Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Weiss crouched down in wait ready to rip the vampire to shreds as soon as it turned to face her. 

Others of her kind might wait to strike from behind but she knew better.

Vampires were notoriously vain and were more prepared to be attacked from behind, but they never even considered the fact that someone would dare attack from the front, so sure were they, of their inherent superiority. 

She almost salivated at the thought of tearing its head from its shoulders. She could smell it was old, very old. Ancient even. 

Perhaps it was even as old as she was and just as alone. 

She pushed that sympathy from her mind. It was a mindless killer she was sure, especially at that age.

She let it hum as it looked through the bushes for something before she...no it , she corrected herself and turned around. Weiss brought her cross to her lips and gave it a small kiss for luck.  

As soon as she did she leaped right at the monster producing a squeal from the supposedly ancient vampire. 

She careened right at it intending to murder it and end its pathetic existence until she locked blue eyes with silver and froze. 

Instantly her world froze and she felt something inside of her change. Unlock perhaps? As though something she'd been searching for had finally been found as she faltered for the first time in her life and skidded to a stop in front of the startled monster knowing that such a mistake would cost her, her very life against the monsters she fought. 

"Umm, hi?" The vampire said with a small wave, still shocked at her appearance and not at all looking like it wanted to kill her. 

This. This was all wrong. This was a horrible monster, not some cute girl who she. Oh. Oh god. She knew what had just happened. 

She'd imprinted on a horrible monster. She saw it...no her saying something but she couldn't stand it any longer. 

She took off out of the clearing without looking back even as part of her mind rebelled and begged her to go back and speak with her.

She sprinted as fast as she could manage in her form. She wasn’t as fast as a werewolf, but she was old, and the older she got the stronger, and faster she became. 

After several minutes she stopped outside her own home in the woods. A simple log cabin to be sure, but unlike others of her kind, she did not fancy sleeping on the ground if she didn’t have to. Over the years she’d built and added on to it as her own. 

She stopped for a moment to change back and other than a minor wince at her bones shifting back into place her transformation passed without much fanfare. She grabbed a handful of water from a rain barrel and washed her face before she went to the door and flinched. 

Her instincts were demanding she go back to speak with the g…MONSTER. 

No. She might never be able to bring herself to kill that one but she could still rid the world of the rest of them until she could overcome her instincts and manage to kill her…IT. 

She didn’t understand. An imprint was supposed to be a perfect match that completed you in every way. She’d long ago assumed hers had died, was never born, or she was meant to be alone. Even vampires had mates that kept them company during their long lives so they didn’t go insane. 

Why had she imprinted on a parasitical monster? That...said more about her than she liked. She thought she and her sister had dedicated to a noble cause, but...actually, she hadn't talked to Winter in a while she'd need to do so soon. 

She reached up to her neck for her necklace and frowned when her hands came up empty. She was sure she’d had it. She never took it off. She cursed herself in her mind. In her haste to depart, she’d probably left it somewhere between here and where she’d encountered the…vampire. 

She sighed. Hopefully, no one would steal it and she could wait a few hours for the vampire to pass through the area and double back for it. 

Weiss froze at the peppy knock that sounded at her door. There was…no way. 

“Um hey. Miss Werewolf lady you dropped your necklace…I think?” The vampire called out from the door. 

Had she followed her solely to return her necklace? There was no way. Vampires were by and large immoral monsters. She knew it was true. It had to be! Anything else was too horrible to contemplate. 

Granted she didn’t know this one and hadn’t seen them killing anyone but she’d never heard of a vampire that didn’t kill, and she’d been alive for a good while. 

She debated shifting back and ambushing the monster at the door, but…this would be a good chance to prove that she really was the monster she knew she had to be. 

She crossed the room in three long strides and opened the door and held her hand out for her necklace. 

“Oh hi! This is yours, right? Cause I’m gonna feel really silly if I followed some other werewolf or something,” the apparently ancient vampire said with an adorable blush to her pale cheeks as she rubbed the back of her head. 

“It is,” Weiss said simply even as she had to restrain herself from tacking on information the black-haired vampire didn’t need , no matter what her instincts said. 

“Oh, that’s good. It would have been weird if you like…had no idea what I was talking about,” the vampire said as she placed the necklace into her hand. Her silver necklace.

She wordlessly flicked her eyes to the necklace and then back to the vampire hoping she wouldn’t have to say anything. She was having enough issues keeping her instincts calm around the wom...vampire, the last thing she wanted to do was chance anything by speaking. 

“It’s a really pretty necklace,” the utter dolt said in place of anything else. 

How could she be as old as she smelled and not know about her kind’s weakness to silver? What’s next was she going to…she was wearing a cross. She was literally wearing a cross. 

Weiss mimed at the woman’s necklace and the girl smiled and held it up for her to see more closely with a smile. A silver cross necklace. This night could not get stranger. 

