The Beast And The Fairy (ch11)

Thanks to anyone who's been keeping up with this one, I really appreciate it!

Disclaimer: I do not own RWBY.

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						Chapter 11. The Longest Night

There was so much noise.

Blake's ears were ringing and reverberating with every last one of them.

The snarls and barks of the wolves, the pounding of her own heart, the rush of air as she jumped down from the tree...

And Weiss' scream.

Blake didn't need to think twice. She'd already jumped down even before the wolves had charged the defenseless fairy.

Now, all Weiss could do was lift her arms in an effort to defend herself, a thin, frail layer of white skin and clothes the only things protecting her from a brutal flurry of claws and fangs.

Well, perhaps those weren't the only things now.

Weiss screamed, because she could feel the wolves' breath at her throat, but she was still pinned in place by her hair band, motionless. She knew it would only be a matter of seconds before the pain started shredding her apart.

She closed her eyes.

But the claws never reached her.

There was still the rush of furious motion all around her, sounds of growls and whimpers and shouts filling her ears until they burned.

A familiar voice told her why she was still in one piece.

Upon reopening her flinching blue eyes, Weiss confirmed her fears.

Blake was there now, shielding Weiss with her own body, just as she'd done before. She'd procured a knife somehow, likely one she'd kept hidden on her person until now. In her other hand was a pointed stone, probably the only feasible weapon she could find in the heat of the moment.

With a furious battle cry, she swung both weapons around on all sides, deflecting the wolves one by one as they pounced.

Weiss could only cower behind her defender's back, arms still raised and trembling. Thorns still stabbed at her limbs and dress, and she could feel blood trickling down in more places than one.

But she dared not move, lest she destroy her mother's hair band or somehow interfere with Blake's concentration. After all, the latter was the only thing keeping her alive at the moment.

So she remained as still as possible, doing her best to swallow her sobs of terror.

And just a foot ahead of her, Blake valiantly fought off the wolves, using whatever she could to keep them at bay. She didn't aim her blades to kill, but the slashes she made on them were more than enough to warrant several of the animals running off whimpering.

Blake used whatever she could – her hands, her feet, even her shoulder at one point – to shove them away. She let out a few snarls of her own, guttural sounds Weiss had never heard from her before, but could assume would be very effective sounds when warding off aggressive animals.

All of Blake's combined efforts seemed to be working. With another shout, she lunged at the nearest wolf with her knife, but quickly recoiled, faking it out enough to have it turn tail and scurry off.

By then, only a few remained. Perhaps they'd gotten tired of this hunt, or perhaps they didn't want to risk being cut up, but they eventually retreated as well, slinking away into the darkness to merge with the shadows and silence.

And then all was eerily still.

If Weiss hadn't been shaking so badly and she hadn't been watching Blake gasp for breath, she might've believed it had all just been an illusion.

But it became all too real when her companion suddenly collapsed to her knees.

Weiss cried out to her in a fluster.

"Blake?!"

The beast girl groaned, hunching forward and dropping her weapons. Instead, she used her hands to clutch her sides and arms, crumpling in on herself as the pain and exhaustion from her fight took hold.

Weiss felt even more tears run down her face. Blake was only a few feet away from her, and yet she was still ensnared in these cursed thorns.

She quickly reached back behind her head, fingers fumbling with the brambles to try and free her hair. More cuts appeared along her arms and legs as she thrashed about, tearing her dress free only to get it snagged once more. Her wings were also filled with tiny punctures now, the delicate membrane having been ripped in all different places. Weiss sobbed again as she tried to wring herself free and get to Blake.

"Blake, ah-!"

Another briar yanked at her hair, and she could hear the slight tearing sound coming from her hair band.

Weiss' voice had Blake titling her head a little, wincing as she opened one eye to look back at the tangled fairy. She looked like a butterfly snagged in a spider's web.

"Weiss..."

"Blake-" she gasped. "J-Just hold on..."

But she wasn't sure if she could. A wave of nausea surged over Blake, crashing over her hard enough to flatten her ears. Intangible as it was, it still managed to knock her to the ground where she lie on her side, panting meekly.

