Chapter 2 — In Which Ruby is Ecstatic

Weiss' sharp, blue eyes scanned across the swath of text, mentally taking notes of any slightly important facts hidden within her heavy textbook while her hand wrote more prominent information on the sheets of paper beside her. Saturday was a lost cause, just getting out of bed a nearly impossible feat for any of the members of team RWBY, but the heiress would be damned if she lost Sunday too.

Tomorrow was the start of the new semester, so after Weiss finished her course selection with Professor Goodwitch, she took a detour through the library to pick up the necessary readings for all her classes. Now back in her dorm, the girl diligently read through the first few chapters of her new collection in preparation for classes.

Closing her history book, Weiss placed it in the 'finished' pile, reaching over to the stack of what still needed reading. Upon seeing the cover of Engineering 101 though, her neutral face turned disdainful. She slid it off the top of the others, letting it fall onto her bed beside them before grabbing the text that was under it, Advanced Dust Usage.

She slid her finger over the words written on the first page, 'published by the Schnee Dust Company.'

Slam!

Weiss flinched at the sudden sound, shoulders hunching up defensively.

"And then he said, 'I'm not sure if I can sell such heavy parts to a little gir—Oh, hi Weiss!" Ruby spoke as she kicked open the door, face mostly hidden behind a large paper bag held in both her hands. Yang walked in behind the girl, a much smaller bag in one of her hands.

"Ruby," Weiss hissed, "how many times do I have to tell you not to slam the door?" She was rubbing one hand against her temple, a vain attempt to regain her relaxed state of the past. It was no use.

"Sorry! Sorry. Are you okay?"

"Just fine, thanks."

It was Ruby's turn to flinch, however subtle, before awkwardly shuffling to the side of her shared bunk bed with the heiress. As quietly as clattering metal could be, Ruby hefted her goods up onto her own blanket fort, scrambling up shortly after. The entrance was closed to the sound of giddy giggling, before a temporary silence took over.

"So, where's Blake?" Only to be quickly overthrown by the buxom blonde, Yang. Weiss let out an exhausted sigh, not even a page deeper into her text. I'm not really sure. "How should I know? She was gone when I left."

Weiss lips marred into a frown, only half paying attention to Yang's response. Smooth, Schnee. Real smooth. You're earning friend of the year with that one.

"—Guess I'll leave you be, then. Bye Rubes!"

The redhead's face popped out from between her curtain doorway long enough for a quick reply, before darting back into her isolating canopy.

The page in Weiss' hand turned to the sound of the Yang closing the door—carefully—behind her. The fresh scent of new books was wafting up, beckoning to the icy girl. It promised a paradise of distraction-less knowledge, free from the nuisances of the outside world. It was a joy that Weiss shared with her teammate Blake, getting lost in text, and although their preferences towards fiction versus nonfiction was apparent, they still drew the same pleasure.

But before she realized, the first four chapters had flashed by, and the pages to her left, previously blank, were covered from corner to corner with notes. She took a breath, accepting the end of her dust studies for the day and reaching for the next class' textbook. Though when she didn't find it, her hand began to pat around the bed before finally coming to rest on a single book.

Weiss groaned, unwilling to waste her time on the barbaric practice the text taught. Though she excelled at mathematics, physics, and chemistry, the acts of getting covered in oil and hitting things with a hammer were of no interest to the pristine girl. She was a Schnee, for heaven's sake! Did the most fabled of warriors craft their own equipment? No, of course not! They hired the best blacksmiths to do it for them!

Above her, the master tinkerer began her ministrations. A muffled symphony of clatter jingling emanated around the room. Weiss' knuckles turned white around her textbook, teeth grinding against each other with enough force to whittle away her own aura.

Calm yourself, Schnee. It's her hobby. She's allowed to have fun on off-days. With deep, practiced breaths, the heiress leveled her emotions, listening to her mental pep talk through the cacophony of noise.

Soon enough, you'll be doing it too. You agreed to this, Schnee.

Weiss drifted through a black void, the substance sticky as it wrapped about her entire body. Panicking, she thrashed her limbs in a vain attempt to escape the feeling.

It didn't fight back though. It was around her no matter how she shifted, and no movement provided relief.

She was stuck.

Her eyes were shut closed, afraid they would get defiled by the void around her as well, but when it began to flow around her—no, when she began to flow through it—light shined against her eyelids. The feeling was soothing, beckoning to her. It was an unspoken promise to leave her unharmed if she desired to look.

And so she did. Her vision was immediately met with the many slow-moving windows, sliced out of the void and looking out into memories. Each one contained a different moment in time, her teammates laughing, running, eating. It filled her with a warm feeling, watching them enjoy themselves, until one window passed by. Its edges were a darker tint, and Weiss recognized it as soon as the memory came into view.

