The castle halls were always empty this time of night. Weiss slowly walked through, her eyes having trouble adjusting to the darkness that surrounded her. Finally she found a torch mounted on the wall, and picked it up to bring it with her.

Still not sure why father would summon me at this hour, she thought to herself. Surely whatever it is can wait until tomorrow morning.

Suddenly, Weiss heard the distinctive ring of a sword being drawn behind her. Without so much as a second thought, Weiss drew her own blade and immediately whirled around to face her aggressor. The torch revealed a tall man with black-and-red hair, a jet-black coat, and a pair of bull horns on his head, as well as a pale-white mask with blood-red trimming and four eye slits.

"Drop the sword princess," her attacker said, "and I may make this quick for you."

"The 'may' part is what has me concerned," Weiss replied as she held the blade in front of her. Honestly? I'll take my chances defending myself."

"Hmph. Suit yourself."

The assassin ran at Weiss, and she quickly leapt away, putting the torch into one of the mounts on the wall as she did so. Weiss brought her blade up again, as her eyes searched for a target. As she searched, she saw the flash of the bade entering the torches light, and she attempted to dodge it, but was just a little too late, as the blade slashed over her left eye. Weiss cried out in pain and backed up to the wall as she felt a trail of blood start to run down her face from the wound. Weiss immediately focused her aura on healing the wound, and brought her blade up into a more defensive stance. The assassin swung at her again, but this time Weiss was ready. She parried the blow with her own sword, and dragged her blade along her opponent's until she made contact with the hilt. She quickly elbowed him in the face, knocking him back and causing him to drop his guard. With a brief flourish, Weiss ran her blade through the assassin's stomach. He stared down at the blade, and his own sword clattered to the ground. With a dull thud, he fell to the ground, unmoving. Through the halls, Weiss thought she could hear someone with heavy armor clattering as they ran to where Weiss was now standing.

"Princess Schnee, are you alright?" someone nearby yelled.

Weiss wiped the blood from the now-closed wound over her left eye and withdrew her blade from the assassin's body. "I'm fine, no thanks to you, Knight-Lieutenant Vasilias," Weiss replied with annoyance.

"Well, hey, at least I got here, snow angel," Neptune stated with a smirk.

Weiss rolled her eyes. "Do you want me to have you executed for failing to address me with the proper regard?"

"Come on, Princess, I'm just having a little fun with you," he replied. "Anyway, we should probably go speak to the King. He's not going to be too happy about you nearly being assassinated."

Both Neptune and Weiss slowly walked through the dark hallways, and kept their swords at the ready, prepared for another attack. Finally, after what felt like hours, they arrived outside the imposing doors of the king's bedroom. Weiss looked down and saw a small, flickering light emanating from under the door, indicating that the King was still awake. Weiss knocked on the door.

"Enter," said a voice from within.

Weiss pushed the door open and stepped inside. Lit only by a single candle sitting on a desk, was a tall man with strong features, a tired expression, and the same white hair as Weiss.

The King looked up from the desk and sighed. "Weiss. What do you need."

Weiss took a deep breath. "There wan an assassin in the castle. He attempted to kill me, but I fought him off."

Her father practically jumped from the desk. "When?" he demanded.

"Just a few minutes ago," Weiss replied.

Her father picked the candle up off of the desk and brought it over.

"You're wounded," he said, staring at Weiss' left eye. "Why didn't you use your aura?"

"Overconfidence," Weiss replied. "Though it should have healed by now."

"Take a look in the mirror," her father said, offering her the candle.

Weiss took the candle from her father and walked to the mirror near the King's bed. When the glass was finally illuminated by the light of the candle, Weiss saw what the king was referring to. Over her left eye was a long, light red scar where the assassin's blade had cut her. Weiss ran a nervous finger along the wound, shivering a little as she realized that it would never go away.

"This cannot be allowed to happen again," her father said. "As soon as I am able, I will announce a tournament, and have the winner named as the Lord-Guardian of Vale."

"I don't need a guardian, Father," Weiss said as she turned back towards the King. "I am perfectly capable of defending myself."

"The scar over your eye belies your argument," her father said. "The tournament will be held in four days. I expect you to be there so you may see the victor's skill for yourself."

The day of the tournament finally arrived, and Weiss was the first one to arrive at the arena, accompanied by a legion of Vale's soldiers, led by the legendary Knight-Captain Pyrrha Nikos.

Weiss turned to Pyrrha just as she was about to take her seat. "I'm surprised you aren't going to compete, Pyrrha," she said. "I have no doubt that you'd be able to win easily."

"It's not my place to be the Lady-Guardian, Princess," Pyrrha replied politely. "I'm not nobility."

"The King has stated that anyone may participate," Weiss stated. "Neptune is planning on competing, and I would personally prefer you to him."

