No Victory In Strength

Under normal circumstances, Blake Belladonna didn't need to try to be stealthy. Her faunus heritage made that trivial, but these were anything but normal circumstances. Blake turned the key and unlocked her shared dorm with her teammates and limped through the door. All she needed was a few hours of sleep and her aura would bring her back up to fighting shape. She could go another day keeping her secret - another day breaking her promise to Weiss.

And then it all ended with the flick of a lightswitch. Weiss, Ruby, and even Yang were seated in chairs in a half-circle around the doorway. Ruby had rigged some kind of pulley system so she could flip on the light from the middle of the room like some kind of lamp. Their faces were typical of the girls she'd come to know. Weiss of course was sneering and discontented. Ruby seemed worried, and Yang wore a wry smile.

"Blake Belladonna...where have you been?" Weiss began without waiting for any of the others.

The young faunus instinctively shut down her emotions and shrugged, "What? It's not that late?"

"Blake…" Ruby interjected, "It's after 3:00 in the morning and this is the third time you've been out this late. We're worried…"

Blake did her best to make it to her bed without limping, "There's no big secret. I just like the night air. Besides - "

Weiss didn't let her finish, "Lies, lies, and more lies. We had a deal, faunus-girl. And before you go spinning up another fairy tale, I've already seen the bruises you've been hiding. So what is it? Hmm? Underground fight club? Solo crime fighting? Are we slowing you down? Stupid humans not fast enough for you?"

Weiss's bait would almost have worked, but Blake saw the inflammatory histrionics for what they were - just a feeble attempt to get her angry enough to let her guard down. Instead she merely slit her eyes at Weiss before rolling them away.

Blake crossed her legs and strained not to wince but failed at the last second. If only this had happened in the morning there would have been a lot less to explain.

"Who hurt you, Blake?" Ruby demanded and pleaded, "were you fighting someone? Is this some kind of faunus thing? I just need to know what's going on."

Blake pressed her lips together harder than normal, waited a few moments and then took a breath, "Alright, yes. It's a 'faunus thing' can we leave it at that?"

"Called it!" Yang sang out, and jumped into her bed as if the whole matter were settled.

Weiss looked at her as if she smelled bad, "Don't be a disgusting hooligan! Besides that's a racist stereotype!"

Now that did catch Blake off-guard. There was no way Yang knew what she'd been doing, but it wasn't like her to make a bluff like that. Her intellect topped out at cheesy puns.

"What's a racist stereotype?" Blake asked cautiously.

Weiss shook her head and flipped her hand to the side as if to deflect the distasteful idea from touching her, "Nevermind. It's just something my mo-I mean...some people told me that faunus have these barbaric, violent mating rituals. Obviously I never believed it for a second."

Weiss's embarrassment wouldn't have been obvious to a stranger, but Blake was her friend, and she knew when the dignified heiress was backpedaling or trying to distance herself from her family's racist beliefs.

At this point, the sad young faunus knew there was no escape, so she put it as gently as she could, "That's...mostly an overgeneralization."

"See that's what I was telling Ya-wait, what?" Ruby was quick to try to move the conversation past an awkward detour and ran smack into the even more awkward truth.

"You owe me 20 lien, Weiss." Yang sang out, a smile in her voice.

Blake sighed but avoided eye contact, "A lot of humans have the wrong idea, but faunus relationships are a lot more complicated than human ones - or at least they have the potential to be. I don't suppose we could leave it at that?"

"But I thought…" Ruby said, crumbling, "I mean, I haven't but I thought...you know...I didn't think it was like fighting?" she shifted her body around trying to deal with how uncomfortable this all was.

"Only if it's boring" Yang said mischievously, and then popped back out of bed and back into her chair, "So you and Son are into the rough stuff eh? Come on then! Give us all the juicy details!"

"I don't know if…" Ruby began, but Blake mercifully cut her off.

"No...no it's not Son. I haven't been with him in a while. Besides if it were Son, there'd be no need." Blake sighed again, "Alright look...if you really need me to explain this I will. These ears of mine aren't just cosmetic...I'm as close to a cat as I am to a human. And all faunus have certain animal instincts..."

"That's why you used to hunt each other…" Weiss added in distantly, as if the pieces were starting to fall into place.

Blake nodded, "But that was a long time ago. Most of the time, it's not a big deal. We're every bit as intelligent as humans so we're just as able to control our instincts, but in certain cases…." Blake took a breath and started over, "When I was with Son, it was easy. Cats and monkeys aren't natural enemies so our relationship was almost the same as two humans. But not all faunus couples are as lucky as we were, and with Basil...he and I are as unlucky as Son and I were lucky…"

Ruby's eyes went wide and her nervousness caused her to ramble without thinking, "Is he a dog? Does he chase you around?" her hand shot up to cover her mouth, "Oh my god did he catch you?"

Blake raised a hand and laughed in spite of herself. There were days - there were many days when a younger Blake would have torn into someone like Ruby for her ignorance. Back then she wouldn't have been able to see a human as innocent. It was in that moment that she realized how valuable her time at Beacon had really been for her as a person and not just a fighter.

"No...He's not a cannus. Let me finish. When a predator and their natural prey fall in love, they have to fight their instincts the entire way. For a long time none of us were really sure how to do it and these pairings ended in tragedy. Slowly, as the few brave couples still willing to take the risk looked for solutions, they figured out what had to be done. It...started with restraints. "

"Oh ho ho!" Yang clapped her hands and rubbed them together, "Now we're getting to the good stuff!"

