Chapter 15

Our Better Halves

The silence in the musty dressing room was deafening as team RWBY changed for the first time in weeks into their combat attire. While their favorite outfits had been ruined on the mission by countless rips, tears, and bloodstains, they'd salvaged what little they could and incorporated it into their replacements so any lingering aura wasn't wasted.

As impractical as their attire might've been, clothing over time picked up the wearer's aura as an extended form of protection, and not having to rely entirely on your active aura supply in battle often meant the difference between life and death. Whether it was buttons, shoelaces, or just scraps of cloth masterfully sewed into their garments, every little bit went a long way. Unless you were Yang of course...

The blonde taking her time putting her clothes back on firmly believed in a 'less is more' approach. She reasoned that because her aura was already on par if not better than Mark VII armor, her aura saturated clothes would only get in the way of absorbing the punishment needed for fueling her semblance. Despite the girl's apparent practicality however, her teammates and combat instructors believed she simply enjoyed showing off, something that she never refuted or denied.

With her boots finally tied just right, Ruby glanced at Weiss sitting on the bench beside her, still nervously adjusting her attire. The leader had gotten partially dressed separately from her teammates in a nearby bathroom, something until recently had only done by the heiress. She was glad to see her partner becoming less self-conscious around them, and hoped her sister wouldn't say or do anything uncomfortable to undo that progress.

She'd been the one to feel self-conscious however when she walked back into their small private locker room, but she couldn't get dressed in front of them. She just couldn't...

Ruby could no longer feel her aura lingering in her combat skirt, or even her tight leggings and sleeves for that matter. They no longer felt like an extra layer of skin, and it had taken a particularly long time getting back into her corset-looking waist cincher. She'd resorted to using one of her elastic bands, and hoped no one noticed her stomach poking out a bit. Or that an extra roll of bandages had gone missing from the bathroom this morning.

Hopefully they'd just think she'd gone too heavy on the cookies this week.

Although she felt as naked as her sister looked, Ruby was comforted by the presence of Crescent Rose, which still radiated aura like the love that was poured into her. And briefly glancing at the other girls in their cramped, stuffy changing room, she knew they all felt the same.

Ruby gingerly got to her feet, her cape unfurling as she laid an unsteady hand at her ammo belt and on her scythe. She took a deep breath, and waited patiently for her team to finish gearing up. After what felt like an eternity of her sister being indecisive whether her backside looked better in jeans or shorts, and the other two girls being just as bad wanting their new huntress attire looking perfect despite being nearly identical to their last, they retrieved their battle proved weapons for one final check. They were some of the deadliest instruments Beacon Academy had ever seen, or as Ruby lovingly called them, their better halves.

They could never quite tell if she was being entirely serious or not, but after some much needed soul searching, they too now looked at their weapons and saw a reflection of themselves.

No matter how warm Myrtenaster's fire burned, she was cold and her steel unyielding, but was treated delicately almost like a beloved memory.

Gambol Shroud was as enthralling as she was adaptable to her surroundings, but preferred staying in the shadows as though she and her wielder were afraid to be seen.

Then there was the mighty Ember Celica. Breathtakingly beautiful and her paint sparkling like solid gold, but also ferocious and destructive, and worn for all to see as though she were priceless jewelry.

And lastly there was the oversized, over-designed Crescent Rose. As sharp as she was ruthless, and built by a mad genius during a four day sugar rush. Already, the aura around her was pulsating impatiently, restless from her slumber...

"E-every-body ready?" Ruby stuttered, shifting her weight from foot to foot.

The girls standing off to the side nodded, with Yang wearing a cocky grin in her dark jeans as Weiss calmly held up a finger before pointing accusingly at her. "I have a question. Why am I the one who has to spar with brute-zilla? Or more importantly, why am I always the one who gets thrown under the bus on this team!?"

She gritted her teeth, looking mutinous as she eyed the tall blonde that whistled innocently, or at least attempted to.

"Because of our... my injuries," Ruby began, briefly recalling everyone else's that were normally kept hidden by their clothes, but feeling especially concerned by her sister's, "Blake's the best choice to spar with me. Her reflexes are more than enough to keep up with me and Crescent Rose, and she doesn't need a dust coating or even aura to block our attacks properly."

"Sure helps though," she muttered under her breath, rubbing her forearms as though she were cold, knowing they would soon be numb.

"And your sword arm still isn't a hundred percent, Weiss. One heavy blow from Crescent and she might accidentally break it..." Ruby patted her rifle in a soothing manner. "She wouldn't mean it of course, and she'd be really sorry."

Weiss held her breath, and glanced over at Yang who seemed to read her mind.

"Do you really think it's a good idea for me and Rubes to spar?" she asked incredulously. "I doubt I could keep up with Crescent Rose right now even with a haste glyph, and if I didn't tear muscles the first time a hundred pounds for force came into contact with my gauntlets, I'm probably tearing her's when I send all that force back at her." Yang pointed to the girl beside her. "Being a faunus has its perks you know, besides always landing on your feet and being a contortionist. Without aura, Blake's stronger than I am, her eyes can follow Ruby even at her top speed, she's our best solo defensive fighter, and she's the only one here who's actually going to be combat ready by the end of the month."

Blake quickly looked away as if ashamed she didn't carry the same battle scars as her friends. Yang had been their cornerstone during the mission while Weiss stepped away from her supporting role to fill the monumental task of fighting on the front lines, all the while she'd been their scout only occasionally fighting with them. And Ruby... she'd done everything in her power to protect her team, and her body showed the terrible price. Sometimes Blake wondered if she'd been there with them at all...

