Yo, I'm back. Hope y'all enjoy this suffer induced chapter. Don't hate me for this. I've already warned y'all in the synopsis.
"...Please wake up."
No reaction. Ruby Rose, her team leader, was still. No breaths. No heartbeat.
Weiss tried again, breathing life through Ruby's mouth. It had to get to her lungs. It had to get to her heart. Anywhere vital. It had to. It must. She placed her hands on Ruby's chest and pumped repeatedly yet again; sweat and tears once more dripping on the young leader's clothes.
"One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten!" Mouth to mouth. Check heartbeat. Nothing.
Weiss didn't even know why she was counting aloud. She could already memorize standard procedure. But it sounded hopeful, so she didn't stop. She kept going.
"One! Two! Three! Four! Five! Six! Seven! Eight! Nine! Ten! Please!" Mouth. Heartbeat.
Still nothing.
She had repeated this more than ten times — she lost count after ten — and was already out of strength. Weiss collapsed, gasping in rapid breaths and regulating her breathing. Endurance was definitely not her forte.
Looking down to her scroll again, which was laying on the floor beside her, she checked the Aura meter of Ruby. Unlike her own, there was no red bar. It was still zero. No Aura. No protection.
Was Ruby...?
No. Weiss absolutely refused to acknowledge that. No, she isn't. She couldn't. Wouldn't.
She had no idea what she had witnessed before or why it did happen. Ruby and her fighting Grimm. Too many. Made an ice dome while Ruby shot them off. Heard Cinder's voice, but had to keep the wall strong. Ruby had mumbled something. A flash of light. Weiss heard — what she assumed it was — Ruby's body drop. When the light had ended, so had the Grimm, with the exception of a petrified dragon. They were nowhere to be seen. Not even a growl or roar. Weiss had released her wall. Found Ruby unconscious. Cinder wasn't there anymore— a bronze crown took her place — but she had heard footsteps moving away. She had ignored those and rushed straight to Ruby's aid, trying to wake her up with CPR.
Now, she was too tired to continue. She wasn't out of breath yet, but her muscles ached like hell. She had to do something else, something that wouldn't need much effort.
In the depths of her stressed mind, an idea emerged. She carefully placed Ruby's head on her lap, as she presumed that lying on the cold hard ground with an even colder body would do no good. Her body needed warmth, and Weiss was the only living thing around that could provide any.
Weiss softly stroked Ruby's hair. When her fingers accidentally touched her eyes, it stung like a boiling kettle. She recoiled her fingers in shock. What was that? A sort of side effect? Why only the eyes?
She had no idea.
What should she do? Wait for help? Could help even find her? She tried to rack for answers in her smart but tired Schnee brain. So many questions, so little answers.
Strangely enough, her mind strayed to a dating magazine her father had forced her to read. If she could recall correctly, it had said to either hum or sing a tune to soothe the person lying down. So, she did. Weiss Schnee, the Schnee heiress, the 'Ice Queen', began to hum for Ruby Rose, her partner and leader; with Weiss silently singing the lyrics in her head.
"Years of scorn will leave you cold,
'Forget your dreams do what you're told'.
When disapproval's all you're shown,
The safest place becomes alone."
"And isolation's,
The price you pay;
And every friendship,
Is pushed away."
"But bit by bit now,
A step each day;
I'm slowly starting,
To find — "
A clank interrupted. Weiss snapped out of her trance and scanned her surroundings, both scared and hopeful. Was it help? Was it danger? She didn't know. Weiss clutched on to Myrtenaster.
She focused on the sound. Another clank, and another, and another. It sounded almost rhythmic. The source came from... her right! Her head jerked toward it.
She couldn't believe her eyes.
Pyrrha Nikos, the invincible girl, was dragging her body with just one arm. Her legs and right arm were gone. Red glowing cracks were visible on her only arm and face. They were spreading slowly in every movement she took.
Weiss was speechless. Her mouth opened and closed like a fish, unable to utter a word.
...What the hell?!
"Weiss," Pyrrha gasped in between breaths. "Please... Kill me."
A clang of metal. It took Weiss a moment to realize she had dropped Myrtenaster. And it took her another to reply to the unfathomable request Pyrrha just made.
"I'm – I'm sorry?"
"Remember... your oath?"
The instant that last word reached her ears, everything clicked into place. JNPR using Team RWBY's bathroom. Her using it first. Pyrrha reading her notes about her Semblance. Them discussing it. And...
Weiss swearing to kill Pyrrha.
"I..." Tears welled up in her eyes as she shook her head. "I don't want to do it. I can't."
How could she?
"Weiss... Please..."
Is she going to kill Pyrrha Nikos?
"No..."
"I don't..."
Could she do it?
"No..."
"...want to..."
Must she do it?
"No!"
"...die... like this..."
Should she do it?
"NO!"
"..."
