Weiss. With her boney body. Her pale, dry skin like paper— that same slick-soft sound when my fingers run over it. Over her shoulders. Her biceps so defined with little to no fat. Her elbows slightly rosier on the outside. Her veins bright blue against her forearms. Her wrists dainty, bony. Her fingers like a skeleton with skin. Clipped, colorless nails. Gayass. My gayass. Mine.

Nose to neck, juniper. Fingers into hair, silken. Ear to lips, the hot, labored breathing. Mouth to throat, tongue to skin. The salt.

The fear. The iron. Warm, leathery apples.

Feast and feast and feast. Let her hit me. Let her fight. Let her prove she's nothing. She's made me too strong for her.

Too strong for anything.

Too strong for that old skin.

For this.

For you.

Let me in.

Let me in.

Let.

Me.

In.

Ruby woke up, her hands twitching, her body hot.

Her pigtails were undone.

She yawned.

She'd redo them in the morning.


"Fledgeling."

Is it bad that Ruby kinda Iiked being called that? For one: Summer fucking hated it, she could feel her mom's soul going absolutely buck-wild; for two: it was nostalgic, in a weird way, like all those times she got punched in the face as a kid had a new, motherly context. Once again she has reminded herself that her family is not at all 'normal'.

Raven squinted, asking, "What the hell did you do to your hair?"

"Pigtails," Ruby answered, feeling a cheeky grin curl the corners of her mouth at how disgusted her mom looked. She decided to push a little further. "I thought they looked so cute— don't you?"

Raven's left eye twitched. She plastered on a tremulous smile. "Uh… y-yeah. Cute," the woman lied. "It's… so cute."

Ruby snorked, letting her manicured look of innocent ignorance drop into a grin that was decidedly more shit-eating. "I'm joking, mom."

'Mom' felt nice to say— a lot of things felt weirdly nice since she'd gotten a proper sleep in the hotel. Raven let out a huge sigh. "Thank god. Why the hell…" At her mother's inquisitive look, Ruby gave her a 'seemed funny' shrug. Raven shook her head, but looked back up at Ruby with what seemed to be an idea behind her eyes. This, to Ruby, was somewhat terrifying; mom wasn't an 'ideas' person, more if a 'we do what we've always done' person— then again, Raven seemed severely changed since seeing her youngest daughter laid up in hospital.

Raven sat on the edge of her bed and pointed to the floor in front of her. "C'mere," she requested.

Ruby raised one brow. "Why?"

Raven rolled her eyes. "Just come here, I wanna show you something."

Ruby stared cautiously, but approached. Raven beckoned her to sit and turn around, so she did that too. Mum didn't like having her back turned to another person— really didn't like it, so much that she kept trying to turn with Ruby's lower back muscles. Thankfully, besides an annoying twitch, her soul's efforts didn't amount to much of anything.

Raven undid her (admittedly not very good) pigtails, but kept her hair parted down the middle as she started grabbing smaller strands, braiding front to back and gathering hair from Ruby's scalp as she went. She repeated the process on the other side. Eventually, Ruby ended up with two braids running parallel down the sides of her head, the extra hair braided and tied tightly past each collarbone.

It felt secure, and Raven had kept the braids very tidy. Even better, the weight was distributed evenly so it wasn't tugging anywhere along her hairline. Even even better, it looked great! "Damn, mom!" Ruby admired, turning her head to peep every angle. Behind her, Raven's smug energy was radioactive.

"Yeah, I know," mom smugly smugged, rolling her wrist in a smugful manner. "I'm pretty cool."

Ruby almost snarked, but she knew how to come out on top of this one: taking the high road. "Yeah, mom, yeah. You're actually cool as fuck. I really appreciate you doing this; you did a great job. Thank you. I love you."

Really weird how much she actually, like, meant that, but it had its intended effect. Raven went bright red and punched her daughter in the shoulder, grumbling, "Oh, shut up."

Ruby hummed as she absorbed all her mother's smugness, and they spent the next hour or two getting breakfast from a local pierogi stand. It struck Ruby that she really shouldn't know what pierogi was— she'd never had it before and even Raven seemed surprised when her daughter started tugging her to the stand— but the heart and lungs in Ruby's chest pulled towards it with distinct familiarity. Thankfully, 'we want food' transcends language, so Raven just had to flash her Lien before two paper boats were administered, the little dumplings within steaming in the cold morning air. They came with little dipping cups, too.

Ruby devoured them with the speed and voraciousness of a person who already knew they'd be delicious, using so much of the onion-butter dip that she might as well have been shoveling the pierogi in her mouth and upending the sauce cup on top. When she finished (too soon), she raised her empty serving boat and shouted something to the proprietor of pierogi.

Raven looked up and swallowed the dumpling in her mouth. "You don't speak Mantell."

Ruby cocked her head at her mother. It took a while to figure out what mom meant— too long not to be suspicious— but she tried to play it off with a shrug. "It's what he said when we gave him the Lien."

