Floating. Again. Somewhere else. In a bed— again. In a room.

"Nn— ngh."

That was her voice— what it felt like to have one: a vibration in the throat, the mouth. Where was the incessant myriad of noises?

Come to think of it, this didn't smell like that place. It smelled like… person. The sheets were soft and thick, plush, and she didn't have those good grippy socks. Though her lids were Atlas-laden, she bade them pry apart— just enough for the bright world to ravage her retinae and make her yearn for a dark corner to curl up in. She half-groaned, half-hissed, a goblinoid call of awakening: "N-nnnnn—eeeeeekhhh."

Her invocation did not make the lightbulbs explode. Nor were her eyes wrought suddenly blind, which would've been equally preferable. Weiss shut them again, trying to return to the abyss embrace, but she knew it wouldn't take her again. Whatever. Not like it mattered. She was here, now, and she could be here until she turned to dust. So long as she was here, she wasn't anywhere else, and nothing was coming for her. Nothing. She'd be left alone.

Alone.

Abyssally, obliviatingly, voidingly, alo—

"Weiss?"

Weiss wailed, flailed, bailed out of bed with a yowl and scrambled for the end table— not her room, not any room she'd ever been in— unfamiliar end table— two fucking drawers? No guns? Just a mini gaming console and— are those condoms?

"Weiss, chill!" The voice was familiar. Her neck was sore— her wrist was sore. "Chill, chill, it's me. It's Ruby."

She did not chill. The Huntress whirled, grabbing something from deep in the drawer and holding it out like a lethal weapon. However, upon seeing and processing what it was, she let the thing fly with a panicked 'eep!'

"Jesus, Ruby!" She cawed. "Put that somewhere secret!"

Ruby, who was now standing in the doorway with a tray in her hands, deadpanned. "It was. You just decided to rifle through my drawers— that's kind of on you. Were you hoping for a gun?"

Warmth rushed hot beneath Weiss' face. "W-well— I— um— yes?"

"So you could shoot me."

"Um… yes."

"Even though," Ruby tilted the tray down. "I brought you this?"

Weiss beheld the tray's contents, and almost immediately cried. Like, genuinely. Actually felt real tears welling up—

"W-Weiss! Are— are you alright? It's not— is it bad? Crap, I'm sorry!"

"N-no!" the Huntress answered, frantic, throwing a hand towards the other girl in desperate supplication. "No. I'm just…"

'I'm just not used to getting fed?' No, that's not super accurate; they had personal chefs at the manor, along with butlers, so she knew privileged service.

'I'm just used to eating, um…' Ramen. Plain bread. Fast food leftovers. Bird food for breakfast, basically, and always of the most pathetic kind. The only thing keeping her alive was her workout regimen. Although, come to think of it, there was a primal fear in how her blood pressure probably looked now. There was still something missing, though.

'I'm just useless, and I'm horrid, and I can't be seen right now— go away, leave me alone. Let me rot in your room, on the floor next to this silicone penis. I don't deserve to live.' Well, that was a given, and not special at all.

'I'm just not compatible with being cared for.'

It was a hammer trying to barge up her throat, those words, and it got lodged somewhere in the middle— unable to come out, unable to go back in— making it feel like a big brick tumor was sitting in her neck. So Weiss just half-sat, half-laid there, impotent, her face unable to cast the die towards any one expression and instead defaulting to her usual Resting Bitch Face. Which Ruby didn't deserve. Ruby brought her breakfast. Ruby cooked breakfast and brought it to her— in bed— but all Weiss could muster in return was this dead, angry fish of an expression?

Ruby waited for her to say something, but there was another tic in Weiss' brain, in her mouth, in her sinuses— her wrist and neck pulsed with a dull, sore pain. There was a smell somewhere in her memories, tangy and metallic. Was there something she was forgetting? Or somewhere she was supposed to be?

"Come on," Ruby urged, making the Huntress jump, her reverie shattered. The girl tilted her head back out the way she came as she started to slowly back out of the room, breakfast tray held out like an owner with a dog treat. "Since you're up, I've got a pot of coffee ready, too. If you're into that."

