Vertigo and pain came upon once she opened her eyes, a gentle and cool breeze brushed her white skin as the small waves crashed in the shore. The sun already setting, some stars already visible in the skies, once again the night coming.
With trembling and bloodied hands, the girl slowly raises up carefully trying to not damage herself more, white hair falling over her head with a ruined and messy ponytail. Soil, sand and blood tainted the image of the white girl whose trembling body was hunched over, shaken the girl remained still.
She raised her view at the skies.
Then Weiss Schnee screams in despair.
A sob escapes her lips, salty tears running over her face as the heiress starts to cry bitterly, putting both of her hands in her face as she bent burying her face in the sand. It didn't matter how long she cried in the middle of the beach or if she looked pathetic and weak, neither if she felt small and powerless. It didn´t matter if she couldn´t stop screaming at the top of her lungs wishing that this was just a bad dream, an awful dream that she could just forget.
But this is a nightmare. A perpetual and true nightmare that she could not wake up from it.
The nightmare took the form of a painful reality she could not shake it off, engulfing her in miles and miles of sand and salt water.
In the middle of an unknown island Weiss Schnee screams in despair wishing to wake up from her nightmare.
The beach looked completely dead once the night arrived, a few small stars proudly shining in the mantle of darkness, the moon inexistent in the eventful night. The waves gently rocking trough the unknown island, a faint sound almost as a whisper traveling in the wind. A few meters away from the shore an Atlesian airship lays unmoving, metal scrap and various objects around it, the airship utterly destroyed and beyond function.
Inside Weiss lays cowered in silence.
How could this happen? Why her? Was this a punishment for being a Schnee? Questions lingered in the heiress mind with no answer, something that made Weiss anxious and nervous.
Hurt and tired. But at least alive.
She shudders as she unconsciously stared at the door that lead to the pilot cabin remembering what she discovered a few minutes ago. The door looked almost intact with just a small dent, with a closer look a faint smear of brown color was printed in the broken scanner. Weiss tried to open the door using her scroll that surprisingly she found it inside of the airship, she picked her scroll and exanimated it only to frown at the broken case and powerless device. - "Too good to be true"- said Weiss as she tossed the scroll in one of the ruined seats.
Touching the door, she exanimated it. Everything looked normal. For a minute Weiss just stood in front of the door, inside of a wrecked Atlesian airship in the middle of the beach of an unknown island far away from the civilization and any human contact or technology. Various ideas forming inside of her head, trying to come up with a logical and perfect one so she could just open the door; a door made of metal and steel refined with quality materials for the best protection and functionality, created by and for the best people in Atlas.
Weiss just kicked the door.
After a few seconds the door emitted a screech, vibrating the door slowly arise a meter and then stopped. It was now stuck. Weiss stared surprised at the door then hunched over, it was complete dark and silent inside, the pilot cabinet of the airship model was small, but with no light the place looked confined more than in the first place. Almost as if the darkness engulfed everything inside the cabinet and just remained an unnerving void, like an immense and eternal cave with no exit. It was more intimidating in that way and the heiress just stared at the inside, doubting if entering was a good idea.
She took a deep breath and went inside.
Putting her hands in front of her Weiss searched a support, they found a soft and solid support. She flinched as she felt it was wet and damp but lay on. She searched close to her trying to find something useful. She grabbed what felt like cables, metal and some round wet surface until she felt a handle and jolted at it. A small squeak was heard and Weiss put her hand inside, a few seconds of sounds and then silence.
CRUNCH!
A weak muted yellow light illuminated instantly the room when Weiss activated the light stick. Relief came upon once she was able to see in the middle of the dark. The tension once present in the dark cabinet disappeared instantly. Weiss have now an advantage and with that she could found something.
The first thing she found it was the body of the dead pilot sitting in front of her.
Weiss shrieked, dropping the light stick that bounced before hitting the control panel and fell on the floor, she backed away until her back touched the door. Unmoving the body of the pilot merged with the darkness and its features emphasized by the sickly yellow light of the emergency stick that created an unnatural image, discomfort started to form in the pit of her stomach and Weiss felt it was becoming hard to breath. With a shuddering breath she exited the room, leaving the light stick and the dead body in the darkness of the cabinet. Without averting her gaze, the heiress slowly walked backwards and cowered at the end of the small hallway, staring at the pitch darkness of the room. Afraid that something will come out and drag her back inside, frightened that maybe the body of the dead pilot simply walked out of the door.
Petrified that she's in the same space with the corpse of a human being.
It´s snowing outside.
Angry winds resonate in the white prison.
Little Weiss walks alone in the immense halls of the mansion. It´s too cold and silent.
The white hall is decorated with lifeless paintings and sculptures, the only one that doesn´t scares little Weiss is the statue of the mermaid at the end of the hall.
When Weiss is in front of the statue she stares at the sculpture.
She smiles.
- "Have you enjoyed wasting time…Weiss?"-
Little Weiss tenses when the voice of her father resonates in the hall, she looks behind.
The door of the living room is in front of her, the sounds of fire crackling present. Her little hand pushes the door.
Her parents are inside looking at the fireplace. Hypnotized by the fire and light that emanates. They don´t pay attention to her. They never.
- "Have you enjoyed wasting time Weiss?"- asks again Weiss´s father.
