikos: It's part of our team tactics document he's been drafting all semester. I had to ask Blake to read over most of it. Reading quickly isn't a strong suit of mine, unfortunately.

Weiss Schnee: I find that difficult to believe.

Weiss Schnee: I couldn't imagine you struggling with anything.

Pyrrha Nikos: Well, this is me struggling. I have a hard time reading quickly, especially with things like strategy and combat tactics.

Pyrrha Nikos: My old tutor and trainer said I was the type that learned easier with my body. I didn't know how to fight well when my trainer talked me through it, but I picked it up once he started sparring with me seriously. Things just clicked, you know?

Pyrrha Nikos: It was difficult at first, training Jaune, because he learns things differently, and it took a while for me to realize I needed to explain the theory behind combat instead of hoping he'd learn through sparring.

Pyrrha Nikos: I fear the Beacon curriculum isn't suited for the type of learning he's suited for, considering the lack of formal theory behind combat class besides Miss Goodwitch's scattered comments after each bout. Those are the parts that are most productive for Jaune, did you know?

Pyrrha Nikos: But I know he can do it. I was very much like him at the start, except that we learn in different ways.

Pyrrha Nikos: As for reading, I have a hard time making sense of things if they're just descriptions on a page, so I have to take my time and imagine things when reading literature. As a result, Blake likes to make fun of how slowly I read the novels I borrow from her.

Weiss Schnee: I… I didn't realize that any of this about you, Pyrrha.

Pyrrha Nikos: Not a lot of people know. Just my team. And my parents.

Pyrrha Nikos: Jaune and the rest of my team have been very encouraging to me about revealing these parts of my personality to everyone else. It's very difficult, you see, when you spend most of your formative years being mindful of how everyone sees you.

Weiss Schnee: I.

Weiss Schnee: I understand completely, Pyrrha.

Weiss Schnee: Thank you for the spar earlier, by the way. If I could be so forward…

Pyrhha Nikos: Yes?

Weiss Schnee: Could you… perhaps… give me feedback about our spar? Assuming you aren't busy, of course. I know you train almost nightly with your partner.

Pyrrha Nikos: Oh, goodness, no, that's fine!

Pyrrha Nikos: Actually, I've just been making Jaune do some drills and solo training tonight. He's been working on his cardio once we figured out his instincts are suited towards being a defensive fighter. His stamina was already impressive, but with this, well…

Pyrrha Nikos uploaded a video!

Pyrrha Nikos: Sorry! Misclick!

Pyrrha Nikos: Please don't tell Jaune I secretly took a video of him practicing. He's already so conscious when Blake decides to read by the rooftops while we're training.

Weiss Schnee: Wait, Blake watches you two train?

Pyrrha Nikos: Oh, no, Blake is very adamant that she isn't watching over Jaune and I. She says she likes reading her books under the moonlight. And she only does it every now and then.

Pyrrha Nikos: Which, in retrospect, should have probably clued me in about her Faunus traits… she didn't really hide it well, all things considered.

Pyrrha Nikos: That first day, when she revealed it to us, I joked that her Faunus heritage explained so much about her taste in fictional characters.

Weiss Schnee: I'm… honestly surprised you can joke about that without her taking offense.

Pyrrha Nikos: Well, it's not like we haven't made fun of each other's taste in fictional characters in the past before this. And the more that I got to know Blake, the more I realized that she isn't as sensitive as one might think about such matters. If you aren't mean-spirited, she generally lets a few off-color remarks slide.

Pyrrha Nikos: Besides, she can slip into a few… politically incorrect statements as well. Pitfalls of our hobbies, I suppose.

Weiss Schnee: Yet another thing I don't know about my teammate, I suppose.

Pyrrha Nikos: Oh, Weiss.

Pyrrha Nikos: I don't think Blake hates you that much to shut you out of her life. At least, she's never implied anything like that to me.

Pyrrha Nikos: I'm sure if you took the time to talk to her, you'll find that the two of you have a lot in common.

Weiss Schnee: If you say so.

Pyrrha Nikos: As for feedback from our spar… give me a minute to type up my observations.

Weiss Schnee: Go ahead.

-0-

After much effort, Weiss finally found the strength to dress herself, although she couldn't quite find it in herself to get up from the bench. She fixated on the scroll in her hand, ignoring the calls and messages her teammates sent and the draft of the message she was yet to send.

-0-

Welcome to the Weiss Schneeand Pyrrha Nikos group!

Pyrrha Nikos: Let's begin with the positives. I have no complaints about your basics – you've clearly spent a long time training the fundamentals. The way you handle yourself in combat, your control over your body and your weapon leaves nothing to be desired.

Pyrrha Nikos: The problem, I suspect, is in your mentality.

Weiss Schnee: I…see? Please do go on.

Pyrrha Nikos: How shall I put this?

