I dont own RWBY or Mahou Tsukai Kurohime. Those belong to their respective owners.
AN: The thought behind this story was a simple one. It was a random thought as I glanced through some of the RWBY crossovers and most of those deal with one or maybe two aspects of the RWBY world or the one it is combined with. Guns and/or magic. I then remembered how Kurohime ended and it's world setting, even though I finished it a few years ago. So, this simple one shot was born.
Ok, and to anyone wondering about some of my other stories, no I haven't forgotten about them. I just lost a bit of interest in them but DO plan to continue some of them.
Also, as to simplifying some of the events and going into full details in others, it was to help speed a little of the story up and also emphasize key parts. Later on, I may add more and touch up some parts.
There will be massive spoilers from the Mahou Tsukai Kurohime story so please keep that in mind.
Please enjoy.
*Story start*
Weiss was pulled from her dream as her partner shook back into reality.
The first thing the heiress noticed was that it was the middle of the night with enough light from the half filled moon outside to see by. The second was the Ruby had a very worried look on her face.
"Ruby?"
"Weiss, are you ok? You were crying in your sleep."
The white haired girl drew a hand to her face and indeed felt tears running free. She took a few deep breaths to calm herself and stop the waterworks before turning away from the redhead.
"I'm... I'm fine Ruby." Weiss finally spoke.
"But... this is the second time this week and the fifth time this month. What's wrong?" The team leader pleaded to her friend.
Weiss didn't want to answer at first but changed her mind after a minute. She got up and grabbed both her's and Ruby's robes before handing it to the red head and motioning for her to follow.
Weiss lead them both to their dorm roof and looked up at the moon before speaking.
"Ruby, have you ever had a dream that was so real you felt you were living in it?"
"I guess. But doesn't everyone have a dream like that now and then?" Ruby replied.
"I don't mean just a single dream. I mean dreams that make you feel like you had another life." Weiss corrected. "And not just a few of them, but lots and lots."
"Weiss..." Ruby spoke with more worry in her voice.
Weiss walked over and sat down on one of the benches. "It started when I was a child. Every once in a while I had a dream that was so vivid that I couldn't believe it, but after some time I knew that I couldn't be making it up. The details in the dreams were just too REAL."
Ruby joined her friend on the bench as the heiress spoke. "What happened in your dreams?"
"I was someone of great power and ability. Always moving and fighting for no other reason than to do so. I even modeled some of my attacks and style on my dreams. My power became so great that I eventually challenged the Gods and was cursed for it. Even after she was cursed she continued to hound the Gods and find a way to break the curse."
"Sounds a little like you now." Ruby sniped.
Weiss looked at Ruby before giving a little scoff. "I am nothing like how she was. She did find a way to break her curse. She had to find someone who loved her for who she was and not what she was. And it didn't help that her shape and power had been sealed to a diminutive form of what it use to be. Many who looked at her would have thought her no more older than I am now."
"Did she manage to do it?" The Leader of their team asked.
Turning her gaze back to the moon with a distant look to her, Weiss continued. "She did. It took her ten years to find someone, and the entire time her form never aged. It was a chance meeting. She was being chased and found him, and out of the goodness of his heart he helped her. You see the boy who was maybe a little older than we are now had been saved by her before she had been cursed, though she had forgotten about him almost as soon as she had finished saving him. It was his selfless act of facing down a large band of brigands that were after her while telling her that it didn't matter who she was, he wouldn't abandon her."
Ruby was speechless at the other girls words as they rang so close to home for her.
"All of this rattle the woman to her very core because he had told her the one thing he would never do, he wouldn't kill. Even if it meant his own death. She reflected on his words, his attitude and realized that for someone like him, she wouldn't mind falling for him. And with that the curse broke. The young man was lucky that it did because he didn't have a chance against all of the men chasing the woman. With her power and original form back, she used her magic in symphony with a single bullet to drive the brigands off. Think the curse was broken she began to think of a way to get revenge on those who abandoned her after the fight with the Gods and the Gods themselves, but the curse restored itself as the thoughts came into her head. To continue to break the curse, she decided to keep the man around and use 'fake love' to try and regain her powers."
With great interest, Ruby continued to listen to some of the stories that Weiss experienced in her dreams. About how the woman fought enemies from her past that had become a forest, or the witch who stole her name and destroyed an empire. Though every time Ruby asked, Weiss couldn't tell Ruby the name of the woman or the man. She said that it was just something that came with how dreams were, you never really heard a persons name but knew they were calling you, or you them.
