18 months prior...

Prologue:

Ruby, Yang, Blake, and I had decided to spend the last day of our summer taking a zeppelin tour of the ruins of an ancient kingdom to the south of Vale, whose name had apparently been lost to time. Naturally, I was the one to fund most of this trip. Being an heiress had its perks, despite all the shortcomings and responsibilities. Ruby and Yang were middle class at best, and I'm still not sure Blake isn't a vagabond, all things considered, so I offered my lien to celebrate what we had dubbed our "funeral for summer".

I had pondered setting up an itinerary for today's events, coordinating the time of the zeppelin trip with an operatic matinee, but I decided against it when I considered my teammates' lack of class in such matters and their propensity to ignore well thought out plans in place of spontaneity. I remember sighing to myself and admitting that it could be nice to just see where the day took us.

I looked out on the horizon, the crimson envelope of the zeppelin obscuring the sky above, but the midmorning sun managed to peek just past it and cast a harsh glare, preventing us from looking out for the most part. Instead, I focused my attention on the ruins and the Grimm that were constantly scouring them as if they were searching for something. My mind ran with this for a moment, and I mumbled to myself,

"I wonder what they'd be looking for…"

"Maybe they lost you at birth, and haven't given up hope?" Yang interjected with a chuckle. Naturally, I shot her a glare that could level a nevermore, and her smile slowly faded.

"Weiss so serious?" she said, an evil grin replacing her mirthful one from before. "Wanna know how I got these scaaaars?" She made some hand gestures and Ruby facepalmed.

"If I'm not, which one of you would ever get anything done?" I replied indignantly, ignoring whatever she was referencing and sweeping my glare across the whole of my teammates. Ruby cast her eyes downward and Yang began her transition to her other preset mood, rage. Blake, as usual, was sitting and reading a book. 'what a waste of the zeppelin tour…'. She looked up and put her hand on Yang's forearm, and this seemed to calm Yang down for now.

Blake locked eyes with me sternly. She had this way about her, of making me feel self-conscious for doing what feels natural and taking charge. I had to break the stare, and with a sweep of my hand said,

"So, how about this view?"

I looked back over my shoulder, attempting to grin enthusiastically and rolling my eyes clear over the moon when I saw Blake back in her book and Yang holding a panicking Ruby from behind and giving her several playful punches on the head. I couldn't help but smile a little at the clear display of sibling affection, but the smile didn't last long as my thoughts turned to my sister.

Shaking my head to dispel that train of thought, I made a point to enjoy the last bit of the tour.

On the way off the dock and back towards the market district of Vale, the team was engaged in a debate about the most effective ways to handle each of the many varieties of Grimm we had encountered our first year as Huntresses in training.

"As far as Ursa go, I find getting behind them to be the most effective way to bring them down." Blake stated flatly, her bow waving with her ebony hair in the light breeze, resisting only in the shape of the cat ears she had hidden beneath.

"I'm more about taking them down from a distance, if at all possible…" Ruby mumbled. 'Why is she being so quiet?' I remember wondering why she wasn't more outspoken more often than I'd like to admit.

"You would say that, you camper!" Yang exclaimed. "I'd just punch the stupid thing to death, of course." Yang rolled her shoulder and elbow backwards, flexing and showing off her muscles. I always found them unseemly, but she sure was proud of them. "What about you, Ice queen?"

I opened my mouth to speak, but before I could get a word in…

"ICE CREAM?!" Ruby interrupted. "WEISS, ARE WE GETTING ICE CREAM?" she blasted, using her semblance to practically teleport herself into me and tackling me to the ground. I should have been furious, the white of my combat skirt falling in the sidewalk with who knows what on it, but instead I only felt incredulous. 'How can someone love sweets so much?' With a sigh, I concede to her begging silver eyes.

"Fine, we can get ice cream. Just please, get off of me."

Sudden shock crossed Ruby's face as she realized the dangerous situation she'd pushed herself (and me) into. As quickly as she had knocked me over, she was pulling me up, brushing me off, and apologizing profusely.

"You dolt." I cast at her, only partially as an insult.

As yang opened the door to our dorm, Blake, Ruby, and I walked in and we all took places on our respective beds.

"whoooooomfff I feel like I'm gonna diiiiiiie!" Ruby whined loudly, causing Blake and I to roll our eyes.

"I told you not to eat a whole gallon of ice cream, Rubes. I swear you're gonna get so fat when you're older." Yang tossed at her playfully.

"Joke's on you, Yang, I'm not gonna get older!" She shot back, with enough teasing determination that we couldn't all help but laugh, before Ruby curled back over on her bunk and began making the tiniest whimpers.

"Blake, can you hit the lights?" Yang asked, after tugging off her boots and tossing them wantonly across the room. Ugh, she's so raunchy.

"Why do you always ask me to do it? Why not Weiss?" Blake questioned, apparently genuinely curious, as she'd already gotten up and began walking towards our light switch.

"You're a kitty, and everyone knows cats can see in the dark~" She teased melodically, leaning up and flashing her that stupid, wide grin she always has when she thinks she's being clever. Never mind that it actually was rather clever…

"And she's kind of a bitch. No offense, frosty."

'Oh, offense taken, Goldilocks.', I remember thinking. I wasn't afraid of her, but I was ready to rest. We had an early day ahead of us, and I wanted to impress our professors on my first day back.

My attention wandered back to Ruby's whimpers when Blake hit the lights. She didn't sound as in pain now, as much as it seemed she was lamenting the end of our holiday and the beginning of our second year at Beacon Academy.

Hearing her like this made me a little bit sad, but I couldn't help doting on her. That much absurdity shouldn't exist in one person, let alone one so clearly talented and intelligent. A bit childish, sure, but with time I've come to appreciate that she's mature enough to keep up with the rest of team RWBY for the most part. That's no small feat, considering how much older we all act. Even Yang, who I so thoroughly disapprove of, behaved in an adult manner as long as her temper wasn't flared. It's odd that I'm even thinking of Yang in this way. I suppose our camaraderie as a team really had grown that first year. I fell asleep to the faintest of snores coming from the bunk above me, and dreamed of rose petals.

Thanks for the read. I realize this chapter is a bit slow, but I'm going to be building up to intensity as we go. Have to set a lot of pieces in motion to get to where we were last chapter. So much brings us there.

If anyone has any criticisms, please let me know.