The vampire yawned and Weiss realized it would be daytime soon enough. Why was she outside and not seeking shelter so close to the dawn of a new day? 

Did she just assume she could kill or take Weiss’s cabin as her own? All she had to do was keep the vampire talking and then the sun would take care of her pesky imprint and the problem would go away. 

She resolved to do just that and ignored the strong spike of unpleasantness she felt at the thought of the other woman dying. VAMPIRE. KILLER AND MONSTER!

She needed to keep the conversation going for just a while longer to put her plan into action. 

“Silver doesn’t hurt?” Weiss asked well aware it was one of the worst sentences she’d strung together but it was taking all her self-control to not move and pull the vampire indoors to keep it safe from the sun. 

“Hmm? Oh nah. Silver is fine. Same with crosses and garlic is yummy! I don’t know why people don’t like it when garlic bread is so good!” The vampire declared and Weiss realized she still didn’t know her name.

 She decided to ask if only so she’d know the name of the person that was about to die. Even if she was a monster she at least deserved to have someone remember her, and certainly not because she wanted to know. 

“Name?” Weiss asked her tone stilted and awkward, not that the vampire seemed to care even as the sun began to rise. 

“Ruby Rose. Who are you, pretty lady?” Ruby asked as Weiss felt herself almost lose control of herself but barely managed to maintain control to reply. 

“Weiss. Weiss Schnee,” was all the reply she gave. 

“That’s a really pretty name,” Ruby complimented and Weiss gave a small smile at that even as the sun began cresting over the trees. Just a few moments more and she’d be no more. She closed her eyes so she wouldn’t have to watch it happen. 

“Oh wow,” Ruby said as the sunlight came over the forest trees and crossed her doorway. 

“I’m…sorry,” Weiss said feeling like part of herself had died as she finally let loose of her pent-up emotions and started to cry as she sank to the ground. 

She didn’t hit the ground as she expected though. 

“Hey, are you ok?” Ruby’s voice asked and Weiss snapped her eyes open and saw Ruby standing above her the sun shining on her without any seeming issue. 

“WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU?” Weiss shrieked at the vampire who flinched at the volume. 

“Uh, I’m not sure what you mean. Did I do something wrong? Or touch you in the wrong spot?” Ruby guessed as she tried to adjust her hands before Weiss pushed out of them. 

“Why aren’t you burning?” Weiss asked and Ruby tilted her head at her.

“Why would I be?” Ruby countered looking as confused as Weiss felt. 

“All vampires burn in the sun!” Weiss retorted as Ruby snorted. 

“Nah my whole family can stay in the sun. I mean it makes me kinda sleepy and I’m not as strong but it’s kinda nice to be outside during the day sometimes,” Ruby explained. 

“That’s…asinine! How can there be an entire family of vampires that don’t burn that no one has heard about?” Weiss questioned Ruby who shrugged. 

“No idea. My family kinda goes around helping people who need it and stopping other vampires who are mean from hurting people. We’d be kinda bad at helping people if we couldn’t go out during the day right?” Ruby asked as Weiss began to massage her forehead. 

“Just get inside,” Weiss commanded Ruby who shrugged and obeyed before she paused with her handle on the door and narrowed her eyes. 

“Wait a minute…if you didn’t know I wouldn’t burn in the sun then why did you want me to stay out there? Were you trying to kill me?” Ruby asked incredulously as Weiss waved her off. 

“It doesn’t matter,” Weiss said as a rejoiner.

“I think it kind of does,” Ruby returned sounding more annoyed than before so Weiss stopped her pacing to look at her, and cursed in her mind as she felt the desire to apologize and fix things between them. 

“Look. I’m… sorry ok?” Weiss forced herself to say if only because she was kind of in the wrong if it turned out there really were decent vampires out there and she’d just almost gotten one killed. 

“What do you know about Lycans?” Weiss tried instead and Ruby blinked clearly taken aback at the radical change in topic. 

“Not a whole lot. You’re like werewolves, which I thought you might have been at first cause you were so fast, but you’re a lot smarter and well you were kinda a WereWeiss and there was no full moon,” Ruby offered with a shrug. 

“WEREWEISS?” Weiss angrily questioned her guest. 

“There Weiss!” Ruby returned with a wide smirk clearly waiting for that reaction and against her wishes, she felt the tip of her lips begin to turn upward. 

“Fine, then you’re Vamby. Vampire Ruby, right?” Weiss returned as Ruby cringed at the name.

“Maybe leave the nicknames to the professionals,” Ruby said as Weiss snorted. 

“You’re a professional nicknamer?” Weiss asked her tone heavy with skepticism as she lost the fight to control her smile. Damn it. 

“Oh yeah, my sister told me I was so that’s gotta be worth something right?” Ruby asked as she laced her hands behind her head and looked around the room.

