In which Weiss finally tells a special someone in her life that she loves her.
Author notes: I have no idea what I'm doing. Also, I recall that, in Remnant, red is the color associated with death and mourning? Not sure where that source comes from, but that's what I go with in all my RWBY fics.
-OOO-
Blake blinked awake. Weiss was hugging her, like always. She examined the room. It hadn't changed much; a new plush snake, some of Blake's stuff. Her slowly accumulating collection of clothes was currently being stored in Weiss's drawer, but there was talk of getting her her own dresser. Blake was fine with her tracksuit, but Weiss liked playing dress-up, so there was an accumulation of clothes that was put on Blake's body at some times but which Blake didn't really think of as her own.
Weiss awoke. She yawned and stretched and fixed her medical eyepatch and hugged Blake tight and rubbed her nose in Blake's hair.
"Hey Blakey, " Weiss said, softly and blissfully, "You know what today is?"
Blake blinked.
Weiss shifted into a sitting position. Blake's head slid onto her lap, and she was looking up into Weiss's face. "It's the one month anniversary since you've come to live with me! And since we met. And I guess since your first bath?"
Blake blinked. She wasn't going to confirm that for Weiss.
"So," Weiss smiled softly to the bedsheets and tucked a strand of hair behind her ear, "My dad says that it's bad luck to tell someone you love them before you've known them for one month, because if it turns out it was just, like, infatuation with the mental construct of that person based on incomplete information created by your perceiving self, you'll have so much egg on your face you won't even be able to deal. And that's not fun, Blake! That's not fun at all."
Blake blinked.
"So, what I'm saying is," Weiss said, with only the barest hint of a stutter. It took her a couple tries to make eye contact with Blake, but she did, and she said, "I love you, Blakey."
Blake blinked.
Blake blinked again.
Weiss pulled Blake upright. She put her hands around Blake's shoulders and rubbed her cheek on Blake's neck.
"There is a Blakey within my heart; Blakey~, Bla~key~" Weiss sang, rocking back and forth, slightly. "Blake-ing all day with her Blakey parts, my beautiful Blakey Bell(adonna)!"
Blake blinked.
"Whether she loves me or loves me not, sometimes it's hard to tell~,"
Blake blinked again.
"Sharing a piece of what quickens the rot, with beautiful Blakey Bell(adonna)!"
During the refrain, Weiss adjusted her hug around Blake's head and increased the intensity of her rocking as she sang, until by the end the were in danger of flopping onto the bed, on their sides.
"Bla~key, Bla~key, don't you know you're my boo," Weiss rocked Blake back and forth, blissfully. "I'm anxious and sha~key when I'm apart from you," Weiss said.
Blake could see how that could be true.
"It won't be a stylish marriage~. I can't afford a carriage."
Blake could not see how that could be true.
"But you'll be sweet, upon the seat of a bicycle built for two~!"
Blake, actually, didn't think she'd ever ridden a bicycle before.
And, by now, Weiss had pulled Blake so that they were lying on the bed again. Weiss looked at the ceiling for a moment, and then looked towards Blake.
"So," Weiss said. She blushed harder. "I love you, Blakey." Weiss then smooched Blake's nose. "Mwah!"
Blake's ears lowered and her mouth flattened just a bit, but not in annoyance; embarrassment, maybe, but ninjas didn't get embarrassed, so it must have been some other emotion that Blake was feeling. Whatever.
Weiss refreshed her original smile. "So, um. Do you have anything to say, Blake?"
Blake opened her mouth. No words came out.
Blake closed her mouth. She looked at the wall. Her face felt hot for some reason. Some stupid, silly reason that liked to sing too much.
Weiss hugged Blake from behind. "It's okay, Blakey. I know words aren't your strong suit. I'll just have to love you for the both of us. Mwah!" Weiss smooched the back of Blake's head. "Mwah Mwah mwah!"
Blake's face felt a little hotter.
Weiss carried Blake to breakfast. Weiss had a giant smile, and Blake found herself more embarrassed than she usually did, as she eyed the maids and the staff they encountered on the way.
At breakfast, Blake received a huge plate of pancakes. She started splitting the bounty. Nobody seemed to remark on the eating arrangements anymore, but the adult Schnees hadn't rescinded Weiss's nominal calorie limit either.
