Forever Home (ch7)

EARLY RELEASE FOR ALL PATRONS! THANK YOU AS ALWAYS!

It's time for Blake to try and figure out how to get to Weiss. But it's definitely not going to be simple. Not at all.

Disclaimer: I do not own RWBY.

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													Chapter 7. Trial And Error

Blake assumed it was going to take her a long time to locate Weiss and actually get to her.

She expected it would take her at least several days to figure out how the human world worked.

But evidently, the fairies had taken care of just about everything for her.

The very night of her transformation, after she'd started walking along the street in the darkness, a car with bright lights had been coming down the road towards her. The word "TAXI" shown atop the hood, and all Blake needed to do was give a wave, and the vehicle had pulled over to collect her.

After taking her seat, her brain had already given her the words she'd need to tell the driver.

"Atlas University, please."

The man nodded, and off they went.

They drove for a little over an hour. The highways were more or less free of other cars at this hour of the night, after all. Blake could soon see a massive space up ahead, complete with multiple large buildings and parking lots.

By the time the taxi had came to a halt in one of those lots, the driver told Blake the amount of money he expected to be paid for the ride. Blake froze, realizing she didn't have any money with her.

But something told her to check her pants pocket, and when she did, she discovered a generous amount of bills there. With this, she paid the driver, then thanked him and exited the car.

As the taxi drove away, Blake stood there on the sidewalk, dwarfed beneath the massive campus before her. She took a few minutes to get her bearings before advancing another step.

As she was tucking the rest of the money back into her pockets, Blake discovered there were more things tucked inside the fabrics. She pulled out a university ID card, which would allow her to traverse the campus now without being suspected of trespassing. There were also a few folded-up papers that looked like they'd need to be presented to persons of administration.

"Wow..." she murmured. "You guys really went all-out. Thank you."

She knew she'd be completely lost without the assistance of the fairies.

Once she felt she was ready to go on, Blake began heading down the lit sidewalks that guided her past the vast parking lots and onto the campus. Everything was still and quiet now, save for a few people here and there, sitting on benches and chatting beneath the stars.

Blake's boots led her towards a large campus map. Her ears flicked beneath her bow as she started to concentrate while looking over the jumble of scribbles and colorful shapes. Blake had never read anything before, but now, as her eyes scanned the scribbles, they made sense to her. The signals transferred to her brain and produced an understanding in her mind, so that she could speak the words aloud.

"Okay... I am here... administration is... there!" She gave an excited little jump now that she knew she could read.

Blake hurried off towards the correct building, knowing that every second counted on her trial of borrowed time. But when she arrived at the administration building, all of the lights were off and no one was inside. Blake discovered it would be closed until 9AM the next morning. Her shoulders slumped.

/Now what? I guess I could just walk around campus all night.../

Even though she was in human form now, Blake still had a few residual traits left from her life as a cat.

In addition to her hidden hears underneath her bow, her eyes still adjusted very well in the darkness as she began wandering around. She also didn't feel tired thanks to her innately nocturnal tendencies.

She passed many large buildings, some of which had lights on and others that didn't. At one point, she spotted a stray cat meandering through the grass and paused. Blake had seen plenty of other cats before, but never from human eyes. She had no idea if she should hiss at it or try to pet it like Weiss did to her.

She made eye contact with the animal, strangely comforted by its presence. But it was even stranger to think that she'd once been the same as him.

Had she been in her feline form, she might've fought with him, or just chatted.

But as she was now, he avoided her, though he didn't run. He just kept watching her as she passed by. Blake couldn't really explain it, but somehow she felt that he knew her secret.

There were at least a dozen other people she passed by, either going out for a night walk or lounging beneath trees with puffs of smoke coming from their mouths. Blake couldn't help but wrinkle her nose whenever she passed someone like that.

But eventually, she got onto a new kind of scent, one that was much more pleasant.

Up ahead was a smaller building, where the lights were all on. A sign in the window read "Cafe open 24/7" and Blake could see a few students inside with food and drinks in front of them.

Blake had plenty of money in her pockets, and her stomach was growling.

