It took me a lot longer than it should have, but I managed to crank this one out. Actually, after doing a little of historical research, I went to town on this chapter. I practically finished overnight. The reason it took so long was because I was working on another project which I will talk about below.

So, to all the history buffs, I'm so sorry for what I butchered throughout this chapter. For those who don't know, I'm basing this one on the last battle of the War of the Roses. I mainly used Wikipedia for the general information so don't expect too much from me.

Also, if you're not a Fire Emblem fan, some of the terms may confuse you. I used many different classes throughout the chapter that appear in the games and as a result, the characters manage feats that are not entirely historically accurate. You'll see why.


09. Hanging Out with Friends

22 August, 1485.

It was a dark day near Ambion Hill. It was cold, as the days of summer began to end and the chilly autumn winds prematurely blew. The boundless gray skies cover the earth, predicting a bout between two major factions.

This, Weiss Schnee knew.

For the past two years, her king had ruled England. Though it had received mixed reactions from the people for quite some time, Weiss knew she could not judge King Richard.

It was not a knight's place to judge.

For years, she served the House of York with fervor and determination, eventually granting her the rank of the highest standings: leader and commander of the Yorkist army. A White Blood. Her armor had various Eastern influences, she could tell. Heavy white fabric endowed with gold lining. On her right shoulder, a golden pauldron; her arms, golden gauntlets; and of course white and golden boots and chest plate. By her side was her trusty rapier: Myrtenaster. To top off her uniform, she had a white cape with light blue insides. On it, she proudly held the insignia of the Yorkists: the White Rose.

Though she was proud of her position, it sent constant reminders of what she must do. She must crush the House of Lancaster in order to keep her majesty the king as the ruling monarch. Thankfully, she has met very invaluable friends throughout her days of training and knighthood.

"Commander Schnee, I am here to report my findings."

Speak of the devil.

"Blake, you do realize you are not required to use formalities when we are alone, correct?" Weiss chuckled. When in the presence of her family or the royals, she enforced formal behavior more than anyone. But in times like these, even in times of war, she preferred keeping a friendly environment around her inner circle.

"I apologize, Commander," Blake kept her head down in a crouch. "But this is important."

Weiss's expression melded into a fierce one once she realized the weight of Blake's words. Blake Belladonna was a girl of French origin. However, in most of her childhood years, she was raised in the Eastern lands of Asia. Most notably, the island of Japan. She was not part of the army like Weiss was. Instead, the Belladonna family had been indebted to the Schnee family for generations and Blake served as a personal spy and scout on Weiss's behalf.

If Weiss were to give a name to Blake's class, it would be one of the most elite forms of Ninja. Weiss will openly admit she did not have much knowledge of the stealthy warriors, but she knew that Blake was above the standards of average ninjas. She wore a gray colored garb that allowed ease of movement. On her shoulders and hips, she wore layers of black lacquered armor and various armor pieces containing curved spikes on her arms. Underneath her armor, Blake often hid small weapons such as daggers and shuriken or even poison or sleep darts for an effective assassination. She was Weiss's most reliable ally.

"Very well. What is your report?"

"The smell of steel is prevalent in the air."

"That much is certain. Go on."

"Along with the other scouts, we managed to find the House of Lancaster crossing Ambion Hill. Fully armed. From the looks of it, their forces number around five thousand."

"Five thousand?" Weiss raised an eyebrow. "Are you telling me that the Lancastrians are planning to attack our army that is ten thousand strong with half our numbers?"

"That appears to be the case, yes. Leading them is Earl of Richmond Henry Tudor, along with Earl of Oxford John de Vere, Sir Gilbert Talbot, Earl of Pembroke Jaspar Tudor, Rhys ap Thomas, Philibert de Chandée, and…"

"And…?"

"The infamous Dark Blood, Ruby Rose."

