Disclaimer: I do not own RWBY

A.N: Little later but also a little longer. Hope you guys enjoy!

Weiss and I – 25 – Beast

"You ready?"

"As I'll ever be. Let's do this."

Pacing through the undergrowth, we scanned around for Grimm. Team RWBY were out on a hunt in some of the denser areas deep in the normally uncharted sections of the Emerald Forest.

However, unlike the multiple times before, I was tagging along. Weiss seemed to agree that it would be a good chance to gain some exposure to actual combat, something the girls were particularly proficient at and something I sorely lacked.

So there I was, hours away from any civilisation. Our transport only arriving once we were clear of the thick forest that lay before and above us, we took our time walking through the vegetation making sure we maintained the element of surprise.

"You sure you're ok with this?"

Blake raised her concerns about me going along with her team, I couldn't really fault her for doing so.

"Well, I'm just here to-."

My reply was halted when Weiss interjected

"He's fine, he needs to do this."

The heiress turns to me, giving me a firm nod. Returning the stern expression I wrapped my fingers around the handle of my blade. Weiss had told me before we left, well… 'told' was putting it rather lightly; she drilled into my skull for the entire day the fact that this was no longer simply child's play. The Grimm in the deeper parts of the woods tend to be older, and with that, wiser and stronger.

This, as one might expect, made me a lot more tense than usual. The only saving grace being the fact I was with four of the most skilled fighters I knew.

"Hold on girls."

Ruby instructed from the front of the group and turned around.

"Oh, and guy."

She added the moment she remembered she was moving with a plus one today.

"What's up?"

Yang asked as she moved past the rest of us to get up to her younger sister.

"Ursa tracks. Lots of them."

The scythe-wielder points down at the massive area of stomped out soil, large imprints of the prominent clawed paws of the Ursa covering the ground.

"Looks like a Major too."

I commented, comparing my feet to that of the Ursa's. My entire body could've curled up and lay in it.

The logical course of action following the discovery was of course, following the tracks. Walking in the tracks left by the Grimm we kept our eyes and ears open for the Ursa we were tracking.

"You seem awful lot more focused than usual."

Weiss whispered her offhand observation at me. Shifting my eyes away from the thick vegetation and to the heiress I whispered back.

"Well, you constantly telling me that I'll have my head bitten off may have something to do with that."

Weiss, probably left without a proper initial response to that let out a small 'hmph' to allow her some time to think about an answer. After a brief bout of silence, she raised her hand up to my shoulder, gripping it harder than usual. This made me slightly worried as I met her eyes.

"Listen…"

She began.

"If we encounter something too strong or they're too many of them… I want you to run, run as fast as you can."

At her request I violently shook my head. Reaching to my side I drew my blade from my sheath and wrapped my fingers firmly around the handle.

"I'm not running Weiss. What kind of a Huntsman would I be if I just ditched the fight like that?"

She seemed caught off guard by my words. Backing up from me slightly her eyes wide in surprise, she stares at me for a while before she too draws her weapon.

"A-Alight. J-Just don't die, you got it?"

She ordered. It was her own way of saying she was worried about me, despite its unorthodox tone.

"Sure thing Wei-."

Every suddenly stopped in their tracks, causing me to ram right into Yang's back.

"We found them."

Ruby quietly announced from the front, making strange hand signals that seemed to confuse even her own team in the process.

"I count four. One of a Major."

Blake added on. It surprised me how serious and calculated the girls were, especially when I see them around the Academy where, much like others our age, we seem to do things with a lot less maturity than one would expect from trained monster-slayers.

I intended to mirror their surprisingly adult demeanour.

The girls all turned to each other with Blake still keeping an eye out for the Ursas' movements. I huddled in closer as well.

"Alright, Weiss, Yang,"

Ruby began.

"You two can take the two Ursas on the left, leaving the Major open for me and Blake to take out."

"Is this just an excuse to do that trick you two have been practicing?"