Little Weiss is insecure and bites her lip, she doesn´t know how to respond. But little Weiss knows that her father wants to hear what he wishes to hear.
- "…No father"- answers Weiss.
Her father doesn't move and little Weiss believes he just wanted to hear her answer and no more. Hopefully she believes she could go back to look at the statue and maybe to her room. Were the screams and angry words of her parents couldn't reach her.
Hurt her. Until she cries and falls sleeps.
Waiting for W—
-" Come. "-
She blinks twice and looks at her father expectantly.
- "Come inside…Weiss"-
She obeys without doubt and carefully closes the door. Her mother rises her arm and stop hers, Weiss stumbles in her toes and waits, her father speaks once again.
- "Will you´ll learn some day…Weiss? - "Weiss doesn´t answer. - "You know that mistakes are something I don´t tolerate. I've been waiting a long time for you to accept that you´re the next heiress of the company. My company. That you must follow my rules, that you must follow the rules of our world Weiss." – Weiss say nothing and just stared at the floor. Her eyes watering.
- "Soo… spare me some details, please? Why are you still inside?" –
Weiss look up and saw her father throwing a small fish at the fireplace. The small fish jerked when its skin touched the fire. Squeaks and smalls cries with a repulsive odor; probably form the charred skin of the animal, appeared inside the living room and for a moment Weiss felt the familiar discomfort.
The small fish stopped moving while the fire consumed it and once again her father asked her.
"- Why are you still inside Weiss? Its pouring over the whole house…" –
- "Pouring?" – asked Weiss confused.
Then a small drop falls over her head and Weiss looks up. The whole celling is starting to crack and drops of water are falling over, the repulsive odor its invading the whole place. In a blink of an eye the living room it's starting to fill up, the celling is now swollen. Weiss stares at it in horror then at her parents, who are just transfixed to the fire. They don´t move, they don´t run or scream.
They just stare at the dammed fire.
Weiss cries when the ceiling collapses and a potent torrent of yellow oily colored water descends and engulfs her. Weiss little frame is engulfed in the muddy water, she chokes up for her father and mother help while her tears combine with the water; she tries to reach them but her tiny arms can´t help her.
She´s carried by the flow of water in to the abyss below her.
And wakes up.
Trashing around Weiss is able to rise and take a gulp of air. Coughing the heiress looks around confused, the whole hall of the airship is being filled with a rapid flow of water coming from the main entrance. At the middle of the hall various objects and metal pieces are floating creating a barrier. Weiss doesn´t waste time and swims directly to the exit, she pushes out the things from her path but every time she pushes something two more appears. Taking a gulp of air, Weiss dives and tries to swim to the exit, with an easy open she spots between two seats, the heiress push through the small spot and sees the exit. Weiss swims but doesn't move.
She´s stuck now, the water non stopping and her time running out.
Panic rising Weiss tries to break from the spot, she's only a few meters from the exit but she can't get out. The stress is incrementing, her movements are becoming erratic and she can no longer held her breath. Weiss Schnee heiress of the most powerful company in the world is alone, hurt, tired and trapped in the middle of and unknown island far away from her home, is going to die in a flooding airship.
No one is going to rescue her.
She´s going to die without even try to become a huntress.
Weiss Schnee can´t hold her breath any longer and screams under the water, her lungs filling with water. She tries to push out one more time but she barely moves. Her strength is disappearing.
Her vision is becoming foggy and unfocused.
Finally, her eyes close and Weiss Schnee gives her last breath.
The airship stars to grumble and shakes. The remaining wing can´t hold any longer the heavy pressure inside and breaks, the airship tips over its left side. All the water inside pours over the beach and Weiss falls out from the airship. Like a ragdoll the gravity takes upon force and she hits the wet sand with a squelch.
It's a cloudy morning, the sun blocked out by the dark grey mass that shift trough the skies, roaring with electrical arms of thunder. The rainfall non stopping covers the whole island, like needles of water that fall to the sand with strain trying to pierce the earth. As frightened horses of the sea the waves roll over the beach and crash in a bubbly mass of natural force dissolving, the ocean is restless spreading over the land like a behemoth of the underwater that wishes to devour all the island but its unable and frustrates when its white teeth crest crash in the sand and breaks. Retracting once more and coming back with force over and over. The sound of the rain hammers the ears of Weiss, drenching her and limiting her as her frail and slender arms wobble trying to support her weight, she coughs up all the water that get into her throat, a strange savour invades her tongue. Barely conscious Weiss roll-over facing up the angry obscure skies, the small drops hits her face just as she squints her eyes. She stares at the skies, the thunder clacks in rapid succession illuminating almost the whole beach, then the heiress sees it.
As the beach extends inland there is a small clearing where spare looking grass trails to a crooked big tree. Weiss moves at its direction, crawling in the wet sand. Her legs hurt and her arms are burning, small droplets of blood appear in the sand that are washed out by the rain. Weiss advances only a few centimeters when the exhaustion takes over her and her head hits the wet sand. The last thing that Weiss sees is the tree and something moving behind it but she too tired to think.
- "Win…ter…"- she whispers before losing consciousness.
Inside of a cold mansion a white haired man with a white suit works behind his desk, a chubby and bald man enters. He says something to the white suit man.
From the rest of the day, angry shouts and screams are heard over the mansion.
Jacques Schnee demands answers no one can give him. Unaware of the fate of her daughter.