The Winter Challenge - Chapter 12 (Patreon)

The next morning was different.  Warmer.  Softer.  And the sleep Weiss got felt extraordinarily restful, like the sleep after a vigorous day of training only without the sore muscles to go with it.  The moment she opened her eyes, she realized why this morning was different.

Ruby had fallen asleep in Weiss’ bed.  

Tucked near the wall and still sleeping, Ruby looked so peaceful that Weiss nearly ‘aww’d at the sight, but kept that thought to herself so as not to disturb the moment.  She’d seen Ruby sleep before - Ruby loved naps, after all - but this was her first opportunity to observe the cuteness so closely.  

Widely known for her boundless energy and effusive speed, this was a side of Ruby that very few had the honor of seeing.  This was Ruby recharging - slowly rebuilding the energy she would exhaust during the day.  This was Ruby without the responsibilities of team leader or the goals of a future huntress destined for greatness.  

This was Ruby in her most basic, most vulnerable state - and Weiss was one of the few deemed worthy enough to see it.  Not just witness it, but lay right there beside her...

When a soft sigh slipped through Ruby’s lips, Weiss resisted the urge to reach over and run her hand through Ruby’s hair.  Ruby’s hair was soft and light, like the best of downs... 

That dalliance disappeared, however, when she heard the sounds of someone else waking up.  As soon as she turned away from Ruby, reality dropped like a bucket of cold water on her head.  

Yang grabbed her scroll and checked for messages while still laying in bed.  After a quick glance, however, she dropped the device onto the covers and sighed.  Without asking, Weiss knew what she’d hoped for - a message from Blake - and she quickly understood why.  

They weren’t the first ones up today, as Blake’s bed was already empty and she was nowhere to be seen.  Based on how last night went, she must have slipped out early this morning without any of them hearing.  

Her absence was another bad sign.  After a night to think about the situation and calm down, she still decided that avoidance was the best course of action.  Avoidance of Yang, of talking, of any type of communication.

While Weiss watched, Yang kicked off her covers and jumped down from her bed.  Her gaze immediately went to Blake’s bed, and she confirmed it was empty with another sigh.  Only then did she look at Weiss and manage a small smile before heading into the bathroom.

Sitting up with a sigh of her own, Weiss watched the bathroom door close before frowning at her hands.  She’d never considered herself a very empathetic person, but her heart hurt for Yang.  For Blake too, because Blake was reacting from a place of fear that Weiss understood all too well.  Fear of opening up.  Fear of getting too close.  Fear of being vulnerable only to get hurt.

Hearing rustles from beside her, she looked over and smiled at the first glimpse of sleepy silver.  

“Good morning,” she whispered while Ruby blinked and rubbed her eyes.  

“Morning...”  A yawn slipped out, which succeeded in making Weiss yawn before she shook the sleep away.  “We don’t have anything to do today, right?”  Ruby’s voice was muffled as she burrowed into Weiss’ pillow, which Weiss snatched away so she wouldn’t go back to sleep.  

“We should get up anyway.”

“But whyyy...” Ruby whined, flopping on her side and pouting up at Weiss.  The pout was adorable, and Weiss might have acquiesced under different circumstances.  Today, however, they had a problem to solve.  Before she came up with a response, however, Yang walked into the room and halfheartedly tossed her clothes towards the hamper.  

“Bathroom’s free,” she mumbled before pulling herself up to her bed and grabbing her scroll.

Just like that, Ruby sat up.  After giving Yang a long look, she turned to Weiss, who nodded to silently say ‘yes, that’s why we should get up.’  Thankfully, Ruby understood.  But she always understood when it came to helping someone in need.  

“You wanna go first?” she whispered, and Weiss nodded before getting out of bed and grabbing her outfit for the day.  

Ruby popped out of bed right after, and as Weiss walked into the bathroom, she glanced over her shoulder in time to see Ruby hop up onto Yang’s bed.  Relieved that Ruby was working some of her sisterly magic on Yang, Weiss still rushed through her morning routine while trying to come up with a solution.  

The situation felt out of her control.  She hated when situations felt out of her control, but what could she do?  Blake refused to talk, Yang looked heartbroken, and, with classes starting in just a couple of days, there was hardly any time to fix this.  

