Chapter 69

"It wasn't normal, the whole place was like... Frozen or something..." Yang was once again sat in the same room as her uncle and her father. Some time had passed since Weiss fell asleep and the night was now upon the village.

With a heavy sigh Qrow rubbed the bridge of his nose with finger and thumb, "Kid, if I asked you to pretend you didn't see anything, would you?"

Yang narrowed her lilac eyes, "What? No, I wouldn't, so what's happening? Because you know something and I don't know why you're not telling me. She's my friend!"

Tai glanced to Qrow, "Really thought that would work?"

Qrow shrugged his shoulders, "It was worth a shot but... Yeah. I expected an answer like that."

"Stop avoiding the question," Yang clenched her fists in slight frustration as she looked between the two.

In silence the two men seemed to converse with nothing but their stares. Tai paused and closed his eyes as he lowered his head, "She'll be a target if we tell her."

"Tai, she's already a target. Just like Ruby, and just like Blake. All through association."

"Stop talking like I'm not here!" Yang stood up from her chair as she raised her voice.

Tai and Qrow turned to look upon Yang as they paused in silence. The red eyed man turned his sharp glance towards Tai, "You wanna explain it?"

"You know a lot more about it than I do..." Tai held his hands together as he peered back at Qrow.

Qrow gave a slow nod before he pulled from his pocket a silver hip-flask. He unscrewed the cap as he brought it up to his lips and took a large gulp. With a relieved sigh he screwed the cap back on and placed the flask back into his pocket and turned his stare up towards Yang. "Sit down kid," his head motioned towards the chair behind the blonde. Yang kept her stare firmly upon Qrow as she sat herself back down and listened to his words. "So... Got a favourite story?"

For a brief moment Yang seemed confused, "What?"

"Fairytales. Stories you grew up with. That kind of stuff, you remember any?" Qrow continued as he leaned back in his chair.

"I don't see what this has to do with anything-"

"My favourite is the one about the seasons," interrupted Qrow as his eyes glanced up to the ceiling. He peered back down to look upon the face of his niece, "Heard that one?"

Yang paused in thought as she grew more suspicious, "Well... Yeah. Who hasn't?"

"Heh, not many. But less know that it wasn't just a story."

Yang looked to her father; he glanced back to her with a knowing stare as if he had been told the exact same thing. The blonde looked back to her uncle, "What do you mean it's not just a story?"

"Exactly that. It's not just a story. It happened and the four maidens are out there, wielding power like nothing you've ever seen before- Or... Well, you did see it. Twice now. Cinder was a maiden before your friend turned her into... Uh, cinders." Qrow smirked lightly as he took out his hip-flask for a second time.

"She was just using-... She was using dust, right?" Yang inquired as she thought back to the battle at Higanbana. She had assumed Cinder was simply very capable with dust.

Qrow took a gulp from his flask before leaning forward in his chair, "She didn't need a speck of it to do what she did. It was... More or less magic. But see, she's dead now so you'd think our problems ended there right? Wrong. I'm with a group that protects these maidens in secret."

"If they have magic why do they need anyone to protect them? And why would you protect Cinder?" Yang continued with her questions; not much of what she was hearing made sense to her.

"Right... Probably going about explaining this the wrong way... Let's see..." Qrow sighed as he looked to the fireplace. "As you saw; maidens are powerful but they aren't invincible. One died at that fight. But Cinder wasn't always the fall maiden, the one before her was called Amber. To put it simply; if a maiden dies her power moves on to somebody else, and this usually being the last person in their thoughts. The last person in Amber's thoughts was her killer: Cinder, who wanted the power for... A reason I don't fully understand yet. Maidens need protectors because people want their power for themselves, and it's real easy to get it if you're smart. So my group looks out for them and keeps them hidden from the world, so we get less trouble from less people. Oh yeah, guys can't be maidens either, so if the last person in their thoughts is either a man or somebody dead, the power hits the lottery and goes to whoever the hell is lucky on that day."

"Wait, if it can go to the killer then that means Weiss is..." Yang paused in realization.

"If I was grading you on a test then that's an A plus right there. Yeah. Weiss killed Cinder in a fashion that forced her to think about her in her last thoughts; probably out of agony and rage. So your little Schnee friend became the fall maiden. Which kinda annoys me because frankly she'd suit the winter maiden better but that's just a title, they can all pretty much do the same thing anyway. This also means she has a giant target painted on her back, more so than she did when she was just an heiress. So you got a choice now..." Qrow stopped as he regarded Tai with a glance, as if seeking permission. Tai gave a hesitant nod in return and Qrow looked back to Yang. "You can either go home and pretend nothing happened, but your life will still be in danger and you just know that at the back of your head you're going to be constantly wondering wherever Weiss is still alive or not... Or... You can join us and protect her, along with the other maidens."

Yang's lilac eyes lowered as she processed the information. The way it was worded to her it seemed she'd be in danger wherever she chose to protect Weiss or not. So the choice was quite simple. If her life was going to be under constant threat it might as well be because she was defending a friend. "What about Blake? And Ruby?" Yang looked back up towards the two.

Tai idly tapped his fingers against his knee as his gaze drifted away, "As much as I don't want Ruby involved in any of this, she already is. They'll both get the same choice."

"Where are the other maidens...?" The blonde peered at Qrow.

"Does this mean you're with us? Because I'm gonna need a straight answer Yang," Qrow pierced her gaze with his own crimson eyes.

Yang gave a nod, "I'll do it... For Weiss."