"And it'll be good for Yang to spar with someone more technical than us," Ruby said brightly. "Normally she can just brute force her way to victory but she won't be able to this time. You're also the slowest members of the team, and neither of you should be taking our heavy hits right now. And without dust you have the lightest attacks, Weiss, which means Yang's parries won't need to be as forceful, and you'll be on offense setting the pace of the entire match."

Yang wrapped an arm around her dejected partner while grinning devilishly at the girl in white, her eyes flickering. "And don't worry about my semblance, Weiss," she cooed. "I'd never lose control with someone I cared about..."

*gulp*

"No semblances," her sister stated plainly. "We're all low on aura, some of us lower than others, and none of us can afford anymore injuries." She halfheartedly pointed at herself but was thinking of her teammates. "This will just be a fun, short training session, so no landing direct hits if you can help it. Keep your aura shields down but at the ready, and don't strengthen any of your attacks. We're gonna fight fair, so no cheating. And make sure you're dulling your blades with aura instead of sharpening them. That way if you land a hit, it shouldn't break skin."

While Ruby, Weiss, and Blake proved their weapons were harmless by running their fingers across their incredibly sharp blades, Yang held up her gauntlets looking unenthused. "I think you three have an unfair advantage over me..."

Blake snorted and shook her head at what might've been her partner's most ridiculous statement to date. As she counted herself fortunate not to be her victim for once, Ruby crossed her arms unamused by her sister, having to tilt her head up just to look her in the eye, who was too busy intimidating the dainty heiress to notice.

"Weiss isn't allowed to use her vials, and we can only use low grade yellow dust. Ember Celica and Crescent Rose are built to create function-able recoil so that won't slow us down too much. But if we accidentally shoot each other, the worst that'll happen is we look like we stuck a spoon in the toaster. Probably the worst anyway..."

"Spoon?" Blake raised a brow and the girl nodded earnestly.

Realizing her sister was still staring down at Weiss menacingly, Ruby sighed. "You hear me, sis?"

Yang's eyes returned to lilac, and she raised her gauntlets revealing they were in fact empty. "Loud and clear, Rubes." As the caped-girl turned to her head, she winked a red eye back at the heiress.

"So who goes first?" Blake asked.

"Dibs!" Yang raised a hand, jumping up and down excitedly.

"Not dibs!" Weiss shouted back.

Ruby pulled the privacy curtain around the door away before unlocking and opening it into the main hall, ignoring the pair and their antics as she walked turned the corner.

"Me and the Grimm Reaper it is then..." Blake looked between the suddenly somber girls, searching for any indication of what she should do.

Despite Yang's promise that they'd discuss this exact moment later, the time had come without another word uttered whether or not their leader would be spending the night sore in her bed, or in the infirmary.

A slip here, or a clever maneuver there, and Blake would be able to convince even herself that the girl's injury had been her own doing, or at worst had simply been an unfortunate but not uncommon training accident.

She kept looking to her partner, pleading for some kind of instruction, an order she couldn't refuse, but besides sympathy in her eyes, Yang was impassive and trusting the decision entirely to the faunus. She wouldn't make her best friend do anything she didn't want to, and would support and accept her decision even if it meant her baby sister was getting x-rays ten minutes from now.

If Ruby saved all the aura she could spare until the tournament, then she might be able to compete, but she would spend every waking moment of every day in unnecessary agony. And if she focused entirely on her recovery, then she wouldn't have near the aura reserves necessary for combat, and she'd cost herself and teammates their well-deserved entry. And Ruby had decided that she was going to make the tournament even if it killed her.

A minor injury, that's all it'd take. Just something to put her on the shelf again for a couple weeks. She might've come a long way since the day she was released from the hospital walking with crutches, and she might've been doing her best to look strong for her teammates, but they knew it was sheer stubborn willpower getting her through each day as they'd seen it countless times from her, and she was just like her big sister. Even if her tattered feet looked as though they'd been sewed back together before breaking at the seams again, she refused to let it slow her down.

But if her hopes and dreams of making the tournament were ripped from her, and the shining light at the end of the tunnel she'd been hobbling toward day after day snuffed out, then Ruby would have no other choice but to rest and get well at her own pace.

Deep down she might wonder if her sister and friends had conspired to purposefully break her heart, but even if she knew the truth someday, Ruby would go to her grave loving them just the same, and would probably blame herself for the rest of her life for getting her blood on a friend's hands, especially if she felt she'd forced them.

Blake wanted to vomit...

She was the team's saboteur, and while her friends might love the girl so much they'd unwillingly do something so heartless, Blake believed she was the only one who wouldn't think less of themself tomorrow morning. She'd done much worse in her life after all, but she couldn't help wondering if purposefully injuring innocent little Ruby Rose was perhaps the unforgivable sin. They were huntresses, and accidents were one thing, but this was premeditated, and her victim was an already injured girl who was without a doubt the kindest, sweetest person she had ever met who deserved better.

And yet it had been without hesitation that Blake volunteered for this heinous act before her friends could.

She had made all the necessary points to her unknowing victim, as well as the others in private. Yang was Ruby's big sis and like a second mother to her, and Weiss her partner and best friend, as well as each other's first real friend. Blake might share a fourth of her soul with the caped-girl, but their relationship with each other paled in comparison to theirs.

Nothing was more valuable to them than their Ruby, and Blake refused to let anything tarnish something so precious and pure. They'd never be able to forgive themselves, but except for brief flickers of hope here and there, Blake had given up on that long ago...

