A/N: Links don't work. I've modified a M&B Warband map as my basis; PM me for a way to access it.

I'm broke and don't own shit like RT, M&B, etc.

It's good to be back.


Chapter I:

"I have called you all here today for a specific reason."

The white-haired, five foot tall woman stood before an amassed group of people in what could be called Reyvadin's 'Great Hall'; the ceilings hung thirty feet above and were adorned with murals depicting the coronation of the aforementioned woman, who, in the extremely intricate mural, was bowed before a being of celestial nature with grandiose white wings sprouting from its back.

The crown in its hands was depicted as giving off the same gold glow that its halo atop its head did. Some said that Weiss had inherited some kind of powers that stemmed either from the crown that she always wore or from a supposed demonic heritage, but rumors were plenty abound in a kingdom with its head recently ripped off and replaced with a woman's. Weiss was merely 23 and yet she had the burden of an entire city state and its empire dumped on her back; slight signs of wrinkling were present on rough days and a silver hair ran streamlined through an otherwise perfect, pearly white.

"I have called you here today to bring to light an issue that has recently plagued our city; some of you may know, some of you may not." The small woman's voice carried throughout the entire room, its timbre able to command the respect of a thousand commander-in-chiefs. With a wave of a hand, two men rolled in a large wooden board with a map of Reyvadin plastered across it; its surface covered in lots of scribbled x's and circles. As the squeaking contraption rolled to a stop, all chatter promptly ceased.

"Thank you, gentlemen." A small cough came from the front row, which was off to the right of the main congregation, and Weiss turned to see her military commander staring her down indignantly.

"And ladies." Yang's face briefly showed a smile before returning to seriousness with a clearing of her throat from her superior. Turning to address the main group, Weiss began again.

"There have been four murders in the past two weeks here in Reyvadin, and as this city's sheriff and this kingdom's ruler, I cannot stand by and let this continue to happen." Weiss turned and pulled one of her swords from the pair of sheaths seated above her left hip and started pointing out various things on the map, spouting rapid-fire instructions to her subordinates in the front-most rows; these were the people that were higher on the totem pole of power and would eventually have to pass the instructions down the ladder.

It had only been a month since Weiss had taken over a role of significance in Reyvadin (and more notably, control of the entire domain of Maevyn) and yet many things had changed for the better. The crime rate in "the city of justice," as people were calling it now, had plummeted 34% from its previously high perch of 67% for violent crimes. Laws that had been backlogged for months or even years were being discussed with Weiss' personal council; some still loyal to her deceased father, some hand-picked, but all determined to solve the city or kingdom's problems. Anyone unmotivated was quickly ousted by the white-haired ruler's no-nonsense mentality. Weiss had even managed to increase military efficiency while still lowering the average tax rate for the citizens of Maevyn.

Even though Weiss' general attitude towards her citizens was less jovial than her predecessor, the people understood and appreciated all that she did for them; her stoic demeanor and hard-line business attitude garnered respect from the kingdom's inhabitants and production was at a well-needed high.

Some things had suffered with a change in leadership, however; sacrifices had to be made in order to focus on improving inwards, and relations with the other three significant kingdoms were strained at best while Weiss told her ambassadors to "divert and stall attention away from Maevyn until we are strong (and rich) enough to tell anyone else to go fuck themselves." Being the northernmost kingdom, Maevyn was able to defend from one general front should either of its neighboring kingdoms (Welilath and Shaevir) decide to attack, and since Remnant's climate was rather non-uniform, Maevyn had fields of grain and crops to the east protected by mountain ranges and plentiful fishing space to the west; its only land-access blocked by a raging, west-flowing river. Reyvadin's large castle stood at the foreground of Maevyn's southern defense while the slightly-less-impressive Ismirala Castle stood its ground near the only bridge-access into Western Maevyn.

