Step By Step (ch7)

2-DAY EARLY RELEASE FOR ALL MY PATRONS!

This story is honestly a mess with how I've had to break it up to form chapters that are relatively similar in length...my bad lol

Disclaimer: I do not own RWBY.

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

														Chapter 7. Dreams

Weiss thought she'd only slept for a few moments, but by the time she reopened her eyes, she noticed the lighting in the room had changed a bit.

Pyrrha still slept soundly with her head on the heiress' chest and her arms around her, and Weiss made sure to keep her securely in place.

She didn't want to wake her, and Weiss was content with simply waiting as long as she needed to.

. . .

Dreams were always elusive. A lifetime of being told that they meant nothing wore away at her ability to live out fantastic scenarios and wondrous tales while her body recuperated, but even though her sleep was brief and born of physical strain, Pyrrha wasn't alone in the darkness.

The images may not have been clear like others described them as being, and the sounds were muffled, subdued, as though she were only half aware of their existence. Some things were hazy and others weren't there at all, but Pyrrha was in no state awake or asleep to care about what they meant.

Something far, far more important was happening.

For the first time in years, she was dreaming.

Not the same kind of vague recollections she had since arriving at Beacon, whereupon waking from, all she could remember was that something had happened - she had no doubt her team and her new friends had done that to her, and she was silently thankful to all of them. It wasn't much, but it gave her hope after years of empty nights.

And now? She was dreaming. Actually dreaming.

Not the elaborate stories and incredible experiences that she read about and overheard, true, but to her, this nonsensical, strange experience was amazing. Even as she drifted in and out of sleep her wordless murmurs and involuntary shiftings closer to Weiss appeared as though she were stirring, Pyrrha was happy.

Pyrrha was happy for a lot of things, but it was thanks to Weiss that everything that made today so special had happened in the first place. Whether the heiress heard it or not from Pyrrha's heart, it couldn't be repeated enough.

'Thank you.'

. . .

She wanted to know what all of this meant. In some distant corner of her soul, she felt she might've known, but she wasn't certain. She needed reassurance, proof, logical, solid facts if she was going to let herself be convinced.

Of course, she had Pyrrha right here in her arms, but…

But she wanted even more than that. She wasn't sure exactly what, but she wanted more. Her voice, her eyes, her touch…

All her life she'd been forced to sacrifice things, be patient. But now she wanted to be greedy. This was the one thing she wanted above all else, and she wasn't going to let go of it for any reason, unless Pyrrha wanted her to.

And something told her Pyrrha didn't want her to.

Weiss played with the girl's hair, silken crimson slipping through her fingers.

She wasn't sure if she heard the faint murmur of Pyrrha's voice as she slept, or if it was something else, but Weiss couldn't help but breathe a reply.

"No, thank you…" And then, just because she could say it - without fear - she repeated what had been said earlier. "I love you, Pyrrha."

. . .

It wasn't clear how long she spent in her dreams - time had no meaning in her subconscious, but when the colors faded into black and the sounds muted into silence, Pyrrha couldn't help but fear that something else had happened.

She was used to this emptiness, but not in this way, not after all that had happened. She would have worried, feared even, that something had shifted and changed beyond her control if she was capable of it. A part of her whispered that her body had given up on her for all the stress she put it through, while another suggested that she really had imagined the whole thing.

Pyrrha hated to feel vulnerable - no more so than when she felt alone - and there were no walls to protect her in this state.

She woke abruptly with a jolt, her eyes snapping open and her whole body jerking awake, kicking itself into gear under the assumption that she was threatened.

It only took a second. Not even long enough for her to make a sound before she felt the hand still tangled loosely in her hair, and her eyes met the crystal blue she was mesmerized with daily, immediately setting everything at ease.

Nobody else had that kind of power, and yet Weiss was able to calm Pyrrha down without doing anything.

Her head was spinning with the shock of being shaken awake, and her heart seemed to pull at her chest, but the first thing Pyrrha's thoughts turned to was the girl in front of her. Her voice was meek and a little shaky, her eyes matching the apologies in her tone.

"Weiss! I-I'm sorry, I didn't mean to startle you-I just…had a bad dream…"

Dust, she was still so tired.

. . .

She gasped when she felt Pyrrha jolt so suddenly, the constant calm and stillness that had settled over the past few hours abruptly and cruelly broken by some unseen terror. Weiss' heart leapt to her throat as she gasped, instinctively tightening her grip on the girl to keep her steady.

But the instant she saw Pyrrha's startled emerald eyes, Weiss got control of herself; she refused to fight the girl's fear with more fear and uncertainty.

The heiress eased her lips into a gentle smile as she propped herself up on one elbow, continuing to run her hand through Pyrrha's hair with her free hand.

"It's perfectly fine. Don't worry about it. I'm fine now that you're here. Everything's okay."

She could sympathize with the mention of bad dreams; anyone in Beacon could. But after all that had happened that evening between them, Pyrrha was undoubtedly the last person Weiss wanted to see in pain.

"The dream's over now. You're here - with me - and you're all right." But she frowned a little when she noticed the clear signs of fatigue on Pyrrha's expression, in her eyes. "You should go back to sleep. The sun's already set anyway. Would you like to change clothes and-"

She cut herself off, biting her lip. Then, she inhaled and gathered her courage to go on.

"And… you could come back here and… stay with me, if you'd like…"

She looked away, feeling the blush on her cheeks. She'd made her offer, it was up to Pyrrha to decide now.