Ruby looked at her sister as if she didn't know the girl, but Blake simply ignored her, "Most of the time if a faunus killed her lover it was in the throws of passion - and they often followed their beloved in death. So couples started to restrain the predator of the pair to keep that from happening. That helped but...in some ways it made things worse. Sometimes the prey of the couple would be so frightened by their lovers outbursts that they'd leave them. Today though...we have a way of helping the predator stay in check while making sure the prey isn't so afraid…"

"Violence" Weiss had been staring off into space as if to give the dignified pretense of not listening to the conversation, but she'd clearly been following every word.

"Basil is what you humans would call a mouse-breed" Blake explained, "And I wouldn't call it violence exactly. It's completely consensual."

Weiss whipped around, suddenly confrontational, "And what would you call it exactly? Hmm? He's beating you! How can you...I...I don't know how much more of this I can listen to!"

Weiss stood up as if to leave but just took a few steps across the room and put her back to everyone else.

"Oh come on, Weiss," Yang began, "It's just a little spanky-spanky, what's the big deal?"

"You're...oddly okay with this…" Ruby said, cautiously, "Do I even want to know?"

Yang shrugged and put a hand on her little sister's shoulder, "Look...Ruby...when you're ready to take a relationship to that level, nobody's gonna make you do something you don't want to do, but not everyone is into the whole roses and chocolate stuff. And even if that's you, you never know...one day you might get curious…"

"For a faunus though," Blake continued, "It's not like what you're describing, Yang. It's not for novelty or excitement. The pain, inflicted and accepted by people who love each other - it's deeply spiritual. I mean, on a physical level it helps me to focus. Every new shock to my system reminds me not only of the harm I could cause to someone I love, but of how afraid he is... of the sacrifices he's making just to be with me. But that's only the beginning. It's...a connection that we share. When we first met, I was just saving him from some racist human muggers, but I knew from the first whiff of his scent that he was honest and kind and loving and I had to be with him…"

And after all the places where the conversation had gone, this was where Blake Belladonna started to blush, "So after I chased away the muggers...I got down on my knees and presented my right cheek to him." Blake shrugged and looked at the floor, "He knew what I was and what I was doing. Faunus know. He inched his way towards me - I mean there was always the chance I was just doing it to lure him into a false sense of security so I could kill him, but finally...he slapped me."

Blake smiled and touched her face, her eyes closed as her mind took her back to a fond memory.

Weiss wore a look of skeptical investigation, thoroughly smothering whatever her true feelings were. Yang and Ruby both worse masks of complete confusion.

"And...then what?" Ruby said finally.

"Oh, well then I let him slap my left cheek. After that I bought him lunch. We've been going out ever since."

The silence in the room was deafening and eternal.

Another universe began, "Well..we certainly have to meet him." Weiss tried to bring the tone of the conversation back to normality.

This time it was Blake's turn to sneer, "No...at least not yet. Right now you only have my word about how faunus relationships work. If you want to meet Basil, I want you guys to talk to Velvet and Dr Oobleck. Velvet dated what you would call a 'wolf-breed' and Dr Oobleck is a teacher so I'm hoping if you talk to them this will all sink in. Most of the time all you humans can see is an abusive relationship because you don't know what it feels like to be a faunus."

Yang shrugged, "I don't know...I mean I think the whole things way too serious if you ask me, but I'm the last person to judge what people do between the sheets. You and Weiss should go though."

"What?" Weiss demanded as if on instinct, "Why me? Why would I have an interest in these…" she waved around an open palm with outstretched fingers as if to tell them to go away, "practices"

Yang rolled back into bed and waved Weiss off, "Oh please you've been begging for a spanking ever since you got to Beacon. You know you want to. And Ruby needs to be a little less freaked out about the whole thing or it's gonna keep bothering her.

The secret out and her friends at least nominally accepting of what she'd been doing, the need for sleep began to overwhelm young Blake, and she collapsed onto her bed. Ruby and Weiss looked at each other and wordlessly decided to let the matter drop for now.

In retrospect, it had been shockingly easy for Ruby to get Weiss to go with her. But when the two of them finally found themselves outside Dr Oobleck's office, they both hesitated. The two girls stared at the door for several minutes without saying anything to each other, until finally Velvet met them.

"Um...hi" Velvet caught them off guard, "You wanted to talk me me?"

Ruby nearly jumped out of her skin, which was an unusual reaction considering that Velvet had always been not only shy and kind, but was even picked on by some of the other students at Beacon. But according to Blake, Velvet had on at least occasion tied up her boyfriend and done...things...to him.

Was all of this "sex stuff" even worth how weird it all was?

"Oh. hi Velvet! Didn't see you there…" Ruby began trying to cover up her nervousness. Weiss on the other hand just stood their with a smug expression and her arms crossed. It wasn't a bad strategy really...trying to force the world to conform to you instead of the other way around.

"Actually...we were hoping to talk to you and Professor Oobleck." Ruby was cut off.

"DOCTOR Oobleck!" came the older faunus's voice from behind the door. Apparently they had exceptional hearing on top of everything else.

