Chapter Text
I sat next to Weiss as the rest of my fellow students filtered into the classroom-auditorium-amphitheater thing. I'd mostly managed to shove my prior thoughts down about—
—no. I'm not restarting that train of thought.
To think of things that don't make me want to end myself: fighting. We had fights now.
The way Beacon's sparring classes worked was that you would sometimes know ahead of time who you were fighting. Other times, you would be randomly assigned an opponent during class. Today was one of the former.
For the relevant fights, I was fighting Pyrrha, Weiss was fighting Ruby, Blake was fighting Velvet, Yang was fighting…actually, I'm getting tired of this. People are fighting people.
Some of the fightswouldbe interesting, namely mine and Weiss's…because those were the fights with the most talented people in them. There were other talented people, sure, but...
Actually, mostly everyone here was talented. Their usage of their semblances were really, really interesting.
For example, Blake. Her semblance was very powerful. She could create an identical clone that was, for all intents and purposes, her. It had all of her abilities and worked with her like a hive mind. Both the clone and Blake were the same person, so if one died, she'd still live.
It made fighting her a pain in the ass. If she has a clone out, damaging her is impossible. It made it a battle of attrition, where you'd need to force her to waste all her aura—that could be done through constantly destroying her clones or by tiring her.
Unfortunately, Blake knew this fact. It's why she used her clones for movement and focused primarily on agility in her fights.
It was frustrating to fight Blake. She was basically invincible to damage until you tired her out.
Technically, that was true for anyone with aura. If you got hit, aura would block the damage.
If you wanted to lose, that is.
Using aura to shield your whole body was a waste. No skilled Huntsman would do it. It wasted the majority of your aura on blocking rather than using it to deal damage.
What someone should do instead is to use aura to amplify their speed, strength, sixth sense, and semblance. A few small wounds are better to take than to be a sitting duck in a fight.
"Ready to fight?" I asked Weiss, looking towards her.
She gave a small smirk. "Against Ruby? That childish girl won't last even a minute."
"Love the bravado," I begin, ready to snitch on Ruby, "but apparently Ruby developed a way to get around your semblance."
Weiss raised one of her pretty eyebrows. I have no clue how she manages to do that. "Really? But she has a speed semblance…" She put a hand to her chin. "I don't see how that will get her out of a glyph."
I just gave a shrug. "I have no clue, Sunshine. But, she claims she'll win. Kick her ass for me, yeah?"
She rolled her eyes. "You're so vulgar." She playfully complained, giving me a smile. "And of course I'll win. After all, you taught me."
Her face was slightly flushed and I was forced to look away.
Mostly because I was also red.
…why was I acting like this? Why did she get me like this? It was getting annoying.
I forced myself to look back at her, trying to force the heat away. "Glad you take so much pride in my lovely teaching skills."
Weiss also managed to look back. "Hmph. Of course I do." Her tone implied it should've been obvious. "If you never taught me to properly use my skills, I'd likely lose to Jaune of all people."
I snorted at that.
Gods, Jaune. Where do I even begin with him?
I really don't think he was faking being weak anymore. He moved in a way that genuinely implied he had no skills. He lost every fight he was in. His stance was wrong. He instinctively moved in ways that he shouldn't.
It wassad. Really, really sad to watch. I don't know how he got into Beacon when he was this…weak.
Either he gave Ozpin a fun time to get in here or I don't know how he snuck his way into Beacon.
Maybe he faked his transcripts?
I couldn't help but snigg*r at that.
To fake transcripts? To get intoBeacon? WhereOzpinwas the head of?
Yeah, no. It'd be impossible.
And, it'd also take a pretty bad person to do it. Beacon had a strict limit on its students. The fact I was allowed in over the limit is strange. Very strange.
Someone faking their way in would be taking a spot from someone who could savelives.
No, Jaune must be faking weakness. Hemustbe.
"Ruby Rose and Weiss Schnee." Goodwitch called from the arena. "Take your places and get ready to spar."
I flashed Weiss a grin. "Better win, Sunshine."
Her lips slightly upturned. "You know I will."
Weiss stood up and jumped down from the stands and into the arena proper. Ruby followed after, appearing in a flowery swirl across from Weiss.
Ruby held out her scythe and gave Weiss a wide grin. "You're going to lose this time, Ice Queen!"
