Weiss stared at Ruby with her eyes wide and her mouth hanging open from shock. She had just admitted to her partner that she was unfit to be their team leader and that Ruby should take over the team leader position once again. This was something the heiress had thought that the redhead wanted to hear all along. After all, it had been Ruby who had suggested the whole switch, saying that Weiss didn't know what she had to go through. Now that she fully understood what it was like to be a team leader through the hard way, the white-haired girl had been certain that her partner would happily to take back her position.

However, that had NOT happened. Instead of taking over as team RWBY's leader once again, Ruby had simply refused her partner's plea. The way the scythe-wielder even said it spoke volumes of how serious she was about this. There had been absolutely no hesitation in her voice at all or even a hint of this being a prank of some kind. As far as Weiss knew, Ruby Rose was refusing to be the team leader of team RWBY.

"W-What!?" Weiss yelled in shock and slight anger. "What do you mean "no"!? How can you just refuse the position that is rightfully yours!? I even admitted that I can't carry the burden of being a leader myself! What more do you want from me!?"

"It's not that I want something more. I actually want something less," Ruby explained. "Didn't you just tell me that you have learned about all the burdens that come with being a leader or did I misunderstand you? Now tell me, why do you think that I would want to carry those burdens again? Especially when I'm already dealing with more than enough, even without being a team leader?"

"What do you mean?" the heiress asked, wondering what the younger girl was talking about.

"Even without having to carry the burden of being a team leader, I already have to deal with a lot of things YOU can't even imagine," the redhead answered. "How about we start with my age? Do you have any idea how hard it is to literally be the youngest student in our entire school? I might have thought that getting accepted to Beacon early would be great, but if I had known what it would cause, I would have refused Ozpin's offer immediately."

"You would have refused getting to Beacon early?" Weiss asked with wide eyes. "Why?"

"Thanks to me being younger than anyone else, I constantly feel isolated by everyone around me," Ruby explained. "I have lost count of all the times I heard people whispering behind my back about how I got accepted early. Some say I bribed the teachers in some way, others claim that Ozpin is losing his mind and so on. No one is willing to believe that I got accepted because of my skills, like it's somehow criminal to even think that way."

The heiress felt her blood run cold upon hearing about what the younger girl had to go through, especially when she herself had often looked down on her partner for her age. She had never imagined what Ruby must have been going through, simply for being skilled enough to be accepted early to Beacon.

"R-Ruby... I had no idea-"

"And it's worse with my own team," the scythe-wielder continued, causing her partner to let out a shocked gasp. "Do you have any idea how many times I've been left behind for "being too young"? Or how many times my opinions haven't been taken seriously, as I'm "just a kid"? You might think that those don't hurt, but believe me when I say they do. They hurt A LOT."

"Ruby... We didn't know..."

"And how about the other problems that come from being accepted early?" Ruby asked. "Did you know or even bother to think that getting accepted early has caused a lot of work to pile on top of me? How I have to take extra classes to make up for the two years I skipped? I might not have told any of you about them, but none of you seemed to bother to find out. Even if I had told you about them, I wonder if you had believed me? After all, you often say that I'm "just a kid", don't you?"

Weiss felt her body start to shiver. Her guilt made her feel like she was starting to freeze, not to mention the tone of Ruby's voice. At the start, the redhead had sounded like herself at least somewhat, but now she sounded completely emotionless. Just how much had Ruby been hurting all this time? And how much were her teammates responsible for her pain, especially her own partner?

"Ruby, please...! I couldn't have-"

"And this isn't even counting how I have to struggle ALL THE TIME during our classes. Not only do I have to work extra hard in order to keep up with students that have more experience than I do, but I have to make sure that my scores are among the top of the class. Otherwise, everyone will just say that I didn't deserve to get accepted early," the redhead continued with her rant. "With all this already on my shoulders, you're asking me to take on the burdens of leadership? Do you really have any idea what those feel like?"

The heiress stared Ruby in the eyes and gave a small nod, not able to say anything thanks to her guilt having taken away her will to speak.

