"We're sharing this place with them?"
"Calm down Jaune." Pyrrha motioned for him to lower his voice.
He shook his head in disgust as he returned to slowly consume his dinner. The china used was a thin marble plate decorated with swirls and patterns etched into the rim of the dish. Their meal was a small portion of a steak with mashed potatoes and peas on the side. Their drink was water poured into a crystal cup. Jaune had barely touched his vegetables and steak, he barely touched anything on his plate. He got up and continued to pace the room, careful not to knock anyone's stuff over.
"Can you please tell my why you all chose to meet in my room?"
"Because you were asleep and Yang didn't want to carry you and no one else would, so we decided to meet here," Ruby said with a mouthful of steak and mashed potatoes.
"If you're going to invade someone's privacy, warn them ahead of time. And please, speak once you've swallowed your food." The heiress picked up her knife and fork and began to chip away at the steak. Her small proportions were dictated on the table etiquette her tyrant for a father had drilled into her head. The blonde admired her perfect posture when sitting and how her hands wielded the utensils with such grace and-
"Yang! Hey Yang! Snap out of it!" Ruby was rocking her sister back and forth, trying to get her attention. The brawler shook her head and realized that everyone in the room was staring at her. She flashed her usual grin and returned to finishing off her food.
"Anyways, as I was saying, we should try to avoid conflict for as long as possible. If we aren't allowed to fight anywhere but the Arena, then we should be fine. As long as they watch us as carefully as they do right now, then there's nothing to fear," Blake spoke confidently, motioning with her hands and arms throughout her proposal.
"I agree, we shouldn't let those Guardians dictate our lives. We should-" Weiss chimed in but was interrupted by a knock on her door. The door was ajar when a head poked out. It was the tour guide from earlier, although he wasn't wearing his cloak. He was wearing blue tinted sunglasses that completely covered his eyes with a loose button-down shirt and worn jeans. His tan skin and his naturally upright brown hair made him somewhat attractive, not as much as Yang, but still crush-worthy.
"Might I ask what the commotion is about?"
"None of your concern." Weiss attempt to brush him off failed as he stepped into the room and closed the door, leaning against the doorframe. He placed his hands into his pockets and proceeded to speak.
"I do believe it is of my concern madame. Your group is causing a slight disturbance for the other successors." His polite voice on the verge of becoming sarcastic made the heiress want to shiver.
"What do you want?" Blake obviously annoyed with his presence here wanted him to be gone as soon as possible.
"Nothing, just making conversation with my successors and their fellow acquaintances." He indicated to everyone in the room.
"Please leave," Weiss commanded more than asked.
He smiled and bowed. "As you wish." He opened the door and quietly slipped out, gently closing the door behind him.
"What is up with that guy?" the heiress asked, too I infuriated to finish her meal.
"Beats me!" Nora exclaimed from Ren's lap on the floor as she snatched his steak and greedily ate it.
"Hey, I was going to eat that," Ren said playfully. He turned to face his girlfriend who gave him a chubby grin do to the steak in her mouth. He rolled his eyes as he returned his attention to the others.
"So now what?" Yang asked as she looked around the room. Blake, Weiss and Pyrrha were deep in thought while Ruby and the others were quietly conversing.
"I think that's enough for today. We'll see where this goes and if we think it's not worth it, then we'll just back out. So let's-" Blake was speaking nonchalantly when she was interrupted by a voice outside.
"You can't resign from something you haven't accepted."
Everybody seemed shocked and disconcerned that the tour guide was eavesdropping on their conversation. Weiss got up and swung the door open to find him leaning against the right side of the marble door frame. He had his arms crossed.
"What are you doing?" the heiress exclaimed as she flailed her arms in the air above her. He shrugged and turned to stared at the white haired girl through his sunglasses with a bored expression.
"Go away," Weiss said through her teeth as she clenched her fists tighter.
"Now, that's not how you were taught to treat people is, Lady Schnee?"
