Beneath The Moon

An idea I had for a while and that I wrote down about 3-4 months ago. Finally, it's time to post it!

Genres: Angst/Romance

Disclaimer: I do not own RWBY.

EARLY  RELEASE  FOR  PATRONS.

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							Beneath The Moon

The White Fang never left Blake alone.

Perhaps they did in a physical aspect for the most part, but it was the mental torment that dragged her down the most, suffocated her mind with the memories of all the heinous things she herself had done while ensnared under their misguided jurisdiction.

That part of her past was something she could never forget no matter how hard she tried, no matter what methods she implemented. She could never find joy to overlap that pain, nor could she ever experience more fear to override the horrors she'd once known.

The White Fang would always have its own stolen corner in her mind.

The darkest.

The coldest.

The most unforgiving.

And Blake knew.

She knew from the reoccurring nightmares that had only increased in frequency and severity as of late.

She knew from the constant nervousness that seemed to cling to her like a second skin, causing her to jump at every call of her name, to keep looking over her shoulder like a hunted animal.

She knew from the nausea she felt as she walked into the dorm room that evening to find it vacant.

It was exactly how she'd left it earlier that morning-

-all except the hauntingly familiar red mark on the window.

Blake rushed to that first, feeling her heart drop to her stomach, throwing the curtain aside to get a good look at what had been painted onto the glass.

She choked.

The familiar roaring canine face, slashed with three claw marks across the image.

She could smell instantly that it was painted in blood.

Blake let out a short scream, throwing herself at the glass like one gone mad, using her arms and whatever else she could reach to wipe off the blood, to smear their horrifying mark.

They were here.

She knew they'd find her sooner or later.

But she never in her worst nightmares expected it would be like this.

She racked her mind for where each of her teammates was supposed to be, pacing the room frantically as her ears twitched madly beneath the bow.

/Ruby... Ruby and Yang are out together... a-and Weiss-/

She jumped at the motion in her pocket before grabbing her scroll instantly. She was getting a call.

Needing to swallow down bile, Blake felt a shudder tear through her. Shaking fingers reached out and missed the button the first time, but eventually she managed to answer the call.

There was a brief instance of pause, where her field of vision was naught but green static and broken images.

Then, a face came into view.

"Blake?"

It was Ruby. She wasn't hurt, or at least didn't appear to be.

"R-Ruby..."

Blake released a heavy sigh, feeling her legs tremble.

"Yeah!" Her leader gave a thumbs-up. "It's me! Uh, I just wanted to tell you that Yang and I are gonna be late coming back. There's tons of people here, so we're going to have to wait a while."

Blake swallowed and inhaled deeply.

"Yang's... Yang's with you?"

"Hm?" Ruby tilted her head to one side. "Yeah! She came out with me today to shop for supplies, remember? Do you wanna talk to her?" Here, her leader paused and squinted a bit at the screen. "Hey Blake, um... are you okay? Maybe it's just the screen but you look kinda sick. Maybe you should lay down."

Blake had made sure that Ruby wouldn't be able to see any of the blood from her screen, so the Faunus girl just nodded quickly.

"Yeah. I will. Just... can I see Yang quickly?"

She needed to make sure.

"Yeah sure, hold on!" Ruby shifted a bit and pulled a familiar face on-screen.

"Hiya, partner!" Yang was grinning. "What's up?"

Blake felt herself shiver with relief.

"Thanks, you two. Just... stay there as long as you need to, alright? Don't... don't hurry back."

"Huh? Blake, what-"

But the Faunus girl closed her scroll without another word.

Silence refilled the room, and she was painfully aware of the pungent stench of blood that wafted about, crimson still coating her arms. The window was still smeared and Blake quickly grabbed a handful of tissues to clean it off.

This was... just an act to scare her.

They knew where she was, but they hadn't done anything.

They were just going to harass her, make her feel the worst level of insecurity imaginable as a consequence for betraying them, make her know she was being watched, even here at a place like Beacon.