“Look it’s clear we got off on the wrong foot, and I am sorry, but do you want to sleep here for the day and we can talk more after we take a nap or something, anything?” Weiss asked her energy flagging as she felt nothing but warm and safe at the moment. 

She frowned. Unlike before she no longer felt the overwhelming urge to please Ruby. She was content to just be around her. 

“Ruby ask me to do something strange,” Weiss demanded and Ruby blinked at her. 

“Uh, pick your nose?” Ruby asked and Weiss snorted and ignored her. 

At least that meant she had her free will still, and she wasn’t being forced into this. It appeared to only want her to meet and talk to her before backing off. That was…annoying but workable at least. 

“You have cookies!” Ruby said in glee and inhaled half a dozen in half as many seconds before she realized what she was doing and turned slowly to see Weiss had leveled a less than impressed look at her. 

“I’m curious how you can eat but I’m more tired than anything. Put the cookies down and go to bed, and maybe I’ll make more later,” Weiss offered and Ruby smiled and gently set the cookie down while casting a longing look its way. 

Weiss rolled her eyes and made it to the bedroom with its extra guest bed she had on the rare occasions she had visitors.

Her ears were sharp even in this form so she called out Ruby. 

“I said to put them all back, Ruby,” Weiss chided the vampire who whined and did so before she came into the room pouting in a way much too adorable for a supposedly ancient vampire. 

“You know you should get bunk beds!” Ruby said as she settled down into the bed Weiss indicated. 

“I don’t have company often enough to warrant it…although I did want them as a child,” Weiss admitted. 

Wait, do you sleep?” Weiss asked just to make sure since apparently every other thing she knew about vampires didn’t apply to this one. 

“Yeppers like watch this. I’m a magician,” Ruby said as she put her hands in front of her face. 

“Go to sleep Ruby,” Ruby commanded herself and then almost instantly fell asleep. 

Weiss was stunned that it had actually worked. She herself would love the ability to fall asleep on a whim…if it were genuine. 

She tested it and threw her hairbrush onto the woman’s face and it merely bounced off with no change at all. 

This was entirely unfair. Oh well, she could complain about it later after she had a nap. 

She climbed into her bed and covered up. Her last thought was that she was sure it’d be more comfortable if Ruby was in bed with her. 

Stupid brain.  

Chapter Text

Living with Ruby was strange, and delightful even if she was miffed at herself for how quickly she’d gotten used to it over the matter of a few months save for a few days Ruby had gone back to visit her family, which had been torturous for Weiss who felt her instincts howl and cry at having her imprint somewhere, anywhere but by her side. 

Despite that however, she certainly wasn't going to make Ruby think she might be a prisoner in her home, or deny her from seeing her family so she'd endured it and been delighted when the vampire had shown back up.

Ruby had spoken with her about being a daywalker, which apparently meant she got most of the benefits and almost none of the drawbacks of being a vampire, which seemed entirely unfair. 

Then again had she been a normal vampire Weiss would probably have tried to murder her so it was perhaps better this way. She was still trying to reconcile the things she'd done in the past with her newfound knowledge. 

Only knowing that Ruby and her own family also hunted vampires kept her from feeling like the lowest of the low. That and the fact that she'd verified the ones she'd killed were true monsters beforehand. 

Ruby had wanted to introduce her friends and family to her but she’d had an interesting way of going about doing it. 

That way involved simply inviting one of her friends over and not telling Weiss until she’d charged into her own home and thought she’d have to kill a vampire threatening Ruby only to find them playing a board game at her table. 

Amber eyes locked onto blue and Weiss growled at the intruder who merely tilted her head and raised a coffee cup in her direction. 

“Yo.”

“What are you doing here?” Weiss demanded of the newcomer. 

“Oh, that’s my bad I invited her. You said you’d be ok meeting my friends and family and uh so this is my bestest buddy for uh how long has it been?” Ruby asked the newcomer who opened her mouth to reply before she closed it and considered. 

“Thousand years or something?” The woman shrugged before she looked Weiss up and down and continued. “You look kinda like your older sister. She has that hair bun thing though,” The woman mused as Weiss bristled. 

“How do you know Winter?” Weiss asked suspiciously before the other figure laughed and slammed her hand down on the table as Ruby giggled at her. 

“What’s so funny?” Weiss demanded as she looked between the vampires who eventually settled down. 

“I’m Cinder Fall,” The dark-haired woman said with a smirk as she held out a hand Weiss slowly took into her own. “And as of about a year ago your sister-in-law,” Cinder declared as she flashed a ring on her hand at Weiss who went red in the face. 

“You should probably get a phone or something,” Cinder continued as Weiss screamed so loudly Ruby winced and covered her ears.

