Weiss Schnee, Remnant of the Ice General

Chapter 4 – Red like Roses, part I

There was a smell of iron and gunpowder in the air. She could hear the gunfire and cries of soldiers echo across the battlefield. Countless dead bodies were lying in the snow; their blood painting it red.

Despite this she was at peace, almost relaxed. She outstretched her hand and let snowflakes fall into her palm. She could remember this place, despite never actually being here. The frozen land reminded her of home and not the one in Atlas. She could remember seeing a tribe living in these harsh conditions. A blue haired girl and her father who was teaching her, preparing her for the cruel world.

Those were pleasant memories. Remembering them brought comfort to her, to the both of them. Her musings were interrupted by a battle cry from her left. She turned her head slightly and saw one of those barbarians charging at her. What an utter fool, alerting his enemy when a sneak attack would be much more effective. Not that he had any chance of killing her to begin with.

She dodged his axe-swing and trusted with her sword that was gripped in her right hand. There was no Aura to protect him and the rapier pierced right through his heart. She watched as the life was snuffed out from his eyes and his dead body joined the others in painting the battlefield red.

She looked at her sword and saw her reflection despite the fact that the blade was covered in blood. Her sword was similar to Myrtenaster and exactly the same as the one Weiss carried in her weapon's case. It was the first one she used and trained with. It always felt right in her hand, perhaps too much. That was probably the reason why she rarely uses it nowadays. It reminds her way too much of her.

Her thoughts came to an end when she noticed several more men running at her wielding axes, swords, maces and even clubs. It didn't matter; they were dead before they even realized it.

She didn't stop there as she continued her deadly dance through the battlefield. Dodge one attack, parry another, slash at them before they can even swing. The end result was always the same. The more people she killed the wider her grin spread. She always derived pleasure from fighting, but this time it felt almost cathartic.

Her enemies finally seemed to notice the number of bodies pilling up behind her. They surrounded her, but none dared to step forward, they knew that the first one to charge would be the first one to die. Cowards, was there no one strong enough to challenge her? This was starting to bore her. She channeled the power of Demon's Extract; these weaklings didn't have the right to stain her sword with their blood. In second all the men around her were impaled by sharp pikes of ice.

She used this moment to look around the battlefield and saw her army pushing back the northern alliance, but not as fast as she would like, so she decided to help her forces out. The temperature around her lowered and lowered before she unleashed it.

"Ice Cavalry!" She shouted and hundreds of ice soldiers appeared before her. They were heavily armored, wielding lances and resembling centaurs. Without another command the cavalry rushed in and reinforced the frontlines.

Soon after she saw the enemies' army being pushed back and relished the sight. Her victory was inevitable. A long time ago she realized her home, real home, was on the battlefield. Her mind came to a stop when she felt a sudden rush of killer intent and heard the unmistakable sound of blades cutting through the air.

She spun around and slashed with her sword just in time to intercept three throwing knifes. She saw the one who threw them. He had long black hair, blue eyes and a crown was on top of his head. He was dressed in battle armor with lavish purple cape. She recognized him as Numa Seika the prince of the Northern Tribes and leader of their armies.

"Oh, I was beginning to think you would just turn your tail and run, like always." She taunted and it seemed to work as his grip on his spear tightened.

"I'm done running from someone like you. I came here to end this war." Numa proclaimed.

"You came here to die; but at least you are more of a man than your father." She continued as she saw frown settling on his face. "He slid his own throat when he realized he can't run away from me. Good to see the apple had fallen far from the tree."

"My father may not have been the wisest king, but he was still twice the man Honest will ever be. I won't let my people suffer his cruelty any longer." She laughed when she heard him say that.

"Cruelty? Does it matter where it comes from, in the ends it's the very essence of this world. Today we burn down your town; tomorrow you will burn down one of ours. Innocent people die all the same. Violence will only breed more violence; the only thing that matters is for you to be stronger than the one standing before you." She smiled and pointed the tip of her sword towards him.

"If that's what really matters to you, I will enjoy taking it away from you." With those words he charged straight towards her. In Fairytales, this is the part where the main hero wins and brings peace and prosperity to his kingdom. Alas for Numa Seika, the real world was nothing like a Fairytale and he found himself outmatched.