Somehow, she needed to get Blake and Yang to talk.  Alternatively, she could track down the insolent male responsible for ruining her perfect plans and give him a firm scolding.  While that course of action seemed a little unreasonable, it also felt like the only solution that would make her feel better right now.

Shelving that idea for now, she walked out of the bathroom and found Ruby snuggled into Yang’s side showing off Grimm Bashers on her scroll.  Even though Yang still looked sad, she accepted her sister’s presence because - as Ruby put it - she ‘kind of had to.’  

Weiss had always envied their closeness, but that envy wasn’t nearly what it used to be.  It was a little hard to be jealous when she knew that Ruby would do the same for her if she ever needed it.

“And then you...” Ruby mused while hastily tapping the screen.  Then, her eyes widened and her taps grew faster - so fast they were nearly untrackable - before she squealed and ceased her efforts.  When the device made a sad sound, Yang actually chuckled.

“And then you die?” she asked as Ruby sighed.  

“I’m getting better, I swear!” 

“Uh huh...” 

Having succeeded in getting Yang to laugh, Ruby smiled at Weiss before jumping down and hurrying into the bathroom to get changed.  The moment Ruby disappeared, however, Yang’s gloomy aura returned.  

“Good morning,” Weiss said, but Yang simply nodded in response instead of saying anything.  From the way she tapped the side of her scroll against the palm of her hand, she was waiting for a message - or hoping for a message.

Not knowing what else to say, Weiss sat at her desk and waited for Ruby to get ready.  She wanted to assure Yang that Blake would message soon, but she couldn’t do that when she didn’t believe it herself.  If Blake was determined to freeze someone out, she would.  But she couldn’t do that to Yang, could she?

She couldn’t - Weiss was certain of that.  But...she didn’t know how long this silence might last, so she couldn’t offer any consolation.  Instead, she sat at her desk and counted the seconds until Ruby finished getting ready and offered an excuse to talk again.

Fortunately, Ruby was fast.  She raced into the room several minutes later and immediately made a ruckus finding her scroll and putting on her shoes.  If Weiss had to guess, the silence made her equally uncomfortable - a feeling she combated by creating extra noise on her own.  

Normally, Weiss might mind.  Today, however, any sound was better than letting the gloomy atmosphere remain intact.

“We’re going to get breakfast!” Ruby announced, glancing at Weiss for approval before looking at Yang.  “Wanna come with us?”

“You go ahead.  I’ll just hang out here.”

When Ruby frowned at the response, Weiss realized that she had to bring up the topic no one had touched yet - their missing teammate.  They couldn’t just leave without acknowledging Blake’s absence.  Doing so felt...wrong.

“Do you think we should look for her?” she suggested before both she and Ruby turned to Yang for an answer.  But Yang shook her head and opened up a magazine instead.

“What’s the use?  If she doesn’t want to be found, she won’t be found.  Only thing we can do is wait for her to come back.”

Weiss shared a look with Ruby - both of them equally concerned by the lackluster response.  She’d never seen Yang so...disheartened...before, like her internal fire had been extinguished.  It was unnerving and...just didn’t feel right.

“Ok…” Weiss agreed because it felt like Yang left no room for argument.  “Then we’ll...see you later.”  

She followed Ruby to the door and dawdled before leaving the room, hoping Yang would change her mind.  When she did nothing but mutter “see you” instead, Weiss exchanged another look with Ruby before they closed the door behind them.

This wasn’t how Weiss expected the morning to start.  While watching the movie with Ruby last night, she thought they would have an awkward and silent morning where Blake continued to avoid eye contact and speaking.  She hadn’t expected Blake to be gone.

“Do you know what’s for breakfast?” she asked while they headed towards the cafeteria, knowing that her partner had the menu memorized by now.

“We can’t get breakfast now!”

Surprised by the response, she turned and gave Ruby a look.

“Why not?”

“Because we need to fix this!”  Reaching out, Ruby grabbed Weiss’ hands and gave them a shake.  “We can’t end winter break with Yang and Blake sad or mad or whatever at each other.”

“I agree, but...how do we fix it?”  

For the first time since the beginning of break, Weiss was at a loss for what to do.  After her ‘genius’ concert-date idea blew up in her face, she’d lost her confidence in helping her teammates get together.  So not only had they effectively forfeited The Winter Challenge, but she failed her personal challenge as well.  She didn’t care much about The Winter Challenge, but Blake and Yang…

“Well…”  Releasing just one of Weiss’ hands, Ruby tapped her chin.  “First, we need to find Blake.”

