Special Thanks

Xlyra from AO3 helped with storyline development and was one of the people

who helped inspire this story! Thank you so much for the help!

Mikotizini from FF.N helped with the editing of the final draft for chapter 1 and was the other

person whose work inspired me! Thank you as well!

Sky has helped with editing and proofreading the final draft of this chapter!

(Sky is not a fanfiction author)

Give their works a look! They are truly amazing!

A Painting in the Park

Chapter 2

Weiss was feeling quite dejected today. Not because the work week went bad or anything, but because these past two weekends she had waited all day to see if she could meet her mystery sculptor, and she had begun to think that she had stopped frequenting the park.

After that day of seeing Crescent Rose, she hadn't seen any new sculptures. The sculpture itself was still there and, oddly enough, a few people had decided to come to paint the park these past few weekends. However, none of them was the creator of the sculptures and so none of them were who she was looking for.

Still, Weiss was never one to give up and so tomorrow she would once again go and wait, just as she had said she would. Although she was starting to think that such a promise to herself was a mistake. She had started to notice recently that she had a bad habit of following through on her word, even if it wasn't something she should follow through on.

'Tell me again why I wanted to meet this person so badly that I was willing to sacrifice my entire weekend for this?' Weiss asked herself this question for what seemed like the hundredth time in the last hour, although it was more likely only the third.

Her phone buzzed repeatedly, and for a few moments, Weiss just started at it. She wasn't called very often and quickly went to answer it when she realized who it was. Blake had been calling a lot more often these past two weeks, although that was understandable since her book just got published and released.

"Hello Blake, how are you today?"

"Oh please, you can drop the whole formal girl act around me, ice princess. We've known each other for years now."

"First off, it's not an act! Secondly, stop calling me that!"

"No can do. But I wanted to call to let you know you should check out the news. You should know the channel." So Blake wasn't calling because of her book? Not quite what she expected but she shrugged to herself.

"What? Did something big happen?"

"Yes and no. Just check. I'm with company, so I have to go."

Blake quickly hung up and Weiss let out a sigh. Might as well check as Blake had mentioned she should. After turning on the TV and scrolling through the channels, she found the news station that she believed Blake had meant. The news was probably over already but would repeat in a few minutes, so she got comfortable after making a quick cup of coffee and settling on the couch.

The news eventually returned and Weiss half listened to it as she sat in front of the TV. That is until a name caught her attention.

"In other news, the head of the Schnee corporation and family has finally announced that the heir apparent to the company is now the youngest child of the Schnee family. After 4 years of searching for the previous heir, Weiss Schnee, the family head, Jacques Schnee, has decided to forgo the efforts of the ongoing search."

Weiss allowed herself a small smile, one that was equal parts sadness and happiness. She sent a quick congratulatory message to Winter for her to pass onto Whitley, the first message they had shared in almost a year, on finally achieving what he had wanted for so many years before turning off the TV and going to get her dinner ready. She had work to do and preparations to make, and so worrying about the family she had all but ceased contact with wasn't something she had time to do.

About a half hour later Weiss was finishing making her dinner and was working on her weekly budgeting, making sure she had all the money she needed for this weeks' living costs. After spending a good amount of time making sure all her finances were in good order and eating as she did so, Weiss' mind began to wander to her family.

Even though she had technically left the family, disowned it really, she still loved them. They had all treated her horribly, with the exception of Winter of course, but they were still blood and she cared about what happened to them. Even after all that being said, Winter was the only one she really ever kept in contact with, and she only did so rarely.

Weiss shook her head in order to clear out her thoughts. She had to get some food ready in order to stay all day at the park tomorrow. She was actually starting to enjoy her all day campouts on her weekends, as long as she brought something to do that is. So with a new goal in mind, she went and took out a small basket that was lined with a cloth and had a divider through the middle.

She put in a few sandwiches and pre-made salads, as well as a few other healthy snacks, in the leftmost side. On the right side, she put in papers to work on tomorrow, a book called Gambol Shroud by Blake Belladonna (not yet published), a scroll charger and a corresponding battery, and lastly empty papers and an assortment of writing utensils.

Satisfied that she'd be able to entertain herself for the day, Weiss decided to head to bed for the night. After all, she was going to have an early morning tomorrow if she wanted even the meager breakfast she ate daily, before heading out. With her final thoughts being of the beautiful sculptures and the mystery maker that she desperately wanted to meet for no apparent reason, Weiss fell into a content sleep.

