Gentle Snowdrops

This is just a random fanfiction I made a month ago. I figured I'd share it instead of letting it sit on my computer. Enjoy, I suppose.

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The blistering chill was becoming more unbearable the farther they walked. The team was very unfortunate to be caught in the middle of a blizzard in the middle of nowhere. Equipment to fend off the cold was strapped over their backs and shoulders, and scarves and coats were wrapped around themselves tightly, but trying to set up camp in this weather would be pointless. They needed to find shelter, even if it seemed improbable that anything would be out here. If there was, there was a high chance they would miss it and even walk right passed it; the blizzard didn’t allow any vision for more than five feet in front of them. They had to keep moving, only able to hope that they would either be able to find a place to stay or that the blizzard would calm down. Whichever it was would be in favor to the entire group.

Team RWBY felt as if their feet were no longer attached to their body, both due to the constant trudging through the thick snow and from how icy cold it was. Frostbite would start to form on their faces if they weren’t fast enough. Regardless of how exhausted the girls’ were, stopping would mark their deaths.

“D-d-do you s-see anything y-yet, W-W-Weiss?” Ruby chattered, trying to project her voice over the howling wind.

Weiss was holding her weapon close to her chest, the blade radiating with a faint, red glow. Everyone was taking turns using it for warmth. It wasn’t much, but it was surely helping them. Weiss was beginning to run out of fire Dust, however. They would run out within an hour. Turning her head back at Ruby, she replied, “I can’t see anything in this stupid storm, and I highly doubt any of us will anytime soon.”

“Professor Ozpin said this area wasn’t always completely deserted,” Blake reminded the group, trying to give them more reason to continue on. “We have to run into an abandoned house eventually.”

“Well, on the bright side, after this we’ll never complain about how cold the dorms can be sometimes,” Yang lightly joked, trying to lighten the mood. “Still, if we don’t find a place soon, I’m kinda scared this snow is gonna freeze of my t-“

“Yang!” Ruby scolded. “Th-that isn’t the k-k-kind of l-language to be u-using at a t-t-t-time like thi-this!”

“Oh, don’t be a sourpuss,” Yang chuckled at her sister. “It’s not like that’s the first time I’ve sworn.”

They were silent for a few minutes after this exchange. What more was there to say at the moment? They were wet and cold through and through, with nowhere to take refuge. The group didn’t have any sort of tent to set up, and even if they did it would be suicide to sleep outside in the current conditions the weather threatened them with. Losing hope would also spell their doom. The treacherous, howling wind was beginning to play with their minds, however. What if they really couldn’t find a safe place to stay? They would end up buried in ice and preserved in time if no one came for them. What could they do?

“Look! Up ahead!” Weiss pointed at a structure just a few feet in front of them. The blizzard was worse than they had first thought, and the girls didn’t particularly think it was a winter wonderland to begin with; they estimated to be about five yards away from the building Weiss found, yet they could barely make it out regardless. They had no time to question it, as all they wanted to do was get inside and warm up.

Blake began to unpack the heavy blankets within her bag, while Weiss tried to make a fire out of what little Dust she had left, using the only small stack of wood beside the fireplace. Yang tried helping out as well, emptying her haversack of the cans of soup piled inside. Hopefully, they weren’t frozen at this point.

Ruby, on the other hand, simply tossed the bags strapped to her back and collapsed onto the couched. Weiss wasn’t at all happy about her leader sitting aside while everyone else was putting forth effort for their survival. “You can’t be serious!”

Ruby groaned into a pillow she was using to warm her face. The poor girl was exhausted, and not used to being exposed to such harsh conditions. Although barely audible, Ruby mumbled through the pillow, “Why are we even out here?”

“Did you not pay attention to a single word Ozpin said?” Weiss barked back. “If not, then we’re definitely going to die out here! You’re a great fighter, but you lack in the ‘common sense’ department.”

“Dude, chill out,” Yang tried to defend for Ruby. “Just let her rest. We got here just a few seconds ago. Lying down and relaxing doesn’t seem like a bad idea right now, honestly.”

