Navi walked back into her room expecting to get straight to sleep while she was still in a good mood, unfortunately that wasn't the case.
"TEAL I'M TRYING TO HELP YOU WHY CAN'T YOU SEE THAT?"
"WELL MAYBE I DON'T WANT YOUR HELP! HAVE YOU EVER THOUGHT ABOUT THAT?!"
"YES I HAVE AND THAT'S EXACTLY WHY I WENT TO VALE!"
"JUST STOP! STOP THIS, STOP BELITTLING ME JUST TO MAKE YOU LOOK LIKE THE GOOD SAMARITAN!" Wynter saw the hand on Teal's shoulder, and the arm placed across her torso like she was subconsciously trying to hold herself back.
"I AM NOT! You know what? I'm done, goodnight." And those were the last words spoken before the lights went out and the room became as dark as the mood.
Hours later Wynter awoke feeling cold, and from the corner of her eye she saw the curtains flapping in a breeze, she swung her legs out of bed and tip-toed towards the window. It was wide open, and she closed it again with a huff, she was about to head back to bed and the embrace of sleep when she took a glance towards the door. There was no-one there.
For most teams, this would have been normal; maybe even relieving for those who were horror film enthusiasts. But then most teams were normal, and didn't contain a member who sat wide awake by the door every night. Wynter looked from the spot to the window and back again, then flung the window open and almost threw herself out as she leaned forward. They were several stories above the ground, aura or no aura there was no way she'd have made it, so she twisted her head to look up, the roof wasn't visible, but she was willing to bet that's where she would find her partner.
She brought a knee up to her chest and placed her bare foot on the window ledge, then the other, so she was perched like a large bird. Then held a shaky left hand out towards the tree in front of her, the leaves rustled and several tiny vines broke through the bark, twisting together to form one large vine that creaked as it grew closer to Wynter. She closed her hand into a fist when the plant was within jumping distance and it froze, then she took a deep breath and used the window frame to bring herself to a hunched standing position, then pushed off the ledge.
Wynter landed wobbly on the vine but managed to stay on, she looked up towards the roof and raised her hand, using the vine as an elevator she was brought up until her head was level with the very top of the dorm building. The plant came to a stop once more and she climbed up, using the top of another dorm's window and a handy drain pipe as footholds.
The world was illuminated by a dim grey light from the moon as she scrambled onto the roof, Wynter almost fell face first due to a ledge she couldn't see as she stumbled about with her hands in front of her. "Teal!" She whisper-yelled, listening for any response, she didn't realise how close she was to falling at least twelve floors to her doom until hands grasped her shoulders and led her backwards away from the edge.
She was spun around and the hands gently pushed her to a sitting position, when her eyes adjusted to the gloom she could see a faint silhouette standing in front of her, the figure moved and she heard a clicking sound before she was bathed in a soft glow. The figure turned out to be Teal, and she was holding a small torch, Wynter took a look around and saw that she was sat near, but not life-risking close, to the edge of the roof, overlooking the courtyard at the entrance of the school.
There was something darkly beautiful about Beacon at night, the tower was illuminated in a ghostly blue glow, like it wasn't even there, and the water reflected the broken moon in all its pale glory. The whole place looked like something from a fairy tale, befitting for a school built to train huntresses, legendary warriors whose purpose was to defend the world from the forces of darkness. She smiled to herself, memories of her younger self gazing up in wonder as her father told wondrous tales of his adventures and of the mystical school itself.
When her thoughts wandered back to the present her eyebrows furrowed and she turned to the blue haired girl now sitting beside her. "How did you even get up here? I mean I know you're pretty handy with your weapon-"
"Wynter"
"But it's sort of redundant at the moment so unless you're secretly a ninja then that's really cool I mean but-"
"Wynter"
"I had to use my semblance on the tree by the window to get up so I don't know how you manag-"
"Wynter!"
The blonde was literally shaken out of her rambling by Teal, who had a hand on her shoulder, she turned to the girl and her face flushed with embarrassment, "S-sorry."
Teal grinned and shook her head, "It's fine, oh and by the way, there's a staircase right over there." She threw her thumb over her shoulder in the direction of the stairs as Wynter's eyes widened for a brief moment before she chuckled, and so did the blue haired girl. "How did you get up?"
"I climbed out the open window, that's how I thought you'd got out."
"The window was open?"
"Yeah, I guess Navi or someone must have opened it before we went to sleep."
"Wait, you've never mentioned your semblance before, have you?"
Wynter tensed and tried to desperately brush off the question, "Oh, it-it's nothing really."
"Oh come on, please?"
She sighed quietly and smiled, "Okay, well, I can sort of, control plants?"
Teal's eyes and her smile grew so much Wynter thought her face would fall off, "Seriously?! Wynter that's awesome!" Wynter struggled to prevent the girl beside her from waking the whole school with her excitement, eventually after the blonde had to clamp her hands over the girl's mouth, she calmed down. "So why don't you use it like, all the time, you could be the queen of trees or something!"
