Asylum from Gehenna

[Weiss Schnee]

Weiss let go of Ruby reluctantly, waiting several minutes to end their hug, and her partner seemed no less happy to finish this embrace. After coming so close to losing her forever - of seeing her die - she couldn't have been happier to have her best friend alive and - well...

I guess... We're more than friends now. Weiss thought with a blush, staring at her... girlfriend? Was that what they were? Or was Ruby... Well, Weiss guessed she wouldn't have gotten a kiss in return if her feelings hadn't been reciprocated. Ruby's smile didn't seem to scream “I’m uncomfortable” or anything.

"...We should probably get going." Ruby blurted out suddenly. "I mean if we came back to the nexus when we... y'know..." Ruby's smile started to fade as she avoided Weiss's eyes, and the perceptive huntress could see exactly what her younger partner was thinking about. "Then other primes might, too. And some of them looked pretty nasty. And even the ones that didn't could be nasty too. I mean, we're a couple of tiny girls and we... we..." Ruby's eyes started to shiver in their sockets, and Weiss knew what she was remembering.

Acting quickly, she took the girl's hands, bringing her face closer as she looked Ruby in the eyes.
"Ruby. Look at me. I'm fine, okay? It wasn't your fault. He got me too." Weiss told the girl emphatically.
"But I remember doing it, Weiss!" She yelled with a cry. "And I wanted to stop, and I couldn't, and I hurt you, and..." Ruby's face clouded in tears, and Weiss almost instinctively held her leader to her. They stayed that way for another minute or two, as Ruby slowly calmed down.
"I-I'm sorry, Weiss." Ruby finally said between sniffles.

"Don't be." She said with a smile. "It's not your fault. The guy with the helmet, on the other hand, I'll have some words for." Weiss replied with a slight smirk she didn't feel. She still didn't like how the guy had evaded their defenses so perfectly, like she was hardly there. She didn't relish fighting a guy like him again. Especially with how…

"Hey, Ruby?" The Ivory-haired huntress asked.
"Yeah?"
"Your semblance... can you still access it?" Weiss finally asked as her heart skipped a beat.
"It's... not as good, but, well, yeah. How do you think I'm still so fast?" She asked with a half-hearted tease.

She still wasn't completely over it. Weiss supposed she couldn't blame her. If she'd ever attacked Ruby... heck, just the idea made her nauseous.
"You're still able to use your glyphs here, right, Weiss? Well, outside of that crazy place we were just at..." Ruby asked half-heartedly, afraid of the answer.

"...No. I've been able to summon dust with my... Omnilium. That's a really stupid word." Weiss said with a frustrated tone, and she saw Ruby's eyes widen. "But, I... Can't make a glyph to save my life, right now. I can channel aura to control dust, but... I don't know if I'll ever be able to get my semblance back." Weiss said with a frown. "I... Haven't brought it up before. Seemed like other stuff was going on. This doesn't seem like the time, but I figured it's important for you to know, and..."

"Vacation!”
Weiss was expecting to hear a lot of words from her team leader, but That wasn’t one of them.
“P-pardon?” Weiss managed to stutter out from her shock.
“We. Are going. On vacation.” Ruby said with an unexpectedly serious tone.
“I, um…” Weiss stammered. “Is there even a place in the Omniverse that does vacations?” Weiss asked after a few seconds.
“There’s a place with nothing but beaches. We can go there, go to one of the nearby resorts, do fun, non life-threatening things for a little while. No zombies, no warlocks, just… Relaxing. Breathing. Something other than going through hell.” Ruby continued, seeming almost angry as she talked-

Wait a minute.

Did Ruby just swear?
Weiss took in a deep breath as she processed what Ruby said.
“...You know what?” Weiss finally said. “That’s… a pretty good idea. We’re primes, so we don’t need a job. And I guess we don’t have one here, anyways. We should probably catch our breath.” Weiss responded, and she saw a cycle of emotions go over Ruby’s face as she answered.

“I promise, it’ll be the best vacation you’ve ever had.” Ruby responded, and Weiss smirked.
“I have been on some expensive vacations, you know.”

