Come to the workshop.

Ruby found the message on her scroll. At first, she was a little puzzled, trying to figure out exactly why Winter wanted to meet her there. It was not time for Crescent Rose's monthly disassembly yet, so it was not because Winter wanted to watch her do it. And, as far as Ruby knew, Winter wasn't going to be a Huntress like her sister, so it couldn't be helping her with her weapon, either.

However, Ruby, being her usual obedient self, decided to comply with the younger Schnee's request. Not to mention Winter's no-bull tone anytime she wanted something, which slightly frightened the reaper, but at the same time made her all fuzzy inside.

So there she was, walking towards the workshop, Crescent Rose at her belt as per usual, thinking about Winter's motives. She might want me to show her some moves. A giddy smile flew across her face when her thoughts reached the "maybe she wants me to teach her how to use it" point. The smile faded immediately when she recalled how heavy the scythe was to the older girl when she held it for the first time. It wasn't likely that she'd be able to handle it anyway.

She made her way down to the workshop, so immersed in her thoughts that she didn't hear the humming close by. Ruby was startled when a pair of slender arms yanked her towards a darker corner of the workshop.

"Woah, woah, woah…" Ruby wanted to protest, but a soft hand closed over her mouth. Ruby then noticed the pure white sleeves of the hand in question and she seemingly calmed down.

"W-Winter… Please don't do that again." Ruby was still slightly shaking.

"Did I scare you? But I was humming a song, didn't you hear?" Ruby shook her head and Winter pulled the girl into a hug. "I'm sorry, Ruby. I won't do that again."

The soft fabric of Winter's clothes, combined with her sweet scent was enough to calm Ruby down. She then took a deep breath before speaking again.

"So, why did you want to see me here?"

Winter spared her a look. "I wanted to spend some time with my girlfriend. And since you don't want to make us public, I had to choose a place where we won't be bothered."

Ruby's look fell to the floor. I want to make us public, but I don't want to lose Weiss. Not after what I had to go through to make her like me. "I… I…" Ruby wanted to say something, anything, but nothing came out of her mouth. She knew she couldn't tell Winter the truth. She looked back up, into Winter's beautiful eyes, trying to come up with something to say, but before she could think of anything, something soft pressed against her lips.

Ruby's eyes widened in fear at the sudden touch before realizing what exactly was happening. Winter's lips were pressed on Ruby's and they were warm and nice.

Ruby pushed Winter away. Seeing her puzzled expression, Winter tilted her head sideways. "Is something wrong, Ruby?" Her tone had lost the usual sassy edge in favour of a more calm and caring voice.

The girl in question was completely flustered in that moment, her face as red as her cloak, mouth agape. It took her a few seconds to regain the gift of speech back. "I… Um… W-What was that f-for?"

"Aren't you my girlfriend? Isn't kissing something lovers do?" Ruby detected a small increase in the sassiness.

"W-Well… I guess… B-But it was so s-sudden…"

Winter looked at Ruby in amazement and sudden realization. "I stole your first kiss, didn't I?" Ruby nervously nodded and Winter had a victorious smile plastered across her face. That's one 'first' you will never get, Weiss. Not like you ever stood a chance, anyway.

"Did anyone ever tell you you're an absolute cutie?" Ruby's blush deepened even more at those words, Winter barely able to believe her eyes. I didn't think you could blush as hard as this. You really are full of surprises. Winter felt like she could just watch Ruby being her adorable self forever, but she realized she had another motive for dragging Ruby down there.

She took Ruby's hand in hers and looked her in the eyes. "Ruby…" How to word this in a way that isn't creepy and wouldn't make her mad? Not like she even looks like she could get mad at anything. But I don't want to sound creepy.

"Yes, Winter?"

To hell with it. "Untie your corset," Winter said in a sullen tone.

Ruby jumped. "W-What?"

"You promised to show me your abs a while ago and you still haven't. I want to see them."

"W-Well, I… There w-wasn't an opp-opportunity…"

"Come on, Ruby. I just want to see them."

