Weiss sat awkwardly in Team JNPR's room at one of the desks that occupied it. Pyrrha and Jaune, who were the only other occupants of the room, sat on the red haired warrior's bed studying, or to be more accurate Pyrrha was tutoring her team leader. Jaune had certainly progressed as a leader, but he still needed help from his teammates, especially his girlfriend, Pyrrha. Jaune was struggling in Professor Oobleck's history class, the blonde haired boy had difficulty memorizing dates. Pyrrha was helping him study over the winter break so he could bring his grade up when lessons resumed. Not only had he improved as a team leader, but Jaune had also improved as a warrior. His physique was much more muscular and he could hold his own against the other students, though he was still not the best fighter. Pyrrha had changed very little over the three years they had attended Beacon. The most noticeable change was her increasingly toned physique and a scar from a Boarbutusk she had received last year.
Weiss had been in team JNPR's dorm room for about two hours now. After Yang had scouted out the dorm building to make sure it was clear for Weiss to come in they both had gone to Team JNPR's dorm. Unlike its location during their first year it was not located across the hall, but was in a separate hallway, making it an ideal location for Weiss to stay while Yang went to sort the situation in Team RWBY's dorm out, Nora and Ren had gone home for the winter holiday so JNPR's dorm had plenty of extra space for Weiss to stay. After Yang had explained the situation to Pyrrha and Jaune they both had quickly agreed to letting Weiss stay in the room for as long as she needed. Yang had immediately left after she was sure Weiss was alright and headed to Team RWBY's dorm.
Pyrrha and Jaune had unsuccessfully tried to make conversation with Weiss before deciding to use the time to help Jaune with his studies. Weiss had been grateful for the silence aside from Pyrrha occasionally correcting Jaune. Though after a while Weiss' mind began to wander back to the one subject she wished it would leave alone, even for just a short while. "I still can't believe Ruby would do this to me," Weiss thought miserably as she looked over a textbook she had borrowed from Pyrrha in an attempt to occupy herself. No matter how hard she tried though her mind always wandered back to Ruby and Blake.
Weiss dropped her head against the desk beside the book and just looked at the assorted personal items that Pyrrha had added to the desk over time. One particular item caught Weiss' eye, a spent shell casing that Pyrrha had kept after Team JNPR's first unsupervised hunt. "That's the same manufacturer that makes Yang's ammo as well." The thought came unbidden to Weiss' mind and made her wonder why that was the first thing she had thought of. Once she had thought of this, she began thinking of the blonde haired brawler who had done so much for her. "Even before this Yang has always been a kind person, insufferable, rash, and crude as well, but her heart was in the right place." Weiss thought as she stared at the shell casing, not even hearing her name being called
"Weiss, are you alright?" Pyrrha asked as she stood up from her sitting position on the bed.
"Uh… yes I'm fine," Weiss replied after a moment as she was broken from her thoughts.
"You were spacing out. Something you want to talk about?" Jaune offered as he closed the textbook which sat on his lap.
"No… it's nothing," Weiss replied as she pushed her chair back and stood up. Her thoughts still on the shell casing. "I'm actually going to go for a walk, get some fresh air."
"Would you like some company on your walk?" Pyrrha offered, her silent question of whether or not Weiss wanted a lookout for Ruby and Blake did not go unnoticed by the shorter girl.
"No, it's alright, Pyrrha. I think I will be fine by myself. Thank you for the offer though," Weiss answered as she headed for the door.
Pyrrha glanced at Jaune with a worried look with the blonde boy's only reaction being a shrug of his shoulders while they watched the short heiress close the door behind her.
Weiss looked both ways down the deserted hallway, trying to decide which way she should walk. Without realizing it her feet began moving, heading in the direction that led to Team RWBY's dorm and the exit to the dormitory building. "I wonder why I'm going this way?" Weiss thought, knowing she had not consciously picked a direction. "I know what's down this hallway and it will only bring me pain." Even with this knowledge Weiss kept walking. Weiss was broken from her trance-like walk when she heard familiar voices around the corner. Weiss hid behind said corner as she listened.
"Hey Blake, sorry I kicked you out of the room earlier, but I needed to have a conversation with Ruby."
"That's Yang," Weiss thought, unsure of why she got a little happier knowing that Yang was nearby.
"It's alright, Yang. Did you two work everything out?" the other person asked.
"That's Blake," Weiss thought with a small grimace before she continued to listen.
"Yeah, I think so. I don't approve of how you two started your relationship, but you are both old enough to make your own decisions, so I can't stop you," Yang said.
Weiss felt conflicted about her words. "It is true. They are old enough to decide for themselves, but damn that they should also be old enough to know not to fucking cheat." Weiss thought angrily
"What did you two talk about exactly?" Blake asked and Weiss could hear the worry in her voice, making her want to peek around the corner to see why Blake would be worried about Yang right now.