"Leave before I-" the white haired girl spoke in a low rumble before getting interrupted once again, this time by someone different.
"There you are. Quit messing with the successors and go help Ordan with the Oracle Lens. It's acting up again." An old female with a pale jawline motioned for the jerk in front of Weiss to leave. He moved without so much a shrug and silently walked out of the marble hallway with his hands in his pockets. After he disappeared from Weiss' sight, the other Guardian muttered a quick apology and left the heiress in the silent hallway.
"Hey Weiss, you okay?" Yang slowly approached the heiress from behind. She placed a hand on her shoulder but was immediately brushed off. The white haired girl turned and continued her advance towards leaving the hallway. "Weiss!" The blonde tried to chase after her but was met with a firm grip on her forearm. She turned to face the person who stopped her advance expecting Blake or Pyrrha, but was met with the gaze of...nothing… She looked down to find a white dove with a red rose on the ground and on top of a beige letter.
The dove that sat upon the message took flight and flew out of the hallway with the rose between its beak. Yang reached down and opened the letter to find it written in perfect calligraphy.
'Let her go this time.'
The blonde looked around to find that the door had closed. She opened it to find everyone happily conversing with each other, even Blake jumped in once and a while. Their plates and cups were neatly stacked at the center of Weiss' study table; empty of food and water. Yang's plate along with the heiress' was placed off to the side as well as their unfinished beverages.
"Hey, did you guys see anything?" the blonde asked, placing her right hand on her hip.
"Nope," a cheerful Ruby replied, returning to her conversation with the group.
"Then what did you see?"
"Not much. We saw Weiss leave and moments later you left and closed the door behind you. I was wondering what you were doing out there. It's been almost an hour since we've last seen you," Ruby answered.
Nora giggled as she did Ren's hair up into a loose bun."Hey!" he called out in a happy tone as he tried to protest against his new hairstyle.
"So, where's your partner?" Pyrrha asked as she leaned against Jaune's shoulder.
"Off somewhere," Yang said halfheartedly.
"Oh, that's too bad. We were just about to leave for the Bladeworks where Ruby would show us some of her 'creations'," Jaune added as he brought an arm up to wrap around his girlfriend's shoulder. "Wanna come?"
"...Sure, why not?" Yang wanted to decline in order to search for Weiss, but her gut told her to trust the note that was stuffed into her pocket.
"Alright! Maybe one of you guys will be lucky enough to have their weapons customized by yours truly," she got up and pointed at herself with a goofy grin on her face.
"Maybe not. Let's go." Blake got up and gently patted the crimson huntress on the head before making her way over to the door and opening it. Ruby sighed as she excitedly bounded down the hallway and up the stairs. Ren was next, with his girlfriend on his shoulders, as usual. 'How could someone not crack under the energy of Nora?' Yang thought. Jaune and Pyrrha were the last to leave, hand in hand as they whispered quietly amongst themselves. Once she reached the base of the staircase, the blonde stopped and allowed the couple behind her to pass so she would have a moment to reflect.
'I wonder if I made the right choice,' Yang thought as she made her way up the stairs. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw the same dove with a rose in between its beak above her. It circled around and soon landed on an opened hand of a small child cloaked in white, perched on a branch of the Elder Tree that was barely in view. The moment the person knew they were noticed, the figure wilted away in a flurry of daisy petals.
'I guess we'll have to see,' Yang thought as she saw a fussing Ruby Rose struggling to pry Jaune's sword from his hand. Blake was inspecting some katanas and pistols on display. Ren and Nora were observing some warhammers and rifles up for show. Pyrrha stood by, giggling at the sight of her struggling boyfriend in front of her. Yang let out a soft chuckle as she jogged to rejoin the group.
'I wonder what Weiss is doing...'
"What is it Ordan?"
"If you would please stop acting like the rebellious teenager you are and help me with the Oracle Lens, then we wouldn't have any problems."
"Calm down, there's no need for the rush." Ytano sighed as he made his way over to the elder Guardian.
