"Happy birthday Miss Schnee!" a six year old boy with raven black hair greeted a white haired girl the same age as he. She was currently walking around town with her father, sister, and numerous noblemen and women. "I hope the rest of your days are happy ones."
The birthday girl stared at the boy that just greeted her. His dirty external was appalling to say the least. His rags for clothes were covered in dirt, as was his skin. However, the one thing that set the people around her off the most were the pair of wings protruding from the boy's back.
"What a dirty Faunus," she heard people say.
"How dare that thing even speak to Miss Schnee," another nobleman added.
She was too young to understand why they hated the Faunus so much, but she knew that if she didn't act like them, then her father's reputation would take a rather large hit. That was one thing that she didn't want the most.
"Guards!" she yelled. Half a dozen men in suits came to her aid. Each stared at the Faunus boy before picking him up rather forcefully and tossing him to the nearest alley as if he was trash.
The humans who witnessed the scene did nothing but scoff at the gall of the idiotic Faunus boy who tried to greet a Schnee.
The Faunus, on the other hand, decided to act on it. Dozens of them filled the street and surrounded the nobility and their bodyguards. In a flash of a moment, chaos ensued.
The bodyguards did everything they could to protect the nobles, but fear played against them. A few nobles ran away only to be caught by a few Faunus. To be fair to the guards, they were to prioritize the Schnee's, especially the young heiress.
In the midst of everything, the heiress was pushed out of the protective circle of the guards. A few Faunus noticed the little girl and tossed her onto the streets, and into on coming traffic. A crazed Faunus drove full speed towards the tiny Schnee.
She may have been too young to realize the severity of what was happening, but a strange fear built up within her.
A pair of arms enveloped her as well as the shadow of a wing.
It was just any other day at Beacon academy. Classes are… interesting. Professor Peter Port's classes are uneventful since the old professor never teaches, but instead rambles on about his numerous excursions against the creatures of Grimm.
Yang Xiao Long, Jaune Arc, Ruby Rose, and Nora Valkyrie are all asleep as usual.
Lie Ren and Pyrrha Nikos paid attention to the rambling professor in hopes that they might learn something that they could implement out on the field… or just out of respect, either one.
Blake Belladonna continued to read the seventh installment of her beloved Ninja's of Love series, completely blocking out the outside world.
Weiss Schnee, strangely enough, merely stared out the window in deep thought, her eyes blank as if she was looking at something that isn't there.
"Can anyone tell me what Grimm has the weakest bones?" Professor Port asked his class, taking a break from his story telling. Ten seconds passed by and no one was willing to give so much as just a guess. "How about you Miss Schnee?"
The white haired heiress gave no response; she hadn't even noticed that the professor called her name. "Miss Schnee?"
Calling her a second time gave results. Weiss was forced out of her out of body state, directing her attention towards the professor.
"Sorry Professor Port," she quickly apologized. "Can you repeat that one more time?"
"I asked what Grimm has the weakest bones," the professor complied.
"Nevermores, sir."
"Excellent Miss Schnee. Can you also tell the class why is it that even though it has the weakest bones, there might be problem dealing with one?"
"It's because of their ability to fly, tough feathers, and thick hide. Normal bullets would just bounce of the feathers and should someone be lucky enough to get one between the gaps of the feathers, it would do nothing to the hide. The only known bullets that can take one down are high caliber rounds and full metal jacket rounds like the ones Miss Coco Adel uses."
"Well done Miss Schnee. I expect nothing less from you."
With that the professor continued his story, or rather transitioned into another time when he 'effortlessly took down an unkindness of Nevermores with nothing more than a makeshift hatchet.' Weiss didn't remain focused on the teacher for long. She diverted her attention back to the windows and drowned out the class once again as a sigh escaped her lips.
Unbeknownst to her, a certain cat Faunus caught on to her strange actions.
After an hour, Professor Port's class ended with the joy of the students, and starting their lunch break. Group by group the students exited the classroom, Weiss being behind everyone else, with a distracted look still on her face. Blake walked up to the girl, trying to grab her attention.
"Weiss are you alright?" the disguised Faunus asked. The heiress barely acknowledged her. Weiss let out a sigh before answering, though still out of it.
