The Chained Princess

Pt III


Weiss wished she could say she hated it wholly, but she could feel it in her bones. The hot winds buffing her sun-kissed skin with coarse sand should have infuriated her, instead, it made her anxious. She could feel the electricity in the air as she walked down the ramp of the Bullhead, soldiers were running to and from tents, carrying supplies or weapons to either be sent with the Third assault on the remaining resistance in Vacuo or be shipped to Mistral to help with the Fourth assault.

Making her way back to her tent, she saw that a few of the other Specialist's tents had already been packed up and stowed away. Weiss wasted little time doing the same. The tent was collapsed and folded with precision back into the trunk it had come from. A few personal effects were tossed in as well as she used the wheels to drag it to where the others were. Once that was set, she made her way to the armoury to do last minute preparations before they marched out.

All around her, she watched as Atlas men and women were gearing up. All of them were wearing the full battle plate armour with helmets on individual tables, each table had a rife in some state of disassembly or being cleaned. A couple of people were loading up their own magazines of bullets, Weiss asked about that before and someone answered that those who did that were superstitious and felt that it was bad luck for someone else to load up a magazine. The specialist did not care so long as it did not interfere with operations.

Collecting an ammunitions box that was personalised for her from the quartermaster, she found an empty table near the back and set both the box and her multi-action Dust rapier, Myrtenaster, on top. She undid the clip of the box and pulled out a stained and torn cloth from the top and laid it on the table before placing her weapon on it and opening it and extracting the revolving chamber from it. took out each compartmentalised Dust vial from it and set it aside before cleaning out the residue and grime from the silvered weapon.

Once it was cleaned to her liking, she then took out larger bottles of different Dusts, a small funnel as well as a tiny weight scale and began the careful task of measuring out exact amounts to refill her vials as well as fill up reserves that she stored on a pouch attached to her belt. She was carefully measuring out some purple Dust when the whole table shook suddenly, causing her to stumble slightly and overfill the cartridge. Looking up, she narrowed her eyes at the smirking form of a soldier.

She was not one of the normal soldiers that made up the bulk of the regular army. The woman in front of her was wearing Deep black armour instead of the basic white, her pants and under armour were a deep grey with added armour pieces on her legs and calfs for added protection. Across the chest, Weiss could make out a great many dents, and scratches that tore at the paint, exposing the dulled metal under it. The woman set the helmet on the table with just as many scars and scratches as her chest piece, revealing her face.

The first thing Weiss noticed about the woman was the large scar that ran across her face, from one cheekbone to the other, arching across her nose. Curiously enough, the exact area where the helmet sat on one's face when wearing it. Next was her unorthodox haircut, the sides of her head were buzzed down as far as it could go while leaving the top long to be braided behind her head, save for two long bangs that would sit hang over her eyes. The woman moved her brown bangs out of her face, only for them to fall back into place as pale green eyes examined Weiss.

"Specialist Schnee." She said with a heavy, brogue accent.

"Chief petty officer Reseda," Weiss responded.

Weiss looked back to the table where she had haphazardly slapped her weapon down. Her assault rifle matching her armour colour and with just as many dents and scratches in its surface. With practised precision, she began to load up her own magazines for her rifle like everyone else in the room. "I figgered you'd still be in Atlas. What, with that nasty bleeder you had last I seen you." She said as she slipped bullets into place before banging it on the table, making sure each round was flush before setting it aside.

Weiss eyed the woman before dumping the whole container back and measuring out the correct amount this time. "I was," She began as she sprinkled just enough to make the digital counter move once more before pouring the Dust inside of a cartridge and setting it aside to start the next one. "Aura helps us heal faster than normal people, so a week was all I needed. Besides, General Ironwood asked me to personally lead the charge, since we're pulling out of Vacuo once they're dealt with."

"Oh yeah?" She asked with a small smile. "Hopefully it'll go better the last time." She smirked lightly as she looked at Weiss. Her eyes narrowed and she jutted her chin out in a point towards her. "Happened to your drops?" She asked. It took a moment for Weiss to realise what she was asking. She brought her long fingers up to her chest piece on her right shoulder and felt the armour for a moment before setting her hand down.