“Are you…ok, Weiss?” Ruby asked in concern as Weiss simply dropped into the empty chair at the table and smiled as Ruby pushed her over her hot chocolate mug. 

“Weiss Schnee. Entirely confused to be honest,” Weiss admitted after her introduction and Cinder nodded. 

“Long story short I was kind of…not a super great person, and from the stories this one tells me the sort you’d kill,” Cinder admitted as she hooked a thumb at Ruby who waved like a dolt. 

“Met her family and tried to kill them,” Cinder admitted, ignoring the way Weiss began to growl lowly in her throat. 

“It’s ok Weiss! She’s super duper now!” Ruby assured her as she grabbed her hand and Weiss felt her growl die in her throat as Ruby smiled at her and Cinder chuckled. 

“At any rate, they laid me out. Not sure why I thought I could take on an entire family but glad I did. It took…a long while and several murder attempts but here I am today,” Cinder said simply. 

Weiss stared at her unable to believe she was glossing over several murder attempts and when she turned to look at Ruby the dolt just smiled at her. 

“It was you she tried to murder wasn’t it?” Weiss snarled and Ruby the clueless idiot just nodded her head. 

“Yep, an enemy is just a friend I haven’t worn down yet!” Ruby declared.

Cinder snorted. “When she says she’s going to be your friend it’s a promise and a threat,” Cinder informed Weiss who nodded realizing that was basically what happened to her albeit at an accelerated rate. 

Not that she’d told Ruby she’d imprinted on her, but Ruby had said she was fun and kept coming back around so Weiss wasn’t going to complain. 

“Especially when it comes to you,” Cinder said with a touch of amusement before she winced and saw Ruby pouting at her. 

“Right, sorry not my place,” Cinder apologized before she looked back toward Weiss. 

“You’re not like Ruby are you?” Weiss asked curiously and Cinder smiled showing several very sharp teeth. 

“Nope. I am old enough that that sunlight isn’t instant death for me anymore if you were going to get any ideas. Hurts like a bitch though,” Cinder admitted as she took a long drink of her coffee. 

“We showed her how she can eat and do normal stuff!” Ruby cheered from the other side as she rolled the dice and took a card after moving her board piece. 

“Kinda limits the date options for when I take your sister out though, but she’s fine with it,” Cinder insisted and Weiss took her word for it. 

“You’re not actually married to my sister, are you? I refuse to believe Winter wouldn’t find a way to invite me,” Weiss asked suspiciously. 

Cinder rolled her eyes and set her cup down before she answered, “Winter and I are kinda engaged I guess you could say. It’s not impossible but it’s rare for lycans to imprint on others outside their species. She imprinted on me when she came to visit this one’s family,” Cinder said with a shrug. She turned a shrewd look at Weiss before she rolled the dice and moved her own piece. 

“What do you know about how vampires find their mates?” Cinder asked the white-haired girl across from her. 

“Not much. I spent most of my time killing them, to be honest,” Weiss admitted freely knowing the person across the table from her could hardly judge her and was proven correct when she merely nodded. 

Ruby shifted awkwardly and Cinder dismissed her with a wave of her hand after which the girl went outside. 

“Where is she going?” Weiss asked curiously as she looked at the abandoned board as Cinder ever so slightly repositioned her token. Not enough to be obvious but enough to slightly improve her position. 

Cinder winked at her before she grew serious and tapped her finger on the table. 

“So Winter explained how when she saw me it was like something shifted pretty instantly, and she knew I was the one for her. A few awkward conversations and well here we are,” Cinder said as she continued to drum her fingers on the table. 

“What does that have to do with vampires?” Weiss asked in confusion. 

“With vampires, of all kinds, it’s more gradual. You feel a sort of desire to spend time with them, a lack of interest in their blood for food, that sort of thing,” Cinder said as she got up to get another cup of coffee for Weiss and a refill for herself. 

“And that matters because?” Weiss asked not wanting to assume anything as Cinder rolled her eyes. 

“Because she’s smitten with you, moron,” Cinder said as if it were the most obvious thing and Weiss used all of the skills she’d gained over the course of her long life to keep her face from erupting into the furious red it at that. 

“See she’s been hanging around trying to see if maybe you felt the same way, but Ruby is friendly by nature so maybe you didn’t know that,” Cinder allowed before she continued. “But I’m telling you that she’s been waiting for a while and I’m not letting it stand if you’re just stringing her along or something. I’ll find someone else for her to be with at that point,” Cinder stated with a hard look at Weiss. 

“Are you sure she’s really “smitten” with me?” Weiss asked and Cinder smirked at her. 

“She’s been gushing about how fun and pretty you are for a while now, but she didn’t want to make you uncomfortable in case it wasn’t returned. Since it’s supposed to be instant or close to that well she didn’t want to push for anything, but…,” Cinder said with a smirk as she stood up. 

