This is the third time.
That's what Weiss thought as her hand went to the doorknob. It was the top floor of the SDC headquarters. At the end of the hall there was a set of wooden double doors. On the one of the doors was a nameplate with the words President: Ivory Schnee engraved on it.
This is the third time I've fought him. The first time she fought with her father was when she was ten years old. She had complained about her dinner, and her father said that if she could beat him she could eat whatever she wanted for the rest of her life.
The details of the actual fight were hazy. All she remembered was him raising his hand, the room filling with white light, and her waking up in her bed covered in bruises.
She couldn't help but smile as she recalled that memory. The person the president had become was not the kind of person who would goad a ten year old into a fight. He was different back then. He was kinder, warmer, and happier before everything went wrong.
The second time was seven years later, when she told him that she wanted to go to Beacon instead of taking over the company like he wanted her to. He didn't even stick around to see if she could win, he just brought out that thing and left.
After that she left for Beacon. Things were good for a time. She enjoyed her lessons, she made friends, and she had grown to like her teammates, even if they occasionally grated on her nerves.
Then everything went to hell.
It had been eight months since Beacon fell, since the city was overrun with grimm and rouge machines, since the school's headmaster vanished, since two of her friends were killed and another was crippled. After that her father came to bring her back home to Atlas.
In the time since she's been back she's divided her time between training with her master, spending time with her brother, and studying the inner workings of the Schnee Dust Company.
She had fallen into a nice and simple pattern, but it left her feeling empty. She missed laughing and raging with her friends, missed the thrill of adventure when she went on missions for the school, missed the adrenaline rush of a good fight that she wasn't sure she could win.
She wondered how long she would have to stay here and pretend to be happy when one night that question was answered for her.
She was in her room preparing for bed when she heard a knock on her door. She opened it to find one of her father's servants on the other side. "Your father wishes to speak with you" was all she said before walking away. Dumbfounded, Weiss went to the man's room.
His room was much plainer than one would expect.
There was a shelf filled with books on dust theory and economics, a glass cabinet containing various figurines of grimm and famous hunters, a bed, and a small desk behind which Weiss's father sat. No one would believe that this room belonged to the owner of the second largest corporation in all of Remnant.
The only thing in the room that gave an idea of the obscene wealth of the owner was a giant painting of a woman with long black hair. Her eyes were green and bright, and even though it was only a painting seeing that woman's smile filled Weiss's heart with a kind of warmth she hadn't felt in a long time, though it also filled her with a deep sadness.
Beneath the painting was a metal plate with an engraving.
Alyona Schnee, in the darkest of days you were my light
"Do you wish to leave this place?" her father said after a brief silence.
She was shocked to say the least. The last time she asked to leave so she could attend Beacon it took an hour of arguing before he would even consider it. Yet here he was now, offering her what she wanted most but was afraid to ask for.
"I have spent quite some time thinking about this, and I realized that I was mistaken. All I wanted was for you to be safe. After what happened to my employees, my brother, your mother. I thought it would best if I kept you close in order to better protect you."
Weiss felt her chest tighten. Her mother was killed when she was thirteen, during a raid on SDC headquarters by the White Fang.
She watched her mother bleed out. She saw those bright green eyes turn dark and dull. She remembered the last words her mother ever spoke.
I love you very much, my dear snowflake
After a moment, Weiss responded, "yes, I would like to leave. I wish to find my teammates" She hadn't seen any of her teammates since The Fall. Blake had disappeared shortly after, any attempts to contact Yang failed, and she had no idea where Ruby had gone or if she had ever woken up. She hadn't even been able to contact Team JNPR. Well, I guess they'd be going by team JNR now she thought bitterly.
Her father interrupted her thoughts, "I'm going to give you one last test. In three days I'll be in my office at the company headquarters, if you can defeat me you will be free to do as you like. You'll have full access to the company account, and I will make no attempts to contact you ever again."
Weiss thought that he was being too accommodating. "What happens if I lose?" she asked.
"Then you will stay with me in Atlas, and that will be the end of it" her father responded.
She thought for a moment, then nodded. "Okay, I'll do it." She then turned around to leave before her father interrupted her.