Pyrrha laughed a little. "While I thank you for the compliment, Princess, I would personally prefer to remain as Knight-Captain. I feel it better suits me than being a noble would."

Weiss sighed. "Very well," she replied as she looked around the arena. "It seems the people are starting to arrive. The tournament must be about to begin."

The tournament began with the sun hanging high in the sky. When it began, only a few people managed to win more than one duel before being disarmed themselves, and leaving the arena in defeat. Eventually, Vale's soldiers began to participate in the duels, and they tended to last much longer. About halfway through the tournament, Neptune decided to take the field, and he began to easily trounce everyone who challenged him. Gradually, opponents became more and more reluctant to take the field as the tournament wore on. Everyone, from professional duelists, to soldiers, to even the most veteran of officers seemed to simply be no match for Neptune. Weiss rolled her eyes as Neptune disarmed his latest opponent. Her father smiled at the scene that lay before them in the arena and stood from his seat.

"Well," his voice boomed through the arena. "It seems Knight-Lieutenant Vasilias remains undefeated. Is there anyone else who would challenge him for the honored post of the Lord-Guardian of Princess Schnee?"

"I guess I will," a small voice said from near the arena.

A young girl who couldn't have been any older than Weiss herself stood from her seat and walked into the arena. She wore a simple black shirt and pants with red trim, and a long flowing red cloak fluttered behind her. A simple Iron long-sword and hung from one side of her belt, and a short-sword from the other. A quiet murmur rose from the crowd as they looked to the king to see if he would allow the new challenger to take the field.

"Well, I did say anyone could take the field," he muttered. "Very well. Miss...?"

"Rose. Ruby Rose," the girl said.

"Miss Rose will challenge the champion."

Well, it looks like I'll need to deal with Neptune's shameless flirting for the rest of my life, Weiss thought bitterly.

One of the squires walked up to Ruby and offered her a small, round, wooden shield. She politely declined to take it, and the young man walked away, leaving only Ruby and Neptune standing in the arena.

"Well, this shouldn't take long," Neptune said smugly.

"Let the bout... Begin!"

Neptune drew his sword and started to circle around Ruby, who simply stood and watched. With a cocky smile he rushed forward and swung at Ruby. The latter girl seemingly vanished and rematerialized nearby in a flurry of rose petals, only now she had both of her swords drown, with the long-sword grasped in her left hand and the short-sword in her right. She held the short-sword in front of her at an angle and brought the long-sword up to chest height with the point facing toward her opponent. Neptune charged at her again and swung his sword over his head, which Ruby expertly parried with the short-sword, and proceeded to follow with a short jab from the long-sword. Neptune blocked the blade with his shield, only to have Ruby swing the short-sword past his guard at his other arm. He quickly moved out of the way and took up a more defensive stance, holding the shield in front of him. He slowly advanced towards Ruby, who, again, simply stood and waited. Suddenly, Neptune let out a yell, and charged at the girl. Ruby crossed her swords and used them to block Neptune's strike. With a flick of her wrists, Ruby sent Neptune's blade flying through the air until it landed point-first in the dirt on the other side of the arena. Neptune dropped his shield and fell to his knees, and a stunned silence filled the arena as Ruby crossed her swords around Neptune's neck.

"It seems," Weiss's father said with a faint note of disappointment in his voice as Ruby took her swords away from Neptune's neck and knelt in front of Weiss' father, "that we have our victor. Ruby Rose, step foreword." Ruby stood and took a step towards the king, her bright-red cloak billowing behind her. "Ruby Rose, as the winner of the tournament, I hereby declare you as the Lady-Guardian of Vale, the leader of the army, and the personal guard to Crown-Princess Weiss Schnee."

The entire arena erupted in applause. Weiss looked around and sighed. Hopefully she's more tolerable than Neptune is. Otherwise, I have a long few years ahead of me.

A/N: Here's the first of the new stories that I announced. The next the will be the Path We Walk, which is a Mercenary AU. This story is going to be in a fantasy setting (obliviously), with elements of the official universe such as Aura, Semblances, and Grimm. In addition, this is a White Rose fic, however, it will take a degree of time for them to actually become a couple. Also, I feel I should give you an overview of how the power hierarchy works in this story so, from the top down, with the top having the largest amount of power:

Royal Family - Rather obvious. They Rule the entire kingdom

Lord/Lady-Guardian - Personal Guard to a member of the Royal family as well as overall leader of the army. Does not answer to anyone but the royal family

Lords/Ladies - Leaders of a given area of the kingdom.

Knight-(rank) - Officers in the military, with the rank denoting what level

Citizens - Basically, everyone else who officially lives in the kingdom

As always, thank you all for reading, and I'll see you guys when I post chapter one of The Path We Walk: A Way Out! Stay classy, everyone!

Also, as an aside for those of you who wanted to see the Zombie and Alien Invasion AU's happen, don't worry, I will eventually be doing those as well.