Disclaimer: I do not own any of the material appearing in this story. The OC's belong to their respective owners.

Minutes After Esdeath Woke Up

"Where is Weiss right now? I wish to speak with her."

"Right now… she's home."

"Take me to her."

Esdeath walked with Winter, the latter a bit concerned for Esdeath as they walked. "Hmm? Is something the matter?"

"It's just… that you woke up and you're moving around. You sure you're okay? You didn't even recover…"

"I've spent three days recovering after that ambush. I think I've rested long enough."

"Mmm, even so…"

Esdeath gave her a soft smile. "It's going to be okay… I've been through worse."

"You've been through worse situations?"

"Of course… wasn't the first time I've been ambushed." Esdeath chuckled. "…Truth be told, Seryu ambushing me was the first one to actually succeed…"

"Oh… but… what about the Grimm? The ones that… you know…"

Esdeath closed her eyes, flashing back to what happened to her village long ago. "Why do you think I prefer hanging around this place? It doesn't have those infernal creatures running around…"

"Oh, that… that makes sense." Winter nodded. "Forgive me, I… I didn't mean to trigger that kind of flashback."

"I know…" Esdeath said and took a deep breath. "But other than… them, I've had my fair share of ambushes with thieves, bandits, and what have you." She shook her head. "You'd think they would've learned by now."

"It does take a lot of effort to take you down."

"Exactly." Esdeath nodded and then they arrived at the Schnee home. "Ah, here we are." She said and then let out a chuckle. "I have to say, it's a nice looking home."

"It is." Winter agreed as she walked inside with Esdeath behind her.

"Ah Winter, so nice to see-… oh!" Klein said in surprise, seeing Esdeath. "Ms Esdeath, this is a surprise!"

"Hello there, Klein." Esdeath greeted. "Is Weiss around?"

"Yes, she's currently up in her room."

"Thank you." Esdeath said as Winter guided her up the stairs and walked toward Weiss's room, where they would see Willow closing the door.

"Mom?" Winter spoke up, nearly startling her.

"Oh! I didn't hear you come up the stairs." Willow said. "Oh… General Esdeath, this is a surprise!"

"Is Weiss in there?" She asked.

"Yeah, she is… I was just checking up on her. She's… doing alright."

Winter looked at her mother, knowing very well that the small pause indicated something was wrong. "She's not doing well, is she?"

Willow sighed. "No. She had a slight panic attack… Blake dropped by earlier to check on her too."

"What about Ruby and Yang?" Winter asked as Willow nodded.

"Everyone came to check on her and she was doing well, but after Blake left…"

"That's when she had an episode…" Winter quietly said, closing her eyes.

Esdeath, without saying a word, walked over to the door and gently knocked on the door.

On the other side, Weiss was sitting on the window sill, looking rather solemn as she looked out the window. She would then hear some light knocking on the door. "Come in…" She said as Esdeath opened the door.

"Hey." Esdeath said softly, enough to get Weiss's attention.

"…Esdeath?" Weiss whispered. "You… you're out of the hospital…"

"I don't stay down for long." Esdeath chuckled.

"You… look way different. New haircut, new clothing… that halter top is cute on you, but your breasts are kinda hanging out on the top."

Esdeath chuckled. "This coming from the young woman who's friends with a firecracker, and she probably has less clothing on than I do."

Weiss let out a giggle. "Fair point."

"You got any room on that window sill or do you want me to pull up a chair?"

"There's plenty of room." She said, moving her feet back where she was in a fetal position, giving Esdeath plenty of room to sit down next to her.

"Nice room you got here. Definitely fits you rather well." She said, then glanced over at Weiss. "So, is there something that's bugging you?"

"No… not really." Weiss shook her head. "I'm fine, really."

"Hmm, you don't sound fine. I can hear it in your tone. It sounds melancholic." Esdeath said. "I think I have a general idea."

"You do?"

"It's fine if you tell me, I won't laugh."

Weiss looked out the window again. "The truth is… I'm scared."

"Hmm? Scared of what?"

"Scared of them. The one who gave me this scar on my chest, the one who's out to murder my family… all of it…" She closed her eyes, placing her hand on her chest. "I… I didn't want to admit it to anyone, especially my team. Blake was a little harder to convince that I was okay… but it didn't take much with Ruby and Yang, at least, I think it didn't…"

"Ah, so you're scared of those two."

"I… I've been getting nightmares…" She said. "Adam had the SDC logo on his eyes, and he made sure to have it be front and center when we fought… and Seryu…" She gritted her teeth, as if in pain. "She… she was all "justice" this and was gleefully happy to nearly murder me…" A tear ran down her cheek. "To think that they're still out there… I… I just can't…!"

"It's perfectly natural to be scared of something or… someone." Esdeath said. "There's no shame in it. It's part of who we are. We get scared but we work past it. There's also no shame in having PTSD either."

"How… how did you…?"

"Winter told me."

"Oh…" Weiss looked down, her eyes getting misty. "I don't get it… why did my father have to do such…" Tears ran down her cheeks. "WHY?! Why do I have to clean up his mess?! I know I said to Blake that we'll do it together but… she's not the one who has panic attacks!"