"Unbelievable! This is exactly the kind of thing I was talking about!"

"I'm really, really sorry."

"You complete dolt! What are you even doing here!? Aren't you a little young to be attending Beacon?"

She watched in horror as she yelled at her read-headed leader, the girl standing with her fingers poking each other after just freshly exploding.

It wasn't the yelling, it wasn't the tone that scared Weiss. Her actions weren't what she watched; it was the face of her younger partner, lacking the usual chipper smile she always wore. It was scared, confused, angry, and all caused by the girl in white lording over her.

Turning away, Weiss saw another darker window speed past just in time to catch a view of herself yelling at Ruby again, stuck in the Emerald forest.

It was one after another, no matter which way Weiss turned. The sticky substance around her turned suffocating, slipping into her mouth and down her throat. Losing the ability to breath, Weiss tried screaming for help, drowning in her void. She was so close to passing out, so close to closing her eyes again.

Weiss bolted up into a sitting position, sucking in as much air as possible, until her forehead collided with a solid object in front of her.

"Oww…" A voice near the white-haired girl let out, her vision seeing red and black. Leaning over her bed was Ruby, a whistle hanging out of her mouth as she rubbed her own forehead. "I didn't blow it that loud…"

"Ruby? What were—" Weiss started, stopping herself suddenly as her mind spoke out quite loudly.

Be the best teammate, Schnee.

The heiress swallowed, wetting her parched throat as she drew up all her strength. "Are you... okay?"

"Huh? Oh, yeah. I'm fine, I think? Thanks." Ruby smiled, talking around the silver whistle. Leaning back, she stood with her arms swaying, her whole body tensing and relaxing in excitement. "It's time to get up, Weiss. Today's our first day of classes!"

Oh joy, the young woman being addressed thought dryly, face deadpanning as she habitually checked her scroll to make sure their faithful leader hadn't woken them up five minutes before classes began. Though, 'them' may not have been appropriate, considering the bunk bed across from her was empty. The lower bunk neatly made while the bed above's sheets were a shoved-away mess, its yellow inhabitant and her partner missing.

Yawning, her dream slowly fading from memory, Weiss got out of bed and began her morning rituals. Shower, hair, teeth, uniform, concealer to make sure no one ever knew about the tiny red pimple forming under her chin, and she was ready to start the day.

It was going to be a long one, for sure. The professors all had an odd way of teaching, like an imitation of a school that's just slightly uncanny. Peter Port spent his entire lecture time telling stories, far more than Weiss' favourite tutor even had, while Glynda Goodwitch seemed as though she was from an era fifty years in the past, her educating cold and punishing. Even Doctor Bartholomew Oobleck took his history classes to a different level, running through facts with a speed that would make one assume he was about to die, and had to dump everything he knew on his students before it was too late. Or maybe he wasn't the one he worried about dying too soon.

Weiss chewed the egg in her mouth, her body moving automatically to the cafeteria with Ruby and getting breakfast as her mind wandered. Her partner beside her continued to chatter about her weekend excursion with Yang, the words falling on deaf ears.

"And then after she taught the guy a lesson, we—"

And what about Ozpin? I've never heard of him teaching a course before. Will he be like Port and tell stories all day, or talk incessantly like Oobleck? Maybe he'll be flippant like Professor Peach?

"Hello? Remnant to Weiss, this is mission control speaking."

"Huh?" Weiss said, her attention drawn out of her head. She turned to her younger superior expectantly, finding the other girl was standing in front of a doorway. Now that she thought about it, the entire hallway seemed unfamiliar, the windows a little smaller and thicker than normal. The walls seemed to have a light coating of grime, and the ground was even cracked in areas.

And the smell, it was as though the very air had been burnt.

"Ugh, where are we?" Weiss scrunched up her face, disgusted by the filth around her. When her vision caught Ruby again, it was to find a look of disappointment on the red-themed girl as she stood in the now open doorway.

"This is the engineering department, Weiss, and it's not that bad. C'mon, you agreed to this." The heiress' face blanched at Ruby's words. It was a full moment later that her pride returned to her, and Weiss took a step into the room silently, a smiling Ruby following behind her.

The state inside was worse than the hallways, and far below the standard Weiss had grown accustomed to all her life. Replaced were the benches of the lecture halls, the room a boring rectangle with old, wooden tables that had more scratches, dents, and holes in them than a veteran hunter. There weren't even chairs to sit at, instead expecting students to stand all class. Behind the standing area, there was a larger open space with various machines set up, blades and wheels of various sizes decorating what Weiss would have believed was a torture chamber if she didn't know any better. She did know better, right?