"I'm fine, Blake. Just a little tired, I guess."
"Weiss, 'a little tired' is one thing. But that's not what you are. You're thinking of something important."
"Am I that obvious?" Weiss asked Blake with a worried expression. The remaining two of the team called for them, but Blake waved them off, telling them to go on ahead.
"What's the matter Weiss? This isn't like you."
"I know…" Weiss looked around to see if they someone else other than Blake was within earshot. When they were in the clear, she turned to her teammate. "Promise to keep a secret?"
"Of course," Blake assured. Weiss took a breath, gathering her courage.
"Today's my birthday," the heiress confessed. The statement confused Blake.
Why would that be a thing that Weiss wanted to keep a secret? Moreover, why is she so dejected because of that?
"Happy birthday then," Blake said in more of a question than a statement.
"Thanks," Weiss said still with a dejected expression and tone of voice.
"But why would that be something you'd want to keep secret? Shouldn't we be celebrating?"
"No!" Weiss declined in a hurry. "No. That's not what I mean. It's just that every year since I was seven years old, I've always celebrated my birthday with a personal butler that my father assigned to me."
"That is until you started to attend Beacon?" Blake guessed. The heiress could only nod. "Do you miss him?"
"Yeah, I guess I do. I know that after everything that I've said about Faunus, I probably don't have the right to ask this, but please Blake. Don't tell anyone about this, especially Yang."
"Sure Weiss. I promise."
"Thanks teammate," she said with a ghost of a smile forming upon her lips. "Now let's go. We have to catch up with the others."
Weiss started to walk out, but Blake didn't take one step from her position. A thought suddenly occurred to her.
"Weiss, why not just ask your father to send him here? At least for your birthday?"
Surprisingly, Weiss answered almost immediately, without an ounce of deceit in her voice, and without an ounce of embarrassment. A longing smile formed itself on the white haired girl.
"Because if he comes here, I don't think I'd ever allow him to go back."
The answer shocked Blake. After declining the leader of Team JNPR countless of times before, she assumed that Weiss had no plans of even interacting with the opposite sex at all. However, more than anything else, she had never seen such a smile on Weiss Schnee.
"Wouldn't you be happy though?"
"Of course I would be, but he's currently been reassigned to my sister, Winter. Even if I wanted him to come, that's out of the question for now."
The smile of the heiress never disappeared even if her eyes gave away the loneliness she's feeling.
"Alright, let's go before the two sisters take our ice cream cups," Weiss pointed out. "Oh and Blake? Thanks for listening. I needed that."
"No problem Weiss." The two of them made their way to the cafeteria, with Weiss imagining the 'what ifs' of her butler attending Beacon with her. All the while Blake was constantly staring at her teammate's satisfied smile.
"I knew they would take it," Weiss said with a sigh. She and Blake sat down with Ruby and Yang, and Team JNPR, both looking at the four empty ice cream cups on their teammates' tray, but ate without saying anything else until they finished. "I understand why Ruby would take it, but you Yang? I expected you'd be beyond petty theft, especially from a teammate."
"Sorry, Ice Queen," the brawler responded, a very satisfied smile plastered on to her face. "Just couldn't help myself. Besides, it was your guys' fault for taking so long."
"I don't even understand why'd the staff allow you to take them," Blake said quietly.
"We kinda told them that you guys told us that we could take them," the red-cloaked leader answered, refusing to meet anyone's eyes. "Sorry. It's just that it looked so good, and you've always known that I had a sweet tooth. I mean sure, I mainly prefer cookies, but sweets are sweets, you know?"
"Ruby?" at the call of her name, the fifteen year old made the mistake of looking up. Weiss glared at her leader, demanding the truth. Within a few seconds, she broke.
"Yang tempted me," she admitted looking at the floor ashamed. Ashamed for taking her partner's ice cream, and ashamed that she had sold out her own sister. All eyes landed on Yang.
"Ruby, you traitor!" Yang said with a mock surprised tone of voice. She had already expected that her sister would break.
"I'm sorry Weiss," Ruby said ignoring her sister. The heiress could only sigh at the childish behavior of her partner.
