Weiss Schnee

"That's cold," She muttered with a frown, her eyebrows furrowing to display her annoyance.

A light chuckle sounded from her left, and from her right, Glynda said, "I am sure it isn't any colder than the last times we've done this." Despite her dismissive words, the Witch was looking all over Weiss to make sure everything was in place.

"Her words are often quite cold... But her eyes are always honest. Despite the fact that she hides their colour." Weiss' thoughts were enough to make her smile once more, and before she knew it, Glynda had finished the preparations. Lifting her hand off of the chair's arm for a moment, Weiss looked at the pads connected to her forearm. "I still think this is excessive."

Before Glynda could voice her obviously quite potent opinion, Qrow spoke first from the chair's left. "Maybe. But even I can't summon something across Remnant. Besides-" His eyes glanced to the door of the room, behind which no doubt awaited Ruby. "-If we were to ask a certain someone, she would insist that this still isn't enough."

Weiss tried to dismiss their worries along with Ruby's. "We all know that Ruby has a bias in this circumstance."

"And you don't?" Glynda challenged with a raised eyebrow.

For a moment Weiss considered retorting, but with a gentle huff she had to relent to the Witch. She was right, after all.

A few minutes passed, and only after Glynda had double-checked everything did both herself and Qrow rest their hands on top of Weiss' own as she gripped the chair's arms. Taking a deep breath, Weiss closed her eyes and allowed their Mana to flow into her own. While their Mana Tanks would prove helpful, she wouldn't be falling back on their supply if she ran out. Rather, the tanks filled with Dust behind the chair would supplement her power if she was about to run out. Qrow and Glynda were here to keep her mind stable.

The connection between her and the Summon would be difficult to maintain on her own, it simply took practice she did not have. That could be supplemented if the Summon was intelligent enough to act on its own or help, but her Arma Gigas wasn't capable of that. In order to properly control it, she would need to take manual control.

"From this distance, that can prove dangerous." But with Glynda's Mana control and Qrow's natural command over Grimm spawned from him, it was as safe as it could be.

With a pulse of her Mana, she called forth her Summon and willed it to appear somewhere too far for her to see.

Immediately she felt a dip in her reserves, but with her own Affinity as well as Glynda's Mana management, her Mana Tank was entirely capable of this. Slowly but surely, she felt the link between them form. Opening her eyes, she found herself standing in a field unlike anything near Vale.

It seemed to be a hot day near the fortress named Argus. The giant glowing Knight now standing in the wet fields of melted snow couldn't feel the temperature, but from just a glance, Weiss could see the remainders of melted snow that spotted the field. Turning her head to look at the nearby mountain, the majority of it was still covered in snow. Her mood was kept calm by the peaceful sights, and it wasn't ruined by the odd feeling of her mind controlling the Summon only because she had grown used to it.

Despite the peaceful situation, she was relieved when Mistral's soldiers crested a nearby hill. Eyeing them down, she raised the Knight's great sword with both its hands, readying to charge them herself to cleave them apart. Luckily, even though a great sword was a weapon Weiss had no practice with, the situation didn't demand much finesse from her attacks.

The Knight stood silhouetted by the fortress in the distance behind it. With an adjustment of its stance, its heavy boot sunk nearly a foot into the wet soil beneath the emerald grass that covered the field. Looking at the battalion of troops charging her, Weiss was almost relieved when they started firing various Spells at her.

"They have experience with Magic... This won't be a repeat of the Flats Lock." It had been disturbing to find out who exactly was being sent at them for the majority of those battles. People with no combat experience, Humans drafted into a fight they had no stakes in... Weiss, Winter, Yang... All three of them had slaughtered those people without mercy.

All three of them had wordlessly agreed that it wasn't something to be discussed... Not until the war was over.

Still, even at the thought of it, Weiss was assaulted with guilt. Her Summon's effectiveness would have taken a hit had Glynda not used her own Mana to supplement Weiss' temporary lack of control.

"Ignore it, Weiss." She berated herself. After all, that was half the purpose of sending those Humans to their deaths. Weiss was sure of it. They hadn't found out who was being sent to face them by accident, after all. The other half of the reasoning behind sending them there though... That was almost as disturbing.

It was Ozpin who had figured it out. It was his theory that Neptune was working with Vacuo under a deal. He had likely been promised the Dragon Formula in return for his force's assistance. Even if they had no intention on going through with that agreement, clearing out his cities stock of potential Dragons was simply a fallback.