Weiss scoffed at the mere suggestion of ‘finding’ Blake anywhere. 

“And how do you suggest we do that?”

“We look for her!”

“Another scavenger hunt?” she mused, and Ruby grinned.

“But this one is way harder than the first.”

While Weiss’ confidence was still severely bruised, Ruby’s energy rejuvenated her determination.  They could fix this.  It was only a miscommunication, and what was the best way to fix a miscommunication?  Communication.  Blake and Yang needed to talk this out, which they couldn’t do if Blake was missing.  So find Blake, convince her to come back, then let the two of them talk in private.  It was the only option at this point.

“You’re right,” Weiss agreed with a nod.  “We need to find her and get her to talk to Yang.”

“That’s the plan!”  With their objective set, Ruby furrowed her brow and looked around.  “Now we just need to think of the most obscure places at Beacon...” 

While Ruby searched for inspiration, Weiss shook her head.

“If we can think of them, they aren’t very obscure,” she pointed out before her gaze fell upon the forest in the distance.  Just looking at it put a foreboding feeling in the pit of her stomach.  “Blake wouldn’t go into the forest alone...would she?” 

“No.” 

Weiss had nearly convinced herself that yes - yes, Blake would go into the forest alone - but Ruby’s definitive answer gave her reason to pause.

“How are you so sure?”

“Because I asked her not to go in there alone,” Ruby replied with a serious expression.  “And she promised she wouldn’t.  She wouldn’t break a promise.”

Moments like these proved just how good of a leader Ruby was, as she thought of contingencies that others wouldn’t have the foresight to address.  Blake would hide in the forest, putting herself in harm’s way doing so.  But she wouldn’t break a promise, especially not one to Ruby.  By seeing that possibility and addressing it in advance, Ruby kept Blake safe - although Blake probably didn’t see it that way.

“Ok,” Weiss agreed.  “Unless she took an airship to Vale...which I don’t think she would do...she’s here somewhere.”  Looking around Beacon’s sprawling campus, she sighed and shook her head.  “It will only take us a month to find her.”

“If we put our heads together, I’m sure we can do it!  We just need to come up with a list of places to search.”  Ruby rubbed her hands together and pursed her lips.  “Do you know any of her hiding places?”

“Doesn’t it defeat the purpose of a hiding place if we know about it?”

After making a face, Ruby went back to thinking.  “Then where do we start...?”

“First, we should think of possible places she might’ve gone,” Weiss replied while a plan spun into being.  “If you were Blake, with her skillset, where would you hide?”

“Umm...”  After thinking about the question for a few seconds, Ruby stumbled across the answer, which Weiss saw from the excited gleam that sprang into her eyes.  “Somewhere super dark or super high!”

“And super quiet,” Weiss added, knowing that the only reason Blake disappeared was so she could think, which meant she would seek out quiet to think in.

Gasping with an idea, Ruby grabbed Weiss’ hand and dragged her towards Beacon’s great hall.  

“The dungeon!”

Of course Ruby thought of the dungeon first.  Equal parts fascinated and terrified by the dark, lonely room underneath the auditorium, she never missed the chance to visit it - so long as someone accompanied her.  But Weiss agreed that it satisfied two of their three conditions - dark and quiet.  Students rarely went down there.  Even if they did, it was so dark they could probably walk right past Blake without noticing her.

That didn’t mean Weiss particularly enjoyed the dark, claustrophobic place...but she was willing to check it out for Blake and Yang’s sake.

“I hope she’s here,” she muttered while Ruby pried open the door to the stairwell.

“Me too,” Ruby whispered before motioning Weiss down the steps first.  When Weiss gave her a look of disbelief, however, she responded with a timid smile before going first.  She reached back for Weiss’ hand, however, which Weiss willingly gave as they snuck down the narrow flight of stairs together.

The dungeon wasn’t necessarily a scary place - Beacon used it to store excess classroom furniture - but it was cramped, poorly lit, and covered in cobwebs.  That, and the upperclassmen loved to tell ghost stories about it, some of which were quite chilling.

“So creepy…” Ruby whispered as they neared the bottom of the stairwell.  

“You’re the one who suggested this...” 

“Because she wouldn’t think we’d ever look here,” Ruby replied as they exited the stairwell and looked around the cluttered room with perpetually-broken lights.  

