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bridgyrose · 6 months

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Frosen Steel Day 5: Injured and Recovery

One second. That’s how long it took for Ruby to get in the way. One second was all it took for Penny to watch Ruby get torn apart and for grimm to start attacking the light dust barrier above Amity Arena. One second was all it took for her to watch everything she had wanted to be taken away from her. Her hand trembled as she clicked play on the recording as she watched Ruby get torn apart by her and then hearing the sounds of Atlas soldiers ordering her to stand down.

“You have to stop watching that,” Weiss said calmly behind her. “It wont bring her back.”

Penny turned off the recording and stood up, her joints clicking and squeaking as she moved. She let out a heavy sigh as she caught a picture of her, Ruby, and Weiss together on the desk. “I… I miss her.”

“I know.” Weiss walked up behind Penny and hugged her, resting her chin on the android’s shoulder. “But she wouldnt want you hurting yourself like this.”

“She tried to stop the fight. She should not have gotten in the way, but she did and then I… I…” Penny looked down at her hands, swearing that there was still blood on them from trying to help Ruby as a couple Atlas medics took her away. “She is gone because of me.”

“It wasnt your fault. Someone planned for Beacon to fall and used you. If Ruby was here-”

“But she is not!” Penny yelled as she punched the screen she had been watching, her body wincing from the electricity that ran through her from it. She pulled her hand back and moved her fingers, listening to the clicks her joints made. “All I want is to see her again. To hold her like I used to.”

Weiss squeezed Penny a bit tighter, trying to comfort her girlfriend. “I get that, but she wouldnt want you to spend your days wishing for her to be back. She’d want you to live your life, to get out there and help others like you wanted to. Speaking of, the General wanted to see us. He said there was something he wanted us to see and that he needed us to help Mantle.”

Penny nodded and looked over to Weiss, putting a hand on hers. “Alright.”

Weiss pulled away from Penny, gently holding her hand. “I’m sure whatever it is will help us.”

Penny absentmindedly followed Weiss through Pietro’s lab and into the halls of Atlas Academy. She could tell that everyone was staring at her, uneasy with her presence as she continued through the halls and to the command center, even though her name had been cleared over the previous months. Still, she was glad that Weiss had gotten permission to see her and to stay by her side while she tried to “heal” from Beacon.

As the command center door opened, Weiss pressed a keycard to the scanner and smiled as the door opened. “After you,” she said with a small bow.

Penny nodded and gently took Weiss’s hand as she walked into the command center, nervous when she saw General Ironwood staring at the two of them. Her fingers clicked nervously as she gently squeezed Weiss’s hand, making sure not to hurt her. “You… you wanted to see us, sir?”

“I did,” General Ironwood said as he walked closer to Weiss and Penny, handing them both new scrolls. “As of today, you are both in training to be the defenders of Mantle. With the grimm getting more active and slipping in through the wall around Mantle, we’ll need the two of you to assist the soldiers already down there to help contain the grimm and keep the people of Mantle safe.”

Penny took the scroll and slowly looked it over, pausing when she saw Ruby’s symbol etched in the back along with hers and Weiss’s. She turned it on and paused when she saw her new ID using her old picture before her father upgraded her body.

“How long will we be in training for?” Weiss asked. “And what will that mean for us?”

“What it means is that you’ll both be full fledged huntresses once your trial period is over,” the General answered as motioned for the two to follow him. “However, before you start your training, you’ll need to meet your newest teammate.”

“Newest teammate?” Penny asked curiously as she followed Ironwood out of the command center. Her question was met with silence as the General continued to walk through the halls of Atlas, deeper into the military base. She started to grow worried as she followed Ironwood deeper and deeper, through doors that started to require more clearance and were normally off limits to anyone who wasnt a Specialist or part of the Ace-ops.

Ironwood stopped at a door and pressed his ID to it, listening to the gears and clicks as the door slowly opened. “Meet your newest teammate.”

Penny froze for a moment as she watched a familiar girl in a red cloak work on a mechanical arm with a red scythe next to her. She swore the core that was her heart started to pound as her eyes saw Ruby sitting there, alive. “R-Ruby?”

Ruby looked up and gave a small smile as she reattached her mechanical arm and walked over to the door, standing at attention. “Ruby Rose reporting for duty.”

“At ease, Huntress Rose.” Ironwood started to walk off. “Penny, Weiss, you may stay down here to get to know your new teammate.”

Penny slowly took a step forward, then another as she pulled Ruby into a hug, her fingers and arms clicking around her joints as she shook. Her mind rushed with emotions and her “breathing” started to hitch as she spoke. “I… I thought you were dead.”

“Why are you hugging me?” Ruby asked.

“B-because you’re alive.” Penny slowly let Ruby go, confused for a moment.

Weiss finally spoke, her own voice filled with worry as her words slowly left her lips. “What… what do you remember? You know who we are, right?”

“Of course I know who you are,” Ruby answered with a smile. She pointed to Penny, then Wess as she spoke again. “You’re Penny Polendina, and you’re Weiss Schnee. I’ve read over everything that the General has given me about the two of you until more of my memories come back.”

Weiss looked at Ruby curiously. “Until your memories come back?”

“My memories have been suppressed until the General feels like I can handle knowing more.”

“What do you remember?”

“I remember training as a huntress and fighting some grimm with my sister, but everything else is still a bit of a blur.” Ruby moved her bangs to reveal a small chip attached to her forehead. “This was put here to help me. The General said I woke up screaming a couple months ago, at which point he made sure my memories were overridden until he was sure I could handle whatever happened to me.”

Penny reached for the chip on Ruby’s forehead for a brief moment as her fingers shook. It would only take a brief shock to short circuit it and allow Ruby to remember everything, to remember who she was to her and Weiss. One second to allow the floodgates to open and have her girlfriend back. Though, she pulled her hand back once she felt Weiss’s on her, lowering her hand back down to her side.

“Then hopefully you’ll recover enough to remember soon,” Weiss said with a sad smile, squeezing Penny’s hand. “Is it okay for us to stay for a while longer? Just to get to know you.”

Ruby nodded and started to make her way back to her desk in the small room. “Of course. I need to finish maintenance on my arm though, so I might be fairly quiet. Need to concentrate.”

“Then we’ll be quiet for you.”

Penny watched Ruby take off the mechanical arm and lay it down on her desk. It seemed to have a fresh coat of paint in red and green with a little white accent down the sides and on the fingers to look like gloves. She couldnt take her eyes off as she watched Ruby work, still working on her arm the same way she would on Penny’s. They way she stuck her tongue out a little when unscrewing each panel, the care she took as she checked wired and replaced anything that wasnt working, the gentleness she had with testing each joint. Her Ruby was still there in everything she did, but that wasnt her Ruby.

“Are you going to be okay?”

Penny flinched as she felt Weiss take her hand and pull her back a bit. “I… I will be fine.”

Weiss sighed and leaned into Penny, whispering to her. “We can go back-”

“I want to be here, with Ruby.” Penny slowly made her way to the bed to sit down, pulling Weiss with her. She sat and watched Ruby work on her arm for hours, rubbing a sleeping Weiss’s back.

“I’m… not the same that I used to be to you, am I?” Ruby asked.

Penny nodded and looked down at Weiss. “No, you are not.”

“What was I to you?”

“My… friend.” Penny paused for a moment as she said the word, wanting to continue by calling Ruby her girlfriend, the one she wanted to live in this world with. But the words wouldnt come out. It didnt matter if this Ruby still looked, sounded, or acted like her Ruby, this wasnt her Ruby. “A very good friend.”

Ruby seemed to mull over the answer as she re-attached her arm, wincing as everything was set right. She moved her fingers for a moment, making sure everything still worked. “A good friend. I hope I can still be like that for you.”

Penny quietly sat with Weiss, her hands shaking for a moment as she rubbed Weiss’s back. Then, a call started to come through. She quickly answered to Ironwood coming up on her display.

