Disclaimer: RWBY is owned by Rooster Teeth and Monty Oum, not me. This is merely a fanwork meant for entertainment purposes only. Cover image courtesy of Jan Chrt (jeni-cek on deviantART). All rights reserved.
Birds chirped through the open window as the soft smell of lavender floated through the air, perhaps to grant a certain degree of peace to the room's occupants. To Weiss' bedside, an adorable brown teddy bear sat, holding a red heart with the phrase 'get well soon'. It was quiet...calm. Peaceful.
Yet, a little to her right, draped across the adjacent bed like a ragdoll, was the body of Jaune, and the morn was naught but bitter.
"Are you done wallowing in guilt, or should I come back later?"
Weiss frowned as she eyed the translucent girl currently 'leaning' against one of the infirmary's walls.
"...Bianca?"
"A representation of me." Bianca corrected, sighing, "Without a physical body, I'm afraid this is all I can manifest. Pathetic, really, but I thought you might prefer it to talking through thoughts alone...assuming you want to talk."
Weiss glanced back to Jaune, her mind racing through the events of the previous evening.
"I'd like some answers to my questions, now that we're not underground and on the brink of death."
"I suppose that's fair." Bianca mumbled reluctantly, "Though I doubt I'll have the answers to all of your questions."
"Then just answer what you can...and if I might suggest a first question, your identity might be a good start."
Bianca raised a questioning eyebrow.
"Spade didn't tell you?"
"I thought it best not to ask at the time, considering how subdued he seemed."
"Aw, he looks so cute when he goes like that, don't you think?"
Weiss narrowed her eyes.
"What? Eurgh, fine. My name's Bianca Schnee, daughter of Elgin Schnee and former heiress to the Schnee Corporation. You know, before I died."
"Oh? My father never mentioned a sister." Weiss noted curiously.
"If he's anything like his younger self, Orin never mentions a lot of things." Bianca retorted, "No doubt he'd prefer it if people forgot I even existed, which I'd imagine would be pretty easy with all of my records still buried with the manor."
"There was an odd pink room in there when I made my visit...I assume that was yours?"
"It was, yes. Daddy never really approved of my deviance from our familial colour scheme of drab white, but with enough puppy dog eyes on my part, I eventually managed to win him over."
"Grandpa Schnee? I always thought he was a very stoic man."
"He was...to the general public, at least. At home, he was about as doting as a dad can get."
Bianca sighed sadly.
"He probably died a long time ago, didn't he?"
"I never knew him growing up, so I guess you could say that. People seemed to think he died after seeing my father take the company in the wrong direction, but from what you've said about him, it might have been the pain of losing you catching up to him."
Bianca looked down to the floor, her expression devastated.
"...I wish he were here right now. He'd know what to do about Jaune...he always knew what to do."
The conversation paused as Bianca tried to pull herself together, shaking her head.
"Enough about Daddy. Was there something else you wanted to know?"
"A lot of things, but I'll try and keep it relevant. How exactly do you know Jaune? Was it at the manor, or did you meet after that?"
"No, it was at the manor, though at the time, I thought it would be our last meeting as well as our first. See, I was bound to the aura font below the manor, and when you managed to bumble into Alice upstairs, Jaune started getting really worried about you. Gave me this moral ultimatum mumbo-jumbo about my sort-of-life being less important than your full-fledged one, and I suppose it worked on me at the time. After that, he stuck his sword into the font, transforming it from its base form to Crocea Eversor, the first Grimm Slayer, and presumably using it to save your life."
"I see...so how exactly are you here right now? Wouldn't Jaune absorbing the font's aura have killed you?"
"That's what I thought, too, but it turns out my lucky stars must have been shining on that particular day. When Jaune used my aura in the fight against Alice, I was temporarily transferred into the Grimm herself...and, when you stabbed her, I then bounced into Zinnia. After that, it was just a case of passively absorbing very small amounts of your aura over time until I had the strength to actually affect my surroundings."
"That can't be right, surely. If people's souls can be stored inside hunter weapons, why haven't I heard about it? One would think such a pivotal fact would be fairly well-known, especially considering how long hunters and huntresses have been around."
Bianca rolled her eyes.
"Are you using a trampoline to jump to all of those conclusions, or did you do it all by yourself?"
"If we're calling 'the knowledge source missing out key details' a trampoline, then yes, I suppose I did." Weiss retorted.
"Hey, it's not my fault you never bothered to read The Legend of the Grimm Slayers. If you ask me, schools like Beacon should have it as required reading. It is a classic, after all."