Rumor said that one of the ghosts haunting this place hated lights, so broke them whenever the staff replaced the bulbs.  the upperclassmen probably got a kick out of that, but eventually the school decided to stop wasting money and left the room without working lights.  Without working fixtures, the only light they had to see by was from the doorway they’d used to enter, which faded to nothing before reaching the edges of the room.

After letting their eyes adjust, Ruby crept forward while still holding Weiss’ hand.  Meanwhile, Weiss searched for signs of life but saw only stacks and stacks of old furniture.

“Blake?” she called out softly, hoping that their missing teammate might let them know she was there.  She wouldn’t just let them pass and not say anything, would she?

“Blaaakeee…” Ruby called from up front while leading them further into the darkness.  With every step, it became harder to see, but still they continued.

“I don’t think she’s here…”  While glancing towards the light of the stairwell, Weiss didn’t notice that Ruby had suddenly stopped walking and ran right into the back of her.

“Ow - Ruby -”

“Shhh…”  Ruby reached back and covered Weiss’ mouth.  “Do you hear that?”  When Ruby dropped her hand from Weiss’ mouth, Weiss slowed her breathing and searched for a noise in the silence.  

There it was - a rummaging sound on their left near the far corner of the room.  And, if Weiss listened closely enough, she thought she heard a voice.  A soft, indistinguishable voice muttering in the darkness.

“Let’s get out of here,” she whispered, but Ruby grabbed her hand to keep her from running back up the steps.

“Is someone there?” Ruby called out.  “Blake?  Is that you?”

The sounds abruptly stopped, and Weiss gave Ruby’s arm another tug but Ruby didn’t budge.  Suddenly, footsteps raced around a stack of desks, moving right towards them.

“Hey guys!”

When a dark, unidentifiable figure leapt towards them, Weiss screamed.

In surprise, not fear.

The sound had hardly faded away before she recognized the person standing in front of them, and embarrassment rapidly replaced her surprise.

“Nora?” Ruby asked while the girl grinned at them.

“What are you doing down here??” Weiss added while clinging to Ruby’s arm and waiting for the shock to wear off.  Her heart would start beating again, eventually...

“Lookin’ for something!”  Not at all perturbed by their reaction to her presence, Nora raised her hand and revealed a silver key identical to the ones they’d collected in the forest.  “Found another one!”

“They hid keys down here?” Ruby asked in surprise.  

“Pretty sure they hid some everywhere!” Nora replied before bounding up the steps.  “See ya!”

As Nora left the dungeon behind, Weiss frowned and tried to decide what annoyed her more - that there were secret challenges not listed in the directions, or that Nora, of all people, was somehow figuring them out on her own.

“Well...” Ruby said while turning to Weiss, who abruptly realized she was still clutching Ruby’s arm and finally let go.  “If Blake was here, I’m pretty sure she would’ve laughed when you screamed.” 

“I didn’t scream.”  When Ruby gave Weiss a look, she sighed and headed upstairs.  “Fine, I...yelped, a little.” 

“Your yelp sounds an awful lot like a cute, girly scream.” 

“Shush,” she said, but smiled when Ruby giggled behind her.  

Maybe she screamed a little, but that seemed like a normal reaction when tiptoeing around a dark, supposedly-empty dungeon and hearing what was almost certainly a ghost.

By the time they left the horrible cellar behind in favor of the bright morning sun, she could chuckle at their most recent adventure.  Still, she was glad only Ruby witnessed it.  Well, Ruby and Nora, who would either forget entirely or remember and bring it up at the most embarrassing moment possible.

“Guess we can mark that off the list,” Weiss muttered, looking around campus before meeting Ruby’s gaze.  “Maybe we should check the library next…”  

She didn’t want to say that Nora scared the living ghost out of her, but her heart still hammered in her chest from the fright.  That, combined with the dungeon’s general aura of foreboding, had her wishing that Blake chose somewhere near civilization as her hiding place today.

“You mean the libraries?” 

Sighing at the plural response, Weiss set off in the direction of the nearest one.  

“We’re going to check every one, aren’t we...” 

“We’ll never find her if we’re not thorough,” Ruby replied while catching up to Weiss and again taking her hand.  After glancing at their joined hands, Weiss nodded.