"Really? You mean to tell me that you actually understand what it feels like to carry on your shoulders the lives of your teammates? I don't think you truly do," the scythe-wielder stated with a raised eyebrow. "Did you know that during one of our leadership classes we actually had a former team leader come an speak to us? He told us how he made one single mistake and it cost him the lives of his teammates."

Weiss' eyes went wide upon recognizing this story. It was the same one Jaune had told her.

"That man told us how his mistake cost him so dearly that he was unable to continue as a Huntsman anymore. He said how he nowadays lives in nothing but constant regret of what happened, wishing that he could either somehow turn back time or that his life would just end," Ruby said. "After hearing something like that, do you think that I would want to continue as a leader anymore? There are nights I can't sleep and I just cry to myself for what might happen. I feel helpless and alone. Meanwhile, my three teammates go on happily with their lives, while treating me like I was just some lost child."

Tears were starting to fall from the white-haired girl's eyes as she started to imagine everything the redhead was going through. To be so alone and helpless, while carrying such heavy burdens on your shoulders. It was a miracle that Ruby had made it this far without breaking down.

"Why... didn't you tell us anything?" Weiss asked weakly. "If we had known, I'm sure we could have helped. Even if it was just a little bit."

"Not only do I doubt that you would have believed me, but it would have also just proven everyone's suspicions of me," Ruby answered. "If I had broken down and started telling about how hard everything was for me, what kind of a message would that give to all the people that didn't think I deserved to be here? They would see me as weak and unfit to be here, which would only cause them to increase all their harassment on me in the hopes of me quitting. I may regret coming here early, but I am still determined to be a Huntress, and I will walk down the path I've chosen for myself. Not to mention, if I showed weakness and all the people doubting me would just harass me more, I feared that it would end up affecting my team as well. A leader needs to be strong not just for herself, but for her teammates, too."

Weiss felt like crying. Never before had she felt so bad in her entire life. Out of all the wrong things she had done, this had to be the worst. To look down on her partner simply because of her age and feeling like she deserved something that not only wasn't rightfully hers, but also something she couldn't handle, the heiress had effectively betrayed the first and best true friend she had ever made in her life.

"Ruby... please... I beg you," Weiss pleaded as her tears were falling to the floor and she had to hold back her sobs. "I know what I've done to you is unforgivable, but I swear that I never meant to do any of it! Even if you can't find it in your heart to forgive me, can't you still take over as our team leader? We truly need you, as no one else can lead team RWBY but you! Can't you take on the duty of team leader again for our sake?"

After the white-haired girl had begged for her partner to change her mind, Ruby walked up to the older girl. She then leaned a bit closer, so she could whisper into her ear.

"After being finally freed from at least some of my burdens, do you really think I want to take them back?" the redhead whispered. "I honestly should thank you for that day, when you said that you didn't know what being a leader was like. For a long time, I've been wondering if there was a way out for me and you gave it to me. Now that I finally have what I want, I am not going back. Enjoy your new position, honorable Ms. Schnee."

Once she had given her answer, Ruby walked past her partner and headed towards the door. However, she wasn't able to go far, until something stopped her. A pair of arms were wrapped around her body, holding her in place, while their owner had buried their face to the former team leader's back and were sobbing.

"Ruby please! You can't do this!" Weiss managed to say while crying. "I know that you don't want to take up the burden of being a leader again, but there really is no one else here for the job! I may not deserve to have you as my leader or partner or even as my friend, but I beg of you to at least consider it! If not for me, then do it for Blake and Yang! They deserve a better team than one led by me! They deserve a leader that actually looks out for them, like a leader should! Please be that leader!"

For a moment, silence fell over the room, broken only by the heiress' sobs. Weiss didn't know what Ruby was thinking, but she prayed in her mind that the younger girl was at least considering taking over as the leader again.

Suddenly, the white-haired girl heard the sound of something wet falling to the floor. She looked up and saw Ruby looking back at her with tears in her eyes.

"That's unfair... using Blake and Yang like that," the scythe-wielder said in a broken voice. "Fine. You win. I'll be the leader of team RWBY again."

Weiss pulled her partner in an even tighter hug, as the two girls were now both crying. However, while the older girl was crying tears of relief and joy, the younger one was crying out of sadness, as she was going to once again carry a heavy burden that would crush her.

However, little did Ruby know that things would be different.