Notes: Some of you were wondering what happened to Ruby. Look no further...

Freedom was comprised of two facets for Weiss - authority and power. Authority was the ability to enforce, to give orders and direct others. Power was the proactive choice to do something. Living in the Schnee Manor had given her an early example of both cases at work, and for all that happened under the roof, she wanted to believe that she had freedom. With a few choice words, a five-star meal could be prepared on a whim. Servants would fetch her almost anything under the sun that lien could buy.

Yet while she held this over others, Weiss felt like she had no agency in regards to herself. There were certain things she had to conform to. Her father dictated her every waking hour, from the moment she left the breakfast table to the moment she entered her room for the night. Singing lessons. Etiquette and business.

Failure to participate and meet her father's expectations were, as he described, unfortunate. Perhaps it was driven out of survival or need, but Weiss did her best to perform to her father's goals. And as she grew older and the days passed by, she found herself watching and waiting for the moment where she could break free.

So when she was given the opportunity to train and become a huntress, she eagerly followed after her sister's footsteps. The look of surprise on her counselor's face when she came in and asked about how to become a huntress was not a look she would forget anytime soon.

But bringing that home to her father was something else, and she realized that he didn't let Winter become a huntress because she wanted to. Instead, he let Winter be a huntress because it benefited him - her skills were better off in that area, and her face and name in the field was more valuable than her actual enjoyment of it.

Weiss becoming a huntress didn't benefit him. It was the first time she had ever fought for something directly with her father. Years of watching and carefully avoiding his words had left her with trepidation, never fully secure in him. There was a lack of trust from both sides, and some said the fighting lasted about a week, Weiss stubbornly refusing to back down.

But each time their argument ended, Weiss always found herself sequestered in her room, heart pounding in her chest. Adrenaline coursed through her veins as she knew just how terrified she was of him. Sometimes she needed to work out the energy in her veins and she paced her wide room, trying to breathe and slow herself down. But other times it was too much, and she buried her face in her pillow, unsure if she was crying from relief or from the unfortunate words she heard or nearly avoided.

And then one morning she was at the breakfast table and realized that her father, instead of dictating her schedule to her, had simply left a syllabus on her scroll. And at the very bottom of the list, were two words - hunter training. Weiss had never finished breakfast so quickly.

The first day was just the introductory course - to explain what was expected, to their roles in society, and how the danger was far more real than what the movies and stories say. Everyone knew who she was and some gave her more than just an odd stare. But she wasn't scared of them and pushed back - they were all smaller than her father after all, and no one was going to take this victory away from her.

And while some walked away from the class, she drank it in. She learned that the style a hunter fought with was determined by body size, weapon choice, and abilities, but it was ultimately within the hunter's power to decide what was best. Hunters also had authority in certain cases, such as directing civilians in the lack of other figures like the police or military.

It was freedom, and no matter how much she sweat or had to sacrifice in the name of discipline, (creme brulee, her one weakness!) it was a way out of the Schnee Manor to pursue her own choice, and she relished every moment she had.

But as training went on and she excelled in her classes and she grew older, a strange dread crept into her heart. Winter had finally gained her summon, and something her father had said put her in a state of quiet panic.

"Death sounds like it is a powerful entity. I wonder what you'll be able to do with it in the end."

She recognized this line. She had heard it in many instances when she was younger and it fueled her at the time. But knowing now that her father was interested in using Winter's summon, fear coursed through her heart again. Taking out her scroll, she saw that she would be seventeen and a half in three weeks.

Every Schnee that ever had a summon gained it when the were seventeen and a half. The only exception was Winter.

And so for three weeks Weiss feared and yet dared to dream at the same time. She had hoped that pursuing the career of a huntress would be her way to escape the manor. But a voice in the back of her mind wondered that, just maybe, this was all something her father let happen. Was he still in control, valuing her image more than her 'disobedience' to him at this time? Was this truly escaping her confines?

But there was also the excitement in her heart. Even if her father found a way to leash her, he couldn't keep an eye on everything. Perhaps her summon would be so diminutive at first glance that he would overlook it. Or perhaps it would be so powerful that it would punch a hole in the manor and she could flee, like a princess freed by a knight.

Weiss feared and yet wanted the power and authority that having a summon commanded. She would be on the final steps to being a fully-fledged huntress, and her father would have to relinquish his hold upon her. She wanted the authority to wield and direct for something beyond just a goal of financial wealth. She wanted the power to make change and become her own person.

