R.W.3.Y.: All Fairy Tales End

Chapter I.V; Reckoning

Characters: Ruby Rose and Weiss Schnee

Ships:

Description:

RW3Y, the amazing art by Dishwasher1910 who has given me permission to write this, after the Salem Crisis RWBY went a many myriad of directions with their lives, but maintained close ties with each other and their friends. This is their story, their continuation, the end to their fairytale.

Chapter Description:

Weiss Schnee and Ruby Rose are about to have a talk, and some of SRED's most closely guarded secrets will be revealed. Will the pair's friendship survive these revelations, or will it crumble to Weiss Schnee's reckoning?

-Four Weeks after the death of Arthur Watts

SRED Flagship, Edelweiss, Colonel Schnee's Office

"This is the Colonel, go ahead."

"I'm sorry to interrupt Ma'am but Agent Rose has requested a change of venue for the debrief."

"Let me guess, the dolt wants cookies served in the mess hall and for me to meet her there?"

"Negative Ma'am, she said to meet her on deck twelve subsection three, laboratory Alpha-Zeta-One. I wasn't aware that deck twelve had research laboratories Ma'am."

"Understood, and Private forget about that lab and scrub the request from the logs. When will Echo 419 be docking?"

"That's the thing Ma'am, it docked three minutes ago, they didn't send the request until they were practically on top of us." Weiss' eyes went wide… three minutes… I… The chair crashes to the ground and hiss of the door barely reaches the private's ears before a white glyph shoots a blur down the hallway. Ducking her head into the office the private watches the slight spin of the wheels on the chair as its back rests against the ground, the blinking light of Weiss' Scroll left sitting, and the Colonel's hat forgotten on what would be her right side. The private's shoulders roll before he sets about righting the office and shutting the door, honestly if the Colonel cares that much about Rose maybe it's time she finally said something I'm getting tired of all this.

SRED Flagship, Edelweiss, Laboratory Alpha-Zeta-One

Weiss hits the bulkhead and growls, her shoulder throbs but she pulls her glove off, flinging it down the hallway and smashing her hand onto the print scanner. With a hint of green the door slides apart, not even making a whisper. Weiss places her feet softly onto the deck-plating, the normally distinctive click of her heeled boots nonexistent.

Her legs slips around privacy barrier, her head partially following, her hand squeezing tight to the barrier. The dark metal of the room is lit by an almost ethereal green, a slight jump of hiccup in the light before crashing into an unseen piece and returning to bright but muted glow. Her gaze flicks from the shifting colour on the wall to the long oddly humanoid shadow stretching across the ground. The dim glimmer of the white of the ship in the background of this sealed and stale aired place was getting to Weiss, at least that's what she thought as she brushed something wet from her face.

The first hint of vibrant, living colour was the red trail of rose petals slowly flitting about in the recycled air. Then came the torn and ragged edges of the soft cloth Weiss would like nothing more than to bury herself in. Then those first few strands of raven black hair with the crimson touches at the ends. All of it brought some semblance of warmth to the room, like someone was determined to hug happiness and life into the dust coated area

Strands of Ruby's crimson tipped locks hung softly against her back. Her shoulders had a slight shudder running irregularly through them. The woman's silver eyes had something wet pooling and running tracks down her face. Black sleeve that ran up her arm traced to her hand, placed lightly against the glass, her thumb slowly moving back and forth. Weiss could catch sight of the segmented and plated hand that had its fingertips pressed against inside of the tube, like a mirror to the crying woman. Weiss bites her lip, I shouldn't be here… all I can think is… Weiss stamps her foot down hard on the thoughts. She ignores the pain slicing into her thighs like the bite of a blade. Her hand absent minded lay running across the thin white lines hidden beneath her skirt. She tries not to think of how much worse that night could have been, how much more Ruby could have lost if Yang hadn't been there. Still the thoughts lingered no matter how hard she ground her teeth. They stayed stuck in her waking mind, and at night… Weiss steps fully into view, and begins brushing dust off her clothes, not that there was any.

Ruby's hand darts across her eyes and she spins to face the newcomer. The make-up stains like lines from her eyes were smudged, not gone. Her hand quickly caught her opposite arm, rubbing a few circles before her shoulders pulled back, she raised her head, and her eyes steeled themselves against Weiss' slender firm.

"Why?" a simple word, that's all it was, the tone was barely calm, the malice reflected in her eyes saying Ruby was holding back. Weiss didn't know which hurt more… the glare that was seeing right through her, or the word that demanded answer with the quietest voice Weiss had seemingly ever heard.

