In Defense of Jacques Schnee

Or,

a Foray Into the Madness of High Society

A R.W.B.Y. One-Shot

By Hoenn Master

A.N.

It's been too long, but life doesn't like to be fair. This concept has been bothering me deeply since I saw how the Schnee family operates. While I fully understand the domestic abuse angle, possibly better than many, it still baffles me why Rooster Teeth completely dropped the ball to make Jacques Schnee a complex, if morally incorrect, character. After all, we know next to nothing about how Atlas is run, but in my opinion, it seems to run more like a military dictatorship, even if only a mild one. However, why not illustrate the intense pressure on Jacques to succeed and preserve the bottom line at all costs, or else? Why not show the stress and despair as he watches his own actions tear his family, who he once loved so dearly, fall apart due to his harshness? Perhaps not a sympathetic character, but why not make him more complex than simply being abusive for no discernable reason? There must be more to it; there always is.

For these any many reasons, it frustrates me immensely that I have not yet seen any fanfictions to properly explore this concept, and instead almost all jump on the hate bandwagon.

Therefore, I present to you, an alternative opinion; a possible answer to the question, and an attempt to do what nobody else seems to have done.

My goal is to understand the Schnee family from Jacques' point of view, and shed some light on how and why he's done what he's done.

Sometimes, life was amazing.

This realization came to Jacques Schnee as he held his firstborn daughter while Mrs. Schnee slept soundly after delivering their heir into the world. For Jacques, this tiny human being was a chance; the chance to do right, to overcome the stigma of his marriage from a pauper-turned-officer-to whatever passed for Atlesian royalty after the fall of the last government. Money and Dust; those were what mattered to everyone around him.

And he hated it.

As a man who had grown up poor, who had watched his parents starve themselves to feed him when the coup of the government took place, and the soldiers rationed everyone's food to feed themselves while the Grimm did their best to bring the kingdom to its knees, wealth and power had been sour to him. But if he was anything, it was practical, cunning, ambitious, and politically savvy. He had seen the trends, he knew what the next most important thing would be, and he knew that at all costs, he would see his family at the top. For if the military would be the most important thing in the new Atlas, then the next two most important things would be food and Dust. And what other company could there possibly have been but the Schnee Dust Company? Indeed it was small at that time compared to the monopoly it currently enjoyed, but it was the only company to remain neutral in all of the unrest, and was a perfect candidate for government backing.

Without a second thought, Jacques had convinced his ailing family to join this company while he set about making a name for himself in the army; after all, what could a private Dust mine with all of twenty employees compare to a multimillion lien giant? So, with a heavy heart, his father sold the mine to the Schnees, and secured the family key low-level positions from which to rise through the ranks. With his family secured in modest wealth, Jacques had done everything in his power to make himself stand out from his contemporaries, all of whom were doing the same. The ambition of military life was nothing short of Hell, and as usual, he hated every second of it.

Jacques shook his head, and looked down at the sleeping infant girl; he had ample time to reflect on the men he'd served with and left dead. The past didn't bear thought right now. He had come out on top, and that was what mattered. He'd caught the Schnee heiress's eye with his military service and exemplary head for business, and wormed his way into her affections. He'd dropped all ties with his family, and taken her name, and now that an heir was assured, he honestly worried for both this little girl, and himself. After all, it wouldn't be hard to, 'accidentally', engineer an, 'accident', regarding the growing White Fang extremist movement, and he had already done his duty as far as the upper classes were concerned. His usefulness had run is course, as many of his in-laws were not hesitant to tell him, unknown war hero or not.

His only two safeguards were that Mrs. Schnee herself was privately, secretly, terrible with business sense, and without him, the Company might indeed lose its advantageous position. Another thing was that, quite simply, he was the only one to tolerate her at times appalling behavior. She indulged far too much in pleasures, in his opinion; as a man who always worked for what he earned, seeing someone so wasteful and arrogant as to believe wealth meant wasting it on overpriced food, overpriced alcohol, frankly dangerous substances he refused to even go near for fear of becoming exactly what Mrs. Schnee was.

An addict.

Oh, yes, if her family only knew the excesses their darling daughter went to behind closed doors. Of course, they likely were no better, but still; appearance was everything, and Mrs. Schnee was not keeping up as well as she should have. One cannot overestimate the arrogance and hypocrisy of the upper class. Thankfully, Mrs. Schnee had enough sense to remain behind closed doors when she indulged, and he never had to witness too much. After all, their union was completely loveless; she fancied his appearance and his business sense, which she lacked, and as he proved to be the most loyal out of all of the Schnee's managers, as well as the most profitable, and in combination with his service record, she decided that Jacques would be more than sufficient to avoid inconvenient marriage contracts, as he was forced to all but give up his humanity to become her, 'husband'.

