Their bodies have become weapons.

And it is only natural for such things to meet each other, to become part of a struggle.

The dust within Weiss' body always hums beneath Ruby's touch, just under the surface of her skin. It glows red with heat through her blood, sends shivers of frost along her bones, and crackling impulses of energy straight behind her eyes, making it that much harder to resist her. Delicate hands begin to do away with the layers of fabric at Weiss' shoulders, before she's stopped, and those hands are kissed reverently and with the warmth that surges beneath her skin.

"Let me," Weiss insists, turning Ruby around and gathering the fragile girl into her arms, "I won't have you exhausting yourself."

Ruby submits and lets it happen, her hands, both of them, reaching up and back as she twists partially in the embrace, sliding them up Weiss' cheeks to bring their gazes together. Their lips brush against one another's as Ruby speaks into her mouth, familiar words of love and longing matched only by the soulful and hooded look in her eyes.

Weiss steals those whispers with kisses, takes them with unashamed greed and hunger. The words taste sweet and rounded like milk and honey and she keeps them for herself, her sharp eyes watching how Ruby's breath catches in her chest, makes her croon sweetly for more. Gloved hands slide over the swell of her breasts, fingers spread, and something hot coils in Weiss' stomach at the sensation of their weight filling her palms. Ruby's breath dissolves neatly over her chin in the space between kisses, and Weiss' fingers splay through the ribbons of her corset, uncinching them and sweeping back up to stroke the dress off her petite, tight shoulders, letting the fabric sag around her waist so she can shimmy out of it.

Ruby is a person of spontaneity and circumstance, and Weiss knows this, and she knows that they are dangerous qualities for a girl with the sort of delicate constitution she has.

So it surprises Weiss all the more that Ruby can convince her of this, but at the same time-

Weiss drags her hands along her sides, worshiping her body as she buries her nose into downy, auburn hair, breathes in deeply the scent of roses that so strongly perfumes her bare skin.

-It isn't fair. It isn't fair that Ruby should want for anything, when she'd so easily give everything she had to give. It wasn't fair that Ruby had wanted so badly to live, and that the choice of how she did so would belong to anyone else.

Weiss wanted Ruby to have everything she could ever want. She considered herself fortunate that her wishes included being with Weiss-

-In heart, body, and soul.

So Weiss denies her nothing at all, nor has she the will to.

Ruby whimpered shortly, tried to bite it back, but Weiss had heard. Ruby's breathing was clipped and labored, already.

"Lay down." Weiss pressed a long, slow kiss to Ruby's throat through the heavy, cross-bearing chain that remained wound around her neck, and eased her down onto her stomach. She took off her gloves and reached for the bottle of rose oil at the bedside, dabbing a few drops into her palms and massaging it into her skin; her shoulders, her back, her hips, and with her thumbs, circling into the dimples at her low back and biting her lip at the way Ruby nuzzled into the soft, clean sheets and moaned, such a sweet, pampered sound.

It had been exactly this sort of situation, that had marked the beginning of their occasional forays into intimate activity. In all honesty, Weiss had not meant for the sex to happen, had railed against the possibility of Ruby becoming too physically overwhelmed. The rose oil was meant for treating her occasional muscle spasms and respiratory complications in lieu of more invasive or uncomfortable procedures.

But Weiss remembers the first time vividly, of wondering if she was pressing too hard with her hands, of the nervous sweat that beaded her brow at the sight of all of Ruby's skin, peaches and cream in color and so soft to the touch.

She remembers the way the cross jingled at her throat as she turned off of her stomach, how the chain drooped so that it hung between her breasts.

She remembers how the red satin sheet twisted and coiled around Ruby's thigh as she showed herself to Weiss, how deeply she'd envied the fabric for clinging to her in such a way.

She remembers how Ruby had parted her lips and then curled them together as her slight and quick fingers nestled themselves in her cravat and pulled her close. She remembers how she spoke, then, her voice ripe and heavy with desire as she told Weiss that she wanted her to keep touching her, over and over.

She remembers the ravishment that followed, every sweet peal of delight that she drew from Ruby's body.

And these trysts had only grown more frequent-more intense-ever since.

But Weiss kept them prepared. She made sure that Ruby didn't push herself too hard, and all things considered, her stamina had improved considerably, at least according to her other doctors.

The two of them had simply left out the details of how her improvements came to be.

"Wei-ss-" Ruby whines sweetly, turning over and tugging at her cravat as she is prone to doing, "-I'm doing better. Why don't you undress too, it's not fair-" Her pout is infectiously adorable, but Weiss knows how to handle her. She traces her fingers up an exposed thigh before flattening her palm over it, letting her hand settle into the crook of her waist and pin her down as she leans over her, sharing a sly smile of her own.

"I'm not done looking at you yet."

"W-Weiss, you're... this is..." Ruby gulped and tilted her head to the side bashfully, but Weiss only closed the distance, nuzzling her throat and kissing up the side of her jaw, "-you're too much-"

Weiss' hands pushed up against her breasts and squeezed, fingers roving over the rosy peaks and tweaking them until the girl beneath her clenched her teeth and hissed.

"Ruby..." Weiss breathed over her cheek, kissing and sucking down along her collarbones, thumbs following the curves of her breasts inward-

"Ghnnh-!" Ruby's back arched as her calloused digits brushed along the spot at the center of her chest, and Weiss would've drawn back had Ruby not grabbed for her hair and flexed her fingers tightly. "Ohh, Weiss-" Weiss lifted her gaze to Ruby's cautiously.

She herself still felt, still remembered the despair that had seized Ruby, and herself, at the realization that her body would never be the same, every time she touched the scarred tissue.

