Announcement! I've decided to change the name of this fic from Whispering Wings to The Beast And The Fairy, just because it is much broader and more relevant to this story as a whole!

I'm doing my best with this fic, but multi-chapters have never been my strong suit. So I know some parts of the plot will seem awkward or maybe even irrelevant at some points, but everything will have its place in the end!

Disclaimer: I do not own RWBY.


Chapter 4. The Lost Princess

Weiss made certain to keep up the act for as long as it would've been believable.

In truth, she hadn't been so startled she'd fallen right over the edge of the cliff. But rather, she'd cunningly positioned herself at just the perfect spot to make it appear that way.

Instead of being met with an untimely doom, she'd utilized the cliff face to make a swift getaway from her unfavorable situation. A convenient step and a bit of a twist had made it appear as though she'd fallen right off, and she was certain to let out a soft wail as she let herself plummet.

But as soon as she knew she was out of sight due to the heavy veil of white mist produced by the waterfall, Weiss put her magics to use as she spread her wings and began to drift down rather than free-fall.

The rush of the wet air whipping against her face instantly softened into a gentle drizzle, and it was actually welcome after the harrowing journey she'd just taken herself on halfway through the forest. There was still a sharp pain in the back of her head from where the boy with the bull horns had yanked her hair, and the cool mist helped to ease the soreness.

As she continued to glide downward, the rush of the waterfall filled her ears with a consistent roaring as the mist sprayed her body from head to toe.

She gazed up at the sun to determine the time of day, and it was far past noontime, probably much closer to sunset by now. The sky was turning pink, and the clouds were beginning to be lined with golden rays, something that only happened when the sun's angle was starting to sink beyond the horizon.

Weiss knew the fairies must have returned to the treetops by now.

Without her.

She knew her poor father and sister must be in a panic. They'd probably send out search parties for her to fan the entire forest and wouldn't care if they were invading the beasts' territories or not. Word would spread quickly how the future Queen of the Fairies had gone missing and possibly fallen victim to a tragic accident.

Only now did Weiss realize her acting skills were so good that she'd saved her own life, but now the lives of every other fairy were in danger because of it. This ordeal could very well be what sparked the full-on war between the two species.

Weiss could feel her chest tightening with every passing second as she continued to descend beside the waterfall. She needed to get home and quickly.

She spread her wings a little more to the sides in an effort to catch an air current she could ride back up on.

But now was one of those times when weighing only half of what she appeared to weigh worked against her. The lightness of her body prevented her from being able to use enough force to best the strong winds spiraling around the waterfall. The moisture in the air had already dampened her wings almost all the way through, and she didn't have enough muscle in them to flap hard enough to keep herself elevated.

Desperately, Weiss tried to flap them, but she only continued to helplessly descend alongside the rushing water, faster now than she had been previously. The winds battered her and dragged her haphazardly from side to side. As the water weighed on her wings more and more, she knew there was nowhere she could go now but down.

At the last second, Weiss cast a small barrier of magic around herself just as her wings became to water-laden to be of use.

Then, with a short shriek, she fell the remaining dozen or so feet down beside the waterfall and landed in the pool below with a soft splash.

For a moment, Weiss was trapped underwater by the force of the current above her. The water pounded harshly against her magic barrier, which persevered her and kept her dry like a bubble, allowing her to breathe while inside of it.

Weiss tried to control her fright and focus on her magic, keeping the bubble in-tact as she continued to float along beneath the surface.

A fairy's ability to control her magic was linked not only to the magics already residing in her surroundings. But more significantly, it was linked directly to her emotions, and Weiss knew that if she succumbed to her terror at the present situation, it would be the death of her.

So she took a deep breath and concentrated, reminding herself she was the Princess of the Fairies and that she had a duty to return home to her people safely.

Slowly, the bubble began to carry her back up to the surface.

However, although her nerves were more or less under control, her body was severely drained now. Due to the stress of the beasts' ambush of her group, the anxieties of telling them a blatant lie about taking them to a stash of hidden gems, the panic of tearing free from them, jumping off such a high cliff, and now the terrifying experience of being completely underwater...

Weiss was too exhausted to keep the barrier up any longer. It was starting to cause physical pain to throb throughout her body, and a depletion of magic was highly dangerous to a fairy.

So she had no choice but to choose between letting her magics run dry, or risk a very wet battle with death.

She relinquished her barrier.

Instantly, loud, cold water came rushing at her, filling her nose and lungs and drenching her clothes. She coughed as she struggled to break the surface, but the weight of her soaked dress and wings were greater than the weight of her body, and they dragged her back down.