Weiss harrumphed, giving Ruby an unimpressed look. "Didn't you say that the last…oh, two times? I don't think I've lost yet."
Ruby vibrated in her boots, oozing with excitement. "Third time's the charm, then!"
"Get ready, children. You know the rules." Goodwitch instructed sternly, watching the pair with a tight look. "And you know the consequences for breaking them."
Ruby and Weiss nodded their assessment, suitably cowed. Goodwitch seemed to take that as a sign to start the match, raising her riding crop. "Three…"
Ruby angled her scythe while Weiss aimed her rapier forward. Goodwitch kept counting down. "...one. Begin!"
A glyph appeared under Ruby's feet as Weiss activated her semblance. Ruby flung forward, rose petals streaming across the air as the girl blitzed towards the glyph-user.
Weiss swiftly dodged the edge of Ruby's blade, the metal of it barely missing her throat. A startled look was plastered on the heiress's face, a glyph forming on the teen as she launched herself back.
I leaned forward in my seat, incredibly interested in this fight. Ruby had, after all, never been able to break out of Weiss's glyphs.
Ruby was propelled forward in a flurry of petals and red light, weaving around rapidly appearing glyphs that sought to restrain her. Weiss kept building distance, evasively moving and trying to keep the arena under her control.
A flurry of red petals filled the air as Ruby kept moving, every attack and glyph by Weiss seemingly producing more of the flowery ornaments.
Weiss kept moving back, refusing to let her equally short opponent get near. It seems like she was trying to figure out just what Ruby was doing to make her semblance useless. I was doing the same. I had a few ideas, and I couldn't help but wonder if Weiss had picked up on it.
Barely dodging a swipe, Weiss leapt back onto the wall of the arena, Myrtenaster raised.
Ruby's scythe shifted, elongating and straightening into a rifle. Bullets were fired at Weiss, each one of the deadly projectiles blocked by spectral shields.
Ruby cut her losses and quickly moved after her, sprinting up onto the wall as Crescent Rose turned back into a scythe.
Blades clashed, the clanging of metal filling the air. Ice blasted at Ruby, icicles rippling through the air and piercing through Ruby, leaving no damage besides floating petals.
With a final clash, both took a moment to gain some distance before moving back for each other, ready to strike their opponent down.
In a flash of blinding speed, Weiss was launched like a missile at Ruby as glyphs flashed in the air, accelerating the teen.
They met in the middle, Ruby with her scythe raised high and Weiss with her blade aimed low.
Red's scythe struck a glowing glyph with a blaring thump, cracks stretching across the glistening, translucent snowflake.
Weiss thrust Myrtenaster forward, the blade piercing into and through Ruby. Petals poured from the black haired girl's chest as the edge of a scythe rested against the Schnee's throat.
Goodwitch called the match there. "Ruby wins. Leave the arena so the next set of students can fight."
Ruby put her scythe down and cheered, hopping off the wall and jumping in excitement. "Woohoo! I told you I'd win, Weiss!"
From the stands, Yang also gave a loud cheer towards her sister. "I knew you'd beat Weiss Cream this time, Ruby! Good stuff!"
Weiss looked positively flummoxed, staring at Ruby's chest in shock. There was no hole where the girl had been stabbed.
After a moment of staring, the Schnee Heiress shook her head in annoyance and exhaled deeply, giving her ex-opponent a brassed look. She then shuffled back up to where I was.
"Good attempt, Weiss." I offered to her, quirking my lips upwards.
She huffed, air harshly coming out of her nose like a bad dragon mimicry. "You don't need to be placative, Nigel. I know I did terribly." She sunk into a seat next to me, deflating. "Sorry, I shouldn't take it out on you…"
"Nah, it's fine." I brush off. "It's part of your lovely charm. Anyways," I tilt my head at her, giving her a curious glance. "Did you figure out what she was doing?"
Weiss's eyebrows scrunched, the girl going into deep thought. She only remained in this state for a few moments, though, quickly giving up on the topic. "No. Tell me."
"Sodemanding~" I tease lightly as she rolled her eyes. "But, I only kinda know what she did. See, everytime your glyphs touched her, more petals appeared."
"So?" Weiss said, stomping on my growing line of reasoning. "That happens every time she uses her semblance. Speed wouldn't let her get out of my glyphs."
