Prompt: [Insert character] has confided in their friends that they are, in fact, a time traveler currently in a time loop.
Original Post Date: December 6th, 2017
There were probably a lot of pretty decent things, in Weiss' mind, about being a kid. Several of them had something to do with getting away with things an adult, or even a teenager, couldn't. Things like climbing on furniture, staying up to an ungodly late hour, or pouting just right to get that last cookie from the jar. As a kid, everything was new and exciting and adventure in its purest form.
That is, unless you happened to be a kid in the Schnee household. For the fifteenth time.
Weiss didn't know how it had started. The first loop was a bit of a blur at this point, the time before even more so. But she was damn sure that she wasn't getting out of it anytime soon. That had become apparent by the time the third loop ended with her rather embarrassing death at the maw of the Grimm dragon set to attack Beacon in a few years time.
Speaking of which, she had a lot of work ahead of her. There weren't a lot of people who would listen to the currently-twelve-year-old recently appointed heiress of the Schnee Dust Company, but she did keep finding ways to convince people that she wasn't just a kid with an overly active imagination.
Swearing, for example, seemed to help get her point across. Score one to Yang for that.
"Jacques, from the bottom of my heart, go fuck yourself."
No matter how many iterations of her life she went through, that was always indescribably satisfying. She didn't wait around this time to see his reaction - the split second of shock, the slack-jawed awe, the anger swiftly following that had once frightened her but now made her triumph all the sweeter. She slammed the door to his office shut and made for her room.
Skipping up the lavish marble steps two at a time, she thumbed through her scroll for a moment. Finding what she was looking for, she lifted it to her ear and waited for the call - the first of many - to go through.
"Miss Schnee. How may I-"
"Hello, Klein! How are you?" Weiss asked brightly, swinging herself around the banister and onto the second floor. There was a long pause. She had probably startled her dear friend again, but she knew she could rely on his help.
"I am... well, Miss Schnee. Thank you. What can I do for you?"
"You can help me get out of here," she said, heels far too tall for her clicking noisily on the tiles beneath her feet.
"I... beg your pardon? Miss Schnee, are you alright?"
"Yes, Klein," she replied, unable to suppress an exasperated eye roll. "I promise, I'm fine. I know there's a passage out to the street in the first-floor library. Meet me there. Quickly, please." With that, she disconnected the call and swiped through her phone. Finding the application she was looking for, she heaved a sigh as she pushed her door open and began to record a new note.
"This is... the start of my fifteenth loop. Cause of death in loop fourteen; Hazel, one of Salem's associates. As much as I hate to admit it, it was just a... mistake, in the fight. I'll be smarter this time. Everything until then went... as well as could be expected."
Pulling a small suitcase from beneath her bed, Weiss set about packing for her decidedly long voyage.
"I couldn't stop Penny or Pyrrha from dying. I tried going after Blake instead of Yang," Weiss paused, a hand falling to her leg as a flash of fear seized her throat. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. "Let's just say that I get how she felt."
She retrieved a thick coat from her closet - her favorite, she remembered with a small smile - and balanced her scroll in one hand as she shrugged it on, "I'm going to try a different approach this time. I'll update once I get to Vale."
Stuffing her scroll into her pocket, she collected her bag and strode back out the door. She had tried several different routes throughout three loops, two of which ending with her being stuck in Atlas for far longer than originally intended, including jumping from the balcony and, on one particularly frustrating endeavor, just walking out the front gate. Nothing worked. Every alternative got her caught and without her weapon, or Semblance to boot, that never failed to be awful.
Her return to the first floor was marginally uneventful. Her father stormed past in a whirlwind of somewhat pathetic fury, completely missing Weiss hidden in the shadow of a small alcove at the top of the stairs. As soon as he was out of earshot, she ran for the armory, bare feet almost inaudible on the soft carpet. It was only once she had reached her destination that she slipped her feet into a sturdy pair of winter boots. Then, cautiously, she opened the door.
Depending on her timing, this is what had tripped her up a few times. It was, however, mercifully empty, and so Weiss silently grabbed a familiar rapier from the wall. It wasn't Myrtenaster, but in a pinch, it was better than nothing. It found a home securely on her belt, the hilt hidden by her jacket and, after collecting as many cartridges of Dust ammunition as she could carry, she headed for the library.
She didn't have to go far. She found Klein waiting for her, as she had instructed, and her heart soared in relief. Setting her suitcase on the floor, she threw her arms around the slightly taller man. Each loop made her appreciate him all the more, and curse herself for not holding him in higher regard the first time around.
He gave a surprised grunt at her sudden hug but returned it gently after a moment.
"Please, be careful, Miss Schnee."
"I will," Weiss said with a smile, offering a firm nod as she pulled away. "Thank you, Klein."
The passageway was narrow and dark. She managed all the same, the route long since memorized. Her smaller frame did make it difficult to open the metal gate at the end, but a few good shoves and it gave, groaning as it carving divets in the fresh snow.
She stepped out into the frozen road and took a breath. Cold air filled her lungs. Her cheeks burned slightly as the chill nipped at her face, and she gazed around. The fence to the gardens lay behind her. The moon hung high overhead at its shattered zenith, shining brilliantly in the clear night sky. In its soft light, Weiss saw a figure in the distance, seated on a bench. The cold seemed irrelevant to them.
Mom... Weiss nearly called out, the snow crunching beneath her boots as she took a half-step forward. Something stopped her. Something always stopped her. She knew this was something beyond her power to fix. She had tried.
A Beowulf howl drifted on the wind. Letting out a slow breath, her hand curled around the hilt of her weapon. Then, she turned aside and started her long trek to Atlas Academy.
There was a lot she had to do.
A/N: Following the example of one of my friends over on Discord, TedorAlive2, I've decided to post my Writing Prompt Wednesday contributions from the r/RWBY subReddit. I've only been at this for six months, but it's a ton of fun, and I'm at least semi-proud of most of my pieces. I'll be playing catch-up for the next hour or so, then I'll post them every Wednesday - well, when I actually find a prompt I want to do.