Winter was unable to believe her eyes, as she stared at the images on the television screen in her bedroom. There, lying on the sidewalk, with blood staining their clothes, were the images of Ruby and Weiss. Tears began to cloud her vision as she continued to stare.
No, she thought, No this can't be happening.
As she sat there, there was a knock on her door.
"E-enter," Winter called.
Her father stepped into the room and walked over next to Winter and stood facing the television.
"So I see you've heard," he said. "You do know that this means, correct?"
Winter was too in shock to respond.
"Thanks to your sister's... unfortunate passing," he continued. "You are again the heiress to Schnee Energy. I expect that you will behave better than she did."
With that, her father exited the room, leaving Winter alone again. She slowly stood walked over to the television, which still held Weiss and Ruby images. Winter slowly placed her hand on the screen where Ruby and Weiss lay.
I'm sorry, Winter thought, as tears began to stream down her face. I'm so, so sorry.
One week earlier
"If you want to join Beacon Mercenary," Ozpin stated, "There is one more thing that you need to do."
"And that is?" Weiss asked.
"You need to die," Ozpin said.
Blake and Yang started to back up in their seats, and Ruby started to move to shield Weiss.
"What the hell do you mean?" Yang asked, starting to clench her fists.
"Simple, really," Ozpin replied. "Every single member of the Beacon company is dead. That, Miss Schnee, is why I told you that we are a way for you to get out of your familial obligations. And, you Miss Belladonna, when I told you that we had a way for you to escape your past."
All four girls looked at each other.
"Can you give us a minute?" Weiss asked.
"Of course," Ozpin replied as he stood up and walked out of the hotel room.
As the door shut behind Ozpin, all four girls visibly relaxed.
"Well, that was... interesting?" Ruby said.
"That's one word for it," Blake replied with a shudder.
"So, what do you all say?" Weiss asked.
"Well, to be honest, I don't have any reason not to," Yang said. "I'm not really going anywhere interesting in my life, so it's not like I've got anything to lose. Especially if you're going too, Rubes."
"And, as he said, it's an opportunity to finally leave my past with the White Fang behind, so I guess I'm in," Blake said as she nodded.
"I can finally get away from my father," Weiss said as she nodded as well. "So, I'll go as well."
"And I'll go wherever you go, Weiss" Ruby said as she snuggled up to her girlfriend.
"Naturally," Weiss replied with a smirk. "You're probably the most loyal puppy out there."
"Weiss," Ruby whined, causing both Blake and Yang to laugh.
"Only you could turn something that would normally be an immense insult to a Faunus into a term of endearment, Weiss," Blake said with a small chuckle.
Weiss rolled her eyes. "At any rate, should we tell Ozpin our answer?"
"Sure," Blake said as she shook her head with a smile.
Weiss stood from the couch and walked over to the door. As she opened , Ozpin walked in and looked around the room. "I take it you all have decided?" he asked as Weiss sat back down.
Ruby, Weiss, Blake, and Yang all looked at each other. "Yes," they all said at the same time.
"Excellent," Ozpin said as he sat down with all four girls. "Shall we go ahead and get to planning?"
"Well," Yang said, "Blake and I work at the same place, and we're working the same hours this Friday, so that might work out for us."
"It's fairly easy to fake a death with a car wreck," Ozpin said with a nod. "We can plant some fake bodies and then cause a gas explosion in the vehicle. Miss Schnee, Miss Rose, what about you?"
Weiss sighed. "I have no idea. The only thing I can think of would be involving the White Fang, but-"
"That could work, actually," Ozpin said. "We have an operative in the White Fang that's due to be extracted soon. We could have him preform the deed and then retrieve him."
"I'll be leaving on Friday to return home, so preferably before then," Weiss said.
"We could 'kill' you while you're on your way to the airport," Ozpin said. "Miss Rose, I believe you're going to be going with Miss Schnee?"
"Well, yeah," Ruby said.
"Then there we have it," Ozpin said. "Now, for you two, given how high profile you are Miss Schnee, we'll want it to look as realistic as possible. So, I would like you two to meet me at nine in the morning tomorrow at seven to come with me to an outpost that we have in Vale so we can finalize the details of the plan."
Ruby woke up the next morning with Weiss' arms wrapped around her. She smiled slightly as she unraveled herself from her girlfriend, and slowly stood from the bed. As Ruby stood, Weiss rolled in the bed, sighing slightly as she did so. Ruby smiled to herself as she walked over to her luggage.
