RWBY Through Worlds

14: Rust and Dust Facade

"I...I don't know." Weiss was not a very good liar. "I just...I was just thinking that I couldn't imagine the General doing that."

"Me neither, but it was his invention," Pyrrha said. "I had hoped it was the only one, because of the special circumstances...but I can see from your face that it's not. You saw some...didn't you?"

"I...can't be sure they were the same thing," Weiss hedged. "But if they were..."

"Then if the Winter Maiden does not...willingly pass her powers on to Winter, does that mean that...?" Pyrrha's eyes widened.

"How did you know that?" Weiss took a step back.

"It wasn't that hard to guess..." Pyrrha said. "I'm...sure I'm not the only one who suspected Winter was the next in line. Even if her name makes it almost seem a little odd..."

"Winter is fine with inheriting the powers." Weiss lowered her voice. "And I thought I was okay with it... I mean, who can I trust more than my sister to use them responsibly? But...I'm not okay with it if it means she's...not going to be the same person anymore. What if that's what happens?"

"We don't know for sure..." Pyrrha felt sick thinking about it.

"But if she ends up like Oscar!?" Weiss hissed. "One person like that is bad enough! I can't handle two! Not if it's my sister! Or...she could just be gone! Is that even worse?"

"I can't say which is worse," Pyrrha said. "Does she know that she runs that risk?"

"I don't know!" Weiss said. "I don't know what the General would have told her about it. He warned you, right?"

"Ozpin did... I'm actually not sure if Ironwood would have or not." Pyrrha hoped so, but she had a terrible feeling that Winter Schnee was not one to make this decision so lightly if she knew this part.

"What do we do?" Weiss asked.

"Do? Weiss, you have to tell her," Pyrrha said.

"If I told her that, she'd want to know how I knew that," Weiss said. "I'm... She's never listened to me. And...if we didn't explain the parts we haven't told them, do you think she'd care? She'd say it's just us guessing..."

"Weiss, don't you want to stop your sister from doing this?" Pyrrha couldn't understand the hesitation.

"I do, but Winter has always made her own choices, and she's never listened to me," Weiss said. "I mean, I never tried to tell her to do anything before...and when I asked, she seemed pretty sure... I just don't know. If we try to talk her out of it and if the General finds out, he's going to be furious, and she could get in trouble for telling me about it. But if we don't, it could be any day now. But maybe it'll just happen naturally--"

"Slow down, Weiss," Pyrrha said. "I know what to do. I'm going to go ask Shine and Wally."

"Them?! Why them?" Weiss said warily.

"Because they already guessed Winter is the new Maiden," Pyrrha said. "And it can't hurt to tell them what's going on. They know about these things. I'm sure they'll have perspective on what we can do... I for one am not sure if we have the right to stop Winter, but I'm even less sure we have the right to withhold this information from her."

"Okay, fine," Weiss said. "But I don't want them to talk to Winter about it. Not if I can... I mean, it should be me, right?"

"Let's just...discuss it," Pyrrha said. "And let's include Oscar in this, please... He of all people would know."

"Yeah, and so would Ozpin, so no deal." Weiss frowned.

"But, Weiss, Oscar's opinion has more weight because of that," Pyrrha urged. "Please..."