I did not expect this many people to actually enjoy this. Thank you for the support, this went a lot better than I anticipated lol.
Another thing I forgot to mention, I'll be updating this daily since all 20 chapters are prewritten. There may be a day or two where I can't since my classes are destroying me rn. I'll do my best tho!
When she first saw him again, she swore it was just a soulless copy of the boy she once knew.
She found him in a painfully one-sided fight with Blake in the remains of their campus Mess Hall, surrounded by black smoke and flames.
The man that stood in front of her was built to fight, it was evident in the muscles on his arms and the way he handled his sword like it was an extension of his own body. Though he hid his face in that ugly mask, she recognized his crimson hair and sharp horns immediately.
'I have to fight him.' The thought alone made it increasingly difficult to breathe.
Maybe she could find some way to make him stop. If she jumped in to help defend Blake maybe he'll consider lowering his weapon and hear her out. Maybe he'll remember what they once shared and back off.
Weiss snapped out of her stupor when he kicked aside Blake's weapon.
"Don't make me do something I regret." His voice was hard and cold, like the icicles that dangled dangerously in the Dust Mines.
He turned his attention to the helpless human victim on the ground. The student was completely knocked out and at the mercy of his crimson blade.
Weiss was moving even before she could fully register what was going on. Her rapier met his unforgiving blade just before it could pierce into his victim's chest.
She clenched her teeth when he looked at her. Even with that horrible mask hiding half his face, she could feel his striking blue eyes piercing right into her. For a moment neither of them said anything. With their blades locked and their faces mere inches away from each other amid roaring flames.
"You!" He growled.
"Yes. Me." She was surprised her voice came out so steadily.
They both withdrew their swords and leapt back. Her heart was drumming out of her chest and her hands were as cold as the polar winds.
"Blake, can you stand?" Weiss asked her teammate without once taking her eyes off Adam.
"You need to leave! He's dangerous!" Blake cried.
"Yes, leave like your coward of a friend." He mocked. "I'll chase you down and cut you in half before you can step foot out of this room."
'You're not like the rest of them.'
"I don't think you will." She countered bravely.
He was on her before she could blink. Weiss barely reacted in time to stop his sword from making contact with her ribs. They exchanged parry after parry. He was doing everything he could to hurt her, but she couldn't bring herself to retaliate.
What had happened to that sweet little boy to turn out like this?
She screamed when he successfully disarmed her, leaving a nasty cut down her palm. Weiss stumbled back into the wall as he pointed his blade straight at her throat.
"Adam." She whispered.
'Don't you remember me?'
"It's always an honour to kill a Schnee." He smirked coldly.
'You never called me by my last name.'
"You don't want to do this." She pleaded, but it seemed her words fell on deaf ears. "Please! Y-you're not a murderer."
'You're different.'
He advanced closer without even the slightest hint of hesitation.
A familiar dread of being helplessly backed into a corner flooded her every instinct. It was a feeling reserved for her father, not the boy who once held her in his arms, who offered her a shoulder cry on; who gave her something to look forward to every day.
"This isn't you!" She cried desperately.
That seemed to make him freeze for a second, but as quickly as she thought he would listen to reason, all her hope shattered as the tip of his blade suddenly rested right on top of her throat.
His sword felt like burning coals.
'He's really going to kill me.'
She was wrong. He was just like the rest of them.
Weiss wasn't sure if she wanted to cry, beg for her life, or be angry at him. This wasn't the boy she left behind.
This was a heartless killer.
"What happened to you?" She couldn't help but ask.
"Don't flatter yourself, Princess. You don't deserve to know anything."
If Blake hadn't tackled him, Weiss was certain she would've died right then and there. Even without his blade pointed at her neck, she couldn't shake the feeling of it resting dangerously against her neck.
The next couple of seconds went by in an agonizing blur. She watched numbly as Adam and Blake fought for control over his sword, only for him to finally overpower her and push her back down on the ground.
It was at that very moment Yang stumbled across the scene. Without warning, she rocketed towards him with her fist drawn back and eyes blazing red.
Weiss was certain he was going to get pummeled by her friend, but within a single breath, he swiped his sword and completely cut through Yang's right arm. She barely registered Blake grabbing her by the wrist and dragging her to safety.
Though she ended up leaving Beacon in one piece, she couldn't help but feel a part of her died when Yang was brutally mutilated by the boy she once held so dearly to her heart.
—
She couldn't stop thinking about him when she was back home.
It wasn't her choice. He had seared that awful night into the forefront of his mind, no matter what she did she kept finding herself trapped at that moment in time.