"I'll request a copy from the library at a later date." Weiss replied brusquely, "But right now, I'd appreciate a quick synopsis, assuming you can stop yourself from going into another monologue."
"Why you...eurgh, whatever. I assume your meager education has covered the basics of a hunter's weapon, at least?"
"Of course. A hunter's weapon is one of their strongest assets, aside from their semblance, and the materials used to create them allow them to be imbued with a hunter's aura, increasing the weapon's durability and strength as long as it remains in the hunter's possession."
"That's...an adequate way of putting it, I suppose, and perhaps I'll continue using your terminology to make things simpler. Imagine, if you will, a hunter weapon that not only conducted aura as a means of strengthening itself, but also stored it, like a kind of battery. Then, once the battery becomes full, it allows the wielder to unleash a truly devastating power. That is a Grimm Slayer."
"There's more to it, I gather."
"A lot more, but I'll try and keep things brief. The Grimm Slayers were all made around a century ago by a kind of legendary smith, master of her art and one of the first to pioneer the materials that eventually became the standard of modern hunter weapons. The Grimm Slayers were simply the next logical step and, for good or bad, the smith only ended up making seven of them. Crocea Mors, or Crocea Eversor, was the first."
"And the others?"
"Purpura Salvator, Hyacintho Nuntius, Viridi Custos, Vexillum Rubeus and Emundans Albus."
"Which one is Zinnia?"
Bianca frowned.
"Zinnia isn't any of them, because Zinnia isn't a Grimm Slayer. All it does is mimic one by acting as soul storage; it unfortunately doesn't have the same contract or power-up mechanic as a true Grimm Slayer."
"Hm...so if Zinnia isn't one of them, that leaves six, including Crocea Eversor. What's the last one?"
Bianca bit her lip.
"...Ater Mors, the sword Jaune used in the caverns. The soul eater."
Weiss shivered as she remembered the sheer malevolence the sword had emitted.
"Are they all like that?"
"Sort of, but not in the way you're thinking. See, the point of a Grimm Slayer is that it's an exchange, one which can sometimes lead to the user's death. Crocea Eversor is a sort of promise; 'for as long as I continue to fight Grimm, I will be granted the power to defeat them'. It lusts for the destruction of its enemies, and in the absence of that, it requires a memento from its user. Half of their soul, to be precise."
"What? I thought you said Ater Mors was the soul eater!"
"That's because Ater is to Crocea what a thief is to a merchant. While Crocea temporarily takes a portion of your soul, Ater slows siphons away all of it, until you're left with nothing but an empty shell, one which Ater quickly inhabits."
"Is that what happened down in the tunnels?"
"No; as far as I can tell, Jaune was a special case. Since part of his soul was already embedded within Crocea Eversor, Ater had a rather large gap to sneak through and take control. Granted, it's possible Jaune might have been able to break its hold at times, which was unfortunately not an option for its previous wielders, but even so, it would be a very risky business."
"Has...has anyone ever retrieved a soul from Ater?"
Bianca shook her head sadly.
"Does that mean he'll be stuck like this? ...for good?"
Bianca shrugged.
"It's hard to say. Bringing Crocea Eversor to him might restore a portion of his soul, but that still leaves another half that's not coming back."
"You don't know that!"
"You're right, Weiss. I don't." Bianca admitted, "But I do know that no one's ever succeeded with it in the past, so it's not like you can just consult a history book here. Anything you try would have to start afresh, and it's always going to carry the risk of making things even worse."
"How could things be any worse than they are already?!" Weiss cried, bringing her fists down upon the bed, "Jaune's permanently unconscious, both of my feet are sprained, and top it all off, I have no idea how my business is doing right now! For all I know, it might have burned to the ground, and I'd just be sitting here talking to my dead aunt about ancient weapons and...and…"
Weiss' lip wavered as she tried to hold back the tears.
"And if I hadn't made Aurora in the first place, none of this would have happened! Jaune wouldn't have been captured by the Red Hunters, I wouldn't have wasted my time on something that was destined to bring calamity, and my friends wouldn't have been forced to sit through my snappy attitude as I desperately tried to pull everything together!"
Bianca frowned as her niece proceeded to break into tears, trying to formulate some way to comfort her despite her non-existent tact. However, after scanning the surrounding area, she soon realised that she didn't actually need to.
"Er, Weiss?"
No response.
"You do realise there are three people on the other side of the door, right?"