Weiss tumbled head over heels beneath the water, coughing only to find more water filling her lungs. She yelped when she felt herself hit a particularly solid object. She could only hope it was a rock and not something with teeth.

Frantically, she threw her arms out to clutch at it, quickly discovering it was indeed stationary against the ever-present flow of the water. With great strength, Weiss pulled herself closer to the rock and clung to it, then burst her head up through the surface.

With a loud gasp, she inhaled as much air as she could before another wave crashed over her head. She lost her grip on the rock and was sent tumbling through the water once more.

But it was only a second later when she collided with another rock and grabbed onto that on as well, pulling herself up once more to breathe.

This time, Weiss was able to survey the water around her and discover she was at the center of the fast-running river. There were many rocks protruding from the surface, and Weiss could either use them to her advantage, or let herself smash against them until every bone in her body was broken.

She preferred to try the former.

So when she next released the rock, she aimed herself at the next-closest one, letting the water carry her there. Once she'd grabbed the next rock, she gulped in air before repeating it several more times.

It was an agonizing process, both for her mind, body, and magic, but she managed to stick to it.

With one last mighty jump, Weiss reached out until her nails dug into the soft mud of the opposite bank. The water was still rushing around her stomach and back, tugging at her legs and wings. But her arms and shoulders were free of it now, and Weiss took a moment to catch her breath.

Panting and coughing, she dragged herself up out of the water before breathlessly collapsing into the grass. She sputtered in a way most unbecoming of a fairy princess, spitting up enough river water to likely make herself ill at the sight of the stuff for days to come.

Once there were no fluids left in her lungs, she flopped down onto her stomach and lie gasping. Luckily for her, she'd managed to land in a patch of the fading sunlight, so she could feel the warm rays hitting her back and gracing her poor wings.

After all the awful things she'd been through today, this was certainly nice to feel.

But she reminded herself how far from home she must have been, how frightening the entire situation was, both for herself and for her family.

She needed to get home.

With a whimper, she pushed herself up, gasping at a pain in her back that traveled up her aching wings. Weiss didn't dare to stretch her wings out, not when they were so fragile and wet that they risked tearing at a strong gust of wind. She might've been able to call upon some magic to help dry them off, but she didn't want to deplete her energy.

Slowly, she put a hand to her chest, sighing in relief when her fingertips brushed against the familiar flowers of her necklace. Next, her fingers went to her hair which she discovered was still secured in its ponytail thanks to the flower hair band her mother had made for her.

Weiss might not had carried gems on her person as other fairies often did, but those two trinkets were far greater treasures than any stones could ever be.

Relieved to find them unharmed likely thanks to her magic barrier, Weiss got to her feet despite the excessive shaking of her legs. She could clearly assess that her wings were far too wet to be of any use to her for at least several more hours, and that would've been if she could manage to stay in sunlight for that long.

But with dusk upon her, she knew it would take the length of the night for them to dry off. She'd have to brave a night alone in these woods, and she didn't want to do so unarmed.

She'd lost her bow and arrows in the tumble down the waterfall, but she hoped they might wash up on shore wherever the river pooled. That would also be the best place for her to go around the water to get back to the side she'd came from, as she didn't fancy the idea of swimming back through, and she certainly couldn't fly.

So after another few moments of gathering her bearings, Weiss wrung out her hair and dress to shed a bit of water weight, and then started off.

She kept as silent as possible as she followed alongside the rushing river, for the last thing she needed was more unwanted attention coming her way. If she took the night to restore her magic and strength, she would probably have enough energy to be able to start the journey home tomorrow.

But even she had no idea where she was in the vast forest now. Weiss had only guesses and instinct to go off of, nothing more.

But it would have to suffice, because she needed to get home. It wasn't an option.

So she trekked barefoot through the mist-sprayed grass along the muddy river bank, keeping a good few feet of distance between herself and the water just in case the ground sunk away beneath her and took her back into the river.

She walked with a miserable pace and posture, hugging herself to preserve whatever feeble body heat remained. Despite the meek sunlight reaching down, Weiss was still dripping and shivering, and she knew it would be nothing short of a miracle if she didn't catch a cold by tomorrow.

She kept her senses alert as she continued along the river, never knowing when some kind of beast – animal or not – might jump out at her.

But it seemed the fates had been cruel enough to Weiss that day, for no animals or beasts intercepted her.

