As she watched Ruby crest the top of the tower, running as fast as she could to help Pyrrha, Weiss reached out her hand on instinct, an involuntary reaction, as if to grab the burst of rose petals. She knew Ruby had to go. She knew she had to let her. There was no other option. Her partner was just like that. Once she had it in her mind to save someone there was no stopping her. No begging, no explaining the risks. Only reluctant acceptance of the danger. Only trust in the girl who had proven herself time and time again, trust that she would once more.
That was the last time she had seen her. Her father had stolen her back to Atlas that same night. All she knew was that there had been a brilliant flash of light atop the tower, and after that? No word. No news. Beacon Tower was down. Communication between kingdoms had all but halted, and she had no way of knowing if her leader survived, or if she and Pyrrha both... If they were both gone.
Her father had acted so quickly, she hardly had time to register what was happening before she was whisked back to Atlas, to the frigid air of Solitas. She had wanted to stay. She fought tooth and nail to stay in Vale, to stay with her team, but in the end it hadn't mattered. Nothing she did, none of her protestations had meant anything.
Weiss forced her eyes open, staring at her hand above her, silhouetted against the canopy over her bed in the gloom of the early morning. The pain of fatigue in her shoulder brought a deep sigh from her lungs. How long had she kept her arm outstretched, reaching for a Rose that was kingdoms away? It seemed that every morning she woke like this, arm outstretched, recovering from the same dream, the same loss.
She sat up on the edge of her bed, glaring at her scroll. 4:30. Of all the days to not be well rested it had to be the day of her father's charity event. She needed to be in perfect form today, but ever since that day her body had felt so dysfunctional. She didn't let it show of course. She couldn't afford to show weakness, not as a huntress, not as an heiress. She had to put on an act of being okay. To sing exactly as she always had, if not better. Except none of that mattered. None of that mattered at all. Her team was out there somewhere, and she needed to be there for them instead of singing for publicity.
Blake was already in a precarious state. She hoped the faunus would stay strong, remain with her friends, trust in them as she was already learning to do. She hoped Yang would be okay too. Yang had always seemed indomitable, but the Fall of Beacon was something she could see rattling her. And then there was Ruby. If Ruby was still around, she'd already be back on her feet. Probably pulling the team together, heading off to another academy to finish their training or some such. She'd never let anything deter her.
Ruby was so strong. She never let the fear of failure hold her back, unlike Weiss. She didn't have any expectations for perfection, no family name to live up to. Ruby was free to be Ruby. Weiss missed her dearly. For the first time she'd found someone she could call a friend, someone she could be herself with too. But now it was back to her old life, back to being the Heiress of the Schnee Dust Company.
Breakfast with the Schnee family was dreadful. It was of course just an excuse to ensure Weiss knew her obligations for the event. To "prepare her for success" in the words of her father. Whitley was there listening to every word Jacques said with rapt attention. When had he grown so... amenable? Weiss picked at her breakfast idly, listening to her father drone on and on about obligations, and public image, and stock prices. She couldn't care less. Not even if you paid her. Her eyes landed on the vase in front of her. A bouquet of roses, white as snow of course. Color simply wasn't allowed. Can't disrupt the uniformity of the manor, everything has to be so dreadfully the same.
Weiss closed her eyes, letting her father's voice fade into the background. Her lungs swelled with the gelid air that always permeated the Schnee Manor. As she opened her eyes she saw a rose petal drifting down into her field of vision.
Following its trajectory upward she found a trail of glyphs. Her glyphs. Cascading up the side of Beacon Tower. Sprinting along them was a red blur, manic, desperate to reach the top in time. Weiss extended her arm. Raising it toward the sky in a silent prayer for the Rose to return. She needed to tell her something. Weiss needed that Rose to know something. What it was she couldn't even tell herself. But she needed to say it before that Rose went away.
"Ruby, wait!"
Dead silence. Broken only by the hammering of her heart against her ribs. She couldn't hear anything. She couldn't feel anything. She could hardly even breathe. All she could do was stare. Rooted in place by her own fears, her own trepidation. And then all was white.