“There are some grimm attacking Mantle and the soldiers we have down there arent enough.” Ironwood sent a couple of coordinates to the grimm. “Consider this your first run as a team.”

Penny nodded as the call ended, rousing Weiss from her slumber. “We have our first mission.”

Weiss stretched and reached for her rapier as she sat up. “Where to?”

“District 12 of Mantle.”

“I’ll meet you there,” Ruby said as she picked up her scythe and rushed off with her semblance.

Penny froze as she watched the rose petals flutter around the room. After a minute of watching, she finally got up and rushed after Ruby, running through the halls of Atlas, not listening to Weiss to slow down. She quickly scanned for Ruby, finding her trail and following after. She finally landed, stopping as she watched Ruby fight the grimm. It was like watching a completely different person fight. There was no joy in the way she moved, just precise movements with the scythe. No smiles, just a serious demeanor as she tore through grimm to get the mission done.

Ruby suddenly stopped as her body seemed to freeze up, her flesh hand reaching to her head as she dropped to her knees. Her arm started to shake as her mechanical bits locked up, her heart rate spiked as she watched a grimm walk to her.

Penny raced into action, getting between Ruby and the grimm as she sliced into it. The grimm disappeared into ash as the rest started to run off. Instead of chasing after, she slowly turned around and knelt down next to Ruby, placing a hand on her shoulder. “Are you okay?”

Ruby nodded as she took a breath, her heart starting to slow as her mechanical arm started to move again. “I’m… I’m fine. I lost myself for a moment. I need to get back to Atlas.”

“My father’s workshop is closer, we can have him look at you-”

“I need to go back to Atlas.” Ruby looked up at Penny, silver eyes starting to shine before going dull. “General Ironwood needs to know what happened. I’m not ready for combat and need to be looked at again.”

Penny sighed as she watched a drop ship arrive with Weiss onboard. She helped Ruby up and walked her to the drop ship, supporting her. “Weiss will get you to Atlas. I will see you after I track down the rest of the grimm.”

Ruby flashed a small smile at Penny. “And you wont disappear on me again, will you?”

Penny paused in her step as those words ran through her mind over and over, her mouth twitching into a small smile as she swore she heard her Ruby, though her smile dropped when she was met with dull silver eyes. “I… I will not disappear, I will be back once I am done.”

“Then I cant wait to work with you more, Penny.”

Penny stopped and helped Ruby into the drop ship as Weiss and a couple medics helped Ruby in, taking off once she was situated. She stayed in her spot for minutes after the drop ship left, her “heart” aching as she ran through her memories of Ruby. Once she was finished, she turned to chase after the grimm, ready to accept that her Ruby was gone and replaced by the one she had met.

#rwby #frosensteelweek2023 #frosen steel week 2023 #frosen steel #ruby rose #rwby ruby rose #penny polendina #weiss schnee #ruby x penny x weiss #tw character death #Protectors of atlas au #james ironwood #angsty drabbles #drabbles #day 5: injury and recovery #I didnt expect for this to become as angsty as it did #so uh #sorry not sorry

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fallinglikemagic · 1 year

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Frosen Steel Week Days 1&2 - Useless Lesbians/Oblivious & Cuddles

Summary: After reuniting in Atlas, it didn't take too long for Ruby and Penny's relationship to evolve into a romantic one. Weiss was happy for them, truly she was, and she wished them nothing for the best, despite desperately wishing that she could join them. Of course, her yearning and jealousy would probably be a lot easier for her to handle if the couple didn't insist on being so cuddly with her all the time…

[Posting very late, I know, but I'm deciding to take it easy and not really stick to much of a schedule. I also combined the first two prompts into one story, but it's over 5k works long so hopefully that makes up for it :P]

Story under Read More | Read on AO3 | Prompt List @frosensteel

Brilliant rays of sunlight shone through the large window, the bright, warm sunbeams landing directly on Weiss’ face, stirring her from her peaceful slumber. She raised her arm to cover her eyes with a grumble, mumbling something unintelligible under her breath before groggily attempting to sit up, only to be stopped by a weight on her chest. She opened her eyes to see a messy head of fluffy dark hair resting on her chest, softly snoring the day away, the beaming rays of sunlight drawing out those beautiful crimson highlights. Weiss noticed that she could feel an arm around her waist and looked to her left to see a surprisingly cuddly android curled up beside her, snugged in like a newborn kitten hiding from the frosty chill of the Atlesian breeze.

Weiss instantly felt her pulse quicken and fought to keep it down, almost afraid that the pounding of her heart would be loud enough to disturb the other huntress laying with their ear pressed to her chest. Now wide awake, Weiss easily recalled the circumstances that had led to her being essentially sandwiched between two of her closest friends.

She’d been woken in the middle of the night by a dream that Weiss refused to refer to as a nightmare, and it just so happened that she’d been jolted awake mere moments after Penny had snuck into her team’s dormitory room in order to spend some quality cuddling time with her new girlfriend. Weiss had of course reassured the couple that she was perfectly fine and put on an air of annoyance at the lovebirds, jokingly threatening to report Penny to Winter for sneaking in for cuddles while on the job, but the couple had still insisted on helping Weiss feel better in whatever way they could. Weiss had of course stayed stubborn (she wasn’t going to give in that easily), but eventually the three of them settled on a compromise (and, miraculously, avoided waking up the remaining members of Team RWBY in the process), and so Weiss had ended up joining in with Penny and Ruby’s bedtime cuddles.

Admittedly, part of the reason Weiss had ended up agreeing to this had less to do with the definitely-not-a-nightmare that she’d had, and more to do with her feelings towards Ruby and Penny. The couple had begun dating just over a week ago, though it had been made very clear to Weiss that Ruby had held feelings for Penny ever since their time at Beacon that had simply never faded. Weiss was happy for them, she really was! They clearly cared about each other a lot and made a very cute couple, and they were obviously happy together. And yet, whenever she saw them together, holding hands and exchanging soft kisses and nose nuzzles, Weiss couldn’t help but feel a stinging pain in her heart, a bittersweet yearning tugging her towards the two of them.

This feeling wasn’t exactly new to Weiss, far from it. In truth, she’d been harbouring feelings for her partner for quite some time now, and this familiar sting of jealousy had cropped up every single time that Ruby had mentioned her lingering affections for Penny throughout the long journey to Atlas. What did come as a surprise was when Weiss found herself falling for Penny after their reunion, but just as she had come to terms with and accepted the fact that she was now yearning for two people at the same time, those same two people drifted out of Weiss’ reach.

Weiss would never do anything to sabotage their relationship, of course. As much as her own heart ached when she saw them together, she cared far too much about them both for her to risk getting in the way of the happiness they had found with each other. It was for this same reason that she had no intention of ever letting them know of her feelings for them. Of course, she was aware of the possibility that her feelings could be returned (after all, if she could love more than one person at once, what’s to say that they couldn’t as well?), but it felt like far too much of a risk. And so, Weiss decided to simply make the most of this moment with them where maybe, for just a few minutes, she could fool herself into believing that she was anything more than a third wheel between the happy couple.

Careful not to disturb her, Weiss very softly and carefully ran her hand through Ruby’s soft hair, gently petting the top of their head. Ruby often muttered and twitched in their sleep, though it was usually not loud enough to be heard unless you were right next to her, and it was even rarer for any of their words to be anything understandable. While she couldn’t see Ruby’s face from this specific angle, Weiss could easily imagine Ruby’s peaceful expression, having seen it many times before throughout the past 2 years (although she'd never been quite so close to it, as they'd never shared a bed before). She could imagine their messy hair falling in front of their face in that way that always made Weiss yearn to reach out and tuck it behind her partner’s ear before gently kissing their forehead, but she'd never given in to the impulse.

As she continued to run her hand through Ruby’s soft, fluffy locks, Weiss shifted her attention to Penny. Despite appearances, Penny technically didn’t exactly sleep in the same way as humans and Faunus would. It was more comparable to putting a computer in sleep mode – all of her software and systems were still running in the background, but resting like this allowed her to save energy and recuperate, as well as cool down if she was running the risk of overheating. Knowing that Penny would stir easily, Weiss was extra cautious as she slowly wrapped her arm around the robot and snuggled up to her as much as she could without waking Ruby.

