A/N

I usually try and refrain from making an AN at the beginning of a chapter, but there was something that came up last chapter that bothered me, that needs to be clarified. Please, for the love of all that is holy and good in this world and any others, DO NOT USE A GUEST ACCOUNT! I cannot even begin to explain how frustrating it is when you receive a review that makes you really want to get in contact with the person who wrote it, only to find out that they wrote the comment using a guest account.

Please, if you want to leave a review, make a real account (its quick and painless, I assure you), so I can talk with you about it if need be. That said, there was a guest review that I really feel I need to address, and since it was posted with a guest account I am forced to do it here. The review was as follows:

"I have only three complaints, and they're fairly minor.

Ruby is ambidextrous, but prefers her left hand. In your story, she also has an injury to her right arm. So, it doesn't make much sense for her to use her right arm to hold the gun and the knife.

Second: At the end, I don't get how Weiss thinks her assistant would have power over her. Certainly the assistant would take some of Weiss's power, but Weiss still gives all the orders. If Weiss was actually thinking about her bodyguard, then I could see it, since a bodyguard would have the authority to tell her certain things for her own safety. But, Weiss wasn't thinking about a bodyguard, she was thinking about an assistant – even if Ruby is going to be both.

The last issue is a little more major. The whole point of Ruby as a character is that she's even more naïve than McTavish is saying. The naïveté and optimism are where she gets her strength from. So you shouldn't have used a "no I'm not" argument as the line to go with Ruby turning the tables. You should have tried to use a "that's a good thing" argument."

I apologize if I have failed to make some things clear with my story in the narrative itself, so let me just respond to your three points.

1. The injury actually isn't to her arm at all. It is to the left side of her chest. Without spoiling anything, I will say that it damaged the muscles in that area, which causes a large amount of pain when she exerts her LEFT arm too much. That is why she has learned to fight and shoot with her right hand, and also why she now uses a pistol, instead of her previous weapon. If you don't understand how a chest wound would affect her arm, stretch your arm behind your back. Feel the muscles in your chest stretching out? Exactly.

2. I realize this, and it is a valid point, but you must remember, this is not the Weiss who defied her father, went to Beacon, and trained to become a Huntress, this is a Weiss who spent the entirety of her childhood oppressed by her father, forced to do as he wished and never having a life to her own. Only now does she have any control over her life, and she is being more or less forced by Winter to give a small portion of that up. Of course Ruby wouldn't have any real power other than "Miss Schnee, maybe we should call it a day?", but Weiss is terrified to lose even that, as irrational as it is, because of the extra years she spent under her father's thumb. She is not the same strong-willed girl we see in the show, but rather, a broken woman who is scared of what she isn't comfortable with.

3. Similar to my argument about Weiss's issue, I want to remind you, this is NOT little, wide eyed fifteen year old Ruby Rose, this is Ruby Rose, the twenty-four year old woman, who graduated Beacon Academy after four years of training at nineteen, and spent four years of her life fighting battles, saving people, losing people...she is not a happy-go-lucky teenager anymore. She is a veteran huntsman who has matured much beyond where she is in canon. She is not longer naive, and I will tell you this now, in the past, she has killed people. The significance of the "You don't know me" is that she really isn't as naive as McTavish had though, and she has lived through some very hard tragedies, ones I have not revealed yet. Rather than judging how I've characterised the canon Ruby Rose, realize that this is an AU that may or may not incorporate parts of volume 3 and 4 canon into it, realize that I am making a characterization of a Ruby Rose who, for lack of a better saying, has "seen some shit".

Now that that is done, I sincerely hope if something like this ever happens again, I can talk with the reviewer directly, and not have to clutter up my story like this. I hope I cleared that up.

Also, in case someone noted Weiss's age, which I previously said was twenty-five, you all should know that I have changed her age to twenty-six in this story.

Now, without further adieu, chapter five of The Broken Woman and the Wounded Reaper

Winter sighed and ran her hand down her face. She was slouched in a plush chair onboard her personal airship, a scroll sitting open in her lap in tablet mode, an unsent email on the screen. She glanced out the window to her right. The airship had only departed minutes ago, in the wee hours of the morning. She could see the gleaming lights of Atlas shrinking beneath her, and she sighed. This was one of the few places she allowed herself to abandon her usual stiff posture and militaristic attitude, as she was all but alone. The only other living person on board was her pilot, who never left the cockpit while they were flying. It was one of the few places where she felt confident in her solitude.

Soon enough, a voice rang through the speaker above her, "Specialist Schnee, we have reached cruising altitude. It is now safe to move about the cabin."

