Burden and Blame

(All RWBY aspects belong to Rooster Teeth Productions. Please give them support)

Characters will be OOC

*All A/N's have been removed as the story has been finished*

"You did this!" Yang screamed. "You were supposed to keep her safe during the mission while we held them back!"

She got up, flared her aura, and promptly put a fist into the wall, making a large hole with scorched edges.

"She would have died trying to protect you, and you would never have done the same! You've never cared about anyone on this team except yourself." Her voice lowered into a whisper, filling with venom as she spat at the heiress. "You're nothing but a selfish, spoiled, uptight bitch." Yang had punctuated the last word with every little bit of hate she could muster.

Weiss just sat on her bunk, shaking with tension and a cold, dead look on her face. It was almost like she wasn't there. Yang had paused to stare the white-haired girl with pure loathing in her eyes.

"And that's all you'll ever be!" Yang suddenly raising her voice back to the volume which the whole school could probably hear her from Team RWBY's dorm. "Now, my little sister could possibly die because you couldn't put your inflated ego aside!

Blake had heard enough. She quietly slipped outside, making a beeline for the nearest place she could go without anyone finding her.

"Maybe I could go to my corner of the library, or a nice tree on the edge of the Emerald Forest." Her thoughts were interrupted as she heard Yang's rage filled voice come from down the hallway.

"You damn well better be happy with yourself princess!" Her voice accompanied with another thud. Blake assumed there were now two holes in the wall, if not a crater in Weiss' chest.

"Maybe I shouldn't have left her there by herself..." A concerned look crossed Blake's face at the thought. This was going to be a long night.

About an hour after Blake had silently left, Yang had finally stopped sending an onslaught of verbal attacks, becoming emotional and falling onto her bunk and crying her eyes out for the fourth time that day. Weiss had not moved at all, afraid the slightest twitch would send the sobbing girl into another fit of rage.

Weiss had shown no sign of emotion during the entire tirade, and was positive that it had only made Yang even surer that she didn't care for Ruby at all. But Weiss knew this was far from the truth. There were many things Weiss had never told her teammates, and she wouldn't start now. Weiss had decided that it was best to take her chances and leave, if only to get some fresh air before the tension suffocated her.

Slowly, Weiss pulled herself to her feet. Every inch of her body ached from staying still for so long, but she didn't care. She stood up fully, and waited for Yang to go back to yelling, but nothing happened.

"She must have fallen asleep." Weiss thought to herself.

She sighed as she pulled the blankets from her bunk and draped them across the sleeping girl, and quietly opened the door and walked out into the hall.

"I guess I could go get a late meal. It's been a long day." her thoughts continued on.

The heiress trudged down the hallway, stopping before she covered just ten feet. "I need to go see Ruby. I have to make sure she's alright."

Changing her course of direction, she made her way towards the infirmary ward. Upon reaching the door a few minutes later, she hesitated, not knowing what to expect, as she hadn't seen Ruby being carried out of the forest. Her hand reached for the doorknob, and slowly began to turn it, and paused.

"What if she didn't make it? What if she will never become a huntress? What if she hates me for not protecting her like I said I would?"

All of these fears became overwhelming as her hand began to tremble. Gathering her willpower, she forced herself to slowly open the door to Ruby's temporary room.

In an instant, her heart was shattered into many, many pieces. Everything Weiss had learned to keep herself from showing any weakness, failed her. Ruby was covered head to toe in gauze, and several whirring machines with long tubes ran into her body. Blood had seeped through much of the full body wrapping, and had started running down onto the bed, dying it a dark red. Blood bags hung from racks on both sides of her bed, keeping her from bleeding to death. One tube ran into her nose, forcing air into her lungs.

Ruby couldn't even breathe without a machine to help her.

Silent "No's" began radiating off of Weiss' lips as she took in every gruesome detail of her partner's current state. Rushing to her side, she saw that Ruby's face was still frozen in a terrified expression of pain. Weiss was mortified, glued to the spot where she stood. Her mind instinctively kept telling her to get over it, to accept what had happened. She could have done it had it been anyone but Ruby.

Ruby had held a special spot in Weiss' life for some time now. Her leader had such a carefree way of going about her role in the team, leaving it up to Weiss to pick up the slack. The heiress tried to train Ruby in her off time from classes, and she had made so much progress. Ruby had finally started acting like a leader, not afraid to give orders or set up a plan of execution upon being assigned a mission. But the childish girl had never once given up on who she was at heart. Whenever she could, she'd have as much fun as possible before having to get back to her duties. Over the months, Ruby had grown on Weiss, in a way she couldn't describe. But now, seeing her fearless leader in such a torn up state, shook her ice cold heart to the core. Weiss' eyes were closed as she bowed her head and clenched her fists. Her mind thought back to all of the things Yang had said about her.

"You're nothing but a selfish, spoiled, uptight bitch, and that's all you'll ever be!"

Weiss couldn't deny it either, but it wasn't her fault she was born into the most powerful company the world had ever seen.

She had been brought up as the heiress of the Schnee Dust Company, and as the daughter of a professional businessman. Her father has wanted a son, but being stuck with a daughter, he made do. He taught her to be cold, and take down whoever would dare stand in her way, and a part of that being to never become attached to anything, or it would lead to her immediate downfall. Whenever it seemed as though she would show any sign of caring towards anyone, her father would have him or her jailed, never to be seen again. Weiss hated her father, but could do nothing about her place in the world. Ever since, she had pushed everyone away from her, to keep them safe. It was better for them to hate her, than to be imprisoned at the hands of her father.

Snapping out of the horrifying memories, she opened her eyes to look at her hands, still clenched, and nails beginning to draw blood. The pains her hands were not near the anguish she felt in her chest. Looking upon her nearly-dead leader, she made a vow.

"Ruby… I know that all you wanted from the first day was to be friends, but I couldn't risk it. You would have been taken like the rest. I promise that when you wake up, I will be by your side and protect you no matter what happens to me. I want you to know that you are my first true friend, and that you are my best friend." Weiss spoke aloud, eyes closed tightly, resisting the urge to break down and cry.

"I promise that I will do whatever it takes to make this up to you, if it costs my life." Tears began streaming from the girl's eyes as she opened them, and placed her hand in Ruby's, and collapsed onto her knees by the bed.

"You're the only one I have ever felt this way about, you dolt! You can't just die like this and leave me with nobody left in my life!" Weiss laid her head on the edge of the bed, and began to cry, soaking the sheets with tears.

"Don't worry Weiss, everything will be alright." A calm voice spoke from the doorway. Weiss released Ruby's hand, stood up and spun around all in one fluid motion as she saw Blake smiling warmly looking at her tear streaked face.

"I won't say a word." Blake said. "But as soon as Ruby gets better, you have to tell her how you feel".