"Well, maybe if you'dlet me continue, I'd tell you what she was doing." I shot her a harsh stare and she gave a look of surrender. "Thank you, Sunshine. So, you're under the assumption her semblance is a speed semblance. It isn't."
"Ruby said it was."
"She likelythoughtit was and figured out it wasn't." I wave Ruby over and the girl happily bounds over, a giddy beat to her step. "As she will confirm in a second, she actually converts her own mass into rose petals."
Ruby reaches us and nods her head quickly, looking at me with wide eyes. "Yeah! My semblance actually turns me into rose petals that move forwards!" A pout crosses her face. "You're such a buzzkill, Nigel. You already found out my tricks."
"So, you were preventing my glyphs from affecting you by turning the part of yourself that was affected into roses?" Weiss incredulously said, acting like it was something ridiculous.
"Mhm! It's how your sword didn't hurt me as well! I just turned my chest into petals!" She put a hand to her chest and her palm sunk into herself, petals surrounding it.
"Selective intangibility?" I murmur, looking at her in interest. "That's…averyuseful power. Theoretically, you shouldn't be able to get hit in any fight. And you can deal damage while you are partly intangible." I hum in consideration, looking at her but notreallyat her. "I wonder if you have control over your roses. Or if you can heal with the roses you produce. They can turn into you, after all."
Ruby is squirming awkwardly at the attention I am giving her, shuffling foot to foot. "I—I don't know?" She weakly says.
I blink a few times. "Huh. Forgot I was talking to you…" That was rude of me, wasn't it? "Anyways, you have probably the second strongest semblance I know. After her." I point a thumb at Weiss.
"...my semblance isn'tthatstrong." Ruby and Weiss say at the same time. Ruby immediately blushed and looked away while Weiss shot a glare at the younger teen.
"Potential wise, you both have strong ones. You both just use yours wrong."
"Hey!" Weiss complained. "I don't use my semblance wrong." She looked down and muttered, "…anymore."
I pressed my lips together and gave her an amused look. "No, you do. I just don't want to spoon feed you ideas. Apparently, it's better for your development if I don't give you everything. Give a man a fish and all that."
"Mydevelopment?" She made my phrasing sound ridiculous. "What am I, your child?"
I opened my mouth, a joke at the tip of my tongue.
I quickly shut my mouth and averted my gaze, cheeks flushing. Do not make that joke, brain…do not.
I suffered in silence, not willing to make a joke that would have Weiss as flushed as I was. Why did she have to make me like this, again?
Ruby used the opportunity to slink away, returning back to Yang and Blake over yonder.
Weiss snapped a finger in front of my face. "Nigel? Are you going to respond?"
I pulled myself back into reality, redness quickly fading from my face. "Sorry, I got distracted. What'd you say?"
"Isaid," She began, shooting me an annoyed glance, "That you could at least tell mesomeof your oh so great ideas."
I got myself together, becoming my totally cool, awesome self again. I did not blush like a schoolgirl, no sir.
"Hmm." I contemplated, putting a hand on my chin and leaning forward. "You're quite disrespectful for someone who wants my help."
She gave me a droll look. "Get off it. I'malwaysdisrespectful."
I couldn't help but laugh at that. "Well, you're not wrong." I puffed up my cheeks and blew out air. "Fine, I'll share an idea or two."
Weiss gave an expectant look. "Carry on."
"Very well, your Majesty." I gave a mock-bow. "Well, for a first idea, you could use your glyphs to crush people by boxing them in and then closing it. Or, you could asphyxiate them by boxing them and waiting for the oxygen to run out. You could also focus your glyphs on the air to cause harsh winds."
A glint shines in my eyes as I get into the topic. I was, after all, a nerd. Just of the better kind than Weiss. Everyone is a nerd, really. If you weren't a nerd forsomething, why live? It sounds rather dull to live a nerdless life.
"Speaking of focusing on the air, what is the smallest level you can focus your glyphs on?" I question more to myself than to her. "In theory, you should be able to excite the molecules in the air to produce incredibly hot air—hot air which you can propel towards people. You could also make an area of rising hot air and then use your ice glyphs to make an area of sinking cold air whilst spinning the whole thing, making a tornado."
