I don't own anything from RWBY, that honor belongs to be fine people at Rooster Teeth.

Chapter 7: Grounded

Ruby felt like she had splitting headache when she woke up. Every part of her body felt sore and soooo tired. Everything felt so… heavy and comfy? Wait, why was everything so fluffy as well? Why did she feel as if she just grew hair all over her body?

Blinking her eyes open, she found herself on a comfortable bed with blankets covering her, fluffy skin?

'Wait, why's my skin all hairy?' she thought, before nearly ripping off the blankets to reveal fur all over her arms and legs.

Letting out a scream, the truth became apparent to her. She was now a werewolf, one of the very beasts she was meant to hunt. No matter what she tried to do, she could never hide the fact that she was no longer human. What was she supposed do?

"Calm down." Came a voice from her left. Blinking open her eyes; she found the vampire from before looking at her. Immediately she went for her belt, hoping to find her weapon only to find it missing and that her hands were bound with ropes.

"What do you want?" Ruby asked, gnashing her newfound fangs. She found herself snarling at the approaching vampire, who merely walked towards her with poise, not making any sudden moves.

"Don't panic, I have no intention of keeping you here longer than you need to be." The girl replied softly. "I just had to make sure you didn't end up using your claws against me during the blood moon."

So that's why there were so many monsters in the woods last night. Ruby had picked a blood moon to go out and reminisce with her mother. She nearly slapped her head over it but was then reminded of her bindings. Struggling against them, she tried to pull them apart but was unable.

The vampire came closer and said. "Those bonds won't break by struggling. Allow me."

Taking out the rapier from her belt on her waist, the vampire quickly cut through the bindings holding Ruby down.

"Better now?" She asked, looking unimpressed almost as if she was expecting Ruby to escape.

Ruby was considering making a run for it like she had before but given how she had no idea where she was, and that this vampire was able to trap her in bindings she couldn't escape. She was a force to be reckoned with and she knew better than to try to antagonize her any further.

So, she responded "Yeah, thanks I guess."

"Being turned on a blood moon is never a good sign, especially if the victim is left unattended. However, if reached quick enough, one can guarantee the victim won't be effected for life with a maddening bloodlust." The vampire explained, letting Ruby know that she was probably only safe because the vampire willed it.

Definitely not a good idea to annoy her any further.

"Hold out your arms." Weiss commanded. "I need to make sure the bindings didn't end up permanently cursing you."

"Wait. Cursing me?" Ruby asked, fear seeping into her voice.

"Well the last person I used this on attempted to banish me. It never hurts to check whether or not I kept the same enchantments." The vampire explained, nonchalantly. "Seeing as how you and I have much to discuss if you are to return to the normal world, I would find it best that I don't end up killing or banishing you. Especially not by your own recklessness."

"O-Okay." She agreed nervously, quickly putting up her hands for the vampire to see.

"Hmmmm." The vampire pondered, taking her fluffy arms with her cold hands. Despite the frigid touch, they were still… soft. "Doesn't seem like anything too serious. Although we can't be too sure."

Running her hands through her furry skin, Ruby felt the touch oddly soothing and once she softly laid down her arms on the bed, she found herself surprised with this change in expression. Where was the vampire from before who nearly killed her, Pyrrha and Jaune? Where was the vampire who ruthlessly hunted her down, trying to capture her?

Taking out a box from a cupboard, she watched as the vampire, smeared some odd cream on her arms, before doing the same near her legs, after cutting the bindings on them. Somehow, it managed to make the fur dissipate back into arms, revealing her once human skin.

"Okay, I've managed to give you some level of control over your form. With some training you might even be able to restore your human form. For now, thought, at best you'll be looking like a Faunus." She explained, setting the box of cream on the bedside table.

"Why are you helping me?" Ruby asked, curious as to why the vampire actually wanted to help her.

"I owe you one. You saved my life out in the forest." The vampire explained, offering Ruby a hand. "Wouldn't be fair if I at least repay the favor by helping you with your new life as a werewolf."

