Location: Haven, Mistral
Date: Oct 13th

Red like roses
Fills my head with dreams and finds me
Always closer
To the emptiness and sadness
That has come to take the place of you
I know you're broken down by anger and by sadness
You feel I left you in a world that's full of madness
Wish I could talk to you, if only for a minute
Make you understand the reasons why I did it

[-Flashback-]
Two Years Ago
April 21st

"Ruby Rose, if you don't remove your hands from my eyes right now, so help me-"

Ruby laughs and silences the heiress with a gentle peck on the back of her neck, nuzzling into her shoulder momentarily and kissing the exposed skin there. She can feel her fiancee shudder beneath her touch, Ruby's promise likely echoing through her mind as the reaper delivers another peck to an area below Weiss' neck, enjoying the fact that she was wearing a spaghetti-strapped tank top that exposed her collarbone and shoulders.

"Only a few more steps, Princess, be patient."

Weiss pauses and steps back so that she's leaning up against Ruby, the brunette stops and allows Weiss to press herself into her front"I don't like not knowing where I'm going, Ruby," she reminds her carefully, "even more so when I can't see."

Ruby is aware of this; her girlfriend relies heavily on her sight for battle and having that taken away from her can cause her to feel defenseless, adding that to the fact that she's a huntress doesn't help at all.

"I know, Weiss, just a few more steps, and everything will be fine. I want to surprise you."

The heiress tentatively takes a step forward and moves away from Ruby, still unable to see as Ruby is keeping her hands over her eyes. The taller girl uses her leg to gently nudge Weiss to the right and the woman grunts in minor annoyance, the brunette chuckles when they finally come to a stop and she grins broadly, "Are you ready?"

"That's a dumb question," Weiss grumbles.

" Answer the dumb question, Weiss." Ruby probes.

Weiss sighs and Ruby can hear the amusement in her voice, "Yeah, I'm ready."

Ruby carefully removes her hands from her partner's eyes and steps around to stand next to her, watching and waiting for her reaction at the building that stands proudly before them.

The white-haired woman blinks her eyes back into adjustment and glances over at Ruby momentarily, acknowledging her presence and relaxing visibly before looking back towards what the brunette had wanted to show her.

Ruby's heart swells when Weiss' eyes light up, "What do you think?"

The sight before them was a newly built, two-story wooden cabin with a wrap-around porch positioned perfectly around the entry of the forest, providing the right side front patio with lots of shade that decorates the wood with beautiful, indescribable patterns.

There's a solarium room towards the front, put off a little from the rest of the house and creating a triangular rooftop that is slanted downwards ever so slightly. Above the solarium room is a singular window, indicating that there is a room located in the loft.

"It's nice… Ruby, what is this?"

Ruby smiles and gently grasps her fiancee's hand, giving her a pull towards the house and ascending the staircase that leads to the main part of the house. There's a large, arched window on the left side and a tall, oak door featuring a wooden breeze-venting window towards the top.

The brunette grins, "Welcome home, Princess!" She pushes the handle down and nudges the door open, stepping inside and leaning her back against the door to allow Weiss to enter behind her, "Dad, Uncle Qrow, Yang, and I spent all year building this. I wanted it to be a surprise, so, what do you think?"

Weiss looks at her and Ruby's heart nearly stops with worry when she sees the tears in the woman's eyes, "Weiss, I-"

"Home…?" She whispers in disbelief, "This is our home… ?"

Ruby smiles and carefully takes her fiancee's hand again, "Yeah, this is our home…" She confirms as Weiss steps closer and presses her front against Ruby's, tucking her head underneath her chin and sending butterflies fluttering through the brunette's heart.

Sure, they've lived by themselves before, but their old apartment had never really felt like home to them. The neighbors were irritating, the traffic was way too much, the apartment was far too little for them to be able to relax, the closet was cramped, and the most annoying thing was that they could always hear when a certain neighbor had a guy over…

Curse those thin walls.

So, Ruby had begun to save up lien from their hunting missions; she'd wanted to keep it as a surprise for Weiss, but also wanted her ideas to be included in the design, so she'd asked questions about what she would've liked for a house, claiming that they should start looking for one before long.

Ruby got her father, uncle, and her sister included when she had the layout finished. For the next year, the four of them worked on building the house while Weiss was busy with paperwork concerning the SDC, Blake helped a few times when she wasn't preoccupied assisting her father with managing the new White Fang.

Now, it is done.

Well, almost. The only thing left was for them to furnish it! She and Weiss could do that themselves.

"Do you want to start with the furniture tomorrow?" She asks, rubbing her hand delicately against her fiancee's back. Weiss leans away, Ruby's heart skips a beat upon seeing warm, bright blue eyes dancing with love and adoration; she's wearing that familiar, crooked smile again.