Wait… where was she? Looking around, it wasn't anywhere she recognized— was that because of the hazy film over the world? Or was that just blanketing her brain? "R-Ruby?" managed to pull itself from her lips. "Where…"

The girl, who was only now visible as a breakfast tray being extended around the corner, poked her head back around. "You don't— oh, wait, no, you've been in, like, two rooms. It's my house. We're back. You… don't remember coming here?"

No. She didn't. She remembered… a feeling. A hot, musky feeling, with fingers and a mouth: a body-memory that sat between her legs. Torturously, with a brain that probably wouldn't be able to parse Doctor Seuss, Weiss extended her logic. "Did we… fuck?"

Ruby's full body reappeared around the corner, straightening up. Her lips were gentle and humoring. Her eyes were sincere. "No. I mean— not really. No. You didn't seem okay to drive, so I drove you back here. I slept on the couch."

Something inane bumbled past Weiss' lips: "You… drove my… don't do that. You're not on my insurance."

Ruby snorted, backing out around the corner again, tray still held out like a tempting carrot. "I'll keep that in mind, mi hermosita scrungly," she said indecipherably, injecting a little command in her pitchy voice as she added, "Vamos."

Weiss knew the sound of a 'c'mere' when she heard one, and managed to peel her shitty, absent body off the floor with some support from the end table. She eyed the pretty purple penis she'd extracted a minute ago, considering whether leaving it would be more of a faux pas then touching it again, and opted to simply follow after Ruby without further consideration. At the very least she closed the door behind her— Ruby had a dog, right? Wouldn't want him to end up ruining the thing.

Ruby sauntered backwards down the hallway, her eyes on Weiss, off-pink lips tucked into a tiny, beautiful smile. She had a nice skater skirt, black, but no stockings or socks to cover the gay little leg-hairs that contrasted darkly with her blonde latte tones— this, surprising Weiss to her core, was extremely appealing to her. Because she was gay. And Ruby was pretty. And her legs weren't shaven, so that was a gay signal too, right? Or was Ruby just one of those girls? Shit, Weiss was one of those girls, and she was definitely gay, but she also had terrible self-care habits and such fine, colorless hair that you couldn't really tell anyways. Plus, Ruby had condoms?

Was her brain hooking on all the wrong things? Thinking was like falling down a tree, hitting all the branches on the way down, only she was supposed to hit a very certain subset of branches— one she wasn't sure actually belonged to this tree.

"A-are you, like… bi? Or something?"

Ruby perked up at her voice, as if she were genuinely happy to hear it. She smiled, even though Weiss was weird, and her questions were weird and stupid, and she'd threatened the girl with a dildo straight off the wakeup. Weiss found herself inexplicably panicking on the inside, expectation a lead weight despite her being the one who asked the question— that awful question, why would she ask that? Things were nice for once and she was risking them!

"The— the, uh— you've just— uh… condoms."

Ruby smirked at her. It was destructively dashing. "You're not the only woman who carries a gun."

"You—"

"No!" Ruby snorted. "No, nono, I've just had 'em forever, I dunno why. In case I change my mind?" She rounded another corner, Weiss following, and soon they were both in a quaint, but spacious living room. Weiss shamelessly balked at the surrounds. Ruby casually finished, "Which I won't."

It was a simple house, and the living room was a far cry from the grandiose environs of her younger years, but it was a home. There was a dinky sectional at the center, made of old, dark leather, worn and torn by cracks like spiderwebs, its coziness amplified by the stout supermarket coffee table in front. Ruby shifted the latter forwards with the platter of food on it, crossed the room, and returned with a TV tray for more amicable eating. She replaced the breakfast, sat on the spot directly adjacent, and patted the intended space. After a moment of searching for her legs, Weiss obliged.

She took in the space: the wall-mounted TV, the cabinet beneath it decorated with framed pictures and miscellaneous Krimskrams splayed endearingly across its surface, along with a boxy gaming console in the center. Her gaze drifted around to take in the fake(?) potted plants, a standing lamp, and a bookshelf with more picture frames than actual literature. It was cozier than the mercilessly gilded magnificence of her old estate. It was stately compared to her own melancholic studio apartment. She looked between things, placing them on the scale— rich and sad to poor and sad, though this place had a kind of fullness to its air that begged an extra axis…

Something dull— words against a thin wall, through the sheets you've pulled over your head— not mother, nor father, nor butler— higher, whispering, mischievous—

Patpatpatpat. "Weiss."

"W— huh?"

