Archive of Our Own

Weiss stood outside of her father's office, nervously fidgeting, but doing her best to keep her back straight. It had been one year since her tenth birthday, when her father told, rather shouted at her mom, that the only reason he married her was for the family name.

That was the day Weiss' world turned cold. Cold and lonely.

Ever since then, her father stopped bothering with appearances. In public he would put up a facade of a caring family man, showing up to Weiss' recitals, boasting about Winter's career as a Specialist, and even prompting Whitley. But as soon as the manor's doors closed, it was as if they didn't even exist to him.

Unless called for.

Now Weiss was eleven, and after a lunch with only Whitley and her mom, and Klein serving them cake, father had called for her.

"Enter." His voice was a blizzard. One Weiss needed to steel herself before turning the doorknob and daring to enter.

Inside the office, father was sitting at his desk, staring fixed on her as she carefully closed the door and approached, stopping behind the chair in front of him. She had made the mistake of sitting without being ordered too before and learned to never do so again.

Weiss also knew to wait before speaking.

"You turn eleven today." Not a birthday congratulation, but a rather simple statement of fact.

"Yes, father." Weiss bowed slightly.

"And after your sister left," Jacques continued. "You're the next in line for Heiress of the Schnee Dust Company."

Weiss didn't know if she wanted it, but she didn't know how to. Instead, she just agreed. "I am honored, father."

Jacques leaned back in his chair, fingers steepled. His expression was not angry. Anger would have been easier. This was an assessment. It always made Weiss feel like she was an object. A product, not dissimilar to the Dust that her family moved around Remnant.

"You're old enough to begin understanding command," Jacques finally declared.

He sat straight and pressed a buzzer on his desk. What for, Weiss didn't know, nor dared to question. Even when she heard the door behind her opening, and at least two sets of feet walking in, she kept her posture firm and lowered for her father.

"Here's my gift to you," he said. "Responsibility." The word hung around, like a blade over Weiss' head. "You may turn around."

Weiss turned, and her world ended.

Between two servants, there was a girl, just like Weiss, maybe one or two years younger than her. It was difficult to tell beneath the thinness of her frame. But what Weiss did notice were the wolf ears sitting on top of the girl's reddish hair, and a matching tail poking from behind her.

She was a Faunus.

"This is Ruby," Jacques explained, not giving Weiss time to process her horror. "From now on, she will be yours to command."

Weiss heard him, but she didn't understand. She didn't understand what was happening.

That was what Weiss had been taught. What she had argued in classrooms when other children whispered. What she had repeated with perfect diction and lifted chin.

That those were lies spread by rivals to diminish the honest work of the SDC. Political attacks made by agitators who wanted to grab power at Atlas. Just justifications for extremists, like the White Fang, for no other reason than because they hated her family.

The collar around the girl's neck gleamed under the office lights, and suddenly, it was all true.

"You will house her," Jacques snapped Weiss' attention back to him. "Direct her. Discipline her. If she fails, that reflects on you." He made a pause, as if measuring Weiss' reaction. "Was I clear?"

"Daddy..." Weiss managed to croak

"You are eleven," Jacques repeated his early declaration. "Old enough to begin practicing authority." He poured himself a glass of brandy. "The world won't yield to you because you are sentimental, Weiss. It yields only to strength."

"Consider this your first lesson." He tipped the glass at her, as if declaring the new reality. "Winter chose to abandon her responsibilities. You will not repeat her mistake."

Weiss swallowed the lump in her throat.

"I will not, father," she said, mechanically.

"See that you don't." He started his drink.

--

The rest of the day was one of the most arduous Weiss had ever lived through. Her father did not raise his voice once. Instead, Jacques explained the conditions in the same calm, measured cadence he used in board meetings.

Ruby was to be considered Weiss' property. Hers, and hers alone. She would answer to Weiss and to no one else unless Weiss permitted it.

She would be housed in Weiss quarters, with the details of it left under Weiss' criteria. Same as her feeding and clothing, while provided from the Schnee budget, Weiss was responsible for the logistics.

But more importantly, however Ruby acted, it was also Weiss' responsibility. If she disobeyed, it would be Weiss' failure. If she is unkempt, that reflects on Weiss.

"Think of her as an extension of yourself," Jacques had said. "A tool. A mirror. A demonstration of your capacity to command."

Weiss felt sick.

She stood near the center of the room, still in the formal dress she'd worn to meet her father. She hadn't changed, or eaten. In fact, she had barely breathed.

Time lost any meaning after that. Weiss barely remembered the rest of the day as she was told to take Ruby to her room, and that arrangements were already made. Said arrangements ended up being a cage with padded floor next to Weiss' bed.

Weiss slowly turned her head back, to see Ruby standing behind her, as she was told to do.

The Faunus girl's posture was rigid, shoulders hunched inward as if trying to make herself smaller. Her red hair fell unevenly around her face. The collar around her neck caught the moonlight in a cruel glint. Her wolf ears were flattened tight against her head, tail wrapped around her leg.

She wouldn't look up or move. But Weiss did notice the small things. One ear twitched back. Not flattened in fear. Angled. Listening. Measuring. Ruby's tail gave a slow, restrained flick against her leg.

Weiss swallowed. Before her she could see two choices; be her father's daughter, and make Ruby comply. Order her into the cage, and by morning, start working on the project Jacques had laid for her. Prove she's worthy of the title of Schnee Heiress.

Or not.

"Ru-Ruby?" Weiss said, trying to sound as gently as possible.

The girl flinched, her ear twitching again.