"Weiss, no matter what happens, I want you to know that I love you. You and your sister and brother are the most important thing in the world to me." All he got in reply was silence. He expected as much. He knew he had no right to act like a loving father now, not after how he had treated her.
In time, three days had passed, and Weiss was walking through the doors of the SDC main office.
She could see through the doors several company employees, some coming and going, others stopping to chat with a co-worker. The faint buzz of conversation reminded her of the school.
As soon as she walked in, all of the chatter of the various employees stopped. All of them knew exactly why she was here.
She paid them no mind as she walked up to the front desk. The person sitting behind it was a young woman with a blonde bob cut and two spiraled horns coming out of her head.
My father really has changed if he's letting a Faunus work the front desk, Weiss thought.
"Good afternoon Miss Schnee" the receptionist said with a smile. Even though she too knew why Weiss was there she was still the image of professionalism. "Your father is waiting for you in his office".
"Thank you" was all Weiss said in reply before she went to the elevator. She pressed the button marked top and waited. After a short time, she arrived at the top floor and a short walk later was standing before the door to her father's office.
As she was about to open the door, she noticed her hands were shaking.
Why? I'm not afraid of him. That was a lie. Deep down she was terrified.
She had never actually seen her father in a fight, but she heard stories about him. When the White Fang raided the headquarters, not a single one escaped alive. Most of them had been killed by the Altesian military, but according to the whispers other employees, he had personally killed twenty assailants that attempted to attack him in his office. After that they never once attempted to attack the company's main office. They satisfied their hatred of the SDC by robbing dust shipments and attacking his distributors.
There were also reports that Ivory had survived multiple attempts on his life over the years. If half of the rumors she heard about him were true, his life since taking control of the company was one constant battle.
She greatly doubted that any of it was true, yet even if they were that wasn't the source of her fear. She remembered the last time she had seen her father truly angry. His rage was like a hurricane, destroying everything in its path and caring nothing for what was in the way. She had been on the receiving end of it more than once. Weiss took a deep breath to calm her nerves, and when she felt she was ready she turned the knob and opened the door.
Her father's office was large, but just as nondescript as his bedroom.
It was filled with shelves of books and binders, and several cabinets of assorted documents. There was only one part of the room that gave an idea of what kind of person the president is.
Behind the large oak desk that her father was sitting at was what the receptionist once referred to as his "trophy wall". Weiss couldn't help but notice the tightness in the woman's voice when she said that.
Hanging from the wall was a tattered flag with the White Fang's symbol on it, dozens of cracked and bloodstained masks, and several broken weapons.
Ivory had kept them as a reminder of that day, and to show everyone what awaited them if they made an enemy of him.
"Good, you've arrived" the president said with a hint of happiness in his voice that Weiss hadn't heard in years. "I was wondering when you'd get here. Your sister was almost three hours late when she came"
Weiss blinked. "My sister? You mean Winter fought you too?" she asked.
"A long time ago, when she went off to join the military. I hope you give me as good a fight as she did" he responded. Weiss had noticed something strange about her father. He hadn't looked this way since his wife was murdered. He was smiling. "I am not going to leave this chair. If you can strike me even once, you win." He reached into his desk and pulled out a flask of brown liquor and a cigar. "Draw your sword Weiss. Show me what you've learned since you left" he said before lighting the cigar and taking a long drag.
Weiss drew her Myrtenaster, a rapier with a six cylinder cartridge just above the hilt. "Ivory Schnee, I challenge you to a duel". She gave the customary greeting. Even if this fight was important to her she made sure to remember proper etiquette.
"I hope you give me a wonderful battle". Her father gave the customary response.
Weiss went into an attack stance and charged towards her father. She immediately realized that had been a mistake.
She had taken no more than two steps before a red glyph appeared below her feet. She was barely able to jump back before it erupted into a pillar of fire.
"As you can see, I've made some special preparations" her father said, not even attempting to hide how much he was enjoying this. "A normal person would have been incinerated. Since it's you, I imagine you'll only receive minor burns".
Weiss took a few steps forward, testing to see if the trap would go off again.
I guess it was one time only. Good.
