7Summary: Spoilers for Volume 3 - Chapter 4. The burden of being a Schnee weighs heavily on Weiss' shoulders. Taking up late night training sessions on her lonesome, she grows frustrated at her lack of progress.
Weiss on the Rooftop
RWBY
People are born. People grow. People die.
Some life is cut shorter than others. Some live joyously long. It is not uncommon in the rural parts of Remnant for several generations to live under the same household, performing the same duty that they have been throughout the centuries. Potters, farmers, blacksmiths, merchants, and even bandits can afford that luxury.
Not for a Schnee.
Schnees cannot be the common person. Schnees cannot afford to be damsels in distress. There is no prince charming with blonde hair and blue eyes riding on a white horse in gallant armor to save a Schnee in danger.
That is why Weiss had to do this alone.
On the rooftop at night, when her team slept soundly in their beds, Weiss trained.
She practiced.
She strained and bled and struggled with only the moon as her witness.
"Come on… come on… come on!"
The glyph was strained. A scream echo'd in her mind of unearthly nature. A magical hym, scorched by her frustration, began tearing itself apart into an inaudible mess. Weiss thought of her sister. The glyph flickered and howled. Weiss thought of her friends. The glyph composed itself but felt too weak.
"Almost there…"
Weiss focused. She thought of all the people counting on her.
There was Ruby, and Yang, and even Blake… Everyone else too! Team JNPR, Team CFVY… Professor Goodwitch and Professor Ozpin and all the rest!
The glyph flickered with strength.
Heck!, Weiss thought. Who was going to save Jaune when he inevitably gets in trouble?
The glyph brimmed with life for a brief moment.
Then Weiss thought of her father.
The glyph shattered.
"Argh!"
Weiss screamed into the night like a wolf to the moon.
"Why is it so hard?" Weiss panted to herself. Her voice was strained from the grunting and her teeth sore from grinding against themselves. She took a sip from her water bottle set aside on a rooftop bench and checked her scowl.
Midnight.
Her team must still be snoozing. About his time Ruby would be mumbling about cookies and thick chocolate milk. Blake would be quietly curled in her bunk, purring away into the night. Yang would be sprawled all over her mattress, with her clothes disheveled inappropriately.
Weiss sighed.
Another night. Another failure.
Weiss rubbed her eyes. She'd need to catch up on her beauty sleep in history again.
'This is ridiculous', she fumed to herself. It all came so easily to everyone else… Weiss gritted her teeth. Was she really so weak? Why did she have to be the black sheep of the Schnees?
A butterfly few in front of Weiss, as if mocking her.
In a swift, wrathful stroke, Weiss sliced the butterfly in two.
Weiss took heavy breaths. She would need to rest a bit long-
Then a cold sensation enveloped her cheek.
"Hard at work, Snow Angel?"
"Aaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!"
Weiss' heart skipped a beat at the unexpected visitor. Her hand was pressed against her chill cheek.
"Jaune!"
There he was, Jaune Arc, laughing his goofy face off. In his hand was a drink, covered in cold droplets. He looked pressed for sparring.
"What are you doing here?" Weiss demanded to know. She crossed her arms, her face turning red. The thought of her secret training sessions exposed would just cause her to die of embarrassment! Imagine that! A Schnee who can't even do the most basic of Schnee spells!
"Light exercise," Jaune shrugged. "You?"
"Same," Weiss coughed. Her lungs still felt dry from being winded.
"Here," Jaune offered the bottle. "I promise, I washed it. It's fresh."
"What is it?" Weiss eyed it suspiciously. "I know you and Nora share weird health drink recipes."
"Nothing, just 100% diet dihydrogen monoxide," Jaune said with a wink.
"Diet… water…?"
"Yeah, we learned about chemical nomenclature the other-"
"Yeah I got that, but how do you get diet water?"
"It's a joke."
"Oh."
Weiss stared at the bottle. She sighed and took a drink. Her lips felt cool next to the plastic. A rare breeze swept over her, as she felt the delightfully chilled liquid move down her throat.
