EDIT FOR CHAPTER 1 as of August 7th, 2018: This chapter had undergone a re-write. New content has been added. Expect an edit for Chapter 2 to be posted in an hour.
AYangThang: Almost any story in the "I Want" series can be picked up without reading any other stories in the universe. I take the time and effort to refresh and spin a proper light on pertinent plot points as they come up, and each story carries its own individual storyline as well. However, there are distinct family trees relative to the timeline, so if you have chosen to bypass a story for any reason, you may find yourself wondering about the greater universe. In my profile, I've made a list of families, and other pertinent information regarding character relationships.
I'd also like to remind everyone that this universe disregards key elements in RWBY Volume 3 and beyond, seeing as this universe was being worked on well before Volume 4 even released.
I Want: Little Dreamers
Chapter 1
When the woman seated at the table opened the unmarked journal, she took a breath. The pen in her hand making small squiggles in the top right corner of her page. She laughed to herself. She had carried the small eccentricity throughout her life. For some strange reason, she found it was easier to write in a journal that was no longer pristine. The more she dirtied it, the more she could personalize it, and make it her own.
After doodling some very basic shapes, her pen took flight across the page. The ink filling in words across the blank lines.
Old habits die hard. It seems as though I've written thousands of these little notes over the years, jotting down my thoughts as they came to me. Most of them ended up in the trash, burned, or otherwise gotten rid of. I didn't need them anymore. Time makes many things unimportant, but, time can also do the opposite. It can adapt, it can breed sentimentality. It can cradle messages of those we leave behind.
This journal is the only proof I need of that. Each page a snapshot of the things I wish to convey. So, here I am, once again, jotting down my thoughts. This time, though, it's not for my sake.
It's for yours.
Although the weather is chilly in Atlas, the three of you know nothing of the biting chill in the air. You know only the warmth of the blankets, the protective embrace of your mother and myself. You're too young to know the sort of family you were born into. Or the burden your bloodline brings down upon you. Part of me wishes that you would never know, but that's impossible.
Thankfully, for now you live in innocence. Every new day, you each learn a little something more. Ironically enough, so do I, and I don't make that statement lightly.
For example, you taught me that trying to keep an individual baby book for all three of you would be impossible. You've made it abundantly clear that I'll have very little time to myself. If it's not one thing, it's another, and the days move by swiftly without my noticing. I never expected time to slip away from my fingers like this, but, I suppose that's ultimately the struggle of any parent.
Time slips away from you too, after all, and with each passing moment just as fleeting as the last, I hope that you cling dearly to your youth. It will be gone far sooner than you know, so don't rush. Take your time, enjoy it, and don't try to wish it away.
Trust me, one day, you'll only wish you had it back.
I wonder if you'll even read this as you grow older. The idle fear occurs to me that one day, this may just be kept up on a shelf, collecting dust. I wonder if my thoughts will even matter to you at all. Though, by then I fully expect these pages to have yellowed age. My greatest wish as of right now, is that one day, far in the future, you'll read this. I don't know why exactly I want that, it's hard to explain.
I just do.
When I'm gone, and the world has finished shaping you into the people that you will no doubt become, I hope that you will look back on these pages. That you will see the memories etched here, and know without a shadow of a doubt that you will always be loved.
That, I believe, is the greatest significance you will find in these words. I hope, no matter what, it reaches you well.
From your mother with love,
Blake Belladonna.
Finley, Bianca, and Wycliff, the newest additions to the Schnee family, debuted in the local news exactly one month after they were born. In the handful of weeks following the announcement, it had been an unrelenting media firestorm. They monopolized the front page of every newspaper, and had reporters speculating for hours on local debate channels. Remnant wide news outlets were also in a tizzy, stirring up any sort of coverage on the topic that they could get their hands on.
To make matters worse, a few weeks after that, Weiss and Blake signed brand new paperwork for the SDC. Faunus could now, legally purchase SDC stocks, an action that garnered Weiss harsh criticism from atlesian elite. Lastly, Weiss named Finley as the heir to the company. That final announcement demanded even more attention, the likes of which had only been rivaled by Weiss in her youth.