Many people would consider him a prodigy with a spear, one that never lost a battle. But she outmatched him in strength, speed and skill. She didn't even have to use her ice against him. The worst part was he knew she was holding back, she was just playing with him, taunting him.

He blocked her sword with his spear just to receive a kick to his stomach. She ducked under one of his swings and slashed him through the gaps in his armor again and again until he was littered with cuts. They had surgical like accuracy, enough to make him feel excruciating pain, but not deep enough for him to bleed out.

He looked into her eyes and realized he never had a chance to defeat her. He tried to run away but she grabbed him by his cape and swung him into several rocks before she let go. When he got up, he could see his armor was broken. He could feel countless bruises across his body and several of his bones crack. The worst part was she was far from over.

She walked up to him, Numa raised his spear but she batted it away with her hand. She slashed at his body over and over again until his skin and mussels became a complete mess. Then she grabbed him by his throat and threw him on the ground. Before he could recover, she grabbed him by his collar and punched him in his face with enough strength to punch his teeth out, then she punched him again and once more after that. Numa collapsed on the ground, exposing his ribs to her and she kicked with enough force to shatter them. She grabbed his head and smashed it against a rock few times before tossing him at another on the ground. Still conscious he tried to crawl away from her but was stopped when she stepped on his back.

"Just kill me. I deserve an honorable death." He said, barely above a whisper, but she heard him none the less. She very rarely used such a brutal way to beat up someone but this time it felt deserved, truly cathartic. This pest deserved to suffer.

"Honorable death? After everything you did. You will gnarl like a dog after I'm through with you and then and only then will you have my permission to die. Understand?" Then she smashed his head against the ground knocking him out. The conquering of the North has been an utter bore. Eventually their armies just kept retreating back burning every village on their way just so her forces won't have any place to hide from the cold or anything to eat. If they expected them to retreat just because of this, they severely underestimated her soldiers. But that was only a small part of her outrage. This victory felt much more personal.

"General." One of her subordinates called out and she turned around to see Liver standing there with a few soldiers and she could see blood on their uniforms and their swords. "Their armies have retreated to the mountain pass, but we cut them off, they have no way to escape from there. They are trapped and want to surrender."

She thought about it. Sparing them would be a mercy. Did they deserve mercy when they let her army almost starve to death? And more importantly did they show any mercy when their armies slaughtered everyone in her tribe. Did they show any mercy when they killed woman and children? Did they show any mercy when they butchered her friends? When they killed her own father?

"Pursue them and kill every single one of them, take no prisoners." No, and she wasn't feeling merciful, she never did. "And while you're at it bring this scum to the camp. I have plans for him." But Liver didn't respond. She turned around only to find him gone. She noticed that the snow abruptly stopped and the sounds of battle died down, even the wind was silent.

Then she heard laughing, it started out as a mere chuckle but transformed into a full-blown laugh later. She turned around and saw Numa Seika standing there, despite the fact blood was dripping from his body. After several more seconds of laughing, he stopped and had to catch his breath.

"You haven't changed a single bit."

"What are you talking about?" Just as she said that the scenery changed and instead of the battlefield there was a derailed train next to her, or at least what remained of it as more than a half was currently on fire. She also noticed at least half a dozen White Fang members lying on the ground. In her hand was her sister's saber, blood staining its shining edge.

But what caught her attention most was her reflection. Snowy white hair and light blue eyes. That wasn't right she could swear it was blue just a second ago, or… was it white from the beginning?

"You can wear a different skin; try to hide the truth as much as you want. You can lie to others, even to yourself. But the truth is…"

Weiss noticed a brand, the SDC logo still glowing hot red with bits of blood still on it. She remembered the boy she used it against and more importantly, she remembered how powerful it made her feel.

"You will always be a monster."

"Shut up." She had enough of this game and with one clean swipe of the saber she decapitated the prince.

Weiss opened her locker where she stored her weapons the previous day. She was already dressed in her usual outfit. That dream wasn't pleasant, but at least thanks to it she woke up ahead of time.

