Chapter 1: Growing Up
It was just another warm day at the exalted Beacon Academy, by far the best school for Huntsmen and Huntresses around. All throughout Vale, people still a bit fearful from the incident involving Mountain Glenn and the Grimm, but everything was back to how it was before, with everyone living their lives as though nothing happened.
In all honesty, that was exactly how humanity had developed in order to survive. Ignore the negative, focus on the positive and mundane. To most societies, this would not be healthy at all. Unfortunately, on Remnant, this is a trait picked up to help their society's chance of survival.
Unfortunately, the Defenders of Humanity, those Hunters and Huntresses of the Creatures of Grimm, could not partake in something so ingrained in everyday life lest they suffer. Aura is one of, if not the, greatest advantage that they have, letting their very souls protect and heal them. But if they were to ignore, to suppress the darker side of their emotions, their Aura becomes affected negatively. Sometimes it doesn't heal them after getting injured, sometimes it ends up failing to shield the body from random attacks, their Semblances could 'malfunction,' or, quite possibly one of the worst scenario, it just… turns off for an unknown amount of time. It is not healthy for Hunters and Huntresses to bottle up their emotions, otherwise the thin line of defence will wane.
Weiss Schnee was standing in a secluded part of the city of Vale, a place she found early on in her time there for those occasions in which she just needs to… get away from it all. It was quiet, almost nobody seemed to know about it, and it had a beautiful view. Today she was doing her own version of stress relief, a way to unwind and to let loose all of that negativity, all that fear and anger and sorrow that builds up. She was rehearsing a song and dance.
Had there been anyone around to see or hear this masterful performance, they would have been mesmerized, as the young Heiress was quite literally pouring her heart and soul into this.
Her team was away, the two sisters asking to have help from their Faunus team member for studying. While it would have hurt Weiss that they didn't want her to help, she understood why it had to be so. She was, admittedly, not the best when it came to teaching. When she did so, she expected it to just click, for them to understand exactly what was coming out of her mouth as it was coming out. Blake, meanwhile, was much more patient, being able to translate what the complex words meant into bite-sized chunks that were easy to digest.
Still, it gave her time to go to her favorite spot in the city to unwind on a beautiful day. She had went through a number of songs before deciding to rehearse one of her favorites, one that just… spoke to her on a deep level.
"Mirror, tell me something.
Tell me who's the loneliest of all?"
She started off slow, each movement taking its time to reach its destination.
"Mirror, tell me something.
Tell me who's the loneliest of all?"
Her speed increased, as did the strength behind the words, them sounding less airy and much more firm.
"Mirror, what's inside of me.
Tell me can a heart be turned to stone?"
She flew, leaping into the hair as a mental hand flew across a mental piano, and then slowing down as she just let her voice go, free of words and changing notes as dictated.
"Mirror, mirror, what's behind you?
Save me from the things I've seen!"
Her dance became quicker, more erratic but no less elegant as to match the tempo of the instruments playing within her head.
"I can keep it from the world
Why won't you let me hide from me?"
She threw spins into the mix, her feet not touching down on one spot for more than a second.
"Mirror, mirror, tell me something.
Who's the loneliest of all?"
She stopped at that part, her pose lowering as she prepared to sing the last line.
"I'm the loneliest of all."
Her final words rung in the air before fading away, leaving silence to once again-
*Clap Clap clap*
She spun around quickly, finding the source of the clapping to be a man, a Faunus if the goat horns protruding from his skull to be any indication, sitting on the nearby bench. She mentally chided herself for being so distracted that someone easily went by unnoticed.
"That was beautiful," he said to her, a toothy grin on his face. "Completely mesmerizing performance. Have you considered going into showbiz?"
"Well, thank you for compliments, but I'd rather not get that type of publicity," she said. Hard enough being a Schnee that wanted to be a Huntress, the gossipers on Atlas television were more than eager to use it as a publicity stunt for the company. She didn't want to know what would happen if she had decided to be just another pretty face with a good voice.
"Understandable, understandable. Here, I got some water if you're thirsty. Poor throat might need it." He offered to her just a normal, unopened plastic water bottle, which she graciously accepted. A small part of her questioned why she was doing so, but was a bit too thirsty too care. She sat down beside him on the bench and drank carefully.