"Weiss. What are you doing?" The voice of her father cut in like a razor, dispelling the vision in an instant.
She blinked. Beacon Tower was gone. Ruby was gone. She felt a prick in her finger, blood oozing from the opening. She was gripping the roses in the vase before her. Her grip was tight, as though the flowers would flee at any moment. A thorn had caught the thread of her skin, unravelling it like the binding of an old dusty tome. The familiar ache in her shoulder reared its head once more. She released the breath she'd been holding, letting herself deflate. Letting go of the roses, a drop of blood landed on one of the petals, painting it a deep crimson. She clenched her fists in her lap, bowing her head.
She wanted to explain herself. To seek compassion, understanding. To seek the things a father should provide. More than that she wanted to be back in Vale where she wouldn't need those things over such a small misstep. Instead she had no recourse but to bow to the overwhelming demands of a man who saw her as nothing more than a means to an end.
"Forgive me father."
"You'd best not have another of these... episodes at tonight's event."
His reply was cold. Serious as ever. He didn't care about her well being, or what she had seen. What she had lost. She was a tool. She'd always be a tool. Or a monster. Or a rich brat who knew nothing of the world. She was never allowed to just be Weiss. Ruby was the only one who saw her as such. Her fists clenched tighter in her lap, small droplets of blood staining her skirt.
"You have my word that I won't. If you'll excuse me."
Weiss rose from the table, and left her half eaten breakfast behind. She needed space. She needed time to clear her mind. She could hear Whitley and Jacques murmuring behind her, but that wasn't important right now. She stormed through the halls, ignoring a question of concern from Klein. She appreciated it of course, and she knew he truly cared, but right now, she needed to parse through things on her own. To understand why she was seeing that scene so vividly, why her heart beat so fast whenever she did.
She returned to her room and wiped her hand clean. Her aura had long since taken care of the small wound. Frustration pumped through her veins anew. Heat, and fire surging through every capillary and artery. Why didn't she have a better handle on this? Why was it affecting her so badly? Why was she mad that it was? It was all so... confusing. Her upbringing at odds with who she had become at Beacon.
She flopped backwards onto her bed, staring up at the canopy stretched out above her. She watched as it was replaced by a bed. A small twin bed, precariously held aloft by ropes that looked far from safe. She snapped up, rising to her feet in an instant. She looked down at herself. No blood stained skirt. A simple blue nightgown. Her hair was down around her shoulders, rather than tied up in the lopsided ponytail she knew she'd put it in this morning. She turned, facing the bed. Facing Ruby's bed.
The red head was fast asleep. Papers scattered on the bed in front of her. A late night of studying it seemed. Stray strands of hair stuck to a stream of drool leaking from her lips. How it was possible for a girl so small to snore so loudly, Weiss would never understand. Normally she'd be utterly repulsed, but in this moment, all she felt was longing. Yearning.
She reached out once more, stopping just short of shaking Ruby's shoulder. Weiss had something she needed to say. She didn't know what it was, but every time she thought of Ruby she could feel the flutters in her stomach, the pounding in her chest. She felt whatever it was that needed to be said rising up, threatening to explode out at any moment. It was now or never. She brushed the stray tress back behind Ruby's ear, letting her fingers linger on the girls cheek. Opening her mouth to speak, she paused. Ruby's slumber was so peaceful. Now wasn't the time to say what needed to be said. It would come when they reunited. If they reunited she recalled bitterly.
Weiss's eyes closed once more. A deep breath in. A deep breath out. When they opened once more her eyes fell once more upon her outstretched arm, in the dark of her bedroom in the Schnee manor.
She really did miss having bunk beds.
The hours leading up to the event passed slowly, but uneventfully. The event itself should have passed the same. She sang as she was expected to. Weiss knew her father would be more concerned with shmoozing with other rich people than paying any attention to what she was singing. It felt good getting some of her frustrations out in this manner, even if it was as putting a bandaid on a bullet wound.
The issue came after the performance. When she was admiring a painting of Beacon Academy. Reminiscing, of course on her time with her team. Her time with Ruby.
