Chapter Text
“Augh!”
Weiss’ scream of pain echoed around her dorm’s bathroom. No matter how many times she did it, the pain never faded. She’d made sure the rest of the team had gone out before she started. Ruby was in the library studying whilst Blake and Yang had gone into Vale for the day. She’d locked the dorm room as well just to be safe, relying on the surprisingly good sound-proofing of Beacon’s accommodations to prevent anyone else from hearing.
Pausing to catch her breath, Weiss checked the fire dust levels in Myrtenaster, more than half full, plenty to complete the process. She raised her sword, letting the dust infuse the blade until it started to glow red and brought it down hard. She just managed to bite back her screech; she felt the wound sizzle as the red hot blade cauterised the wound, heard the soft thump drowned out by the clatter of Myrtenaster dropping to the floor.
Gasping for breath, Weiss clutched at the basin, looking at her haggard reflection. She looked an absolute mess, letting out a soft, pained chuckle at what her teammates would think if they could see her face right now.
Not paying attention to her dropped sword, Weiss moved over to the shower and started scrubbing at the small amount of blood that had dripped down her back. She sighed softly, feeling the warm water cascade down her; soothing the burns, old and new, that covered her upper back. With the blood cleaned off and suitably refreshed, Weiss clambered out of the tub.
After carefully wrapping her torso in bandages and pulling on her casual wear, making sure the jacket covered the bandages and any still visible scars, Weiss scrutinised herself in the mirror, towelling her hair. Yes, she looked presentable again. Hair soft and shiny, she admired it, flicking it to the side and watching it settle across her face. She frowned at the scar across her eye, her nose that was too big, nose slightly crooked and mouth just a tad too wide. Looking away from the reflection Weiss thought back to all the other times she’d performed this ritual.
She’d been doing this since she could wield a blade, though the process had been happening for as long as she could remember. Yearly at first, but becoming more and more frequent since she’d unlocked her aura to the point where she had to do this every month. Last time had been the day before leaving for Beacon, Klein hadn’t approved but still he stood guard by the doors to her chambers as always.
She couldn’t put it off any longer. Reluctantly, Weiss picked up her severed wings, trying to avoid looking at them as she placed them into a large metal bucket. She picked up a small vial of fire dust from beside the sink and carefully sprinkled it into the bucket, still avoiding looking at its contents as they caught.
Black and white feathers curled and turned to ash as Weiss focused, one of her glyphs materialised beneath the bucket accelerating the flames as she tried not to breathe in the smoky air and ignore the smell of cooking flesh.
Soon enough the contents of the bucket were reduced to ash which Weiss poured into a bag before setting about cleaning up any remaining evidence of her actions. Satisfied with the state of the bathroom, Weiss picked up the ash bag and Myrtenaster and exited the room, stepping back into team RWBY’s dorm.
Placing Myrtenaster beside her bed, Weiss left the room, heading out of the building to find a bin.
“Hey Weiss!” A cheery voice called out from across the courtyard. Weiss froze, turning to face the voice in time to see red blur in front of her before materialising into her partner. “Whatcha doin’ out here?”
“Oh, nothing much, just getting some air.” Weiss tried to inject calm into her voice despite the screaming inside. Of course she’d get caught right at the end and of course it had to be Ruby. Stupid, impossible to lie to, freakishly adorable Ruby.
“Oh, okay then. See you back at the room!” Ruby chirped, flashing that open, honest smile and trotting off in the direction of the dorm building.
Breathing a sigh of relief the moment Ruby was out of earshot, Weiss swiftly made her way over to the nearest bin. Shoving the bag inside, still looking around to make sure no one was looking, Weiss headed off again, this time around the edge of the courtyard. She’d done it and was in the clear, so why not do as she’d told Ruby and take in the air a bit?
Eventually Weiss found an unoccupied bench in a secluded spot of the courtyard, shaded by a willow leaning over, surrounding it with its long thin branches. It was just like any other lazy Saturday, the courtyard was almost deserted, save for a few students sat around enjoying the late afternoon sun. Weiss relaxed back against the bench, only to wince and hiss in pain as the still tender burns twinged. She leaned forward slightly, taking the weight off, as she gazed out through the swaying branches watching as team CFVY strolled across the lawns laughing with each other, Velvet’s ears bobbing as they went.
Weiss hadn’t quite meant it when she’d said that it didn't matter that Blake had been in the White Fang or that she was a Faunus. It mattered a great deal to her that Blake was a Faunus, it just meant more complications, having to be even more careful not to let anyone know her secret. Not to mention how much worse it would be if Blake found out the truth, so much more so after all those horrid, hateful things she’d said about the Faunus. That they were degenerates, that they lie, cheat and steal. Weiss allowed herself a dry chuckle at that, at least one of those was true, she was a liar.
She’d never forgive her if she knew. Hell, none of them would forgive her. Blake would be furious that she’d betrayed her own people, Yang would be angry that Weiss had upset Blake. And Ruby, Weiss couldn’t bear to think of how Ruby would react, how those beautiful silver eyes would fill with tears, then harden with hate. How she’d turn away and leave Weiss alone in a flutter of rose petals.
Weiss shook herself, no, no good would come from dwelling on these things. She just had to keep her secret; that was all she needed. Just another four years, living in close proximity with three other girls, one of whom was a Faunus. Who was she kidding? She’d never be able to keep her secret.