“I know her sister, and she did the same thing,” Cinder said with a toothy grin. “Tried to ignore it, but well I’m pretty direct so I eventually just cornered her after a week of waiting and got her to confess her undying love for me,” Cinder said with a grandiose gesture. 

Weiss blinked at the woman unsure what she was trying to accomplish. 

“Undying…cause we’re both immortal...get it?” Cinder waited a moment before she sighed. “Tough crowd.”

“You’re serious though, about Ruby I mean,” Weiss corrected herself when she saw Cinder smirk at her mid-sentence. 

“Incredibly. She can be irritating as hell but she’d also been one of my best friends for a thousand years, and truthfully the only person other than Winter I can trust not to stab me in the back,” At seeing Weiss’s look she elaborated. 

“For vampires, trust is a big thing. Sleeping someplace another person can hurt or kill you is a massive deal since it's where we're most vulnerable. Winter or Ruby would be the only people I could sleep around,” Cinder admitted with a light shrug. 

Weiss was fairly sure there was a lot to unpack in that statement but she was a Lycan and not a psychiatrist so she ignored it for the time being to focus on the potential that her imprint might feel the same way. 

“So the fact that Ruby had no issue sleeping in the room with me, and even went through the trouble of building bunk beds means she’s…amenable to my presence?” Weiss asked delicately as Cinder snorted at her. 

“That’s one way of putting it. Look, do you really think she’d hang out with her “mortal enemy” and all that,” Cinder was interrupted as Weiss laughed at her putting actual air quotes in her sentence but soldiered on anyway, “if she wasn’t the slightest bit interested?”

And wasn’t that the question Weiss asked herself. 

Cinder peeked at the card Ruby had drawn and frowned before she set it back and grinned at Weiss when she noticed her looking. 

“Don’t you have an imprint to confess to?” Cinder asked seemingly bored. 

“If I leave will you continue cheating?” Weiss sniped back as Cinder shrugged. 

“I’d do that even if you didn’t go,” Cinder admitted with a raised eyebrow before she continued. “You should probably hurry up though before all her family and yours show up for your engagement.”

“What engagement?” Weiss shouted at the vampire who merely continued to look amused. 

“You didn’t think when Little Red started going on and on about you we all didn’t know what it was? Even though she knows what it means, she doesn’t want to force anything on you, and she’s not sure if you feel it.” 

Weiss sputtered, finally having lost the collected front she was putting up. 

“So yeah your sister is coming, her uncle and his wife, her parents, and sister and her whatever they are at the moment,” Cinder said as she ticked off guests on her fingers. 

“I don’t know if you noticed but my house is not big enough for that! When are they even going to be here?” Weiss demanded of the vampire who shrugged unconcerned or unbothered by her anger as she leaned back in her chair. 

“Uh, maybe a day or two? You should probably get that whole confession thing done with though. Be really awkward if they get here for an engagement and you’re not engaged or even dating. That would be sad,” Cinder said with mock sympathy as Weiss growled at her.

“How dare you think you can order me around in my own home!” Weiss said as she tried to ignore her desire to have a panic attack over Ruby’s entire family and Winter of all people arriving within the next day. 

Why was this happening to her? She’d planned on taking things slow with Ruby. Maybe spending a few years getting to know her, and then maybe sliding into her bed and falling asleep there one night in a decade or so to test the waters so to speak. Then after that some accidental touches and within a century they could have been dating properly!

“I wasn’t kidding by the way,” Cinder interrupted her train of thought about her perfect courtship plans. 

“About what exactly?”

“Any of it, but if you don’t feel the same way or are stringing her along I will find her someone else,” Cinder warned her.  “Pretty good and available is better than perfect but never acting on it. I’m not saying you have to confess, and maybe you don’t feel that way. It’s fine, but if you do then she deserves to know instead of waiting hundreds of years and slowly getting sadder when you show no sign of returning her feelings before she just leaves one day.”

“I’m sure I would….say something if I felt that way,” Weiss tried to bluster as she saw Cinder raise a brow at her. 

“Considering most imprints are instant and Ruby is trying to wait on you to see if you like her back I think it’s fair you start the conversation yeah? Seriously just go,” Cinder dismissed her with a sigh as she drained her mug. 

When Weiss still didn’t move Cinder sighed, placed her mug down, and threw open the windows, which thankfully weren’t beaming sunlight directly into the home at the moment since it was closer to noon. She then picked up Weiss and bodily threw her from her own home in the blink of an eye. 

“And don’t come back til you’ve talked with her. Freaking kids,” Cinder swore as she relocked the window and Weiss landed less than gracefully on the forest floor nearly fifty yards away.

Weiss frowned and plotted ways to get even before she decided she might as well talk to Ruby since she already was out here. Yes, perhaps this might be best. 

