For Dash of dashingicecream and for Hana of momoxtoshiro!
I hope you guys like it!
Everything I Pictured…
It was not a surprise that Blake Belladona was the resident RWBY bookworm. If it wasn't for meeting Weiss Schnee, Ruby Rose, and Yang Xiao Long in the Grand Hall, there was probably no chance that Blake would've been a part of team Ruby.
Weiss wished she could redo that scene only because she nearly exploded off the face of Beacon.
Not the greatest way to make a good impression. And after all she was at the time…rather…"difficult." As the heiress eloquently quoted.
Either way, Weiss and Blake who started dating in their 2nd semester; Weiss knew that Blake's birthday was coming up. Usually Weiss was one for itinerary and planning, but not this time.
"Shouldn't you have picked a gift by now Weiss?"
Weiss glared and stamped her foot, "If I did already, I wouldn't ask you! I don't even know why I asked you!"
Yang rolled her eyes, following the very tiny Schnee inside the double doors of Oum's Book Mark. Weiss knew that this would be a good place to shop for books, especially since the Oum family kindly signed a lease to continue to sell books in Tukson's place.
From what she heard from Ruby, Blake used to go to Tukson's Book Trade frequently, and Tukson was a dear friend of hers during her days as a White Fang Captain and as a runaway. But since he's assassination, Blake was more than happy to continue with Tukson's love for books and help out with the Oum family with running the bookstore when they The Faunus girl denies any sort of payment from the family, as she was already fairly popular huntress that does missions.
She calmly states that she chose to do it because it was something Tukson would've wanted, and honestly a bonus for Blake.
Maybe it was because secretly she told Weiss during their relationship that as a child, she always wanted to be bookstore owner if she had never joined the White Fang.
It made her happy, and that's everything that Weiss wanted for her.
When Yang and Weiss entered the bookstore, the heiress was surprised that the bookstore was already packed and filled with customers. Even the shelves were filled and employees (human and Faunus) running about to fill in missing shelves.
Yang picked up and book and called Weiss over with a grin, "Check this out! How to Woo Your Lover with Puns!"
"No."
"But Weiss!-"
"No."
The heiress stalked off with a pouting blonde trailing after her. Weiss didn't want to start off the rip by going to the Humor section of the bookstore just for puns. By Dust, she already had Yang's poor puns to deal with. It's best not to give her extra ammunition to annoy her with.
Anyways, back to her task. That's right, she needed to find Blake an birthday gift. Shouldn't be too hard, after all she likes books.
The heiress stopped in her stride, suddenly feeling unsure. Yang bumped into her and stared at Weiss's worried face.
"What if I give her a book she already read? Or what if it's a genre she doesn't like?"
Yang waved her hands back and forth to stop Weiss in the middle of her speech. Schnee women honestly…Yang chuckled, they worry way too much.
"Weiss, you know Blake will like anything you give her." Yang said sagely, "Why not something really simple? Like a book you used to love, but she probably doesn't know of. Or maybe a book that you used to have?"
Weiss stayed silent, mulling over the idea.
Yang looped an arm over her shoulder, "You guys are both private people, but what made you guys get together was that you were able to share something private about yourselves and put that trust within each other."
Weiss smiled and wiped a little tear from her eye, "Thanks Yang, I guess you're not a complete airhead sometimes."
The blonde shrugged but gave her a teasing grin, "It's what I do best Weiss-icle."
The glare came back along with a swift stomp to the brawler's feet, "I take that back, you're incorrigible. Let's go, we are taking the first train to Atlas!"
"But why?"
"Going to my childhood home, I know what to get Blake."
Sometime eventually, Ruby and Yang were promptly kicked out of the joint apartment to spend time with Team JNPR, leaving Weiss and Blake alone in their house.
With nothing more than a table between them, with some white Atlesian Wine (courtesy of Qrow), and steak and vegetables for Weiss, and some Baked Mistral fish fillets for Blake.
But somewhere in between they drifted on to the couch, with a wine glass in between their interlaced fingers. A little warm on the inside, but they stared into each other's eyes lovingly.
"Happy Birthday Blake Belladona."
Blake blushed brightly under the candlelight, still not used to compliments by her girlfriend
They shared a sweet kiss, enough to leave blushes on their face.
Before Weiss lost the nerve, she pulled out her present, gifted wrapped in black and white wrapping and handed it to Blake who accepted it with amusement.
"Shouldn't I be nervous to open this, instead of you Weiss?" The Faunus chuckled as she slowly peeled back the gift wrapping. Weiss who was already nervous, barked at the teasing Faunus to just open it up already."
"Patience Weiss, I like to preserve things." Blake grinned.
"My ass Belladona, just do it."
Just to save face, Blake ripped the wrapping open with her longer nails, and was surprised to see a box. She pulled the box open, to see a book.
