Homework Night

An age of woe and suffering had descended upon Team RWBY. Trapped in the dungeons of their friend turned nemesis, Ruby, Yang, and Blake had no choice but to complete whatever horrible task Weiss set in front of them. The tyrannical heiress was a merciless ruler, bereft of even the faintest notions of kindness or empathy. All would bow before her, or all would die.

Yep, it was just another homework night for Team RWBY.

X X X

Weiss did not tolerate failure. And more to the point, she refused to tolerate failure either from herself or anyone she was associated with. That meant that everyone on her team was expected to be near the top of the academic food chain. Anything less would reflect poorly on her, and failure to comply with her exacting standards was certain to lead to an endless barrage of complaints, haranguing, and general bossiness.

This wasn't normally a problem for Blake. The Faunus loved to read and was a naturally gifted student. She paid attention in class and learned quickly and easily. She also didn't seem to mind actually studying for written exams. The two sisters were a different story. It wasn't that Yang and Ruby were stupid. No, if they were genuinely stupid, Weiss wouldn't have minded so much. Their continued underperformance would be understandable, if not desirable.

What truly aggravated her was that both sisters were actually very intelligent. What they lacked was the motivation to properly apply themselves in academic contexts, particularly written academic contexts. Yang and Ruby both topped or came near the top of their classes in practical examinations. But their marks on written examinations were clearly the result of either laziness or disinterest. To Weiss, that was simply unacceptable. To be the best, she needed the best team.

To help improve their performance, Weiss had instituted homework nights. At least twice a week, the team would sit down and go through all of their homework together. It was no substitute for the detailed study program that Weiss wanted, but the vagaries of democracy meant that it was all she could have. She could, however, drill as much material as possible into her teammates' heads during these sessions.

Ruby looked up from her notebook with a pout and looked longingly out the window. "Weiss… I know it's homework night, but it's still sunny outside and –"

Crack.

The wooden ruler slapped down on Ruby's desk less than an inch from her hand. The younger girl flinched back and look to her older sister for help, but Weiss was already in motion, brandishing her wooden ruler at Yang with almost manic enthusiasm.

"It is homework night, Ruby, and that means that you are doing your homework." Weiss absolutely refused to be swayed by the pout on Ruby's face. Her leader was far too cute for her own good, even if Weiss would never admit it aloud. Ruby had also gotten an unexpectedly low mark on one of her most recent exams. Weiss had no intention of following a slacker, so she had added a few additional questions to Ruby's homework to make sure her leader got back up to the required standard. "Blake's marks have been excellent this semester. She is thus allowed to leave whenever she wants. You two, however, must stay."

"I should just kick your ass and go outside." Yang scowled. Weiss was tough, but she could take her. Heck, if Ruby helped, Weiss would be no problem.

"You could try, Yang, but I'll have you know that I have a Dust bomb connected to your wardrobe. One flick of my wrist, and you can kiss all of your beloved clothes goodbye."

"You're bluffing." Yang would have noticed that.

"Am I?" Weiss's lips curled. "Can you really take that chance?"

Yang's fists clenched. "You're a monster."

"No, Yang, I'm an heiress, and I am very much used to getting my way. Now, stop talking and get back to work." Weiss's smile was disturbingly saccharine. "I expect only the best out of you at the next written examination."

Satisfied that she had the two sisters firmly under her thumb, Weiss returned her attention to her own studies. She had already summarised this week's chapter and gone over the revision questions, but she wanted to be extra sure that she understood everything. She had come in second behind Pyrrha at the last examination, and she had no intention of allowing that to happen again.

As the heiress of the Schnee Dust Company, victory was the only acceptable outcome.

X X X

Ruby sighed and fought the urge to fidget. She understood Weiss's desire to have all of them do well, even if it was more than a little bit crazy and totally over the top. Weiss wasn't used to failure, and she didn't want it anywhere near her. But the other girl was making a big fuss over nothing. This wasn't even their final year at Beacon, and these were little quizzes not huge, end of semester exams. And it was a very nice afternoon.

Outside, she could see Team JNPR frolicking out on the lawn. It made her want to throw her pencil at them, they looked so ridiculously happy out there. Pyrrha and Jaune were laughing and practicing together. As usual, Pyrrha was winning, but Jaune didn't seem too upset. Ren and Nora were watching them from under a tree with a packet of tasty looking cookies.