She’d just go to Ruby and tell her she was her imprint and demand they get married. All she needed to do was confess. She could do that. She even had the idea formed in her mind. She’d been repeating it so often the last few months there was no way she could forget it. 

“Hey, Weiss whatcha doing out here?” Ruby’s face came from behind her and she turned to see her bathed in the sunlight wearing a flower crown she’d likely made. She was easily the most beautiful creature Weiss had ever seen. 

Weiss felt her mind blank and swore as her carefully planned speech was instantly forgotten. 

Chapter Text

“Ruby…what are you doing out here?” Weiss asked and winced in her mind. She already knew that answer. 

“Uh, I was just kinda walking around looking for cool stuff to explore. I wasn’t sure if you’d still want to talk to me or be my friend after Cinder talked to you,” Ruby said as she scuffed her boots on the ground. 

Weiss pushed through the inherent cuteness of the act and used her many, many years of practice to center herself.

“Why wouldn’t I want to talk to you?” Weiss asked gently, aware that Ruby was probably feeling out of sorts if her hunch was correct. 

Ruby just shrugged before she brightened and grabbed Weiss by the hand and tugged her deeper into the woods.  

This was almost a decade ahead of schedule!

“Oh right sorry,” Ruby apologized as she let go of the hand.

Weiss barely managed to suppress the urge to snatch it back or keep from whining at the loss of contact. 

“I found this cool place with a waterfall and stuff, want to go see it?” Ruby asked so cutely Weiss didn’t have a prayer of saying no. So she didn’t. 

The two walked in silence for a moment before Ruby broke it. “Hey, so Cinder is pretty cool right?” 

“I…suppose she’s alright,” Weiss allowed, well aware she was a friend of Ruby and apparently her sister’s fiance as strange as it was. 

“She’s a good person. I knew that when I saw her,” Ruby admitted as she held a tree limb aside for Weiss to pass unmolested. 

“Who also tried to kill you several times,” Weiss felt the need to point out. She certainly wasn’t going to chance losing Ruby now, not when she still had a seven-hundred step century-long courting plan to enact. 

Not that Ruby needed to know that. Not yet anyway. 

“Yeah but she’s a good person. Sometimes normal vampires...they kind of just get sired, or created I guess on accident, or used like meat shields by some vampire buttface who doesn’t care about them,” Ruby said with a sigh as they continued walking down a path Weiss couldn’t ever remember taking before. 

“I assume she was one of those?” Weiss asked.

Ruby hesitated a fraction of a second and nodded. 

“Yeah the person who sired her was some kinda big shot that wanted to rule the world or something stupid like that a long time ago. She didn’t care and just used her. Over time that can kinda mess with you, but when I saw her I just knew it was a person who needed help and had never had anyone offer to be their friend. So I did!” Ruby informed Weiss proudly who nodded and thought about it. 

“How soon after you told her that did she try to kill you?” Weiss asked with a smirk.

Ruby hung her head, “I didn’t even get to finish my sentence,” Ruby admitted.  

Weiss tried, she truly did, to avoid laughing but failed after only a moment as she tittered behind her hand. 

Ruby pouted and crossed her arms, “I mean in the end it worked out. We’ve been bestest buddies for a long time!” Ruby insisted as Weiss gave her a mocking smile she pouted even harder at. 

Whatever Weiss had meant to say next was cut off as they arrived at the small waterfall and the river that ran through the woods. 

“I’ve never actually been here before, although that’s barely a waterfall,” Weiss admitted before she corrected Ruby. 

Ruby rubbed the back of her head but nodded to acquiesce to the point, “I mean technically it is, but yeah it’s not a massive one. Those are super fun to ride logs in,” Ruby said before she froze when she realized what she’d admitted. 

“Ruby Rose!” Weiss thundered as the silver-eyed girl froze in place even as her flower crown fell off her head at her sudden stop. 

Maybe if she didn’t move Weiss would lose sight of her…wait, that was dinosaurs. She needed a distraction. 

“Oh look I found a picnic!” Ruby said as she sprinted over to a small blanket and basket held on a low-hanging branch. 

“You can’t just find picnic baskets! Those aren’t naturally occurring!” Weiss argued. 

“No, I even asked a couple of animals I saw earlier and they told me it wasn’t theirs,” Ruby defended herself and tried for a sincere smile before Weiss cuffed her upside her head. 

“Dolt,” Weiss started affectionately, “I’d love to have a picnic with you,” Weiss said as she sat down and ignored how this was technically step one hundred and eighty-three and a bit in the future. 

Ruby beamed pleased she’d accepted but more pleased she’d forgotten about the whole log riding thing. 

“You realize we’re talking about the log riding later right?” Weiss asked and Ruby wilted before she nodded. 

