Colors Of Eternity

EARLY RELEASE FOR HIGH-PLEDGING PATRONS! THANKS!

Commission for makas0ul who asked for a modern-day College Soulmates AU for Weiss and Yang! They'd wanted it similar to Crossing Paths, but I changed some details about how soulmates meet. It's a very brief story trying to tell a very significant event, but I hope it makes sense and reads fluently!

Disclaimer: I do not own RWBY.

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													Colors Of Eternity

All her life, Yang had been aching to find out what the secret was.

She lived in a world of soulmates, where two people were bound to one another for existence and eternity.

While not everyone needed or wanted a soulmate, those who were meant for one were born with the innate desire to find them.

Yang was definitely one of the latter bunch. Unlike Ruby, her little sister, who had never mentioned or showed much interest in romance. She was happy being who she was with just her close friendships, and never sought to seek out anything beyond that.

But Yang yearned for romance, for several reasons.

First, it was because she just wanted to fall in love. She didn't care who it was with, because she knew that whomever her soulmate turned out to be, she'd naturally find them to be the most beautiful person in the world.

Regardless of the standards of beauty to the rest of society, a person always looked upon their soulmate with eyes incapable of judgement or ridicule. When a person found their soulmate, they were always the most beautiful person in their eyes.

The second reason was because she was nearly twenty, and she'd been waiting for no fewer than eight years now.
People typically found soulmates when they were between the ages of fifteen and twenty-five, though in some rarer cases, the wait could drag into the early thirties. But in this world, everyone who was meant to have a soulmate would find them early enough where they could live out the majority of their lives together.

Yang had used to fear that finding a soulmate early on meant you could both die early as well, but she'd lived long enough now to understand that the time of encounter had nothing to do with the time of departure.

Yang fretted she might be one of the late-finders, who didn't get the chance to fall in love with the person she was destined to be with until she was thirty-five or even forty. Though she knew they'd be worth waiting for, she wanted to live out her youth together with the person who loved her unconditionally. But as her twentieth year approached, she was beginning to dread her own age.

The third and final reason she wanted to find her soulmate was something else entirely. It was a matter of curiosity, not only about what it would feel like to finally find that person, but also to discover what the secret was.

Everyone who had found their soulmate ever since this world had existed described it as being the most wonderful feeling imaginable.

But there was also a hidden secret to finding that special person.

It was something that couldn't be explained, no matter how hard everyone who'd experienced it might try to describe it.

It was something Yang had been born with the desire to discover, whereas people like Ruby had no interest in it.

Yang wanted to know what the secret was.

She couldn't wait to experience it for herself one day.

She just hoped it would be sooner rather than later.

. . .

Her college campus was enormous. There were maps all over the place, but people – even those who weren't freshmen or transfer students – always seemed to get lost anyway.

Yang had been here for two and a half semesters now, and luckily she knew all the locations of her classes. But one morning, she'd been thrown for a loop when her 8AM had been cancelled.

Once she'd realized she'd gotten out of bed, made herself presentable in halfway-decent clothing, and walked half a mile just to find a note on the door, she let out a long groan. Part of her was relieved since this meant she'd have the rest of the morning off, but the rest of her was irked she'd gone through the trouble of showing up in the first place.

So she decided to take her time meandering back to the dorm building, offering help to flustered people who'd gotten misplaced on their way to classes. There seemed to be an influx of confused people today, so Yang decided getting up early hadn't all been for nothing if it meant she could help them out.

She helped a girl with Faunus doe ears find the administration building, helped a pair of boys remember which direction the different parking lots were in, and even helped a substitute professor find her class' building.

All the while, she made sure to scan everyone she passed by, trying to make eye contact, wondering if any one of them would make her feel something she'd never felt before, something indescribable.

Of the thousands of people on her campus, a lot of them already had their soulmates, and some people were even bonded of groups of three or four.

But no matter how long or hard Yang wandered and searched, no one really stood out to her.

She knew it would happen when the time was right. She hated to feel impatient about it, or like she was being made to suffer longer than some people, because she knew there were plenty of others who'd been waiting even longer than she had.

She just grew more and more excited every day, but with that excitement came a little more anxiety.

What if she was the one screw-up in the entire universe who didn't find her soulmate? What if she was dysfunctional, unlovable? What if she wasn't someone worth finding?

As the thoughts that usually seized her mind at night now crept into her mind during broad daylight, Yang felt a sudden wave of exhaustion. She had a seat on a nearby bench and hunched forward, holding her head in her hands, heaving a long sigh.

/It's fine. It'll happen. One day. It has to... right?/

She'd lost count of just how many times she'd given herself this internal speech over the past eight years. But she just had to keep reminding herself that all of this would be worth it someday.

She couldn't consider any other option. She would find her soulmate.

Maybe it wouldn't be on this campus, or even in this town, or in this kingdom. But she'd find them, somehow.

She knew that all of the moments of depression and anxiety she'd suffered all this time would all be worth it in the end when she finally met them.

But for now, she would just have to keep searching-

"Excuse me?"

Yang realized that out of the usual chatter of the campus, that particular voice was too close to be addressing anyone other than her. The voice sounded female, clear, but a little strained, as though she were in a hurry.

Yang opened her eyes and looked down at the fancy white shoes of the next person she'd help find their way. She flicked her eyes up over the sky-blue dress to where long white hair framed pale cheeks and a light pink scar.

