The wheels creaked and groaned as the wooden carriage made its way down the lone dirt road. The soft sounds of horses snorting and trotting on the gravel outside signaled her accompanying guard.
3 days.
It had been 3 days since her lord father had announced to the rest of the upper nobility that the beautiful, second daughter of house Schnee of Atlas, was to wed the only son of the honorable High Lord Nicholas Arc of Vale.
It's was to be a most prosperous union.
Ha! Yeah right, more like she was being thrown out like a piece of fresh meat to keep the hungry wolves away.
Arc.
The name of an incredibly ancient and powerful house of Vale. Their influence alone is second only to the Royal Family of Vale itself. The Arc name struck fear into the hearts of anyone who would oppose them, and for good reason. A long line of impressive warriors that have guided and protected the kingdom of Vale for generations. Their feats, legendary.
Weiss could recall the stories from her old nannies. From helping found the very kingdom of Vale, to slaying the ferocious Grimm Dragon, Veldora, to organizing the defenses of Vale, while holding off both Mistral's and Vacuo's dual attacks during the Great War.
And then there's their most recent feat.
It had only been 10 Years since High Lord Nicholas Arc put down the Faunus Uprising, being granted complete command over the Valean forces. Then later on taking control of the combined Human Armed Forces, who hailed from all four of the major kingdoms, struck together at the heart of the Faunus power.
Menagerie.
The holy land of the Faunus.
It was burned to the ground. A "punishment" for rising up against their human masters. For demanding to be treated like equals, for biting the hand that feed them.
When their Faunus traits and psychological nature clearly made them not human. Their leader, Amon Taurus, was captured, chained, and beheaded by Nicholas Arc for the entire world to bare witness.
That was the end of the bloody 4 year long conflict. The Faunus War as it was now commonly referred to as.
Weiss let out a tired sigh. 'And now I'm to marry the youngest son of that man. Ugh, he's probably a brute just like his father. More muscle and testosterone, than common sense.' Weiss ran a hand through her long, silk like, white hair. A nervous tick she's had since childhood, one which she never quite grown out of. 'Mother seemed to think highly of my match to the Arc's, which was a surprise. Father did as well, which was not a surprise. Marrying me off to them would help ensure they never move against the Schnee family, and by extension, the whole of Atlas.'
She could see It was a very smart match, politically anyways. Weiss just wished it wasn't her being shipped off another continent and kingdom.
Weiss let out yet another long sigh.
"Is something wrong, my lady?"
Weiss took a second to glance from out the carriage window, over to where her retainer and body guard sat. Ciel Soleil. A dark skinned, and admittedly quite beautiful girl. Ciel was a member of the Schnee family personal guard. The girl had been takin in as an orphan, Weiss could recall, she was grew to become a very talented wind mage, and a loyal servant of her family's. So surprisingly loyal, in fact, that Ciel was the only one to volunteer in moving with Weiss to her new home in another kingdom.
And that had stung.
"No Ciel, I'm fine. I'm just thinking about the future... thank you."
With a nod the girl once again closed her eyes and resumed, to what Weiss assumed, was her meditating.
'It wasn't fair. Not a single one of her family's other servants had chosen to come with her. They were all firmly loyal to the other members of her family. Her father, High Lord Jacque Schnee. Her mother, Lady Willow Schnee, who's father was the late High Lord Nikola Schnee. Winter Schnee, eldest daughter and rightful Heiress to the Schnee family, as well as Captain to General Ironwood's personal guard. And finally Whitley Schnee, her little brother and sole male heir to the Schnee family.
All four had better claim to the Schnee name than Weiss did.
'It's no wonder everyone would throw their lot in with one of them over me. I'm just Weiss Schnee, second daughter of Lord and Lady Schnee. I'm... expendable.'
Weiss was abruptly snapped from her thoughts when the carriage came to a sudden halt.
"What's going on?" Weiss questioned, peering out the window for any sighs of danger.
"I do not know, Lady Schnee," Ciel spoke, strapping on her forearm guards as she made her way to the carriage door. "but please, stay in the carriage while I investigate." And with that the young mage exited through the wooden door, leaving Weiss to sit alone in silence.
The silence did not last long.