Pyrrha Nikos: If we use Jaune as an example, he's the type of person who's spent a lot of time thinking about combat and combat tactics. I suppose it's all the… graphic novels he has consumed. And he's shown a lot of interest in combat strategy and tactics as well. Unlike me, he takes well to theory and things like researching Grimm behavior and approaches to combat. But he has his… weaknesses, correct?

Weiss Schnee: Of course. He lacks the practical knowledge.

Pyrrha Nikos: Yes. To put it the way my trainer would, he is not suited for learning physically. He is the type who does better planning and strategizing ahead of time and adjusting in the middle of combat to achieve his overall strategy. However, he started training too late to keep up with what he would like to do.

Pyrrha Nikos: That is why he fares poorly in combat. He is aware of the limitations of his body, but that means his own combat options are limited. He spends a lot of time in combat defending because he knows he doesn't have many options. I suppose that is why he does better when directing the rest of us, rather than participating in combat itself.

Pyrrha Nikos: You, however, are the opposite. You are very well trained, and your body knows what it ought to do. However, you are hesitating far too much.

Pyrrha Nikos: I noticed during our spar that you chose to engage me head-on, using your glyphs only for an initial burst of speed. While I don't mean to demean your swordplay, I am fairly confident that I outclass you in that regard, especially with our choices of weaponry.

Pyrrha Nikos: Had you chosen to take advantage of your dust or your semblance, you would have had a better chance of keeping me away. Admittedly, your ability to control the battlefield is far more potent than mine, especially if you can keep opponents from engaging you at close range.

Pyrrha Nikos: But you chose to throw away that advantage until I had closed in. Even when you finally did that trick with that glyph that sped you up, it was too late in the fight. And it seems that there were some flaws with that technique as well that you haven't fixed.

Weiss Schnee: So, what, exactly, are you suggesting here Pyrrha?

Pyrrha Nikos: Well. I may not be one to talk, considering how I use my semblance, but…

Pyrrha Nikos: Weiss, why are you so hesitant to use your dust? Or your semblance?

-0-

That was the million lien question, wasn't it?

Weiss was unsure of how to answer. She knew the answer to the question, definitely – she had found that her pastime in private was to torture herself over her many, many flaws. Most nights, it was her tendency to be terrible to her so-called friends, but some nights, it was her complicated relationship with her heritage and her own abilities.

Weiss recalled her fight with the Arma Gigas. During the first half of the fight, Weiss had tried confronting the Grimmified suit of armor with only her basic glyphs and her rapier. She had landed a few hits in, sure, and was able to maneuver her way around the battlefield, but all that skill failed to deal significant damage to the giant knight, and eventually the knight managed to land a few solid hits in. Looking back, Weiss realized that her big mistake was not using the full array of abilities available to her from the start – she only started using her dust when the wound over her eye formed, and felt the blood trickling down her face.

Weiss chided herself for that. For all her vaunted pride, for all her desire to be free of her father's influence, the moment that she felt herself in danger, she relied on the same things she despised. So she began using the dust vials embedded in the revolver chamber of Myrtenaster and started combining them with her glyphs. In other words: she began fighting like a Schnee.

(She wondered sometimes if that was the reason she struggled so much with summoning: a part of her despised the idea that one of her powers was to call for help. And didn't that fly in the face of her supposed goal of independence?)

If Weiss was completely honest with herself, she could admit that what she hated wasn't the fact that she had the Schnee family semblance, but that for her to be effective in combat, she had to rely on the privileges afforded to her as the heiress of the SDC. Fighting with all that dust was impossible unless she had access to the resources of the Schnee Dust Company, and Weiss only needed to look at the munitions and weapon requisition forms that Ruby and Jaune filled out every month to realize just how expensive it was to fight on an optimal level as a Schnee. That was part of why Weiss never liked doing the requisition forms early, because it was tantamount to admitting that, for all her vaunted independence, she was still relying on daddy's dust. Their budget was never enough to cover Weiss' dust expenditure anyway – she always ordered extra for herself using her Schnee Dust Company credit card…

It was one thing, however, to admit her failings to herself. It was another to admit it to other people. She was still a Schnee, and she still held herself to high standards. She had to be perfect. Otherwise, what did Weiss have?

-0-

Welcome to the Weiss Schneeand Pyrrha Nikos group!

Weiss Schnee: I'm not sure what you mean.

Pyrrha Nikos: Weiss, I simply want to help.

Weiss Schnee: You think I need help?!

Pyrrha Nikos: Everyone needs a little push from time to time. It… doesn't make you any different from the rest of us.

-0-

But things are different for me! Weiss screamed in her head. I'm a Dust-damned Schnee! Privileged! Blessed with incredible talents and opportunities! I'm not like the rest of you! I don't have the luxury of feeling sorry for myself!