She pushed in through the doors and looked around the place, wide-eyed and wondrous. A couple of the other people there looked at her curiously, but no one bothered her.

Blake watched someone else order food and did as they had done. She went up to the counter and looked over the choices on the menu, unsure of what kind of human food she would like.

But as the words configured into sensible things in her mind, she recognized a few of those words:

Turkey, Salmon, Tuna...

Blake's mouth was already watering. Of all the flavors of food Weiss had fed her in the past, tuna had always been her favorite.

Blake ordered a sandwich of it. The woman behind the counter smiled.

"Of course. Anything to drink?"

Blake hesitated. She'd only ever drank water before, so that was what she asked for.

"Just water, please."

"All right, your total is $3.50."

Blake was now an expert at counting money, so she handed the woman four singles and received two quarters back. But when she was given her water and food, Blake noticed it wasn't just tuna. There was bread and green plant leaves on it as well. But she didn't want to look strange and start asking questions, so she took everything back to a table to sit down.

There, she poked at the food and picked off the pieces of leaf. The scent of the tuna was enticing, and once she was satisfied with the green stuff being gone, Blake dug into her food.

She was thankful she'd remembered to hold the sandwich in her hands and eat from it that way rather than just shove her face in as she'd eaten as a cat. The bread tasted funny to her, but her human body didn't reject it, so she didn't have a problem with it.

But of course, the tuna was the best part.

Blake devoured every last bite, then let out a content sigh.

She watched some of the other people wiping their mouths with little pieces of cloth to clean themselves. Blake recalled Weiss' family had done this as well, and she recognized it as a way of grooming. So instead of licking her hand and drawing it up over herself, Blake cleaned herself off with a napkin.

Then it was time to figure out how to drink from a bottle.

Again, she observed the people around her and did as they did. It took her a moment to unscrew the cap, but once it was off, she failed to get at the water simply by lapping her tongue inside the bottle. Instead, she apparently needed to tilt it back and let the water fall down her throat.

Blake did her best, looking up at the ceiling as she put the bottle to her lips. She lifted the bottom of the bottle up above her mouth, expecting to only get a bit of liquid.

But instead, the entire bottle's worth of water came pouring down into her mouth and directly down her throat. Blake coughed, choking as she hunched forward over the table, water leaking everywhere and all over her clothes now. A couple of other people gasped in alarm, but the ones closest to Blake's table only laughed.

"Wow!" One boy snickered. "Just got back from the bar or something? Looks like you've had a few drinks, hun."

Blake gasped, wiped her mouth off a bit, and looked at the boy who had spoken.

"No... this is the only drink I've had..."

The blonde boy laughed again.

"Suuure it is. Say, you wanna come back to my room with me to spend the night?"

Blake paused in answering. She had read over the papers in her pocket enough to know that they would provide information about her own room once she handed them over to administration. But until 9AM tomorrow morning, Blake didn't have anywhere to stay.

She looked up at the tall boy who was smiling down at her, waiting for a reply.

"Um... I guess I could-"

"Oh, no you don't!"

A girl suddenly stood up from her seat and intervened between Blake and the boy. She had long red hair tied up just like Weiss often tied hers, and her eyes were deep green. She tapped the boy's chest and pushed him back a pace before looping her arm around Blake's.

"No way is she going to spend the night with you, Sun! You're such a player!"

"Aw, come on! You make me sound like a criminal, Pyrrha! I wasn't gonna do anything!"

"Sure you weren't," the girl sighed. "Leave her alone. I'll take her back to the dorms."

The boy grunted and turned away mumbling. The girl sighed, then turned back to Blake.

"I'm sorry about that. He's a bit of a troublemaker. Oh!" She quickly let go of Blake's arm. "I'm sorry! It was just out of habit! My name is Pyrrha, by the way. What's yours?"

"Blake-"

She cut herself off with a small gasp. She hadn't even thought about what she'd say if someone asked what her name was. She knew she should've made up another name, but she'd just revealed this one as a reaction.

Nervously, she looked up at Pyrrha, hoping she didn't think Blake was weird. But the girl seemed happy to learn her name.