The more Pyrrha talked, the heavier Weiss felt. Her body, her heart, everything. She wanted to throw up. She wanted to forget.
Forget the oath. Forget Pyrrha Nikos. Forget Team JNPR. Forget Team RWBY. Forget Beacon Academy. Forget her father. Forget the Schnee family.
Forget herself.
But she couldn't. No matter how hard she tried, she just... couldn't. It was as if a force — a force stronger than her own willpower — was preventing her from doing so. Weiss Schnee knew it all too well. She had lived with it for practically her entire life.
Pride.
Pride was at stake. Ha. Her in the past would be ecstatic and honored to carry out an oath to the young champion. A prodigy to a prodigy. Now...
Now, it was painful. Regretful. She shouldn't have done it. She shouldn't have tucked that worry at the back of her mind. She should've been more suspicious, warier. But it was all too late. She had already done it. She hadn't only promised Pyrrha. She had sworn an oath. She couldn't go back now. She wanted to, but she couldn't. It shouldn't be a want, but a need. She /needed/ to do this.
All because Pyrrha made her do it.
No, that was wrong. She shouldn't put the blame on to Pyrrha. Pyrrha had requested, and she accepted. That was all. Nothing more, nothing less.
But before she could fulfill the request, she had to first make sure Ruby was safe to be left alone. Who knows what would happen to her while her back was turned to face Pyrrha. What if the Grimm Dragon broke free? What if Cinder came back? What if a third party decided to take her out? Weiss didn't want to risk it.
She wiped her tears. She didn't need to check her Aura with her scroll. Her body felt fine. The tiredness she had before was barely there. She knew that her Aura wasn't full yet, probably on the yellow, so the maximum glyphs she felt like she could cast were about six or seven.
Weiss set a fire glyph below Ruby with the lowest amount of fire dust as possible. Just a tiny sprinkle from Myrtenaster. It should be lukewarm. To check whether she wasn't actually thawing her, Weiss laid a hand onto the glyph. It was indeed lukewarm.
She stepped a couple of meters back and surrounded Ruby with 4 giant gravity glyphs that were fully unloaded from Myrtenaster, making sure there were zero gaps between the glyphs. Weiss had always preferred using ice for these kinds of things, but since she had to keep Ruby warm, being picky would do more harm than good. Using ice dust would freeze her even more and might collapse on her when the glyphs are released. Same goes for earth dust on the latter. Gravity dust was the best option she had.
Feeling satisfied with what she had done, she spun around, facing Pyrrha. She took a deep breath and shoved her feelings aside. She had a duty to fulfill. Not as Weiss Schnee, the Schnee heiress, but as Weiss, a friend of Pyrrha.
Pyrrha smiled, watching what looked like resolve forming in Weiss' eyes. She did it. Weiss Schnee, the Ice Queen, was prepared to take her life. She knew just how difficult it was to kill a friend. Pyrrha hadn't killed any, but she had come close to it once. The massive guilt. The overwhelming regret. The permanent damage to her heart. She had cut contact with that person. Ignoring their messages and calls, not making eye contact with them, quickly changing topics when people asked about it; being hated on, accepting the hate.
Pyrrha Nikos had ran away from her problems. But not the small girl in front of her. No. This girl — her cold friend with a warm heart — Weiss Schnee, faced it head on and overcame it. Something the invincible warrior could not do. Pyrrha had nothing but utmost respect for her.
Weiss pointed her weapon towards her; ice dust revolving to primary.
"I'm ready."
Pyrrha nodded.
A giant light blue glyph appeared under her, with ice crystals quickly taking shape. They sizzled when they touched Pyrrha; or more specifically, when they touched the cracks. She could hear Weiss' grunt as more ice crystals formed around her, trying to wrap themselves around her burning body.
She couldn't even feel her remaining arm anymore. She knew that it had already vanished. Yet, it didn't matter to her now. Weiss Schnee was going to end her life. That was all that mattered.
Pyrrha closed her eyes and began to recite.
"For it is... in passing..."
More cracks tore through her body and crawled towards her face. It silenced her words and quickened the pace of the ice. Determined to complete the chant, Pyrrha Nikos continued, but not with spoken words; reminiscing about her time in Beacon.
"... that we achieve immortality. Through this, we become a paragon of virtue and glory to rise above all. Infinite in distance and unbound by death, I release my soul, and..."
"...by your... shoulder... Protect... me..."
...
Nothing. It didn't work. The rumored Aura transfer theorized by a Schnee in the past didn't work.
Ah. So this was what failure felt like.
She couldn't feel anything anymore. Good. That was good. She didn't want to in the first place.
Only her face remained untouched. Pyrrha opened her eyes and stared at Weiss. She wanted to talk to her. She wanted to spill out everything she'd known to her. But she couldn't do that. Her throat was freezing. Only a few words could be squeezed out. But, for her, two words were more than enough.