Ruby hadn't made much progress on her project. She had made so little progress in fact, that it wasn't even a fully bloomed idea yet! She had read through her books, many times actually, and still, the seedling of an idea that she had been gifted with wouldn't bloom into a flower!

And so because of this, Ruby decided that today she needed some inspiration. So that being said, she gathered up a painting board and some art supplies and went for a walk. If she were to come across inspiration she wanted to be prepared, and although yes, she could just make a quick sketch or make a note in her idea pad, she wanted to have the real thing in front of her as she worked.

Ruby wandered around the city for a while on this late Saturday morning, looking for inspiration anywhere and everywhere. But eventually lunch time came around and she still had nothing. She was hungry too, and you can't get work done on an empty stomach! Or at least she can't.

'Food, food, food. Where's something good today for lunch today?' Ruby asked herself as she looked around. It took her a moment to realize that she hadn't been paying attention to where she was going as she wandered around.

After some 'careful' inspection, Ruby noticed that she was on a dirt path, likely leading into one of the cities parks.

'Wow, great detective work there Miss Rose.'

With this newfound 'discover' as to her whereabouts, she began to continue her walk down the path. If she was lucky she'd be at one of the parks closer to a food center. If not… well, then she was just going to have to either walk for a few more hours or figure out something else.

Ruby quickly emerges into a clearing, and she quickly notices that there is only a small amount of people in this park, maybe a dozen at most. The clearing was quite large for the number of people present and said people definitely made most of it.

There were two couples that are painting each other and laughing loudly in joy, most of their art quickly turning into playful hand art instead. There were a few parents watching their kids play together, one father playing catch with his daughter, and lastly…

Ruby was staring at a beautiful young woman that seemed to be having a picnic. She had gorgeous silver hair that was tied up a bit off to the left and a scar that ran from her forehead down to her right cheek. The scar went right over her eye. Her ice blue eyes.

The captivating girl was wearing a simple pair of jeans and a white shirt, yet despite that simple outfit she drew Ruby's eyes and wouldn't let them leave. She was reading a book intently, occasionally scribbling down notes of some sort on a notepad. The girl had a serene… yet also a sad or lonely look to her.

Since Ruby couldn't look away, she set down her art supplies and decided that she was going to ask that girl where she was. Since… well… she was kinda lost anyways. But might as well meet someone new and make a friend while she's here!

With that thought in mind, Ruby very confidently walked towards the girl. Or at least she tried. It quickly turned into a stumbling, shy walk as she almost lost her nerves. Once she was close enough to talk to normally Ruby cleared her throat in an attempt to announce her presence.

It didn't work. The girl was quite drawn into the book and her own writing. It seemed like she was… editing? So she was editing a book, maybe her own that she was hoping to publish or something? Either way, she still hadn't noticed her presence.

"Um… Excuse me?"

The girl jumped a little and quickly stared at her in surprise. Oops. Shaking her head after a few moments, the girl offered a small smile.

"Yes? Can I help you with something?"

"Oh… uh yeah… about that…" She was mumbling now. Ruby made the effort to talk normally again. Or to at least try.

"Uh, so I was wondering if you could tell me where I was? I kinda got lost wandering around and I'm not sure where I ended up." She admitted this as she rubbed the back of her neck sheepishly.

"O-oh! We're in the Emerald Forest park. Or well, one of them at least. This one is on the southern side and is one of the less frequented ones."

The Emerald Forest was located near Beacon, which is one of the more prestigious colleges around. That meant that she wasn't very near to food sadly enough. All students ate on campus or drove a good 10 minutes to get food… That meant she was a good hour and a half away, if she were to walk.

"Well shoot. Now, where am I going to get some food." Ruby spoke aloud to herself and pouted. She was hungry now and yet she had to wait still. Maybe she could call Yang? Wait, no. She was off hanging out with Blake. Also, her art stuff wouldn't fit in the small car they had. Or on Yang's bike, well safely that is.

And now to top it all off the girl she had approached was looking at her with this odd expression on her face now. She hadn't even introduced herself properly and the girl already thought she was a weirdo! How could she have screwed up something so simple, so fast?!

"Hey, this might sound a bit odd since you don't really know me… But I have a bit of food I can share with you if you're really that hungry. I was just about to eat lunch myself."