While Ruby had always ran a bit warmer than most, a trait than ran in the family on her father’s side, Penny’s body temperature tended to vary a lot more. Right now, Penny’s skin was soothingly cool to the touch, providing a pleasant contrast to the bundle of warmth curled up on Weiss’ other side and chest. Despite being all too aware of how late in the morning it must have been at this point, Weiss was in no rush to get out of bed, with part of her wishing that this moment could last an eternity.

Unfortunately, this was not to be, as Weiss was pulled out of the fantasy by a sequence of chirpy beeps that preceded Penny opening her eyes. She blinked a few times as she came back online, then gave Weiss one of those trademark Penny smiles, the kind that were always so genuine and full of joy and sincerity that Weiss would always melt inside a little, no matter how many times she’d seen it before.

“Salutations and good morning, Weiss! How did you sleep?”

Weiss initially flinched a little from how loud Penny’s voice had been in such close proximity to her ear, moving her head slightly further from Penny’s before responding.

“I slept quite well, thank you.”

“You didn’t have any more nightmares?”

“It wasn’t a-” Weiss coughed awkwardly, looking up at the ceiling above the bed. “No, no, I was fine. Thank you for the concern, though.”

“Wonderful! I have heard that those types of dreams can be very distressing. I hope you don’t have to deal with too many of them?”

Weiss fidgeted with the blanket, all too aware of how Penny still had her arm around her waist and had shown no signs that she intended to move any time soon. “I don’t have dreams very often, in all honesty…”

Penny tilted her head, gently pulling Weiss closer to her. “Why not?”

“I just…don’t?” Weiss turned her head away, hoping that the rising blush in her cheeks wasn’t too visible. “It’s not something people can control, dreams just sort of…happen.”

“Oh! I see!”

With a mutter and a grumble, Ruby slowly shifted and rolled over so that about half of their body was on top of Weiss’, lifting their head to rest their chin on Weiss’ chest before opening their eyes ever so slightly.

“Mornin’…”

“Good morning, Ruby!”

Ruby smiled sleepily at her girlfriend, which definitely didn’t make Weiss melt a little bit.

“Hey Firefly…” Ruby yawned, then sleepily glanced up at Weiss. “Hey Snowdrop…”

Weiss immediately flushed bright red, her blush reaching her ears as her heart skipped a beat in response to the new nickname. “'Snowdrop'…?”

Ruby suddenly looked a lot more awake, a faint blush dusting her cheeks, hiding their face in Weiss’ chest a little bit. “Sorry, I, uh, wasn’t thinking…”

“No, no, it’s okay! I, um, I don’t mind, I guess…”

Weiss found a nice spot on the ceiling to stare at in order to avoid eye contact with either of her new cuddle buddies, painfully aware of the fact that Ruby would definitely be able to feel her heart rate steadily increase with each passing moment. Ruby muttered something under her breath that made Penny giggle, but Weiss never got the chance to ask Ruby to repeat herself before Blake and Yang returned to the dorm, dragging the trio out of bed, relentlessly teasing them the whole way through.

This was far from the first time Weiss had spent a movie night with her teammates – they’d been quite commonplace back in their days at Beacon Academy. They would set up somebody’s scroll in front of one of the beds and crowd around it, make sure they had plenty of buttery popcorn and candy, and watch as many consecutive movies as they could before the whole team fell asleep. While their new scrolls allowed for a bigger projection, allowing them to instead spread out across both a top and bottom bunk, everything else about it was a familiar experience. That being said, this was the first time that Penny had joined in.

Penny had initially only intended to check up on the team during a patrol when Yang had invited her to join the fun. Penny had been thrilled, and while part of Weiss was a little thrown off by the disruption to routine, she could never genuinely complain about Penny’s company, so the team unanimously agreed to let her join. Aside from a few comments and questions here and there, Penny had been content to quietly sit and watch, sitting on the floor with some cushions and leaning back against the bed with Ruby by her side. Yang and Blake had taken the top bunk, while Weiss sat on the bottom bunk.

The group were already up to the third film in the queue, and while two years ago they would often make it through five or six before the first person fell asleep, that was before they had jobs. After a long day out in the field, Weiss was already feeling the exhaustion, and Ruby seemed to be too based on how they were snuggled against Penny and resting their head on her shoulder, struggling to keep their eyes open.

Weiss pushed down the rising jealously as she leaned forward, keeping her voice down so as not to be disruptive as she addressed Ruby teasingly. “Long day, hm~?”

Ruby pouted slightly, which was expected, before shifting a little to face Weiss and reaching her arms out towards her, which was definitely not expected.

“Um…what?”

Ruby didn’t reply, instead just giving Weiss the puppy dog eyes and making grabby hands at her. Weiss turned away and crossed her arms with an exaggerated ‘hmph!’ as Penny giggled.

“No way am I going to give in that easily.”

Ruby made a small whining noise, prompting Weiss to make the fatal mistake of briefly glancing down at them, realizing her error when she saw that the puppy dog eyes had been turned up to 11. Weiss groaned, fully aware that Ruby was doing this on purpose, but finding herself unable to resist that look.

“Fine, fine…” Weiss moved to sit on the floor, settling down next to Ruby. They instantly wrapped their arms around her in a tight hug, pulling her with them as they settled down into Penny’s arms, closing her eyes with a content smile and hum. Penny softly kissed Ruby’s forehead as she wrapped her arms around them both.

“Would you like a forehead kiss too, Weiss?”

Weiss sputtered a little, grateful that it was too dark in the room for her blush to be visible. “U-um, I’m fine, thank you…”

Penny just gave Weiss a cheerful smile, then refocused her attention on the film. Weiss attempted to do the same, but she knew it would be hopeless, seeing as it would be impossible to focus on anything other than the way Ruby held and cuddled her like some sort of plush toy in their arms as they drifted off to sleep.

“woAHWOAHWOAH CAREFUL-“

“I am being careful-!”

“DODGEDODGE”

Weiss frantically pressed buttons on the controller, just in time to barely dodge out of the way of an attack.

“Quickquick you’re almost dead you gotta heal!”

“I don’t know how to heal!”

“Press the squa- aaaaand never mind.”

Weiss growled under her breath as the game over screen appeared for the fifth time in three minutes, the words “YOU DIED” floating in the center of the screen as if to taunt her. But in her defense, Weiss wasn’t sure how exactly Ruby expected her to be able to play and focus on the game while they were quite literally hanging over her shoulder, hugging her arm as they frantically shouted advice.

“Perhaps you should try exploring a different section of the game?” Penny suggested, cuddled up to Weiss with her head on her shoulder. “Then you can come back later once you’ve leveled up your character and gained more experience as a player!”

“Of course not,” Weiss scoffed, sitting up straight and tilting her chin up in indignation. “Why would they put this boss at the start of the game if you’re not supposed to be able to beat it immediately?”

“Well, I believe it is an open world game, which tend to have less of a strict difficulty curve like more linear games would have in order to encourage players to explore and grow stronger before returning to previous areas and accomplishing goals you were unable to in the past.”

“Well, yes, but-”

“I mean, I beat it straight away,” Ruby quietly interrupted with a smug grin.

Weiss huffed as she pressed the button to retry, jumping back into battle almost immediately, doing her best to focus on the game and ignore the couple hovering over her shoulders.

“If I recall correctly, Ruby, didn’t it take you a total of 37 attempts to defeat this boss?”

“You counted!?” Ruby exclaimed, leaning forward and blocking Weiss’ vision.

“Ruby!”

“Oops, sorry,” Ruby settled back down to hover just out of the corner of Weiss’ peripheral vision, which was still distracting, but at least she could see. “And I mean, yeah but like, I didn’t go do anything else or level up or anything so it still counts as me doing it straight away because I didn’t do anything else before it.”