While she agreed with Yang’s decision - sit still and wait for Blake to return - she found merit in Ruby’s way of thinking.  They couldn’t let Blake come back on her own accord, because she would only do that after coming to her own conclusion.  And that conclusion might very well be that she would never pursue a relationship with Yang ever.  That was exactly what they didn’t need.

The libraries, unfortunately, were equally unhelpful.  Since break ended in a couple of days, everyone finally decided to work on their projects due in the upcoming week.  Basically...every library was far busier than expected.

“No way she’s here…” Ruby muttered while looking around yet another crowded room.  Not only was it busy, but it was also louder than normal, which would make Blake stay away.

“Well, we knew this would be hard.”  Still holding Ruby’s hand, Weiss pulled her partner out of the building and along the paths they’d been walking for hours now.  Honestly, she was surprised she couldn’t hear Ruby’s stomach grumbling by this point.

“Maybe we should search the high places next,” Ruby suggested while they walked across the quad.

“Where do we start?”

“How about...oh!  Let’s start at The Tower.”

“Good idea,” Weiss agreed while leading them that way.

The Tower was aptly named, as it towered above Beacon.  As the tallest building on campus, it was the highest point Blake could reach.  Even if she wasn’t there, which she probably wasn’t, maybe they could spot her from the balcony.

“I hope we can find her...” Weiss mused as they headed towards The Tower’s entrance.  For some reason, she suspected that the longer Blake and Yang were apart, the worse this misunderstanding became.  The mind could play horrible tricks when left to its own devices, and she didn’t want to imagine what they must be thinking right now.

It wasn’t a mistake - their feelings were real.  This was just...a bump in the road.  A very big bump in the road.

“We’ll find her.”  For extra reassurance, Ruby squeezed Weiss’ hand.  “Don’t worry.  We’ll look all day if we have to.”

The response was comforting, and Weiss wondered why she hadn’t looped Ruby into this endeavor earlier.  For whatever reason, she felt like romance was the furthest thing from Ruby’s mind - maybe because it was the furthest from her own.  That was potentially an incorrect assumption.  

Ruby was mature in unexpected ways.  While she insisted on watching silly cartoons and drinking milk every day, she also understood the intricacies of working with and leading others.

Weiss, for one, would follow her anywhere.

Upon entering the building, they took the elevator as far as it would go before using the stairwell for the last few flights of stairs.  When Weiss pushed open the door to the rooftop, a gust of wind tore the handle from her hand and slammed the door against the wall.  The resulting loud bang made her cringe, then a cold blast of air made her shiver.

“It’s cold up here,” she said, wrapping her arms around herself for warmth.

Cold, and deserted.  Blake wasn’t hiding here today.

“Maybe we can see her.”  Hurrying to the railing, Ruby leaned over and searched for any sign of their teammate.  After pulling her coat tighter, Weiss joined Ruby by the edge of the building and looked for Blake.

From here, they could see a good portion of Beacon.  But when Blake was just one small, stealthy person…

“See anything?” Ruby asked while scanning the buildings in the distance.    

“No...” 

Maybe if Weiss had a pair of binoculars, she could spot Blake, or spot a clue of where Blake might be.  Unfortunately, all she saw were empty rooftops and students carrying about their lives on the sidewalks below.

Sighing at the lack of progress, she turned away from the railing and led the way back down.  A growing part of her said that they should give up and go home.  Sure, she had a relationship to fix.  Sure, Blake and Yang might not work this out on their own.  But what was she supposed to do when she couldn’t find half of the couple she wanted to help create?

When they made it back to the quad, she stopped and sighed.  Her legs were tired.  She was hungry, which meant Ruby must be famished.  They were no closer to finding Blake, and they were running out of places to search.  What began as a somewhat hopeful quest now felt futile and pointless.  Beacon was too large for them to search everywhere, and Blake was capable of avoiding detection for years if she wanted to.

“Maybe we should go back?” Ruby offered after they stood there for several minutes.  “She’ll come home eventually...” 

Biting her lip and looking around, Weiss considered accepting that option but couldn’t escape the bad feeling it left her with.  What decision would Blake come to by then, and how determined would she be to see it through?  

After what happened, Weiss couldn’t imagine that Blake would decide to pursue her feelings for Yang again.  Not without a friendly nudge and reminder of how great they were together.  And if Weiss and Ruby couldn’t find her, how could they give her that nudge?  But what was the point of searching all day if they would never find her anyway?  She would only be found if she wanted to be found.