Weiss fought back the anger, the desperation that welled up from her heart, willing her heart to turn to stone. She couldn't even bear to look herself in the mirror, afraid of what she would find. Mirror, mirror, tell me something – can I stop my fall?

-0-

Welcome to the Weiss Schneeand Pyrrha Nikos group!

Weiss Schnee: I apologize for the outburst.

Weiss Schnee: Perhaps there is some validity to your words. I will try to keep them in mind.

Pyrrha Nikos: I hope you do, Weiss. I didn't mean to imply anything untoward about your performance today.

Pyrrha Nikos: I just wish to know what it is that is bothering you. I only wish to help.

-0-

Well. Maybe Pyrrha would understand? She had always shown a willingness to listen to her…

-0-

Welcome to the Weiss Schneeand Pyrrha Nikos group!

Weiss Schnee: Pyrrha, may I tell you something private about myself?

Pyrrha Nikos: Of course, Weiss.

Weiss Schnee: Remember what I told you, last weekend? About how much I despised that people just saw me as Weiss Schnee, heiress to the SDC?

Pyrrha Nikos: Yes. I remember it well.

Someone is typing…

Weiss Schnee: I want to be my own person.

Weiss Schnee: I… I'm tired. Of being the "heiress of the SDC". I don't want to be stuck relying on my father's dust and summoning glyphs while my friends fight for their lives. Don't you understand?

Weiss Schnee: If I can't… if I can't be perfect on my own… then what good am I?

-0-

(If Weiss could see Pyrrha now, she would have noticed the wry smile on Pyrrha's face, that glint of familiarity towards her words. It would have mortified Weiss, seeing how familiar her words were to Pyrrha.)

-0-

Welcome to the Weiss Schneeand Pyrrha Nikos group!

Pyrrha Nikos: I see.

Pyrrha Nikos: I'm afraid I can't offer any advice there. I'm afraid I can only leave you alone to process this by yourself.

Pyrrha Nikos: But… if I may be forward?

Someone is typing…

Pyrrha Nikos: With your abilities, your skill, and the effort you so clearly have put into becoming the fighter you are today, I worry that you're throwing it all away over something that's all in your head.

Pyrrha Nikos: Speaking from experience, live combat isn't so kind to those who overthink everything. You can worry about your pride all you want later, but in a fight, what matters is who wins and who loses. If I spent all my time worrying about the unfairness of my semblance in a tournament setting, I wouldn't be where I am today.

Pyrrha Nikos: It would be such a waste for you to not take advantage of all that you have to make you an even better fighter. Regardless of your pride, or what standards you have set for yourself.

Pyrrha Nikos: I wouldn't want you to get in the way of…you. I've almost let a… dear friend of mine make that mistake. I don't want you to make that mistake as well. Especially now that you're working with a team.

-0-

It was like a dam broke for Weiss, reading Pyrrha's messages with tears trickling down her face. Of course Pyrrha wouldn't understand how to help her with dilemma – some believed in fairy stories, but life wasn't some morality play where people dispensed bits of knowledge that helped people overcome their traumas and their problems in an instant, and Pyrrha certainly was no wise man from a fairy tale. But for Pyrrha to be there for her, to show her compassion and understanding even when Weiss felt that she didn't deserve it… what could Weiss do, but shed her tears, wipe her face, and thank the Invincible Girl for being there for her?

-0-

Welcome to the Weiss Schneeand Pyrrha Nikos group!

Weiss Schnee: Ah.

Weiss Schnee: You're right, of course. I will endeavor to keep this in mind, moving forward.

Weiss Schnee: I admit, I have been slacking on improving my semblance. Our spar was the first time I attempted to use that Time Dilation glyph you observed earlier, and, well, you saw the result.

Weiss Schnee: Thank you, Pyrrha. For your feedback. And for everything else as well. This is twice now that you've helped me with… matters of the heart.

Pyrrha Nikos: Oh, it wasn't just me last time.

Weiss Schnee: Yes, yes, I suppose I do owe your partner a thanks as well. But for this… accepting my invitation to spar… giving me advice that I needed to hear… It is difficult to express in words how much this has helped me… process things.

Weiss Schnee: It must look so silly, me being despondent over such a trivial matter.

Weiss Schnee: You are right, of course. I've been so reticent in utilizing my advantages effectively, and I have no one to blame but myself.

Weiss Schnee: I can't afford to mope over my own weakness, not when the others have led much harder lives. I don't like to brag often, but I've been blessed. Privileged. Sorrow is unbecoming for one like me.

Pyrrha Nikos: Of course, Weiss.

Pyrrha Nikos: Although…

Pyrrha Nikos: In one of my, um, favorite books, there is this wonderful passage I recalled just now… please allow me to quote it.

Pyrrha Nikos: "Everyone is entitled to their own sorrow, for the heart has no metrics or forms of measure. And all of it... irreplaceable."