"What about the whole attacking my friend's thing?" Ruby asked nervously.

"I wasn't in the best of headspaces in that time. Someone corrupted me into a weapon." The vampire explained. "Now are you going to get out of the bed?"

"O-okay." Ruby replied, gingerly taking the vampire's hand. Her now human hands got a full sense for just how cold the vampire's hands had been.

"Splendid." The vampire said, helping her out of the bed. Boy did she feel tired. Being a werewolf was more tiring than she once thought. "If I may have the pleasure of knowing, what is your name?"

"Ruby, Ruby Rose." She replied.

"Huh, interesting." Said the vampire. "I suppose it isn't fair if you don't know my name either. My name is Weiss Schnee."

"Hello then Weiss. Thanks for helping me out!" Ruby said back. What a pretty name that was. So clear and elegant. Just like the person standing beside her.

"Don't make it a habit. I'm doing this because I'm not the kind of person who breaks a promise." Weiss replied coldly.

"Okay. Where are we headed to first? Also, where are we?! I don't think I've seen a place as pretty as this." Ruby exclaimed, in awe of the room she was in.

Clear white marble and a strange tinge of ice filled the spacious bedroom. A mosaic on the floor and roof and an icy touch to the room told Ruby that this was a luxurious house. With adequate space for mirrors and a window that revealed a blizzard outside to further beautify the place.

"This is Ewiger Gletscher. It's a frost plane made by one of my forefathers. Ever since the Schnee Manor was destroyed around 50 years prior, this place has served as my home." She explained as they exited out of the bedroom and into the main hallway, where she was treated to a spacious lounge area, accessible by the staircases to her left and right with a beautiful chandelier at the roof of the place.

It seemed the room Ruby was staying in was the main room, seeing as how literally every other room led right here. To her left she could make out a hallway leading to two rooms and the same could be said for her right.

"Follow me." The vampire said, as she was still in awe at the Manor. Did Weiss have any people she lived with? This house was perfect as a place to relax!

Leading her towards the left corridor, Weiss opened the door to their left and led her into a huge dining hall, like the ones Ruby had only heard of in stories! It had a long table and several seats.

"Wow. Your forefathers must have a put a lot of work into this place." Ruby commented, in awe of the place, before her attention snapped to single plate containing… "Cookies?"

"Consider it an apology for our earlier… 'altercation' in the forest." The vampire replied, making Ruby's heart jump up in joy. She was expecting to have been captured to be used for as a bait but seeing as how so far Weiss had only helped Ruby with her werewolf condition, given her a place to stay and even baked cookies for her, she couldn't help but think this visit was going much better than she expected.

Biting into the cookies she could tell that while they weren't exactly the best, they were still pretty good! It gave her an odd sense of effort, as if she actually tried her hardest while she was making these.

"These are pretty good! Not the best ones I've eaten but then again those are my moms and well no one's beating that." She said, while devouring the cookies. Before she ended up realizing what she was saying.

"I'm so sorry about that! I know you didn't-"Ruby sheepishly added, stopping her cooking eating frenzy in an attempt to apologize for her rudeness.

"It's okay Ruby. It's been some time since I've had anyone around to actually tell me something or give me some feedback." Weiss replied quickly.

"But don't you have any friends around with you here? This is place is huge! You could probably fit two teams of huntsman and huntresses here!" Ruby exclaimed. Was Weiss really the only person here?

"No. I don't. Being a vampire and a descendent of a powerful bloodline of mages tends to make you a target." Weiss explained, crossing her arms and looking down at the ground. "Anyways, it's refreshing to have someone else to talk to other than the odd criminal or monster who I end up draining of blood."

So, Weiss really was all alone in this place. She had no one to talk to, no friends she could trust with her secrets and insecurities. How could someone live like that, for 50 years no less, and not go insane? How did Weiss even have the fortitude to live like this?

"Was it always like this for you? Didn't you have someone who you could trust at one point?" She asked, genuinely concerned for Weiss.

