There was nothing but darkness surrounding her. No matter where she looked, the endless abyss was the only thing that her eyes could perceive. It wasn't cold like one expected from a dark place like this. It was... Perfect, ideal. Like she wasn't able to feel anything at all. Was that the case? If so, would that mean she was dead?
Death... It should mean so much yet that thought didn't change how calm she felt. Like it didn't matter, her own life. Miniscule at best. But she didn't remember her death. She couldn't remember anything, really. Who was she? Do you forget when you die? Was this the case? Otherwise, why was death such a prominent thing on her mind right now?
It could be minutes, hours maybe even months as she stood there before something in her surrounding would change. Yet the impact of that change was immediately visible. Small light among the endless darkness. Her eyes were first to notice it. Pale and barely visible, yet against the thick void, it was blinding. That wasn't all, she felt the warmth. For the first time in forever, she felt warmth on her body, and the source of it all was that small glimmer somewhere among this void.
It was enticing in such an obvious way, it set off all the alarms inside her head yet she had nothing else to do but to walk towards it.
Time had no place in here. She walked towards the small, fading light that glimmered in the back of this forsaken place without any idea of how far away it is or even how long has she walked towards it so far. She wasn't sure why though. All she knew was that she had to. Oddly enough she had no incentive to think about herself or this place. Who she was, how did she get here or if this was her final destination? Nothing. It was all held inside that light. All those answers and while she didn't care for any of them, she knew that she had to get there.
Suddenly the light started to expand. At first slowly, which made her wonder if she was getting closer or perhaps was it just her hopeful mind doing tricks on her, but very soon it became obvious that the light was expanding. The brightness surrounded her and started to burn her eyes to the point where she had to cover them to escape it. Once more she wasn't sure how much time has passed. A split moment? Days? Months? But as suddenly as the light surrounded her it would disappear leaving darkness in its wake. Was it truly darkness? Or was she blinded by the light? The fear of unknown paralyzed her and made her too afraid of uncovering her eyes.
Just like last time, something brought forth her curiosity, but this time it was a sound. Footsteps and ones that were getting closer. Slow and metallic. She did it. She uncovered her eyes and wanted to sigh in relief as she could still see. The sight she saw surprised her, as it was the first familiar thing in this endless abyss. A person, a person she knew. This was Weiss, she knew that name. Yet something was... Off about this Weiss
She was wearing armor, a light looking armor perhaps, but still one made out of some strange metal. With a sword at her side and a cape at the back. Her face was... The same but different if that made sense, which like anything in this place escaped her ability to reason. It seemed normal, but there was this weariness to it. Exhausted? No, more like... Used? That also wasn't the right word. No, there was more. Her eyes, her blue eyes were on fire. Her irises looked like they were set on fire inside her eyes. Burning in the same, pale blue light.
As she was pondering this, Weiss extended a hand towards her and she found herself unable to resist this silent call, as she reached out to the white-haired girl, letting Weiss grasp her hand. The armor-clad girl started to walk, pulling her along. She thought about saying something, talking to Weiss, asking her about their situation, talking about anything really. Yet no words could leave her mouth. She gave up, by now understanding that this place would expose her to the next part of its plan after a certain amount of time.
Before she noticed, she was led towards something, once more, new to her sight. Items scattered across the floor... Ground... Whatever it was that they walked on. Not just any objects, but candles. Each in its own color, although it was oddly difficult for her to focus enough to comprehend them. Deep down she knew she recognized the colors. Before she could ponder this oddity more, Weiss filled her entire vision as she took place in front of her. The white-haired girl reached out towards her own belt and took out an ornamented dagger. The shape, color, details. It was all there, yet it was such an elusive thing for her right now, just like the candles from before.
Weiss smiled at her, a sad smile, really. Then it happened. The girl plunged the dagger into her own stomach. The blade went through metal as if it was nothing but a piece of cloth. For the first time in this place, she felt some kind of emotion. Shock. Shock as she was a witness of the girl in front of her plunging a dagger into her own guts, just like that. Without a word, without any meaning behind it.
