Chapter Two: Save Me From the Things I See
"This is as far as I can take you." The airship pilot seemed quite apologetic about that fact, or, to be more accurate, about losing out on Weiss's money. She'd paid him an amount that, in any other time would have amounted to blatant robbery to get them as far as this, and had the man not had other commitments, perhaps they could have gone farther. Her Father's ill-gotten gains had to be put to use somehow, and if he wasn't going to go so far as to cut her off from his money, that was his own fault. Not that she cared. The others, that is to say Jaune and Coco's teams did, each seeming to have hoped for further travel before having to walk. Weiss, Yang and Blake just offered the pilot nods as they disembarked.
The forests were quiet, seeming to accept the arrival of almost a dozen Huntsman and Huntresses without complaint. Glancing around, Weiss's hand gripped Myrtenaster tighter, unwanted tension balling between her shoulders. So many places they might be attacked from. Every instinct screamed about possible danger as the Schnee Heiress swept her gaze across the shadowed trees.
"Glad that's over…." Jaune mumbled, swaying a bit. Apparently airsickness was not something that could be recovered from with age, which Weiss considered to be unfortunate. She had no desire to see a reenactment of the incident that had gotten him the moniker of Vomit Boy from Yang.
"We need to get moving." Ren spoke up, his relatively unfamiliar tone direct, but calming, even for Weiss's frazzled nerves. "There should be a town nearby here we can attempt to find a place to stay." Weiss found that suggestion far more appealing than camping in the forest, somewhere where anything might have lurked in the trees. "And help us avoid the local Grimm population."
"I doubt any Grimm are going to pick a fight with a group of us this big." Velvet pointed out, the entire group following Ren's lead down a relatively defined path.
"They will." Yang's words were more of a growl than anything. "and it'll be the nastier ones to boot." Yang's words served as no comfort to Weiss, who was fully aware that her teammate was in the best position to know what might await them in the trees. The island of Patch wasn't exactly free from the hostile creatures that stalked the world, and Yang and Ruby both had fought plenty of them on their own time, well before Weiss first met them.
With that ominous proclamation in mind, the rest of the walk was in silence. Weiss pulled Ruby's cloak around herself, trying to blot out at least some of the wind. The creeping void inside was growing again, and there wasn't much warmth to blot it out in the middle of the woods.
-One More Star-
To Weiss's immense surprise, their journey was relatively calm. What conversation did happen was quiet; everyone seeming lost in their thoughts. Or, that's what Weiss thought for a time.
The ninth day was when she noticed it. Yang was pummeling another tree, she was still getting used to her prosthetic, spending hours every night practicing. Blake was watching from nearby, eyes flitting around Yang's form. What drew Weiss's eyes though, was a small motion on the ground. Everyone else was sleeping, ostensibly, sleeping, until closer inspection. Velvet rolled over, arms shifting just a little bit to carefully.
Since then, every night, there was at least one person awake at all times. Once she knew what they were doing, Weiss didn't have any issue spotting them. It wasn't as if she hadn't done the same thing they had, in the past. Still, she couldn't help but feel a little annoyed at the constant watching, it wasn't as if she was going to up and disappear or anything like that, or, not without Yang and Blake at least.
It had been a week since that Weiss first made that observation. During that time, she had contemplated revealing that she knew what they were up too. In the end, she had chosen not to: it didn't matter.
Two weeks of travel had carried them into an even more heavily forested area, one that left Weiss regretting agreeing to this trip in the first place. Or at least, taking the first person willing to fly them, instead of hunting down a flight all the way to Mistral.
Branches rustled, and hands snapped to weapons, and Weiss's focus returned to the present. There was a pause, before, following a tremendous roar an Ursa came charging forth. Just as they always did, the other teams jumped back, grabbing for weapons. Reactionary, defensive measures. Weiss flicked her wrist, barely giving any thought to the effects she wanted from the glyph. By the time Yang and Blake drew even with her, already preparing their own strike, it was over.
