leader change

chapter 5 report day

After team RWBY's trip to the opera, things had only gotten worse between Weiss and her teammates. Since the heiress had gone and insulted Yang and Blake for not liking opera, the two girls had put a lot of distance between themselves and their new team leader, causing there to be a complete lack of communication between them. Right now, the only member of the team that stayed close with Weiss was Ruby, as she still wanted to observe how the person who replaced her as team leader was doing.

The two partners were currently in the library, having a study session by themselves, except it wasn't going well. Weiss was unable to focus on her work at all, as her blunders as a team leader were weighing heavily on her shoulders. She was actually starting to have some regrets over her decision of taking up the position of a leader, although she was not willing to admit it to anyone, even herself.

The white-haired girl's troubles were easily noticed by Ruby, as she saw that her partner had done practically no work at all. Despite knowing that Weiss had essentially caused all of her problems on her own, the redhead couldn't help but feel that she needed to offer some form of assistance, even if just a couple words of advice.

"Weiss, do you perhaps need someone to talk to?" Ruby asked with a sigh. "I can easily tell that you're bothered by something, so why don't you just stop holding it in? I'm sure it will help out greatly."

"What are you talking about!? Nothing's wrong!" the heiress tried to lie, but it was easy for even a blind person to see through it. "I'm just... Thinking! That's right! I'm just thinking about all the things I've been studying!"

"For the love of God... Weiss, this would be a lot easier, if you just were honest about needing help. Believe it or not, I am not looking towards you failing as a team leader. I did mean it when I said that I'll let you take over as the leader, if you prove to be better for the job," the redhead explained. "However, we can't make any progress, if you're not willing to ask for help when you need it."

"That's easy for you to say," Weiss said with a slight growl in her voice. Her frustrations were starting to take over. "For as long as I can remember, I've been trained to be perfect at everything I do. There was never "good enough" for me. Either I was perfect or I failed."

"And you think that asking for help would mean that you've failed then? Is that it?" Ruby asked with a raised eyebrow. "Weiss, you need to get it through your head that no one is perfect. We all make mistakes and fail from time to time. What you need to do is learn from your mistakes, so you won't do them again."

"...You know, for a person who is about to lose her leader position, you're awfully calm about the whole thing. You're even offering to help me," the white-haired girl said while staring at her partner with eyes full of suspicion. "It's almost like you want me to become the new leader of our team."

"Hmmm... Who knows? Maybe I do," the younger girl said indifferently. "Although, I do have to say that for the time being, I've been simply enjoying watching you handle the job so far. It's been fun having someone else go through what I had to."

Weiss suddenly stood up from her seat and started to walk towards the library's exit.

"I'm going on a walk. I'll be back soon," the fencer said with a slight growl.

"...Guess she didn't like my answer," Ruby said to herself with a shrug.

Right outside the library, Weiss was walking back and forth while fuming. It wasn't bad enough that her first few days as a team leader had been complete failures, but there was also the issue with her partner. Despite having her position taken from her, Ruby seemed to be completely indifferent towards the whole thing, if not even enjoying the change in leadership. This bothered the heiress to no end, as it made her feel foolish for taking over as the leader, like she had been tricked by the redhead. It almost felt like all of this had been nothing but a big prank by Ruby, which infuriated Weiss greatly. And to top it all off, she couldn't even tell what the scythe-wielder's true intentions could possibly be.