Ruby's Huntress Outfit: A black long-sleeved top with a lace-up, armored gray corset, and a hefty crimson-red belt draped over her waist, complete with bullet pouches and her rose symbol fastened to her side. Her skirt is a matching red with dark gray tights and black/gray steel-toed boots. The right part of her red cloak is torn.
Weiss' Huntress Outfit: A bright white long-sleeved bolero with red gradients around the neck and sleeves and a light blue Schnee logo custom-embroidered onto the left shoulder. She's dressed in a silver, lightweight armored corset, asymmetrical black skirt, black leggings, and white knee-high boots.
Location: Patch, Vale - Stathmore, Mistral
Date: October 12th
It doesn't matter how
The petals scatter now
Every nightmare just discloses
It's your blood that's red like roses
"Where is it?"
There's a quiet rustling noise coming from the left side of the room, almost like drawers being opened as silently as possible. Weiss' brows pull together in annoyance; she reaches over and grabs the pillow across from her in an attempt to block out the noise.
"What are you doing?" She murmurs.
"Oh! You're awake!" Ruby's voice answers her almost immediately, followed by a loud clattering sound.
Weiss opens her eyes to find her fiancee's lighted silhouette fumbling with the bedroom lamp, attempting and failing miserably to adjust it. The lamp's edge collides with the digital, holographic clock next to it, and both objects fall to the floor; the lamp's cord is yanked from the wall, and the room is dark.
"Sorry…"
Weiss sighs and sits up, tossing Ruby's pillow back to her side of the bed. "If you're looking for your scroll, it's in the bathroom." She hears Ruby quickly jogging out of the room. "And delete those pictures!" Weiss calls after her, having given up on sleep and sliding out of bed to get dressed.
"No!" Ruby calls back. "You're the one who let me take them!"
The woman rolls her eyes, having no response.
As Weiss is redressing into relaxing clothes, Ruby returns with a cookie dangling from her mouth and her scroll in one hand. She's skimming through something with hyper-fixation. "Hey," Ruby mutters as she takes the cookie from her mouth to speak, "did Ozpin call you?"
Weiss raised a brow. "No," she answers curiously, "why?"
"He left a message," Ruby says, taking a seat on the bed and crossing her legs as she takes another bite of her cookie. Weiss' brow twitches in slight aggravation. Now there are going to be crumbs all over the bed. Silver eyes glance up at her and Ruby smiles sheepishly, "Sorry, Princess, I'll clean the sheets after I'm done…" She promises, checking her scroll's volume. "I must've not had the ringer on."
"Just play the message," Weiss tells her, taking a seat next to Ruby.
Ruby sticks her tongue out at Weiss, "Well, someone woke up grumpy!" She chuckles as she opens her voicemail box, punching in the passcode. "It's probably just an update on Blake and Yang's mission, though. We did say we'll drop in if they need our help."
The voice message begins to play immediately: "Ms. Rose, Ms. Schnee."
"See? What'd I tell you?" Ruby grins as she leans back on the bed, holding her scroll above her with one hand.
"It looks that Ms. Xiao-Long and Ms. Belladonna's task was much more than they anticipated; thus, I am urging the two of you to take on this next mission."
His voice has a faint warped quality to it, as if he isn't himself.
However, it may be simply the connection. Yang's voice had been static the previous time she contacted them, and she sounded like a soulless robot. "Huh, wonder why Blake or Yang didn't just tell us themselves?" Ruby whispers, her voice overlapping Ozpin's.
"There is a small nest of Deathstalkers developing dangerously near Stathmore Mistral, and it must be dealt with as soon as possible. Let me know if you accept this mission."
The voice message cuts off and Ruby leans up; the sparkling in her eyes already telling Weiss everything she needs to know. She wants to reject Ruby's inevitable question and concentrate on wedding preparations; she wants to focus on their future. She also has her inheritance ceremony coming up…
"Can we?"
There it was…
Weiss can already see the mirage of puppy ears pinned back against her fiancee's head, and a tail-wagging excitedly and hopefully.
"Ruby, we can't," Weiss says, the mirage falling into the image of a pouting puppy, the silver eyes matching, "we have to plan the wedding, among other things. We still haven't decided if we want a rehearsal dinner or not."
Ruby perks up again, "Weiss, this could be our last operation before the wedding!" She bounces off the bed in one jump; it's a miracle she doesn't fall and break her neck with how her foot was tangled in the sheets. She manages to steady herself.