"Well, Blake, where's your dorm room? I can take you back there if you'd like. That way you can avoid boys. Most are like Sun and they just want to have some fun, but there are some real creeps around too, believe it or not. Especially if you've had a few drinks tonight."

Blake's brow furrowed.

"Like I said, I've only drunk water tonight."

But Pyrrha didn't laugh loudly like Sun and his friends had before. Instead, she giggled.

"All right then. Either way, let me walk you back to your dorm."

"Uh, actually, I haven't gotten it yet," Blake explained. "I just got here. I can't hand in my papers and information until tomorrow when the administration building opens."

"Oh!" Pyrrha gasped, then quickly lowered her voice. "You don't have a room but you're already ordering and eating at the cafe? Did they at least mail you your ID card?"

"Um yeah. I have that."

"Well that's a relief. One less thing for them to scold you about." Pyrrha began leading Blake out of the cafe and into the cool night air. "Then I suppose you don't have a place to spend the night. I'd be more than happy to accommodate you. Though I should warn you now, my roommate does snore a bit."

Blake felt her lips curling up into a smile.

"That's okay. I'd really appreciate if I could spend the night with you, Pyrrha."

"That's grand! Then let's head back now. It's nearly 2:30 and you'll need some sleep if you want to be up bright and early to get to administration by 9."

So Blake followed Pyrrha to the girl's dorm building. She understood that this was where all of the girls who lived on-campus resided during the school semester.

Which meant Weiss must have lived here somewhere, too.

Blake kept her senses alert for any potential signs of her, but it seemed Pyrrha and herself were some of only a handful of people out and about at this hour.

Pyrrha brought Blake into her dorm room, where the lights were off and someone was clearly sleeping inside. Pyrrha gently roused her roommate by the name of Nora and explained the situation to her.

With the help of Pyrrha and Nora's kindness, Blake was made a makeshift bed of blankets and pillows on the floor, which was where she spent the night. And even though Nora snored a bit loudly, Blake didn't mind.

It wasn't the same as sleeping beside Weiss, but this arrangement was nice. These girls were kind to her, and sleeping stretched out on the floor between their beds as a human was better than sleeping curled up alone on Weiss' empty bed as a cat.

. . .

Blake slept for several hours and woke refreshed. She thanked Pyrrha and Nora many times as the three of them gradually roused themselves.

"Is there um... anything I can do to repay you?"

Blake wondered if she should give them money like she'd done for the taxi driver. But Pyrrha only shook her head with a smile.

"It's quite all right! But if you see me around campus sometime in the future, make sure to say hello!"

Blake nodded at the simple request.

Pyrrha told her the fastest way to get to the administration building from here. Blake thanked both girls again, and then headed out.

There were only a few girls in the hallways again that morning, but Blake made sure to look closely at every one of them. They all had brown, black, or yellow hair though, and while some even had colors like pink or purple, none had the gorgeous pure-white hair like Weiss did.

Of course, she wanted to find her as quickly as possible.

But Blake was also terribly nervous about encountering Weiss in this form. She still needed to think over what she would do and say when she finally met Weiss like this.

But she planned to work something out once she had her dorm room sorted. For now, Blake had other things to tend to, which would leave the remainder of her month for her to locate and approach Weiss.

She went into the administration building and handed a woman there her forms. Blake wasn't sure how any of this worked, but as soon as the woman read everything over and saw Blake's ID card, she led her back to the girl's dormitory.

Whatever Penny and the others had done with their magics for Blake, it included having a special dorm room prepared in advance for her.

Blake had her own room with plenty of furniture and space. The woman handed her a key and wished her luck with getting settled, then took her leave.

Blake opened her closet to find enough clothes to last her for a month so long as she kept up with her laundry. There was a nice bathroom as well, and Blake was getting the urge to clean herself off before doing anything else. But she instinctively knew that humans bathed differently than cats did.

She took a shower, which was a nerve-wracking process, considering she'd never really favored water. When she removed her bow and allowed the fur of her cat ears to touch the water, she flinched and yelped.

