I'm back!
After a who-knows-how-long hiatus, I've returned! I've been meaning to write for so long...and it's a constant guilt knowing there are fics I've left unfinished.
Of course I still love White Rose (as if I could ever stop!). So here's a wonderfully gay solo-focus one-shot to kick off the new year. I hope it satisfies you!
You're not going to corner me.
Weiss Schnee swept left graciously, fatally piercing an imaginary target with her trusty rapier Myrtenaster.
You're not going to cage me.
With a deft flick of her wrist, a shimmering glyph appeared beneath her feet - catapulting her forward towards nonexistent opponents. She perceived a clean strike through them all.
And you most certainly do, not, own me.
She spun on her heel and delivered a lethal thrust of the sword into thin air. To her own surprise, Weiss succumbed to her inner strife and fury, briefly granting herself the dark luxury of imagining the rapier cutting straight into Jacques Schnee - her own father.
It did not seem to disturb her as much as it perhaps should have.
The ex-heiress scowled at no-one, loosening her grip on Myrtenaster's handle. She set the ornate weapon down onto her bed, and stood motionless in the centre of her bedroom - overwhelmed by her own emotions. Anger, grief and fear mixed in her mind, and she clenched her fists at her sides in response.
So now I'm a prisoner in my own home, held by my own family. An inmate, hidden from the world. Stripped of my rights and my freedom.
Left to rot.
Momentarily, she felt the urge to lash out violently - to throw something at the wall, or smash one of the posts of her four-poster bed. Instead, she chose to save her energy. With a deep breath, Weiss crossed the room and approached the windowsill. Two objects decorated its surface.
The first was a fractured photo frame, depicting her father and herself stood together outside the grounds of Beacon Academy; her first day there. The damage had been dealt just minutes after her father had revoked her of heiress status and confined her to the premises. Not that she had ever liked the photo - Jacques Schnee did not look like a man joyous to send his daughter off to a highly prestigious school, with his characteristic absence of even a smirk.
He probably would have preferred Beacon if there were surveillance cameras watching my every move...
Weiss shuddered at the thought.
On the other side of the windowsill was an object of actual importance to her. It stood silent and proud in the ghostly moonlight which crept through the window panes. The white-haired girl found herself smiling, and gently picked it up.
A chess piece. A golden knight - the artefact from her first day in the Emerald Forest initiation test. Weiss turned the knight over in her hand, examining its fine detail. It was a stunning gold colour, and on the bottom the letters R+W had been carved.
Her partner had been the one to retrieve this trophy of sorts. And yet her partner had gifted it to Weiss so happily.
Ruby. Ruby Rose...
The Schnee daughter could not contain a little grin as she thought back to her early days of being partnered with Ruby. Truth be told, she'd been pretty dreadful to the caped girl. Scolding her, distancing herself from her, telling her she couldn't be a leader. Weiss regretted it all - the one person who had shown her unconditional affection, and she had tried to push her away. The ex-heiress sighed.
I was the idiot, Ruby. You deserved much better than my low-class act.
In spite of their particularly frosty beginnings, the two huntresses had built up a closer bond and slowly learnt to work together. Shifting the chess piece in her fingers, Weiss sifted through more memories. Together, they had faced off against Roman Torchwick, they had thwarted the White Fang at Mountain Glenn, they had fought side by side in the Vytal Tournament...
And Beacon Tower.
She gripped the knight a little tighter, as if protecting it from being snatched away.
Few things truly frightened Weiss Schnee. But that terrible night - when Grimm, White Fang and droids had all descended to tear Beacon and Vale apart - had left her very much afraid.
I remember it better than I want to. Fighting through Grimm was easy. But what came after wasn't.
"I'm so sorry...Ruby..." she whispered to herself, catching a tear before it could fall down her pale cheek. Weiss had continually tormented herself with blame ever since that night.
Closing her eyes, she allowed herself to slip back into her memory and re-live those horrific moments once more.
Weiss Schnee put another boarbatusk out of its misery. Straightening herself, she turned to the sight of a flash of crimson - Ruby. The red huntress cut through another beowulf with a ferocious swing of her scythe, a trail of blood and rose petals behind her. Side by side, they seemed to have earned a brief moment of respite.
"We've gotta hurry!" Ruby shouted. She was right - Pyrrha was still up there, fighting Cinder alone. Weiss scrutinised the tower and remembered one of their oldest tricks in the book. With a swift flick of her sword, she cast a great line of silvery glyphs up the length of the tower.
"You can do this." she said confidently to her younger partner.
Without hesitation, Ruby Rose dashed upwards, defying gravity and ascending the structure. Weiss lingered for a few moments in fear for her partner - before rushing back into the fray.
Weariness began to take its toll, but Weiss wouldn't stop now. Not with so much at stake. And so, she kept fighting. With each slice and every pierce, she dwindled down the number of ravenous creatures which swarmed the grounds of the academy; though the battle seemed endless, as more and more poured in with a burning desire to bring the heiress down.