Winter looked down once more at her scroll. She needed to send this before she lost signal. Once they got too far from Atlas, they'd lose connection with the CCT system. She gave one final look out the side window, her eyes unconsciously straying to the outskirts of the city, where she could still see the Schnee estate. It pained her to see her sister in such a state, and whatever hate still simmered inside of Winter for her father, Jacques, only grew. It was his fault Weiss was the way she was. Winter was not blind to what was happening inside of her younger sibling's mind. The Specialist was once under that man's thumb as well, only she had found refuge under the steel banner of the Atlas Marine Corps, and later the Specialist Program.

Weiss...never found such a refuge. She came close once, but Jacques had forced that dream, and any hope of Weiss living her own life, to die along with their mother. Winter was far from stupid, and she saw why Weiss worked the way she did. It was all she had ever known, and Winter knew from her video chats with Weiss in the past years, though few and far between, that hard, time-consuming work was often her only real escape from their father. Even now, that man still hurt her sister.

Weiss Schnee was one of the few things Winter truly cared about in this world, and she would be damned if she let Jacques continue to damage Weiss. She longed to go in, and make a direct change to Weiss's life herself, but for all the pain and damage their father had caused for them, he succeeded in one thing. Weiss was a Schnee, and she was as strong and stubborn as a tank. Winter absolutely had ulterior motives for pushing Weiss to hire her two personal employees, or one, as she had recently found out; she hoped that they would be able to not only protect her dear sister, but also help her to see a world beyond the shadow of her commercial empire.

She knew Weiss hated it, too, but that was a necessary evil. She had hoped to stay and oversee the assimilation of Weiss's new Assistant/Bodyguard into her life, but her country had called on her. She had no choice but to answer, as she always did. While waiting for her airship to prepare for departure, Winter had typed out this email to take her place in telling Weiss how her Guard-Assistant needed to act both inside and outside the estate. It was nothing more than a few guidelines, so she hoped Weiss would listen to them.

With a sigh, Winter hit the "send" button, and shut off her scroll. It would be a long flight to south Anima, just north of Menagerie. In a way, though, she was looking forward to it. There had been confirmed reports of a significant White Fang presence in the area, and Atlas Military Intelligence suspected they were planning on mobilizing soon. These were people, and she knew that, but they were the people who had hurt her family, who were now a major threat to not only her sister, but the people of Remnant as a whole.

She allowed herself a small smile. Winter did not consider herself a malicious person, but when times like this came, she was always eager to clean the world up a bit. These were evil people, and as much as she longed for peace in this world and love amongst all people, Winter Schnee realized more than most other people that there were some in life who just needed to die, for the safety of the rest. She cast her gaze to her Saber, resting in its sheath and secured to a shelf above the small cot in the cabin of her ship. Her smile widened very slightly, and she closed her eyes, allowing all the all the struggles of her family to slip past her, and she felt one of her rare moments of happiness. She let go, and allowed Weiss to deal with her own problems for a while. Winter had work to do now. Atlas was getting boring anyway.

It had been too long since her Saber tasted those bastards' blood anyhow.

The almost inaudible hum of the heating unit in the Security Wing lobby was the only noise Weiss could hear as she waited. She was sat behind the receptions desk, waiting for Ms. Rose, who was due any second. She had been here for several minutes now, having nothing better to do since Winter more or less forced her to take a week of vacation off to hire her security guard and to allow Ruby to settle in. Idly, Weiss ran her hand through the off-center ponytail she still wore, a remnant from her teenage years that she had become quite fond of for a multitude of reasons.

Her scroll buzzed in the pocket of her white dress pants. Pulling it out, she saw it was a notification from the gate guard, an Atlesian Knight that had been specifically designed to monitor the front gate of the manor, that Ruby Rose had arrived on the grounds, and was currently driving towards the security wing. 'Not a second too early,' Weiss thought to herself. Still though, a frown found her face, and, scroll still in hand, the CEO thumbed over to her email application. It was already opened to a message she had received in the early hours of the morning, several hours before. She had already read it several times, but still her eyes skimmed over the now familiar words.

Dear Weiss,

I know you do not appreciate my meddling in your life. I hope you understand why I pushed you to do this, and know that I understand your hesitance to allow someone into your life. I know more than anyone else just how valuable freedom is, and I know you may feel like this is restricting yours, but please, Weiss, give this an honest try. Trust me when I say that having someone to ease your workload and make sure you are not consumed by your work as you have been in the past, and to have someone who is dedicated to ensuring your safety as a high-profile person is an absolute necessity for you.