"Hey, I gotta ask," he started. "On that last song, you really threw your everything into it. Makes me wonder, do you really think that about yourself?"
"... I feel like it did, like it does sometimes. Before Beacon, I was trapped in a gilded cage where I got everything I wanted, but I never really had anyone I could consider a friend," she said, surprising herself with how forthcoming she currently was with a complete stranger. "I'm sorry, who are you?"
"Oh, right. Call me R.O.B. And I'm pretty sure I know who you are, ma'am." Ah, yes, of course he would know about a Schnee, seeing as how vocal some news stations are about Faunus treatment. But his name. Something seemed… off about it.
"Well, Rob, I must thank you for the water, but-"
"You really aren't the loneliest, you know," he interrupted. "You've never known what it's like to be truly alone in your life."
"Ex-cuse me," she squawked indignantly.
"It's just like I said, you've never been alone, truly alone." He looked her in the eyes, icy blue meeting yellow and purple. "You've had your butler there for you, taking the role of a loving uncle. Klein cared for you more than he did his own family, you know. Your sister Winter is always willing to lend you a shoulder and a smile, always there to support you. Honestly, she's pretty cool, pun not intended. Your mother was pretty big in your life until that little incident."
Weiss stood there, flabbergasted at what she was hearing. This was personal information regarding her family, her life! And a complete stranger was talking about it like no big deal!
"I mean, there are plenty people who are worse off than you," he continued. "Your teammate, Blake, the poor thing, basically ran away from home to join a terrorist organization, in which she eventually betrayed her only friends and mentor/lover and was forced to hide who she was in a completely foreign place, lest she be treated as a beast. Please close your mouth, you might swallow a fly. Your Headmaster is an excellent example, but I probably shouldn't spoil that little surprise. But I think by far the worst one off that you personally know would have to be your poor, poor little brother." At this point, she was standing over him, drenched in both rage and confusion as to how he knew what he did. And what did her little tit of a brother have to do with any of this?
"After all you did abandon him." She was too shocked at the accusation to do anything other than stare. "You see, while you and Winter were supporting each other, poor little Whiteley had no one. Mother went recluse before he could remember his first words. Klein, while he did a majority of raising him, favored you much more than he did the little Prince. Didn't help that you actively avoided him, and by then Winter was away for military more often than not. And while you were living in a gilded cage, at least you had tasted freedom. All he ever had were nods when he did something good, and the back of Daddy's hand when he doesn't."
Her mind raced, trying to see a hole in his impossible logic, but couldn't. Had she really been that bad a sister, to never see how bad he really had it? How could it not cross her mind that it wasn't just her that had been hurt under-
"You know, now that I think about it, Daddy dearest seems to be cause most of your problems," he said, snapping her out of her thoughts and leaving her to feel… small, as small as she always did when Father was brought up. "I mean, he was already quite the piece of work before you added 'authoritarian dick of a father' to that list. I mean, it's a wonder you only have the one scar." He stopped a bit, letting the feeling sink in, watching her as she trembled under her memories.
"But what if I could change that," he said with a fanged grin.
And just like that, his words washed away all of her negative feelings, leaving only… something she couldn't quite place. "W-what," she weakly asked.
"You heard me," he said, getting up to stand on his cloven hooves. "What if I could change that? Give you a father that really, truly loves you, who would give up his own dream just so you could have a chance of a happy life? But the real question is, 'would you be interested?'"
She said nothing for a few seconds, just absorbing his words. A part of her, the logical part, was telling her to just walk away, go back to her dorm and find a new spot to do her little ritual, anywhere other than here. Unfortunately, the rest of her didn't listen, too entranced by the man in front of her and his words. "If I am?"
"Quite simple, really. New life, same body and memories. And when your time in that new life is done, you'll come right back to this one, with little time passing."
His tail flicked behind him, waiting for her to reach out and accept his hand. After some thought on her end, she accepted. And in that moment, the fog within her mind cleared, and she could truly see the monster before her.
"W-what are you," she screeched in fear, attempting desperately to get her hand free and run away. But she couldn't.