And she says I'm the cute one, Ruby thought with a light chuckle as she twitched one of her wolf ears. She picked up a simple red shirt and blue jeans and slid them over her body. Ruby walked over to the bed again, and sat down on the bed, as she rested a hand on Weiss and rubbed the older girl's cheek lightly.
Weiss' eyes fluttered open, and she looked through squinted eyes at Ruby. "Good morning Ruby," she muttered sleepily.
"Good morning, sleepy," Ruby replied with a grin.
"What time is it?" Weiss said as she started to sit up.
Ruby glanced at the clock sitting next to their bed. "About eight-thirty," she replied.
Weiss sighed. "Well, I suppose we should get up then."
"I think they're already serving breakfast downstairs," Ruby said. "Come on, I smell pancakes."
Weiss stood up and walked over to her own luggage, sitting right next to Ruby's. She picked up a white shirt with a pair of pale blue shorts and put them on with a sigh.
"Come on," Weiss said, still sounding slightly tired. "Let's go ahead and get going."
Ruby wove her fingers through Weiss', and they both left the room to find their way to the elevators. When they finally made it to the breakfast area and had gotten their food, Ruby and Weiss saw Blake and Yang sitting at a table, and they walked over to join them.
"What are you two doing here?" Ruby asked as they sat down.
"Well," Blake said, "We didn't feel like driving across town last night, so we got a room here."
"You two really seem to be a lot more than friends, you know," Weiss said.
"Nah, you two are the only ones here who swing that way," Yang said with a laugh.
"Yang," Ruby moaned.
"I love you, Rubes," Yang said, still laughing.
Ruby shook her head and sighed.
"Oh, relax Ruby," Weiss said as she kissed the younger girl's cheek. "I still think you're amazing."
"Thanks, Weiss," Ruby said as she set her head on Weiss' shoulder.
"Of course, you dunce," Weiss said, laughing. "You are my girlfriend after all."
"And I will be for the rest of your life," Ruby said with a laugh.
"Aww," Yang said. "You two are so cute."
Weiss rolled her eyes and glanced at the time on her phone. "Come on, Ruby," she said as she stood up. "It's almost nine. We should head up to Ozpin's room."
"Okay," Ruby replied as she stood up from her chair. "Meet you guys at A Simple Wok for dinner?"
"That sounds like a plan," Blake replied. "We'll meet you two there."
"Welcome to Haven Outpost," Ozpin shouted, only just barely able to be heard over the roar of the engines of the Bullhead they had all just stepped out of.
"Thank you," Weiss replied as, behind the small group, the Bullhead gently touched down on the ground.
"If you two will follow me, I'll take you to the armory where we'll be demonstrating the equipment that you two will have for this... operation," Ozpin said, no longer shouting as the of noise behind them faded into the distance.
Weiss and Ruby walked behind Ozpin, watching as heavily armed mercenaries saluted him as they passed. Eventually, they arrived at a small building with thick, concrete walls and an extremely heavy steel door that looked almost as if it belonged on a warship.
"Open the door," Ozpin said to the man standing just outside. With a salute, he turned to the door and pressed several buttons on the control panel that was next to it.
The inside of the building was lined with several rows of gun racks, each with a number of different and powerful-looking weapons hung to them. At the end of the room was another rack, only this one held a large number of bulletproof vests and other assorted armor pieces. Ruby and Weiss continued to follow Ozpin as he led them over to where armor rack was. As they walked over, Ozpin picked up an easily recognizable weapon from the wall: an AK-47.
"Ruby Rose, Weiss Schnee, this is Captain Coco Adel," Ozpin said, pointing out a young woman with short, brown hair that came to a caramel colored tip on the right side and a black, artist's-style beret. "Captain Adel, I need your help with a little demonstration for these two recruits, if you have a moment."
The woman rolled her eyes. "Fine," she said as she walked over. "What's this about?"
"If you could please put on one of those vests?" Ozpin said as he pointed to one of the thinner bulletproof vests sitting on the wall.
With a shrug, Coco, picked up the armor and slid it over her head. Suddenly, Ozpin fired four bullets at Coco, causing her to stagger back several steps and fall to the ground.
"What are you doing?" Weiss screamed, covering her ears.
"Demonstrating a method to realistically fake your death," Ozpin said simply.
"By killing one of your workers?"
"Oh, she's not dead," Ozpin said, nodding in the direction Coco had staggered.
"Please do me a favor and warn me next time," Coco groaned, rolling her eyes and dropping the vest on the ground as she stood.
"Apologies," Ozpin replied with a small smile. "You are dismissed, Captain."
Coco turned and walked away, leaving the vest on the ground.
