Wings
Weiss didn't think it would be this hard to focus in Professor Port's class, not that his tales were really that interesting but she was usually able to jot down notes even with Ruby's small distractions, a small spasm of pain raced up her back left-wing joint reminding her that this wasn't her usual distractions. She grits her teeth through it trying hard to get back to her notes even as her hands tremble with the still-present pain racing up and down her back till it dulled to numb pins and needles.
She knew it was partly her fault, she just didn't have the time or place to stretch them out anymore. And she refused to out herself as a faunus, to anyone. It was bad enough that she was a Schnee with Faunus wings. She wasn't oblivious; she knew her mother had to have cheated on her father, but he was still the only father she knew, even if he wasn't a good example of one. Another painful spasm went up her back, and her right-wing twitched in its confines under her coat.
She was considering finding an empty classroom, storage room, hell the attic just to let her wings breathe. The only real bonus was at least she didn't have feathers she knew that she was some form of bat Faunus as horrified as she was that of all traits she ended up with the one most seen in monster movies and folklore. But having feathers would have been way worse, the amount of care they would've needed, the care she had no way of looking into without her father catching on to her research. The only help she had with any of this was her sister and Klein, she wasn't sure if she'd ever be able to trust Whitley, he was just too much like her father.
The ring of the bell that marked the end of the class, brought her thoughts back to the present. The heiress opened her eyes to look for the clock. When did she close them? Ignoring the muttering of her classmates, namely Jaun, Weiss packed up her notebook, while trying not to let the mild disappointment at the lack of notes nag at her. Body stiff, the heiress made her way quickly from the room and headed for the nearest empty room.
" Uh Weiss, where are you going?" The familiar nonchalant tone of Yang briefly stopped Weiss' progress towards freedom. The sudden stop caused a tremor, followed by a throb of dull pain to race through her wings. Weiss held her breath for a second before letting out a dramatic sigh and turning sharply toward the blonde and the rest of her team.
" To the restroom if you must know, Xiao Long!" She felt her eye twitch from holding back a grimace from showing as dull pain throbbed as a result of her sharp turn. With a glare fueled by pain rather than any real irritation, the heiress turned with a bit more caution and stormed with an even clack of her heels.
" Ok, does anybody else think that was a little odd? Besides, that's the wrong way..." Yang huffed as she planted a hand on her hip and gestured with the other at Weiss's receding form. " Weissicle is usually stiff on a good day but today she seems more than a little tightly wound."
"She seemed about the same to me." Was Blake's deadpan reply.
" No, yang's onto something there." Ruby sighed with a frown.
"I just can't seem to figure out what though."
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Locked in an out-of-order bathroom located in the fourth year's dorm hall. Weiss let out a sigh of pained relief as she spread her wings as far as they would go.
Getting into the bathroom had been child's play. Almost all security systems in the academies were based on Atlas. This meant that they were also originally based on the one SDC used, so with a little hacking, all Weiss had to do was log in with her security code from home and instant access. Pops and cracks filled the room as the heiress flexed her wings around her and then stretched them behind her. Blue eyes scanned the room stopping curiously at the stall door. Wondering how much weight the sturdy-looking door could handle before Weiss shook her head to get rid of the thought. She could hear her father's voice in her head, you are not some animal! Loud, vicious, and scathing like it usually is after a White Fang incident. She wasn't going to hang upside down just because she got the impulse to. The heiress brought her wings forward to scan them with a critical eye. They had always been white just like every other thing about her family. Pale, soft, barely there pink, with a fine short white fur going down her finger bones, and leather wing flaps just as pale ending with long talon-like nails. The longest nail is the one located on the thumb joint. With a brief flap Weiss wondered if she could even fly with these, and then almost immediately felt stupid. To fly would mean to come out as a faunus, and that couldn't happen.