Weiss scoffed. Many times she has encountered the Dark Blood known as Ruby Rose. Dark Blood, a class and title bestowed to the greatest of Lancastrian army, similar to Weiss's White Blood name. She cursed the name as she remembered the crimes the younger commander has committed in the past. She had stolen the greatest Schnee family heirloom: a golden sword by the name of Yato.

Various times they dueled on the battlefield. Every time, Weiss had lost. Granted, that did not always determined a Lancaster or Yorkist victory, but it still stung that a girl two years her junior can best her in swordplay.

"What shall we do, Commander?" Blake inquired.

Broken out of her thoughts, Weiss started her way back to camp with Blake on her tail. "I will inform King Richard, Duke Norfolk, and Earl Northumberland of this new finding. Perhaps we could intercept them before they can retaliate. Inform Ren and Nora that they will be fighting with us."

"Understood." Leaving only a trace of scattered leaves, Blake disappeared.

Weiss held onto Myrtenaster tightly. Today, I finally end this.


Weiss stood on top a hill, analyzing the battle beneath her. Mere hours ago, the Yorkist forces engaged the Lancastrians. Even House Stanley had joined the Yorkist forces late into the Battle of Bosworth Field, but there was one miscalculation.

The House of Lancaster was winning. By a significant margin.

Using Blake as a reference, Weiss calculated the loss of hundreds of Yorkist soldiers. While it did little to dent the forces of the White Rose, the Lancastrian forces had barely lost twenty men. She did not even bother attempting to count the number of Stanley deaths.

For the slaughter her army was taking, Weiss could give thanks to four particular fighters. She recognized their names and faces from previous battles.

Jaune Arc. Even though the man was nowhere near the other three in terms of combat skill, he was no slouch. He held the class of Hero, having various white armor plates over his shoulders, back, legs, and chest without restricting his mobility. He was a humble man despite coming from a high ranking noble family in England. As a result, he wielded a family treasure: Crocea Mors, a royal blade with a unique shield that can also function as sheathe. He was a decent fighter at best, but he was a notorious tactician and strategist, leading to various Lancastrian victories.

Fighting alongside him was the infamous Halberdier Pyrrha Nikos. A commoner from the lands of Greece, Pyrrha moved up the ranks of the army with pure skill alone. At a young age, she left Greece to look for work as a mercenary. She eventually took up work as a bodyguard for the Arc family. Over the years, she and Jaune fell in love and she committed herself to the Arc family, joining House Lancaster with them. She donned medium heavy red armor with gold lining throughout. On her head sat a protective red and gold helmet. In battle, she used a beautifully crafted javelin she named Miló and a round shield by the name of Akoúo̱.

The third combatant was the Berserker Yang Xiao Long. Her surname hinted that she was from the Eastern regions, but her fighting style was far too barbaric to even compare to Blake's. Strapped to her waist was a mighty axe that could fell a giant when used by the right hands. However, Yang did not even bother using it. Instead, she chose a pair of cestus instead for close quarter combat. Normally, using that choice of weaponry would only be effective against a single opponent, but Yang still somehow managed to become a monster on the battlefield, felling many Yorkist soldiers with a single punch.

As for the fourth, Weiss rather not say.

Besides her and Blake, Lie Ren and Nora Valkyrie examined the battlefield, looking for possible exploits or weaknesses they could take advantage of.

Lie Ren was a man of Chinese descent. Trading with China proved to be an effective venture as not only did it improve on England's economy, it provided the Yorkist army with great men such as Ren. He fell into the class of Swordmaster and being true to his name, he carried twin blades collectively known as StormFlower. Similar to Blake, he wore lacquered armor on his shoulder and hips over various robes and leather belts holding two sword sheathes. He proved himself to be calm and calculating on the battlefield, fighting with quick and precise strikes to take down his enemies.

His partner, however, was a different story. Nora Valkyrie hailed from Scandinavia. She was a hyperactive girl that fell into the class of War Cleric. She wore a peculiar pink combat dress that had metal reinforcements that acted as defense for her lower body. She firmly held onto a healing staff, indicating that she was more of a medic than a fighter, but she still held a standard axe around her waist in case she needed to defend herself.