"Because Ruby, it was the best way-"

"Bullshit!" Ruby's fist slammed into the wall, her scarlet Aura pulsing across her body as the bulkhead bent inwards. "Don't give me crap Weiss. Why?"

"We found the remains in Vytal Festival Arena from the Fall of Beacon, that was two years ago, before… When the scientists found that some of the program was still viable I set about reconstituting it. It took a lot of funds to get to where we were, the stress testing, the code fixes, the bug crashes-"

"Stress Testing?" Ruby's fingers had slowly released from the fist, her hand still holding her weight away from the room's wall. Weiss' icy orbs raised to meet Ruby's and Weiss could barely keep herself as her knees locked and her legs trembled.

"We needed a new weapon, a new idea. Everything the scientists were coming up with just wasn't enough. The new artillery pieces we designed couldn't do more than slow Typhon down for a bit. The testing in Vale of our newest weapons on that beast…" Weiss spat the word out of her mouth. "Across the board it was becoming clear that this new evolution of Grimm was more powerful and more capable than anything we'd ever come across during the Salem Crisis. We were outmatched…"The words you were outmatched hang in the air, but the slight tremor running through Ruby's form halted.

"You said stress testing Weiss, I saw the damn videos… What. Did. You. Do?" A simple question for a complex problem. Weiss' thoughts began racing through her mind, each fighting for the lead as she stood, frozen like a Grimm in the silvered gaze of her former leader, teammate, friend… something more?

"The system-"

"Stop it! Don't use those words. We spent time with her! We hung around her! She was our friend! Penny wasn't just a machine! She could feel, experience emotion, lie, care, all of it! So don't tell me about how she was a machine, because right now she seems far more alive than YOU!" It was like Crescent Rose's black blade had run through Weiss' heart. The elder woman was left starring, the water pooling in her eyes as she watched her friend yell at her. Did she have any idea?

"You listen well and you listen now Agent Ruby Rose. I am your commanding officer. I am the head of SRED and I have taken on the task of keeping Remnant safe from those beast that are down there even as we speak! Do you know what I went through? How I agonised over you? How Yang held me against a wall telling me it was my fault, how for as long as I could I sat there and lied to myself? Do you know how I felt as I cried in your lap? You aren't the only one who experienced pain Ruby Rose! I did too! I watched as my best friend had to learn to walk again! I saw your blood covering the floor of a Bullhead! Everything I have done I did for the people! I did all of this to keep our coworkers, our allies, our friends, OUR FAMILY safe! I ordered the stress tests and each one killed me inside, but I knew that it was the only way to coordinate Atlesian Drones effectively! I knew that it would save people's lives, innocent people's lives! Did this to Penny, that's what you want me to admit? PENNY is GONE! She died when Beacon fell, her memory core was unsalvageable! I did this for PENNY, for PYRRHA, for SUMMER FUCKING RO-" It was like time stopped as the sound of skin striking skin rung out in the room. Ruby's hand hovered in front of her face, new water springing down her eyes as she bit her lip to keep from crying out. Her face was contorted in pain.

Weiss stood there, her eyes wide, searching Ruby's expression for anything, and getting nothing but sadness. Weiss' hand moved without command, rubbing the angry blazing red welt that now covered the left side of her cheek. Tears pooled at the edges of Weiss' icy blues and to the Schnee's horror Ruby's face slowly set like stone into hard lines.

"You don't get to say their names again. And don't talk to me about pain. I was always there for you Weiss… you could have asked for help whenever you wanted. I know Yang hated you after what happened, but I told her that I trusted you, but it was my decision to follow those orders. You had a choice just like I did back then. You could've come to me, stayed with me and I would've helped you because we were friends. Now, I don't want to see you for awhile." Ruby all but throws her Scroll at Weiss, the elder woman barely catching the device before it clattered to the floor. As Weiss kneeled holding the item to her chest, it's patented SRED logo with a light blue dusted 'S' and a crimson 'RED' glaring at the woman. As she raised her head she found Ruby had already passed and was standing at the door. "I'm leaving Whitely in charge of the SDC, I'll hold onto those shares until Winter comes to collect them. Take this as my resignation from SRED Colonel Schnee. You keep secrets, and eventually they come back to haunt you. Don't say goodbye when I leave, I guarantee I won't be looking for you."

A hiss followed and the white lights of the corridor cut off leaving Weiss in the black, her back lit up by nothing but the green glow emitted from Colonel Schnee's greatest success… and Weiss' worst failure.