She giggled and shook her head slightly, "Well for one, I believe that to truly be the best huntsman you can be, you must be able to hold your own without having to rely on special powers." Teal hummed in approval, "That, and the fact that I can only use it when there's plant life around." The blue haired girl eyed her with playful curiosity.
"Oh so that's the real reason hmmm? Look at you pretending to act all smart with the 'best huntsman you can be' crap." Teal giggled as she was pushed backwards by Wynter, when she pushed herself back up to sitting position she continued. "But I get what you mean; we can't always depend on our semblances to get us out of trouble." Wynter nodded and gazed at the scenery in front of her. "Do you know why they went into Vale yet?"
"Hmm? Oh you mean Rain and Hemlock?" Teal nodded, "I think they went to inquire about weapon repairs."
"Figures, I guessed it was something to do with that since she refused to tell me."
"Hey they're only trying to help."
"I don-" Her hand went to her shoulder as she sighed, "I know."
"Teal."
"Yeah?"
"You guys need to make up." She didn't have to go into any more detail in order for the girl to understand, as she turned to look her square in the eye. "It's been almost a week, it's killing her, and I know that it's upsetting you too, you keep yelling and snapping and then afterwards it's like you were someone else for a second, she worries about you, a lot."
"That's exactly the problem."
"What do you mean?"
"She worries too much, she knows better than anyone that I can take care of myself, and yet whenever I'm in the slightest bit of trouble, she swoops in to take care of it, or panics to the point where she can't function properly, I mean she almost got crushed by an Ursa during initiation for Remnant's sake, and it's not like they're hard to miss."
Wynter brought a hand up and rested her chin on it as she gazed at Beacon and thought about what Teal said. "Maybe it's because she knows what you're capable of, that's why she's so protective." She turned her head to see Teal giving her a confused look. "Face it, how long have you known each other?"
"Since before I can remember."
"Exactly, she's been with you for so long chances are she knows you better than you know yourself, and you are the same for her." Teal looked away to think, and Wynter caught the pale light of the moon reflecting off unshed tears. "Yes she may be a little too extreme sometimes, but she's only looking out for you, and half the time I'm not sure she realises what she's doing until she's done it."
"I guess you're right."
"So this means you're going to make amends?"
"I'll think on it." Wynter sighed and punched the girl on the arm, causing Teal to fall sideways giggling.
"Have you had any ideas? About fixing-"
"None that'll work with the metal."
"Sorry, if we'd have realised sooner that you were missing."
"It wasn't your fault."
"What are you going to do?"
"I don't know, I mean it's not like I can buy a new weapon."
"Teal, why did you refuse Ozpin's help?"
"I guess it boils back down to the whole overprotective thing, I just have to do this myself, plus it just wouldn't feel right if I stood back and allowed someone else to fix him, especially someone I don't know."
"Well as long as we have you for the Vytal festival, then I don't mind." She smiled, which made Wynter feel better. "What are you going to do about training? You can only learn so much from watching, and I doubt Goodwitch will let you use your fists." Teal laughed.
"Yeah I guess so, you think borrowing weapons is against the rules?"
"I highly doubt it, why what do you have in mind?"
"Well I'm not saying anything, but if I were training super soldiers, I'd make sure they could kick ass with any weapon." She spoke with a mischievous grin that Wynter had not seen before, although the grin had an uncanny resemblance to one belonging to a certain pink haired friend.
"Good hypothetical point, who has a spare though?"
"Anyone I'm not fighting."
"I like your logic, and you're welcome to use Cassepine whenever you need."
Her eyes grew large and hopeful, and Teal came back, "You're serious? Thank you so much!"
"Don't worry about it, we're partners now, we're supposed to look out for each other." She still received a hug from the blue haired girl, and chuckled lightly.
"By the way, you still haven't told me what happened in Vale."
"What happened?"
"Don't try it, Cherry told me everything."
"Jeez that girl is good, what did she threaten him with?"
"She didn't need to, according to her he went back to their dorm with a grin plastered on his face and a starry look in his eyes, all she had to do was ask." She flopped onto her back. "She said she'd never seen him like that, apparently it was adorable." Teal turned her head to see Wynter's reaction, and sure enough, the girl was bright red. "I think you got him good Wynter."
"I-I did? I didn't really know what was happening."
"Well I don't know much, but apparently that's how it works. We all ship you two anyway."
"You do?!" In the grey light her face went even darker, "Why?" Teal sat up and turned Wynter's head to face hers, squashing her cheeks with her hands, when she saw the blush on her friend's face she raised her eyebrows and grinned, eventually letting go.
"Because of that. If you two so much as make eye contact you both turn the colour of the idiot's hair!" She was laughing now.
"Shut up you." Wynter laughed too, but she stood quickly and headed to where she'd left her vine so they could get back to their room, she turned back to face Teal, who was still sat on the roof, "You coming?" Teal had to process what she meant before standing and joining Wynter at the edge.
The two managed to cling to the plant for long enough to make it to their, thankfully, still open window and climb through, they were greeted with the snores of their teammates, and briefly bid each other goodnight before falling asleep themselves, well, one of them did. Teal sat by the door thinking about what Wynter had said, and decided she would apologise, she just had to work out how.