The Princess' Rogue

A/N: And another chapter goes live!

Disclaimer: The characters and the worlds I write in do not belong to me. The stories that I write are intended for entertainment purposes. I do not make any money from them.

*** ~ Chapter 4: Scars ~ ***

Weiss stumbled as she ran, the pain in her ankle worsening.

"Princess stop!" came a shout behind her, but Weiss paid it no heed.

"Wolves are pack animals!"

A total sense of panic gripped Weiss right now, and had ever since she locked gazes with eyes so red. A terror like nothing she had never known seeped into her very being at that sight, making Weiss want nothing more than to flee.

So she did.

Weiss didn't know what to expect when she dared a peek around her tree. All that she knew was that she wasn't expecting to see a Grimm.

Blue eyes went wide at the sight of a monster Weiss had only read about in books. It was huge, double the height of any regular person, with fur as black as onyx. On its head was a mask of white bone, lines of blood red carved into it. Spines of white bone also jutted out from the Beowolf's arms and back, blood stained teeth bared at Phoenix as the man faced off against it. It took everything Weiss had in her not to scream. Instead she took off running in the opposite direction.

How quickly she realized the terrible mistake she had made.

A blur of black darted towards her from the right between the trees. Seconds later, Weiss was bowled over, the Schnee heiress impacting the ground, hard. As Weiss lay stunned and dizzy, multiple howls filled the air. From the darkness and shadows surrounding the trees around the heiress, multiple pairs of glowing red eyes opened, leering at her. Weiss whimpered as she sat up shakily, blinking back tears as the glowing eyes advanced.

"S-Stay away!" she shouted, her voice wavering.

The Beowolves ignored the white haired girl's feeble attempt at bravado, the Grimm closing in painstakingly slow. Weiss cowered instantly, her blue eyes frantically searching for a way out. Scrambling backwards on her hands and her behind, Weiss' left hand came across a loose rock in the dirt.

Without thinking, Weiss hurled the rock at the closest Beowolf with all of her strength. The Grimm instinctively turned its head to the side to avoid getting hit in the eye with the projectile. It flinched for a moment when the rock clattered against its cheek. Shaking its head clear, the Beowolf turned its gaze back to Weiss, jaws wide and growling. Feeling another loose stone nearby, Weiss hurled it at the same Beowolf in a panic.

This time, the said Beowolf got bowled over by a heavy backpack, its contents scattering across the ground in between the beasts and Weiss, to the sound of the Grimm's yelp.

"Hey!" came a voice behind her.

Weiss, along with the dozen or so Bewolves turned their heads in the direction of the shout.

It was Phoenix.

The man still flamed from before, currently standing ten feet behind Weiss off to her right.

"The Princess said back off!"

Phoenix punched forward, his right gauntlet flashing red before shooting off a ball of fire. The attack hit a Beowolf square in the chest, making the beast yowl as it was sent flying into a nearby tree. Not wasting a moment, Phoenix punched forward again, and again, and again, sending a barrage of fireballs at the Grimm, hitting some, while missing others. Of the Beowolves still standing, all of them took off towards the rogue, deeming him more of a threat at the moment. Weiss quickly scrambled off to the side and hid behind another tree. She watched with wide eyes as the pack, in unison, leapt into the air and swarmed her savior.

"Look out!"

To Weiss' shock, Phoenix chuckled, remaining in place as the Beowolves came down up on his head. A split second before they collided, Phoenix leapt vertical into the air, narrowly missing the multitude of claws swiping at him. As he turned to face his opponents in the air and fell back down to earth, his golden gauntlets blazed with fire again. Seconds later, Phoenix's fist met the ground, rippling and cascading dirt outwards in waves. Beowolves went flying in all directions.

And Weiss could only stare in awe.

Phoenix rose from his crouch, the flames from his punch dissipating around him as he stood. Taking a quick glance around, the rogue immediately charged forward a few steps before leaping high into the air again, flipping forwards. His right leather boot came down on the nearest Beowolf like a sledgehammer, the heel of the man's boot cracking its bone mask sending the Grimm cratering into the dirt.

