A/N: Just a new story I'm trying out. This isn't a WR story, sorry for anyone who was into that kind of stuff.

EDIT (MAY 31, 2014):

Weiss is no longer a Faunus in this series.

Weiss Schnee sighed as she continued to walk down the sidewalk, passing under street lamps as she ignored every car that went by. She was returning after a long day at her father's company to her apartment that wasn't that far away, but far enough to keep her parents from driving her crazy.

She stopped sharing a house - she will never call it a home - with her parents after they had gone too far. It was a shock to all, Weiss included, when she couldn't handle her parents anymore and snapped. As it turns out, it seems that Weiss had picked up on a thing or two from her parents' temper over the years.

Abandonment and isolation had done much more to their daughter than the parents thought. Sure, they were expecting some resentment from their daughter for not being there all the time, but downright snapping at them was something nobody, not even Weiss herself, was expecting. Back then, the conversation ended with Weiss having tears and guilt in her eyes and locking herself in her room for a week. When she finally come out, it was only to say to the servants that she was moving out. They then passed the message to her parents, who didn't do anything to stop Weiss.

All of that was in the past, however. It had been two years since Weiss had her little problem, being sixteen then and eighteen now. As she continued to walk, she thought about how lonely it has been without anyone to live with. Granted, she never interacted much with her parents, but she did somewhat enjoy the company of the maids and butlers, even if she never spoke to them and they did the same. No one understood why she left; it's not like her parents are at the castle to begin with. There were plenty of rooms for her to hide away in.

She sighed again as she pulled out an umbrella she was carrying in one of her grocery bags, rain beginning to drip from the darkened clouds. She huddled into her jacket even though she didn't feel cold in the slightest. One of the advantages of living in a fortress-sized freezer and having the Aura of an ice-cube.

As she passed by the park, she could have sworn she heard faint crying coming from the shadows of the public area. She paused her walking and turned to face the opening of the playground, raising an eyebrow in curiosity. Is she hearing things?

She shook her head and kept walking, until she heard the same noise as before, crying. But it wasn't just any crying, it sounded like a child though it was slightly muffled. She stopped again. That was definitely not just her mind playing tricks. She walked back to the opening and swallowed as she walked in, paying no attention to the "No Faunus" sign. Why should she?

Her mind kept telling her to turn back, saying that it was probably a baby Grimm that had wandered into the area from the nearby woods. But she had a gut feeling to continue onwards, thinking that there was no forest close by and no Grimm was stupid enough to stroll randomly on human territory.

Weiss walked for a few minutes before coming to the source of the wailing, most of the noise drowned out by the rain and muffled by what seemed like cloth.

A basket, under a street lamp.

She cautiously walked to the basket, peering around it as she knelt and placed her umbrella and groceries on the stone below her. The basket was beautifully carved, hunters and huntresses fighting the creatures of the darkness on the sides with a multitude of weapons. Above the opening, a name carved into the wood in fancy cursive:

Ruby Rose

Ruby Rose? Weiss thought. She carefully lifted what looked like a red rag with her pointer finger and thumb from the basket and cringed away as if something would explode in her face. She could list a few people who wanted her dead and anyone could have traced which route she traveled. When no explosion came, she peeked back in the basket and gasped.

A baby, having black, shrubby hair that was barely grown out of its head. The baby looked no older than perhaps two, judging by the hair growth and size of the child alone.

Weiss gave a quick glance around before shushing the baby, and rested a hand on the child's chest. That seemed to calm it down a bit, when Weiss remembered to pick up her umbrella and lifted it above the child. It stared at the hand before it giggled at Weiss, making her return the action with a small smile. She looked around.

"Hello?" Weiss called out, "Is anybody out there?"

No one responded back. Even if someone did, the rain did a good job muffling any sound around her. She glanced at the baby. Who would leave a child in the middle on the park, alone in the dark, and when it was raining? She couldn't just leave it here.

Sighing again, she picked up the basket by the single handle over the opening and her grocery bags. She would have to make another trip back to the store.

What Weiss didn't see - or hear for that matter - was a figure hiding in the shadows, bleeding heavily from her right side. The silhouette smiled sadly, before whispering, "Take care of my child," and disappeared in a flash of white rose petals.

A/N: This isn't a WR story. If you're into age-gap, that's fine and all but this isn't that kind of story. I don't care if you've met people with a twenty-year age gap, I refuse this story to be anything of the sort. Think of it more as a mother and child relationship.

Hope you all enjoy!