The living room. Ruby's house. Ruby.

The girl was looking at her, eyes brimming with concern as she feverishly patted the cushion.

Remembering she was a human who had a body, Weiss let her legs take her to the couch and lower her to sit in front of the platter. It smelled delicious— it looked like heaven— but the notion of devouring food to ensure her survival was suddenly nauseating. Weiss scowled.

"I'm… not hungry."

Ruby pursed her lips. "Yeah you are. I heard your stomach grumbling just a second ago. When was the last time you ate?"

When she… ate? She genuinely didn't know. Regardless, that didn't make her want to eat. She turned from the food, hugging around her own waist. She felt so vulnerable, stripped bare in a new place, with a person who wasn't new but wasn't old. Why was she here?

"Just take a bite. Your stomach needs to warm up a bit, then you'll be hungry."

She glared at her food. She felt… not useless (not any more than usual), but… wrong. Malfunctioning? Misfiring?

"Come on, don't make me feed you."

That got food in her hands— a plain piece of toast that crunched between her molars.

The dry carbs dropped into her stomach like meat in a piranha tank, and soon enough she was ravenously scarfing down the bountiful plate with knife and fork, taking breaks only to breathe. When she was done, she reclined, luxuriating, feeling fat and full and very, very satisfied.

"Here," Ruby said from behind the sectional (when had she moved?), extending a mug that Weiss took without hesitation. "I'd guess you're not much of a coffee person, so I made it sweet 'n creamy for ya."

Unable to help herself, stupid, and feeling too good to be rational, Weiss snorted. "That's what she said."

Ruby thumped her on the forehead. Weiss tried to glare at the girl, but the look found no purchase against Ruby's small, endeared grin. Weiss turned away from it quickly.

"Uh… sorry. That was stupid."

"I thought it was funny."

"Someone has to," Weiss bitterly replied, sipping her morning brew. It was sweet, and smooth, barely tasting like coffee at all. She didn't like it very much, but continued drinking it so as not to seem rude. Finally feeling at least a couple meters from the grave, Weiss asked, "Why'm I here? What happened?"

Ruby, who'd just sunk down onto the sectional again, winced with both body and face. "You… really don't remember? Anything?"

Weiss eyed her, now suspicious. "No?"

The girl hissed. "Okay, do you remember anything about me? You know your name, what day is it? What's my name?"

The first question was the only one that hooked. There was something to remember. About Ruby. About… Ruby. Ruby Rose. The middle school girl, but they weren't in middle school anymore— college, morning classes, the sleepy girl, the ashen girl, the parasol…

The sandwich. The alley. The Vampire.

Ruby was on her before she could scramble off the couch, the girl moving between eyeblinks to straddle Weiss, holding her down by the shoulders. "I didn't hurt you!" the monster insisted. "I swear!"

"You— you bit me!" Weiss screeched hysterically, thrashing, only to meet a sobering force of strength from the Vampire. "You drank me— Turned me! I'll— I'll fucking kill—"

"I did not turn you!" Ruby retorted. "We did the Binding— I'm literally yours!"

Weiss stilled. The blood. The mouth. The sounds— God, the sounds. The teeth. The tongue.

What in the fuck had she done?

"M-m-my n-neck—" Weiss stammered, each word thick like glue. "Are they—"

Ruby's head tracked around so Weiss' eyes were forced to meet hers, her silver presence imposing itself until the Huntress stilled under her gaze. "Weiss," she said slowly, clearly. (Gently.) "I did not Turn you. You don't have any marks." She let Weiss' right arm go, but moved too fast, recapturing her paper-white wrist and presenting it. "See? Nothing."

Weiss looked.

She wanted to see marks. She wanted to see those two reddened dots so badly. She wanted so badly to see them that she almost could.

But Ruby's eyes were so sincere. And huge. And watery.

"Right? No marks?"

It'd be so much easier if there were.

Weiss gulped. "N-no. No marks. I— I don't see any."

Ruby sighed.

"L-let me go."

The girl held fast. "I'm sorry, but I don't exactly trust you right now. You look— honestly, you look like a feral raccoon."

Weiss mustered all her courage into her chest, all her will, summoning with a deep breath: "Ruby, I comma—" her voice cracked— "nd you… to…"

Ruby's face fell.

"I— I command—"

"Weiss, stop it. If you don't have the intent— you don't want it."

