Now
Opening her eyes and sitting up in bed the woman stared at the far wall for a moment. Blank and featureless as always, and illuminated only by the thin sliver of light seeping in through the crack in the boards over the window it was a familiar sight. She had grown up looking at that wall, and now it was one of the small comforts she had in life.
Standing up and completely impervious to the freezing conditions of the room, the woman quickly dropped to the ground and started to count, one push up.
Ten.
Thirty.
Eighty.
One hundred fifty.
Feeling the comforting fatigue in her muscles and now completely awake the woman stood and strode out of her small bedroom.
The rest of the structure was nearly as devoid of light as the bedroom, but the darkness was comfortable and familiar. Darkness was not something she need fear anymore not after seeing the far side of the abyss, darkness was only threatening when there was a possibility it contained something far worse than what dwelt in her own mind.
Exiting the small bedroom and padding down the large stairs she sat down in the single wooden chair, the one with a small deformed knot in the back that poked at her bare skin. Settling the woman reached across the table and grabbed the bottle of vitamins.
Ignoring the acrid taste of the pills the woman swallowed them and put the bottle back, at the same time retrieving a hunk of the bread also on the table she began to silently eat. Moving with deliberate speed the woman ate the simple meal, not tasting any of it. Were it not for the fact that she needed food to maintain herself, or the exercise, or sleep the woman would have gladly done away with the burdensome tasks.
Despite all she had done, she was still human. Believing herself anything more and she would be no better than the enemy. From a tactical standpoint she could not allow herself to believe she was anything more than human.
A knock reverberated through the coldly silent rooms.
Leaving the hunk of food uneaten on the table the woman quickly stood and moving through the darkness to the foyer of the once grand mansion opened the large door.
The officer, one whom two years ago would have displayed some distress at her state of dress simply held out an official communication to her.
"I'm sorry General, this was flagged priority," said Cardin.
"Thank you, I'll be out in a moment wait in the transport," said Weiss as she began to scan the report.
"Yes Ma'am."
Shutting the door and returning to the cold darkness of what had once been her family home the now grown heiress slowly moved back up the grand flight of stairs to her childhood bedroom, her eyes locked on the report absorbing the data within.
The enemy had moved into the tundra east of Atlas again. No doubt to continue the siege on the defenses there.
"Ruby, the latest enemy statistics," said Weiss her tone far softer than what she used with her troops.
The pale young woman her eyes dimly glowing was by her side a moment later, accompanied by a blast of white rose petals. Holding the report out Weiss took it as she slipped into her jacket, the General had to suppress the shudder as her skin touched that of the afterimage of her friend. The apparition was the only thing that felt cold to her now.
The pale ghost faded away and turning from the small room Weiss strode back down the stairs of her dark abode and out the large doors.
Five Years ago
"Blake!"
Moving backwards and leaving a clone in place the woman dove to the side just in time to avoid the tusk of the giant Goliath as it charged.
Spinning to activate her semblance Weiss quickly sent a spike of ice through what was left of the now insubstantial clone of her friend and impaled the creature. The gigantic Grimm let out a low moan and collapsed, dark smoke began to drift away from its remains as the ancient creature started to evaporate into the nothingness from which it was forged.
"Thanks!" shouted Blake as she tossed her gun to Yang and swung the blonde around the corner and into the incoming pack of Beowulf that the abomination floating in the air above them eyes aglow had summoned.
"This is getting us nowhere!" shouted Weiss.
"I know that!" shouted Ruby even as she continued to sink high powered shot after shot into the woman floating above them.
"I have an idea!" shouted Ruby over the howl of the creatures as Yang dispatched another group of them.
"We would all love to hear it Ruby!" said Pyrrha as she smoothly launched her spear into another Goliath that had decided to charge the small circle they had formed in the ruined downtown district of Vale.
"Railgun!" said Ruby with an amount of glee completely out of place to the battleground and carnage around them.
"We tried that!" yelled Nora as she booted a rather unfortunate Grimm up into the air where Ren quickly dispatched it.
"Weiss, make me a magnet!" said Ruby.
"What?" asked Weiss momentarily distracted form the battle by the absurdity of Ruby's statement.
"Cover me in metallic dust or something, so they can launch me! With my speed in the mix even Cinder can't block me!"
Weiss looked at her team leader for a moment, the girl had grown from when the two of them had first met. Taller than her now, but still lanky and unsure on her feet after her growth spurt the child like glee that had always been the leader of team RWBY's specialty still shone through at times. Even so that glee was mixed with a complete understanding of the dire situation. The blood of one of the misguided White Fang zealots staining her armor.
The girl had grown up into a woman, one whom had earned both Weiss's loyalty and respect a hundred times over. Even if she was annoying at times.
"Fine! Give me a second to rewrite a glyph!" said Weiss.
Ruby smiled and turning back around set her scythe down on the ground and ignoring the woman floating above them, utilizing the power of two Maidens continued to fire at the advancing Grim.
