When death came, when it finally, finally came, it came for Weiss first.
She could pinpoint the exact moment that she passed on (that sounded so much better than 'died,' didn't it? More regal, less gruesome. Not that her death was regal, not like it wasn't gruesome, but... saying that she just passed on sounded better). It was the moment the pain stopped. The wounds all over her body stopped hurting. When it happened, she screamed, mostly because the pain in her previously dry, scratchy throat had vanished, mostly because after an hour of dying on the ground, she finally could.
Or maybe it was for her teammates, her three best friends who were still hanging on, desperately clinging to life.
Weiss watched them, frowning deeply, hoping they would just die. It sounded horrible, but her mind was in a detached, logical state. Her emotions, still so new and raw, hadn't yet processed the idea of dying... they'd frozen up like an old, corrupt slate, leaving her with only clinical thoughts. She knew that the entire team was going to die... it was only a matter of when. Sooner would be better, for everyone's sake.
Nobody had noticed that she was gone yet.
Yang was talking, in a dry, cracked voice. "Ruby, hold on for me, okay?" she murmured. "Hang on until someone comes for us. Don't go. Please don't go. Please say something."
"I'm... I'm not going to go," Ruby managed to croak out. Yang couldn't see the way her eyes moved. Weiss could. She remembered learning about body language, learning that the particular movement of Ruby's eyes meant that she was lying. The young woman knew they were all doomed.
A tear rolled from Yang's remaining eye. "Blake, you too. Stay with me."
"No promises," said the faunus. Her voice was sleepy, worryingly so. "I'll do my best, though, I guess..."
"Weiss?" Yang asked.
Weiss swallowed hard. "Too late, Yang," she said. Not like Yang could hear.
Ruby used some of her remaining strength to face her teammate... her teammate's body. My body, corrected Weiss mentally. "Weiss? Weiss!" she cried scratchily, in what would have been a shriek had the bloody, beaten woman had the strength to make such a noise. "Weiss, answer me! Please say something! Weiss!"
"She's gone," Yang said, another tear dropping, washing off some of the blood from her face.
"No!" Ruby said. "She can't be! She wouldn't give up so easily, she just... she's... she's really dead."
Denial didn't last long, not when you were dying yourself.
Ruby shook with sobs, wasting her own remaining life. Weiss wanted to scream, enough that she couldn't keep it inside, even if Ruby wouldn't hear. "Dummy! Stop mourning me! If you're gonna die, then die, and if you're gonna live, then don't waste your energy! Ugh, it's like you've learned nothing from lessons!"
"Ruby, she's not hurting. She's not hurting like we are. Isn't that good?" Yang said, trying to console her sister.
Blake smiled. "Maybe she had the right idea, letting go..."
"Don't you fucking dare die on me, Blake Belladonna!" Yang ordered. "We're all gonna be just fine." Weiss could tell that she, too, was lying through her teeth.
"We're not going to make it. None of us are," Blake said. "JNPR is the nearest team, and they're still an hour away. We can't hold on that long. We really can't."
"Yes we can!" Yang insisted.
Blake smiled. "I'm not a dreamer like you or Ruby, Yang. I can't believe that."
She took a staggered breath, and one cat ear twitched almost unnoticeable. "I'm tired," she said. "and I'm tired of this world. I'll see you when I see you... I guess..."
"Blake!" Yang cried out... or tried. Her throat was so dry that almost no sound left.
The faunus remained still. Weiss sighed, watching her friend die, unable to cry... after all, ghosts didn't have tears. She wished she could, wished she could express some form of sadness. Mostly, she wished that Blake would just get here already, and she felt entirely too guilty for it. She was so tired of being alone already. She'd had enough of it to last a lifetime... she didn't want it to last any longer.
But though Blake didn't move, didn't breathe, didn't live, neither did she exist however Weiss now did.
"Ruby," Yang croaked. "Ruby, tell me you're still here."
"Yeah," said the leader, carefully. "Don't worry. We're both going to make it."
"No, we're not."
"Yes, we are," Ruby argued, using entirely too much energy. "We're gonna be taken back to Beacon... they'll heal us... they'll heal Blake and Weiss..."
Weiss, Ruby, and Yang all knew this was a lie.
"It's done, Ruby. I'm... I'm sorry I wasn't a better sister."
Ruby bit her lip. The skin was so dry and cracked that it released blood easily, adding to her already numerous wounds. "You were a great sister, Yang. I'm sorry I wasn't a better leader."
"You were great."
There was silence for a moment, then the blonde sniffled and managed to say four final words. "I love you, sis."
"I... I love you too."
What Ruby didn't know, what Weiss did know, was that Yang didn't get to hear it. She was gone.
Not just from the normal world either. She didn't appear beside Weiss. The pale girl sucked in a breath. Maybe Yang, maybe Blake... maybe they had a real afterlife that they went towards. Maybe Weiss was special. Maybe she wasn't special.
Maybe this was her punishment, for wishing they would hurry up and die.
She hoped they were together, the two women. Together in a world without monsters. Where the most dangerous things were bumblebees. They deserved that, deserved not to be alone like a dying Ruby, like a dead Weiss.
The ghost of Weiss Schnee tried to touch her girlfriend's face. Her hand passed right through, and with some shred of leftover energy, Ruby shivered. Weiss smiled shakily. "I don't want you to go on when you die," she admitted, though the bloody girl couldn't hear. "But I think... I think you might be happier if you do, wherever 'on' is. I don't want you sticking around for my sake, you understand?"
Ruby groaned. Her chest moved slowly now, and it looked like it hurt to breathe. Weiss closed her eyes, not wanting to watch.
Then, after a few minutes, Ruby was gone, and Weiss felt a flash of hope that maybe Ruby would stay on this world despite everything.
But she wasn't there.
Weiss had always thought she was the loneliest girl of all. Now, faced with whatever happened to people who didn't pass on, she thought maybe being the loneliest girl wasn't the worst thing that could happen.
Being the loneliest ghost was.