Weiss' attention was ripped back to the approaching forces as the first wave of Spells struck the Arma Gigas. She felt her Mana reserves dip, and after a moment there was a flood of energy when the Dust refilled her Tank. The process was an alien sensation. Ruby had worked relentlessly to figure it out, and this was the culmination of her work. A system that allowed one to refill their Mana Pool as it drained, with Dust as a supplement. The process wasn't pretty or elegant, and it required a mediator to work through the new Mana for you in order for the Dust to be accepted by your Soul.

It was a powerful system, but entirely impossible to use in an active battle in its current version.

Luckily, Weiss wasn't in a battle.

The Arma Gigas resisted the attacks without issue, and its sword raised with a flash of speed before it was brought down on the men and women who stood against it. The blade was at least ten metres long, and it tore through the enemies without pause or a hint of resistance. All manner of creature were present in the enemies she slew with a single slash, her eyes spotted Lycanthropes, Elves, Dwarves, even the odd Vampire.

It was an odd feeling, the sensation of detachment that washed over her as she killed them. In a way, she could easily shift the blame from herself. After all, it wasn't actually her that killed them. She was simply controlling a Grimm that controlled a Golem that swung a sword. If her enemies got in the way of them, who could blame her?

But that was the easy way out. Even though it was simple, she refused to ignore the responsibility of her actions. That was something her father would do, and her spite for him gave her enough courage to face her actions. These people she killed, they had families... Many of them had spouses, some who loved them just as much as she loved Ruby. They had parents, most of which loved them just as much as she loved Argus.

"With every swing of this sword... I'm tearing apart families." Without pause, the blade swung again, annihilating the second line of fighters. "And for what? Just so I can protect a glorified building that shares my son's name?" Another swing. "I suppose this isn't the worst thing I've ever done." A cold acceptance washed over her as the Knight raised its blade again, as she operated it like a puppet and raised its blade for it. There was no one else to hand the blame over to, this was Weiss, and Weiss alone.

But that fact wouldn't stop her.

It took only a minute before the soldiers had been destroyed. All that remained were the odd stragglers here and there who had managed to avoid the lightning fast strikes of the Arma Gigas' sword. Still, they were attempting to fight. The remainders of the force - if they could even be called remainders - stood and tried to destroy the Summon, instead of just turning and fleeing. Weiss felt angry at them. A burning and unreasonable irritation at their actions.

"Why won't you flee?" She found herself thinking. The question of if they valued their lives or not came to mind, but as she settled in her attempts to dispatch her last remaining opponents, both her head and the Knight's head shook. "They want revenge... They don't want their ally's deaths to be in vain..." It was an odd feeling that welled up in her as she still tried her best to chase them down. Simultaneously despising her actions while understanding they were needed.

"I don't like war," Weiss decided after her blade finally managed to slay one of the remaining three fighters. The last two ran about like ants, dodging her attacks despite the speed with surprising agility. These last two, she wasn't sure if they had gotten lucky, or if they had been the strongest ones in the soldier's forces. "The World doesn't value collective effort as much as it should. Despite all of you sharing the drive and determination to kill me, you can't make it past my Summon." There was no malice or contempt in her thoughts, she didn't find herself judging her opponents or viewing them as weak or pathetic... Rather, she found herself questioning the power that governed Remnant.

"The World truly is cruel-" With a crackle of noise and a blast of pressure that sent the Arma Gigas to the ground - crumbling like paper - Weiss' thoughts were ripped from her as the Golem was nearly annihilated in a single blow. She felt her senses fade in and out of focus as the force continued, the Golem drawing in as much of her Mana as it could to keep itself from disappearing completely from reality. Her concentration focused after a moment, but as her attention moved to the Summon, she felt a pull from the Golem as it attempted to drag as much from her Mana Tank as it could. Dragging her consciousness with it.

Her vision was hazy and blurred, and that was the most operational of her senses. As she tried to focus, to make any amount of sense from this, another attack followed and hit her square in the chest. Weiss wanted to scream in pain, but she lacked a mouth to scream with. Her eyes attempted to look down, but as her head turned, all she saw was the glowing metal form of the Arma Gigas. That sight was quickly ripped from her as another flash of light hit her square in the stomach, this time, destroying the Golems body yet again with a devastating attack.

Weiss barely managed to control her thoughts long enough to figure out what was happening, but in the haze that followed the attack while she waited for another, her mind managed to put two and two together.