"Though something was changing about the woman in my dreams." The white haired girl slowed her speech as she spoke the next parts. "She was getting younger and younger. Like I said near the beginning, she may have looked about our age, but as they continued to adventure together she was getting younger and younger, including her power dwindling. Though every time she truly needed her power to help him or those he was helping she had her full power back, even if it was for a short time. She was even able to kill a God to save herself and the man. Eventually though..."
"What happened?" Ruby asked with trepidation.
"The man died." was all Weiss said.
Her words shocked the team leader. The red head had thought that like with most dreams, the two would end up together but somehow, the red head knew things didn't really work out like that. Taking a deep breath before voicing her next question Ruby pushed on. "How... how did it happen?"
"It started out with a fight between her and the man. She had found others to join with them because they had known her from when she was at her full power. Many of them still worshiping her almost as if she herself was a Goddess. Almost three hundred had flocked to her, and she confused that with them loving her. So she drove the man who loved her away." With a slight hitch in Weiss's voice, the teen continued. "Some of the other Gods found out that she had killed one of their kind and went to punish her. They... they trapped her by setting a Red River spanning over a hundred feet. around the area so she couldn't escape, for any who tried would be melted and completely consumed before they made it more than a few feet from the shore. Then they enforced the curse she was under so that nothing would unlock it. But luck was still with her as the man had not run too far and learned that there was a way across the river. And a cost."
Tears had once again formed on the edges of Schnee girls eyes. "There was a boat and a Ferryman but he spoke to all that were trapped that the only way to get across was to ride his boat, but there was ONLY room for one person and the boat would not return afterwards. Out of the hundred or so followers who had survived the initial attack from the Gods, they quickly began to attack each other to try and be the one to make it into the boat. The young man had quickly gotten away from the crazed followers taking the cursed woman with him as they hid from getting shot. The Gods however weren't going to just let anyone leave though and attacked the mass of people and causing more confusion."
Weiss's tears had began to fall with just a few at a time. "Taking this chance the man picked up the small woman who's body was no bigger than a child and ran to the boat and threw her in. Casting the boat off, he smiled as it began to cross. Despite her protests, she reached for the man but he did not reach back and told her 'Leave now. You don't have to worry about me.' And she noticed that he was holding his side as blood ran freely down his back and side. The Ferryman asked the man if it was alright to let her go and he just turned to him and spoke 'I sacrificed my life for someone I love, so it's worth it.' But the Ferryman replied 'I have witnessed many deaths, even those who give love to others but never receive it in turn. You cannot obtain any satisfaction by just loving someone. Don't you have something else you wish for?' Yet the man could not return an answer, but the words had reached the boat that had crossed a third of the way."
A smile had returned to Weiss's lips as she told the next part. "She called back to the man, calling his name and then jumping out of the boat and rushing back to him. 'You should have just run away.' he chided her. 'What's the point if I can't be together with you!?' She hugged him tightly trying to stand as best she could, but the Red River had burned many parts of her legs. Despite his wound he protected her from the forces of the Gods, but was getting weaker and weaker as the battle went on. The woman couldn't even use her magic to help him, she even told him to run away and that he was suffering because of her cursed form. but he only told her that because she was cursed that they could meet. But after taking another mortal wound the man fell to the ground, but despite her nearly ruined legs, the woman stood to protect him from the Gods. She wouldn't let them take someone so important from her.'
Ruby had slide next to Weiss and placed an arm the other girl to give her some comfort.
"When one of the Gods saw this She moved to protect the woman and died as a result, but with the God's dying breath, She broke the curse on the woman. With her full power and form unleashed she quickly used some of her magic to heal both herself and the man before it was too late. But the other God that had come to kill her didn't give her much time, as he immediately attacked with not a shred of hesitation or fear from the woman. The man and woman used all of their strength and eventually beat him."
As the Team leader was about to shout with job for the two in Weiss's story, she remembered what the white haired teen had said earlier.
"The river than formed around the area had been filling further and further in toward the center where they had fought the Gods. And now it spilled freely toward them, but luck was with them slightly as the Ferryman had approached them. The woman had passed out from her fatigue and without any hesitation, he tossed her into the boat and began to push it to the edge of the Red River which was now hundreds of feet away. For if the boat did not reach the shore before sun rise, neither would make it out alive. With only an hour before the sun would rise he pushed."