The Schnee looked at the innocent twinkle in Ruby's eyes, unsure of how sadistic her partner may have been behind those sheet-turned-curtains of her so-called 'Fort Rose.'

The only other notable objects in the large, boxy room, were the desk and chair at the front—of course the professor gets to sit—and the large chalkboard spanning the entire wall, floor to ceiling. The professor, or headmaster in this case, was nowhere to be seen, while the rest of the room seemed to be filled with students idly chatting around the tables. Weiss could spot a few familiar faces, such as the resident bullies team CRDL, a couple other male students from her year, and surprisingly Velvet Scarlatina, standing off to the side alone. Most of the student body, however, were first years she hadn't met.

Walking toward the back, toward the only friendly face, Weiss watched as Ruby bolted past her to their faunus friend and senior.

"Velvet!" Ruby chirped, grabbing the bunny girl's attention. She looked up at the two of them approaching, face lighting up in recognition, before giving a friendly greeting.

"Hello Ruby, Weiss. What brings you here?"

"Oh, you know, mechanics course, weapon nerd, I kinda go hand-in-hand with this stuff." Velvet nodded knowingly, having been on the receiving end of her junior's questioning whenever her mystery box of a weapon was at her hip.

"And what about you, Weiss?"

"She's going to lear—" Ruby started before Weiss slapped her hand over her leader's mouth, quickly staring daggers into the girl's side before changing back to a polite smile for Velvet, speaking with practiced grace.

"I figured it would be a useful addition to my repertoire of skills." The heiress responded, standing an inch taller. Ruby gave a muffled sound before she was released, continuing the friendly conversation.

"What about you, Velvet? Why are you here?"

"Well, there's a couple new components I've been wanting to add to my weapon that I'm not sure how to, so hopefully this class can shed more light than Signal did." Velvet replied, Weiss maintaining her expression as Ruby asked yet again if she could see inside the box, to which the faunus shot her down as always.

Then the door clicked, and the room went silent as shoes and a cane tapped against the worn flooring. Headmaster Ozpin walked in slowly, wearing his telltale black suit over a green shirt and scarf, toward the center of the chalkboard.

He stood, brown eyes scanning the faces of the many students over his small spectacles, until he completed a full sweep and back. He then took a sip from the mug held in his hand, warm steam rising out of it.

"Today's lesson will be a short one." Ozpin stated, voice monotone as he carefully enunciated each syllable. "If you are taking this course to fill your time, to correct a mistake," Ozpin continued locking eyes with various students as he spoke, finally landing on Weiss, "or to try and improve yourself—then you should leave. You're merely wasting your time, and that of the students around yourself."

Murmuring began among those gathered in the room, some nervously glancing at one another while others just seemed confused. When Weiss looked to Ruby though, all she was was admiration, and she couldn't understand why.

Ozpin took another sip of his drink, waiting for the door to click closed again after a few of the students actually left.

"Knowledge is a valueless asset in the face of time. No matter how much you learn, it will never be enough to accomplish the goals you aim to achieve, and cannot saves those you are training to protect." The headmaster walked over to the desk, setting down his mug and picking up a piece of paper, before walking back to the chalkboard. With a white stick in hand, he began drawing for the class.

"Now then, this week's assignment is to create a switch box. Their purpose is to alter the signal sent through them depending on their current state, controlled by any means you wish—perhaps a button or a lever—and to transmit the new signal to the other side. To the back of the room, you'll find a pile of scrap metal and rolls of wiring. Using only them and the tools in here, you must forge the item. Information on the construction of the device can be found on pages seven to nineteen." Ozpin put down the chalk, walked back to his desk, leaned his cane against it, and sat down, watching the remaining students in the classroom—save for about ten—leave the room.

"Good luck, students." He said to Ruby, Velvet, Weiss, team CRDL, and the three other first years who remained.

A/N: Hello again, reader. Welcome to the end of chapter two, and thank you for reading to this point. I'm actually feeling a little conflicted about the current genres of Cold Smithing, specifically I'm not sure if I should classify it with humour as a second genre, or with angst. Although I have plans for the future, I don't know how much I'm going to harp on the more heavy themes that my rendition of Weiss is heart-set on dealing with.

Any and all feedback is appreciated, or if you just want to comment on it, leave a review or send me a PM. I'm always happy to answer questions that aren't spoiler-y.

Also if you find inconsistencies, mistakes, or things that just feel off, I beg of you to let me know. My tired eyes can only find so much, and I don't have a beta.