"Darn it, Ruby, where did you leave your scroll?"
Weiss was not happy.
She and Ruby had gone to Vale for a personal event between the two, and Weiss had assumed her partner was bringing her scroll with them. Weiss had left her scroll in their room, eager to ignore any problems that would arise during their... outing. She refused to call it a date, despite Yang's insistence on the matter.
"I must have left it in the room. Sorry Weissy." Ruby produced a pitiful face for the icy girl. Weiss could never berate Ruby when she put on those faces.
*sigh* "It's ok, you dolt. Just knock and get Yang or Blake to open it for us."
An evil sound suddenly echoed down the hallway. It sounded like metal scraping across metal to Weiss.
"What was that, Weiss?" inquired Ruby, a hint of fear coloring her voice.
"It was nothing; now get them to open the door!"
*creeeaaak*
"That wasn't nothing!"
"It's just the building settling, you scaredy-cat."
Weiss had to admit, Ruby looked very cute when she was scared. Maybe she would take them to see one of those new horror movies for their next outing.
*thump*
A footfall echoed from down the hallway.
"Weiss!"
"It's probably just someone retiring to their room. Or Arc locked himself out again."
"But Jaune hasn't locked himself out in months!"
"He was bound to do it again. Bad habits die hard."
"Weeeiiissss."
"Fine, I'll see what made the scary noise for you. Get Yang to let us back in."
"Ok..." Ruby turned back to the door, Weiss noticing a worried look on her face.
"I'm gonna kill whoever is bumping around at this hour!" the cold girl muttered under her breath.
Weiss headed down the hallway in the direction of the earlier noise, unaware of what lurked in the darkness. Another footfall sounded out, louder, as she walked confidently down the hallway. Another, and another, thumped toward her, becoming almost regular and in time.
In the darkness just beyond Weiss' range of vision, a figure in bone-white armor trudged toward the unaware girl.
Satisfied and disappointed that no perpetrators could be found, Weiss turned to return to the room.
*CREEEEAAAAKKK*
A loud creak originated just behind Weiss, causing her to spin around to face the bone-knight. Its arm was raised and a gnarled, black hand held a massive bone-like greatsword. Weiss' eyes widened at the sight of the monster bearing down on her.
The arm brought down its weapon much faster than it should have, but Weiss' huntress instincts allowed her to narrowly dodge the attack, letting it smash into the floor. The collision sent large wood chips flying through the air toward the agile girl, scratching her in many places along her arms.
"Weiss!" Weiss' partner yelled out at the sight of her friend's injuries.
"I'm fine, Ruby."
Weiss winced as she said that; some of the wood had hit her in vital areas, but she had to not let Ruby worry about her at the moment. They both needed to focus on the bone-knight before them.
"Where are Yang and Blake?"
"They didn't answer the door and you were under attack when I was about to knock again."
"Well that should have woken them up!" Weiss gestured to the knight's halberd wedged in the floor.
"Hey, maybe he'll open the door for us!"
"Are you insane, Ruby?!"
"I don't think so… just very tired."
"GAH!" Weiss couldn't handle a tired Ruby and this bone-knight at the same time. "Never mind all of that, we need to get our weapons."
"Ooh! I'll call my locker!"
"Me as well."
It took a few seconds for Weiss to realize how dire the situation really was.
"Ruby, we left our scrolls in the room. We can't call our lockers."
"Oh. Should we run?"
"I believe so, yes."
And so the pair dashed the opposite way down the hallway, trying to reach the stairs before the bone-knight could catch them. As they ran they could hear the slow footsteps of the knight slowly get quieter. They were easily outpacing it. They approached the stairs, but another strange bone-laden figure was waiting for them.
This one had the same bone-like armor, yet it was much sparser, and it held a large spear in its black, deformed hands. Upon closer inspection, but not too close, the entire skin of the entity was blackened, almost charred. It had a mask over its face, reminiscent of a Grimm mask with its red eyes and markings that crisscrossed the surface.
What made Weiss shake in abject terror, however, was the fact that the spear-holder seemed to be female.
"Weiss."
Weiss' mind heard her partner, yet was unable to speak.
"Weiss!"
Weiss turned her head shakily toward Ruby, her entire body quivering in fear. Her eyes were wide as dinner plates, her breathing short and ragged.
"I have an idea, Weiss." Ruby had her determined face on, expertly hiding the fear that Weiss had seen earlier.
The footsteps of the knight were getting louder with every second. Meanwhile, the spear-woman hadn't moved from her place at the stairs.
"What's your idea, Ruby?"
Ruby pointed to the window at the end of the hall and said "We're gonna use my semblance and jump out that window."
"That's crazy!"
"Do we have any other option, Weiss?"
"Fine. But you have to make sure I don't get hurt!"
"I wouldn't dream of it, ice-flower."