With meaty thunk, the spike of ice buried itself in the Grimm's skull, sinking almost ten inches into bone and brains. Three more of the monsters, emboldened by their comrade's death followed suite. They met the same fate, spears of ice blasted right between their eyes.
Lowering her weapon, Weiss prepared to keep walking. Weak Grimm, barely worth giving consideration too, and hardly worth stopping. It was all a matter of approach. However, a voice from the tree-line brought her up short.
"Oh, bravo, bravo. It seems you kids really are the real deal." From the shadows, a group of somewhat slovenly dressed men and women appeared. All of their faces were obscured, most of them holding rather crude weapons, although Weiss had to admit her standards for weapon quality were somewhat tainted by the rapier in her hand, and her teammates weaponry. Having a weapons fanatic for a partner gave you some strange ideas of what constituted 'good' weapons.
"Now, let's make this simple." A woman this time. In front of Weiss, and two people left in the circle. "You all drop anything remotely valuable, and we'll let you keep walking."
"Or…" another leered, as best he could behind his mask. Right: three people. Weiss zeroed in on him, her feet already shifting, every motion coming from long practice. "A few of you girlies show us a good time…and we might let you just go on your way?"
Shouts of outrage from her companions. Yang and Blake had stepped up beside her, weapons readied. For the second time in her life, Weiss felt something bubble up inside her. This time, it wasn't the white hot, instant feeling from that night, instead this was a cold and calculated one, the knowledge that she was capable, and she wouldn't hesitate if her hand was forced.
"Or, you leave now." Frost formed beneath her feet as Weiss took a step forwards, although she didn't realize at the time. Myrtenaster extending forwards as she faced the one who spoke last. "And you live." Several of the bandits in her view flinched, just as she thought they might. Threats were easy, actions were harder.
"Heheheh, good joke girlie." The man laughed, until he met her eyes. What little of his face was visible paled considerably, an involuntary step back following quickly behind. She held his stare without flinching, the small effort of will to conjure the glyphs around her detracting little from her intent, and as the man backpedaled, she knew it showed.
"She's just one girl!" Eight people, to the left. A man. With a deliberate slowness, she dragged her gaze across the circle, meeting the eyes of every single person, until settling on the speaker. He flinched, eyes widening as fear took over.
A small twitch, and the spear of ice jumped forwards, slicing off a lock of his hair. "There won't be a next time." Years of dealing with her own Father, seeing him intimidate, cajole, and terrify those around him into submission had not been wasted, in those few seconds. The man who she'd narrowly spared death turned and ran, weapon clattering to the ground as he did. A few others seemed ready to stick it out and fight, but when she took another step forwards, her fingers twitching, they turned tail and bolted.
It wasn't for another two hours, when the group made camp that anyone spoke another word, or Weiss let go of her weapon. Sitting around the fire, she clutched the coffee she had made for herself, Ruby's cloak pulled tight over her shoulders, trying to push out the rest of the world. Even the scalding drink wasn't warming her up this time.
"Weiss?" to her immense surprise, it was Fox who spoke up. Her head snapped to him, gaze sharpening. To his credit the young man didn't flinch under her intense scrutiny, causing her estimation of him to rise a few bars. "Would you really have killed them?"
It was the question that had been building all day, Weiss knew. All of them, except maybe Yang and Blake wondered it. Would she have killed? If so, how could she bring herself to do that? With the exception of Cardin, no-one at Beacon seemed to enjoy hurting people, and even Cardin didn't try and kill, just torment. To them, the idea of ending a person's life was outrageous, something that shouldn't even be considered.
Weiss took a sip of coffee, scalding her tongue in the process. A campfire was no substitute for technology it seemed; it wasn't hard as good. Her gaze remained locked to Fox, who seemed content to wait as long as she would take to give an answer. Not that such an answer was complicated. She could, and, would, have killed them.
There was no satisfaction in that thought, of ending human lives.
But if she had too, Weiss knew she could. A simple flick, and a thought, and they would die. Swift, painless, and effective. She would live with the consequences if they came. Unlike…then…, she knew what she was doing, without any doubt. Perhaps she should have felt remorse.
