Schnee Ties Ch. 1: Uncaged

Another multi-chapter fic that I wanted to write so much I jumped it in. Very proud of my Schnee Ties!AU, let's get started.

It had only been a few months since his takeover, but the young CEO was already eager to change his new company for the better.

The man in charge of it was in his mid-20's, clean shaven and fairly bulky. His suit was painted a very light blue, bordering on white. His eyes showed a much more brilliant shade of the same color, looking very strong set. His hair gelled down and combed to the side. Everything from his dress shoes to his hair screamed business, but nobody really knew how much of a businessman he truly was until he started talking.

Running the Schnee Electronics had been his dream since he had born into the Schnee's. It was always passed through the family, no matter how qualified someone else may be. But Eiszapfen Schnee didn't want to simply be another boy to rise to power and maintain. He saw maintaining as the enemy. He wanted to take charge and make a difference. A few months later, his ideas were making the company millions more then any Schnee ever had.

Now Eiszapfen needed to expand. It was an early challenge for the CEO, as picking a spot for the new factories was going to be tricky. Now he had to worry about far too many things that would surround most of these things, especially work force. To make any new factory would require making sure that it would be in a good enough spot to ensure that people would work there, but that didn't mean that it would be the most efficient way possible.

His eyes settled over a single spot on his Scroll (a new piece of technology dreamed up by the CEO). Several factories could be built in a concentrated area, an area easy to get supplies into. The only problem would be the conditions.

In the spot he wanted, it would've been impossible to build all of the factories with ideal conditions, even making just one would've been difficult. Just as he was going to look away, his eyes settled on another point not too far from it. It was a small city named Dente, but he was familiar with the name. It constantly made headlines for how impoverished it was, how bad things were and how any business was local since the bigger companies saw no way to properly make money off of this.

A small smile formed across his pale lips as an idea came to him. He phoned in his board, telling all of them to come as soon as they could.

Within a few hours, every member of the board was assembled in front of him. The board had yet to expand, but very slowly (through promotions and firings) Eiszapfen had replaced the board with people he liked and wanted.

"Eis, this had better be important," one woman said. "You expressed urgency and I hate having my time wasted."

"As do I, Feuerstelle," he replied, his tone very rich and pleasant. It was evident that he was born to negotiate with his voice. "Efficiency should always be a top priority, which is why we're expanding." He heard a slight murmur of agreement amongst the board, urging a slight smirk.

"As you know, finding a place within our set range restrictions is difficult. After all, we do have so many things to be concerned about when dealing with these factories."

More murmurs.

"Which is why I decided that the best place would be here." Eiszapfen set his scroll in the middle of the small meeting table, displaying the holographic map of the area he had picked. "We can setup all of our factories with room to spare. In fact, future expansions will be able to stay within this area for a long time to come."

"The conditions here are completely out of what we consider our standard working conditions," someone else said.

"Yes, I realized that," Eiszapfen said, letting out a heavy breath. "Which is why I noted a second spot on the map nearby." He reached forward, moving the map until it was over Dente. "Dente, the city infamous for just being horrible. Nobody who lives there lives there by choice. The local businesses are just terrible, but hey they survive."

"You can't tear down a city," somebody else threw in.

"That would be counter-productive, wouldn't it?" Eiszapfen shot back. "More money into tearing it down and more time. No, what we're going to do is get us a work force from this place." Everyone stopped, looking at Eiszapfen like he was crazy.

"Eis, not enough people from this town will want to work in a factory, even if we do give them more money than their companies," another board member said. "You're age and ambition may be clouding your judgement here."

"Tsk, tsk, don't you trust your new boss at all?" Eis said, letting his grin show even more. "No, if we give them a choice we won't get many people. But what if I personally decided to buy out every single local business in here, ensuring that the only way to live is through Schnee Electronics."

If a pin had dropped, the echo would've been deafening.

Nobody could believe what had just come from their CEO's mouth. It seemed mad, but at the same time it seemed brilliant. It seemed almost too perfect.

"We would have to divert a few resources into building a few new things for this town," Eis admitted. "But doing so would ensure a renewable source of workers."

"What happens if they leave?" Another board member asked. Eis snorted, sitting back down in his chair.

"Well it's simple, we ensure they can't. I'm not saying we treat these people well, we just have to treat them well enough to keep up our work force. They won't have the lien to leave." Everyone looked amongst each other, mumbling quietly about the plan. "Any questions?" Silence met Eiszapfen for what seemed like an eternity. Then, he heard someone rise to their feet.

"When do we start?" Feuerstelle asked. Now Eis entire face was consumed by the wicked smile he wore so proudly.

"Right now, my dear Feuerstelle." He rose to his feet as well.

"Let us begin our road to a new, brighter, richer future."