"Y-you… to… unhand me…"

Finishing just made her look more pathetic. Weiss hung her head low.

"Just… kill me, now. Stop playing with your food."

"Hrrrrrnk," Ruby honked. "Weiss, if I wanted to kill you, I wouldn't have made you breakfast."

Weiss glared at the girl.

"And isn't this coming from Miss 'I'm gonna lock you in my basement forever and literally no one will know'?"

The recollection was hazy— Weiss' only real clarity of that day (those days?) was in the bites. "I didn't say that."

"You did," Ruby recalled, truth and confidence in her eyes. "In the car. When you were threatening my life."

The car? In the…

(Glovebox. Gun.)

(Prostrate.)

The word was a gunshot across Weiss' mind, a great, calamitous sound that triggered an avalanche of detail, all rendered behind her eyes in crystal-clear resolution— like an 8K screen, it was just too clear to look real. She could almost feel how wide her own eyes had been for every second of memory. She could almost taste each hurried, too-short breath. She could almost buckle under the weight on her body. She could almost— almost— she—

"Weiss, Weiss," that voice again— that fucking voice— didn't she get that she wanted to be alone? "It's okay, it's— shoot, um— s-stay here, okay? I'll be right back!"

The girl— the beast— Ruby— she left, and Weiss' arms instinctively jerked up after her. Her body, however, stayed glued to the cushion. She couldn't move. She was— she was breathing, right? Was she on the in or the out? She was— so— she was full to bursting with— with something, and she couldn't get it out, couldn't ease it, not by kicking her legs or flapping her hands or scrunching up tight or flexing apart— she bit her cheeks, chewed her lips, noises like groans or squeaks bubbling out of her, unbidden. There was something to hold— a lot of things to hold— but she didn't have enough hands, didn't have any hands, so they were falling, breaking, and there was a huge mess everywhere and it was her fault for being insane—

She gulped down one breath, drowned in it. There was a cry in her chest. It wasn't a good one— not a scream or a wail or a shout, more like a loud whine, because that was her dignity. Hissing, feeling the air pitch over her vocal chords, she closed her eyes and let it out.

A pillow took her sound. A pillow made of fur. Hot, stinky fur. She had a mouthful of it.

She jerked back and coughed, curling up defensively, stopping at the sight before her: that dog— that Fae warmount— that veteran being which could tear her asunder— was being held up by his little armpits, sausage body dangling from between Ruby's hands. Weiss opened her mouth— either to cough out fur or demand solace— but choked as the great and terrible creature was placed gently in her lap.

The hound— the Corgi— Zwei— looked up at her. His eyes were dark voids. They judged her. They pulled her soul into their depths, swished it around, and spat it back out. He licked his chops. Weiss smelled oranges again— a magical sensitivity that meant you were fucked.

Zwei plopped down. Gracefully.

He sat in her lap. Royally.

He deigned her worthy of his presence. Graciously.

And just like that, there was a dog in her lap. A sweet little guy: black of fur, cute of face, stinky of breath. Zwei.

He made a little 'whumph' noise, and tipped over until he was strewn across the Huntress' lap. Weiss could only stare. She dared not overstep, feeling nigh overwhelmed at the canine splendor.

"Pet him."

"W-what?"

"Pet the dog, Weiss. He's a good boy. He likes you."

That voice chuckled. Why had she ever wanted it gone?

"Despite your introductions."

Weiss looked up at the Ruby, down at the Zwei, up at the Ruby. "But… but he bit me."

Ruby shrugged. "I mean, yeah. That's, like, exactly the response you'd want out of a dog when… that is happening."

That. She knew there was a that, but the memory of it was hazy. Some things still were, and with no way to tell if her poor recollection was due to magic or something more mundane. "So… wait, you… you drove me to your house, after… when did I—"

"Abupup," Ruby tutted. "Pet dog first."

"I'm being respectful."

The girl deadpanned. "Look at him, Weiss. He's begging for it."

Weiss did turn to him. The dog gave her a soft look in return, wiggling his soft, sausagey body. Cautiously, the Huntress' hand drifted towards the little guy. When his eyes flicked towards the appendage, Weiss paused, hovering over him cautiously.

