Chapter Forty-Three: Proving A Point.
A long sigh escaped the lips of Weiss as she moved through the line to pay for the bag of food she carried. The cafeteria hadn't taken much damage during the White Fang attack so it was quickly reopened for students and the construction workers that were helping repair the damage. Classes had been canceled for the duration of the repair leaving the students to their own devices and recover.
Many students had received some type of injury during the attack, and while most were none life threating there were several that would have to stay in the infamy for an extended period of time. Blake was one such student. The damage she had received had been extensive and they had made the decision to keep her in a medically induced coma until her wound healed more. Yang had stayed by her partners side refusing to leave until Blake was awake, the staff had given up on trying to move the blonde after she threatened to punch one of the more aggravating male nurses through a wall. But that had left Weiss alone with her partner, her little wolf, her love alone in their dorm.
Normally Weiss wouldn't have seen that as a problem having time alone with Ruby was one of her favorite things but since their fight the wolf had withdrawn into herself and become exceedingly subdued which troubled the Heiress. She did not like this sudden turn in Ruby's mood, she preferred the happy bubbly wolf she had come to cherish over the sullen and sulky one she had become. When Weiss had tried to broach the topic Ruby sunk away and shrugged it off as if it was nothing but she knew different. Weiss knew that the wolf was afraid, more specifically Ruby was afraid of herself. And Weiss had no idea how to handle it.
Another sigh escaped her lips as she handed over a few lien to the cashier to pay for the two meals. She needed to figure out a way to pull Ruby back from her fear and back into a healthy state of mind she just couldn't figure out how.
"Sup Snowcone." A voice broke through the Heiress' thoughts and bringing her back to the present. Coco saunter up with a small smirk on her face. The older girl had received a commendation on how she quickly rallied the students in protecting the civilians and it had given a small boost to her ego, though most people were sure Velvet would pull her back to reality after a few more days.
"You know I really hate that nickname." Weiss frowned as she glared at the brunette. "It's worse than Snow Angle or Ice Queen."
"Ah but you actually enjoy Ice Queen." Coco snickered as Weiss felt a slight bit of blush on her cheeks. "And yes I'm fully aware you hate that nickname but it's better than some of the others I could come up with so you'll just have to learn to live with it." Weiss shook her head in acceptance, she had no doubt that Coco could come up with worse nicknames so for now she would comply. Besides she had bigger things to worry about. "So what's on your mind?" Coco continued as they left the cafeteria.
"Nothing." Weiss replied on an automatic reaction before she cringed remembering the older girl would see right through that, literally.
Coco sighed and shook her head, "Care to try again?" She glanced over at the Weiss with a small smirk.
The Heiress quickly looked around before signaling Coco to follow her towards a secluded courtyard. The fashionista raised a shapely eyebrow but followed the Heiress anyways trying to resist using her semblance to see what was on the younger girl's mind, she didn't like to invade peoples privacy unless she had no other choice the passive side of 'All Seeing' may have let her know that Weiss was hiding something from her but she couldn't tell what it was until she was actively thinking about it.
Once they were in the courtyard Weiss let a long sigh escape her lips again as she sat down on a bench. "It's Ruby." She started as she fiddled with the bag that held their food. Coco frowned and motioned for her to continue, "I'm not sure if you know what happened on our end of the fighting but we had a rather tough opponent. He even resisted Ruby's Alpha nature." Weiss looked up at the older girl.
"I've only read the official report," Coco shrugged a small bit of surprise went through the older girl at that bit of information but remained passive.
Weiss nodded, the official report left of many of the details, "It wasn't a shining moment for us. He took every attack we had and was barely affected by any of it. If I had to guess his semblance must have been something like Yang's but with a passive side too." Coco nodded at that, it made since from what she had read. "Well towards the end he over powered us completely, he beat Ruby down and when I tried to intervene I barely effected him, and then he…" Weiss hesitated as she felt the burn of that Faunus' hand on her throat squeezing and preventing her from breathing, slowly panic rose up in her mind and the Heiress felt her heart beat increases and her breathing quicken.