I had hoped to be there for you the following week, to oversee the move-in and help to establish Ms. Rose's position with you and the company, but as you already know, I was called to aid the Kingdom of Atlas. You know how much my duty means to me, just as I know how much your freedom means to you, and when Atlas calls, it is my duty to answer. Even so, I wish I could be with you, to help you ease into the changes I have convinced you to make, and to ensure you do not try and minimize Ms. Rose's presence in your life, though you have already done this somewhat by hiring her for both positions. Because I can not be here personally, I would like for you to look over the following list of rules I would like for you to instate and hold yourself to, as well as your new Guard, so that she may do her job effectively:

Ms. Rose is to be allowed access to all Schnee Facilities, at your discretion.

Ms. Rose is to sleep in a room no more than 4 doors from your bedroom.

Ms. Rose is to be allowed no more than a week of vacation per year.

Ms. Rose must be armed with a minimum of thirty rounds of ammunition at all times outside of the Estate.

Ms. Rose must accompany you everywhere off of estate grounds.

Ms. Rose is not to consume excessive alcoholic beverages at any point for any reason.

This is what I would ask of you Weiss. I know you see this as unpleasant, but I do believe that you will benefit from this. Everything else in regards to the restrictions you place on your bodyguard/personal assistant is up to you. I hope to see you again soon, Weiss. If you ever need to talk, I am always here.

With love,

Winter

Weiss sighed. Even now, she couldn't believe what was happening. Why she agreed to this, she didn't know, but here she was. The businesswoman ran her hand through her ponytail once again. She would trust Winter here, as she had never led Weiss astray before. Weiss knew Winter was just looking out for her. Even so, this was hard. She was pulled from her thoughts, though, as the door to the Security Wing lobby opened, and in walked Ruby Rose. Habitually, Weiss smoothed out the pale blue dress shirt and white bolero jacket she wore, and stood up. She shook the ex-huntress's hand, the vivid red trim of the inside of her jacket showing just slightly as the loose sleeves sagged below her wrist.

The huntress before her was dressed much less formally than the day of her interview, this time wearing a black leather jacket, a small patch on her right arm bearing a symbol she recognized as Beacon' emblem. The jacket was unzipped, showing the simple solid red T-shirt beneath. On the left breast of the jacket was the word "Huntress", with a symbol beneath that resembled a rose of some sort. Weiss thought the jacket looked familiar somehow, but she couldn't put her finger on it. Ruby also wore a pair of black jeans, black combat boots with red laces, and had a visible holster on her right hip, the red-and-black handle of Rosebud visible.

"Hello, Ms. Rose," Weiss began, "Have a seat," she motioned to the chair on Ruby's side of the desk.

They both sat down, and the Huntress said, "Ruby is fine, you don't need to call me 'Ms. Rose' all the time if you don't want to." She gave a small smile to her new employer.

Weiss frowned for a moment, tossing the idea around in her head for a moment before responding, "Actually, I'd prefer to maintain a level of professionalism for now, so I think keeping up the formalities is necessary." The ex-huntress's smile faded a bit, as small as it already was. Awkwardly, the huntress brushed her hand through her shoulder-length hair. "Now, Ms. Rose, we have already discussed the totalness of this job before, so I won't bother covering that again. This final meeting is more for legal reasons and resolving some final details. Shall we begin?"

Thankful for the change in topic, Ruby easily said, "Sounds good to me. Let's hear it. " She leaned her arms on the wooden receptionist's desk between herself and Weiss, and her smile grew back to the small but pleasant size it was before.

Clearing her throat, the CEO said, "Yes, well, I have a...list...of regulations for you. If you disagree with any of them, we will need to work out a middle ground." When Ruby didn't object, she continued, "So, first of all, you will be living here, at the estate, from now on. I will, of course, pay for your moving costs." Seeing the redhead was about to object, Weiss continued, "As I'm sure you know, I have little else to spend my wealth on, so it really is a nonissue."

Somewhat placated, Ruby said, "Well, alright, if you insist. What else?"

Nodding, the CEO continued, "You will be required to accompany me at all times, outside of the estate." The words were bitter in the white-haired woman's mouth, but if it showed on her face, Ruby didn't seem to notice.

The huntress shrugged and said, "I kind of assumed that one, so it's no problem.

Continuing on, "You will be required to be armed at all times off the estate, carrying at minimum thirty rounds of ammunition with you."

Tapping the holster on her hip, Ruby said, "I usually am anyway so okay."