Was this overstepping? Sure, Ruby said he was sweet, but—

"Hrrmmmmn," the Little Guy pouted, lightly kicking his stupid, squat legs, as if to illustrate exactly the kind of attention he wanted to receive.

Maybe it was just the day. Or having slept. Or having eaten a proper meal. Or having Bound, then entrusted a Vampire with her eternal soul, arrogantly believing that her invocations would hold fast against the awakening of a new kind of Malevolence. Or maybe it was the panic attack that Zwei had ripped out from under her like a tablecloth.

It was a sight that was not compatible with Weiss' state of mind— to say the least. To say more, she'd also never been in contact with a dog that wasn't made as an expendable tool to hunt the denizens of the night. To say a little more, she genuinely couldn't remember the last time she'd seen something so pure, simple, and wholesome. To say the most, it was so stupendous that she found herself waking up to Ruby jogging her shoulder, beckoning Weiss to consciousness with worry embroidered through her tones.

"Weiss? Did you just faint?"

Returning to the world, seeing The Little Guy again, she almost fell back in.

But her hand was already in the fur. His thick, soft fur, oily, definitely stinky, but… but it was different. And not in a magical Fae warmount way. In a weird way.

She had the dog there, and Ruby was there too— right next to her, hand still resting on her shoulder— but something was missing. There wasn't a knot between her chest and gut. There wasn't a pressure between her shoulders. The air wasn't even noticeable. Her body was in her body. When Ruby said words, they didn't have to go through a wall first.

"You, um, don't have to pet him if you're not comfy with it."

She… didn't have to…

Hands crept in from the periphery. "I can take him off—"

"No!" Weiss yelped, slapping the girl's hands away before returning her ministrations to the dirty, stinky, oily sausage boy. "N-no. No thank you."

She gave Ruby a guilty, apologetic look, but the Vampire was smiling at her. Broadly.

Her canines were noticeably longer, now, and sharp. The slight crookedness in her other teeth was corrected, and they all looked as though they'd been freshly bleached. Her eyes had even darker bags than in their college classes, but Weiss took more notice of the contrast with her full, tan skin tones. She looked like a very tired girl, but a healthy one.

And there was generosity in her gaze. Her hand slowly separated from Weiss' shoulder, hovering. It helped, the space. Weiss' lungs could fill that much more. The only problem was that Ruby kept it hovering there expectantly.

Was she waiting for a dismissal? Why? She could act on her own. Couldn't she tell Weiss appreciated the space? She opened her mouth to address it, but nerves caught in her throat like a hairball. Was it normal to ask that kind of thing? Weren't people supposed to just… get each other? Without having to say pansy stuff like 'please don't touch me right now' or 'thank you for giving me space'?

Weiss kept petting the dog, hoping that Ruby would just get it, but when she didn't, Weiss tried another strategy. "Your dog stinks," she said truthfully, pulling her hand back and rubbing her fingertips together. Dirt and sebum pilled in little black rolls, which she displayed to the other girl. "He's filthy. You need to clean him."

Ruby's waiting hand moved to rub the nape of her own neck— a decisive victory on Weiss' part. "Ahah… uh, yeah. Yeah. I do. Kinda been procrastinating on that front." Slowly, she slid a sly smirk to the Schnee. "Is this you offering to help?"

A sharp edge of citrus cut deep into Weiss' sinuses, delving in until her frontal lobe was thinking Orangely. Zwei stirred beneath her hands, his fat little body moving just so he could glare at her, commanding, Yes. Yes she was offering to help. She would help. A thousand immortal Woes upon her if she denied him, which made the Huntress shiver to the core.

"Uh… w-when? I have… I have, um…" Weiss thumbed through all the excuses in her mental filing cabinets, coming up with, "W-we have class work. Probably. We did miss some classes."

"You can copy mine," Ruby offered. "I made notes of the posted slides while you were asleep." She pointed down the hall they'd come from earlier. "And I've got a computer in the guest room if you wanna check your portal."

Weiss blinked. Too much was prepared— too much going right— too much not going terribly, awfully, catastrophically wrong. Who makes someone breakfast? What kind of Vampire makes someone breakfast? What kind of Vampire makes someone breakfast without slitting their throat over the cereal bowl? This was a trap. She was being trapped in Ruby's house, fed carrots (breakfast, dog, Ruby's beautiful teeth) and threatened with sticks (Fae demand, dog, Ruby's beautiful teeth) so she couldn't leave— a classic Vampire blood-farm ploy. Who knew how well a Binding invocation could stick to a fledgling creature once it'd awakened.

