r/WhiteRose

WhiteRose, Wild West esque setting. And our lovely Weiss is a witch, with Ruby as a Bounty Hunter!

YOU CAN’T STOP ME MWAHAHAHA!

The snippet:

Chapter 1.

Wind whipped past her.

Ruby nearly missed another fallen tree, wrenching the reins hard enough that her horse shrieked in protest.

“Just a lil more,” she pleaded, voice ragged from panic and fear. 

The mare’s flanks heaved beneath her. Foam flecked the bit. One wrong step on the path, and she could end up in worse wear. 

Every bounce of the saddle sent pain twisting beneath the rough bandages wrapped around her stomach, hot and wet again despite her best efforts.

But she couldn’t think about her right now. 

She had to get there.

If the people in town were telling the truth, the witch could save Yang. Maybe not whole. Maybe not unharmed.

But alive.

Ruby would take alive. Had to take alive. Even if she’d have to—

No! Focus!

The grip around her waist went slack.

Yang’s head slid forward, heavy against Ruby’s shoulder, breath burning weak and uneven at her collar.

“Hey—hey, no, don’t you do that,” Ruby whispered, voice cracking. “You don’t get to just—just leave me here with this, okay?! Not you!”

Yang’s eyes trembled open, unfocused and glassy, before shutting again like they were too heavy to hold up.

“R-Rubes..”

The word barely made it out. Like she wasn’t even sure she’d said it.

Ruby sucked in a sharp breath.

She had to hurry.

“I’ve got you,” Ruby muttered, though her voice shook worse than her hands. 

The mare stumbled beneath them.

Once. Twice.

Ruby barely corrected the reins in time, her arms burning with every movement. Her stomach flared hot beneath the bandages, but she didn’t slow.

Couldn’t slow.

“C’mon…” she hissed through clenched teeth. “C’mon, you stupid—just a little more…”

The trees began to thin.

Not much. Just enough for Ruby to notice something wrong with the world ahead.

The path didn’t feel natural anymore.

It… bent.

Not physically. Not clearly.

Just wrong in a way she couldn’t explain.

It had to be the witch's work, right?!

Please let it be hers!

Ruby spurred Scarlet on. 

“Go, girl. We’re nearly there!”

Scarlet’s hooves hit softer ground.

Wrongly soft.

Like the earth had been walked too many times in the same pattern.

Ruby swallowed hard.

A well-traveled path.

That was the only thing that made sense anymore.
And with the sun dipping, she was running out of light.

Very soon.

Yang shifted faintly behind her again, a weak sound caught in her throat.

Not a word this time.

Just air. Too thin.

Ruby tightened her grip instinctively, knuckles white on the reins.

“Stay with me,” she pleaded, voice breaking. “You stay with me. You don’t get to fall asleep yet.”

Scarlet slowed.

Not from command.

From refusal.

“No—no, no, no,” Ruby begged, pulling harder at the reins. “You can’t give up on me now. Please.”

Scarlet took another step.

Then another.

Hesitant. Uneven.

Ruby leaned forward, as if she could force momentum through will alone. Her arms shook from strain, but she didn’t loosen her grip.

“C’mon…” she whispered. “C’mon, just—just a little more. You can do it. We’re here. We’re right here…”

The trees weren’t just thinning now.

They were opening.

Like something had been carved through them.

Not broken.

Cleared.

Deliberately.

Ruby’s breath caught.

Marks lined the nearby trunks.

Not random scratches. Not animal damage.

Too precise.

Too consistent.

“Damnit, Scarlet,” Ruby snapped, yanking the reins harder. “Please, I’m right there! Just move!”

The mare panted and heaved beneath her, but pushed on at a walking pace. Barely able to move. 

Then Ruby saw it.

Light.

Faint and gold behind curtained windows.

Her breath caught so sharply it hurt.

A cabin sat beyond the trees, tucked into the clearing like the forest had grown around it instead of the other way around.

Smoke curled from a stone chimney into the darkening sky.

A lantern swayed gently near the porch. Burning a strange blue as it swayed in the soft wind. 

“Yang!” Ruby cried out in relief. “We’re there! We found her!”

A soft, disapproving grunt left Yang’s lips. But she clearly didn’t have the energy left to try and talk Ruby out of it again.

Not that Ruby would’ve listened.

The town doctor had barely managed to close her wounds before muttering about infection and prayer like those were the same damn thing.

The mare staggered beneath them.

Hard enough this time that Ruby nearly lost her grip on the reins.

“Easy—easy…” she grumbled, tightening her hold as Scarlet fought to stay upright.

The cabin looked closer now.