There was no way this could be true. It had to be wrong. There must be at least one book in the library that would present the solution to her problem. It wasn't possible that there was nothing she could do.

Weiss had grabbed as many books as she could carry that might have information on ghosts and how to be rid of them, yet none seemed to have the answers she sought. If anything, the contents of the books only led her to be more confused about her situation. None of the books about ghosts, undead, or necromancy contained anything like Ruby.

Ruby wasn't a normal ghost, that much was obvious. Most ghosts, according to the dusty old tomes she read, were lost souls who were unable to reach the afterlife upon death. They had no intelligence, and lashed out against any living thing with a soul in a desperate bid to fix the wounds on their own. These ghosts would persist until their soul was healed, at which point they would pass into the afterlife. Or they could be banished with a relatively advanced spell, but one Weiss could likely perform.

The lack of intelligence meant that Ruby obviously wasn't a lost soul, so Weiss had researched further. She thought for a time that Ruby might have been an ancient ghost, as, much like Grimm, ghosts could gain intelligence should they live long enough, or should they possess a powerful soul.

Ancient ghosts had such twisted, depraved souls that even after hundreds of years after their death, they would be unable to let go of their pain, making them extremely dangerous. During their long existence, they would undoubtedly grow very strong. Unfortunately, Ruby claimed to have died in Patch, which weakened that idea.

The island of Patch was only settled around one hundred years ago, too short of a time for a ghost to die there and become old enough to gain enough intelligence to become considered "ancient".

Weiss, of course, considered that Ruby might have lied about dying in Patch, but that ultimately didn't matter due to one simple detail. No one else could see her. Only one type of ghost could conceal itself from living things. A revenant.

Revenants were souls who could not make it to the afterlife due to their sheer hatred for someone. They would continue to exist until they got their revenge on whoever had wronged them, pursuing them relentlessly. Only the target of a revenant's hatred would be able to see it, like how only she could see Ruby. But once again, there was a problem with this theory.

Weiss had never wronged Ruby. A revenant had to be someone personally wronged, and having never met the girl until after her death, Ruby couldn't be a revenant seeking to claim revenge. Not to mention that Ruby didn't seem to particularly hate Weiss. And the mansion they were in was surrounded by powerful magical protections, so no revenant would have been able to enter in the first place.

Each time she found something close to what was happening with her, a massive flaw in the idea would present itself. Ruby couldn't be a shade, a soul that had been divided into pieces upon death, as those were even weaker than basic ghosts. She couldn't be a wraith, a soul that had been corrupted with necromancy to create a dark servant, as she possessed intelligence and free will.

Hours passed and still Weiss could not find anything that could help her. She closed A Treatise on Ghosts and other Undead by Arthur Watts, a drab book she had been skimming through for the better part of an hour. The level of detail in the book was incredible, one could be convinced that the man had in depth experience with all the beings he wrote of.

But that did little to help with the fact that the book was boring. Many of the books she had been reading were far from entertaining, but this one took the cake.

She set the book aside, and reached to grab the next book in the pile, only to find nothing there. She had read all of the textbooks, academic journals, and discourses that she could find on the subject of ghosts, undead, and necromancy. Yet nothing matched her situation. There was no precedent for what to do when a ghost no one else can see starts to follow you around, talking to you.

If there was any positive to her situation, it was that Ruby had finally shut up. The silver ghost was floating near the entrance to the library, squatting against the wall. Noticing she was distracted, Weiss took this opportunity to observe how the ghost behaved.

She seemed to be semi-corporeal, unable to interact with objects yet unable to pass through them. Anytime a person walked into Ruby, she recoiled as if she were physically there. Yet the person would continue one, unbothered.

Weiss recalled how that morning, when she had finally noticed Ruby, she had been floating in the rose bush. So Ruby was able to pass through certain things, but solid objects acted as they would were she physically there.

With a sigh, Weiss grabbed the books and began to set them back on the shelves, complaining to herself that the library was so large. The room had three floors, rows upon rows of shelves at the ground floor and towering shelves along the walls of the second and third floors. After setting each of the books back in their proper place, Weiss noticed that the sun had already set. With a sigh, she made her way to the dinning room to have dinner.

Her footsteps clicked and clacked, echoing through the immaculate hallways and vaulted ceilings. The Schnee estate was the very definition of extravagant, with the ornate pillars spotting the long, winding hallways. The entire manor was massive, and traversing from one side to the other could take upwards of ten minutes without distractions.

Her invisible companion floated slightly behind her, yet remained blissfully silent. Weiss supposed she should be thankful for that. Reaching the foyer, Weiss paused when Klein approached her, looking quite urgent.