"It's alright Ruby. You are forgiven."
Everyone but Blake stared in shock at the white haired girl. She stared back at them with confusion. Ruby suddenly stood up.
"Yang, get medicine," Ruby went commando and started handing out orders.
"On it," Yang responded before rushing out of the cafeteria and towards the nurse's office.
"Jaune, oolong tea. Stat."
The boy was already up and headed towards the kitchen.
"Blake, tell Doctor Oobleck and Professor Goodwitch that Weiss can't attend class today."
The Faunus didn't move, finding the event ridiculous, but amusing nonetheless. Ruby rushed to the side of her partner and placed her hand on Weiss' forehead. Weiss, who barely had time to catch on, finally understood what was happening.
"I'm not sick you dolt!" she protested, but unfortunately went unheard. "Is it so strange that I feel like forgiving you that easily?"
"Yes," the entire table with the exception of Blake immediately responded.
"It's my birthday, so forgive me for being a bit more forgiving today than usual."
Silence took over the entire table. Jaune soon came out of the kitchen, oolong tea in hand. A few moments later, Yang came bursting out of the door, medicine bottle in hand. The two converged at the table and held out whatever they were sent out to get.
"False alarm guys," Ruby confirmed. Taking a breath, she shouted something else. "Whiskey Bravo Delta!"
The two blondes nodded, understanding what she meant.
"Ren. Nora," Jaune called out. The green clad boy and bubbly girl nodded and stood up, together they sped towards the kitchen.
"Pyrrha," Yang herself called out. Receiving a nod from the warrior before they sped towards the rooms of Teams RWBY and JNPR.
Only Weiss and Blake were confused. Both turned to their leader as if expecting an explanation of what had just occurred. Ruby only smiled innocently at them.
Within the next few minutes, Jaune, Ren, and Nora comes out of the kitchen, wheeling out a birthday cake – Oum knows how they got it done so fast – with letters spelling out 'Happy Birthday Weiss S.' When they reached the table, the remaining three girls stared at the words in confusion.
"We ran out of frosting," Jaune admitted moving his eyes towards Nora's direction. They stared at Nora who sat there with a little frosting at the corner of her mouth.
Pyrrha and Yang enter the cafeteria again and made their way to the table.
"Alright," Pyrrha announced first. "We have reservations for a certain restaurant tonight at seven."
"RTX?" Ruby asked for confirmation.
"You know it."
"Then later on," Yang took her turn to announce. "We're gonna go to Junior's Club for our more recreational fun."
"Aren't we too young to go to a club?" Blake asked, staring at her partner as if seeing her in a new light.
"Don't worry," Yang reassured her. "They don't sell just alcoholic drinks there."
"Guys," Weiss said with a sigh. Her dejected expression from earlier was apparent once more. "Thanks, but I really just want to spend today as peaceful as can be."
"What's wrong Weiss?" Ruby asked out of concern for her partner. "You seem sad."
Weiss only shook her head at her, and responded with nothing more.
"Weiss," Blake raised her voice, filled with concern. "How about at least a video conference?"
Everyone, but Weiss were confused about Blake's suggestion, and it only grew as Weiss' face grew brighter at it.
Quickly pulling out her scroll, Weiss swiped through her contact list until she landed on 'Winter Schnee'. As the call started to connect, the remaining seven got behind her to be part of the call.
An image appeared on the screen. Weiss' sister appeared on the screen wearing a bright smile.
"Hello sister," Winter greeted. "As well as to your friends."
"Good afternoon Winter," Weiss greeted back. "I sure hope I'm not interrupting anything."
"Nonsense. I was just about to call you, but Father called Ash out earlier. I thought it would be nice to say 'Happy Birthday' with him."
"It's quite alright sister," Weiss said, hiding the small disappointment that steadily grew within her.
"I hope that you're doing well there at Beacon."
"I am, albeit a bit lonely from time to time."
"Like today," Ruby's small and meek voice rang out, earning her a glare from Weiss.
"What's the matter dear sister?" Winter asked concerned. "It's your birthday. You should be anything but lonely. After all, you've your friends with you."
"It's not that Winter," the younger Schnee looked away with a disheartened expression. "I just miss having you here on my birthday."