And then, the world seemed to end.
A blinding silver blanket of light shot out from the top of Beacon's tower - Grimm creatures died in an instant, or fled in sheer terror. From the top of the tower, Weiss heard only one sound: that of Ruby Rose, screaming.
The heiress froze, thinking only that Cinder had killed Ruby. Her Ruby.
"NO! RUBY!"
Weiss sprinted towards the tower, casting glyphs upon the ground ready to launch herself upwards.
If Ruby was dead, Weiss was ready to kill Cinder single-handedly.
Whatever the cost.
Just as she prepared to leap, something grabbed her around the waist and pulled her back. She kicked and screamed, elbowing at the presence holding her and trying to swing her rapier around to attack. Over the chaos happening at the top of the tower and her own anguish, she barely discerned the husky voice.
"Kid, it's alright, it's alright! She's fine, she's okay. She's going to be fine...she's not dead, she's fine..."
The heiress continued to struggle against the restraint, dropping her sword, desperate to reach Ruby. But the fatigue of battle and struggling had worn her out to the point of complete exhaustion, and she felt her eyelids getting heavier. She could smell alcohol coming from the figure holding her back - Qrow Branwen, no doubt. Slowly she felt herself slipping out of consciousness bit by bit, but she fought on - with a last burst of energy, she wriggled out of his hold and grabbed Myrtenaster, stumbling forwards.
She had to reach Ruby. Just a few more steps and she'd be at the tower. Just a few more steps...
Weiss Schnee collapsed onto the courtyard floor, and the rapier clattered down next to her. She panted for breath, looking up at the surge of light.
"Weiss, stop! You can stop, okay kid?! She's not dead. She's...Ruby's gonna be okay. Just relax kid, you did great...hey Oobleck! Take Miss Schnee back to the safe zone - I'm gonna grab Ruby! And hurry!"
Professor Oobleck sped forward, kneeling to aid his student.
"Do not worry young Miss Schnee, I assure you: everything will be just fine! We'll get you somewhere safe!" Oobleck rattled off, preparing to carry Weiss.
"R...Ruby..."
"I'm sorry my dear? I didn't quite catch what you s-"
Weiss Schnee passed out.
The ex-heiress opened her cerulean eyes, and a tear escaped her notice and dropped onto the windowsill. Carefully, she set the knight back down. She hated that the past was a battle that one could not determine; what was done was done, and she could not change it with any swing of a sword. Her mind was swimming with what-if's and maybes.
If she had just gone up there with Ruby, maybe they could have beaten Cinder. Maybe they could have saved Pyrrha. Maybe she could have stopped Ruby from...from whatever had happened.
And now, she had not a clue as to where Ruby was in all of Remnant. Still at home in Patch? Unlikely. That red pest could barely keep still at the best of times.
Exploring somewhere, on some sort of quest? Finding the rest of team RWBY?
Alive?
Dead?
Her heart skipped a beat.
No.
If I think that way, I've already lost.
I can't be a prisoner any longer.
I lost you once, Ruby Rose. I can't lose you again.
With a stiff upper lip and a newfound fire in her heart, Weiss stopped staring longingly at the shattered moon and marched across her room, swiping Myrtenaster from the bed. She quickly refilled the rapier with fresh canisters of Dust, and wasted no time in dressing into her combat skirt. With a twirl, she faced the full length mirror in the corner of her room.
I have a real reason to get out of this damned castle now. Now I have a direction.
Weiss smirked, turning away and grabbing an old backpack from underneath her bed. She had always kept this in case she needed to run away from home as a kid - as she had often wanted to. Now it was going to be of great use. She stuffed the essentials one by one into the bag, with a renewed sense of invigoration.
I'm not just going to sit around moping, she thought, I'm going to find my partner!
There's nothing you can throw at me, Jacques Schnee, that will stop me. Your guards can't stop me, your giant armoured monster can't stop me, your little protege Whitley can't stop me...
You cannot stop me.
Because I've got something I believe in. Someone who keeps me going.
My Ruby.
She took the golden knight artefact and slipped it into her pocket. It would make for a thoughtful gift when they reunited.
I lost you once, you dolt. And I will NOT lose you again!
I'm coming to find you, Ruby Rose!
Weiss beamed a rebellious smile.
Slinging the bag onto her back, she took the rapier in her left hand. Weiss was ready.
Her right hand cautiously gripped the bedroom door handle.
Alright. On the count of three, I'm coming to find you, you caped dork.
One...
Two...
Three!
Weiss Schnee swung the door open - and sprinted.
Thank you for reading!
Let me know what you thought with a review if you fancy!
Also, if there's one of my old unfinished series that you're annoyed wasn't completed, let me know - I'm trying to get a gauge on whether anybody still had interest in those older fics.
Otherwise, I'll be starting a brand new series (almost certainly WR-focused) once RWBY Volume 4 is finished!
Ciao.