"Lady Schnee, have you eaten yet?" The jovial butler asked her, causing her to sigh angrily.

"No. Not yet," She snapped at him, before immediately regretting it when his face fell. She hadn't meant to snap at him. "I apologize, I hadn't meant to be so rude. I'm just... frustrated," She admitted.

"I understand. Is there anything I can do to ease your frustrations?" Klein asked, obviously concerned for her. She appreciated the sentiment, but she couldn't tell him about Ruby. Even if he believed her, it would accomplish nothing and just remind her of her failures.

"No. I'm just angry at this situation I've found myself in," Weiss said diplomatically. A neutral response, one which Klein would easily accept without prying further.

"Ah yes, the marriage decision. Have you spoken to your mother about that yet?" Klein inquired, to which Weiss blinked. She had almost completely forgotten about what her father asked her to do.

"Not yet. I know she won't take it well," And that was putting it lightly. Reminding Mother of her own forced marriage would upset her, and send her spiralling down until she was too intoxicated to walk to her bedroom.

"Well, you have a chance right now. I know neither Master Whitley or your father have spoken to her, and she will be in the dining room shortly," Klein told her, subtly urging her to talk to her now. It would be bad, but letting her father or brother tell her would be worse.

"Very well. I'll... go talk to her," Weiss stated before marching towards the large door that led to the dinning hall. "Is she... has she been drinking?"

"Not as much, fortunately. She will be coherent enough to have a conversation with you," Klein said encouragingly. Weiss nodded, steeling herself. It was better to just get talking to her over with as quickly as possible. She couldn't let Father or Whitley tell her, twisting the tale so she appears more of a villain to her own mother.

With a sigh, Weiss threw open the doors and made her way towards the seat right next to the head of the table.

Ruby wasn't an idiot. She could be naive, but she was certainly not stupid. She knew Weiss was afraid of her, and probably hated her. Her angry expression every time Ruby had tried to strike up a conversation hadn't gone unnoticed, but Ruby had simply pushed on. She wanted Weiss to like her. Probably because Weiss was the only one she could talk to.

That was still strange. No matter who else she tried to interact with, they just simply didn't notice her. She couldn't figure out why Weiss could hear her, but that was a mystery for later.

"Right now, I need to figure out how to make up for causing Weiss to lose," Ruby thought to herself. Ordinarily, she would never go to such lengths to befriend someone who obviously despised her, but Weiss was her only option.

Unfortunately for her, Weiss either thought that Ruby was trying to kill her, or was ranting at her about what a pest she was being. Ever since Weiss had walked into the library Ruby hadn't said a word, knowing that talking to Weiss would only make things worse. She wished Yang was here, she could make friends with anyone.

The thought of her sister made Ruby remember the rest of her family, and how much she missed them. Would they be able to see her ghost? She doubted it; If that were the case why had she been sent all the way to Atlas, where only one person, Weiss could see her. She wished she could see her family one last time.

Her dad, his happy smile as he watched his daughters play together in the forest near their cabin. She wished she had spent more time helping out on his farm, the one he'd bought after she'd been born so that they would have a safe place to grow up.

She missed Uncle Qrow, the unflappable nomad who always had the most interesting stories. She missed sitting on the floor with her sister and listening to him talk about the time he saved a village from a pack of Grimm.

She missed her sister Yang, who would always have her back. Who would always take care of Ruby, sacrificing her own happiness to ensure hers. She knew Yang would be mad that Ruby had sent her on an errand so she wouldn't see her little sister die, but she knew that the walls Yang had built up would come crumbling down if she saw Ruby suffer so much in her final moments.

Speaking of, her final moments weren't exactly final, and that really bothered Ruby. She knew from Dad and Uncle Qrow's stories that souls only stuck around the mortal world after death if they held some kind of grudge, or couldn't find peace. She didn't really have any issues with anything or anyone, and she didn't think her soul was in a state of turmoil.

Could this all be some aspect of the curse that killed her? She had no idea, and she knew no one else would either. All of the mages her father and uncle had hired to try and dispel the thing had been stumped; they couldn't figure out how she got it, who gave it to her, or even what it did. They just knew that it was killing her, and that it was extraordinarily powerful.

It was just her luck to get a curse that separated her soul from her body after death and anchored it to the mortal world. She wanted to go see her mom, but now she couldn't be with any of her family. She was stuck with this spoiled princess named Weiss, who alternated between completely ignoring her and screaming at her.

Speaking of Weiss, she seemed to be in a very bad mood. After she had gone into the library, Ruby had decided to try and figure out just what she was capable of as a ghost. She couldn't pass through solid objects, which she learned after she tried to fly through a marble pillar. She could fly and walk around, but after getting far enough, it would feel as though there was a rope tied around her waist, tethering her to Weiss.