"Are you coming or not?" their leader demanded, sticking her head back in the room impatiently.

"We're on our way, Ruby" her executioner rasped, the younger girl eyeing them all curiously before turning back around. Once she was out of earshot, the faunus hung her head and mumbled under her breath, "Let's just get this over with. Please..."

Yang and Weiss wrapped their arms around her, flaring their auras in comfort and gratitude.

They exited together, the girl in front marching with a noticeable skip in her step as her long cape trailed behind. While the long hall filled the rest of the team with a certain sense of dread, for her there was nothing more inspiring.

Ruby had dreamed of walking these halls since before she could remember. This was where generations of huntsmen had become legends, and where her mother had spent the better part of her underclassman years. It upset her that she'd never thought to ask what her mom's locker number had been, but Ruby pretended she had guessed correctly anyway. Unlucky number thirteen had always been her favorite.

They were far below ground in what had once been a military bunker before the academy had been built, and there was no hiding from the centuries of sweat and ammunition no matter how many air fresheners her partner hung up. They passed by the main boys and girls locker rooms which went mostly unused except by the upperclassmen and for showers as it wasn't uncommon for the underclassmen to prefer their personal prep rooms once the team grew comfortable enough to dress together.

Down the hall and to the left, not far from the elevators, was the rarely attended machine shop. Across from it was the gun range, specifically designed for testing what would someday be Remnant's finest marksmen. Or for those with sniper rifles and already the best, a place to win obscene bets and even more obscene amounts of chocolate.

The weight room to the right was passed in a hurry, none of the girls particularly wanting to dwell on something as horrid as weightlifting right now. They all enjoyed their taxing cardio workouts well enough, running or riding exercise bikes for hours on end, but the gym was a miserable place where aura was forbidden except during recovery periods. Granted team RWBY's main objective in the gym was stamina and strengthening their cores, but at least once a week in Goodwitch's class, they were also expected to lift weights and simulate carrying a fallen teammate to safety.

From the food in the cafeteria to their rigorous training regimens, everything the school provided was done to hone their bodies like the weapons they wielded, because their auras wouldn't always be there for them.

Yang was the only one to find a silver lining, as she much appreciated seeing shirtless male bodies glistening with sweat. Blake and Weiss seemed to enjoy the scenic views as well, however they claimed the odor too unpleasant, and violently fought over cold shower privileges back in the room just the same.

But for the proud blonde with a weakness for muscles, it was humbling, but also borderline humiliating. She was physically the strongest student in their class, with aura, but without she found herself struggling with weights guys like Jaune and Ren normally warmed up with. They could lift nearly twice as much as her with seemingly only half the effort, which while an enjoyable sight was always more than a little crushing to her ego.

Blake had to keep herself in check being much more naturally gifted than the average skinny teenage girl, but while noticeable, they all knew her strength wasn't quite as remarkable as she pretended it to be, or any where near her near endless amount of stamina. And for the two girls barely above five feet and just over a hundred pounds after breakfast, it was a miserable experience that was felt for days.

With their auras, the girls all felt seven feet tall and three hundred pounds, but then harsh reality would always rear its ugly head. Huntresses had nearly twice the mortality rate of their male counterparts, and the leading cause of death for huntresses in combat; their bodies breaking down without the reinforcement of aura...

Not for the first time, Yang found herself looking down at the much smaller members of her team, noting just how vulnerable they looked even in their gear, including herself and her partner. They always felt so invincible with their auras that sometimes it was easy to forget they weren't just mortal, but teenage girls, something they'd been reminded of daily since their extended hospital stay. She looked away blinking something from her eye, wanting this day over as soon as possible. She knew far too many huntresses to have died young...

They finally came to a set of heavy double doors, which with some effort Ruby pushed open revealing the training room they'd borrowed from their sister team. It was smaller than Goodwitch's classroom, just a simple plain combat field with markings and an inactive video board mounted on the wall, along with rows of bleachers for spectators to sit.

After a brief moment of uncertainty, Ruby took her position and started loosening up, and with a pat on the back from her teammates, Blake reluctantly did the same. Yang and Weiss took their seats beside the backpack full of snacks Ruby had brought as well as a cooler, stocked with waters and other drinks specialized for replenishing strength and recharging spent aura, though most believed the latter was just SDC marketing at its finest.

They also eyed the emergency first-aid kit mounted on the wall that they'd been fortunate enough to have never needed before...

"T-This is just a friendly sparring match, s-so no killing allowed," Weiss reminded them, her voice cracking in between words.

Yang playfully nudged her in the shoulder, nearly knocking her over. "I'll try to remember that when it's our turn."

The heiress nudged her back and held her breath as the competitors finished their last minute stretching and readied their weapons. Ruby lowered her hood, and pointed the barrel of her sniper-scythe down at the ground angled slightly behind her, resting a boot atop the blade.

Blake noticed how the girl's muscles seemed to relax, and saw under the hood an impassive, almost vacant-looking expression. Slightly unnerved, she reluctantly raised her katana and cleaver into a defensive position, knowing what was about to come, and how badly it was going to hurt.

'I'm sorry, Ruby. Please forgive-'

"Begin!"

Before the faunus could even blink, Crescent Rose fired leaving behind a yellow cloud, and its massive blade whistled through the air already swinging for her midsection. Blake gritted her teeth as their weapons collided, sparks flying in their faces, and electricity shooting up her arms as the familiar dull pain sat in.

With a roar, she pushed the smaller girl back, but had to duck when the sniper-scythe fired again for a counter attack.