There was a silence after her answer. Perhaps some part of Qrow and Taiyang were hoping that she'd say no, but they knew she had made the only choice she could. Qrow nodded, "Good... Yeah, that's good." He took another long gulp from his flask; emptying what was left. "The uh... Spring maiden is here, in Mistral. We're not sure where the Winter and Summer maidens are yet. Normally they're in their respective kingdoms as it were: Atlas and Vacuo. But since Spring is somewhere here we're focusing on her first. We're also gonna need to find a way to keep Weiss from freezing us all solid. She won't be used to the power she has, and she probably doesn't understand it herself and so she's letting it run wild and unchecked. Her state of mind... That's probably not helping."

"I'll do what I can with Weiss but..." Yang paused.

"Yeah, it's bad," Qrow agreed.

She moved onto her side as she lay in bed, yet still she felt uncomfortable. The visions haunted her thoughts; visions of what she'd seen and what she'd done. She could still feel the heat. She could still smell the searing flesh. She rolled over onto her other side as she gripped her head with her hand; fingers clawing into her silver-white hair. Her face was covered in sweat and her expression was pained. Her thoughts had been growing more clear since the event at Higanbana and she was beginning to understand just exactly what it was that she had done. She was a killer, or at least, she had the capability to kill. Perhaps it was something Neo had passed onto her. Perhaps it was always something she could do. It churned her stomach to think about it.

She had woken some time ago but she found she was unable to return to sleep. Her cold blue eyes opened as she sat up in her bed. When she did so she realised she had a headache and so she winced and rubbed her head. Across from her was a second bed, and in it was Blake who was sleeping soundly. Weiss' gaze narrowed upon the Faunus. Why was she able to sleep so quietly after what she saw? Did she care so little about Neo that it didn't phase her at all? Some sense of anger welled up inside of her as she pulled the covers from her form and stood up out of her bed. The moon was shining in through the window as she glanced over to it.

After a drawn sigh she lowered her eyes once more to Blake. The entire left arm and hand of the Faunus had been bandaged because of the burns she had sustained from the battle. But none had suffered more than Weiss that night. She turned to face the door behind her and her steps were slightly staggered as she made her way towards it and left the room.

The hall outside was dark and quiet, but she could see that one of the doors had light behind it. She approached and placed her ear against the wood and could hear Yang's voice, and Qrow's. They were talking about her it seemed, and something about maidens. The more she heard, the more confused she became. Not much of it made sense to her but according to them she had some sort of power. Perhaps they had been referring to the frost that had seemingly appeared from nowhere in her room?

She remained listening for several minutes until the conversation seemed to shift topic. She took a step back and glared upon the door. Was she to be some sort of burden for them to carry? All her life she had people obsessing about her; such had come with growing up in the Schnee family. It was the last thing she wanted after finally having left Atlas, especially from her team. She just wanted to be... Normal. She turned and continued on down the hall. There was something else she wanted to see before she'd return to her room. The door in front of her was just as simple as the rest in the building, but she knew what was behind this one. She reached her hand forward and grasped the handle as she entered the room.

Inside the interior similar to her own room. There was a bed, a night-stand, some drawers and a window. It was dark but she could see, and so she closed the door behind herself as her eyes focused on the person in the bed. She approached the figure and stared down upon her. Brunette hair, pale skin, and the new additions of thin red veins crossing her face. It was Ruby. She hadn't seen her team leader from Beacon for some time now. Months at least. Maybe almost a year. Her hair was noticeable longer and she was no doubt taller too. Probably taller than herself. Weiss reached her slender hand towards Ruby's face as her fingers traced along the red veins. She pondered wherever they were going to be a permanent addition to her features; something to remember the Geist by.

Her fingers continued to trace along the girl's fair skin. Ruby was always kind to her, if not a little annoying. But she supposed that was simply part of her charm. She was strange; at least in her eyes. Weiss hadn't known many other girls when she grew up, but those that she did know were polite and quiet. Ruby was loud, clumsy, and rather dense. It was probably why Weiss had taken a shine to her during their time at Beacon. She was different. Her recklessness was a charm.

Her fingers moved down as they coiled around the girl's neck.

Her recklessness was also the reason they ended up in this situation. Weiss narrowed her eyes down at the girl as her hand was firmly around her neck. She had come to this room for two reasons. The first was to check on her, to simply see what she looked like now and wherever or not she was okay. The second was to find out if she hated her. Sure she might be throwing the blame around, but someone had to take it. If not Blake then surely Ruby. If she hadn't gotten herself possessed by the Geist, if she had never even left Patch and went to Mistral on a fools errand... Maybe things would have been different. Ruby was the reason they were here now. Ruby was the reason there was a fight at Higanbana. She was the reason Neo had to die during it.

Weiss grit her teeth as her hand tightened around Ruby's neck. Something was lacking though. To kill her here without at least hearing her side of the story... Maybe she wasn't completely to blame. Perhaps someone else was... Maybe Jaune? Maybe the others? To kill Ruby here would be... Reckless. Her hand began to shake as she shut her eyes tight. She already killed Cinder; the person that dealt the killing blow to Neo. But it wasn't enough. Her vengeance felt empty, as if it wasn't enough. It must have meant that others had to die for Neo's sake. Emerald and Mercury were sure bets, Tyrian too. But she felt if she killed those three, then something would still be missing.

She released Ruby's neck and left red marks upon her pale skin from where she had gripped her. Weiss turned and held both her hands to her head as her expression grew frustrated. Who else had to pay? Who else had to die? She briskly made her way to the exit of the room as she pulled the door open and slammed it shut behind her.