"AMBUSH!!"
A loud blast rocked the prestigious wooden carriage. The force lifted Weiss off her seat and sent her tumbling to the floor. She tried to shake her head, hoping to straighten out her spinning vision. But quickly realized it wasn't her vision that was wrong, but the picture itself.
'The carriage is on its side!'
Weiss struggled for a moment, her high heels making it difficult to climb, but was able to manage to climb out of the wooden wreckage.
The scene around her shocked her to no end.
She and her group of 10 or so guards were surrounded by a band of over 30 bandits.
"Hold them off!" "Kill them all!" "Protect the Lady!" "Hurry! Attack! Attack!" "Help the injured men back!" "Take their gold!" "We need a healer here!"
It was mayhem.
"Look out!" Cried a voice as she was pushed aside, seconds before a sharp metal axe buried itself deep into the wood of the wrecked carriage. The man who had swung it looked furious that he had missed her neck.
'H-He... He tried to kill me!'
Weiss realized. Her eyes going wide with fear as the barbarian ripped the axe free from the wood with a loud "crunch", before raising it over his head, prepared to take another swing at her.
Only for his head to come tumbling down from his body, accompanied by both of his arms.
"Wind Scythe!" A voice screamed.
A scythe made of pure wind came howling angrily at the bandit, cutting clean through skin, muscle and bone of his raised arms and neck.
"Weiss!!" Ciel cried, rushing over to her mistress. "Are you ok?!"
"D-Did you do that?"
Ciel nodded, looking at the decapitated dead man, then back up to her charge. "A-Apologies my Lady, I showed you s-something unsightly. But we need to move! I was able to k-kill the bandit's mage, the one that blew up your carriage, The dark skinned girl was looking paler. "but some of your guards are injured, and th-there are too many bandits. Our best bet is for you to escape. We are only about a 15 m-minute ride to the nearest town. If you make a r-run for it, we can buy you some t-time."
'Buy me some time?'
Weiss looked down to the girl's side. The mage's hand was pressing firmly against her ribs with gritted teeth, her clothing and robe were torn and soaked in blood.
"Y-You're hurt!" Weiss gasped, trying to reach out and help the bleeding girl, only for her hands to be gently swatted away.
"I'm bleeding out, my Lady. There's not much time left for me." Weiss could see that was the case. There was too much blood. "The remaining guards and I will stay to buy you some time. You need to run for it. I swore to Lady Winter I would protect you no matter what!"
'No! This couldn't be happening!'
The sounds of steel clashing and the angry roars of both men and women sounded all around her.
Weiss looked around in panic, hoping to see someone, anyone come to their aid.
All she saw was the tattered cloaks and damaged armor of her remaining seven knights. They were fighting ferociously with all they had while making a protective circle around her, 3 of them down and unable to fight, injured she hoped, with her and Ciel in the middle. The blue haired girl snarling as she blasted away any bandit that got passed their defenders.
"Air bullet!" Ciel screamed, raising a hand and blasting a woman in the chest with a ball of wind the size of a large watermelon. The dirty bandit was sent flying back a good 20 meters, before crashing hard into the dirt. Weiss saw that the woman did not move or get back up again.
Another slipped between the knights. A man this time. Ciel raised her hand again, ready to unleash more of her impressive magic, only for her to flinch and groan, holding her side in pain as she collapsed to the ground. "HNGH!"
"DIE, GIRL!" The crazed man screamed. Weiss brought her hands up, prepared to make a shield wall of solid ice, just like how Winter had taught her, only for the man to fly off his feet and be pinned against the broken carriage.
A spear of bronze was lodged into his chest.
"ITS THE ARCS, RUN!!" A voice screamed, right as the bandits started fleeing in panic.
The sounds of thundering hooves signaled the arrival of their new guests.
Twin golden crests on a white background. The flag of the Arcs waved proudly as a group of 20, horse mounted knights, came charging into the mass of undisciplined bandits, cutting them down with ease.
"Jaune, Pyrrha, secure the girl." A woman's voice ordered. Her hair was long and black like darkness itself, her eyes seemed to glow red with fury. "The rest of you follow me! It's about time we finished up these weaklings once and for all!"