"And please wear your cloak when leaving your room."
"Yea yea, you wanted help or not?"
"Stand over there and lend me your Aura."
The younger Guardian made his way over to where he was pointing at. The opening was a circular room with five different Glyphs marked on the marble floor. One marked blue with a star in the middle, placed on Ordan's right. Another was red with an inverted triangle inside a circle centered around another triangle, located to his left. One Glyph was tinted gray and had two circles and in between them was a square, placed on the older Guardian's far right. The last available Glyph had pentagon inside a circle place on Ordan's far left. The one he stood on was solid yellow with words inscribed in a language native to Vacuo on three rings. The only light that was seen other than the occupied Glyph was radiating off the glowing purple sphere that levitated in the center on its pedestal.
Ytano stood on top of a gray Glyph and waved his hand to draw a series of words in an ancient language. He wisped his hands and drew upon his pool of Aura. The symbol underneath him began to glow. He sharply moved his hand to his right and a line illuminated on the ground. A link of Aura flowed to the right side of the pentagon from Ytano's point of view. When the link connected to Ordan's Glyph, his symbol grew brighter and so did the orb in the middle. After a few seconds, the orb in the middle of the room that was once barren of a flame combusted into a brilliant purple light inside its spherical container. The blaze lit the room with a magenta hue. Upon the walls, were carvings of significant events that took hold in Remnant. Etchings of prehistoric people before dust was discovered up to the Faunus Rights Revolution were found on the walls of marble.
"Are we done here?" Ytano asked, obviously annoyed that he was chosen instead of that old hag Enor.
"Yes, and send Anako in when-" Ordan began, but was interrupted by a wave of the younger Guardians hand. "Ungrateful punk," he muttered under his breath. No more than a few moments after Ytano left, the older female Guardian walked into the newly lit room.
"Was it wise of you to drag the boy out of his way just fix some dumb light? I could have easily fixed it on my own."
"I have my reasons. Also, I needed to speak to you regarding Enor and your successors."
"If this is going to take long, I would prefer to sit," Anako said, rubbing her back to emphasize her point.
"I've done this for the past millennia and I have yet to complain about back problems. I seriously doubt you need a break from your line of work, but if that is what you want." Ordan snapped his fingers and a chair was materialized beside Anako. She took the seat and prepared herself for the doubt the elder Guardians was about to cast upon her.
"I was wondering why you chose those four?"
"Wh-what do you mean?" She readjusted her position in her seat, never making eye contact.
"Roman Torchwick, Hei Xiong, Miltiades Malachite and Melanie Malachite. Why those four?"
"Are you questioning my motives?" Anako leaned in closer, resting her elbows on her knees and making a platform with her hands for her head to rest on.
"I'm saying that should you not have considered the fact of their questionable actions and past?" Ordan took a step closer before continuing. "I'm starting to believe that you and Enor are conspiring against the council, and all of Remnant! And you plan on using the successors to fulfill these goals!"
"That is absurd! I can't believe you would even dare bring up such ludicrous accusations against me!" Although she was old, she was far from febile. Anako shot up from the marble chair and glared at Ordan. Her eyes were covered by the white hood.
"Deny all you want, my accusations still stands." He said as he turned to face an etching on the wall behind him. "Leave," he rumbled.
Without a second thought, Anako gave a grunt as she turned and left the room, leaving the elder Guardian alone with his thoughts as he stared into the burning purple orb.
Weiss stared at the carnations growing on the bright green grass. The air was vibrant with scents of lavender, daisies, roses, lilacs and other unearthly aromas that radiated off the flowers planted. They were in full bloom and their beauty could've never been properly catalogued in the books the heiress had ever read. Other than the cobblestone pathway that lead to the other end of the room, the earth was covered with flowers.
