Here we are at Chapter 2. Time to dive into the depths of Ruby's mind. Though Weiss was possessed by a Nightmare before and should have some stealth from them because of it, I didn't add too much of that into this story since this is primarily about Weiss going into Ruby's dream to wake her up. If the Nightmare couldn't see her as easily as it normally would, then that would make things boring. Anyway, I do not own RWBY Ice Queendom. They belong to their respective owners. Here's chapter 2. Enjoy.

Chapter 2: A Dream's Garden

As Ruby continues to slumber, the rest of Tem RWBY and the professors come up with a game plan to free her from the dream.

"For now, we'll start with a scouting mission. We'll send in Weiss first to look around. We did the same thing with Ruby for Weiss' dream. The more we know, the better our chances of saving Ruby. While she saved Weiss on her first try, luck might've played a big role in that. We shouldn't be counting on that for this run. Weiss, look around and try and locate Ruby. Don't do anything too reckless," Ozpin explains.

"Wait, maybe I should go first?" Yang volunteers.

Weiss shakes her head, "Yang, I know you're worried about your sister. I get it, but... please, let me go first. I need to do this. Ruby is in this mess because of me. I can't just sit here and do nothing. Please," Weiss actually bows her head to the blonde, surprising her.

"Um... okay, you go first. Just don't do anything crazy now," Yang says.

Weiss smiles, "Thank you, Yang,"

"Weiss, while in the dream, you will have coins on your person. The coins are an extension of my aura and semblance, and will give you a few tools to utilize in the dream. However, use them sparingly. Each one you use up takes a portion of my aura. If my aura gives out, or you use all the coins up, then you will be trapped in the dream forever. Remember that. Also, when Ruby went into your dream, she said that her clothes and her weapon had changed. The same thing might happen to you. However you appear the dream is how Ruby imagines you," Shion explains.

"I understand. Thank you, Professor Shion," Weiss nods.

"Good luck, Weiss. We'll be waiting for you, and for Ruby," Blake says.

"Alright, prepare yourself," Shion says as Weiss, lays down on her strands. "Entrust yourself to me and my power. I will invite you into the dream,"

Weiss falls asleep and delves into Ruby's dream. Weiss slowly opens her eyes, finding herself in a snowy forest, her body laying in the snow. She slowly rises to her feet and looks around. The trees are so dense that it's tough to see too far past them. She then notices that her clothes have changed. Instead of the clothes she had before, she is now wearing a white dress that reveals her legs in front, but covers them in the back with white lace sleeves and leggings, while wearing light blue high-heels. She is also wearing small, blue pauldrons on her arms, a blue leather chestpiece with her emblem on the front, a black choker, and a black garter with Dust vials in it on her right leg. This looks is completed with a silver tiara in her ponytail (basically Shionne's outfit from Tales of Arise). She finds her weapon, Myrtenaster, on her left hip.

"My clothes... is this how Ruby imagines me?" Weiss runs her hands along the fabric. "I don't even feel cold. Is this because of the clothes or the dream? Does Ruby... actually see me as some kind of princess?"

Weiss takes out Myrtenaster, "It doesn't seem like it's changed, but..." switching to the fire Dust, her blade suddenly becomes coated in flames, which surprises her. She switches to ice Dust, and the flames vanish only for ice and snow to take its place. "I guess it's a bit different."

Deciding to move on, she traverses through the forest by using her glyphs to skate across the ground, or propel herself through the trees. Soon enough, she reaches a cliff overlooking what appears to be an old town. However, what catches her eye is a castle-styled building all the way at the back, with a tall tower at the center.

"Isn't that... Beacon?" Weiss mutters.

Deciding to give Shion a call, Weiss uses one of her coins. In the real world, Shion's phone rings and she answers.

"Shion here, what did you find?" Shion asks.

"I haven't found Ruby yet, but I did come across a small city. What's more, I see what looks like Beacon Academy a distance away, but it looks different. It looks more like a real castle from some fairytale story," Weiss explains.

"Hmm, the Nightmare is creating a world based on Ruby's thoughts. Her past experiences and dreams are what give this world its form. Keep searching. That Beacon in her dream might be where the core of her mind is located. Try and keep your activity in the dream to a minimum as well," Shion explains.

"Okay, I'm on it," Weiss hangs up and heads down to the town.