She summoned her aura. Her master's words echoed in her mind. A good hunter always surveys the battlefield beforehand. If you can control the battlefield you can control the fight. She concentrated her aura around her eyes, and what she saw almost made her jaw drop.
They were everywhere. Glyphs of various sizes and colors covered the floor, walls, and ceiling. She realized why her father's condition was to only hit him once. At the same time, she recalled more words of wisdom from her master. You have to be a special kind of stupid to just waltz into an enemy lair alone.
Stupid, stupid girl!
That's all Weiss could think.
She had been a fool to not ask why her father needed three days to prepare, and now she had walked right into a trap.
The traps were simple. All he was some dust to draw the glyphs and they could be activated with a small bit of aura.
As the president, he had the former in excess.
"What's the matter, aren't you going to move?" her father asked. "Fine, if you won't move, I'll have to make you move".
He waved his hand and white glyphs appeared. From them came grimm, but not normal Grimm, these were completely white.
It was the Schnee family's secret art: the ability to summon dead foes as servants in battle.
The first among them was an Ursa Major. It charged forward and swiped at Weiss with its massive claws. Weiss ducked under them and dashed to the side. When the Grimm gave chase it stepped on a faint blue glyph and was impaled by a jagged spear of ice.
Got to play this smart. If I can get these things to trigger the traps then I can kill two birds with one stone.
More summoned Grimm appeared. Five Beowulves stalked Weiss, but none were willing to get close enough to strike.
Even if they don't know about the traps, they know something is there.
Even if they were weak, taking on five enemies at once was suicide. Weiss decided that this was going to be done the hard way.
She ran straight at the Beowulves, but right before she got close enough to attack, she crouched down and poured as much aura as she could into her legs. She jumped higher than she had ever jumped before and lightly brushed her hand against the ceiling. A yellow glyph appeared where her hand had been and Weiss had less than a second to summon her own glyph beneath her feet to jump away before a bolt of lightning came down and fried the Grimm below.
"Very good" her father was in his seat clapping. "It's obvious that those enemies are far too weak for you. Let's ratchet the difficulty up a little, shall we?" he took a drink from his bottle and another glyph appeared.
This one was more intricate than the ones that appeared before. From the light stepped a boy about Weiss' height, wielding a longsword, and wearing a plain white mask. He couldn't have been older than 15 when he died, but dead he was.
White Fang, thought Weiss, anger slowly building up inside her. Must've been a new recruit. He'd either been killed during the assault on the main office or at a later time. Weiss didn't know which idea bothered her more.
The wraith swung his sword, but it was easily parried. Weiss swiftly dodged his next strike, then planted her sword through the ghost's neck. As the first ghost was fading, another appeared, this one wielding a double headed battle axe.
"This one was the first to breach my office. He didn't last very long" her father said with a faint chuckle. The being swung his axe at the girl who dodged and parried as best she could.
"Don't just defend, you have to attack too" he said as he waved his hand. A red glyph on one of the walls began to glow. Weiss had no time to react before a ball of flame slammed into her back. She was able to use her aura to defend herself against severe injuries, but she couldn't avoid the force she was hit with. She was on the ground, barely able to breathe when the axe came crashing down toward her head.
She rolled out of the way and sprang to her feet in time to dodge a shower of ice shards that had come flying at her. She had no time to catch her breath as the axe wielding fighter was charging straight at her.
She jumped back as the man swung at her and pressed a button on her sword's handle. The cylinder within spun for a bit before landing on a chamber with a black cartridge inside.
Weiss dodged another swing from the axe and stabbed into the ghost's stomach. The place where the sword made contact had turned dark grey and began to crack. Soon the wraith's entire body had turned to stone and crumbled into dust. Weiss glared at her father. He smiled back.
It was like a ballet.
Both Weiss and her father fell into a rhythm. Her father would summon another dead White Fang, and Weiss would fight it. He would also pelt her with various attacks by using the glyphs he had hidden all over the room.
Weiss would dodge the attacks from the phantom and her father, slay the ghost and wait for another to take its place.
All the while Weiss' father described each one he summoned, speaking of them as if they were old friends. "This one killed my last receptionist. It took me months to find a replacement." He said as he summoned a large Faunus wielding a giant ball and chain. When he fell another took his place.