Ruby reluctantly started fidgeting with the laces on her corset, trying to untie them as quickly as possible. "Y-You'll help me t-tie it later, won't you?" When Winter nodded, Ruby weakly smiled and continued with untying.

Finally, the corset was ready to take off and Winter couldn't restrain herself any longer. She jumped at Ruby the moment the corset was off, lifting the shirt the reaper wore under the corset. Ruby took hold of the shirt so Winter could get a closer look, and took a deep breath for what was to come.

And when that happened, Ruby heard a gasp before feeling a finger brush her abdomen. The finger traced the barely defined six pack and Ruby found the feeling alluring, in a way. Then she felt Winter's lips touching one of the mounds on her abdomen and the sheer gentleness of the touch made Ruby's knees weak and her breathing faster. Her weak knees made her kneel and eventually sit down, leaning her back on a wall.

Winter looked at Ruby and the reaper saw a glint of something in those beautiful eyes. A glint of something she didn't recognize. All she knew was that she never saw that look in anyone.

Winter knew what the glint in her eyes was. She was craving the girl before her, her cuteness, her abs, her whole body. She wanted her. The glint in her eyes was that of want, of untamable desire. She acted on that desire by crashing her lips with Ruby's again. This time, Ruby returned the kiss, albeit gingerly.

While kissing the girl, Winter started caressing Ruby's side with her hands, firmly, but carefully enough to not touch any of the more… Pronounced… Zones of Ruby's body. She then let go of Ruby's mouth and pressed her lips on the girl's abdomen, kissing the slightly pronounced bumps on her stomach.

Ruby's breath started getting faster and shorter and Winter took it as a sign to continue. From time to time, a small moan left Ruby's mouth, which only served to fire up the Schnee more. It was only after a while that Winter realized there might be more to Ruby's moans and short breaths. She looked up and saw the brunette's scared expression and tear trails on her cheeks. Oh no. She immediately stopped what she was doing.

"Ruby? What's wrong?"

Ruby spoke through light sobs. "I'm… Scared."

"Scared of what?" Winter was very worried at this point and she let it show.

"It's… What if… Someone… Sees us?" That wasn't the only thing Ruby wasn't happy about, but she decided not to bother her girlfriend with that other thing.

"Well, if they do, that's probably the moment we become public."

Ruby paled. "B-But… Weiss…"

"What about my sister?"

"W-Well…" Think, Ruby! Think! "I… Given the… Relationship you two have… I'm afraid she… Will hate me again." Well, it isn't a complete lie.

"That's stupid of her."

Dust. I'll have to bring up that other thing, won't I? "Then there's… Also that other thing."

"What other thing?"

"W-Well, I'm only fifteen, Winter."

Winter's face changed expression to that of realization. "Ooh. I'm so sorry, Ruby. I didn't want to make you feel like I'm forcing myself on you. I wasn't even going to… Go any further." Winter looked at the ground, more than slightly ashamed of herself and her half-lie.

Ruby lifted Winter's face so they saw eye to eye again. "I liked the kiss, though." Winter let out a small laugh before pushing in for another kiss.

The two girls failed to notice or even sense another presence in the vicinity of the room they were in. The figure heard and saw it all. As the two girls continued making out, the third person was thinking about the events that just transpired, their mind a complete mess of emotions which were brought (somewhat) quickly under control.

When the figure saw Winter jumping on Ruby, she wasn't too happy about it. A part of her wanted to bust in and give Winter and, to a certain extent, Ruby, a piece of her mind. Especially when the two kissed. While it didn't seem like Ruby was reciprocating, the thought of Winter stealing her first kiss instead of her angered Weiss.

The desire to intrude grew even stronger once she heard the order to undress. Winter was not going to steal that first from her. If she did, it would be simply unfair. Weiss was the one that was always around Ruby, even if not always willingly. Weiss was the one that was harboring feelings for the cute reaper for the last few months. Winter only knew her for a couple days and she was already trying to steal all her firsts? There was no way in hell Weiss would let that happen.

