Chapter 2

Blake hit the water and for a second, all she knew was cold. The air rushed from her lungs as she plunged into the pounding river, pieces of the bridge falling in every direction. The late autumn water felt like ice, biting into her flesh. She gasped, from pain and shock, her eyes going wide as water rushed down her throat.

Out of instinct, she kicked for the surface, clawing her way through the water as she forced herself not to breathe. Her lungs were burning, begging for air. She needed up. She needed out, and soon, or-

Her head crested the surface, and Blake coughed and coughed, jerking and spinning as the current carried her along. She fought to stay on the surface, her first real breath taking in more water than air. Her soaked hood kept falling into her eyes, but she didn't dare take the time to push it back. Her head pounded, one more pain to ignore as she scanned back and forth, searching the water for the woman from the carriage.

She had to have fallen in. She was right beside me, if she-

There! Blake saw the cloak, the ends of the white cloth trailing along the river's surface. She forced herself forward, arms and legs aching as she fought against the current. Her lungs hurt and begged for her to stop and breathe, to wait for the world to stop spinning. She ignored them, the adrenaline driving her on. She knew she had to get to the woman, had to keep her from drowning. Everything else was an afterthought.

The current shifted, and Blake just managed to grab the edge of the cloak before it could pass her. Hauling on the cloth, she pulled the woman up and out of the water, one arm wrapped across her chest to keep her head above the rapids. Legs burning with the effort, she kicked and pulled, knowing the river only got faster from here. Her heart was beating a mile a minute, panic starting to set in. She needed land. She needed real air. She could hear the cries and shouts of bandits rushing downriver, the sound of wood slabs and supports breaking against the rocks. Her grip on the woman was loosening ...

Pain shot up her arm as her hand struck stone. Reaching for the first boulder she could, Blake grabbed and held on, her body still yanked downstream by the current. With the last bit of strength she had, Blake heaved again and again, until finally, they slid bodily up and out of the water.

For a split second, she just breathed, panting with exhaustion, the hard stone feeling lovely and firm against her cheek. Then her eyes shot open as she remembered the woman beside her. Scrabbling against the rock, Blake turned the cloaked woman onto her back. She wasn't moving. From what Blake could tell, she wasn't breathing. How long was she under? It couldn't have been more than a few seconds, but she had gotten hit right before the fall. If she'd already been unconscious ...

Blake grabbed for the cloak, trying to get it off the woman as quickly as she could. She had to get the water from her lungs. If she didn't, if the woman died, all of this would have been for naught. Untangling the clasp around her neck, Blake threw back the hood and froze, terror sinking icy claws into Blake's chest.

No. No. No no no.

The most beautiful woman Blake had ever seen lay on the rock before her. She was small, petite, with hair the color of snow and a long dueling scar that cut across one eye and down her cheek. Her skin was the color of polished ivory, with a strong jaw and painted lips that curved in a slight pout. Blake had no doubt that the second she opened her eyes, they would be an icy blue, as cold and unforgiving as the water she'd just pulled them from.

For a split second, Blake considered throwing the girl back into the river. Then she thought about running, heading back to her post and sending a message to the forward base about a very strange incident she had very distantly witnessed. Anything other than staying here with the white-haired girl. After all, there was only one family with that genetic legacy. And only one young woman with that hair and that scar.

She has to be from House Schnee. The ruling house of Atlas. And with the scar, she's Weiss Schnee. The younger daughter of Emperor Schnee.

I don't deserve this. I swear by the gods, I celebrate their name days. I've done nothing to earn this. Why by the Dark God did have to be one of them?

Blake shook her head and pressed her palms hard against the center of the girl's chest. If anything, now it was twice as important that the girl live. If a Schnee died, on the Mistral side of the border, near her ... she didn't want to think about the fallout for that.

Moving as quick as she could, she turned the girl's head to the side, watching as a little water spilled out from her mouth. Taking a deep breath, Blake leaned in, and pressed her mouth to the Schnee girl's, fingers pinching her nose shut. Only when she was almost out of air did she pull away, breathing again, then pushing more air down her throat. Nothing. She breathed again, pushing the air out until she coughed. The girl had to wake up. She had to. Come on, Blake thought, leaning in again. Come on. Everything is so, so screwed if you die.

Her mouth closed on the girl's for the fourth time. She had just started to breathe out when the girl jerked and coughed, spitting river water onto Blake's face.

Relief washed over her. A bone-deep relief that swept all of the energy from her and left her a limp, exhausted, wreck. A Schnee hadn't died in her arms. She wasn't responsible for the death of one of the royal family. That means no invasion, no retribution. No excuse to break the treaty. Wonderful. I didn't fuck everything up.