"You mean me and Ash?" she asked with a smile. "You can't lie to me Weiss, even if you lie to yourself. I remember you protesting to not start your sixteenth birthday party until he was present."
"Winter!" Weiss cried out in protest. Her friends all looked at her with mischievous grins, already knowing what to ask for after the video call.
"Don't worry Weiss. Our project here is nearly over. Ash is still contracted as your personal butler, so he might attend Beacon with you – depending on Father's mood."
The idea both filled her with excitement and dread. Excitement that her butler will be attending Beacon with her as maybe a possible fifth team member. Dread that Yang will have unlimited ammunition to use against her should the idea become reality.
Winter looked up as a door opened on her side.
"Miss Schnee," an unknown masculine voice called out. "A report for you ma'am."
"A report?" Winter asked as she reached out for said report. "I wasn't expecting a report until next week."
"It's a report from your father ma'am," the employee answered.
"From Father?" Winter quickly reviewed the paper, a smile forming and growing larger as she read. "I see. Very well, you may go."
The door closed and Winter returned her attention back to her sister and her friends.
"What did Father have to report?" Weiss asked curiously. "It's unusual for him to do so."
"It's a surprise dear sister," Winter's smile slightly unnerved Weiss, but decided to let the issue go. "I'm sorry to have to end our call here Weiss, but duty calls."
"I understand," Weiss said, trying to hide her disappointment. "It was really good to see you Winter."
"You as well sister," Winter said with her sisterly affection apparent from her voice. "Have yourself a happy birthday Weiss. And I expect you all to make sure that she does."
"Yes ma'am," they all said smiling. And with that, Winter ended the call. Everyone was quiet for a time, as Weiss slowly rubbed her scroll that had her sister's image on it.
"So Weiss," Yang said, breaking the silence. "Who exactly is this 'Ash' character?"
"Wouldn't you like to know, Xiao Long," the heiress countered with a smile. "He's a friend."
"Sounds more like a boyfriend to me," Ruby slowly treaded on the thin ice. She expected to receive the usual death gaze from her partner, but it never appeared. Instead, an angelic smile graced her.
"He's a personal butler that my father assigned to me when I was seven," Weiss explained. "He's been with me ever since."
"And along the way, you developed a crush on him," Yang said crossing her arms and nodding. "I see where you're coming from Ice Queen. But I thought it isn't possible for the princess to fall for a servant."
"This isn't a work of fiction Yang," Weiss explained to her flirtatious teammate. "It's a lot more common than you would think, but this situation is different. I don't love him, I merely appreciate all that he's done for me."
"I wonder how many is that," Yang muttered jokingly. Apparently, the heiress didn't see it as one.
"Too many for anyone in the world to count," she responded. "Anything and everything I asked him to do, he'd do it without question."
"Seems like he's spoiled you," Nora said, with nothing but pure honesty in her voice.
"He promised that he would in place of the absence of my father. But it wasn't just that. When I told him that I wanted to be a Huntress, he'd practice on his own till the dead of night so that I could have a decent training partner. As long as he thought it would help me, he'd do it even at the cost of his health. The idiot."
"That's love Weiss," Jaune spoke up. The other nodded in agreement.
"That's love alright," Ren agreed.
"Can't be anything else," Blake added.
"Have you guys ever thought of duty?" Weiss argued. The others only stared at her as if waiting for 'Just kidding.' It never came, and they simply shook their heads.
"That's exactly why I call you 'Ice Queen'," Yang explained. "That is just cold."
"Why is it that romance is all that goes through your head?" Weiss asked the brawler. "If it's not fighting, then it's romance."
"That's not something you could use as an argument here Weiss," Ruby tried to join in. "It's the only logical thing to think."
"You should listen to yourself," Weiss argued back. "Since when have you been one to use logic?"
With that, the fifteen year old retired from the argument making only a single remark.
"Oh come on Weiss," Yang said smiling. "Your boy toy may not like you anymore if he saw you acting this way."
"Actually," an unknown voice made itself known. Everyone turned towards the voice, and Weiss' eyes opened wide in surprise. "I prefer to be called 'butler.'"