"That Magic... It was lightning." Her teeth would have grit if this form had any. "Nora Valkyrie is here."

Frustratingly, Weiss found herself unable to pull more Mana from her actual body into the Summon. But, in the moment, she could think logically. This was temporary, she knew that. In fact, Weiss was confident enough to say that this wouldn't last for even a minute. After all, Glynda had probably been aware of the situation before she herself was, and the Witch was no doubt fixing it right now.

Surprisingly, the next strike of lightning didn't come as soon as she had expected. The form of the Arma Gigas nearly fully regenerated before Weiss managed to pull it to its feet, supporting its stand with the weight of its great sword stabbed into the earth and leaning against it.

There, on the fields wet with melted snow and blood, amidst all the bodies and the two survivors, stood the Valkyrie.

Her wings outstretched as her blood-red eyes found the Summon standing once again. For a moment, Weiss tensed in anticipation of another strike of lightning... But it never came. Instead, the Valkyries feathered wings folded again and Nora spoke. It wouldn't have been loud enough for the Golem to hear normally... But, with her senses now stuffed into the Summon, Weiss could hear the words Nora spoke meant only for herself.

"You and Neptune are the same... Why can't either of you just let the killing end?" It was terribly serious talk for her, and not at all what Weiss had suspected from Nora after what she heard during the Vytal festival all those years ago. Weiss had wanted to refute her words, but in her state, she lacked the ability to.

Though, as if timing was on her side, the cancelling of her Summon and the sudden disappearance of the Arma Gigas surely proved Nora at least partly wrong.

Light Blue eyes snapped open, but her momentary panic subsided as she looked around the room she had been in previously. She could feel her body, she could feel the chair beneath her, the clothes still wrapped around her... Though, weirdly, they were a little wet on her front.

Summoning the strength to move her head, Weiss looked down to her stomach with confusion in her eyes. The first thing she noticed was that her ears were still failing her, she couldn't hear anything. The second thing, was the fact that Qrow and Glynda were both hunched over her, their faces displaying nothing but panic. Weiss was especially surprised to see Glynda's glasses off, her Platinum eyes fully revealed to the room. There were a few other people rushing about, and with a turn of her head, she noticed that Ruby was by her side... Only, she looked terribly upset. Sad? Angry? Worried? Weiss couldn't tell... But, the emotion she settled on was...

"Fear..." Her thoughts dulled for a moment as she looked back down to Qrow and Glynda, watching a bright Green light flowing from their hands. It looked to Weiss like they were trying to heal her stomach...? "But why would they-?" Panic and dread set in at the same time, her eyes widening as she finally saw the blood coating the clothes that stuck to her belly.

"No... No, no, no no...!" For a moment, despite her lack of hearing, everything was too loud. Her mind was overwhelmed with a million different thoughts, and she was sure that she was screaming, even if she couldn't hear it. Tears clouded her eyes and she wanted to thrash about desperately, trying with all her might to deny what she was certain was happening.

Finally, she could take no more. It was all too much, and only just as she lost consciousness did her hearing return in part, and she heard Glynda speak.

"RUBY! Hook me up to the Dust! Qrow! Fetch Argus now! I have an idea!" In the moment, she couldn't make sense of it... But that didn't matter. As she faded into unconsciousness, she only heard the voice of her instincts... The instincts of a Dragon.

With their whispers, they called her a failure.

Ruby Schnee

"Ruby? Are you ok?" A gentle voice whispered to her, and as she turned around in her seat, Silver eyes met amber ones, and she put on a gentle smile.

Eventually, she answered Blake. "Yeah... Just... Worried, still a bit worked up, too."

Nodding gently, Blake moved next to her and kneeled down into a squat to look up into her eyes. "I bet." For a moment, her eyes darted to the bed that Ruby sat to the side of, or rather, the person sleeping in it. "She'll be ok, they both will be." Blake's eyes met Ruby's own, and the Queen Consort nodded gently.

"I know. I ran some tests myself... Just to be sure..." Her eyes slowly turned back to look at Weiss' sleeping form. After a moment, she reached over and rested her hand on Weiss' belly, gently rubbing it. As she concentrated, she felt both the pulse of Weiss' heartbeat, and another, much smaller heartbeat. "I have a pretty good idea of what happened." She mumbled after yet another moment.

"Wanna fill me in?" Blake asked with a small tilt of her head. "I'm not exactly sure about the details myself."

Ruby nodded gently, and went to speak. "Well-" But a gentle groan interrupted her.