Seconds stretched into minutes, the camp resting on baited breath for Weiss to give some kind of reply. Her head tilted to the side, expression never changing.
Velvet gave a strangled gasp, and Fox's eyes dropped.
No one asked her any questions after that.
-One More Star-
"Weiss." It was Yang, pulling herself onto the rooftop, blonde hair surprisingly bright in the moonlight. "What brings you up here?"
"Can't sleep." Nightmares, once again. Although there had been no more incidents with bandits, the undercurrent of worry was still there; the question of, would Weiss have killed them, left partially answered weighing on the others. It was an endless frustration, the stares, the worry, the confusion. Change had happened, to all of them after Beacon, and their friends weren't sure what ot make of that change in Weiss.
"Yeah, nightmare's suck." Yang dropped down on her left. Weiss's eyes widened. How did Yang know? "We've both been through some shit. Me?" Yang held up her arm. "You?" She sighed. "Whatever the fuck happened on the tower." The blonde sighed. The unspoken injury Blake had suffered.
"I'm sorry." It was the first time Weiss had said it, even though the words should have happened months ago. Yang grunted metallic hand waving a bit in a dismissive gesture.
"Don't blame you. Neither does Dad." For a while they were quiet again. Far above, stars twinkled, beautifully unconcerned with their lives. "Cinder was…Uncle Qrow said she'd done something horrible made herself inhumanly powerful. I've seen the pictures, from the tower. Only person to blame is Cinder and…" Yang trailed off, a bit of coldness and rage creeping into her voice. "She got what she deserved."
Weiss felt her throat constrict. It wasn't hard to figure out, if anyone really thought about it, but to actually hear the reality of what she had done voiced remained chilling. The feeling of flesh giving way to metal, the heavy impact on the stones. The faces, frozen forever in her nightmares, explosions, the screams, drifting up from far below.
Guilt flooded in, and Weiss turned away, unable to look at her teammate. "I'm sorry." The whisper came again, cracking just a little as a fresh wave of emotions rose up. Her eyes screwed shut, pushing away at the tears, if only for a little while. She wouldn't cry.
Yang didn't say anything, and Weiss found herself wishing that other girl would. Some distant broken part of her would have been okay with hatred. Fear. Anything, to replace the creeping void inside her.
-One More Star-
"There's Mistral!" Nora's excited shout cut through the fog of travel with ease. A cheer went through the group at the sight of their destination, and the promise of warm beds, and food. Despite her best efforts, Weiss couldn't bring herself to share the level of excitement. That said, the idea of sleeping on something besides solid rock was encouraging.
"Almost there." Jaune smiled in relief. "About time. Thought we'd be walking forever." With that, he led the way down the mountains, the rest of the group following, before breaking into a light jog, no doubt hoping to cover the rest of the distance faster. With a sigh, Weiss followed suite, throwing a little focus into accelerating their run with a burst of glyphs.
Mistral represented the first step of the journey. Convincing Professor Lionheart was next, and Weiss expected that to be substantially harder. They had little evidence to support any of their claims, besides the supposed point of origin of Cinder's lackeys. No doubt, someone would expect to hear exactly what happened during the Fall of Beacon, if they hadn't already.
Taking a jumping step around a boulder, Weiss threw another line of glyphs. She wasn't quite ready to step into the world of stares, the half-hidden glances, attempts to disguise their fear, their concerns, the rumors they had heard. Then again, it didn't matter if she was ready. They were here, and her readiness didn't matter. Besides that, she wasn't about to let Yang and Blake go off there without her.
-One More Star-
"Can I help you?" Weiss glared at the boy, perhaps he was fourteen if he was lucky, over the top of her coffee. While the drink didn't bring any of its usual warmth, to push back at the every growing cold inside her, Weiss found it more comforting than whatever the others did to distract themselves from the waiting. Jaune and Ren had gone to try and arrange a meeting with Lionheart, leaving everyone else to just…wait.