Weiss smiled even harder when Blake flopped some pancakes onto Weiss's plate, which Weiss held out expectantly.
"Thanks, Blake, mwah!" Weiss smooched Blake's head. She rubbed her cheek on Blake's forehead, even though it meant that Weiss had to climb out of her chair. "I love you."
"Oh, has it been a month already?" the taller Schnee- Weiss's father- said, "It seems, simultaneously, both shorter and longer than that."
"I didn't think that statue of limitations applied to things like pets or food or stuffed animals," the other taller Schnee said. "You could have been declaring your love for your little pet from the start."
"No, I love Blake like a person," Weiss insisted.
"You are completely free to think that," Weiss's mother deadpanned to her pancakes.
"But I do!" Weiss pouted. She hugged Blake. "I love Blake! In fact, I love Blake even more than you, Mom!"
...
...
Blake froze. The adult Schnees froze. (Blake froze with her mouth open, with a piece of pancake on the end of her fork a few centimeters from her tongue. It was not the most dignified position to freeze in.)
All the staff edged out of the room.
"I'm sure she meant that 'you' as a second subject, rather than a direct object-" said Mr. Schnee.
"I can understand our daughter's intent just fine, pumpkin," the other taller Schnee said. She kept her voice steady and spoke with her eyes closed. "We have learned from our past mistakes," she said to her husband. Then she turned to her daughter. "So you can believe whatever you want to, Weiss, sweetie."
"I don't need to believe, because I know I love Blake more than you!"
Weiss tightened her hug. Blake looked between the Schnees.
"You are free to do so," the other taller Schnee deadpanned. She cut one of her pancakes.
"And Blake loves me more than you do, too!" Weiss said. She hugged Blake harder. Blake tried to worm out of the hug to eat better.
Weiss's mother closed her eyes and failed to hide her exasperation.
"Weiss, sweetie, Blake only loves you because you feed her," The other taller Schnee said. She rubbed her brow. "She'd love anyone who bought her fish and bacon every day."
Weiss looked scandalized. She jumped out of her chair to hug Blake more completely, jostling the Rain is as she did. "That's not true! Blake loves me for me, forever!"
Blake reflexively tried to shrug Weiss off of her and reach for the food, like she did every time in the last month, but she caught herself in time. She rested her head against Weiss's and gave the human girl a soft smile.
"Besides, Weiss, sweetie, Faunus aren't capable of real love they way we think of it. You're just projecting your emotions onto her. It's called 'anthropomorphism'."
Blake blinked. Weiss frowned harder.
"And nobody loves anyone for who they are." Weiss's mother continued. "All relationships are transactional; unconditional love is a lie created by evolution and perpetuated by the corporate aristocracy to sell chocolates and dead flowers."
And Weiss's father blinked.
"Except for your father and I," said Weiss's mother, quickly. "And both of us towards you. And you in return."
Weiss's mother blinked, at her husband and her daughter. Then she sighed.
"Fine," she said, "I rescind my previous statement; unconditional love is real, and lots of people feel it, and it's definitely not a lie to foster long-term pair bonds to more efficiently use resources in populations and to commodify the abstract feeling of togetherness in materialistic form."
Weiss closed her eye and pulled Blake's head to her chest. "Well it's a good thing I have Blake and dad because otherwise I wouldn't even have conditional love."
Blake made some 'stop now' gestures to Weiss. They failed to get through.
Weiss's mother rubbed her brow harder. "Weiss sweetie, the luxury to believe your parents hate you is one most children are too poor to have. I mean, the poorest children's parents actually do hate them. But yours do not, Weiss, and I for one do not need you to confirm my feelings towards you, but the fact that you think such things reflects poorly on your reasoning skills."
Weiss said nothing.
"We provide you a home, and we feed and cloth you. We've arranged for you to be tutored because you're afraid of institutionalized education. And we've even legally accommodated your kidnapping of a Faunus child so you can sap her body heat and chew on her ears when you feel the need to tempt a scandal. "
Weiss blushed slightly at that last bit, and she harrumphed and turned her head towards Blake even more. Blake blinked.
"Well," Weiss said, "Blake's still better than you."
"Weiss sweetie, you may believe what you wish, but there is no set of logic that will support that conclusion, given the facts. "
"Well, maybe you're wrong, mom, and Blake is cuter and smarter and snugglier and stronger than you."