That was how the White Fang worked.

But as she cleaned the blood from the cold glass, she noticed the contrast in temperature.

The blood was still warm.

Her mind went back to where it had been before Ruby's call.

/Ruby and Yang... are together... and Weiss.../

Blake felt her throat constrict. She herself had been at the library for a few hours reading.

And Weiss...

Weiss had been here in the room.

Alone.

Blake stumbled, and the pressure her forearms put on the window caused it to open, the hinge hanging loose, clearly violated.

Her stomach lurched, the erratic pounding of her heart deafening in her ears as it echoed through her skull, reverberating until it resulted in physical pain.

The White Fang hadn't simply slaughtered some stray deer in the woods and used its blood to spook her.

It might've been instinct or intuition or a combination of both, but she knew.

She knew whose blood this was.

She grabbed Gambol Shroud, finding difficulty in sheathing it as she pushed open the window and stepped onto the sill. The night air wasn't cold, but she shivered uncontrollably.

Then, she jumped down, the rush of air and chirps of crickets filling her ears quickly.

The second her boots hit solid ground, she kicked off.

The blood she'd wiped on her arms was deterring her sense of smell, but Blake was following her gut - that terrible, foreboding instinct that led her onward without needing to think about where it was she was being led to.

The school campus was too risky – too many students, too much security. Blake knew they wouldn't have taken her there.

She shed her bow, letting her ears do their job if they could listen past the other discombobulating sounds.

She headed directly into the dark forests surrounding the school, her night vision kicking in and providing a path for her through the undergrowth. Thorns tore at her shaking arms and aching legs, branches whipping past her face.

She didn't have any surefire proof as to where she was taking herself, but she didn't have any other options.

After several torturous minutes of frantic running, she was beginning to think she should turn back, alert the school staff...

/But what could they do?/ she asked herself.

And besides, judging by the amount of blood back in the room...

Weiss didn't have a lot of time.

Blake couldn't afford to waste a single second more than she already had.

She pushed onward, fighting back stinging tears, swallowing more and more heated bile as it continuously tried to work its way up her throat.

It was then she caught sight of something, a discoloration amongst the shadows, highlighted by a single shaft of silver moonlight. She halted, making not a sound as she dashed over toward the puddle in the dirt, darker than the others made of dew and rainwater.

The smell was unmistakable. This was blood.

"God, no..."

Another wave of nausea heaved in her stomach, but Blake couldn't afford to be sick here.

She hurried onward, panting hard, feeling a few of the tears begin to drip down and slide off her chin. Her lungs were straining and it hurt to breathe, every intake of air felt toxic - stifling.

But Blake kept running, trying to keep quiet and listen and run and focus all at the same time.

They could be anywhere, waiting in ambush...

No. That wasn't the White Fang's style. They'd only play tricks with her mind. They were probably long gone by now.

Blake found more blood, and eventually it got to the point where it was smudged onto every tree in sight, leading her down a certain path. She choked when she realized how much she'd seen, but she didn't stop moving.

Not until she finally found who she was looking for.

Blake skidded to a halt, reaching out to grab hold of the nearest bloodied tree for support as the name tumbled past trembling lips:

"W-Weiss..."

The heiress was... mangled.

Blade marks shredded her entire form in deep, red slashes, cruel crimson against pale white flesh and gentle blue fabrics. She lay crumpled on the ground in a pool of her own blood – or all that was left of it. Her white hair was frayed and matted, her slender figure marred and caked with red, clothes torn, eyes closed.

Unmoving.

Blake screamed, a wrathful cry of anger, horror, and so many more things she didn't even know. She rushed forward, dropping to her knees, feeling the still-warm blood soak her legs.

"Weiss... oh god... It's... It's my fault... I brought them to you..."

Tears. Dozens of them, and they didn't stop.

