Just something I thought of in a dream last night.
Disclaimer: While I may own the scenario and the plot, I do not own the characters themselves. That right belongs to Rooster Teeth/Mounty Oum.
Enjoy :)
There was nobody left in the room when I woke up. I checked their beds, too. The covers were tucked in and the pillows were fluffed up, even on Yang's bed. It didn't seem like anyone else lived here, but it was still our room. Yang's stupid boy band posters were still up, the beds were still stacked a little shakily on top of each other, and Blake's books were still stacked in little neat piles the way she always does. I asked her about it once, and she said something about a lack of bookcases? Anyways, when I checked the drawers, there was nothing there. No notes, no clothes. Same for the closets. All their stuff was gone, except for what was out already. I even checked the bathroom, and Yang's shampoo and stuff were gone. If she comes back, she'd be mad. But I don't see her anywhere.
This was definitely weird.
In fact, the only thing I found that wasn't on the floor or on the walls was Crescent Rose, which I found in one of my desk drawers. It was a really big drawer. Anyways, I found my precious Crescent Rose. I checked it all over for signs of damage, but I couldn't find anything. Not even the little chip in the handle that got taken out when a Beowulf tried to bite my hand that other day. The mechanisms were working fine, and when I extended it the blade was really really sharp. But I couldn't find any sign that I used it, ever. The paint job seemed like new.
Something was wrong. I took good care of Crescent Rose, but it wasn't perfect. Now it was. There was nothing more I could do to make it better, and that worried me because it wasn't NORMAL. Maybe I could ask Yang if she had anything to do with this.
Wait! That's what I was wondering! Where was she?
One thing's for sure. She isn't here. Nobody is. So might as well look for them outside, right? They aren't in here, so they gotta be out there. Easy. First step… open the door!
Wow. This is NOT Beacon. It was so white and clean that my eyes hurt. Seriously. Cold, hard white floors. The ceiling was really high, too. I couldn't even see the top of it. It kind of looked like it stretched out all the way into infinity. I don't know where the light came from, either, but it kept bouncing off all the pretty white things. Right into my eyes, too. Ugh. But it was all so pretty. Little white tables with little white vases every few feet. And on the other side of the room, windows AT LEAST 12 feet high opened up a view to the pure white landscape outside. No trees, though.
It was all very pretty, but it was SO COLD there.
I wanted to grab a blanket from the room, but the door was gone. I looked, and there wasn't anything there but another white wall. Still so cold. Might as well start walking to warm up, right? I wished Yang was here to keep me warm, but she wasn't. I walked down the hallways.
What. This is gonna take forever.
I turned a corner, and all I saw was hallway, hallway, and more hallway. This one seemed to stretch on FOREVER. And there were other hallways running across this one, and that one, and that one…
Well, nothing better to do than just keep walking. It was cold, still. Just keep walking. The silence was a little lonely at first. Nobody to talk to. After a while it get unnerving. Then, after what felt like days of walking around, terrifying. One foot in front of the other, I'd tell myself. Just keep walking, I'd tell myself. I hope they're all okay, I'd tell myself. Was the weather lovely? Why yes, dear Ruby, the weather was beautiful today. If there was any weather. And the cold just keep coming, chilling me to the bone. It was so quiet, so lonely, so cold…
I would've missed it if I hadn't looked up to see how much further it was.
That white cloak. I'd know that cloak from anywhere. After all, it haunts my dreams at night.
It was walking away from me. I was desperate for anyone, anything, to hold onto in this maze of loneliness. It stopped, turned around, and beckoned to me.
Her face. I've only seen it in the pictures that Yang had, but I remembered it. Summer Rose.
Maybe I should call her Mom.
But when I run towards her, she flees; around a corner, down a hallway, through the walls. I have to find her. I have to.
The only thing I have to follow are the screams. The wails of the dead, the lamentations of a banshee. The fury of one torn from love and life guide me.
After running after her for what felt like hours, she stops in front of a set of double doors.
The only thing left are the white petals that fall, softly, to the floor.
I don't want you to leave, again. Why? Why do you do this? Kneeling down, tears dripping from my face, I try to pick up the petals. But they dissolve into the cold, hard floor.
There's nothing left of her, save for the doors she lead me to. I hope there's at least somebody, something inside of these. It's lonely. It's worse when there used to BE somebody there. And now, it's unbearable.
It gets colder, so much colder, when I open the door. But someone's there, at least. That white hair, that white dress, looks so familiar.
"Weiss?"
The figure turns around.
"…Weiss?"
The same white hair, but it's not up in a ponytail. The dress isn't her trademark combat skirt and jacket combo, but rather just a solid white dress. I walk a little closer to see her better.
The eyes weren't hers. Not at all. They were blood-red. And she wasn't crying.
Or, I guess she was. Just…not with tears.
She was crying blood.
"Are you okay?" I asked.
"Now that you're here, I am perfectly alright," she replied.
"Have you seen Weiss? How about Blake, or Yang?"
"What of them?"
"But…but they're my friends! I have to look for them!"
"No. You will not. You will stay here. I expressly forbid you from leaving this room."