Yet there was a catch to this. No, perhaps catch wasn't the right word. There was something wrong with this situation, not only because of what just happened. There was something wrong on a more... fundamental level. This wasn't Weiss. Or rather it was but wasn't. This was Weiss, but not the real Weiss. This was a mirror. A mirror that shattered before her at the realization.
She glanced down at herself, only to see the same plated glove tightly grasping the blade. Blood rushed up to her throat and escaped her mouth as she could taste the metallic taste on her tongue. She collapsed onto her knees, feeling the pain, a mixture of fire and cold filled her guts as she saw her own blood cover the ground of this dark abyss. The crimson liquid did not wander aimlessly, no. It found gouging that covered the area around the candles. Symbols and strange letters, now visible thanks to the color of her blood.
Her vision became blurry, she felt weak. With one last glance, she noticed that one of the candles would light itself up with a pale flame.
oooOOOooo
Weiss sat up as her eyes snapped open. She felt the sweat slowly creep down her face and neck, her breathing quick and irregular. She felt her heart pounding inside her chest. It was a dream, just a dream. She was in a room, the sun already shyly peeked through the window. She covered her face with her hands. She still didn't feel safe. No, not safe. She couldn't shake off that feeling of dread. She had plenty of nightmares yet none left her this... Shaken.
"Weiss, it's early, go back to sleep." A tired voice could be heard which made her spun her head to look at the potential source of it. A naked girl laid beside her. This did not help. Quite the opposite, as Weiss did the only thing her instinct filled brain could come up with and she proceeded to kick the girl off the bed, moving towards the opposite edge to get as far as possible from this intruder.
This just kept piling up. Where was she? This wasn't her bed or even her chambers. There was someone sleeping beside her, not just someone, but a girl without any attire. She had no recollection of what happened up till when she woke up. This blankness inside her brain only fueled her panic.
Meanwhile one thud later, a very annoyed girl would slowly raise up from the ground, rubbing her head with a hurtful grimace. "H-Hey! What gives?!"
Weiss focused her attention fully at the girl, mostly on her face since... Well, the attire part. Or rather lack of it. Silver eyes, one glance into the girl's silver eyes made Weiss understand at least one thing. "Ruby...?" Now she remembered, this girl's name was Ruby.
Saying that name out loud seemed to be the key that unlocked her memories, at least part of it. She indeed was an intruder... And a kidnapper. But she also was... Someone special.
"Yes? Weiss, you alright? You uh... You seem out of it." The redhead, now identified as Ruby, send her a worried glance. "I mean, kicking me off aside." She added and judging by her nervous smile it was an attempt to improve the overall mood, which didn't really help.
"I... I don't know." Weiss looked at her own hands, she felt calmer now, she knew something. Still, she felt so out of it and this feeling just frustrated her to no end. As if her own mind was some strange math problem she just couldn't figure out. "Where are we? What happened?" She glanced at the dragon girl with a troubled expression.
Ruby waited a moment as if expecting this to be something less serious, perhaps a joke? It took her a moment to understand that she was being serious. "H-Hey, hey." The redhead called out to her, climbing the bed and moving to get closer. "Calm down, I'm here with you. Just start from the beginning so I can understand what's wrong." Ruby said in a soft voice, gently placing both hands on Weiss's shoulders.
She glanced with her own pale blue eyes into the silver of Ruby. Her eyes were an oddity, like a bad illusion. Normal at first glance, but the longer one looked at them, the more they could notice how different they were. Yet she was used to that, if anything, this familiarity right now helped. Besides, it was Ruby, the girl that she... Enjoyed the company of. With a deep breath, she nodded. "Right, of course. I'm being irrational."
"Well, more violent than irrational, although I guess that's part of it huh?" The redhead smirked at her own words.
Weiss wasn't amused at the joke, if anything, it made her feel the opposite way. She winced and glanced to the side. "Of course, I apologize. I did not..."
"Hey, I was joking." Ruby interrupted her as she rubbed her own neck. "Not the best time for jokes I know, but... I guess even without knowing what's up with you today, I want to find a way to cheer you up. Nevermind, tell me what's wrong. I'm all ears." Once she finished speaking, The dragon girl would reach out and take Weiss's hands into her own.