"Call me R.O.B." he said coyly, a shit eating grin on his face as his other hand rose upwards. "Its an acronym. Random Omnipotent Being." He snapped his fingers, and her world went dark.
All she could see was black. All she could feel were the walls of her warm prison. All she could hear extremely muffled sounds, with no way to discern what was what. She couldn't smell or taste anything, a layer of something surrounding her prevented that.
It didn't take long for Weiss to realize that she was inside of a womb.
Constantly she berated herself for not realizing what that… thing was sooner, but every time she thought back on what had transpired, she couldn't remember everything clearly. She could remember what he said to her perfectly, but couldn't recall what he looked like
So she spent her time, waiting to be born again, by thinking over R.O.B.'s words, because they were undoubtedly true. To use something along the lines of what Yang would say, she had been a complete shit. She had taken so much for granted, and only blinded herself to be bad that was hurting her that she never saw the bad that she was causing. She had seen so much of her Father in Whiteley, so much of his influence, that she had actively avoided him to the point where the only one who paid any real attention to her little brother was Father himself.
The moment she gets out of this… "second life," if this whole thing was even real, she was going to do her damndest to make things right with him.
But she wasn't going to focus on that right now. No, right now, she felt something happening. After what could have been either weeks or minutes, seeing as how she had basically no concept of time when within the womb, she was finally being born.
This… was not going to be pleasant…
In order to spare you some of the… less sightly events of childbirth, we'll just focus on the main stuff. Like how her eyes were blinded, causing her to reflexively cry out in pain and shock.
Eventually, she could make out outlines, and then full blown images. What looked like a female doctor was holding her, cutting what seemed to be her umbilical cord. Good, those things weirded me out anyway. And why am I thinking this I WAS JUST BORN! HOW AM I NOT FOCUSING ON THAT! Of course, her thoughts were translated as cries for all those not fluent in the language of the infants.
"Congrats, James, it's a girl," the doctor said, confirming that they were probably female. When you are raised amongst Atlas' finest, you end up seeing some very strange sights that make you question the simple things.
As the assumed doctor moved out of the way, she could make out another figure, though this one was male. Unfortunately, she couldn't see him all that clearly, seeing as how this was technically the first time using her eyes.
"Did you hear that Catherine? It's a girl! A beautiful, healthy baby girl!" His voice seemed familiar to the reincarnated Huntress, but she couldn't exactly recall what. And then her new mother spoke.
"Oh… Oh James… We did it… A daughter… Our beautiful daughter…"
That was the voice of her real mother, of Willow Schnee. It was the voice she had wanted to hear for years, one that wasn't drowning in alcohol and sorrow, one that actually sounded like she loved Weiss.
"Look at you, look at you… Hi there, I'm your daddy, sweetheart. Daddy" her new father cooed, his voice pulling her out of her thoughts and seemed to have calmed down Weiss' nerves. Yeah, I'm not calling you that, ever. Even as an infant, she will not stoop down to her partner's level of childishness. "You've got a bright future ahead of you, Weiss."
Huh, so she wasn't going to get a new name? Well that's fortuitous, as it would have taken so long to get used to that name. Then again, she was just born, so she would have had time to get used to one. And maybe now she could get the chance to spend time with her new mo-
"James! James… Something's… Something's…"
Oh no…
"Cathrine! Catherine!" No no no! Not again! I don't want to lose another one! "She's in cardiac arrest! Start compressions! And get the baby out of here!"
Weiss started crying out as the woman from before came in and carted her away. She heard the man, her new father, trying to do… something to help the dying woman. But Weiss was slowly losing consciousness, fading off soon after into sleep, her throat sore.
[One Year Later]
"Come on, walk to Daddy."
Weiss was visibly struggling as she moved her tiny, chubby baby legs. After years of perfecting her balance with dance and ice skating, it irked her to no end that she still had problems walking in this new form. Sure, most infants are masters of walking at 14 or 15 months, like her "friend" Amata, but she was not most infants.
Honestly, she blacked out of consciousness to find her body on autopilot so often that she "woke up" one day as friends to a Vacuonian looking baby named Amata. Admittedly, she had fun playing with babies, but it got a little old after a while.
