leader change

chapter 7 a leader's duty

It had been two days since team RWBY had their first practice match under Weiss' leadership. During that time, the heiress had been constantly thinking about what had happened that day. She was still thinking about what could have happened, if it had been a real fight her team had been in, and what the results could have led to. The thought that one of her teammates would have gotten hurt or even worse due to her lack of proper leadership skills made Weiss feel sick. Images of her wounded and bloodied teammates kept appearing in her mind, along with faces of their families and friends, who had been told about what had happened to their loved ones under the fencer's command.

Thinking about all of this made Weiss feel like she was carrying a huge weight on her shoulders, like a boulder chained to her back. Along with that, she felt a cold pain in the pit of her stomach. The white-haired girl honestly felt like throwing up, as these feelings just got stronger the more she thought about what could possibly happen, if she were to fail as a leader again.

'Just what is this that I'm feeling? Am I... scared to be a leader?' Weiss thought to herself, before she shook her head furiously, hoping to rid herself of such thoughts. 'No! NO! I am NOT scared! I am the heiress of the Schnee family! I was born to be a leader! I just made a mistake and that's just messing with me! I can get over it!'

Despite what she had said to herself, the fencer couldn't help but doubt her own words. She was going to need something else to convince herself that she could handle her new position. Luckily, Weiss spotted Jaune nearby, heading towards the library to most likely study with his team. The heiress felt that talking to a fellow team leader could possibly help clear her doubts about herself.

"Hey Jaune," Weiss greeted the blonde boy, who turned to look at her. "Can I talk to you for a moment?"

"Oh! Hi Weiss!" Jaune greeted the white-haired girl in return. "Sure, I can talk for a moment, but not for too long. I kind of agreed to have a study session with my team. What do you want to talk about?"

"It's something very important, but I'm sure it's going to sound weird," the heiress explained, before taking a deep breath to compose herself. "Jaune, do you... want to be the leader of your team?"

"...Excuse me?"

"You heard me. Do you want to be the team leader?" Weiss asked again, this time with a bit of an annoyed tone in her voice from having to repeat herself. "Ever since you were made the leader of your team, have you ever had second thoughts about it? Like, have you ever wanted to quit your position and give it to someone else?"

"Huh!? What are you talking about!? Of course not!" Jaune answered with a laugh. "Being a team leader is awesome! Why would I ever want to quit my position!?"

At first, Weiss was angered by the blonde knight's response, as she had been very serious with her question, and Jaune's answer seemed like he was making fun of her. However, upon a closer inspection, the heiress noticed something. It seemed like her fellow team leader was trying to hide something. Jaune wasn't looking at her while he was laughing and said laughter sounded rather fake. Not to mention, Weiss could also see a bit of sweat falling down the side of the boy's face.

"Jaune, what are you hiding from me?" the fencer asked in a serious tone. "Why are you faking laughter in front of me?"

Upon being called out on his bad acting, the blonde knight immediately stopped his laughter. He took a deep sigh, before answering.

"I just don't want to show how weak I am," Jaune answered with a heavy tone, which surprised Weiss. The way the blonde boy's voice sounded made it feel like the world was going to end. "The truth is that I... don't want to be a team leader. I just wanted to become a Huntsman and not a leader of Huntsmen."