But the book wasn't new, in fact it was tattered, but not on the verge of falling apart on the spine. The pages were aged well, slowly turning into the golden brown color that always caught her eyes. What was peculiar was the front of the book, lacked a title. Well it was more like it faded enough that the print wasn't legible.
Perhaps it was on the inside of the books. Blake thought. And there's something familiar about this book.
She opened it to see that there was a card sticking from one of the pages. Pulling it out, no doubt it was Weiss's handmade card. She can tell from the elegant Atlesian curvature of the loops, something that Blake always like when reading Weiss's notes.
It read:
Blake,
Happy Birthday,
This book was very important to me when I was younger; I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.
And maybe giving this to you...would be like you having a part of me with you.
Yours,
Weiss Schnee
Blake wiped away a tear and looked at Weiss with a grateful smile. But her attention went back to the book, the oddly familiarity of this book in her hand. When she read the beginning paragraph of the book. Blake felt as if she read the book before but she couldn't place it properly.
"I felt like I read this before…" She mused. When she looked up Weiss looked crestfallen, and the black haired girl back pedaled. "Oh no… Weiss it's not like that."
Weiss looked a little hurt, afterall she tried to avoid that as much as she could. Why was buying gifts so hard? Maybe she should've gotten that damn pun book. But tried to find it in herself not to feel self-conscious or take as though it was a blow to her pride. She took a deep breath and looked at her girlfriend with worry.
"It's a little hard to explain…It's like I read this before. It has all my favorite fairy tales inside. But then at the same time I haven't…um does this make any sense?"
"Not really no."
Blake winced at the almost void tone that she carried, she had to pack pedal a bit and find ou,"Do you know how you came by this book?"
Weiss looked at her curiously, and wasn't sure why Blake sounded so…alarmed, "Um, to be honest I found it. When I was smaller, I was accompanied by body guards. And then I took a chance to have a day of my own. I found it at a park in Atlas, and then somehow I got lost. Obviously because I was so little. And then I managed to find my away to a park and then I saw this book on the ground."
Weiss chuckled a little, running her hands across the rough cover with care, "But when I tried reading it, it was too hard for me to read, so I asked my father if I could get tutors to help me read this books early. In the hopes that he would be proud of me taking initiative to learn more."
Blake looked shocked, but Weiss continued "But the thing was-"
Weiss reached over, and flipped the pages, till it was on the very back. Blake's amber eyes honed in on two letters that was initialed on the top right hand corner.
The script was a little smudged, but it looked like loopy eights.
"There's these two little numbers I think, probably one of the original copies?"
She looked up to see Blake's amber eyes, and saw a lone tear, then two and then three fall down her face. Hurriedly she set the book aside, and ran her thumbs under her eyes to wipe the tears away.
"Blake! What's wrong? Was the gift-"
Silenced by a pair of lips. The heiress could taste the slight salt from Blake's tears, a taste that she'd hope to stop. Until her tears stopped, they kissed until Blake pulled away, her eyes still misty with emotion.
"It's everything I ever wanted."
With Weiss in her lap, Blake reached over and gently pulled the book and held it between them. She opened the book right to the page that held the numbers. But the white-haired woman was confused, why was the Faunus so transfixed on that little detail?
Blake took a deep breath and looked at Weiss with such tenderness, "This…"
She grabbed Weiss's left hand and held it on top of the book.
"This used to be my book."
Weiss blinked, her mouth unable to form words. The Faunus looked away almost in shame, but Weiss was having none of that. Her arms wrapped around Blake's neck and pulled her till they were face to face.
"But how can that be…we never met…and-"
"I told you I used to live in Atlas before…before the Civil War between the Faunus and the Humans."
Weiss hummed in confirmation, but was unsure where this was going. The ebony-haired woman explained gently, "But the thing is…this book was a gift to me from my parents, along with my black scarf. I couldn't read yet, just like you, so my parents read my favorite fairy tales every day before I went to bed."
She closed her eyes, her ears flicking in remembrance of her mother and father's voices whispering to her. They always added different voice types just to make things a little interesting.
"I thought the White Fang was like the knights for my people. And it's partly why I joined the earlier White Fang Regime. I wanted to be a Knight, a protector for Faunus everywhere. But…when the White Fang started getting violent, the violent was brought to the streets of Atlas. And…my family and I tried to escape to the outside kingdoms."
Her breath was getting shaky, her arms going to wrap around her frame but she tried to push through, "In the mess of escaping…I lost my parents. And that book."
"I tried searching for it, because if I had that book, I had my parents deep within the words. I don't even have a picture to remember them by. The permanence of my childhood…is non-existent."
She ended her tale with a sigh, and a small sniffle. Blake fondly looked down to the book and gave it a small tap, "The 'numbers' you saw was my attempt of writing my initials. 'B.B.S'; Blake Belladona the Savior."
Weiss had to giggle at that, "The Savior? How cute."
Blake blushed and averted her eyes, "I was 6-"
"I'm glad though." Weiss added with warmth in her smile, her hands reaching to cup Blake
S hand in her own. "It's a little funny though, it's a bit like destiny."
