Chapter. 3
Heart to Heart
Jaune trudged through the shin high snow of the Atlasian tundra, once more tracking the Princess.
Jaune had to give her credit, she was nothing if not persistent – as this was her fifth attempt in the barely three months he's been her guardian, though the first of her attempts where she had made it past the walls of Castle Atlas, let alone Mantle.
Jaune pulled his simple gray cloak closer to his body, concealing the small watertight haversack strapped to his back – which was filled with any supplies he might need should looking for the Princess take longer that expected.
Jaune peered through the eye-slits of his visor. "I hope she at least wore something warmer than her damn gown…"
It took Jaune half the day to find Princess Weiss, and when he did she made him chase her ass all the way to Arrowfell lake – where she promptly tried to run across, and fell in. Without so much as a seconds hesitation, Jaune dove in after her. Dragging the sopping wet Princess and his equally soaked self out of the frigid water of lake Arrowfell, Jaune carried the Princess to a nearby cave.
Jaune built a modest fire, stripping the Princess of her soaked through clothing and ringing out her hair before wrapping her up with his spare blanket – which was as dry as a bone – then building a make-shift door for the cave to keep out the wind. Once all was said and done, Jaune then striped himself of his own soaked clothing, before hanging both his and the Princess' clothing - Which consisted of furred out to dry from the fire.
Jaune tapped into his Inner Light – one of the many celestial gift Jaune received from his Mother – causing his damp skin to briefly glow and heat up, making the residual water evaporate in an instance.
And so Jaune sat, buck naked, wishing he had packed a second blanket.
A few minutes later, Jaune heard the shuffling of wool behind him – indicating the Princess had awoken. Turning his head slightly to regard the Princess, his eyes widen a fraction and he promptly turned his head back towards the fire – as the Princess had stood, without the blanket wrapped around her lithe, and surprisingly supple, frame.
Jaune had seen many a beautiful sight – whether they be creature, landscape, or creation – but with the exception of very few women, some of who were fantastic creatures crafted to titillate and tease, Weiss blew them out of the water.
The Princess was a small, petite woman - being shorter than most Dwarves at four foot nine inches in height - with porcelain skin and modest, svelte curves. Her heart shaped face bore an elegant nose and sharp eyes the color of an iceberg. Her snow white hair cascaded down her back and shoulders, making her look more like a snow nymph than a mortal – though that was an unfair comparison to snow nymphs.
Though neither the bustiest nor curvaceous woman Jaune had ever seen, the Princess wore her modest curves with an otherworldly grace that few mortals – and even some Fey – could ever hope to replicate.
Though he had only glimpsed the Princess' bare frame, it had been ingrained into his memory – unknown to him, the Princess was currently ingraining his own naked form into her memory.
-{O}-
Weiss abhorred her position as both Crown Princess and Heir Apparent to the newly formed Atlasian throne. She wished nothing more than to be a simple girl born outside of royalty, where she could choose her own destiny, not have it decided for her based on the needs of those she'd never meet – or the avarice ridden desires of her "Father", who had married her Mother purely for statues and wealth.
What Weiss wanted most in the world was freedom, freedom to be her, freedom to choose, freedom to marry for love, not have it chosen for her, things she'd been denied time and time again do to her station, it was why she constantly ran from her would be "Protectors" – thuggish brutes desperate for her fathers wealth and prestige, or her own body, not her, just her body – most had given up within a month, yet her newest jailer had lasted thrice as long.
She supposed it had something to do with him being a Vigil – the offspring of mortals and their own Guardian Celestials.
Needless to say, the man frustrated and fascinated her to no end, as every time she had tried to escape under his watch, she had failed in sometimes spectacular fashion.
The man dressed and acted in a manner befitting a man of his station, but she'd seen the darkness lurking in his eyes, the very same that resided in her elder sisters after she had returned from the war.
Though at the moment, Weiss was more fascinated by the man than frustrated, a strange circumstance since the both of them lacked any form of covering.