But after setting one foot in front of the other, she eventually made it to him within the playpen.
"There you go! My goodness! Just a year old and already walking like a pro," he congratulated, making Weiss feel good about her progress. It has been a tough four months, but she was getting it down.
Her father's Pipboy beeped as it received a notification. As far as she could tell, Pipboys were like rudimentary Scrolls, but without the power problems (seeing as she has never seen anyone charge them) as a pro and lacking half the features as a con. One of the things that stayed the same seemed to be messaging a tagged Pipboy so long as it was within range.
{Doctor James Schnee, you're needed at the clinic. Looks like Edgar Wolfe had a bad fall in the Atrium.}
"Damn," he muttered. "Sorry, sweetheart, but Daddy's been called for work. I know you don't like it when Daddy leaves you alone, but I'll be back in a few minutes, alright?" He bent over and kissed her on the forehead before leaving the room, the door quietly closing behind him.
Weiss watched him leave, at least partially relieved that he had left. To be completely honest, it was still hard, getting used to her new father, still getting used to the idea of a new father. But James was nothing but kind and loving parent, a far cry from what Father had been. And that is including the fact that whenever he isn't in the Vault Clinic, he was spending it with her.
And that's another thing of note, this Vault. Vault 101, her new "home."
She didn't know why she and so many others were living in a massive underground Vault, or how long it's residents have lived in it, but it was unnerving. From what she could tell, she was still unnaturally pale by these people's standards, and the complete lack of sunlight wasn't helping, and that wasn't getting into a whole other mess of things that could be potential health problems. That brought up a bunch of questions, like;
"Why are we in this Vault?"
"What is happening outside the Vault?"
"What is the point of all of this?"
All these and many others, but the most important one is this.
I'm bored, what is there to do.
Yes. It seems as though she has also gained a child's complete lack of patience, which bothered her to no end.
Eventually, using her teenager brain, she figured a way out of the pin that father oh so cleverly closed. And since she wasn't large enough to neither press the opening mechanism nor activate the motion sensor to the room's door, she was stuck in the bedroom. Joy.
It was a fairly modest room, only sporting a bed, a crib, some dressers, the playpen, a bookshelf, and a large chest of toys. And the nicest thing in the room had to be the picture of the bible quote, Revelations 21:6, that her new mother had seemingly loved. She didn't know exactly what a bible was yet, but she saw her father read it a few times when he thought that Weiss was asleep.
She practiced her walking for a good few minutes before stumbling onto the rug covered ground. She was going to get up when she noticed something in front of her, a children's book titled "You're SPECIAL!"
It was definitely not here a minute ago. She couldn't even recall ever owning it.
Playing into her curiosity, she opened the book to find that it was just another children's book. She was about to close it at the last page when she saw something weird. There were numbers adding themselves in.
As any sane person is wont to do, she chucked that thing as far as she could, which only amounted in throwing it behind the toy chest.
It was at that moment that the door opened, revealing her father looking just a bit more tired than usual.
"Ha ha ha! You're quite the little explorer, aren't you? Serves me right for trying to pen you in," he joked, rubbing his hand on her head affectionately, that Weiss playfully swatted away, for some reason the whole deal with the book escaping her mind. She started to walk around the room, albeit a bit struggled in her effort.
"Alright, alright, you want to test out your walking. Let's go see if your friend Amata wants to play, hmm?" Weiss slowly shifted her head from side to side, thinking it out before nodding yes. Maybe the fellow toddler would keep her distracted.
And as the two of them left the room, neither saw the book disappear.
[Nine Years Later]
"SURPRISE!"
A ten year old Weiss covered her eyes, momentarily blinded by the sudden lights of the cafeteria. When her eyes finally adjusted to it, she could see a modest amount of people surrounding her, and the decorations...
"HAPPY BIRTHDAY!" It took a second for her to realize what was going on.
"It's my birthday?"
