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

Chapter 7

As the light from Weiss's eyes began to fade as Ruby choked the life out of her, Weiss had already accepted that this was the end for her. There was no point in fighting Ruby off, nor in struggling. No matter what she did, she wasn't going to be able to shake Ruby off and even if she did, how could she live with herself after knowing, she chose to hurt her?

As the world around her began to fade to darkness, and all the lights seemed to dim however, Weiss was surprised to find a patch of silver amongst the black… much like how Ruby's eyes normally were. Suddenly, the tight grip on her neck, disappeared and she slumped to the floor.

Clutching her throat in pain, Weiss looked for the nearest weapon she could find, hoping to find the lady who attacked them both. But as she grabbed her umbrella and turned to her left, she had found that Ruby was already doing the work herself. Watching in awe and horror as Ruby picked up the lady like a ragdoll and threw her out of the house, letting out a terrifying howl.

Staring directly into Ruby's eyes as she turned around to face her, she found that they had returned to their normal silver. As she looked up at the beast in front of her, trying to raise her hand towards, Weiss was met with Ruby baring her fangs directly at her. Fear seeping into her skin at first, she tried to run her hand through Ruby's cheek, praying that Ruby recognized her enough not to kill her then and there.

Right as her hand met fur however, and Weiss felt reassured that Ruby still recognized her however, Ruby fell over… onto her. A scream stopping in her throat, as Ruby's unconscious body pinned her to the floor, Weiss began to desperately push against Ruby. As she managed to slide out of Ruby's grasp and barely turned Ruby on her back, Weiss was starting to panic.

"Ruby?! Wake up!" Weiss said, trying to listen out for her heartbeat but being unable to over the sound of her own. Resting her head against Ruby's chest, she tried to get a feel for the rising and falling of her chest… but in her panicked state, she couldn't.

Sinking into despair as tears rolled down her cheek, Weiss tried desperately to push into Ruby's chest but as her arms gave out from the exertion, she merely rested her hand against Ruby's cheek, saying in a low voice. "Please… Please don't go. Don't let the one good thing in my life leave…"

Openly sobbing, as she lay down on Ruby's unconscious body, Weiss didn't know what to do, what to think. She was just… lost.

"What… happened here?" She heard a voice from behind say.

Jumping into action, she grabbed her umbrella and pointed it at the source of her voice. Tired or not, she would be damned if she was going to let anyone come after Ruby without a fight.

"Whoa Weiss! It's me Coco!" The woman in front of her said, her features hard to discern from how blurry her ears were from all the tears. "We called? I said I was going to come here soon? Are you okay?"

Dropping the umbrella and letting out a sigh, she responded. "No… some crazy woman came in here and tried to take Ruby away. She… used some sort of weird crystal or something and now…"

"Now what?" Coco asked, finally recognizable to Weiss after she closed the door and walked towards Weiss.

"Now… she might be dead Coco." Weiss said, slinking into defeat as the tears began to roll down again. "That crazy witch might have killed her…"

"Hey, come here Weiss." Coco said, offering her a hug. Rushing into it, she didn't realize just how much she missed that feeling. "I'm pretty sure Ruby here is made of stronger stuff. Would you mind if I took a look at her? Velvet brought me up to speed on were treatments."

"Are you sure?" Weiss asked, still a little worried over anything worse happening to Ruby.

"Relax Weiss, this isn't my first time dealing with Weres." Coco said, taking out a couple of bottles from her bag. "May I?"

"I'm coming over as well." Weiss said, not wanting to leave Ruby's side for a minute.

"As you wish." Coco said, as first began to rest her hand against Ruby's forehead. "Hmmm, high temperature, probably means she's slightly feverish. Common in forceful transformation."

Moving her hand down her face, Coco stopped at her neck. "Hmm… something's off here."

"I'm not… seeing anything?"

"Hold on a minute." Coco said, before gently poking Ruby's neck.

"What are you doing?" Weiss asked, perplexed.