Her eyes stung from the dust, and Blake began losing ground due to the six foot weapon spinning at blinding speeds. Despite this, the faunus never lost track of the blade, nor the location of her prey.

Beacon's most deadly duo were much faster than she'd anticipated, but a mere shadow of their former selves...

Blake saw her opportunity. She dived under the blade's guard with ease, causing the caped-girl to suddenly go on the defensive. While the pair exchanged blows patterned by familiarity, all Weiss and Yang could see on the sidelines were red and black blurs as sparks showered the competitors' feet.

She was relentless in her pursuit, finding herself much stronger and more agile, but Crescent Rose and her skilled wielder always just half a step ahead.

The scythe never lost momentum as Ruby fired rounds in every direction, holding onto her sweetheart as though it were her dance partner, her feet hardly ever even touching the ground.

Soon however, Ruby found herself hugging the weapon tightly against her side with white knuckles, seemingly unable to lift it anywhere near above shoulder length, and each strike becoming more telegraphed than the last.

'Now!'

The perfect opening, and the perfect opportunity to slam the girl's own beloved weapon into her rib cage passed, and Blake braced her weapons to absorb another extremely heavy blow that she'd no doubt be feeling tomorrow. However, she immediately recognized the awkward angle this had put Ruby in, and raised their weapons slightly. A sudden jerk and her prey's injured right shoulder would be dislocated or perhaps even broken, but in her hesitation Ruby pulled the trigger once again.

Blake's bow folded back as her sensitive ear drums rang, and she darted forward trying to get under the girl's guard again. The sniper-scythe fired down where she'd been standing, momentarily blinding and deafening the faunus, who barely had enough time to prepare her blades as she was forced to kneel under the sheer might of Crescent Rose as all the momentum from the battle was dispersed throughout her body.

She bit down on her tongue tasting blood, but with the massive blade now secured, she violently yanked the much lighter girl forward, suddenly not regretting her decision in the slightest.

To her surprise however, the scythe folded back, launching its wielder into the air. Almost gracefully, Ruby landed back onto her starting position, Crescent Rose firing once again to soften the landing, and its blade realigned from its deadly 'harvest mode' as she called it.

The faunus took a moment to steady her breathing and regather her composure, and give the other girl a much needed moment as well. After only her first major exchange with the intimidating weapon, Blake's arms already felt weightless and her blades heavy. Her legs wobbled like jelly, but across from her she saw her opponent leaning against her scythe just to stand as she gasped for air.

Not wanting to take anymore heavy blows or let the girl regain her momentum, and just wanting the fight over with, Blake struck again, this time crossing her blades and letting the katana's long ribbon dangle at her soon to be victim's feet.

Just as it appeared she'd been caught, the sniper-scythe fired and Ruby slipped out of the noose before it could tighten around her ankles, and once again Blake was forced to defend against a teeth rattling blow.

Ruby backed away, biting her lip and all too aware how close she'd come to being caught. Gambol Shroud's versatility was limited only by its wielder's imagination, and not only had they spent countless intimate hours in the machine shop together, but the caped-girl's imagination might have been the only true match for the exotic weapon from the southern territory.

Blake however knew exhausted prey when she saw it, even if it was hidden under a hood and behind a massive scythe. She charged forward trying to keep the deadly blade stationed directly in front of her opponent so no momentum could be gained. Ruby kept backpedaling, but Blake never backed off as her opponent had difficulty just keeping her weapon raised after every strike.

Finally with newfound aggression perhaps adopted from her partner, Blake forced the sniper-scythe aside, shoving the weapon's shaft under Ruby's armpit. Just as she was about to unleash a hammering blow that'd shove the weapon up even further and leave the precious girl crying in a hospital bed for at least a week, her cleaver instead pressed against the red cloth at the girl's throat.

Her nostrils flared, and the faunus' face hardened. Bright silver eyes slowly raised, and out of the corner of her's, Blake saw the scythe inches from her neck and Ruby's finger scratching the trigger.

She swallowed, her hand struggling to remain steady before finally nodding in acceptance. The younger girl's now dulling eyes closed, and she pulled the trigger.

Blake's head rolled off her shoulders before her hand could so much as twitch, and faded into darkness along with her body.

"You can open your eyes now, Ruby."

The caped-girl peeked and saw Blake sheathing her weapons over her shoulder with her head still attached, but unable to look her in the eye.

No matter how many times the team saw her shadow 'die', it never made the initial shock of seeing their friend being decapitated or impaled any less unsettling. For that reason Blake normally withheld from using her semblance against them as she felt much the same, but this time had been different. Blake hadn't even flinched...

*clap*, *clap*, *clap*

The pair turned as their partners approached, but Blake looked away suddenly interested in her shoes which were coated in a thick layer of yellow dust.

"Awesome!" Yang removed her sister's hood and smiled down at her. "You were awesome, sis. You really were."

The caped-girl was about to speak but suddenly collapsed against her, and looked up with half-lidded, pleading moist eyes. "I need to sit," she nearly sobbed.

Yang promptly scooped the girl onto her back with Crescent Rose folding into a more manageable size, and hurried back to their seats with Weiss activating several ice glyphs, cooling her partner who was drenched head to toe in sweat. Blake however kept her distance.

"You alright, Rubes?" her sister asked softly once she was sitting with her feet dangling from the bleachers.

She nodded, and motioned with a shaky hand for the water bottle Weiss was carrying to be poured over her head. Once it was about half empty, she pressed it against Ruby's lips who began gulping it down as quickly as possible.