But her human form didn't seem to mind the wetness. Blake let her body move on its own as she washed her skin and hair, then got to drying off with a towel and putting on new clothes.

Once that arduous process was over, Blake sat on the floor of her room with her hair soaking into her shirt and pondered what to do next.

The woman had left her with some more papers, so Blake got to reading those. There was a map of the school and a list of courses, credits, and information as well. Blake realized she would need to register for classes for the upcoming semester, just as the other students did.

She ended up leaving her room to find the library, where she took a few minutes to learn how to use a computer, login with her personal information provided by the fairies, then got to choosing classes.

"Let's see. How many should I be taking? I don't even know if I'll do well in them..."

After all, she hadn't exactly gone to school and studied these topics for years in advance like everyone else here had.

But the fairies had granted her enough knowledge to get this far, so Blake had faith she could tackle the challenge of these classes with their assistance.

So she scrolled through the course options, looking over everything that seemed to be interesting. But before she made any decisions, Blake paused to think for a moment.

/I shouldn't just take random classes. I should try to take courses Weiss might've chosen. That way, maybe I'll be able to see her sooner./

Again, Blake scoured the long list of options. Ultimately, she decided to choose three classes.

/Business and marketing. Because Weiss' father wants her to learn how to take over the family business when she's older. Then mathematics. I remember seeing a lot of numbers and lines on her homework, and now I know they weren't letters and words, so it was probably math./

Then, Blake looked to the title of the final course she'd chosen: "Earth Studies and Gardening."

/Penny told me that Weiss made and saved up her money to take care of me by pulling weeds and working in the neighbors' gardens. So if there was any class she could choose to take and might enjoy, it would be this one./

But now, Blake was faced with a new issue; choosing the times and days of the week to attend these classes.

Weiss had always been an early-riser, much like Blake herself. She liked to work and move about in the morning and midday hours, then relax at the end of the day.

Blake deliberated long and hard about her choices.

In the end, she decided to take her math class on Mondays and Wednesdays at 8 in the morning, and the business class right after that at 9:30. She put the gardening class on Tuesdays and Thursdays at 4 in the afternoon, since that was around the time Weiss would've typically gotten home from middle school and went out to do her work pulling weeds.

After an hour or so, Blake sat back, feeling confident about her choices and decisions.

However, she hadn't expected to be thwarted so soon.

Evidently, the math and business classes at those days and times were already full, and Blake couldn't get herself into either of them. She needed to push each class back a few hours, ending with math at 9:30 and business at 11. The gardening class stayed the same.

Once she'd finalized her class times, a billing screen popped up. Blake almost yelped when she saw that the total cost of those three classes would amount to over five thousand dollars.

Panicked, she began to look around, wondering how in the world she was supposed to pay for all of this. Wherever Penny, Ruby, and Yang were, they must've sensed her dilemma and acted quickly.

Blake got a notification from her email a few minutes later, stating that she'd been awarded a scholarship that would pay for her entire semester of classes.

With a sigh of relief and thanks to her invisible companions, Blake stood up. Finally, with her schedule now official, she left her computer and headed back to her dorm room.

She only left her room one more time that day to get food (two more tuna sandwiches), before there was nothing more for her to do other than lie on her bed and close her eyes. She thought through everything that had happened within the past few days and nights, replaying events.

/The fairies turned me into a human. I'm younger now, and if I can live as a human from now on, I'll be able to live as long as Weiss can. I can keep my promise to her of staying by her side for the rest of my life, and that'll be longer than just twenty years./

It was certainly nice to think about. Should things go well and Weiss recognized Blake and accepted her before the month was up, everything would be like a dream come true. Everything would be perfect.

/But... if it doesn't work out... I'll turn back into a cat, and then what...? I can't even imagine.../ She turned over, feeling uncomfortable. /I'll do it right. I'll make sure Weiss knows who I am. Somehow. I'm here, and Weiss is, too. I'll find her, and we'll get through this no matter what.../

For now, believing was all she could do.

She hoped that tomorrow she could start acting on that belief.

---------------

Unfortunately for Blake, things became hectic for her right away.