Weiss gently pushed Zwei off her lap and rose. The Corgi whined in protest.

"Where're you going?"

She said: "To the bathroom. Be right back."

"Okay. I'll be here; we can talk about stuff once you're back."

"Stuff?"

The Vampire motioned between them. It was a succinct definition of 'stuff' in this instance.

Weiss pushed up off the couch, shuffling between Ruby and the tray. She said something inane, dismissing herself, to which Ruby said something that would probably ease her further into a false sense of security. It had to be some part of the awakening— or the charm— these feelings in Weiss' chest and stomach. She was supposed to be aware. She was supposed to harbor a healthy paranoia. She wasn't supposed to trust, let alone let herself be fed and kidnapped by some test-tube Vampire.

(Didn't you trap yourself?)

(You gave her your blood. She Bound herself to you.)

(Have some care, for Christ's sake.)

Have care…

In nomine Patris,

For the preservation of greater Humanity, I charge myself. I charge myself thusly: to be the ward of Man, to shield every innocent soul from the Malevolence, to preserve righteousness in my heart, to be a swift justice, to be indiscriminate, to be the unseen watcher, and to make safe the path.

Et Fili,

"Did you mortify?"

"Y-yes. I did." A lie.

"Fasted, scourged, everything?"

"Yes. Everything." Liar.

Her beaming smile was worth the guilt— Winter looked like a kid in a candy shop, despite how obviously she was mothering her little sister.

"All your implements?"

"Yes." Truth.

"Stake—"

"Of course I brought a stake. Why wouldn't I bring a stake for this."

"Sorry. I'm just—"

"Being overprotective."

"Well you're my sister! We're all protective of the things we love."

Why did she say that? Why would she curse such a young girl with those words?

"Okay— the others are almost here. You ready?"

"I've been ready!"

"Slow down, take it easy— not all of us get out of our first Malevolence alive, so take. It. Slow. Be careful. Be cautious."

"I know, I know—"

"No. You don't. But you're going to find out, and I'm gonna make sure you get the chance to learn from your mistakes. So stick close to me, okay? I'll get us through this, and we're gonna emerge as Huntresses, okay?"

Promises, promises. "Okay."

"Chin up. They're here."

Et Spiritu Sancti.

"Leave her!"

"Weiss! Get over here, right now!"

"But—"

"Don't talk back to me!"

"It's Win—"

"It's! My! Daughter! I know!"

"We can't—"

"We can and we are! She's chum, Weiss!"

"I'm not— father!"

"Jacques!"

"Shut your mouth, you drunk. Be glad I'm not leaving you both here to cover us!"

She screamed. She clawed. He did not let her go.

"We'll return later, with a proper force. Pietro, call the valet."

Amen.

Zwei barked, smacking Weiss out of her reverie with an assault of citrus on her sinuses. But, as Weiss expected, he did not move from the couch. Not while Ruby was in danger.

The girl's throat vibrated against the blade and through the handle of her dinner knife. Her hands felt it, that electric, obliviating distance keeping her steady. "W—Wei—"

"I can hurt you."

Soft, that hair (again), wrapped tight between her fingers (again). She pulled the locks back, further exposing the creature's neck. Her fingers moved with well-drilled knowing, point digging into tan flesh indicatively with her voice, "I can open your jugular and sever your windpipe— which probably won't kill you, but you'll be down long enough."

That soft, smooth column of throat bobbed, working to produce a small voice: "Weiss, you're not thinking—"

"I'm finally thinking."

Ruby tipped her head back on her own, stretching to meet Weiss' eyes. Finally, that was her true expression: hate. She hated Weiss. The frown on her lips was damnation, the crease of her brow a curse. Weiss' lips cranked upwards.

"You want to kill me," came through her rictus, words fossilized. "I knew it."

Ruby rolled her eyes, her voice as dead as she wanted the Huntress to be. "Weiss, I don't want to kill you."

"You're looking at me like you do!"

Ruby's baleful gaze narrowed slightly. "What? No I'm not."

She pressed the knife deeper, drawing a bead onto the tip. Zwei barked. Ruby hissed. "Yes, you are!"