Even in her despondent state, Weiss couldn't help but look up as the poor infirmary door burst off its hinges, sending three colourful shapes tumbling in and, miraculously, managing not to hit any of the densely packed beds. After hastily brushing herself off, Ruby was the first to get up from the pile, rushing over to Weiss' bedside with a bouquet of white roses in hand. Blake, meanwhile, was having a little more trouble rising off of the floor, probably because the somewhat heavier form of Yang was right on top of her.
"Oops, sorry Blake. Alley-oop!"
However, as Yang started to rise, she found that the Blake below her was no longer quite as solid as it had been and, with comical timing that probably wasn't physically possible, was allowed a short pause before promptly faceplanting onto the floor.
"Why…why have you betrayed me so?!" Yang exclaimed melodramatically.
"Maybe you'll keep your hands to yourself next time." Blake replied, turning her gaze to the Bianca's curious form, "And no, before you say anything, it wasn't an accident."
"But the Bellabooty~"
Meanwhile, over in the slightly less insane portion of the room, Weiss was caught up in one of Ruby's hugs and, despite some mumbled protests, was actually rather enjoying it. Not too much, of course, otherwise Ruby might start getting ideas. Friendly ideas.
"Okay, Ruby, I'm not crying anymore. You can let go now. Really."
"Awwwww."
"Besides, you still need to explain what you three stooges were doing on the other side of the door."
Ruby let go of Weiss, her eyes darting from side to side.
"Er...not eavesdropping?"
Weiss facepalmed.
"Yang, Blake? Any other excuses?"
"Oh, no. We were definitely dropping some eaves."
"Yang!" Ruby protested.
"Okay, we were originally just coming to deliver a message, but then Blake heard you talking to Bianca here and, well…"
"You didn't want to interrupt?"
"Hey, that's a good idea! I mean, uh, yes. That was it. We were being considerate and not at all incredibly nosy. Eeeeeyup."
"Do you even try to lie?"
"Oh trust me, princess, when I lie, you'll know about it."
Weiss facepalmed again.
"That doesn't...why would it…gah!"
"And that was how Weiss went into the infirmary with a leg injury and came out with a brain injury." Blake commented dryly, "Speaking of, shouldn't Doctor Lavender be here with you?"
"She was called up to Ozpin's office for some reason." Weiss explained, "It sounded important, but I don't know what it was for otherwise."
"Hm...it just seems a little irresponsible to leave the two of you alone here."
"Alone, is it?"
Blake nearly jumped out of her skin as Ozpin silently stepped through the remains of the doorway, taking a casual sip of his coffee cup all the while.
"If having three young ladies propped up against the door counts as leaving someone alone these days, perhaps I should update my dictionary."
"Wait, you sent us to Weiss to keep her company?" Yang asked, raising an eyebrow, "You know we would've done that anyway, right?"
"When it concerns a matter of such magnitude, I'd rather not take any chances." Ozpin answered nonchalantly, "In any case, I also asked you to deliver a message, did I not? Or did you forget about that in all your eavesdropping, hm?"
"No, Professor, we remembered about the message!" Ruby piped up.
"So she already knows that Jaune's weapon has been captured by the Red Hunters, does she?"
The room fell silent.
"No, Professor." Weiss answered finally, "No I did not."
"Ah." Ozpin said, taking another sip of his coffee, "Not the best of news, I take it?"
"That would be one way to put it." Weiss replied icily.
"Then perhaps you'll find its partner piece a little more uplifting. Are you aware that Ater Mors is in Beacon's possession at present? That's the demonic soul-eating sword that no one's ever broken into, for reference.
Siiip.
"We broke into it."
Ozpin pointed an index finger towards Bianca.
"And with a little help from the young lady over there, we can break Mister Arc out of it."
"...just like that?" Weiss asked.
Ozpin turned to face Bianca, giving her a meaningful look.
Bianca sighed.
"If only it were that simple…"
Surprisingly, this actually clocked in as the second longest chapter, right below Cave Story. True fax.
In any case, welcome to the eleventh chapter of None Of Your Business! Slowly but surely, we're crawling towards a finale, and I'm thinking the fic'll probably be finished in around...three, four chapters? In that way, it'll end up being a little longer than In A Grimm Manor, but I suppose that's to be expected, to an extent.
ANYWAY. If you liked the story, please favourite, follow and leave a review! I can't tell you how much I appreciate hearing reader's thoughts, so if you're hesitating about putting something, please don't! I don't bite, I promise!
'Till next time, folks!