It only took a month to get Eiszapfen's plan fully in action. All of the local businesses folded at the sight of such large amounts of lien and the chance to leave Dente. After every business became owned by the Schnee's, Eiszapfen told the city of their opportunity. The Schnee's would take care of them, feed them, make sure their homes would be okay, everything. But in exchange for their temporary services, they would have to work in the Schnee factories that were going to be built in a few months. Of course, the Schnee's would continue to take care of them. Seeing no other option, everyone of the legal working age agreed to it.

After the factories were done being built, it took very little time for the people of Dente to realize their mistake. Even without anything to ever compare this experience to, they could tell that the factory conditions were horrid, not to mention the little to no improvement that was seen within the city itself. All of the former local business owners were long gone, leaving everyone without a choice but to comply with the Schnee's wishes.

Within the next month, someone died in the factory conditions. The Schnee's promised that they were "seeking to improve the factory conditions for all," but nothing changed. After two months, they didn't even bother lying anymore. Whenever a person died, the Schnee's cremated the bodies and that was the end of it. Of course the people of Dente saw through the plan, keep most of them alive and keep them trapped within Dente. Running away would've been suicide, they barely had the supplies to live within the relative safety of the village.

After two years, the operation was going in full force for the Schnee's. Those who had passed the point of being effective workers were left to aid the Schnee workers in other places (food, clothing, etc.). Those too young to legally work were actually left alone, it seemed as though the Schnee's were willing to respect one part of the law.

After three years, the Schnee Orphanage was built. So many children's parents were dying, Eiszapfen decided that it would be best to setup an orphanage to keep those children alive and able to work in a few years. It became apparent that the orphanage was more like a homeless shelter, with children staying in it past the age of 18 (unable to find another place to live). But the practices that occurred within the orphanage were less than humane.

After 14 years, the city of Dente would've been unrecognizable to anyone who lived there prior. Schnee Electronics had completely taken over and anyone would tell you that it wasn't for the better.

But Eiszapfen didn't care about the struggles of the people of Dente. His 14 years had gone over marvelously. The money Schnee Electronics had been making had skyrocketed, he married Feuerstelle very shortly after the Dente plan was initiated and had a child with her a year later. Tragically, Feuerstelle passed away shortly after giving birth to the girl, but she had decided on a name for her just before her time ended. Eiszapfen honored his wife's request and named his daughter Weiss Schnee.

Eiszapfen never once stepped foot in Dente. He knew he didn't have to, nor did he have to dedicate any men for making sure that people were within the actual city. If people wanted to leave and die in the wilderness, be his guest. But what he didn't realize was that leaving them unsupervised would open up opportunities that he never would've anticipated coming true.

Dente: 19 Years After the Schnee Operation Began

The crinkling of paper turning was deafening in the small room.

When told to wait there, the girl had been willing to comply but she wouldn't be left without a book. She was never left without a book.

She wore a pair of black cargo pants with pockets on her thighs, calfs, and the backs of her thighs. When you reached her feet, a pair of thick, black boots to cover up her feet. She was wearing a silver-white belt (that looked more like a leather sash). Her top was a black, cotton short sleeved shirt that had a white zipper going up the front and two pouches on either one of her shoulders. There were two black ribbons tied around her wrists, something to show a little bit of uniqueness to her. Her hair was long and black, dropping all the way down to the middle of her back. Her eyes were a brilliant shade of amber, but the expression in them was cold and calculating, the same eyes that anyone in Dente now wore.

She had been living in the orphanage since she was 12 (six years ago) and she hated every second of it. She had no other choice but to live there, at this point. Like all other people who had passed the age of an adult, she hadn't made enough money to leave the orphanage.

She had been waiting for someone to arrive for a good amount of time. Time wasn't overly precious on her days off, all she would normally do was read and speak with her roommates. For how terrible the conditions of Dente were, the Schnee's had brought a very good selection of books for her to check out from the library. Of course, she was the only one who had taken advantage of this. Nobody else seemed to have the energy for books, not to mention that most of the newer generation couldn't read. Literacy was one of the best things her parents had left her.

"Blake," a gruff voice said. Her head shot up from the book to spot a man standing in front of her. He was older then Blake was and much taller. He wore a long pair of long, black cotton pants that only held pockets on the two thighs. He wore a single black, long sleeved cargo shirt that held two pouches on both the shoulders and two more on his chest. His hair was long and spiked black hair and his eyes were a deep shade of brown.

"Adam," Blake replied, setting her book down before rising. "Why did you call me here?"

"I have an opportunity," he replied, his voice remaining level.

"I'm not leaving." Blake took a step back, preparing to just leave. Adam (like many others) talked about leaving. Of course, no one would do it, but Blake knew Adam. He could try and leave and get himself killed.