Velvet's furrowed brow made it obvious she was a little confused, but hopefully she'd trust them enough to play along until it made sense. And hopefully that trust would come without the need for chains and a riding crop. And suddenly Ruby found herself wondering about Vice Principal Goodwitch….

"Do-come-in-do-come-in," Doctor Oobleck said through the door,

The two human girls and one faunus made their way into Dr Oobleck's office. The place was filled with books in desperate need of shelving, but it appeared the doctor had preemptively made sufficient seating room. Ruby made sure to close the door and they three tried to make themselves comfortable.

"I-take-it-from-your-request-after-class-and-your-invitation-of-Ms-Scarlatina-that-this-has-something-to-do-with-an-inquisition-into-faunus-culture. Is-this-some-sort-of-team-building-exercise? A-fantastic-move-Ruby. As-team-leader-you're-to-be-commended!" Dr Oobleck ranted.

Ruby glanced at Velvet, who suddenly looked uncomfortable, and then turned back to Doctor Oobleck, "Actually...well...sort of? Blake said we should talk to you…"

"She's dating a mouse-breed." Weiss said flatly, "And we're...very confused."

Doctor Oobleck said nothing for a moment, and then shockingly, slowed his tone to normal human speed, "I see...somewhat irresponsible that she didn't tell me herself. Were you aware of this Ms Scarlatina?"

Velvet shook her head, and began to blush, though she no longer had that look of confusion.

"Hmm...very odd, very odd. Normally for these kinds of relationships to be successful, they have to occur in the open. Sunshine disinfects as they say. Did she say why she kept it a secret?"

"Uh...no," Ruby began, "but now that you mention it, I think she didn't want us to find out maybe?"

"Of course she didn't want us to find out!" Weiss snapped, "She's been coming home with bruises...scratch marks...last night she could barely walk straight! It's revolting!"

"It's not revolting!" Velvet shouted, while looking at her knees, "You don't...you don't understand. How could you?"

Doctor Oobleck nodded, "I see...and she explained to you the nature of faunus relationships between predator and prey subspecies, no doubt. Did you not believe her or did she recommend speaking to me herself?"

"Both." Weiss snapped again, "Look, I think I've made quite a bit of progress in adjusting my worldview since coming to this school, but if you're going to tell me that this sort of thing is normal -"

"Oh no, I wouldn't use the term 'normal'. Not at all. In fact there are many faunus who vociferously condemn these kinds of relationships," Dr Oobleck interrupted her, "But they tend to be the old-fashioned types. Hard to blame them really. No one wants to see their children torn to pieces or to inevitably commit suicide after tearing apart the person they love most in the world with their own teeth and claws."

Ruby stared at Dr Oobleck, dumbfounded. Even Weiss's mask slipped a little.

"Now now, girls. No reason to fret. There hasn't been a case like that in almost a hundred years. In fact, as Velvet can tell you, an enormous amount of effort goes into ensuring that these relationship remain firmly in the bounds of safe, sane, and consensual. Though part of that is disclosure to the wider faunus community. Still even if it was a misstep, Blake herself was not the one put in danger by it. At least not directly."

"Um…" Ruby interjected, "I have a question." she turned to Velvet, "Blake said you dated a wolf-faunus, but...why would you want to be with someone that scares you?"

Velvet looked away at the walls, but finally looked back at Ruby, "We're not animals. We can control our instincts!"

"Now, now, Ms Scarlatina. There was nothing of malice in Ms Rose's question, and you can't condemn simple ignorance. Please answer the question."

Velvet took a deep breath, "It's...hard to put into words. Faunus are attracted to all the same qualities that humans are attracted to. It's just that sometimes you find those qualities in a person who was designed by nature to kill you. It's not their fault...and it's not your fault for being afraid, it's just...hard."

"So why aren't you still with wolf-boy? Did he slip his leash?" Weiss asked, derisively.

"Ms Schnee, " Dr Oobleck interrupted, "I understand that this is difficult for you to accept, but you are you getting precipitously close to actual racism. And that I will not tolerate."

Weiss half-rolled her eyes but stopped herself mid-gesture and looked at the ceiling. She unfolded her arms and said, "I'm...sorry."

Ruby laughed awkwardly and rubbed her neck, "Well at least we have the 'hard' part figured out...kinda like this conversation," she added the last bit somewhat under her breath.

"It was my fault," Velvet said, "Sesho did everything right, but no matter what we did...what he let me do to him, I just couldn't get over my fear." She balled her hands up into fists and pushed them out to her knees while her face twisted up in shame, her eyes closed.

"No matter how powerless I made him...I just couldn't get past it. No matter how I tested him, no matter how high the price I made him pay to be with me, it was never enough. So I ended things…for his sake more than mine." the tears began to well up in Velvets eyes.

"Interesting…" Dr Oobleck began softly, "You never told me that part. You know...there are those of the opinion that the prey's fear is the final arbiter. That he must have done something wrong, even if you didn't realize it."

Velvet's arms shot down to her side and her face ignited in a fury the likes of which Ruby and Weiss had never seen in her, "He didn't!" she shouted, "It was me. It was my fault."

Dr Oobleck took a sip of coffee, "Nevertheless, I could make a single call right now and he'd be arrested before nightfall. And from what you're telling me, perhaps I should."

Velvet jumped to her feet in shocked, "No. Don't you dare! I won't let you!"