"What did you think ... you were doing?" the white-haired girl managed between coughs, one hand pressing on her chest as her body tried to get the last of the water from her lungs. Blake reached out to pat her back – it was the only gesture she was physically capable of after all that. Instead the woman slapped her hand away, eyes like pools of ice glaring over at her.

"Keeping you from drowning."

"Obviously," the girl snapped and took a breath, looking surprised that she didn't cough this time. When she was sure the water was gone, she pushed herself up, sitting straight as she glowered at Blake. "I meant ... on the bridge. I had them. Probably would have been fine if you hadn't gotten in my way."

"... right." Blake was too tired to argue. If the princess wanted to believe she could have handled seven opponents on her own, that was her business. Blake's was making sure that no one, ever, found out what just happened.

The two women sat there for a long time, staring blankly at the river. The bandits were long gone, carried downstream and out of sight by the current. Pieces of the bridge floated by, broken shard of wood that made Blake thank the stars they hadn't been crushed as well as nearly drowned. Both of them were exhausted, soaked to the bone, and completely drained of the energy to do anything more than sit and breathe.

"Where am I?" the princess asked finally, her head resting back against the stone.

"Mistral, technically." Blake pointed across the river. "You're right on the border. There's a bridge about day's ride upriver – if you make it back across, you'll be in Atlas."

The Schnee girl nodded and fell silent, staring up at the sky from the rock.

With the fight and the struggle to keep both of them from a watery grave, Blake hadn't noticed how cold it was. Not until the wind picked up, cooling the already-frigid water soaked into her clothes. Shivering, she forced herself up on boneless arms, grabbing at her wet clothes to try to get them away from her skin. She needed a fire, and fast, before the water and the cold air made her ill.

"I suppose I should th-" the girl turned to look at her, then froze as Blake pulled the soaked-through hood away from her face, eyes tracking up to the two feline ears that sat atop Blake's head.

"You're ... a Faunus," she said, apprehension in her eyes as she looked back, eyes darting from Blake's ears to her eyes, and back again.

Cursing under her breath, Blake finishing pulling the wet cloth away and shoved it haphazardly into her belt. Of course a Schnee would react to her being a Faunus. It wasn't even a surprise – Atlesians weren't exactly known for their tolerance of her people. If Blake hadn't been so exhausted, if she had taken the time to think, she probably would have left the hood on, pneumonia or no.

"Come on," she said, too tired to do anything about it, and barely able to muster up the energy to talk. "We need to get moving."

"Excuse me?"

With a sigh, Blake looked back at the imperial princess. "I'm cold. I'm tired. I don't really want to catch cold or freeze to death. And if you die of fever or the cold on our side of the border, all hell breaks loose." The thought made Blake grimace. "I need a fire, and from the look of you, you could use one too."

Weiss gave her a long, searching stare while Blake waited, shivering in the cold. She couldn't blame her, not for this at least. Trapped in hostile territory, having just been attacked by armed bandits ... That would be enough to make anyone suspicious, even if she didn't believe I was some half-rabid beastman.

Whatever the girl thought, she didn't say it. Pushing herself to her feet, the princess bundled her sodden cloak into her arms and turned to face her rescuer. "My name-"

"Princess Weiss, of House Schnee," Blake drawled, leaving out the string of other titles, the various lands and honors she had received as an imperial princess. "Don't look so surprised. That scar with that hair makes you pretty easy to spot."

Weiss scowled, her mouth curling in a noticeable pout. "And you are?"

"... Blake. Just Blake."

"Fine, 'Blake'," she snapped, holding her cloak to her as she stepped off the rock. "Are you going to just stand around, or will we get going before we freeze?"

Both of them were shaking by the time they made it back to Blake's camp, damp clothes and the chill fall air slowly turning the two women a shade of blue. Tossing Weiss one of the blankets, Blake dug out her flint and steel and busied herself with the fire pit. It took twice as long to get the fire going – her hands wouldn't stop shaking.

Finally, the flint sparked, and the fire crackled to life. Her whole body trembling, Blake grabbed a blanket of her own, throwing it over her and stripping off as many soaked-through layers as she could. From the sounds on the other side of the fire, the princess was doing the same, laying her own clothes out to dry in the heat.

An hour later found both of them bundled up on opposite sides of the flames, staring at each other occasionally though the fire's light. Their clothes hung from the branches nearby, slowly drying as smoke spiraled up into the sky.

"So," Weiss said, when the silence became too much. "My escorts are dead, and you've managed to accidentally 'capture' an imperial princess. What now? Ransom me? Kill me now as a message to my father?"

"Gods no," Blake shuddered, not sure if it was from the cold or the thought of what would happen if a Mistralan kidnapped an Atlesian princess. What would happen if the Mistralan heir kidnapped an Atlesian princess. War, at least.

"I need you back across that border as soon as possible. The last thing anyone needs is your emperor on a tear over someone abducting his daughter."