Run forward, nope never mind run back run back, which button was it to dodge again- ugh whatever just jump out of the way- nO she wanted to run not heal-

“I do not believe that is the way the game designers intended for you to defeat the boss, Ruby.”

“Yeahhhh I guess, still beat it though!”

L1- wait no R1- oh no-

“Also I’m pretty sure this is an optional boss anyway-“

“Ruby, how in the world do I use this weapon?” Weiss interrupted them, having just rediscovered the dodge button and now spamming it in her desperate attempts to avoid getting hit.

“Oh I have no idea.”

“I thought you played this before!?”

“I chose a different starting class and then switched to the first scythe I found and never looked back, just press R1 and R2 to attack and you’ll figure it out from there- woAH CAREFUL-!”

Weiss somehow miraculously managed to dodge an attack at the last possible moment, hitting the boss a few times to deal a tiny bit of damage before jumping away again.

“There really is no shame in doing something else and coming back later, you know,” Penny reminded her.

“No way, I’m going to do this even if it takes all-”

“WOAHWOAH WATCH OUT!” Ruby lurched forward again, her face extremely close to Weiss’, the proximity causing Weiss to completely lose all concentration for a few seconds. By the time Weiss managed to collect herself and catch her bearings, she was already being shown another game over screen.

“Oops,” Ruby settled back down, resting her chin on Weiss’ shoulder and wrapping their arms around her waist.

Weiss sighed, realising that while it would be difficult to win under normal circumstances, she would definitely be unable to win with both Ruby and Penny in such close proximity being so distracting. “Okay, fine, maybe I will try another area first…”

“There’s a bunch of wild animals around this area to practice on,” Ruby said, pointing at a distant deer on the screen. “Just don’t let the big guy notice you unless you wanna start the boss fight again. And then in that forest over there you can find some soldiers, they’re not super tough so that could be a good place to start. You can really go anywhere though.”

Weiss nodded, taking Ruby’s advice. She waited for the boss she’d been fighting before to turn around and get some distance before sneaking past.

“I still don’t understand why you insisted on me playing this with you,” Weiss said as she chased down a deer. “You know I’m not particularly good at video games in general…”

“We just like spending time with you,” Ruby said in a soft tone, giving Weiss one of those sweet, gentle smiles that could warm anybody’s heart. “and I like sharing my interests with the people I care about a lot so that’s a bonus!”

“I…really? That’s it?” Weiss asked, somewhat taken aback. “You just wanted to spend time together..?”

“Yeah, I mean…we’ve been so busy lately and stuff so I’ve kinda missed you, and you’re one of my favourite people, so…”

“You mean a lot to us, and we always love spending time with you!” Penny chimed in.

“O-oh…” Weiss’ heart soared, finding herself unable to hold back a blush and a shy smile. “I…suppose I feel the same way. About the two of you.”

“Awwww~” Ruby enveloped Weiss in a tight embrace, nearly knocking her over onto her side and into Penny’s lap (which she supposed wouldn’t have been such a bad thing). “You like us~”

“N-no I don’t- hey, you’re doing to make me die again, you dolt!”

“Sorryyyyy~”

“I do not believe that Ruby is truly sorry at all.”

“I can tell!”

Weiss took another deep breath, fidgeting with the end of the red scarf that she’d chosen to wear more for emotional support than as protection from the cold. That being said, Weiss was quite grateful for the extra layer of protection from the chilly Atlesian winds as she stood on the rooftop of one of the towers surrounding Atlas Academy where most of the student dorms were housed, staring up at the night sky.

Technically this area was off-limits unless you had authorisation, which Weiss certainly did not, but she knew the risk of her getting in trouble was minimal. Nobody ever checked up here – the only reason Weiss even knew this area was accessible was from the stories Winter had told her about the times her own teammates had dragged her up here to stargaze during her time as a student - and the door to the stairway was often left unlocked, so it wasn't exactly difficult to sneak through. Perhaps a minor lapse in security, but seeing as there was no way to get up here from the ground, there wasn't really any danger in it, so Weiss wasn’t going to complain – it was secluded, quiet, and even provided a beautiful, scenic view.

Of course, the knowledge that she had found the perfect location did little to ease Weiss’ nerves.

After much deliberation, Weiss had decided to finally bite the bullet and confess her feelings to the objects of her affections. Her expectations hadn’t changed of course, she was almost certain that they wouldn’t reciprocate, but the two had only been getting progressively more cuddly and affectionate with her over the past few weeks and Weiss knew that if she didn’t say something soon then she would likely implode into a blushing gay mess sometime before the end of the month. She’d realised it would be best to just get it over with, and as much as it would sting to be directly shot down, she was prepared to handle it.

She just hoped it wouldn’t have any lingering effects on Ruby and Penny’s relationship. She was still afraid to risk messing things up for them, but she hoped that in telling them both how she felt simultaneously so that they both had the same knowledge from the get-go, and that by ensuring that they knew that she wasn’t expecting or asking for her feelings to be returned, she would be able to make sure that it wasn’t an issue.

Weiss toyed with her scarf again, lightly brushing her fingertips back and forth over the soft fabric. The ends were starting to get a little bit worn, fraying slightly, but she didn’t particularly mind and knew that it would be an easy fix if necessary. This scarf had served as a comfort to Weiss on various occasions – it had been a gift from Ruby, picked up from the train station in Mistral before they departed for Argus, and while she knew it probably hadn’t been particularly meaningful of a gift to her partner, Weiss had treasured it ever since.

Weiss jumped at the slight creaking of the door down to the stairwell behind her, but soon relaxed when she recognised the voices of those approaching.

“Woooaah, I didn’t even know this was up here…”

“Well, it is usually off-limits to unauthorized personnel. Under most circumstances you would only have people up here to fix something that had gone wrong with the heating or CCT connection.”

A mischievous chuckle followed, “So we gotta be sneaky~”

“Affirmative!”

Weiss shook her head with an exasperated sigh, smiling despite it – as much as Ruby’s childishness grated on her at times, she preferred it over the despair and pain she would notice in them on occasion when it slipped through the cracks or when they thought there was nobody around or awake to witness it. Weiss took a moment to steel her nerves before turning to face the couple, instinctively folding her hands in front of her with an air of formality.

“Thank you for coming, you two.”

“Jeez, Weiss, why so formal? It’s just us,” Ruby teased, though Weiss could hear the genuine reassurance in her tone.

“What did you wish to speak with us about?” Penny asked.

“W-well, um…” Deep breath, Weiss. Just speak from the heart. “I wanted to tell you, um…I wished to discuss some…feelings I’ve have been experiencing as of late…”

“Is everything alright?” Penny asked gently.

“You can talk to us if something’s wrong,” Ruby added, zipping over to stand beside Weiss and rest a hand on her back.

“No, no, nothing’s wrong, it isn’t anything bad. Um, thank you, though,” Weiss assured them, Ruby’s touch doing little to ease her nerves (if anything, it only made her even more flustered and antsy). “It’s just, well, I…”

Damn it, why were her hands so clammy?

She’d already rehearsed this several times in her head.

She’d experienced far scarier things than this.

So why did she keep freezing up?

She was supposed to be better than this, smooth and calm and professional, not nervously fumbling over her words like this.

Weiss wasn’t sure whether some of her thoughts had slipped through her lips to be spoken out loud, or if the duo had simply read her emotions on her face, but Ruby and Penny clearly noticed something, briefly exchanging a concerned glance. Penny came up beside Weiss to stand by the edge of the roof, looking out at the night sky.

“The view up here is wonderful, isn’t it?”

Ruby instantly picked up on the hint, turning around and gently nudging Weiss to do the same”

“Woahh, you can almost see all of Atlas from up here!” they exclaimed, leaning on the wall surrounding the ledge and glancing all around at the surrounding landscape.