“But this one’ll be better!” Ruby insisted with a grin, before pointing to a portal. “Vasty deeps are that-a-way.” She said, before taking Weiss’s hand… and moving very close to Weiss, until their shoulders brushed. Weiss’s face reddened as Ruby took half a step forward
“T-this is okay, right? I mean…” Her partner asked nervously.was matching her hair color as she stammered, and Weiss realized she was as unsure as Weiss was, if not more. Weiss sort of felt silly - of course she was. She was Ruby’s first, she realized.

“It’s great.” Weiss managed to say in a normal voice, no matter how much her nerves prompted her to squeak, and the two walked towards the portal to the deeps.

[Ruby Rose]

I didn't know what I felt... I couldn't tell if it was true love, like in fantasy stories, or just an affection for my partner, because I simply wanted to be by her side forever and always. Are those the same thing? I'm not sure... I never experienced these feelings before. In my time in the Omniverse, Weiss has made me think... differently about my friendship with her. The stories we've made together, the stuff we've gone through has all brought us closer together, closer than friends. But is that really want I feel inside? I dunno. I guess that's another adventure I need to tackle.

The suggestion of a vacation to take our minds off things was the only thing on my mind. I was done with fighting and pointless adventuring for the time being; I needed to relax, and what better way to do that than on a beach?! There weren't many beaches around Vale, but I'd heard many stories and watched many shows with beach scenes and it seemed like so much fun! I'd read up on the Vasty Deeps in secret to see if I wanted to go there, and it sounded like a paradise island.

I couldn't help but cling to Weiss's arm like a small, excitable child. "This is gonna be so fun! I wish we could have gone to the beach at some point back on Remnant... with all of team RWBY..."

Team RWBY.

That thought reminded me about something. "Weiss! We forgot about Blake and Yang!" I gasped, flicking my head around wildly as I searched the blinding expanse of the Nexus for the Bumblebee duo. I couldn't see them, but then again, the Nexus was ENORMOUS, so it was hard to even spot the large gates in the distance. "Come on Weiss, let's go!" I said as I hauled my partner by her arm. "Hey, no need to be so rough!" She replied with a high pitched giggle, quite obviously amused by my rush to find our friends.

[Weiss Schnee]

Weiss’s hands stayed protectively on Myrtenaster as Ruby’s boots scratched against the ground, the girl dragging her feet as she held firmly onto Weiss’s hand. It was amazing how much could change in twenty minutes. Just a little while ago, Weiss had been pulled along by her excitable companion, and had had trouble keeping up with the girl as she zoomed around the nexus. Now, Weiss was leading in front, as her feet started to drag.


Seriously?… Weiss thought to herself with just a tinge of annoyance. She could have left a message, a note, something to let her teammates know she was okay. Instead, Weiss was sitting here trying to figure out how in the world she was going to say these next words to Ruby without breaking her heart.


Weiss took a deep breath as she fought away her own tears. Right now, she needed clarity, wisdom, thought.
She’d let herself cry about losing her best friends again later.

“...Ruby.” Weiss said flatly. She didn’t know how to put these next words, not without causing her partner pain, but even if it was one word, she knew she had to say something. Ruby’s face was glistening with sweat, and she knew it wasn’t from exertion.


“...Where did they go, Weiss?” Ruby finally asked, her voice cracking as she squeezed hard on Weiss’s hand. Weiss squeezed back, blinking a few times before she answered.
“We can figure this out, Ruby, just… Look, they didn’t know if we’d pop back up right in the nexus. Even we didn’t know that.”

The girl’s next response was tearful. “But I would come back. Yang knows I’d come back and Blake knows I’d come back and we wouldn’t just leave-”
Weiss smiled with a wit she didn’t feel. “Ruby, there’s lots of things Blake can do, but making your sister sit still when her friends are in trouble? Please. I don’t think even a dragon could manage that.” Weiss replied back, and Ruby managed a small chuckle back. “Besides… the whole nexus seems like a bit of a dangerous place… I’m sure they’re still around. They care too much about you to just disappear.” Weiss said with a sad smile.

Ruby squeezed Weiss’s hand just a little harder at that. “That goes for you too, Weiss.” She responded with a slight smile. “They didn’t just come looking for me. I know it.”
Weiss looked away at that. Did they? After everything she’d done, Weiss wasn’t sure.
“...Weiss.”
“...I… need to apologize, next time I see them.” the pale huntress stated in a low tone. “For abandoning them.”
She heard Ruby’s breathing slightly tighten at this statement.
“Weiss… what do you mean?” She asked lightly.