A few minutes later, she arrives at the main entrance to the town. Deciding to make a door here, she uses another coin just in case. Weiss walks through the streets of the town. Strangely enough, she doesn't find any people here. At least, any normal kind of people. She spots shadows of individuals in the town, but they all just appear to go about their day. Weiss moves closer, but then hears a roar back from where she came from. She looks back and spots a large number of Beowolves appearing from the forest. Only three grimm appear more ghoulish and menacing.

"Grimm? Just my luck," Weiss complains.

The grimm howl and charge at the town. Knowing that she can't get involved, Weiss moves through the town, hoping to get away. As she does, the grmm begin attacking and destroying the town. Weiss worries they'll spot her, but then she looks ahead and spots several knights in red armor appearing with scythes in their hands. The knights charge and attack the grimm and a massive battle ensues. Weiss runs through the melee, avoiding grimm and knights alike. One grimm lunges at her from a rooftop, but Weiss jumps out of the way with her glyphs. Landing away, she comes across two knights.

"It's Mistress Schnee! What's she doing out of Beacon castle?" one knight asks the other.

"Beacon... Castle?" Weiss mutters in confusion.

"Mistress Schnee, come with us, now," the second reaches out to her.

Not wanting to go where they want her, Weiss uses more of her glyphs and jumps away. The knights try to pursue, only for more grimm to get in the way. Once Weiss is outside the town, she glances back at the chaos for only a moment before continuing on towards the castle. Weiss gets a better view of Beacon Castle... and the high wall blocking it off.

"Well, if it's a castle, then of course there would be a high wall protecting it. Maybe that also explains my clothes," Weiss notes. She finds a large gate at the front, with Ruby's emblem emblazoned on it. "Ruby..."

…

"Hmmm... she left her post so suddenly. Why would she forsake her duty so quickly? Doesn't she realize she's making her sad by leaving? Very well, naughty children must be taught a lesson. I won't allow any harm to come to her from anyone," a female voice rings out in a black void.

…

Back in the real world, the others wait to hear back from Weiss.

"I hope Weiss is doing okay in there. We weren't with Ruby when she went into Weiss' dream, so we have no idea what to expect in there," Blake says.

"It wouldn't make much of a difference. No two dreams are alike. Whatever Ruby saw in Weiss' dream would be different from what Weiss sees in Ruby's dream. There might be a few similarities, but nothing too concrete," Shion says.

Yang stares at her sister, "I'm a terrible big sister," she notes sadly.

"Yang, this wasn't your fault," Blake tries to comfort her.

"No, it's true! I know I had to give Ruby space to help her become more independent. But, at the same time, I wanted to be there for her, too. And now, this happened. I should've noticed that Ruby was worse than we thought she was!" Yang clenches her fists.

"Now, now, this won't solve anything, Miss Xiao Long," they turn to Ozpin and Glynda. "No one is perfect, and everyone makes mistakes. I've made more mistakes than any man, woman, or child on this planet. But still, I press on. You can do the same. With your team. There's no use in lamenting what you did or didn't do in the past. What's important is what you do now, and what you will do in the future," Ozpin says.

"Professor Ozpin is right. Now is the time to be there and support your teammates," Glynda adds.

Just then, the door emits a knocking sound, "Um sorry for intruding?" the door opens to reveal Team JNPR.

"What are you four doing here? Shouldn't you be in class?" Glynda looks irritated.

"Our class just ended, Professor Goodwitch. We came because we heard about Ruby. We wanted to check up on her, and Weiss as well," Pyrrha looks to Ruby, seeing the vine marks on her face. "How is she?"

"No changes just yet, good or bad. Weiss is still searching through her dream for any sign of her. We're waiting to hear back from her," Glynda says.

"Hopefully this will go as well as it went for us and when Ruby went into Weiss' dream," Ren notes.

"Are we sure it's okay to send Weiss in alone? I mean, didn't this whole mess start because of what Ruby saw in Weiss' dream?" Nora asks, not reading the room.

"That is precisely why Weiss wanted to go first," Blake looks to the heiress. "She feels responsible for what's happened to Ruby, and she wants to make it right. This whole thing really scared her,"

"Yeah, she even went as far as to say that after she wakes Ruby up, she would spend the rest of her life 'atoning for her sins'. She sure can be dramatic at times," Yang says.

"Man, I wish there was some way I could help. I've been where they've both been, and it wasn't fun at all," Jaune grasps the edge of the strands.