"Yes, miss," Ruby replied without looking up.

It pained Weiss, but it only steeled her resolve more. She was not going to be the cruel reflection of her father.

"You can look at me," she tried to make it sounds the least like an order, and more like an offering.

Ruby stood where she was, eyes on the floor, shoulders tight. The silence stretched. Weiss became painfully aware of how loud her breathing sounded in the room.

"You don't have to do anything," Weiss said. Then swallowed. "I'm not going to tell you to go into the cage."

That got a reaction. Not much. Ruby shifted her weight. Just enough to show she'd heard, then finally lifted her gaze. Her eyes were the most beautiful shine of silver Weiss had ever seen. Not just light, but bright. Brighter than anything Weiss had ever seen.

They reminded her of her grandfather's armor, glimmering with just the faintest ray of light, even in the dark of the night.

But besides the color, there was something unmistakable in them. Not the broken fear Weiss had expected. Not emptiness. There was defiance. A quiet, unmistakable refusal to despair, even in chains.

Weiss took a careful step forward, then stopped.

"Can I take this off?” she asked, gesturing to the collar.

Ruby stiffened immediately. Her shoulders drew in, ears flattening again. Weiss didn't move, keeping her hands where Ruby could see them.

"I won't touch you if you don't want me to," she said to ease her. "But if you want that collar off, you need to let me."

The silence stretched again. Slowly, Ruby nodded once, then lifted her head to expose her neck.

Weiss slowly approached her hands to the girl's neck, careful not to invade her space. Yet, as soon as she touched the collar's safety pin, Weiss' breath hitched, and Ruby stiffened. She hated herself for scaring Ruby, but she kept working the safety, and Ruby held still, only her pulse indicating any life.

It could have taken minutes, or hours, but eventually, the lock clicked open. Ruby took sharp intake of air, like she'd braced herself for pain that never came, as Weiss carefully removed the collar from her neck.

For a second, she just held it, staring at the open metal ring in her hands as Ruby took a step back, then lowered her gaze to look at Weiss. Silver eyes met blue icy ones.

It made Weiss freeze. The collar was still hanging uselessly from her fingers, making her feel disgusted and guilty.

"I'm not putting it back on," she said eventually. "Not tonight. Not ever."

Weiss took a step back too, then deliberately crouched and set it on the floor. Never breaking eye contact with Ruby, who just observed her move as Weiss got up and kicked the collar away with her heel.

Ruby didn't move. She was still watching, still measuring if this was safe. She wanted to thank Weiss for taking off the collar, but as she opened her mouth, her throat felt dry. She quickly lifted her hands to cover her coughing, which made her close her eyes and lose sight of Weiss.

Until Ruby felt a hand on her back, rubbing it gently up and down.

"Do you want some water?" Weiss offered, guiding Ruby to sit on the bed. She nodded, feeling the softness of the bed as she looked again, seeing Weiss pour water on a glass from an ornate vase, then offer it to Ruby. She drank it with both hands, coughing some more before she felt like she could speak.

Weiss stood next to her the whole time. Ruby waited for her to step back, or to order her to get off her bed. But neither thing happened. Instead, Weiss sat next to Ruby, caressing her back again.

"Are you okay?" She asked.

Ruby just looked at her, incredulously.

"Right, wrong question." Weiss looked away, letting go of Ruby's back too and pulling back from her.

Ruby didn't understand. People who were kind eventually stopped. That was the rule she was taught so far. That the caressing hand would turn to one holding a leash. Her leash.

"I'm sorry," Weiss broke the silence. "For the collar. For the cage. For... for everything that was done to you."

She looked at her again. She expected something, anything to indicate this was a trap. But all she could see was Weiss looking tired. Like something had been taken out from her long ago, and that the only thing left holding her up was defiance.

Same as Ruby.

"You helped me," Ruby said, her first words through the entire day. "Thank you."

Weiss blinked, like she hadn't expected thanks at all. Her hands clenched in her lap, then relaxed again.

"You don't owe me that," Weiss said. "None of this should have happened to you."

Ruby's ears twitched.

"I'm not going to hurt you," Weiss spoke again. Each word was placed carefully. "I promise it."

Ruby swallowed. Promises were dangerous. Promises were how people justified breaking you later.

"And if I mess up?" Ruby asked. "If I do something wrong."

Weiss shook her head. "Never."

Ruby's hand drifted up to her neck without her meaning it to. Her tail loosened, slowly. Unwrapped from her waist, it brushed the bed behind her.

"Do you really promise?" She asked, afraid to believe, but wanting to.

"I swear." Weiss held Ruby's hand.

--

Two thousand, one hundred and ninety-one nights later, Weiss' eyes fluttered open with a rather calm expression. She was holding onto something warm in between her arms. Not something, never a thing. Someone. Ruby's fluffy ears caressed her chin as she was peacefully resting her head over Weiss' chest.

For five seconds, she forgot everything else but the person in her arms. Weiss was happy for those five seconds, sighing in bliss and closing her eyes again.

Then reality slammed back in.

Her eyes snapped open fully, as she realized the position of the sun's ray was off. Her head shot to a side, looking at the clock. The seconds' hand was painfully ticking in place, keeping the clock stuck at 04:35:08.

Her scroll begged to disagree, displaying 08:32 on its screen when Weiss checked.

"Oh no," Weiss breathed.

Ruby stirred at the sound, ears twitching sharply. A heartbeat later, her silver eyes flew open too, pupils blown wide as she took in the angle of the sun.

"Oh shoot," Ruby hissed.