“If you want your entire bloodstream to turn into icicles, then be my guest,” Weiss huffed at her. She went back to trying to make even the slightest spark, but she was having trouble controlling her convulsing hands. “Ugh! This stupid little…!”

“Just let her be,” Blake said quietly to Yang, giving everyone their own blanket to keep warm with until Weiss started the fire. “She’s probably just scared and frustrated. Give her time.”

Yang nodded in agreement before joining Ruby on the couch, having to motion the girl to move her legs before she sat down. Sighing out a cold breath of air, she wrapped her blanket around herself as tightly as possible to trap in her body heat. It wasn’t much help. Yang thought of something else in order to keep the group from obtaining hyperthermia, and soon suggested, “How ‘bout we get into a group huddle? I heard that’s a pretty good way to keep warm.”

As if on cue, Ruby immediately hugged her sister, still shaking as if she was outside. Blake joined the two, and then looked over at Weiss. “You wanna join us? It might help warm you up and make the fire easier to make.”

“I’m fine,” Weiss snapped, still desperately working. “My coat is doing a good enough job right now.”

Blake frowned, moving her eyes to the still-folded blanket she placed beside Weiss. The girl was being too stubborn to realize the danger of staying in this cold place. Thinking about it more, Blake now became the first of the girls to wonder what they exactly stumbled upon. “Where are we? Is this someone’s cabin?”

“It might be,” Yang shrugged. “I didn’t bother looking around here too much.”

“I’m s-sure whoever owns th-this place, they wouldn’t mind us staying here, right?” Ruby asked with slight worry, trying to keep her chatter at a minimum.

“If they don’t, I’ll have something to say about it,” Yang reassured with a wide grin, trying to help Ruby relax. “There is no way I’m walking around out there again.”

Ruby smiled, but it only lasted for a split second. “How are we going to complete our assignment like this? We don’t know when the storm will let up, or even where the Ursa out here are.”

“We can go back in the blistering cold if you wanna,” Yang teased.

“No, thank you.”

The wind only blew more harshly as the girls waited for the storm to let up. Ruby, Yang, and Blake remained huddled together on the couch, desperately trying to fight off the cold. The chilling air soon caused the girls to slowly drift off to sleep, none of them trying to stay up. It was for the best to regain their energy, and hopefully when they woke up they would be able to leave. Weiss remained at the fireplace, growing more and more worried as she couldn’t get even the slightest flint to catch fire to the wood. She didn’t have much to work with; a small container of fire Dust and three pieces of wood wasn’t going to be enough. She needed some kind of kindle.

Weiss turned her head to the blanket placed beside her. While joining the rest of her team would be a wise decision right now, a fire would be a much better choice of warmth. Unfolding the blanket, she began to use what little strength she had and began to tear it into little strips. Weiss soon lined up several of the pieces across and underneath the wood. She then took her Dust and sprinkled a single pinch at a starting point. Her numb fingers soon felt at the floor until they glazed across a matchbox, a single match left in it. Weiss slid it into her palm, looking at her last chance of survival. She began to breathe at a quicker pace as her heart pounded. Aiming as carefully as she could, Weiss placed it at the side of the matchbox and struck downwards.

She watched as the small flame flickered and illuminated between her fingers. It shook back and forth, as if mocking how much she was shivering. Trying to keep steady, Weiss lowered her hand at the cloth with the Dust on it. It caught on fire, and soon a reaction began to unfold. The Dust glowed as it became exposed to the heat, and as a result made the rest of the cloth catch fire. After a minute, Weiss was successful.

It wasn’t much, but Weiss tried to maintain a steady flame and keep it from going out. She gently blew at the flame to help catch fire to other parts of the wood. The crackling sounded heavenly to the girl. A smile soon formed on her face, the first time since the team embarked on this task. Once the flame was large enough to produce more heat, Weiss threw off her gloves and held up her hands. Weiss was prepared to wake up the others, but seeing them being cozy and sleeping soundly, she decided against it. Weiss sat by the fire for now to keep it alive. The girls will be happy to wake up to this.

