Fair warning this is darker and unrelated to the other WhiteKnight stories I have published.
WK will play a big part, but it won't be the main focus.
Weiss Schnee sighed.
She'd been doing that a lot recently.
Since returning to Remnant from the Ever After, life for her had been one setback after another. She had lost her home, lost her father and while she knew her name was loathed, the people of Vacuo were more than willing to show how much they despised her family. Whitley and her mother had volunteered to help refugees coming into the city, organising accommodation and supplies to help them settle. This also included arranging work with local builders and town planners to maximise the available space and not leave anyone vulnerable to Grimm attacks. They were greeted, instead, with obscenities from the locals and deliberate procrastination from contractors. The paint filled water balloons hurled at them all one day were a particularly frustrating experience.
She feels the heavy weight of her father's legacy on her heart every day and wonders how she can move on. How can she redefine her name if she doesn't even know what it is she wants.
And after all that, here she was faking a smile for the cameras that were pointed at her team. The young heroes who had fallen from the sky and into the pages of a fairy tale. The five young heroes who had supposedly "returned from the dead". They all knew the sentiment was overblown, but Theodore and Ozpin agreed that a few public appearances would certainly help keep morale up around the city, and tonight was no exception. All while they had to perform their duties as Huntsmen.
This led to its own set of problems. They had become something close to celebrities. Every picture, every question they answered had to be carefully answered. Scroll recordings were widely shared among the city inhabitants after every appearance. Minute details were examined and wild theories were readily circulated. Weiss had some experience of this from the ghouls that wanted to know the comings and goings of what once was Atlas' most powerful family, especially through her teenage years before leaving for Beacon.
She was exhausted by it all.
But she kept her smile and tried not to wince as the lights flashed and blinded her. Ruby stood to her right, while Jaune was placed in the middle and Blake and Yang the furthest away from her. Once again she was placed on the outside of the group. She wondered absently if she'd be edited out of these pictures like she had been the last time they had to endure this.
As soon as the photographers had finished she made a swift exit. They all stood on a raised platform, a structure of metal and interlocking plastic boards. Tubes of scaffolding towered above them, supporting large stage lights that illuminate them all. Weiss quickly descended the stage stairs and disappeared through a fabric flap into a pop up shelter that had been requested for privacy. A single lamp sat in a corner, stretching its meager light around the canopy, struggling to reach the corners at the very back. The fabric walls of the small enclosure snapped and fluttered as a breeze whipped around her ankles. A table sat to the left of the entrance and underneath was a small cooler with a few basic refreshments for the group.
Once she was out of sight, Weiss sighed again.
She was glad to be out of the literal limelight. She knew she should wait for her team, but tonight all she wanted was a bit of quiet. She felt drained and couldn't wait to fall into her bed later. She placed Myrtenaster on the table and grabbed a water bottle, twisting off the cap and taking a large drink. The liquid was cool, refreshing on her tongue after exiting the heat of the harsh stage lighting. After her own performances, Klein would be waiting in the wings ready with a cold drink to quench her thirst and soothe her throat. She wondered if her family would be watching the upcoming firework display on their scrolls or avoiding it completely.
She was broken out of her reverie by the tent door opening and someone moving behind her. She knew she was safe but she still readied herself with a glyph in case it was needed.
"Hey, you ok?" Jaune Arc asked with hands raised.
She closed her eyes. "I'm sorry. I'm fine, I just needed a drink," she replied curtly, waving the remains of the bottle around before placing it on the table next to her sword.
He sniffed out a disbelieving breath. "None of us like doing this stuff, but you've been acting stuffy all day." He grabbed a drink for himself while he spoke. His warm blue eyes caught in the light and around the corners of her heart. "You can talk to me Weiss, remember. No-ones in this alone."
She heard his soft voice, tinged with concern. Once more, Weiss sighed. "I'm sorry. I've been so tired all day and I loathe to think what they will write about us all in the morning."
"Who do you think your love interest will be tomorrow?"he chuckled dryly.
"So nice of you to assume that they'll include me in the article this time," she replied.
"Fair." He paused while he drained his drink and threw the empty bottle onto the table too. "We can try asking Theodore to reduce the amount of these we have to do."
"We'll see," she said in a small voice. A sudden shout brought them both back to the entrance of the tent. The countdown to the fireworks had begun, and the crowd joined in enthusiastically. Jaune held the tent open and Weiss stood in front of him, thankful for the extra privacy screens that shielded them from the crowd.
The first firework screamed into the air and exploded, booming and shaking them all deep in their chests. The crowd oohed and aahed appropriately as the sky was lit with a rainbow of colours.
"Weiss," she heard Jaunes voice behind, low and so that only she could hear. "It may seem rough right now, but trust me it will get better. You're an amazing Huntress, and you have such a kind heart." She couldn't help the shiver that ran up her spine as he spoke. "Things will turn around, I know they will."
She turned her head to look at his face, his dumb adorable face and those blue eyes she could so easily get lost in. "How can you be so sure?"
He replied by leaning down, closing the space between them and placing a gentle kiss on her lips. She closed her eyes and for the first time in days she felt alive. She heard the fireworks display going on around her but she was lost in the moment. She turned into his embrace, feeling his arm wrap around her and the tent flap fall behind her. She felt his hand moving up her back.
And then she felt something all too familiar.
She felt excruciating pain.
She felt the blade in his hand slide easily into the skin beneath her sternum.
She was too shocked to cry out.
She looked into his eyes. A few moments ago they shone brightly in the fire light. Now they looked glassy, devoid of any emotion. She grasped desperately to the breastplate of his armour as her legs shook and gave way. She could do nothing as she was carried to the back of the tent and placed on her side into the darkest corner. She could see another pair of feet moving around and she briefly hoped that help would be nearby.
"The heiress and the knight," Weiss heard her voice. Her arrogant, goading voice. "How pathetically romantic." Cinder Fall never spoke to her, only to Jaune as he looked down at her. "You'll never learn," she said, "none of you will. All of your efforts are pointless, and it only causes more blood to be spilled. Pyrrha Nikos chose a fight she could never win, and Penny Polendina thought her death would be some noble sacrifice. And now another girl will die because of you, the fool who wanted to be a hero. No-one here will mourn the death of a Schnee, her name will pass into nothingness. Just like everything else."
Weiss tried to speak but she felt her body shake as every breath was like fire burning into her chest.
"He's under control?" Cinder asked as a secondary figure appeared in the tent.
"Of course he is," the male voice replied, irritated by the question. A darkness was creeping into the edges of her vision as she lay helpless on the floor, but Weiss recognised the face of Jax Astaurias as he moved into what was left of the lamp light.
"Then let's go," she said smoothly. Cinder turned, extinguished the lamp, and as the three of them disappeared out of the side of the tent into the Vacuan night, Weiss succumbed to the darkness.
Please let me know what you think, all mistakes are mine as usual.
I'll try and update this when I can, I've got a couple of chapters done but this is one I need to be in a certain mindset to write.
Also, I tip my hat to the WK discord.