When White Roses Sleep

“I’m tired.”

It’s incredible how two simple words can simultaneously describe so much and so little. How together they can describe whether someone is simply in dire need of rest, or that they’re emotionally overburdened to the point of exhaustion.

Weiss, unfortunately, neatly fit into both descriptions at the moment.

The young huntress turned over in her bed several times, desperately trying to find a comfortable position to sleep in before finally giving up and opening her eyes to the dark cramped sleeping quarters she had been confined to for the night. The girl halfheartedly glanced over to the bedroom window and upon discovering that snow was still falling from a black night sky she cast her eyes down the soft white glow that provided the only source of illumination in the room.

“Why aren’t you working?”

Weiss mumbled to herself tiredly before starting to get out of bed. The young girl attempted to navigate  her way out of the multiple layers of sheets she had buried herself in but in her current state of physical and mental exhaustion she instead ended up falling to the floor with painful thud, causing her to land face-to-face with the ghostly abomination she had hidden underneath her bed.

After the turbulent events of the past few days Weiss discovered she had developed some problems sleeping. Since leaving the farm she had spent most nights tossing and turning in bed till morning, and on the few nights when she did manage to fall asleep her mind was plagued by nightmares of losing her friends or sister.

Weiss forced herself to her feet and started putting her bed back in order, she needed to put that creature out of her mind. Weiss despised the fact that she had summoned one of those monsters, but the Apathy was the only thing she’d found that allowed her to get a peaceful sleep. Ironic considering that it was those things that caused her these issues in the first place.

Weiss stepped back from her bed satisfied that the sheets and pillows had be properly reordered.

“Maybe I could risk summoning a second one.”

The huntress thought to herself, dismayed at the idea of creating another Apathy but also curious if she actually could summon multiple Grimm.

Her thoughts were interrupted by a sudden soft knock at the door.

Weiss shuffled over in the direction of the sound and after a moments hesitation slowly opened her bedroom door to reveal a shadowy hallway warmly lit by candlelight, and a red haired girl who’s face wore an expression of both exhaustion and concern.

“Ruby? What are you doing still awake?”

“I hear a noise coming from your room, I just wanted to make sure you were ok.”

Before Weiss could respond Ruby suddenly barged past her while letting out an enormous yawn and dove straight into the bed she just finished making.

“Anyway, it looks like everything’s just fine in here.”

Ruby said as she wrapped herself up tightly in a bundle of sheets.

“I’m gonna go back to bed, see you in the morning Weiss.”

The other huntress stared at her friend in shock for a moment before she could form a proper reply.

“Um, Ruby, that’s my bed.”

“Uh, huh.”

“So, are you going to get out of it?”

“Why, we used to share beds back at Beacon?”

“Those were bunk beds.”

“Not all the time.”

Weiss glowered thinking back to the handful of times when, for one weird reason or another, she had been forced to sleep next to one of her friends. Initially the the thought had disgusted her, but as she grew closer to her teammates, those rare occasions actually became… comforting. And when she slept with Ruby…

After a few moments hesitation Weiss finally climbed into bed with her energetic friend. Annoyed at the Apathy for forcing this situation upon her, but also somewhat relieved to see the girl she had lost in her nightmares over the past few nights was lying right next to her, safe and happy.

Just as Weiss felt herself relaxing, Ruby suddenly decided to turn over and trapped her in a death grip. Causing Weiss’s entire body to go rigid.

“You're warm.”

Ruby mumbled into the other girl’s chest as she let out a contented sigh and seemed to fully fall asleep.

The words and actions of her red-headed friend caused a thousand different emotions to flood into Weiss’s mind, and every single one of them contributed to the repose she whispered back.

“Ruby…. I’m tired.”