Weiss sat at the tavern, looking extremely unimpressed.

Her sharp eyes surveyed the room with distaste as she took a sip of her wine. Nobody talked to her; not a lot of people did while she wasn't on her throne, at least not voluntarily. It was dangerous for her in the kingdom, but she didn't mind- she wasn't going to hide out in the vast wilderness like the other immortals, who bid their time lonelier than she did, though it was more painful to sit lonely in a world where a human was only a meter away. She could feel the others in the bar shiver in fear. They knew her name, they knew her face; there was no need for introductions. She sighed, finished her wine before heading towards the tavern exit. Truly, at first sight she seemed formidable- a face like a pin and a stare that dug into you like a shard of glass. She wore her white robes adorned with silver with straight-backed pride, and her spidery hands were stained with ice, that with a flick of her wrist could have you dead in seconds.

"Isn't that the-"

"Shush, Jason, she might be able to hear us-"

"But-"

"Shut the fuck up, are you really that much of a-?"

Weiss stopped and turned her head towards the speakers. The entire tavern fell silent, and the crestfallen faces of two men stared at her. She sighed, and with a twitch of a finger, the beer inside their tankards turned to ice. Despite her ease in killing, two loud-voiced young men were hardly worth her time. Her white heeled boots clunked loudly as she left, and the tavern was still silent as she came out onto the street. She walked on down the dirty road until she was stopped

"Miss Schnee?"

Weiss twisted her head to see a rather terrified, stout, middle-aged man, dressed in red robes. A sign of wealth and power, a man close to the current monarch.

"Would this happen to be a message from her highness?" Weiss sneered. "State your name and answer the question."

"I-I... My name is Devin Fawn, miss, and indeed I have a message from the Queen-"Weiss snapped her fingers and ice leaped out of the ground at his feet, freezing him in place. He cast a horrified glance at her, as people who had looked on towards the scene ran away. The street became deserted, as Weiss had hoped. She shot him an angry glance.

"Now, tell me your message, Mr Fawn." Weiss spat, her brows furrowed. Devin spoke as quickly as he could without his speech becoming incomprehensible.

"The Queen says that all immortal opposition are to be outside of the kingdoms, and that your entry is against the laws. You must leave as soon as you possibly can, or you will be mortally destroyed-"

"Devin Fawn, as long as what remains of my soul is tied to this world, I will not be afraid of what the Red Queen can dish out to me. When you've been on earth so long, you begin to lose your fear. What's the worst that can happen to those who are already damned?" Weiss snarled. She twisted her hand and in thin air mid a sword of ice, her hands covered in permanent frost visible as the sleeves of her robes drew back. She curtsied to him, her face softening from anger into sadness. "Mr Fawn, I'm sorry to do this, but I'd rather your blood not decorate the throne of your ruler."

"No, please, I beg you, Miss Schnee, I have-"

Whatever Devin had, be it his family, his wealth, his need to live, it was not answered. Weiss lunged forward, twisted her body and severed the man's neck as swift and as gracefully as a swan. Weiss removed the ice at the body's feet in order for it to fall, before covering the body in ice.

"I am not Miss Schnee."

Her words fell on deaf ears. The dismembered body in it's glacial prison could not react, could not speak or move. Weiss may have been simply reminding herself; she was not Weiss Schnee. Her family had died hundreds of years ago. She no longer felt love for them and for that, she condemned herself to the name given to her by the terrified populace.

She was not Weiss Schnee.

She was the Ice Queen.

And she would not let the Red Queen stain herself more than she needed.

But stain herself she did. By the tenfold.

"She killed Fawn?"

Ruby wrinkled her nose at the messenger. "Yes. We found his body covered in ice, but people watching from in their houses saw her behead him first, so at least he was subject to a quick death."

"Well, Weiss never did learn to have fun. Do we know where she is?"