"Can I help you...?"

But the words fell limply from her lips, meek and thin as they dropped away to somewhere unimportant.

The other girl had been looking over her shoulder until now, her expression slightly distressed, despite the professional air she was clearly striving for.

"I was wondering if you-"

But as she turned her head to meet Yang's eyes-

It... It happened.

Yang didn't even know what it was. She couldn't describe it.

So that's why she knew exactly what it was.

It was like... like the world held still for a moment, and simply focused on the two of them.

It felt like she could feel miracles happening all around her.

She felt like she could hear new flowers blooming all around the world, taste life-giving rainfall in some arid, far-off land, see the answers to questions she'd never even asked.

And then, there was the answer to the one question she'd been asking all her life.

The secret.

The answer to that secret.

When she looked up into her soulmates eyes, she witnessed something she clearly recognized for herself, but something she'd never be able to describe to others.

There was a new color in that girl's eyes, a color Yang had never known to exist until now. She couldn't even fathom how any color other than the ones she'd seen all her life could exist. She never thought it was possible. She never could have imagined it.

But now, she was living it.

It was right in front of her, the most beautiful color she'd ever seen.

And it was all for her, and her alone.

In the eyes of the most beautiful person she'd ever met.

And it was clear by the shock painted on the other girl's face that she was seeing the same thing in Yang.

She, too, was seeing a color she'd never dreamed of, was seeing a person she'd always thought was impossible to find.

And for the first time, all at once, Yang understood what love was.

It was different from Ruby's love or their father's, different from Blake's love or the love between herself and any of her other friends.

This was a different kind of love, one she'd only ever be able to feel with her soulmate, and one Yang could only ever let her feel.

To know she was finally special to someone in a way no one else could ever be.

To know she could make someone see and feel things they'd never seen or felt before...

This was the secret she'd been searching for her whole life. And after years and years of searching, in the end, it had found her.

Yang forgot how to breathe for a moment. She was starstruck by this beautiful girl, this beautiful moment in time. Every time she blinked, she was upset about having missed a split second of admiring her.

The other girl seemed to be just as dazzled, even though Yang was well-aware of the fact that she looked like she'd just rolled out of bed, because she basically had. But that didn't seem to matter to her soulmate.

The long moment of silence passed them by, until they realized there was still a world around them, and things to be said and done.

It was difficult to be coaxed out of that wondrous sensation – one neither of them would ever experience again – and brought back to reality. It was a little disorienting, as they were both still getting used to the new colors they were seeing now, and would be seeing in each other's eyes for the rest of their lives from this point onward.

Even so, Yang did her best to find her voice, hoarse and disbelieving as it was.

"I... Y-You... Oh my god..."

It was hardly elegant, but it was a start.

The other girl, who appeared to be all seriousness and stoicism, was also still shellshocked. She gazed wide-eyed at Yang, still seated on the bench, her own lips trembling slightly.

"I... You... You're m-my..."

Yang could see the tears welling up in her eyes, and when she took a second, she realized she could feel a sting behind her own nose as well. On shaky legs, she stood from the bench, her gaze now shifting to look down at the other girl.

"I, uh... I'm Yang."

The white-haired girl blinked, processing the name of the person she'd been waiting her whole entire life to meet. Now, it was her turn to give Yang that same euphoria.

"Weiss," she said simply.

But to Yang, it was so much more than that. Hearing her soulmate's name made her feel like everything would be all right. Everything.

She felt like she could breathe – really breathe – for the first time in her life.

She didn't even know what to say, where to start at this instance of new beginnings.

"Weiss..." she murmured. "Weiss... Weiss..."

She just needed to say it, so it would become real to her.

She heard Weiss repeating Yang's name softly as well.

"Yang... Well, I... I-I'd been about to ask you if you could help me... find the Science building... but I think perhaps I might have to ask you about the nurse's office instead. My heart... is going crazy."

"Then that makes two of us," Yang chuckled nervously, but it was the good kind of nerves she was feeling. "Do... Do you really want me to take you there? I-I mean I could... take you anywhere..."

She didn't just mean on campus, either.

This was the start of the rest of their lives. There was so much ahead of them now...

Weiss shook her head.

"That's... That's all right. I think I'll be fine actually if I just... sit here for a while. With you."

"Yeah?" With a hopeful tone, a smile spread across Yang's lips. "Yeah! Yeah, please, sit with me!"

She offered her hand, and Weiss accepted.

Their first contact.

It felt like coming home after being gone for longer than you could remember.

Weiss sat down beside her, and for a moment longer, both girls just stared, soaked in the feelings, the reality of it all.

It had just been another normal day for the two of them, but from this moment on, it would mark many wonderful anniversary celebrations.

They'd both have a lot to tell their families tonight.

But first, for now, they got started on telling each other everything they'd ever wanted to know.

Their hands curled together in each other's laps as their voices resonated in each other's hearts.

Their souls, after years of being dormant and gray, were now aglow.

And their eyes shone with secret colors no one else would ever know – the colors of their eternity.

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A/N: I'm sorry it has to end here! I feel this would work best as a longer story, but I think I got too carried away with it for this smaller commission haha oops. I just made up the ideas and concepts for it this morning, so I hope you enjoyed it!