'She always carries a gun?' Weiss wondered. It was an odd thought, but made sense, given the redhead's past, and future, careers. "You will, at my discretion, be granted access to all Schnee Dust Company property, after a time." Seeing Ruby's only response was a nod, Weiss continued, "You will receive one week vacation per year. Is this agreeable?"

"Yes," Ruby replied, a polite smile on her face, "That sounds just fine." The ex-huntress rolled her left shoulder, and then asked, "Anything else, Ms. Schnee?"

Weiss checked the list Winter had sent her, and said, "The last item of discussion is fairly simple. You will not be permitted to drink any alcoholic beverage in excess while on duty."

A light chuckle came from the wounded woman, "Well it's a good thing I kicked that habit a while ago then."

Weiss found that somewhat concerning. She stared at Ruby cautiously for a moment, before saying simply, "Quite."

They fell silent, and Ruby began to feel awkward about the cold way Weiss was staring at her. After a moment, the CEO spoke up, "Right, well, all we have left here is for you to sign off on a few contracts and waivers." She pushed a small stack of stapled paper towards the ex-huntress, who began to read through it. "There is nothing in there we haven't already discussed or you don't already know."

Ruby grabbed a pen from the desk, and began signing and initialling pages. After a minute or so of that, she clicked the pen closed, and said, "Done. What now?" Her silver eyes met Weiss's blue, and, not for the first time, Ruby wondered about that scar. She kept her thoughts to herself though.

Weiss took the papers, and tucked them under her arm. She stood, and Ruby did the same. Once more, Weiss shook Ruby's hand, and said, "It is official, then. Welcome to the Schnee Dust Company, Ms. Rose. Would you like see where you will be staying?"

The newly-minted bodyguard 's smile grew from polite to a reserved kind of giddiness, and she said, "That sounds wonderful, let's go." Weiss walked around the desk, contract under her arm, and Ruby followed behind her.

Weiss pushed open the door and they stepped out into the Atlesian weather. The two women were greeted by a chilly gust of wind, and Ruby audibly shivered. "Wow, I don't think I will ever get used to the cold here." Weiss gave her a skeptical look over her shoulder, so the bodyguard continued, "I mean, I've ran missions up north in the past, but it's just...odd, having it be this cold on a regular basis."

They continued along the paved driveway towards the Manor proper, and Weiss raised a single eyebrow, saying simply, "It's only Autumn. It's not even that cold today. " Weiss rather liked the cold, and it irked her a bit that her new employee was complaining about it before it was even unpleasant, but she understood. Ruby was from Vale, after all. She let the annoyance roll off her back easily, thankful for the maturity she had gained in past years. Ruby was silent now, and, as they came to the grand oakwood doors that were the entrance to the Schnee family home, Weiss thought to herself, 'Goodness knows how much rougher our first meeting would have gone if I was still a teenager.'

Reminiscence of her more "prissy" years aside, Weiss stepped up the few marble steps to the entrance to the manor. She took a deep breath, this was always her least favourite part of coming home.

She pushed the grand doors open, and the two women stepped into massive entrance hall. The vaulted ceiling was at least twenty feet high, and the whole room was decorated in a blinding array of whites, grays, and blues. The walls were polished marble with light blue accents, and were decorated with various paintings of everything from the snowcapped mountains of Mantle, to portraits of the Schnee family. The hall was silent, and her heels clacked on the tile floor. The echoing in the silence grated on her ears and set her on edge as it always did. Her frown only deepened at the quiet gasp behind her. Weiss didn't know if she was happy or frustrated Ruby's combat boots were silent on the tile.

Weiss looked back at the redhead, who was gazing around at the high vaulted ceiling and the priceless paintings on the walls with a sense of awe.

The white-haired CEO barely suppressed a sigh, before saying simply, "It will get old fast, trust me."

Sensing her employer's displeasure, Ruby shook her head and pushed her amazement from her mind. She did her best to act just a little professional, even though she technically hadn't even started working yet. Silently, they made their way to the twin staircases at the end of the hall, but something else caught Ruby's attention. The staircases descended from the second floor as a single, wide staircase, and split halfway down, forming two, narrower staircases. The two formed what looked similar to the inverted bottom half of a heart, but it was what lie between them that caught her eye.

In the gap that was formed by the splitting of the stairs was a podium of sorts, it was incredibly wide, and atop it knelt a suit of armor, like a gargantuan knight. It looked as if it was a grand statue made of steel, and Ruby though it would be about twelve feet tall if it could stand straight, but that was not what really interested her. Instead, her eyes were drawn to the plethora of gashes along the plate armor. Slashes, cuts, and dents ran along the surface of the metal, some deep, and some barely scuffs on the armor. The knight looked like it had just seen battle yesterday. A battle it had won, evidently.