With one final stretch of her wings, Weiss began to fold them back up and buckle her wing holster back on, custom-made leather straps to help keep her wings against her back. She couldn't dawdle or her team would be suspicious. Making sure that there was nothing out of place she threw on her coat and headed back to her dorm. Keeping her ears peeled for anybody coming towards her she made her way back to the dorm. It was almost too easy for the heiress. The halls were empty and not a sound to be heard except for the occasional excited muffled conversation from a few of the rooms she passed. Weiss was feeling pretty good about her stolen moment alone to stretch and decompress. That is until she opened the door and her team was there staring at her with contemplative looks. Feeling very much like a deer caught in the headlights the bat faunus reached for the usual mask of irritation. "What in the world are you all looking at?" Weiss huffed, putting her hands on her hips.
The rest of the team remained silent before each looked at each other Blake and Yangs collectively stared at their team leader who jumped slightly at the attention before sighing and turning to the heiress.
" Well, uh you just seemed." Ruby started before she seemed to think for a second before finishing. " Uh, well more Weissy than er um normal?" Ruby winced at the end of that sentence. "Wait, that's not what I meant! I mean."
She sighed, rubbing the back of her neck. "You seem more on edge and agitated lately, something wrong?"
Weiss felt her wings twitch under her wing holster as anxiety sparked in her nerves. She thought she had managed to mask her pain and frustration but it seemed it was leaking out through her mood anyway. The heiress scrambles for a moment looking for an obvious reason to turn her team's attention away. Her wings twitched madly in their holster, the only sign of her nerves. " I'm just a little stressed with what's all over the news." The heiress threw out the first thing that popped into her brain. " With all the dust robberies and the frequent White Fang rallies! I'm just a little stressed at the moment." The tense of Blake's shoulders at what she said drew Weiss' eye, but before she could say anything about it her focus was derailed by her blonde teammate.
" Yeah, there have been dust robberies just about everywhere." Yang nodded and frowned. " I still don't see why anyone would need that much dust?" The blonde turned to her partner, but before Blake could even say anything Ruby interrupted the discussion.
" Yeah, well before I knew you I would believe that, but now I know you are just trying to change the subject, Weiss." Her team leader narrowed her eyes at her after she finished her sentence. "Plus why would you care about the dust robberies?"
" Uh, it's dust! What part of the heiress of the Schnee Dust Company do you not understand?" Weiss said hotly, hands on her hip and leaning forward to give her partner a sharp look.
" Yeah but isn't that your father's business?" As Ruby finished her sentence her eyes widened and she winced. Weiss felt a rush of irritation flushed through her.
" Ruby! It's a family company!" The heiress' voice raised to match the hot feeling going down her face and neck. " One that I will run someday!" She finished with a huff and walked over to her desk to get started on her schoolwork. As she settled down with her books she could hear the rustle of fabric, and Yang's stage whispered 'Well that blew up.' Followed by Ruby's mumbling 'I didn't mean it that way.' The heiress rolled her eyes and began to focus on her work, and tried to ignore the weighted feeling of guilt settling in her gut, she knew Ruby hadn't meant that in a bad way.
She refused to bring the conversation back especially when she barely got out of that with her secret safe.
An hour or so later and she is halfway through Oobleck's assignments and the guilt is still eating away at her, she felt as if her stomach tied itself in knots and settled like a weight at the bottom.
She glanced around at her teammates trying not to make it too obvious. Blake was reading, as usual. Yang was doing her class work, and Ruby was playing her scroll game but she had her books and assignments next to her….it seemed she wasn't really into her game, she wasn't moving with jolting excited movements to the sound of mini explosions from her game. Or had her usual grin as she finally beat the level…and most telling of all her eyes were distant like she was playing but not really there at that moment.
Something in Weiss's stomach twisted the wave of guilt it brought forth forced her to look away.
She glared at her half-finished assignment wishing she could just shove the guilty feeling away. It would be easier if she hadn't grown to care for her team leader, hell her whole team. But she had despite her çold attitude and approach in the beginning made friends. And she wasn't sure what to do with these feelings…guilt.
Realistically she knew apologizing for her ill-aimed temper would be for the best but she found it hard to grasp. How did she apologize? Was an apology enough?
Apologies never worked out for her, especially with her father. She could almost hear her father, voice bitter and condescending.