What passed after that was a lovely picnic as Ruby told her about a few adventures she’d had with her uncle and his wife, and Weiss returned the favor and talked about a few of her own experiences that didn’t involve killing vampires. 

She was also pleased Ruby had remembered her own accelerated metabolism and packed a large amount of food for Weiss to consume.

“We gotta like, take you to see a movie soon, or find a way to bring one out to you, or get more board games,” Ruby mused as she looked at the water even as the sun had started to sink lower in the sky. 

Weiss looked at the setting sun and marveled at how she was able to sit here and bask in its glow with her “mortal enemy” as it were. She’d never felt more at peace than at this moment. 

The constant restlessness or desire to explore was contained. She was…satisfied and content. 

Perhaps that was part of the restlessness, her desire to find her imprint? It might be worth asking her sister when she saw her about it. 

Ruby looked pensive as she stared at the river. 

Weiss carefully put her hand on Ruby’s shoulder to gain her attention and was rewarded when her face snapped to Weiss’s own with a smile. 

“You looked to be deep in thought,” Weiss offered leadingly content to allow Ruby to accept the offer to talk if she desired. 

“Kinda sorta?” Ruby said as though she wasn’t sure herself as she blew a stray piece of hair from her face in frustration. 

“It’s just…uh listen Weiss. All this time spent hanging around with you has been great. I’ve probably never had more fun playing board games or even just like helping with chores,” Ruby admitted to the white-haired girl. 

“You sure it wasn’t the cookies?” Weiss teased Ruby only for Ruby to giggle back at her. 

“Well…not just the cookies,” Ruby confided in her as Weiss released a few giggles of her own. 

Ruby took a deep, but unneeded breath and turned to Weiss.

“I have something to tell you, I…kinda have a crush on you. Well, it’s not exactly a crush,” Ruby confessed with a flush as she rubbed the back of her head. 

Weiss felt her face go entirely red. This was five hundred and eighty-seven steps ahead of the plan!

“It’s more that I think you’re my mate, but uh you kinda never really said or did anything. I know you’re super pretty, and loads of fun, but well with your sister it was kinda obvious she was into Cinder right away, but well Cinder said she’d let you know, and I wanted to tell you. I know if I was your, uh imprint I’d have noticed by now but I just wanted to let you know before well…you know,” Ruby said trailing off. 

“Before everyone shows up?” Weiss asked even as her stomach sank for a reason she couldn’t pinpoint. 

“Ah well before your imprint shows up. I won’t stay around and keep bothering you. We can still be friends and hang out but I don’t want to keep you from meeting them or scare them off, you know?” Ruby said and Weiss froze before she snarled at Ruby who froze like a deer in headlights. 

“Ruby Rose, you utter IDIOT! YOU’RE MY IMPRINT!” Weiss screeched loud enough that Cinder probably heard her back at the cabin. 

“Wait I am?” Ruby asked looking delighted and confused so Weiss nodded. 

“That’s awesome,” Ruby said simply as Weiss snorted. 

“Did you really think I’d let a vampire of all things live with me for months for no reason?” Weiss asked. 

“Uh you’re a pretty nice person so…maybe?” Ruby offered even as her face had a lovely shade of red on it. 

“I can’t believe this,” Weiss complained as she slumped against a nearby tree. 

“That we’re destined to be together? I know right. I never thought I’d get to be that lucky!” Ruby said so sincerely Weiss forgot why she was annoyed in the first place. 

“Hey, Weiss guess what?” Ruby asked giddily. 

Weiss merely tilted her head at her and blinked when in Ruby’s place was an adorably tiny fruit bat about the size of one of Weiss’s hands in the air. 

“I’ve never seen you do this before,” Weiss said after sniffing the animal and confirming it was Ruby. 

In the blink of an eye, Ruby was back in place next to her. 

“Of course you’d be cute as a bat,” Weiss lamented as Ruby giggled at her. 

“You’re stuck with me forever,” Ruby declared with a smile and a pointed finger. 

“Only forever?” Weiss teased her back as she decided to be brave and skip to step three hundred and fourteen and kissed the tip of Ruby’s finger. 

Her efforts were rewarded as Ruby’s face flushed entirely before she gained a wide smirk. 

“You know if you wanted a kiss all you had to do was ask,” Ruby informed her coquettishly as she leaned in toward Weiss. 

“This is ninety-seven years too early!” Weiss said without thinking as Ruby backed up from her face. 

Ruby turned her face to the side with a puzzled expression forcing Weiss to elaborate. 

“I had…a one hundred year plan to woo you,” Weiss admitted expecting Ruby to laugh but was instead shocked she appeared to understand and nodded. 

“Makes sense I guess. Thanks for telling me,” Ruby thanked Weiss as she leaned back against the tree and closed her eyes.

What? Where was her kiss? The one she very much deserved. She was mere inches from heaven and now the dolt was sleeping?

