A Spellbound Gem (a RWBY fanfiction)

Chapter 15: Please Stop Trying To Kill Your Class

Professor Port's Combat Basics was anything but. The portly man seemed to have the mindset of throwing a child in the deep end of the pool to teach them to swim.

Except the pool was full of sharks and electric eels, the walls were greased and five feet higher than the water, and he was throwing rocks at the child from the top.

"Let's talk about explosives!" He cheered happily, his students all horrified by the volatile chemicals that surrounded him.

Weiss closed her eyes too keep from freaking out and snapping at the professor. This is absolutely insane...

Ruby quickly grabbed the older girl's hand, a look of concern flashing in her eyes. It was a silent battle they had during all heavy magic classes. Ruby was slowly feeling for what Weiss' limits were, while Weiss continued to assure her that she had no extra limits.

"I'll be fine." She whispered, gently squeezing her partner's hand. "I'm sure he's not going to do anything too crazy."

"I'm going to teach you about defensive wards, then we'll take turns throwing small bombs at each other to test those wards!" Port laughed, not making anyone in the hall feel better.

"Of course, I have been wrong before." Weiss muttered, pinching the bridge of her nose. "What is wrong with this man..?"

"Three divorces and a custody dispute?" Ruby offered, pulling a small chuckle from the girl in white by her side.

"That somehow wouldn't surprise me." She whispered back, looking down towards her partner's hand. "This class is going to be horrible, isn't it?"

"It wouldn't be one of Port's classes if it wasn't."

The professor set up what he explained as a Important Educational Device. Weiss quickly decided that she did not want to work with the IED, Ruby agreeing that this was a bit too much.

"Now, if you'd just..." The portly man preceded to drag one of his students in front of everyone, placing him right in front of the cannon looking structure. "Perfect. This young lass is going to show us how it's done!!"

"I-I don't know very much about wards... Only a small spell for~"

"That'll be perfect, I'm sure you won't need anything more than a little push to protect yourself." The professor laughed. "I'll even show you the ward I use! That'll boost your confidence!"

He held his wand forward, pointed upward from his outstretched arm. With a few incomprehensible words and the glow of energy around his wand, a small shield of light formed in front of him.

"See! It's quite basic, but it's the only ward I ever use." Port assured, helping the girl feel a bit better about the situation. He then moved back to his machine, pointing a finger to the instantly on edge student. "Now raise your ward and this will be glorious!"

In that moment, the girl thought over why him and his parents had to sign a waiver in the case of accidentally death or dismembered. And yet he couldn't quite remember if it covered maiming and emotional scarring.

The small explosion completely covered any view that the class had, everyone waiting to see what had happened in the cloud of chemical fire and smoke.

And as the smoke did clear, the fit of coughing made it quite apparent that the pathetic excuse for a shield that they held was plenty for this situation, getting a mixed result of sighs of relief and moans of disappointment.

"Oh thank, Oum..." Weiss whispered, letting out a breath she didn't know she was holding. Her wand felt slightly heavier as she pulled it out for the class, struggling with the light feelings of inadequacy.

Until a warm hand took her own.

"You'll do great." Ruby told her, holding tightly before turning back to Professor Port, setting up the dueling stage so everyone could take their turn with the IED.

Each and every student made their way forwards, including Weiss, and when her turn came, she took her step forward. He stance was perfect, her wand at the ready, the words at the tip of her tongue and ready.

As sport loaded the cannon and prepared to fire, the girl's eyes began to glow a dull and icy blue, the whisper of echoed words leaving her lips as she raised her wand and the fire flew to hit her.

The heat was immense, but the one thing that really took her off guard was the ward itself. A brilliant sheet of ice that held back the flames, protecting her from the blast and holding firm against the pressure.

As the heat fell back and she lowered the shield, a cold pause came over her body before she could step away and back towards the main group.

I've never felt like that when casting...

Ruby stepped forwards, her wand at the ready and raised towards the shaft of Port's machine before he was even done loading it. And as he fired, Weiss couldn't help but flinch as Ruby was consumed in fire.

It was terrifying to watch the students be taken into the blast, but to watch Ruby be adsorbed into the blaze was almost too much.

Her eyes refused to leave until she saw her partner standing firm with smoke falling off of the shield of silver that hovered in front of her.

The girl in red, in that moment, seemed more confident and powerful that Weiss had ever seen. She lowered her wand and the brilliant shining light was gone before the smoke had cleared, Ruby falling back as if she was knocked over by the blast.

Is she... Is she pretending to be weak? Why would she do that?