Phoenix immediately curved to the left after that, uppercutting a Beowolf into the air with a ball of flame. Following it up into the air, the rogue spun mid air, Phoenix's boots crunching against the faces of two charging Beowolves about to snap as his flank, the hits sending both beasts tumbling across the ground away from him. Phoenix touched down a moment later. By now, the remaining Beowolves, having finally righted themselves from the original blast which knocked them off their feet, charged at Phoenix, howling.

In spite being outnumber by at least tenfold, the rogue was undeterred. Quickly punching at the closest Beowolf, Phoenix sent it careening backwards into a nearby tree with a fireball. Kicking his right foot backwards a moment later, the man smashed another Beowolf hard in the stomach with his boot. Another Beowolf used that time to close in on the rogue, swiping at the man's face with its claws.

Phoenix had apparently anticipated this, either that or had seen it coming a ways away, for he dropped down into the crouch, leg extended, and quickly did a sweeping kick knocking the Grimm off of its feet. While it was still airborne, Phoenix uppercutted the Grimm with a flaming fist before smashing it back down to the ground with another fiery punch a split second later.

As a blur of movement narrowed in on the man from the front, Phoenix leapt to his feet. Taking one step forward, he jumped at the charging Beowolf, using its chest as a springboard to leap higher into the air. Twisting around to face another of its brethren trying to flank him, Phoenix smashed the flanking beast in the stomach with a kick, sending it crashing backwards into another Beowolf behind it. The second Beowolf stumbled backwards off balance, the first of them falling to the ground limp. Phoenix quickly charged at the second Grimm and finished off the Beowolf with a fiery right jab to the chest and a flaming left uppercut.

Growls sounded behind the blur of a man, Phoenix punching in the opposite direction of the howls. A ball of flame rocketed from his right gauntlet, sending him skidding backwards on his heels at super human speed and straight at the charging Beowolves behind him. Phoenix met the first Beowolf with an elbow to the chest, kicking it backwards with a spinning roundhouse kick to the face.

The second Beowolf swiped at Phoenix's head as its brethren was bashed away, Phoenix quickly raising his right fist, stopping the eviscerating limb with his golden gauntlet. A split second later, the Beowolf was met with two fiery blasts to the face, a backhand to the chest, a roundhouse kick to the face, and another flaming fist to the face before it was sent flipping into the air with a final round house kick.

Taking a momentary breather, Phoenix quickly turned about face to the sounds of snarling. A lone Beowolf charged at him, swiping at his head like countless of its brethren had, only for the attack to be blocked with a golden gauntlet. The Beowolf then met its end with a flurry of flaming punches to the chest and a fiery uppercut to the face. All the while this was happening, Phoenix still glowed with small flames of orange and his eyes were blood red. Unlike the Beowolves' gaze, Weiss noted, Phoenix's red eyes didn't scare the princess one bit.

A roar sounded in the distance, making the rogue look skywards. Movement from deeper in the forest caught Weiss attention, two blurs leaping into the clearing with them seconds later. The first blur was brown, and didn't stop, the brown blur deftly zipping between the Beowolves and Phoenix, continuing into the trees on the other side of the clearing, disappearing as fast as it appeared. The second blur, a black one, was hot on the first blur's heels, barrelling through trees, knocking them down and splintering them without reprieve.

It was another type of Grimm. One much more dangerous.

An Ursa.

The remaining Beowolves were bulldozed over like bowling pins, some being thrown into the air, others being flat out trampled by the newcomer. Phoenix just barely managed to roll out of the way of the other stampeding Grimm himself, the man's flames finally dying down at this point. With his flames now gone, Phoenix's eyes returned to their soft, violet colour.

The Ursa quickly lashed out at the closest Beowolves to it, immediately marking territory. Seeing this, Phoenix darted around the rage filled beast, the Beowolves once again switching targets to this bigger threat.

"Time to go Princess!" the rogue said, scrambling over to the still Schnee heiress.

Chest heaving in exhaustion, Phoenix hoisted Weiss over his shoulder and took off into a mad run deeper into the forest. Weiss yelped at the sudden movement, instinctively kicking and flailing her arms.

"Let go of me brute!" she exclaimed. The white haired girl squeaked as both of them suddenly went airborne, the rogue jumping over a fallen log.