"It's just a small nest of Deathstalkers; we learned how to take those down pretty quickly while we were at Beacon!" She smirks a little bit. "Come on. I'll protect you!"
"What did I just say? We have too much to do." Weiss mutters, reluctant to give her the victory this time.
Ruby kneels and places her head on Weiss' lap; the imagery of the puppy ears and tail is back. "Please?" Ruby whines, "For me?"
Weiss giggled and thumps the brunette on the forehead. Ruby pouts. "That's not going to work every time you attempt to change my mind, Ruby."
She sighs and her fingers thread down through her girlfriend's dark hair, twisting the ends absently as the younger woman remains motionless and stares pleadingly up at her. The white-haired woman sighs heavily, inclining toward Ruby and placing her lips on the huntress' forehead lovingly. When she withdraws, she notices Ruby's bright silver eyes lighting up with affection.
"Alright," Weiss concedes, watching as silver eyes gleam with delight, "but we have to make it quick, okay? We have some stuff to do when we get back."
Ruby jumps to her feet with a burst of adrenaline, leaning forward and giving a quick kiss to Weiss' lips before darting away to get ready. "You've got a deal, my Princess!"
"Do you think this is it?" As they disembark the airship, Ruby speaks in a hushed tone. As the airship takes off into the air, the doors seal behind them and a whirring sound fills the space.
Weiss lifts an eyebrow in surprise, her gaze shifting between Ruby and the big sign emblazoned with the word 'Stathmore' at the entrance. "Looks like Black Hollow to me." She lies with a tiny smirk, chuckling when Ruby looks over at her with a bored expression. She starts towards civilization, "Don't dawdle. We need to clear these scorpions out before they attack the town again."
"What I meant was…" Ruby quickly returns to Weiss' side, her voice now low and serious. "Do you think this will be our last mission before the wedding?"
"Unless you manage to persuade me to attend one more," blue eyes glance back at Ruby, "yes, Ruby, this is it."
Ruby hums softly in agreement as they walk into town, her silver eyes surveying the area. Spotting a young man sitting outside of what appears to be a restaurant, she moves to approach him and Weiss silently follows, allowing her to take the lead. "Hello," the brunette greets politely, "We were called here about the scorpions terrorizing your village?"
The man's brows furrowed in bewilderment. "Scorpions?" He leans forward, his newspaper drooping in one hand as he points west. "We have some wolves that keep attacking the west side, but we have a team coming in soon to clear them out." He rubs his chin in thought, "Though, the scorpions are getting closer by the day…"
"Great, so we'll take care of them while the others clear out the wolves," Weiss says, coming to Ruby's side to announce her presence and silence the brunette before she offers to take on both missions. "This way, your town won't have any Grimm lurking around."
"That works for me. The scorpions are in the north." The man shrugs, returning to his article. The young huntresses leave immediately, taking a detour before they reach the town square. In the north, there are mountains, an ideal territory for overgrown scorpions to build their nest.
"Well, let's get this over with."
They finally managed to locate the nest, a burrow deep within the mountain. Judging by the tracks, the Grimm were recent here, if not already present.
"By a nest…" Ruby murmurs under her breath, watching the entrance of the subterranean pit, "He was referring to a mother and her offspring."
Weiss remains silent and kneels beside her, hidden from view.
"They can have up to thirty-five to eighty-seven offspring, and the young Deathstalkers are much more dangerous than the parent because they don't know how to control the venom in their stinger." As Ruby speaks, burning crimson red eyes slowly break through the darkness of the cave, and the creature remains there, watching them. "Being a mother, she is much more observant and all of her senses have been heightened."
Weiss finishes for her. "She can't smell us, nor hear us… But she knows we're here."
"Exactly. But, the exoskeleton will be much tougher than usual considering that its offspring are carried around on its back." Ruby whispers with a small smile on her lips. She smirks at her as she quietly removes her weapon from her back. She lifts a brow playfully, but there's worry behind her eyes.
"Princess, are you sure there's nothing you want to tell me?" Weiss matches her expression and rolls her eyes. Ruby just giggles and she moves to attack; she sends a wink back to Weiss. "Don't worry, I'll leave some for you."
With that said, the reaper bursts into a cloud of red petals.
They'd split as an attempt to draw most of the little ones away from their mother, using their instincts to attack an intruder to their advantage and separating most from the nest.
There was a change of plans that Weiss wasn't informed about when she returned to meet up with Ruby after defeating the mother; the brunette wasn't there. She'd been in charge of luring the young away, considering she could handle a large number of Grimm with her scythe, much better than Weiss could with her sword.