-Apologies don't fix anything!! You're a Schnee! Behave like one-
The sound of a book closing snapped her out of her thoughts. Looking up to see Yang stretch with a yawn before slipping down from her bed.
"Welp, I'm heading to the cafeteria, anyone wanna come with?" Yang did another long stretch before looking around at the rest of her team.
"Sure." Said Blake closing her book and sliding it under her pillow.
"Rubes?"
Ruby didn't even look up; she just shook her head no.
Yang sighed, "Just don't skip kay, eat something at some point later."
Ruby didn't reply as her sister left with Blake right behind her, the sudden silence made Weiss uncomfortable.
She felt bad about her behavior earlier but had no idea how to go about apologizing.
And the more the silence stretched the more she wanted to run or for Ruby to just say something.
"Um… Ruby?.." Weiss flushed with embarrassment when her voice came out a squeak, she quickly cleared her throat.
"Ruby?"
"...Yeah, Weiss?" Ruby looked down at her from her bunk.
"I-I.." Weiss closed her mouth with a snap and looked away from her, her father's voice snapping at her for stuttering.
She cleared her throat once more and tried again. "I wanted to apologize f-for earlier…I knew you were just trying to help and hadn't meant how it came out."
Ruby put her scroll away the sound of the pause screen music the only other sound in the room as she gave the heiress her full attention.
"I've just been stressed and with the White Fang here in Vale," she took a deep breath and glanced up at Ruby only to look away once more as soon as their eyes met. "I know that's no excuse, b-but…I…im sorry for snapping at you."
Silence followed after she finished and she continued to stare at her desk hand clenched into tight fists guilt and nervous fear swirled and mixed as she waited for Ruby to respond, to say something, to yell or tell her she didn't accept her apology because apologies don't fix-
The sound of shuffling broke her from her thoughts and before she could do anything or even look up she was being gently enveloped in Ruby's arms. She was being hugged by Ruby, she looked up and blinked her eyes wide in shock. Weiss could count how many times she'd been hugged and it was never after an apology, well unless it was Klein or Winter.
"It's ok Weiss, I forgive you," Ruby said softly into her shoulder. "I just want you to know you can talk to us, we're teammates, we'll look out for each other."
"O-Okay…" Weiss replied voice shakey, she cleared her throat again after some time passed. "you can let go now, Ruby."
"oh! Right hehehe!" Ruby let go and stepped back scratching the back of her neck with a sheepish smile. "so….food?"
Weiss sighed but smiled."sure."
"And don't think I've forgotten, we'll come back to this..but maybe later," Ruby said as they both walked out of the dorm together.
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This will not become a habit! Weiss stewed in irritation to herself upside down. Knees hooked around a ceiling joist beam in the low rafters of an attic for the dorm. With her hacked pilfered blueprints of beacon saved to her scroll, it had been a lot easier to find a place to stretch and hide.
The heiress' mind went back to the incident at the dock a few weeks ago. Of all the things she expected to find out at Beacon, another faunus hiding in plain sight had not been one of them. Blake's hidden trait and her past sparked envy, and panic in the bat faunus. Which was why her reaction to the newly revealed secrets had been so bad. It was hard enough to hide when it was just the three supposedly human teammates. Now the heiress had to worry about a newly revealed faunus teammate. She felt her wings flex and flutter anxiously. The fact that she was once White Fang didn't help settle her wings.
The White Fang had been a reason for anxiety, frustration, and stress. For as long as she could remember her father would rant endlessly about the actions of the White Fang. The shouts of rage against the organization, and faunus slurs were a common occurrence while growing up. It would always cause Weiss a lot of anxiety, and stress whenever her father found her lack of hate or agreement to his many opinions on the whole of the faunus race. When the executions of board members began happening it settled in her fear of them. While she could understand their strife she didn't agree with the actions taken. The heiress stretched out her wings as bitterness settled in her chest. She brought one in front of her. Why did her trait have to be so hard to hide? Flexing the thumb bone in her left wing she frowned at the sharp dew claw. They would need to be clipped soon. The bat Faunus sighed and flicked her wings out in one final full extension.
She needed to get back to the dorm. There wasn't a lot of time she could avoid her studies… or her teammates.