Bandits screamed and begged for mercy, only for their voices and bodies to be trampled over by the charging horses, or silenced by the tips of metal spears.
This wasn't a fight, it was a slaughter.
'Serves them right!' Weiss watched with cold satisfaction as the men and woman who had almost killed her and her knights, be mercilessly killed before her very own eyes. Her knights breathing their own sigh of relief.
"Are you two ok?" Called a gentle voice. It belonged to a beautiful woman with hair like fresh blood and eyes like shining emeralds. The young woman gave a soft, polite smile, before turning around and yanking the spear out of the impaled man. His lifeless corpse dropped into a heap.
"I-I'm fine." Weiss croaked, eyes watching the dead man. But then moving over to a bloody Ciel. "But my retainer is hurt. She was injured protecting me!"
"I-It's my d-duty, my l-lady." Ciel wheezed, each breath seemed to be a struggle.
Pyrrha smiled, giving the injured girl a nod of respect. "It is our duty to protect our masters. Jaune, can you save this girl?"
A blond young man came and kneeled next to Ciel. "Excuse me." He whispered, tentatively putting a hand on either side of the open wound and closing his eyes. Once again he whispered, "Heal."
With a soft glow of warm white light, the wound began to rapidly close.
"Ahh!" Gasped the wounded girl.
"Are you ok?" Weiss asked worriedly. Her hand halfway stretched towards her servant.
"Y-Yes, my lady. I've just n-never felt a healer this p-powerful before." Ciel's blue eyes met the blond's own blue eyes. "Th-Thank you, sir."
"Don't worry about it. I'm happy to help." The young man gave a warm smile. His eyes seemed kind and friendly. "Just give me a few more seconds and you'll be good to go. It wasn't a deep wound, but just make sure not to move around too much, you lost a lot of blood."
"That won't be a problem, it looks like Captain Raven is about done." True to the redhead's statement, an older woman dismounted her horse and strode over to the four teens as the last of the bandits were rounded up.
"Most of the bandits have been either killed or captured, and the ones that escaped will be hunted down soon enough. I knew we should of hunted them all down sooner, but damn Nicholas for being a bleeding heart and wanting to show mercy to some dirty peasants." The woman spat. She was tall, fit, and exuded command. "How's the little girl doing?"
"She's fine, Captain." The redhead replied, a cheerful smile on her face. "She wasn't injured. Her retainer took a nasty cut to her ribs, but Jaune was able to patch it up with his light magic."
"Good job, brat."
The blond know as Jaune smiled happily.
"Alright, lets get these pampered Atlesian home before they die of a single days hard work."
Weiss was stunned at the dismissive tone this woman was throwing her way, but that only lasted for a second, indignation soon followed after that.
She forcefully shoved away the blond young man who was trying to lead her to the nearest horse.
"EXCUSE ME!" Weiss hissed, stomping after the presumed leader. Squaring up her shoulders, the smaller girl jabbed a finger into the impressive bust of the older woman. "While I greatly appreciate you coming to our aid, I fell like It is my duty to inform you that this is no way to speak to someone of higher standing. How High Lord Arc could have such a brutish woman in his service is beyond me!" Weiss bent over and gave a perfect, textbook curtsy. "I am Lady Weiss Schnee of Atlas. A pleasure, you Valean ruffian."
'There! Let's see who gets the last laugh.'
Weiss pleased smirk died and ugly death at the sight of the woman's shark like grin.
"Oh, it's a real pleasure there, princess~" The red eyed woman grinned, seeming to be trying to hold back a laugh. "I'm Raven Branwen, Captain of the Arc family guard."
'She has the same position as Winter. She must be strong.'
"This is Pyrrha Nikos, personal bodyguard to Lord Jaune Arc."
Weiss looked to the red haired girl... who was now frowning at her.
'Why is this girl frowning at me? Did she feel insulted on her Captain's behalf? She was the one being rude first!'
"And~" Captain Raven's voice teased. "That's Lord Jaune Arc, your new husband, girl."
Weiss looked down.
Sat in a pile of mud, where she had pushed him away, sat a mud covered blond young man.
"Um, h-hi Weiss. It's... uh... nice to finally meet you. I'm Jaune, Jaune Arc!"