The boy gulped, shrinking under the penetrating stare. Weiss guessed he was a farmhand of some sort from his clothing. Hopefully, he'd go away, and leave her in peace. She'd finally managed to escape the stares in the streets, as though everyone knew Weiss Schnee, and the idea she was walking down their street was entirely alien. "I'm supposed to tell you…" he trailed off, head turning to the side a bit, eyes misting over. "Yes, I know." The mumble caught her attention, as though he was talking to someone else, despite no one else being there. "I'm supposed to tell you 'I'm sorry, and please forgive an old man's mistakes.'" There was nothing of value in those words, the sort of apology that came from the mouth of a person not directly involved with the events being apologized for.
The cup hit the table harder than was strictly required. "What are you talking about." Bits of frost were spiraling out from the tips of her fingers, tiny glyphs spinning there, if one knew to look for them.
"I said this would happen." The boy mumbled again, this time, as if to whoever else he was talking too, and to Weiss as well. There were several seconds of quiet, before he shook his head, and sighed. "I'm Oscar."
Well, it was at least nice to have a name to put with his face, although her limited patience was exhausted, and a polite reply was out of the question. "Weiss." Hopefully he'd get the message and go away. She didn't have the time, or the patience to deal with some kid who wasn't…all there.
"Yeah." More seconds of silence. "I…um…that is… someone named Ozpin told me to tell you that." The words spilled in a rush. Weiss suppressed a snort. A cute try, but wasn't going to change anything.
"Professor Ozpin is dead." Forced calm settled around her words, shoulders setting, stiff and unmoving. The boy blinked, taken aback by her bluntness. "I saw his corpse." Or what had been left of his corpse.
Paleness crept into well-tanned checks. Definitely younger then, to be so unsettled by the idea of death and bodies. Or very sheltered. "Yeah. He said you might mention that." Her eyes narrowed.
"And how might he have done that?" Ghosts were not a thing, except in bad horror movies, and there hadn't been a documented case of someone who could talk to the dead in centuries.
The boy scowled. "He's stuck in my head or something." What? Incredulity flashed across her face. "Yeah, I know." Weiss had to admit that, if nothing else, he seemed unsettled enough by that thought. It wasn't enough to convince her of a thing he said, but was a start. "I don't get it, but I know stuff I shouldn't know. Like what the Headmaster's office at Haven looks like. Or that you're Weiss Schnee, a part of Team RWBY, whatever that is. Or that Ozpin was killed by someone named Cinder Fall. And a bunch of other crazy stuff." His gaze dropped. "I'm not sure what Ozpin means about mistakes though."
Weiss was. Frost spread further across the table as her emotions roiled.
"Tell him that isn't going to happen." Pushing her chair back, she swept out of the room, trying to maintain some level of composure. The only thing that kept her steady was the knowledge that, regardless of anything else, it wasn't the boys fault. Even so, under the folds of red, her fists shook.
Ozpin though…
-One More Star-
A knock on the door preceded Velvet stepping into the room. Weiss didn't bother glaring, knowing it wasn't worth the effort… and would have been uncalled for. Not to mention, it wasn't Jaune, meaning still not answer from Lionheart.
"Can we talk Weiss?" The rabbit Faunus was wringing her hands, eyes flitting around the room, everywhere except where Weiss was, as though the Schnee heiress was somehow going to lash out. Although, considering how they treated her, Weiss knew that was what they expected. A burst of unrestrained violence, without warning or explanations.
"About what?" Despite having run out of patience with people for the day, something was obviously bothering Velvet. Further, she knew that, even amongst those Faunus she could count as friends, some of her reputations persisted, making a bit of a surprise that Velvet was even here at all, without one of her teammates, at least. Coupled with the reality that the rabbit Faunus was probably the most kindhearted remaining member of their little group, and given the probably subject of conversation, Weiss expected this to be more than a little awkward.
