Author's Notes

I was feeling really depressed today, so I decided to write out a really angsty one shot revolving around Monochrome (Blake/Weiss).

1453 is a fictitious portrayal of the real 15th century conquest of Constantinople, the capital city of the Byzantine Empire, by the Ottoman Empire. Originally I wanted this to be a very detailed story about a Human Princess (Weiss), a Faunus Princess (Blake), and the complicated, but powerful friendship and eventual romantic relationship between the two. However, for now I think it would work better as a one shot. I may or may not return to write this into a full-fledged story. We'll see.

In this story, being Faunus alludes to being Middle-Eastern and being Human alludes to being European. So the conflict between Weiss's Empire and Blake's Empire is not just one based on race (Humans vs. Faunus), it's also a battle over religion as both sides are described to follow separate monotheistic faiths.

Also, please remember to leave a review! Your feedback is both appreciated and crucial; anything and everything helps!

WARNING: Contains Medieval Blood, Violence, and Major Character Death(s). Viewer Discretion is Advised.

1453

The enemy general blinked away the sweat and tears that were forming at her eyes as she took another cautious step towards the Empress. The latter remained where she stood, her eyes fixed on the one who was responsible for the deaths of thousands of her people. Feeling betrayed once more, she pressed the blade of her sword tighter against the throat of the last remaining enemy guard. Already on his knees, the guard held up his hands in surrender as he stared in horror at the bodies of his slain brothers in arms.

What was once a pure, white set of armor that was given to her by her father for her 18th birthday was now drenched in her own blood, as well as the blood of the slain enemy troops that lay at her feet. Her mind began to wander and her vision blurred as she felt her body go numb from the unbearable pain.

The streets that her people frequented ran red with their blood. The walls that protected her city for centuries crumbled from the unforgiving might of enemy cannons. The magnificent buildings that her ancestors built set aflame by barbarous invaders. The imperial palace she and those before her ruled from littered with the bodies of her fallen troops.

A mighty empire that had stood against the sands of time for centuries was finally nearing its end. And she would be the last bearer of her once great name.

The whimpering of the man whose neck was at the end of her blade brought her attention back into the present. She looked forward to see the general with her scimitar lowered and her eyes begging for a peaceful resolution. The Empress gritted her teeth at the hypocrisy.

"My Princess!" the guard cried out in his native tongue, "Save me, please!"

Before the general could react, the Empress promptly pulled her sword backwards, slashing the man's throat open. Within a matter of seconds, he bled out and his lifeless body joined the others among the ground.

Raising her bloody sword towards the general, she tore the purple cape fixed to her armor off with her other hand and threw it the ground.

"Come, Blake Belladonna!" she shouted through gritted teeth, "Fulfill what you came here to do. Claim my life and complete your murderous conquest!"

The general flinched as the Empress' words were spoken like daggers.

"Weiss-"

With a war cry, Weiss lunged forward with the same speed that the enemy guards fell prey to. Just managing to raise her weapon in time, Blake managed to parry the initial strike, then sidestep the following lunges. Even having lost so much blood, the Empress attacked vigorously as she did relentlessly, purely driven by the guilt she felt for her slain citizens she had failed to protect, and the hatred she felt for the one she believed to have caused it all.

After successfully driving her back several paces, Blake tore off her black ancestral headscarf and balled it into her fist, revealing her equally black faunus ears and piercing yellow eyes. Weiss felt her heart ache as she laid eyes on the beautiful, unobstructed face of the tanned woman whom she had once fallen in love with.

"Weiss," Blake said once more in the Empress' native tongue. Despite being a foreigner from the Far East, her pronunciation and accent was flawless. Of course it was perfect. After all, Weiss had been the one who taught Blake the official language spoken in their empire when they were children.

"Please stop this," she begged. "The war is over, the battle lost. Surrender, and I promise…I promise that you and your remaining subjects will be spared-"

"Spared?" Weiss interrupted, her eyes burning with hatred. "Spared!? Look at what you've done, Blake!"

Weiss pointed at her beloved capital. "You've butchered my people, destroyed my armies, and pillaged my cities! We cannot be spared, for you've already destroyed us!"

The Faunus' ears flattened as she shook her head in protest. "This conquest was not my conception, it was my father's-"

"And yet you're the one who led his armies from one victory to the next!"

"I did what my father asked of me, Weiss!" Tears streamed down her eyes and onto the blood-drenched ground. "Just as you did what your father asked of you!"

Weiss let out a bloodcurdling scream as she lunged towards Blake with her sword drawn. "How dare you bring up my father when it was your people who murdered him!"