Weiss looked at me with wide eyes. "...what? I—what? Who even—whydo you think of that? Just—nevermind. Alright, that's given me…alotto think over." She casts me an odd glance. "You're ver—"
"—Mr. Dietrich." Goodwitch called from the arena floor. "If you are done talking to Ms. Schnee, you'll find that your opponent is waiting for you."
How many matches had I not been paying attention to? Probably a lot, I suppose. "Sorry, Ma'am!" I called down to the arena proper, standing up from my seat.
I look at Weiss and give her a grin. "Wish me luck, Sunshine. Be back in a minute."
She shook her head exasperatedly. "You're ridiculous."
I puffed my lower lip out and went down. She didn't wish me luck, unfortunately. Hurt my soul, right in the heart.
Moving across from Pyrrha, I stood lazily in front of her. Posture crooked, legs loose, limbs dangling—I didn't look like I was taking this very seriously. I very much was.
Pyrrha quirked an eyebrow up, an amused expression on her face. How people managed to move one eyebrow, I would never know. "I would like to thank you, Nigel."
I gave the Invincible Girl a curious glance. "Oh? Why? I don't think I've done anything particularly thanks worthy."
Her lips twitched upwards. "On the contrary, I'd say you've done much." She stopped at that, being purposefully illusive. I hated when people did that.
Shrugging my shoulder, I turned towards Goodwitch. Too much talking hurts the soul. "Could we begin, Ma'am?"
I really only called her Ma'am because I had no clue as to her marital status. Mrs…Ms…I have no damn clue which one to use.
"Very well, Mr. Dietrich." She nodded, raising her whip. "...three…"
She began the countdown as Pyrrha raised her spear, the absolute picture of confident seriousness. Dichotomously, I was…the complete opposite. Slouched, in shorts and a tee, and gazing at her sluggishly.
It's not because I didn't take her seriously…
"...Begin!"
It's because I'm an asshole.
In an instant, Pyrrha was on me, spear narrowly missing my cheek as I barely moved out of the way. The blade moved at an impossible angle, defying inertia and physics as itcurvedtowards my face, aiming to take a chunk out of me.
Chi was pushed into my muscles and tendons, the repulsive force moving my muscles in ways that were physically not possible. I dropped, hand touching the ground to catch me as my foot went up to slam into my opponent.
My foot was badgered back by a disk of metal, a spear moving to pierce my guts. Twirling, I rolled around the metal shaft of her weapon as I was flung forward. Landing on my hands, I sprung myself back up to my feet.
Fighting Pyrrha was an experience. She was so practiced with her semblance that she instinctively used it to move her out of strikes. It was a lot like fighting a puppet on strings.
A fast, deadly puppet.
Pyrrha struck at me again, the tip of her spear inching terrifyingly close to my body. My hand jerked up, fingers so close to the spearhead that losing a digit was a real possibility.
Chi flooded around my hand, enclosing my knuckles and the spear shaft. Aura hardened the mixture and I yanked backwards, right foot rising to strike her midsection, an ethereal blade encasing my toes.
Pyrrha twirled, dancing with the momentum and niftily weaving out my leg. She purposefully tipped back as my arm was forced to outstretch. I let her weapon go to avoid breaking my arm.
Swiveling on my foot as I was spun around, I swung my fist outwards, my knuckles glancing against the smooth metal of her breastplate. I tilted my head to avoid a thrown knife.
Another knife was launched at me and I backpedaled, the pair of knives swarming and flying at my body like a pair of ferocious wasps. Pyrrha refused to let up—spear and knives barraging me in a flurry.
I focused on dodging, narrowly avoiding the sharp objects aiming to end me. Drop, weave, bob, tilt—my body ran through these motions, a broken record repeating task after task.
Leaning back to dodge the point of her spear, her swarming knives swam down to pierce my chest. A kick swept my legs before I could further move myself, the blades inching dangerously close to my skin.
I was falling, my body fully suspended in the air as three weapons moved to slice me to bits. Time inched to a crawl as I slowed my perception of it down, reality moving like it was encased in molasses.
I spun, my front looking towards Pyrrha as I burst Chi out of my gut. I was repulsed back, flung away from the redhead from a burst of concussive force.