Well that was just perfect, she was forced to remain within about fifty feet of Weiss for the rest of her life. Weiss's life, that is. She was dead. Honestly, the whole being dead thing hadn't really caught up with her yet.

Ruby let out a sigh as Weiss walked into a fancy dining room, making her way to the seat right next to the head of the table. A few servants scurried out of the kitchen to serve her food, to which Weiss dismissed her with a wave of her hand and a "I'll eat once my mother arrives."

"Your mom? Your brother mentioned her, whats up with her?" Ruby asked innocently, receiving only a scowl in return.

"I would appreciate it if you stayed out of my family's affairs, Ruby," Weiss said with a slight sneer when she said her name. Wow. Ruby didn't think she had remembered her name. That was probably a good sign.

"Sorry, I'm just curious. There's not a lot to entertain me, you know, with the whole being dead thing," She replied snarkily, but was surprised when Weiss just sighed.

"What is it you want anyway? I can't recall having done something to you to deserve you haunting me," Weiss asked her dejectedly.

"I told you earlier, I don't want anything," She stated simply.

"Then why are you still here? Just leave me alone,"

"Your the only one who can see me,"

"How can you be so sure? You wouldn't know unless you go out and look and come up empty handed."

"I can't."

"What?"

"I can't leave. When I get too far away from you, I get tugged backwards. I'm stuck with you."

Weiss gave her a curious look. "Hmm. I don't recall reading about anything like that," She said, mostly to herself.

"Reading? Speaking of, why were you in the library for so long?"

"I was trying to figure out how to get rid of you," Ouch. That hurt.

"O-oh." she knew Weiss didn;t like her, but to spend hours pouring over dusty tomes to try and find a way to banish her was harsh. It hurt to find out Weiss hated her so much after only a day.

"But unfortunately, there was nothing helpful in the books. You aren't like any ghost I read about. What even are you?" Weiss half asked, half accused her.

"I think I'm a ghost. I mean, I remember dying."

"How did you die?" Wasn't that kind of an insensitive thing to ask someone? Ruby didn't know, she was still new to this whole being dead thing. She'd figure it out as she went along.

"A curse."

"What kind? What did it do? Who gave it to you?" Weiss's rapid fire questions were the same ones Ruby and her family had asked for months.

"I don't know. We couldn't figure it out."

Weiss let out a little scoff. "Did you bother to hire a mage to come and dispel the curse? Or did you forget to?"

Ruby clenched her fists in anger. Her family had wasted a small fortune hiring mages and healers to try and get rid of the damn thing. "Yes, princess, my family did hire a mage. Several, actually. But they couldn't figure out anything about it."

Weiss snorted. "They must not have been very skilled if they couldn't figure out a simple curse."

Ruby was practically fuming at this point. "Well at least my family would have cared enough to try and get rid of the curse," She shot back, grinning to herself when she saw Weiss give her a scandalized expression.

"What's that supposed to mean?" She asked indignantly.

Ruby was about to retort when she was interrupted by the sound of large, oak doors being thrown open. A white haired woman stepped through, dressed in a fine dress and beautiful silver jewelry. So this was Weiss's mother. She shot a glance towards the girl, only to find her sitting ramrod straight with a forced smile on her face. Ruby frowned. No one should have to force a smile around their family.

"Oh, Weiss. I didn't know you would be joining me for dinner tonight," The women spoke softly, her voice barely above a whisper. The women looked melancholic, and Weiss gazed downwards upon hearing her words.

"Actually, Mother, I have something to tell you about," Weiss said, unable to meet her mother's eyes. Ruby couldn't help but compare her to a kid that was being scolded by their parents for stealing sweets. Her mother narrowed her eyes, before letting out a sigh.

"Let's just wait until after we eat. I don't want to lose my appetite," She said before Weiss could explain, taking the seat to the left of the head of the table.

A servant came out with two platters of food, and Ruby could firmly say she had never seen food so fancy. She couldn't even tell what half of it was supposed to be, and was willing to bet a plate of it was worth more than her father gained from his yearly harvest.

The two white haired women ate in silence, the clinks of their various utensils hitting their plates and bowls being the only thing to alleviate her boredom. This wasn't anything like dinner had been with her family.

With her family, there was always something going on. Yang would be boasting about how she was undefeated in the training ring, or Dad would be telling them about how much help he'd need during the harvest. There was always noise, and even when no one was talking there was the sound of them eating. Yang had always been a messy eater.

This was the opposite. Weiss and her mother seemed to be trying as hard as possible to make as little noise as possible, and Weiss flinched every time she did. "No one should flinch like that when they make noise at the table," Ruby mumbled to herself.