She reached forward, and it was a miracle she even managed to touch the heiress, considering how badly Blake was trembling. She scooped Weiss into her lap, cradling her head, pressing her other palm to a gruesome wound in her teammate's stomach.

Weiss' face was covered in scratches, the once-flawless skin spattered in drops of blood and bits of dirt and debris from the forest.

Blake guessed they'd snuck into the room to take whatever they could. They'd brutally attacked her, dragged her out the window and into the woods to take turns cutting her with different blades. When she looked closer, Blake noticed several bullet wounds as well. The scar over Weiss' left eye had been cut anew, oozing scarlet now overlapping the subtle pink.

Blake knew they'd never go easy on a daughter of Schnee.

"Bastards..." Blake growled thinly. "I'll... I'll..."

/Kill every last one of you.../

But she couldn't say it. She knew she could never live up to those words, even if she wanted to.

Blake crumpled forward and sobbed into Weiss' chest, distraught wails ripping from her throat.

This was all her fault. They'd made an example out of Weiss in her stead, to show what happened when one betrayed the White Fang.

They'd gone after the people Blake cared about.

Weiss' blood was on Blake's hands in every sense of the phrase.

"Weiss... Weiss, no... I'm sorry..." She clung desperately to the heiress' unmoving body. Weiss' skin was clammy and cold, the blood all too warm. "I'm sorry... It's my fault... I did this to you..." Blake whimpered, teeth tearing into her bottom lip until she could taste her own blood, gulping it down, dripping more onto Weiss' clothes.

Her sobs filled the air, but they were too far from the school for anyone who might've been of use to be able to hear it all. "Damn it... Weiss... I-"

A tremor shot through Blake, and she cut herself off. She sobbed bitterly onto the heiress' still chest, tears weighted with guilt. She hadn't even bothered to check for a pulse.

Which was why she coughed in shock when she heard a meek breath pass through Weiss' lungs.

Blake froze for a second before pressing an ear to her collar, trying to quiet herself and listen.

It was so faint, so small and faded, but Weiss' heart was still beating. Just barely.

"Oh my god- Weiss?" Blake sat back, reaching out to caress her cheek. "Weiss? Weiss, can you..."

/Hear me? Please just open your eyes.../

Blake hadn't seen any sense in sharing her aura with the girl before, but now that she knew Weiss was alive, there was damn good reason to.

Keeping one arm beneath Weiss' shoulders, Blake used her free hand to emit her aura, directly onto the worst wound, the gaping gouge in her stomach. She couldn't feel Weiss' aura, and assumed the last shreds of it were still struggling to keep her alive on the most organic levels.

Blake had plenty to spare.

She poured the energy into Weiss, letting it flow throughout her teammate's body. A few of the cuts started to heal, the damaged skin regenerating bit by bit.

Once Blake had managed to stop the bleeding from the worst wound, she moved to the others that lined Weiss' sides and neck and limbs. She left the bullet wounds, knowing the bullets would need to be removed.

If she could manage to save Weiss.

Blake worked relentlessly, refusing to give up on her.

"I won't..." she huffed. "I won't let you die, Weiss. Not like this... Not if I can-"

There was a loud cough, but it wasn't her own. Blake inhaled sharply as she straightened up, eyes fixated on Weiss' face as the girl spurted a mouthful of blood, her entire body jerking as she all but convulsed.

"Weiss-!"

Blake covered the heiress, shielding her with her own body, holding her steady so she wouldn't move as much and reopen her wounds. Weiss' breath was shallow and yet simultaneously heaved, dry and cracked and desperate, like it would stop altogether at any second.

Blake held her until it slowed, the coughs replaced by feeble gasps, blood gurgling in her torn throat. It was as if every breath Weiss tried to take was stolen away by the moonlight illuminating her ashen form.

"Weiss... Weiss, please..." Blake pulled back, pleading, begging.