"Nothing in particular, except that Ruby has an apology to work on for Weiss. Come to think of it, I think someone else on Team RWBY has one that they should work on as well," Yang said with an overplayed casualness to her voice. Weiss chuckled softly at her blonde teammate's "hint".
"I know, you're right. Blake said
"Damn right I am," Yang replied before a brief pause. as she felt some of the forming bruises "Damn, that is going to hurt in the morning.
"Should I even ask about this?" Blake asked
"Nah don't worry it was part of the conversation me and Ruby had." Yang replied, Weiss grew even more curious at this, the inflection Yang put onto the word "conversation" only made Weiss want to look around the corner, but the desire to avoid Blake kept her rooted to the spot.
"Alright then. Yang, how are you feeling aside from the bruise?"
"A bruise!?" Weiss thought with worry, irrational as it was the idea of Yang being hurt didn't sit right with Weiss however minor the injury.
"Me?" Yang repeated, pausing for a moment, "I'm feeling alright." Yang hesitated at the end of her sentence as if she had more to say and Weiss noticed this.
"Is there anything you want to talk about?" Blake inquired.
"No… no, I'm good. Now if you'll excuse me I am going to go work out. You should go hang out with your girlfriend and work on your apologies together," Yang said and while it stung to hear Ruby referred to as Blake's girlfriend it stung less than earlier. It felt almost good the finality of it helping ease some of the tension and uncertainty Weiss felt. "And I swear to god you two better have clothes on when I get back," Yang said as an aside.
"We will, Yang," Blake said with an audible grimace, "and Yang, what about Weiss? Is she alright?" Weiss held her breath as her name was brought up
"She's better than she was earlier today, but she's not doing great. She won't be coming back to our dorm for the next few days," Yang said with care.
"Thank you, Yang," Weiss thought, grateful that Yang hadn't said anything about where Weiss was staying in the mean time.
"Alright, I'll let you go work out," Blake replied, the sound of footsteps indicating that she had started walking. Apparently distracted by the conversation, when she walked passed the hall Weiss was in she didn't even notice the heiress who was standing as still as a statue.
Weiss stayed rooted to the spot for several minutes trying to decide what to do. She had a feeling she couldn't define. Eventually she decided to walk back to Team JNPR's room. Pyrrha and Jaune both looked up at her as she returned, but Pyrrha had the tact to not ask why Weiss had returned so soon and Jaune decided to follow his girlfriend's lead. Weiss sat back down at her seat at the desk and reopened the book she had been reading.
Weiss spent most of her time for the following week and a half in Team JNPR's room. She had altered her schedule to avoid any contact with Ruby or Blake and so she spent a lot of her time just sitting in the room reading. Jaune and Pyrrha would try and get the heiress moving, trying to get her out of the room even it was just a walk, but Weiss just didn't feel like it. It was a little more than a week after she had found Ruby cheating on her and Weiss was still sitting at the desk reading as Pyrrha and Jaune entered the room, covered in sweat.
"You guys sure were working out late," Weiss commented as she wrinkled her nose slightly at the smell of sweat that had suddenly filled the room.
"Not as late as someone else," Pyrrha replied as she set her gym bag down next to her bed.
"Yeah, Yang has been there for hours. I'm a little worried about her," Jaune said, making Weiss raise her eyebrow in curiosity.
"Why would you be worried about her?"
"She's been training every day for hours," Pyrrha explained, "I only ever see her leave the training room to eat and presumably sleep. I think she might be overdoing it."
"Hmm," Weiss hummed as she thought about this new information. As she thought about it the feeling she had felt when she had overheard Blake and Yang returned. Closing her book, Weiss grabbed Myrtenaster and holstered it before heading towards the door.
"Where are you going, Weiss?" Jaune asked as he and Pyrrha looked at her with mild astonishment at the fact that she was leaving the dorm on her own.
"Going to make sure that the brute doesn't hurt herself," Weiss said over her shoulder as she left the dorm and headed towards the exit of the building. Once she was outside, Weiss started walking down the path. The sun had already gone down so the path was illuminated by the street lamps spaced every few feet."Why am I doing this exactly?" Weiss wondered to herself as she neared the the large gymnasium. Once she reached the gym building Weiss didn't hesitate to open the door and enter.
The gym at Beacon Academy was a combination of a sports gym, weightlifting gym, and training gym in a representation of the students who used the facility in their free time or for classes. Weiss headed straight towards the training area, the person she wanted to talk to was most likely there. As she got closer to the area sectioned off for combat training Weiss began to hear the faint sounds of someone exerting themselves, grunts and huffs growing louder with each step closer. Walking right up to the door Weiss slowly and quietly opened the door and stuck her head in to survey the room.