Yang asked, a sly smile and a raised eyebrow on her face.

"Maybe…"

Quick to avert her eyes elsewhere she turned to me.

"You think you could take the one on the right?"

I looked up just over the bush to see my supposed target, staring at them I could tell theses weren't the normal Ursas I've fought before. They were a load bigger, nearly doubling the size of the ones I've seen prowling the outskirts of the Emerald Forest. They looked aged too, like an ancient ruin with what looked like vegetation forming in the deep gashes and cracks in their bony skulls and claws.

They lumbered around, shrugging off branches and logs as they did, it was as if they knew we were nearby and were looking for us. It was all terrifyingly unnerving.

"I-I got…"

I didn't think I sounded nearly as confident as I should have. Nevertheless everyone else began getting into a good position to take out their target. Except Weiss who stayed behind I second with me.

"Remember, if you need help…"

She tapped her rapier that was sheathed in by her waist.

"Got it Weiss. That Ursa is going to look really good mounted on my wall."

Having Weiss there to cover me made me a little but calmer. Just enough to make a somewhat cocky remark.

Rolling her eyes she made her way to her target, I did the same.

The closer I paced closer to the Ursa, the larger it seemed, it let out a low, grumble whenever it put its snout in the air to inhale. I would be lying to say I wasn't a little bit intimidated, maybe even a little bit scared. Not that that was going to do anything other than make it this fight harder.

Swallowing my fear I looked over as I waited for Yang and Weiss to start. A few tense seconds of silence went by.

There was ear-shattering bang quickly followed by the sight of an Ursa flying into a tree, nearly uprooting it. I guess that was my cue to start. Taking off from the bush I charged out with my blade drawn.

Getting the first hit was easy, the beast was caught unawares, and my sword plunged into its right shoulder.

"Got you, you stupid b-WHAO!"

I felt my feet lose connection with ground as the Ursa went up onto its hind legs, lifting me off the ground while I clung onto the handle of my blade. In an effort to shake me off of it, the Ursa began throwing itself about, sending me whipping side-to-side like a demented carnival ride. Fighting the urge to upchuck I desperately tried to yank my sword out. Pressing my feet against the side of the beast I tried pulled harder and harder, this only seemed to enrage the Ursa further as it introduced me to the trunk of a nearby tree, sending splinters into my back and kicking the air out of my lungs.

Winded, I tumbled to the ground, heaving and coughing as I struggled to stand back up. The Ursa withdrew away from me, still trying to paw away at the weapons still embedded halfway into its front leg.

Hurt and without my sword, things weren't exactly going as planned.

Realising how vulnerable I was, the Grimm made its advance towards me.

"Dammit."

I looked down at my hands.

'I couldn't, I barely know how…'

Despite the shaking traveling up down the length of my body I tried to channel my Aura and summon a Glyph. This was less a powerful, be all and end all attack, more like a last resort in the continued absence of a better idea.

The Ursa charged. Its paws hit the ground like pistons, its head turned sideways ready to chomp down on me.

I raised my open palm at the creature, my semblance had a knack for only working in dire need, unfortunately, it didn't work out as well as it did in my mind.

The glyph flashed for a split-second, temporarily blinding both myself and the Ursa, just missing its razor sharp teeth the behemoth of a monster ploughed into me with the force of a truck.

I felt my weight shift and my stomach lurch as I was knocked right off my feet and went tumbling down a muddy embankment.

I couldn't tell you how far or for how long I rolled down the hill but by the time I came to a stop at the foot of the slope, there wasn't an inch of me not covered in nature. Mud had glued my clothes together, I felt the sting of at least a dozen splinters and my thought was lined with dirt.

In a daze, I scampered to my feet, wiping the grime out of my eyes I scanned around. The Ursa had already gotten back on all fours.

'Why won't this thing just die?!'

I thought, gritting my teeth.