The light outside slowly became overcome by darkness, and yet the storm didn’t let up. It was very worrying. Although a search party would be sent out if students did not return to beacon after a certain time, it would mean they would fail their task, and would eventually have to be thrown into these harsh conditions again until the team succeeded. It seemed cruel to some, but it was a test of endurance and the ability to adapt to any situation.

Ruby was the first to stir, her eyes beginning to flutter open. She had to blink a few times to get rid of the blurriness in the eyes, and afterwards witnessed Weiss’s silhouette in front of the burning fireplace.

“You got it working,” Ruby said with glee, but with a noticeably groggy tone. Weiss turned her head towards Ruby as much as her body would allow.

“Yeah,” she replied simply. Ruby picked up on the distress in her voice. She sacrificed her warmth from the group huddle to crawl down to her friend’s side, now plopping down beside Weiss.

“What’s the matter?” Ruby tried to comfort.

“You can’t be that dense,” Weiss said coldly. “We’re going to be stuck in here for who-knows-how-long, and it’s freezing even with this fire. I checked outside earlier…we’re completely snowed in.”

“You didn’t try to clear it out?” Ruby asked.

“With what, my sword?” Weiss replied. “I wasn’t going to drag snow in here by keeping the door opened. We can try tomorrow, but doing it right now would be the worse decision.”

Ruby frowned at Weiss demeanor. Although Weiss’s expressions suggestion irritation and anger, Ruby was able to read right through her. Ruby wrapped her arm around Weiss’s shoulders, only to have it be smacked away.

“Weiss…I know we’re in a pretty scary situation, but you can’t let your emotions get to you. You need to learn how to control them.” Ruby hoped she would be able to express the importance of her message. If one person in a team falls, then the rest might come down with them.

“I’m fine.” Weiss pulled her legs towards her chest. Fear began to leak through her words. She was obviously terrified. Ruby knew that she needed to keep her composure for the poor girl. Showing fright herself would only worsen Weiss more. She needed to stay strong for her entire team, at that.

Ruby again attempted to place her arm around Weiss. Once doing so, she pulled her friend closer. Giving a slight nudge with her free arm, Ruby said with confidence, “Don’t worry, Weiss. We are going to get out of here first thing tomorrow. I wouldn’t be much of a leader if I just gave up and curled up in a corner, would I? I need you to be brave too. Our team is nothing without any one of us, and you’re no exception.”

Weiss looked at Ruby slightly, which Ruby smiled warmly at her. “Get some sleep. It won’t do you any good staying up late.”

Patting Weiss on the shoulder, Ruby lifted herself up and joined Yang and Blake on the couch again, going back to sleep with them. Weiss pondered the words spoken to her. She began to wonder what would happen had she been the team leader. Would her worry cause her friends to collapse under her command? The more she thought about it, the more Weiss realized how selfish she had been thinking Ruby was too weak for the role. All Weiss would have accomplished would be ordering around her teammates. She feared ending up like her father, and until recently she learned that she had been acting like him; shouting at others when she didn’t get her way, insulting others right in front of them…it was horrible. She was learning to keep it under control while remaining her usual self, but now other emotions began to surface. Emotions she had kept stored up for the longest time. It was surprising how one event lead to something else. She hoped with all her might that Ruby would keep her promise of escape from this place.

The next morning, Ruby was once again up before Yang and Blake, and Weiss had ended up sleeping on the floor, curled into a ball in an attempt to keep warm. The fire was still going, although with just a single flame now. Turning her attention to the windows, she saw that there was barely any light coming through, snow being firmly packed onto it. She stretched her legs before standing up and walking over to the door. She feared the worse as she turned it and prepared to open it. It took five hard tugs before it was pried free, A tall pile of snow firmly packed together into a solid wall of ice.