The training room was a large, hangar-sized room. In the center of the room was training equipment, targets in the shape of various Grimm creatures, a target range, and punching bags. The sides of the gym were sectioned off areas with the wall facing the center being made of reinforced glass walls. These were the sparring rooms, which were designed for training combat between students. In the middle of the room, hammering away at a punching bag, was Yang. She was wearing shorts and a sports bra. From her revealing clothes Weiss could fully see the superb shape that Yang was in, but even more than that her body was incredibly feminine. Her hard muscles flowed perfectly into soft curves that Weiss marveled.
Yang seemed to be giving the punching bag all she could, judging by her grunts of exertion, the sweat that glistened on her body, and the wild swing of the punching bag on its chain as it absorbed hit after hit. Weiss watched the tall girl work the punching bag, almost hypnotized by the amazing fluidity that the blonde brawler moved with. One punch flowed into another before transitioning to an elbow strike and switching to a kick before starting back at a punch. Weiss appreciated for the first time in the years that she had known Yang the excellent hand to hand combat skills she possessed. Her body moved through the motions of her strikes with practiced ease and there was no wasted energy or unneeded moves. One word came to Weiss' mind as she watched Yang practice.
"Amazing." Weiss thought, not only thinking about her combat skills, but just about Yang as a person.
Realizing she was staring, Weiss felt a blush rise to her cheeks before she shook her head and stepped fully into the room. The door closed with an audible thud that alerted the only other person in there to Weiss' presence.
"Hey Weiss," Yang called out slightly out of breath as she stopped the swinging punching bag as it swung towards her. "What brings you here?" she inquired, and not for the first time Weiss wondered why exactly she was there.
"I… uh… I..." she stammered before closing her mouth and mentally kicking herself. "I overheard you and Blake talking, and I just wanted to come talk to you," Weiss finished, not noticing that the flush of exertion on Yang's face seemed to grow darker at her words.
"Oh, you heard that?" Yang asked as she walked closer to Weiss who had not moved from her spot near the main entrance. As the taller girl grew closer Weiss could clearly see the bruise Blake had been talking about. one of Yang's eyes was black and swollen and without her jacket covering her body Weiss could clearly see that other bruises had formed along Yang's ribs. The edges of the bruises had begun to turn yellow indicating that they weren't fresh but even so the centers were dark purple.
"Where did you get those?" Weiss asked as she looked Yang up and down checking the bruises.
"Oh, these," Yang replied nonchalantly as she scratched the back of her head, "I got them while talking to Ruby."
"Talking… hmm," Weiss said skeptically.
"Don't worry, Weiss. They aren't that bad."
"Yang, can I ask why you are training this late at night?"
"Oh, I just have some stuff I'm thinking about and training helps me work through it. I would train with someone else, but as you pointed out it's pretty late at night, so my partner for the night is this punching bag."
"I'll train with you," Weiss replied without any hesitation, judging by the look on Yang's face she wasn't expecting that offer.
"You will?" she asked once she picked her jaw up off the floor.
"Did I stutter?" Weiss asked before she shot a glare at Yang who was about to point out that Weiss had started this conversation by stuttering.
"Alright, then let's go fight. Pick a stage, any stage," Yang said, using the nickname students used for the sparring rooms while holding her arms out to indicate the sectioned off rooms. It was times like this that Weiss was happy that she always carried Myrtenaster with her at all times and she could tell that Yang also did the same with Ember Celica. The gauntlets gleamed brightly in the light from their spot near Yang's gym bag.
Weiss walked over to the nearest stage, so named because of the reinforced glass wall that contained the door was perfect for other students to watch the sparring match inside. Weiss waited by the door for Yang to catch up. The blonde was equipping Ember Celica and once the gauntlets were secured to her wrists she jogged over to where Weiss was standing.
"Are we using training rounds or can we use the real stuff?" Yang inquired.
"What do you think?" Weiss replied rhetorically, causing Yang to pout.
"You're no fun," Yang answered as Weiss and she reached into a bin that sat in front of each stage which was filled with training rounds for guns and low level dust.
"And you're a dunce. Now do you want to train or ask me stupid questions?"
"Let's go then, Princess," Yang taunted playfully as she led the way into the sectioned off arena. Weiss groaned at the nickname as she followed inside.
The arena was a simple empty room with a hardwood floor, or at least it looked like it. "With the amount of damage the floor's endured it's probably something tougher," Weiss mused as she took her position opposite Yang. Weiss unsheathed Myrtenaster as her opponent on the other side of the room threw two belts of ammo into the air and caught them in Ember Celica, cocking the weapon back.