They both jolted up at the same time. Weiss got off the bed first, sheets tangling around her legs as she scrambled upright. Her heart was pounding, not with fear exactly, but with the familiar spike of urgency drilled into her bones.

"We overslept. We overslept," Weiss muttered, already yanking open her closet and diving in for clothes.

Ruby vanished in a red blur, scattering petals all around as she vanished from one end of the room to another, rearranging the sheets and other personal items as to erase any evidence that they shared a bed the previous night (and the two thousand, one hundred and ninety previous ones).

Across the room, Weiss was fighting a different battle inside her closet. She cursed under her breath in three languages as she pulled on stockings, nearly tore one, swore again, then shoved her legs into a pristine white skirt.

"Apron!" Ruby shouted from outside, prompting Weiss to throw the clothing item at her. Ruby quickly caught it and put it over her black maid dress.

"Hair!" Weiss called back, and Ruby was immediately behind her, helping Weiss untangle her silky white hairs.

"What would you do without me," Ruby murmured as she arranged Weiss' ponytail to a side, the way she liked it.

"Be lonely and miserable," Weiss rolled her eyes as she finished fixing her corset up. "And you would be happy away from here."

"Weiss, I--" Ruby tried to refute.

"Your turn." Weiss didn't give her the time, instead sitting Ruby down and starting to brush her hair, including her tail. "I keep saying you need to put a band on your tail when sleeping," she commented.

"And miss you petting it every morning?" Ruby snickered. "No thank you."

They stood in front of each other, straightening clothes, fixing hair, checking for any imperfection. Making sure they looked perfect for the day.

Perfect for another day imprisoned.

By the time the door opened later that morning, everything was as it should be. Weiss walked with her chin lifted, expression cool, voice crisp. Ruby followed half a step behind, eyes lowered, posture respectful. She answered only when spoken to. She poured Weiss’ tea. She carried her books.

People smiled at Weiss approvingly. Commented on her maturity, and on how well she instilled discipline in her 'aide', not even using Ruby's name. Weiss accepted the praise with a polite nod, nails biting into her palm just enough to keep herself grounded. Ruby kept her face blank and counted steps, breaths, exits, anything to distract herself.

The Schnee heiress and her aide: a show six years on the run and still selling.

From breakfast to dinner, Weiss and Ruby held up, silently stealing glances and small gestures of support for each other. Sometimes even through notes that were destroyed the second they were read.

Weiss hated every second of it. She hated what people said about Ruby. She hated how she owned her. She hated how much she sounded like her father when speaking to Ruby in public. She hated how easy the lie came to her now.

Most of all, she hated that Ruby had to see all of it. Even if they agreed, even if she was part of the act, Weiss hated herself for doing this to Ruby. For not being brave enough, strong enough to do anything but pretend to be her father's daughter.

Across the room, half a step behind, Ruby hated different things.

She hated the act as much as Weiss, how still she had learned to be, and how people saw past her, as she barely existed. But Ruby could endure cruelty. She had learned that early.

What she truly hated was watching Weiss flinch every time she had to play the role. What hurt was seeing it poison the one person who had never deserved it.

Weiss was as much of a prisoner as Ruby, and they both hated it.

--

Nightfall came, as Weiss and Ruby could finally retreat to their room. Theirs, not Weiss'. That was one of the first things they agreed on, almost six years ago. Whatever happened outside, once crossing that door into the room, everything was shared. Bed, desk, books...

... birthdays.

They never found out Ruby's real one, or her family name. All she remembered before being a slave was a forest, and black beasts. While in six years of carefully searching records and following leads, all they got was that Ruby was shipped from Mistral to Atlas, and nothing else.

So, Weiss decided to give her own birthday to Ruby.

After turning the lock, and resting her head on the door to sigh, Weiss looked at Ruby. Her friend was taking off the apron and other restrictive accessories from the dress. Ruby's own design to turn the maid dress into a modular one so she could take off parts of it and 'transform' it into a casual dress. An idea she got from reading a book about mechashifting.

Weiss smiled. Ruby had a future as a technician, or even as a mechanist if given the opportunity. And by the gods, Weiss was gonna make sure Ruby had that opportunity. Even if she never saw her again.

It was a fair trade, for what Weiss and her family had done to her.

As Ruby laid on the bed, checking a weapons magazine Weiss had ordered on the side, she reached into the drawer of her desk and hesitated. Her fingers rested on the handle like it might bite her.

Ruby noticed immediately.

"Weiss." She propped herself up on her elbows, doing the gesture of sniffing the air around her. "You smell like fear."

"You can't smell that," Weiss replied, maybe too quickly.

"But you are," Ruby said gently, sitting up fully now. Her tail swayed once behind her. "What is it?"

Weiss inhaled slowly, then opened the drawer. Inside there was a plain white envelope, with the Vale Symbol pressed into green wax on the back.

She crossed the room and sat beside Ruby, close enough that their shoulders brushed. Weiss turned the envelope over once in her hands before offering it.

"Happy birthday," she said softly.

Ruby's ears twitched. "Weiss..."

"Please," she said candidly. "At least open it."

Her fingers brushed Weiss' and lingered there for half a second before she broke the seal. She read it once, then again. Weiss couldn't help but smirk when Ruby's tail quickly swung to a side as her silver eyes widened.

Those big, shiny eyes that made Weiss want to put the broken moon back together for her.

"Beacon?" Ruby asked, staring at the header like it might vanish if she blinked. "The Beacon Academy for Hunters?"

Weiss tried very hard to look composed and only half succeeded. "Yes," she nodded, smiling.