Hmm… cookies. She had a pack hidden away under her bed, but even with her Semblance, she didn't think she could reach it without Weiss noticing. And knowing Weiss, the other girl would probably eat them in front of her as a punishment.

Ruby looked out the window again. As if Team JNPR weren't already having enough fun, the cat they'd found, Patches, was out there too. The scruffy looking thing had settled down on Nora's lap to munch a few cookies. To complete the obnoxiously happy atmosphere, there were even a few birds singing nearby. Seriously, it was like the whole world was telling her to go outside and play, never mind her homework.

She turned her attention back to the page in front of her. This was boring. She could always study it on the weekend. It didn't help that Weiss was so stingy with her notes. Everyone knew that Weiss had the most elaborate notes in the world (colour coded, dated, indexed – everything), but she never shared them. Why did she have to be such a grouch? Ruby had tried bribing her with baked goods, but that hadn't worked at all.

But if Ruby was being honest with herself, she didn't study as hard as she could have. It was just that the practical exams were so much more interesting, and while she enjoyed reading, the textbooks were so dryly written. And Weiss needed to stop getting so bent out of shape over every little thing. She'd spent a whole night freaking out over getting second behind Pyrrha, but Pyrrha was pretty much awesome at everything, so that wasn't really something to feel bad about.

"Weiss…"

"We are not going outside, Ruby."

"But –"

"No."

Ruby sighed and tried to focus on her notes again. But as time went on, it became impossible to ignore the increasingly vicious way that Weiss tapped her pen on the book she was reading. It was clear that she was having problems understanding something. Ruby leaned over to look at it and bit back a smile. It was one of the trickiest concepts in the chapter, something to do with advanced Dust application. Ruby had only figured it out after noticing how similar it was to some of the engineering principles she'd used to build her scythe.

"Weiss."

"Yes, what?" Weiss didn't bother to look up from her book, but the irritation was clear in her voice.

"Do you want help?"

Now Weiss looked up. Her aristocratic features firmed into a scowl. "Help? I'll have you know that I am the heiress to the Schnee Dust Company. I don't need any help –"

"Yes, you do." Yang smirked. "You've been glaring at that page for twenty minutes now. Just let Ruby help you. She is good at this kind of thing, you know."

"Well, if you absolutely insist, then I suppose that I can let you help."

Ruby couldn't keep herself from smiling. It only took her five minutes to explain, and by the time she was done, Weiss's eye was twitching.

"That was… completely correct." Weiss huffed and looked away. "I can't believe I didn't see it."

"Maybe because you're too uptight to think outside the box." Yang stretched. "And now that I've thought about it, there's no way that you rigged a bomb to my wardrobe. That's too blunt, not like you at all." She got to her feet and then hopped out the window. "I'm going to go outside and hang around, maybe chase Patches for a little while. I might even see if I can snag some more catnip."

"Get back here!" Weiss growled.

"Weiss, just let her go." Blake sighed. "She called your bluff."

"Fine. I suppose that you're going too."

"Some has to keep her out of trouble, and I am not about to let her get anymore catnip."

Then it was just Ruby and Weiss in the room.

"Are you going to go too?" Weiss asked.

"Do you want me to?"

"Actually…" Weiss's cheeks flushed. "Do you think you could explain that to me again?"

Ruby looked out the window to where Blake was talking quite seriously with Patches the cat as Yang and Nora took turns teasing Ren. Then she looked back at Weiss. It was a nice day, but…

"Sure, we could go over it again."

X X X

Author's Notes

As always, I neither own RWBY, nor am I making any money off of this.

So, this is another slice-of-life piece. I can imagine Weiss being quite uptight about grades and then dragging everyone else along too. Of course, she isn't perfect, and part of being in a team is knowing your strengths and weaknesses. Nobody can be good at everything, but that's what teammates do – bolster your strengths and shore up your weaknesses.

If you enjoy my writing, you might want to check out my original fiction. You can find links to it in my profile. If you like fantasy, give The Last Huntress a try. I'm sure you'll enjoy it.

As always, I appreciate feedback. Reviews and comments are welcome.