She was receiving tons of emails and notices, demanding she order books and get more papers filled out. And she couldn't afford to ignore these things, because if she got into trouble, she could be thrown out of the school, and she didn't think the fairies would be able to pull enough strings - even with their magics - to get her back in again.

Blake had no choice but to conform and do what was necessary in order to stay here.

What bothered her the most was that everything she was being made to do was supposed to be for an entire semester, but Blake only actually had one month to do what she needed to.

She wasted five whole days doing things that were unnecessarily necessary, so to speak. Tacking up a calendar to the back of her door and crossing out wasted days sufficed to let her know just how much time she had left.

And it didn't seem like a lot. Not at all.

/I'll just have to wait one more day before classes start, she reminded herself. Then at least I'll be able to see if I'm in any class together with Weiss. I'll go from there.../

She had considered asking around about a girl with long white hair, but Blake didn't want word to somehow get back to Weiss that some random girl whom she'd never met before was asking about her. That would almost guarantee that Weiss would avoid her if she ever saw Blake.

So she was forced to wait one more day until classes finally began...

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Blake was up early that Monday morning.

She changed clothes, ate, and grabbed her books before hurrying out the door.

She found it very strange, but a little amusing, to now be doing the things she'd watched Weiss do for many years.

The possibility that she might be able to see Weiss today fueled her to hurry along more quickly to her class' building.

It was bustling with students, most of whom looked more tired than excited, talking in low, dreary tones rather then excited ones. Blake had never seen such miserable humans before in all her life, at least not quite to this degree.

She slipped through them, making her way towards the classroom with the corresponding number that she'd written in her planner. Her hope was that if she got there a bit earlier than anticipated, she might catch the previous class leaving.

However, by the time she got to her room, it was empty aside from two other unfamiliar people. Her shoulders slouched as she selected a seat and sat down.

/That's okay. After this, I'll see if she ends up in the same room as where my business class is./

For the next hour and a half, Blake was subjected to severe boredom, more horrendous than anything she'd ever suffered before in all her life. At least when she'd been left alone in the house as a cat, she had toys to play with and fairies to chat with.

But she had no such luxuries here. She wasn't even allowed to take a nap.

Whatever the teacher was saying was pointless to her.

Unlike the rest of the students here, she didn't actually need to learn things in order to get credits and graduate. Perhaps that might be a goal in the future if things went well and she kept her current form. But right now, she honestly couldn't care less.

As soon as they were dismissed, Blake hurried out the door to head to her next classroom a few buildings away. As she weaved through the crowds, she glimpsed every face she passed by, looking for striking blue eyes and stunning white hair.

Her heart started to pound when she thought she saw a streak of white up ahead, mingling throughout the crowds.

Blake could feel the adrenaline coursing through her. Should she encounter Weiss now in between classes, Blake would try to bump into her on purpose. From there, she would apologize, ask the girl's name, and then ask if there was some way she could make it up to her, which would ideally lead to meeting up with her again some time in the near future.

Blake had thought this method through in previous nights and believed it to be the best option she could come up with.

She was still too far away to be sure if what she was seeing was the familiar white ponytail she hoped it was. It easily could've been clothing or materials other people were holding, or even a trick of her eyes.

Even so, Blake made it a point to find out for certain.

She did her best to hurry without running, not wanting to anger other people by bumping into them or risk being thrown off-course. She was a bit closer now, and thought she could see a light blue dress...

Her heart was racing now.

/It really might be her-/

"Why, hello there!"

Blake came to a screeching halt amongst the crowd when she was suddenly intercepted. Looking up, she saw a familiar face, but not the one she'd hoped to see.

It was Pyrrha, beaming down at her with a bright, inviting smile. Nora was beside her with a couple of boys.

Blake flashed a glance to Pyrrha, then the blue dress beyond which was now disappearing into the crowds.

"Pyrrha-" she gasped. "I-"

"It's so nice to see you again, Blake! I'm glad you seem to be doing well since we first met! How are you adjusting? Did you manage to get your room?"