The sight of her lying there prone was what wrenched Weiss' heart hardest of all.

"Blake!" she wailed.

In her desperation, she put Blake above all else now.

With a powerful pull of all the weight in her body – light as it was – she managed to yank herself free. She closed her eyes, knowing what was to come.

The sound of fabrics tearing near her ears told her that the hair band her mother had crafted for her had been shredded.

But Weiss didn't look back.

With its binding gone now, her hair was released like an overflowing silver waterfall. She wrestled her way out of the thicket without a second thought, bursting through the final few vines and dropping to her knees at Blake's side.

"Blake!" she gasped. "Where-"

But she didn't need to finish asking to get her answer.

Long claw marks ran up Blake's right arm and covered both of her legs. Blood was still leaking out and seeping into the moonlit grass, dyeing the silver light in a sickening purple.

Weiss could tell that Blake had been stricken at least three times, but she knew the beast girl had lasted three times longer than Weiss ever would have.

Bearing a fairy's delicate weight and fragile stature, Weiss would have gone down after only the first hit. Fairies were more akin to birds than any other creature; a single impact would easily bowl them over and jeopardize their wings, hence why they tended to use forged, long-range weapons to defend themselves.

But Blake, being of a broader, more muscular figure, had managed to withstand several attacks from full-grown wolves.

Weiss could only imagine her bravery, her fear, and her pain. She herself was a mess of frazzled hair and clothes, but Blake was awfully still, cringing and curling in on herself as she struggled to catch her breath.

Weiss' heart was hammering with fear now, twice as hard as it had been when she'd been faced with the pack of wolves. For whatever reason, she was more scared for Blake than she had been for her own life just moments ago.

"Blake," she whispered. "Just hold on..." She reached down, passing a small, gentle hand over Blake's side. "I-I used up most of my magics on my barriers, but I th-think I can still use some to heal."

She did her best not to move Blake too much, but needed to turn her over a little to expose her wounds.

The resulting cries of pain had Weiss whimpering more apologies.

Her hands eventually came to rest over the gashes in Blake's arm and legs. Weiss swallowed thickly, choking out a small cough.

Closing her eyes, the fairy tried to concentrate on her remaining magics. There were none left in her body or wings – she'd need a while to replenish those. All that was left were a few strands that had resided within her necklace, and a bit within her clothing and the decorative flowers adorned there.

She drew out every last shred of it that she could and focused it all in her hands before transferring it over to Blake.

And Blake could feel it.

Weiss' magic was cool and small, like a tiny stream flowing over the wounds that burned. It eased the pain, enough for the gashes to stop bleeding and start closing up at an accelerated rate. She could feel the tension gradually leaving her body, her taut expression softening and no longer contorting in an display of agony. Her ears started to go limp with relief, and her breath came easier.

For a long moment, she simply lie there, eyes closed as she accepted all of Weiss' healing magics.

By the time that little stream stopped flowing, Blake couldn't even feel the burns of her wounds any longer.

Slowly, she cracked open her eyes and flashed her gaze down at her knees. The cuts along her legs had all but been patched up, with only a few pink lines left behind to mark where her dire injuries had once been.

She dared to move an arm to push herself up, and the pain that had been there just moments ago had vanished almost completely now. She only swayed a little bit, bringing a hand up to her head to ensure both of her ears were still attached.

A small hand tapped against her shoulder and remained there to help keep her upright.

She finally looked up, finding those tired blue eyes just inches away from her own. Tears were dripping down the fairy's face, shimmering in the moonlight, and Blake was touched beyond words that Weiss would cry for her sake.

"Weiss..." she mumbled. "You... you saved my life..."

Weiss blinked, and another tear fell from each eye.

"And you mine..." she croaked.

Now that Blake's eyes could refocus in the dim moonlight, she could see that Weiss was sweating profusely. Her porcelain skin was coated in a veil of it, her chest and shoulders heaving.

Blake could only imagine the physical exertion associated with using up the last of one's magics.

Carefully, quietly, she opened her arms and pulled Weiss into a soft embrace, cradling her with a fondness she couldn't explain or justify. She could feel Weiss shaking again, the result of all the hectic things she'd just endured and survived, no doubt.