Dr Oobleck set his coffee down and regarded her coolly, "And what precisely do you think you can do to stop me?"

In that moment, all of Velvet's anger and indignation and surprise melted into a singular focus, though Ruby couldn't quite tell what that was. At last until the Leporidae-faunus bolted out of the room, leaving the door wide open.

"If you wouldn't mind closing that, Ms Rose…." Dr Oobleck said, taking another sip of coffee.

Ruby got up and closed the door, her body operating entirely on automatic.

"Are you really going to report him?" she asked as she did so.

"Heavens no! Sesho is a model of faunus propriety. But this does demonstrate one of the reason these relationships must be conducted publicly. Fear is a difficult enemy, but only because it clouds your vision. For those who can see clearly, it's less of an issue. Velvet's fear of her paramour could not be dealt with by whips and blindfolds alone. She needed other means of being reminded of his vulnerability."

"You were manipulating her." Weiss said flatly, although Ruby didn't detect and of the disgust that had been in her voice throughout this conversation and the night before.

"Manipulation? Deception? Education? These things are not so different. The only hubris is in not knowing when you're out of your league."

Ruby and Weiss sat a moment in silence, until finally Ruby made a connection.

"She said she was testing him. Is that what it's all about? Making sure they won't turn on you?"

"That is a small part yes." Dr Oobleck replied, "Often that's how it begins, though the connection goes much deeper over time. Now let me ask you a question, Ruby. From what I understand you've never been romantically entangled with another. When and if you do find someone to share your life with, do you only want them to accept your positive qualities, or is love not love if you cannot accept a person for their shortcomings and failures? Do you want your love to be someone who accepts your difficulty with social interaction? Or would you prefer they found that intolerable?"

Ruby's jaw flapped open. She'd never thought about romantic stuff, but this whole topic had made her realize that someday she did want to know what it was like to love someone. But the idea that someone might see her weaknesses as something to be cherished and valued...that kind of acceptance was beyond anything she'd ever thought about. It was the kind of thing that might inspire her don a blindfold and some chains...you know...if that's really what they needed.

Weiss stood up. Ruby had almost forgotten she was there, but now Ruby noticed that there was something sadder than usual on the heiress's face. Ruby promised herself she'd come back to that thought, although at this very moment she was too emotionally drained to do anything about it right now, whatever it was.

"Thank you, Dr Oobleck," Weiss said, "This is all...still very complicated, but I believe you've helped me to gain the understanding necessary to be more tolerant in the future."

Dr Oobleck smiled, "Oh, my dear Weiss. Your journey is far from over, but never fear. As Headmaster Ozpin would say, some roads can be walked in both directions."

What...did that mean?

Weiss had left Ruby immediately after the two had exited Dr Ooblecks office without exchanging so much as a goodbye. Well...Ruby may have said something. Weiss hadn't been listening. Now Weiss was stomping through the streets of Vale, and if looks could kill she would have slain thousands. Of course Weiss didn't realize she had taken on such an ill demeanor until she finally took notice of the people around her. They were giving her and even wider berth than usual.

Weiss took a moment to calm herself down. Why was she even angry? And what had Professor - or rather Doctor Oobleck meant with that aphorism about a street being traveled in two directions? Was he saying that it was possible to return to the intolerant ways of her family? Unlikely that he would frame it in such a positive light if that were the case.

Despite her protestations to the contrary, Weiss knew more than a little on the topic of dominance. Her mother had given her books to read about Dominance Hierarchies and how to use people's natural deference towards those who were successful against them. She'd practiced dismissing people with a glance since she was seven years old. She knew exactly when to get offended and by what and how much. It was how you taught other people their place.

So when Blake had limped into the the room last night, it had been inconceivable to her that she might be enjoying what was being done to her. Weiss would never had told Blake, but part of the reason she respected the faunus was that she was a cat. An Apex Predator. Almost a Schnee. Enjoying being put into a servile position was what the weak were for and Blake was anything but weak.

And really the more Weiss thought about it, the more she realized that her entire life had been about being dominant. She fought the Grimm to prove herself dominant over them. Every enemy was a rung on the ladder of status to be stepped on. Surmounted. But was that all there was to life? And was that really what she wanted?

It was at that moment she heard the familiar sound of Velvet Scarlatina, but she wasn't angry or afraid. She was giggling like a little girl. Weiss could scarcely get out of the way fast enough when Velvet rushed past her at full tilt, followed closely by a white haired faunus with wolf-like ears. So this was Sesho, huh? Weiss didn't get a good look at him, but she did note the look on his face was anything but predatory. He was happy. Everyone was happy but Weiss it seemed.

And no sooner had the two flirting fauna rounded the corner than Weiss took note of another happy couple. One she understood even less than Blake and this Basil-person.

Jaune and Pyrrha stepped out of a nearby mid-tier food establishment. Weiss didn't bother to remember anything about it other than the mediocre food and the less than stellar service. What else mattered? Of course not even that mattered at the moment. Weiss's confusion broke the scale when she laid her eyes on Pyrrha's new "necklace". It wasn't a necklace at all, in fact. Pyrrha was wearing a high-end, fairly expensive (for some people) dog collar. She should have been humiliated by the indignity, both of the collar and of being seen in Jaune's company, but there they both were laughing and smiling and...ugh kissing? This was too much.