Raven eyed her daughter. It took a steel will for Ruby to keep her shoulders from pinching back. Raven shrugged after a moment, either believing her or deciding it doesn't actually matter (which, really, it doesn't, even if it really really does). They finish their food.

Fed and rested, Ruby's brain finally has the space and the means to concoct an idea.

"Mom?"

Raven made a noise of acknowledgement from her changing room.

Ruby slipped the thick dress over her head, her feathered arms popping out of the sleeveless arm-holes. "Do you, like, know about Weiss?"

"I know she's your girlfriend."

Ruby watched herself frown in the mirror. The dress itself was actually rather nice: a cold-weather affair, thick and woolen, long enough to hang past her knees and cover a good deal of bird-leg. A big, fuzzy cloak would cover her arms, along with some nice and lined leather gloves to keep her hands unfrozen. "She's not," Ruby huffed, doing absolutely nothing with her shoulders.

"Uh-huh," Raven said disbelievingly. "Yet here you are, literally chasing her halfway across the world. She'd better be your girlfriend."

"We're partners."

Mum, deciding now was the time Ruby needed her input: 'That doesn't matter, this whole debacle is extremely asinine.'

Because of course mum wouldn't do the same for mom.

'I didn't say that.'

The soul twisted. Ruby didn't know what that meant.

Raven snorted. "Life-partners."

"You have zero standing to joke at my expense."

"I have an entire extra gender's worth of standing."

"Wha—" oh, right, bi mom. "Gross."

Raven chortled. Ruby heard her mom's stall open, then Raven's voice coming from in front of her own stall door. "Is there something else I need to know about you two?"

Ruby winced, throwing her old clothes in a shopping bag. She threw her new cloak over her shoulders and slipped her gloves on, stepping out of the stall to face her mom. "She's a Schnee," Ruby cold-opened, hoping to rip the bandaid off.

Raven's eyebrows went high, then low, her lips opening wide for a shout before pursing tight with consternation. After a couple long moments, something else crested her expression: smugness. Again. "You really are an engineer, huh?"

Ruby got ready to groan.

"Trying to repair her heart?"

Ruby groaned. "Oh my god, mom, I am not—" her shoulders threatened to pinch back preemptively. "Okay, look, maybe it's an 'I can fix her' thing, a little bit, but she's not bad! Honestly! The racism is—" oh god, this was, like, the worst thing she could possibly say, ever, and it sounded so fucking gross coming out— "Endearing."

Raven blinked at her. "The racism endears you."

"W-well, I know she doesn't mean it!" Ruby grumbled, following her mom out of the clothing store. "It's just— like— it's banter!"

"'Banter,'" Raven repeated, unamused.

"Yeah! Look, we're ne— supposed to be nemeses, okay! It's, like, a healthy hatred!"

Raven looked at her sternly— no, wait, she wasn't even being really stern! She had a little smirk! That asshole!

"Hey!" Ruby whined, shoulder-checking her mom. "Don't— whatever you're doing!"

Raven snorted, waving her off. "I'm just messin' with ya, fledgeling. Seriously, you should hear some of the things your…" she trailed off, her bemused look falling grim. "Uh… nevermind. Look, you're sure it's not a real racism thing? Have you seen her around other Faunus?"

Ruby winced. "Uh… I don't think I've even seen another Faunus at Beacon."

"Seriously?"

"None yet." After a second, she hastily added, "I mean, I guess Yang by blood, but not, like… phonetically." Ruby blinked hard. "Er, phenotypically."

Raven scowled. "Okay, that does kind of worry me, Ruby."

"She seemed okay with you."

Raven gave her a look— the very obvious one you would make at that: a 'well yeah, I'm your mother,' look that was also an 'oh, you could read exactly what she thought and felt the moment she saw me, before she realized I was your mom? You're sure the first thing she thought wasn't 'Oh, more birdspawn, great''' look. Raven said most of the latter herself, subbing out the slur with 'another bird'.

Ruby winced. She prepared to say an awful truth. "Okay, I see the issue, but consider this: I am feral for her."

Raven smacked the back of her head.

"That's fair," Ruby conceded. Raven sighed.

It took a long time before she said anything, long enough that they were back in sight of the hotel. Raven stopped them, grabbing Ruby and turning her until they were eye-to-eye. Ruby was a little taller. "Look, Ruby, this… this isn't my area of expertise, okay? I'm not, like, a lovey person— hell, I'm barely even a mom to my own kids—"

"That's not—"

Raven made a sharp movement with her hand, cutting Ruby off. "No, I mean it. I'm only now making up for it with you, but… god, Ruby, I've… I mean, I let you get put in this situation!"

'As if you could've stopped me.'