Sighing dejectedly, Weiss got up, brushing off her skirt and made her way back to the dorm. Even if the venture was doomed from the beginning, she still had to try, for the company, for her family and for herself.
Blake and Yang didn’t get back from Vale until that evening, Weiss had spent the remaining time revising for Oobleck’s next test whilst Ruby sat up on her bed playing some game on her scroll.
“I call dibs on the bathroom!” Yang called over to the partners, grabbing her shower things as Blake snagged a book, dropped onto her bed and promptly buried herself in the novel.
“Try not to use up all the hot water again, Yang.” Ruby called back, not looking up from her scroll, tongue stuck out in concentration.
“I make no promises sis.” Yang slammed the door shut, not noticing Weiss and Blake wince at the noise. Weiss sighed, she’d done about as much preparation for the test as she could. Stretching as she stood up from her desk, Weiss made her way over to her own bunk. Sitting down and leaning back against the headboard only to once again wince and jerk forward with an accompanying hiss.
“Are you alright Weiss?” Blake was looking over the top of her book at Weiss, blinking owlishly.
Weiss fumbled for an answer “Ah, yes. I’m fine, thank you Blake. Just pulled a muscle earlier.”
“Oh, if your muscles are sore and stuff I can help.” Ruby piped up from above, poking her head out over the side of her bed. “I can do massages and stuff, Yang swears by them!”
“No, no I’m fine without the massage Ruby.” Weiss flailed her arms slightly, attracting a raised eyebrow from Blake.
“If you’re sure…” Ruby’s head vanished from sight, presumably back to her scroll. Weiss slowly settled back down, pulling out her own scroll to look over the news, trying to ignore the dulcet tones of Yang singing in the shower. This was fine, just team RWBY relaxing in evening as usual, she’d made it through another day, the hardest kind of day. Weiss shuddered to think of the next time she’d have to remove her regrown wings and how she’d be able to get the others out of the room for long enough.
“Hey girls, any of you know what this was doing in the bathroom?” Yang had emerged from the bathroom, towel wrapped around her torso. Weiss looked up at her and froze. Held delicately in Yang’s hand was a painfully familiar, large black and white feather. How could she have missed one? She’d been so thorough with cleaning the bathroom, no traces of blood or fire dust, only to be caught out by a single feather.
“Huh? What’s a feather doing in our bathroom?” Ruby cocked her head in puzzlement.
Yang rolled her eyes “I don’t know Rubes, that’s why I’m asking.” She looked over to Blake. “Any idea Blakey?”
Blake looked up at Yang, scrutinised the feather closely, “No, no idea, sorry.” And then returned to reading.
“Weiss?”
“What? Oh, of course not. Just throw it away or something.” Weiss huffed, looking away.
“Well, I guess it’s a mystery.” Yang shrugged, moving to the bin in the corner.
“Wait!” Ruby called out scrambling off her bed and over to her sister. “Don’t throw it away!”
“Why not Rubes?” Yang tilted her head.
“I want to keep it.”
“What?” Weiss stared at Ruby. “Why would you want to keep such an ugly, useless thing?”
Ruby gave Weiss an odd look. “I think it looks really pretty and soft, so I want to keep it. Please Yang?” She pouted up, silver eyes wide and pleading.
“Yeah, sure.” Yang held out the feather and Ruby snatched it, rushing back up onto her bunk, carefully placing the feather in amongst some other small trinkets Ruby had accumulated over the last few weeks.
“Well if we’re quite done, I’m going to get changed.” Weiss sniffed, moving over to her dresser, pulling out her night gown and walked perhaps a little too swiftly over to the bathroom and shut the door behind her with a snap. Though she caught the last snatch of conversation as the door swung shut.
“What’s up with the ice princess?”
Checking the door was securely locked, Weiss made her way over to the mirror, hands clutched either side of the sink, icy eyes glared back at her. “It’s fine, it was just a stupid feather. They don’t know.” She reassured herself, splashing some water on her face. Silently, Weiss finished her preparations, double checking her nightdress covered her bindings properly.
Yang was already snoring away on her bunk when Weiss stepped back out. How Blake was able to sleep with that noise above her and an extra set of ears was beyond her. Exhausted from the day’s efforts, Weiss dropped her clothes into the basket and fell face first onto her bed.
“Weeeeiiiiiissss?” A wheedling voice issued from above. “Could you get the lights?”
“What about Blake? She’s still reading.” Weiss pointed out, voice muffled by pillows.
“I’ll be fine thank you Weiss, Night vision, remember?” Of course Weiss remembered, hard to forget when you yourself could also see almost perfectly in the dark. Restraining herself from scoffing at the notion that she would forget anything, Weiss pulled herself up and over to the door, snapping of the light and plunging the room into darkness. As Weiss deftly weaved her way back to her bed, she noticed Blake watching her over the top of her book. Did she suspect something? Thinking fast, Weiss deliberately smacked her shin into her bed, stumbling and falling gracelessly onto the bunk. Ignoring Blake’s suppressed snicker, Weiss crawled back under the covers, gingerly lying back.
All in all, the day hadn’t gone terribly she supposed. Sure she’d been caught disposing of the evidence and missed that feather during the clean-up. But that had been so much better than any of the scenarios she’d envisioned that morning. One of the team bursting into the bathroom. Finding out what she was disposing of. Ruby seeing her scars. Sighing quietly, Weiss pulled the blankets around herself and slowly drifted off.