Weiss was fully aware of what Penny was doing, but she was grateful for the opportunity to catch her breath and collect her thoughts. She found herself staring off at the distant mountains, moonlight bouncing off of the snow in a manner that made it seem to almost glow as it illuminated the surrounding areas. In contrast, Atlas and Mantle appeared darker without the snow adding that extra luminescence, but were speckled with streetlights and hard-light billboards in a way that almost mirrored the starry sky above. An aurora danced across the sky, weaving between the clouds and washing over the stars.

Weiss had seen Atlas’ night sky thousands of times as she’d wistfully gazed out of her window growing up, wishing to fly beside the aurora and escape from the gilded cage she called home, but the sight had never lost its beauty no matter how many times she’d seen it.

With the most subtlety she could manage, Weiss quickly stole a glance to either side of her. Ruby on her left was still preoccupied, their gaze flitting between the picturesque landscape below and the glimmering stars above, though her excitement had settled down into a serene admiration. To the right, Penny was similarly staring up at the stars, then turned to give Weiss a gentle, reassuring smile. Before Weiss could apologise after being caught staring, Penny briefly took her hand and give it a surprisingly gentle squeeze, which Weiss returned before letting Penny pull away.

Okay. Okay, she could do this.

Weiss took another deep breath, readjusting her posture to stand tall with a sense of resolve and only partially feigned confidence.

“So, the reason I asked to talk to you both…”

Ruby refocused their attention on Weiss, a lot gentler and more cautious in their approach. “Yeah?”

“I…I simply wished to tell you about some feelings I’ve been having, um…in regards to the two of you. Nothing anything bad, of course! And I don’t anticipate any sort of, um, reciprocation, I just…wanted you both to be aware,” Weiss glanced out at the mountains again, unable to make eye contact for the moment, painfully aware of the warmth in her cheeks.

Penny gently took Weiss’ hand again, the gentleness and care in the action making Weiss’ heart skip a beat before settling a little. “You can tell us anything, Weiss”

“Yeah, we won’t judge you or think of you any differently or anything, promise,” Ruby added, resting a hand on Weiss’ shoulder.

“It’s nothing like that, it’s not really a big deal and I don’t expect it to change anything, it’s just difficult to say out loud…but thank you,” Weiss replied, softly smiling at each of them.

Penny squeezed her hand. “Take your time.”

Weiss nodded, closing her eyes. “I just wanted to let you know that I…I have romantic feelings for you. Both of you,” Weiss felt Ruby immediately freeze up and heard Penny’s internal fans start audibly whirring, but she didn’t dare open her eyes until she was finished speaking – which now came surprisingly easy to her after she had pushed through the first part. “And as I said, I don’t expect anything between us to change, and I don’t expect reciprocation. I know that you are both very happy together, and I would hate to do anything that could potentially jeopardise that. I just…wanted you to know.”

Weiss resumed fidgeting with her scarf with her free hand, opening her eyes but avoiding eye contact for a few tense moments of silence before glancing between her two crushes. Ruby was blushing brightly, cheeks as red as her cloak and evidently needing a few more moments to collect their thoughts. Penny had yet to let go of Weiss’ hand, smiling brilliantly with a blush dusting her cheeks. Before Weiss could say anything, Penny pulled her into an almost-too-tight hug, a cheerful whirring sound coming from her chest.

“Penny, what-”

Weiss cut herself off as she felt Ruby join the hug from behind.

“Ruby-”

“We like you too, Weiss,” Ruby said, voice overflowing with emotion.

It took a few seconds for Weiss to process Ruby’s words, after which she promptly froze up in shock. “Wh-what?”

“We have both held romantic feelings for you for quite a while now,” Penny elaborated. “We were unsure whether or not to say anything about it, since we weren’t sure how you would react.”

“And also I was pretty sure that you’d never like us back,” Ruby added in a light-hearted tone.

“I’ve actually been suspecting it for a few weeks now, but I did not wish to push too much,” Penny boasted, evidently proud of herself for having figured it out.

“I mean, Penny says that we didn’t wanna push but it’s not like were super subtle.”

“You weren’t??” Weiss questioned, incredulous. “But I never noticed any indication that my feelings were anything but one-sided!”

“Uhhhh,” Ruby held up her hand, raising a finger with each point she listed. “The cuddles, spending so much time just the three of us at every opportunity, taking you out to lunch-“

“Sharing a bed that one time?” Penny added.

“I-I thought you were just being nice!” Weiss argued, flushed red with embarrassment.

Ruby stuck out their tongue with a shrug. “Oops.”

“What matters is that we all figured it out eventually, right?” Penny said.

“I suppose so…” Weiss replied with a sigh, relaxing into the hug. Penny was equally as warm to the touch as Ruby was today, and their shared embraced shielded Weiss from the biting cold. She rested her head on Penny’s chest, listening to the soft humming noise coming from the robot’s core deep in her chest, and held Ruby’s hand.

“Soooooo,” Ruby spoke up after a few moments of blissful silence. “I know you said you didn’t expect anything to change between us, buuuuut…”

Penny finished Ruby’s sentence. “We would love for you to join our relationship, Weiss, if you want to.”

Weiss’ heart soared. “You don’t mind? It wouldn’t be an intrusion?”

“Of course not!” Penny assured her.

“Yeah, we’d be happy to have you, Snowdrop!”

Weiss couldn’t help but giggle at the nickname. “In that case…yes, I would love to join your relationship.”

“Aw yeah, two girlfriends!” Ruby cheered to herself.

“Girlfriends…” Weiss muttered with a love-struck sigh. Penny kissed her forehead, prompted a very embarrassing squeak from the huntress, then scooped Weiss up in one arm and lifted Ruby with the other. Weiss felt heat rising in her cheeks again as she stammered, both shocked and flustered by the surprising show of strength.

“While it is very nice out here, it’s beginning to get quite cold, and the weather forecast predicts an upcoming snowstorm within the next hour. As such, I think it may be best for us to head inside sooner rather than later,” Penny explained. Weiss buried her face in Penny’s hair and nodded, happily letting herself relax into Penny’s hold and listen to Ruby’s voice as the trio went back inside.

#i have decided i no longer care about being late I do what I want /hj #i'll try not to take like a whole month to do everything though x)#also if anybody's curious the game weiss is playing is el/den ring (/ added so it doesn't clog the tag hopefully) i'm not super far in yet-#-though so :P #ruby rose #weiss schnee #penny polendina #frosen steel #red refrigerator #frosensteelweek #fs week 2022 #rwby #rwby fanfic

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melonishus · 6 months

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Frosen Steel Week (Day 5) - Injured/Recovery

Ruby - Uhhhhh

Penny - Do not be mad

Weiss - Now I’m going to be more mad. I’ve already had my remaining eye plucked out by that monster , and now I …

[Weiss removes the bandage and spots Ruby with an eyepatch ]

Ruby - [small smile] Hi Weiss

Weiss - [pats eye] You gave me your …

Ruby - Uh huh

Weiss - Why would you let her do this ? [turns to Penny] She

Penny - Cares about you very much. As do I ….it was a decision we discussed together

Ruby - And now Cinder won’t get close to you again 🙂

[Weiss cried and hugged them both ]

—-

Writing Requests are OPEN

#rwby #melon skits #frosensteelweek #frosen steel #weiss schnee

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powertaco · 6 months

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FS Week has begun! So here's all the fics!

I could wait but it's only 2 so here you go.

First off a big old thanks to @it-me-butts for the amazing FS week banner you can see here https://www.tumblr.com/it-me-butts/728167968000851968/frosen-steel-week-2023

I would never have even thought to look at the ship without his amazing art. A top tier ot3 for sure. Also I was told to tag @frosensteel so here you go. Free day fics!

A big old thanks to the incredible @ahn1zos and @it-me-butts for their incredible artwork. Also a big old hand for @trialbystory who is writing a long form non smut laden FS fic. A rarity. As such have some gift fics lol.

Ever since she was younger Weiss had always dreamed of being a witch. The ability to call upon lady magic, and bend the world to your whims was an enticing one. Especially when you were stuck in a home where a tyrant of a father was intent on controlling your every action.