When she was quietly reviewing their company papers she'd catch his sinister figure out of the corner of her eyes, when she practised her singing she felt his blade on her throat—even when she slept she found herself at the mercy of his wrath.
Yet, on days where she felt completely alone in the world, she couldn't help but revisit much simpler times in their past. When it was just him and her in that lonely cave, sharing secrets, laughs, and warm embraces beneath a cold sky. It was these memories that made her see red.
'I should hate him!' She remembered chiding herself on a particularly cold night. 'He betrayed me!'
He permanently hurt Yang.
He attacked their school which hurt hundreds of innocent students.
He held her when no one else cared.
Weiss kicked the window in her room so hard it shattered the glass completely. That earned her a colourful lecture from Father, but it was nothing compared to the blaze eating her up on the inside.
It all made her head feel like it was splitting in two.
Even Whitley, who took great pleasure in taunting her every second he could, began to show visible signs of distress whenever he ran into her.
"You really should do something about those awful bags under your eyes, sister. They age you up five years." He'd once said to her as they passed each other in the halls.
He'd never used her physical appearance as one of his taunts before.
"Leave me alone." She murmured, not having the strength to respond to his taunt.
He didn't even bother responding to her, leaving her alone to sulk in the isolation of her room.
Weiss couldn't remember a single day she felt anything aside from anger and hurt.
Even when she managed to run away from home and hid amongst the cargo of an airship destined for Mistral City, she could never get rid of that empty hole he left in her chest.
—
She was 18 when she crossed blades with him again.
After a disastrous encounter with the Grimm not even a day into her escape from Atlas, she found herself stranded in the middle of nowhere on a rainy afternoon. As far as Weiss could tell, she landed in a forest in gods know where, with nothing but her weapon, briefcase, and the clothes on her back.
She'd landed in a funny position when her ship crashed, leaving a dull ache in her dominant shoulder. Weiss checked her Scroll for a signal but found it utterly destroyed from the crash.
She angrily threw the useless device at a tree and began marching away from the crash site. Her first course of action would be to find civilization. Her shoulder needed to be checked by a doctor and she needed some way to get in contact with Ruby.
A warm set of clothes would also sound fantastic.
She knew Ruby was trying to head to Haven Academy, so she had a destination in mind at the very least. The question was whether she'd arrive in time to reunite with her.
It took about an hour of aimless wandering for her to finally hear running water, by then the rain had lessened to a freezing drizzle. She quickly followed the source and found herself by a running river. Remnants of a camp were set up by the running water, judging by the smoke still rising from the firewood and the travel packs left behind, she guessed it must've been recent.
As quickly as her excitement grew, however, she felt her spirits crushed when she got closer. White Fang symbols were found all over the bags and clothes.
'Of course, I crash land by a bunch of White Fang members.'
She cursed her bad luck and gingerly made her way to the foliage. She'd just about made it into the forest again when the sound of rustling leaves caught her attention.
In one swift move, she withdrew her rapier and blocked the blade of a nameless White Fang grunt. Her shoulder burned from the extraneous movement. There was no way she would win this fight, especially not if there were more of them.
She quickly called upon a Grimm summon to her aid and let it loose on her attacker. While her assailant was busy fending off the white boar, Weiss bolted.
Her heart was racing with adrenaline. She eyed every tree and bush that fell in her path, fearing someone would leap out and surprise her. Her paranoia wasn't unfounded as a red flash leapt out from a tree and blocked her escape route.
Weiss cursed and skidded to a stop, nearly falling flat on her face.
He was exactly as she remembered him to be back at Beacon. Strong, powerful, and heartless. Months worth of anger, fear, and confusion returned all at once, hitting her like a tidal wave.
"You're either stupid or brave for walking right into our camp." Adam unsheathed his sword.
She shivered when she remembered what it did to Yang—Weiss wasn't sure if it was out of fear or fury.
She winced as she got her rapier into a defensive position. Remembering her last fight with him, she knew the likelihood of surviving was stacked against her. Still, the prospect of dying was minuscule compared to the blinding rage crackling in her chest.
"Now what's a spoiled little princess doing away from daddy's mansion?" He taunted.
"You know he doesn't give two shits about my well-being." She seethed.
That wiped the grin off his face. With a blink of an eye, he was attacking. She could barely keep up with his movements, his speed rivalled even that of Ruby's.
She cried out in pain when his sword knocked her hard into the trunk of a tree.
"What's wrong? Too embarrassed to associate with me?" She taunted against her better judgement.
She threw herself to the ground when he lunged his sword deep into the tree trunk behind her.
"You mean nothing to me, Schnee." He pulled his sword free.