*cough, cough*

As their leader recovered from her fit and enjoyed the cool breeze, Yang and Weiss looked toward the forlorn faunus with her arms crossed over her chest who could barely meet their gaze.

'I'm sorry...' Her eyes seemed to say.

The pair shook their heads, and beckoned her to come stand with them. Reluctantly, she dragged her feet over and looked down at her former prey and would-be victim as she struggled to breath.

"You let me win," Ruby said between gasps of air, a weak smile on her still dripping lips.

Blake shared a worried look with her teammates. "No I d-"

"Yes you did," said the caped-girl more sternly, looking up with wet eyes and a ghostly pale face. "If you hadn't been able to pull your punches at the last second, I'd be in the hospital right now."

Blake's body tensed up, and she had difficulty swallowing the bitter lump in her throat.

"Thanks for the awesome fight," she continued, her smile widening. "You don't know how much I've missed this."

"Don't mention it..."

Ruby opened her arms waiting for an embrace, but it was only after a bump on the shoulders from her friends that Blake bent down to give her a reassuring hug.

When they finally released each other, the faunus smiled politely down at the beaming girl, but it felt as forced and unnatural as it looked. Thankfully, Ruby didn't seem to notice.

"You didn't use any aura did you?" Weiss asked her partner, scowling at her wrist scroll as though it were written in another language.

Ruby shook her head, but stole a nervous glance at the girl in black whose nose was still occasionally twitching.

Blake stared back wearing a blank expression, but slowly it began to soften.

"You're not hurt are you, Ruby?"

She opened her mouth but hesitated before speaking, and looked down at herself even kicking her legs as if to make sure they still worked.

"I-I think I'm alright." She felt around her stomach and chest area for a moment before finally nodding, but not without some uncertainty remaining.

Blake let out a breath she hadn't realized she'd been holding. Relief spread throughout her chest and she smiled brightly with her eyes sparkling. "You don't know how glad I am to hear that, Ruby."

The pair stared at one another grinning and occasionally chuckling when Ruby suddenly began to shiver. Taking notice, Weiss flicked her wrist causing the small glyphs around her to dissipate.

"You're incredible, Rubes. You know that?"

Hearing her proud sister's voice caused Ruby to blush, and she looked down kicking her feet idly. "Thanks, but Blake's the one who's incredible. Besides, Crescent Rose did all the work." She hugged the sniper rifle tightly to her chest and pressed her forehead against the barrel. "Thanks, Crescent. You've probably missed this even more than I have."

"I thought our weapons were supposed to be extensions of ourselves,not the other way around," Weiss said in a lofty voice. "Truth be told, and I never thought I'd be saying this, but I'm glad to be facing your brutish sister for once."

Ruby snorted but smiled anyway at the compliment, no matter how preposterous or untruthful it may have been.

"Not as happy as I am," Yang said, already cracking her knuckles.

The caped-girl leaned over as excitement again filled the air. After digging through her backpack for a moment she retrieved a bag of popcorn, and held it up with sad puppy eyes. Just as her sister was about to grab hold of it with a fiery hand, a small flame glyph sparked around the bag warming its already popped contents.

Three sets of eyes glanced at the heiress who reached inside and retrieved a small handful before turning around toward her starting position.

"Coming, Yang?" she asked, her head held high and her mouth full.

The blonde smirked, and gave her attentive audience a wink before following, her hips swaying and her body language exuding confidence. As they checked over their weapons for the final time and stretched, Ruby found her normally insatiable appetite suddenly forgotten.

She looked down at Blake's yellow shoes who had taken a seat beside her. "Thanks for not telling them..." It had barely been a whisper, but the faunus heard it just as clearly as her teammates' mumbled words of gratitude as they'd walked off.

"Telling them what?"

"About-" Ruby glanced up at the uncharacteristically cheerful eyes of the faunus, but found herself frowning at them. "I'm not a helpless little girl."

"I-I never said that you were," she replied, taken aback by her sharp tone.

"No, but you were thinking it..."

"So you can read minds now?" she teased, hoping to disguise her unease much like how her partner did.

Ruby puffed out her cheeks. "I'm y'all's leader, not your kid sister."

"Why can't you be both?" Blake's tone became more serious, and she laid a gentle hand on the younger girl's shoulder. "Ruby, you of all people don't have anything left to prove to us, and you shouldn't have wasted your aura like that. You being our leader is the reason we're still alive, and if nothing else, us three misfits have you as our little sister in common." She wet her lips, not exactly being good or comfortable at this sort of thing. She never liked wearing her emotions on her sleeve like everyone else, and often had difficulty with words. "Y-You were wrong in your report by the way."

She quickly looked up in surprise and perhaps mild annoyance of having her field report read behind her back, but mostly she appeared to be curious.

"All I do run from my problems, and if it wasn't for our- my little sister needing me, I'd probably be skulking in the library, if not half-way to Menagerie by now."

Ruby's lip quivered, and after an unexpected hug that caused the faunus to smell stale, slightly withered roses again, the caped-girl leaned toward her backpack holding her side tightly.

Blake reached over to help but Ruby ignored her. "I'm not helpless..." she reiterated, groaning the further she stretched.

She retrieved a large bowl and a bottle of chocolate syrup, and after she was done wiping her eyes, she poured the popcorn into the bowl and began pouring the chocolate syrup on top. "This is the reason I was late to breakfast," Ruby said, her voice sounding raw. "It took me forever to find..."

It took a moment for Blake to register her words or realize why she was being stared at so intently, and turned her head hoping her face was still flushed from their match.