Her eyes went to Weiss' once more, one thumb brushing away the blood on her cheek, then the trickle from her lip. Weiss didn't move, but Blake could still feel her breathing ever so faintly. She dipped her head back to the girl's collar to seek her heartbeat once more, finding it slow and weak.

But at least she'd found it at all.

Blake pressed her palm over Weiss' heart, emitting her aura again in an effort to support it, strengthen it to some degree - any degree.

"Come on... don't... don't die on me. You can't, Weiss. You just can't..."

Blake didn't know what she'd do with herself if the unspeakable happened.

She couldn't tell if Weiss' pulse was getting stronger, or if her mind was playing tricks on her. Weiss could've been long gone and Blake was just fooling herself.

She was sobbing unstoppably, disoriented and exhausted, terrified and helplessly desperate.

It was only when she was too distraught to go on when she finally stopped her aura-sharing.

She pulled Weiss up into her arms and wept, bawling apologies and promises that were lost on the wind, sucked away by the starlight to someplace she could never reach.

And then an angel spoke her name.

"Bla...ke..."

It was a broken, mortal voice, not the calming, confident voice of some spirit.

It was fragile and scared.

Alive.

Weiss was still clinging stubbornly to life.

And Blake swore on her soul she'd help her hold on.

She pulled away, resting Weiss' head in her lap.

"Weiss...?"

Her free hand quickly returned to Weiss' chest, and Blake unlocked the flow of her aura once more, determined to make a difference. Weiss' eyebrows furrowed, her lips twitching and parting as she gasped. It was painful to watch, to listen to, and Blake held her a little closer, caressing her face gently.

She wasn't going to tell Weiss she'd be alright.

Blake didn't want to risk the last thing she ever told Weiss being a lie.

She waited, feeling the fluttering pulse beneath her palm, realizing how simple it could be for it to cease altogether. Blake started to wonder if it would.

Agonizing moments passed, and Blake felt the heiress' heartbeat fluctuating, faltering and then picking up speed, only to return to a faint murmur once more. It was nothing short of a miracle when Blake noticed the girl's eyelids lift, revealing dull pools of blue.

But there was no vibrancy there, and whatever light that had once been present was now shrouded, struggling-

-fading fast.

"B-Blake..."

Another gasp, and Weiss lost her breath, whimpering in pain as sheer agony sent shockwaves shooting through her body.

But something told her it wasn't as bad as it should have been.

She could feel Blake's life force fighting alongside her own, continuously pulling Weiss up to keep her from staying under long enough to drown.

But Weiss didn't know if she could keep it up, if either of them could...

Blake sobbed her teammate's name again, lowering her head, not sure if she needed Weiss to speak or save her precious, fleeting breath.

"Weiss..." she whispered. "I won't... I won't let you..." She felt the heiress' chest trembling beneath her palm, and Blake relieved as much pressure as she could afford to, continuing to share her aura. She kept her eyes on Weiss', praying they'd open again.

Blake was never one to pray, but she'd gladly throw away her pride and her beliefs if Weiss could just look at her one more time.

/Please.../

More waiting.

More wheezing breaths.

More tears.

And then-

"Blake..."

Her voice croaked as Weiss managed to lift her eyelids once more. Her inhales were meek, her exhales short, which resulted in the fractured tumble of words past her pale lips:

"I-I-I-I d-don't- ha-aa..." She couldn't go on right away, and Weiss caught her breath for a minute before trying again. "B-Blake, I d-d-don't... ngh..." She was shivering violently.

Blake bent forward, blinking back hot tears as she tried to make sense of Weiss' pleas.

The heiress' eyes looked hazily up to her teammate; Blake was shaken and run down with exhaustion, and the heiress knew she was sacrificing a lot of her aura for Weiss' sake. Blake was in pain, and she didn't want that.

Weiss made one final effort.

"J-Just... let me go, Blake... let me go..."

Blake could feel her heart sink all the way to the pit of her stomach. More tears rushed down her cheeks, and she shook her head vigorously.