She was holding Myrtenaster's handle when Ruby started sniffling. There was hate in her eyes. She was ready to bust in and slice her sister in half or at least give her something to remember. Then a thought occurred to her: If I hurt my sister, Ruby will hate me, not to mention my whole family. I simply can't do this. She let go of Myrtenaster, letting it clatter to the ground, and silently began plotting how to separate the two girls so Ruby could be hers and hers only.

In the end, seeing that Ruby was apparently happy with Winter, she decided not to intrude, but rather to keep it a secret. She'd keep dating Ruby and try to undermine her relationship with Winter subtly. The Schnee way. With a smirk, she carefully left the workshop, leaving behind her the two kissing girls. In her head, she was already starting plotting the exact way she was going to go about this.

The plot, however, already had one fatal flaw.

After the pair of white and red had finished their little, "session", in the corner of the workshop, Winter helped Ruby do up her corset. She idly wondered if she had gotten any of her teammates to help her before, as it seemed like a pretty difficult task with just one set of hands. The delicate zig-zagging of the soft material used to tie the body piece up was deceptively annoying to do up. So much so, in fact, that she had to sit there for five minutes and help a furiously blushing Ruby tie the damned thing back up again. Winter wasn't complaining, of course - five minutes more with her girlfriend was five minutes well spent.

Ruby had then stammered out a thank you, and after quickly swiveling her head around to check the workshop was completely empty, she pecked Winter on the head and shot out of the workshop in a flurry of roses. It made Winter feel warm inside, to know that the younger girl felt the same way about her as she did about Ruby. Winter chuckled and wondered if perhaps she spent most of her time in this workshop full of all kinds of tools, items and parts. Walking out at a much more dignified and control pace than Ruby (which wasn't all that hard), Winter then decided that it would probably be a good idea to go and meet up with everyone else. The tournament was still taking place after all, and it'd be ideal if she wasn't late to the matches. That would be rather unbecoming of a Schnee.

Of course, she was stopped in her tracks by a sparkle on the ground, a reflected light that shone and caught her eye. Looking down, it appeared to be a rapier of some sort, and picking the weapon up, she quickly identified it as Weiss' own Myrtenaster.

She stared at the light weapon held in both hands - the handle in the left, blade in the right - and wondered what it was ever doing here. As far as she was aware, her sister was never without her rapier, and her sister certainly was not here right now. Perhaps she dropped it earlier, having come in before she did? Maybe Ruby had hidden it somewhere, and taken it to be sharpened or whatever for Weiss?

A multitude of possibilities filled her head, and she identified the most outlandish yet most likely possibility of them all.

Myrtenaster was not lying on the floor before Winter walked in, and it was not lying on the floor before Ruby walked in. Either one of them would have seen its glint. This meant that it had appeared whilst Ruby and Winter were going about their business. The rapier, as she said, never left the heiress' side, so Weiss must have been by the workshop at some point or another to have dropped it.

This also meant that she would have been able to see the pair from where the rapier lay, without even needing to get closer. She could have silently looked into the room, saw the two, and left, accidently leaving behind the precious weapon in the process. That'd also explain the soft clatter of metal she thought she heard earlier.

And that meant one thing. She knew. Yet it felt weird to Winter. Was Weiss so shocked to find out that her sister is dating Ruby that she forgot her weapon? Or did she want Winter to know she knows? Either way, Winter was unsure how to proceed. Should she leave the rapier there and leave it to Weiss to realize she's missing it? Should she take it back to her and hope she catches her alone so they can talk about it? Was there anything to talk about, really? Ruby liked Winter and the Schnee reciprocated the feeling. There was absolutely no problem about it in Winter's head. And Weiss would have to accept that Ruby decided on her own.

Ultimately, she decided she'd leave the rapier there. Nobody asked Weiss to come and monitor Ruby for whatever reason, she could get her own damn sword back if she wanted it.

Meanwhile, outside the workshop, more than halfway from it to the dorms, Weiss mentally kicked herself when she noticed that Myrtenaster wasn't at her side like usual. She must have dropped it at some point - probably when she was tempted to draw it on the kissing pair of Ruby and Winter.