"Of course, sweetheart," her dad said, chuckling at her. "And now, you're ten! I'm so proud of you. If only-" Whatever he was about to say was cut off as the Overseer, Alphonse Almodovar, interrupted with
"Congratulations, young lady," he said, sounding like he's been through this more than a few times but still has to act chipper. Probably because he already had. "I don't have to tell you how special this day is, now, do I? Down here in Vault 101 when you turn ten, well, you're ready to take on your first official Vault responsibilities. So here you are." He pulled out a Pipboy, something that she knew about very well at this point, seeing as nearly everyone else had one, and gave it to her. "As Overseer, I hereby present to you your very own Pipboy 3000. Get used to it… You'll be getting your first work assignment tomorrow."
Weiss ignored that last bit, instead undoing the latch on the side and putting it on. She felt a small sting after doing so, which her dad noticed.
"Just the life monitoring system. It will get better, I promise. But go enjoy your party. You're only ten once, so have fun." For you maybe, she bitterly thought for a second.
In all honesty, it was strange how used to this underground life she was getting. At first, she had thought that it would never stick, but was proven wrong. In fact, she had come to like life in the Vault. There weren't the constant expectations of home, nor the constant danger of the Grimm, or anything else like that. Sure, there were times when she missed it all, when the steel grey walls seemed too suffocating, when she missed the feel of the sun on her face or the feel of the wind. But learning that the world was bathed in nuclear fire was a very good incentive for staying inside.
Oh yes, she learned quite a lot in this new world, Earth. To be honest, she was mostly interested in learning about the history and science of this world. It seemed so interesting, an entire world with no Dust, no Grimm, no Faunus, just humanity and it's unrestrained creativity and willpower. It was both fascinating what they could accomplish and horrifying what they did to themselves.
But that wasn't currently on her mind right now, it was her friend coming over, wrapping her arm over the girl's shoulder.
"Happy birthday, Weiss," Amata told her friend, a lopsided paper birthday hat sitting on her hat. "We really surprised you, huh? You looked about ready to run when Stanley turned on the light!"
"Of course I was surprised, you dolt," Weiss playfully said. "I completely forgot it was today!"
"Well then it looks like your dad's fears were null and void! He thought you were onto us, but I told him not to worry. You're so easy to fool."
"Is that so, huh? I may have to keep that in mind when it's your turn next. But seriously, thanks for the party."
"No problem, Weiss. And to be honest, your dad did most of the hard work. I just set up the decorations."
"That certainly explains everything."
"Oh shut it," Amata giggled. "Hey, I bet you can't guess what I got you as a present! Go on, guess!"
"Hmm," she hummed, holding her chin. "I haven't the foggiest idea."
"Ha! Knew I'd surprise you! Who's your favorite vigilante? That's right, the Silver Shroud! Issue 37! And with no missing pages!" With that, she pulled out the comic from behind her and handed it to the white haired girl.
Ah, yes, it was her new guilty pleasure. The SIlver Shroud. Her teammates on team RWBY would most certainly never let her hear the end of it if they learned about this, but she didn't care. It seems as though she has developed a love for the noir genre as a whole, and was going to download more than a few of the radio serials in the Vault archives after figuring out how. Sure, a lot of the lines and plots were cheesy as all hell, but she had fun. Admittedly, last Halloween, she used her dad's lab coat to dress as the vigilante while Amata showed all her love of Grognak.
No one from Remnant must ever learn of her newfound dorky side.
And that was admittedly one of the things she loved about life here, the little freedoms. The lack of decorum except only in serious gatherings, being free to like whatever she wanted, and to just… act like a kid for once.
"Thanks sooooooo much Amata! Where did you even find this?"
"In a box with all of my father's things, believe it or not. Imagine him reading comic books!" Indeed, the image of the ever serious Overseer going giddy at the thought of comics caused the two of them to laugh a bit. "Well, I guess I better let you go back to "mingling" with your guests! We'll talk later, okay?"
"Sure," Weiss said as her friend walked off. She was about to
Butch, Paul, and Wally were dead set on making fun of her and Amata for no reason other than making themselves feel bigger. Honestly, Weiss could understand with Butch a bit, knowing what she does about his mom's… habits, but the other two just joined on the bandwagon one day and seemed to just stick. That one of their group was standing there, not harassing her was interesting.
