#btw theres a reason winter doesnt remember ren or nora's names | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

kaseyskat · 1 year

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hi do not mind me i just got emo about winter schnee and the ending of v8 and so my first finished rwby vignette has been completed... no v9 spoilers! just spoilers for the v8 finale

in the swirling yellows of the sandstorm, white doesn’t stand out much at all.

the sharp blues of the winter maiden power, though, makes winter a beacon as she lands on her feet outside of a rapidly closing portal. thousands of eyes turn to her, and yet she seeks out the only ones that truly matter in that moment– two pairs of twin blue eyes that are so familiar and yet so distant, the only people in the world who matter.

she had tried to put the world first, once. isn’t that why she listened to james for so long? why she had prioritized her mission over all else? nothing would matter so long as she kept in line and protected the people, but she had slipped, and now…

…and now she has nothing. not james, who had betrayed his own heart and her own in turn, a shadow of the man she once knew. not penny, sweet penny, who had given her life so that winter may take her place as the protector of mantle– a foolish wish, though, since when has winter ever been able to protect anybody?

and not weiss.

winter’s fist clenches against the hilt of her sword, and she brushes through the crowd; she can only imagine what expression must be plastered on her face. her hair slips free of its bindings, and she doesn’t have the presence of mind to sweep it back in place as she staggers through.

people are calling her name. she hears it. unfortunately for them, echoed in the season she was named after, she only hears the word that symbolizes her own failure.

winter.

you were supposed to be good enough, winter.

you were supposed to help people, winter!

“-winter!”

winter snaps out of her dull misery just in time to see her sister’s silly little friends, the ones that had insisted on killing themselves for a chance to save someone they loved, and something inside of her tightens. they came back from that mission with their friend alive.

“what happened?” the red-haired one asks almost desperately, and when winter presses her lips together, she just nods resolutely, seeming to understand. “yeah, we can talk after we fight… this. can we fight this? where’s penny?”

“penny is gone,” winter says, even as she presses a hand to her chest, feels the smallest spark of green lingering there. “you only have me now.” and maybe this time i’ll be enough.

“what about team rwby?” the other asks, dark eyes bearing into winter’s soul– she hasn’t forgotten the way he had called her out on the ship not that long ago.

team rwby. somehow, winter had thought that the other three had made it here– had made it out alive. and yet, as she scans the citizens of atlas and mantle, she only sees the huntresses she had once looked down upon for committing treason against the high council– she does not see her sister’s team.

so they all fell then. winter’s heart sinks even further, and she purses her lips, giving a small shake of her head. “gone as well. i… i had hoped…”

“we can talk about it later!” the girl proclaims, yanking the boy away from winter, blazing determination in her eyes. “right now, we have people to protect! the grimm are everywhere!”

“right.” the boy says, and he settles against the girl’s side, his dark eyes matching her determination. winter would have never admit it before, but she might begrudgingly see why her weiss had found a home with these two.

weiss…

enough. winter shakes her head, and she clenches her fists, the power of the maiden springing to her. “you two get these people into a crowd,” she commands. “scattered as they are now, they make for easy pickings. we need a way out of this sandstorm.”

“yes ma’am!” the girl choruses, and both spring into action– and, as winter watches them carefully, other hunters and huntresses follow their lead, corralling the citizens of atlas and mantle into a crowd guarded carefully.

amongst those citizens are winter’s mother and brother. winter can spot them now: she can see the way her mother’s arm curls whitley against her side, protecting him even as they stand their own in the sea of people. somehow, weiss had coaxed their gentle giant of a mother from her sorrow, a feat winter never managed before she had left.

winter couldn’t tell them of weiss’s fate. not yet. not when the grimm fed on their despair, attracted to their darkness.

one more thing to bottle. one more thing to keep tangled inside of her until it spilled from her lungs like a broken inkwell.

i’ll keep them all safe for you weiss, winter vows, and as she commands the power of the maiden, urges it to take her into the skies, she presses a clenched fist to her chest, holding the last remnants of her grief there before it is all swallowed down. i won’t let your sacrifice be in vain.

and it’ll have to be enough, for now.

#kasey writes stuff #rwby #winter schnee #others are here but implied #btw theres a reason winter doesnt remember ren or nora's names #like hasdhfdshf she knows them as operatives and here she is nnnnot thinking about them like that #she's thinking about them as weiss's friends.#just thought id mention that here before someone got onto me LMAO

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