'I can see why it's a place of recollection,' Weiss thought was she ran her hand through the flowers at the edge of the walkway. Her white t-shirt and shorts did little to suppress the tickling sensation of the petals against her right thigh and calf. He colourless sneakers were laced up tightly as she stopped halfway down the pathway. There was a lone lilac flower in the middle of a myrtus cluster. A light breeze caused the flowers to sway and create a light flurry of dancing petals. From the field of thousands, one hundred flowers performed the mesmerizing swirl of colours. A myrtus cluster and a lilac petal both landed in the open palm of the heiress as she continued to stare into the colour-filled sky.
"Amazing, isn't it?" a young female voice spoke from behind the white haired girl.
Weiss slowly nodded her head without looking away, not wanting to blink for she would miss the show.
"The Flower Bed is most beautiful around this time of year." The person walked to the heiress' side. After a few seconds, the petals slowly rained down to the ground. Weiss finally turned to face her guest. She was short: her head was just below the heiress' breast line. She had pale blonde hair done up into a loose bun with two small nubs that were barely noticeable poking out of her head. The girl was wearing an elegant one-piece dress tinted a light purple with the same coloured flats. She had pale blue eyes and a slender build. She looks a lot like someone the heiress had seen before but couldn't quite put her finger on it.
"Do I know you?" the white haired girl asked bluntly.
"As of now, no. But I suppose you should get to know the person you're going to be taking over for. I'm your predecessor." She stuck out her hand and flashed grin with a slight tilt of her head and added cheerfully, "Name's Ani."
"Weiss," she replied with less than half of the girl's energy as she shook her hand. "Wait, so you're the Guardian I'm suppose to take over for?"
"If you put it like that, it sounds like I'm an old fossil," Ani whispered as she broke the handshake.
"Aren't you too young to retire?" Weiss questioned her skeptically.
"There other reasons why one must step down from a job position such as a better work environment or health matters. Retirement is not restricted to just age, you of all people should know that," Ani said confidently without breaking eye contact. Weiss was shocked by her response that she asked the obvious question.
"How old are you?"
"Nineteen."
"You look ten."
"Just because my physical appearance is much younger than my mental state, you shouldn't assume that my responses will be justified only by looks," Ani as she place a hand on her hip.
"How long have you been doing this?"
"Guardians and successors never age once they have begun or completed the trials. You seem like a fairly intellectual person, so you can figure that out," the Guardian said with a smile on her face.
"So if you were ten when you started, how did you manage?"
"I got help."
"From who?"
"Another Guardian."
"Who?" Weiss raised her voice slightly to get her point across.
"Someone…" Ani stared at her feet and twiddled her thumbs, obviously showing she had feelings for this person.
"Anyways, what did that tour guide jerk mean by 'a place where you can relive memories'?"
"He's not a jerk by nature, he just gets agitated easily."
"Right...anyways, you mind explaining?" Weiss asked, placing both hands on her hips.
"Follow me." Ani said as she led the heiress off the path and into some impermeable overgrowth at the edge of the room. She hesitated once she got to the edge as Ani stopped and turned to face her successor.
"You wanted answers didn't you? They're just beyond here." Ani said as she began moving branches and leaves out of the way. Weiss stood there for a moment, contemplating whether or not she should follow. Eventually, curiosity took hold and it led the heiress to follow the Guardian.
'Yang must be having a blast right now,' Weiss thought as a branch smacked her right on the nose.
"Ruby, don't touch that!"
"Oh calm down Yang, I got this!" No sooner had the crimson huntress said those words, a series of loud bangs and rattling of metal filled the eardrums of the blonde. "Oops. sorry!"
"I hate to say I told you so but-"
"She told you so," Blake butted in, her eyes never leaving a rack of multi-coloured blades.
"Hey!" Yang pouted at the loss of her punchline.
"You begin to know less and less about who she really is everyday." Pyrrha sighed as she wrapped herself around Jaune's right arm.
"Well maybe, but at least she's communicating more often," he said as he scratched the back of his head. Blake glared at him before returning to inspect the weapons. "Cold as ever," he muttered under his breath. Ruby giggled as she returned to ogling at the blades and firearms.
"Where's Ren and Nora?" Yang looked around to find the pair nowhere in sight.