"Thank... you..."
I hope the others will be safe.
The ice swallowed her whole. With a battle cry, Weiss plunged a white glowing Myrtenaster down deeply into her body and twisted the rapier.
And with that, Pyrrha Nikos — the junior champion, the invincible girl — vanished into dust with a smile; with a collapsing Weiss as the final sight of her life.
Weiss fell to her knees; Myrtenaster stabbed into the ground.
She did it.
She killed Pyrrha Nikos.
Weiss blinked.
What... Did she just...? 'I killed Pyrrha Nikos'?
Oh.
Oh god.
She killed Pyrrha Nikos.
Grief. Ecstasy. Loathing. Admiration. Amazement. Vigilance. Terror. Rage. The emotions she had withheld simultaneously came charging back. She clutched onto her aching chest. Her heart was beating a million times a second, as if it was about to explode in any given moment. Saliva, sweat and tears spilled out of her body. She couldn't control them. The mix of emotions swirling inside was too much to bear.
She tried to cram her feelings back into her ice-cold heart — back to what it was in the past — but she couldn't. Her emotions were too erratic. Chaotic. Her body thrashed around. Her body temperature rose. Her mouth was making all sorts of sounds. Groans, moans, gurgles, chuckles, laughter, shouts, screams, mumbles.
She wanted all of it to end. She wanted someone to come along and take away all her problems. She wanted to be whisked away like a princess.
She needed comfort.
"M-Mother..."
A pair of arms from behind wrapped around her torso. Her body jolted, but immediately relaxed at the sudden gesture. Her mouth stopped uttering nonsense. The hug felt... Nice. Kind. Cool to the touch. Cold.
...Very, very cold.
Her head shot up, only to see a literal ghost with very dead eyes.
Weiss' huntress instinct kicked into overdrive. She twisted her body back and kicked with all her might, hoping and expecting to make the ghost disappear. But what she hit was very solid, and flew a couple meters back. The unexpected hit caused Weiss to stagger back, but she somehow could regain her balance with little to no effort.
She felt oddly rejuvenated. Energy was coursing through her veins. Like some sort of sugar rush, even though she had made sure she hadn't eaten too many sweets. But Ruby pestered her to try out her homemade cookies. Well, dorm-made actually. She couldn't just go back home — Weiss knew it had to take at least some hours — make some cookies, then come all the way back to Beacon just to let Team RWBY try it out. No, it was a waste of time and effort.
Unfortunately for the rest of the team, Ruby's cookies were too sweet for any normal person to like. But they forced it down their throats anyway, because who could say no to a puppy-eyed Ruby? Not her. Not even she would stoop to that kind of coldness. It would destroy their friendship. And her own reputation.
Wait, why was she thinking about that?
She quickly scooted away and yanked out Myrtenaster to at least arm herself and prepare for some sort of attack. But when she did, she almost lost balance again. She had expected the ground to put up more of a resistance when she pulled her weapon out, but Weiss felt as though there wasn't any. As if gravity didn't even exist in that space. The rapier broke free from its solid prison and felt incredibly light.
Weiss knew that Myrtenaster was made to be light, but not this light. She was sure, with this kind of weight Myrtenaster currently had, she could spin it around from the tip of the hilt with just two fingers with minimal effort. Weiss was even tempted to try it right then and there. But there were other important matters to attend to.
Like... Like...
Weiss stared ahead. A white body was lying down on the ground, unmoving. She remembered now. The corporeal ghost.
Her hand subconsciously clutched onto one of her sides, where the arms had touched. Was it just her or did it loosen its grip right when her body turned? Had it really touched her? Or was it just the coolness? Weiss dismissed the latter thought with the fact that she was able to physically hit it.
And why did it look so much like Pyrrha Nikos?
The white body twitched, as if it was responding to that question. It pushed itself off the ground with perfect movements and a perfect landing, facing Weiss with a blank stare. It seemed almost mechanical, performing such a flawless technique.
Was that the reason? Because it was a machine; a robot? A robot... like Penny. A robot with a soul that was completely white. Schnee white. And had lifeless eyes. And glows.
This wasn't a machine. This was a familiar. Her very own familiar.
She... she did it... She did it!
She successfully summoned Pyrrha Nikos!
Joy engulfed Weiss' entire frame as she jumped up and down like a child who had gotten her first birthday present.
She did it! She summoned her own familiar! Winter would be so proud! What would her sister do if she saw this? Pat her on the head? Compliment her? Throw a party? All of the above?
Weiss giggled gleefully. Winter would have a reason to come back to her! Then, she wouldn't have to be alone anymore. She wouldn't run away anymore. She would be by her side, teaching her more about her Semblance and treating her good. Treating her right. Unlike her father. ... And maybe her brother.
She would at least do that for her own little sister, right? Right?