The ex-princess nodded once more, deciding it would be best to just get to the explanation. "I had a dream, an awful dream." For a second she considered going into details of her dream but decided against it. Bad dreams were just that, bad dreams... Besides, she didn't want to recount out loud the events of it. "I don't really remember much of it." She lied, hoping that the girl wouldn't see past it. A white lie, she could always tell her about it some other time, it wasn't important right now. "When I woke up I... I couldn't remember anything." She paused and shook her head. "I had no memories of how we meet or anything past that." Her eyes moved to the side. "I woke up in an unfamiliar room, in a bed that didn't belong to me with a stranger beside me."
"Ouch." Ruby commented although Weiss wasn't sure if it was about the lack of memory or the stranger part.
"A-Anyway, I looked at you and... I remembered. At least part of it. I'm still not sure where we are, why we are here or what happened in the past few days." She finished with a sigh.
"Huh? Oh... Oh!" Ruby snapped her fingers at that. "I know why, well maybe. It's a possibility." The redhead nodded. "Anyway, to summarize what happened in the past few days? We... Uhm..." The dragon girl blushed. "We bonded, Weiss." The silver-eyed girl offered the simplest of explanation she could think of with a meek smile.
"...Huh?" Weiss blinked. "But then why are you naked." Her eyes grew as she realized or rather was reminded of that fact. "You're naked!" With that said she pushed the dragon girl away and covered her eyes.
"H-Hey that's not my fault, alright?! You're the reason we're both naked, you know?" Came a hurtful reply from the girl.
"What do you mean it's... my... fault..." She frowned. "Oh..." Then it all came clean, her mind unlocking from whatever kind of strange state it was in. Not only the moment she met the girl and all the corresponding events, but also the day of bonding. The day and... Night. "Oh!" As her face grew red she did the only rational thing that could be done as she hid under the blanket. "Oh no."
Ruby blushed and glanced to the side. "Yeaa... You sort of got me by surprise with that attitude of yours."
"Those were actions unfitting of a princess, horrible, awful!" Weiss's grasp on the blanket became stronger as she decided to live here from now on. There was no world that she could live in, that would accept her actions. At least in regards to her status. Well, the previous status, but it still counts!
"You're telling me, I knew royalty could be demanding but I expected it to be all regal and refined, not a princess acting like a..."
"Stop!" Weiss interrupted her, not even wanting to know to what kind of thing she could be compared to. "Just... Stop. This morning was awful enough already."
"Aw, hey I was just joking, I thought you got better and you don't really care that much." Ruby said as she once more moved closer to the human girl. "Come on, off with it." She grabbed the blanket and started to wrestle for it with the ex-princess.
"No! Leave me alone, I'm staying here forever." Came a stubborn reply, as the white-haired girl fought fiercely to maintain her new domain. Alas, she was no match for a dragon, and soon she was uncovered. As that happened she blushed, crossing her arms to cover her chest, her eyes too embarrassed to even offer a glance at the redhead.
"Come on, Weiss. Don't be like that." With a playful grin, she pounced the girl and pinned her to the bed. Before Weiss could understand what happened, she saw Ruby's face dangerously close to hers. "See? This way all you can see is my face."
This, of course, could have only one outcome, at least initially. As Weiss blushed, feeling the other girl on top of her with their faces as close as they were. This just wasn't something she was used to. Not yet at least. Yet she didn't have any time to say anything in that matter. "Whoa, Weiss! Your eyes. So it's true!"
Her eyes? As she wondered what Ruby could mean, a sudden image flashed inside her mind. The image of herself in the dream. Back then, her eyes were an oddity. A cold shiver ran down her spine at that as she felt her heart began to race. "Ruby? Is there a mirror in here?" She asked, surprising even herself with how calm she sounded.
"Uh? A mirror?" The dragon girl rose up and glanced around. "Oh yeah! There's the big one next to the wardrobe, why?" She glanced back at Weiss, tilting her head to the side.
