`A/N: This is my attempt to make Jacques Schnee, one of the most hated and unlikable characters in RWBY, sympathetic. Some AU solely to enable the plot.
"Why did I agree to go again?" Weiss grumbled, more to herself than to Winter.
"Because I talked you into it," Winter replied as she fastened her seatbelt.
"Why would you do that?" Weiss passive-aggressively asked.
"Because he was our father, and we owe it to him to at least go to his funeral," Winter replied as she steered her car out of the driveway.
"Why would we owe him anything?" Weiss snapped. "He hurt our mother, he's a workaholic, and sometimes he would even abuse us."
"That's not all there was to him, Weiss," Winter replied. "It's a lot more complicated than that." Weiss rolled her eyes.
"What could he possibly have done to make up for all of that?" Weiss demanded. "Unless he sacrificed his life to save one of his employees and this whole heart attack thing is false, I don't think I have any reason to forgive him."
"Weiss," Winter sighed, "I know that he wasn't a good father to us, and you're right to be angry for how he treated us, but there are some things about him that you just don't know about."
Weiss glanced over at Winter, glaring right into her eyes. "Enlighten me, then," she replied.
"How much do you know about his father?" Winter inquired. Weiss thought for a moment.
"Come to think of it," she replied, "I don't think he ever mentioned him. Why?"
"I was going through father's things, and I found out about him in father's diary. Now, if you think father was a bad dad, then his father was the worst who ever lived." Weiss was a little surprised by the news, but stood her ground.
"Do you really think that him getting hurt as a child makes it okay for him to treat us so badly?" Weiss demanded.
"No," Winter replied. "But you need to understand the sort of life he had to live under his father. Father hurt mom to the point of driving her to alcohol abuse; Father's father hurt his family so badly that father's mother abandoned father and his father, never looking back or returning for her son. Father was a workaholic; His dad was a lazy drunk who made nothing of his life. Father would become abusive if he felt we had provoked him enough; His father would physically and mentally abuse him whenever he was angry about anything." Weiss was stunned. She wasn't sure what to think.
"Is that why father took mother's name? Even though he didn't have to?" Weiss inquired, her voice shaking a little.
"It is," Winter replied. "After everything his father had done to him, he was all too happy to forsake his name." Weiss sat in silence for a moment. "You see, Weiss, father wasn't perfect, but if his diary is any indication, he at least gave us something that his father never gave him."
"What's that?" Weiss asked, wide-eyed. Winter smiled.
"He gave us the best he could. He didn't know how to be a good father, but he still tried his absolute hardest. And I think we can at least give him credit for that." Weiss found herself nodding. It made sense that someone who grew up like that wouldn't know how to be a perfect parent, and he certainly wasn't; But knowing that he at least tried to be a good parent, especially with what little he had, still meant a lot.
"Winter," Weiss replied, "Thanks for talking me into going." Winter smirked.
"You're very welcome," she replied, smiling warmly.
A/N: And in just a few minutes, an attempt to make an unsynmpathetic character sympathetic, maybe even likeable, turned into a deconstruction of cycles of abuse. Sorry if Weiss seemed too agsty, but she has her moments in the show, and it seemed appropriate in this situation. Hope you liked it, and be sure to leave a review!
