Chapter Text
Weiss felt her jaw drop in shock as she gazed up at her exhausted girlfriend. If that fire burning from Neo’s eyes meant what Weiss thought it meant… Then she’d done it, she’d actually done it. A loud disbelieving choking sound made Weiss spin back to see Emerald collapse to her knees with a heavy thump, her eyes fixed on Neo as tears streamed from them.
“Em, get up, we need to go.” Mercury was already starting to back away, genuine fear flickering in his eyes as he looked between their arrayed forces. Emerald’s breath quickened, becoming frantic as she started shaking, her eyes never leaving Neo.
“No. No no no no no no no no no.” Her voice was barely a whisper, but it rang out loud and clear in the now silent hall.
“Emerald!” Her eyes were blank, her mouth moving rapidly, still repeating the same word over and over, slowly increasing in volume. Weiss shot confused glances at the others, not entirely sure what they were supposed to do with the distraught girl.
Ruby lowered Crescent Rose slightly and stepped towards the sobbing girl, though still keeping a wary eye on Mercury and Hazel, who seemed torn between fleeing and not leaving their ally behind. “Emer-?”
Without warning, Emerald screamed out a wordless cry of anguish, her eyes wide as she stared up at the ceiling and the world went black.
After a moment, light filtered back in, grey and muted, and where Emerald had knelt, there was a bubbling tar-like mass. Weiss could only watch in petrified horror as it grew, rising into the air, alabaster limbs lined with dark veins unfolding from it, twitching and twisting in ways they should not. And the head, rising eerily from the undulating mass, as pale as the writhing arms, eyes black as the void with the veins radiating out, giving the impression of cracks in a porcelain mask.
Weiss watched, frozen in terror as it drew back, then let out an ear-splitting screech, shocking Weiss out of her stunned daze. The horrifying thing swooped towards them and Weiss automatically brought her sword up to block, as futile as she knew it would be. The thing’s jaw opened wide, too wide, and the inky blackness of its maw enveloped her.
Just as suddenly as the lights had gone out, they blinked back to life, illuminating the hall with their warm yellow glow. Penny Dreadful shook in Weiss’ hand as she slowly lowered it to her side and glanced around. Hazel, Mercury and Emerald were gone and her friends all seemed to be in similar states of shock and horror.
“W-What was that?” Blake choked out, their eyes flickering fearfully around the room as though the thing would come back and be less merciful this time.
“An illusion, distorted, but still accurate. That was Salem.” Ozpin answered from where he’d collapsed on the floor.
Something cold gripped Weiss’ heart and she glanced back at where the monstrous thing had spawned from. That was Salem?! The master of Grimm and their ultimate enemy? How were they supposed to fight her if a mere illusion of her was enough to paralyse them all with fear?
“What the fuck is a ‘Salem’?” Blake looked around at the others in scared confusion.
“It’s a long story, we’ll fill you in later.” Ruby mumbled, looking distinctly uneasy as she let Crescent Rose drop. The sound of running footsteps echoed through the hall and Weiss snapped her attention to the ruined entryway. Oh gods, please not more fighting, hadn’t they done enough for one evening?
She sagged in relief, however, as Kali, Ghira and Sun came into view, picking their way across the wreckage towards their child. “Blake!”
“Mom! Dad!” They cried out and sprinted towards their parents, colliding with them and pulling them all into a group hug. Weiss looked away from the heartwarming scene to see Yang helping Neo down the stairs. Slowly Weiss jogged over the foot of the stairs to meet them, tears already starting to prick at her eyes. The pink fire that had burned from Neo’s eyes had been extinguished, but Weiss could almost feel the power thrumming from her as she reached the ground floor and separated from Yang, who moved aside to talk to Qrow.
“You’re alright. You’re really alright…” Weiss reached out tentatively to touch Neo’s arm though her eyes remained fixed on the large hole in her corset where she’d been stabbed, bloodstains soaked into the fabric. A soft hand placed itself under Weiss’ chin and directed her to look up at Neo’s gently smiling face. “Is Cinder…?”
Neo nodded, her smile falling just a little as she let go of Weiss’ chin to speak. ‘She is. We’ll talk about it later though. A lot happened down there.’ Neo shot a glance over at Yang before pulling Weiss into a bone-crushing hug. The tears in Weiss’ eyes that had been threatening to spill out finally did so and she buried her face into Neo’s shoulder.
“Neo!” A high pitched squeal broke the air as a red mass collided with the hugging pair, knocking them all to the ground. “Neo, I’m so so so so glad you’re alright.” Weiss pulled her head back a little as she lay awkwardly on the floor, crushed by the combined weight of Neo and a sobbing Ruby, who clutched onto Neo like she was a lifeline. “I was so scared, you were hurt so badlyandIcouldn’tgetawaythenIgotknockedoutandstuffandyouwerejustlyingthereandIwassosososcaredandIdon’tknowwhatI’ddowithoutyouand-.”
“Ruby, breathe.” Weiss choked out, unable to do so herself with the two girls on top of her.
“Sorry, Weiss.” Ruby quickly clambered off Weiss, though she didn’t let go of Neo and the two of them pulled Weiss upright and into a sitting position.
“Room for one more?” Yang’s teasing chuckle sounded from above them and Ruby gestured for her sister to join them. With a loud sigh of relief, Yang slumped down to the floor and tucked into Ruby’s side, ruffling the younger girl’s hair affectionately before focusing on something behind Weiss, eyes widening in surprise. Shuffling round, Weiss was greeted with the sight of Blake, looking very awkward as she hovered anxiously.
“Hi, girls.” They raised a hand in greeting, face flushed with embarrassment.
“You cut your hair.” Yang pointed out, Blake automatically reaching up to toy with her bob.
“O-Oh yeah, I wanted a change.”
“It looks good on you.” Blake blushed even harder at the compliment and Weiss couldn’t help but roll her eyes at the display.
“Thanks…” Still they stood uncertainly, clearly wanting to join them but unwilling to do so without invitation. Weiss looked back to Yang, who had a thoughtful expression on her face that softened into a hesitant smile as she extended her metal arm to Blake. After a moment’s hesitation as they looked at the arm with several conflicted emotions flitting behind their amber eyes, Blake reached out and accepted it, allowing themself to be pulled down into the pile.
Ruby let out a small squeal of joy, releasing Neo from her grip in order to pull Blake into the group hug. With a rustle of feathers, Weiss fully unfolded her wings and wrapped them as best she could around the other four. She’d done it. It had taken over a year, a year of hardship and pain. She travelled to the ends of Remnant and back, learned so much about herself and picked up another stray along the way, and now here they all were.
Her family was back together again, and for the first time in a long long time, Weiss felt truly happy.