"I'm not going to go easy on you," Yang jeered as she got into a crouching position with both of her arms pointed backwards.
"I wouldn't like you if you did," Weiss answered quickly as she spun the chamber of Myrenaster so it rested on the blue dust setting.
"Here I come then!" Yang shouted as her only warning to Weiss before a loud bang and the blond speeding towards her marked the beginning of the fight.
Yang quickly rushed forward, the force of Ember Celica firing behind her launching her towards Weiss. Yang brought her left arm up and cocked it back, a bright light appeared beneath Weiss right before Yang hit her and when Yang's fist connected it wasn't with the heiress or her sword, it was with the floor. Instinct took over as Yang rolled to the side in the nick of time as a wave of ice hit the spot she had occupied seconds ago. Looking up, Yang saw Weiss standing on one of her glyph platforms about seven feet off the ground. Grinning like a fool Yang wasted no time in charging forward before firing Ember Celica down to launch herself up at Weiss. Weiss smirked as she dissolved her platform and started falling, but Yang was prepared for this.
"Not going to work this time" Yang called as she fired Ember Celica up to propel herself down at the descending heiress who was caught off guard by this. Yang punched at Weiss as they both fell. Weiss just barely pulled her sword over to block the strike, but the force launched her towards the ground and she landed hard in her back. Yang landed standing over the girl lying prone on the floor.
"Good try, Weiss, but it looks like I'm just too good."
"You sure about that?" Weiss asked, making Yang look at her position. They were both on top of a very large glyph. Yang realized what this meant right as she was sent tumbling through the air, unable to figure where down was due the speed at which she had been launched. Finally, she landed on a heap in the center of the room. Weiss had landed perfectly and as far as she could get from Yang.
"What was that about being too good?" Weiss asked, making Yang quickly get up with a glint of red in her eye.
"Alright, Princess," Yang growled as she began shooting round after round at Weiss. The heiress rotated the dust revolver to the red canister and used the force field to block the rounds streaking towards her.
"Is that best you can do, you brute?" Weiss shouted over the loud impacts of training round after training round. Weiss only realized what the true purpose of the barrage had been when it stopped and a thick cloud of debris and gun smoke obscured her vision. Another loud bang to her right was Weiss' only warning as Yang used the smoke her rounds had made to sneak up on Weiss. Weiss tried to bring Myrtenaster up to block Yang's punch, but Yang used her other hand to grab the sword. Thinking fast, Weiss used a glyph to stop Yang's punch a few inches from her face.
"Looks like a tie," Weiss said as she looked at their position. Yang was not even a foot away from a the shorter girl, too close to use a glyph to put distance between them, especially considering that Yang had a firm grip on Myrtenaster.
"Yeah," Yang huffed as she looked down at Weiss. Both of them were flushed red from the exertion and their breathing was coming out heavy. "Seems like it."
In her position Weiss had to look up into Yang's eyes and she noticed the brilliant shade of purple they were. She could even see the iris of the eye that was swollen. "Why am I noticing that?" she absentmindedly wondered, not thinking about how this would look to any passersby.
Yang looked down at Weiss, the glyph on her right wrist kept her rooted to the spot and her refusal to admit defeat kept her from letting go of Weiss' sword. Yang couldn't help but notice the flush that tinted Weiss' pale cheeks or the fierce look in her eyes as she came down from the adrenaline of the fight. "She's so beautiful," Yang thought before another thought filled her head, one that she found hard to resist. "Just lean down and kiss her." Yang felt herself slowly lowering her head before she realized what she was doing and felt her skin turn a darker shade of red as she blushed furiously.
"Weiss can you release the glyph on my wrist?" Yang asked as she dropped her head so Weiss couldn't see the blush on her face.
"Of course," Weiss responded as she released the glyph. Yang let go of Myrtenaster and both of her arms became pinned to her sides. "You want to go for another round?"
"N-no, I'm good. Thanks for the offer though and thanks for sparring with me," Yang said, keeping her head down as she turned around and started walking towards the door.
"Did it help you think about what you were thinking about?" Weiss asked as she sheathed Myrtenaster.
"Yeah… I think it did," Yang responded after a pause. Opening the door, Yang closed it behind her as she grabbed her gym bag. "It helped me realize I'm in deep," Yang thought with one look over her shoulder at Weiss before she left the training room.
Weiss watched Yang leave the sparring room, and as the tall blonde grabbed her gym bag and started heading out of the training room she looked over her shoulder at Weiss. Weiss couldn't place it, but the expression Yang looked at her with was curious and reminded her of something but no matter how much she tried to figure it out the answer eluded her.. Weiss stood in the center of the training room. She still didn't know why she had felt compelled to go look for Yang, but as she thought back onto their sparring match she realized with a small smile that she was happy she had.