She was a demon, a servant of the Devil, a burning member of the damned. There was no redemption for one such as her. Even among the legions of hellspawn she was an outcast, having never played well with others. Torturing the souls of sinning mortals quickly bored her, and so she spent her leisure time spying on the denizens of Heaven. That was her first mistake.

She was an angel, a follower of Adonai, a golden member of the blessed. Everything about her was perfect, the most perfect girl in the most perfect place. Whenever she spied upon this girl, she could feel herself burn with too many negative emotions to count. No matter how hard she tried, she couldn't help but see herself in a much worse light whenever she laid eyed on this girl.

They both had the wrong hair color for where they called home: while her hair was a pure white, the angel had hair tinged with black and red, fire and brimstone in a realm of nothing but bliss. Those silver eyes were captivating, her every move effervescent. This girl was everything she was not, and every day it ate away at her knowing that, in an angel's eyes, she was ugly, worthless. She shouldn't have become so enraptured with that innocent girl, but she did. That was her second mistake.

Day after day, night after night, she watched and she seethed and she ached. The curiosity and the animosity burned inside her, and then she decided that she'd had enough. She would sneak out and meet this angel. No one would notice she was gone: no one would miss her. She would confront this angel for making her feel so terrible about herself. Nothing was going to change her mind. That was her third mistake.

So one day she sneaked away from the Kingdom of Hell, stealing away through the Earth, unseen by the eyes of mere mortals. Time meant nothing to her, so the length of her journey mattered not. She was just relieved when she actually made it, hovering with chipped and darkened wings beneath the gilded kingdom. It was there that she waited.

Trouble would befall her if she was caught by someone while there, so her movements were stealthy, peering through windows and flitting in and out of obscuring clouds. Months passed her by, but she bid her time with thoughts of the angel, thoughts that consumed her mind and left room for little else. When the time finally came though, she found herself nearly speechless.

The beautiful angel skipped past a window she was happening to check one day, and so she subtly called to the angel. However, when those eyes became focused on her, she froze, her tongue having become completely tied. As the angel approached her, she silently lost her cool and let go of the window, falling until she remembered to use her wings.

Just as quickly as she had reached the crux of her goal, she had blown it, and now she would be in immeasurable trouble. The legion of angel warriors would be upon her, and she would be returned to Hell, where she would be punished beyond anything her mind could imagine. Just as she was about to resign herself to a terrible fate, the silver-eyed angel poked her head out, looking around until she spotted the demon floating resigned in the air. With a big smile, she jumped out of the window and flew down with wings as pure as snow.

"You're a demon!" Of course she was. What else would she be? Rather than be terrified or angry, this angel seemed curious, even happy. Why would she be happy though? She wasn't even happy to see herself reflected in the Acheron. "I've heard so much about your kind, but I've never seen a real demon before! I'm Ruby!"

They were exchanging names? That's something that beings did when they weren't mortal enemies. Why was this 'Ruby' being so nice? She had wanted to hate the angel, loathe the ground she stood on. She was beautiful, happy, loved: everything that she as a demon was not. Through all the negative emotions that swirled around inside her, something strange swam in their midst: hope.

"I'm... Weiss." That was her fourth mistake.

She would return to Hell in order to explain away her months of absence, but few had even noticed, and none had cared. That just freed up her time to go back to the outside of Heaven. She would hide inside the clouds outside one specific window until a familiar halo popped up, and it took her far too long to explain the feelings that took her over whenever they were together. Never had she experienced emotions that weren't negative.

Whenever they would meet, she would explain things about Hell to Ruby, who hung eagerly on every word. Though she would never admit it, she enjoyed being listened to, even if it involved having to repeatedly remind Ruby that Phlegethon was the river of fire, not the Styx. She wanted to slap whoever was up there spreading that falsehood.

Having someone listen to her, having someone actually appear to enjoy being in her company, it made her feel better about herself. Eventually she could admit to herself that she wasn't making constant treks up there for curiosity's sake, or due to feelings of spite, but because she actually liked being near Ruby. She liked being with Ruby.

She was rendered speechless when, after nearly a year of meetings, Ruby outright said what she had been worrying and mulling over for months. "I like you, Weiss!"

"Wh-What?" How could she just say that so casually? It was so spontaneous, so... Ruby. What was she supposed to say to that, though? Could it even be true? How could an angel like a demon?