She wasn't much of a morning person so she was thankful that most people were still asleep so they didn't see her walking around like a zombie for the first ten minutes after she woke up.

Her eyes scanned the two swords in her locker deciding which one she should use for the initiation. She shook her head and scoffed before taking Myrtenaster and putting it in its sheathe.

She took her cap and placed it on her head and slammed the locker shut, startling a girl that was standing next to her.

She was about to leave when she noticed the girl. Wide green eyes looked at Weiss in confusion and she once again found herself surprised. The girl before her had long red hair tied in a ponytail and sparkling emerald green eyes. She was tall and quite muscular compared to other girls. She was wearing bronze corset that also double as her armor and black miniskirt with red sash wrapped around her hip and armored boots that reached her thighs.

"Umm, hello." She said forming a polite smile on her face. Weiss's mind worked overtime, if she was attending Beacon, her plans might need re-evaluation.

"You must be Pyrrha Nikos, I've heard a lot about you." She said, her lips twitched upwards into a smirk as she leaned against her locker. She honestly didn't expect her to be attending Beacon. She thought she would study at Haven or possibly Atlas, but definitely not Beacon.

"Oh, I actually heard about you as well. You are Weiss Schnee, right?" Pyrrha said as she reached for her weapons, a short sword and a shield, and attached them to her back.

"And pray tell, how did you hear about me?" Weiss asked intrigued.

"Me and my family went to Atlas few years ago and I think my parents went to one of your concerts." Her eyes widen after hearing that, genuinely being caught off guard. Singing was one of her hobbies when she was younger. It helped her to sort her own mind when she wrote her thoughts on a paper and made a song out of them. Gods knew back then her mind felt like a mess.

So, Weiss waved her hand a chuckled. "That honestly feels like a lifetime ago. I no longer have time to sit around writing songs. Besides, fighting in tournaments seems much more popular." Said Weiss, her eyes looking closely at Pyrrha.

"Speaking about fighting, have you fought about who you're going to partner up with?" She asked the red-head.

"Not really, I thought I would let the chips fall where they may." Pyrrha said, it was hardly the best strategy but considering she most likely didn't know anyone around here it was probably the best she could do.

"Then would you do me a favor?" Weiss asked, choosing her next words very carefully. She was pretty much on the same ship as Pyrrha; the only other person she considered to partner up with was Ruby. Pyrrha was skilled enough for her to consider teaming up with her. She did manage to win local Mistral tournament four times in a row.

In her opinion anyone could win a tournament once with enough luck, winning it twice would be a coincidence, three and more times was a pattern. Pyrrha' skill hasn't gone unnoticed and now she is regarded as one of the best fighters of their generation. To have her on her team would be a great boom. Pyrrha also seemed to wear her heart on her sleeve so gaining her loyalty should be easy enough. Still there was one problem.

"If we get any say at choosing our teammates, make sure we are on different teams." Her eyes turned cold and the tone of her voice promised pain if she disobeyed her.

"Alright, but why?" Pyrrha asked startled, she half expected the girl to ask to team up with her, only for her to do the complete opposite.

"It's nothing personal." Weiss said the tone of her voice returning back to normal. "I simply plan on fighting in the Vytal Festival Tournament and winning it without defeating you would have no meaning." And she meant every word she just said. As much of an advantage it would be to have Pyrrha Nikos on her team, it would also unnecessary complicate things. Weiss wanted to be regarded as the best huntress of her generation and the only way to do that would be to take that title from Pyrrha in the Vytal Tournament, in front of the entire world. The problem was that teammates can't fight each other in the tournament. There was also the problem that many would see her as nothing more than a teammate of Pyrrha Nikos, and being seen as a second rate would be something Weiss would never accept.

Besides, Pyrrha didn't need to be on her team in order for Weiss to earn her loyalty. And she needed people who will be loyal to her above everything and everyone else. She learned the hard way that taking down the White Fang and Cinder just with a help of local gangster's isn't going to work.

Pyrrha seemed to be taken aback by her answer, but before she could say anything a familiar boy butted into their conversation. "Did somebody talk about forming a team?" He said giving a smile to the two girls.