"Wait for it." Coco said, as suddenly a line of grey fur appeared along Ruby's normal red and black.

"What… even is that?"

"A Dust line. Drawn by most witches to hold power over a person. It strips the color of the skin it's on. It's not easy magic."

"Wait, magic?"

"Yes. Well really… it's more like using Dust crystals to harness the power of the elements and…" Coco stopped as she looked at Weiss. "I'll explain it to you later."

"What are we supposed to do?" Weiss asked, trying not to panic.

"Well first thing's first, we trace all the Dust Lines. Hold out your hand for me?" Coco said, bringing down her bag and taking out a vial.

"What's this?" Weiss asked, holding out her hand for Coco who took out some strange liquid and applied it on her hand.

"It's a liquid that'll highlight out any remaining Dust. Just run your hands through her fur and find as many as you can." Coco explained, before applying some of the liquid herself and starting to run her hands through Ruby's fur.

As Weiss began to comb through all the fur, she found more and more places on Ruby's fur being highlighted with a strange grey light. Looking to Coco, with a worried glance, Coco responded by saying. "That's normal, just keep going till you can't find anymore."

As they slowly managed to find every last Dust line, both of them were shocked.

"What on Remnant did that bitch do to her?" Coco wondered, her expression filled with shock and disgust.

"Is that bad?"

"Worrying. I can still fix a lot of it right now. But it's gonna be some time before she'll be fully alright. "Coco responded, which managed to calm Weiss down enough.

"Do you need anything?"

"Just some space. And maybe something to eat after?" Coco said, rolling up her sleeves.

"Okay…" Weiss replied, still feeling a little unsure about Coco.

"Trust me Weiss." Coco said, before carrying Ruby on her back. "You can come in and see the spell if you're so unsure."

"I would… prefer that." Weiss responded, before helping Coco carry Ruby.

As the two of them rushed into the library at the back of the house, they found a big enough space in the middle. Gently laying Ruby down on the marble flooring, Weiss was… still scared out of her mind at the thought of losing the one person that helped her escape her loneliness.

Coco on the other hand, seemed to be perfectly calm as she moved, on covering the area around Ruby in a circle and gently using laying down more of those same crystals she saw with Cinder. While nervous at first, Coco managed to reassure with a glance. Once she was done laying down the crystals, she took out a pair of gloves that seemed to be faintly glowing?

"Coco? What are all these things?"

"It's… hard to describe but basically all these items are powered by Dust. The weird crystal your dad was mining up." Coco explained, as she sat down.

"Wait. You're telling me the SDC tried to mine up this… thing?" Weiss asked, confused as to why she hadn't heard much about it aside from how it was used to power most of Remnant.

"Right. Heck, the energy Dust produces is enough of a reason for anyone to want to mine it. It's just doing it improperly is way too dangerous. But besides that, Dust also has a… well, magical side to it." Coco explained, as she rubbed her gloves together with a Dust crystal.

"Wait so… you mean the news about their being witches in Mantle is… actually true?"

"Yeah. And they've been up to some really nasty stuff. Right now, though I can't get into a lot of it. Right now, let's make sure Ruby won't end up cooking herself when she wakes up." Coco said, letting out a deep sigh as she placed her hands on either side of Ruby's head.

"What are you doing?"

"Simple purification spell. Will remove most of the Dust from her body that's accumulated in her skin." Coco explained hurried, as sweat began to bead on her skin.

"Okay."

"I would advise you to close your eyes for this part though. This spell can get a little bright." Coco replied, as a faint green and blue energy began to leak into Ruby's head.

Right before she closed her eyes, she saw Ruby's body practically enveloped in those lines all glowing blue and green from what she could imagine was the spell. Praying that Coco knew what she was doing, Weiss hid behind a table as Coco spoke out something, her breath a little shaky.

Then suddenly, she felt a wave of energy pass through her skin, nearly knocking her to the floor. Opening her eyes, she felt a little disorientated at first before, looking to the circle and found it gone, with Coco breathing heavily and Ruby looking like herself again, like a human.