"Hey, uh, thanks for inviting me," Paul said, looking as awkward as the two of them felt. "Really cool party and everything. I know that, uh, Butcha and I give you a hard time, but you don't take any of that seriously, right? Anyway, uh, happy birthday and everything. I better go back to, you know…"
"What, is she your best friend, now? Hey Wally, I think Paul's in lo~ove," Butch DeLoria taunted from a booth a few seats over.
"Yeah Paul, why don't you introduce us to your new girlfriend," the third stooge, Wally Mack, joined in.
Weiss looked over to Amata, who just shrugged in response. So that means either someone else invited them, or they just let themselves in. She really hoped it was the latter.
Paul blushed a bit, which was well hidden, and scoffed. "Who, you mean dorkface over here? Happy Birthday, dorkface."
In response, Weiss just scoffed and walked towards one of the people she knew that she would enjoy talking to. Stanley, the pipboy technician. If she were to compare him to anyone, she could confidently say that the man reminded her a lot of Klein. Granted, he didn't have the multiple color eyes nor the multiple personalities, but the man was like an uncle to her, and was a common sight in the Clinic where she sometimes helped out her dad.
"Hi, Stanley."
"Ah, Weiss, how do you like that there pipboy? Fit alright and everything?"
"Other than the hidden needle, it fits very well. Did you fix it up?"
"As a matter of fact I did. Glad you like it. Some may think the A series a bit basic, but I've always prefered them for their reliability."
"Well thank you very much."
"Don't mention it. Oh, and before you go, I got a little something for ya," with that he placed a red baseball cap on her head. She took it off for a bit to look at it. It had a white, curvy W on the front of it. "I figured you'd like it to help keep attention of your hair. And hey, the letter is right. Happy Birthday."
Oh yes, another thing about this world. It seems as though hair and eye colors are much more limited here. So where the blues and crimsons are gone, there's just the blondes and gingers. And while white hair is fairly common, it's only ever found in the elderly, which makes it a good thing to pick on her for. Granted, she never let it get to her, but the gift was very much appreciated. She gladly placed it on her head, not one to be overly rude. And besides, it was a very comfy hat.
Nothing else particularly of note happened over the next few minutes, other than Mrs Palmer, a very nice woman who was basically the Vault Grandmother, gave her a sweetroll, Beatrice came late and gave her a rather depressing poem, and Andy, a Mr Handy model of robot, completely butchered the cake with his saw blade arm. Why robot meant for housework had a saw blade as a standard attachment was beyond her, but she didn't bother with it. Butch tried to start some trouble, but luckily Officer Gomez stepped in before it could get ugly.
But it all got interesting when her dad received a message on his pipboy.
"Hey, I just got a message from Jonas," he told her. "He and I have been cooking up a little surprise present. He's waiting for you down at the Reactor Level. Go ahead, I don't think anyone will mind if you slip away for a few minutes."
"Alright, Dad. I'll be right down there!"
She really did like Jonas. Sure, he and her dad tended to, as her friends would have said, nerd out a lot when together, but he was a good guy.
While walking down to the level, she took a moment to think about how the layout of the vault. It was all very utilitarian, with the hydroponics and other things like school, clinic, and cafeteria on the second level, most of the housing on the third level, and the reactors on the fourth level. The first level was reserved for things like the atrium, Overseer's quarters, security department, and the Vault door.
She reached one of the many stairwells that met connect all of the levels, and descended. Luckily, she chose the right one, because within two minutes of walking from her party, she found the bespeckled man.
"What are you doing down here, young lady? I thought kids weren't allowed down on the Reactor Level," Jonas said in a fake serious voice.
"Then whyever was I sent down here then?"
"I'm fairly certain it had to do with you turning ten, squirt," he dropped the voice all together and patted her head. "Now how did the party go? At least tell me the cake was good."
"Oh, I'm sure it was. And then Andy got a hold of it." Jonas winced at the mental image of the robot cutting cake.
"Oh geez, sorry about that. But hey, I think I know something that will cheer you up!"
"Would it, by any chance, be this surprise I was told about."
"You would be right," a voice said from behind her. She whirled around and saw her dad holding a duffle bag. "Are you ready for your surprise?"
