Memento Mori

Disclaimer: I do not own RWBY

"The boundaries which divide Life from Death are at best shadowy and vague. Who shall say where the one ends, and where the other begins?"

-Edgar Allan Poe

Chapter IV

"Should we do something?" asked Yang, her concerned gaze never wavering from her sister's partner.

"And do what exactly? It's not like we can just ask her, you know as well as I do that Weiss wouldn't tell us," Blake sighed. She wanted to help too, looking at the miserable mess that was Weiss Schnee pained her, but without any knowledge the two were helpless.

It had been late at night, not even an hour ago, when Weiss had stormed into the room in tears. She had ignored the two occupants, Ruby spending the night with team JNPR for an impromptu game night, and had rushed into the bathroom. When she had emerged, fresh from a shower but with eyes still red and ready to cry at any time, she had mumbled a half hearted "Goodnight," before collapsing under the covers of her bed, quietly crying to herself. She was fast asleep before either one could say or do anything to help the distraught girl.

"Come on Blake, work with me here, something has been bothering her for the past few days. You can't say that there is nothing for us to do!" Yang hissed in frustration.

"I want to help her too, Yang, but we don't know what this is about. We could just as easily hurt her more than help," Blake whispered. "I've never seen Weiss out of control like this before and calling attention to it isn't going to help. Not right away, and besides, it's getting late and she's already asleep. Maybe sometime tomorrow you can tactfully ask what upset her but just be careful not to push her away."

"I know that, Blake, that's why I'm worried. I'm afraid this might have something to do with Winter, she has been trying to call her all week and if something bad happened…" Yang trailed off, grimacing at what might have been. "I don't want to assume anything, not like how Ruby and I overreacted at breakfast, but something has been going on and I don't know what to do."

Yang shook her head trying to dispel any lingering thoughts. Her partner was right, trying to help this very moment wasn't going to accomplish anything until they knew more.

"Should we tell Ruby?" Blake asked.

"No, Ruby wouldn't handle that well and that's the last thing Weiss needs. If she asks just tell her it's nothing or deflect. I guess we should just give her some space. I'll try and talk to her about it after classes. You mind keeping Ruby distracted?"

"Sure thing, Ruby has been wanting a closer look at Gambol Shroud and I suppose it's about time for some maintenance. Just please be careful. If it is something to do with Winter, then Weiss doesn't have many people she can turn to. We don't want her to feel like she can't come to us," Blake agreed.

"Thanks Blake. I guess we should go to sleep too. No use worrying all night," Yang relented. "Please be okay Weiss."

"I don't care what plans you have made or what you think you can handle, Weiss! You are in over your head and are putting your life in needless danger. You need to come home before you get hurt or worse, someone else gets hurt because of you!"

Those were the parting words the Winter gave Weiss the previous day. After finding an empty classroom, she had called her sister.

It didn't go over very well.

She had tried to explain, lay out her plan but no matter what she said Winter refused to listen. Her sister was understandably frightened but Winter had always used anger to mask her fear. The result was Weiss losing Winter's confidence.

It hurt, the yelling and screaming at each other. It was no different than a conversation with their father, and that was what hurt the most. That Winter cared so little for her little sister's thoughts on the matter. As if she wasn't capable of taking care of herself.

Weiss tried to put herself in Winter's shoes. She tried to be rational, objective.

She failed.

She didn't exactly remember all that had happened. She distinctly remembered crying and running through the halls towards her dorm, only dimly aware that no one was in the corridors to see her at her weakest.

Unfortunately, she was seen, and by her teammates no less.

She recalled running into the room and storming into the bathroom. If Yang and Blake called out to her, of which Weiss was sure of, she had no memory to the fact. She had started a shower, vainly hoping that the heat and moisture would hide her tears. Weiss didn't believe she had succeeded in that either.

When she finally exited the shower, dressed in a spare night gown, she mumbled a half-hearted goodnight, too afraid to look into their eyes. No one, not even Klein had seen her so shaken. She couldn't imagine what it must have looked like.

Did they look disgusted with her? Were they upset with her for having ruined their peace and quiet? She doubted it. Blake was opinionated at the worst of times but she was never cruel. Yang, on the other hand, was always giving the benefit of the doubt and could be so frustratingly overprotective. And that's what Weiss feared most; that they cared and would try to console her.

She knew if that happened then she wouldn't be able to keep the truth from them. They would know! And not just about her fight with Winter, but about her illness. Gone would be her freedom. At which point she might have just gone back home to Atlas, resigned to a half life of lost dreams and broken spirit.

So she tried to put on a brave face and pretend that nothing had happened. Agonizing over it wasn't going to help and the Bumblebee pair had thankfully not brought it up over the course of the day. Thankfully it seemed that Ruby had not been informed of her breakdown, Weiss supposed she owed Yang for that, and had seemed innocently oblivious to the worried glances from Blake and the stressed looks from the blonde.

There would be a reckoning, of that Weiss had no doubt. Something like that wouldn't and perhaps shouldn't be ignored. If it had been any one of the three in a similar position, gods forbid, than Weiss would try and be there for them. She just wasn't ready to cross that bridge just yet.

With that in mind, she needed to move forward. Languishing under the hurt and unfairness of the situation wasn't going to improve anything. If she wanted to prove to Winter, to herself, that she could overcome this, then she needed to start setting her plans in motion.

First step: ask Prof. Goodwitch for help.

A/N: Would you believe me when I said that this was supposed to be out in September/October a couple of years ago? Because it was supposed to, but unfortunately for me life decided to get in the way. I won't bore you with the details but I'm proud to say I'm back. Better late than never, right?

I should also mention that I have gone back to Chapters I-II and have edited Jacques name to match cannon. Other than that no further changes have been made.

A special thanks to all who have waited patiently, favorited, followed, and reviewed. You guys are what makes writing this worth it.

Until next time, stay classy.