. . .

The words were as reassuring as the touch, but it would be rude to return to the hold and the warmth when she was being spoken to, especially by Weiss. Instead, Pyrrha listened with a twinge of happiness when she heard the lack of pain in Weiss' tone now.

Her shoulders relaxed as Weiss spoke, shedding all the tension coiled in the muscles while she exhaled a small sigh under her breath. Even though she was making Weiss repeat herself, every word felt genuine. She knew it was real and that she meant it, but it was still effort on the heiress' part.

But Pyrrha's heart skipped a beat at the mention of staying with her friend. Her eyes opened further in surprise and her mind flew into a rush, tripping over itself in an effort to think of the best response.

And just as it got into its frenzied stride, it stopped. She didn't need her mind when her heart already knew what to say.

Her smile was wide and her nod was cheerful in spite of her exhaustion.

"I'd be more than glad to stay with you, Weiss."

Seeing Weiss like this was a privilege Pyrrha was honored to witness rather often, but the reddening of her cheeks was quite simply the cutest thing Pyrrha had ever seen. The fact that she was the only one blessed with such adorable sights was even more touching, as though Weiss trusted Pyrrha enough with more than just the cold mask she wore so often when around others, and that meant a lot to her.

She didn't quite break her friend's hold, but it now dawned on her that after everything the two of them had said, and all they had been through that day - they were still in very close proximity, and Weiss had just asked her to stay the night. Pyrrha's face was reddening fast to match the speed of her heart.

. . .

A wave of the utmost delight washed over her when Pyrrha agreed to staying with her the night.

"That's perfect," she smiled. "Since the others went away, it's been difficult to sleep these last few nights. I don't like being alone." She sat up slowly, helping Pyrrha as well until they'd both straightened their backs a bit. "I'm feeling much better now though, so you don't need to worry about me," she reassured.

As her voice faded away, Weiss wasn't sure what to do about the silence. The two of them were less than a foot away from one another, and Weiss found herself immediately lost in Pyrrha's eyes. There was a hue on her friend's cheeks that Weiss imagined matched the one on her own, and the same could probably be said for the fast thumping of her heart.

She'd admired Pyrrha for years, even before she'd formally met her. It was still hard to believe all of this wasn't a dream, but she'd spent enough time dwelling on all of that before. She knew it was real now.

Her mind still felt a bit fuzzy and she wasn't really sure of what she was asking until she'd finally said it.

"Pyrrha?" Her voice trembled a bit, and she blinked, drawing a steadying breath. "If… it's okay with you… do you think we could…"

She quickly pressed a palm to her mouth and shook her head.

"N-Never mind! You go to your dorm and get what you need! I'll wait here for you."

She could try asking later.

. . .

Pyrrha was never one to pressure anyone. She saw the uncertainty in Weiss' body language even before her shaky voice reached her ears, but she said nothing about it. After the first time today, Pyrrha knew when Weiss was genuinely frightened, and this seemed to be something else entirely.

She wanted to guess that her hunch was right, but instead she chose to try and put those nerves at ease.

She brought her hand to the top of Weiss' arm and gave another warm smile, her eyes twinkling in spite of her tiredness.

"You don't need to tell me everything now, okay? We have a lot of time before anything has to happen. And I don't just mean our noisy teammates coming back and sticking their noses in our business."

Her wink was so… out-of-character that she couldn't help but smile even more at it, whatever sincerity in her voice being lost as she stifled a giggle with her hand, her ponytail finally losing its grip on her shoulder and hanging beside her head.

"I'm sorry, that was rude of me," she stated through muffled laughter, happy to feel that she was still able to laugh after crying so much.

Still, Pyrrha gently got up off of the bed and adjusted herself, pulling her shirt a little further down to cover the skin of her midriff that had been pushed up sometime during the day, and gently flicking her hair back into place. Her glance passed over the empty beds in the room, and she quickly fixated on the only one that seemed relatively safe and on the floor. She jerked a thumb towards the door and turned to leave, giving Weiss a small but cheerful wave as she did so.

"I'll be back in a little, okay? Don't push yourself!"

. . .

Pyrrha's wink admittedly had her heart fluttering three times faster than it had been even at the time of their confessions. She knew she must've turned redder than Ruby's cloak, and the ensuing laugh on Pyrrha's part only made the Weiss' heart go even faster.

She pressed a hand to her face in a rare display of embarrassment at herself, a feat only Pyrrha Nikos could manage from the renown heiress. When her friend apologized, Weiss meekly shook her head to indicate it wasn't necessary.

When she'd calmed down for a second, she peeked up again as Pyrrha stood from the bed. The only reason Weiss didn't protest it was because she knew she'd be coming back.

"Of course. Take your time…" she murmured.

She held Pyrrha's gaze for a moment longer, and there was an unspoken promise there, among a few other things. Then, the crimson-haired girl took her leave and headed off to the room across the hall.

Weiss felt her stiff shoulders finally loosen, and realized she hadn't been aware of her own tension until now. And yet, she knew there was no reason to feel that way around Pyrrha, especially not now, after all that had just transpired between them.

She got to her feet slowly, still finding her balance a bit shaky from her slight sickness, but she made it to the bathroom without a hitch. Weiss splashed cold water onto her face before drying off, then proceeding to brush her hair a little.

She… she really wanted to look nice for Pyrrha.

"Oh, Dust, I'm so hopelessly-"

-in love with her…

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

A/N: Whoop there it is.