Freedom.

That was the last word in her mind when she stood at the center of the summoning hall, Myrtenaster drawn and pointed at the center. Her eyes were closed, concentrating, breathing deep, trying to remain as calm as she possibly could.

It was finally happening, she reminded herself. Several years of training both her physical body and mastering her glyphs, and now she was at the cusp at being a true huntress. And then she would be called upon to take on missions, to fight, to save, and to explore the world outside of the Schnee Manor. It was everything she had hoped for.

And yet she hesitated. The draw was there, pulling at her heart, but she didn't answer it just yet. The four walls of the manor were all she knew. She had lived in this castle all her life, following the directions of her father to the letter. And though she had field training, things would be different. What she had taken for granted wouldn't be available. And ultimately she would be in an area that she was unfamiliar with. And communicating with others had always been… terse. Outside of office talk and the chats with her sister, her word choice was, at best, prickly.

And there was her father. There was always her father.

But she scrunched her eyes shut and took another breath. Weiss needed this. She bit back her thoughts, her concerns, her fears. She would adapt. She would learn.

After all, freedom was worth it.

She opened her eyes, and light began to gather in front of her.

Whoosh

Staring deep into the light, swirling behind its varying hues, refusing to turn away, she hoped her summon would be great. She hoped it would be strong, that it could tear down walls, reach past barriers. She hoped it would be a guide, for both herself and for those who might follow her through the now-open world.

When the lights faded, and the hall was once again still, a man or teenager, perhaps not much older than she was, stood before her. His body stretched tall, hands shoved into his pockets, clothes made of blacks and looked no different than a hunter, but Weiss could feel something different about him. What stood out the most were his boots. Made of steel and perhaps something beyond the makings of man, they carried a strange weight to their look, as if his feet could puncture the thickest of hides.

But the most intriguing part were the wings sprouting from the top of its sides.

When his gray eyes looked into hers, she licked her lips once, tried to speak, then tried to speak again.

"What is your name?"

"Mercury."

A god, or at least the essence of one, stood before her.

But before she could say more, a higher-pitched voice came from behind Weiss, freezing her in her tracks.

"Umm, e-excuse me!"

Her head whipped around and she felt her jaw drop. In front of her was a young girl, dressed in a matching black faux corset and skirt with a trailing red cape tied sewn to the shoulders. In her arms was a scythe longer than she was tall, with gears and machinations and contraptions, meant for transforming into who-knew-what. As the girl traced her eyes around the room, taking in the fact that every Schnee was staring at her, seas of white hair and curious eyes looking her way, she began to shrink a little.

"Sorry, umm…"

One hand released her scythe, letting it collapse and tucking it behind her. Then with both hands she began to play with the hem of her skirt, clearly nervous. With any luck the girl probably hoped that she would shrink and disappear into nothing.

What was this girl even doing here? "Who are you?" Weiss nearly snapped, and the girl became even smaller.

"I'm… I'm Ruby Rose… How, uh… How did I get here?"

"How?" Weiss felt her eyebrow shoot up. "Clearly you snuck in during my summoning rite."

"B-But the last thing I remember was-" a hand went to her head, scratching through her hair and trailing down just the top of her neck a little. "I mean, there were Dominus-class Grimm around me, and they, one of them-" her face suddenly paled. Her hands flew to her chest and stomach, patting herself down and grasping for something that wasn't there.

Placing Myrtenaster away, she stormed up to the girl and was rearing to bite her head off, but a hand clapped onto her shoulder. Turning, she saw that it was Mercury who had caught up with her.

"Easy, now, Weiss. Ruby's here with me."

"... What?"

Did…

Did she just summon a girl? A girl who had gone missing three weeks ago?

A/N: Welcome to my OT3 trash. I ship White Rose, but I think I ship Weiss x Mercury harder. As for tie-ins and whatnot, this is sort of a side story that occurs at or around the same time as Winter's story in this AU. It didn't really belong in it, though, so I thought it was best to load it as a separate fic. Kinda makes me wish this site had the series function that AO3 has.

Originally this was going to be the first of an appendix for the characters I do, but since Weiss might get her own story, she gets her own fic for now. I can't guarantee I'll do this AU often as I have a lot of things to work on, but who knows. Cya for now!

Also, before you bite my head off, given how I've written Weiss, Mercury (and even Ruby) DO thematically match her. I did my research (kinda? kinda).

Can't believe I forgot - beta'd by ImSoAwesome!