"You might be close enough as friends to go inside. But, now isn't the time. This is just a recon mission for now," Shion says.

Pyrrha nods, "We have faith in Team RWBY. We know you'll bring Ruby back,"

…

Back in the dream, Weiss looks up at the top of the wall. After making another door, she creates a series of glyphs, she moves up to the stop, stopping short of moving over the edge. Peeking over, she finds more of those red knights from before patrolling the wall. Waiting for an opening in the patrol, Weiss, quickly jumps over the wall and falls down to the other side. Landing on a glyph, she gets a full view of the castle. She sees that it's much larger than the school, maybe twice the size of the whole campus. Coming down to the bottom, she finds herself in a large garden. She looks around, finding that the flowers are all roses. However, she also notices that the roses are different colors: red, white, black, and yellow. Weiss ends up walking up to a red rose and a white rose close together on one bush. She gently holds them.

"Roses. This must be Ruby's doing," she looks at the black and yellow roses. "Are these... representing Team RWBY?" Weiss wonders.

Just then, several red knights appear, "We've located Mistress Schnee! Surround her!"

Weiss draws her rapier as the knights surround her. Just as she thinks they'll attack, they suddenly make a path. She looks and sees a figure approaching. However, she can't tell who they are as they are concealed in a white cloak with a hood.

"Well, well, what do we have here? It seems someone has forgotten their duty. Mistress Schnee, why have you abandoned your duty?" the cloaked figure asks with a feminine voice.

"Huh? Duty? What duty?" Weiss asks, confused.

The figure cocks her head, "Oh my, have you forgotten? I highly doubt that. You were quite adamant before when you swore your oath to her. Perhaps I misjudged you. I should've known better than to leave her in your care,"

"...Her?" Weiss looks confused.

"Well, allow me to correct my mistake," The woman brings out an axe-type weapon.

What Weiss also notices is how the handle of the weapon looks like the barrel of a rifle, and even has a trigger to go with it. She can't dwell on it long when the woman suddenly shoots over at her. She swings her axe, and Weiss barely blocks it with her rapier. However, the force of the strike is still enough to send her flying back into a wall.

Weiss staggers to her feet "Geez, that hurt. How strong is she?"

Weiss conjures a few glyphs and fires off some ice shards at her foe, but the woman in white twirls her axe around to block them all. She attacks Weiss again, but Weiss jumps off the wall to evade her strike. Weiss uses her ice Dust, coating her blade in ice. She stabs the ground, sending out a surge of ice spikes at the woman. The woman dodges to the right, with Weiss right on her. She makes a swing of her rapier, but the woman blocks the strike. Moving her weapon around, she aims the back end of her rifle towards Weiss' left leg and pulls the trigger. A shot rings out, hitting Weiss' leg, knocking her off balance and allowing the woman to swing her axe, knocking Weiss back again. Weiss switches to fire Dust and swings her rapier, sending out an arch of flames at the woman. The woman jumps over the flames, running along the wall. She jumps down towards Weiss, but Weiss creates a glyph to block her attack. Weiss turns it black and pushes the woman away. Switching back to ice Dust, Weiss creates a giant wall of ice. She then takes two coins and creates decoys of them. The woman attacks them, while Weiss uses the chance to make her escape. Weiss keeps running until she ends up behind one corner of the inner castle grounds, staying in the shadows.

Weiss tries to catch her breath, "Who the Hell is that woman?!" Weiss takes out another coin. "I'd better leave before it's too late. I think I've gotten as far as I can so far. But, I should make a door somewhere around here for the next trip,"

Weiss moves to find a safe spot to make a door. However...

"Where do you think you're going?" Weiss looks up just to see the white woman from before above her. "You still have to answer for forsaking your duty,"

Weiss skates away on a glyph to dodge her axe hitting the ground. The woman fires off a few more shots, but Weiss deflects them with her rapier. The woman swings her axe at the ground, sending pieces of rubble flying at Weiss. Weiss jumps around on her glyphs to evade them.

"I have no idea what you're talking about! Where is Ruby?!" Weiss demands.

"I will protect that which is precious to me, even from you," the woman replies before charging at Weiss again.

Weiss creates another ice wall to block her, but the woman breaks through it with a strike of her axe. However, Weiss then creates a black glyph under her feet to freeze her in place. Using the free second, Weiss uses a coin to wake herself up and escape the dream.