"We lost her, your highness. The assassins were too scared to go after her-"

"What?" Ruby's casual facade left her, and she rose from her throne, a look of rage on her face. "Too scared? They were given orders; send them message that they must meet me in my throne room immediately- they will pay for their cowardice."

"But your highness, you must consider that only another immortal could get so much as a scratch on her-"

"Not if they're good at their jobs. They should only have to fear striking her heart and her hands, for they are protected by ice. I informed them of such. I gave you an order; bring them in."

The messenger sighed, bowed, and left the throne room. Ruby sat there, anger brewing inside her. Weiss, the only one to have the pure audacity to stay in the kingdom while another immortal had the throne. As bloodthirsty as the others were, they knew their place and their boundaries. To work on their schemes (which Ruby knew full well they were in motion) they had to work from afar. Weiss, however, seemed to love messing with her work as Queen. She seemed to hate her almost as much as her own sister did.

An hour later, the messenger returned with the assassins, all six of them looking incredibly terrified, which in essence was completely rational. The Queen looked before them, a wicked smile on her face. She would certainly make them pay.

"So, you all think that disobeying orders is a good career move?" Ruby laughed. "Well, well, well, it seems like I was stupid enough to hire the worst assassins in the kingdom. But I digress, and rest assured, stupidity comes at a cost. My stupidity lost the Ice Queen. Your stupidity, however-"

Ruby stepped down from her throne, and met the eyes of the assassin directly in front of her.

"-Cost you your life."

She waved an arm, and knights rushed to the assassins, forcing them onto their knees and tying their hands. One of the assassins started sobbing. Ruby only laughed, and went to the end of the line of assassins.

"I shall have some beautiful rose petals to decorate my throne." She whispered into the assassins ear. "May your journey to what lies beyond be swift, as I remove you from the mortal land."

She placed a hand under the chin of the assassin; a young man, with stubble and thick fingers. How he ever decided to become an assassin, Ruby didn't know. He looked up into her steely, silver eyes that hinted no mercy. Her face was so round, so youthful, that even now it was almost impossible to see how evil could lurk behind that sort of mask. She closed her eyes, took a breath, and drew rose petals from his mouth.

He started choking, the life draining from his eyes. Rose petals softly fell at his feet, once blood that flowed through his veins, now cold when once warm. She opened her eyes to watch the life drain from his almond eyes, and drew back when his body went limp, and his corpse fell into his own bed of petals. It looked almost beautiful.

"Now, I am sorry for the death of your comrade, and of course, your own demise." Ruby sighed, tearing her gaze away from the dead man as he was dragged away by a servant. "But you must know, that your own suffering is so that you can pass onto the paradise. I am here to send you there, I am here to be your gatekeeper in the mortal world. I am not your enemy."

Though most of it was what she believed to be true, there was one detail she lied about;

She was not sorry.

She swiftly killed the five remaining assassins and then cared to their bodies promptly. Ruby then swiped up the rose petals herself, collecting them in a bucket. They would be for later. She felt no remorse for the men and women who had fallen at her feet; frankly, it was impossible. Ruby Rose lived without the ability to feel guilty. Ruby Rose lived without a part of her soul. She'd traded it with the Elders, for powers and immortality. But so had seven others. And all of them were ready to throw her off the throne, because that's what had been happening for hundreds of years. Their eternal damnation for wanting power, was to constantly pine for the throne of Vale. Each of them lost an emotion with a part of their soul, which warped their minds in different ways.

Ruby took the bucket of roses into her wash room, while she filled a tin bath with steaming water. she then threw in her rose petals, before undressing and slipping her body into the water and simmering down into relaxation.

"Bathing in blood," she whispered to herself, "truly a luxury."

You can hazard a guess of how warped Ruby's mind was.

And that was the first chapter! I hope you guys enjoyed it, even though it's just a short introductory chapter. You can find the post for the AU post/95270771732/rwby-monarch-au. Thanks for reading!