"I wasn't born lonely Ruby. I used to have a family, although calling it a family would be giving it too much credit." Weiss explained, further surprising Ruby. "I did have an elder sister however."

"Uhhh, what happened to her? Why isn't she… you know… around?" Ruby asked, curious as to who this elder sister was and why she wasn't around helping Weiss.

"She died helping me escape."

"I'm so sorry Weiss." Ruby said, pitying the poor vampire. Sure, she attempted to capture Ruby and tried to capture her but still, no one deserved this fate. No deserved to languish for the rest of their days out alone, without anyone to trust, without anyone to fall back to.

"It's fine. It's not like your apology is going to bring her back. After all, once you leave, it's back to being hunted by the world again." Weiss replied, her meek attempt at hiding her emotions failing as Ruby could very clearly notice the broken edge to her voice.

Weiss was hurt, and she needed help.

Weiss didn't know what to expect with this new werewolf 'companion' she brought over from Vale. For one thing, it had been around fifty years since she even thought of bringing someone over to her 'home'.

She certainly had no idea it was going to end up like this, with her taking in a werewolf and promising to help her return to the world with a better understanding of her new form. To at least give her a better chance at a normal life. One that she could never have had.

But what prompted the change? Why did she even feel the need to help out this girl?

Was it really meeting that naïve boy out in the woods that led her to this? The same boy she turned because he offered his humanity to save her life? It was an act of generosity, one which Weiss never really got to repay due to what happened.

Speaking of which, what really happened? The details were still foggy, but she did remember a voice speaking into her head. Her mind and body, being willed to obey to some force, something stronger than her. And to add to that she could tell that something was off in her home.

What exactly she couldn't tell but whatever it was she hoped to find it soon, before it ended up risking Ruby's and her their lives. She didn't want to admit it, but she was a little scared of whoever tried to harm her and Ruby.

But for now, she could focus on Ruby. The one deviation from her admittedly lonely life. So far, she was surprised at how warm it felt, being responsible for someone else. It finally felt like she could actually feel something in her cold life.

Taking care of someone else, it felt natural, to a human but how did that apply to a vampire? Weren't they supposed to be guided by the singular desire for blood?

And yet, she wanted to help out this… poor girl. This girl who she had inadvertently doomed to a life of a monster. She knew just how bad it was for their kind out in Remnant. The racism, the insecurity and of course, being hunted by Hunters and Huntresses if they didn't turn themselves over to the nearest cities.

For their kind, it was a simple choice. Either join them or die. But with what Weiss had seen, she wasn't willing to go with either choice.

As Ruby finally finished her cookies, Weiss let out a soft sigh at the complicated nature of her life, before asking "Now follow me. I'll be taking you on a small tour of the place."

"Sure! Although not to be rude here but how does a vampire know so much about werewolves." The werewolf said, getting up from the table and following Weiss as she led them out of the room.

"Magic runs deep in my bloodline. It was only natural for me to know a lot about it."

The intricate walls and hallways were all built as a reminder to a better time. A time when her family's name wasn't bastardized as a house of vampires but one of the finest mages responsible for pioneering the art of glyphs. Now all Weiss could do was look at them and wonder how it all fell apart.

"Weiss, you okay? You seem… I dunno a little… distracted?" Ruby asked gingerly.

"I am, it's just… bad memories really." Weiss replied, which wasn't untrue. This house was modeled after the Schnee Manor in the real world. Which for all it's wealth and grandeur had never really been her home. As such, even this safe place, this safe haven was tainted by not so fond memories.

What she wasn't expecting however was for Ruby to actually come forward and place her arms around her. "What are you doing?" Weiss asked, puzzled yet feeling strangely endeared to the werewolf who was now rubbing her soft fur against her clothes.

"Hugging you! I do this to friends when they seem down. It's usually not much, but seeing as how you and I are friends, I think it's nice to help each other out." The werewolf explained, tightening her grip.

