Book of Roses
xoxo
"I'll be taking the day off tomorrow. I'm sure you can handle taking over for me till I return, Blake."
"I can, of course...Weiss..I know you're feeling terrible right now...do you want me to come over there?"
"No, it's fine...you spend your time with Yang. I'm sure she's been missing you what with how often you've been working. She's probably feeling a lot worse than me right now. Go see her...I know she'll need the comfort."
"Alright...see you when you get back. Take care of yourself."
Beep. Beep. The signal that the call had been disconnected. Weiss held the scroll in her hand and stared down at it for a second, before crushing it in her hands and launching it out over the balcony. She wasn't worried about it. She could easily have another scroll delivered to her the same day, if she wanted. She just didn't care. She didn't want to talk to anyone right now.
Weiss stared out into the distant skyline. The sun was just starting to set late in the day and light was shining on the walls of her 200 million lien house. She was standing out on the upstairs patio. Just standing there very silently, not making one bit of noise. She looked down at the ground to stare at the shattered scroll before looking back up to the sky.
She suddenly brought her hand up to her face and traced her slender fingertips along he scar on her eye. She then looked at her hand and wrist, staring intensely at the collar of the white suit jacket she was wearing.
She had just come back from a business meeting. The usual business meeting she had everyday to discuss the direction of the Schnee Dust Company. Because of this, she was still dressed in the suit she normally wore to every meeting. A white suit jacket over a pressed white shirt with red buttons and a red tie, pressed white suit pants, and polished white dress shoes.
What stood out the most about her outfit was that the design on the tie. The tie was red with various roses on them. Red roses...red just like...
Weiss stopped that thought process and left from the balcony and walked down the stairs from her upstairs bedroom to the downstairs living room. She took a seat on the white couch and looked in front of her. She didn't bother turning on the flat-screen TV in front of her. She couldn't bother to watch anything right now.
She looked down at the the living room table and noticed the plate of fresh-baked chocolate chip cookies on the left of the table. Then she looked to the right of the table and noticed the bottle of some fancy heavy liquor. The label on the liquor bottle read, Burned Roses. It was strawberry flavored.
She had informed her butler to get these specific items ready for her before she returned home. He must have alright left home for the night. To his family. Family...At least he has someone to come back home to.
Weiss didn't have anyone to come back to. She was all alone in this big house. Her father was dead. She had taken over the company after his passing. Her mother was a complete mess and refused to see anyone since he died, shutting herself off from others. Winter still kept in contact with Weiss from time to time, but Winter was doing her own thing over in Mistral. She wanted to just get away from it all, and tried to do so by moving to a kingdom other than the one where her family had fallen apart.
Weiss was the only one from the immediate family left in Vale, and she hated it...there was one other person who shared this house with her, but...
An hour later
Weiss was laid back on the white couch, her arm over her forehead and her eyes staring up at the ceiling fan as it twirled. She d been in that position for about an hour. She had long since taken off her business clothes before then, now dressed in a simple white nightgown.
She reached out to grab the very last chocolate chip cookie on the plate, nothing left behind on it but crumbs. She took a bite of the cookie as she savored the taste. She had slowly eaten through the plate, she just couldn't bring herself to finish the last half of the cookie.
She placed it back on the plate and looked around the room. The bottle of strawberry liquor was completely empty and toppled over on the ground, some of the few last drips staining the carpet. But Weiss didn't care. She'd clean it up later.
She knew drinking was bad for her, but she didn't care. The bittersweet taste of the fruity alcoholic drink helped her calm her nerves. It helped her feel like her problems were washed away with each sip she took, but even then, she knew it was a temporary solution to a permanent problem. A problem that could never be solved no matter how hard she wanted to find a permanent solution. So she continued to drink.
She had tried her best to get the thoughts out of her head. Immersing herself in her work to the point to where she fall asleep at her desk, her head rested on the various tear-stained pages of paperwork.
She had already been drowning herself in various types of alcoholic drinks, but they didn't help her forget for any longer than a few hours. So she kept drinking. Drink herself drunk. Cry until she had no tears left. Pass out. Wake up. Repeat. The process constantly repeating itself in an infinite loop with no sight of ending anytime soon.
She even resorted to going to nightclubs on her days off to indulge herself in the intoxicating touch of various attractive women. She would go, find a women to dance with, take her back to her own place to lose herself in intense sexual desire, and then tell her to hit the road in the morning. She had soon stopped doing it altogether. No matter how hard she tried, the touch from any other woman just wasn't the same as...
Weiss got up from her laying position and sat up on the couch, covering her eyes with her face. Her hair was down instead of it usual style. Her hair had grown a bit longer over the years, so her bangs were long enough to cover her eyes. If someone looked at her, they wouldn't be able to see the look in her eyes. Just the frown she had etched on her face.
She took her hand away from her hand and looked at the table. There was an object laying there. A book, to be specific. A red, tattered hardback book with rose floral patterns on it, and a locket on the front. The front of the book read...