Weiss seemed genuinely terrified of talking to her mother, and her mother seemed exasperated at the fact that Weiss had something important to tell her.

Finally, after the most awkward dinner Ruby had ever seen, the two were finally finished. As servants dashed out to collect their dishes, Weiss's mom folded her hands in her lap and looked at her daughter expectantly.

"Well? You have something to tell me?"

Weiss's gaze flicked downward, and Ruby was wondering why it was so hard for her to talk to her mother. Finally, Weiss let out a sigh and said, barely loud enough to be heard:

"Father wants me to start considering marriage."

Weiss's mother flinched as if struck, and a stern expression crossed her face. She grabbed at the bottle of win she had been sipping from throughout dinner and, removing the cork with practiced ease, tilted the bottle back and drank enough to impress even her uncle.

Setting the bottle down, she cleared her throat before turning her attention to Weiss. "Well, did he now? That's... lovely," She said through gritted teeth. She seemed to be recalling some distant memory and not paying attention to her daughter.

"If you don't mind, I will retire for the nigh-"

"You remind me of myself," Her mother cut her off, stopping Weiss in her tracks. Ruby frowned. What was she doing?

"I, however, didn't get to 'consider' who I wanted to wed," She continued, either oblivious or not caring at the hurt look on her daughter's face.

"I was simply forced to marry that merchant to save the family from downfall. Now look at us! The mighty Schnee family, restored to power by the efforts of an egotistical fool, at the price of my free will," The women continued to rant, her voice getting softer and softer. The elder Schnee took another swig of wine.

"And each time I see you, I'm reminded of what I was robbed of," the white haired noble said to her daughter. Ruby seethed in anger. How could she talk like that to her own daughter? She glanced at Weiss, only to see her eyes trembling, on the verge of tears. The image was so contrary to how she had viewed Weiss that she momentarily got whiplash. She was snapped out of it by the next words out of the women's mouth.

"And now you come to brag about your freedom. To someone who lost theirs," Weiss's mom said, taking yet another swig straight out of the bottle. "Do you really hate me so much?" She asked.

Ruby couldn't take this anymore. This woman was acting so vile to her own daughter, ignoring her sadness to complain about her own problems. She completely ignored how Weiss felt and treated her like garbage for something that she was asked to do. This was so different from how her own mother, Summer, had been, that Ruby felt as though calling her a mom would be an insult to her own.

Silver flames exploded out from her, an inferno of flames made of blinding silver light. Ruby was so angry at this woman for how she treated her own daughter, she didn't even notice as the fire licked at her spectral cloak, and it was only when she saw Weiss's fearful expression that she realised she was wreathed in flames.

Weiss's mother, however, obviously didn't see her, and continued. "I wish things had been different. I wish I hadn't been cursed with you," The woman exclaimed right to Weiss's face. Finally reaching her breaking point, Weiss ran off through the large oak door, barely able to hold back the tears.

Ruby followed her, half out of wanting to help her, and half because she would get pulled along even if she didn't want to. Once Weiss reached her quarters, she slammed the door shut so hard, the things on her nightstand rattled and fell over, and several books fell from their shelves. Weiss simply ignored these things and ran to her bed, at last giving in and sobbing uncontrollably.

Ruby couldn't help but be moved with pity as she saw the girl weep into her pillow, but she knew that the girl would want her privacy, so she slipped through the slightly open window. The ghost girl had never felt more conflicted. On one hand, Weiss had been rude to her, ignored her presence, and wanted her gone. Yet on the other, given how Weiss's mother and brother treated her, as well as her father given the way the butler from earlier spoke about him, she felt the girl needed a friend more than anything else.

"What would Mom do?" She asked herself, staring up at the shattered moon as it illuminated the garden she met Weiss in. The answer was obvious. Summer would have done everything she could to help anyone, no matter how rude they were. She was amazing like that, always trying to offer others mercy, even if they were terrible people. And she had wanted to be just like her mother when she was alive, so maybe this was fate giving her the chance to get to do what she never got to do while she was living. She was going to help someone who clearly needed it.

She would befriend Weiss, even if it killed her. Which it couldn't. Because she was already dead.

"This whole ghost thing is confusing," Ruby thought to herself as she slipped back through the window, peeking into the room. "Weiss?" She whispered loudly. Her only response was for Weiss to mumble incoherently. Ah. She was asleep. Well, then Ruby would just have to wait until tomorrow to befriend her.

"I'll be the best friend you'll ever have! Just you wait, Weiss!" Ruby thought to herself as she started thinking up a plan to make Weiss like her. It couldn't be too hard, right?