"Ren, you will join our soldiers, so take out as many of those Lancastrian bastards as you can. Nora, you will open a path so the wounded can retreat and rest. Once you've done that, assist with the healing."

"Of course, Commander Schnee."

"Leave it to me!"

With that, the two left to accomplish their assigned task.

"Blake, you scout for reinforcements. For any side. If you find any opportunities to take down a Lancastrian soldier, you take it."

With a silent nod, Blake left in the wind.

With a sigh, Weiss slid down the hill and charged into a sprint. A black blur flew across her line of vision, resulting in the death of another comrade.

"Halt, Ruby Rose!"

As if on cue, the black blur did indeed halt. She examined Weiss and smirked wholeheartedly.

"It's good to see you again, Commander Schnee." Ruby extended her arm, pressing the golden blade Yato onto Weiss's chest. Ruby's armor felt almost as if Weiss was looking at a negative mirror of herself. Much of Ruby's armor was dark black, befitting the name of Dark Blood. The golden lining that White Bloods possess was instead replaced with crimson red. Even the skirt they wore was similar, signifying themselves as female knights, something already rather rare. The cape was black on the outside and red on the inside, emblazoned with the Lancaster insignia, the Red Rose.

"I can assure you, the feeling is not mutual." Weiss countered.

The Dark Blood eerily chuckled, sending shivers down Weiss's spine. "I forgot how witty that Schnee humor can be. Oh, where are my manners? To what do I owe the pleasure?"

"Enough of your pointless repartee, Rose. You know why we're here." Weiss said, unsheathing Myrtenaster. With a quick dash, Weiss closed the space between the two fighters. She tightened her grip over her rapier and threw multiple quick thrusts in Ruby's direction. None of the attacks proved to be useful as they were either blocked or sidestepped away from.

"I see, not one to fool around, are you? I like women as feisty as you are!" Ruby taunted.

"W-What?! Take this seriously, you numbskull!"

And this was the real reason why Weiss had lost every match she had with the opposing Dark Blood. It was not a matter of skill, strength, or speed, but rather a matter of tactics. Throughout her knighthood, Weiss had been taught to fight with honor and etiquette. Even to enemies who do not deserve it.

Whoever trained Ruby through knighthood must have skipped that lesson by the looks of it. In every single duel, Ruby had tried to woo Weiss on the battlefield. That proved to be detrimental to both her fighting abilities and her reputation as a leader of the Yorkist army. This woman was insufferable.

The Dark Blood commander glowered at her opposing White Blood commander with the same confident smirk. Dashing in with a burst of speed, Ruby swung her blade in a wide arc. In response, Weiss quickly back stepped and slid on the dirt as if she was ice skating. Ruby continued her onslaught with multiple swift slashes. Combined with her speed, Weiss found difficulty in dodging each strike. Myrtenaster was not fit to block many strikes, especially not from a blade as powerful as the Yato.

When she found herself to be exhausted, Weiss used a power that made her unique among normal soldiers. White Blood and Dark Blood were more than just titles and class names. Each were granted a specific power given to them by a divine power. Dark Bloods possessed the ability to manipulate the elements around them to conduct deadly spells and magic against their enemies. While White Bloods can also use that ability to a much lesser extent, their true calling was the strength of their healing abilities. Weiss waved her fingers to reenergize herself and heal any minor wounds Ruby may have inflicted.

Of course, using such powers was not subtle as casting forms a visible glyph for all to see. Ruby caught on and used her own abilities against Weiss.

Ruby curled her fingers, only keeping her index and middle fingers extended. With a single graceful movement of her arm, she summoned a crimson glyph on the ground. Inside the circular structure, the earth began to clump together, forming some sort of tower. It continuously grew until it made a sharp turn near its peak and crashed into the ground.