When Weiss turned back to Ruby - ready to give up and go home - her eyes caught something on the rooftop of a nearby classroom building.  From this distance, it looked like nothing more than a black speck, but it was a black speck that didn’t belong.

“You’re kidding me...” Weiss breathed out.  The response drew Ruby’s attention, and she turned around to see what Weiss was looking at.

“Is that…?”

“Who else could it be?” Weiss replied.  “Can you get Yang?”

After giving the rooftop one more glance, Ruby nodded and ran off to find her sister while Weiss hurried towards the building.  The closer she drew, the clearer it became that it was Blake sitting out on the rooftop by herself.  What wasn’t immediately clear was why she picked a spot so easily visible from one side of campus, but a theory formed in Weiss’ mind as she rushed into the elevator and prodded it to the top floor.

Blake couldn’t be found unless she wanted to be found.  Yet they found her.  Could that mean that, even in the midst of her self-exile, she wanted someone to find her?  She wanted someone to talk her away from the ledge she found herself on?  If so, maybe there was hope.

As soon as the elevator doors opened, Weiss found the closest window and pushed it open.  She then hopped onto the rooftop, made sure she had her balance, and walked over to Blake.

“You know how to pick a hiding spot,” she said while sitting beside Blake on the rooftop.  When Blake didn’t respond, Weiss looked over and saw that she looked exhausted - the bags under her eyes suggesting she hadn’t slept at all last night.

“Planning on coming down soon?” Weiss asked, trying to start some kind of conversation.  “You missed breakfast.”

Again Blake didn’t respond, so Weiss sighed.  

Grimm, Blake could be such a stick in the mud sometimes...

“Yang’s worried about you, you know.”

“Is she,” Blake finally said, her voice dull and disbelieving.

“Of course she is,” Weiss retorted, irritated that Blake would ever imply that Yang didn’t care.  Blake could have told Yang to jump off a cliff and she would still care just as much, if not more, than she had before.  She was that type of person - and Blake knew this.

But she responded with more silence.  Whatever was bothering her, she couldn’t get her mind off of it.  Weiss understood the dwelling, obsessive nature, and she knew how harmful it could be when left unchecked.  Fortunately, that’s where friends came in.

As much as this bothered Blake, she needed to talk about it.  She needed to get it out in the open and face it rather than let it fester in her mind.  

“What’s wrong, Blake?” Weiss finally asked, hoping that Blake considered her a close enough friend that she would be willing to talk.  “Yesterday, you two were the picture of happy.  Now you won’t even talk to her?”

After taking a big breath, Blake let it out in a sigh and said nothing.  When that was the end of the response, Weiss thought maybe they weren’t close enough - that Blake wouldn’t share these thoughts with her.  And that was...fine, although a little hurtful.  

Then Blake turned to look at her, and Weiss felt her heart fill with sadness when she saw Blake’s red-rimmed eyes.

“I guess...I just...really didn’t like that he kept asking her out, and she...didn’t seem very opposed to it...”

While not a complete response, it was a step in the right direction.

“Why not?” Weiss prodded, trying to sound impartial even though she already knew the answer.  But it didn’t matter if she knew the answer - Blake needed to learn the answer.

But Blake shrugged and turned away.

“It’s...hard to say.”

She could say that again.  It was pretty difficult to fall in love with your partner if you refused to admit that you were in love with them.  

“I’m willing to listen,” Weiss offered.  “I know it might be hard to explain, but...I have time.”

After trying everything else, this was all she had left to give - her time, her willingness to listen, and her best efforts to help.  It might not be much, but...she hoped it was enough to get Blake through this.

Clenching her hands, Blake sighed and looked up at the clouds.

“I guess that...after talking to you, I finally let myself think that we could...be together.  So when some random guy threatened that…”  Sighing again, Blake closed her eyes and shook her head.  “I don’t want anyone else to have her.  And I was so caught up in how it felt like a real date that I...I snapped when he crashed into my perfect night.  By the time I got home, I was so upset at myself for reacting that way that I just...shut down…”

That sounded like a more accurate depiction of what happened last night, and Weiss actually felt proud of Blake for coming to that determination on her own.  Now, to help her get over those feelings...

“You should talk to her,” Weiss gently prodded.  “She had no plans of going out with him anyway.”

“Really?”