"We're worried about you Weiss." Well, that's nice of them, but she didn't need their worry, or pity. "You're…well you're kinda scary. Threatening to kill people and stuff." What did Velvet expect her to say? That she was sorry? There was a pause, and the Faunus girl taking a shuddering breath. "I don't think the others really know how to take that idea." The use of others caught Weiss's attention, dragging her stare to the other girl. Was Velvet really implying… "If you're going to kill people like that…I'm not really sure I'd care." Either it was a rehearsed speech, or the question has shone in her eyes.
There was a long second, as those words sank in. "You wouldn't care if I killed someone." Rasping disbelief filled Weiss's tone. Velvet Scarletina, the shy, quiet, wallflower, willing to overlook her killing someone. Of all the people she knew, Weiss would have least expected Velvet to utter those words. After a bit thought, Weiss decided that, if she expected anyone to be okay with it, it would have Coco. Not Velvet. Definitely not Velvet. Maybe Yang. Maybe.
"No." She didn't stammer either, or flinch under Weiss's stare. "They're rapists and monsters Weiss. It'd be self-defense if they wanted to fight." Weiss didn't say anything, that twisting mess, just waiting. Velvet gulped again, despite the gravity of the conversation topic, not quite ready to talk so much at once. "I don't know if anyone else figure it out, but you killed Cinder." Weiss flinched, lips thinning at the mention. "It's a good thing Weiss. She killed Pyrrha and Ruby. You killing her was a good thing." Those words didn't deserve to be said with such earnestness.
Weiss didn't answer, unable to bring herself to agree with that assessment.
"We have a problem!" Someone called from down the stairs, saving either young woman from further contemplation of a painful topic. Heavy thumping footfalls as someone climbed the stairs of the inn. "A big problem." Softer, but still carrying.
With a sigh, Weiss pushed herself out of bed, grabbing Myrtenaster and following Velvet into the hallway. A sense of impending dread started to form as they followed Jaune and Ren into their room at the far end of the room. She had anticipated some form of problem, that was a fact of life, just didn't have much of a reference point for how bad the problem would be.
"You're never going to guess who we stumbled upon on the way up to the School." Jaune dropped onto his bed with an exasperated sigh, the rest piling into the room around him. Further dread wormed into Weiss's chest, settling in around the emptiness. "Weiss's sister."
Weiss schooled her features to be blank. She hadn't spoken to Winter since they had last met at Beacon, and even then, it was impossible to know where her sister might have ended up as a result of the military. So it was possible that Winter would be here, but she couldn't say for sure. Five months ago, Weiss might have been offended her sister didn't come find her. Now… just like so many other things in her life, Weiss found nothing at the bottom of the basket when she went searching for those old emotions.
"According to her, Professor Lionheart is working with someone named Watts, whose apparently in league with whoever Cinder answered to." Weiss's blood chilled. What? The Headmaster here was…not an ally? Jaune gulped, settling his heavy chest. "And the White Fang is going to attacking soon. They're trying to repeat what happened at Beacon." As everyone's eyes widened, shouts of surprise filling the room, Weiss felt the cold settle into her stomach, tendrils spreading out to her limbs.
Her fingers curled tighter on her rapier. The cold backed away.
-One More Star-
It was pandemonium. Grimm were rampaging in the streets, aided by white masked…people, even though Weiss hated to use the term. Here and there, some fought back, the explosions of black mist signaling the end of an occasional Grimm, but such patches of resistance were few and far between, and were put down quickly and efficiently by the White Fang soldiers.
No words were necessary. She stepped into the street, rapier gripped tight. Ice Dust. The chamber whirled, settling in the correct spot. Ruby's cloak pulled tight around her, Weiss took a single breath, before grabbing hold of that void inside, and for the first time since the Fall of Beacon, embracing it. She didn't see the worried glances, from Blake and Yang, as she led the way down the cobbles.
"There!" White Fang charged, weapons raised, war cries on their lips.
Icicles exploded under the first, impaling him midstride. A moment later, they shattered, sending shard flying, ripping the next two apart. Number three stumbled back, impaling himself on the fourth one's blade. That one only had a second of mortal terror before a Beowolf jumped on him, ripping his head off in a single bite. Splinters of ice flew at a single gesture, and the Grimm dissolved, revealing the final White Fang soldier, stumbling back, the same ice spike that had ended the Grimm driven through his heart.