Esdeath turned around, gently wrapping her arms around Weiss and pulled her into a gentle hug. "Shhh… it's okay…"

"It's not okay… I get PTSD attacks at random, I'm constantly hyperventilating… what if I freeze up in a fight because these things just pop up in my head?! I've… I've been getting stronger but now… now I feel like I'm weakening because of this…"

"Just because you're scared and have these attacks does not make you weak. If anything, it makes you stronger if you get past these. It won't be easy… plus, if it helps, there's always that old saying: "Keep moving forward." It's a lot better than another old saying I've heard…"

"There's another…?"

"It's more popular around thieves and bandits and sometimes, even some of the Atlesian soldiers goes by this too… something that I'm not too particularly fond of."

"What is it?"

"The weak die… the strong live. Survival of the fittest. And… I honestly do not believe that at all." Esdeath said. "It never sat well with me… even when I was a little girl, it left a sour taste in my mouth. I always believed that to be completely bogus. You're weak if you die? Sorry, but in my eyes, you're only weak if you give up. Everyone can be strong… even newborns. They get stronger as months go by and soon, they're able to walk and crawl on their own. In my eyes, the whole Survival of the Fittest only applies to the animal kingdom and nothing more. No one is truly weak, even if some hecklers make you believe that you are."

"I see…"

"What I'm saying is… you're still strong. You may have sudden episodes, but that doesn't change anything. Believe me, I'm in the same boat as you."

"Were… were you attacked by Seryu and Adam too?"

"Just Seryu, and it just so happened to be after my fight with Sephiroth. Adam… never really met the guy. However, I don't get PTSD from Seryu… but from something else entirely."

"That being?"

Esdeath frowned. "When I was a little girl, my village was attacked by the Grimm. At first, it was just Beowolves and Ursai, and I think there was a Nevermore but I couldn't tell for sure. But… as the panic continued, it attracted more Grimm… stronger ones at that. Perhaps you've heard of them… Sabyrs, Megoliaths and Teryxes…"

Weiss's eyes widened. "Those things are vicious!"

"Indeed… and they made things way worse. My parents did their best to protect me… but I was the only survivor of my village."

"How did you survive?"

"Believe it or not, my semblance unlocked and I was able to freeze everything in sight, but I couldn't control it. Sure, I froze them all… but I was alone. I had lost the will to live after that… but then someone came to my rescue. Ironwood…"

"Ironwood?!"

"Yes… he made feel hopeful again. It was then that I grew stronger under him, and in time, well… look where we are." Esdeath chuckled. "He saved my life… and yet there are people out there who think I'd want to overthrow him because I rose through the ranks faster than he did. To me… he's like a father figure. How can I repay him with something so… heartless?"

"…Esdeath, I… I may have misjudged you because I, too, thought of it when the rumors came to the SDC mansion."

"I don't blame you… that rumor spread like wildfire and I couldn't extinguish it in time. Right now, I could care less what they think…"

"So… that's why the thing that you said earlier… because you've been down that road."

"Yes. I had given up so easily… but Ironwood pulled me out of that road. You're only weak if you give up… that's why I don't want anyone else to give up, because I know what it's like to give up on life. Even if you're scared and have PTSD… no one should truly give up. That's how you get stronger."

"That makes sense, but what does that have to do with you being in the same boat as-"

"I'm completely terrified of those Grimm. It's one of the main reasons why I prefer staying in the Mushroom Kingdom. Nice change of scenery, never a dull moment… away from those horrid creatures. Just thinking about them…" Her soft hug tightened. "It just makes me want to scream… just freeze up like a deer in the headlights. So I know what you're going through. I know what it's like when you have a PTSD attack but no one around you knows how to deal with it because they've never been through what you had."

"That's exactly it… I took it up with Byleth, and bless her heart for trying but… I could tell that she was trying to figure out how to handle it. I know there's Ruby but she hasn't experienced anything like this… just Dark Ruby and the Chaos Kin that impaled her when she sacrificed herself to save Palutena."

"But she's been through trauma, so she can definitely relate to freezing up and having a panic attack."

"Good point…"

"We'll get through this, Weiss…" Esdeath said, gently rubbing her back. "We'll get through this Seryu nightmare together… you, me, your friends… anyone who's willing to help."

Weiss closed her eyes. "That makes me feel a bit better."

"If it helps ease your mind, I told your sister that effective immediately, I'm placing your family and the Belladonnas under our protection."

"…But what if Seryu, Adam and the rest of the Crimson Fang find a way around you guys and-"

"I'd like to see them try." Esdeath said, closing her eyes and gently holding Weiss in her arms, the latter resting comfortably on her chest. She was also unaware of Winter overhearing their conversation from the other side of the door.

"Weiss… I know you'll get through this." Winter quietly said, wiping a few tears from her eyes and walked downstairs to leave them alone.

Could I have put this in Super Paper RWBY's epilogue... yeah, probably. But I wanted to have a more villain focused ending when they went back into the main universe, so I decided: "Heck, I can put this interaction into a Gaiden." So that's what I did!