Wait, what? Ruby was beaming at the girl and happily accepting the invitation by taking a seat next to her before she even realized what she was doing. What was she doing? She was accepting food from a stranger!

It took her a few moments to realize something else. She honestly didn't care about that right now. She wanted to get to know this girl and by golly, this was a great opportunity. She noticed the girl hesitate for a moment before looking at her worriedly.

"Pardon my asking, but are you allergic to anything by any chance?"

"No… Why?"

"I only brought one type of sandwich with me. Thought I'd ask before I possibly feed you something poisonous." She pulled out two sandwiches and handed one over.

Ruby smiled and accepted the sandwich the girl gave her. It was nice of her to ask something like that. Or creepy. She could just be seeing if there's anything she could feed her to harm her? Wait, no. Ruby's the one who approached her, so the girl wouldn't do that? Would she?

They ate in silence for a few minutes before Ruby finally decided she can't take it anymore.

'But what is she going to say?! She doesn't know anything about this new person! What does she like to talk about?! Why does meeting new people have to be so hard? But she didn't have this much trouble when she met Blake… Maybe this girl was a bit different?'

It hit her that she still hadn't introduced herself or even asked for the girl's name, and yet here they were sharing a lunch together. How could she forget about that?

'Okay, Ruby, breath. You need to calm down. Just introduce yourself.'

After a few moments of controlled breathing and closed eyes, which she was sure the girl noticed. She set the sandwich down and nervously held out her hand for a handshake.

"So I probably should've started with this, but my name is Ruby! Ruby Rose! It's nice to meet you, and thank you for sharing your lunch with me! It's very good and-" She quickly clamped her mouth back shut before she could keep rambling.

The girl had a small grin on her face… Or was that a smirk? She couldn't tell because it was soon gone and replaced by that same serene look from earlier. The one that also looked sad, as if the girl had lost a great deal. She opened her mouth in reply before hesitating.

"My… you can call me Snow."

Ruby started to grin as an idea came to mind. An idea that had been eluding her no matter how hard she had pushed for it to appear. She didn't know if it was the fact that she had relaxed and focused on something different for a while, or if it was this Snow girl, or maybe a mixture of both…

Well, actually she could firmly say it was, in fact, a mixture of both. After all, she never would've been able to even ask this if she hadn't met her.

"Well, Snow… I'm curious… How would you feel if I asked if I could paint you?" Ruby watched as Snow looked at her in confusion.

"Why?"

"Um… Because… Uh… Why not?"

'Great response, genius'

"Because I'm a complete stranger, and I'm not particularly fond of the idea that someone will have a painting of me." Snow replies in a deadpan way. She isn't wrong though, it does sound a bit creepy.

"Oh nonono, it won't be for me to keep! I swear! It's just… I've been walking around the city all day looking for something to paint… and I just thought that it would be fun to paint you."

Snow still seemed quite skeptical of this whole thing.

"Why have you been looking for something to paint?"

Yup. Definitely skeptical.

"Well, I have a project that I've been working on and-"

"What kind of project? Is it for school? Is it important?"

"Well… It's important to me I guess?" It was the honest truth. It was important to her, although for a large variety of reasons. That doesn't seem to convince Snow to accept that though.

"... No." Snow gives her curt reply and Ruby deflates at that. What was she going to do now? She didn't have any other ideas and her project deadline was coming up fast.

She gave Snow a bit of the puppy eye power, hoping it would help at least a bit. She was not disappointed. After all, nobody can resist Ruby Rose's all-powerful puppy dog eyes!

Except for that one old shopkeeper… And Coco, the fashion designer who Yang knows… and Raven, Yang's mom that shows up every few months for a day or two if they were lucky… and… well okay, maybe they weren't all-powerful but still! They worked today!

Snow sighed into her hands.

"Fine. What do you want me to do?" Snow said this as she pinched the bridge of her nose and rubbed it. The words excited her and she almost started bouncing uncontrollably.

"Just go back to doing what you were before I came along! I'll be right back!" Ruby ran over to where she left her painting supplies and went to get set up. She was going to paint her best piece of work yet!

And so she did.

A/N

I proudly present the next chapter!

So what are your guys' thoughts?

What do you think happened that made Weiss leave behind her family?

What about this whole 'Snow' thing?

And most importantly - Are you enjoying reading this so far?

I'll see you all next week!