Suddenly Coco was kneeling in front of her pulling her head, "Weiss relax, you're fine, you're safe, it's over now it's in your mind you need to relax, focus on my voice." Weiss tried to do as the older girl but the burning and flashes of the fight kept playing in her mind making it hard to focus. Coco sighed before quickly looking around, she needed to do something quick to pull the Heiress out of her panic spiral but she really hated doing this. "Alright Weiss I'm going to do this so just stay with me." With another sigh Coco pulled off her sunglasses and locked eyes with Weiss' ice blue one.
Weiss felt the world drop away. Suddenly her panic faded into an inky blackness that surrounded her. "There that's better." Coco said from the blackness. "Feeling alright there Snowcone?"
"Coco?" Weiss asked the blackness in confusion.
"That would be me." Coco replied, Weiss could hear the smirk in her voice.
"Where am I? What did you do?" Weiss asked looking around trying to find any hint as to where she was.
"I'll answer you but you have to promise not the freak out." Coco replied hesitantly.
Weiss hesitated, "O-Okay?"
"Well as to what I did, I'm using a small bit of my active semblance on you in combination with the passive side, not very useful in a fight but handy from time to time," Coco answered. "As to where you are, well with this I kinda isolated you in your mind."
Weiss paused and looked around in the blackness. Coco had isolated her in her… "What?"
Coco sighed, "Short version; I used 'Gorgon's Stare' on it's lowest power and with that I was able to isolate you in your mind away from the panic that was rising in your mind in order to calm you down and now I'm using 'All Seeing' to keep you in contact with me. Like I said neat trick but useless in a fight."
"Okay." Weiss shook her head, she'd sort through this later, "Can I come back now?"
"In a minute." Coco chuckled, "Since talking about it was the trigger of the panic attack how about you show me what happened? Might be easier that way."
"And how do I do that?" Weiss bit out slightly.
Coco chuckled again, "Relax Snowcone I was getting there. Part of 'All Seeing' allows me to see memories of a person but they have to be actively thinking about it, even if it's just a few moments of it I'll be able to see the whole memory. Just think about the beginning of the fight and I'll take it from there."
Weiss let out a long breath and thought back to beginning of the fight and suddenly the scene was playing out in front of her though as if it was on fast forward passing by in moments instead of minutes like it had taken. Once it was done the scene faded away and the blackness returned and a long sigh sounded out.
"Right." Coco said, her voice slightly hollow and distant, "I think I understand now, I'm going to pull you back out. Close your eyes and deep breath." Weiss did as she was told, "And open them."
Weiss blinked her eyes open and once again she was sitting on the bench with Coco kneeling in front of her making sure her sunglasses were on straight. With a shuddering breath the Heiress shook her head clear, "As interesting as that was, please never do that again."
Coco chuckled as she stood up and dusted off her knee, "Yeah I try not to do that unless I can help it and it seemed like the easiest way to get the answers out of you." With a frown Coco sat down beside her, "That was brutal, and I'm not just talking about how Ruby ended the fight, I mean the whole thing. Don't get me wrong how Ruby finished it was absolutely ruthless, hell I never knew the little wolf had it in her." Weiss went to cut over her but Coco held up her hand, "But you have to understand she was defending you. She was defending her mate from a threat that almost killed you. She's not going feral or at least I think so, there'd be more signs if she was but there aren't."
"As this ever happened with Velvet before?" Weiss asked slowly.
Coco nodded, "Once. In our fist year something bad went down with a few locals on a mission and I got myself in a rough spot and Velvet reacted… poorly to it." Weiss looked stunned at the older girl making Coco nod again, "Yeah she may be a rabbit Faunus but it's an innate instinct for all Faunus to defend and protect their mate and when that instinct is triggered, well I pity anyone on the other side of the attack. It's true that the viciousness of the attack may differ from predator and prey Faunus but it's still there and Ruby was just acting on that instinct."
"Then what about her eye?" Weiss asked trying not to shudder as she recalled the crimson eye of the wolf.
Coco frowned again, "I have no idea, could be anything. I don't fully understand what that was and I doubt anyone who would will tell us."
Weiss sighed in understanding letting silence fall between them. After a few moments the Heiress turned to the older girl, "So what do I do? I've tried everything I can think of and nothing's working."