There was no second way about it, she had to go retrieve her weapon. Before she could turn around, Ruby sped past her, leaving a trail of rose petals behind. Weiss caught one of them and brought it to her nose while rubbing it gently. The gentle scent of the rose calmed her down and made her more confident about her plan. Ruby was worth it. She was not going to share her, especially not with her sister.

She walked back to the workshop and saw Winter about a quarter of the way there. Before she could think of a good place to hide and wait for her to pass, Winter noticed her.

"Good morning, Weiss."

Weiss nodded before returning the greeting that meant nothing, as they both knew. Winter had a victorious smirk on her face, but Weiss didn't want to tell her she knows, on the off chance that Winter failed to see the rapier before leaving the workshop. Just you wait. You won't smile for much longer.

"Headed somewhere?"

"As a matter of fact, I am. I have to go sharpen my Myrtenaster."

"You do? Where is it, then? I don't see it on your belt."

So you did see it. "I keep it in the workshop sometimes."

"Sure you do, sis." Well then, she knows I was there. Big deal. What will she do about it?

"Key word being 'sometimes', dear sister. And what were you doing here this early?"

Winter's mouth widened even more. "Oh, y'know. Took a morning stroll through the campus, watching the flowers. Roses, in particular."

You little… "Well, nice chatting with you, sister, but I really have to go sharpen Myrtenaster." Get a grip, Weiss. Don't lash out. Just go and pick up that blasted rapier and that's it.

"Wouldn't want to hinder you on your path. See you around!"

The sickeningly sweet smile Winter wore on her face as she skipped out of the workshop disgusted Weiss. She was deliberately trying to make the huntress-in-training explode with anger, but being a Schnee, she was taught from birth to be calm and calculating. So, of course, she would go about this in a non-barbaric way. No screaming matches, no public displays of over-the-top emotion, and no (if not, just a few) secret plans. She would talk to Winter about it, when she stopped acting so childish, and confront her face to face on the matter.

It did actually provide an ample excuse to give her weapon a seeing to. She hadn't actually sharpened the blade in a while, and all the brunt of sparring was beginning to wear it down. The last time she had sharpened it must have been, what, a week or so before that spar with Ruby? Weiss wasn't exactly sure, not keeping to a strict schedule like Ruby, but rather doing things when she needed to. As such, this also meant that the revolver mechanism probably needed servicing, as did most of the other parts of the weapon - of which there were few.

Walking inside the workshop, she picked up her rapier, and felt the familiar litheness associated with it. The thin form of the sword was certainly different to Ruby's destructive scythe, but still lethal in it's own ways, even if they were not in head-to-head combat. It acted as a catalyst of sorts for her arsenal of dust, with the rainbow-coloured shells in the revolver mechanism containing all the firepower she needed to eliminate whatever foe came her way.

It was almost funny, in a way. She had a way with taking people down using words alone, as well as using dust to take down monsters. Words acted as her dust in social interaction, coming in many varieties - soothing and caring, for those she was close to, as well as cold and harsh for those she didn't care so much for.

Winter would likely be on the receiving end of the latter soon enough.

Weiss' mind wandered as she sharpened the blade, muscle memory guiding her through the necessary processes to service the weapon. It was far less complicated than Crescent Rose, which she knew could take hours to disassemble to anyone who wasn't Ruby, requiring not much more than sharpening and a good clean.

Hell, her (Weiss', not Winter's) girlfriend could probably make Myrtenaster look and work like new in less than a couple minutes. Perhaps she would ask her to do that next time.

Through all the deliberation of herself and Ruby, she realised that she had not been paying an awful lot of attention to Blake or Yang recently. Whilst the blonde would not care all that much, Weiss didn't want to harm her and the Faunus' relationship any further by drifting apart. She made a mental note to go and have a friendly chat with Blake later, see what she was up to, ask her how she felt about the tournament or something.

Post script note that she could also converse with Yang, but Ruby likely had that base covered.

Why couldn't Weiss have the same kind of relationship with Winter as Ruby did with Yang? The two were so close, and had a tightly knit relationship - she and Winter couldn't be much further apart. As much as she'd love to make amends with the girl, and have the proper sister-sister relationship Weiss always wanted deep down, the arrogant little brat would probably place spiting Weiss above building bridges.