“Yes,” Weiss said with a wave of one hand, as if that should be common knowledge.  “I can’t even imagine Yang dating a guy, can you?  I mean, she hasn’t shown any interest in the guys at school, so it’d be weird for her to suddenly change her mind.”

Yang hadn’t shown interest in anyone but Blake since they got to Beacon.  If only Blake could see that…

“She can’t read your mind,” Weiss added.  “No matter how hard she tries.  You have to trust her enough to tell her the truth.  Trust that, no matter what, telling her the truth won’t change how she feels about you.  If anything, letting her know might bring you two closer together.”

It would bring them a lot closer if Blake would just admit her feelings.  Knowing that Yang was already there - willing to make that admission - they only needed to get Blake on board.

“I guess I’m just...scared…”

“That’s normal,” Weiss assured her.  “But wouldn’t telling her be better than this?”  She gestured towards their lonely spot on the rooftop, and Blake looked around before staring at her hands.

“Do you think she’ll even forgive me?” she whispered to her palms.  “After what I just did?”

“Without hesitation.”  Hearing the certainty in Weiss’ voice, Blake looked up - and Weiss nodded.  “I’m positive she will,” she added.  And she was positive about that.  It wasn’t in Yang’s nature to hold onto things like this, and she wouldn’t start doing so with someone she cared so much about.

And Blake looked at Weiss for a long time, searching her eyes for confirmation before nodding once and falling silent.  

On the cusp of adding a few more words of encouragement, Weiss paused when a sound reached her ears and drew her attention to the side of the building.  The next second, Yang pulled herself onto the roof with a huff of effort.

“Grimm...” she panted while pushing herself to her feet.  “Only my partner...would choose the tallest freaking building…”

“This isn’t even the tallest building,” Weiss pointed out while Yang walked over and sat down nearby.  “And you could’ve used the elevator.”

Yang’s eyes widened at the response, apparently unaware of the easier route, but then she waved off the oversight.

“Weiss...think Blake and I can talk?”  

Sensing it was time to take her leave, Weiss nodded and headed back to the window - and not over the side of the building like a crazy person.  She didn’t go inside, however, without first sending Blake a pointed look saying that this would be the opportune moment to tell Yang the truth.  

Blake gave a miniscule nod before Yang turned her way and gave a nervous smile.

“Hey,” Yang led with, and Weiss smiled while ducking through the window and taking the elevator back downstairs.  Now they would have the conversation - she was almost certain of it.  Of course, she’d been certain before only to end up wrong, but this time felt...different. 

As soon as she walked out of the building, she found Ruby waiting for her.

“Yang found you guys?”

“Yes.”  Reaching out for Ruby’s hand, Weiss smiled when Ruby returned the gesture and the two of them walked away from the building.  “Was it your idea for her to climb the building?”

“I thought it’d give you more time to talk to Blake,” Ruby admitted, and Weiss’ smile grew.  She really did have the smartest partner...

Once they were a little further away, Weiss turned around and squinted to see their teammates on the rooftop.  Yang’s vibrant yellow hair contrasted with Blake’s jet black, making them easy to pick out while they had the conversation they’d avoided for quite some time.

“Hope they’re patching things up...” Ruby mused while they watched their teammates from a distance.

“I think they will.”  

It looked like a serious conversation, or at least an honest one.  Grimm knows they needed both.  They just needed to talk, and Blake just needed to accept her feelings…

When Yang reached over and touched Blake’s elbow, Weiss’ interest peaked.  The two of them then moved closer, and closer, and then -

Ruby gasped while Weiss smiled.

“Did they just kiss??” Ruby asked in a hushed whisper.

“Yes, yes they did,” Weiss replied, adding ‘finally’ in her head while their teammates finally got on the same page.  Finally gave in to their feelings.  And finally kissed.  “Come on, let’s give them privacy,” she whispered before leading Ruby away.

“Did you know?!”

Weiss smiled at the disbelief and mentally prepared to explain everything while getting Ruby her much-delayed and much-deserved breakfast.

“I had an idea,” she admitted, feeling her heart expand with happiness when she realized that they did it - they finally did it.  Blake and Yang figured it out.  At least, they figured out that they liked each other.  There would be much more for them to figure out in the future, but for now...she was so happy for them both.

Mission successful, with time to spare.  She was ready to receive her A+ in matchmaking now.