Weiss had learned long ago that if she was ever going to have any freedom in her life she would need to escape her father’s grasp in any way she could.

To Weiss it was the perfect solution to her problems. There was only a most minor issue.

Weiss had not a drop of magical ability in her.

Penny loves her girlfriends, and believes they love her back, but on days she has to have maintenance done by her father without them with her she sometimes…has trouble believing it.

Thankfully Ruby, and Weiss have a plan to help this particular day pass more pleasantly than usual.

#rwby #whiterose #nuts and dolts #frostbyte #frosensteel #frosensteelweek

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trialbystory · 1 month

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SoC Behind the Scenes

Bit of preamble here, TLDR, look below the break for to see my original notes from before I started writing SoC.

At some point in the next 3-5 days I will post the final chapter of Spirt of Competition. This is the second time I've actually finished a multi-part story (arguably third if you count the FFM I did right before SoC, which'll be transplated to Ao3 starting next weekend). Last time was back in 2009, and it sucked so bad that I went back a year later and rewrote the ending. But after I posted the last chapter of that story, I thought it'd be fun to also post a picture of the original, written-by-hand-when-I-should've-been-taking-notes-for-my-Sociology-class, first draft of that final chapter.

I don't really do actual writing with pen&paper anymore, but most of my conceptual-level notes are still done hardcopy, and I thought it'd be fun to do that again. So click to see my original, hand-written notes, made between frames while playing in my dad's bowling league, back in late August/early October of 2022.

As you can see, basically my whole concern at that point was figuring out who was going to play who. I was just following the story from New Challengers beat for beat (at that point, anyway), so that kind of makes sense. But there's some interesting stuff too. Like Sienna was the running at one point to be the big bad. Or that I couldn't remember the name of P2W's token female player in Arcade Spirits. Something I think I've mentioned in comment replies is I kept going back and forth swapping Ruby & Weiss' placement. Because Weiss' family is rich and affluent like Grace's, but Ruby is a maker/engineer (my favorite characterization for her) so it makes sense for her to have made the AI and be an aspiring gameDev. And they both have reasons to have a chip on their shoulder, which would relate to the protagonist's competitive streak. But something I don't think anyone knows about is that while Cinder does line up with Domino's nihilism quite well, the actual reason she's in that spot, and therefore what ultimately made the story Frosen Steel instead of Burning Whiterose (I love FS, but Cinder honestly would've been a better fit for Jynx than Penny was. But I STILL STAND BY SASSY GOTH AESTHETIC PENNY), is that Rhodes felt like an easy answer to 'who do I use for this detective character that's related to Domino in AS?' and if you read SoC you may have noticed that Rhodes is conspicuously absent, because that character tied into what was going on with Mercury, which got cut mostly for pacing and also because at the time it would've been included I very much needed to not be writing the type of content that came up next in his sideplot. Oh, and the Seamonkies swapped back and forth on Ben and Matt not because they fit opposite characters better, but because I am MASSIVE fans of the Very Kind and Very Funny Graham Stark and Jacob Burgess, who voice Ben & Matt, and I thought Sun and Nep needed to swap to better fit their personalities.

So yeah, hope that was interesting for you. Or at least neat. See you for the grand finale later this week!

(Oh, also I really liked doing this, so I'll probably do it for future stories/fics as well. I even included the date at the top of the notes for that "If hell is forever then heaven must be a lie" DWR idea from a few nights ago in anticipation of one day sharing them)-

#rwby #arcade spirits #writing update #spirit of competition #fanfiction #frosen steel

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jpuffcandy · 2 years

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It's frosen steel week but I don't have any art so take this instead *throws at you*

#i hope this hasn't been done yet #rwby #ruby rose #weiss schnee #penny polendina #frosen steel #frosen steel week 2021 #frosen steel week #i probably should've posted this on the free promt day but oh well

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carbonatedjem · 3 years

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Frosen Steel Week - Day 5 - Oh no, I’m in Love. And here it is, my final pic for Frosen Steel Week (until after November). Hope it’s not an anticlimax on my end! @frosensteel

#Frosen Steel #Frosen Steel Week #RWBY #Ruby Rose #Penny Polendina #Weiss Schnee #Ruby x Penny x Weiss

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averieloveamity · 3 years

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Non AU Day 3: Maiden/Glyphs/Silver Eyes @frosensteel

would you believe me if I told you this took 5 hours? im having sm fun doing these tho!

#frosen steel #frosen steel week #frosen steel week 2020 #weiss #rwby weiss #weiss schnee #ruby #ruby rose #rwby ruby #penny #penny polendina #rwby penny #rwby #digital art #ANGST ANGST

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frosensteel · 6 months

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We are 1 week away from Frosen Steel Week 2023!

Soon everybody! If you want to check out the prompts and other info, go here!

#rwby #penny polendina #weiss schnee #ruby rose #frosen steel #frosensteelweek #frosen steel week 2023 #fsweek

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bridgyrose · 1 year

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“Normally after an incident like this, you’d be sent home with a stern warning for endangering yourself and others,” Ozpin said as he looked Ruby over. “However, I think given the circumstances, I can make an exception.”

Ruby paused for a moment, her once tapping fingers no longer tapping the desk. “An exception?”

Ozpin nodded and passed over a brochure to Ruby. “You’ve heard of Beacon academy, correct?”

“Of course I have, its where my parents went!” There was another pause as Ruby put a few things together. “You’re Professor Ozpin, the headmaster, arent you?”

Ozpin smiled. “The very same. Normally, you’d need to be seventeen to even consider applying to Beacon and then pass a rigorous entrance exam. Though, given the circumstances of putting your life on the line to stop Roman Torchwick, I think an exception is in order since you’ve shown us what you’re capable of. However, unlike the rest of the students, you wont be going through initiation.”

“I… dont understand. You’re offering to let me go to Beacon, but… I wont be going through initiation? I thought that was part of entering.”

“Under normal circumstances, it is.” Ozpin laced his fingers together as he rested his elbows on the table. His eyes wandered around the interrogation room and then back to Ruby as a small smirk crossed his face. “Since you’ll be younger than the rest of the students and skipping ahead a couple years in order to join, you’ll be the first member of a special mentoring program to make sure you’re not only ready to attend classes, but to make sure that you’re caught up with everything you’ll miss.”

Ruby slowly nodded. “Then… I want to do it.”

A smile crossed Ozpin’s lips as he stood up. “An airship will take you to Atlas to start the program at the end of the week. Do not miss it.”

—----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Ruby found herself frozen in fear as she stood in the Atlas Academy entrance hall, hands shaking as she held her bag to her chest. The instructions she had been given was to talk to Ironwood and be brought to the future Beacon students that would oversee her lessons. Though, what she didnt quite understand was why she had to come to Atlas to begin with.

“Miss Rose,” Ironwood’s voice boomed through the entrance hall as he walked over to the young girl. “Follow me.”

Ruby quietly nodded and followed the General through the halls of Atlas Academy and through the military base that resided inside. She had quit paying attention to the twists and turns of the hallway as she followed him deeper into the Academy. Her fingers tapped her bag nervously as she took each step. With Beacon starting in a couple months, she’d do anything to make sure she was ready, but that didnt stop her from trying to question why here.

Ironwood finally stopped at a door and opened it. “You’ll be living here with Weiss Schnee and Penny Polendina for the next couple months as they mentor you to make sure you’re ready for Beacon.”

Ruby slowly stepped into the small dorm room and paused at the sight of the two girls waiting for her. “Hi, I’m-”

“Late.” Weiss rolled her eyes as she looked up from her book, a fresh bandage over her left eye. She stood up and looked over Ruby, a frown crossing her lips. “And apparently a child.”

“I’m… not a child.” Ruby sat her bag down and took a breath to try to calm her own nerves. “Just because I’m younger than you doesnt mean I’m a child.”

“Do not listen to Weiss,” Penny said as she practically bounced off her bed and over to Ruby. “She is like this to everyone she meets. It means that she wants to be friends.”