The war-prone Kingdom of Welilath occupied the land to the west of Ismirala Castle and Wercheg; their family line consisted of an immense number of sons which ensured their bloodline's survival and their military consisted of the world's strongest cavalry. Due to the kingdom's immense size and population, (its reach stretched as far east as Dhirim and as far south as the river south of Uxkhal) Welilath was able to produce on a massive scale and equip and train many soldiers to keep its bordering kingdoms pressured. Welilath was Weiss' lesser favorite of her kingdom's two neighbors, and trade between the two nations flowed accordingly. The deep navy-blue colored nation of Welilath and its absolute-ruling king, Caius Calverius, often sent messages demanding, threatening or occasionally begging Maevyn to resume its trade (military Welillians really favored the deep-blue coloring of their clothing) of dyes and other luxury goods, but Weiss insisted (against her foreign relation-advisor's wishes) to keep trade with Welilath to the required minimum for each kingdom to function properly. She refused to be on anything more than necessary terms with the nation that was rumored (and heavily suspected) to have been responsible for her father's assassination. As much as the two hadn't agreed, the late Arthur "the Sun King" Schnee was still her father, and had also instilled a strong sense of morality in his daughter since she was young.

Weiss was anything but an idiot, however; she knew that her kingdom had been severely shaken by his murder and knew that in case Caius's mood became particularly aggressive one day, she needed a trusting ally. That ally came in her neighbor to the south; Shaevir.

Shaevir preferred Maevyn to Welilath as well; they would always agree on that at the very least. However, Louis Berillius, Shaevir's well-renowned war-hero ruler, was a rather benevolent man. He, along with his wife Pyrrha Nikos-Berillius (a proud warrior herself who insisted on keeping at least a portion of her name in marriage) ruled Shaevir with a firm and kind hand each. Pyrrha often leaned towards the firm side while Louis kept popular opinion of his government high by being the nice one that everyone could sympathize with, as he was not of noble blood and rose to his position through hard work and perseverance. Without one, the other could not have ruled successfully, but together the nation was kept whole and thriving. Both of them were excellent friends with Arthur, however, and felt deeply for the plight of Weiss, so the three signed a defensive pact ensuring each other's protection in a time of war. Many citizens of both nations believed this to be one of, if not the singular reason why Caius did not knock upon Maevyn's doorstep immediately after Arthur's... accident.


One of the Great Hall's current inhabitants was running through all of this knowledge as review; one of the sole armed occupants, actually. Besides Weiss and three of the generals and officers of the front row, no one besides the hooded figure had more than a chest piece of armor on, let alone a weapon. Forty unarmed important men and women; how careless of Queen Schnee, the hooded figure mused.


After Weiss had finished her main points and moved to sheath the shorter of her two swords, the hair rose on her neck and Weiss felt something incredibly wrong was going to happen, but she couldn't pinpoint exactly what. The tell-tale whizzing of an arrow gave itself away as Weiss threw herself to the ground and unsheathed both swords as she rolled, holding the shorter in her left hand, reversed and backwards, and the longer in her right traditionally, with right arm over left. Panicked, most of the main congregation stood up in confusion and looked around, serving to further distract the queen; Weiss heard another arrow flying and spun sideways, flicking her wrists outwards and slicing the arrow in half, sending it off-course and over her shoulder. A sudden impact into her back sent her sprawling to the floor, weapons relieved; acting on instinct, Weiss pulled both sheaths from her waist and jumped off the floor with all the strength her core could muster, hoping to catch her attacker by surprise. Since their face was covered, all Weiss received in response was a grunt as both sheaths slammed into the side of the bow-wielding assailant. Instead of falling to the floor like the blow would've been received by anyone else, the assailant used the momentum of Weiss' strike and levelled themselves with the ground mid-air before reaching an empty right hand to the ground and pushing upwards, successfully throwing their body into a front/side flip.