Pyrrha Nikos: It's from a book that Blake and I love dearly. I should lend my copy to you one day.

Pyrrha Nikos: You are entitled to your sorrow, Weiss. Your emotions are yours and yours alone, and I believe you mustn't be ashamed of what you feel. After all, these are what makes you you, Weiss.

Pyrrha Nikos: On that note, Jaune's almost done. Perhaps we should retire for the night.

Pyrrha Nikos: I hope our little talk helped clear your head. You should probably head back to the dorms. Blake's looking for you~

Pyrrha Nikos: You should go talk to her. We could tell you've been avoiding her all day.

-0-

(Gods, what she that obvious?)

Fine. So she was avoiding things. She could even admit, at least to herself, that she tended to make excuses for everything instead of confronting her own flaws. The binder, zoning out in class so she had an excuse to talk to Nora, even the sparring with Pyrrha and testing the Time Dlilation glyph… she knew exactly why she had spent all day trying to distract herself with these things. She wasn't perfect. Not yet, anyway!

She wasn't independent yet. She wasn't good enough that she could try and strike out on her own as a Huntress, without having to rely on her family semblance or the Schnee Dust Company's access to high-quality dust. She wasn't good enough with using her own semblance, not good enough to use her dust more tactically, and not good enough to make full use of her advantages for hers and her friends' benefit. And yes, she could admit that Pyrrha was right, so much of it was her hesitance, her dust-damned pride holding her back.

It would take a long time, Weiss felt, before she could even express this openly. It would take an even longer time to properly address her myriad issues – her feelings of inadequacy, her guilt for feeling sorry for herself when others have had it harder… she had a lot of problems on her own she needed to fix. But Pyrrha told her that she was entitled to her own sorrow, that it was hers and hers alone. That it was something Weiss had for herself. Maybe… maybe she could work on herself more?

Well, Weiss concluded, I should probably start with what I can actually achieve for now, turning to her numerous drafts meant for her teammate.

Only to notice that Blake had left a lot of unread messages…

-0-

Welcome to the beginning of the Blake Belladonna and Weiss Schnee group!

Blake Belladonna: hey weiss

Blake Belladonna: you seemed really bothered abt the binder so i went looking for it

Blake Belladonna: found it mixed with my books on the shelves

Blake Belladonna: i think i might have accidentally got your binder mixed up with the rest of my stuff when i was cleaning out my desks

Blake Belladonna: i know you get irritable when our stuff's messy, so…

Blake Belladonna: um. didnt realize sooner how badly this was bothering you

Blake Belladonna: i know we've not gotten along all that well in the past, and i can admit that part of the blame is on me as well. so, im sorry.

-0-

Well, wasn't that the kicker?

Weiss could only laugh at the dust-damned binder, which really wasn't all that important in the grand scheme of things. Ren was right, of course. The binder was just something convenient, an excuse for Weiss so that she could get away with not having to think about what she actually needed to do today. A part of her even suspected it was simply an excuse to initiate a private conversation with Blake.

(Like with many things she realized today, Weiss was beginning to feel like she made excuses to talk to people, instead of, you know, just talking to people… just like how she would make up excuses to confront her flaws, talked up how much she strove for perfection to cover up that she was anything but… Gods, Nora saw right through her, didn't she?)

And here Blake just… did everything Weiss had spent almost two days obsessing over! Didn't that make her feel like a dolt!

It was like the universe was telling her that all that time and effort trying to put off this conversation, even going so far as to try and spar with the Invincible Girl, was for nothing. She could have done this from the start!

So Weiss deleted all the expertly-crafted drafts and just spoke from her heart.

-0-

Welcome to the Blake Belladonna and Weiss Schnee group!

Weiss Schnee: Hey, Blake?

Weiss Schnee: Can we talk? In private?

-0-

You know what makes writing long Weiss chapters fun? Angst and grappling with Weiss' insecurities, of course, wrapped in lengthy monologues designed to deny and ignore the issue the POV character actually wants to address! (You can tell I picked up a lot of my fanfic writing habits from Oregairu.)

So what do you all think is the superior name for the future Weiss/Blake chat? Checkmate? Monochrome? Something else? Tell me in the comments below. ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°) Next chapter should be a Yang-centric chapter, because I feel like writing something more comedic after, well, this. Let's just hope I don't bring up Yang's abandonment issues or her more vulnerable side…

Also, how's the story treating everyone so far? Is the prose any good? Are the characters ringing true and staying loyal to canon, even with the way I interpret their personalities? Are the callbacks to canon lines and parallels I'm drawing between different characters that people may not expect work for you? (I was particularly happy with a line I wrote for Weiss that references a Jaune line from Volume 1, but that may not work for everyone.) I live for feedback, so please flood me with them. What do you like about the story? What could be improved?