If It Be Thusly (Weiss Schnee x Reader)

"Thus Is Life," She Said

Moonlight pours down from the night sky and floods into Weiss' bedroom through the window. Her curtains, embroidered with snowflakes, gently move with the winter breeze. The only thing moving apart from them is her chest, gently rising and falling with the rhythm of her breathing. Yet despite the serenity and silence, she is not asleep. Instead, she stares at her ceiling and shifts herself around her bed every ten minutes. It's impossible to sleep when her mind is haunted by memories of what Yushan told her—of what happened to you.

She turns over and tries to shut her eyes, but every time she starts drifting away, she imagines you peeling away your own scales. Little white chips of keratin, each stained with flecks of blood, scattered on a wooden floor. It makes a vile feeling arise in her stomach, like blood and bile is mixing inside of her. She groans and buries her head into her pillow. There's nothing she can achieve by worry, she tells herself. There's nothing she can do. Gods, is this what it feels like to actually care about someone? She groans again. This is a new feeling and she doesn't like it. She misses when she was more selfish and didn't care for anybody but herself. That was an easier time. Easier, yet lonelier. Turns out, things that make you feel happy also often make you feel anxious. She spins around again and sighs. The moonlight outside invades her room and makes her hair sparkle like starlit snow. This only makes it more obvious when something blocks out the light, and the room is shrouded in darkness.

Despite her tiredness, and ignited by sudden alarm, Weiss sits up. A figure is perched on the windowsill, casting an impressive shadow. Weiss' eyes focus and she makes out feathers and a hood. Panic sets in next. She had always been warned of the danger posed by the White Fang—that they would come for her eventually. Without meaning to, Weiss summons a glyph that spins in the air above her bed. A second later it shoots a shard of ice at the figure in the window, who rolls out of the way and onto the floor.

The figure stands and props its arms onto its hips. "Really? Trying to kill me?"

Weiss leans forward and makes out the features of Yushan. "You?!"

Yushan crosses her arms and huffs. "Yes. Me. Watch who you try to kill from now on."

"I thought you were an assassin!" Weiss exclaims, backing up the bed.

"I wish," she mutters, just loud enough for Weiss to hear. "I'm not here for anything so violent. I need to know what you said to him."

"Who?" Weiss asks.

Yushan sighs. "Who do you think?"

"(Y/N)?" Weiss realises. She narrows her eyes suspiciously. "Why do you care?"

Yushan's eyes glow an amber colour. "Just answer the question, lest I lose my patience."

Weiss scoffs. "Threatening me? I suppose I should have expected that. For the record, I didn't say very much except apologies... so there."

"I see," Yushan mutters. "Go back to sleep. You never saw me and this was all a dream." She starts heading towards the window.

"Wait!" Weiss calls out. "What happened? You said you'd update me with anything new."

Yushan signs and takes her hand off the windowsill. "He disappeared."

"Disappeared? Earlier you managed to hear my footsteps through the floor, but you never noticed that somebody left the building?"

Yushan shrugs.

"Aren't you supposed to be his guardian? How did you let this happen?" Weiss accuses, standing up from her bed. The hem of her gown falls down to just below her knees.

"I'm not legally anything. And I don't like your tone," Yushan continues.

"I don't like the fact that you lost (Y/N)!" Weiss retorts.