"Nuh uh!" Phoenix said, huffing. He stumbled over a passing root shortly afterwards but managed to stay upright. He continued to run. "As much as I'm tempted to, I'm not going to leave you to-"

Weiss heard Phoenix suck in a hasty breath before she went airborne again, the sound of claws meeting metal and a crack following shortly afterwards. Weiss hit the ground with a yelp a few seconds later, the rogue suddenly gone from underneath her. Shaking her head out of her daze, she quickly looked up at the sound of a snarl. All of the blood drained out of her face the moment she did.

Phoenix was now slumped over in front of a cratered tree fifteen feet away from her, a Beowolf advancing on him menacingly. Judging by the smoke still emanating from the Grimm's fur, it had to be one of the Beowolves from the fight before.

"No..." Weiss said in horror.

The Grimm stalked towards the downed rogue, claws twitching, drool dropping to the ground from its open maw. Phoenix groggily shook his head, still much too out of it to do much of anything, far-a-less defend himself. He probably didn't even realize the danger he was in right now.

"No."

Weiss searched for a weapon, the heiress cursing her helplessness again. While it was true she didn't like the man, and really couldn't stand Phoenix, it was also true that he had saved her more than once now. And she was not about to let him die.

Not because of her.

The Beowolf towered over Phoenix now, raising its paw. The shadow of the beast made the dazed man raise his foggy gaze upwards just as the claws came down upon his head.

"NO!"

Weiss' hand shot out towards the Beowolf instinctively, a light blue Dust glyph immediately materializing under the Grimm's feet. The beast had only a split second to look down before ice shot up from the ground and swallowed it whole, the Beowolf's attacking hand freezing just inches away from Phoenix's face. The Grimm didn't even have a chance to howl before it was frozen solid.

As quick as the Dust glyph appeared, it vanished, Weiss slumping to the ground, her strength suddenly gone. With her vision blackening, panic and fear was replaced by exhaustion, aches and pains replaced by tiredness. The last thing she remembered before closing her eyes and succumbing to darkness was a shocked violet gaze.

Weiss awoke to the sounds of crackling flames sometime later.

Slowly pushing herself upright and rubbing the sleep from her eyes, she found herself half covered in a worn, wool blanket that had seen better days. A camp fire crackled just a few feet away from her, fish on sticks cooking around it. And on the other side of the fire was a shadowed figure, their back resting against a tree.

"You're awake."

Weiss's cool gaze met a violet one. She blinked before turning away to look around. "Where...?"

"Somewhere far away from those Grimm," Phoenix replied. "Though, beyond that, it's hard to tell in this darkness."

Weiss looked up at the sky, the stars still shining brightly overhead. This had to be one of the longest nights of her life.

"Thank you."

Weiss' gaze locked onto the rogue again.

"For saving me back there."

Phoenix refused to look at Weiss right now. Whether it was out of embarrassment or shame, Weiss would never know. Silence would reign between them for a few seconds before Weiss chose to speak up.

"I couldn't just watch you die," Weiss said, breaking the silence. "You are one of my people after all."

Phoenix just snorted.

"Besides," Weiss said, ignoring the snort. "You did save me a few times before that."

The man fidgeted with the hem of his cloak. "You make it sound like I wanted to."

Blue eyes narrowed at Phoenix. "Why did you then, if not out of the goodness of your heart?"

Something was thrown in Weiss' direction, the heiress catching it without thinking. It was a paper scroll. Giving the rogue a brief glance, Weiss unrolled the scroll, her gaze quickly landing on the giant REWARD inked at the top of it in bold. Underneath the header was a brief description of what Weiss looked like, her official title as Princess Schnee, and a substantial reward of lien.

Weiss almost snorted. Leave it to her father to be so ridiculous.

King Schnee had to be the vainest person Weiss knew in the entire Kingdom of Vytal. He made sure that the people knew what he looked like, having countless portraits of himself painted and distributed amongst the court of the nobles. As if that wasn't enough (and it wasn't, not to the king), every so often, he would travel the streets of Vale via carriage, with an entire troop of soldiers guarding him, just so people never forgot his face. On top of that, craftsmen were ordained to make miniature replicas of King Schnee, in his likeness, something he forced the poorer districts of the capital city to buy just because he could. Yet, when it came to Weiss, his own daughter, his flesh and blood, the damn fool didn't even have the decency to include a portrait of her on the reward notice. Despicable.