She quickly rose to her feet. "You and I both know that's a lie!"
That was the wrong thing to say. He immediately threw his sword right at her head. She pivoted her body, wincing as the edge of the blade skimmed over her cheek. The tree trunk behind her let out a loud crunch as the sword pierced clean through the wood.
While she safely escaped the wrath of his blade, she wasn't so lucky with his fist, which collided right into her face and knocked her flat on the grass.
She tasted metal and spat on the ground. She bravely met his eyes behind his ugly mask, he hoped her face would forever haunt him if he finished her off.
"You disgust me." He sneered.
"The feeling's mutual." She staggered back up to her feet, ignoring a dull throb on the side of her face.
"A human disgusted by a Faunus for existing, how typical." With one hand, he pulled his sword effortlessly out of the tree trunk.
"You cut my friend's arm off! This has nothing to do with your heritage!"
"Your family mutilated hundreds of us! Welcome to the club, Princess!"
'Lies.'
She ducked as his blade shot forward, and rolled out of her way before he could kick her flat on her back.
"Get off your high-horse! You're nothing but a murderer making up excuses to hurt innocent people!"
"Better a murderer than a victim."
Her shoulder felt like it was on fire as he attacked again, swinging his sword so fast she could barely keep up. Weiss managed to make him back off for a moment by using her Dust to conjure up a wall of ice.
Weiss gathered as much energy as she could to summon her Knight to the battlefield—or at least a part of it. Her icy assistant swung its massive sword towards Adam forcing him to retreat from her.
She used that chance to run, using her glyphs to help give her an extra boost. Weiss knew her Summon would only keep him busy for a few seconds at most, and he could easily catch up to her, but she'd be damned if she stood still and let him take her life.
Twigs and bushes made it even more difficult for her to keep running at a fast pace without injuring herself. Her skirt was no doubt sporting a dozen new holes from her scramble for safety.
She heard him approaching before she felt his attack. He sounded like a bullet ripping through the wind.
Weiss cursed and summoned as many glyphs as she could to keep ahead, but her efforts proved useless when she heard what sounded like a wave of fire hurling towards her. She screamed when an unseen force smashed her square on the back, sending her flying ahead and over a hidden drop-off.
The descent down the slope was even more painful than her disastrous crash in the ship. Her breakfast was threatening to make a second appearance as she rolled down the incline, and her body was at the mercy of whatever twigs and sharp rocks lay in her path.
She felt the wind get knocked out of her the moment she landed on flat ground. She knew she needed to run lest Adam caught up to her, but everything hurt—especially her back.
"Oh my!" A woman's voice exclaimed just in front of her.
Weiss groggily lifted her head and found herself staring at an auburn-haired woman with striking gold eyes. She looked to be a local, with her plain red tunic dress and basketful of freshly picked herbs in her one hand.
What caught Weiss' attention was the wolf ears poking up from the side of her head and the empty left sleeve hanging by her side.
"Help me." Weiss pleaded.
If Adam saw she was with an unarmed Faunus there was a chance she'd be spared. He surely wouldn't want to hurt his own people.
The woman looked hesitant. For a moment it seemed like she was going to turn around and abandon her, but she nodded and set her basket aside.
"Thank you." Weiss cried.
The woman seemed genuinely surprised but smiled, though with a bit of hesitancy.
"My name is Violet." The stranger introduced herself softly.
—
Weiss found herself taken to a quiet village deep in the forest. The community was small, so small that she saw all of it with a single glance. The villagers themselves all seemed to be exclusively Faunus, which immediately made Weiss stick out like a sore thumb.
She found nearly every villager gawking at her as she was helped to one of the log cabins where Violet lived. Some of the villagers looked at her with curiosity, those were mainly children, while others glared dangerously at her; the latter was the most common look she was getting.
Growing up in the Schnee family had numbed her to the prying eyes of the public, but she's never been looked at with such hostility before.
'I wonder if they support the White Fang.' The thought sent shivers down her spine.
'If they are, I would be dead by now.' She tried to console herself. 'That or they're planning to hold me prisoner.'
She suddenly wished Violet had lived in a normal village with normal people.
"You'll need to forgive our friends. It's not often we see human visitors." Violet explained once they were inside.
"It's okay. I understand." Weiss assured her half-heartedly.
The wooden house was cramped. Their open kitchen directly faced the living room where there was an unlit fireplace, a tiny coffee table stood between the patchy couch and the stone hearth. The threat of being a White Fang prisoner faded with the surprisingly cosy interior.
She was led into a tiny bedroom in the back, just barely big enough to contain the twin bed inside. After Violet addressed her injuries, she offered her a spare tunic dress to change into.
