Notes: And so it begins...

Prologue 1: Children of Remnant

I'm Falling Down Into My Shadow

iki wo hisomete matte iru Deadly Night

A dark red flash pulls young Weiss from her sleep. She sits up and scans the room for anything that could have caused the flash. Her eyes catch another flash, this time white, out her window. A firework went off, leaving it's snowflake pattern in the sky to fade. Weiss sighs, and falls back onto her pillow. 'False alarm.'

Rolling over, young blue eyes meet innocent, vacant silver orbs staring into a void of glossed over nothingness. Shrieking, the young girl fell from her bed in her snowflake nightgown, not noticing the bat-like wings wrapped around the other girl still snuggled into her bed as if she had been tucked in for the night. Rising to her feet, the girl tried looking closer at the unmoving figure. Her brown hair seemed to fade into red by its tips, her skin as pale as the snow outside the bedroom window.

"Fa-Faunus!" The girl couldn't help but shriek her terror at the sight of the bat wings and arrow tipped tail wrapped around the young girl in her bed, although she knew nobody in this frozen mansion would hear her at this hour, or any hour unfortunately.

Scurrying back, she looked for something to hold between her and the creature's still resting form. As the seconds ticked by, the white haired girl's panic ebbed as confusion and curiosity took over. With the body so helplessly still, she couldn't help but wonder who or what the girl was, let alone how she got into her bed.

Still having found nothing, she poked the sleeping form, attempting to wake the girl, but was soon distracted by how soft the wings felt to the touch. They looked like leather but felt as smooth as silk. Quickly losing her train of thought, she just stood there stroking them, wondering what creature had such wings.

Shortly after, the silver eyes fluttered as if snapping out of a trance. Gazing upon the white haired girl whose blue eyes shone with curiosity streaked with a panic that seemed to be ebbing away as she stroked the wings currently keeping her warm. "H-hi?"

The squeak came out so feeble and weak, the white haired girl nearly missed it in her fascination, but the slight motion caught her attention and resurfaced her earlier fear, and with it, ire. "Hmm? You're awake? What are you, and why are you in my bed?"

"Umm not sure? My name… Ruby… I think?" The little brunette went to rise from the bed before noticing the wings were all that covered her up. With a loud "eep" and quick motions, she began yanking the blankets up, mostly to avoid the now very intrusive cold. "You?"

"I'm Weiss Schnee, and you are in my bed." Weiss tried to sound scolding, but her glare began scaring the girl into swiftly jerking the soft wing from under Weiss' fingers leaving her to pout at the heap cloth that was Ruby's cowering form, causing the heiress to miss the girl for some odd reason. She had seemed kind enough and she sounded lost, as if she hadn't the slightest clue what was going on either. Hoping to maybe ease things out of her to clear the air, Weiss decided to apologize and took a deep breath to give it an attempt. "I'm sorry, I just don't understand how you could get in here so easily, yet alone why? Then there is the matter of who or what you are and I'm just scared. What's going on?"

The brunette peeked her head out from the heavy sheets she had hid under and gazed up to meet the ever changing emotions on Weiss' tired and flustered face, the most common being confusion and nervousness. Staring blankly back, Ruby's eyes glossed over similarly to how she seemed to sleep before she began talking in a weird voice that seemed to be speaking through her as it echoed in the silence. "Find White, you were told to find White."

Weiss' gaze became even more confused and slightly scared as her body began to tremble at the ominous otherworldly sound, but her heart broke when she saw Ruby collapse forward into her arms and her voice return to normal, equally scared. "So you? I woke up after hearing that."

The statement was said between gasps of breath as the two tried to calm down from whatever just happened, Weiss holding the girl trying to rationalize how any of this could happen, while Ruby gasped for breath and curled into the other girl.

'Comfy here. I feel safe now. Thanks Weiss.'