That was a time when naming a female heir, the second to be born at that, was complete and total blasphemy.
To put matters simply, the people of Atlas were gawking at the famous Schnee family once again. Some called it a sign of the times. Others were repulsed by the idea of a Faunus inheriting the company. Stranger still were those that were intrigued by the very notion that a Faunus could lead the SDC at all. Given Atlas's dark history, many theorized that a Faunus wouldn't even want to run the company.
It was a hot topic of debate, and one that likely wouldn't end any time soon.
The cubs were now four months old, and to mark another monthly milestone, another article made headlines. Weiss Schnee, and her young heir taking center stage in the colored photograph. In another photo, Blake begrudgingly smiled for the camera as she stood behind Weiss and Finley. Then, a final photograph when the entire family completed the spread.
Blake swallowed hard as she looked at her children plastered across the front page of every news and media platform in Atlas. She was sure that it was no better in other kingdoms, with the media industry in an uproar over the Faunus youngsters. It wasn't every day that the leader and CEO of the Schnee Dust Company willingly opened her office to take interviews. Like her father before her, she a notoriously avoidant of the press.
Recently, though, Weiss had been bombarded with the mass media.
It seemed as if every day Weiss entertained some sort of press conference, interview, or social commentary. During those times Blake refused to comment. She even refused to come out of the mansion after a look out of the windows proved that the paparazzi often swarmed the front gates. All of them eagerly waiting to see the family in the flesh. A few of the more insane journalists climbed the gates only to be met with the full brunt of the SDC's security force.
All in all, it had been a taxing time within the household.
Blake had refused to allow any stranger near the babies, and until the big announcement, had only offered allowed one picture monthly. Each and every time, for some reason or another, it seemed to make front page news. Blake was curious to see what the media was saying about her children, but Weiss had done her best to keep the Faunus woman well away from all of the hullaballoo. Blake was just about to gawk at yet another photograph when the newspaper slipped from upwards from her hands and into the paper shredder.
The uniformly tattered pieces plunking into the recycling bin under the kitchen table.
Weis absently went back to her own reading. "Don't look at that filth." She murmured around her tea cup.
"Aren't you in the least bit curious as to what's being said?" Blake asked, watching as her mate shook her head. In fact, to Blake's dismay, she continued to eat her morning breakfast unperturbed.
Her blue eyed gaze remained strictly on the stock exchange, ignoring any gossip that she happened to scan by. "No." Weiss replied distractedly. "What they say is of no consequence to me. At least, not right now."
"Well, it's a huge concern to me." Blake said as she sighed at the shredded paper. "I was reading that…"
"Well then, perhaps you should endeavor to rectify your curiosity." Weiss said, always in a foul mood when work related topics graced her breakfast table uninvited. The somewhat calculated statement lacked cruelty. Weiss still felt a pang of guilt all the same. It wasn't what Blake wanted, or needed to hear. In an attempt to soothe the tense air, she instead offered a suggestion. "Blake, the library has plenty of books, and you have yet to make a true dent in the reading materials."
"I read books to relax."
"Precisely my point. You could certainly stand to do just that."
"I can't… You know how critical your naysayers have been, and the older our children get, the more vocal the outcries of disapproval have been." Blake protested. "What if they haven't been well received by the media? What if they hate them?"
"That's a running theme as it is."
"Weiss, be serious about this."
Weiss felt a headache approaching. A long and agitated sigh left her lips. "Trust me when I say that I am. I've considered all of it very carefully."
"And?"
"I've decided not to dwell on the media for now." Weiss replied, turning the page of her morning paper. "It isn't as if babies can get into trouble or cause a political scandal. The media has no real reason to hate them."
"That doesn't mean anything." Blake chided. "The rumor mill could be running rampant for all we know."
"That isn't my concern, either." Weiss said, folding up the stock pages and setting it aside. "I'll be worried once the children are old enough to make reputations for themselves, but not a moment beforehand. There isn't any point. Even the SDC's publicist assures me that there's no reason to trifle over the media at this time."