"I really like you!" She tried to ignore the swelling of her shriveled heart and the soaring endorphins within her mind. It wouldn't end well, it was all a lie. Nothing good could come of this, but she couldn't stop her lips from curling into a slight smile, a genuine smile. It felt good to be liked. She just couldn't hide the truth anymore. Not from Ruby.

"I, uh... I... I like you too." That was her fifth mistake.

In fairness, the two years they spent together was a lot longer than she should've ever expected. It was all wonderful, the best times she had ever had in an eternity of misery, but it wasn't going to last. She had known that, she had said it to herself, but she didn't listen. At some point she had thrown herself completely into the loveliness that was Ruby, but even then she had known for a fact that she didn't deserve someone so amazing, so wonderful. This just confirmed it.

They had been caught while rendezvousing one day. It seemed that another angel had become suspicious of Ruby's absences and followed her, discovering their secret. Now the disapproving glares of the seraphs burned more than any of the great fires in her home, because it meant that her time of happiness was coming to an end.

Ruby was crying, trying to reach her though it was futile. She didn't know if she was also shedding tears, but everything seemed so blurry, all sensations becoming numb. The hands of the seraphs were rough on her, unlike the gentle caresses of her dragged her from the Kingdom of Heaven and flung her back down to Hell, and as she fell, fell, fell, the only image in her brain was of Ruby crying.

Her punishment was severe, though it was not what she had expected. There would be no whips, no being hung over a roiling fire. No, the pain would be more psychologically damaging: she was to be made mortal again.

Chained to the floor, a special ceremony was performed to remove her consciousness from her body and place it into a newborn mortal. There she would live as a human, a life of suffering that she was not, nor could she ever be, prepared to deal with. She would live, she would suffer, and then when she died, her preordained sins would drag her newly-created soul back down to Hell, where she would suffer all over again.

Now she knew: she was indeed crying. The pain from the ceremony was intense, but what was worse was knowing that she would never see Ruby again. She had foolishly given her heart to an angel, and now the devil in her would pay the price. The humanity entering her was torture beyond belief, but though she knew that soon there would be a steady heartbeat within her chest, there wouldn't truly be anything in there, for her heart was now owned by another.

At 6:37 PM, the Schnees saw their new daughter for the first time. Neither father nor mother had any true reasoning for the name they bestowed upon the infant cradled in her mother's arms, but they both liked the name Weiss.

It hurt more than anything had any right to. Her punishment had been doled out, but the real pain lasted within her heart. From the Sight Room, Ruby stood and watched wistfully as Weiss began her existence on Earth. Oftentimes she cried, bemoaning the loss of the one being whom she had enjoyed being around more than anyone before or since. The afterlife was no life without Weiss.

Two years she went without being able to see the one she had grown to love during their time spent together. Oftentimes she would lean against the window she would sneak out of years before and lose herself in the memories. In them, she could see Weiss sneaking through the clouds to greet her, and she could almost feel that warm hand within her own. If she concentrated hard enough, she could just about taste her lips during their first kiss, an illicit connection between two opposing forces.

One day she decided that she couldn't continue like this any longer. Heaven felt colder without the heat she had grown accustomed to when laying in Weiss's arms, and so she decided to perform her own ceremony. If Weiss was forced to live as a mortal, then she would too.

There was no guarantee that the ceremony would work, and even if it did, she wouldn't know what kind of life she would end up born into. Maybe she wouldn't even find Weiss, but that was a risk she was willing to take. No matter how big the risk was, she would become a mortal just for the chance to save Weiss and to be with her again.

Optimistic as she was, she wasn't prepared for the terrible pain that overcame her as she began the ceremony. It was horrible, but throughout it she forced her mind to keep focused on one solitary thing: Weiss. All this pain, she would suffer through it just for the opportunity to be with Weiss. Her screams remained lost on her lips as the agony blinded her, and everything went white, then black.

"Weiss..."

She was born at 8:25 AM to two loving parents, while her older half-sister was being cared for by her uncle. Neither father nor mother had any true reasoning for the name they bestowed upon the infant cradled in her mother's arms, but they both liked the name Ruby.

Within her mind though, locked deep inside the recesses of an angelic memory, lied a single name, unable to be conjured yet due to her lessened conscious. A name that she was determined to find, a person whom she was determined to save.

Weiss.