"Eh hem…" Weiss cleared her throat when she had closed sufficient distance.

"Oh, uh hey Weiss…" Jaune said awkwardly - which was how he said everything.

Pyrrha smiled like the cat that ate the canary. She took Jaune's hand as if to claim him as her property, "Is there something we can help you with?" she added.

"I...have a personal issue I'd like to discuss. And it appears the two of you might have the expertise to help me with it." Weiss said, knowingly.

"Uh...the two of us?" Jaune said, totally without guile. How does a person like that even survive?

"Perhaps we should discuss this in private?" Weiss gave her best knowing look though it was lost on Jaune. Pyrrha on the other hand seemed to be being deliberately obtuse.

"Weiss, what is this about?" the celebrity athlete asked.

Weiss rolled her eyes, "Well as I said, it's a rather delicate topic, but if you really want to discuss it out in the public on the street then I suppose I'll start by saying that I recognize the 'necklace' you're wearing. My mother bought one just like it...although she obviously didn't wear it herself."

Pyrrha's hand went to her collar, but Jaune folded like a pair before a straight-flush.

"Uh...Um...Oh dear…." Jaune muttered.

Pyrrha put her hand on Jaune's shoulder and reassured him, "You have nothing to be embarrassed about, Jaune." she turned to Weiss with a look in her eye Weiss had only seen used on the enemy, "I asked Jaune to buy this for me. It was a birthday present."

Weiss made her frustration as clear as possible, "I'm not judging. I'm asking for help with something private."

Jaune and Pyrrha looked at each other. A few minutes later the three had found a secluded booth in the back of some other equally mediocre restaurant.

"So what's this all about, Weiss?" Jaune asked, innocently.

Weiss thrummed her fingers, brimming with barely contained rage. And the worst part was, she didn't know why. What was making her so angry?

"It's Blake," no, it wasn't but that was as good a place to start as any, "She's in this...relationship" the heiress threw up her hands but didn't have the forethought to make scare quotes, "And apparently there's this whole weird faunus thing where she's a cat and he's a mouse so she has to get tied up and slapped around to somehow keep her from eating him."

Pyrrha raised her glass of tea and said, "So?" before taking a sip.

Weiss glared at her, the rage still building, "So? Blegh, fine. Weird faunus stuff that I can't understand. Fine. I can accept that part. I just…"

"What is it, Weiss?" Jaune had the audacity to speak.

"I just don't understand how she could accept being treated as an inferior!" Weiss shouted, very nearly at the top of her lungs.

Weiss took a moment to regain her composure, "I just...I mean if that's what it takes for them to be together then how is it even worth it?"

Pyrrha glared at Weiss. It may have been the first time Weiss had seen her colleague truly angry, "This coming from someone who's still alone?"

That caught Weiss off guard, but she maintained her poise, "I will find an equal eventually. The world's a big place. There has to be a man somewhere that's worthy."

"There's not." Pyrrha said without skipping a beat.

"What?" Weiss yelped, more fear coming out in her voice than she even realized she felt.

"There's no such thing as a man who's worthy or unworthy. We make them that way. You want to know why I'm wearing a dog collar in public? Why I asked him to put it on me in the first place? It's because I was tired of everyone assuming I was out of their league"

Jaune was starting to wilt again, but Pyrrha took his hand again and put it out on the table, as if to put their affection on display.

"So when my birthday came around, I asked Jaune to take me to a pet store. I asked him to buy me this collar, and then when we were in private, I asked him to put it on me. Then I got down on my knees and told him I loved him and begged him to give me a chance."

Jaune was looking away in much the same way Weiss had when Blake had started all this nonsense.

"What? You're ashamed of her now?" Weiss sneered at the little man.

Jaune slapped his free hand onto the table and glared at the heiress like a train barreling towards a damsel tied to a railroad track.

"Shut your mouth!" Jaune had become a different person to Weiss's eyes, in the blink of an eye, "Pyrrha is kind and fair and loving and god how did I ever fall for you?"

"You just wanted to date a Schnee, admit it!" Weiss deployed her last defense. Pointed index and everything.

Jaune stopped. Then he smiled. Then the bastard laughed.

He looked at Pyrrha and still smiling, "She knows I didn't know who a star athlete was when I saw her, but thinks I knew about some rich corporate family?"

Jaune turned back to Weiss. He was no longer folding. This time he held the straight-flush and Weiss could see on his face that he knew it, "I just thought you were pretty."

Something cracked inside of Weiss. And the crack started to spread. Jaune stood up and left. Apparently he wasn't without a sense of dramatic timing. Pyrrha looked ready to follow him. Just then a horrible fear welled up inside of Weiss. If she didn't figure out what was wrong with her she might never be happy.

"Pyrrha wait!" Weiss was no longer trying to disguise her desperation.

"Please," the heiress continued, "I don't know why I'm like this. I'm angry and stubborn and frustrated all the time, and I don't know why. Please just tell me something to make sense of all of this. Tell me why you'd lower yourself so much just to be with him."

Pyrrha stood up, but leaned back down, her face a mask of emotions too mixed to be readable though she clearly took offense to that statement on Jaune's behalf, "Jaune is not the man you think he is. He's kind, honest, sincere, devoted, and devoid of any ulterior motives. Any girl in Vale would be lucky to have him. So let me answer the question you should have asked. By rejecting Jaune did you turn your nose up at what might have turned out to be the best thing to ever happen to you? And the answer, Weiss, is yes. Yes, you did."