Ruby must have felt it far more vividly, and the idea of it would've been enough to break Weiss' heart.

The old Weiss' heart.

She was stronger now. She could protect this girl, she could belong to her and give her everything.

"-kiss it, Weiss-" Ruby panted, eyes glazed over as though she were a thousand leagues away. Her fingers tightened and Weiss felt the dust setting her aura alight, could feel it responding to Ruby's touch, Ruby's being, on a level deeper than that of her mortal soul.

Weiss pressed her lips to the place that had been the source of so much trouble, so much heartache for them both. She could feel Ruby's pulse quicken under the heat of her mouth, fast, heavy, thick.

She breathed in sharply and her hands slipped from her hair to clench at the pillows, the sheets, and Weiss drew back, eyes rife with concern. Losing no time, she slid an arm around Ruby's shoulders and lifted her off the bed, felt along her cheeks and forehead for the damp heat that plagued her before reaching for the glass that she'd prepared beside the bed.

The one that she always had ready.

Weiss knew the feeling of what was happening to Ruby, remembered it from when Ruby first described it to her after the first few times it'd happened.

Sometimes her throat would get dry and tight, like the feeling of waking up in the dark as a child, completely parched.

"Ruby, come on, take a drink-" The ice clinked in the glass, which was damp with condensation and dripped along the midline of Ruby's chest as Weiss held it to her lips. Ruby winced and did not open her mouth. Her body was shaking and she was clenching and unclenching her fingers. "-You promised me, so-" Weiss took a sip of it herself and set it down loudly on the end table before pulling Ruby closer and pinching at her cheeks to encourage her to open her mouth. Slowly, Weiss transferred the mouthful of cool water into Ruby's, massaging her throat to help her swallow. She swiped a thumb under Ruby's chin to wipe away the drops that had escaped, and Ruby swayed forward, as though the weight of her hair was too much for her, and let Weiss embrace her protectively. "Take some more. Can you take a little more-?"

"I don't want anymore water-" Ruby laced her fingers behind Weiss' neck and kissed her, long and sudden, "-I want you-"

Weiss felt the dust inside her body throbbing at her words, at the idea of undressing with her and not resisting anymore-

"Ruby, I-I warned you. I don't want you getting excited and exhausting yourself, and-" Weiss swallowed as Ruby's hands worked quickly and easily, peeling her clothes off little by little anyway until the two of them were equally bare.

"But-touching you calms me down." Ruby slid her bare body against Weiss', wrapping her arms around her shoulders, and the older girl's gaze followed the way her tongue traced her lips when she leaned in close. "Kissing you is even better, and-I wanna be kissed everywhere-I trust you-"

Weiss-

-hadn't the will to refuse anything of her, normally.

But Ruby's blood was singing aloud and through their skin, and Weiss could feel dust pressing up against herself from the inside as crystalline points, humming through her veins and tearing a ragged, animal-like sound from her throat.

"Ruby-" Weiss growled out, pinning her down. She couldn't help but handle her a little more roughly, hands planting themselves against her thighs and holding her open, thumbs stroking idly at her primed, wet center and spreading the lower lips open.

Weiss couldn't help but smirk at the shocked look that swept over Ruby's face.

"Nnhghh-Weiss, Weiss, Weiss-!" Her voice grew higher as Weiss dragged a thumb slowly between her folds, massaging and pressing in on the swollen bud of pleasure it found. Ruby was writhing with bliss, with agony, and Weiss couldn't help herself-she dipped down and began to stroke her tongue against her in much the same way, letting the taste coat her tongue.

Ruby cried out with ecstasy, legs trembling as they scrambled themselves over Weiss' shoulders. She was tense only a moment before appearing to melt under what what happening.

The color and scent and taste together were heady and sweet: pink flushing to a dark, ripe, tender red, and Ruby was pliant enough for Weiss to slide her tongue inside, let it fill her up-

"W-Wait, waaaiiit-!" Ruby whimpered, "Weiss, t-together, please, please please-!"

Weiss got the message. They'd never done this before, but Weiss was too far gone now to stop herself.

Ruby was a strong girl.

Weiss drew back and held one of Ruby's legs up, sliding the centers of their bodies together with a long, slow moan, the kind that Weiss hardly ever made in her life. Ruby was grabbing at everything she could reach-god, she was so cute, so lovely-Weiss held her leg against her shoulder, turning her head and kissing near her ankle as she rolled their centers together, again and again-

Ruby's toes curled, back arched, lips bent, eyes squeezed shut, and Weiss knew she was close-

"Ruby, I love you, I love you-" The words reverberated through her being and echoed back from Ruby's body, from the aura that was so close to her own and resonating with every grain of dust inside of Weiss' body-the feeling was overwhelming and incredible-

The sounds Ruby made were glorious-breathless and spent as she neared her finish, and with a final push Weiss reached hers at the same time. The urge to move their hips remained, in muscle memory, for a few brief moments. They were sticky and hot and Ruby's mouth was hanging open, panting-

Weiss gave her more water, from lips to lips once more, settling in close, kissing more words of love from Ruby's lips into hers, private words that she'd cherish.

Like this, she could feel their hearts beating together, could feel the hum of the dust inside of her calming itself in response to Ruby's heartbeat.

It was then that Weiss realized, that no matter what had happened to Ruby's heart, to her body-

It was beating just as strongly as her own.

...

A/N: If you are unfamiliar with the Henceforward RWBY AU by kuma, please check it out! Her tumblr is kumafromtaiwan! Many thanks to her for allowing me the pleasure of writing her this gift!