The white haired girl nearly dropped Ruby as the sound of her voice flittered through her mind unwarranted. Looking down at the girl, she seemed sound asleep, her eyes actually closed this time. Feeling comforted by the sight, Weiss reached up to poke the girl and make sure she hadn't said anything when everything went red and silver. A burning sensation coursed through her veins like molten metal as a flurry of roses encompassed her and Ruby's weight seemingly vanished. In the center of the flurry, two silver orbs staring straight at Weiss seemed to burn into her soul. The glowing light drew her gaze and as she stared them down, she saw a request for permission that she felt required to accept as the orbs were fixated on her.

As Weiss struggled to nod, the orbs dissipated with the storm and the burning sensation left her veins with it, all absorbed onto her hand, where now a rose bud seemed to rest. A ruby red rose.

Ice blue eyes awoke to a normal day. A heavy blizzard outside her extravagant mansion window, resembling the inside of her mind. 'Last night, was it a dream? It was, wasn't it? Everything is still closed and nobody is in my bed right?' Looking around her vacant room, Weiss sighed seeing no signs of an intruder or anything having ever happened, not even tossed sheets as if somebody had curled up in fear under them.

'Mmm why do I hear voices?'

The unregistered thought flowed into Weiss' mind as if spoken across a current of emotions. The magnitude of it made her sit down in sudden panic at the possibility she hadn't been dreaming. Trying to convince herself it was a dream, she looked down only to see that ruby red rose bud on the back of her hand confirming it all.

Weiss must have internally panicked, for the banks of a newly discovered mental river began overflowing with fear and confusion. An image entered her mind - a black void, and her vision centered on a white glowing silhouette with a red glove-like shape on the silhouette's hand. Towards the furthest reaches of the void, a dirty, tainted, smoky shape of a man sat. Accompanying the tainted shape stood eight colors, a ginger glow the most prominent with hints of a peppermint green and coffee brown mixed into a few others as well. The ginger shade left the blackened one and started approaching what she assumed was her white silhouette.

As the multi-colored, mostly-ginger shadow approached, Weiss was locked in a panic. She couldn't see to find a weapon fast enough and disoriented as she was by the wash of fear and nerves consuming her, she wouldn't have thought to do so either. At the sound of footsteps on marble, she felt her nerves ease to recognize the noise but nothing else. Everything was a single slate of all consuming terror freezing her in place as a sound of a door opening could be heard. "Whatever you are, I-I'm not afraid! Stay back!"

All at once, the ginger silhouette rushed her into an embrace and the feeling of safety washed over her as a smell of wood smoke and sweat permeated a cashmere wool vest that Weiss only knew one person to wear in all of Atlas to wear. "Klein, what's happening? Why can't I see?"

A strong arm held Weiss close as a soothing and fatherly voice escaped the ginger blur that had become Klein. "Can you explain what you see and why you look paler than a ghost first Ms. Schnee?"

Trying to take deep breaths as her older sister had instructed her on how to do awhile ago to get control of her senses, Weiss counted to ten as she collected her thoughts. "Ther-there was this strange girl-faunus-I don't know, in my bed last night and she just turned into a bunch of petals and it-it felt so hot, everything burned. Then she was gone and I heard her voice in my head. Now all I see is colors and emptiness..." As Weiss spoke, the gentle caregiver went through multiple facial expressions, ending on wonder and intrigue.

"Why Ms. Schnee, if I didn't know better, I'd think a child of Remnant had come to ya. It's a rare thing, and a thing of fairy tales." The kind face shifted to one of mischief and defiance before Weiss noticed, and Klein's tone shifted to a more wicked one. "They were said to rise from the ground as siblings to the grimm, only smarter. Few denied their fate, but it was said that if one of these children were to be before ya, either rid yourself of the demon or brace for chaos." Again Weiss watched as Klein went from spiteful to what she deemed his most caring persona as he straightened up and pulled in the slightly trembling girl at what she was hearing. "They aren't all bad though. There is a particular story tracing back to a great warrior, Scathatch. She was the trainer of some of the first huntsmen at Beacon academy and through her, Vale entered a century without Grimm. The creatures all seemed scared of her and her reputation. Also, of her companion. A crimson haired demon whose eyes could rip the darkness clean from a beast." The butler then appeared to stiffen and hold Weiss at arm's length to eye her up. "But don't mind me Miss. The children of Remnant are merely fairy tales to inspire and terrify children alike. I'd have told you sooner had your father given me permission, but he doesn't believe you should be raised on anything but reality. However, should you have met with such a child and should she be with you still, I'd say keep her with you and don't let the family know. Our world is far stranger than we like to admit and I'm loathe to see you hurt over something not your fault."

