Chapter 28

Tell-Tale Heart

Yang and Weiss had curled up inside their sleeping bags while Blake lied atop her's beside the small campfire. The girls were able to see out the windows to the lifeless city around them, but not even the most keen eyed Grimm would be able to see them or their concealed fire. Blake had made sure of it.

Outside sitting on a tiny ledge their leader kept watch making sure everything stayed quiet. Her hood had been pulled tight and she cradled Crescent Rose firmly in her arms, and occasionally she'd activate her semblance to stay warm causing petals to scatter in the cold breeze. Having the ability to move at a hundred miles an hour had its advantages to staying warm.

Inside the unfinished living room her team laid listening to the crackling of the fire. Oobleck's words weighed heavily on all of their minds as did the day of hunting Grimm, and the prospect of doing it all over again in just a few precious hours caused each of their hearts to sink.

"Hey, Weiss," Yang whispered. "You awake?"

"Of course I am," she snapped before rolling over on her side.

The blonde flinched at the harsh outburst but forced a smile on her face.

"Sorry," Weiss apologized, averting her gaze. "It's just been a long day..."

Yang nodded understanding. "What about you, Blake?"

The faunus sat up and pulled her knees to her chest. "I'm awake."

"Why do you think Oobleck asked us all those questions?" she asked, clearly upset.

Both girls stared off into space seemingly unable or unwilling to answer.

"I-I have a confession to make," Weiss choked, staring at the fire. "I lied earlier."

The partners turned to the heiress who looked exhausted, not just physically but also mentally. Already the mission was taking its toll on her, and they wondered if they looked the same.

"It's okay," Yang reassured. "I'm sure you had your reasons."

She glanced over to her partner who looked away. The blonde had been the only truthful one, but that didn't mean she was proud of her answer.

"No, this is something I want to get off of my chest." Weiss took a deep breath and stared up at the shadows cast on the ceiling by the fire. "I'm not at Beacon just because of my family's legacy. Ever since my father took over my grandfather's company, our business hasn't been the same. For lack of a better word it's operated under a certain moral gray area." She worded herself carefully trying to sound optimistic, but Blake's snark was the exact opposite.

"That's putting it mildly," she muttered.

Weiss sat up giving the faunus a cold stare that was equally matched. "Which is why I've been trying to set things right."

Several moments passed of nothing but the fire crackling to fill the void, but finally Blake lowered her eyes back down to the flame.

"Taking a desk job in Atlas wouldn't have accomplished anything. I'd just be following Father around watching the company disappear, but as a huntress I can actually do some real good in the world. My father wasn't the start of the Schnee name and I refuse to let him be the last."

Her hand drifted to Myrtenaster at her side and she brushed the familiar cold steel. "When I told father I intended to become a huntress he was elated as it meant one less stubborn heiress to deal with."

She let the words hang in the air and suddenly the room felt much colder. Yang and Blake glanced at each other unsure if it was Weiss' semblance doing or just her haunting voice.

"I'm technically not the only heiress to the Schnee Dust Company. I have an older sister. Her name's Winter..."

There was a pause as though she were letting her words sink in, but this came as no surprise to Yang and Blake. It was common knowledge there were two Schnee daughters. They were practically celebrates after all. Or royalty still in some circles...

"She's serving in the Atlesian military as a huntress specialist, and she acts as General Ironwood's right hand. Winter enjoys playing heiress, and she's better at it than I am. She's funny, clever, beautiful, smart, and most of all she wants the company run exactly how Father does. She's the perfect heiress to my family's company, and I'm just the..." She swallowed as if to get the bitter taste out of her mouth. "And I'm the Ice Queen."

Her voice cracked and Weiss hung her head as though she were resigned to the title, and her hand naturally drifted up to her scar.

Yang frowned and scooted over. "You know we only call you that to tease you right?" she urged. "You're a really great person, Weiss, and you aren't half as bad as we joke or you make yourself out to be."

Weiss glanced up suddenly reminded of how the blonde often spoke to Ruby, and not for the first time imagined them sharing bunk beds as kids.

"Thank you, but even if you're right that doesn't change a thing. I'm not going to let Father or Winter push me aside from my birthright. Winter may already be general of the military before then, but I'm going to become the perfect huntress, and then I'm going to save my company from my family, and the White Fang."

Her hand drifted away from her scar and back to her rapier, and gave the cylinder a slow spin landing on a red dust vial.

The room had fell silent after her bold declaration as neither girl doubted the heiress or her goals.

They watched the fire dance for awhile and as Weiss' shadow seemed to grow in authority, Blake's had began to shrink.

"I wish I had your determination, Weiss," she mumbled, "and your courage..."

Both Yang and especially Weiss were startled by her words, but before they could speak Blake let out a whimper.

"I've been running my entire life. Everything-" her voice cracked, "Everything I did with the White Fang I did thinking I was doing the right thing for all the right reasons. Adam, my partner and best friend, he always told me were making the world a better place. That's all I wanted I swear! I just wanted the world to be safer for faunus, so no little girls would ever have to go through what I did..."