Her jailer was a tall man, only surpassed by some Giantkin, at a staggering six and a half feet in height, with a broad shouldered frame covered by rippling muscle – neither to big as to hinder his movement, nor small enough to give the illusion of frailty. Marring his fair skin was a litany of scars – of both man and bestial make – he looked as if sculpted from marble, and apt descriptor do to his fingers and toes being of the material, having started to turn from flesh to marble at his knees and elbows.
But the feature that drew Weiss' eyes the most were the vestigial wings sprouting from the small of his back. She watched in utter fascination as the brilliantly white wings stretched and retracted to and fro their full length – which was a few inches taller than Weiss herself.
Without realizing it, Weiss' body moved on it's own and walked gracefully towards the hunched form of her jailer, pressing itself into his back and wrapping her arms around him, basking in his – quite literal – heavenly warmth.
-{O}-
Jaune tensed as he felt the Princess' naked form press into his back, with her arms wrapping around him, absentmindedly tracing the scars littering his torso and arms.
"Why?" The Princess asked in a small, quite tone, completely unlike the defiant one she normally spoke with.
"Why what?" Jaune probed softly.
"Why are you so adamant to protect me!" Weiss begged. "Every other jackbooted thug my father hired never tried this hard! Never lasted this hard!" She began to cry. "So why, why are you still here!?"
For what felt like an eternity, Jaune did not speak, not even a sound, until he did.
"Because I have nothing else…"
"W-What do you mean?"
"Most who fought in the war had lives, professions, families, to return too." Explained Jaune. "I had none of that, my profession was to be a warrior, my life was the Orders, and the only family I had was my Mentor."
Jaune turned so that he could look the Princess in the eyes. "But both my Mentor and Order was destroyed during the war, and the world has no use for warriors during peace – soldiers, fighters, yes, but a warrior, no…"
"So that is why, Princess, because by protecting you, I have a purpose I've lacked since the Great War ended all those long, long, years ago." Jaune's eyes were lit up with a fire and determination Weiss had only ever seen in one other person, her sister. "And that is why, come hell or high water, I will protect you – even if it means I must sacrifice my life to do so."
Weiss' heart thundered in her chest as an atomic blush spread across her face – and she was now all to aware of both hers and her guardians current lack of clothing.
"W-Well, I… I suppose I s-shall have to tolerate your p-presence, then!" Weiss haughtily stated as she turned and sat upon Jaunes outstretched leg – with said leg jumping up in surprise at Weiss' actions.
"Princess." Jaunes tense and surprisingly high-pitched voice pierced through the silence. "Where do you think you're sitting?!"
"O-On your leg!" Weiss replied indignantly. "And if you even think for a moment about commenting on my weight, I swear I'll-"
"It's not that!" Jaune's voice continued raising in pitch.
"Then what is it!?"
"That's not my leg!"
"Oh, don't be daft!" Weiss scoffed as she reached down to disprove the Paladins claim. "What else cold it possibly… be…"
When Weiss blindly groped behind where she sat, she expected to feel either Jaune's upper calf or knee, not hard abdominal muscles.
"T-Then that means…"
Weiss reached forward of where she was currently sat, feeling a bulbous and round fleshy thing that reminded her of a particularly large mushroom – her actions caused the fleshy protrusion she was sat upon to jump once more, flinging her back into Jaune's muscular chest with a pillar of heat standing guard before her most sacred place.
"Oh!" A husky purr slipped though the Princess' lips, and a litany of new feeling swelled within her form.
-{O}-
The walk back to Castle Atlas was long and filled with awkward silence, with neither ward nor protector looking the other in the eye – though Jaune's eyes were fixed ahead, whereas Weiss' were fixed below Jaune's belt.
"Big…" Weiss thought as she unconsciously bit her bottom lip.
The pair were greeted to the sight of a gathering and restless mob at the gate to Mantle. One of the mob – a lanky man of fiery hair and pale skin dressed in hunters furs – saw their arrival and called out to the rest.
"The Princess and her knight have returned!"
With the mans words, the mob looked to them and erupted in a chorus of joyous cheers and frantic well-wishes.