“What are you doing?” Weiss demanded of Ruby who had the gall to look confused at her. “Where is my kiss?” 

“Oh...well we can’t mess with the plan can we?” Ruby asked with a smirk as she crossed her ankles and went back to watching the water. 

“Excuse you?” Weiss snarled at her imprint who merely returned her gaze placidly. 

“Yes, Weiss?”

“Get your vampiric butt over here and kiss me and so help me god it had better be good enough or else I’ll…do something unpleasant!”

“Nah, not in the mood. Have a headache you see,” Ruby said with a smile that said she knew exactly what she was doing.

Weiss shrieked and leaped at her. Her emotions were so out of control that she shifted into her Lycan form mid-leap as Ruby turned into a tiny bat to avoid her chattering as she flew just out of Weiss’s reach as they ran around the area. 

“You threw my sister out a window?” Winter clarified having finally reunited and claimed her position at Cinder’s side. 

“Yep. No glass or anything but she was pussyfooting around and it wasn’t fair to Little Red to make her keep waiting. Not even you did that,” Cinder offered in her defense as she relished having her mate so close by. 

They’d left Robyn and Qrow watching the cabin while they volunteered, or rather Winter had volunteered them, to get the missing duo. Since the others would be arriving soon it was decided to have someone to greet them.

Robyn had however given Winter the camera in case they could find a cute picture or two to take with it to embarrass anyone later.

“Weiss has always prided herself on her control so I’m not surprised something like this was hard for her to accept. Even more so considering her imprint. I…should have kept in better contact with her and this could have been avoided,” Winter admitted.

Cinder poked her in the cheek to gain her attention as she leveled an unimpressed stare at her. 

“Let’s not forget who kept running away until I literally cornered you to get you to talk to me eh?” Cinder said with a smirk. 

“I admit I could have handled it better, but for being a “ big bad bitch ” you sure seem to care an awful lot about Miss Rose, or Ruby rather,” Winter attempted to needle Cinder who shrugged. 

“I mean she kinda saved my life all things told, and she’s been my friend for like a millennia. She kinda grows on you. Like a parasite I mean,” Cinder admitted freely without any apparent embarrassment save the slightest trace of red on her cheeks. 

“So you just want her to be happy?” Winter asked, or more accurately teased her own imprint. 

“I do. Being with you…it’s strange. I feel so calm, and with almost none of that anger I used to feel, and I want that for her too,” Cinder said as Winter cooed at the cute response. 

“Plus now we can both commiserate about having Schnee’s for mates. I’m sure it’ll happen a lot in the future and I need someone to understand my pain,” Cinder said before she ducked her head to the side to avoid the swipe she knew was coming. 

“It’s hardly our fault that vampires find us to be irresistible,” Winter defended herself as she crossed her arms and looked away. 

“Daw who’s being a grumpy wumpy?” Cinder teased her mate who fought the smile she wanted to show as Cinder bumped her shoulder. 

“Oh that’s….really cute actually,” Cinder said as she swiped the camera from Winter and vanished ahead for the moment. 

Winter followed at a more leisurely pace long since having to terms with Cinder being faster than she was. Her sense of smell was greater unless blood was involved so she considered it equal all things considered. 

She found what Cinder was photographing a few moments later and felt a smile overtake her own face. 

Curled up in her Lycan form Weiss was sleeping on a picnic blanket with a tiny bat she knew to be Ruby cuddled in between her massive hands that was waving a free wing at them.

A tiny chittering could be heard although Winter had no idea what was being said Cinder clearly did as she smirked at the creature and got down on a knee to take a more steady shot. 

The tiny fruit bat leaned over and pecked the slumbering Lycan on the cheek who managed to somehow blush in her sleep. 

“Should we wake her up?” Cinder asked as the bat settled back down to slumber in her arms. 

“I think we can let them have a few more minutes,” Winter allowed before she turned to Cinder. 

“After all we can hardly let this chance to get more pictures go to waste can we?”

“God I missed you,” Cinder said, pulling Winter in for a passionate kiss that went on until they heard a small click and saw Ruby standing there holding the camera with a smirk. 

“You can have a ten-second head start,” Cinder offered with a red face.

Ruby shook her head and picked up the still-slumbering Weiss and picnic basket and tossed the camera back to her before she left the clearing. 

“Well, at least they’re good for each other. I don’t often get to see Weiss so relaxed,” Winter offered as Cinder swore. 

“She took the film,” Cinder explained her outburst.

Winter chuckled. “I suppose that means we’ll need to find a way to get it back while we’re here,”  Winter said with only a trace amount of pink left on her cheeks. 

“Should be fun right?” Cinder asked rhetorically as she pulled Winter along behind her toward the cabin. 

The weirdest things always happened around Little Red, but she had to hand it to her life was never dull around her at least.