Both their heads whipped to Weiss' face as her eyes slowly flickered open. It was agonisingly slow, and clearly she was having difficulty with the light in the room. Wordlessly, Blake rushed over to the windows and drew the blinds closed. All three of them could still see plenty well in the dark, and after a minute or two longer, Weiss managed to open her eyes.

"Ruby..." Her voice was a strained whisper, it sounded like it was full of pain, but Ruby didn't for a second think it was because of physical discomfort. "... Ruby... I..." Tears welled in her eyes, and before Weiss could try and say anything more, Ruby reached over and grasped one of her hands in both of her own.

"Weiss. Our baby is fine. You're fine. Both of you are fine." Her own voice hitched as she spoke, but Ruby refused to crack as she spoke. It had been scary, but she needed to get through this for Weiss first. Her wife would surely have too many questions, and Ruby intended to answer them all.

"But... I saw it... I saw it Ruby..." Weiss' head turned to look at her directly, in her expression Ruby saw only disbelief and the smallest spark of hope.

Ruby nodded. "You did. For a minute or two... Our baby was gone." Weiss' expression filled with despair once more, but before she could crash, Ruby continued. "But Glynda brought her back."

For a moment, all was quiet. Weiss clearly had so many questions, and she undoubtedly was going to ask them all. But for now, she just stared at Ruby. As if silently begging for confirmation that she was telling the truth. Ruby waited patiently as Weiss scanned her face for a lie, and when she found none, her eyes welled with tears of a different kind. "... 'Her'...?" Relief was all that could be heard in the Queen's voice.

Tears welled in Ruby's eyes, her own feelings too fresh for her to handle talking about this again. Still, she continued, "Yeah, 'her'. I accidentally found out when I was scanning you both after Glynda saved her."

"But... How did she...? The healing Magic wasn't working, I saw it." Disbelief was once again her prominent emotion, but mixed into it was an elation that couldn't be described.

"I'm not exactly sure what happened on your side... But, for a minute there, your consciousness slipped from your body and went into your Summon." Ruby glanced at Blake for a moment as she moved to stand by her side again, just next to the chair. "You were hit by an attack, I'm guessing... One that damaged its stomach. You felt it, and due to the connection being tainted and... Off... Things started to go wrong." She took in a deep breath. "It was a mixture of things. The weird connection between your Soul, body, and your consciousness... Glynda's attention slipped on adjusting the Dust's Mana as she tried to bring you back... An attack hit at the wrong time... And the Magic turned the pain in your stomach into physical damage on your body."

From the look on Weiss' face, Ruby was certain that she wanted to be sick. But, Ruby wanted to explain it all now. "The healing wasn't working because..." Silver eyes glanced away, and her voice dropped in volume. "... Because there was nothing to heal... The baby was... completely..." After a moment of not being able to say the word, she shook her head and continued past. "Glynda saved her." Ruby reiterated once again. "She managed to get control of the situation, she got us to work fast and quickly... And she managed to bring the baby back."

"But... How...?" Weiss practically begged for an answer.

So, Ruby gave her one. "Time Magic." It was simple, but it left the Queen stunned for a moment. "I'm sure it would have normally been impossible... But with Glynda being powered by the Dust, she managed to reverse time for just your body... And the Magic counted the baby as part of your body. She wasn't too concerned with precise timings, but from what we've worked out, you should technically be a few months younger now."

Weiss didn't seem to really understand for a minute, but as her hand moved down to rub her belly, feeling how much smaller it was than the last time she had seen it... Ruby slowly watched acceptance wash over her, then, an overpowering relief.

"Ruby..." She gently whispered.

"Yeah?"

"I don't know how we're going to thank her for this." They both gently smiled, meeting each others gaze as Ruby nodded.

"Trust me... Neither do I."

For a few minutes, all was calm. The two of them shared gentle smiles, which quickly turned to bigger ones and happy exchanges filled with hugs. It didn't take long for Blake to join in, and eventually all three of them were hugging on the bed. Much to Blake's feigned chagrin.

Then Yang walked in. "Weiss! You're awake!"

"Yang?!" The Queen's confusion was quickly forgotten as the Blonde Dragon joined them on the bed, all four of them hugging tightly while Weiss tried her best to figure out why Yang was here. The other three all ignored her for a few minutes, but eventually, as things calmed down, Yang and Blake both left the bed and stood next to it. Ruby, however, remained laying next to Weiss.