Despite herself, she was smiling. "As ready as I'll ever be."
"The Overseer gave you your pipboy, and you're old enough for work. So I figured you're old enough for this…" With that, he pulled a single item out of the bag, and Weiss' eyes widened. "Your own bb gun! It's a little old, but it should work perfectly."
"Oh my gosh," she said, looking it over in her hands.
"Jonas found it down here. It was in pretty rough shape, took us around three months to find the parts to get it working again. You know how hard it is to find a spring that small? Good thing Butch 'misplaced' that switchblade of his. Ha ha ha!" THat got Weiss and Jonas to start laughing, too.
"Thank you, thank you so much!" She wasn't sure why she got a bb gun for her birthday, but if it took them so long to get it working again, than it's the least she could do to use it. And besides, as much as she tried to deny it, she missed the use of firearms.
"So, what do you think? Want to go test it out?"
"What, here? But we can't shoot here!"
"You're right," Jonas said. "And that's why we set up a little something special." He motioned for them to follow through another door, and at the end of what looked like an old storage room, were targets.
"What do you think," her dad asked. "You can come down here and shoot anytime you want."
"This is so great! Thank you!"
"No problem, sweetheart."
"Now go on," Jonas said. "I want to see you shoot something!"
Weiss nodded, and went over to the locker turned on it's side. Remembering all of the lessons she had from Winter all those years ago, she held the but of her gun on her shoulder, and looked down it.
Inhale, exhale.
Ding
Inhale, exhale.
Ding
Inhale, exhale.
Ding
Three hits! They weren't bullseyes, but who cares!
It was at that moment that a radroach crawled into the firing range, and the birthday girl let out a frankly embarrassing sound. She always had a hatred of bugs, but upon learning of the roaches the size of Zwei, she realized that her fear was very well founded.
"It's all right, it's just a radroach. THink you can take care of it with your bb gun?" The white haired girl looked at her father, then the gun, and then the disgusting abomination. She closed her eyes, breathing a bit before opening them up and aiming at the bug.
Inhale, exhale.
Splat
It made a terrible sound, but she was happy with the result.
"Good job! That's one less radroach to deal with. Hey Jonas! Get a picture of me and the big game hunter!" The doctor's assistant smiled and grabbed a camera, motioning the father and daughter to get into a pose. Her dad pulled her to his side, and she was smiling wide.
"Alright, smile!" A flash went off, and the picture was taken, immortalizing this moment.
Weiss, despite all of the negatives, was loving life in Vault 101.
Name: Weiss Schnee
Gender: Female
Age: 10
Level: 1
S: 4
P: 5
E: 3
C: 7
I: 9
A: 7
L: 5
Tags:
- [N/A]
- [N/A]
- [N/A]
[Items]
Apparel
Child's Vault Jumpsuit
Washington Nationals Baseball Cap
Weapons
BB Gun
Aid
Sweetroll
The Silver Shroud (+1 Sneak)
Ammo
BB rounds x46
A/N: So I thought I would change a few things in Vault 101 like making the layout make a bit more sense and how a few of the interactions within change, which you will see later on. I tried to make Amata a bit like Ruby, but more sociable, because I just happen to like their dynamic, and now Pipboys can send texts. I will also be doing a few things with the Pipboy, seeing as how it really wouldn't have all the abilities it does as a game mechanic when in real life. Also, the baseball cap that Stanley gave Weiss is a real thing that I found to be a really cool coincidence, so I threw that in there.
As you can see, our favorite Ice Princess has mellowed out, for lack of a better term, during the past ten years in the Vault. Granted, ten years anywhere is bound to change at least anyone's attitude on something, and all she's really done so far is, well, be a kid with a loving and supportive parent.
And I don't know for certain if I'm willing to implement her Aura right off the bat, or make her work for it. It will be a massive advantage, but definitely something that people in the wasteland will notice. You guys can decide if you want, but it may not be a thing in the early parts of the story.
The story name comes from the Eric Carmen song "All by Myself." It's a beautiful song that you should go check out.
Chapter Question: Which version of the Vault Jumpsuit do you like, baggy or skin-tight?