Weiss blew some air out of her nose at Ruby's nickname for her. Despite their situation, they could always have some fun with each other.
"And we are heading straight for our lockers once we land."
"You got it, Weiss. Now hold on."
Weiss grabbed Ruby's arm, and her partner prepared to run past the figures. Ruby decided to make the moment more dramatic with a countdown.
"Three,"
Weiss grabbed Ruby tighter.
"Two,"
The spear-woman shifted in her spot. Almost as if she was anticipating something.
"One,"
Weiss could hear the knight incredibly close to the pair.
"Go!"
Ruby shot off using her semblance, but Weiss had not followed her. Not by her stubbornness, but by the hands of the bone-knight. The horrible disfigured hands grasped Weiss and tore her from Ruby without Ruby realizing it.
Until it was too late.
Almost to the window, the red-cloaked speedster felt nothing on her arm, causing her to spin around to find Weiss. And she found her.
Weiss was being held by the arms by the bone-knight. The spear-woman slowly advanced toward the terrified heiress, hand outstretched.
"Ruby, run! Get help!" Weiss' voice was a combination of fear and demand, but mostly fear. She was barely able to yell those words to Ruby, as the hands of the bone-knight felt like fire on her skin. It felt as if she would never use her arms again.
"But Weiss-!"
"No, buts! Get help!"
Weiss watched as Ruby looked back with a regretful look on her face before turning back with tearful eyes and jumping out the window, shattering the glass and letting in the cool night air.
Once Ruby was gone, Weiss returned her attention to the spear-woman, now only a few feet away. She adavanced slowly, her hand outstretched toward Weiss. Much as she tried to squirm out of the knight's grip, his disfigured arms held firm. As the spear-woman approached, Weiss felt the burning sensation that was originally in her wrists crawl up her arms ever so slowly. The pain gradually built up as it crawled, but Weiss was tough and would not be kneeled by monsters.
The spear-woman was upon her, only a hair's breath away. She stopped just short of Weiss' contained body. Its red orbs that mocked eyes looked at Weiss. Weiss responded with a glob of spit into its 'face,' stubborn to the end. The spear-woman merely laid her hand on Weiss' face, ignoring the spit running down its mask.
All at once, the pain that had been building in Weiss was released, flooding her body with a burning sensation more intense than any simple wound could. Weiss twisted her body and bit her lip to escape the sensation, but could not, for the knight's grip was firm. The wood that had lodged itself in Weiss earlier ripped out of her body sending blood over the walls, painting them red.
Her eyes had shut themselves when the spear-woman had initiated the pain, not wanting to see the no doubt smug face of her captor. She could hear the creaking of the knight's armor, and could feel the touch of the spear-woman even under the pain she felt. Which seemed to subside, despite neither having let go of her body. Slowly, Weiss was able to reopen her eyes to look upon her torturers.
She saw her friends, instead.
With one hand on Weiss' face, and a pained look on her face, was Pyrrha Nikos. She looked charred and beaten, but the soft contours on the face of Pyrrha were unmistakable, even in Weiss' pain ridden state. A spasm and glance over her shoulder validated her suspicions.
The knight was Jaune Arc, the 'fearless' leader of team JNPR, holding Weiss firmly. His face was stoic, yet sad.
The pain was gone when she saw her friend's faces, yet she did not realize how she was seeing them. The masks they had been wearing could not have been taken off, as they had been holding Weiss the entire time.
Weiss felt heavier all of the sudden. With the pain no longer holding her body prisoner, she looked down at her body, Pyrrha's hand never leaving her face. What Weiss saw horrified her.
Her body was blackened, like it had been set on fire, very similar to the other's bodies. Her clothes had disappeared, and white, bone-like protrusions could be seen all along her skin. A horrible thought crossed her mind.
'Are they turning me into whatever they are?!'
Weiss' head jerked back upright, her former friends releasing her from their grasp. Weiss brought her hand to her face, where Pyrrha had held her. Instead of her face, though, she felt a smooth white mask. Her head turned to Pyrrha, what remained of Weiss' eyes leaking tears of horror and confusion and asked the monster that was once her friend,
"Why?"
The monster spoke in a distorted and darkened version of Pyrrha's voice, replying simply,
"We looked."
Weiss heard her, acknowledged her words, and felt her sense of self begin to slip.
"Please, no…" the victim whispered to herself, quickly losing everything that had made Weiss, Weiss, with the unnoticeable exception of her face.
And thus, the person known to all of her friends and family as Weiss Schnee, was gone, replaced by a monster wielding a rapier of bone and sorrow.
And it stood tall, ready to hunt its prey.
A/N Happy Valentines day to everyone who celebrates it, hope you enjoyed the story. It came to me while... doing... something I can't remember. This will most likely stay a one-shot unless I get overwhelming requests to continue it.
Review, fave, potato. See you later!