I noticed that my blade was no longer sticking out the side of the beast and instead say on the ground right underneath it. Having my blade would could make the difference between certain death and maybe lasting a couple more seconds.

My Glyphs served nothing more than a mild annoyance now, I needed my sword.

While I was fairly bruised up, the Ursa wasn't exactly unscathed either. It had a distinct limp, no doubt the result my attack before, I could use this to my advantage. The creature began to advance towards me once more, this time I was ready.

Breaking out into a sprint straight towards the furry beast I came within touching distance of the Ursa's teeth-filled jaw before diving off to the side of it, towards my sword.

Gripping tightly onto the handle, I yanked my weapon out from the dirt.

Flipping onto my back I watched as the Ursa turned back around and pounce right on top of me. There was no time to get up, if I tried I was just going to get tramped back down. Instead, I held my blade outwards, and braced

*Shiiiiing*

There was an abrupt silence. Forcing my eyes open I found myself gazing at the face of the Ursa, the eerie red glow now absent from the vacant holes in its skull-like head. It wasn't panting, it wasn't growling, it wasn't eating my face.

I did it, I l killed it.

With a considerable amount of force I pushed the massive carcass of the freshly-vanquished Ursa off of me.

Taking a second to sit there and let the adrenaline in my blood dissipate, I slid my sword out of the Ursa's chest. My hands still shaking slightly I was eventually able to sheath my weapon.

"I think I've had my fair share of Hunting for today."

I heaved, exhaustedly.

Realising that the girls were probably already done taking care of their targets, I thought I was a good I idea to reunite with them. Trudging back up the hill I kept an eye out for Weiss and the others.

Most of my body hurt, cuts burned and my bones ached. However, despite that I made it up the hill. The girls had long since gotten business up here and without taking as much as a scratch too, they all the girls looked rather immaculate, I mean, despite their slightly frantic pacing about.

I guess that was more of my fault.

"H-Hey girls…so….so I got the U-Ursa."

I shouted over my deep breaths. Startled, all the girls turned to look at me.

Yang was standing the closest to me. She pressed her lips together, obviously trying to hold herself back from laughing at the mess that was me.

Blake just sort of look surprised, what she was surprised at however I couldn't really say for sure. Hopefully she didn't think I had died.

Ruby's shoulders fell as she let out a small smile of relief.

Weiss…

Well…

And here I was thinking the scariest thing I was going to see today was that Ursa.

She made a beeline for me, I gulped hard and lowered my gaze.

"What took you so long?"

She asked in her usual demanding tone, she seemed completely unfazed the muck and grime covering my body. Her eyes cold and detached yet still sharp enough to pierce my soul.

"There were problems…"

I gingerly replied, to which Weiss took a step back from me and said

"You ok to continue?"

A part of me wanted to say no, but all things considered I didn't think that questioned could be answered with anything other than yes. Unless we kept making our way to the clearing on the other side we weren't going to be able to leave anyway.

"Sure."

In the face of Weiss's seriousness, I intended to mimic it. Nodding in approval she trudged on. Everyone else exchanged brief looks at each other, seemingly even more confused than I was.

Weiss had assumed the head of the group, silently leading us onwards, occasionally looking over her shoulder to make sure we followed.

I couldn't help but feel I was at fault for something.

The others seemed to notice as well.

"Hey,"

Blake nudged the side of my arm, still slightly stinging from the hit against the tree.

"You should go talk to Weiss."

She suggested, her voice a soft drone, careful to avoid being picked up by the heiress.

"I think she's angry at me."

"She sure wasn't when you were down that hill. I hadn't seen her look around so frantically for someone ever since that time Ruby stole one of her boots."

Yang pointed out, snickering to herself as she recalled Weiss limping angrily down the halls calling out for the young cloak-wearing huntress.

I didn't really understand, if she was so worried about me, why didn't she say anything?