Unknown Amount of Time Later

Weiss couldn't tell how long she hugged her knees to her chest, cradling the Scroll in her hands, water streaking through her makeup and leaving tracks of black and porcelain white across her face. She felt numb, like her arms and legs had just gone cold, it felt like back at that mansion her father demanded she call a home, she felt trapped in this dark black space; like the air was pressing down on her, and from behind all that came was that cursed green glow. With a growl like a feral animal Weiss' metal toed heels clicked across the deck-plating and she slammed her fist into the glass control panel, when her knuckles and glove came away red Weiss only shouted louder. She shot through the hallways, papers and personnel left scattered like bowling pins.

Weiss doesn't let herself fully come back until she's heard the hiss of her office door. Until she's left sitting staring at a photo. Scrawled in her nicest print in white ink were two simple words, 'New Friends' She can't help but stare at her fingers on Ruby's shoulder and Yang fist pumping in the background, or Blake's sly smile as she stares back at the camera… where had these girls gone… what did I become? Weiss' face went red as fire filled her veins and with all the power a Huntress grants a woman she sweeps her arm across the desk. A shriek of unbridled ferocity tore from her lips as she walked over and grabbed the gleaming gold in the oaked wood case holding her Medal of the Valiant. A crash and sound sound of glass shattering was what finally brought outside attention.

The Private who acted as the Colonel's runner forced his entry with a personal code and went wide eyed as he stared at the golden medal lying on the ground next to the door. The hand carved case gifted to the Colonel by her sister to hold the medal was scattered about in a number of pieces. Papers were fluttering around the room drifting towards the ground. The Colonel's large tablet Scroll was lying on the ground, a large crack maring its normally crystal clear screen. The lamp was on the ground a few shards of glass lying near its head. The only thing remaining untouched on the desk was the framed photo the private had never seen. As his eyes continued over the room he found the sitting table and its contents flipped. Cradling a large stuffed almost chibi version of a Beowulf and a Scroll with a smattering of colour on its back was the Colonel. The door slid closed and the private began gathering the papers back into some kind of order, his eyes more focused on the Colonel's scarlet knuckles and soaked glove, but honestly he was a little too worried to say anything. He missed as he grabbed the tablet the cool orange notification of a wanted target identified in a nearby area. The private set the equipment and tablet down on the desk before grabbing the medical kit off the wall. I'm not paid enough for this job sometimes...

A/N:

I had a guest ask some questions about the command structure I have, I apologise for the confusion so I'll fix that real quick. Weiss is a Colonel in the Atlas military, and commander of SRED. Ruby was a field agent for SRED, ie a Huntress who is within SRED's command structure. Winter is a Brigadier General in the Atlas military and outranks her sister. Winter can override Weiss' orders if she wishes. Ruby and Weiss' relationship inside the structure of SRED is confusing and I apologise, but think about it like this. If there was a friend you knew, respected, and cared for and they asked you to do something you'd do it. That's kinda how Ruby gets away with things like disobeying orders and somewhat giving them out. Another problem raised by this is Ruby in field command, which is essentially Ruby is a better thinker in the heat of the moment and has led a number of successful missions both during and after the Salem Crisis making her a better pick when in the field as opposed to Weiss who has managed a branch of the military and is better with logistics and grand plans. The whole SDC control thing is just that Weiss and Winter are in the military and Atlas/Vytal Council doesn't want to mix Military power with SDC power given the corporation's control of Dust supplies. That's it, if it still doesn't make sense after this chapter and explanation feel free to PM me and I'll gladly answer questions/continue the discussion. Now thank you all for reading this and dealing with my absence I do sincerely apologise and I will be spending a good chunk of time writing for this over the course of next couple months, hopefully finishing an arc and some short stories or two before I need a break from Fnet/this fic again. So please continue to read and I will continue to write. Now without further adieu here is the teaser for the next arc;

War, a prospect not faced since the Salem Crisis now finds its ways to the shores of Menagerie's coasts. The Liberation Front, a fanatical offshoot of the old White Fang, has gained traction with the new constricting policies of SRED and the direction of a new and organised leader. Even as the horrid stench of coming conflict begins to fester within the borders of the newest kingdom another threat begins to emerge. Ruby's delving into SRED's and the SDC's experiments has given her a blast from the past, and now the young Rose is left caught between her loyalties to her friend and to her oaths. Darkness once more begins to rise once more and fear follows, and where there is fear, agner, hate, and suffering… there is always Grimm.

Thank you all for reading I hope you enjoyed this emotional and pivotal moment for Weiss and Ruby. May this chapter find you all well and I'll see you next time. I'm posting this today 2/23/2019 knowing that I am not likely to be far enough into the next installment to post it on the usual day. I have exams and homework and work to have complete so that takes precedence. I apologise for this chapter being late as well. With any luck I'll have the first piece of Chapter II done in the next week or two and posted. Thank you all again have a wonderful weekend!

-Six out