"Before I found it under your bed though, I found the whipped cream under Weiss', and you can probably guess what all I found under Yang's..."

"I can, and I try not to think about it. And I really wish you wouldn't looked under mine either..."

"My chocolate syrup under your bed. My whipped cream under Weiss'. One of my half-eaten boxes of strawberries and my handcuffs under Yang's. I don't think I need to go into what else I found, like Weiss hoarding all of Zwei's treats for some reason, but what's the rest of that sound like to you?"

'Like another one of your sister's supposed misadventures?'

'Something out of my books?'

'A hell of a good time?'

Blake's voice caught on the back of her throat and she covered her mouth stifling laughter and hoping she hadn't said that out loud. As she fought back tears, Ruby swiftly became too enamored by the chocolate pouring out the bottle to notice anything going on around her.

After briefly wondering why the fifteen-year-old might've had handcuffs, Blake brought her hands up defensively. "Ruby, I swear-"

"You three have been going on midnight binges and doing magic tricks without me!"

Blake blinked. "Ah, I guess that explains the cuffs then..." She seemed to recall her partner threatening to handcuff themselves together should she ever run away again, but until now thought it had been an idle threat. "Ruby, I swear on Weiss' grave that it was just a one time thing. You're not the only one who has chocolate cravings and-"

"Want some?" Ruby held up the bowl as though she hadn't been listening.

She sighed. "No thanks..."

The caped-girl grabbed a large handful and shoved it into her gaping mouth, barely retrieving her fingers out of the way in time.

Blake giggled looking at her and felt something warm flutter in her chest as she scooted closer. "Don't ever change... Rubes..." She wiped her eyes unsure if she was referencing the girl's childlike demeanor, her obliviousness, or her incredible ability to look the other way. Finally though, after deciding which was was the funniest, she grabbed a handful of popcorn.

"Mmmm. S'good."

Hearing a small voice clear their throat, the pair looked up and saw an impatient heiress tapping her foot while an amused blonde smiled at them.

"Whatcha talkin' about, eh?"

"Begin!" Blake and Ruby shouted.

Both girls instinctively readied their weapons, but neither made a move from their starting positions.

After a quiet moment, Yang blinked, lowering her gauntlets. "Uh, Weiss? You're attacking and I'm on defense remember? Unless you'd like me to go on offense..."

The somewhat whimsical tone of her otherwise threatening voice caused Weiss' eyes to narrow as she gave a cold stare, none of them quite able to tell if her nerves had gotten the better of her or if she'd simply forgotten. From the way she held Myrtenaster with her injured arm however, steady and with a relaxed grip, they leaned toward the latter.

In solo combat, their support fighter was much more accustomed to opponents rushing her in order to negate her various glyphs which needed a moment or two of concentration to create, and 'defensive' simply wasn't a term anyone would've used to describe the fighting style of team RWBY's juggernaut.

If there had been any trepidation before it was now gone, replaced with cold, calculative cunning. She appeared much more comfortable than she had in the dressing room, but more importantly, all their previous encounters, something that wasn't lost on her opponent or their audience.

To say Weiss, or Blake for that matter, was a pessimist would've probably been a compliment to all other doomsayers, but her friends also knew she a penchant for the dramatics and was more than a little vocal about her complaints.

However, confidence now shined in her brilliant blue eyes, but she still approached slowly, regarding the explosive blonde with the utmost caution. Yang couldn't help grinning at the amount of respect she was being given as the other girl had seen her many bruises and bandages, but as the rapier drew closer, her smile faded. She lowered her chin and raised her gauntlets to match the blade pointed at her heart.

Gone was the spoiled rich girl with a sharp tongue. Instead, she was replaced by someone callous who had no sympathy for her enemies.

"Bring it on Ice Queen..."

Wasting no more time, Weiss struck like lightning and a flash of gold deflected the blow. The much smaller girl let the momentum carry her into a spin instead of being knocked off balance, which as they all knew was next to impossible. The girl practiced gymnastics in heels after all.

She pressed forward driving with a flurry of stabs that the blonde easily deflected despite having to keep her defenses unnaturally low.

Because most only saw the wild brawler as someone who looked more at home in a bar fight than an exhibition match at a huntsman academy, it was easy to forgot that she was the only member of her team to have actually graduate from a combat school, and was an unparalleled counter-striker taught by the very best. Although given the choice she might prefer throwing the first punch and would gladly trade ten just for one, if she was up against a skilled opponent she'd fight as patiently as she could and wait for them to overextend or make an error before countering with knockout haymakers. But in a fight without aura against possibly the school's most technically sound swordsman, she'd be waiting forever and the slightest error on her part meant losing.

And Yang hated nothing more than losing...

Meaningless exhibition match or not...

Natural tenacity and toughness now took a backseat to skill and technique, and to the former dueling champion's chagrin, Yang's footwork and parries weren't leaving her a single opening or flaw to exploit.

The pair on the sidelines were awed by the dance of gold and silver. Sparks flew all around the blonde whenever their weapons collided with deceivingly powerful blows in the part of the much smaller heiress. Perhaps even more so than her prodigious partner, Weiss was underestimated by virtually all her opponents, but never for very long. Her reflexes were on par with a faunus' and her skill with a blade nearly unrivaled, but all this was to compensate for a small body and aura reserve that exhausted easily, and strength that while surprising, needed aura and dust coatings to stay competitive the longer the fight went. Because of this, her classmates had learned that they could draw or possibly win if they could simply weather the blizzard. But for those few short minutes, she could stand toe to toe with Pyrrha Nikos and as she was proving, Yang Xiao Long.