Weiss was never one for over-the-top displays of power, so the fact that she could not cast such spells held no weight for her. She was a woman of technique over brute strength, after all. Thanks to that, Weiss managed to freeze the ground with a thin sheet of ice, allowing her to elegantly dodge the crash with a pirouette.

Ruby continued her attack, summoning bursts of fire, bolts of lightning, and blades of wind in Weiss's direction. Weiss knew that Ruby was among the fastest opponents she had ever faced. Being able to incorporate her favorite pastime of ice skating to her fighting style to counter that speed felt like a dream come true.

The White Blood pointed Myrtenaster towards her opponent and twisted it to draw a small circle. Multiple small white glyphs formed around her, instantly creating sharp icicles and directing the attack forward. Ruby unfortunately could not sense the icicles in time, causing a few to impale her arms, legs, and torso. The sharp pain produced a burning sensation, ironically. Warm blood seeped out of Ruby's fresh wounds as she fell over, forcing many of the Lancastrian soldiers to gape in shock. Weiss saw that Berserker Xiao Long went into a rage, ruthlessly attacking Ren to make sure her commander was still alive.

Weiss had to end this quickly. She needed to reclaim what was lost of her family and the honor that this woman stole from her. She stepped over to examine Ruby's body. Upon closer inspection, she could see that the woman was still breathing. With a smile on her face, no less.

Weiss extended Myrtenaster downward and stared down Ruby with the coldest of glares.

"Any last words, Commander Rose?"

The younger girl chuckled, though that caused her to cough up a small amount of blood. "You're prettier up close. You're one heck of a woman, you know that?"

Weiss blushed, but kept glaring daggers at the insufferable woman. "Even within the grasp of death, you choose play the role of the jester. I pity you, Rose. While I do admit, our duels have been quite enjoyable, we must part ways. Goodbye, Commander Rose."

"Commander Schnee!"

Turning around, she found Blake running towards her, bloodied and battered. Luckily, it did not look like any of the blood was hers, but the look on her face was dark.

"What is it?"

"It's King Richard! He's been slain by Lancastrian soldiers!"

"What?!" Weiss stood up, face in utter despair. "What of Duke Norfolk and Earl Northumberland?! What's the report on their status?!"

"We do not know, Commander! We cannot find them!"

Hearing the conversation amidst the fighting around her, Ruby eerily chuckled. "You may have defeated me, Commander Schnee. But you have clearly lost this battle. Long live the Lancastrians!" Ruby choked out her final breath, saluting the brave soldiers and comrades that she commanded for the past few years.


"What?! That's not fair! All that work only to lose?!"

Weiss shot up from the table she and her friends were gathered around. While spending their time in Patch, Team RWBY had encountered Team JNPR and had asked them to join them in their summer activities.

Looking at what happened for the past few hours, Ruby glanced up at the two men watching their game.

"Dad? Uncle Qrow?"

"Yes, Ruby?" they both asked in unison.

"You two suck at being DMs."


Yup, I went there.

EDIT: So I forgot to mention that I'm not huge on the whole D&D scene, so if I mucked anything up there, totally my bad. The chapter intended to be a virtual reality game, but since a bunch of my college friends started a D&D game lately, I thought I'd implement it here.

So anyway, about that other project. I told you last chapter that I was working on an AU called Converging Paths. Well, I just uploaded the first chapter and almost done with the second! Please go give it a read if you like my work here because I've been incredibly inspired lately while working on this chapter. It took a while to think of everything that goes on in the first chapter, but now I'm cranking the second chapter like there's no tomorrow. In fact, it's gotten so long, I might have to split it in half to give you a unintended third chapter of the first arc of the story. It's a White Rose and a Bumblebee story, so it should be to your liking if you're still reading this after nine chapters.

But that doesn't mean I've given up on White Like Roses! There's still more to come after this, so next time, expect a chapter involving... animal ears. Yeah.

So please, leave a review and give Converging Paths a look see!