Coco was silent for a few minutes before she shook her head, "Ruby is a wolf, and her biggest fear is that she's losing herself to her nature. From what I understand a wolf losing themselves to their instincts is a fate worse than death to them, so she's terrified that it's happening to her, you need to prove that it's not."
"And how do I do that?" Weiss huffed with a bit of heat, she knew what the older girl was saying already but didn't have any idea how to do it.
A small smirk appeared on Coco's face, "Prove to the wolf you're not afraid to get close to her." Weiss pondered her words before a light amount of blush crept onto her cheeks, "There you go Snowcone, best advice I can give." The older girl shrugged and stood up, "Anyways you need to do something soon or it's only going to get worse." With a nod in the direction of the first year dorm Coco gave the Heiress another smirk before walking off.
Weiss sat on the bench for a few more minutes pondering Coco's words before letting out a long sigh, Coco was right she needed to show Ruby that she wasn't afraid. All she had done so far was try to show her all the logical ways that she wasn't losing herself but nothing that was really working. Taking a deep breath Weiss centered herself and made up her mind, she was going to prove to her wolf that there was nothing to be afraid of, that she wasn't going feral and that what happened was not her fault.
As she made her way to her dorm Weiss kept her head up and back straight, she was not going to back down now, not when she had a plan and the confidence to do it. When she reached the door to their room the Heiress paused, it wouldn't do to just march into the room and possibly frighten the already skittish wolf. Taking a deep breath Weiss slowly eased the door open and looked around, nothing had changed since she left.
Ruby was still curled up on their bed, her tail wrapping around her body in an attempt to comfort herself, the sight breaking Weiss' heart as she saw her girlfriend tremble slightly. The younger girl was still in her night cloths though Weiss had convinced her to shower and at least put on a fresh set of cloths telling her it might help her relax. Ruby didn't even react as she closed the door and locked it. It wouldn't help her plan if Nora or Pyrrha decided to check in on the wolf again, Weiss needed do to this with out interruptions.
"I got food." Weiss said as she kicked off her heels and sat the bag down on her desk. "You feel like eating yet?" Slowly she leaned over Ruby moving some of the crimson locks off of her face. Ruby shook her head slightly, Weiss frowned at that, it had been a fight to get Ruby to eat just a few bites of food since they had returned to the dorm. Maybe if her planed worked it would get better, the Heiress certainly hoped it would.
Centering herself once more Weiss slowly slipped onto the bed and wrapped her arms around Ruby's from coaxing her wolf into a stretched out position, Ruby flinched at first trying to pull away but Weiss kept her arms tightly secure around her waist making sure she couldn't escape. After a few minutes Ruby relaxed into the embrace and with a small tug Weiss flipped the wolf around so that they were facing each other.
With a tender smile Weiss played with the crimson locks moving a few stray strands off of Ruby's face with one hand while the other treaded up through her hair, her nails slightly scratching at the younger girl's scalp making the wolf lean into the touch as the Heiress' hand came to rest just below one of her ears. Weiss had learned the Ruby really enjoyed her ears being scratched and rubbed and it was a very effective way to get the wolf to relax or to lull her to sleep. But that was not what she had in mind right now.
The Heiress leaned in and pressed her lips to the wolf's, she could taste a slight amount of salt from her tears. Ruby tensed for a moment before relaxing into the kiss, he tail wrapping around Weiss' legs. The Heiress ran her tongue across Ruby's lips seeking entrance which the wolf granted, Weiss slowly pressed herself closer into the wolf pulling their bodies flush against each other. Letting her hands roam the younger girl's body Weiss felt Ruby hum with pleasure as she scrapped her nails along a patch of exposed skin along her side.
After a few minutes Ruby pulled back for a breath and Weiss couldn't help up smirk as she saw the flush on her wolf's cheeks as she pushed her onto her back. "Weiss?" She asked cocking her head to the side slightly.