She walked until sunset – the time she was supposed to have returned home by – and that was when she reached the end of the river. It pooled out into a great lake that reflected the twilight sky, shimmering pink and orange. The waves of the rapids dwindled into flat water here, and it lapped quietly up against the banks where gigantic trees stood and overlooked their reflections quietly.

Weiss had never seen this massive lake before, but only heard of through the tales of travelers.

If that was any indication as to how far from home she was, Weiss dreaded to think of it.

Surprisingly, it only took her a moment's worth of scouring the water's surface to locate the expertly-carved shape of her bow. Thanks to the magic she'd cast upon it during its creation, it hadn't snapped or splintered amongst the rocks, and as Weiss fished it out, it seemed to be in pristine condition. She managed to find four of her six arrows, but didn't spare the time to seek out the other two.

Night was upon her now, and the sky was turning dark. Weiss knew there was hardly anything more dangerous than being alone in unfamiliar territory at night.

At the very least she was armed and able to flee if need be, but she would rather store her energy up in a safe sleeping spot rather than expend it trying to run for her life again.

The birdsong of the forest was exchanged for the chirping of crickets and the buzzing of night insects. She was glad to discover there were bats in these parts of the forest who happily emerged from their roosts to eat the bugs that otherwise would have been attracted to the enticing scent of fairy blood.

But as far as Weiss could tell, this wasn't fairy territory, not from her kingdom, or any other neighboring one. The bats seemed shocked and pleasantly surprised to see her, knowing fairies meant protection from bigger threats.

Weiss thanked them for gobbling up as many bugs as their bellies could hold, and implored them for a safe place she may spend the night. They chittered and waved their wings, guiding her to a tall tree.

But Weiss' wings were still too wet to use. Instead, she slung her bow over her shoulder to dangle on her back and put two of her arrows into her dress' sash. She held onto the other two arrows, one in each hand.

Rather than elegantly fluttering safely up to her resting spot, she resorted to beast-like methods of stabbing the arrowheads into the tree trunk one after the other and climbing up in that manner.

It took her ten times longer than it would've to have flown there, but eventually, she managed to haul herself up into the fork of three massive sections of the tree. It created a space big enough for her to curl herself up in, but first, she hung her bow and arrows on a nearby branch so she wouldn't be prodded in the night.

She was a little reassured to know the bats would indicate any potential danger to her in the night, but that was the only small solace she received here. There was no soft moss or feather bed beneath her, no gentle quilt to shield her shivering back, no silent reassurance of her fellow fairies' presences to secure her.

The only slight comfort was when she looked up past the dark leaves of the trees to the carpet of the velvet sky, sprinkled with stars.

She knew her mother was there watching over her.

The thought comforted Weiss enough to allow her to drift off into an uneasy slumber, not knowing what awaited her with the dawn.


. . .

It took Adam and his troop until nightfall to return back to the rest of the clan, thanks to the trickery of the Fairy Princess who had led them miles and miles out of their way on false pretenses.

He'd growled and spat all the way back, blundering through the forest and snapping every piece of it that got in his way.

But he wasn't in as foul of a mood as he could have been in.

The trek home had allowed him to devise a plan, and he was nothing short of pleased to reveal it when one of his fellow troop members addressed him.

"Adam," he grunted. "What will we tell the rest of the clan about the Fairy Princess? She... she's dead, isn't she? The fairies will declare war on us for sure."

Adam halted in his tracks and turned back to the rest of them, who were clearly waiting for his response. He chuckled.

"She may be dead," he agreed. "But the rest of them don't have to know that."

The others gave him puzzled looks, and he elaborated. Adam reach into the pocket of his shirt and revealed the four strands of silken white hair he'd snatched from the princess before she'd fallen to her death.

"At dawn, we'll send out a messenger to the fairies. He'll show them these hairs as proof that we have her as prisoner. We'll tell the Fairy King he's got as many days as we've got hairs of his daughter to collect every enchanted gem in the forest to hand over to us. If he fails to comply, he knows what we'll do to his daughter," he laughed.

"By the time he hands over all the gems, it'll be too late when he realizes we never had her in the first place. But by then, all of those fairies' enchanted gems will be ours. And they'll hold enough magics in them for us to be able to conquer them all."

With that, Adam vanished into the shadows, four long, thin slivers of white winking in the moonlight beside him.


A/N: Just to clarify, Adam's troop is not the entire clan of the beasts. It'll be important to remember that later on, but it's just a small group he leads.

Still no signs of Blake. Where could she be in all this...?

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