Weiss seemed under control by the look of it, but her eyes still seemed unable to focus, and if Klein looked close enough, swore specks of silver danced within her usually crystal clear blue eyes. "Try and relax Snowflake, your father wishes you to be presentable within an hour."

Dumbly nodding, Weiss remains seated as he gets up to leave with a truly worried expression and mumbling too softly to be heard, "Let's not have the others know. Jacques already has done enough damage to these good girls."

As Weiss hears the comforting sound of her door close as she sees the ginger blur walk away, she feels herself calm down. Breathing deeply, she tries concentrating to get her sight back. 'Am I- am I a monster?'

Weiss' instincts wanted her to jump, but the innocent, lost voice called out to her like it was grasping at hope that it wasn't so. Weiss couldn't bring herself to act poorly and whoever Ruby was, she was just as alone as Weiss. "No Ruby, you are no monster. You are just misunderstood and lost."

With the exhale of the remark, Weiss felt the shadows start to lighten and her mind become hers truly again. The river they had been screaming across internally returned to normal, showing not one tumultuous current of indescribable radiance, but a crimson and white river flowing side by side almost harmoniously. 'If I'm lost, can I stay with you Weiss?'

Seeing the internal red river churn with uncertainty, Weiss couldn't help but stifle back a sob. 'It would be an honor for me to have you stay Ruby Rose.'

'Rose?'

'You dolt, you need a last name don't you? You are sweet like the roses you seem to leave everywhere.' Weiss felt comforted by the other girl's innocence allowing her to think freely of thoughts she'd never have the courage to say.

Gratitude washed over her, and an image of Ruby curling into her like a kitten wishing to relax came to mind, and she swore it felt as if the girl were doing just that. 'Thank you, Weiss Schnee.'

'Weiss hurry!' At the insistent call of her best friend in her mind, Weiss ran through the halls of her house ignoring any she ran past as she darted to her room in clear excitement.

In the one year Weiss had known Ruby, she had learned two things about her personal demon. One, that her mind surpassed her age. The now six year old girl had sat in on Weiss' classes, learning alongside her and even helping out the heiress when she slipped up. Anyone else probably would've been yelled at, but with Ruby, she was so shy and gentle about it, and the fact they heard each other's thoughts on occasion helped ease any tension from growing, the lack of need to actually speak was such a blessing for both girls.

The second thing Weiss had learned was that the girl was a mechanical savant. Given tools and materials, Ruby could build anything from scratch, which is what Weiss was sure Ruby was so giddy to share with her.

Entering her ice blue room, devoid of all but an average twin sized bed, and a desk with her own computer on it, it was impossible to miss the smiling demon in the middle of the floor in her black sweatpants and red t-shirt holding something behind her back.

Ruby's moods always felt infectious to Weiss, and within seconds as she tried to figure out what the girl had made, her joy quickly rose until she had to restrain jumping on her friend for information. Trying to hide her growing amusement, Weiss kept a level tone as she stared into those silver eyes brimming with accomplishment. "What'd you make now Ruby?"

The little girl swayed from foot to foot as she approached before bringing a hand forward to pull out one of Weiss', before placing what felt like a piece of cylindrical metal and leather in her hand.

Weiss gasped as she looked down at the object. It wasn't much, but a simple rapier. Nothing more than a thin blade, guard, and a handle. The handle was wrapped in worn leather that looked recycled from somewhere Weiss couldn't guess. Looking down at it, Ruby's joy finally overwhelmed her and she put it down gently on a table before tackling her friend in a hug. "How did you make that?! I can't wait to start practicing, the activity would be great for us to do together!"