Ruby read the first line again, lips moving silently.

"Miss Weiss Schnee, we are pleased to inform you that your application to attend Beacon Academy's incoming class..." Then her voice trailed off.

She still mouthed the word 'accepted'.

Then she looked up at Weiss, and instead of fear or disbelief, there was something bright breaking through her expression. Something that had been waiting a long time.

"You did it," Ruby breathed.

"We did it," Weiss corrected.

"We did it!" Ruby yelped, almost forgetting six years of secrecy and pouncing at Weiss, holding her in a tight embrace.

Weiss let out an undignified sound as she was knocked backward onto the mattress, Ruby half on top of her, arms locked tight around her shoulders. She welcomed the sensation of warmth and care. Something she never felt from her family.

"I can't believe it's actually happening!" Ruby whispered, her tail wagging.

It had been Weiss’ idea.

Four years ago, during a lecture on inter-kingdom trade law, a single clause had slipped past her father's carefully curated curriculum; while Atlas and Mistral still permitted forms of indentured servitude, Vale did not recognize slavery in any capacity. Valean law even offered a safe-conduct to any person within the kingdom's sovereign territory.

No petitions. No trials. No exceptions. Vale freed slaves.

Weiss had gone back to their room that night and told Ruby everything. From that moment on, the plan took shape. They needed to pass under Jacques' strict vigilance, playing up his expectations of Weiss as the perfect Schnee Heiress and Ruby as her perfect servant.

All so when Weiss would apply to Beacon Academy, and eventually traveled to Vale, Jacques wouldn't even suspect that Ruby would travel with her as her aide.

Then, the moment Ruby's boot is in Vale's ground, she'd finally be free. But more importantly, free enough to also postulate herself to Beacon, where Ruby will have a roof over her head, food on her plate, an education, and more importantly, a future.

"I'm--" Ruby pulled back just enough to look at Weiss. "I'm going to be..." Her ears went flat against her skull. She was afraid of hoping too much.

"You are going to be free," Weiss asserted, taking Ruby's hands in her own.

Ruby's fingers tightened around Weiss', like she was afraid the sentence might dissolve if she loosened her grip. But her breath steadied.

Watched the way her ears twitched in disbelief. The way her tail refused to stay still. The way her silver eyes kept flickering back to the letter.

The room felt smaller suddenly. Weiss inhaled slowly, steadying herself. This was it. What she needed to say. What Ruby needed to hear.

"You'll have a life that belongs to you."

Ruby smiled, small and warm. "With you."

Weiss hesitated.

"With whoever you want," Weiss corrected gently. "Once we step into Vale, you are free of everything that made you a slave." She swallowed. "Including me."

Ruby stared at her, her tail still and ears perking up. Weiss tried to pull back her hands, give Ruby her own space. But Ruby held them firmly in her own fingers.

"You're trying to step aside," Ruby said at last.

"I'm trying to make it clear." Weiss frowned faintly, glancing down. "You deserve distance from this place. From my father. From the Schnee name." She fought the tears. She needed to be strong. "From the person who benefited from--"

"No."

The interruption was quiet, but firm enough to cut cleanly through the sentence.

Weiss looked at her.

"You didn't benefit," Ruby said. "You've been only helping me this whole time."

"That doesn't erase what my family did." Weiss tried to pull her hands from Ruby's again, but she refused.

"It wasn't you."

"It was my name."

Her ears flattened briefly, not in fear, but in frustration.

"If I'm free," Ruby said, slower this time, "then I'm free to want things." There was a soft pause, as Ruby tugged at Weiss' hands, pulling her in closer. "And I want you."

Her tail shifted once behind her, slow but certain.

Weiss' breath stuttered, then she swallowed.

"My family enslaved you," she said, the words tasting bitter. "My family's symbol was on the collar around your neck, and my family's name is on the document declaring you a possession." Her voice thinned despite her effort to keep it composed. "If you were truly free, would you really choose someone like me?"

Weiss trembled. "Would you want to stay with me?"

"Always." Ruby didn't hesitate, pulling Weiss in for a hug and holding her firmly. "You're my friend, and I care about you."

The certainty in it cracked something open in Weiss' chest. She couldn't hold the tears any longer, shaking and crying on Ruby's shoulder as she clung to her.

Ruby clung back just as tightly, tears starting to run down her cheeks too.

Six years.

Six years of forced obedience and scrutiny. Six years of pretending that it was normal.

This nightmare of six years was about to end.

--

The next day, Jacques Schnee reminded his daughter that he was indeed a cruel, cruel man.

While he did approve of Weiss postulating herself to enter Beacon, that was initially met with resistance. He had allowed her to train as a Huntress with the best tutors as a side-project. Just a way to gain notoriety as the 'perfectly accomplished Schnee Heiress'. But when talks about Beacon began, he put his foot down.

Thankfully, back then Weiss reframed it as a diplomatic venture. A way to position the Schnee Dust Company both in Vale and the Hunters community, showing off their best products and what they can do in the right hands. Direct demonstration of Schnee Dust in Schnee hands. No third parties mishandling branding. No middlemen tarnishing results.

Jacques allowed her submission to be sent after that, commending Weiss for her initiative.

But the day after the letter came in, he put a halt to it.

He called it a control test, the same any other product that left the SDC should go through. Since Weiss was to represent both the company and the family, it only made sense she was subjected to the same standard.

The test shone for its simplicity; defeat a Grimm. Jacques' rationale was that, if Weiss was to attend the most prestigious Hunters school in the world, then she had to be the best, in the name of the family.