"But, there will be time later?" Blake shook her head. "I refuse to believe that you haven't searched every last inch of the media coverage for any bad press."
"If you're so sure of that, then why on Remnant are you so worried?" Weiss asked as she finished off the rest of her tea. "No, don't answer that. I doubt I'd be able to soothe your rampant paranoia on the topic anyway." She stood from her chair, kissing Blake on the lips in passing before grabbing the pristine white coat of her business suit that had been draped over the back of the dinning chair. "I have three meetings at corporate today that I can't reschedule, so you'll have to keep yourself occupied some other way."
"Weiss, tell me this, have you looked into it?" Blake asked her.
"I refuse to dignify that with an answer. You won't be satisfied either way." Weiss said with a smirk. "Regardless, public relations are not your concern as of right now. You insisted you didn't want a governess around the house because we should raise the children ourselves. Correct?"
Blake nodded. "I did say that, yes."
"Therefore, for now your place is in the home, not the office."
"Weiss..."
"No, Blake, I'm going to stand firm on this." Weiss said, her tone soft but demanding all the same. "Unless I need you to sign off on something, or ask I you for input, I want your focus to be entirely on household matters."
"If we didn't have three cubs that keep my hands full on a daily basis, I'd take that as an insult." Blake muttered.
"But we do have three of them, and you refuse the hired help." Weiss shot back. "It's not an insult, dear, it's fact."
"I know, Weiss." Blake couldn't help but feel as if that wasn't a good enough contribution.
"You have enough to worry about around the house. Keep your nose out of the media. If you truly find yourself without something to do, keep Ruby busy. Get her out of the house for a while, or something."
Blake cocked her head to the side. "She should be plenty busy. I thought she was helping Pyrrha up to speed on her new position."
"You'd think that, but Ruby's still very bored without Sun around." A few small beeps came from her scroll and the white haired woman sighed. "Now I have to go to work, if you want to continue bickering over this lunacy, it'll have to be over lunch."
At this, Blake simply rolled her eyes as she watched her wife retreat from the dining hall, her scroll in hand as she barked something into the receiver. Weiss pretended to have a very self-important attitude which always sent her secretaries scurrying around like terrified field mice. If only they knew the truth, they' be far less intimidated. The Faunus cursed softly, ears flattening down in aggravation of her own.
Blake missed her old SDC security uniform, and the luxuries that came along with it. Deep down, she knew Weiss was right. She even sincerely agreed with the sentiment. Her place was in the home, and three very young children were enough to worry about.
That didn't make Blake relax any less. She reached for her scroll. Her fingers clicking first news outlet she could think of. She found it, and all of its companions thereafter blocked.
"Dammit, Weiss..."
There weren't many televisions in the household.
Weiss had long ago learned that keeping too many of them around inhibited the dynamics in the household. Scrolls could be used to pull up programming if and when it might be needed. Anything beyond that was addressed with a minimalist approach. There was a theater room, of course, but often to was left dusty and unused. Sometimes, Weiss would ask a television to be brought out from storage and wheeled into the room of her liking, but that was also rare.
Beyond that, televisions simply weren't left sitting around in common areas.
Ruby, of course binge-watched television. She kept one in her room for those indulgent occasions. Yang had one too, though she used it less often than her younger sister. It still sat in her old room, likely collecting dust with the rest of her left-behind belongings. Winter's room also had a television, but it was so old, that it was obvious that Winter likely only kept it out of habit. Lastly, there was a small one that Weiss kept in her office. She used it strictly for work related purposes.
If there was one thing Weiss knew that her father had gotten right in his life, it was the ability to maintain stable, loving, marriage.
It was perhaps his one true accomplishment in his life. The only one she felt worth praising. The one element worth emulating as best as she could, or so Weiss had decided when navigating the contours of her own family dynamic. Blake had not been pleased when Weiss had outright banned the idea of a television in their bedroom. She had even accused the subject to be rooted strictly in paranoia.