"Ayay— ¡déjalo, guey!" Ruby bade, wincing but unheeded. "Pinche— I'm— I don't hate you, I'm frustrated! It's perfectly normal!"

"You're frustrated with me because you hate me."

Ruby groaned. "Weiss, I made you breakfast."

"You're trying to make me into a thrall! A blood-farm!"

Ruby let out a long, exasperated sigh. "Then just kill me!" She threw up her hands, making Weiss jump. "Just kill me. I'm a Vampire, now. Officially. If you wanna kill me, do it!"

The Vampire's steel gaze bored into her, daring her. Weiss' grip tightened around the knife. She pressed into the flesh.

As soon as the point pierced into her flesh, Ruby's hard expression crumbled. She whimpered.

The sound was terrible, more piercing than Zwei's bark— a tiny "Ahn!" that speared through Weiss like an icicle, pinning her hands into her hands, her skin into her skin, body into body— the dinner knife, the aftertaste of breakfast, the smell— Ruby's eyes, her teeth bared in pain, her hands flexing, impotent— because she was still Bound. She couldn't oppose Weiss' intent if her life depended on it, and it did, and Weiss was proving it— Weiss was stabbing the girl who had made her breakfast, she was—

Killing a Vampire. She was a Vampire. A monster. A Malevolence.

Ruby! She was Ruby! And Ruby wasn't a monster! Monsters don't make you breakfast! Monsters don't get Bound!

It was all a ploy. It was just to make her vulnerable. It was to deceive her.

Since when did she put that much value on her own shitty life?

It was only when a soft, easing voice came that Weiss realized her eyes were shut tight, and her arm was stiffly locked in place, fingers holding her knife as if she could crush it. "Weiss," Ruby's voice urged, somewhere close behind— when had she moved? "Can I hug you?"

Could she hug her? Could the Vampire who was the root of literally all her problems right now hug her?

"Please. Let me."

"J-just— do it— do it yours-self."

"I literally can't. The Binding."

"Th-that's only— if you want— int-tend— to hurt— m-me."

"No, it's when you believe something's going to hurt you, and I'm not. So please, Weiss, let me in."

Air puffed out of Weiss' chest. "Y-you fucking V-Vamp-pire."

"Yeah. That's me."

Weiss' arm fell, all the soreness hitting at once as it went slack at her side, knife clanging against the floor. Her neck creaked with a wooden nod. Not a moment later, there were fingers brushing her back and upper arm. She jumped at the contact. "W-wait—"

The fingers left. "Yes?"

She felt stupid. She was stupid. Weiss Schnee— from, yknow, the famous dynasty of Vampire-killers— wasn't turning around and shoving whatever wooden implements she could find between this thing's tit's. Instead, she was staring at her feet, trying to will herself to come fully back in the hopes of an idea hitting her suddenly. Her mouth, however, moved before any such plans could gestate.

"Y-you're… just gonna, um… hug me, right?"

Ruby snorted. "What else would I—" she cut herself off, amending, "Yeah. Yeah, I'm just gonna hug you."

Weiss nodded again, and the fingers were back again— Ruby's way of warning contact, she realized, because shortly after came the broader palms. One held her upper arm, the other keeping light contact with her back as it slid across her shoulder blades, wrapped around her opposite arm, and shifted her. The Huntress, eyes still shut tight, let herself be turned, leaning down when her head was pulled. Her face was buried in cool, soft flesh, chin meeting collarbone. The arms wrapped fully around her, and while the monstrous, vile, jar-grown fiend of the night had no warmth in its body, the slow words from its lips touched the top of Weiss' head and combed fingers of warmth down to the Huntress' toes.

"I'm Bound to you," Ruby promised.

"I'll never hurt you," Ruby promised.

"I'll keep you safe," Ruby promised.

Worst of all, she even promised, "I'm going to help you."

Weiss nodded against the collar. Her arms wouldn't move, but that was okay. Ruby's were there.

Maybe it was a trap.

"I— I'm s-s—"

Maybe she was falling for it.

"I— I don't know what— what's w-wrong—"

Maybe she was a rabbit in a snare.

"With me—"

Neck snapped.

"I'm just—"

Not breathing.

"Usele—"

Dead.

"Don't, Weiss. We're going to help you."

But a heart beating so fast.

"W— we?"