"Ruby!" Weiss shouted out, as she ran over to the two.

"Weiss, wait. She won't be able to hear you until she wakes up on her own. Right now, just let her rest…" Coco said, sweat beading all over her skin and sighing deeply.

"Is she going to be…"

"I'm not fully sure yet, but the fact that she isn't on fire or freezing up should mean it worked." Coco said, rubbing the sweat of her skin.

"I'm sorry… did you just say on fire or freezing?"

"Sometimes the spell doesn't always work. That's why we always carry every type of Dust at all times so that we can cancel out the effect. It's just a little stressful sometimes."

"Do you… want me to get you something?" Weiss asked, looking at Coco who seemed to be slouching over.

"Nah, just a bed or a couch will do." Coco said, as she yawned. "I hope you don't mind me taking a nap on the couch, will you?"

Letting out a huge sigh of relief, Weiss didn't even know what to say to thank Coco for what she had done. So, she took a page out of Ruby's book and gave her a hug.

"Whoa Ice Queen! Seems like you really thawed up thanks to your girlfriend here." Coco replied, surprised at first before patting Weiss on the back.

"Excuse me, she is not my girlfriend!" Weiss replied, blushing from embarrassment.

"Oh, keep telling yourself that Weiss." Coco said, before pulling away from the hug and walking towards the living room. "You might want to put Ruby in one of your bedrooms, I don't think marble is a particularly good place to wake up on."

"Thank you, Coco,… thank you so much." Weiss said, as she picked up Ruby.

"Hey… don't mention it Weiss." Coco said, placing a hand on Weiss's shoulder. "I'm glad we got the chance to meet. Even if it was under well… stressful circumstances. I'll talk to you in the morning when I don't feel like I've lifted twenty tons all day."

"Sleep well Coco."

"You too Ice Queen. And also, if I may recommend, you might want to be close to Ruby when she wakes up so you might as well sleep together. She could probably use some reassurance with the day she's had." Coco replied, which completely flushed Weiss, leaving her unable to respond.

Shaking off her feelings of embarrassment, she decided to carry Ruby into her bedroom and slowly rested her onto the bed, comfortably resting her head against the pillows. As she noticed Ruby's chest rise and fall normally, Weiss let out a huge sigh as she sat down on the bed.

With the day she had been having, just having this moment to rest and relax from well, everything was just what she needed. As she looked onto Ruby's resting face, so delicately resting on the bed, she pondered over Coco and Ilia's words. Ruby and her? Girlfriends? Admittedly Weiss couldn't say that she didn't care for Ruby. In many ways, Ruby had really been the first person, she felt like she could feel open and vulnerable with.

She was honest, genuine and always reliable when she needed it. Things that Weiss often didn't see in Atlas. It felt… so warm and unique, so kind and heartwarming, things that Weiss never would've thought she could've felt in all her years. And the center of it all was the lovable were, resting peacefully in her bed.

Gently placing her hand onto Ruby's face, she began to speak. "I… know, I haven't shown it the most… but I wouldn't be lying if I said meeting you was one of the best things that happened to me…"

Trying to hold back a tear, she continued. "I'm sorry I couldn't help you. I… just… hope you'll be okay-"

As she spoke however, she noticed Ruby had begun to stir and the moment their eyes met, Ruby immediately shot up and gave her a tight hug. Initially shocked by the touch, she gently reciprocated it as Ruby held on.

"Weiss… please don't go… please stay…" Ruby said, tears falling onto Weiss's shoulders as the girl sobbed.

"I'm not going anywhere Ruby. Not now. Not ever." Weiss said, gently patting Ruby's head as she laid down looking directly into Ruby's eyes.

Gently rubbing away the tears on Ruby's face, she pulled her in close, allowing Ruby to snuggle in close. Cheeks heating up from the proximity at first, Weiss merely rested her head against Ruby's as the two of them fell into the comfortable feeling of rest…

Together.