She wiped her eyes continuing to stare into the flame. Occasionally one of the girls would whisper her name but Blake ignored them until she found her voice again which had a sudden edge to it. "Even if it meant making humans fear us then so be it. It felt good to be feared, it meant we were being respected, and I really liked that feeling." She looked over at Weiss and swallowed. "But one day that all changed. I was starting to have second thoughts, and someone showed me that the Grimm masks we wore weren't just for show. We really were monsters, and so I ran..."

Blake turned to Yang apologetically. "Yang, I abandoned my partner when he needed me most and ran all the way to some remote village in Vale where Ozpin found me. Don't ask me how or why though. I was a criminal who should probably be in prison right now, but he offered me a place to call home, a career as a huntress, and a chance to pay for my sins. I took him up on his first two offers because in my messed up head I honestly didn't think I'd done anything wrong..."

She turned away unable to look at them. "I was still running, just like I'm still running away. All my life I've wanted to build a bridge between humans and faunus, but for the first time I don't know how I'm supposed to do that. All I can think about is stopping Torchwick and the White Fang from ruining my kind's reputation before it's too late. Again..."

When it was clear she was done Yang crawled over close. "You'll figure something out," she comforted. "You're not one to back down from a fight."

"But I am!" Blake cried. "The night I let slip I'd been in the White Fang, I got scared and ran! When I realized Adam was a monster I ran! When Ozpin offered me a chance at redemption I ran! Just last week I hid in the library to avoid you three after the Paladin fight. I always run from my problems, and I've done it since I was a little girl in Menagerie." She let out a mournful whimper and a sob. "Even my semblance proves I'm a coward. I leave a shadow of myself behind to die for me and I never look back..."

She activate her semblance and her shadow returned taking shape. Suddenly there were two of Blake's both equally as exhausted and anguished. Before the other girls could study the pair closely, the real Blake picked up her katana and stabbed the clone in the chest making it disappear. When the darkness took shape again however she threw Gambol Shroud through the body and buried her face in between her knees quietly sobbing.

"Blake..." Weiss reached out helplessly

"You don't always run." Yang scooted beside her and after flaring her warm aura Blake almost compulsively leaned her head against her shoulder. "The morning of initiation I asked you why you were hiding your ears under that bow, and you didn't run."

The heiress blinked back and forth between them. "I knew it!" she exclaimed. "When Blake ran off you were just sitting there calmly like you knew the entire time and that she'd be coming back any moment. How did you know she was a faunus?"

Yang snorted and snaked an arm around her partner. "Because I'm not as clueless as Rubes, and no offense, Weiss, but I'm not as self centered as you used to be."

Weiss looked as though she wanted to argue but held her tongue at the last second looking ashamed. Yang wasn't exactly wrong...

"I didn't even know it was a secret to be honest, and just kinda guessed you'd been with the White Fang along the way, but wasn't really sure and didn't really care." She tilted her head to look at the amber eyes attempting to look everywhere but up. "I knew you'd come back, Blake. You're braver than you think, and like I said, you didn't run away when it was just the two of us."

Blake snorted and cleared her throat which had tightened significantly. "I seem to recall a half-naked brute who'd just gotten out of the shower blocking the bathroom door refusing to let me out unless I talked. You didn't exactly give me the chance to run."

"Please," she scoffed, "I've seen your ninja moves. You could've knocked me out of the way if you had wanted to."

At that comment both girls turned to each other and laughed at the absurdity of what had just been said.

"What's so funny?"

"Yang," Blake shook her head, "you got punched in the face by a Paladin and shrugged it off. If either of us got hit like that we'd probably be either dead or in the hospital, and to be honest I really didn't want to grapple with a half-naked blonde twice my size."

"Oh, that's a shame," she said almost disappointed, giving her partner a playful poke. "Have you told Sun yet?"

"Besides that," Weiss interjected, "you're the only one of us to actually graduate from a combat school. Ruby skipped two years, I had professional tutors, and Blake learned everything she knew from the White Fang, who I just want to point out are all sloppy swordsmen."

"Face it, Yang." Blake poked her back, pulling away from the embrace. "You're the strongest member of the team, and the best trained."

"You're our ace in the Vytal Festival, and while a lot of people think Pyrrha will win the tournament, just about as many people are saying the same thing about you."

The blonde stared at them in disbelief but her expression quickly turned into skepticism. Of course she talked a big game but hadn't considered herself a real contender. It they made it out of the team and doubles rounds, both she and Pyrrha's undefeated streaks were going to end sometime next month by some second or third year student with dozens of missions under their belt, or perhaps even at the hand of the other girl. Even the best of the freshmen didn't compare to their heavy hitting counterparts of the upper classes who had sharpened their skills on the battlefield weeks at a time and had perfect control over aura supplies that would make both undefeated freshmen blush.

Still though, it did kindle a fire within her, but Vytal Festival was far away in the back of her mind. However, she knew someone who was probably thinking about it as they spoke...

"What about Ruby?" she asked. "They usually let two or all four teammates move on to the later rounds."

Everyone turned their heads toward the hooded figure on the ledge. She had Crescent Rose in its rifle form and was watching something in the distance. Occasionally she'd cup her hands and breath on them for warmth before resuming her scout mission.