"I think Ren is off doing maintenance on StormFlower. Nora's probably looking over him." Pyrrha said as she tightened her grip on Jaune's arm.
"Umm, not to sounded disappointed or anything, but I haven't seen those guys." The blonde emphasized her disgust by pretending to nauseous.
"There's no need to be childish Yang. But I do recognize your point. Blake, thoughts?" the red haired girl asked, still clinging on to her boyfriends arm.
"I don't know where they are. What I do know is that something bad is bound to happen when you don't expect it," she said, never making eye contact.
"Since when did you know so much about being clueless?" Yang asked playfully with a tilt of her head.
"I've had my experiences," Blake said nonchalantly as she finally turned to face something other than a board of steel.
"Well then, what do you propose we do Miss Belladonna?" Pyrrha asked with an equally mixture of politeness and curiosity.
"We prepare."
"How?" Jaune chimed in. His answer was rewarded by a questioning look from Blake.
"We train." The Faunus walked past the three onlookers and out of the Bladeworks.
"Guess we'd better get going," Pyrrha said as she dragged a protesting Jaune to the Arena.
"Hey, where's Ruby?" Yang looked around to find her sister missing. No sooner had the blonde finished the search around her, a wall of cascading metal could be heard from across the room.
"I'm okay!" the crimson huntress exclaimed as another round of falling metal could be heard. "Still okay!"
'Oh Ruby, you're such an adorable little clutz.' Yang made her way over to the origin of the noise with a grin on her face.
"Oh, Ren, Nora, what are you doing here? I thought you were customizing your guns." The blonde was surprised to find the couple staring down at a pile of fallen weapons and the hands and feet sticking out of the pile.
"He's done!" Nora ecstatically patted the boy's head, ruffling his hair while she was at it.
"Help!" Ruby weakly squeaked from under the mound of metal and leather. Yang chuckled as she and Ren began to quickly remove the weapons to reveal a grimy young huntress. She had a few scuffs and some holes torn into her combat skirt. She smiled from ear to ear as she stuck out both her hands. The blonde tilted her head before grabbing both her hands and yanking her off the ground.
"Heh, sorry bout the mess, got carried away." The crimson huntress scratched the back of her head.
"Well, at least you're not hurt, right?" Yang sounded serious about the injured part. Her sister responded with a fierce headshake.
"Good. Alright, let's go." The brawler grabbed the younger girl's hand and began dragging her to the exit.
"Wait, where are we going?" Ruby struggled to break free.
"To the Arena!"
"But I had barely gotten started on the modifications I wanted to do for Crescent Rose! And there's your gauntlets and Blake's sword and Weiss' rapier. C'mon, a little longer? Yang? Yang? Yang!" She could struggle and complain all she wanted, the blonde's grip was solid as she made her way over to the west opening to the Elder Tree.
'I wonder what Weiss is doing.'
"Are we there yet?" the heiress whined as another branch hit her right in the face.
"I didn't think you were the type to complain about situations. You seemed so proper and up-right that I thought you were too good to groan."
"I remember you saying that you shouldn't judge a person's response based on their physical appearance," the white haired girl said with a sly grin as she followed the Guardian through the thicket of brush.
"I merely assumed that your actions would be dictated by the life you have lived, that is all."
"Assumptions are what get you or your comrades killed."
There was silence from the heiress' predecessor. After a few moments, she spoke up again, this time in a more soft, mellow tone. "We're here."
Once Weiss broke through the clearing, she was in awe at the beauty at this hidden place. There were trees of different sizes and species but they all had one thing in common; they blocked out the ceiling and the sunlight. All the walls surrounding the room were painted with vines of different sizes and origins. There was a massive stone pillar in the center of the room that extended beyond the canopy of the trees. The tower had etchings of symbols and designs accompanied with its fair share of cracks and missing portions of the smooth stone across its surface. The pathway the heiress was standing on was made of cracked cobblestone and had grass growing from gaps between tiles. The pathway was the only one that Weiss could see that lead to the structure at the center. The area around the white haired girl was riddled with trees that nearly blocked out her vision of the others walls.