Still, the avid book reader wasn't being neglected her most beloved hobby. Therefore, Blake put up with it, irksome though it was.
That didn't mean, however, that she didn't peep on her scroll when she thought Weiss wasn't looking. Weiss equally pretended not to know of Blake's little escapades, even though the browser history, and the monthly bills, showed exactly how much date usage Blake's scroll consumed at any given time. The wordless compromise was one of many, and both were content to occasionally bend the rules.
Weiss, however, had taken the banning of the media in the household to an entirely new extreme after becoming a parent. Blake found her scroll had even more limited access than usual. Although they'd already argued about it a few times, Weiss wasn't about to budge. Blake had learned to get creative about defying her wife, without truly crossing any hard boundaries.
"We shouldn't be doing this." Ruby said as she buried herself in her jacket. "If Weiss finds out about this, she's going to kill me."
"You make it sound like I'm doing something terrible. There's nothing wrong with a little fresh air." Blake said over her shoulder, pulling the hood more tightly around her face. It was far too cold to be wandering the newsstands while Weiss was away at work. Putting down one gossip magazines, she reached for another. "You know I like to stay current on events."
"And we couldn't have just reset the scroll connections, why?"
"If you truly want to get murdered, rummage through her desk for the passwords. You'll have to break the locks. Only Yang and Weiss have keys." Blake said, amber eyes lifting up from behind the pages. "Contrary to popular belief, even I don't go fiddling through her personal desk drawers. The ones with locks on them are off limits, even to me."
"Why not?" Ruby asked. "Yang used to do it all the time."
Blake smirked then, but it wasn't sarcastic, or even happy. It was the pitying kind of quirk in her lips. "Yang isn't her Faunus spouse, that's why."
"Uh, Blake, that doesn't make any sense."
"Before I even moved into the house, I was told explicitly, not to go fooling around in her desk at home. She told me it was for my own good, and there were things that I didn't need to see. Yang even corroborated the statement."
"Why not? What's so bad that you can't go in them?"
"I can only begin to imagine, but you have to remember, Weiss grew up in a world of bloodshed."
"It's kind of hard to forget that." Ruby agreed.
"A lot of people she knew were killed by the White Fang." Blake fought with herself hard at first, trying to decide if she should explain the matter or not, finally she continued. "There are things in that desk. The problem is, they're the hallmarks of racism and bigotry."
"Then why keep them?"
"They're the only things Weiss has left of those family members." Blake merely sighed then. "She's just trying to protect us both, while still cherishing the people she knew and loved. I can't fault her for that."
Blake cleared her throat then, sideswiping away all of the unpleasantness with an extension of her hand. She grabbed something else to read. "Anyway, that's not the main reason why we're out here. When I decided to become a stay a home parent, I was also told explicitly not to bury my nose in my scroll when it came to work related media. That also includes family coverage."
"See, then I know we shouldn't be out here."
The Faunus merely grinned. "However, Weiss never said that I couldn't go retrieve my usual reading. She knows what lengths I go to. After all, at one time I was the one in charge of security." Blake murmured under her breath before returning her gaze to the page. "Anyway, she just doesn't want it in the house. I can respect that, so long as she can respect that I'm going to be reading outside of the house."
"You guys are weird." Ruby muttered. "What's it matter where you read the news?"
Blake closed and put away the useless tabloid before shrugging. Giving up her search, at least for the time being. "Would you want to be raised around that kind of negativity? Knowing the whole world is looking at you, judging you?" Blake hated admitting it, but she knew exactly why Weiss didn't want that sort of thing around the house. "It's bad enough she has to know every detail. In her mind, her family shouldn't have to."
"It's going to get to them eventually..." Ruby trailed off with a frown.
"What she's doing isn't malicious, Ruby." Blake said gently. "She's just trying to separate our public and private lives. When she comes home, she wants it to be to her family. She doesn't want to walk in the door and be faced with more work related drama. As much as I don't like it, it's best to leave the media at the door…I just wish it wasn't so hard sometimes."