Rolling with the blow, I tumbled into the ground and launched myself back up, snagging one of the knives from the air as I did so. It shook and trembled, begging to be freed from my grip.
I refused to let go, striking the other knife with its brother. Batted down, the knife sunk into the floor. I gave it a quick stomp to make sure it couldn't get out.
A bullet rippled towards my head. Then another. And another. Letting my aura take the blow, I slammed the knife in my hand into the floor. Back to one on one, now.
Pushing Chi out of my feet, I was propelled forward in a rough imitation of a rocket. Pyrrha dodged my fist and my elbow and my kick. Blow after blow, strike after strike—all were dodged.
Slamming my knuckles towards her face, she was moved backwards like an invisible force was tugging her by a string. My right leg swept out, vying to topple her to the ground. Yet again, she swerved the hit by a hair.
I built distance, striking the ground as I moved backhard. I needed to try something different. Luckily, I had a few ideas.
Tilting my head to the side to dodge a bullet, I put my hands out and channeled Chi. Pyrrha, realizing I was attempting something, began to move forward. I slowed down my perception of time even more to stop that.
See, Chi let me generate a repulsive force in an applied direction. Some of the ideas I gave to Weiss were ideas I could also use. I was going to combine some of them.
Chi shaped in my hands into a sort-of barrel shape, aura hardening the structure. Air was forced into the nozzle, highly pressurized air bursting out of my hands and straight towards Pyrrha.
She was slammed back, immediately raising her shield as she tried to stop the mighty winds. It helped her little as the air in the structure was swirled, friction making heat that singed at the redheads shield.
After a few moments, she raised her hand. "I surrender." She called out. I quickly stopped, exhaustion licking at my brain. If she lasted a bit longer, I'd have lost. Or, maybe, she'd have also lost. She cut her losses earlier, then.
"Mr. Dietrich wins." Goodwitch called out. "As that was the last fight of the day, class is dismissed."
"Good match." I called over to Pyrrha, putting my hands on my knees. "Almost had me there."
She brushed herself off, looking exhausted. "Then, I have something to work towards." She had a small smile on her face, looking satisfied.
The redhead was strange, I'd never met someone who actuallylikedlosing. I guess when you win so much, victory isn't nearly as sweet. "You should buy a crate of iron powder." I offer up, giving some advice. "You could use them like your knives but better."
An intrigued look passed her face. "I'd never thought of that…" Her lips tipped upwards. "Yes, I see. Thank you, Nigel. I'll leave you to go see Weiss."
She had a strange expression on her face, like she was in on a joke I had no clue of.
"Then, I will leave you to get back to Jaune and your team." I tipped my head and moved up to the stands where Weiss was waiting for me.
"Ready to head back?" I asked her, drooping in exhaustion.
She blew air from her nose. "Will you stay awake if we don't?" She looked suitably amused.
"Awake?" I muse out loud, pondering. "Hmm…I'll be awake. You'll just have to carry me back to our room."
She rolled her eyes. "Of course I would have to. We can eat later and I'll put my weapons away later, then. Let's head up." Weiss turned and dragged me by my hand, pulling me out the door and into the halls.
It was only a short walk back to the dorm. Our dorm was very dormy. I had let Weiss decorate the whole thing as I had no talent for that area of expertise. I wasn't very artistic. Weiss was.
That meant the room was actually pretty bright and lively. Our beds were pushed together and the room had other furniture moved around. We had a couch across from a television in one corner. In another, we had Weiss's desk. On the walls were different Schnee family symbols.
Overall, I actually liked what she'd done with the place.
Once we entered the room, I bolted to our couch. I wasn't going to sleep just yet, there was something I still wanted to talk about. "Hey, Weiss?"
"Hm?" She said, pulling clothes out of her drawer.
I waved my hand. "Go change first. We can talk in a bit."
She didn't respond, so I took that as a sign of agreement. A few minutes later she sat next to me, dressed in a baggy white tee and shorts.
"Stealing my style?" I teased her, looking over what she was wearing. She looked nicer when she was more casual, honestly.
"What? You mean your homeless fit?" She teased right back, eyes roaming over me judgmentally.
"Homelesschic, thank you very much." I defend, crossing my arms over myself. "I am very fashionable."
She gave me a deadpan stare. "Mhm. Sure."