"Your shoulder will need to rest for a while before you can fight again. I'm not sure how you hurt your back so severely, but you're lucky you can even walk right now." Violet's words didn't make her feel any better. "My husband will be back soon with the other hunters. Please be patient with us until then."
"T-thank you so much, you saved my life back there," Weiss stammered. "M-my name is Weiss."
"I wouldn't go that far. The most I did was stitch up your back."
She also saved her from a heartless killer, but Weiss kept that information to herself.
"Do you have a scroll I could use?" Weiss asked.
"I'm afraid not. Our village is cut off from the rest of the world."
"Oh…uh…that's okay." She mentally cursed. Of all the places she could've stumbled into, of course, it would be the one without modern technology.
"If that's everything, I'll be in the other room. There's still much to do."
"Do you want me to uh…help you with anything before your husband comes home?"
Violet tilted her head quizzically. "You wish to help me as my guest?"
"W-well, I did crash land into your life. It's the least I can do."
"You're a strange girl." Violet giggled. "But I like that."
In the end, Violet asked Weiss to help organize their spice jars while she cleaned up before dinner. Weiss could only get so much done when her back was still burning and her shoulder ached like a bitch.
"I'm home!" Weiss jumped when the door swung wide open, revealing a large burly man with a dead elk swung over his shoulder.
"Please don't get blood on the floor, we have a guest over." Violet chided gently before greeting him with a kiss.
"A guest?" The burly man searched the house until his eyes landed on Weiss.
What intrigued Weiss the most about him was that he was human.
—
The man, whom she learned was named Ash, was a stark contrast to his wife. Where Violet was quiet, borderline aloof, and soft-spoken, he was loud and bursting with endless energy. It was a scenario Weiss would've never believed had she not seen it with her own eyes.
How polar opposites-how a Faunus and a human managed to make their marriage work better than even her parents' left Weiss dumbfounded.
Ash spoke of his latest hunt with the enthusiasm of a six-year-old throughout dinner, making even the most mundane detail sound like a life or death scenario. Violet seemed visibly annoyed by the dragged out tale, but she never made a complaint. Weiss found herself completely speechless throughout the meal, stuck between the odd couple on their lumpy couch.
"So, what brings you out here, Weiss?" Ash finally addressed her.
"It's…complicated." She told him truthfully. "I won't stay for long! I promise I'll be gone by sunrise tomorrow!"
"That would be unwise." Violet piped in gently. "Your body needs rest."
"She's right! We're happy to have guests over anyways!" Ash assured her.
"Thank you." She blushed from all the kindness thrown at her. It was so different from the loneliness she felt back at home. "I can help out however I can in return."
Violet burst out laughing. "Sorry, I just find this scenario rather funny."
"Erm…" Weiss wasn't sure what to say. Was this some Faunus joke she didn't know about? Would it be rude if she asked her to elaborate?
"I never would've imagined having a Schnee over for dinner or help us with housework. It all sounds like a bad joke!"
Weiss wasn't too surprised Violet and (probably) the other villagers could recognize who she was. Still, it left an uncomfortable feeling in the pit of her stomach at how easy it was to identify her.
"I'm surprised there isn't a manhunt for you, Weiss. You'd think Mr Schnee would be more worried about his daughter disappearing from home." Ash said. "I know if my little girl disappeared I'd be using all that money to arrange a massive manhunt."
'He doesn't care.' She thought heatedly. Father didn't two shits about her now that she lost her title as the heiress. Weiss doubted he was losing any sleep knowing she'd suddenly disappeared into thin air.
"Regardless of your circumstances, we welcome you to our home." Violet placed her hand around Weiss' trembling fists.
When had she balled her hands into fists?
"Violet's right! We might not have a mansion, but we hope you can make yourself at home, kid." Ash ruffled her hair.
She should've been more upset at the bigger man for messing up her hair, but she found that she didn't mind it much.
"If you want to help out, I'm sure Violet wouldn't mind taking you out to gather some herbs!"
"We'll see how that shoulder and back are doing tomorrow first," Violet said sternly. "Our guest isn't here for free labour, Ash."
"O-of course, I totally didn't forget that!"
"Mm." Violet's ear twitched in annoyance. "Be a dear and grab us some dessert please."
"Anything for you, cutie pie." Ash jumped to his feet and pecked Violet on the cheek before grabbing the sliced apples.
"Softie," Violet murmured with a loving grin once he was out of earshot.
Despite being hundreds of miles away from her mansion, Weiss found herself feeling completely at home with the unusual couple.