Blake hummed and pulled Weiss down with her so that they laid on the couch with Weiss on her chest.
"Who would've thought that Weiss Schnee would be picking up after me since age?" She laughed at her own joke; even now the Faunus would have her books littering across their join apartment. "Though you did a poor job in keeping it in condition. You know how I am about that."
Weiss smacked Blake on the chest playfully, making Blake lose some air, "I was 6! I'm pretty sure I drew on it too…"
"Oi vey…"
They laughed for a moment, to finally lighten up the air from Blake's sad tale. It's not every day that Weiss heard much about Blake's past. It was a hard topic to breach given both of their families have been on different sides of morality. And that Blake spent half her life in an organization under a new regime that was out for blood.
It was always hard to talk about, to push through old biases, even though both of them acknowledged that it was all in the past.
Under all the scars, bruises and painful memories; and oddly enough a small tattered book in between them, Weiss wouldn't trade it for the world.
She leaned up, her arms on the side of Blake's head; her long silver white hair creating curtain for them. Blake looked up to see Weiss's clear blue eyes, and saw nothing but love. Blake brought up her own hand to cradle the side of Weiss's face.
Blake leaned up to press the gentlest of kisses on her lips; her hands slowly moving into Weiss's long hair playing with it.
"Thank you Weiss."
Weiss pulled away and looked down at Blake from behind her full lashes, "I'm happy that I found it. I guess it was a matter of time before I returned it to you."
Blake's eyes twinkled with amusement, "That book was long overdue; you need to pay the appropriate fees before you can check me out."
She laughed when Weiss gave a small scowl, but blushed when Weiss looked at her with smoldering eyes, "And what is the fee Ms. Belladona?"
Blake reached into her vest pocket, and pulled out a small box wrapped in baby blues and white paper.
Weiss leaned back on her heels to let Blake sit up to give her the gift.
"Haha, I'll tell you after. But first please open this?"
"It's not even an important day yet." Weiss rolled her eyes, but accepted the gift, "Tease."
"I want to spoil my Princess." Blake joked adding to the comic theme of Fairy Tails. Her long nails pricked the edges of the box in agonizing slowness that mirrored Blake's earlier that night. She could tell that Blake was getting anxious by the constant flicking of Blake's ears.
She pulled the paper away, to see a small dust crystal ball, the size of a snow globe. A mix of gentle black, purple and white dyes gleamed under the light, making Weiss gasp in awe. Her lithe fingers traced the colors all around, watching the colors slowly merge together to make the colors intertwined in ways that Weiss couldn't even imagine from crystalized Dust. The craftsmanship she swore wasn't even made by the Schnee Company. It was beautiful. But was caught her eye at first, was that in between the dyes, on letters across the black and white dyes specifically.
Yours eternally.
She was stunned, she couldn't speak. Blake chuckled at Weiss's stunned expression.
"I made this for you." She said softly, in case she gave Weiss a scare. "I told when we first started dating, I was scared…so scared this wouldn't last. I didn't want another bond with another person to end…to end in blood or tears like I have before in my childhood. This globe…I want it to represent us. To represent my memory…no my future memories with you."
She turned to her book and then back at Weiss with a silly grin, "You're everything I pictured in my stories. A beautiful, kind of maiden that I'd hope to be with after the fights end."
Weiss was sobbing quietly, but Blake prayed that it was happy tears. "And you know get a kiss, being a savior and all."
"You-you dolt!"
"Is that something you should say to your savior?" Blake laughed. "After all I saved you from that spider this morning. And the one time I rescued you from paperwork. And what about the other time-"
Weiss buried her face in her chest, her arms around Blake's waist in an effort to hide away her blush and happy tears. A muffled reply, probably a lecture, came from her middle and Blake ceased her teasing.
She bent down and pressed a kiss on the top of her head, her voice dropping lower and softer, "I meant every word."
Weiss turned around, and gently pulled Blake into an upside down kiss, letting their lips brush again and again. This time around Blake couldn't hold back the purr, letting it rumble against her chest as the kisses continued. When they pulled away, Weiss finally found it in herself to look Blake in the eye with a smile. "I love you."
"I love you too."
After moments of silence…and appreciating each other's company, Weiss coughed in her hand, and looked at Blake with one eye, "So is my debt repaid yet?" Her tone playful, almost saccharine in desire.
Seeing their positions, something hungry gleamed in Blake's eyes, her lips curled into a smirk.
"After I have my way with you."
Blake woke up to see Weiss in her arms content and asleep. Without jostling her girlfriend, Blake reached over in her beside drawer and pulled out a small book. Taking a quick glance, sh opened the book to reveal a small cutout that held a ring with a purple gemstone wrapped in a diamond dust flower.
She looked down at Weiss once more, and felt her pulse race at the sight. She tucked the book away once more and pressed a soft kiss on Weiss's forehead whispering against her skin, "One day soon."