In your lifetime you will find and meet one person who will love you more than anybody you have ever known and will know. They will love you with every bit of energy and soul. They will sacrifice, surrender and give so much that it scares you. Someday you'll know who that is.

It's the world I've grown to know
Unforgiving and so cold
Take it away
Take it away
I don't want it

It's a life I'm forced to live
I've got nothing more to give
Take it away
Take it away
I don't want it anymore

Weiss Schnee sat at a massive, ornate dinner table in a grand hall, methodically and gracefully cutting her meal into proper portions with precisely the right utensil. The crystal chandelier hanging overhead was outrageously expensive, and yet it felt crushingly oppressive to her.

"Salad fork on the left, dinner fork besides the plate. To the right, knife, salad knife, spoon, soup spoon, then oyster fork. Cut the meat slowly, make it small and un-presumptuous. Don't make eye contact. Don't speak unless spoken to. Hold your bearing."

"-isn't that right Weiss?" The man seated at the head of the table asked. He was tall and thin, and his eyes were cruel and full of malice. His gaze was expectant, and the silence seemed to hang in the air while he waited for her response.

"Yes dear. You're quite correct." Her voice was bland and dry; she was simply going through the motions of being the proper wife. Of being the proper slave.

"Hmmph. Of course I am. Now like I was saying, red dust prices are actually falling with the turn of the season and with the new advances in..."

She tuned her husband out as she focused on eating her dinner the proper way.

"Don't make eye contact. Don't speak unless spoken to. Hold your bearing."

After all, her husband was entertaining guests, and if she acted improperly she knew he would hit her again. And as much as it pained her to admit, he was getting worse. The painful slaps were steadily evolving into bruising punches, and she knew that real beatings would soon follow after that, as the man solidified his position as head of the Schnee family more and more. He had recently married into the family, her father more satisfied than ever before, now that he knew his legacy would continue, that his investment had finally paid off. That's all she was to him.

An investment.

She was her husband's slave now, completely at his beck and call. She had become a boot-licking, cowering, subservient sycophant, and she hated it with every fragment of her remaining willpower. She couldn't resist him; it was too late now. The consequences were too horrible to think of, he would have her disowned, humiliated, and most likely killed. That is, after he was done with her, done punishing her his own way. The man had a sadistic streak a mile wide.

She shuddered imperceptibly, thinking back, wondering just how her life had become this despicable farce. After she had finished her education as a Huntress at Beacon Academy, she had returned to the world of politics and backstabbing from whence she came. Promptly, her father had married her off to another wealthy family, just as she knew he would. He was dying, and he wanted to ensure his line would continue on, that Schnee Dust would persist as the world's foremost provider of dust and dust-related products. He hadn't given a second thought for her well-being.

Ruby had begged her not to go, she had sobbed and tried to drag her back and to...

Wait... Ruby...

Ruby.

Ruby!

Weiss woke from her nightmare with a sudden start, sitting up suddenly and almost hitting her head on the bunk hanging from ropes above her. Where Ruby lay, sound asleep. In their room, back at Beacon Academy. Halfway through their third year.

She shuddered, the horrible vision of what might come to be refusing to leave her tortured mind. She glanced at the clock on the nightstand, noticing in passing that her delicately pale skin was coated in a slight sheen of sweat.

4:16 AM. She still had a few hours before classes. The shattered moon shone in through the window, highlighting her snow-white hair and lending it an unearthly glow.

She laid back down, shifted slightly, and attempted to return to sleep. But still, the memories would not leave her. She felt anxious, as she always did when thinking about her fate after Beacon. What would become of her? What would become of Ruby? She had found something here, something she had never experienced before. Something she didn't want to give up.

Friendship, warmth, laughter, the camaraderie that came with having a small group of tight-knit friends. And the trust that came with being someone's partner in the heat of combat, knowing that you would give your life for them and that they would do the same for you. Over the years, she and Ruby had grown incredibly close, both as partners and friends. They still teased each other, and Weiss still called her a dolt, and a dunce, and a colossal idiot, but it was all just that. Teasing. Weiss treasured Ruby, she was the older girls first and best friend. And as much as Weiss still lectured Ruby on her combat skills, and her studies, and her eating habits, and her mannerisms, and her, well you get the idea. All that aside, Weiss knew she would be lying to herself if she didn't admit that Ruby was quickly growing to be one of the best Huntresses the world of Remnant had ever seen.

But still, the brunette held a small amount of mystery to her. There was something about Ruby; just being around her was enough to soothe her anxieties and worries, and fill her with a strange feeling of warmth and peace. Sometimes, being near Ruby even served to make her heart beat slightly faster, and her blood to pump through her body with more force than usual. She figured that was just what happened though, when two people were as close as they were. Partners, both in combat and out of it.

She didn't want it to ever end: she didn't want to ever be apart from Ruby. She had imagined, and already experienced a world without Ruby, and it wasn't one she wanted to be a part of. She hadn't realized it before, but looking back she saw that her life had been filled with loneliness and bitter cold. She had been raised by her tutors and her maids, all of whom had been instructed to only interact with her just as much as was necessary. As for her parents, she only saw them when they needed something or when they wished to instruct her on the importance she held to the Schnee Dust company. But she had always found herself wondering: did she hold any importance to them as a person? As a daughter? As a young girl growing up with no friends and no one to confide in, she had grown bitter and harsh, slow to trust and quick to anger.