The ex-princess didn't give an answer, instead she just slowly got up herself, Ruby getting out of the way as she wasn't sure what the human girl was doing. Weiss slowly moved towards the mirror, forgetting or simply not caring anymore about the fact she was lacking any attire. She couldn't care less, not right now. Not with this immensely bad feeling looming over her shoulder. She purposely walked in a way to avoid any accidental reveal of herself in the mirror. Finally, she took the last step and found herself in front of the mirror. There, her nightmare came to life as her eyes, her blue eyes were on fire. Her irises looked like they were set on fire inside her eyes. Burning in the same, pale blue light. At that moment she could do only one thing.
She screamed.
oooOOOooo
"Are you sure you're fine?"
"I am."
"One hundred percent sure?"
"Ruby." Weiss let a tired sigh, she felt like she was back in the castle, which was not a good way to feel. "I'm fine, really."
"W-Well, with all that happened this morning and that final freak out? It's only natural that I'm concerned." The redhead grimaced and crossed her arms
"I know Ruby. I apologize, but I didn't choose to feel that way, you know?" Normally she would look up to meet the silver gaze, but she was too tired and too afraid of what she could see if she did.
"I can sort of understand that." There it was, something that Weiss wasn't used to. Compassion. Perhaps it made her previous situation sound a bit rougher than it really was, but if she ever found herself in a similar situation in her previous life, so to speak, she most definitely would not have anyone agree with anything she said if only to avoid further conflicts. If anything? They would push towards said conflict.
"Thank you." She finally managed to look up at Ruby, offering her a small smile, which the dragon girl returned. "So is this... Those things because we got married?"
"Bonding is not marriage!" Ruby snapped back in an instant, which made Weiss smirk. "You lack the understanding of the significance of what occurred between us." She followed up and glanced to the side in annoyance.
Deciding she went too far, Weiss thought about a way to fix her little mistake. Changing the topic or at least slightly adjusting it becoming a viable solution at the moment. "Well, if it makes you think any better of me, I do understand the significance of at least one things that occurred between us tonight." It took a lot, especially in her current mental state, to deliver that line with a straight face. Sadly she couldn't control whatever it was that made people blush, and her cheeks would flare-up.
Although Ruby was no different, as she got even more red than usual, which was mostly her clothes of course, with a fake cough she started to nervously look around the room. "Yes, well... You at least got that." She mumbled out failing to keep her composure.
"So, is the bonding the reason why I woke up and all those strange things happened?" Weiss asked again, this time making sure to not distract the conversation any further.
"It's complicated." Ruby's eyes glanced to the side.
"Go on." The Schnee princess nudged on.
"Well, human and dragon bonding is already strange, so strange things happening as an outcome of another strange thing is not strange anymore, as such it's hard for me to say if those things qualify under..."
"Ruby!" Weiss frowned as she rose her voice to interrupt the blabbering of the other girl. "Please, just tell me what's going on." She continued in a more calmly manner.
The redhead let out a deep sigh. "I don't know."
"Great." Weiss rested her face in her hands as she leaned forward in her chair.
"L-Let me finish!" Seeing the human girl's reaction, Ruby quickly followed up. "I don't know because nobody knows. People only speculate since it's such a rare occurrence that there are no... What's that word. When you have an established thing as being the truth..." The silver-eyed girl began to rumble her fingers against the table, human language was so annoying sometimes.
"An axiom?" Weiss offered.
"Yeah! There are no axioms in regards to human and dragon bonding buuuut..." She paused, waiting for any reaction from the princess. Sadly none came, as Weiss patiently waited for the rest of the information. Slightly disappointed, the redhead continued. "I did research this topic for quite a bit now, so while there are no definitive truths, there are some things that might line up with what happened or might happen." Ruby nodded and puffed her chest out proudly, expecting praises. While she did receive attention, it was a different kind.
"You researched this topic for a bit? That would mean when I was still officially a princess, correct? So even back then you thought about marrying me?" Weiss knew exactly what she was doing when she chose to focus on this part and when she used those exact words. Although she was genuinely curious why would Ruby research that for such a long time as she claimed. A tiny glimmer of hope that it was because she caught the girl's attention from the get-go did feel her chest with a pleasant, warm feeling.