Jaune recognized many as the patrons of the Hunter's Respite,including it's proprietor Penelope, but there was just as many – if not more – that he did not recognize, including the woman making her way through the gathered mob like a shark on the prowl.
The woman was tall, with porcelain skin and any curves she may or may not have had hidden behind a heavy cuirass. Her heart shaped face bore an upturned aristocratic nose and sharp ice like the arctic sky on a cloudless day. Her own snow white hair was pulled back into a bun with a single bang swept and tucked behind her right ear – though judging by her eyebrows, it would seem that her hair is not naturally white, but instead black, and that she has dyed it for whatever reason.
She was dressed the same way Ciel had been, with the exception of a double pauldron mantle across her shoulders with a royal purple half cap and a similarly colored Kama instead of a sash around her waist.
Her iceberg eyes scanned up and down Jaunes form, before honing in on Weiss.
"Sister." The womans clipped tone was filled with a mixture of barely contained anger and worry. "Pray tell, where have you been?"
"I'm sorry, sister." Weiss apologized, dipping her head and clasping her hands meekly in front of her. "I give you my word that I will not try to escape from this day forward."
"That… that is good, you had Mother and myself worried sick with your stunt." The woman quirked a brow in surprise, before looking upon Jaune in a more favorable light. "Now, go back to the Castle and apologize to Mother, I shall be having words with your guardian."
"Yes, sister." Weiss bowed her head and rushed off to the castle.
The woman briskly marched up to Jaune and stuck out her hand. "My name is Winter, Captain of the Guard and Weiss' elder sister."
Jaune grabbed Winters hand and bent down to press his forehead upon the back of it while his right foot curled behind his left calf.
"It's an honor, Lady Schnee." Jaune said, still bowed. "What is it you wished to discus."
"That can wait until I've had a drink." Winter sighed. "The last two days have been my own personal hell…"
"I can only guess." Jaune sighed with sympathy. "Come, I know a place that has the best ale in all of Mantle!"
Winter gave Jaune a challenging look, something which was undeniably sexy on her sharp face. "We'll see about that,
The pair then made their way to the Hunter, and once there drunk like only soldiers possible could.
"I… I jusht whish shie wouldn't r-run away shooo oftin… it's… it's going to give me wrinkles from the stresss…" Winter slurred, thoroughly shitfaced. "A-And I'm only twen… twenty t… two! Mothersh in her forties… and not a single wrinkle!"
"Godsh, shes sho hot!" Jaune slurred, revealing words he never would have sober.
"Yeah…" Winter admitted, before fixing Jaune with a devilish grin. "Speaking of howt, I couldn't help but notice my sister's eyes were pr… practically glued to a certain spot…" She leaned in close and whispered into Jaune's ear. "Tell me, Guardian, did you tame my sister with your "great sword"?"
"N-No!" Jaune denied. "S-She jusht shaw it 'cause I had to remove our clothes – cause we fell into the lake."
"Well…" Winter purred, pulling Jaune to his feet. "Your just going to have to show me this "great sword" of yours…"
Winter practically dragged Jaune to a room, throwing a small purse of coins at Penelope to cover it, before jumping onto him and pushing them both into the room.
The last thing either one remember is Winter shoving her tongue down Jaune's throat, not that his inebriated self minded all that much.
~~{}~~
Winter Schnee, eldest of the Schnee children and veteran of the Great War – where she fought with bravery and was awarded many a metal.
But her time at war left scars – scars no healing magic, doctor, nor apothecary could ever heal.
When she returned home, she immediately forsake her title as heiress to the throne and instead joined the Mantle Guard, eventually working her way up to the rank of Captain, where she met her sisters guardian during her term as Captain.
Sorry for the wait, I was a tad bit overwhelmed - which is why most of my stories are now gone - but Fanfiction not sending out notifications hasn't helped much, nor has my life being quite hectic as of late. But hopefully, with less stories to worry about, I'll be able to update this one more often.
I hope you all enjoyed this chapter, and thank you all for reading, reviewing, and favoriting.