But then things had changed. She met a girl. A clumsy, impulsive, kind, caring, wonderfully sweet girl named Ruby Rose. And for some strange reason, this girl seemingly wanted nothing more than to be friends with her. But she had met people like that before. The memories were sour in her mind, the ones of her so-called "friends." So Weiss had done her best, week after week, month after month to push her away, certain that the brunette was only interested in her because of her status as heiress to the richest company in the world. But that had been years ago. Now, things were different. Ruby had broken down her walls and shown her how to live. She had shown her how to laugh at someone else's jokes, to be patient with someone else's shortcomings, and to be proud of someone else's success.

Being around Ruby felt so different from everywhere and everyone else. To the rest of the world, she was Mistress Schnee, heiress to the Schnee Dust Company. They all expected something from her. For her to act proper, for her to curtsy at the expected times, for her to be the best at everything she did. And that's where Ruby was different. The younger girl didn't expect anything from her. To her, she was simply Weiss, her partner and her best friend. And she seemed happy simply to be around her.

Weiss truly felt as if she was a different person now, and so much so for the better. Now that she knew what life was really like, she never wanted to go back to the bitter and uncaring world of... well, Schnee. She knew her parents would eventually force her into a marriage she didn't want any part of; her desires and dreams came after the well-being of the company. When she was younger, before she knew any better, she had begrudgingly accepted it.

But now she knew, because of being exposed to different views and walks of life. She knew that her parents forcing her to marry someone that she didn't love was wrong. And yet she continued sending them weekly status reports, full of her successes and achievements. She knew the second that they felt that their investment was being wasted, they would pull her out of the school. She was walking on thin ice. And she was tired of it.

Through it all, Ruby was her rock. It had taken her a long time to open up, until she felt comfortable enough around Ruby to let the other girl in, to burden her with the story of her life and her troubles. But Ruby had waited patiently with that same honest smile she always wore. She became her solid ground, the person she could confess her fears and her worries to. And Ruby would simply listen with a caring and understanding smile on her face, the same one that made the heiress feel strangely warm on the inside. Ruby was the first and only person she had ever let in, and the thought made her somehow happy. Would it be wrong if she never let anyone else in but Ruby? She felt somewhat... possessive almost, of her partner. Maybe if she only ever confided in Ruby, maybe that was all right. Maybe that was all she needed.

So as she lay there in her bed, trying in vain to shut out the nightmarish visions of what her life would be like after she left Beacon, and left Ruby, she knew that there was only one thing that would soothe her mind.

Carefully, she slipped out of her sheets and stood up on her tip-toes, her head barely reaching over the edge of Ruby's top bunk. And there she was, Ruby Rose, huntress-in-training. The moon shone through the curtains, illuminating one half of Ruby and hiding the other in shadow. She gripped Ruby's bed with her fingers, holding herself in place so that she could gaze upon her leader. Weiss ran her eyes up and down the younger girl's sleeping form, tracing its contours and curves even as she felt heat rising to her cheeks.

"This is... okay... It's normal for partners to want to know more about eachother... even eachother's bodies... right?"

The girl had grown during their time at beacon, in more ways than one. She was much taller, coming in at almost six feet. She had also grown in the... chest area. She would never admit it, but Weiss was quite jealous of Ruby's growth. In both areas. She was still just as short as ever, and just as, well, you get the idea.

The brunette lay on her back, one arm behind her head and the other laid across her chest. She breathed slowly, her chest rising and falling peacefully. She was still wearing the same sleepwear as always: a black tank top and a pair of pink-spotted white pajama pants. No matter how many times Weiss had attempted to persuade her to buy new pajamas, she never listened. Ruby tended to form strong attachments to things, even things as trivial as clothes or pencils.

The simple sight of her partner and friend sleeping peacefully was enough to set her mind at ease. A small smile graced her face. At that point in time, everything seemed alright, no matter what the future had in store. She stayed that way for a few minutes, lost in the moment. Something about Ruby made her feel calm, even safe in a way. Maybe it was the scent of roses that seemed to constantly emanate from her.

Her legs eventually grew tired though, and she slowly lowered herself down to her own bed. Slipping back under the covers and laying sideways, she realized that she felt calm now. Calm enough for sleep. Even though the clock now read 4:27AM, she knew that the few remaining hours of sleep she got would be dreamless and peaceful. Sighing softly, she rested her head upon her pillow and slowly drifted off to sleep. The last conscious thought on her mind was of how blessed she was to have met Ruby. Not that she would ever admit it to anyone though, least of all the brunette herself.

Still... no one would hear her now, right? Everyone else was fast asleep...

"Thank you, Ruby," she whispered.

This takes place within the little AU I came up with; this is basically the prequel to Bloodbirds and A White Nebula. Same Ruby and same Weiss, same Blake and same Yang. I apologize for this being only two thousands words, I normally try to keep my chapters between five and seven thousand. But this is a prologue, an attention-grabber and a stage-setter, and I felt right about putting this out. Also, this story is my chance to kill off Sun and Neptune. Because Monty doesn't know what he's doing by not making Bumblebee canon, and I have to remedy that. (evil laughter)

It's gonna be rated T, there will be violence but nothing too graphic. No lemons of course, even if the themes might get a little *gasp* suggestive.

The lyrics in the description are from "Can You Feel My Heart" by Bring Me The Horizon. Oh, and the lyrics from the beginning are from the song "Generation Dead" by Five Finger Death Punch. They were really what inspired my view of how Weiss is bitter and jaded with the world she's forced to live in. DON'T take these bands as an indication of my musical preferences, I listen to heavier and more obscure stuff than that.

Combatflaps, on tumblr and on this site, drew me this amazing cover image.

Any feedback is welcome, ways I can improve, little errors I missed, etc.

Please review!