"This one killed my brother. This one tried to attack me while I was taking a shower. Oh, and this one, you're not going to believe this, this one tried to ambush me. He fell out of a tree and broke his neck." He was having the time of his life.
Every time he summoned another warrior, he took another drink, and every time one was defeated he congratulated his daughter on her skill.
She was losing her patience. He held all the cards, and he was slowly burning through her resources.
There were only two things that helped Weiss in this situation; that the summoned spirits were unable to use aura, and that the prolonged battle had used up the majority of the traps laid about the office.
Unfortunately, after she felled the last fighter she realized that she was still right where she had started. She hadn't gotten any closer to her father. She was bloody, bruised, burnt, and exhausted. The dust cartridges in her sword were running low, and she was almost out of aura. If this war of attrition were allowed to continue she would definitely lose.
She decided that the only way to turn this around in her favor was to force his hand.
"Why don't you give me someone to kill other than these weaklings?" she said as she spat out a tooth.
He looked at her for a moment, and then drew another summoning symbol.
What appeared before the girl was another White Fang member, but this one was different. He was older, taller, had broad shoulders, and wore an ornate mask decorated with red markings. He was definitely a senior member, but that wasn't what caused Weiss' blood to run she saw the curved greatsword he wielded it was like a hand had grabbed hold of her heart.
She had seen that weapon before, when it had cut down her mother. Her father vocalized the thoughts she didn't want to speak.
"Yes, this is the man who killed your mother" his earlier mirth was nowhere to be found. "He was more resilient than the rest of them, but in the end he still died. You're almost at the end. Don't fall here"
Weiss didn't say a word.
She raised her sword and went into an attack stance, though this one was different than normal. Her right arm was raised and twisted outwards. The handle of her sword was inches away from her chin. A white glyph appeared beneath her feet, and time seemed to stand still.
The anger that was building up inside of her was reaching a boiling point. She intended to finish this in a single attack. Any later and she risked losing control.
Neck, armpit, thigh, brain, heart, liver, stomach. She marked all of her targets.
She had spent months practicing this move, performing it over and over again until it was perfect.
Truth be told, she had meant to use it against the man with the chainsaw if she ever saw him again.
The phantom swung his massive sword at her with incredible speed.
Weiss finally spoke. "Sternschnuppen" was all that was heard before the ghost exploded. Several large holes appeared all over his body, each one was a fatal wound.
Curiously, each hole had a different mark. One hole was burned about the edge, one was frozen, and another was grey and cracked. The phantom stumbled, dropped his sword, and vanished into nothing. Weiss didn't say anything to her father, she only glared at him.
"Using aura to increase your speed to deliver multiple attacks almost simultaneously. Impressive."
The man was truly in awe of what he had just seen from his daughter. It was a cruel thing to do to her, he knew. He had expected her to lose her composure and fall, but she always had a way of exceeding his expectations.
He sighed and looked at his bottle. There was a little over half of the brown liquor left. He grabbed the bottle and completely drained it.
I'm about to do something terrible, but I've done worse, he thought with a grimace. "I must commend you for doing this well so far. Unfortunately, I do not see you defeating this final opponent".
Weiss felt she had to agree. That last attack left her completely drained. Her aura was depleted, and she was out of dust. Whoever she fought next, the outcome would be decided by strength and skill alone. Weiss' father raised both his hands, and a massive summoning glyph appeared. It was large enough to fill the entire office, and had the most intricate design of all the ones seen so far. Whatever he was summoning took an insane amount of aura. Weiss braced herself to fight a monster. What she saw before her was even worse.
It was white.
White skin, white hair, white tiara, white armor, white spear, and a white shield. Even its eyes were white.
It looked at Weiss, and she could swear it was happy to see her. The smile that stretched across its face was far too familiar, and when it waved Weiss could hear her friend's voice in her head.
Hello again
She was going to throw up. The inside of her stomach felt like molten lead. Her anger was overflowing and about to explode.
How dare he? How dare he bring this thing, this imitation, this mockery before her?