Ruby slammed her hands against the table. "It's. Not. Marriage." She said slowly, although a poor performer, as she did a lousy job with hiding her embarrassment with her fake anger. "A-Anyway, it's not like that. I mean it's complicated, alright? S-So don't think too much about it." The dragon girl nodded. "W-What's important is that I found out about certain... Uh, symptoms? No, that makes it sound like some weird sickness." The dragon girl frowned thoughtfully, trying to find an alternative word.
"Ruby, please. Just go on. We can call those symptoms for now." Weiss was slowly growing impatient and if she allowed for the other girl to have her way they would run in circles more and more.
"Right! Of course." The redhead took a deep breath. "I'll start with what seemed logical for me, as a Dragon. Which might be a bit confusing, but let me finish before you question any of it, alright?" As Weiss gave a nod, Ruby continued. "What made sense to me, was anything related to the name that some people in the past gave those that bonded with dragons who were not dragons themselves. They were referred to as per the title of Dragonsoul."
"Dragonsoul? That's a bit... Unoriginal." Weiss grimaced.
"Hey, I asked you to not question stuff before I finish, right? Right." Ruby nodded at her own words. "It's not some cliche name that's related to dragons in some way and to glorify those that managed to bond with a dragon. Both parts of this name are related to the first symptom even you're aware of by now." She paused, allowing the princess to get the answer by herself.
Weiss, as per usual, would not disappoint. "My eyes." She said although it sounded more like she spoke to herself than to Ruby. "How does it related to either dragons or my soul? Outside of me bonding with a dragon." The Schnee frowned.
Ruby clapped her hands and grinned. "Because there's a saying about eyes being the mirror of the soul, no?"
Weiss let a tired sigh as she pinched the bridge of her nose. "Ruby, you're not making too much sense. I thought you would tell me the logical part first, not refer to some sayings more fitting of poems than logic."
"No, no, no, just follow along, alright? That's the soul part being explained. Now comes the dragon part. Remember how I explained how every dragon has a fire within them? Which isn't really a fire, but... Well, your language has just the fire word to get as close to the meaning as possible." Ruby grew more energetic the further she went with her speech, which made Weiss uncertain how to feel about it all. So far it didn't explain much. If anything it just made things more confusing.
"I uh... You might have but feel free to repeat yourself, please." The ex-princess nodded at her own words.
"Right, that's basically what makes us Dragons. I guess in a much more puny understanding, and that's how the name was made for it in the first place, it can be assumed that it allows us to breathe fire, fly and all those things." Ruby scratched the back of her head. "While I can't say much on this topic, I think it was once said to me, not in regards to our current topic at hand, that this is what differs dragons and mortals. We don't have a soul, we have something much greater." As the redhead finished, she decided to take a pause in case there were questions or Weiss simply wanted to comment on something, even if she asked not to comment till she finished, it would be hard not to consider how this could have sounded for a human. Or was she just thinking too high of herself right now?
An easy bet, as Weiss frowned, mulling over all those pieces of information. Something had to ding inside her head as the princess rose her head to glance at Ruby. "Two questions. First, does that mean that... You gave me part of your soul? I don't care that it's not called a soul, for the sake of simplicity, let's call it a soul. A high-quality soul or whatever it is that will satisfy your dragon self. You gave me part of your soul." The second time sounded more like Weiss was stating it more than asking about it.
Still, Ruby decided to answer properly. "I did. It's what bonding is about. Usually, it's exchanging parts of that fire, that inner flame, and thus connecting two dragons, making both stronger as their inner flame was two times as strong as before, at least in theory."
Weiss's elbows rested against the table with her head leaned forward, she rested it between her hands, supporting it and keeping it from just falling onto the table. "My second question or rather a statement at this point. This flame is now part of me?"