Ruby wasn’t going to get out of this situation alone, now waking up Yang and Blake. “Guys! Guys, we have a serious problem here!”

Yang waved her hand away as she groaned, wanting to be left sleeping for just a little longer. Blake was more willing, waking up and becoming alert after the first shake. “What’s wrong?”

Ruby pointed at the door. “We might be stuck in her for a little while.”

“Oh my…” Blake stood up to examine the ice herself, trying to chip off a little with her finger. “That’s packed pretty tightly.”

“How are we going to get out of here?” Ruby said with worry, failing to keep calm.

“Hm? What’s happening?” Yang slowly opened her eyes and looked over at Ruby and Blake, and as a result sees the ice as well. “Uh-oh.”

“Don’t go ‘uh-oh’. Help do something!”

Yang stood up and inspected the compacted snow, placing a hand on her chin. Her eyes moved up and down, left and right, and generally at every inch of it. This went on for several minutes before cocking back a fist and throwing it forward. Nothing happened, and the only thing accomplished was Yang hurting her hand. She shook it rapidly to fan out the pain in her knuckles. “Ow. That didn’t work.”

“What if we shoot it open?” Ruby suggested, already drawing her weapon as if everyone would instantly agree to the idea.

Blake shook her head. “This place doesn’t look like it’s in the best condition. The blast might make this place fall down on our heads.”

“I guess punching a hole in the wall is out of the question,” Yang sighed, seeming disappointed. “I’ll look upstairs, then. Maybe we can jump out a window or something.”

As Yang disappeared for the time being, Ruby decided to wake Weiss up. Recalling Weiss’s fear from last night, Ruby hoped she wouldn’t overreact to their current entrapment. Placing both hands on the girl, Ruby lightly shook Weiss. Ruby was startled and fell backwards as Weiss suddenly sprung up with a terrified gasp. Weiss’s pupils were shrunken to tiny black dots as her head darted back and forth before realizing where she was.

“You…have a bad dream?” Ruby asked awkwardly.

Weiss blushed as she began to take deep breaths, shaking her head. “N-no, no. I’m fine…”

Weiss began to stand up, only for her legs to become wobble and cause her to fall right back down; witnessing the wall of ice completely closing up the exit was too much her for. After a moment, she scuttled towards it and desperately clawed at it like a trapped animal. “This can’t be happening! Let us out! Oh please, let us out!”

Ruby and Blake had to pull Weiss away to get her to stop. Although it was only for a few short seconds, Weiss had managed to rub her fingers so hard on the wall the tips began to bleed.

Ruby was now scared and concerned about Weiss, trying to gather up her thoughts about this. “Weiss? Are you…okay?”

“Let’s let her sit down for a little,” Blake suggested as she guided the girl by her shoulders.

Yang soon came down after thoroughly searching for anything useful upstairs, coming down empty-handed. “There aren’t any shovels or anything like that in this place, and the windows are frozen shut. You sure you don’t want me to punch up an escape route through the wall.”

“If you want to risk bringing down the entire place, be my guest,” Blake firmly warned. “Honestly, I think we need to be more concerned about…something else right now.”

The girls turned their attention towards Weiss, now lowering their voices so she wouldn’t hear them. Although barely audible, they could make out Weiss muttering, “I’m sorry, Daddy” over and over. It was a very drastic change in her behavior. Her normally short-tempered and sour behavior was replaced with a very fearful and skittish nature.

“What’s wrong with her?” Yang whispered, unsure of how to think of this

“I…can’t really tell you myself,” Blake replied.

“Maybe she has a fever.” Yang and Blake raised their eyebrows at Ruby, confused about the random theory. Ruby, once noticing their questioning stares, tried to back herself up. “I heard that if you’re stuck in a small house for a while, you start getting a fever that makes you all scared like this.”

“I think the term you’re looking for is ‘cabin fever’,” Blake corrected. “That could be the case, but that usually takes a week at the minimum for that to kick in, and it hasn’t been a full day yet.”