Unbidden memories flooded her mind. Ruby in a coma, Jaune punching a locker until his fists were bruised and bloody, the bright and cheerful Nora sobbing into her friend's arms, the stoic and immovable Ren unable to keep his own tears at bay, a fat professor speaking to a crowd at a funeral. Weiss felt a rage she had never felt before.
I'm going to kill him she thought. He's gone too far this time. I'm definitely going to kill him.
She wasn't even looking at that thing when she marched toward her father. The spear at her throat was the only thing that made her stop. The thing shook its head, it looked almost like it was sad.
It was more than she could take.
"I understand you two are well acquainted. This is the final opponent Weiss. I've always wondered who would win; my daughter the genius, or Pyrrha Nikos the champion."
After hearing those words from that man, Weiss's anger finally exploded.
Sparks flew. Streaks of blood littered the floor. The only sounds in the room were weapons slicing through the air, and the clang of metal meeting metal.
Weiss had never fought Pyrrha when they went to school together. To be honest she never wanted to.
Weiss had received training from a teacher since she was old enough to hold a sword, but Pyrrha was a natural born prodigy. She still remembered when their teammates talked about the training they underwent when they were younger, and what Pyrrha had said when someone had asked her.
"I never received any formal training. One day I just picked up a weapon and it all came together" Pyyrha had said, sounding almost embarrassed.
Weiss didn't believe her then. The very idea was preposterous. A four time champion being completely self-taught was beyond the realm of possibility. Yet here she was now. Her opponent was nothing more than an echo of a person, with not even a fraction of the real thing's strength, and she was still losing.
It swung at Weiss with its spear, an attack that she easily ducked under. Then without stopping it spun and attempted to strike her with its shield. Weiss had no choice but to block, the impact sending her sliding backwards. As if it was as natural as breathing, the thing transformed its weapon from a spear to a rifle and fired twice. The first shot she was able to deflect, but the second grazed her side. She winced in pain.
Things weren't going well. Whenever it seemed like she was gaining the upper hand, the thing easily regained it. It was toying with her. She looked into its eyes and she saw what looked like pity.
It wants me to stop so it doesn't have to kill me. That only enraged her further. She slashed at the thing but her strikes were easily parried by its shield. Even if the thing was unable to use an aura, the natural combat abilities it possessed were more than enough. It stabbed at her, but when Weiss dodged the attack it simply spun around and struck her with the shield.
Weiss' vision swam. If she didn't end this soon she would lose consciousness, but she couldn't think of a way to win. She thought for a moment, and came up with an idea.
First thing I need to do is calm down. Attacking in anger is getting me nowhere. She was not looking forward to what was about to happen.
Weiss closed her eyes and took a deep breath that cut like glass. When she opened them again the temperature in the room seemed to plummet.
Her bright eyes had turned dark and hard. Her face was like a mask that betrayed no emotion.
She had worn this face before; when her father had called her a weakling when she vomited during a particularly grueling training session, when she watched him cut off a servant's arm for stealing from him, when they traveled to a market and saw a group of captured White Fang being executed by an angry mob and her father laughed like it was the funniest thing in the world.
Blood began to flow from her nose. All of the pain she was feeling faded away. The stench of burnt hair that assailed her nostrils vanished. She no longer tasted the blood in her mouth. The only thing she heard was the thing in front of her raising its gun. She had shut out everything except the enemy.
Weiss raised her sword as the thing fired at her. The bullet seemed to bend around her and missed. She used the tip of her sword to redirect the bullet and send it flying away from her. It was a move that took an incredible amount of concentration. Weiss ran at the thing and slashed. The thing raised its shield to block and countered with a stabbing attack. Weiss, that blank expression never leaving her face, raised her hand.
The point of the spear passed through her hand.
It didn't hurt.
The spear sank into her shoulder.
It didn't hurt.
The spear was stuck in. The thing almost looked shocked. Before it was able to react Weiss stepped forward and thrust her sword up into the thing's chin and out the top of its head. It's eyes widened, and it let out what might have been a shocked gasp if it could speak. It went limp, took one last look at Weiss, and faded away.
Weiss walked towards her father's desk leaving a trail of blood. Every step was agony, her vision was blurry, her body screamed for rest, but she still moved. She had been ignoring the pain she was in for too long, and now it was all hitting her at once. She wanted to pass out, she wanted to rest, she wanted to be anywhere than where she was right now.