"Ruby I know that you're scared." Weiss started as she straddled her wolf, Ruby flinched slightly but the Heiress persisted as she pressed the wolf down with on hand gently on her shoulder. "But you need to know that what you did was not wrong." Weiss hardened her voice slightly as she peered down at the younger girl. "That man was going to kill us if we didn't stop him, he was leagues above both of us and threw us around like ragdolls. He took everything we had and threw it back at us like it was nothing, we were out classed and if you hadn't acted as you did we wouldn't have walked away from that fight." Weiss could see her words affecting the wolf below her as she spoke, finally letting her voice soften the Heiress leaned forward slightly, "You don't have to be scared of us being afraid of you." Ruby tensed again as she looked up in to her blue eyes. "Our friends won't be afraid of you, Yang certainly won't be, when Blake regains consciousness she's not going to be either, and I will never be afraid of you my little wolf." The Heiress leaned into her wolf and pressed their lips together again.
When she pulled back she could still see doubt in Ruby's eyes, "But Weiss, I killed a person in an extremely brutal manor, I attacked him and wanted to kill him. Every thought I had was solely on killing him," She hesitated for a moment, "That and protecting you."
"And if the roles had been reversed I promise you my thoughts would have been the exact same." Weiss cut over her, "Ruby if I had seen you go down like you saw me I would have done everything in my power to put that terrorist down, hell I tried before he knocked me down. I wanted nothing more than to put him down when I was fighting him alone, I wanted him to die so I could protect you." Weiss fixed her gaze on the silver of the wolf's, "Ruby we are Huntresses, when we chose this path we made a silent vow that when a threat arises we will end that threat by any means necessary. That we will defend those we love and those around us, that we will not falter in our conviction to defend the people of Remnant from threats be them Grimm, Human or Faunus. It is our duty to stop them, so now look me in the eye and tell me you did not up hold those values during that fight."
"I…" Ruby's voice stopped as she struggled, "That's not the point, Weiss. I killed him in a fight of rage, I wasn't protecting anyone, I mean I was protecting you but that's different I wanted him to die in the most agonizing way I could think of. I wanted to rip him apart limb from limb for hurting you, I wanted to show him that I was the strongest one, that I was the Alpha not him. I wanted to kill him just because I could. If that doesn't mean I'm going fer-"
Weiss slapped her hand over Ruby's sending an ice-cold glare towards the wolf making the girl freeze in her spot. "You are not going feral Ruby Rose." Weiss growled out in a low harsh voice. "You are not losing yourself to your instincts, you are not going to become a mindless killer, and do you want to know why?" Ruby gave a small nod and the Heiress once again let her expression soften and her voice become gentle again, "Because I'm not going to leave you. I'm not letting you do this on your own, I'm not going to let you suffer for something you did to protect me."
"You mean that?" Ruby asked in a small voice.
Weiss smiled as she nodded, "I told you I was going to be the best partner there ever was, and I expanded that to girlfriend when we became a couple and I meant every word. You, Miss Rose, are stuck with me."
A small smirk passed across Ruby's lips, "Well I suppose it could be worse. I mean I could be stuck with-"
"Don't ruin the moment Ruby." Weiss cut off the wolf with a single finger across her wolf's lips. Leaning down again she captured the younger girl's lips and allowed her hands to roam over the trim body of her team leader. Ruby moaned as the Heiress's fingernails scraped against her lower ribs as Weiss pushed her shirt up.
Weiss chuckled as she felt Ruby try to flip them but the Heiress pushed back against the wolf's movement. "Ah, ah, ah little wolf." Weiss mockingly scolded as she leaned back up wagging a finger in front of herself. "I'm not done yet." Ruby's eyes glossed over in confusion before the silver eyes darted down to her chest making the wolf gulp and lick her lips.
With a smirk Weiss reached up to her hair pulling the crown pin free letting her white hair fall around her shoulders and down her back. Taking a deep breath the Heiress closed her eyes as her hands made their ways to the hem of her shirt. Her heart rammed against her chest as she settled her thoughts, she wanted to do this, she had to prove to Ruby that she wasn't afraid of her. She was going to prove that she would be with her wolf through everything no matter what.
Letting the breath out the Heiress pulled the shirt up and over her head and tossed it towards her wardrobe door hoping it would land near her hamper, she would have to pick it up later but at least for now it was close to where it needed to be. As she did she could hear Ruby's breathing hitch which drew her gaze back down to the wolf below her.