"That sounds good." Weiss murmurs, her voice as soft as an angel's.

"Well then, if that's settled…" Ruby grins and steps back, positioning one foot behind the other and bowing gracefully while extending her hand. "May I have this dance?"

Weiss chuckles affectionately and takes Ruby's hand, the brunette pulls her close and rests one hand on her hip, stepping into passionate and enthusiastic dance. There's a loving, adoring look in her fiancee's eyes that always causes her heart to melt into a puddle. She has made her happy, she loves seeing her smile, and she loves being the reason that she's smiling and laughing.

Sometimes, she's still in disbelief because, out of all the people on Remnant, Weiss Schnee had chosen her .

One day, they would have a family.


Present Time

Yang and Blake booked a luxury hotel room located in Haven, Mistral. They had bought food a couple of hours prior, which appeared to have marginally lifted the black and yellow team's spirits, even though it was extremely evident that Yang was leaning on her girlfriend for emotional support.

Weiss, however, kept to herself and put on a false smile, trying to convince Blake that she was alright; she simply doesn't want to become a burden.

Once nighttime arrives, they reluctantly leave Weiss to sleep alone on the couch, staring off at the minuscule light in the tiny kitchen area.

Her stomach rumbles with hunger as she hadn't eaten anything all day, the swell and void of pain inside her wouldn't permit her to crave anything. While she's hungry, she lacks an appetite and would have to force herself to eat. It was better for her to just allow the hollowness to pass, at least that's what she hopes.

Tomorrow, or rather, in the morning, she would be returning to her family's manor, where they would begin to prepare for her inheritance ceremony. As much as she desires to do so, she cannot afford to break down and lose her composure just yet. She wants to scream, cry, and wail, she needs to relinquish the entirety of the repressed anguish becoming within her, but she has to remind herself that she can't .

Weiss pulls the blankets tighter around her, clutches her chest, and squeezes her eyes shut, willing away the sting of tears around the edges of her eyes. She takes in quiet, quick breaths, trying to mitigate the sharp pains stabbing at her heart.

Ruby's old, shredded cloak lays folded in the corner of the room with the retracted shape of Crescent Rose, Weiss can smell the fading scent of roses that remains on the red items. She longs for the smell to be fresh, so fresh that she would think Ruby had walked into the room and was right beside her, fresh as if she were still alive.

Unfortunately, as soon as the cloak loses its scent, the sweet smell of roses would never flood her senses again.

'Ruby.'

Weiss mechanically inclined up off the sofa and her eyes quickly track down the red shroud; the blanket descends around her abdomen as she stands up, leaving the material long forgotten behind her.

She kneels in front of the old cloak, her shaky hands reaching for it and gently grasping it, stroking the well-knitted texture longingly; Weiss pulls it to her chest and lifts it just below her chin, inhaling the familiar aroma.

The smell had somehow always calmed her, reminding her that everything was okay and she could relax without feeling any sort of stress. It wasn't a strong, overwhelming smell of roses that could burn someone's nose, it was rather sweet and soft, like the smell after a rain shower in the springtime, or fresh rose petals with dewdrops coating it.

Weiss closes her eyes, allowing the smell to overtake her senses. It sends a calming wave through her and soothes her tense body, she melts and the consistent humming of irritation within her brain fades away. Breathing a sigh she didn't know she'd been holding, Weiss slowly descends towards the carpet and she loosely wraps the cloak around her, paying no attention to the itchy, coiled fibers digging uncomfortably into her skin.

"Weiss."

The voice snaps through her peaceful state like a bladed whip.

She lifts her head and pushes herself upright, blurry eyes find Blake standing at the corner of the room, just outside the bedroom. She's wearing a long, yellow robe with black slippers and a tired, worried expression on her face. Blake pushes herself off the wall and strolls over to Weiss. "What are you still doing up?"

"Can't sleep," Weiss replies, biting back her emotions.

Blake sighs and descends to sit next to her, she places a reassuring hand on her shoulder. "Weiss, you can cry, you know. You loved her, missing her only proves that…"

The floodgates open, despite how desperately she tries to keep them shut.

Weiss allows the cloak to slip from between her fingers and her heart throbs, there's a deafening ringing in her ear and she can scarcely breathe without feeling a burning agony through her chest. "I just-" Tears gather in her eyes and she can't focus, her words start to become slurred as grief settles in.

"I lost her," her hands begin to tremble, her vision blurring again. She can't see. "It's all my fault, I couldn't- I wasn't fast enough! She didn't have to do it alone, I could've helped if she just would've let me! Why wouldn't she let me?! Am I just not strong enough…?"