"Ruby?" She calls in search of her fiancee; she listens for the sound of Ruby's scythe or bullets firing.
Perhaps she needed help? She doesn't hear anything. She doesn't even hear the rumbling of Grimm.
"Ruby?" She was probably just pulling a prank on her. Still, she can't help but worry. This was a simple, easy mission that wouldn't have taken too long to complete… So, where was she?
"All right, Ruby, enough with the games!"
She doesn't hear anything.
"I told you we needed to finish this and get out of here! We've got-"
A roar echoes from the south, and the ground rumbles beneath her for a brief minute. Curious, she follows the noise and detaches Myrtenaster from her side in case of an ambush. A cold feeling settles inside of her gut.
Okay, now she was worried.
"Ruby…?"
Her pulse rate sky-rocketed and her blood turns as cold as ice when she hears a familiar, bloodcurdling scream, dread seeping throughout her body.
"Ruby!" She breaks into a run, kicking up dust and dirt behind her; following the direction of Ruby's scream, she hears the sound of Crescent Rose firing twice and metal clanging before everything falls eerily quiet.
Activating her semblance, Weiss increases her speed by gliding over white glyphs and everything around her turns into a blur.
Her heart was beating out of her chest now, unable to locate her fiancee. She couldn't have gotten that far so soon! She tries to listen for another sign, hoping maybe she was nearby, but it's silent. "Ruby!" She calls again desperately. "Answer me, where are you?!"
Her terror was likely drawing more Grimm, but she didn't care at the moment. She could feel that something wasn't quite right.
Weiss comes to a halt at the forest's edge and takes a cautious step out onto the stone, every nerve in her body trembling and her breathing irregular with fear.
"Ruby?" She shouts out as she gingerly steps forward, descending onto a largely level rock surface. A few feet away, there's a sharp dropoff.
Her heart stops when she glances up.
A Grimm stands at the brink of the cliff, critically injured. Its growls are almost imperceptible, but she can detect a slight rumble.
There's a deep cut in the Grimm's bone-like armor on its back, broken. A few detached pieces are piercing into its thick skin, leaving scarlet wounds beneath its uneven, shredded flesh.
With a rumbling growl, its massive head turns towards her, its flesh emitting sickening sounds of tearing the skin. Weiss clicks the barrel of Myrtenaster as the Grimm faces her, revealing a substantial limp in its front leg. The monster's bone mask has been fractured, and where its eye used to be, a bright crimson aperture remains; the wound stretches down its shoulder. Black smoke rises from its injuries.
Her heart pounds loudly in her ears. The Grimm stares at her for a long moment, creating a tense silence between them.
A thunderous, ear-shattering roar erupts from the Grimm and it abruptly lunges forward, revealing numerous, mangled teeth.
Weiss clicks the barrel of her weapon and prepares for a quick, defensive attack. Before she can flick her weapon upwards to summon a shard of ice, she feels arms around her waist and she's swept off of her feet.
The world spins around her momentarily and she's delicately set back on her feet at the location she and Ruby were dropped off. Weiss turns around to see Ruby standing behind her, panting heavily.
There's a large gash across her shoulder, the cloth messily ripped open with red staining her beige attire. Weiss' eyes dart up to Ruby's face, her brows pulling together with worry when she sees the blood rapidly dripping down from a deep cut above her fiancee's eye.
Weiss reaches up and takes the woman's face in her hands, not caring that the warm, sticky liquid was staining her fingers.
"Ruby-"
Ruby's hands ascend and interlock with Weiss', pulling them away from her face and folding them away at her sides. "I'm fine…" She frowns. "Stay. Here. That's an order! I don't want either of you getting hurt." The younger huntress disappears again, leaving rose petals in her wake.
There's only one thing Weiss processed: Ruby's injured…
She needs to get her home; the Mistral huntsmen can handle the Grimm. Against her better judgment, she follows her.
"Ruby Rose! Come back here!" Weiss shouts, moving to follow her again and using her semblance to form the path back towards the cliffside. "I am your fiancee! I can defy that order if I want to!"
She can't match Ruby's speed, but she knew she could catch up to her rather quickly using her glyphs. Hopefully, not too much damage would be done before she arrives…
Yes, Ruby was rash, but that doesn't mean she could get herself killed like this. She was already showing signs of exhaustion from the constant usage of her aura and semblance; she wasn't going to last much longer. But no, she just has to be stubborn!