Her illusions shattered, and she saw the awful truth.

Weiss cried for hours.

The rest of Pyrrha's afternoon was bliss itself, though with just a hint of bittersweet sadness. She had heard Weiss break down as she left, but there wasn't much she could do but let the heiress sit with that awareness. The truth was even Jaune had had a hard time seeing her as someone who was attainable, and he'd only been dimly been aware of her accomplishments.

When she'd put that dog collar on, she'd done more than profess her love for Jaune. She'd torn open her heart and poured it out in front of him. She'd begged him to look past the veneer of her invincibility and see the desperate and lonely woman that she was. She'd told him about her life and how isolated she was. And she swore that if he loved in her return she would do anything he said, at any time, under any circumstances.

Jaune had been shocked to say the least. He'd never considered her an option, but he knew the sting of unrequited love quite well by then, so he promised to give her a chance. The only demand he'd really made of her at that point was to seriously slow down and start like a normal couple would. It had been the hardest thing anyone had ever asked her to do, but it had been worth it.

The two of them built a chemistry that their sparring matches had only hinted at. They'd gone to movies and had dinner together and just had fun. They'd gone dancing every Friday night. And to Pyrrha's shock, it had been a month before Jaune had made the decision to take her to his bed, and those last few days had been harrowing. She'd become terrified that Jaune had just been playing a role for her benefit, out of pity. It shouldn't have been a surprise that Jaune had been a virgin, though it was an unkind way to put that thought.

He hadn't been ready. And he certainly hadn't been ready for someone like Pyrrha to proclaim her abject servitude. In the weeks that followed their first night together, any doubt about the genuine nature of Jaune's feelings had been erased. Jaune was still getting accustomed to the idea of telling her what to do, sadly, but she had only promised obedience. She had never demanded that he make use of it. And she wouldn't. She couldn't. Ultimately, Pyrrha had what she wanted. She had someone who saw and loved her for who she really was, and not simply what she had done. The rest was just entertainment.

And it had taken her most of her life to find someone like Jaune. And that was after having had a basic idea of the problem from a very young age. Weiss was only learning now why she was so isolated. How long would it be before she could find someone? How long before she even dared to step off the pedestal she'd been set on?

But it was hard to concentrate on the negative at the moment. Jaune and Pyrrha had gotten another hotel room and had been frollicking on the bed for nearly an hour, still half-dressed. Pyrrha could have done without all the foreplay, but Jaune was a romantic to the last. Until the unexpected happened. Someone knocked on their door.

Pyrrha was quicker out of the bed, and took a look through the peephole.

It was Weiss? And she didn't look well at all, though that was no excuse for her to interrupt them.

Pyrrha opened the door and put her hand on her hip, while Jaune pulled the sheets over his boxers. The lithe femme fatale sported a black teddy and matching panties. Nothing truly exotic, but then Jaune said he preferred, "the classics". Still Pyrrha stood confident and unashamed, as if daring Weiss to say that there was anything wrong with what they were doing.

Weiss was not up for the challenge. She stared at the floor, some kind of long box in her hand. Her eyes were red and soaked in tears, and she spoke in hushed tones. Her voice was noticeably hoarse and shaky, "May I come in?"

It wasn't that Pyrrha had no sympathy for the lonely young girl, but she had just earlier today expressed an utter contempt for the man she loved. If she wanted them to go this far out of their way for her, she'd have to show a little more respect.

Pyrrha shrugged, "I don't know, Weiss. We're somewhat busy." she turned back to Jaune and spoke in that intentionally louder than necessary way people sometimes do, "You said you wanted to try anal tonight, didn't you honey?"

Jaune grabbed the back of his head with both hands, "Pyrrha!" He winced, loudly, "Ixnay on the Ooppay Ootshay!"

"Yes, sir." Pyrrha replied in a casual tone, as if she were merely responding to a military commander, then turned back to Weiss with a glance that challenged her to find fault.

Weiss didn't rise to the challenge. She kept her head bowed and her hands in front of her.

"Please." was all Weiss said.

Pyrrha watched as the man she loved demonstrated the kindness she had come to love him for.

"Weiss...I...okay, just lemme get dressed." he said.

Pyrrha could have closed the door, but she didn't want to make the poor girl endure even a hint of rejection if that wasn't what Jaune had intended. But she still felt the need to respect her lover's privacy and to test Weiss's resolve.

She pointed at the wall behind the former snow angel, "Turn around" it was delivered casually, but it was an order nonetheless.

Weiss obeyed without complaint.

A few minutes later, Weiss stood inside their hotel room, head still bowed, hands still clenching what was now obvious to Pyrrha as a box that had been gift wrapped.

"You don't want to put some clothes on, Pyrrha?" Jaune asked.

"It's not my preference, sir. But I will if you require." she replied.

"Pyrrha…" Jaune chided her, "do you have to do that 'sir' stuff in front of other people?"

"I'll stop if you require, sir. But I would very much prefer to continue...with your permission." she replied.

Pyrrha kept an eye on Weiss, but the highborn heiress simply maintained her posture.