"Weiss sweetie," and the adult Schnee started appearing annoyed, at this point, "Those first three qualifiers are utterly irrelevant, and I could kick your little pet's overfed butt any day of the week, Weiss, sweetie."
"Nuh-uh! I bet the power of love makes Blake ten times stronger than you!"
"Weiss. Sweetie. That is a falsifiable claim."
The argument continued.
"Yeah, well, Blake could kick your butt in a duel, mom! Because of love," Weiss stuck her tongue out. She squeezed Blake.
Blake narrowed her eyes at the adult. She nodded.
"You know what? Fine. I accept your challenge, and after I win, you will have proof of your folly."
The smart thing to do would have been to convince Weiss to drop it and comfort Weiss in private and stifle the negative feelings inside herself. Instead, Blake found herself agreeing to the duel. Maybe the comment about how Faunus don't feel love had something to do with Blake's eagerness to fight. Weiss expressed her confidence in Blake's abilities as she led the Faunus down to the sparring chamber and strapped the sparring armor onto Blake. (Blake was still in her pajamas.)
Seemingly, the entire staff appeared to watch the duel. It may have possibly made Blake nervous, having an audience, but since it was a weekday, it wasn't as mortifying as it could have been, as the weekday staff was sparser.
Blake and Mum Schnee walked to the center of the arena and bowed to each other. Weiss expressed her confidence in Blake.
Blake readied her weapons. The other taller Schnee pulled out her own rapier and entered a combat stance.
A machine signaled the start of the fight.
Blake ducked left, and tumbled right, and then jumped into a decisive knock-out blow that would end the fight as soon as it began.
Or, at least, that was the plan. Possibly, the feint wasn't very convincing, and the tumble was clumsy, and wasting a couple of seconds to yell 'ryūjin no ken o kurae!' was probably a tactical blunder.
And the next thing Blake knew, there was a flash and a 'whump' and Blake was knocked back. She lost her grip on her weapons. They landed with a clatter, a short ways away.
Blake hit the ground and rolled, bouncing twice.
And it didn't hurt too much, not physically. But the shame kept her down. Blake exhaled.
Blake made to prop herself up, eventually. She eyed the battlefield and her opponent, who looked triumphant.
"There, Weiss sweetie. I should hope that should leave no doubt as to the superior-"
"Blaaaaaaaaaaakkkke!" Weiss called out. She ran to Blake's side, picking up Blake's head and upper torso and cradling the Faunus in her arms.
"Blake, are you alive?" Weiss said. Her voice was cracked with worry.
Blake blinked. She looked Weiss in the eye.
Blake then looked at the other taller Schnee, who's expression was a combination of annoyance and the realization that, perhaps, things didn't quite go in her favor. Blake then had an idea.
Blake flopped her limbs out and stuck her tongue out of the corner of her mouth and closed her eyes.
"bllleeeeeeeeeaaaaagghhh."
"Blaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaake!" Weiss hugged the Faunus closer. Blake felt herself be lifted up in a bridle carry, with her head carefully tucked into the crook of Weiss's neck. "Don't worry, Blake, I won't let you die."
Blake felt a little guilty. This was a move from the canines; hopefully the other cat Faunus wouldn't discover her treachery. Also, tricking Weiss felt bad.
"She's not going to die, Weiss sweetie." The other taller Schnee sounded more nearby and more conciliatory. Blake heard the sound of running and of doors being opened. "It's been years since I've accidentally killed someone in a duel."
"Well, then I hope you weren't trying to kill her!" Weiss spat. She sounded angry. Blake smirked.
"Weiss, sweetie, you have to know that I'd never do that to you-"
"Blakey," Weiss said, talking over her mother, "Blakey you'll be okay, I promise." Blake then felt something wet on her forehead; Weiss had smooched her, but without the sound effect.
Blake felt herself be tucked into a comfy bed. Medical machines were hooked onto her. They were cold and they smelled of disinfectant. And they beeped, like, all the time.
"Poor Blakey," Weiss said. She straightened out Blake's blankets and pillows. "Don't worry, you'll be all better soon, I promise."
"I'm sure she will be," Weiss's mother said.
Weiss clutched Blake's hand. "When you wake up, just let me know if you need anything, Blakey. Anything at all."
"Weiss, sweetie, I am aware you are ignoring me."