Ruby's silver eyes had become twin pools of molten silver of desire as she stared up at the Heiress. Weiss tried hard to fight the blush that was making its way onto her cheeks as her wolf's eyes locked on to her bra clad chest. Weiss knew that she wasn't as endowed as Yang or Nora but neither were her assists small. Slowly she reached up behind her back towards the clasps of the white lace, a smirk forming on her lips as she saw Ruby lips her lips from anticipation, the wolf's tail twitched slightly on the bed. Steading herself Weiss pinched the clasp and let the hooks come apart before shrugging the straps off her shoulders and let the material fall from her body, fighting even harder to fight the blush that threatened to consume her body.
Ruby's breathing was erratic as her eyes took in the topless form of the Heiress before her. Weiss' skin was a pale as snow and Ruby gnawed at her lower lip fighting back her urges to push the Heiress down onto the bed and…
The wolf's eyes stopped as she peered curiously at the base of the Heiress' sternum. Slowly sitting up Ruby peered closer at the stop making Weiss fidget. "Ruby, what's wrong?" Weiss asked with uncertainty, she had been expecting Ruby's eyes to rake up and down her body, she actually found herself enjoying watching her wolf's silver eyes grow wide with want though it made the fire that was building in her core hard to ignore. But she had not expected that want and desire to turn into confusion and concern suddenly. It wasn't until she felt Ruby's hand rest at the base of her sternum did she realize what had caused the change.
With a sigh Weiss cupped Ruby's fingers that touched the only other scar she had never been able to get rid of. "I was nine." Weiss started as she looked into the silver eyes that asked a silent question. "Winter had been working on a new Dust bullet meant to take down Goliaths in one shot, and I got impatient waiting for her to reach a stopping point so we could play so I explored her lab while I waited. I wasn't watching where I was going and I activated another weapon she had been working, a sentry turret that fired highly charged Dust attacks. Next thing I knew I was waking up to my sister crying over me thinking she had killed me and an immense amount of pain coursing through my body." Weiss moved Ruby's fingers show she to could touch the skin that was slightly paler than the rest of her body, it was one of the reasons she never really thought about the mark, it was only noticeable if some one was staring at the spot when she had her shirt off and even then it was hard to tell if the mark was really there with how light it was. "It was an ice dust blast meant to freeze an enemy where they stood but my Aura absorbed most of the blow but left me with this mark."
Ruby stared at the mark below her fingers and traced the outer edges of it, it had ragged edges that arced out in intricate patterns reminding her of a snowflake. She noticed Weiss shiver as her finger glided over her skin. Leaning in Ruby pressed her lips against the skin making Weiss' breath hitch. As she pulled back a small smirk crossed her face making the Heiress raise an eyebrow at her, "The Ice Queen has a snowflake scar." She explained making Weiss roll her eyes.
"Yes, very funny." Weiss deadpanned as she brought her finger under Ruby's chin and brought their lips together. "But we got distracted." With a small tug she upped her wolf closer letting their bodies mold together. She let herself get lost in the sensation of Ruby running her hands over her exposed body, it wasn't anything new as both she and Ruby let their hands wonder when they were together but the feeling of her girlfriend's strong hands roam against her skin was a great sensation.
When she felt Ruby's hand stop just below her breast Weiss pulled back slightly and once again place her hand on her wolf's and guided it up onto the mound, "Ruby." Weiss shivered slightly as Ruby's fingers glided across her erect nipple, but it got the wolf to look at her, "You always fear you're going feral or loosing yourself, but I want you to understand this, I would not expose myself to a feral wolf or to one who is loosing themselves. Nor would a feral wolf allow someone to come this close to them. You are not going to loose yourself or go feral because I will not allow it. I will not allow the only person I would willing give myself to loosing themselves or become a feral wolf." Weiss leaned into the wolf's touch and pressed her lips into the younger girl's again. Ruby responded by letting her grasp tighten slightly making Weiss moan. There was a tug an a small break of their lips as Ruby's shirt was flung from her body and came to rest somewhere on the floor next to Weiss'. Suddenly Weiss' back met with their mattress as Ruby pushed her into the covers. The Heiress only had seconds to be extremely thankful that the dorms at Beacon were relativity sound proof and that she had locked the door.
