Starlight and Shadows

Chapter 19: Crystallized Memories

As everyone else stood up Weiss glanced over her notes.

Her handwriting was immaculate, a beautifully executed concise summary of the lecture done in flawless cursive. In the top right corner was today's date, and the lecture topic was clearly written at the top of the page, perfect for later reference whenever she might need it.

Satisfied, Weiss capped her white 1939 Scribe, a gold nibbed fountain pen filled with Encre Bleu Mystère ink, and carefully placed the matching notebook into her bag.

"Ruby, have you seen Zeffre?" she asked, her voice curious with an undercurrent of annoyance.

Internally she was still figuring out how she would give Zeffre a piece of her mind, but she was better than allowing such feelings to reveal themselves in a public setting such as a lecture hall.

When she got Zeffre alone however...

Ruby stopped mid shoving loose pages into her bag to look at Weiss. "I haven't seen her since yesterday... I hope she's ok—"

Ruby jumped as the deafening crack of thunder cut her off.

"Are you afraid of thunder?" Weiss asked, smirking slightly at the frazzled girl.

"What? No, of course not. Scared of thunder? Please," Ruby said a little too quickly, giving Weiss a nervous laugh. "It was just unexpected is all."

A thunderstorm had rolled in last night, and it was only now that it had begun to let up.

"Sure. Just tell Zeffre that I need to talk to her if you see her," Weiss finished, standing with her bag.

Zeffre was supposed to meet with her yesterday to study. Instead, Weiss had waited thirty minutes alone at the library.

Needless to say, Weiss was beyond furious at the girl.

It had finally stopped raining.

Looking outside the second story hallway window, Weiss looked out over the forest surrounding Beacon Academy. The recent rainfall had soaked everything outside, giving it a fresh clean sheen. The dark grey clouds in the sky cast everything in a sort of twilight that would soon fade away, revealing fresh blue sky.

The sunset today would probably be particularly striking.

'I'd be nice to go for a walk later... wait.'

Weiss spotted something dark blue just inside the brush.

'What?'

Ignoring the sensation of her shoes getting muddy, Weiss ran across the field.

"Hi Weiss!" Zeffre shouted as she ran across the field, waving.

Stopping in front of the girl Weiss couldn't hide her utter bafflement.

Zeffre was completely soaked, her hair hanging low covering one eye as she gave Weiss a smile.

"Zeffre! What are you doing out here?" Weiss asked, controlling her shout into something more subtle.

Zeffre tilted her head. "Waiting for you? Duh?"

"What."

"Remember? Yesterday I wanted to show you this cool flower I found, but you got a message on your scroll and told me to wait here," Zeffre said smiling. "So, I waited."

"Eh... Wha... Wait," Weiss stuttered before shaking her head. "You mean to tell me that you've been out here all night?!"

"Yup. Flower got torn apart in the wind last night, which sucks but what can you do?" Zeffre said.