The dark-haired huntress frowns and her brows pull together, her ears twitch and she releases a deep breath. She gently grasps Weiss' arm and tugs her into a gentle embrace, Weiss relaxes into her arms and she feels a weight lift from her shoulders. She can breathe, but only in short gasps and hiccups; her eyes are screwed shut with hot tears running down her pale face.

Blake's hand comes down to grasp at her abdomen, Weiss faintly feels the tips of her fingers jerk away for a moment before coming to rest back down. Blake is silent for a moment, her ears twitch when she speaks.

"I don't think not being strong enough is the reason she didn't want you to help her, Weiss." Blake whispers in a cool voice, "She knows you're strong, she has no reason not to trust you." Blake leans away, "Consider this, though, maybe she had a reason to want to protect you?"

Weiss opens her mouth and Blake interrupts, "Ruby isn't that naive little child anymore, Weiss, she knows now that she can trust people to have her back and she doesn't rush into a fight without thinking."

Weiss knows she was right. Her grief had caused her to jump to conclusions. She knew Ruby had trusted her, she always had her reasons.

Blake proceeds, "She must've had some other reason to want to keep you away from the beast, something that isn't related to trusting you or doubting your strength." She pats Weiss' back as Weiss leans away from her, "I have to go back to bed, okay? Try to get some sleep."


A sharp ache in her abdomen sends a jolt throughout her body, forcing her eyes to snap open and Weiss to slowly lift her head, dazed and confused. The world around her is pitch black, but her eyes adjust rather easily and she's able to see the outline of gray furniture.

She feels as though she's walking through a dream, a very realistic dream. She blinks, glancing around in perplexity as the ache eases away, causing a numbing feeling to roll through in its wake, she rests her head back down against the pillow and closes her eyes. Her brain shuts down almost immediately and she drifts back into her slumber, her breathing settling into a smooth pattern.

Weiss' abdomen cramps again, tightening and twisting to send tremors of pain up her body. She opens her eyes again, groaning and sitting up with a grunt. Attempting to move her lower body was absolute hell, the pain seems to increase with each movement and it was persistent.

"Gah…" She grumbles beneath her breath, turning her upper body around to clutch the pillows, " Damn ." Weiss carefully rests frontward against the pillows, keeping her whole being still in an attempt to soothe the pain.

Alarm bells go off in her head, reverberating through her. She pushes herself back up, gritting her teeth as she shifts her lower part to sit upright.

She feels like her insides are being torn apart.

Weiss pushes herself up from the couch and the searing pain in her abdomen makes her want to crumble to the floor, but she forces through the ache and stiffly walks to the bathroom as if she had a limp. It hurts to move her waist, and it was beginning to scare her.

Weiss uses her palm and nudges the bathroom door open, groaning in discomfort as she steps inside. Shutting the door with her ankle was more painful than she thought it would be.

She leans over the bathroom counter and bows her head, her upper body trembling and her abdomen pleading her to collapse and relieve them of the excruciating pain ripping her apart like a Boarbatusk's bone-like tusks piercing into her lower half.

What was happening?

Why did her abdomen hurt so much?

Was she dying?

"Weiss?"

Weiss turns her head as the door opens and Blake steps in wearing a black tank-top, white shorts, and fuzzy kitty slippers. She's watching her with a tired look on her face, her ears slightly bent down and her eyes heavy with exhaustion, Weiss can see the imprint of the pillow's wrinkles on the side of Blake's face.

It would've been funny if she wasn't in so much pain.

"I'm fine," she answers before the woman can ask, "I'll be fine. Go back to bed." She faces the mirror again. A sharp pain rippled through her and Weiss' knees give out from beneath her, she hits the floor with a painful crash that momentarily overpowers the ache, and somehow, she's grateful for it.

Well, that's great, she's not fine. 'What's happening?' Her mind screams, in a panic.

"Yang! Call an ambulance!" Blake's voice echoes down the hall, footsteps approach and Blake kneels next to her, a gentle hand is placed on Weiss' shoulder supportively, "You're not fine, Weiss."

She was right. She was scared, she was so scared… What was happening to her? Why did she hurt so badly?

The pain felt relatively similar to the cramps a woman would get during their cycle, but somehow, this was much worse.

"I-I don't…" Weiss grimaces as another ripple of pain bites at her, "I don't know… What's happening?"

"I'm not sure," Blake answers, pulling Weiss in for a hug in an attempt to comfort her, "Yang is calling an ambulance, everything will be okay." The woman's hand navigates to Weiss' stomach and her ears lay flat against her skull as Weiss presses herself into the embrace, trying to ignore the severe pain in her abdomen and lower back.

The world was beginning to turn black, there was a faint ringing in her ears.

Blake sighs and leans her head against Weiss' own, her voice cracks with grief and pain, "I am so, so sorry…"

Part of Weiss doesn't want to know what Blake is apologizing for.