Weiss hears the sound of Ruby's weapon firing several times, followed by the schlang of the metal rapidly pulling together as she clicks the weapon into another form. The Grimm releases a roar that reverberates through Weiss' being.
"Ruby!" Weiss calls desperately.
She breaks out of the forest line again, and removes her weapon from her side, ready to rush to her partner's aid, but she finds that the clearing was empty. Ruby was nowhere to be found, and neither was the Grimm. Dread grips at her heart and settles in the pit of her stomach.
Blood is splashed all over the ground in various areas, bright and fresh, among the countless bullet casings. The indentation of claw marks scrapes against the rock, forcing gravel and dirt up from the crevice left in its wake.
Droplets of blood surround the area in odd disarray as if Ruby had been erratically using her semblance against the Grimm and aggravating her wounds even further. The thought of it causes a brief spark of annoyance to flicker at Weiss' chest, a small part of her wanting to berate her partner for her carelessness.
A familiar red glare grabs her attention as Weiss looks up; she locates Crescent Rose left abandoned towards the cliff's edge. She hesitantly approaches, looking around for her partner. The blade is embedded in the rock.
The ocean churns violently beneath the overhang. Wave after massive wave crashes on the cliff, splashing up against the jagged shards of granite projecting from the water's surface. She can feel the salt on her skin and smell the mist from above.
Crescent Rose was hanging, angled towards the water… Ruby's strong, but her damaged shoulder has weakened her...
'She's gone.' A voice in her head whispers in defeat. Agony and grief swell inside of her, erupting as a shriek of anguish.
"Ruby!"
Four hours later, after two hours of relentless searching and calling for her fiancee, refusing to believe that she had fallen, Weiss finally called for backup.
Her friends arrived as soon as they could on JNPR's new airship. Managing to calm herself down from a potential panic, she informed them of what had happened; Yang wore a look of betrayal on her face and she quietly promised that Ruby would be found. She didn't look too convinced. She'd walked away, muttering that the story was too familiar.
Blake approaches her next, her expression of sympathy only alleviates the shame and fear gnawing at Weiss' heart. "Blake…?" The woman sighs and moves forward to wrap her arms around Weiss in a consoling hug, but it is ineffective.
"I'm sorry…" Blake somberly murmurs into her ear.
"I… I tried to stop her." Weiss murmurs tearfully, pain stinging at her heart like a thousand lancer stings. "I tried, I swear…" She promises as Blake comfortingly rubs circles across her back. "I didn't know there was another Grimm in the area, and she didn't either… She was hurt."
The image wouldn't leave her mind; it was permanently imprinted into her memory.
"It must've caught her off guard. I tried to get her to leave it alone so we could head back and inform the Mistral huntsmen, but she took off… I tried to-"
Blake sighs. "We'll find her, Weiss."
That voice is familiar to her. When they're attempting to prepare someone for the worst, they utilize the same despairing tone. It's the same one they've heard a million times since graduating from Beacon.
Ruby was not going to return.
Something inside of her snaps.
Weiss embraces her friend tightly and buries her face into her shoulder, allowing the floodgates to open and the worry and dread swelling in her chest to come out as quiet sobs of agony.
No, she can't be. They have to find Ruby, she has to be okay… She's strong.
She can't lose her. Not now. Not so close to their wedding day. Not without… Not without saying goodbye.
'Please, Gods, please let her be found, she couldn't have fallen; she can't... Please let her be okay…'
She's never prayed before, but she needs a miracle right now.
Voices around her are muddled and incomprehensible; she instead stares at the floor of the airship with a face lacking any sort of emotion. She's already cried and screamed her heart out; there was nothing more she could do. There was nothing she could feel anymore.
Weiss hadn't even protested when she was informed that her father was requesting her presence in Atlas; she hadn't wanted to leave without Ruby, but the acceptance of loss pulled her to the ship. She feels as though her entire life has haphazardly disintegrated around her, causing irreversible damage.
The look in Yang's eyes before they left was more than enough to tell her how she, and probably their other friends, felt about Ruby's disappearance. Yang blames Weiss, the blonde's grief has rendered her unable to see reason,
Not that the other woman blamed her any.
"Weiss?" Blake takes a seat next to Weiss and places a soothing hand on her shoulder, her light blue eyes looking up. It does not affect her inner anguish. "How are you doing…?" If the pained look in her eyes was any indication, Blake already knew the answer.
Yang scoffs. "How do you think she's feeling? She caused Ruby's death! She's probably feeling quite proud."
Blake gapes at her girlfriend in disbelief, "Yang! How could you say that?!"