But the test hid one last cruelty.

The Grimm selected for the test was the experimental Arma Gigas. A possession type of Grimm called Geist, fused with a steel suit of armor.

Years ago, the SDC's weapons division had attempted to weaponize the Grimm. Contain the creature of destruction within a suit of armor, so it could be restrained and directed, ready to be branded and sold. But the project had been shelved when control proved inconsistent and profitability uncertain.

The surviving prototype was a monster sheathed in reinforced plates, its physical strength augmented by the very metal meant to restrain it.

Its combat capabilities were formidable, but that didn't unsettle Weiss as much.

What haunted her, though, was the armor used by the Grimm. Or more accurately, to whom it had belonged.

It wasn't the original. The true relic of Nicholas Schnee rested untouched in the manor’s treasure vault, polished and revered as a symbol of an era long gone. But the design was the exact same, from the helm to the sabatons.

The Grimm Weiss had to face, the monster she was meant to kill, was wearing her grandfather's armor.

Another way Jacques had found to desecrate her family's name even further.

Yet, Weiss did not falter. Only Ruby, standing outside the training arena next to Winter, noticed the slightest hitch in her posture. A breath held a fraction too long.

Then it was gone.

Weiss moved like the winds from a blizzard, using her Glyphs to dance around the Arma Gigas, holding Myrtenaster up with a glaciar structure against the Grimm' attacks, and mercilessly punishing any misstep with cuts, slashes and stabs from every angle.

Joints, support points, armor gaps. Weiss methodically searched for any chip in the armor she could exploit with Myrtenaster. Weiss' surgical precision was met with an impenetrable wall. If she was a blizzard, the Arma Gigas was held up like a mountain.

The only full advantage Weiss held over it was speed, a gap that was slowly narrowing. The Arma Gigas adjusted, not chasing her anymore and starting to predict her attacks.

Until the unthinkable happened.

A feint to the left forced her into a dodge, and when a parry pushed her off balance, the Grimm pivoted faster than something that size should. The armored fist connected with Weiss' skull, making a sound that did not belong in a training hall.

Weiss' head snapped sideways with the force of it. Her body followed half a heartbeat later, hitting the stone hard enough to echo. For a single, suspended second, she did not move.

Ruby's world stopped when she saw red spilling from Weiss' left eye, trailing down her pale skin.

The chamber vanished. There was no Jacques, no Winter, and no test. Only Weiss on the ground, using Myrtenaster to support herself as the Arma Gigas began charging at her, raising its sword and ready to--

"No!" Ruby howled, landing both of her feet together against the flat of the blade and driving it off course, preventing it from meeting Weiss already waiting for it with her own weapon.

Ruby landed between Weiss and the Arma Gigas, surrounded by rose petals, the mark of her Semblance she and Weiss had been keeping secret for years now. But that didn't matter now. All that mattered was to keep the Grimm from attacking her friend.

In another burst of petals, she moved in, using her claws to try and scratch at the armor seams, not doing any more damage that Weiss did with Myrtenaster.

The Arma Gigas reacted instantly. Its massive arm swept sideways in a brutal arc meant to swat Ruby out of existence. But she just vanished before it could connect, dissolving into a spiral of red petals that reformed at its flank. She kicked its head, fast, relentless, refusing to let it focus.

Her semblance filled the cold black, whites and grey of the training arena with hot red.

"Ruby, fall back!" Weiss snapped. Her vision was halved, blood still warm against her cheek, but her grip on Myrtenaster only hardened.

Ruby followed her command, zooming away from the Arma Gigas, just in time for a series of glyphs to latch onto the Grimm and hold it in place.

Weiss used a Glyph to propel herself upwards, floating between scattered petals, then a second Glyph to push herself downwards for a devastating stab that finally pierced through the Grimm's armor, right in the middle of the chest plate.

Weiss landed on a knee, using her free hand for support. Ruby reformed next to her in a whisper of red, close enough to shield, far enough to let Weiss stand on her own.

Behind them, the Arma Gigas crashed against the arena floor, slowly dissolving into smoke that thinned and vanished into the air. The echoes faded.

The chamber fell silent.

--

"Unacceptable." Jacques' voice remained cold and uncaring as he assessed Weiss from behind his desk.

She was standing in his office again, her left eye still closed from the wound, dress ruined with her own blood. A half a step behind, Ruby stood perfectly posed, hands crossed over her maid apron and gaze lowered.

Jacques' fingers tapped once against the polished surface of his desk. "You were given a singular directive: demonstrate capability," he continued evenly. "Instead, you demonstrated weakness."

Weiss didn't reply. She knew he wasn't done yet.

"Such weakness, you needed to be rescued by your own servant. A Faunus, nonetheless." His gaze moved from Weiss to Ruby. "A Faunus that you, Weiss," he spanned back at her. "Thoroughly failed to train properly, since she couldn't follow a command as simple as staying, and jumped into a fight like any other common animal."

Weiss wanted nothing but to scream at Jacques for that. But his next words froze her on the spot.

"Of course, you understand you're not going to Beacon, or anywhere for that matter." He made a pause, letting Weiss process his words. "I can't risk having you embarrass the family name like that in public." He opened the brandy, reminding Weiss of that day, six years ago. "And frankly, I'm reconsidering handing you any responsibility, including the servitude."

For a split second, the world narrowed to the sound of liquid pouring into the crystal. The slow tilt of the bottle. The faint clink as Jacques set it down. Behind her, Ruby didn't move.