She wasn't even sure what she hated about Winter most at this point - the absurdly long ponytails, the sickly sweet smile, the outright arrogance or just that knowing smirk which said "I'm making her mine," without even letting loose a single word from her lips. An infuriating enigma, more suited to Blake's tastes, Weiss thought. These were what she imagined her novels were about, anyway. Honestly, she had so many books, it was borderline ridiculous. As long as her need to read was sated, she didn't mind.

Shaking her head after going on a tangent, Weiss had now finished sharpening her blade, and it now gleamed in the sunlight filtering through the windows of the workshop, accentuated by the floating dust particles. The sunlight reflecting off of it would quite possibly blind someone at the right angle. Deftly twirling the rapier in her hands, she picked herself up and away from the grindstone and lay the weapon on the table, before releasing the blade and pulling it back from the revolver mechanism.

The different coloured dust cartridges looked back at her, inside the extremely fine metal casing they were housed. Taking the rag she had picked up not long ago, Weiss began to polish the inner workings, the very heart, of Myrtenaster, all the while softening ideas of Winter filling her head.

If Winter didn't want to make it work, Weiss would have to make her work.

Ruby didn't know how to make this work.

She was double dating her teammate and her teammate's sister, both of whom were Schnees, one of (if not the) most powerful families in Remnant.

They were both highly sarcastic and analytical, and would not take long to figure out the ploy Ruby was playing.

When they did, the relationships would go up in flames and the daughters would burst into fire.

To say Ruby was scared at this point in time would be a woefully large understatement.

So much so, in fact, that she was currently sat on her bunk bed and shaking ever so slightly. She had acted so confident, gotten both of them on board, and now she was in an irreversible mess. Even the peck to Winter's head was a cover up of her internal terror. Ruby just needed someone to hug her right now, snuggle with her, tell her everything would be okay - someone who wasn't one of her girlfriends.

Some kind of higher power must have heard her pleas and cries of desperation and want for help, and answered them with the best possible solution.

"Sis?"

Ruby looked down on the floor and saw Yang looking up at her with concerned eyes. She'd be perfect for what I need now.

"W-Would you come up here, please?"

Yang, seeing her little sister in distress, promptly jumped on the bunk bed. Ruby actually got scared for a moment. She thought one of the ropes would snap and then… I don't need to think this! I have enough problems as is!

"Ruby, talk to me. Did anyone hurt you?"

Ruby shook her head. Before saying anything, she hugged Yang as tightly as she could. Yang was stunned for a moment, but returned the favour immediately after. Something was bugging her little sister and Yang was sure to come down to the root of it and make it better, no matter the cost.

"Yang, I got myself into a bit of a pickle."

Ruby pulled away from Yang and the blonde looked at the reaper, who was part stern, part wreck. "I need your help, your advice."

"Sure thing, sis, that's why big sis Yang is here! What's the matter?" Her trademark wide smile never faltered.

"Yang, I… I am seeing someone."

Yang looked at her sister incredulously. "What's so unnerving about that?" If anything, her smile got wider, if that was even possible.

Ruby hesitated for a moment. Don't tell me that someone knocked you up, please don't. What came out of Ruby's mouth, though, surprised her even more.

"I… Am seeing two people at the same time. And they don't know about it. And I'm afraid they'll find out. And then they'll both hate me."

Oh, boy. This'll be good. Yang used her most collected voice and asked: "Do I know them?"

Ruby nodded and Yang made a gesture to urge her to continue. The young reaper looked around sheepishly. "Well, Ruby? Spill it. Who?"

"Um… Well… One is W-Weiss…"

I expected that. Okay. Who is the other one, then?

"And the-the other is…" Ruby whispered something underneath her breath and Yang couldn't make out nothing more than "-er."

"Come again?"

"Winter."

Yang felt lightheaded in an instant. Thank dust she was lying on the bed by the time she lost the sense of space, else she'd be falling to the ground.

Hey! Thanks for reading another chapter of Caught in a Blizzard! This story is far from over, it has just started getting complicated! Stay tuned for more shenanigans!