The Book of Roses
She stared emotionless at the book. She told herself she would never open it. That she would never pry on the emotions that were spread out page for page on that damned book. She wanted to be respectful.
But in a brief moment, she decided to change her mind. Weiss reached into her pocket and slowly lifted up a small, red key. A key that would open the lock on the Book of Roses.
She grabbed the Book of Roses and slowly brought the key to the lock. She hesitated a bit, but pushed through and slid the key inside, twisting it inside the lock, and opening the book.
Weiss placed the key on the table and proceeded to open the book. She flipped through the various pages, scanning them intensely. Another hour later, she had finished reading through almost the entirety of the book. She wanted to cry, but she wanted to stay strong.
She had broken her promise, but she couldn't help it. She wanted to see if what made the writer tick. What made the writer scared. What made the write happy. What made the writer...well, the writer. After reading it, she found out things she wanted to know, and felt things that she felt she would have been better off not finding out at all.
Weiss made to the latest and last ever entry at the very end of the book when suddenly, a folded piece of paper fell out of the book and onto the ground.
She curiously bent down and picked up as she looked back at the book. She was going to see what the piece of paper was, but before she could, something in the book caught her eye. The date of the last entry. It was the exact same day as...
Weiss placed the piece of paper down, soon forgetting about it after she read the entry date. She didn't notice at first, but there were a few tear stains on the page. Tear stains that weren't hers
She looked down at the page and started to read.
July 18th, 2014
It's time...time to make things right. Cinder...she's taken too much much away from me. From the people. Ozpin. Ms. Goodwitch. Penny. Team JNPR. Everyone that I once held near and dear to my heart other than the other three members of my team...They're all gone and millions of people in Vale are dead because of her plans. She had no remorse for anything she's done. She doesn't deserve to be called a human being. She's nothing more than a monster , and nothing less.
That's why. I'm going to her hideout to finish this once and for all. I don't think I need to tell anyone. They probably already know exactly where I'm going.
...Weiss, I know for a fact that you're going to find this one day, and you're going to read it, and question why? Why was I gone before you woke up? Why didn't I tell you where I was going or what I was planning to do? I didn't want any of you involved. Not Blake, not Yang, and definitely not you. I wanted you all to be safe. I know I have what it takes to destroy Cinder. ...I know I could die today, but I don't care. I can't let another life be taken. It has to end today.
I...I know you see these teardrops staining the page and smudging the ink. Just know that these aren't tears of sadness, but rather joy...I got to live my dream and be a huntress. To fight and protect. To go on tons of crazy adventures...but best of all, I met you...
Just in case I don't see you again...I love you. With all of my heart, and I'm sorry...
You'll always have a place in my heart. And a place in the diary of Ruby.
Weiss couldn't take it anymore...she broke down and cried. Cried as loud as she possibly could. She didn't care if anyone could hear her. She was too broken inside to give a damn.
"Why...why, you dolt...? Why? Why did you have to go and die like that?"
Ruby had completed her task and finally ended Cinder, but not without dying in the process. How noble it is to die for justice...
Weiss then directed her attention back to the piece of paper that she had placed on the table before she started reading the last entry. She picked it up and slowly unfolded it, taking a look at what was on the paper. And she cried even more.
It was the first love letter Ruby had written to Weiss back when they were still students at Beacon.
Weiss, not being able to take it anymore, quietly got up, grabbed Ruby's diary, tore out the page write the last entry inscribed on it and placed it down on the table. She then grabbed the rest of the diary and with one shrill scream that could pierce the heavens, she threw it into the nearby wall.
She should have paid attention to where she threw it, because it landed straight into the lit fireplace that was below, and the Book of Roses caught fire.
Weiss's eyes widened at the mistake she made and she could do nothing else but fall to her knees and scream again before she fell over and curled into a fetal position, rocking back and forth, whimpering.
Weiss was always strong, but never before in her life had she been this weak...
Next day, early morning...
"Hello? Weiss?" Blake said as she knocked on the front door of Weiss's home, Yang standing beside. She wanted to check on Weiss to she how she was doing. She knew today was a touchy day for her.
"I-it's open..."
Blake's eyes widened slightly at this, as well as Yang's when they heard the sadness-filled, cracking voice of Weiss. Blake immediately opened the door and looked around before finding a distraught Weiss laying on the ground in a fetal position. The exact same spot and position she was in last night. The living room table flipped over and the floor a mess, as well as the fire from the fireplace long since burnt out.
Blake and Yang quickly rushed over to help her. Weiss sat up and looked at the both of them, her face stained with tears.
"I miss her...I-I miss her so much..."
Weiss quickly threw her arms around Blake and Yang's necks and buried her face in Blake's shoulder.
Blake and Yang both wrapped their arms around her and patted her back gently, Blake closing her eyes and gritting her teeth while Yang broke down and cried.
There were never be another girl quite like the writer of the Book of Roses.
A/N: That was definitely the saddest piece I've ever written...Hope you enjoyed.