Weiss didn't say anything. Blake cracked an eye open, and saw Weiss look longingly at her.
Blake pretended to wake up then, blinking her eyes rapidly and turning to Weiss.
"Blaaake!" Weiss said. She hugged Blake again. "Blake, you're conscious!"
"Weiss sweetie, Blake was always conscious-"
"Can't you see I'm busy, mom?" Weiss shot. She didn't turn her head when she spoke.
Weiss's mother looked taken aback. She moved to the back of the room.
"I love you, Weiss," said her mother, "And one day you will see that I am doing my best for you."
Weiss continued ignoring her mother, in favor of Blake.
Blake smirked in victory.
- A POSSIBLE FUTURE -
They speak upon the highest hill, as if prayers can make them whole. Children clutch their red umbrellas, up above the sky is crying. There stands, stoutly, an opaque casket, crowned with gold and fresh-cut flowers, slowly dying. There stands, tall and proud, a portrait, black and white, a captured smile and innocent face and open eyes and, perhaps, a brilliant soul.
A man speaks soft and slow and low, he longs for days that are no more, he shares three private moments, from what past that now just belongs to him, so that he bears not alone the burden of remembrance.
A daughter, returned from war, speaks in trembling tinged with rage that shifts to pride and back again; of wistful anecdotes, of lessons she was taught that she etched in her heart and promises to keep.
An unexpected adoptee speaks in a cracked monotone, of wishes of a different world, of apologies and meagre regrets, but also of tomorrows to create.
The crowd bows heads in punctured silence.
And back inside, away from the gathering of red, one young girl stands hunched over a sink, so that her tears won't make a mess. She is wreathed in brilliant funerary red, for why not look her best, at least once, for her mother?
Weiss sobs.
Blake stands at the door, also decked in mourning red. She clears her throat. "Weiss-" Blake says.
"Why are you here, Blake?" says Weiss.
Blake blinks. "You're supposed to give a speech-"
"No, why are you here, at the funeral?" Weiss's eyes are puffy when she glares at Blake. Her voice was tinged with anger, instinctive and impotent.
Blake doesn't know how to respond. "What?" is what she goes with.
"You and mom hated each other. You don't think I knew?"
"That's-" Blake says, "not true-"
"And she was killed by Faunus. By your people."
Blake blinks. She knows that Weiss blames Blake, but she manages to keep the hurt out of her voice. "Weiss," Blake says, "you have to know that I had nothing to do with that?"
Weiss exhales some unsteady, pent-up breaths, and turns back to the sink. Her hair comes undone, slightly.
"No, I know," Weiss says, not facing Blake. "I'm sorry. I just-"
Weiss shudders some more. She sobs.
Blake steps forwards, and then stops. She clears her throat. "You know she would be very proud of you-"
"Oh, don't give me that," Weiss spits, she seethes, to her reflection, with as much strength as she can spare, "I was the biggest disappointment in her life. I never even tried to live up to who she wanted me to be. I never listened to her. I never- I couldn't even-
Blake tries to think of a counterpoint, but words aren't her strong suit.
"And I can't even remember the last time I told her I loved her?" Weiss says, her voice heavy with the enormity of her regret, "I spent so much time trying to ignore her, and instead doing all that stupid bullshit for you."
Blake does not refute the claim. She turns away. She knows that Weiss blames Blake.
Weiss sniffed. "Mom deserved so much better than me, and now it's too late."
Weiss sobs. Her hands come to her eyes, but she doesn't want to smear her makeup. She's already messed up so much for her mother, so she can at least look nice when she says her final farewell.
Blake can't find the right thing to say. So she says nothing.
"Dad and Winter and- and even you, you could go out there and give her the admiration she deserved but I-"
Weiss sobs.
"My eulogy's a joke." Weiss says, "I guess it's fitting, for her joke of a daughter."
Blake is pained. "Weiss-"
"And I can't- I can't even get the nerve to go out there and give it. How am I going to live up to her if I can't- I can't even- I'm such a-"
Weiss sobs again.
Blake's nose twitches too, her facade crumbling. "Weiss, is there anything-"
Weiss sniffs. "No. Just go, Blake."
Blake blinks.
"Just," Weiss says, more weakly, "Just go."
Words were never Blake's strong suit. So she doesn't argue.
Blake leaves.