The entire process took two and a half seconds.
She kept walking. Blood squelched under her boots.
At the first intersection, they found a few soldiers. At the next a few more, and so it went. Whatever resistance the Fang tried to give, they never seemed to anticipate lethal force, and she capitalized, glyphs spinning, letting fly spikes of ice. Each life ended in a low gurgle as she walked past. Her teammates sent looks of fear into her back. The soldiers stared in awe and respect. She ignored them both. Combat was not the time for feelings.
She had killed forty-seven White Fang when they reached the entrance to Haven Academy. Piles of corpses lines the walkway, blood running freely. The defenders, many of them just students, had fought hard, but in the end, fell, one by one.
"Dust…" A soldier mumbled from her right side. "So many…."
"We need to keep moving. Catch up with them." Blake mumbled. Weiss gave an absent nod. The lull in combat had allowed the bile in her throat to come back with a vengeance. Gurgling whimpers filled her ears, the screams of terror. In the frigid expression of the dead, she could see the still faces of her recent victims, sprawled out in the streets, masks knocked loose, sitting amidst the pooling blood.
Without a word, Weiss started walking, seeking to get away, to find something to pull her mind out of the depths it was falling into. There was a vague awareness of people following her further into the grounds, but looking back meant seeing bodies.
"Stop them!" More White Fang charged from the rubble.
Myrtenaster came up, flicking gently. Glyphs spiraled to life, spears of ice hurling forth. A few were blocked, most struck home, their targets falling in gurgling denials and shock. One of those who did block lunged, brandishing a spear twice as tall as she was. Blake blinked forwards, deflected the strike upwards, and almost without a thought, she stepped forwards, thrusting her blade through the man's heart.
She didn't watch the life leave his eyes. She'd made that mistake already.
"Well done!" Soft clapping. Her attention turned to a man, fashionably dressed in a suit, smiling affably from the main entrance to the building itself. "I confess, I didn't think I would ever get to meet the girl who killed Cinder, but I am most pleased to make your acquaintance." Shouts of shock, demands for him to move flew from the crowd. "Now now, all of you are but a sideshow. She," He pointed, "Is the one I'm interested in. After all, not many people can kill a Maiden…"
The earth beneath him flared with an arcane symbol for the barest fraction of a second, before exploding in a pillar of flames. There was no time for talking. If he was in league with Cinder, she felt no regrets.
-One More Star-
She was panting, on her knees. Something hot and sticky trickled down her left leg, there was no feeling in the opposite arm. Her vision swam a bit; tears came away when she rubbed at her eyes.
Everywhere showed signs of battle. Explosions blast the earth, portions of stone were scorched an amazing shade of black, lightning or fire having been turned lose in tremendous amounts. Blood too, in places, drops flung everywhere. A faint haze hung in the air, clinging to any bits of exposed skin.
Myrtenaster acting as a crutch, Weiss Schnee stood, limbs shaking for exhaustion. Across the blasted and shattered courtyard, that man knelt. He was clutching his stomach, bleeding from one of a myriad of complicated glyphs and Dust concoctions Weiss had thrown his way. Her first step was shaky, legs begging to give way, but slowly, step by step, inch by inch, she hobbled forwards.
"Most impressive." The man looked up at her, eyes narrowed, as though in anticipation. "You are far more skilled than I-"
He had helped Cinder Fall. He had helped destroyed Beacon. He had helped hurt Blake. He had helped hurt Yang. He had helped hurt Ruby.
With a muffled thump, the headless corpse of Arthur Watts struck the paving stones, only seconds before Weiss Schnee lost consciousness.
AN: And… that's 'part 1' of the story. I'm sorry Weiss… even if it doesn't seem like it.
Reviews, questions, concerns are always appreciated. Especially for a thing like this, where I will only claim about a 40% knowledge of what I'm doing. Any thoughts on the more 'actiony' sequences would be great, did something different than I usually do