I lacked the courage to ask her now, while we were still looking around for trouble, her attention would be much better served looking out for Grimm rather than talk to me.

The rest of the day wasn't very eventful and for good reason too, I was sure most of the sector heard the scuffle. Throughout the trek through the think, sweaty but otherwise Grimm-free jungle I couldn't help but still be distracted by how Weiss acted.

This feeling followed me for way too long, so much so that our trip out near the end of the day came by in little more than a blur.

Before I knew it, our day was coming to an end when the roar of the airship's engines ceased.

"Man, talk about a waste of my afternoon."

Yang groaned with as she let out a loud yawn.

As I silently followed behind the girls, Weiss slowed from a walk to a stroll, matching pace with me.

Before I could say anything, Weiss grabbed onto me, dragging me away from the others. I probably should've asked where she was taking me but with that stoic look still on her face it forced my silence.

The long, silent hallway, the long stretch of small, closed rooms. I knew where she was taking me.

It had been awhile since we were up here, I wondered if Weiss still used this balcony whenever she felt upset, maybe this was exactly the reason why she brought me here.

The wind felt strange, running through my partially mud-soaked hair, the dirt now hardening like a shell around me making my entire body feel stiff. Nevertheless I tried to hide as much of my discomfort as possible.

I nervously awaited for Weiss to say something, thankfully she did.

"Are you ok?"

She asked softly, standing as close to me as possible.

"Well…'ok' may be stretching it a little, but I'm still alive."

I said, slowly turning to face her.

"Dunce."

The expression she wore was nothing like what I expected. She looked mortified, her eyes stirred with worry.

"Y-You worried me."

Her hands reached out to hold onto mine, squeezing them ever so slightly.

"Sorry Weiss."

Guilt filled the places that weren't already filled with pain, I had not seen her like that since we had the attack in the woods, maybe the whole situation before was a bit too much like that one.

I didn't bring her into my arms mainly because said arms were covered in a layer of dirt.

"I-I didn't want to say anything…because…I knew how you always worry about me, I thought if I tried to look less concerned you would be more focused on the fight."

She nervously shook, her hands gripping even tighter onto me.

"Y-You scared me."

I couldn't take it, rushing forward I embraced her in my arms. She yelped for a second as I buried my face in her neck.

Her body went lax in the hug, her hands clinging to the back of my ruined jacket.

"I thought I lost you."

I remember her saying that, she had never admitted to being sad before that day on the balcony.

I came rushing up here with my torso encased in bandages like a mummy. She hit me, called me an idiot, things I'd expected from the heiress.

However, just like a year ago, on the same spot that overlooked the forest, she told me she was afraid, afraid that I wasn't by her side anymore.

I felt her heart pound against mine. It rattled just as hard as it did when I told her I felt.

"I'll never leave you, never like that."

I vowed to her.

"Thank you."

She breathlessly uttered. I pulled away from her smiling, hoping I could elicit the same from her.

The corners of her lips rose and her eyes grew heavy and fell over her snowy blue eyes. She leaned into me. Only to have me dart back slightly.

"Whoa there Weiss, I think I should wash some of this dirt off before you-"

She didn't listen.

She pushed her lips up against mine. Her passionate gasps and pants heated up inside my mouth, my hands pressed harder against her back. It felt like all her pent up emotions were being let out in one intense moment.

The slightly shaky and hesitant movements between the loving moans of my name, nothing short of enchanting.

When the moment had passed as she put her hand up to her mouth and gently wiped it.

"Eww…you taste like mud."

She whispered, her cheeks a volcanic shade of red.

Letting out a small chuckle I slid my fingers between hers and clenched them I said

"I told you. C'mon, let's get back to the others."

With a warm smile and hand locked with mine she nodded.

A.N: It had occurred to me that I've been writing a bunch of 'serious' chapters lately so the next few I'll try to be a little more light-hearted and try to avoid some of the melodrama. In any case, hope you enjoyed the chapter.