As the figure flew gracefully in the air, their hood slid off, revealing a young, raven-haired adult female with red streaks. Weiss could only stand mesmerized (along with the entire congregation) as the newly identified female winked at Weiss upside-down before landing and immediately shoving off with her legs to propel shoulder-first into the stunned queen four feet away. The impact threw both her sheaths and body to the floor harshly, and the first sight the queen was met with as she opened her eyes was a heaving chest adorned by dark-red fabric and a bobbing head with a mouth covered by a rag cut from the same cloth. Focusing her eyes closer to her face, Weiss made out the shape of an arrow primed to fire about six inches from her face. From the way the assailant moved, she shouldn't be so heavy, but all the same, Weiss was pinned as her apparent assassin sat upon her abdomen and rested, pressuring their ankles and feet into her thighs.

Weiss closed her eyes and embraced the imminent death; it was something her father had also stressed when she was younger.

Be prepared for death at any time, dear Weiss.

In the current moment her father's voice echoed through her mind as worries about the future of her kingdom zipped past. When a few seconds passed and Weiss realized no arrow was embedded in her skull, she opened her eyes again to see the tension dissipated from the bowstring and the arrow resting in the same hand as the bow. The pressure from atop her abdomen had ceased and a hand was now outstretched to pick the queen up off of her feet. Weiss sat confused for less than a second before re-steeling her face and grabbing the hand before her firmly. The lithe and lean girl before her was rather strong for her appearance, and hoisted the queen to her feet with ease before slinging the bow across a shoulder, slipping the arrow into a waist-quiver and sliding down to one knee with her head bowed. Yang motioned forward to apprehend her but Weiss glanced up and almost imperceptibly shook her head no. Confused, the blonde garrison commander took her seat and the rest of the assembly followed suit reluctantly.

"State your business, girl." Weiss' voice rang out clear and slightly tinted with contempt in the silent room as she suddenly grabbed her attacker by the collar and yanked her up to a standing position; the 'girl' visibly stiffened at the queen's touch, but remained silent. She put her hands above her head before straightening slowly; at full height, she rose to stand two inches taller than the queen. Turning to face the congregation, she cleared her throat and clasped her hands behind her back before beginning an obviously planned speech.

"Ladies and gentleman of this court, I have come today for multiple reasons. Not one of which was to kill your lovely queen here, however." An outcry arose from the crowd present and immediately Weiss' sharp tone rang out.

"Silence! I wish to hear what this woman has to say." The rightfully addressed woman smiled at this and continued in her confident tone.

"As I was saying, I came for other reasons. One was to see the magnificence of Reyvadin's Great Hall myself." This time, hushed mutters arose but the girl heeded them not. Her voice grew deadly serious for a moment.

"The second was to test the security defending Queen Schnee. You have clearly failed." Another outcry sounded this time, and its accompanying response sliced through it swiftly.

"I demand silence!" Weiss' voice rarely grew beyond a firm address; when shouting was necessary for the queen, it was time to shut the hell up. The cloaked woman allowed herself another grin before continuing again.

"These are rather... tumultuous times, ladies and gentlemen; shouldn't the queen be protected at all costs?" A few reluctant nods and mumbles of assent came from the assembly and the woman finished her speech.

"My third and final reason is that I, Ruby Rose, captain of the Remnant Rangers, would like to offer my services (at this, Ruby turned to the queen and winked) to the Kingdom of Maevyn." At this, the crowd exploded in conflicting cheers and cries, but the Queen didn't move a muscle to stop them. She still made no motion to move as Ruby pulled a folded sheet of paper from an inner-cloak pocket and slipped it into the brim of Weiss' slightly displaced crown before walking away. And Weiss still didn't move an inch as the crowd parted for the exiting Ranger.

"Have a good day, ladies and gentlemen!" Ruby called out with a wave as she exited.

I just have this feeling, this overwhelming feeling; that girl is going to be the end of me some day.


A/N: Please point out typos and any issues/concerns you have. R/F/F. Thanks.

-ken