“I… after you disappeared… I just left. I left beacon. I changed my scroll’s number. I made myself entirely unidentifiable…” Weiss confessed. “I told myself it was to avoid my father… and it was… But it wouldn’t have been hard to give Blake and Yang a call. I just… didn’t.”
“...Why, Weiss?” Ruby asked with a nervous hint in her voice.
“...I just… I was sure they blamed me.” Weiss responded.
“For what?!” Ruby asked.
“For losing you.”
“Weiss… you’re really dumb.” Ruby stated suddenly. Weiss just took a breath. “I know… I am fully expecting Yang to-”
“No, I mean, you’re really dumb. The only thing they’d be mad about is you not letting them know you’re okay. You moron…” Ruby stated with a teasing tone at that last.
“W-what?” Weiss barely managed to say.

“No one’s ever as hard on you as you are, Ice Queen.” Ruby said with a teasing tone, sticking out her tongue. “...I never blamed you, or Blake, or Yang once. All I could do was worry about if you guys were okay. And I bet that all Blake and Yang did was get worried sick about you too. You should have called them. Yang’s probably going to give both of us a giant bear hug when she sees us again. So stop being so un-Weissy and apologizing so much.” the younger girl said, grabbing one of Weiss’s hands with both of her own. “And you’re right. We’ll see them again. Nothing can stop team RWBY from re-uniting!” The girl stated with a smirk, before forcing Weiss’s hand up in a mock cheer… Just a little too hard.

“Ouch!” Weiss yelled as Ruby’s overly enthusiastic cheer nearly wrenched her arm from her socket. “Are you trying to rip my arm out of it’s socket.
“Hee hee, that’s more like the Weiss I know!” Was Ruby’s only reply, flashing her a grin.
“Ugh…” Weiss grunted, unable to stop a smile from creeping onto her face. “You’re hopeless.”

[Ruby Rose]

No... where are they?! I screamed inwardly, heart pounding against my diminutive ribcage, as if wanting to tear out of my chest and seek the girls out itself. There was no way that I had lost them again; I had been torn from them once before, and Weiss shortly after, before a short reunion, only for them to be torn from space and time once more.

Okay, maybe I was overthinking things; they were likely exploring another verse, but in my moment of hysteria common sense was shrouded by panic.

But Weiss's words comforted me, and wiped away the fog that had begun clouding my mind; of course they would be around... and sure, if we had have come back straight away, we could have met back up with them. But as Weiss said... making my sister wait? I wouldn't bother trying! Everything was sunny upon us for a moment, until the ice-queen swung back in with a blizzard of sadness. She had abandoned them? What did she mean by that?

My lips puckered and my eyes quivered as Weiss explained what she had done; she had eradicated her existence on her own, even before Omni tore her from Remnant, and made herself nothing but... well, a remnant. As she explained more and more, I couldn't help but giggle before scolding her for thinking Blake and Yang would be mad about her leaving. Neither of them would have cared, as long as she kept in touch.

I just couldn't stop my cheer from leaving my lips; I was too bent on pulling Weiss out of her self-dug ditch and into the land of the living once more. She called me hopeless and I giggled again, more loudly this time, before releasing her freezing hand and skipping on ahead. "Come on! We have a vacation to go on!" I called out to the pale Huntress, and with a sarcastic groan she jogged towards me, heels clacking against the snow white floor of the Nexus. "Fiiiiiine..." She groaned again, obviously just trying to mess with me. "Weiss, the cold-hearted act isn't working, y'know." I scolded her, pressing my puny index finger in the center of her forehead. "What can I say, you three have made me soft." She jested with a wide smirk, and I snorted. "You could have just ignored us from the start though." I retorted with pensive eyes, slowly walking backwards towards our original destination, and she let out a loud 'hah' in return. "How could I? The three of you basically pestered me into submission."

"Good point."

The two of us giggled for a moment, before I turned on the heel of my boot, watching the large gate, designed to capture the image of two bending palm trees drawing closer to us. "Nearly there Weiss!" I exclaimed, throwing my hands into the air, and she sighed behind me. "Yeah, we are, Ruby." I shot a dirty look over my shoulder, thinking she wasn't happy, but I was met by one of the largest grins I had ever seen from Weiss.