"Come on, let's go," Ani said as she slowly walked towards the pillar. The heiress nodded and followed the Guardian.
From what Weiss could tell, the only place the had sunlight penetrating the canopy was at the center, and nowhere else. Surrounding the pillar were eight pedestals with a different objects floating above their respected alters. The heiress circled around to inspect each item up for display.
One had a golden skeleton of a cube levitating on one of its vertices. Another was a golden dagger with a ruby embedded at the bottom of its hilt. It floated vertically with the blade pointing skywards. One object was a silver sphere with gold markings and swirls carved into its polished surface. Another was a small wooden picture frame with an aged painting of a wilting flower. The one opposite to the entrance was a fairly large crystal tinted a blueish green. Another pedestal stood a floating wooden doll bare of any facial expression or hair. The altar beside that kept an old and tattered book opened to a random page. The words were absolute gibberish to Weiss as she made her way over the last item.
It was a small hand-held mirror with a golden frame and its reflective surface a blue hue. The carvings along the frame of the item were of swirls and symbols that the heiress recognized to be her native tongue. The handle was wrapped in aged leather and the whole mirror head was perfect oval with a crown of jewels on top. Weiss would have stayed and admired the object all day had it not been a voice from behind her.
"I believe you know what these pedestals hold," the voice said quietly. Weiss nodded her head, never breaking eye contact with the mirror.
"Well, here's the answer to the question you're going to ask next. Each artifact the duo must assemble is specific to the pair themselves. For example, let's take the sphere Miss Rose and Miss Belladonna had to rebuild. That orb signifies to Blake the solidarity and motion she had to keep while she was part of the White Fang. The markings across its surface is the stem of a rose, both figuratively and literally. It shows that no matter how isolated and alone you choose to be, there will always be those who will embed themselves inside your heart," Ani said as stood beside the silent heiress.
"What does this mirror represent?" Weiss asked silently, her eyes falling on her white sneakers.
"Your answer lies at the top of this pillar."
"What do you mean?" the white haired girl asked, looking up to find the Guardians pale blue eyes. Her dress was still pristine, the same couldn't be said about her clothing.
"Have you ever wondered why this pillar is in the condition it is now?" She gestured to the structure in front of her.
"I thought it was because of age."
"Partially. It's because other successors and even some Guardians have scaled it to reach the top."
"What do you mean by- Hey!" Weiss started but was interrupted when the younger girl began floating up into the air.
"If you want answers, you'll have to reach the top. I'll see you there!" Ani shouted as she rocketed out of sight, leaving the stunned heiress.
'Alright, let's go,' she thought as she summoned a propulsion glyph and shot upwards. The wind rushed past her face and caused her hair to flail wildly in the air. She let out a laugh as she summoned another glyph, one after the other. With adrenaline pumping through her veins, she finally felt alive ever since she got her. After a few seconds, Weiss had broken through the canopy to find out the sheer size of the room.
It had a massive dome ceiling with eight marble arches to support the roof. They all connected at the center of the semi-sphere. There were no walls to the dome, just a reflection glyph. The wind and sunlight were much more noticeable up here. She could have found the tallest tree and perched herself there to take in the view if she hadn't noticed a waving young girl wearing a purple dress on top of a stone pillar. The heiress redirected herself and launched off towards the structure. Two more glyphs later and Weiss was standing besides Ani, who had a big smile on her face.
"I heard you were a proficient wielder of glyphs and aura. I guess there's no denying it."
"So, where are we?" Weiss looked around to find that the flowers growing up here glowed. As they swayed in the wind, specks of sparkling dust left the flowers, descending to the ground below.
"This is the Flower Bed of Memories."
More on the way, hoped you guys enjoyed. Later!
A/N: For those of you who play League of Legends, see if you can spot the two references. (LOL fan I know, but lol!)