Raven couldn't hear her wife, so she continued, growing somber with each word. "And Yang… I've barely been anything for her. She's a grown woman, now— so're you, I guess, but… Yang got all the parenting she needs. Everything Tai couldn't give, she learned to do for herself. But you…"

Ruby felt herself wither and rot, her guts like pipes with their bottoms rusted out.

"There's more I can do for you," Raven said, almost whispering. "There's things I can make up for."

"Like what?" Ruby barely asked.

"After all this, I, uh…" Raven looked away, letting her daughter go. She shuffled unsurely. "I… I want to show you the clan."

Ruby was instantly floored. "You— but— I thought I wasn't, like, worth—"

Raven pushed her shoulder, cutting Ruby off. "Oh, shut up. Of course you're worthy."

Those four words rang in Ruby's head. They rang and rang, shutting out anything Ruby could ever think to say, and Raven must have thought she was angry, or sad, or something else that wasn't what she was, because she just looked down and grimaced before heading back to their rooms. Ruby followed mindlessly. The words kept bouncing around.


"Weiss?"

Clunk.

"Is that you, snowflake? I— goodness, I… I must have fallen asleep! And in the study, how—"

"I drugged you."

"Wha— what?"

"I drugged you. I slipped sleeping pills in your drink."

"Why!"

Weiss sneered. She couldn't stand that whining voice. That crack. The scratchiness of it. She stomped to her mother's desk, leaving the locked office door behind, and slammed her knife down into the top. The woman barely yanked her hand away in time. "Whoever you think you are, I will not be taunted by some puppet of my mother."

The Willow-shaped thing wheeled backwards, throwing her chair and her self down to the ground. She spilled out of the seat with a yelp, her hands scrambling to push her back towards the wall. Weiss stepped over the desk, her eyes locked on the creature, knife wrenching out of the desk. The old thing opened its wrinkled mouth.

"If you scream, I will make you wish you stayed dead."

One dinner with this thing breathing next to her, staring at her, daring to exist in that skin, that was enough. "I do not know what you are talking about!" the creature whined pitifully. "I— I am here! I am alive! Here!"

The thing shot a hand out towards Weiss, but she recoiled from the skin.

"Touch me, Weiss! I am real! I am alive!"

Weiss sneered, gripping her kitchen knife. Whatever farce this was, whatever this thing thought it was, Weiss would never risk touching Willow's soul again. Not like she'd be able to siphon her, anyways. "Put that away," she growled, waving the knife, but the thing that wasn't Willow pushed itself up the wall and walked towards her, hand still extended, expression begging. "Get away," Weiss hissed again. "I will kill you, demon."

Demon was the only word she had. It was the only thing that explained Willow's corpse made whole, walking, and making borscht once again. There wasn't any reason to it. No logic. Willow Schnee was dead— Weiss had seen the body, touched it, drained away everything that 'Willow Schnee' was supposed to be from mortal fabric itself. Willow Schnee was unmade. Willow Schnee was, most literally, gone.

Weiss would make sure of—

The door. Knocking. Thump-thump-thump. Klein.

"Madam Schnee? The door is locked— I brought you your wine!"

Weiss turned to—

"Oh, thank you, Klein! I am in here with Weiss, did you forget you were our master butler now? You have a master key!"

The living lie's voice was good-natured, slow and stretched out to give Weiss a chance. She hid the knife behind her back.

"Of course I remember," Klein claimed easily, pushing the now-unlocked door open. "I just wanted to offer the chance to maintain your privacy."

Weiss watched him wink as he passed her, a platter held in both his pincers with a wine bottle and two glasses standing atop it. Weiss eyed the two glasses. "M-mother," she forced out, the word feeling like acid on her tongue. "You are expecting a guest?"

"I was expecting you, snowflake," the thing claimed sweetly, making Weiss glare at her as soon as the butler wouldn't see.

Klein put the wine and glasses on the desk, jumping when he noticed the toppled chair. "Oh! Madam Schnee, did you—"

"I am fine!" the thing claimed, despite the fact that its mere existence violated all definitions of 'fine'. "My Weiss told me a good joke— something she called her father," the false blue eyes, those lies that a real person with a real memory had passed to her real daughter, locked onto Weiss. "What was it?"

Weiss frowned. "'Walking ass-polyp of colonic disease,' I called him."

Klein snorted. In her younger days, Klein would've been whipped for that much. She half-expected Jacques to come around the corner with the whip.

The demon wearing Weiss' mother nodded at Klein. "Girls these days," she said, chuckling. "Perhaps she has already absorbed that bawdy Vale culture!"

Klein righted the chair and poured two glasses, smiling. "Is that true, dear girl? Have they made of you some 'kook-ky cray-zy party girl'?" he asked, dragging some Valish out behind the shed to 'make things right.'

Weiss, with effort appropriate only for divine labor, forced her lips to curl away from her teeth— smilingly, some might say. "Yes," she strained, slapping back half the wine like an absolute mongrel. "I am a 'kooky crazy party girl.'"