Somehow the action didn't feel awkward or threatening. It felt warm and kind, almost in the way a friend would have tried to help out another. Of which, Weiss was still unsure. Were she and Ruby really friends? Her desire to help Ruby came out a feeling of guilt after all and also a promise.

And yet Ruby, who had no reason to feel grateful for anything beyond just a simple welcome and apology, chose to actually comfort her. It was… nice.

"Thank you Ruby. Now let's head over to the library."

"Okay!"

Ruby's intrusion into her life had been unexpected but not an unwelcome one. After all, it did bring back some warmth to her life even if it was only temporary.

Ruby didn't exactly know what Weiss meant by learning to control her new werewolf 'form' but, she hoped it wouldn't be too complicated. Figuring out forging magic was hard enough as it was but spellcasting? Forget it, she didn't even know what she was saying half the time!

Although the library Weiss had was huge! Seriously, there were as many books as she had seen in the public library! What use did she even have for those books Ruby had no idea but whatever it was she was glad she wasn't fighting her any longer.

"How many books do you think are in here?" she asked curiously.

"Around 700." She replied nonchalantly, much to Ruby's shock.

"You could fit an entire public library in that!"

A small smile came onto Weiss's face upon hearing her comment. She really did look the best when she smiled.

"What can I say? My family had good taste." Weiss responded before pulling out a couple of books from a section labelled "Beasts from the Wildlands".

"Soo, you have all these books memorized by place?" Ruby asked, leaning her head forward to find the books. Strangely, she felt something flop down to her hair. Looking up, she was surprised to find two fluffy ears lying atop her head.

"No." came the swift response. Pulling out a book out of pure curiosity Ruby was quickly surprised to have the book be almost immediately swatted out of her hands.

"Ahh!"

"What were you doing?" Weiss snapped.

"I just tried taking a book and then it got slapped out of my hand." She retorted, pointing to the surprisingly thick book she had pulled out. Huh, her werewolf strength must have been something new.

"Wards and protections cover this entire house. If you want something, let me know but do not touch anything." Weiss announced, before taking out a book.

Unable to resist the temptation, Ruby… went out for another book. But it was just a book on the Grimm! It's not like those protections would care about just one single book right? As she quickly swiped the book however, she got her answer in the form of the book literally sending an energy wave that threw her into the air… and right onto the study desk.

Cracking the desk with the weight of her impact, Ruby's vision blurred for a few minutes as she tried recall the accursed book that caused this entire mess. However, she was instead taken out of her thoughts by a very audible slam.

Fluttering open her eyes, Ruby quickly looked towards the sound of the voice only to see Weiss. Who was currently, holding her face in her hands while looking over the railing. If looks could kill, she could've probably killed Ruby twice over in that instant.

"Why did I agree to this?" she heard Weiss mutter under her breath, before Weiss closed her right hand waved over the bookshelves making the pretty rings on her hand glow up. To Ruby's surprise, she ended finding that the books she had 'disturbed' had already put themselves back in their place.

"Well, are you going to just lie there waiting around for the next new moon or are you actually going to get up so that we can figure out how your werewolf form works?" Weiss asked, making Ruby blush in embarrassment as she jumped off the destroyed desk only to hear another loud creak.

After which the desk promptly fell apart, earning an extremely deep sigh from the vampire. Curse her werewolf hearing!

Weiss really had to stop making impulsive promises based off her conflicting emotional state. Then again, those impulsive promises were what led to her finally getting out of her shell, so perhaps it was her who had to do some work.

However, there was simply no way she could understand why Ruby chose to not heed her warning. Was she really that curious to test her protections, even after Weiss warned her? If so, she had to give respect for her wanting to verify things but also meant she had to knock down a few points in terms of common sense.

Thankfully however, if there was anything good to come out of this mess, it was the fact that Weiss had managed to test her protections and had also been able to identify the book she was after. With a hardcover copy of 'Blood Moons- The Red Tide of the Moon' firmly in her hands, Weiss made her way down to the second floor.

