A Once Pure Snowfall

Pt.I

"And you say you are broken,

but broken mirrors like you create the most beautiful patterns of light."

― Nikita Gill


Weiss took a deep breath and held it as she focused intently on the ringing that took over her head. Sitting in the bathroom onboard the Mantel of Responsibility, she tried to focus on the sound of anything around her, only for it to be completely drowned out. To make matters worse, her hand started to shake this morning, the tremor that began forming when she was away from the front line did nothing but confirm that she changed.

It seemed so long ago, her talk with Winter in a cafe on the streets of Atlas. The idea that the war not only changed who she was, that she needed it to be normal. Just the thought of conflict calmed her nerves a little bit. The fact that she hated even more. Slamming her fist against the metal stall, she felt the pain enter her system and bring her back to the reality that the war was over, that she should be happy. Instead, she sat on a toilet, willing her body to obey.

Slowly, the ringing began to fade, and the last breath she held was slowly released. Looking down at her hand, she saw the tremble and decided that her hearing coming back was one victory enough for now. Leaving the stall, she walked over to the sink and looked at herself in the mirror and saw the bags under her eyes had grown. Even with her sleeping on the floor in her room, the mere fact that the war was over was causing her nights to become long.

With a sigh, she left after washing her hands and continued her path down the corridors of the Dreadnaught when the ringing started. Of course, she needed to see one of the medics on board, but there were more important tasks to do before they could see her. A little hearing loss was nothing compared to people still needing shrapnel taking out of bodies. Even with most of the people already in Atlas or on their way, Weiss kept pushing her own medical problems away.

Inside the command room, Weiss made her way to her station. A tiny desk with a single terminal on it. Piled was paperwork she needed to fill out as well as assignments she had to do. Looking them over, she began to get to work when a blinking light on the terminal caught her attention. Opening her mail, she was surprised to see something from the SDC concerning the Aura Stimulant. Quickly opening it, she began to read through the tests and procedures that had been done while it was still being developed but found something even more worrying.

The Stimulant was only in R&D for two months before the first clinical trial happened. Then it was shortly described as a miracle drug for combat scenarios that were used during the First Assault on Vacuo.

All of it was signed for by Arther Watts.

Weiss stared at the report and fought every part of her body to throw whatever was closest to her. Of course, he would streamline an experimental drug that turned regular people into super-soldiers with a single dose. While on paper, Weiss could not argue with the results, which would take several weeks for a Specialist to recover from a severe injury, it could be done in a day with the Aura Stimulant. It could even be used in concentrated doses in the middle of a battle to give them the upper edge.

Weiss's fight with Jaune came to mind as well as what it did to Ruby was evidence enough to see its appeal.

But there was not nearly enough testing to see what the possible side-effects were. To think her father pocketed the money he got from agreeing to throw every regulation out the window when developing the Stimulant was infuriating. Not to mention that she did not have access to the confidential test results needed to better help Ruby recover from this addiction. Putting a reminder to herself to message her brother, she collected her completed folders and handed them in before leaving to check on her friend in the infirmary.

Even with the decreasing amount of people that the Dreadnaught was carrying, the infirmary was still filled to capacity. She made her way past the few rooms of recovering soldiers and fighters. Guards were posted in front of the ones with White Fang and former enemy combatants inside. Weiss was glad Ironwood saw reason when it came to the Faunus of the White Fang and carried out their treatment in the same way as he did with the Mistrali.

Arriving at Ruby's room, she nodded to the guard outside her door and set him at ease as she walked past him and into the tiny room. Ruby had been moved from the general recovery to a private room at Weiss's request. Inside, Ruby laid in the bed, unmoved from her previous position the last time she had come to see her. With a sigh, Weiss walked to her bedside and lightly brushed some of Ruby's hair out of her face and traced her features with her fingertips.

It broke her heart to see her like this, even more since Weiss caused it. "I'm sorry, Ruby," Her voice momentarily drowned out the beeping of the machines that were monitoring the young woman. No matter how many times she whispered those words, nothing helped her recover faster. The best Weiss can do now was hold onto Ruby's hand and squeeze, hoping she could feel it.

"Specialist," Weiss looking up at the medic as he entered the room with a Scroll tablet in hand.

"Doctor," Weiss nodded to him, "How is she doing?"

"Still no change," He said, looking over his tablet. "I told you that I would contact you when something happens,"

"I know," she nodded slightly as she looked down at Ruby. "I got some reports back from the SDC about the stimulant, I'll be sending them to you before the end of the day,"

"That will help. While the Stimulant is great for you guys, seeing what an untreated addiction of that stuff looks like makes me glad I'm not down there with those beasts,"

Weiss could not fault him for that statement. When she first heard of it, she realized how many lives it could save, from the Huntsmen themselves to the countless people they could go on and save. But now she only wants to save one. "Please let me know the second something changes,"

"I will, Specialist. Oh, and send your teammate with the arm down here. She needs a check-up before she returns to duty,"

With the promise to send Yang down, she waited for the doctor to leave before she bent down to place a soft kiss onto Ruby's forehead. The contact alone made her heart skip a beat—memories of their rendezvous in that cellar in the desert. Ruby's features highlighted by the steams of moonlight seeping in from the floorboards above them. Their kiss that led to so much more that night.