"Yes." Ruby nodded. "This is why people like you were and are referred to as Dragonsoul. Because part of your soul is that of a dragon." The redhead cleared her throat. "Some sources claim that your human soul was overtaken by it, considering the... How did you put it? The difference in quality." The dragon girl offered a sheepish smile. "Which leads to the first and last part of this puzzle, your eyes. They mirror your soul. I guess when you get excited only, so those... High energy emotions boil up inside of you and your inner dragon shows. To put into words I guess." Ruby shrugged. "Look, I gathered what I could and tried to connect it into something that had some logic behind it."
"You're saying." Weiss began slowly. "That my soul has your fire in it. Your dragon fire. Which shows through my eyes."
"That would be the short version." Ruby nodded. "There's one more thing in regards to the inner fire."
The Schnee massaged her template at that. "I'm afraid to ask, but please, go on."
"Before I start, it's not literally how it works, alright? It's just a comparison to make it easier to understand. It's... Weird to explain this without you feeling it fully like I do." With a simple nod from the other girl, Ruby continued. "I said that it makes us dragons, right? Which is true. It... Uh for lack of a better word, covers us, coats us in some invisible force that allows us to do things actively, as well as does things to us passively." Ruby put her hands behind her head as she leaned back on her chair. "Ugh, it's so awkward to explain. The gist of it is that we're able to do things like breathe fire and fly but that's also why we're immortal, we can't' get sick and all those things." Ruby nodded. "Now I said there are passive and active ways of using the inner fire for a dragon. That's because certain things just... Are for us. While we need to learn others."
"...You mean I'll be able to fly?" Weiss blinked.
"What? No! No, I don't think any of those... Things that a dragon can learn are accessible to you. Although I can't be entirely sure. The understanding was that it will affect you in some more passive way. Although it's hard to say what way." Ruby concluded and took a deep breath.
Weiss wasn't sure how she felt. Not entirely. One thing she was certain of was that she felt weak. Physically weak after all she heard. She slowly moved up, helping herself with one of her hands as she felt her legs grow shaky under her own body weight. Ruby observed with wary eyes as the human girl took a few steps, only to stumble over her own feet. It was that moment where Ruby decided to jump up to keep Weiss from falling, offering her some support. "Weiss!" She called out for her attention, only to notice how pale, even more than usual, the girl became. "Weiss?"
"Y-You know when you kidnaped me." The Schnee girl began with a weak and shaky voice. She leaned fully against the other girl. "I admit I didn't think much about it." She made another pause. It's like all of this broke a lock inside her mind, the one that kept it all inside a chest called too unreal to be legitimate. Now that the chest not only got opened, but it got broken into pieces. "I didn't think much past wanting to getaway. Getaway to be with you." She smiled weakly, more to herself at the memories of the past than anything. "I really thought that this bonding thing was just marriage. Dragon marriage sure, so I was assuming more was involved. Frankly, I know it was ridiculous to think that yet accept it, in hindsight we barely meet, at least to consider marriage." A dry chuckle left her throat. "What else could I do but to accept you, believe you. If something happened I'd be alone and without any plan. I would most likely consider..." She shook her head. No, that was not appropriate. "I didn't know that this would make me not human. That this would change me." She closed her eyes. "Make me different... Make me become someone else."
"No, Weiss." Ruby called out, slowly moving to stand in front of the girl. Gradually, she let go of her, making sure Weiss wouldn't lose balance. The Schnee simply leaning against the table, as her blue eyes glanced at her quizzically. Ruby didn't stop at that, this wasn't just reassuring the girl. This wasn't cheering her up. No, this was a statement. This was something important. With that in mind, she kneeled in front of her, taking one of her hands into her own. "I don't know what you became. Are you still a human or are you a Dragon, maybe none of those. Maybe you're that Dragonsoul I found out about. I don't know." Ruby shook her head. "What I know is that you're Weiss. You were Weiss and you still are Weiss. Nothing changed about who you are." Ruby closed her eyes and nuzzled her cheek into the hand she stole away from Weiss. The same hand would cup her cheek, the cold fingers caressing the skin, making her smile.