"Serves you right for not listening." Weiss said to the vampire, with an annoyed glare. However, her annoyance almost immediately faded when Ruby used her puppy dog eyes. "Although, I suppose this can be easily replaced."

Attempting to divert her attention away from Ruby's puppy dog eyes, Weiss merely coughed and gestured for Ruby to come to the main study located at the far end of the library. Admiring the mosaic work on the glass, Weiss quickly placed the book down on the desk and took out the page on werewolves.

Ruby of course, bounded around from place to place. Fortunately, Weiss had already altered the way the protections and wards worked, so that her new guest was far less likely to end up being sent flying through the air or having a book restrain her to the ground.

Taking out the section on werewolves, she finally found out everything she could on the matter. Promptly closing the book, she got up from her desk, looking over the frozen expanse of Ewiger Gletscher, which despite its frigid state, had an oddly warm glow over the sky.

Weiss knew that her emotions did end up altering the state of this realm. After all her isolation had felt nothing short of frigid. And yet, the feeling of warmth she got from just having Ruby around… was something she was now scared of losing.

"Hey Weiss? You done?" Ruby asked, popping up out of nowhere. Startled, she almost ended up tripping over her desk, before she felt a tug on her hand and was pulled back to her feet. "I'm sorry! I didn't mean to-"

"Oh no! It's okay! Don't worry about it!" Weiss replied quickly, trying to control her rampant feelings on the matter. "Anyways, I found out what I could about your transformation."

"Ooh, would you mind telling me?" Ruby asked, with a yawn (had it really been that long?).

"Alright, although you're heading to sleep after this." Weiss said before starting her lengthy explanation on how Blood Moon transformations were different from regular transformations.

"Okay, so essentially, your traits will end up traversing in phases. The Full Moon is where you'll be fully turned into a werewolf, and the subsequent phases after you'll end up losing more and more of your traits until you eventually end up fully human at the new moon."

"Wait, losing more and more of my traits?"

"Well currently, you'll notice you have your fur, your ears and tail. It's only been one day since the blood moon and as such, some of your werewolf quirks are gone but a majority of them still remain. As the nights progress, this will keep happening." Weiss explained, leading Ruby to a room, she had prepared specifically for her with the help of her servants.

"So like, until the New Moon, I won't be human?" Ruby asked, her ears dropped as she asked the question.

"Sadly, no. I'm afraid I've never heard of a cure for lycanthropy induced during the blood moon." Weiss replied, almost immediately regretting saying it seeing Ruby's face drop in disappointment.

"So, I'm stuck as a werewolf forever?"

"Not permanently, while your traits are gone, I do believe that with a little bit of training some level of control can be achieved with your werewolf form. With that, you may actually be able to control which traits show. That is of course assuming you're actually willing to sit still and figure out the process with me." Weiss replied.

"Hey! I can sit still!"

"You were unable to stop longer than two minutes." Weiss conclude, before opening the door to the room.

"Yeah but-" Ruby started before her jaw fell on the floor. "Woah."

The room wasn't the most spacious the Manor had to offer, but it was by far one of the comfiest.

"Welcome to your room. I hope you won't mind the slight alterations I made to better suit your needs." Weiss said, with a tiny smirk on her face.

"It's huge!"

"It should fit all your needs and hopefully any other things you have to worry about. Oh, and one thing. I believe there something you have been missing that's on the desk." Weiss said, gesturing to the mahogany desk.

"Is that Crescent Rose?" Ruby asked, her eyes widening.

"It was a struggle for my servants to not have you ruin the surprise. Some of them genuinely might need to take a break."

"Thank you, so much. For all of this. Thank you." Ruby said, before catching Weiss off-guard with a bearhug, to rival even an Ursa. Strangely however, Weiss actually enjoyed the feeling.

It wasn't every day she could actually feel warm after all.

A/N: Burnout sucks. I am going to announce that I will be taking my time with this story and will be releasing chapters at my own pace from now on but for now enjoy some WR bonding.