…

Shion types the word 'wake' on her computer. A moment later, Weiss bolts up from her sleep, gasping for air.

"Weiss, you're awake!" Yang says, moving to her side.

"Are you okay?" Blake asks, concerned.

Weiss holds her head, "Y-Yes, I'm... I'm okay. What happened? I woke up, right?" Weiss looks around.

"Yes. You managed to wake up. It's a good thing you did. You didn't look so well, so I was about to pull you out myself. Tell us, did you find Ruby?" Shion asks.

Weiss shakes her head, "No, I couldn't find her. I... encountered some trouble along the way,"

"Weiss, please explain everything you saw in Ruby's dream," Ozpin asks.

"Well, first I found myself in a snowy forest, and my clothes were different. I moved through the forest and came upon a medieval city. As I was moving through it, I really didn't see anyone tangible around. Then monsters that looked like grimm appeared and attacked the city. Knight in full-body red armor carrying scythes appeared and fought back against the grimm. I used the chaos to sneak away and came to a very large castle. After getting over the wall, I noticed how it looks similar to Beacon, but also different. It was much larger than the real school, and looked like a castle in a fairytale. Then, that is where things got... difficult," Weiss explains.

"What happened?" Blake asks.

"I was attacked by some weird woman. I never saw her face since it was covered by a hood, so I couldn't tell who she was. She used some kind of axe as a weapon. But, she was saying weird things, such as me 'forsaking my duty' or something like that. I couldn't understand a thing she was saying. She was very strong. It took everything I had not to be destroyed in seconds," Weiss adds.

Ozpin holds his chin, "Interesting. Do you suppose this was Ruby in the dream?"

"I don't think so. She didn't... feel like Ruby. And if it was Ruby, then her weapon would've been a scythe, no doubt. She said that I swore an oath to someone. Maybe... maybe it was Ruby she was talking about?" Weiss wonders.

"It's quite possible. I think it's safe to say that she was referring to Ruby. If that's the case, then the core of Ruby's mind must be somewhere deep in that castle. You got pretty far, but there's still a long way to go," Shion says.

Weiss sighs, "If only I had found Ruby," she hangs her head.

She feels a hand on her shoulder and looks up at Yang's smiling face, "Don't worry about it, princess. We'll save Ruby together,"

Blake walks up next to her, "She's right. You don't have to shoulder this burden by yourself,"

"They're right," Weiss turns to Team JNPR. "It's not over yet," Ren says.

"We believe in you. Ruby is in good hands," Pyrrha adds.

Shion switches her hourglass around; the sand changing to flowers as it falls, "When my aura is fully replenished, we'll go back into Ruby's dream. Who will go this time?"

"We'll all go this time; the three of us," Blake says.

"Yeah, Ruby's my sister. I'm not sitting by this time," Yang adds.

Weiss looks back to Ruby, "Hang on just a little longer, Ruby. I promise we'll free you from the Nightmare's grasp,"

…

In the dream, in the tallest tower of Beacon castle, the woman in the white cloak kneels before a chair fit for a throne room. Sitting in the chair is Ruby Rose, eyes closed, and wearing a new outfit. The outfit is a black and red dress with a short skirt and a half skirt over it that goes down the back of her legs, which are covered in black stockings. Her sleeves are small butterfly sleeves with holes that expose the upper arms. Around her head, under her hair, is a silver circlet with a few red jewels displayed at the front. She has a black choker around her neck and a red cloak with a hood over that. Her rose emblem is clipped to her cloak (basically Shiraori's outfit from So I'm a Spider, So what, with the extra stuff added on).

"Don't worry, I won't allow anyone to disturb you. I promise I will protect you. And when the time comes, we will both fall asleep together as we should be," the woman in white says as thin vines appear around Ruby.

And that's the chapter. Weiss goes into Ruby's dream, but finds a lot more than she bargained for. Now Weiss, Blake, and Yang must go back in together to find their leader before it's too late? Will they save Ruby in time? And who is the woman in white? Also, you can think of the woman in white fulfilling the same role that Negative Weiss did in the show, even if she's not Ruby. While Ruby may be in her current position, a part of her hasn't fallen asleep yet and instead took on the form of the woman in white. I know it's different than what was normally done, but I wanted to try something a little different here and have a little fun with it. Until then, please Read and Review.