“I’m only doing this because Father wont let me go to Beacon otherwise,” Weiss retorted.

Ruby nodded and looked between the two girls. While Weiss seemed angry, Penny was almost her polar opposite, bouncing with excitement at the idea of meeting a new person. “Then, I wont let you down.”

“You better not. First we’ll start with the training room so you can show us what you’ve learned so far and that you can handle a weapon.” Weiss started to pack up her books and paused. “And if you prove that you’re not ready to be here, I will let the headmasters know they made a mistake.”

Ruby slowly let out the breath she didnt realize she had been holding as Weiss left the room with her bag. She slowly unpacked her weapon and dust ammo pouch, muttering to herself. “This isnt a mistake.”

“Then you will be able to prove it to her and she will be more open to teach you.” Penny smiled at Ruby and held the door for her. “And I am sure we will all become good friends.”

#rwby #drabbles #frosen steel week 2022 #frosen steel #ruby x penny x weiss #ruby rose #rwby ruby rose #weiss schnee #penny polendina #frosensteelweek #day 1 prompt #a world with no salem #this might be fun to continue #not sure how many prompts I'm going to do for this week

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fallinglikemagic · 1 year

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Frosen Steel Week Day 3 - Villain/s AU

Summary: After splitting up into pairs for a mission, Ruby and Weiss find themselves lost in a brutal sandstorm in the middle of Vacuo. When somebody does come to their rescue, they find that their savior isn't quite what they expected.

[TW: Fairly minor blood/violence, moderate-to-severe descriptions of injuries from a previous battle that happened off-screen]

Story under Read More | Read on AO3 | Prompt List l @frosensteel

The winds raged all around the duo, sharp Vacuan sand buffeting their faces as Weiss and Ruby stood back to back, weapons defensively held in front them, straining to make out anything beyond the howling sandstorm. Both of their Auras had already been worn away and shattered by the combined forces of Grimm they had fought back earlier and the harsh sands that now stung and scratched at their skin. Ruby growled, frantically glancing around them on the lookout for any more Grimm that could burst through the sands and fly at them at any moment.

“This storm isn’t letting up any time soon!” they shouted over their shoulder, barely able to hear their own voice over the howling winds.

“Where’s Winter? She was supposed to be here by now!” Weiss yelled back.

“Something must have thrown the plan off course-" Ruby coughed and spat as some sand flew into her mouth. “Could really use her help right about now-"

As if on cue, a magical whirlwind suddenly formed around the duo, slowly expanding around them in order to create a pocket of mostly still air, keeping the sandstorm at bay and giving the pair a chance to catch their breath. A few moments later, a faint silhouette appeared through the sand at the edge of their little bubble, growing darker as the figure stepped closer.

Weiss smiled and let out a relieved sigh, dropping her weapon and rushing towards the figure. “Winter! Thank goodness you-"

In a flash of green, the figure burst through the sand and grabbed Weiss by the throat, coming to a stop at the other side of the bubble and holding Weiss so that her feet were just barely able to touch the ground. Ruby whipped around and pointed Crescent Rose at the figure, only to immediately freeze in place upon seeing a face that was far too familiar, and yet somehow completely foreign at the same time.

“Penny..?”

It was undoubtedly Penny, or at least her body, but she looked very different from how she did the last time Ruby had seen her. Somehow she’d found her way back into a robotic body, but while it was clear that it was once identical to the one that had been lost, several areas had now been patched over with various pieces of random scrap metal, and her usual cute but practical outfit had been replaced with a simplistic, slightly torn black and red dress, lightly singed at the edges. She stood completely still, her head lowered, her grip around Weiss’ neck neither loosening nor growing any tighter as Weiss flailed in her attempts to get free, the shifting sands beneath her making it nigh impossible to find her footing. After a few silent moments, Penny slowly raised her head, the whites of her eyes now pitch black as she gave Ruby a smile that they would have described as soulless if not for the unsettling awareness in that cold expression that pierced into their soul.

Ruby was snapped out of her shock upon hearing Weiss’ desperate whimpers, once again raising Crescent Rose and pointing it at Penny, finger hovering over the trigger. “Let her go.”

Penny slowly turned her head to look at Weiss, then shrugged before dropping her onto the sand. Before Weiss could sit up or get her bearings, Penny created a sword made of ice from thin air with a flourish and pointed it at Weiss, the sword’s tip only an inch away from Weiss’ throat.

“Hello, Ruby. Hello, Weiss.”

Ruby only grew more tense. “Penny, what is this? What’s going on?” they asked in a low tone, fighting to keep their voice steady.

“Aw, not happy to see me?” Penny tilted her head, keeping that same cold smile that sent chills down Ruby’s spine.

“W-Winter…” Weiss spoke with a raspy, shaky voice, staring at the sword hovering so close to her neck with teary eyes.

“Hm?” Penny turned back to Weiss, staring emptily for a few seconds before letting out a stiff, empty laugh. “Oh, do not worry, Winter will be fine. She will wake up. Eventually.”

“What did you-"

“No,” Penny cut Weiss off, moving the sword close enough for Weiss to just barely feel the sharp tip of the blade grazing her skin. “No, I obtained these powers from a different source.”

Ruby leapt forward, but Penny held out her free hand in front of her, using the sword to lift Weiss’ chin as a not-so-subtle threat. “I would not come any closer if I were you.”

Ruby immediately halted with a growl. “Start talking.”

“Have I not been talking already?”

“You know what I mean!”

Penny giggled, a stiff, lifeless sound void of any true emotion. “Why should I?”

“Because if you don’t then I’ll put a bullet through your core and kill you a third time!”

“Hm,” Penny tilted her head, expression blank and unreadable. “Would you? I highly doubt you would truly be capable of going through with such an act. After all,” that empty smile returned once more, soulless and yet far too alive. “Are we not friends?”

“Friends don’t hold swords to each other’s throats!”

“And yet, you are holding me at gunpoint.”

Ruby growled, fully aware that she was being toyed with. Unfortunately, they knew Penny was right – as much as they would love to shut her up, they knew they’d never be able to follow through on their threats.

“Penny,” Weiss strained to speak with as little movement as possible, “What happened to you..?”

Penny stayed silent for several moments, then closed her eyes. “Since you asked so politely, I suppose there is no harm in telling you. It is actually all quite simple.

“As I am certain you recall, you failed to safely retrieve the Staff of Creation and escort it to Shade Academy, instead allowing Cinder Fall to take it from you and bring it back to Miss Salem.”

“'Miss Salem’..?” Ruby quietly questioned under her breath – apparently not quietly enough, as Penny instantly glared at her.

“If you wish for me to continue telling this story, do not interrupt me.”

Ruby huffed, readjusting their grip on Crescent Rose, but stayed silent. Penny continued to stare before deciding this was satisfactory, the smile returning.

“Using the Staff of Creation, this body – the same one that had previously been destroyed by that infernal virus – was brought back into existence. Unfortunately, Dr. Watts perished in the Fall of Atlas, and so Miss Salem needed to outsource repairs to a third party, so for now I am stuck with these…rudimentary alterations,” Penny held a hand to her chest, where a slightly bent plate of rusty sheet metal lay exposed under a rip in her dress. Ruby’s gaze followed along the edge of the metal as Penny continued speaking, searching for a weak point. “While my body was returned a functional level, I was of course still in need of a soul. Luckily, Miss Salem has plenty of life force to spare, and so she generously donated some of it to me, along with some of the magic that came with it.”

Ruby’s heart sank, her grip on her weapon loosening slightly in her shock. “What..?”

“Why would Salem do that!?” Weiss argued. “Doesn’t she already have Cinder as her magical attack dog? Why waste the Staff’s power on-"

Weiss instantly shut her mouth as she felt Penny’s sword dig into her throat, a few droplets of blood slowly trailing down her neck.

“How rude,” Penny chided. “Is that any way to speak to somebody holding a weapon to your throat?”