...Right?
Ruby would be proud too! Yes! Ever since she told Ruby what her Semblance could potentially do, Ruby became absolutely ecstatic. She straight up interrogated her. The discussion they had was actually quite enjoyable. Nobody else had cared about her Semblance and weapon so greatly. Everyone was all Schnee this, Schnee that. But not her. Not Ruby. Not the clumsy dolt.
Speaking of which, where was she? Weiss could've sworn she was right beside her a few minutes ago... Fighting off Grimm... Then Cinder came... And...
Oh no.
Weiss turned to Ruby. All the glyphs she had set were gone. Her leader laid there alone. Unprotected. Vulnerable. And her familiar running straight for her.
Weiss immediately dashed towards Ruby, fearing the worst. Her aura was almost emptied. She couldn't cast her glyphs. No time should be wasted. Every breath was light, meeting with the crisp night air. Every movement was quick, fueling her determination to save. She loved it. She relished in it. Why was her body feeling so good?
Fortunately, she reached Ruby first. She wasn't out of breath like usual. Far from it, actually. Refreshing, even.
Weiss quickly positioned into her battle stance. She pointed Myrtenaster towards her approaching familiar; ice dust revolving to primary. She couldn't use her glyphs, but she could still use her own weapon. She could fight. Against Pyrrha Nikos. The invincible girl. The young champion. Her familiar.
Could she even stop it?
Suddenly, it shifted its body. It all happened in a blink. At the first moment it was dashing forward towards Ruby, but at the next, it was skidding to a halt. Its arms and legs were literally slammed into the ground. And it stopped...
… Right at the tip of Myrtenaster's blade.
It was just a small poke. The minuscule amount of impact moved Myrtenaster back by a tiny fraction. But to Weiss, it felt bigger. Much bigger. Like a stab. No, like a plunge.
Hard meeting soft. Metal meeting skin. Myrtenaster meeting flesh. Her killing Pyrrha. Again.
Weiss screamed.
She threw her weapon down. Loud, piercing clangs echoed into her eardrums. Within the echoes, she heard footsteps. She heard Pyrrha's last words. She heard Pyrrha apologizing. She heard Pyrrha laughing. Everything was jumbled up. Everything was a mess. Everything was a blur.
Luckily, it stopped after a few seconds. Weiss realized that she was still staring at her familiar. She took a quick proper look at it.
It was white. Pure. Fully intact. Not a single scratch. Zero flaws.
It was perfect. Like a godly being which took on the form of Pyrrha Nikos. Exactly like Pyrrha Nikos. Untouchable. Never faltering. Never losing. Unbeatable. Infamous. Invincible.
And here it was. Right in front of her. Able to perfectly obey her every command. Her very own warrior. Her very own servant. It exists all for her. For her and her only.
Her hand reached for its holy face. It moved its face down as she was trying to touch it. It felt soft. Smooth. Cold. Goosebumps filled her body. Too cold for her liking, but what could she do? Tell it to raise its body temperature?
Weiss chuckled at her own joke. Instead, she closed her eyes and imagined its face to be warm. It eventually did. Like a warm cup of coffee in the morning. An overfilled cup of coffee. That was poured all over her hand.
Something was wrong.
Confused, Weiss opened her eyes. A warm liquid was spilling onto her hand. It wasn't coffee. It was red. Leaking out of her familiar's eyes.
Weiss quickly pulled her hand back. Too quickly. The action threw her body back onto the ground. She lifted her shaking hand up to her face. The liquid was thick. Red. Dripping from the same hand that had touched the god figure.
Blood. It was blood.
Was it cursed? Was she cursed? Did she stain her own perfect servant?
Weiss looked back at her familiar. It wasn't perfect anymore. It wasn't her own. Cracks were stretched all over the body. Both legs and an arm were missing. The middle of the body — the chest — had a huge dent on it.
It had been defiled. It was no longer pure. It... scared her. But those weren't the worst parts. No, it was the face.
It was smiling.
Yeah, I know… This is about a year late… I procrastinated a lot. And also rewrote most of this chapter, 'cause when I looked back, there were some pretty bad decisions that barely made sense. Well, it had lesser sense than this current one.
This was a testing waters kind of fic. I didn't know whether it was too much or not. I wanted to go even further than Just a Photograph. I don't have a beta, so reviews and criticism are really important.
This isn't done yet FYI. Next chapter is gonna be the last chapter for this fanfic.
By the way, I'm gonna write two short extra stories. One about Pyrrha getting Weiss to swear the oath to her, which would take place around the middle of Volume 2; and another about the notes about Summoning and how it came to be. The Pyrrha fanfic (currently named "How she knew", subject to change) is about halfway written, and the Team RWBY notes fanfic (currently named "Summoning", subject to change) is pretty bare bones as of now. Both can be read by itself without needing to read this fanfic.