"Must have been repaired when they painted the medals on," Weiss said simply. Reseda was part of the Shocktroopers, a special operations detachment of the Atlas navy that only accepts the best of the best. Men and woman who outperform everyone around them and are crazy enough to join them. Considering that their main stratagem was to literally drop from an Airship that was flying just inside the range where Dust loses its power in the atmosphere and land behind enemy lines to outflank and seize critical objectives.

With each successful drop, each member of the team makes each other by scratching a tally mark on their armour. Weiss had dropped only twice in her career, once during training since it was mandatory and the second time was during the attack on Vacuo city. Earning her two tallies on her breastplate while Senior Chief Reseda had six. "Best replace 'em before the Chief sees them missin', he'll carve them himself if you don't." The trooper warned as the two of them continued to reload their respective weapons.

"I'll keep that in mind..." Weiss said simply as she continued to measure out the Dust for her weapon. After a few silent moments between them, Reseda spoke up once again.

"Seems a tad much to be sending out into the desert, what's the story?" She asked while looking around and seeing some people were having problems trying to find an empty spot at the tables. Weiss took notice of this as well and shook her head lightly.

"We'll need everyone to just survive if Ruby is still there..."

"Who?"

"The Red Death."

The woman with the long bangs stopped loading the magazine in her hand and looked up at her. "The Red Deaths here?" She asked simply. Weiss nodded simply while watching the woman. She watched the woman push her tongue against her cheek lightly while looking around the room. Searching for something as her hand came up and began to scratch at the scar that ran across her face. While Weiss had only met her after she had acquired the scar, she never knew how she got it, but she had a pretty good idea now.

"Scared, Chief Reseda?" Weiss asked, keeping a smirk at bay. The Trooper shot her a glare as she tore her hand away from her face and slammed her palm onto the table.

"Amn't!" She defended herself. "We're 3-4-3 Droppers! We aren't scared of no one!." Weiss simply hummed a response as her Dust measurements were more important than her ego. Just as the dropper was about to tell some more, someone else clasped a hand on her shoulder. The man had a buzzed head and a heavy stubble on his chin. He was wearing the same black and grey shock trooper uniform as she was with just as many dents and scratches on his armour.

"Kelly, you done loading up?" He asked her. Without looking away from Weiss, she nodded.

"I am." She gathered up her magazines and shoved them into their pouches on her armour before turning and leaving in a hurry, brushing shoulders with some regular soldiers as she rushed. The man simply shrugged and looked back to Weiss and nodded his head respectfully before leaving with her. Across her back, Weiss saw three words etched into the back of her armour. "Drop. Shock. And Roll" Weiss let out a sigh as she put away another full cartridge and reached for another before she paused and looked at her hand.

She stared at it for a few seconds just to make sure before sighing deeply. Not a single tremor in her fingers, solid as a stone. She knew her sister was right when she said that she would rather be fighting than having lunch with her but seeing the evidence right in front of her pained her heart. She could only hope the end of this war would bring an end to her suffering before something terrible happens. She had heard stories of people returning from service and having complete breakdowns with varying results.

Speeding through the rest of her cartridges, she packed everything up and made her way towards the muster point where the Third assault was going to start. She saw the company of men and woman standing at attention, weapons at the ready. Behind them, three platoons of Knight robots ready to be deployed with ten Paladin mech suits getting into position as well as four low-ranking Specialists. Once everyone was accounted for and enough supplies loaded up, everyone was loaded up into large troop trucks and they began their march towards Ritrr.

They drove through the night to limit the amount of time the Reclamation army had to prepare for their attack, resulting in people taking shifts to sleep as the drivers needed to rest before the large battle. Weiss tried to catch as much rest as she could before they stopped outside the city and everyone got ready with plans and strategies. Weiss was directing squads with objectives throughout the city, making sure that every outcome would end in their favour. They had been held up in this city for long enough to set up traps and ambushes.

Deciding that the best course of action was to split up the Assault into two flanking forces and the main column to take most of the aggro. The squad leaders had their orders and the Knights had been activated, there was nothing left but to launch the attack. At dawn, Weiss found her place on the shoulder of the lead Paladin as they moved into the city. The person who was piloting the mech was Lieutenant Colonel Argent, he might be a high ranking officer, but he was one of the best Paladin pilots in the kingdom.

