"Oh, I can't believe my little sis is gonna lead the school fencing team in their first match!" Yang beamed, ruffling her sister's hair.
"Quit it, Yang," Ruby giggled, trying to fix her matted head of brunette hair.
"Tell you what," the giddy blonde continued. "Your team wins the first match, and I'll finally let you dye your hair red. But only the tips!"
Ruby squealed in joy and shot out of her room, taking her entire fencing duffel bag with her. "You're taking me to Weiss' house right now!" she shouted excitedly.
"Fine, fine," Yang chuckled.
•••
Ruby rang the doorbell about five times before a very annoyed butler finally answered.
"Miss Schnee, your... friend is here," the butler called.
A disheveled Weiss arrived promptly. "Ruby, I barely had time to change out of my pajamas! What's this about red hair?"
"I'll explain on the way!" Ruby replied, dragging the heiress and the duffel bag to the backyard.
"So basically, Yang is letting you dye your hair if you win your first match?" Weiss asked as she put her hair up in her signature ponytail.
Ruby nodded vigorously. "I've been wanting to for years."
"This is just like you," Weiss chuckled, shaking her head. "Your first match is in two weeks. But, I'm assuming you want another lesson? I don't have anything planned, at the moment...
"Tell you what." The heiress crossed her arms. "Let's play a game."
"Ooh! I love games," Ruby bubbled. "What're we playing?"
In response, Weiss motioned for her to come back inside. They walked through the pearly white halls for a few minutes before coming out to an elegant game room.
Three clean, shiny pool tables were lined up in the center of the room, and several pool stick racks lined the walls. Fancy-looking decks of cards sat neatly in their boxes on some of the tables on the other side of the room. There were also chessboards made of glass and expensive-looking checkerboards.
Weiss sat down at one of the chess tables. "Normally, I'd be a bit worried having you playing with glass pieces, but this will be a valuable experience. I assume you aren't too familiar with chess?"
Ruby shook her head. "I play a mean game of Yahtzee, though," she teased as she sat across from her friend. "All I know is that each of these pieces represent something different."
"Correct." Weiss delicately tapped one of the pieces on her side. "Do you know which one this is?"
"That's the tower-looking one," Ruby replied. Then, she started giggling. "I played with Nora once at a sleepover. She wouldn't stop yelling about being 'queen of the castle'."
Weiss simply looked annoyed. "It's not a tower, nor a castle. It's called a rook."
"Rook?" Ruby cocked her head.
"Although a rook is theoretically a castle," Weiss explained, "it is considered quite informal to use in a game of chess. The game is primarily played by nobles and other sophisticated groups of high social status."
"Jeez. You know I'm not fancy," Ruby said.
Weiss smirked. "That's why I bothered to teach you in the first place. How about this one?"
"That's easy!" Ruby exclaimed. "It's the horsie!"
"Oh, my," Weiss sighed exasperatedly. "This is going to be a while."
•••
"Quit being so careless!" Weiss scolded. "You only have one pawn left!"
"But you said the pawns weren't very important," the young brunette reasoned.
"That doesn't mean you should meaninglessly sacrifice them," the heiress argued.
Ruby shrugged. "Nothing comes easy."
Weiss gave her a confused look. "What's that supposed to mean?"
"Sometimes, victory requires sacrifice," Ruby responded simply.
"The hell is that supposed to mean?"
"It means... Check, and... Mate." Ruby moved her pieces swiftly and smoothly, scooping up Weiss' king in a flash. The heiress had wasted her moves on taking out the pawns within her reach, effectively giving Ruby free reign of the board.
"I can't believe my flipping eyes," Weiss gasped. "I'm the best chess player in the family."
"Well, I'm not family," Ruby replied, holding the white king up to her face and examining it like it was a trophy.
"True..." Weiss hopelessly ran a hand through her ponytail. "I shouldn't have expected anything less. It seems things haven't changed."
"Huh?" Ruby had no idea what she was talking about. Didn't they tie the last time they had a competition?
"Nothing important," Weiss brushed her off. "Except that I demand a rematch!"
"You're on!" Ruby agreed, fire burning in her eyes.
The youngest Schnee in the bloodline gritted her teeth. "This time, I won't lose."
•••
"You know what?!" Weiss slammed her knight on the table, causing a loud clinking noise. "We're taking this to the mat. Beat me once, shame on me. Beat me twice, I kick your ass!"
Ruby shrank in her seat, but she knew better than to resist. When Weiss stood up and clipped stiffly out of the room, she followed begrudgingly.
"Wait here." Weiss went into her room and shut the door with a slam. Ruby cringed and whimpered pathetically. Oh man, she thought nervously. What is she gonna do to me, stab me and then serve me as a Ruby kabob to the rest of her savage family? I'll be cooked on a spit. I don't wanna be medieval pork roast...
"Ruby?"
The brunette squeaked and jumped around to face whomever had snuck up on her. Unsurprisingly, it was Blake.
"Heh. Sorry, didn't mean to scare you like that." The raven-haired girl calmly looked down on her little friend. "Is Weiss bullying you? I heard yelling, then a slam, and now I see you shut out of her room."
"Not exactly," Ruby replied sheepishly. "I kinda beat her at chess a bunch of times and made her mad. ...Have you ever eaten her victims for dinner? Answer me honestly."
Blake laughed. "Of course not. The worst thing she's ever actually done to someone is sue them out of their property."
Ruby looked like she was going to faint.
"Whoa, whoa, I wasn't saying she was actually going to do that!" Blake put an arm out to steady her. "Look, Weiss hasn't hurt you yet, and considering how long you've been together, that's saying something. I wouldn't worry if I were you."
"Not, like, together-together," Ruby stuttered. "I dunno. She seemed really ticked off."
"Then let her blow off some steam," the cat Faunus suggested. "We all get angry and then let out our emotion at some point in our lives."
"But don't you have nine?" Ruby whispered, sending herself into a giggle fit.
Blake glared at her with all the menace she could muster, which was a lot. "I'm warning you, y-"
Weiss opened the door at that instant. She was fully garbed in her fencing gear and held a rapier Ruby had never seen before. It had its own sheath and looked really fancy, which she didn't find to be surprising.
"Blake?" The heiress looked just as irritated as she had before shutting the door. "Whatever. Leave us alone. This is between us."
Blake put up her hands and backed down the hallway quickly, knowing better than to argue.
"Blake, noooo!" Ruby wailed as she dropped to her knees. "You're my only hope!"
"You're coming with me," Weiss growled, grabbing Ruby's arm roughly and literally dragging her across the floor.
AN: dun dun duuuuun!
Idk. C u in the next chapter! I don't think I need to say the rest, yalls know the drill.
Oh wait! It's chapter 30! How the heckles did I get this far without quitting? Wow! Thanks for all your support! Couldn't have made it without you guys! <3