In between parries and sidesteps, Blake shot back. "Your father was a tyrant, Weiss! He conquered and abused our people long before you and I were born. And for what? The difference of our religions! Because of it, he saw us as infidels, lesser-beings! Do my people really deserve such punishment just because we call our God by a different name?"

Blinded by her rage, Weiss didn't answer. As the fight continued over the bodies of her slain guards, Blake tried to reason with Weiss, just as she had done dozens of times in key moments leading up to the battle and war. But the Empress did not listen, for her heart had long since been destroyed from the inside out once she learned that the one she loved with all her heart had started the unstoppable rebellion that claimed the lives of her father and eventually, her beloved older sister.

As she had always been the more skilled fighter, it was only a matter of time before Weiss eventually outmaneuvered Blake and disarmed her. With a powerful kick to the chest, Blake fell backwards onto the bodies of her slain guards.

Tears gathering at her reddened, defeated eyes, Weiss placed her blade over Blake's chest. As she spoke, her voice was parched and defeated.

"Any last words…Blake Belladonna?"

Blake ceased to resist and prepared herself for what was to come. Soon to be reunited with her creator, she wept openly as she confessed her feelings.

"I loved you Weiss Schnee," she said with a tender smile, "And despite all the blood that has been shed between us, I still love you with all my heart." Upon hearing these words, Weiss's hands began to tremble and she began to sob. "My only regret is that we were not able to have ruled over this great land…together."

After nodding to conclude her thoughts, Weiss accepted Blake's words and bowed. "For my people, my friends, and my family, I, Weiss of the House Schnee, Empress of the Eastern Empire and last of her name, sentence you to die. Goodbye, my friend…my love."

As Blake repeated a prayer in her native tongue and Weiss rose her sword to deliver the final blow, an arrow suddenly struck the Empress directly in the throat. Blake screamed as she scrambled to her feet and caught Weiss as the latter fell to her knees.

Turning around, the general spotted a lone archer who had her family's insignia sewn into his uniform. Seeing that Blake was safe, he quickly ran towards her. "My Princess! Are you hurt?"

When he saw that the Empress had been incapacitated and that Blake had no visible wounds, he slung his bow and saluted proudly. "All four main army groups have broken through the walls and have met in the city center! Congratulations, you've taken the enemy capital!"

"What have you done?" Blake shrieked.

The man's fell silent as he watched his Princess cradle the dying enemy Empress in her arms.

"No, no no," Blake whispered as she struggled to stop the bleeding. Grabbing her headscarf, she did her best to plug to the wound, but to no avail; her scarf soon became drenched and was no longer able to stop the blood flowing out of the Empress' neck. Coughing and choking on her own blood, Weiss placed her right hand on Blake's cheek and caressed it gently. Taking her hand with both of her own, Blake forced herself to smile for Weiss.

"It's going to be okay," she said in between hiccups. "I promise. Everything's going to be okay-"

Fully aware that her chapter was sentences away from ending, Weiss pooled the last of her remaining energy and mouthed four words in Blake's mother tongue.

I love you too.

Repeating what Weiss had mouthed aloud, Blake froze in place and broke down in tears. Satisfied with having been able to deliver her final message and ready to meet her creator, Weiss's blue eyes slowly closed for the final time. A dynasty over 1,000 years old had finally come to an end.

"Weiss," Blake croaked as she shook the Empress' body softly at first, then forcefully. "Weiss? Weiss!" Pulling her body into a tight embrace, Blake screamed at the top of her lungs and cursed at God, the archer, and herself.

"It wasn't supposed to be you. It was supposed to be me…it was supposed to be me…"

When there were no more tears to shed and her voice gone, Blake gently laid Weiss's body down and retrieved the purple cape she had cast away. After draping it neatly over the deceased's body, Blake looked up at the archer who had come to realize what he had just done.

"Soldier."

"M-My Princess?"

"Report to my father, the Sultan. The Empress is dead. The city is ours."

Saluting, the archer hesitated one moment longer before dashing away.

When the sound of his footsteps faded into the distance, Blake knelt besides Weiss's body and gently touched foreheads with hers. After a short prayer that was customary for the sending off of loved ones to the afterlife, Blake retrieved from her tunic the steel dagger she had received from Weiss as a gift. She unsheathed it and after momentarily admiring the beautiful and intricate design, she promptly drove it deep into her heart.

As she felt her own life slip through her fingers, she looked up into the sky and apologized. In both of their faiths, it was a great sin to claim one's own life.

But.

There was no life fit for her if she couldn't share it with Weiss. And so, if either of their Gods were true as they had faithfully and wholeheartedly believed, surely they would allow her and Weiss to be reunited in the afterlife.

Feeling the last of her warmth leaving her body, Blake fell onto her back and laid besides Weiss. Taking the Empress' right hand, she squeezed it tightly.

Wait for me.