"I think deep down she knows it too," Blake said.

Both she and Weiss had sparred with the caped-girl countless times and lost. Drawing only on rare occasions of the clock expiring or forcing her to overexert her aura on a final hit, but even those felt like losses due to their entire bodies aching for days afterward. Blake had never felt so sluggish in her life than when Ruby first activated her semblance in an exhibition match. Even as a defensive fighter she had just barely been able to defend herself let alone probe for an opening that obviously never came until she was quickly and unceremoniously overpowered by the prodigy's impossible speed and raw skill.

Weiss with her dust vials and glyphs tended to fare a bit better but she still wasn't a match for her partner even when she was injured. Yang on the other had was the only one who could take her sister down, even while holding back.

The blonde took a deep breath then let out a heavy sigh. "At least all of you have something that drives you. I didn't start training to become a huntress because I wanted to make a difference in the world or save lives, or even because of my family's legacy. I'm just going with the flow doing whatever feels rights. I like killing Grimm and I'm pretty good at it, so I might as well get paid for it and travel the world."

She tossed a stick on the fire and watched it burn, and after snapping her fingers and a similar flame traveled down her mane to her hand before going out.

"I'm not like Ruby. All she's ever dreamed about is being a huntress like her mom. The reason why Oobleck didn't need to ask her why she wants to be a huntress is because it's obvious to everyone that she was born to be a huntress. It's so obvious Ozpin even moved her up two years and made her our leader."

"She's still just a kid," Weiss argued, looking out the window.

"So are we," Blake pointed out. "We're only two years older."

"But two years is a long time..." She certainly wasn't the same person she had been before becoming the caped-girl's partner, and they hadn't been together for four full months yet.

Who would Ruby Rose be in two years? She was already the leader of Beacon's most successful freshman team and ranked in the top five of singles competitors. What would she be like when she was Pyrrha or Yang's age? By then she'd be halfway to becoming a fully fledged huntress.

"I don't think we get to call ourselves kids anymore." Yang drew a cross on the dusty floor resembling the ones pinned on her sister's collar. "Look around us. We're in the lost city surrounded by monsters hunting the most wanted man in Vale along with a terrorist organization. My baby sister is out there keeping watch with one of the most dangerous weapons on Remnant in the cold. Face it, we're not kids anymore."

'Some of us never were...'

Weiss continued staring window thoughtfully. The girl who had chocolate smeared on her face earlier was now shivering while they were warm next to the fire and supposed to be asleep in their sleeping bags. A memory from Ozpin's speech came back to her.

'Not a single person in Vale knows what we're doing or our names. They don't know what we're going through, and they probably don't even care...'

"I think we all had a romanticized vision of what being a huntress would be like, but at the end of the day it's just a job. A nasty, dirty, disgusting, nail breaking job-" she held up her broken nails as proof, "but a job nonetheless."

"And what we want should come second," Yang finished.

Once again the room grew silent as they realized someone important was missing from the conversation. The girls turned their heads to the caped-girl and her gargoyle friend on the narrow ledge.

"Someone should go talk to her," Blake said.

The other two girls caught each other's eye and the blonde shook her head. "You go talk to her, Weiss."

"Me? Why me?" she replied taken aback. "You're her sister."

"And you're her partner. Something has been bugging her since we got here. That isn't the same girl who sang 'Ninety-nine Boxes of Cookies on the Shelf' earlier in the bullhead. Go find out what's bothering her."

"What makes you think she'll tell me? She doesn't tell me a lot of things these days." She thought back to the injuries she knew Ruby was hiding and all the mysteries behind her.

"I understand, Weiss, I really do," Yang sympathized. "Ruby used to never have secrets. She always kept me right by her side even when she kept everyone else a good Crescent Rose length away, but you're her partner, Weiss, and her best friend. She'll talk to you. Trust me. Please..."

She stared at her speechless before turning back to the lonely-looking caped-girl on the ledge. Wordlessly, she crawled out of her sleeping bag and grabbed her rapier and her jacket that she threw over her shoulder.

"I'm only doing this because she looks cold and could probably use the company, and because I'm not likely to get any sleep with the two of you talking."

Yang chuckled shaking her head. "Sure thing, Ice Queen."

With her intentions now known, Weiss walked into the cold and harsh winds to join her partner, and best friend...

(A/N: Thank you for reading and I hope you enjoyed. I obviously changed some things here and there but I hope you don't mind. I did a slight retcon with Yang and Blake but this is something I think is believable. Yang didn't seem the least bit surprised to find out Blake was a faunus or had been with the White Fang and seemed pretty content with letting things play out. It's possible this is canon but believable enough. Also I continued with Blake's redemption being one of her main goals as I think it fits her character so I hope you don't mind. I also added in Winter to the conversation since I really wanted a second reference to her and because Blake and Yang would likely already know about her, so no questions asked and she still remains somewhat of a mystery. I'd doubt Ruby would have any idea who she is though. Once again thank you for reading and all of the support. You are all fantastic. All credit goes to my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ who has made this story possible. God bless)