Weiss huffed and hunkered deeper beneath her blankets, hands outstretched towards the flames. Even bundled in a spare blanket and with her hair matted against her head, she still managed to look prim and proper, running her hands over each other to spread the heat.

"Why did you fire on those brigands?" she asked suddenly, eyes still trained on the fire.

"You mean, 'why would a Faunus stick her neck out'?" Blake growled. The Schnee Emperor's distaste for non-humans was legendary. It wasn't a stretch to imagine that same hatred extending to his daughter.

Weiss shrugged. "Why would you attack if you were not planning to capture me? Were you hoping for gold from the carriage? That there might be a reward for my rescue?"

"Please. I saw someone in trouble. I helped."

"Really? You would risk seven-on-two odds to save some random traveler? A random traveler from an enemy nation. Near a border where, if you were caught, you'd be executed as an enemy spy."

Blake glowered at her from across the fire. What was wrong with this girl? She'd just saved her life, helped fight off the bandits after her and pulled her from the river. Hell, she'd breathed life back into her. And now she's sitting there, acting like I'm an honorless thug. Trust a Schnee to be ungrateful.

"You wouldn't?" she asked, her voice harsh.

"One of my people? Of course I would," Weiss said, sounding earnest. "Their lives are my responsibility. I'm nobility. You're not."

Blake snorted. So that was it. She should have expected it, really – that a Schnee princess would assume the only people capable of honor would be the nobility. And being a Faunus, and out in the middle of nowhere on the border, she assumes I'm not. Which, when Blake thought about it, was probably for the best. She didn't need this girl knowing who she was, that Blake's blood was as blue as hers. Weiss was wrong, in more ways than one, but she didn't need to know that.

"I've seen what bandits leave behind," she said finally. It wasn't the whole truth, but it was true enough to suit her purposes. "I don't care if our nations are at war, Schnee. No one deserves that."

That shut her up.

For a long while they both sat, still and silent, lost in their own thoughts. Blake tried not to think about how many ways this could go wrong. About what might happen if someone found the pieces of the carriage before Weiss made it back to civilization. About what her commander would think, if he ever found out she'd risked her life, risked war with Atlas, to save some noble ingrate.

Gods, I'm in trouble, she thought. What would her commander do if she brought Weiss back to the forward camp? That would be the proper thing. To bring Weiss back, to send her up the chain of command and let her be someone else's problem. Someone with years of experience and the resources to protect themselves.

It would be the easy option. The safe option. In many ways, it was the right thing to do, and for any other noblewoman of Atlas, that was exactly what she'd do.

All she'd have to do is hand Weiss over to a man who hated her father with every fiber of his being.

Even Adam wouldn't risk war, just for revenge. At least, she hoped he wouldn't. But what if he couldn't keep his head? Blake knew what the Emperor's soldiers had taken from him. If he lost control, even for a second ...

And what if he didn't? What if he did his duty and handed her up the chain? There was no way to tell if whoever ultimately had to deal with this girl would just return her. Even if she wrote to her parents, even if she used her position to stay by Weiss the entire time – another torment I don't need – there was every chance they would try to use her as a bargaining chip. Use her as a ploy to strengthen the peace treaty, or keep her as a hostage. She'd sat in on her father's war meetings. She knew some of the generals were just as hungry for war as the Schnee Emperor was.

No, she needed to get Weiss back across. Blake needed her safe, in her own lands, surrounded by guards, and nowhere near any Mistralan Faunus who might be blamed if something happened to her. That was the only way to keep the peace.

Why? she thought again and again, the word turning round and round in her head. Why of all people did it have to be her?

A quiet voice broke through her thoughts. "What are you planning to do with me?"

Blake looked up to find the princess staring at her. It wasn't a scowl – Blake had been treated to a fair few of those over the past hour. The apprehension was still there, but she didn't look suspicious. Or angry. Just ...

Lost. Blake decided, recognizing that look, and willing to bet she had the same expression on her face. She has no idea what to do next. Her carriage is gone, the horses ran off, most of our weapons went down with the river. She's stuck in the wilderness with a sword hanging over her head, waiting until her father finds her missing and orders his troops to attack, or she gets found and attacked by bandits. Or wild animals.

Suppose that makes two of us.

"Honestly?" Blake said, staring helplessly out into the forest around them. "I have absolutely no idea."

Author's Note: Please review if you can spare the time. I read all of them, and it's great to hear people's insights and get constructive criticism or just hear how people felt, even if it's a couple words. Also, I'll answer pretty much any question I can, so feel free to ask those here or on my tumblr - redsuitwriter.

You can also find the pics and videos for this AU there. Just search for 'Two Kingdoms' on my blog page. Or send in your own royalty prompts off the prompt list. Thanks for reading!