Her watch beeped, and her ears perked up. She had only been away from the household for half an hour, but it was already far too long for her liking. It was time to go back home, where she was sure Pyrrha had her children well protected. They were probably still even sleeping. Even so, she felt the instinctual urge to go back home to be with her children, just to be absolutely sure.
"Come on, Ruby." Blake said. "Let's go home."
It was late that evening when the family unified and became whole again. It had become normal for Weiss to keep long hours. The white haired woman had a habit of returning from work appearing more than a little frazzled. Tonight, she was not alone, her older sister followed closely behind.
Winter Schnee rarely showed up uninvited anywhere, but when she did, it was normally at the behest of someone driving the woman crazy.
This instance was no different. In spite of the time, Winter stayed for dinner and spoke to Weiss at great length. The two of them locked away in the home office that Weiss insisted on using for such matters. It was only when they were finished that Winter took the time to relax along with the family. The woman even spent a short time holding her obviously cranky niece and nephews before heading off back to Atlas Academy. There she had an extra bed, and a workstation. Both she used regularly.
Blake had kept a wide space between herself and Weiss, mostly because she was more than slightly annoyed at having her scroll so heavily restricted. Even if it was for her own good, something that almost all of her friends agreed upon unanimously, she still had to bite her tongue. There wasn't a kind word to say about the matter, so she rather not say anything at all.
Even if she understood why, her emotions were harder to handle.
To pass the time, and to cool her ire, the Faunus woman spent a quiet few hours curled up next to a nearby window, reading in the dim light. Blake held her daughter close. Bianca, the only girl in the litter of three, let loose a big yawn. Dark tuffs of black hair stuck out of the blanket she was wrapped in, and blue eyes had only intensified over time. She was unlike her brothers who sported Blake's deep golden gaze, just as Ruby had predicted they would.
As luck would have it, Ruby had won a sizable betting pool for her prediction.
Blake thought on that idly, smiling down at the little one. A small mewl escaped from the baby's lips, a testament to her Faunus heritage. Protective arms adjusted the child wordlessly as she began to fuss, and the baby girl nuzzled into the comfort, basking in it for all that it was worth.
"You don't think she's hungry, do you?" The curious question held an ulterior motive as the white haired woman looked up from her own task at hand.
Blake didn't even bother averting her gaze from her book, but let a small smile show, regardless. "No. It's not that." She turned the page and shushed her little girl. Deft fingers slipping between the folds of the fabric, gently rubbing the fur covered ears concealed beneath. This quieted the child, her purrs soft and gentle as her eyes began to close. "You'll have your chance to bond with them during mealtime later, Weiss, I promise."
A sigh permeated the air, followed soon after by the clicking of a laptop. "You say this, but none of them seem willing to take a bottle without screeching. It's like a last ditch resort. I hate that."
"Would you want to suck on rubber to get your meals?" Blake asked before chuckling mildly at the disgusted look smearing across her wife's face. "I certainly wouldn't."
"Touché."
"I'm surprised the boys haven't moved." Blake replied, looking up at the bedding that Weiss sat in, both of her sons were happy to curl up, one on each side of their other parent. "Winter must have really tuckered them out when she came by."
"Not that there's anything tiring about being held and cuddled for an hour or two." Weiss said. "It wasn't as if she stayed long enough for a proper visit."
"She did say she would be back for another visit later in the week." Blake recalled.
"It's nice that she's tutoring at the academy briefly, but she'll be sent out on assignment soon enough. Ironwood keeps her busy." The tapping of her keys stopped and she closed the laptop, setting it off to the side, along with her scroll. Her reading glasses for fine print came next, and their removal marked the end of a long business day. "Winter did bring something by though."
"Oh?"
Weiss produced a written piece of parchment from within a briefcase she kept at her side. "A formal letter from my father." She explained. "He wishes to speak with me about something."
"Something that will eventually lead to an argument, I'm guessing."
"So goes my foregone conclusion." Weiss said airily. "It's an invitation for tea and chess. We haven't done that in years. Now without a predetermined formally. Anyway, I will have to make the time to see him."