Penny was calculating. She had known that the 'Leviathan' data had been stolen during the White Fang attack, just like she had known that the attack was coming thanks to the Doctor. He had requested that she preform a security check on her system during the attack so she would not be ordered to interfere again like she had when they attack Vale. She had alerted Lord Schnee and the Doctor about the theft of the data but both had been unconcerned, the Doctor had even mused that this could be the chance that they needed to get Miss Schnee to do as they wanted but had decided it would be up to her on how to use the information. He had other plans that he deemed not to share with anyone else.
She knew the specifics of 'Leviathan', she had read the file and found it very interesting. The application of the project was extremely promising if they tweaked a few of the details of the procedure. In fact while she had been calculating she had made the corrections necessary to make 'Leviathan' a success, perhaps she should show Lord Schnee once they had Miss Schnee back in Atlas. Penny frowned at her mental calculations.
Right now they had only a five percent chance of getting Miss Schnee to return to Atlas airspace of her own volition. She could of course force Miss Schnee to comply but having access to all of her own projects file's she was well aware that Miss Schnee had faced early models of herself and had been able to bring them down even with a struggle. If she attacked and tried to made Miss Schnee comply she was sure the wolf would attack and from what she had been able to see from the Faunus' combat record the small redhead was a force to be reckoned with, even worse were Miss Schnee's two other teammates. Yang Xiao Long had a record that was most impressive, the blonde could easily level a building with just her fists and then there was Blake Belladonna, a wanted assassin from the White Fang. Maybe if she revealed Miss Belladonna's true nature to Miss Schnee she could use that to make her return to Atlas. Then again the two seemed close and it was highly likely that Miss Schnee already knew the truth about the panther Faunus. Again she frowned at her calculations as the percentage dwindled.
She had been tasked with getting Miss Schnee back to Atlas and Lord Schnee was slowly running out of patients with her. Even the Doctor seemed to be losing his usually cool demeanor when she contacted him. But how could she succeed when the Schnee Heiress was so well protected and only seemed to care about her team.
Penny paused, no that wasn't true. Yes Miss Schnee seemed to care a lot about her team, the wolf in particular but there was one person in the northern kingdom that Weiss also cared about no matter how damaged she was. Penny fed the new data into her calculations and smiled as the percentage jumped from a low five to nearly ninety two percent successes probability.
Yes this plan would work she could use this new data to complete her mission, even if her team accompanied Miss Schnee to Atlas Penny had a plan that would surely split the four of them apart leaving the Heiress alone. Penny smiled she would succeed.
A glance at her internal time system made her frown again, during her calculations it seemed as though the time had drifted by her again without notice. Penny was slightly disappointed, but she could wait, her plans would just have to start at a later date.
A/N: HOLY SMOKE BATMAN IT'S AN UPDATE! Sorry to everyone who's still around and reading this but life got in the way. I've been job hunting from one side of the state to the other and spending a lot of time on the road checking up on resumes, calling places that are out of state and basically running around like a chicken with its head cut off (if you don't understand that reference you've either never seen it happen or haven't seen the South Park episode where the Treasury Department does that to see what to do about the economy, good episode.) And when I did have the time to write I was hit with a large case of 'lack of motivation' but I'm slowly getting out of that funk so hopefully you won't have to wait forever for another update. So a couple of things; while having a lack of motivation to write I'be done a lot of thinking about this story and some of the ideas I've had and honestly I'm not going to be able to so some of them because they just don't make sense for this story anymore and seem to odd to actually do. So with that being said the next chapter is the beginning of the end. We are entering the final arc which will take about nine to ten chapters. Everything will be revealed! Prometheus, Leviathan, their connection to the girls and how it will effect them. Stay tuned everyone it's gonna be fun!
With that: Thanks for sticking around everyone I can't wait to see ya'll at the finish line, leave a comment on what's been going on in your life since I've been gone and may you find a reason to be happy and share your joy.