It was pleasant.
She emptied near half of the bottle.
Wiping her lips, Weiss handed the bottle back.
"You're not going to do anything weird with that bottle, are you?"
"Cross my heart, hope to die," said Jaune. "Nothing weird with the bottle. Got it."
Weiss rolled her eyes.
She crossed her arms and looked to the moon.
"Don't say that."
Jaune blinked. "Huh? Say what?"
"Say 'hope to die'," Weiss clarified.
"It's just a jok-"
Weiss glanced back at Jaune.
"You never know when it's going to come true," Weiss said sadly.
Jaune nodded and muttered a sorry.
"Don't worry about it," Weiss shrugged. "Besides, if you're ever in a life-or-death situation I'll probably be the one that ends up bailing you out."
Jaune laughed. "Either you or Pyrrha would be my bet."
Weiss smiled. "Then it'll be a race to see who saves your useless log first," Weiss said with a light punch on Jaune's arm. Jaune rubbing the area where he was faux struck.
"Are you going to bed soon?"
"In a little while," said Weiss. "There's a move I want to make headway in before I turn in."
Jaune nodded.
"My dad always said, 'The secret to fighting well is a woman worth fighting for. That's how I met your mother.' I figure for a girl it must be a guy worth fighting for then?"
Weiss shrugged. "Who knows?"
Jaune returned it. "Who knows."
They stayed silent, unsure what to say next, for the moment.
"Um… I think I'm going to take a shower before I sleep. Do you want me to walk you back to your dorm?"
Weiss shook her head. "Thanks for the offer but…"
"Yeah, 'training'," Jaune said with air quotes. He began making his way towards the rooftop acess door. "Whatever it is, it's not ruining your beauty sleep over it. Good night."
And Jaune began his descent.
"I'll keep that in mind," said Weiss. She stood at the doorway, watching as Jaune waved without looking back.
Once again, Weiss was alone with just the moon for company.
After a while, Weiss could only see the depths of the shadows descending the staircase.
"Goodnight," Weiss murmured to no one.
Well, that was more than enough of a break! Weiss scolded herself at being too lenient with her training regime before turning to the proper stance.
As she performed the sequence of moves again, Weiss kept Jaune's words in mind.
A guy worth fighting for, huh?, Weiss mused.
Obviously her father and Whitley weren't it.
The glyph that was forming was barely even a speck.
Neptune?
The glyph was like a small candle, flickering in the wind. Weak and insignificant.
What a bust. Not that it surprised Weiss. The glyph was weak and needed something to sustain it.
Her heartbeat was rising. Her lungs were going ragged. Her muscles were strained.
Weiss gripped her rapier tighter and tighter, forcing it to stay solvent.
The glyph hung by a threat.
Ugh, Weiss thought. Gotta hold on!
The stress was becoming more and more difficult to contain. It was as she was trying to keep sand from spilling out from the cracks in the her hands and her hands were being pried open with pliers.
Deep down, Weiss was glad Jaune had left. She didn't want him to see this. Ha! Weiss thought. Would he laugh at her? Maybe he'd mock her… Weiss shook her head. He wouldn't do that… He'd probably say some stupid line to try to encourage me.
The glyph showed a single cohesive rune.
It was a sign of life.
Weiss' eyes widened. She thought back to Jaune's words.
Maybe, if it was him, then-
A flash of blue light blinded Weiss.
In the moment it took for Weiss to rub her eyes and for her vision to return, she felt a sensation she had never felt. She felt something warm and soft and comforting… it was as if… it felt so naturally right.
Then.
Weiss saw it.
There, fluttering in moonlight light, was a small butterfly.
The wings flapped gently in its flight. It swayed in the cold air. It had just been freshly born after all.
Then, as soon as Weiss realized that what she had just accomplished, it vanished into the wind.
It left a smile on Weiss' lips.
There was only one thought that prevaded her mind throughout the miraculous breakthrough.
"That's a start!"
Weiss on the Rooftop Fin