“Well, I think ‘usually’ is the key word there,” Yang then said. “Weiss is clearly experiencing ‘cabin fever’ right now, by the looks of it.”

“The only thing I can think of is she is being reminded of something traumatic,” Blake theorized. “But…maybe, once we escape, she’ll calm down.”

“How are we gonna do that, though?” Yang asked.

Blake looked over at her backpack, thinking about her weapon strapped to the side of it. She bent down to it and gripped it in her hand. Blake then walked up to the wall of ice and began to stab it over and over, making long thrusting motions each time. The tip barely punctured the ice, but when stabbing in the area Yang had punched at, the sword went in. It wasn’t much at all, but it was a sign that digging their way out was possible. “I’m going to work at this for now. Why don’t one of you make us something to eat in the meantime?”

“Roger,” Yang replied with a quick salute, going to build up the fire again. Ruby took this time to sit beside Weiss, who was still in a panicked state. The girl didn’t even seem to notice Ruby, and looked to be in a dazed. Her eyes were wide with fear, currently staring at nothing but the floor.

“Weiss,” Ruby called out in a calm tone. “Weiss, it’s alright. We’re going to be safe before the day is even over. We can go complete our assignment, and then we can get out of here. We’ll be a-okay. Heheh…heh…”

Weiss didn’t respond. She held her arms close to her and her breaths were very shaky. It looked impossible to recover her mental state. There was no way to simply guess what the problem was, aside from what she was muttering earlier.

“So…are you afraid you won’t see your dad again?” Ruby tried to ask. Weiss tensed up, making Ruby think she had hit something. “I miss my Dad, too. I know it seems hopeless right now, but we’re all going to see our family again, and we’ll party with Jaune and Pyrrha and Nora and Ren and just have a good ol’ time.”

Again, Weiss didn’t look any better. Ruby wanted to help further, but she was going to start repeating herself if she continued. Although it pained her, Ruby got up from the couch and left Weiss be. She resorted to trying to help her sister, who had managed to create another fire from the little flame that was left before.

“So, um…what do we have to eat?” Ruby asked.

“Chicken noodle soup,” Yang chirped, preparing to open one of the cans. “Nothing better to warm you up but this.

“I think hot chocolate is better for that,” Ruby giggled.

“When we get home, that’ll be the first thing we’ll drink,” Yang promised. “Even if it is in the middle of summer back home.”

Yang cooked everyone a bowl of soup, and during that time Blake has managed to dig out a small hole. It wasn’t much, but it was better than nothing. Yang then offered to help break down the ice. Since her punch was what had weakened the ice before, she resorted to going back to that. She decided to use her Ember Celica this time, making sure it was unloaded before beginning to swing forward. Her weapon still cocked forward as if firing a shot, but this time it acted like a makeshift pickaxe, the tip now hacking away at the ice. Although still not much was coming off, Yang was able to throw punch after punch at a quicker rate than Blake.

Ruby held up the bowl of soup for Weiss, but she didn’t take it. Frowning, she placed it at Weiss’s feet in case she wanted it later. Ruby looked over at Blake, hoping for some ideas. Blake shook her head, not able to help Ruby. Ruby hung onto the idea that once they were able to escape, Weiss would go back to her normal self, but in the back of her head, she knew that this would scar Weiss’s mind in some way.

Yang worked for a whole hour straight, only stopping to eat her own bowl of soup, and even then she scarfed it down quickly. She was able to make a whole large enough to fit her upper half of her body through it, but she still hadn’t penetrated the other side. Taking a small break, Yang wiped her brow before placing her hands at her side. “Whew! This is some thick ice.”

“How much longer do you think it’ll take?” Ruby asked, looking at Weiss when saying this.

“Dunno,” Yang answered honestly. “Could be just a few inches, could be another yard.”

Ruby sucked in her lips and narrowed her eyebrows. It would be a drastic risk, but Ruby was going to do what she could to help. Standing up, Ruby motioned Yang to move out of the way while she shuffled through her bag.