"Good, because that would defeat the purpose." Blake stopped, tilting her head curiously at Adam.

"Spill."

"Look at what Dente has truly become. It's a slave operation, the only difference is in the technicality that we can leave if we want to die." He began pacing slowly, one foot moving in front of the other. "The Schnee's treat us like a pack of animals, feeding us so that we can work and when we die we're just gone. They don't care."

"Preaching to the choir again," Blake mumbled, already growing tired of what Adam was saying. The two of them had met through shared shifts at the factory, Adam being the veteran presence who taught Blake how to survive the factory. He often spoke about how much he hated the way they were being treated, sometimes going on long rants to Blake about them. Unfortunately, she knew everything that he was saying and had heard it all before from him. He had gotten better, but whenever he started Blake typically left.

"Does the choir know that there's going to be something done?" Blake crossed her arms and lifted up her head.

"You have my attention." Adam smiled, stopping his pacing.

"Myself along with many others have started to form a group to take on the Schnee's. We won't be directly fighting them, per say, but we will be harassing them thoroughly. Trying to tamper with shipments, the factories, maybe even branching out and attacking places that are a little further away from Dente. We need people we can trust, people who can do this." Blake stood there, pondering the thought.

"What happens when they see it's us?" Blake asked, worried about that piece of it. If the Schnee's knew, they wouldn't hesitate to kill anyone and everyone involved with associated with this group. It would serve as a reminder and as a way to ensure that nothing would ever stir up in the future.

"They won't," Adam replied. "At least, they won't be able to identify us. The first thing we did was contact all of the people who work in the tailor shops, they all agreed to make us suits and find masks for us. With the amount of people we have, we're getting a new suit everyday. All of the people who are currently signed onto this already have a suit." Blake stayed silent, very carefully thinking this through.

"Blake," Adam said as he stopped to put a hand on her shoulder. "You and I both know that if this continues, we're going to die like everyone else. Maybe we'll get lucky and be unable to work in the factory, but it wouldn't mean much of anything. Do you want your future to be... Whatever this is? Or do you want to make a difference?" Blake stood there, thinking over his question carefully. She took a look down at her wrists, seeing the two ribbons that her parents had left her with. They were their final gifts at a time when Blake felt like she had so much else that she needed from them. The factory had taken their lives and now Blake was being forced to work within it.

"When do we start?" Blake asked, her gaze remaining straight down. Adam's smile returned.

"Soon," Adam promised. "Very soon." He put an arm around Blake, leading her out of the building.

"Welcome to the White Fang."

Adam's promise of a soon start was not left empty. Within the week, they ran an operation to tamper with a piece of the factory. Blake had been one of the people on this much smaller job and she executed her role flawlessly. Stealth was simply something that came naturally to her, making her more ideal for any and all missions.

After a month, the White Fang escalated into actually stealing supplies. They kept their targets in Dente because they didn't know how they would do much of anything else. They hoped that to the Schnee's, it would just look like they were going for easy pickings.

In two months, the White Fang managed to break into a part of the factory that was in charge of handling most of the metallic portions of the devices. Adam saw this as a chance and got all White Fang members who worked in this portion of the factory to start making weapons. They were rough at first, but practice makes perfect and soon, everyone in the White Fang was armed with a simple sword.

After that, Adam put the White Fang on inactivity to practice with their weapons. The complete inactive period lasted about six months before there were enough people capable of using their newly made swords to operate with them.

It only took a short period of time to realize that when Adam had swords made, he intended on using them to kill. Most of his operations became bloodier, but Blake still tried to maintain her element of stealth. When she killed, she spent mourning over the lives lost, but avoiding it made things run smoother.

After a year, the White Fang secured a map of the Schnee operation and began to move away from Dente. They targeted any nearby factories, trying to make the trips as timely as possible. The only problem was that the closest factory was at least a days travel away by foot, meaning that anyone who partook in this had to have at least two days off and work in the afternoon on the third day to even feasibly pull off the operation.

That limited them considerably, it often kept their operations close to Dente. But after a total of two years since the White Fang had been formed, the White Fang had accomplished so many things, including worrying Eiszapfen Schnee.

Now, Blake was still in the same place as before (the orphanage), but she felt so much more accomplished. The White Fang had been slowly working down the Schnee operation, giving them an actual punishment for their crimes. While it was almost always fixed immediately, it was something.

On this day, Blake and a small team (lead by her) would be stealing and destroying several prototypes that had just arrived at Dente during the night. For now, she was in her room, reading a book.

The door opened up and she heard two people walk through the door, deep in conversation.

"I'm just saying, you could improve the amount of devices you worked on if you just repositioned yourself."

"And if I did that, I'd still be there for just as long."

"Oh I know that, but hey bonus points from the Schnee's never hurt anyone's time off."