"So what exactly were you demonstrating there?" Weiss demanded.
"A way for you two to fake your deaths and still have it look completely authentic," Ozpin replied, turning to Ruby and Weiss. "As you saw, these vests are capable of absorbing a fair amount of damage."
"And you want to actually shoot us while we're wearing vests like that one so we have a more believable reaction to being shot?" Ruby asked.
"Very astute, Miss Rose," Ozpin said with a smile and a nod as he started to walk back towards the entrance. "Now, my plan will be to place a number of fake blood packets inside the armor, just in front of the protective layer, so it gives the impression that you two have indeed been critically wounded. Once that is take care of, we will send an ambulance that we own to pick you two up, and we'll bring you to this outpost, where we will transport you to our main base so that we can actually train you for real combat."
"Training?" Ruby asked, as she and Weiss followed Ozpin back to the aircraft.
"Yes, you two have no prior military experience," Ozpin replied, raising his voice as the three started to approach the landing pad with the still-running Bullhead. "And, even if you did, we would still require you to go through our training program, primarily because of the skill we require from our people."
All three stepped into the Bullhead and sat down on the long benches that lined the walls as the door closed behind them. Weiss looked out of a window. The next time I see this place, I'll be dead, she thought with a light chuckle. She reached over and gripped Ruby's hand, taking a small amount of comfort in the Faunus' presence, knowing that the two would be together for the rest of their lives.
One day earlier
Weiss grabbed her phone off of the nightstand next to her and Ruby's bed. She dialed a number and placed the phone back down.
"Hello?" a female voice on the other end said.
"Hi Win," Weiss said with a small smile.
"Greetings, Weiss!" Winter replied. "What are you doing this late at night over there?"
"Just wanted to call you before tomorrow," Weiss said. "How are you?"
"Oh the usual. Tired of being ignored by dad, bored of doing the usual business-related stuff, etcetera. You?"
"I'm doing quite well, actually, because I have Ruby here with me," Weiss replied as she looked over to her girlfriend.
"Hey Winter!" Ruby said.
"Greetings, Ruby!" Winter said cheerfully. "Sorry about my father."
"Eh, it's not your fault," Ruby said with a sad smile. "Your dad's just an a-"
"Ruby," Weiss interrupted as she shot Ruby a glare.
"What?"
Weiss rolled her eyes and looked back at the phone.
"Well, anyway," Winter said. "It's about time for me to get to some more work father assigned. See you soon, Weiss!"
"Goodbye Winter," Weiss said with a smile. "Oh, and Win? I just want you to know that I really love you."
"I know you do Weiss," Winter said with a light laugh. "Don't worry, though, I love you too, sis."
Weiss ended the call, and her smile slowly descended into a look of sadness. Ruby wrapped her arm around Weiss shoulder.
"Don't worry" Ruby said as she nuzzled into Weiss' neck, her wolf ears tickling Weiss slightly. "Winter's a tough girl."
"Yeah," Weiss said sadly. "It's just that she's the only thing that I don't really want to leave behind."
"I'm sure she'll be all right, Weiss," Ruby replied.
I hope so, Weiss thought as she lay down. Because I'll miss her a lot.
"We're almost there," Ozpin said as he walked over to where Ruby, Weiss, Blake, and Yang sat in the Bullhead.
"Good," Yang said, groaning as she stood up to stretch her legs. "I don't even want to know how long I've been sitting like that."
"Ten hours, thirty-two minutes, and fifty-three seconds," Blake replied, looking at the clock on her phone, "And you were snoring like a chainsaw for most of it."
Yang rolled her eyes and sat back down in her seat.
"About how much longer?" Weiss asked.
"If you look out of the window, you can actually see the base now," Ozpin replied.
All four girls turned to look out of the window, Below them was a massive forest that stretched for miles. As they looked towards the front of the aircraft, their eyes fell upon a massive plot of land, that was a stark grey, contrasting sharply with the forest. There were numerous large buildings, a handful of smaller but more fortified looking structures, and a large concrete wall with towers spread around the complex. At the top of each tower was a massive, triple-barreled cannon.
"Holy shit," Yang said.
"That's the base?" Weiss asked as they all turned to face Ozpin.
The older man nodded. "Welcome to Beacon," he said with a mischievous smile.
A/N: So, I'm officially done predicting success for anything I write. Honestly, over 70 follows already? You all are awesome! Thank you all! I really appreciate every single review, favorite, and follow!
Up next, we have Chapter 11 of Flight of a Rose! Stay tuned, and stay classy, everyone!