Ruby lifted Crescent Rose again, identifying a spot where a dent had left a tiny open space between Penny’s skin and the scrap metal welded over it, desperately hoping that her Aura would regenerate fast enough for her to safely use her Semblance to save Weiss as soon as Penny let her guard down so that she wouldn't have to take the shot.

“But if you must know…Cinder has been growing far more rebellious as of late, and Miss Salem had taken notice. She was fired last week. I am her replacement.”

“What!?”

“Are we done with the questions now? I am growing quite tired of this.”

Weiss tried to speak, but found that each movement only caused the sword to dig ever so slightly deeper into her throat. Ruby could see the light faintly dancing at the edge of her vision as her protective instincts kicked into gear, but had no idea if her eyes’ light would even have an effect on Penny.

“Good. Now,” she slowly turned her head to look down at Weiss. “We have no need of you, so your life will end here.”

“No-"

“And you,” Penny’s gaze whipped up to meet Ruby’s at a speed that Ruby hadn’t thought this version of Penny was even capable of. “You are to be taken to see your mother. I am sure that you have many things to catch up about.”

Ruby felt their heart drop at the mention of their mother, but ignored the urge to break down again, pushing Penny’s words to the back of their mind.

“Come on, Penny, this isn’t you! This, this is just like the virus, remember? This is just a part of you, you can fight it!” Ruby pleaded. “I know the real you is still there somewhere!”

Penny’s smile widened a little. “Actually, you are correct. There were a few small traces of Penny’s soul still attached to this body when it was recreated – fragments, if you will. Remnants of her true self, too small to make a difference. Little sparks of hope that I could easily snuff out if I so wished…just as I snuffed out Cinder. But,” her sword cut ever so slightly deeper into Weiss’ throat, a soft, strangled cry of pain slipping through the huntress’ lips, “I prefer to let them remain, let them struggle. It’s just more fun that way.”

“Penny-"

“And now I am going to snuff out our dear Weiss as well.”

Ruby aimed Crescent Rose once more with a resolute glare and locked onto the weak spot she’d identified earlier, painfully aware that her Aura was nowhere near recharged enough for a full Petal Burst, hoping that her bullet would be fast enough to make up for it. Penny looked down once more, and for just a moment, there was a shift in her voice, and she almost sounded like herself again.

“I’m sorry.”

Ruby pulled the trigger, Penny swung her sword to slit Weiss’ throat, but before the blade could pierce flesh, a blur of black shot past with a trail of fire and smoke and swept Penny up with it, away from Weiss and away from the bullet, both figures tumbling back into the sand. Ruby rushed over to her partner’s side.

“Weiss! Weiss, are you okay?” they asked, gently taking Weiss’ hand and helping her to her feet. She stumbled, prompting Ruby to put Weiss’ arm around their shoulders for support as she struggled to find her footing.

“I’m alright-"

A flash of green light drew the pair’s attention back to Penny and their savior just in time to watch the dark figure land a few feet away from the robot. Penny had surrounded herself with a circle of swirling green flames, a few of which had stuck her attacker and were now fizzling out with a waft of smoke. Even after the smoke cleared, it took Ruby a few moments to recognise the dark figure as Cinder Fall.

Cinder had certainly seen better days. Most of the left side of her body was coated in oozing black goop creeping in from her arm, twisting around her neck and beginning to crawl up her bruised, sand-covered face. Dried blood outlined several wounds that looked to have been hastily and clumsily cauterised, the largest being a long gash that started at Cinder’s right shoulder and stretched across her upper chest. She seemed unable to properly put weight on her right leg or even stand up straight, hunched over in a crouched stance, showing where her shirt had been burned away to expose part of an expansive lightning scar that spread across her back. Despite all this, Cinder showed no sign of weakness or pain in her expression, only burning rage and hatred.

For the first time that evening, Penny actually looked fazed by something, raising her voice with a piercing glare. “I thought I already disposed of you!”

Cinder simply smirked bitterly. “Going to take more than that to get rid of me,” she spat back, her voice coming out scratchy and broken, yet unwavering.

Penny closed her eyes, then opened them with a smile. “So be it.”

Both magic users burst into action, too fast for Ruby to keep track of in her exhausted state, though if she could, she had no idea whose side she should be on. Flames of brilliant green and orange clashed, patches of sand melting and turning to glass across the battlefield. Rock and obsidian flew through the air, lightning struck around them, shards of ice flew towards Ruby and Weiss before being melted in a huge fiery explosion that knocked Penny onto the ground. Cinder landed in front of the duo, forming a wall of obsidian to shield them and buy some time before throwing a pillar of wind behind them, creating a wind tunnel that would act as an escape route through the sandstorm.

“What the hell are you waiting for!? Go, get out of here!”

“What-"

“Why should we trust you!?” Ruby barked, pulling Weiss closer to her.

“I’m not doing this for you!” Cinder hissed. “This is between me and her, now get out before I change my mind and kill all three of you!”

Ruby’s glare didn’t waver, but they knew Penny would be on her feet by now and that there was no time to hesitate further. She gave Cinder a curt nod before hurrying through the opening to the wind tunnel, helping Weiss to keep up. The entrance closed behind them after they’d gotten only a few feet away, but they kept running until Weiss’ legs eventually gave out from under her.

“Weiss!”

“I-I’m fine, I’m fine,” Weiss assured them, her voice shaking. “Just, in shock, I think.”

“Yeah. Yeah, shock…” Ruby breathed with a shaky nod before weakly sitting across from Weiss, the duo taking a moment to catch their breath. Ruby could hear the distant roars and crashes of Penny and Cinder’s battle beyond the howling winds that protected them from the biting sandstorm, though who knew how long the tunnel would hold up, especially if Cinder ended up being overpowered by Penny.

Penny...

Oh gods, Penny...

Ruby pulled her knees close to her chest and stared at the ground, shaking as the realisation fully set in.

Penny, that was Penny and...

Gods, this was all their fault.

If Penny hadn’t been forced out of her robotic body-

If they’d kept the Staff out of Cinder’s hands-

If they’d kept Penny safe-

“Ruby-" Ruby felt Weiss’ hand on their arm and raised their head a little, vaguely registering the tears falling down their cheeks. Weiss didn’t seem to be faring much better, barely restrained tears welling up in her eyes.

“We’ll-" Weiss’ voice broke as she spoke. “We’ll get her back, Ruby.”

Ruby stayed silent for a moment, then shook her head. When she spoke, her voice was weak and shaky, flimsy, small. “She’s gone, Weiss...”

“No,” Weiss settled down at Ruby’s side in held them in a tight embrace. “Some part of her is still in there, I’m certain of it. It’s weak, but present.”

“But-"

“I saw her face, right before she tried to...” Weiss trailed off, covering her neck with her hand. “She looked upset. Scared. She didn’t want to do it. She’s still there, we just have to reach her.”

Ruby sat in silent thought for a few moments before taking a deep breath, giving Weiss a slow nod.

“Okay. Okay, we can help her. We’ll save her,” she said with renewed hope before glancing at Weiss’ neck and reaching around to tear off a bit of her cloak to cover the wound with. “Let’s just get you all fixed up first, okay?”

does this one go a little too edgy/cliche? maybe I can't really tell

#does this one go a little too edgy/cliche? maybe #I can't really tell #but I had a lot of fun with this one so cringe culture is dead and I do what I want #fun fact i got the idea for this AU from listening to 'want you gone' from portal 2 and imagining it as this version of penny talking to-#-cinder so that's why cinder gets to be included in this one. as a treat #anyway sorry for this one being even later than expected i was doing commissions and getting a job and playing arrowfell and pokemon #speaking of pokemon i'm skipping day 4 so that'll be the next post! it won't have any spoilers from the new games though because i still-#-haven't progressed very far in yet :P #ruby rose #weiss schnee #penny polendina #cinder fall #frosen steel #red refrigerator #frosensteelweek #fs week 2022 #rwby #rwby fanfic #tw violence #tw blood #ask to tag

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