Blake didn't even have to look up to know that her roommates, Sun and Velvet, were arguing over how Velvet worked. She was the youngest of the three and had recently started up at the factory, meaning that she was only just starting at the factory. Blake looked up at them briefly, only taking slight note of how they looked.

Velvet was dressed in a long, black cotton pants and a pair of black sneakers. Her top was also a long, black cotton shirt. Her hair fell down about as long as Blake's and her eyes were very large, warm and brown.

Sun was dressed in a pair of long, blue jeans (one of the only ones to have received a pair of jeans). They were torn at the knees from whenever he had to get down to work. His top was a black button up shirt that was missing all of the buttons. It just left his chest exposed (though when he was working, he wore a black undershirt for protection). He had messy, yellow hair and brilliant blue eyes.

"I really don't care," Velvet said, folding her arms. "They already give me good time off. Well... Good enough."

"Eh, suit yourself," Sun said, shrugging slightly. "Hey Blake." Blake nodded, returning to reading her book without missing a beat.

Velvet and Sun returned to their own conversation while Blake carried on reading her book. This was fairly typical of how Blake's time was spent in the orphanage. She preferred to keep to herself, mostly speaking only when she had official White Fang business to discuss with any of them. Otherwise, she enjoyed her quiet time to read a book or work on her swordplay.

After a few moments, Blake put down her book.

"Sun, you're on for tonight," Blake said, her voice in it's colder business tone.

"Am I?" He asked, slightly caught off guard. Sun was a lower member in the White Fang, slowly working his way up. Velvet wasn't personally involved with anything, though she did know about them.

"Yes, last minute shift change puts you on board." Blake marked her page before setting down her book. "I'd recommend getting your things ready now, if you want to stay on your leader's good side." Blake grabbed hold of her bed, dragging it away from the wall. It revealed a hole that was just a little bit smaller then her bed, something that most people were at the orphanage in the White Fang had. She reached inside of it and pulled out a bundle of cloth and a bag with a gray suit in it.

She moved her bed back into place as Sun moved his bed as well. She started to walk out of the orphanage, her mind set firmly on her final destination.

White Fang Base

The White Fang's base wasn't much. Some buildings the Schnee's had left alone, deciding that they weren't needed for their plans. The White Fang had taken full advantage of this, immediately using them as their hideouts and centers of operation. This one was Blake's personal favorite, it had plenty of spaces where you could be alone.

Blake was the first to arrive, so she found herself a small room that was used for changing. Stripping down everything (including her bows), Blake started to put on the suit. It was a standard suit for the White Fang, all black from the top to bottom. It only took her a brief period of time to get the suit on, worrying about buttoning up and covering her black undershirt later. She sat out in the middle of the center room, undoing the bundle of cloth for the rest of her outfit.

The first thing to be revealed was her sword. It was very standard, medium sized and very sharp. She took extraordinarily good care of her weapon. The next thing were a pair of black gloves, ones that Blake put on very quickly. It ensured that no skin was visible on her body from the chest down. The final thing that she grabbed was a gray mask, one that had been made from old electronics materials. It was shaped very plainly, the mouth the only part of your face that wasn't covered by the mask was the mouth.

She put it on, blinking slightly to adjust her eyes to the mask again. After that was on, Blake leaned back in her seat. It would be a while before the seven people would arrive. So she closed her eyes for a brief nap, trusting Sun to wake her when everyone arrived.

Later

Blake's dreamless sleep was interrupted by a slight shaking.

"Wakey wakey, Blakey Blakey," Sun's voice called softly. Blake's eyes did open and the first thing that she did was hit Sun. He flinched slightly, not expecting such a quick reaction from her.

"Thanks for waking me up," she said, keeping her voice low. Sun nodded, stepping away from Blake, who was clearly in leading mode. She stood with a lot more composure, her breaths were easier and just her presence felt more commanding. She looked out at the seven people there for the mission, noting that all of them were dressed in their suits.

"Welcome to the mission," she said, adding a growl to her voice to remind all of them to no longer speak in their normal voice. "Our job is simple. There is a small amount of prototypes in the second factory. We go in, we break them, we leave. If we can avoid killing, do it." There were a few grumbles of disapproval from two of them men, earning a glare from Blake.

"I have no love for the Schnee's, but we're here to execute things cleanly and efficiently, or perhaps you think that this is a different mission? I hear word that any of you attack unprovoked, Schnee blood won't be the only thing being cleaned up tonight. Got it?" Silence greeted her back, which won a nod from Blake.

"Good. Now, let's get going." Blake picked up her sword and it's makeshift sheath, watching as the other seven did the same thing.

Tonight was going to be a good night.

End: That was chapter 1. I have a lot of plans for this story, it may take priority for me in the near future. Questions, comments, follows, favorites and feedback is always appreciated.