Blake could tell that Pyrrha was just being genuinely concerned and friendly, and she didn't mean to thwart Blake. But she couldn't help but feel frustrated as she lost sight of the splash of white and blue.

Blake heaved a sigh and addressed the red-haired girl.

"Yes. Everything went smoothly. Thank you again for your help the other night."

"Don't mention it! It was my pleasure! What classes are you taking this semester, if you don't mind my asking?"

"Uh, actually I have my business class right now..."

"Oh! I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to keep you waiting! Go, go, I don't want you to be late because of me! I'll see you around, Blake!"

As Pyrrha and her friends left, Blake felt her cat ears perk up at the sound of her name. But since it wasn't Weiss who had said it, it felt awkward.

She shook herself off and attempted to follow after the blue dress she'd seen, but she didn't see it anymore. Blake sighed, and realizing she was going the wrong way, turned around and headed for her next building.

/It probably wasn't her. It could've been anybody. There are thousands of people here and any of them could be wearing blue dresses... And if it was her... then she'll probably be around the same area the same time next week after this class. Maybe I can catch her then.../

But Blake hated to think she would have to wait another whole week to potentially find Weiss. She'd already wasted over a week of her month as a human, so a second week would put her hour glass as half empty.

Again, she shook herself off and rushed to her classroom, but again found no signs that Weiss had ever been there.

As soon as that boring class ended, Blake retreated to the cafe to get another tuna sandwich, then went back to her dorm room. She slept for the remainder of the day and into the night, her body still obviously used to a cat's sleeping pattern.

But no matter what body she was in, her dreams were always of Weiss.

---------------

It was the next day when she received a spark of hope.

In the afternoon, Blake went to attend her first gardening class. As she sat at her desk, she doodled idly in her notebook, tuning out the rest of the world.

As the professor read off the roster of names, Blake only looked up and replied "Here" when he called out "Blake Belladonna", the fake last name the fairies had forged for her.

Blake had just gone back to doodling when she heard him read off a few more names alphabetically and waited for the responses.

"Lie Ren."

"Here, sir."

"Weiss Schnee."

And Blake's world came slamming to a halt.

The ears beneath her bow shot up, making the fabric twitch and jolt, drawing the attention of several of the people around her, but Blake didn't care.

She almost shouted out "What?" but quickly managed to bite her tongue and keep the surprised cry down.

The professor looked around the room and Blake did as well, but no one was there to respond to the call of Weiss' name. The man behind the desk sighed and shook his head.

"Absent on her first day. Not off to a good start..."

Blake quickly went from surprised to furious.

/What gives you the right to say that? You don't know her!/

Blake had lived with Weiss all her life, and in those years, she had only seen Weiss stay home from school perhaps one or two days a year. Unless her illness had been severe enough to keep her from getting out of bed, Weiss had never missed school or work.

So for her to miss her first class here, Blake knew something must have been wrong.

But at the very least, it was comforting to know Blake had managed to get at least one class together with her. If Weiss showed up on Thursday this week, Blake would get to see her for sure.

But it was unnerving to know Weiss was absent today. Blake could only hope she was all right and that she didn't intend to drop this class for any reason.

As the professor went on reading names, Blake actually received a second surprise as another of her classmates gave some information.

The professor called out the next alphabetical name.

"Emerald Sustrai."

"Yup." The girl one row over and behind Blake raised her hand lazily. "Oh, and if that Weiss girl is who I think she is, she's in my math class, too. She was in class yesterday morning, but she seemed really upset or something. She left halfway through. Guess she was sick or had some issue going on."

With a shrug, the girl leaned back in her chair and crossed her arms. The professor nodded, then continued calling names.

But Blake was more anxious than ever now.

/So Weiss really did get into that math class... Damn, if only I hadn't been late to register, I could've gotten in with her.../

But there were even more pressing matters than that now.

/She left early? Why would she have left her first college class ever early? Is she really sick? Did something happen? What could've-/

And then it hit her. Like a car, it hit her.

Blake hadn't thought about what might've happened after she'd left the Schnee's home.

It had been a little over a week since Blake had left, but she knew Weiss' father must have contacted his daughter and told her Blake was missing.