"Don't ask." Weiss's voice pulled Ruby from her thoughts. Weiss was already partway up the stairs, and had stopped to look back at Ruby. The redhead hadn't even realized she stopped. There was the hint of a threat in the CEO's voice, so Ruby suppressed her curiosity. A bit put off by the cold front she was receiving from her employer, the redhead just nodded and followed along.

They went up the right-hand staircase, and turned into a hallway. It was a similar design as the main hall, only much smaller, and with a pale blue rug on the floor. Their footsteps were muffled on it, which Weiss appreciated. There were several uniform white doors on the right side of the hall, and, only two on the left. Set of brown wooden double doors that Ruby recognized as the study from her last visit for her interview, and an Ornate pale blue one a few feet down from that. It had an intricate carving of the Schnee Family crest shown prominently in white, and a crystal doorknob. The door looked like it cost more than Ruby's current house.

Weiss motioned towards the two sets of doors, saying "You remember the study, yes?" At the ex-huntress's nod, Weiss moved on to the ornate door, "This is the master bedroom of the house, reserved for the head of the Schnee family and CEO of the company.

Ruby gave an understanding, "ah", before asking, "So that's where you sleep, then?"

Weiss looked at Ruby blankly for a moment, her expression unreadable, before sighing, and saying, "No, no it isn't." She then turned to look at the other doors on the other side of the hall, explaining, "These are the bedrooms that are traditionally reserved for the family of whoever is the head, but, as you can see," she motioned at the empty hallway and silent household, "there is no family to be found here, so this is where you and I will be sleeping. I prefer my old bedroom."

"Oh"

Weiss walked on down the hall, a weight pressing down on her shoulders that she had never gotten used to, despite its near constant presence in her home. Passing by a few doors, the two women stopped at one, looking like all the rest, and Weiss said, "This is my room." She then pointed a threatening finger at Ruby, "You are not to enter my bedroom for any reason, are we clear?"

Seeing a pattern in Weiss's behavior, the ex-huntress decided to not give Weiss any more reason to distrust her. She raised her hands in a faux surrender, and said, "Yes ma'am."

Satisfied at the answer, Weiss moved down another door, and said, "This is your bedroom," before opening the door and walking in, with Ruby right behind her. "You will be allowed to bring any personal effects you wish into here." The room as it was was well furnished: a simple king-sized blue bed against one wall with a pair of nightstands flanking it, a vanity across the room from the bed, a recliner by the large window on the far wall, and a medium sized oakwood desk, right beneath that same window. There was two doors that Ruby assumed led to a bathroom and a closet.

She took a moment to look around the room, pacing a bit and examining the furniture until something caught her eye. Sitting on the bed was a suit bag. She walked over to it, and lifted it up in front of her. It was a plain black-and-white two-piece suit. The CEO spoke up again then, and said, "This room is yours to customize. If there is something you'd want to add that would cost money, once more, just tell me. I have plenty to go around." Weiss moved to stand next to Ruby, who was observing the suit in front of her with an odd intensity. Confused and a tad curious, Weiss said, "You will be moving in tomorrow, so if there is anything you want me to change, tell me now. I have little else planned for today, as my sister insisted I take the week off, so I do not mind."

Ruby was silent for a second, before pointing a single arm at the desk, eyes never leaving the suit, and said, "If I overstep my bounds, just say so, okay?" at her boss's nod, she began, "If you would, replace the desk with a workbench for my guns," she then pointed to the rightmost nightstand, "I sleep on the left side of the bed, so take out that nightstand and replace it with a gun safe, big enough for some rifles and a few ammo cases," she then stopped pointing and, tapping her chin thoughtfully, said, "A holoscreen would be nice, too."

Nodding, Weiss said, "Will that be all? If so, I will get a few AKs working on that right away." She was looking forward to the work ahead of her. A part of her loathed being told what to do, but she was used to it. She had done very little to her house in the months she'd owned it, so this would hopefully keep her occupied. Keep her mind off the silence.

"One more thing," Ruby said, eyes finally coming off of the suit she was holding, and looking at her new boss. They stood at equal heights, though Weiss was wearing heels so technically she was shorter, and their eyes met easily. Reaching her free hand around and backhand-tapping the plastic covering the suit right over the white button-up beneath the jacket, the Bodyguard and Personal Assistant to Weiss Schnee said, a sparkle in her gunmetal grey eyes and a small grin spreading across her features, said, "Can I get this in red?"

Update (6/27/18): Grammer and flow adjustments, inverted the stairs.