“What’re you doing?” Yang asked, a little concern in her voice. Ruby said nothing, soon pulling out her Cresent Rose, placing the barrel inside the hole, and firing. Ruby had to press her feet on the ground as hard as she could to prevent being blown through the wall. Yang and Blake gasped and braced themselves for the house to suddenly fall on them, but aside from it shaking from the force, the house remained standing. They both glared at a grinning Ruby, who looked very proud with her actions.

“Well, I made a hole for us,” she said simply.

“I suppose the force was contained inside the ice, so we’re pretty lucky to be alive right now,” Blake said.

“No more talking; we gotta pack up and leave right now! C’mon team, chop chop!” Ruby was now excited to move forward. Their exit was made, and their worries of remaining in this house was now blown off of their shoulders. Skipping over to Weiss, Ruby pointed over at the door. “Look! We’re free. You don’t need t-“

Ruby wasn’t able to finish her sentence as Weiss darted for the hole and quickly crawled through it, completely abandoning her belongings. Ruby raised an eyebrow, but figured she was simply happy to finally leave this place. The girls had to pass their equipment through the hole one at a time, as wearing them while crawling out would only lead to becoming stuck, but they managed to get it all through. Ruby walked over to Weiss afterwards with her backpack and handed it to her.

Weiss looked at Ruby and took her things. This was when Ruby noticed Weiss’s expression had changed; she was no longer terrified. Ruby took this time to ask about what had happened to her before. “Looks like your okay now. What was all that stuff earlier?”

“What stuff? I was perfectly fine,” Weiss stubbornly replied. Ruby was happy for Weiss, but she wouldn’t allow this to simply slide.

“You looked really crazy back there, like you belonged in an asylum or something,” Ruby explained.

“Yeah, well…I’m sure you’ve broken under pressure before,” Weiss sassed, trying to defend herself.

“That was less ‘breaking under pressure’ and more of having a mental meltdown.”

“I told you I’m fine. Let’s get this mission finished with. We’ve wasted enough time as it is.” Weiss began marching through the snow, Blake and Yang soon following behind. Ruby sighed in worry before catching up with the group herself.

Now that the blizzard was gone, they had a clear view of their surroundings; it looked like the land went on endlessly to the west, but just north of the was a set of mountains, and at the base of those mountains was the supposed location of the Ursa they were looking for.

“So, what kind of Ursa are we looking for again?” Yang asked.

“I think they’re called Glacies Ursa,” Ruby answered.

“It’s pronounced ‘glah-ches’, not ‘glay-shes’,” Weiss corrected Ruby, as if she had said something idiotic.

“Yep, back to her usual self,” Ruby simply said to herself, actually glad to be insulted by Weiss.

After hiking for a mile to reach the base of the mountains, they began their ascend, trying to avoid the steeper parts of the path. Higher and higher they climbed, until they reach the point where they air was thin. This was where they needed to be.

They needed to regulate their breathing at this point. There wasn’t much air to use, so breathing too quickly wouldn’t be good. Eventually, they reached a cave, which was where an Ursa was surely living in.

“I’ll go first,” Blake whispered to the group, quietly withdrawing her weapon. She slowly crept inside, careful not to step on anything that would make noise. The rest of the group followed behind, Blake being able to guide her with her night vision. They came to a point where the cave suddenly turned a corner, and slowly peaking over to it, Blake saw nothing there.

“Where are they?” she soon questioned aloud.

“They said they would be here. What gives?” Weiss said as she activated one of her Dust containers to illuminate the cave.

“Maybe they’re out hunting for food?” Yang shrugged.

“Hunting for what? We haven’t seen a living thing out here,” Weiss said as she crossed her arms.

“Maybe all of the animals live in the mountains?”

As Yang and Weiss talked on, Ruby decided to walk out of the cave to make sure the Ursa were not about to return; nothing to her left ,and nothing to her right. Regardless of the current safety, the Ursa could come back at any moment. With this in mind, Ruby returned to the group quickly. “I think we should wait for the Glacies Ursa outside. I don’t think it’ll be too happy finding us inside its home.”