Nobody underestimated or took her lightly anymore because in the words of her opponent-

'Hell is five foot three and she wears high heels...'

And Yang was feeling that hell and more with every controlled movement of the girl's wrist.

Ruby had forgotten about her snack and instead was feasting with her eyes. The dance finally came to a momentary halt when the rapier got caught between the gauntlets raised in a cross pattern, and the smaller girl leaned back, contorting her spine before a boot could land against her skull.

As much as Yang declared herself a boxer, she was just as deadly a kickboxer and mixed martial artist.

She did however prefer punching things.

Weiss grabbed her weapon's hilt with both hands and ripped it from of the trap. She immediately went for a swift diagonal slash barely moving her arm, but a check kick grazed her inner thigh which forced her to retreat before a spinning back-fist could take her head off.

She returned to her starting position with a light coat of sweat on her face and using the breathing techniques she'd learned as a singer. Yang's own breathing appeared more labored and irregular, and it was with great hesitation that she returned to her position as well.

The blonde appeared to be focused on her opponent, but Blake couldn't help noticing something resembling disinterest on her partner's face, almost as though she had something more important on her mind.

It was never really her or her opponent's fault that she felt this way. After the initial rush of battle, it was always difficult keeping Yang enthralled as she could normally end most fights whenever she wanted, and was never able to fully enjoy herself like she did while killing Grimm. She wanted to fight with the same fiery passion and aggression as her semblance, not worrying about opponents that might as well have been made of cardboard.

Blake's sharp eyes couldn't help noticing something else however. While it was true her partner's mind seemed to be elsewhere, there was a rarely seen strained look on her face that might've had something to do with her left arm being held tightly against her chest and her slight limp.

Perhaps insulted that her opponent was lowering half their guard, and being done with feeling out her opponent, Weiss lunged toward the girl's stomach but feinted at the last possible second just as her opponent went to counter-parry. She instead slashed at her right thigh and Yang to narrowly avoided it by hopping back which knocked her off balance. Meticulous with every movement and her form nothing less than perfect, Weiss pressed forward refusing to given an inch against the brute who had soundly beaten her in every sense of the word countless times in the past.

Payback indeed was a Weiss...

Confidence swelled within her like never before, and with the grace and speeds at which she and her blade moved, Blake might've thought there was some faunus blood in her if not for knowing her last name.

Yang was now using solely her right gauntlet for defending, only using the left when she had no other choice, and always grimacing when she did. Weiss could sense her prey was tiring and growing weak as she controlled her every movement like a puppet master, and could see her first victory in sight as she landed her most devastating blow yet on the weakened arm which fell limp at the girl's side. Despite this however, the champion duelist missed something the faunus on the sideline could see clear as day.

Yang was in pain, she was angry, and she was done...

With reflexes that came from having a cat faunus as a partner and a speedster for a little sister, Yang caught the thinnest part of the blade in her right hand, wrapping the thick combat glove around the sharp edges. Pulling it aside, she twisted it slightly causing the girl to hiss as pain shot through her still tender arm, and Weiss dangled on the tips of her toes as a large fist lightly tapped her on the chin.

"And you're dead," Yang growled between her teeth, her chest rising and falling rapidly.

The helpless heiress scowled, and glared at the unmanicured, calloused fingers wrapped around her precious Myrtenaster.

"If my aura wasn't dulling the blade, your glove would be shredded right now and your hand-"

"And if my aura wasn't turned off, you'd be holding onto the wrong end of branding iron, princess."

She scowled but a cruel smile curled on her lip refusing to back down to the much larger girl. "Well if I pulled the trigger, you'd be in store for a real nasty surprise..."

A wicked smile graced Yang's mouth and her eyes flickered as she flexed her fingers around the blade which had steam rising from it. "I really wish you'd try..."

Just as Weiss began scratching her itchy trigger finger, their teammates appeared out of nowhere.

"Break it up you two." Blake rolled her eyes, pulling her partner away while Ruby did the same with Weiss, though with a slight limp and holding onto her every step of the way.

The girls handed them towels and bottles of water which they eagerly accepted. They both swallowed several mouthfuls and afterward, Yang poured what was left over her head while Weiss splashed some onto her face, already having activated more ice glyphs to cool them off.

"Good fight, Weiss." Yang cracked her sister with her towel which caused her to laugh while the other girls took several steps away from the blonde and her deadly weapon.

"Good? That was AWESOME!" Ruby declared. "Your footwork and technique were perfect, sis! And, Weiss, you were overwhelming Yang!"

The pair glanced at one another and gave each other respectful nods, but unsettled business was clearly on their competitive minds.

"Overwhelm is a pretty strong word, Rubes, but I'll admit the pipsqueak knows how to swing a sword."

"Humph!"

"Looks like you almost had you, sis."

"Yeah well, I can't lose in front of my baby sister now can I?"

"Nope," Ruby gushed, now looking up with reverence.

"I think that should count as a win for me," Weiss said suddenly. "If my aura wasn't dulling the blade, and if I pulled the trigger-"

"There's no such thing as a fair fight, princess." Yang folded her arms tightly to her chest, trying making it look as natural as possible. "If we're gonna bring your aura into this discussion, then we're bringing in mine too. I also wasn't allowed to go on offense remember? Just countering, and I'd say you had the unfair advantage with that sword."

"I thought you said there's no such thing as a fair fight?" she said in a mocking tone, hooking her rapier back to her belt with a flourish.