When the morning came, and the Grimm were gone, Weiss saw whatever overcame Ruby that night wash away, and the soldier stood before her again. Looking back at it now, it was not hard to see that something was wrong with Ruby. Something not right in her head. The way she mumbled to herself, the sudden bursts of anger and nervous twitches in her hands. Hands that wrapped around Weiss's neck moments before she left.

The next time Weiss saw Ruby was on that rooftop, and the hell that followed.

Knowing that Weiss would spend all day at Ruby's side, she forced herself away from the bed and carried on with her tasks. Walking out of the medical bay, she made her way down two levels to the engineering bay, specifically the Specialist armaments. The general soldiers had their own armoury for their mundane weapons, but this area was filled with state of the art equipment and enough Dust for anyone's needs in the workshop.

Stopping at her own locker held that housed her weapon, she saw a few lockers had their nameplates removed, and new ones in their places. The casualties in Mistral were massive. Over half of the deployed specialists were either dead or got a medical discharge from the army. A few of the new names she recognized, Weiss had read the dossier of new specialists recruited from the few Huntsmen they saved from Mistral that night.

Full citizenship for only a year of service sounded like a good deal to Weiss, especially since Atlas is going to offer an unconditional surrender to Vale. With Ozpin at the helm of peace negotiations, Weiss was confident that it would go well for everyone.

Pulling her weapon from the locker. Weiss sheathed it into place before walking further into the armoury to get to where confiscated weapons were being held. On either side of the door, more armed guards stood as sentries for the weapons. Weiss had to wait to be processed before she was allowed in, even with her clearance level.

Walking down the racks, she saw shelves filled to the brim with a colourful assortment of Huntsmen weapons. Just the idea of this place would make Ruby lose her mind. Everything that could be imagined was being here down here, including what was left of Crescent Rose.

Sitting on a table, the weapon laid bare for all to see. What few parts could be quickly grabbed when they evacuated Mistral sat beside it. Weiss gently ran her fingertips across the weapon and felt a sadness deep in her soul. The weapon Ruby cared so much about was seated in two large pieces. The main body broke open with its cracked and broken gears exposed. Even with how much Ruby boasted and explained the inner working to Weiss, there was no chance she could begin to decipher the complexity of Crescent Rose.

Happy that the weapon had been untouched since last Weiss checked on it, there was nothing left but to meet up with the rest of her team to discuss what will be happening next and their roles during the surrendering. It was strange that Ozpin allowed Yang and Blake to have the room he was supposed to have, but Weiss had known that he was the kind of man to always be a few steps ahead, his appearance in Mistral was proof enough of that. Weiss was still waiting on some comment from him about his sudden appearance, but nothing had come of it yet.

Knocking on the door, Weiss watched the door slide open to reveal Yang with a small smile. "Hey," She said as she moved aside to let Weiss in.

"Hello," Weiss replied as she stepped into the room and looked around to see that no one else was there. "Where's Blake?"

"Getting some food with Neo to bring back,"

Right, Neo. Roman Torchwick's partner in crime. Weiss had forgotten that Neo had come with Yang and Blake when they dragged her into saving the smaller woman. "How is she?'

"She's good," Yang said as she sat on the bed and scratched the back of her neck. Weiss noticed that Yang's arm had been upgraded already. Weiss was glad that her request had been approved so quickly "Things have been a little awkward, but we're getting through it, slowly but surely,"

Weiss levelled a look at her friend. "Are you sure it's going to work out with all three of you?"

"There's a lot of bridges to be built, but they're both willing to put a lot of effort into this relationship. Hence them, getting food for us. Leaving me alone…" Weiss could see the nervous tapping of her fingers against her lap as she stared at the door. Seeing a need to change the subject, Weiss cleared her throat and sat down next to her friend.

"I checked up on Ruby today,"

"How is she?" Yang asked quickly. Weiss knew she had checked on her sister already today. She was sure that Blake had to drag Yang from Ruby's room so she could get proper rest.

"Still unresponsive, but healing." Yang nodded with a heavy sigh as she held her head in her hands.

"The last time I saw Ruby was at Dad's funeral. I can't even remember what I said to her, but before that, my lasts words were 'leave me alone,' I still remember the look on her face as she left the house that day and how disappointed she was in me…" A heavy sigh left her lips as Yang reached into a pocket to take out a flask with a faded yellow leather band around it. She downed two gulps before setting it down. "Uh, don't tell Blake and Neo, I'm supposed to be cutting down…" She added as she capped the flask.