"What do you think he wants now?" Blake asked, mildly defensive at the thought of her father-in-law. The white haired, aging man, was foul tempered as ever when it came to the SDC, and frankly put, Blake hated the man.
"He didn't explain himself to Winter, so I don't have a clue." Having put away the work she had dragged home with her, she ever so carefully pried herself from the bedding, careful not to wake the sleeping Faunus youngsters at her side. "If I had to guess, I'd assume it has to do with the company." She said as she put away her supplies.
"That's not comforting."
"Expected though." Weiss replied, locking both the top and bottom half of the dutch door. "Frankly, I suspect it will be unpleasant to say the least." Once the nesting area was safely locked away from the rest of the household, she began shedding her clothes dumping them into the hamper one by one.
"And just when exactly are you going to take this 'tea and chess' with him?" Blake groused, ears flattening back distastefully.
"I was thinking I'd see him on Friday. At least, I would, assuming you won't claw his eyes out for my trouble." Weiss told her, seeing the snarl on Blake's lips as a low sound emitted. Curses mumbled through pure aggravation. "Oh, don't give me that look, I know you hate him."
"He hasn't even come by to meet his grandchildren."
"I thought you'd be happy about that." Clad in only a pair of panties, she reached for one of her favorite nightgowns at the back of the closet. "You really don't want him here."
"No, I don't." Blake admitted unapologetically.
"He feels the same, I'm sure." Weiss nodded, slipping her nightgown over her head, Weiss noticed the golden eyed gazed locked onto her form. Releasing her long white tendrils of hair from the gown, she then padded into the bathroom, raising her voice only a fraction. "If there's anything you've ever agreed upon, it's how much you truly hate each other. It's funny how that works, really."
Blake smirked to herself as Weiss got ready for bed, the bathroom door wide open as she went about her business. Blake couldn't see inside from her angle, but it was the mere idea that tickled her so greatly. It had taken Weiss a while to loosen up around the rest of her team, but Beacon had somehow managed to force her out of her shell. The less than lady like gargling of mouthwash alone only proved just how comfortable Weiss had become when it was only the two of them.
It might have been expected if it was any other person, but Weiss didn't have the luxury of growing up as a normal girl.
Her world had been lavished with riches, and devoid of emotional comforts. Blake could recall a time not all that long ago, when her mate would walk half way across Beacon's dormitory, if only it would keep her perfect, feminine image intact. Weiss Schnee held the Schnee Dust Company in the palm of her hand, but it was nice to know all that power hadn't jaded her.
In fact, it had done the opposite, granting the woman a shred of humility that she hadn't thought to have before rising to her father's station.
As a Faunus, she hated him on principle. As a person, she questioned his morals, and spat on his ethics. No matter how Blake felt about the man, she was bound to him as family. By human standards, the man was now her father-in-law. By Faunus standards, they should be think of each other as kinfolk. So even though she hated him, she knew she would have to drop the matter entirely.
Weiss exited the bathroom with her hairbrush in hand and presented it to Blake wordlessly.
It was first and foremost a piece offering. Secondly, it was a bonding ritual Blake absolutely loved to partake in. She set her book aside and took the brush, handing her daughter off to Weiss in the process. After her mate settled into a sitting position in front of her, Blake began to tend to the long lengths of white. They said nothing while basking in the comfort of this act. Blake taking pride in it. Offhandedly scent marking the woman's hair, and the nape of her neck. Feather soft kisses inviting Weiss to melt under the attention.
It felt right, as if everything was the way it should be.
"I want you to be happy." Blake told Weiss softly as she set the brush aside. "I'll do anything in my power to make that happen, even if it means putting up with your father."
"Then you can make me happy by turning the other cheek when I'm late to dinner tomorrow night."
"What, again?" Blake protested unhappily. "Weiss, you'll work yourself to the bone at this rate."
"I wish it could be avoided, but I have meetings." Weiss said as she leaned back to peck her wife on the lips. "I'll make it up to you, I promise."