The group agreed. It was too dangerous inside the cave. Ruby led the way out this time, Weiss being the last one out. Unfortunately for her, at that, as right above the cave’s entrance was a pure white Grimm, its red patterns being the only indication of its presence. With a threatening growl, it leapt down towards them and blocked Weiss away from the rest of the group. As a result, the Ursa didn’t notice Weiss straight away. This was to her advantage. As Ruby, Yang, and Blake distracted it from the front, Weiss prepared to make an attack from behind. She clicked her fingers to summon a symbol on the ground which allowed her to be pushed forward. The snow allowed for smoother and faster gliding, and once close enough she created another symbol to launch herself into the air. She prepared to plunge her sword into the Grimm’s back, but it reacted in a fashion as if knowing ahead of time this would happen. The bear smacked Weiss with its large claws and sent her flying back towards the cave.

Weiss yelped in pain as she gripped her chest, gasping in pain as she tried to stand. It hurt whenever she breathed nowIt now began to run towards Weiss at high speed. She wouldn’t be able to dodge in time, at least not to the side. Her only choice was to make a dash back into the cave, as horrible as it sounded. She stumbled through the darkness until they Weiss was in the small area the group was in before…and until now, she didn’t consider how dark it was before. She couldn’t see anything around her. Weiss began to panic, looking around for the exit. It was futile, as even if she could find it, she could hear the Ursa making its way towards her. Her only hope was to keep quiet and hope it wouldn’t notice her.

Weiss managed to find a wall and slide down on it, now curled into a ball as tightly as she could. She began to breath heavy again and couldn’t stop, now forced to bury her face into her knees to muffle herself. She could hear the Ursa snorting and growling as it made its way into its chambers, now beginning to sniff around. It was going to find her for sure, Weiss thought to herself, unable to keep the negative thoughts at bay. In this cold, dark, confined area, the evil monster was going to get her and kill her.

“Daddy…please no…” Weiss began to whimper. Her eyes were snapped shut, and the sounds around her became gradually quieter, until the only sound she heard was the rapid pounding of her heart.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Weiss tried unlocking her room again, managing to use one of her hair pins to finally do so. She could hear her father shouting on the phone again, and Weiss became very sad to hear him in such a distraught state. She didn’t understand why he was upset, but all that mattered was making her father happy. She was afraid to do so before, but today would finally be the day she would be brave.

She walked towards his office, and soon pushed it open. Weiss’s father was facing away from her, shouting at the top of his lungs to one of his clients. With a frown, Weiss waited for him to finally stop

Tossing his phone across his desk, Weiss’s father spotted her, and the glare he gave made poor Weiss step back. With an angry grimace, he growled, “I thought I told you to stay in your room.”

“B-but Daddy…I’ve already finished reading the books you gave me,” Weiss whimpered. “I just wanted to-“

“You are ten years old, Weiss. You should know better than to disobey me!” he suddenly interrupted. “If you can’t listen to me, then how are you going to amount to anything!?”

Weiss was silent, tears beginning to weld up into his eyes. She didn’t like how loud he was being, and at her especially. Before she could do anything else, however, her father suddenly grabbed her arm. “If you’re going to continue to disobey me, then I’m going to have to force you to listen!”

Weiss could barely walk at his pace. Her feet were practically dragged along the floor as she desperately tried to keep her balance. She was guided back to her room, but this time, instead of simply locking her door once again, she was thrown into her closet harshly, her head banging against the wall. Her father said nothing else before he slammed it shut and locked it from the outside. Weiss now desperately began to pound on the door, begging for forgiveness.