She couldn't even begin to imagine the pain Weiss must've been suffering through, even right now. It must have been bad enough to cause her to leave her first class early, even after she'd already known of Blake's disappearance for several days. It was still eating away at her...

Blake's heart was starting to thud again, to the point where it was physically making her chest ache. She needed to get out of here, but if she left now, she'd probably be reprimanded.

So she had no choice but to stay put, though she only ever harbored worried thoughts about Weiss.

As soon as the professor ended the class, Blake was off and running again, wide-eyed and frantically searching for a familiar white ponytail.

But she found nothing.

She decided to hang out around the girl's dorms for a little while that evening, sitting down at a picnic table outside. She pulled a book out of her bag and made it appear she were reading, but in reality, she was keeping an eye on the girls passing in and out of the building.

However, even after waiting for several hours, Blake recognized none of the hundreds of girls she saw passing by. Feeling scared and sick, she limped her way to the cafe to buy some dinner, but didn't even manage to eat half of her tuna sandwich this time.

That night, Blake went to bed feeling more awful than ever since she'd changed forms.

/Weiss... please be okay... I'll find you soon. Please just wait until then.../

---------------

Wednesday passed just as fruitlessly as the days before it had.

Blake was forced to retreat to her dorm room after classes and once again cross out another day on her calendar.

She only had fewer than twenty days left now.

---------------

On Thursday morning, she once again sat at the picnic table and searched the faces of the girls passing by the dorm building.

Pyrrha ended up spotting her again and hurried over to greet her and have a quick chat.

By the time the afternoon rolled around, Blake headed back to her room to get her supplies for her 4PM class, and then headed off. She prayed that Weiss would be feeling better and show up to their gardening class today. If she missed this class again, Blake wouldn't get another chance to see her until next Tuesday, which would mean she'd have to waste even more of her dwindling time, waiting.

As she arrived at the classroom, she paused before entering. Blake took a few deep breaths first and tried to coach herself.

/Okay. If she's here, then I'll just have to try and not draw attention to myself. I don't want to talk to her right away. If I do, I might get carried away and end up blabbering more than I want to. I'll just keep quiet and then... maybe at the end of class I'll try to bump into her as an excuse to apologize and talk to her. That should work.../

Plus, just getting to see Weiss again would definitely be enough to sustain Blake through this boring class to come.

Once she was ready and had steeled herself, Blake slipped into the classroom.

But again, disappointment hit her like a brick to the head.

The classroom was almost full, aside from her own desk and three others, but none of the people occupying those desks were the person she was looking for. Blake glanced at the clock to find there were only two minutes left before class officially began. Weiss would never be late to a class without documentation, and if she wasn't here by now, it was highly unlikely she'd show up at all.

Blake slumped into her seat heavily and dropped her head into her hands.

/Maybe I need to come up with a new plan. I don't think this is going to work. I've got to think of a new way to find her.../

As she was raking her brain for ideas, the professor walked in, followed by a few more students.

"All right class, let's begin."

Blake felt her stomach flip once again, a sense of dread and helplessness washing over her from the inside out.

But before she could lift her head, her ears caught sound of a flurry of footsteps from down the hall, nearing this room.

Her bow twitched as a breathless voice sounded at the door.

"Sorry I'm late, Professor."

Blake's heart almost stopped.

She...

She knew that voice.

She'd know it anywhere.

A rush of tears welled up in her eyes as she lifted her head, and her gaze met a beautiful, dreamlike sight.

She was there, wearing a sky-blue dress, her white hair tied neatly into a ponytail over her right shoulder. Blake could tell her cheeks were slightly red, as though she'd been crying.

The girl must've sensed her gaze, because she turned to look, her bright blue eyes locking directly with Blake's.

She seemed to freeze for just a second.

Blake did as well.

All of her plans of how she'd do this were forgotten as her heart acted before her mind could think.

Her lips parted, and out tumbled a small, disbelieving rasp of her name:

"Weiss..."

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A/N: Blake's come so far. They both have. What will Weiss think of this new girl?