"Why? You can't stop me. I need to look for them."
"You don't need anything. The only thing you need to do is stay."
"No! I need to go find them! They need me, too. You can't keep me here like this!"
"I NEED you! You WILL stay with me! I forbid you from leaving!"
With that, crystalline wings sprouted from her back, and halo of ice wreathed her face.
"No! I gotta find Weiss! And Blake! And Yang!"
I crouched, settling into a defensive stance while I drew Crescent Rose. Frost started to form on the floors and walls, eventually solidifying into panes of ice. The blood from her eyes ran down the front of her dress, leaving crimson rivers down her front. I was expecting ice, or something.
I didn't expect her to start singing.
"Mirror, mirror, what's behind you
Save me from the things I see!"
I made the mistake of looking up at her. I realized that exactly when something bowled into my side. Ice, hard and cold, like I thought. And it didn't come off, no matter what I tried to do. It started spreading over my side, creeping down to my knees.
"I can keep it from the world
Why won't you let me hide from me?"
I saw it coming from the reflection on the wall, and tumbled out of the way. But when my shoulder hit the floor, the ice on my body stuck to the ice on the floor, freezing solid where I fell. It was creeping over me, encasing me. I struggled, but it wouldn't come off. Slowly, it spread, trapping my hands and feet.
"I'm the loneliest… Of all…"
It was climbing over my face. I couldn't breathe, couldn't speak. Couldn't think… couldn't see…
It was so cold. I closed my eyes, before the ice froze them solid. Better to die with my eyes closed than staring into nothing forever. The only thing left to do was to relax. Just rest. Just get some sleep now. So very tired…
"You insufferable dolt! Wake up! Please! We need you. I need you. Don't you dare die on me!"
My eyes shot open. The ice was gone. I heard water running down the walls, felt it pooling around me. Still a little shaky, I got up.
The girl, or whatever she was, was bawling. I walked over to her and put my hands on her shoulders.
"Why are you crying?" I asked, as the pool slowly started turning crimson.
"You…did this to me. But that matters not. Finish what you started."
"What did I do?"
"Everything. Everything. You came in here, starting thawing my home. My home, it's gone. Not even the little girl who used to visit comes anymore."
"Was it Weiss? The little girl?"
"You've taken her from me. I wanted her to come back so much. So much. I needed you. She comes for you. Not me."
"Where is she now?"
"With you. Not me." The bawling subsided to a couple hiccups and a muffled sniff every now and then.
"She's not coming back. My obligations have disappeared, melted away. There is nothing left for me. Just end it." She stopped crying, looking me square in the eye.
"Are… are you sure?"
"You took everything else. Take me too."
Crescent Rose was already extended. I looked down, to collect my thoughts. Wasn't I a huntress to help people? To help ease the pain we all felt? And here I was, the alpha and omega of this girl's pain. I didn't know what, or who, she was. But I can end her pain. It was better than nothing. I looked her in the eye. The eyes, which once were blood red, were now sapphire blue. Then they closed.
One stroke was all it took. Right across her.
There wasn't a thud or anything like that. Just a tinkling sound as she shattered into dust. And the entire castle, I could see it drifting away. It too had shattered, leaving behind nothing.
I walked away, the snow crunching under my boots. The sun was shining, having peeked out over the horizon. It felt nice. Warm.
I still had to find them. Weiss, Blake, Yang… I needed to find them. That's all that mattered.
Weiss Schnee woke with the sun. The beeping of the monitors made her infinitely happier. It had become a sound that she depended on. She thought about how sad that was, that a simple steady beeping reassured her, as she pressed the cold hand she was clasping.
Ruby Rose was still alive.
Weiss noted that her heartbeat was steady once again. For a while last night, it has slowed almost to a stop. Oh, how that sent her into an abyss of worry.
Her long stays in the hospital with the comatose Ruby had taught her patience. It had taught her how to hide her feelings from others, to pretend that everything was alright.
Her almost dying had changed that. She had wept openly as the heartbeat slowed, the spikes on the ECG becoming further and further apart. The happy, bubbly Ruby she still remembered seemed like a distant memory already, now replaced a machine that dictated her emotions. And it had almost stopped.
She broke down, pleading with Ruby. She needed her. The first one to breach the gap between her heart and her head. Her first true friend, and confidante. Her team leader. All of that and more.
But everything was alright now, she thought. It would only be a couple more months, at most, she hypothesized. Only a couple more months and she would have a friend again instead of a cold, dead hand.
And Weiss would make that happen. Being heiress of the Schnee Dust Company had its perks.
The mythical Dust, the physical manifestation of energy, had enough power to destroy or create. Whatever the wielder desired, Dust would do.
How fitting, Weiss thought, that she would use Dust to prevent her own teammate from crumbling into dust.
Author's Note: I don't actually know when the next chapter/installment will be coming out, with AP tests and finals right around the corner. Hopefully, it's soon. I promise I'll work on this when I can, but I can't exactly promise anything :(
And again, reviews would be greatly appreciated! I can't make any of this stuff better if I don't know what's wrong with it!