“Daddy! Please, no!” Weiss pleaded. “Don’t leave me alone! It’s dark in here! I don’t want the monsters to get me! I’m sorry, Daddy! I’m sorry! I’m sorry…”

Once realizing the futile attempts, Weiss slumped backwards, now curling up into a ball and crying into her knees. She couldn’t stop, and eventually tears stopped forming all together. The one time she tried to reach out to the one she loved dearly, the only one she had left, they rejected her. What was wrong with her that her father had to keep punishing her and making her work so hard? She didn’t understand. If her father didn’t love her, then what was the point in staying? She couldn’t figure out the answers to these questions, soon falling asleep from misery.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Weiss’s eyes fluttered open, a blinding light shining above. It took a second to realize what she was staring at; at first, she thought it was the sun, but pieced together that it was actually a lightbulb. Confused, she sat up to view her surroundings, only to grip her chest in pain and lay back down.

“You shouldn’t move too much,” a voice said from beside Weiss. Turning her head to the side, she saw that the voice belonged to Ruby. She looked both happy to see Weiss, and yet sad by something else. Ruby stood up from her seat and sat at the edge of Weiss’s bed.

“The doctor’s sad you have three cracked ribs, one of them almost puncturing your lung,” Ruby informed. “We found you passed out in the cave after fighting off the Ursa.”

“Did we pass the test?” Weiss asked afterward.”

“Yeah,” Ruby replied simply. Weiss sighed quietly, thankful that they didn’t have to go back to that dreaded place. She had nothing to say further, and neither did Ruby, it seemed. They didn’t say anything else for a few minutes, glad to have one another in their company, but wishing to cut the awkward silence. Ruby was the first to speak up, however.

“You cried in your sleep,” Ruby told Weiss. Weiss perked up at this, instantly remembering the single dream she had while apparently out cold. Weiss was hoping to avoid any more confrontations about it, but Ruby wasn’t the type to not be concerned for her friends by a long shot.

“Are you going to tell me what’s wrong now?” Ruby looked directly into Weiss’s eyes while speaking. Weiss even had to turn her head away, as the sheer amount of emotion behind them was too much. Weiss couldn’t simply stomp off like usual when trying to avoid questions she didn’t want to answer, but this time, Weiss would come out.

“I told you before that my childhood wasn’t exactly the greatest,” Weiss soon began. “My father punished me quite often. Admittedly, I did disobey him a handful of times, but each time, he would lock me inside my room, for hours on end, and make me read books as thick as cinderblocks. They were about business stuff, things a little girl can’t understand. If I disobeyed him after that, he’d lock me inside my closet and just leave me to be scared in the dark. I always cried myself to sleep in there. Being trapped inside that house…it brought back memories that scarred me as a child…”

“Weiss…” Ruby place her hand on top of Weiss’s, hoping to comfort her. Ruby noticed Weiss holding back tears, but didn’t comment on it. Instead, Ruby gave her some advice, words that would be very important for Weiss to remember. “I know that you don’t want to be seen as weak, but holding back your feelings will only get you into trouble later. What happened during the test is a perfect example of that. If you have something to say, just tell us. We won’t judge you for it. Remember when we found out Blake was once part of the White Fang? You forgave her and didn’t judge her for it. Why do you think we wouldn’t do the same for you?”

“If my father finds out that I have any signs of weakness,” Weiss began, “he’ll never want to see me again. He expects a lot from me since I’m the heiress of his company. I still love him, since he is my father. I don’t want the only person I care for deeply hate me in return…”

A single tear fell from each eye, Weiss’s throat now too choked up. Ruby, unfortunately for her, could relate greatly to Weiss’s fears, since Ruby’s own have already been realized. Staying strong, however, Ruby squeezed Weiss hand. “Even if that happens, you’re going to always have people to come to; Yang, Blake, and especially I love you as a friend. And that won’t be changing anytime soon.”

Weiss’s eyes were wide with surprise. Even after all that she had done to her team; did they still respect her like this? Why was she so oblivious to this until now, where she was bed-ridden in a hospital? And how would she ever repay them back? She came to Beacon without having a single, and rejecting everyone who approached her. If her friends were able to see through her stone-cold heart before, then perhaps she had found a home away from home.

Tightening her grip around Ruby’s hand, she muttered, “Thank you.”