"It's a pretty painting. Matches you perfectly."
Weiss pulled herself from her ruminations to look over at the stranger approaching her. She kept her arms crossed, a cold expression on her face. She didn't want to be bothered, least of all by some awful flirt.
"It's a lovely painting." She replied briefly, turning her attention back to the painting, back to the last place she had seen Ruby.
"That was supposed to break the ice. I see that it didn't. So, you thinking of buying it?"
"No, I don't think so."
"Yeah, as far as paintings go it's a bit pricey."
"It's to raise money." She said with a sharp edge in her voice.
"Oh yeah? What, does Mantle need more aid? More of our money cause they can't pull themselves out of the gutter?"
Weiss's brow twitched. She very much would have liked to tell him off, or smack him, but she was cognizant of her station, and knew that she couldn't afford to make a scene here.
"Get. Out."
"What?"
"I said leave!"
"What's got you so worked up, it's just a shitty painting!"
Weiss couldn't help it anymore. She needed to tell him off. To yell. Scream. Do anything to get this incorrigible rat out of her house. She intended to do just that in fact. But there he was. Standing in front of the painting of Beacon. Standing just where Ruby had been when they had hatched their plan.
She found herself there again. Preparing glyphs she knew would separate her from her partner. Glyphs that would carry her out of reach. That would tear Team RWBY apart. She couldn't let it happen again. She couldn't bear to watch Ruby go even one more time. She heard footsteps. No. Not this time. She reached out again, as if something was possessing her body, not giving her the chance to back out of saying it. She grasped the wrist of the girl trying to run off, trying to leave her, even if unintentionally. She held tight, like a vice. Unwilling and unable to let go. She couldn't afford to. She'd lose everything if she did.
"Ruby, don't go."
The redhead responded with a quizzical raising of her eyebrow.
"Weiss? I have to, Pyrrha needs my help."
"I know. I know that, I just... you can't go Ruby. You can't."
"Why not?! You're not making any sense Weiss! You know she needs me!"
"I know it doesn't make sense! But you can't go Ruby! You can't, because I need you more! I L-"
Her words were cut short as she felt a hand clasp her shoulder. She blinked. The wrist in her grasp wasn't a wrist. It was a throat. Her grip was tight as iron, choking the man before her with merciless cruelty. She heard muttering, gasps of shock, one lady let out an overdramatic scream of horror. The hand on her shoulder was her father's. She released her grip immediately, leaving the boy coughing and sputtering trying to regain his breath. He glared daggers at her as he ran off slinging curses and threats she was sure. She didn't hear them, she was more focused on the consequences she was about to face. Even that felt small though. She needed to leave. To go find Ruby. To finish her confession to the real deal.
"Weiss. You assured me. We will discuss this later. For now, return to your room. Do NOT embarrass the family further."
Of course. The family. That was his concern. Weiss scowled. As if he had ever spared a single thought for his family, for the name he tarnished with every single action he took. What he really meant was that she was making him look bad. She'd had enough.
"I'm leaving."
"Yes. You are."
"You misunderstand. I'm leaving Atlas."
His face twisted into an even deeper rage, if that was even possible.
"Excuse me?"
"You heard me perfectly well. I'll not remain here cooped up, when my friends, my team, my partner is out there fighting to save people. You can sit here in your ivory tower squeezing every Lien you can out of everyone you see, I'll be out there, fighting so that what happened to Beacon doesn't happen here. Or anywhere else for that matter."
"You will do no such thing. You are to remain here. In the manor. Where you can be monitored. Watched. So that something like this never happens again."
"I wasn't asking permission, father."
She shook his grip and made for her room. She needed to grab her sword and go. She needed to be as far away from here as quickly as possible. She was convinced of it now. Ruby was out there. She had to be. She hadn't fallen at Beacon, and she would never let something like its fall stop her. She'd try Haven first she supposed. Tonight. Tomorrow would be too late. Making Ruby wait even a second longer would simply not do.
She needed to find Ruby. She needed to tell that stupid impulsive redhead that she loved her more than life itself.