"She's not wrong, sis," Ruby replied, greatly pleasing her partner. "You're not a hundred percent right now, and she had six dust crystals she could've activated at point blank range." She held up six chocolate coated fingers for emphasis.

"Fire, water, and ice probably wouldn't do too much damage to you on their own," Weiss said smugly, "but electricity, air, and pure energy would do a little more than make your hair stand up..."

She smirked while Yang stuck out her tongue, but the blonde did glance down at the red, dark and light blue, yellow, green, and white vials and swallowed.

The red and two blue vials didn't worry her much. No fire could burn hotter than herself and ice didn't last particularly long around her, especially not the weaker but more versatile water vial that would've been next to useless in anyone's hands except the Ice Queen's. The other three vials however sounded like less fun however.

Yang had been electrocuted at least half a dozen times in her life, mostly by Nora and toasters, and hadn't exactly enjoyed the experiences. Air sounded harmless enough, until you realized a gravity glyph was in reality just as reverse propulsion glyph, and could suck the air right out of your lungs just as easily as make you feel heavier than an Ursa. Then there was the white vial, which didn't last long but packed a hell of a punch and could be used to manifest the user's aura, and was also Weiss' trump card in a fight. It also wouldn't be long until she'd be able to create some glyphs without the need of dust. This fight had more than proven that to her.

"And Weiss," Ruby continued, shaking her head in disappointment. "You've been around Yang long enough to know that you'd only be making her mad. Like really, really mad..."

This time Yang smirked and it was Weiss' turn to stuck out her tongue.

"What now?" Blake asked as the two gave each other not uncommon death stares. "I don't think anymore training is a good idea." She stared at the way her partner held her arms and had trouble catching her breath, and occasionally glanced at her sister who was constantly shifting her weight and hadn't gotten any less pale.

They all quickly agreed, knowing they already pushed themselves too far, but it was the leader who threw her rifle over her shoulder with her cape billowing. She would've looked almost dignified if it hadn't been for the chocolate smeared on her face and stuck between her teeth.

"I'm gonna stay down here. I wanna get some practice in at the shooting range."

"Yeah, like you need the practice," her sister snorted.

Ruby blushed and hugged her baby closer. "I've modified her barrel so she can shoot more than just different grades of yellow, orange, and red dust, but I haven't had the chance to test it yet. It won't be nearly as strong or versatile as Ice Flower's signature attack, but being able to shoot explosive ice rounds could come in handy for slowing targets down."

"Ice rounds that explode?" Weiss raised a brow but decided not to question it.

"I guess I'll stay too." Blake got her partner's attention and motioned her head down at the caped-girl. "I'm curious how Gambol Shroud's recoil feels after you tinkered with it, Ruby."

Yang nodded in thanks, understanding her meaning. "Well I'm gonna go back to the room and grab some lunch, maybe even a drink or two, and pass out for the day." She let out a wide yawn reminiscent of a lion. "We woke up way too early for this, and this week back to school has just about killed me."

"I don't see how," Weiss huffed. "All you do is sleep through class. Obviously you're just exhausted because of our match and don't want to admit it. Which I believe I won by the way. Technicality or not."

Before the blonde could argue, Weiss walked away with her chin held high and her heels clicking.

"Where are you going?" Ruby asked.

She turned her head, still walking toward the exit closest to the elevators. "Unfortunately back to the room with your pigheaded sister. I would very much like to get into some clean clothes and perhaps even shower before you two get back and steal all the hot water. Also, the music box I ordered from Atlas should finally be arriving today. Coming, Yang?"

As she turned back around, Ruby felt her shoulder lighten as Crescent Rose was taken out of her hands.

Grinning like a madman and with visible muscle spasms in her arms, Yang chambered a yellow round before dialing in the scope toward her target, speaking in a sing-song voice.

"Twinkle, twinkle little sass. Watch me shoot you in the-"

(A/N: Thank you for reading and I hope you enjoyed. Not gonna lie, I was rather proud of Yang's rendition of "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Sass", and it probably goes without saying but I really enjoyed this chapter. I wanted the first match to be more about Blake versus Crescent Rose rather than Ruby, and show how skilled Ruby is with her weapon but also that she's having to rely on it for virtually everything during the fight. For Yang and Weiss, I mostly wanted to show how far Weiss has come, as well as highlight the characters' fighting styles of course. Team RWBY are so unique in everything they do, but it's their fight scenes that really show who they are as characters. Yang's can be as calm as a campfire or as raging as an inferno, just as Weiss can go from gentle winter flurry to blizzard in the blink of an eye. All their styles are beginning to rub off on each other, but I always love getting to see their core character shine through while doing what they do best. And I hope you enjoyed.

Before I'm corrected, I realize some of my colors of dust are different from the show. I've had the colors of dust headcanoned long before we got an actual "World of Remnant" on the subject, and this just made sense to me. Gravity isn't an element in this universe, and while I didn't give a name to orange, I see it as a mixture of yellow and red. It isn't as lethal as fire but is more dangerous than yellow. I don't really have a name for it, but as confusing as it may be, I tend to just call it "Burn" even thought I know that's the official name of red/fire in canon. Nothing major, but I just wanted to point this out.

Looks like Ruby/Blake and Yang/Weiss are splitting up. Before you ask, yep, we're gonna get a chapter for each odd pairing, and I'm just as excited as you are. I think they'll have plenty to discuss after their matches and away from their partners.

As always, thank you everyone once again for your incredible patience and support. All credit goes to my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, who has blessed me with these stories and wonderful readers such as yourselves. God bless)