Weiss was far from amused. "And what do you want?" She said, annoyance clear in her voice.

"Well as it is, I'm actually forming a team of my own, …and I also need to get my weapon from the locker." He said, pointing to the locker that was between Pyrrha's and Weiss'.

"You? A team leader?" Weiss chuckled. "If you really end up a team leader, I pity anyone who might end up on your team."

Jaune's expression fell and his head hang low. "Yeah, you're probably right. I wouldn't be a good team leader." At least he realized that, that made him smarter than most idiots.

"I think you would make a great team leader." Weiss gave Pyrrha a disbelieving look. Did she actually meant it, or is she just trying to be nice to everybody? She was hoping it was the latter, if not she would reconsider adding Pyrrha to her inner circle.

Weiss was confident in deciphering people's combat ability with a look and Jaune was probably the worst fighter she has ever seen. His guard was down, but many others had their guard down as well, not expecting an attack from other student's. The thing that separated Jaune from others was his choice of weaponry and the nervous aura he exerted.

He was probably feeling nervous about the initiation. Something, that didn't really make sense unless he was utterly pathetic in combat. That went hand in hand with his weapons, a simple sword and shield. His great-grandfather apparently used it during the Great War. The problem was the Great War happened almost 80 years ago. Nowadays huntsman's weapons were much more complex. They could usually mecha-shift into range forms or even other melee forms and most importantly they used dust to control the elements.

Jaune's weapon lacked all of that and Weiss wondered what would the boy do if he had to deal with a Nevermore.

"You really think so?" Jaune's face lit up at Pyrrha's words, but then his expression turned curious. "Wait, don't I know you from somewhere?"

He didn't even know who Pyrrha Nikos was. At this point Weiss wouldn't be surprised if he didn't even know what Aura was.

Weiss turned around to leave, she wasn't about to introduce Pyrrha to him, she could do that herself if she is so interested in him. As she was leaving, she noticed Ruby and Yang talking in the corner. Yang saw her and sent a glare her way and Weiss's lips twitched upwards; she will enjoy breaking this girl.

Weiss made her way to the cliff that overlooked the Emerald Forest. Alongside her came a dozen or so other students and they took their place on metal platforms that were placed on the ground.

Before her stood headmaster Ozpin and Glynda Goodwitch. Ozpin focused on each of them before he took a deep breath. There was something to his eyes, a look that that Weiss recognized, even though she shouldn't have. The resigned look of a commander who was sending his soldiers on an impossible mission.

"For years each of you trained for years to get into Beacon, but your training hasn't ended yet, it's just beginning. You've probably heard rumors about forming teams, so let me dispel confusion about that. You will be assigned team today." Ozpin said

"You will be launched into the forest and the first person you make eye contact with will be your partner. After you partnered up you will head north where you will find a relic. The pairs that picked the matching relics will form a team." Ozpin explained before his eyes narrowed.

"You will be monitored, but our staff will not interfere. You will encounter many grimm in the forest, do not hesitate to destroy them or you will die." He warned them in a grave tone. Despite the seriousness of the statement, Weiss's lips curled slightly upwards. Training, with the possibility of death, just as she liked it.

"Any question?" Ozpin asked. Jaune raised his hand but the headmaster wisely ignored him. "Good."

"How exactly will we get to the forest? Will you drop us off with bullhead or something?" He asked and Ozpin grinned.

"No, you will be falling." He said. Then without a warning the platform under Weiss sprung into life and propelled her into the Emerald Forest. Reacting quickly Weiss managed to summon several glyphs to slow down her descend before she landed on the solid ground.

'Could have at least given us a fair warning.' Weiss thought as she adjusted her cap and looked around her surroundings. There were no grimm in her area, but she knew that would change soon.

She looked back at the cliff and saw several other students flying through the air. She thought for a moment, Beacon and Vale were on her left, which meant the north was on her right. She just decided to head north and meet up with someone on her way. She could track someone down, but there wasn't anyone specific she had in mind for a partner. As long as it wasn't Pyrrha or Jaune she could work with them.