Blake patted gently up and down the girl's back, taking extra care with her wings. She could see the cuts and scrapes that coated Weiss' body and clothes, even felt the rips in her wings. She knew the girl had used up the last of her magics not to heal herself, but to save Blake.

She felt the hesitation of small hands clutching at her back, and then felt as Weiss' grip on her tightened until it was unrelenting.

"B-Blake..." she gasped, breath hitching. "I-I'm-"

"Shh..." she purred. "You don't have to talk right now. We can do that later. For now just calm your heart."

Blake could feel it more clearly than she could feel her own. Weiss' pulse was rapid and straining, the results of the crushing fear of being chased by the wolves, then trapped in the thicket, and finally using up the last of her magics.

In any other situation, she felt Weiss would have stubbornly refused and gone on speaking anyway. But now, Blake felt the fairy nod her head and remain still, pressing as closely to her as possible.

They both took a moment to breathe, savoring the cool nighttime breeze as it danced around them in the whispers of the winds.

But stronger than the chill of the night was the warmth kindling between them.

Despite the fear that had overridden them and the blood that had been shed, their embrace was soft and tender.

They waited until breathing came easier again, until the trembling stopped and the pulses slowed.

Another breeze had Blake's scraggly onyx hair lifting slightly, but she noticed Weiss' more than her own. Silver strands drifted up and around the fairy's shoulders, soft and silken like strands of cobweb. It was the first time Blake noted that Weiss' hair had been let down from its ponytail.

Curiosity got the better of her, and she gingerly pulled away to ask.

"Weiss... why couldn't you tear free? I know you were scared and it was really difficult... but I feel there was another reason. Can you tell me...?"

She didn't want to force Weiss into revealing things better left unsaid, but Blake saw no harm in requesting an answer.

It took her a moment, but Weiss eventually sat back, reaching a hand behind her head as if to confirm the looseness of her hair.

Then, without a word, she pushed herself to her feet and padded over to the thicket.

Blake's gaze followed her, watching as Weiss bent down to pick up some tiny objects. Upon closer inspection, Blake discovered them to be the remnants of flowers, tiny white and blue and purple petals that had been torn to pieces in the fray.

Weiss painstakingly collected every petal, every stem, every leaf, until her palm was filled with them. She returned to Blake and sank to her knees once more.

"This hair band..." she murmured. "My mother had made it for me. It was one of my treasures..."

Her words had Blake's heart sinking, her tail and ears drooping. Blake still had both of her parents back at home, and she knew they were probably worried sick about her. She couldn't imagine losing either of them.

"And you..." she rasped. "You wouldn't break it to free yourself... but you broke it... so you could come help me...?"

Blake was in disbelief. Surely there was some other explanation behind it all?

But Weiss didn't deny her assumption. In fact, she nodded, locks of silver slipping down over her shoulder as she did so.

"It's strange..." she whispered. "I don't think Mother would be upset with me if she knew I'd destroyed it in favor of saving you. I think she'd understand." She pulled the broken flowers to her chest and shed a few more tears. "The magics that resided within it are gone now. The flowers will die..." Here, she blinked her sky-blue eyes open once more and turned them on Blake. "But you shall live."

Blake felt as though she'd just been blessed by words of prophecy. Weiss had given up her greatest and most precious treasure for Blake's sake. For the sake of a beast, one of the species the fairies had been on the brink of war with for many seasons now.

That left only one question in Blake's mind.

"Why...?"

She wasn't sure if she was expecting an answer or not. And she wasn't sure if Weiss could give her one.

Slowly, Blake reached forward, extending her hand toward Weiss. She curled her fingers and gently brushed the backs of her knuckles over the girl's cheeks, catching her tears and clearing them away. Weiss closed her eyes and leaned into the touch, her pale skin and shimmering hair highlighted silver in the moonlight.

"I'm not sure..." she confessed.

Blake pulled her in once more, and Weiss didn't resist her.

"Neither am I," she murmured. "But I'm... not sure if we have to be..."

With a motion as effortless as drawing breath, she leaned forward and pressed her lips softly to Weiss' temple.