"Seems like daddy is missing his little girl," Phoenix commented, a slight sneer in his voice.

Princess Schnee glared at the paper.

"He does not miss me, only what I can do for him," she said tersely. Icy blue eyes locked onto Phoenix's violet ones. "So if you plan on taking me back, it must be as your prisoner," Weiss said. She tossed the bounty scroll back to the rogue who caught it easily.

"Why is that?" Phoenix asked, genuinely curious. Clearly this was not the response he was expecting.

Weiss turned to stare at the fire, clenching her jaw. "I won't go back. I just... won't..."

Phoenix was silent for a moment, his eyes flickering between Weiss and the fire.

"Sounds like life in the castle isn't so lovely after all," the rogue said after a few seconds. "Too bad. I hear they have really good roast over there."

Weiss clenched her fist in response to her increasing ire. She closed her eyes to calm herself, but it didn't work. Instead, memories unbidden forced their way into her mind, times she wished to forget, making her only more angry.

"What would you know?" Weiss said, nearly growling. "You're just a free booting scoundrel with no cares nor responsibilities."

Weiss was harsh in her remarks she knew, but she was so angry right now. How dare he talk to her like that!

"What could you know of duty to one's family and to one's people?" Weiss turned away in disgust.

"Free booting?" Phoenix whispered, as if he couldn't believe she just called him that.

Weiss turned back to say something else, but the man wouldn't let her.

"Free booting!? How dare you!"

Weiss blinked in surprise at this reaction. Apparently she hit a nerve.

Phoenix shakily rose to his feet and glared at Weiss witheringly.

"It is YOU Princess that has no damn clue!" the man exclaimed, making Weiss flinch.

"What would you know of duty to family?! You have been pampered your entire life!"

Phoenix was shaking, a finger pointed at Weiss.

"And here you are lecturing me about responsibilities!? What in the world would you know about that!?"

Weiss cringed backwards as the rogue marched around the camp fire and moved his face to stop just inches from her own. The next words to leave his mouth would hit the Weiss harder than any physical lash could, because having seen the agony and sorrow bleeding through his eyes, Weiss knew they were genuine.

"Did you have to worry about how you were going to feed your sickly little sister when your house was raided by bandits and your parents killed!? Hmm? Did you feel sick to your stomach every night as you tried to find shelter after those same said bandits burned down your house and village!? Did you have to go through the agony of having healer after healer turn your dying sister away because you didn't have enough lien to pay for her to get better!? Did you!?"

Weiss swallowed thickly as tears pooled in the corner of the man's eyes.

"No! You didn't!"

Phoenix snarled.

"Just like how you weren't forced to steal just to eat, you weren't forced to live on the streets just to survive, you weren't forced to w-watch your little s-sister smile at you as she wasted away in your arms because you didn't have the power or money to do anything about it!"

At this point, tears flowed freely from Phoenix's eyes, torment clearly heard in his voice as he fought so hard to keep his words from trembling.

"You have no idea the life I have lived and the things I have done to just live, Princess. Do not speak as if you do!"

Weiss was misty eyed and speechless by the end of all of that.

After staring at her for another few seconds, Phoenix finally rose up to his full height, clutching at his right side. When he started walking backwards away from her, Weiss couldn't but feel a sense of panic rise inside of her.

"Fear not anymore, Princess," Phoenix said, his voice low and muted. "I've changed my mind."

The bounty scroll previously hidden inside of Phoenix's cloak was pulled out and tossed into the fire. Weiss watched as the parchment immediately went up in flames.

"I need not any stinking lien for a wretch like you."

Blue eyes rose up to look at the rogue, Weiss not feeling the least bit insulted by that comment even though she knew she should have.

"I don't want to taint myself with your kind."

With that said, Phoenix walked passed Weiss, and into the darkness beyond the campfire. He would not return for the remainder of the night, leaving Weiss to mull over both his words and hers, Weiss not sleeping a wink before morning came.