She wanted all those things, but the fight wasn't over yet. She still had one more opponent to defeat.
The man behind the desk was experiencing a multitude of emotions.
He was surprised that Weiss had managed to win. That was well beyond his expectations. He was proud of his daughter for proving that her strength and skill were supreme. He was concerned that she appeared to be dying on her feet.
But above all else, he was ashamed. Ashamed that he ever thought this girl was too weak to protect herself, ashamed at what he had done to her, in the past and present. She was right in front of him now.
He thought about what he should say to her. What could he say? He who had trampled upon her feelings most of her life, who tore open wounds that had yet to heal, who paraded her dead friend in front of her and told her to kill them again.
"Weiss, I…" was as far as he got before her fist collided with his jaw.
A high crack rang through the air. Weiss felt the bones in her hand break, but that pain was nothing compared to the immense satisfaction it gave her.
"I win. Goodbye father. I hope we never meet again".
With that the girl turned around, gathered her things and left. The man lost consciousness shortly after.
Epilogue
When the young woman at the desk saw Weiss emerge from the elevator, she knew the fight was over.
She asked how it went, the heiress only giving a thumbs up in response before falling to the floor.
The receptionist called for a medic and moments later Weiss was on her way to a hospital. Weiss was covered in injuries, some minor cuts and bruises along with some very serious looking burns and stab wounds. If she had been a few minutes later getting downstairs she might have died. After a couple of hours she had received word from the hospital that Miss Schnee was recovering well and should be up and about within the next couple of days. The blond Faunus sighed, mostly out of relief, and mostly because she knew her job wasn't done.
She got into the elevator and went to see the president. When she walked into his office she was amazed. There were craters in the floor, part of a wall had collapsed, there were bloodstains and scorch marks everywhere, and she thought she could see footprints on the ceiling.
She walked over to the president's desk and saw him passed out on the floor with a large lump on the side of his face. She couldn't help but laugh at the sight.
"How long are you going to lie there" she asked after a moment.
With those words the president opened his eyes and sprang to his feet. The lump on his face healed with a wave of his hand.
"This is so embarrassing. All these years and I still can't take a punch" the president said, his face slightly red.
"So, how did it go" the woman asked. As she listened to her boss describe the fight her face darkened. "You realize she's going to hate you for the rest of her life right" the woman asked.
The man sighed. "She already hates me, I just needed to give her a little extra motivation. It's only a matter of time before my son decides he doesn't want to be around me either". His words hung in the air for a moment before he asked the woman to bring him another drink from his desk.
She went through the desk drawers and found several bottles of dust, a gun, and a box of severed ears, but no alcohol. "I think you're out." She paused for a second, then spoke up again. "I saw her as she was leaving. Is that what you call holding back?"
She could tell that whatever had happened during the fight, he had greatly restrained himself. Her semblance was known as 「Scan」. She could see a rough outline of a person's strength simply by looking at them. As she looked at her boss she could see that his daughter had only received a small taste of his power.
· Ivory Schnee
· Strength: F
· Speed: F
· Dexterity: F
· Stamina: F
· Aura: Unknown (exceeds all known parameters)
"I was testing her. I just wanted to determine if she was strong enough to survive on her own", he stated matter-of-factually.
The woman thought about it, and he was right. In the past they had worked together on various "assignments". His complete mastery of the summoning technique combined with his seemingly infinite aura capacity meant that there was virtually no limit to the amount of phantoms he could call to fight for him. She recalled some of the things she had seen bound to his will and shuddered.
"So how long do you think before she puts two and two together and realizes that you lied to her and her sister?" she asked.
"I never lied, she made certain assumptions that have yet to be corrected" he said back to her.
He was mostly right. When he taught Winter the summoning technique he told her to imagine a vanquished enemy. He never said that vanquished enemies were the only things that could be summoned. It wasn't his fault if she decided to teach Weiss with faulty information.
The president then clapped his hands together and smiled at the young woman. "Now then, could you please contact the custodial crew? I have a meeting tomorrow and I can't have the office looking like this".