Jaune stood up and approached Weiss, and Pyrrha flinched. It wasn't that she demanded sexual fidelity from Jaune. If the young man ever bothered to ask for it, she'd bring him a new girl every night, but Jaune had really cared for Weiss and not all that long ago. And she wasn't sure she could share his heart.

"Weiss...tell us what's wrong. Is there something we can do?"

Weiss took a moment, perhaps to collect herself but finally replied, "I don't know if there's any hope for me. I don't know...if I'll ever find love or be able to love. I don't know if I've ever seen what that looks like. I don't know if I'll ever be able to inspire trust in someone or trust them in return, but I…"

She choked up, but forced down her tears and kept going, "I may never have what you have but...I thought maybe the two of you might be willing to at least allow me to stand near it. To have a small part of what you have."

Jaune's face turn from concern to shock and finally - much to Pyrrha's relief - to anger.

Jaune turned his back on her, "This is so completely not fair! Do you have any idea how much I wanted to be with you? I had just barely gotten over you when Pyrrha told me she loved me. I did everything I could to get your attention and now you want...whatever it is that you're asking for?"

Jaune had been gesturing wildly despite having his back turned to Weiss, but Pyrrha could see the hurt on his face...the tears welling up. She would have thrown Weiss out on her ass, but so far the broken young princess had been completely genuine, and something in Pyrrha called out to the pain that Weiss was experiencing. She wanted to help her, but she wouldn't give up the man she loved to do it.

Weiss kept her gaze on the floor, "I was an idiot for rejecting you. I was a stuck up, pompous, self-important, frigid, incorrigible, nightmare of a spoiled brat. And you have every right to throw me out on my ass for my audacity to even come here and beg you for your scraps. But I don't have anything else. I have no options and nowhere else to go."

Weiss dropped to her knees, "Please don't send me away."

Jaune half-turned back around to look at Weiss. Pyrrha couldn't blame him from having some affection left for her. Weiss wasn't a bad person. Not really. And both of them knew what it was to be lonely.

Jaune sat back down on the bed. Pyrrha knew he still wasn't comfortable with grandiose displays of submission like this but it probably wasn't helping Weiss's state of mind that he couldn't quite look at her.

"Tell me something, Weiss." Pyrrha began, trying to give Jaune some time to collect his thoughts, "If you had it all to do over again, what would you do differently?"

Weiss, remaining on her knees, didn't hesitate. Apparently she'd already considered the question rather thoroughly, "Back when he hit on me in the locker room on our second day of class I should have pulled him inside my locker with me and done things to him that he's never even heard of. I should have recognized his feelings for what they were. I should have bowed down and kissed his feet."

Jaune was blushing. Pyrrha knew he was a natural egalitarian. It had never occurred to him to be embarrassed by a girl being a better fighter than he was, and he had absolutely no compunctions about a girl being his teacher. Submissiveness made him uncomfortable, but she also knew that this was exactly what Weiss needed. Assuming she was ready for it.

"And if we do let you stay? If we let you be small part of what we have?" Pyrrha kept her sympathy entirely to herself.

Weiss swallowed hard, "I'll do anything either of you say, at any time, under any circumstances."

She was ready. Pyrrha grabbed a fistful of Weiss's hair and dragged her across the room until her shoulders were between Jaune's knees. Then she pushed the slave's head down into a deeper bow until it was parallel to the floor, exposing the back of her neck.

"Pyrrha! What! I don't…" Jaune yelped and pulled back, but his knees against the bed prevented him from creating any distance.

"Give him the box!" Pyrrha snarled. She'd already figured out what was in it. It was obvious really.

Weiss's left hand came up and offered a neatly wrapped gift box, white with a royal blue ribbon, that might have contained a watch or a nice pen. It held neither. And there again, Jaune found himself holding another dog collar. Pyrrha noted, of course, that this one was not the expensive kind that rich people wasted on their pets like she wore. This one was cheap and plain.

"You...want this?" said Jaune, perplexed.

"Yes, sir" Weiss replied in a near-whisper.

The young man looked up at Pyrrha, completely dumbfounded, "Why are you doing this?" he asked her.

"Well to be completely candid with you, sir. I think Weiss is a stuck up bitch who needs to be taken down a peg. And I can't think of a better man for that job than you." it was only a small part of the truth, but it was what Weiss needed in the moment. She could share the rest with him later.

Pyrrha leaned down and kissed him without letting go of Weiss's hair.

When their lips parted, Jaune put the collar on Weiss who gasped in relief. She barely had time. Pyrrha pulled her out of her submissive bow, still by the hair, and tossed her face first onto the bed, though only her torso. Her ass was propped up in the air in an undignified position that she didn't deserve to avoid.

Weiss watched as Pyrrha opened a locked trunk on the opposite side of the room.

"Uh….Pyrrha...what are you doing?" Jaune asked.

"With your permission, sir. I'd like to introduce you to some toys that I'd been saving for later when you were more comfortable." Pyrrha responded.

Weiss stole a glance at the horrifying objects in Pyrrha's sexual armory. She began to tense up, but then she realized that Jaune Arc might well have been the very last person in the world who would ever harm her, and she let go of her fears and did what she was told.

Winter surrendered to Spring.