"What's done is done." Weiss said as she smiled down, soon meeting the silver gaze of the dragon girl. "I need some fresh air."
oooOOOooo
Things calmed down as the day went on. They had some food and now Weiss was enjoying some tea. She discovered that Ruby wasn't a bad cook. Although her previous opinion was based on her ability to cook food over a fire in the wilderness, which meant that all she lacked was some proper appliances and something more quality than a hunted rabbit and some found shrubs and mushrooms. With her mind at ease, at least partially, and her stomach full, she decided it was time to ask more grounded questions.
"Ruby? I have to ask but how per se did you manage to rent an entire inn for two days." Once all the craziness from earlier settled down, Weiss actually noticed that they were in a building. An empty building that didn't seem abandoned, quite the opposite actually. Ruby acted as if nothing weird occurred, so she didn't really stress herself about what could have happened for them to have an entire inn for themselves, but something much simpler pushed her towards asking about this. Simply put, she was curious.
"Mmm?" Ruby glanced up from her laying position. "I rented it, why?" That answer was so simple and obvious that Weiss wasn't sure how to further drill this topic.
She shook her head. "How? I mean I know how. What I'm asking is how did you get the funds to do so."
"Oh that, well..." Ruby scratched her head. "Remember how I admitted to not having a dragon hoard of my own? Well, that doesn't mean my family doesn't. I got exactly five gems before I ventured out. It was to help me deal with greedy, lesser races." The redhead ended with a nonchalant shrug.
Weiss frowned, it made sense. Although this did bring up the future. Their future. "What are we going to do next?" She asked as she glanced at the dragon girl
"Next? Uh, well it's some time till dinner and I haven't..."
"No." Weiss interrupted her. "I mean... What are we going to do from now on? Do we have a goal? Are we heading somewhere?" While happy besides Ruby, Weiss couldn't help but worry. Sure, wandering around with her would be fun, but to what extent was that safe?
"We're going to make your dream come true of course. We're actually waiting for someone to pick us up that will help us with that." Ruby grinned and just as she said that, there was a, quite violent, knock on the door. Although it sounded as if someone was testing the endurance of the poor thing. "Speaking of!" Ruby said and hopped off her spot and approached the door.
Weiss decided to join her, as she was curious to meet this mysterious person that was apparently able to help with whatever Ruby talked about. With that in mind, she decided to take one last sip of her tea. Which she couldn't fully complete. As soon as her lips touched the liquid, a loud bang came from the other side of the room. Weiss didn't have too much time to asses the situation, yet what she saw, made her quickly ran towards the scene.
Something kicked the door in, and not just kicked, it made it fly inside together with Ruby, who was now under the pile of wood that previously served as doors to this fine establishment. She was slowly approached by an unknown aggressor with its sword pointing at the dragon girl. Weiss couldn't identify who it was that assaulted the girl. Too little time and the hood they had concealed most of their face, especially from her perspective.
What were a few seconds, felt like hours for Weiss, but soon she found herself between the attacker and Ruby. Without any real plan, she reached her arm out towards the stranger. What happened next shocked both of them. Both Weiss and the stranger. In front of her palm appeared a glyph. Weiss saw those before, briefly and from time to time, but she knew magic when she saw it. They did have a court wizard when she was still living back at the castle.
The magic grew into a shield that was of her own size. As the initial glow subsided, the light of the glyph illuminated the darkness that concealed the strangers hood. What she saw made her heart stop and her knees weak. With her voice barely audible, she forced her a single word out.
"Winter?"
I have no idea if I used the word axiom correctly. Probably not, but hey! At least I tried, right? Right...
I really liked writing this and I had plenty of ideas in regards to this AU so I thought to myself "Why not just write it" so I did and here we are. This took me a while as I rewrote the "Dream" sequence a few times from scratch. Even now I'm not fully satisfied with it but I know I won't do any better.
When I was fleshing out this chapter, it seemed to me as if it would barely be half as long as it is now. But as I was going with this chapter and noticed how long it became, I decided to cut out some of the fluff from it since it was supposed to be like a prologue to this mini-story.
I also know I made this cheesy and gave it "typical au complex issues stuff" but what can I say I had fun writing this.
I prolly should write the next chapter as soon as possible huh? Considering the cliffhanger... Or is this not a cliffhanger? Either way, hope you enjoyed!