Weiss' vision tunneled, not from the injury, but from the sudden, crushing realization that it was over. Their plan was fading away in the same smoke the Arma Gigas did. The ticking clock on the wall became deafening.

Then, before Jacques finished filling his glass, clarity stuck at Weiss. An idea, a desperate attempt, hit her. It was small, cruel, and horrifyingly perfect.

Very softly, too low for anyone but the girl behind her to hear, she muttered an apology under her breath, before speaking up.

"I did not fail."

Jacques' glass paused midair. He set it down, but didn't say a thing.

"The Grimm was defeated by my hand." Weiss continued, her voice gaining the same frost as Jacques. "It was my weapon that struck the coup de grâce."

Jacques' eyes narrowed slightly, but he put a hand under his chin, reassessing.

"You still needed the assistance of your Faunus," he said low, but calmer. "Whom failed to follow her commands."

Weiss pressed forward.

"She did specifically as told," Weiss said almost clinically. "I trained her to disregard all things in order to serve me, and only me." Behind her, she could feel Ruby going impossibly still.

Jacques said nothing, but his fingers stopped tapping. He gestured at her to continue.

"She threw herself at the danger, unarmed and untrained, for my sake." Weiss could feel her heart beating, but she ignored it. "Her self-preservation is second to the perfect loyalty I've instilled into her."

Jacques' gaze shifted, assessing Ruby anew, then back to Weiss.

"You are suggesting that the Faunus' intervention was not disobedience," Jacques said slowly, his drink forgotten to a side.

"She is not an independent actor." The words felt like shards in her mouth. "She is an extension of my will. No different than my Semblance or my weapon." Weiss made a gesture of resting her hand on Myrtenaster's pommel. "By all accounts, Ruby is but another weapon in my arsenal."

Another long pause followed. Weiss held her breath. She needed to check on Ruby, at least confirm she was okay behind her. But if she did, if she faltered for just one moment, this gambit of hers would fail.

So, along her breath, she held up the mask of cruelty.

Finally, Jacques took a small, measured sip of his brandy.

"You leveraged available assets," he said. "You ensured termination of the target despite impairment. And you demonstrated that your property is fully subordinated to your will."

Weiss did not move.

"That is precisely what I expect from the Schnee heiress." Jacques finally sentenced, resting his back on the chair as the air in the room shifted.

"You will enroll at Beacon." He declared. "And you will show the world what disciplined authority looks like."

Weiss bowed her head to the exact required degree.

"Yes, father."

"Go and prepare your things." Jacques took another sip of his glass, then pointed at Ruby. "See that your weapons are in proper shape."

"I will."

"Dismissed."

Weiss turned with mechanical precision. Ruby pivoted behind her in perfect synchronization.

--

The hallways outside felt colder than the arena. Weiss walked through them, her boots clicking in a sharp rhythm. Beacon was approved, and Vale was at their reach again. Yet, inside Weiss, something twisted violently.

Weiss kept walking because if she stopped, she might shatter. Despite hearing Ruby behind her, she didn't dare to look back at her.

Weiss wanted to scream from the disgust she felt at herself. How dare she call Ruby 'but another weapon'?

As if Ruby were steel to be sharpened. As if she wasn't the only friend Weiss has ever had. Who had thrown herself at a Grimm not because of conditioning, but because she cared.

The words still echoed in her head.

How could she?

Even if it was to save their plan, what Weiss just did was the last betrayal. Calling the poor girl 'a weapon'. What a joke of a human being Weiss turned out to be, speaking just like her father with such an ease, she may as well be his daughter after all.

"Weiss!" Ruby called behind her.

That made her stop. For six years, when in public, Ruby was to call Weiss only Mistress or Miss Schnee. Calling her name, without decorum or protocol, would break six years of planning in an instant.

"Not here," she said without turning. She was still too ashamed. "We can't risk being seen."

"I don't care about being seen," Ruby said firmly, reaching with her hand for Weiss' from behind. "I care about you."

Gritting her teeth, Weiss took a step forward, avoiding Ruby's touch.

"I'm fine," she said, too quick. "Maintain composure." Then she started walking again. But as soon as she did, she tripped on a vase that was on her left, falling to her knees and knocking the porcelaine down.

In a blur of petals, Ruby was already there, kneeling next to Weiss and helping her up.

"Easy," Ruby murmured, putting a hand on her waist and the other steadying her shoulder.

"I'm fine." Weiss pushed herself up immediately, brushing at her skirt like the porcelain shards were the worst part of this.

Ruby adjusted her grip, helping Weiss properly to her feet. Her fingers lingered at Weiss' elbow, steady and warm. Then she didn't let go.

Weiss avoided her eyes. "Let go. We cannot--"

"I'm not an idiot," Ruby said quietly.

Weiss blinked. "Excuse me?"

"I know you hated saying that more than anything." Ruby's ears were angled forward, focused on Weiss. "You hated calling me a weapon."

Weiss looked to a side, still ashamed. "I still said it," she murmured.

"Because you had to--"

"I twisted it," Weiss snapped her gaze back at Ruby, her composure cracking at the edges. "I twisted you saving me, caring for me." She had to pause. No tears. "I perverted your care for me." Weiss's tone broke. "Into obedience."

Ruby's ears flattened slightly, not in fear. In disagreement.

"If you really believed that," Ruby continued. "You wouldn't be tearing yourself apart over it."

Weiss tried again. "That doesn't absolve--"

"Stop." Ruby stepped in closer, hands coming up to hold Weiss' forearms. "You are the kindest person I have ever met."