"Are you ready, Specialist?" The man asked through the open window of the pilot's chair. Weiss simply nodded to the question, she could see the war-torn city in the distance as the sun slowly began to bring colour back to the world. "Well, if anyone can get us out of here, it's you." He said as he pushed a few buttons on his command console and adjusted the controls slightly. She could feel the rough winds push her white hair back behind her. She wondered if Ruby was still in there or did she die during some mission between the last attack and now.

"Mind if I ask you something, Specialist Schnee?" The officer asked. She mindlessly nodded as she continued to study the city, trying to find the best locations to avoid ambushes. "Do you believe in destiny?" He asked lightly. Weiss looked over at him and thought about the answer.

"I don't know," Weiss answered truthfully. "My father had a destiny for me when I was younger, but the older I got, the more and more I found that he was trying to control destiny rather than let it pass naturally. He tried to control my sister and she fled from him and into the military. He tried to control me and I became a Huntress, then he tried to control my brother and that was marginally more successful with that. But, when he tried to control destiny, it fought back, he died because he is ambitious, trying to control everything.

"We shouldn't even be here. The real enemy is out there and we're fighting each other..." Weiss mumbled the last part as she looked back over to the city, only for a bright light to catch her eye. Concentrating on where it came from, she saw it two more times before a muted bang echoed into her ears. Then the sound of air being ripped apart followed before Weiss jumped off the mech just before whatever it was hit it and a massive explosion consumed it.

Looking back, she saw everyone speed towards the city. A trail of dust being kicked up into the sky was her only clue to what happened to Argent's Paladin as she tried to get back on her feet. She heard another muted bang before another hole appeared in a different Paladin, then it exploded just like the first. She could hear panicked yells coming through the comms as she righted herself. "Everyone charge the city! We need to stop that artillery unit! Paladins! You need to find cover! Now!" Weiss ordered as a troop truck was torn asunder before her eyes.

Soon, there was a mad dash to get inside the city limits and away from the pinpoint accurate shots. The Paladins and trucks speeding as fast as they could towards the large buildings of the city, Weiss pulled her weapon free from her hip and spun the revolving chamber until she found the Dust she needed and summon a yellow glyph under her. She then took off at high speed towards where the enemy was held up and firing at them. Weiss watched as another two Paladins and three troop transports were destroyed before she reached the first building.

She turned the corner and looked up to where the destructive rounds were coming from and just barely had enough time to raise her hand to summon a triple thick glyph of protection when one of those rounds came right for her. She was nearly thrown off her feet from the force of the shell hitting her defences. The fire and smoke surrounded her and shattered the first two glyphs and cracked the third one. She waved her rapier and the smoke disappeared, clearing the way before her.

Looking up, she saw Ruby standing on top of the building. In her hands was a massive variant of her scythe. Ruby had done something to her weapon to be able to fire those rounds and completely punch through the armour of Atlesian Paladins and armoured trucks. Her red cape blew in the wind as she looked down at her. Weiss felt her breath catch, she looked every bit the Red Death that the soldiers whisper about during the down times. The last time she saw her, she just looked like Ruby, that maybe she was still the same girl back at Beacon. Now she knew better.

Weiss took her position and aimed her blade up at the red-caped girl. Ruby pulled a lever on her weapon and most of the weapon fell onto the building, returning Crescent Rose back to its original form. They stared at each other for a moment before Ruby disappeared in a flurry of rose petals and appeared before her, scythe swinging towards her.


AN: So, we're on the eve of the White Rose reunion, I hope everyone is excited about it because I am excited to write it, but we still have one more chapter before then. And it's going to be a surprise character! Who's it going to be? Who knows! I do! And I can't wait for you all to read it!.

So once again! If you enjoyed, please leave a Kudo! If you've already left one, leave a comment! I love reading them and love talking to people. I also post these stories on Archive Of Our Own. If you read there, come show your support! I also have a tumbler (AngryFaceWritings) Which I don't really know how to use. But you could talk to me, I love discussion almost everything!

And as always, thank you for taking the time to read my little slice of madness!