With a sigh, the fairy tucked her face into the side of Blake's neck and rested her head.

Blake stroked her fingers through the river of white hair, gingerly tracing the outlines of Weiss' wings, the most delicate part of her body. Weiss had never let anyone else but her mother touch them before.

Weiss hugged the beast girl's torso, feeling a familiar tail coiling protectively around her waist.

Again, they remained still, like statues of two star-crossed lovers engraved eternally in a display of affection they could never reveal to the rest of the world. The sounds of the night enveloped them – the chirps of the crickets in the surrounding bushes, the songs of the frogs in the distant river, and the rush of the air on the wind.

Their moment was so fragile, so fleeting, it was almost ethereal, like it could dissipate any second now.

Though, when both girls considered it, they wanted it to remain for longer than they cared to think about.

Each passing heartbeat was a second closer to the end of their embrace, just as it was also another precious second to remember.

But like the night itself inevitably would, their moment came to an end.

The silence was interrupted by a patter of paw-steps crashing through the bushes. Weiss and Blake parted and looked up to find two familiar figures rushing toward them.

"Hey!" Yang called out, skidding to a halt. "You guys okay?"

Weiss took a moment to wipe her arm over her eyes while Blake replied.

"More or less. What about you two?"

"We're fine!" Ruby reassured. "But now that they're gone we should find somewhere to spend the rest of the night."

"You're right."

Blake drew away from Weiss for the moment to find her balance. Her legs still shook a little bit, but the healed wounds did wonders for her now.

Once she was one her feet, she collected the two weapons she'd used to fight off the wolves and slipped them back into the small holster tied around her thigh.

At last, she returned to Weiss and offered both hands.

The fairy accepted without protest as Blake pulled her to her feet. The little flowers that had once been her hair band were still cradled in her palm, and Weiss slipped them into the sash around her waist. She hoped that rejuvenating them with a bit of magic once she returned home might spare them.

She kept ahold of Blake's hand as they set out to seek shelter until morning. But after the harrowing experience they'd just had, none of them thought tree-climbing was the best of ideas.

They didn't end up having to look too far and decided to sleep in the thicket where the brambles and thorns would keep any other intruders at bay.

Yang offered to go in first. Her sturdy hide and thick pelt weren't affected by the thorns at all, and she cleared a path for the others to follow through. Ruby curled up beside her sister in a pile of fur, dragging over a few fallen leaves to form a makeshift bed of sorts.

Blake lowered herself not far away, clearing a space on the ground large enough to lay herself down on. She watched Weiss with observant eyes, easily able to discern the fairy's discomfort being surrounded by the very thorns that had nearly gotten her killed.

But Weiss eventually sat down, pulling her knees to her chest before burying her face in her dress. Blake perched herself up on one elbow and spoke softly to her.

"Are you cold?"

Weiss' body spoke for itself as a shiver shot through her.

"Usually... my blankets will keep me warm at night. The last two nights without them, my magics took over and worked to keep the cold at bay. But tonight..."

She had nothing.

Blake refused to let Weiss fall asleep cold and shivering.

"Come sleep by me," she offered, patting the space beside her.

Weiss gave her a tired look, but it wasn't wary or distrustful – not anymore. It was more uncertain than anything.

Just like Blake was, Weiss was scared to kindle whatever spark had ignited between them.

Whatever these feelings were, it surely wouldn't go over well when they got back home.

It would only cause them more pain.

Weiss knew as much, and Blake did too.

But right now, they weren't home. There was no one to judge them here, no one to persecute them.

So Weiss moved close and laid herself down facing Blake, curling herself into the beast girl's embrace.

Blake wasted no time in pulling her close, shielding Weiss from the breeze and sharing her own body warmth.

Neither spoke a word as they wrapped each other in their arms that night, shafts of moonlight slicing down to bathe them in broken pools of silver.

They stayed awake for as long as their enervated bodies would allow, straining to relish each warm moment, striving to remember what it felt like.

For they knew it wouldn't be long before they'd have to forget.

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A/N: Don't forget to remind Dash how amazing her AU is~ I happy I can write for it!