Two weeks later, Weiss Schnee slinked back to her dorm after another night out with Pyrrha and Jaune. They'd been painting the town red, at least when they weren't busy doing the same to Weiss's ass. She knew it would get back to her teammates eventually, but she wasn't about to speed up the process any more than was necessary. It's not that she was ashamed of what she'd been doing, she just didn't know how to talk about it.

It's just how Blake must have felt.

And a flick of a light brought her right back to where it had all started. Weiss stood precisely where Blake had, although in her defense it wasn't nearly as late. Still the highborn heiress found herself in front of a tribunal of her teammates. Of course this time it was Blake who wore the wry smile and Yang who looked horrified. Ruby just looked mildly confused, but not nearly as mistified as when this had happened to Blake.

"Oh what? I can't have a social life?" Weiss

Without a word or breaking eye contact, Yang lifted a remote control for their viewing terminal and unmuted the sound.

"And we're back with Vale's most ineligible bachelor, Jaune Arc! The handsome young Beacon Academy student who's made headlines for apparently dating Weiss Schnee and Pyrrha Nikos simultaneously. And no ladies and gentlemen, we don't mean behind their backs, we mean simultaneously. The three have been seen at nightclubs and restaurants all over the Beacon Academy area, and that's not to mention this shot, taken by paparazzi cameramen."

The screen shifted to a picture of Jaune walking between the two of them into a movie premier, with a hand on each of their asses. It had been Pyrrha's idea actually. But as the news caster went on it became clear that almost everyone was mistified but impressed by Jaune's ability to apparently do the impossible twice. And yet it hadn't been him. Not really. He didn't beat down the walls they'd put up. Pyrrha's supposed walls only existed in other people's imaginations and her own had come crumbling down under the weight of her own loneliness. Hell he'd been a virgin six months ago! What had Jaune's father said? That women only look for confidence? Had Jaune's father known something her own mother hadn't?

And then it hit her, what Pyrrha had said there being no such thing as a worthy or unworthy man. She and Pyrrha had made Jaune into this. A man can only worry about being confident because it takes a woman to add the rest. Though she wished he'd warned her that he was giving an interview, and she could only hope he knew how to handle the media.

"So tell me, Mr Arc, what it is about you that the two most desirable young ladies of your generation are willing to share you over?" The announcer leaned in.

"That's the wrong question, Paul." Jaune responded to the announcer, "And I'll tell you why. In the end it's Pyrrha and Weiss that matter. They're two incredibly unique and special young ladies that I care for and deeply respect. What we have is...complicated to explain, but it's no less beautiful than any other relationship. And no less sincere. I guess the only thing special about me is...how unfairly lucky I am to have been able to be so close to the both of them."

The interview went on, but Jaune handled the interviewer shockingly well. Weiss would later learn that no less than seven girls - some of them who worked at the station - had tried to slip Jaune their scroll-number on his way out of the station. Jaune was going to get rid of them, but Pyrrha stopped him. He did have a birthday coming up after all.

Yang turned the screen off, but before anyone could say anything, Weiss's scroll began to ring.

Weiss took it out and presented it the group without answering it, "It's my mother. Why don't we just kill two birds with one stone here…" and she held out her scroll and turned the volume all the way up.

"I suppose you have a reason for this media fiasco, young lady?" the dry, almost bored sound of her mother's voice filled the room with dread - excepting Weiss herself, who had been free of the witches spell for nearly two weeks now.

"I wasn't aware I'd caused one until just now." Everything was fencing with mother. Chess. Move, counter-move. It was exhausting.

"Hilarious. But you're to put an end to this at once. If you do not, I have a fake toxicology report and three paid witnesses who are all willing to claim that Mr Arc has had you strung out on a cocktail of mind-altering dust-drugs."

"And I have you on speaker-scroll." Weiss said, smiling.

The rest of team RWBY introduced themselves in chorus. Mrs Schnee growled, and Ruby jumped into Yang's arms.

Weiss took control over the conversation, "Let me make this perfectly clear mother. If you put Jaune in jail on some trumped up charge, the next 'media fiasco' will be Pyrrha and I standing naked on the steps of the police station wearing ball-gags and signs that say, 'Free Jaune Arc' and before you bother telling me your counter-play let me tell you that it won't matter. Because I want to be with him more than you want me not to be. And in the end you will lose."

Silence.

"Don't tell me you love this pathetic excuse for a man-child?" her mother shot back eventually.

She didn't. Being with Jaune and Pyrrha made her happy and it was the healthiest relationship of her life, but she didn't truly love him. It turned out she couldn't be perfectly happy without control over image-management. But someday she'd find a man of her own, and he'd let her control what he said and how he dressed and what he did in public and she'd let him control what she said and what she wore and what she did in private. Even Steven. Just like Dr Oobleck had said.

"Being with Jaune makes me happy. If the conversation doesn't stop there then I already know you don't have my best interests at heart,"

Silence again. Weiss had never felt like she held all the cards with her mother before this moment. Hell she never felt like she held any cards, but now she felt like the most powerful women in the world.

"There will be consequences," her mother replied. It would have meant something if she hadn't read the same books about making vague and ominous threats.

"No mother, these are the consequences." Weiss said, and promptly hung up. Then, feeling light as a feather, she conjured a small sigil beneath her feet and jumped. But instead of being a leap, she merely seemed to float into her bunk.

Yang stared at her, "Just….one question. Who are you?"

Weiss smiled, "I'm the least unhappy Schnee in the entire world."