Slowing her breathing and concentrating Weiss carefully manipulated the appropriate glyph in her mind, modifying the property from her preferred ice to one of ferromagnetic iron. It would be sloppy and consume a massive amount of dust and aura untuned as it was but it would work.
"Ready?" asked Jaune as he slashed at another Grimm and blasted it backwards with his Semblance.
"Ready!" shouted Weiss as she activated her glyph, the air around the small circle they were in hummed and crackled with energy. Ruby who had turned just in time to look at Weiss took on a faint metallic sheen, her aura now infused with metallic properties.
Nora and Pyrrha both quickly grabbed one another's hands, and the crackling energy which had been a calm dust infused feeling quickly began to crackle with electrical energy. This tactic was something that the two had been working on for years now, a combination of related semblances like this was devastating. Electricity and magnetism are after all the same force merely applied differently.
Stepping in front of them Ruby flipped her scythe around and stood on it, much like she had done on the day they had become team RWBY. This was guaranteed to be a little more energetic however, combined with Ruby's speed Weiss fully expected the woman to break the sound barrier.
"Now!" Shouted Ruby.
Pyrrha and Nora both blasted their semblances forward, and Ruby moving so quickly that she left only a single rose petal in her place shot up into the air. A tremendous wave of air and sound roared from where she had launched, the sonic boom that no one but Weiss had been expecting knocking them and the Grimm off their feet.
Despite the speed at which the attack took place the battlefield seemed to freeze for a moment.
It was a moment that Weiss would remember as the turning point, the moment where the last vestiges of her innocence were consumed by the war. Where that single spark she had maintained that perhaps she might live out a semi-normal life after the war died.
Ruby hit Cinder dead on, Crescent Rose was fully extended her blade ready to cut into the flesh of the witch floating in the air above them commanding the misguided Faunus and Grimm.
Cinder's ill-gotten magic stopped Ruby almost as quickly as she was launched, for half a moment the two glared at one another even as Ruby let the massive amount of momentum she had built up carry her attack forward.
With a twang and the sound of sheering metal Ruby's attack was diverted to the side, but it seemed even Cinder couldn't avoid all of it. Her left arm was suddenly gone, Ruby's scythe cleanly and almost surgically removing it.
Cinder let out an unnatural howl of pain, and swiping at Ruby with a massive wave of magic blasted the woman into the ground. Now clutching at her shoulder even as blood and black smoke began to spill onto the ground the woman turned and still floating in the air shot off back towards the forest.
Her forces, mostly just the Grimm remaining followed suit. The White Fang Faunus still alive were injured and in no position to fight at this point.
"Ruby!" shouted Yang, launching herself forward the woman was in the crater where her sister had landed first. The rest of team RWBY and JNPR quickly followed, although the tortured shout that echoed over the landscape before they were able to see Ruby lent some idea of the damage.
Weiss gasped as the leader of her team, and her first real friend in life came into view.
Ruby was lying in a pool of rose petals and blood, a large girder impaled directly through her back sickly glistening in the fading sunlight. The remains of Crescent Rose were next to her on the cold compact ground. The blade had sheared off and cracked, the barrel of the sniper rifle was bent.
Ruby's silver eyes were open and she was struggling to say something.
Yang was holding her sister's hand even as tears streamed down her face and she tried to comfort her sister.
It was plain to everyone that medical assistance would be too late, already the woman was beginning to slip away.
Weiss started at her horrified and almost in as much shock as Yang. Ruby cheerful and powerful, the thought that she might die, that she might no longer be a part of her life was too much. It was Ruby who had stopped her from going down the path of being a spoiled brat, who had shown her how to make real friends and rely on others.
Her feet moving her forward almost of their own accord Weiss slowly raised Myrtenaster, she couldn't lose Ruby. No one else saw what she was doing before it was too late, striking forward Weiss sunk her blade into the heart of her leader.
For a half moment, the dying eyes flashed angry from the betrayal it was a look that Weiss would never forget. She felt it though, the slow pulsing of Ruby's aura.
As Ruby's body failed her aura clung to the sword instead of retreating into the void.
Myrtenaster now glowing a silvery red Weiss concentrated, ignoring the shouting and demands of her friends around her. They would understand in a moment that she had to do it.
Waving her sword and casting the largest glyph she had ever produced Weiss prayed.
At first nothing appeared in front of her, but slowly as if collecting itself from a smoky nothingness a ghostly image of the dead woman materialized in front of her. Solidifying Weiss looked into the eyes of her friend, they pulsated a ghostly blue but behind that was the familiar hint of silver.
Losing her concentration Weiss collapsed sideways into the blood and rose petals.
So check out my site for more of my writing, link is in the profile.
I'm not bugging my editor with these fanfictions so there are bound to be some errors, I'm writing these when I get stuck on my original works.
Which also means I have no idea when the next chapter might be up.