Chapter 1
A/N I will just say that I don't own RWBY *sob* but it is however owned by the fabulous Rooster teeth! Please enjoy the fic and leave any comments and constructive criticism to help me further my writing capabilities. Without further ado on with the fic!
A huge thanks to my friend pinkteacups for editing this chapter! You rock!
Weiss POV
I hate mornings. At least, I do when they start with a worried looking Ruby shaking me awake at an ungodly hour; one so early, in fact, that it should be considered night. "Weiss wake up, wake up!"
"What is it, Ruby?" I grumbled, still half asleep and wishing that my heart rate was considerably faster due to the nightmare I had been experiencing, rather than the warm feeling that accompanied Ruby's hand on my shoulder.
"You were screaming..." Ruby paused. "I wanted to make sure you were ok..."
"I'm fine!" I snapped, instantly regretting the flinch that the venom in my voice had caused, as though Ruby was avoiding a strike. My cheeks flushed, though from embarrassment at being discovered by my leader in the middle of a particularly traumatising nightmare, or from the fact that Ruby had yet to remove her calloused hand from my shaking shoulder, I couldn't tell... Wait shaking?
It was only when I looked down that I realised that my body was drenched in a cold sweat and shaking uncontrollably in the predawn cold, despite the furnace-like heat provided by Yang who still slept soundlessly in her bed across the room.
"I'm sorry Ruby, I-I'm fine... Really." I stuttered, pretending not to notice her shock at gaining an apology from me so easily. "Now go back to sleep" I tried to hide the previous sorrow in my voice by adding the authoritative tone I knew would mask it perfectly.
Although Ruby had done a lot of growing up in the year we have been at Beacon, despite her constant childlike persona that I had come to love, and the fact that the team as a whole had become much closer, I still had a number of tricks up my sleeve, learned through my upbringing, where disguising my pain was an absolute necessity.
"Well, okay, if you're sure..." Ruby's doubt-filled voice brought me back to my current predicament as I tried to muster a reassuring smile that felt as though it were splitting my face in two. It must've worked, though, as Ruby rose to her feet from her kneeling position at my bedside. I almost regretted lying as the calm reassurance provided by her hand left me in favour of hanging by her side. She now stood a bit taller than me (to my dismay) and used the slight muscle she had acquired over the course of a year's worth of intense training at Beacon to hoist herself back up onto her bed, the upper of our shared bunk.
I waited until her movements stilled and I could no longer hear the creaking of the ropes that held up her monstrosity of a bed, before I finally allowed my mind to rest. The problem with this being that as soon as I did, his voice returned to the forefront of my mind, taunting me, torturing me. The torment that only he and I would and could ever know took place; memories dragged back that should never see the light of day. My final thought before sleep finally showed me mercy from his fear inducing voice as I relived his torture, was that he was right about one thing at least: no one will ever know about the pitiful worries of Weiss.
Ruby POV
I awoke that morning my usual hyperactive self; despite me being a year older, my childlike demeanour still held fast and was growing, albeit slowly, on all my team mates... even Weiss, although she was in denial about that fact. A smile crept onto my face at the thought of the icy beauty that slept below me, quickly followed by a feeling of worry that settled in the pit of my stomach as memories of last night flooded past the dam of post sleep grogginess and into my mind. I had never seen Weiss so vulnerable, her icy exterior having melted away to reveal a frightened, no, scrap that, a terrified girl. I remembered how her alabaster tresses clung to her body as though trying to offer comfort as I knelt by her bedside wishing desperately that I could hold her in my arms and protect her from whatever was hurting her. Wait what... I couldn't be falling for her. Could I?
I shook my head as though to clear those thoughts to the back of my mind and hopped down off my bunk, whistle in hand ready to wake my sleeping team mates (and best friends) ready for the upcoming day. I blew the whistle
"Wakey-wakey everybody! Rise and shine!" Blake and Yang begrudgingly began to wake up, groans stifled by pillows and bedraggled hair in knotted clouds of identical blonde and black. All was in order. That is until my eyes reached Weiss. I couldn't hide my double take. There she laid, seemingly asleep, not even having moved a muscle in response to my earlier efforts to comfort her. I was probably being irrational. Of course she would be tired with the amount of sleep, or should I say, lack of it, she must've gotten last night.
Hesitantly moving over to her still form, I tentatively laid my hand on her shoulder. Nervously, and ever so gently, I shook her, remembering her reaction to this last night, and pointedly ignoring the effect her silkily soft skin had on my hand. Blake and Yang, having gotten up to figure out why I had so immediately quieted, gathered round to see what was going on and quite possibly to stop Weiss from killing me for disturbing her sleep.
"Weiss," I whispered, "It's time to get up." There was still no response. "Weiss" I spoke louder this time, yet still she lay slumbering, as though my words had disintegrated in the air round her, so there was not a sound she could hear. "Weiss!" Throwing caution to the wind and choosing my desperation for her to wake up over my fear of her wrath for waking her, I yelled into the disturbing silence of the room. Fear made its presence known as it sunk its way into my heart. I turned to face my other two teammates, both wearing identical expressions of concern, confusion and unease. The words I had been dreading since the moment I noticed her stillness flowed from my tongue before I could stop to contemplate what they meant.
"She won't wake up."
A/N I hope you enjoyed the first chapter! Make sure to leave review to let me know you opinion and if you like it I will be sure to keep updating regularly!