Weiss sobs. She doesn't give her eulogy. Everyone forgives her, except Weiss herself.
...
...
But right before her mother's remains are consigned to Dust, Weiss manages to say those four words she can't remember saying.
Weiss breaks from the crowd, desperate and clumsy, and she collapses over the casket, annointing the black wood with tears. The ceremony is paused. Weiss wipes her eyes and speaks, clearly, steadily, finally;
"I love you, mom."
- PRESENT DAY -
Weiss sat at Blake's side, looking worried. Weiss's mother stood, with perfect posture, in the corner of the room. She looked worried as well, but almost certainly not for the same reason that Weiss was. She watched her daughter tend to Blake for a while. Blake wondered if Weiss would be called to tutoring or something, or if maybe it only felt like this ordeal was taking hours.
But whether it took a few minutes or a few hours, not once did Weiss look back to her mother.
"Is your pillow comfy enough, Blake?"
Blake nodded.
"Are you thirsty? I can get you another a glass of water."
Blake shook her head.
"Are your blankies the wrong color?"
Blake was tempted to nod, just to see what Weiss would do.
And, eventually, Weiss made to leave, reluctantly.
The other taller Schnee whispered something to her daughter, quietly enough that even Blake couldn't hear.
Weiss then ran out of the room.
And as the thumping of Weiss's footsteps faded, the adult Schnee turned to Blake. She moved faster than Blake expected and brought her face right to hers.
"You know you're just an excuse, right?" spat the Schnee. Her face was coldly neutral, and her voice was low and tempered. She smelled like wilted lilacs and zinc.
Blake blinked.
"Weiss can't speak her mind, so she projects her thoughts onto you. She doesn't care about your feelings. You're just a doll to her. You're just an empty sound box that Weiss fills with the desires she can't express."
Blake blinked again.
"You're just an excuse, Blake. Just. An. Excuse."
Blake blinked.
"an excuse made necessary as a direct result of your methods of upbringing."
The other taller Schnee blinked.
Then, she stood up and laughed. "Ahaha. Perhaps. Which is why you are permitted to live," said the woman, "in our house."
Blake failed to resist a smirk. "and I am fluffier."
"Fine, fine," The Schnee waved the air, "If that is something that matters to you, then you may have superiority in your meaningless quality."
Blake accepted her superior fluffiness.
"And Weiss appears to enjoy pretending to be a nurse. Do play along for as long as she wants like a good little toy, won't you?"
Blake resisted the urge to stick her tongue out at the woman.
At this point, Weiss ran back in.
"Blake!" Weiss said, "Mom says the best thing for internal bleeding is baby food, because babies are born full of sin, which cuts up their insides, and so their food is designed to cauterize them as they develop in the mortal world."
Blake nodded. "makes sense."
Then Blake realized what Weiss was getting at.
Weiss sat next to Blake and pulled up a bottle of gross liquid that smelled like pea mash and gluttony and mewling, antediluvian emptyness and scooped some of the vile gelatinous abomination onto a spoon.
"So open wide, Blake."
Blake eyed the putrid, malodorous psuedo-food with terror. She turned her head away, but Weiss grabbed her chin.
"No, kitty!" Weiss said, "I promised you'd get better, and this is how you get better! So open wide, Blake!"
Weiss managed to force the spoon into Blake's mouth. Blake choked.
Eventually, Blake stopped struggling and took her medicine.
Right out side the room, Blake saw the other taller Schnee smile in triumph.
Oh well. Next time, Blake would be victorious.
OMAKE:
"But you'll be sweet, upon the seat of a bicycle built for two~!"
Blake, actually, didn't think she'd ever ridden a bicycle before.
And, by now, Weiss had pulled Blake so that they were lying on the bed again. Weiss looked at the ceiling for a moment, and then looked towards Blake.
"So," Weiss said. She blushed harder. "I love you, Blakey." Weiss then smooched Blake's nose. "Mwah!"
Blake's ears lowered and her mouth flattened just a bit, but not in annoyance; embarrassment, maybe, but ninjas didn't get embarrassed, so it must have been some other emotion that Blake was feeling.
Weiss refreshed her original smile. "So, um. Do you have anything to say, Blake?"
Blake opened her mouth. "open the pod bay doors, Weiss."
...
...
...
...
"I'm sorry, Blake. I'm afraid I can't do that."