Author's Note

Hello everyone! This is my first fic that I am actually publishing due to the urging of my friend. This is meant to be a multiple chapter story that will center on Weiss. It follows cannon up until episode 15, as that is when this was written. Looking forward to any feedback I can get!


White. Nothing but white for as far as the eye can see. Some would say that white is a beautiful color, I myself, however, can only envision white as a scary, lonely color. It is everything, and yet it is also nothing. An ephemeral ideology of perfection masks the desperation and despair that truly encompasses white. This world, a never ending landscape of white, is where I reside. Searching desperately for any trace of color on the monochrome horizon.

As if in answer to my prayers, a faint glow of crimson appears far away amidst the sea of white. Reaching out towards the faint glow, I begin to run. Closer and closer, faster and faster. The further I run, the further away the light appears. When my legs begin to burn in agony, the light begins to dim and I feel all the hope fade as my body grows as cold as stone. Detesting my own weakness, I scream into the sky as my world blurs and disintegrates around me.

"Weiss~~! It's time to wake up!"

A piercing voice invades my thoughts wrenching me from the dream. Mumbling incoherently, I force my eyes to open and see a face hovering inches over my own.

"W-what are you doing so close to me so early!?" I shout in dismay, hurriedly pushing the small form away with all my might. Ruby Rose topples backwards and onto the floor in a crumpled heap. Looking away from her in such a manner as to hide the low blush that has stained my cheeks, I rise out of bed and hurry over to my dresser in order to change into suitable attire for our mission today.

After pulling on my usual outfit I shift my focus to styling my hair in the familiar manner that it is usually in. I hear Ruby rising off the ground, mumbling something about just trying to help. A sting of pity pulls at my heart. Perhaps I should apologize to her. She was just trying to wake me up. Heaving a heavy, inward sigh, I decide to ignore the mumbling girl as I put the finishing touches on my hair.

Turning around and walking to the door, I grab Myrtenaster and double check that it has been properly filled with the maximum amount of dust.

"Come on slow poke! If we don't hurry we will be late!" I snap at Ruby who had been fussing around with something on her desk while I was getting ready. Hearing my voice seemed to snap her out of a reverie as she jumped slightly at my words.

"H-hold on one second okay! I have something for you." Ruby's voice escalated an octave or two as she hurriedly ran over and presented me with a present neatly wrapped in white and black paper. "I saw on the calendar that today is your birthday...so I got you a little something."

The way her voice faltered ever so slightly belied the shyness that was all but invisible in her facial expressions. Several emotions gripped my heart at once as I stood with a shocked expression on my face. Happiness, shyness, and giddiness. All the normal emotions when someone receives a gift gave way to fear.

I take an unsteady step backwards as flashbacks of past birthdays speed through my mind. Birthdays that I spent all alone. Birthdays where I was told I wasn't good enough to inherit the Schnee name and shouldn't have been born. Gifts full of scorn and judgment given in an attempt to placate a troublesome child. A complete detachment of affection has been associated with the concept of birthdays in my mind.

"W-w-what makes you think I would accept a gift from you!?" I shriek at her as I push her outstretched hands back at her. Turning, I fled out of the room at max speed. The pressure on my heart growing heavier and heavier by the second.


Two hours later I am running through the forest with Ruby, who has been unusually quiet since this morning. The forest is dark and full of trees that stand so close together that it would be easy to get separated if we were to act carelessly. Our mission today is a simple one that doesn't require our full team. We have been tasked to eliminate a roving pack of Beowolves.

As of yet, we have neither seen nor heard anything out of the ordinary. Keeping my ears perked and my eyes peeled, I survey our surroundings. Everything seems peaceful. Out of the corner of my eye, I spy a small indent in the earth around a cluster of trees that have taken on the shape of a tangle of witches.

Raising my arm in a signal to stop, I deviate from our path in order to investigate. Bending down I can clearly see footprints in the ground, though they not the footprints of a Beowolf. They appear to be the imprints from a pair of high heels. I wave Ruby over silently and point to the impression, hoping that she could provide some insight in the matter.