That made Weiss flinch. "No--"

"You saved my future today," Ruby interrupted her again. "You didn't betray me."

Weiss' shoulders dropped just a fraction, then she leaned in, accepting Ruby's hug as they held each other.

"We still need to be careful," Weiss whispered. "Let's get to our room before anyone catches us."

Ruby nodded and started to pull back, but then she paused. She frowned as her eyes narrowed just a little, ears angled forward.

Weiss noticed the change immediately. "What?"

Ruby didn't answer right away. She was looking at Weiss' face. At the way her head tilted slightly to the left. Almost imperceptibly to anyone who didn't know how Weiss made the effort to hold her posture straight.

"Weiss," she said slowly. "Look at me."

"I am looking at you," she replied quickly.

"With both eyes," Ruby added.

Weiss stiffened.

Ruby glanced back and down at the scattered pieces of the vase Weiss had knocked down. It wasn't exactly in a corner. In fact, the vase was rather noticeable, in a well-lit corridor, sitting on a tall table for display at eye level.

To the left of Weiss' line of sight.

"Weiss," Ruby repeated, quieter now.

"What?" Weiss snapped, defensive. "It was an accident."

Ruby moved a step to the right, and Weiss' gaze followed cleanly. But when she did the same to the left, Weiss hesitated. Then she had to angle her head a bit.

Ruby's stomach dropped.

"We're going to Klein." She took Weiss' hand, pulling her.

"We cannot make this into a spectacle," Weiss tried to argue, resisting Ruby's pull.

"Then stop resisting and lead the way," Ruby stopped walking and stepped to the right. "Before anyone asks why I'm the one directing you."

Weiss clenched her jaw, then she straightened.

"Right," she nodded, stepping forward.

Ruby stayed half a pace behind Weiss. Close enough to catch her if she faltered.

--

Klein had always been there.

He had been there when Weiss scraped her knee running down the west staircase at seven. When Ruby got a fever at the start of her first winter spent in the Schnee manor. There to patch Weiss up after a particularly rough training session with Winter. There to calm Ruby down after her first use of her Semblance landed her at the rooftop of the manor.

There for shaking hands after particularly cruel days under Jacques. There to console a girl losing her mother to the bottle, and another who couldn't even remember if she had a family or not waiting for her.

Klein had always been a buoy of patience and kindness in the girls' lives.

But that day, he had a far grimmer duty to fulfil.

Using the library as a makeshift examination room, Weiss sat on a table with one hand perfectly poised on her skirt, while Ruby held the other one. Klein had been checking her eyes and eyesight for over twenty minutes, as if either wanting to double check everything, or just struggling with the results.

He adjusted the lens apparatus one last time.

"Look straight ahead for me, Miss Schnee," he said gently. "Then tell me when you see the light."

Weiss nodded and Klein made the light flicker. Ruby wasn't breathing as she waited for Weiss to say anything.

"I see it."

"With the right eye only?" Klein clarified softly.

There was a pause.

"Yes," Weiss said, tilting her head down in defeat as Ruby squeezed her hand gently. Her thumb shifted slightly against Ruby's knuckles.

"And now?" he asked quietly, angling the beam toward Weiss' left side.

Weiss stared straight ahead.

Another pause

"Nothing," she said, keeping her tone even. "I don't see anything."

Ruby's fingers tightened.

Klein switched the device off. The small click echoed far louder than it should have in a room filled with shelves and books and the scent of old paper. He took off his glasses and rubbed under his eyelids.

Weiss kept her spine straight.

Ruby kept holding on.

"The hit from the Grimm," Klein finally spoke, taking Weiss’ other hand between his. "It must have connected at an angle." He tried to explain, not sure how to even say the next words.

"Just tell me," Weiss said, not letting go of either Ruby or Klein. "Please."

"Impacted cornea." Klen's shoulders dropped down as he sighed. Then, the final verdict. "The damage is irreversible."

A sound came out from Ruby as she hugged Weiss' arm, holding onto her. Klein swallowed, keeping himself firm for the girls he watched grow up.

"I am... deeply sorry, Miss Schnee," he said, putting a hand on her shoulder, the other one still holding Weiss' hand. "I should have objected more strongly to this test. I have allowed too many of your father's decisions to proceed unchallenged."

"No, Klein." Weiss leaned on, tightening her grip on his hand. "You have always been there for us." She gave him a smile. "You have nothing to apologize for."

There was a silence. Weiss had expected the impact to hit her as hard as the Grimm had. For the world to tilt and fracture around the absence. But as she sat there, anchored between Klein's steady hands and Ruby's trembling grip, nothing shattered.

Weiss knew life would change from now on. Depth perception, field of view. Both dancing and fighting would need some adjustment, even retraining. It would be inconvenient, arduous even.

But that didn't matter. What mattered was that she wasn't alone. That Klein and Ruby were there for her, and that her plans remained. Jacques was none the wiser, and by that same day the next week, she would be in Vale, and Ruby would be free.

And in a way, Weiss would be too.

Freedom.

The word felt larger than the loss.

In a way, an eye was a fair price.

--

Ruby was the one who closed the door, locking it herself. She had the only other copy of the key, besides Klein and Jacques' master keys. Then she looked back as Weiss was sitting on her vanity table, carefully looking at herself in the mirror.

Ruby wanted to say something, anything. But she didn't know what.

"What do you think, Ruby?" Weiss broke the silence, turning around and facing her. "Should I commission a cosmetic contact?"

"For your eye?" Ruby said flatly.