I pouted at her as she continued to stare at me like I was but a pauper to her regal elegance. Wasn't my fault we weren't all born with a silver spoon in our mouth.
"Mean." I whined playfully, leaning back on the couch. "Anyways, I wanted to ask you something."
Her eyes gained a more serious glint as she developed an awkward light. "What—what'd you want to ask me about?" She stuttered out.
"I…" Why'd I have to hesitate on this? "I wanted to ask you if you'd be with me when I called my parents? I haven't talked to them in…a while. I'd—it'd mean a lot if you were with me."
I hated actingvulnerable. It was a very uncomfortable way to behave—to brandish your soul to someone else. Almost like you were ripping out your heart and saying,hey, look at this and don't stab it!
I didn't like it much.
Weiss's face softened as her hand rested on my forearm. "Of course I will. You need not even ask."
My face must've learned to imitate a furnace recently, because I felt like snow would melt with how toasty I was.
"Th—thanks…" I mutter awkwardly.
Why was I getting like this? Why why why whywhy?
"So—I'll…um, I'll call them now."
Weiss retracted her arm immediately, doing a good cherry imitation. "R—right…"
I pulled out my Scroll and went to my parent's contact. They were odd, only having one Scroll between them. Considering both were retired, they never went very far from each other, so they reasoned they only needed one.
I pressed the call button and my Scroll rang.
And rang.
And rang.
Over and over it rang. Eventually, it went to voicemail. I hung up and stared down at my Scroll. They never didn't pick up. Never.
What if someone hurt them? I mean, they lived in a good area, but…robbers always existed, right? Or, the house could have burned down. What if they'redeadand I had spent months justignoringthem.
I was such a horrible son, I—
"Maybe their Scroll is dead?" Weiss offered to me, seeing my despondent expression. Her hand rubbed my shoulder comfortingly. "They'll call you later, then."
"Yeah…" I murmured, glancing down at my Scroll in worry. "They could just be busy or their Scroll is dead. I'm overthinking things. Nothing bad happened."
I laid my head on the arm of the couch, staring off into space. I flinched as a cold hand brushed against my scalp, nails gently trailing across the top of my head.
I turned my eyes towards Weiss, her face flushed. My face was flushed. I opened my mouth and closed it.
It felt good.
I didn't want her to stop.
And so, we stayed like this for a while. Weiss rubbed my head as I enjoyed her touch. It was nice. It helped pull me out of my thoughts.
Unfortunately, all good things must come to an end. This time, it ended with a knock at our door. Weiss's hand quickly left my scalp.
"...I'll get it." She told me, standing up and moving to the front door. I trailed behind her, curious who wanted to see us at…
I checked my Scroll.
…eight at night.
Weiss opened the door, a head of black hair entering our sight. Weiss shot Ruby a tired look. "What is it, Ruby?"
"So…" Ruby began hesitantly, her hands nervously playing with each other. "We're all friends, right? And—and friends help each other, right?"
Weiss opened her mouth, likely to shoot Ruby down. I lightly elbowed my best friend, a glare meeting me in response.
"We're friends." I nodded sleepily. "But, can it wait for the morning?" I almost begged.
"See…um…it can't." Ruby had a really sorry expression on her face.
I exhaled deeply, trying to pull energy from the air. I failed. "What is it?"
Ruby brightened. Barely. "So—so…" Her face had a sort of spazzed look to it. "Yang and I were in the room with Blake, right? Well, see, Blake always has her bow on and Yang was messing around and pulled it off and then Blake got really, really mad because she had these cat ears under there and now I feel really bad and Blake ran off and Yang doesn't know what to do and I just…"
"We'll help you find her."
Ruby perked up as Weiss shot me a look. I stared Weiss in her eyes and she deflated. "...we'll help you." Weiss relented, looking at her feet. "But, if we can't find her in an hour, we're going to bed and looking tomorrow. It is too late and we are too tired."
The energetic girl was very elated. "Thank you, thank you, thank you! I don't know what I'd have done if you guys didn't help us out because Yang isn't—it would've been so hard without you guys and JNPR has too many people and Blake seems embarrassed and too many people might make hermoremad so I couldn't—"
I rested a hand on her shoulder. "It's fine. We get it." I gave her a tired smile. She matched it with an equally tired one.
Guess my night just got much longer.