"Well, that's the first time I've seen you take a drink today," Weiss said with a smile. With a grateful nod, Yang put it away and let out a breath. "The last time I saw Ruby, she was screaming about seeing herself as a monster, that this war had turned her into some sort of irredeemable creature that is only made for killing…" Weiss gently touched her own neck, remembering Ruby's fingers wrapping around it before leaving her behind.

"When was the last time you saw her?" Yang asked with a confused look on her face.

This was the second time Weiss was reminded of what happened the last time the two were together. She could already feel the heat rushing to her face as she cleared her throat. "Well…


Blake was walking with a tray in her hands, more prepared MREs, but she could not stop the excitement in her voice. "I mean, the adaptation wasn't bad, but they did skim over some of my favourite parts," Next to her, Neo was also holding a tray and nodded her head with Blake's statement. While Blake had been hesitant to have Neo with her to grab lunch for all three of them to get to know each other, Blake was surprised when she found another fan of her favourite series. "Don't get me started on that last book though, nothing but a cash grab with none of the depth she used to have,"

Another enthusiastic nod came from the smaller woman as she balanced her tray with one hand expertly while taking her scroll out to type at it. While Blake was slowly getting better at the gesture language Neo had made for herself, she was still nowhere near as proficient as Yang was.

"There was supposed to be a new series based on the books in the works before the world went to shit,"

"Damn it! Just another thing to add to the worst day in my life," Blake said as they rounded the corner to their room. Just before they reached the door, however, Blake picked up yelling, coming from their room. With a raised eyebrow at Neo, who shrugged, the two of them walked through the door and into the aftermath of a war.

The bed had been thrown across the room, the end table was on the other side near the door, and Yang was stuck to the wall. Her limbs were frozen in place with ice while she struggled to get free while screaming at Weiss, who was standing with her back turned to Yang, holding her nose as blood streamed down her face. Neo was already making her way towards Yang, so Blake set her tray down and walked towards Weiss. "What the hell happened here?" She asked as Blake turned Weiss around so she can see the wound.

"WEISS DEFILED MY SISTER!" Yang screamed as she continued to struggle. Blake blinked at the statement and looked at Weiss, who stayed silent at the accusations.

"Neo! Don't let her down or the whole ship drops to the ground," Blake called out to the smaller woman, who was starting to chip away at some of the ice around Yang's arm.

"No, no! Let me down so I can KILL THAT BITCH!" her struggle continued as she screamed out in frustration. Blake focused back on Weiss as she moved her hands out of the way and saw her nose sitting at the wrong angle. Placing her hands on Weiss's face, she gently used her thumbs to reset the nose back into place.

"Did you really?" Blake asked.

Wincing at the pain of her nose being pushed back into the right position, she spoke while wiping the blood off her face. "During our last encounter, Ruby and I were in a cellar in the middle of the desert and were about to meet our end by a horde of Grimm. So, I decided that my last moment alive should be spent doing something I wish I had done before, so I kissed Ruby. Things escalated quickly, and I brought her to climax with my hand,"

Blake just stared at Weiss after the words came out of her mouth while Neo broke down in silent laughter, and Yang resumed her rage fulled fight against Dust infused ice holding her against the wall. "Did you use those exact words?"

"I thought it would dampen her reaction,"

"Uh-huh, was that before or after she broke your nose?"

"Before,"

Before anything else could happen, a blaring siren made Blake flinch and cover her ears as the whole ship began to vibrate. "All hands to stage one Battlestations! All hands to stage one Battlestations! This is not a drill!" As soon as the announcement was finished, the ship shook as its weapons fired. Both Blake and Weiss rushed to the window to see what was happened since this was supposed to be a peaceful operation, only to see a blanket of black covering the grasslands that surrounded a city.

Entire patches of the blanket were ripped out with each volley of fire from the Dreadnaught but were quickly filled with the pure mass of the Grimm out there. Looking at the city walls, there were holes in the metal and concrete where the Grimm were forced to funnel in, giving the defenders some advantage, but there were not enough munitions in the world to kill them all.

With another call to arms from the speakers, Weiss dispelled her ice that kept Yang on the wall, and the three of them rushed to the armoury to gear up before they landed to help evacuate the civilians from the last bastion outside of Atlas.


A/N:I'm so sorry its been so long since the last update. The world has kinda been sucking the motivation away from me...

StreetAngelJ is still out with his surgery but is making a speedy recovery and hopefully will be back to editing my garbage soon!

If you enjoyed, leave a Favourite! If you already have, leave a comment! I love reading them and I love replying to them. This story is also posted on AO3 under the same name. So if you read there as well, come show your support!

And as always, thank you for taking time out of your busy days to read my slice of madness!