"Yes, to cover the damaged iris." Ruby's ears twitched at the subtle drop in Weiss' tone when she said 'damaged'.

"Weiss, I--"

"Another option would be a glass one," Weiss went on, steady as ever. "Less risk of infection, if done properly."

"What?" Was the only word that escaped Ruby's lip.

"It'd be practical." Weiss turned back to the mirror, examining herself again and avoiding Ruby's gaze.

"You're talking about taking your eye out," Ruby said, horrified. "Like choosing between clothes."

Weiss sighed, dropping her shoulder and head, but still not turning around. "We need to make sure my father won't notice."

"You don't need to pretend it's nothing." Ruby stepped closer, resting a hand on her shoulder, feeling her tense up under her palm.

"If my father finds out I'm half blind, he will use it." Her tone was low, less measured and more fragile. "I can mourn my vision later, when you're saf--"

"No." Ruby gently squeezed Weiss' shoulder, then wrapping both of her arms around her. "Please, stop."

Weiss was now shaking.

"You always do this," she continued, softer. "When something bad happens, you decide it's some kind of fairness."

Weiss didn’t reply.

"You start treating yourself like..." Ruby didn't want to say it, but she knew she needed to. "Like you deserve it."

That made Weiss flinch, and Ruby tightened her arms a little.

"You matter." Ruby rested her cheek on Weiss' shoulder, rubbing her cheek on her. "To me."

"You--" she hiccuped. "You mean it?" 

"Always." Her tail flicked once behind her, closing her eyes as she rested her weight in Weiss to make her feel her. "You're stuck with me," Ruby joked, getting a smirk out of Weiss too.

She crossed her hands over to touch Ruby's arms around her shoulders, gently caressing Ruby as she held her. They stayed like that for a moment, both simply enjoying each other's presence.

Weiss finally opened her eyes again, looking at their reflection. She wasn't crying anymore, and she didn't glare at her face on the glass. Instead, she looked as if reassembling her own image, piece by piece.

"That being said," she said gently, glancing back to look at Ruby. "We still need to consider the cosmetic contact."

Ruby groaned, separating from Weiss in an exaggerated manner.

"Just in the meantime." Weiss raised her hands defensively.

"You were just about to remove your eyeball." Ruby's ears perked up, accusingly.

"But hear me out." Weiss raised a finger.

"Weiss..."

"I might like the idea of a proper glass eye." She smiled innocently, then quickly added when she noticed Ruby's tail whipping to a side. "I promise it’s not about cutting the eye out. It's just..." she trailed off.

"Just what?" Ruby crossed her arms.

"I was enjoying the idea of customizing it." There was a playfulness in Weiss' tone that made Ruby drop her shoulders, sitting on the chair closest to her.

"I was thinking something silvery." Weiss turned back to the mirror, picturing the idea. "With the Schnee emblem worked into the iris."

Ruby stared, then made the most unimpressed face she could manage. "Bleh."

Weiss turned sharply. "Excuse you?" she tried to look angry, but she couldn’t help but snicker at Ruby.

"That sounds so pretentious." Ruby shook her head. "You'd look like a walking family crest."

"It would be elegant." Weiss defended herself, also crossing her arms.

"It would be creepy." Ruby shut her eyes tight, pulling out her tongue.

"For your information, many warriors throughout history wore decorated prosthetics." Weiss sniffed, turning back to the mirror with mock offense. "You just don't have appreciation for aesthetic refinement."

Ruby leaned back in the chair beside her, tail swishing slowly.

"Oh, I do," she said. "Which is why I'm saying you shouldn't do that."

Weiss raised an eyebrow. "And what would you suggest instead?"

Ruby tilted her head, thinking for a moment, then her ears perked up.

"An eyepatch." She snapped her fingers, winking at Weiss.

"An eyepatch?" Weiss blinked at her reflection, putting a hand over her left eye to picture the idea. "Why?"

"Yes!" Ruby got up from her seat and put herself right behind Weiss to look at the mirror together. "Like the heroines in those pirate books we used to read."

Weiss let out a quiet groan.

"You mean the ones you insisted on finishing at three in the morning?" she teased.

Ruby closed her eyes, as if dreaming. "You'd look really romantic."

Weiss froze on the spot, the words hitting her harder than the Arma Gigas. Then, her heart started racing.

"R-romantic?" she asked, trying her hardest to not blush.

"Yes," Ruby turned around, twirling as if in a dance. "Think about it. Long white hair, cool coat, mysterious eyepatch…" She had no problem in letting her blush show for Weiss, who felt like choking.

Ruby had called her romantic.

"Re-regardless," Weiss said, trying to regain control of the conversation, "An eyepatch would attract attention."

"Less than a shiny silver eyeball." Ruby shrugged.

Weiss opened her mouth, paused, then slowly closed it again. "That's a fair point."

"So?" Ruby grinned, tail wagging.

"Once we make it to Vale, I will consider the idea." She nodded. "But now we need a contact for the appearances."

"Yay!" Ruby threw her fists in the air in victory.

Weiss looked back at the mirror, imagining for a moment; a long coat, Myrtenaster to her side, and an eyepatch adorning her face. That's what Ruby had called a romantic look.

A romantic look on Weiss.

For a moment, she dared to dream about it. About a life away from Atlas, far away from her father, from the family's expectations, and from all the things that came with it. Far away from the place that took innocent girls like Ruby and made them slaves.

In that small, fragile moment, Weiss dreamed about a life with Ruby, without collars or pretending that it was okay to treat her like a thing.

Just the two of them.

Free together.

--