It didn't take long, maybe a minute or two of walking, before she heard a low growl. Then a pack of grimm entered her vision. Tall wolf-like creatures that stood on their hind legs. They had sharp claws and mouth full of wicked looking teeth. Their fur, like any other grimm, was pitch black, they had white, bone-like armor and glowing red eyes. There were many types of grimm and this one was called beowolf.

These were the so-called enemies of mankind. Weiss wasn't impressed; beowolfs were one of the most common grimm out there. Their bone armor wasn't developed much either, suggesting that these were merely pups, they wouldn't be much threat to anyone who had weapon. They were just animals, rushing to their slaughter. And Weiss obliged.

One of the beowolfs rushed forward towards Weiss, but she just ducked under the beast's swipe and drew her weapon and in one quick slash bisected the grimm in half. The rest of the pack circled Weiss, this time more cautiously.

Weiss just stood there, grin spreading across her face. "Which one wants to go next?" She pointed with her rapier at several the beowolfs. As if the beast could understand her taunt, they charged at her.

Weiss skillfully managed to avoid their attacks, letting their claws pass millimeters from her body. This group wasn't so lucky to receive a quick death. Like a child playing with their food, Weiss cut off the creature's claws, arms and legs, instead of killing them instantly. It wasn't like these pests could actually hurt her, they were too weak and slow for that.

Then she heard a howl behind her. She turned around just to see second pack now joined the first. Now that she was surrounded by at least 30 beowolfs her grin spread even wider, this might actually be fun. She made a quick work of the beowolfs that were already damaged and turned her attention to the new ones.

They surrounded her and attacked from all sides. Weiss bend her knees and jumped high into air, letting the beowolfs crash into each other. While in mid air she spun the Dust chamber in her rapier. As she fell back to the ground, she impaled one of the beowolfs killing it instantly. The others saw this and decided to take advantage of this situation and pounced on Weiss. But the white-haired girl simply activated the Dust and unleashed a powerful heatwave that incinerated most of the grimm around her.

Weiss twirled her rapier that was now on fire. Few other beowolfs charged her, but Weiss made a quick work of them. Her heated rapier cutting through their hide like a hot knife through butter. She activated her semblance and several glyphs spun to life and turned red before they fired small fireballs at the beowolfs in the back while Weiss dealt with the ones up close.

It was like watching a performance. Weiss danced between the grimm's attacks like a dancer on a stage, each of her counter was deadly, she no longer felt like wasting her time fighting these pests.

Just as only a few of them remained Weiss heard something running towards her direction. 'Another beowolf?' She readied to unleash another heatwave towards its location but she changed her mind. It was too light and too fast to be just another beowolf. So instead, she fired the flames at three another beowolfs, instantly turning them to ash.

The last of the pack tried to take advantage of Weiss's blind spot and lunged at her. Weiss lashed out with her hand and created barrier out of her Aura. But before the beast could even collide with the barrier, a red cloud of petals bursted from the forest and transformed into the form of a familiar girl wielding a giant red scythe. The girl decapitated the last beowolf before it could even notice her.

When Ruby landed on the ground, she immediately ran to find her sister. She couldn't really imagine partnering up with anyone else. Sure, there was Jaune, but Ruby wasn't sure he was that great in combat. There was also Blake, but Ruby still didn't know much about her.

And then there was Weiss. Ruby didn't want to know what to think about the white-haired girl. She saved her life, she beat up her sister, Blake doesn't like her and yet Ruby felt like there was more to the girl than meets the eye.

As Ruby ran through the forest, she soon heard the sound of battle. She stopped and looked where the sound was coming from. It wasn't her sister, evident by the distinct lack of shotgun rounds and Ruby hesitated for a moment. If she went and helped them, she might not end up partnering with her sister. She thought about leaving them on their own and continuing looking for Yang, but dismissed that idea immediately. Even if there was only a 1 % chance that they could get hurt she had to help them.

With that thought in mind Ruby used her semblance and rushed to where the fight was. It didn't take her long to arrive and when she did, she saw a beowolf about to pounce on a girl. She reacted quickly and used her scythe to decapitate the beast before it could hit the girl.

Ruby's breath got caught in her throat when she saw the girl she helped and not for the first-time her silver eyes locked with a familiar pair of blue ones.