As she shuffled over to my location with her hood raised, a sound of something popping could be heard around us. In the next instant, a wave of fire came hurtling out from the trees to our left and slammed into Ruby. Turning her head towards the source of the fire, an expression of shock spread across her young face, she fell backwards but quickly regains her composure. Crescent Rose began to take shape in her hands as she readied herself to shoot in the direction that the flames had come from. Pushing down my fear for her at the moment, I arm myself as well and begin to circle around to the right as Ruby provided a distraction.

Through the thicket of trees I could barely make out a woman in a Chinese dress shooting barrage after barrage of flames toward Ruby. The young girl nimbly dodging the fire and maneuvering through the forest, closing in on the unknown threat. Steeling my resolve, I rotate Myrtenaster's chamber to light blue and shoot out a salvo of ice towards the woman.

"Take some of this." I whisper to myself as the ice quickly approaches and engulfs its target. Or...that's what I thought would happen.

Sensing my intentions through some preternatural skill or insight, the woman turns at the last second and blasts her flames in my direction, immediately melting the ice and leaving a faint trace of steam in the air.

Bewildered, I jump into the sky as my dust chamber revolves around. Using the new setting, I create a landing pad for myself as I continue to jump until I have cleared the canopy of the forest. From the new vantage point I can see that Ruby has rushed in and is currently trading blows with the woman. Revolving my dust chamber yet again, I channel beams of light toward my target in an effort to aid Ruby. The plan was to either hit or distract the woman long enough for Ruby to get a good cleave in with her scythe. Smiling at my own brilliance, I let my guard down. Ruby had apparently not noticed my back up attack and ran directly in front of one of the beams.

"Ruby!" My mind racing a mile a minute I cry out her name in an effort to warn her, but it was too late. She couldn't possibly dodge at that distance. I saw her turning towards me as if time had slowed down. There, after making eye contact with me for the first time since this morning, I could see tears streaming down her face and her eyes were red from what looks like hours spent crying.

I see. That's why her hood was up and she kept quiet all morning. She didn't want me to see how my actions earlier had stung. I had hurt her that badly, and now I was going to hurt her again.

Taking the shot full on in the chest, Ruby stumbled forward clutching at the wound. Running towards her with all my strength, I continued yelling her name.

Its okay. She's okay. That beam wasn't strong enough to cause lasting damage. I'm just overreacting.

Tears were pooling together in my own eyes now as I reasoned myself through the jumble of thoughts.

Then it happened. My body became rooted to the spot mid-stride. My eyes blossomed wide open in terror as a cold sweat went down my spine. The woman in crimson, seizing her chance at an opening, sent a blade of fire soaring through Ruby's midsection. A violent explosion blew me back and into a tree with a loud thunk. "

Eugh!" I cried out as a spasm of pain ripples across my back. Crumpling to the ground I could see smoke billowing around where Ruby had been. Using the tree as a support I gently rose to my feet and searched for the woman.

"Hmph. She must have used the smoke to escape. Now...RUBY!? Are you okay?"

Mumbling to myself at first, I quickly change my immediate concern to locating Ruby and making sure that she was okay. Walking slowly over to where she had been standing, I cast about, looking for any sign of the girl. Then, I saw her.

Or at least, I saw what had become of her. In the middle of the charred clearing was Ruby, her torso completely separated from her legs. In the instant that I beheld her ruined form I ran forward, nearly tripping over myself in my haste. Quickly lifting her head and cradling it in my arms, I could tell that there was no longer a pulse in her delicate form.

"N...no. NO! This can't happen! You can't leave me! Stay with me! STAY WITH ME!"

Tears freely streamed down my face as I buried my head into the crook of her neck.

It's my fault. All my fault. I was cold to her and it distracted her. I caused her to leave. I caused her to die.

Crying my heart out, I began to feel light-headed as a wave darkness closed over me.