"I'm here for you and Ruby. Besides, I haven't been home in like... Eight months. I had things I wanted to do at home." A quick blush from Blake after Yang's words made Ruby almost gag at the realisation that she was 'things'. "Don't worry, Jaune took my place for a bit."

"Jaune?" Ruby tensed a bit as Weiss thought that over, pondering if that was smart or not. "I suppose that makes sense. He can kill Grimm as effectively as a Dragon." She nearly cheered at Weiss' words, proud that she had made the correct decision in the Queen's absence. "But, that raises the question to me... How long have I been asleep?"

"Only two days." Blake's words certainly shouldn't have been comforting, but she managed to say it in such a way that Weiss simply shrugged.

"That was better than I could have hoped... How is Argus?"

Ruby chimed in now. "He's fine. At first, he was a bit shaken up by the event... He... Actually helped with the Dust during all the chaos of it..." Her voice took a guilty turn at that, but Weiss didn't even blink at that, to Ruby's relief. "But he could understand my scans as well as I could, so it was pretty easy to convince him that everything was ok."

A gentle sigh of relief came from Weiss as she leaned further against Ruby. "Good... Now... As much as I don't want to ask... What of the Argus Fortress?"

"It's fine." Blake's blunt words once again were quick to calm the Queen. "We aren't sure why yet, but they haven't sent any more forces there since."

Weiss glanced at Ruby, and after a moment she told her through telepathy, "It was because of the losses suffered last time, Nora appeared at the end. She's the one that attacked me." After her words, Ruby nodded, and Weiss repeated herself to Blake and Yang out loud. She also chose to tell them all what Nora had said before the Summon had disappeared.

Upon hearing that, Blake frowned and hung her head with what seemed to be disappointment. "Neptune used to be such a better man... It truly is unfortunate..." Yang nodded her head and made a grunt of agreement... However, their reactions left both Weiss and Ruby staring at them with bewilderment.

Eventually, after a bit of silence, Weiss voiced their confusion. "You two... knew Neptune?"

Once again, Yang gave them a nod. "He was Sun's friend. Not our kid, but... The other Sun. Neptune... He always saw him as a brother, I guess." Her eyes flickered with sadness as she turned away. "He hates me for what happened. All of it... For Blake, for what happened to him in order to save me..."

After a moment, Blake added, "He hates me too... He thinks I led Sun on, I suppose."

Listening with a soft expression, Ruby nodded along to their words and felt sympathy for them. After they were done, she turned to Weiss to gauge her reaction and-

"Oh wow, she is pissed... Wait... Why is she pissed-?"

"What!?" Her scream shook them all for a moment, the rage filled exclamation surely would have been heard throughout a decent portion of the castle.

Unable to speak in surprise for a moment, Ruby managed to stutter out, "W-Weiss...? What's wrong...?"

"What's wrong? What's wrong!?" Ruby nearly instantly regretted turning her wife's attention onto herself. "We have been struggling with this war for years now, and these two have been keeping a secret like this for that whole time!?" She gestured wildly to Yang and Blake, exasperation written all over her expression.

"I mean... It's not that much of a secret..." Now, Yang had made the mistake of garnering Weiss' attention.

Ruby and Blake merely exchanged concerned looks as Weiss yelled at Yang for a few minutes, anger and exasperation being the only real emotions Ruby could pick out from it all. During it all, Yang barely said anything in retort or showed any signs of getting upset about it... Ruby was sure it was because Yang would rather take it than Blake be exposed to any of it. Or, more likely, Yang knew that Weiss was still overflowing from emotion from almost losing their baby... "Does Yang want her to let it out?"

Eventually, Weiss calmed down. Or, perhaps saying she stopped yelling was more accurate. Ruby was still painfully aware that she was seething next to her in the bed.

With grit teeth, Weiss let out one final groan. "Well, what's done is done, I suppose." She waved a hand to gather their attention, as if they all weren't already looking at her like a bomb ready to go off. "Someone go get the council please... Actually, screw the council. Go get me something to write with."

While Blake went to do just that, Yang turned to her and - rather bravely - spoke to her once again. "You... Um... Planning to punish me or something?"

"No, you overgrown brute..." The words were practically groaned out. "I have a plan, is all."

Ruby decided to ask the obvious question. "A plan to do what?"

Laying her head back, Weiss looked at Ruby with only her eyes and spoke in a much calmer voice. "A plan to knock Mistral out of the war."

16th Day, Fifth Strike, 2117 PE