"Guys," Jaune mutters from the front of the ship.
The blonde raises a brow, "Think about it. They argued about a week ago, and now Ruby's dead."
Was she suggesting what she thinks she was?
"You think I killed her?!" Weiss snaps angrily as tears build up in her eyes, the sorrow in her heart increasing and spreading throughout her body. She frowns at the brawler, whose violet orbs had taken on a little crimson hue. "I loved her! What the hell would I get out of killing her?!"
"Guys!" Jaune repeats.
"The pieces line up, don't they?!" Yang shouts back. "I asked you to keep her safe! Look at what happened! You don't deserve to have anything left of her!"
As the words sink in, the world around Weiss breaks into a million fragments, and her heartaches. She maintains a neutral attitude, unwilling to show the blonde any retribution.
"That's enough!" Blake interrupts, raising her voice over the other two's yelling. "We're all hurting, and instead of pointing fingers and making accusations, why don't we help each other?!" She turns to Yang. "Apologize!"
Yang remains quiet, hesitation flickering through her eyes.
A brilliant light fills the small cage as the airship's door creaks open, drawing everyone's attention to the exit.
Ren whispers gently, "Let's go." She can hear footsteps fleeing the airship and whispered remarks from team JNPR; the four of them want to let the matter sort itself out.
Weiss' gaze remains locked on the floor.
"I'm sorry..." She murmurs painfully, her voice weak and wavering with grief; her words cracking as her throat tightens up. "You're right. I should've done better… I should've protected her…"
What if she was the cause of Ruby's death because she wasn't quick enough to help her?
Ruby was dead, because of her. She should've been able to stop her; Weiss should've been quicker in coming to her aid. She should've never agreed to go on this mission…
This was all her fault.
Tears sting in her eyes and roll down her cheeks. Her vision becomes blurry and her heart hurts; a numbing, hollow feeling spreads through her chest and she lets out a strangled sob.
"I-I tried to- I tried-" Weiss hiccups and forces herself to regain her composure; she feels Blake's presence next to her, and she turns her head away, gritting her teeth in an attempt not to break down again.
Weiss hears a heavy sigh from somewhere near her. She barely registers the sound of Yang's approach.
The blonde's words choke momentarily when she speaks. "I know… I'm sorry for accusing you… I was just, and I still am, very hurt. I didn't mean to yell…" She rubs her forehead, a pounding at her temple. "It's just… We lost our mother the same way, and Ruby was my baby sister, you know…?"
Weiss refuses to look at her. It takes all of the strength she could muster to keep her posture.
Blake sits down next to her and she wears a false smile, "I'm going to take a line from Ruby here… Instead of grieving, why don't we just…" She trails off for a moment when Weiss and Yang glance over at her, the white in their eyes red with unshed tears. "Why don't we focus on the good?"
"What good?" Weiss asks, sounding defeated.
"We don't know if Ruby's dead yet," Blake points out, in an attempt to raise their spirits, "so if we talk… good about her, instead of acting like everything's already over… Maybe it'll bring a positive outcome."
She doesn't seem to believe her own words.
Yang suddenly laughs wetly and she reaches up to wipe the tears out of her eyes. "When we were little, I was hanging out with my friends and we convinced Ruby that we would turn into Beowulves at night." She recalls fondly, "We told her that she'd killed our friend the night before when she was training with the first model of Crescent Rose. She was horrified. I haven't let her live it down."
Their raven-haired teammate speaks up next with a grin on her face, retelling her own story. "There was this one time, when our team was split during the final trial Ozpin gave us. I ran into Ruby in the middle of a town, and she'd already completed the test, so she was awaiting our arrival. I reported in and walked over to her; she was playing with a few kids and they saw me."
She taps her finger across her knee.
"They got a little scared because the White Fang had attacked their home, but when Ruby reacted positively to my presence, they were on board as well. She showed them that I was a friend, not somebody to be feared… I appreciated it."
A hollow feeling spread through Weiss' heart again, replaying the image in her head as tears gathered in her eyes. Blake's ears perk up in alarm and Yang's concerned voice barely reaches Weiss' consciousness, "Weiss…?"
She forces a smile. "It's… It's not important."
Yes, Yang was a little mean here, but my reasoning for this is that her family continues to fall apart; Raven abandoned her, Tai, while he loved them, neglected them, and her mother disappeared without a trace... Now, her little sister, whom she raised, appears to be gone.
I'd love to hear your thoughts on the new and improved chapter, though! You can read the original on my page!