"No- Weiss, never! I won't..." She cried, bowing her head. Her flattened ears perked up slightly to catch Weiss' next shuddering breath:

"Th-Then... give me a r-r... a reason... to stay..."

She needed something to hold onto, something to convince herself that she needed to remain here.

Blake understood immediately.

And so she gave Weiss the first and only response she could think of.

She leaned down and pressed her lips to Weiss', a feather-light contact that lasted only a few seconds before she pulled back to let Weiss breathe.

"Don't go, Weiss. Please..." she begged. "I need you. I love you..."

It wasn't a lie, either. It never had been. She'd just been too scared, too hesitant to admit it until it'd almost been too late.

It took the prospect of Weiss' /death/ to motivate Blake to confess.

She was disgusted with herself.

But the look in Weiss' eyes then made her believe it had all been worth it to wait.

The heiress was clearly shocked, enough to want to hold on a minute longer just to hear those words again, feel that warmth again. She'd never expected it from Blake, but she'd wanted it from her more than anything.

She wanted it again.

It was definitely something worth living for.

Blake read her unspoken message and leaned down once more, kissing Weiss softly, sharing her breath, pushing air into the heiress' lungs.

Weiss accepted it, gasping when she could, but the pain hardly mattered anymore. She felt tears in her eyes just before they started to drip down her cheeks. When she looked up, she found Blake was in much the same state.

"B-Blake..." she panted. "D-Don't let me go... I want to... t-tell you, too..."

Blake nodded, wiping her own eyes and then Weiss', being mindful of her wounds.

What better way to rise above the White Fang than save the life they'd tried so adamantly to steal from her? And what better way to spit on their efforts than to show them how deeply she loved a Schnee?

And Weiss felt it too, that this would be the most satisfying revenge and the best reason to live to see another day. Loving Blake was the best reason to hang on.

She sobbed softly into the next kiss, but her breath was gaining strength. Blake could feel the girl's heartbeat more clearly now, its persistent thrumming wavering less and less.

She couldn't stop kissing her.

For fear of losing her and for joy of loving her, she couldn't stop kissing Weiss.

Slowly, she lifted the heiress into her arms and stood, swallowing the whimpers of pain with another kiss.

"I love you, Weiss. I'm not letting you go."

The Faunus girl began making her way back through the woods as swiftly as she dared, trying not to jostle the girl in her arms. Weiss blinked her eyes open to seek the gold of Blake's, illuminated by the silver of the moonlight.

"I... I'll tell you, too. I-I'll confess properly... after I wake up..." she promised. "I'll... I'll wake up... won't I...?"

Blake paused only for a second, to kiss her one more time on the lips, then the bridge of her nose, then her forehead.

"You will. I know you will," she said as she started off again. "And when you do, please tell me."

Weiss sighed, going limp in Blake's arms, and for a second, the Faunus girl was nervous that the life had left her.

But she looked down and noticed the faint curl on Weiss' lips, the tiniest of smiles.

Blake dipped her head again for another kiss and felt Weiss' breath, heard her heart - all proof she was going to make it.

She hurried onward.

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Hours later, Blake sat at Weiss' bedside, she herself having been patched up a bit by the nurses earlier.

The machines beeped and blinked, indicating that Weiss was alive, that her heart was beating. The mask over her mouth helped her breathe, though it prevented Blake from kissing her.

But once Weiss woke, she would remove it so she could tell Blake what she'd promised to tell her.

Until then, Blake would wait at her bedside, kissing her hand, her cheek, and wherever else she could. She told Weiss over and over again that she loved her, and waited patiently until Weiss could tell her the same.

Their budding love had been rushed into blossoming that night, their quiet promise beneath the moon.

It had saved both their lives.

It was a timid affection, laced with uncertainty and apprehension.

But it was also warm and tender, and they both knew they'd never relinquish it.

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A/N: There were just certain lines that popped into my head that I wanted to put into writing, and this was the idea I got from it. I hope it was alright!