Ruby braced for the hug and caught her squealing friend as they spun about from the collision, before falling to the ground giggling, failing to notice or hear the door behind them open again. "Honestly though Ruby, how and why did you make this?"

Turning her head to stare into those crystal blue eyes brimming with joy, Ruby smiled back. "Well, I knew you wanted to learn, and seeing as it's been exactly a year, I thought I'd make one for you like a birthday gift."

"Ruby, you're supposed to receive gifts for your birthday, not give them." Weiss said with a shake of her head trying to hold back her smile but failing.

Ruby fidgeted, shifting from foot to foot awkwardly trying to find the right words to describe her thoughts towards her best friend. "But your smile was the best gift I could've gotten."

Rising to her feet and straightening out her now ruffled dress, Weiss gave an exasperated sigh and looked at her with that humored grin that refused to be quelled and reached down to lift Ruby as well. "You dolt. That's not how that works."

The deep clearing of a man's throat from the doorway stopped the girls' moods in their tracks. "When you didn't answer as you ran through the halls, I was half inclined to believe you were insane. But no, now I see the truth. Weiss, as my own daughter I would've thought better of you. But this?!" Jacques' voice grew to a dramatic crescendo on those two words. "A faunus! In my house! My home! Fraternizing with my daughter?! Unacceptable!" His hand reaches out and snatches the rapier from where Weiss had placed it by the door. Raising the crude blade and testing its edge on the nearest piece of fabric, it slices it without signs of resistance bringing a smirk to the man's lips as he again turns on his daughter. "And why is this creature holding you protectively as it glares at me for touching this savage's tool?! You should know better than to have either of these things in here!"

Ruby had been ever so slowly getting in front of Weiss, having seen how easy this man was to anger, and sick of that anger being directed at her friend for no reason. Once he turned away from the now damaged chair he had slashed, Ruby knew something bad was going to happen and stood firm before the human who so callously raised Weiss.

The smirk on Jacques face shifted to a snarl of rage at the sight of defiance on the younger girl's face as she stared him and the blade down. Lunging forward in an overextended motion that was painfully slow, Ruby watched as Weiss pushed her out of the way of the rapier's edge before it skewered her young heart. Instead, the white haired girl fell to the ground, an open wound coating her left eye in blood.

Weiss didn't feel it at first, her adrenaline was pumping furiously as she glared at her father from the ground for daring hurt her friend. But as her left eye became blocked out by red, her body recognized the damage and she collapsed against the cold stone surface as she attempted to cover the bleeding gash. "Serves you right daughter. Let that be a warning for interfering with me. Now get up and leave. I don't care where to, but no child of mine would protect such a lowly creature." With that, Jacques carelessly dropped the rapier to the ground beside the wounded girl where it clattered loudly, muffling his outraged footsteps as he left.

With the door slammed shut, Weiss crawled over to Ruby in blind mind numbing pain, who also seemed to have gotten her eye cut open in a mirror image of Weiss' own. Neither spoke a word as they held each other close and cried out their pain together, holding on to each other for protection. Neither knowing what'd happen next.

Notes: Ok, so this is Souls Entwined, in other words, Bound Rose remastered. Whole new story yet still the same in structure. More detail and adding in new information, some things were meant not to happen, such as Jacques I didn't mean to put in. Canon Schnee had no hope but my OC Allistair had hope. that's just one example of I got carried away when writing.

Anyhow, hope you enjoyed! And if you did then please, favorite follow and review, and brace for things to be more than they once were, and make more sense hopefully.

SHAMELESS SELF-ADVERTISING: ffrom now on as I upload new chapters, I'll have a twitch stream booted up and running by the time you read these lines of text here. find me at " twitch . tv / archer1eyedwriter " ignore quotations and remove spaces and I shall hopefully see you there!