Weiss brought her hands to her eyes trying to stop the tears that fell like rain as she continued, as though once started she HAD to finish the tale. "The Ferryman told him that in less than a few minutes, his body would melt away. But he just smiled and said 'With Love, my body will continue to hold on.' A friend they had meet in their travels had seen the strange river and approached the shore as the boat neared. The man was mostly gone by this point, the only thing that could be seen of him was the bones of his body as he pushed the boat, his face, and his scarf that he had never been without. Their friend had been calling to them, and her voice had roused the woman so she saw the man starting to collapse as he finished pushing the boat onto the shore. The woman reached for him and only managed to grab his scarf as... as his body... his body dissolved..."
The labeled Ice Queen of Team RWBY sobbed openly as she couldn't finish her sentence. Ruby embraced her friend tightly. "I'm sorry. I am so... so sorry. I never meant for you to experience anything so painful."
It took over ten minutes before Weiss had finally stopped crying. Ruby had continued to apologize and reassure her friend and teammate. She tried to get them both to stand up and head back to their dorm, but Weiss wouldn't budge.
"There is more. The morning after I had that dream I could do anything. Her pain, my pain was just so great that it hurt just to move, just to think of him. But that night I dreamed again of my other self. Though now she was back to an age of a little no more than we are again, but my powers were still sealed despite no longer being cursed. Eventually I made my way with a friend to another continent and found that there was a way to get my full power back. But the sacrifice for that was I had to rid myself of all the memories of the man who gave himself to safe me. Though if I am able to gain my full power back, there would be a way to save him."
"Save him? But if he was already dead how can you save him?" Interrupted the red head.
"Well it seems one of the First Gods I had challenged took the soul of the man I loved and used it as the base to replace one of the Gods the two of us killed together. Though he had lost all of the memories of us together and fought for her love. Turning our battle he ripped all of my memories of himself from me. All except the happiness that I shared with him. All of the stolen memories he took from me went to him and he remembered me but only before they were sealed behind the darkness in his heart the other Goddess had sealed away. Eventually I escaped but not before learning that the only way to save him was to find out why he had such darkness in his heart."
Once more Weiss smiled that distant smile of hers as she told her tale of going back into the man's memories to when he was a child and the man's brother was still alive. "He was such a cute child, both of them were around maybe five to eight years old. Though the younger one didn't really like me much. That changed as we lived and wandered together..."
Ruby looked over at her friend and figured that once again she was remembering something bad. "Weiss... you don't have to continue. I can see that this is paining you again."
"No, it's alright. I'm almost done. Eventually the city we were staying in was attack and we all got separated. The man took his younger brother and ran but... but he was killed in the attack and the younger brother took up his name. I tried to learn about the older brother and almost lost sight of who HE truly was. After learning his past and his darkness, I went to face the Goddess that stole him from me and eventually reminded him that not only did I save him from a bandit that set him on his path before he died, but that I was also the one looking after him before then, even if it wasn't the real me of the past."
RWBY's team leader had stopped moving as her breath caught in her own throat with this information.
"After defeating my love, and sacrificing myself for him, he was reborn. And his love for me and the love of my friends resurrected me. We killed the Goddess but sacrificed the world to do so. Though all who had fallen to her were reborn like us as... this part makes the least amount of sense though" Weiss blushed as she concluded her story. "We set sail on a giant boat that sailed into the stars between planets."
Sounds of giggling came from Ruby as she fell of the bench laughing. "Only you Weiss could come up with an ending like that. So what happened after that? Somehow I don't think Dream Weiss would just let it end like that." Ruby then pulled her legs to her chest as she waited for an answer.
"There isn't any more. My dreams stop continuing there. They sometimes start over from the beginning, but other times it's random where or when the continue." Weiss admitted blushing further. "Ruby... I wanted to thank you... Even some of my family that I told any of this to never believed me or listened for long. So... thank you..."
"Weiss, we're partners, and friends. I will always listen to you if you ever need to talk." Her gaze traveled up and noticed that the moon was close to setting as a glimmer of sun light began to crest the horizon. I think we might want to head back to our room."
"What do you... it's morning already! We need to hurry back before someone sees us! And Ruby... please don't tell anyone about this."
The two hurried back into their dorm without getting spotted by any of the early risers or teachers.
"We should be able to get a few hours sleep before our first class." The red head suggested.
"Yeah... um... Ruby..." the Schnee girl blushed again as she considered her next words. "Would you mind if we slept together...?"
Looking at the girl in white Ruby wasn't sure what to say about the other girl's proposal.
"I don't mean anything by it... I'm just... I don't want to sleep alone tonight.
"Alright. And if you ever start to have these dreams and become sad, just let me know and I'll be there to try and cheer you up.
Ruby gave Weiss a sisterly kiss on the forehead and whispered two words as the heiress fell asleep. "Goodnight, Hime."