As Jacques bounced the baby girl lightly in his arms, he stared out into the darkness outside of the medical wing of the Schnee Manor. He could only hope that his thus far nameless daughter could avoid the sins of her mother, and grow into a woman more than worthy of this tainted Schnee name. He wasn't even permitted to have much say in selecting her name; his own flesh and blood.

At that moment, one of the female staff members walked into the room, and curtsied to him, knowing that she stood in the corner of his vision, and that she would be seen. With a sigh, Jacques turned to face her. "Yes?"

The servant bowed her head slightly in acknowledgement before speaking. "Pardon, Mr. Schnee; I have been instructed by Mrs. Schnee to become your child's wet nurse, as I recently had a child of my own."

Jacques snorted quietly to himself; he'd expected this kind of laziness on Mrs. Schnee's behalf. A fickle infant was a most unfashionable accessory in high society, after all. But, regardless, he wasn't at all keen on mother and daughter becoming very close, either. Though he didn't have much power in the inter-family politics yet, his daughter was not going to become the spoiled brat her mother regularly demonstrated herself to be. With a nod, he passed the child to the servant's gentle arms. "So be it. You will be compensated, of course."

The servant curtsied once again, and quickly strode out of the room, recognizing Jacques' mood and wisely deciding to leave him alone. With a sigh, Jacques sat in one of the luxurious arm chairs by the artificial fireplace present in almost every room of the manor, especially the medical room. He held his head in his hands, feeling the deep wrinkles already entrenched on his forehead from stress and exhaustion. Was it all worth it? Was this power and wealth worth the suffering? He wasn't sure anymore. When he was younger, less experienced, he'd have probably said yes immediately. But the government hadn't made life for the Schnee Company easy at all. Constantly demanding massive quantities of Dust for their showboating and endlessly inefficient research, all funded by the government, and, of course, their discount Dust, which was all but stolen from the Schnees at rock-bottom prices. The military was hardly better, and he idly wondered what Captain Ironwood, the only decent officer he'd ever served under, thought of the situation. Self-righteous man probably thought it was the right of the army to steal from the people it was supposedly protecting, but he couldn't be sure anymore. It made Jacques detest the measures the demands had forced him to take. Keeping the Faunus practically enslaved was distasteful, and he knew for certain that a day of reckoning would come down the line; after all, he had once been in a similar position, and he knew their hate, their suffering, as he himself had practically been a slave all those years ago when his family was starving. But, ultimately, as he'd learned the hard way in both the army and the cutthroat realm of business, sometimes, sacrifices had to be made, and the Faunus, justified in their hate as they were, were a minority resource, and therefore, in the eyes of the upper classes, worthless. In Jacques' eyes, the answer was clear; trim the nonexistent fat, or get a bullet in the back? The option practically chose itself.

It didn't help that they were all forced into success, because the Schnee Company was too big to fail in this new system. And that meant the failure would result in… Consequences. The status quo was essential to maintain; too much good, and everyone would expect too much, too much negative, and the Grimm invade. The government didn't want any more threats to their power, after all. With another sigh, Jacques stood up and walked to his private chambers, not even sparing Mrs. Schnee a second look. There was business to attend to, and he knew that Mrs. Schnee would want to have something to drink now that her daughter was no longer at risk should she consume alcohol.

Still, he was determined to do one thing; his daughter would not be consumed in this system. He would give her as much freedom as he could, and one day, he would have the power to change things for the best.

At some point in the last four years, Jacques knew something had gone wrong. His daughter, named Winter by her ever creative mother, had proven herself a talented young lady. He was proud of her; she had a natural ear for the piano, and she also knew the power of her age and appearance; often getting out of trouble with that wily wit of hers. Why would something be wrong, though?

The form of James Ironwood sitting across from Jacques' desk was all that needed to be known. While Jacques held no personal grudge against the man, the fact of the matter was, Colonel Ironwood was here to tell him that the government wanted a Schnee in the military to, 'solidify relations'. Jacques snorted derisively at that, unafraid of James Ironwood's presence. If there was one thing Mr. Schnee could appreciate, it was that Ironwood at least cared a little bit about the feelings of others when he delivered the news that someone's family had exceptional Aura reserves; after all, when James had been but a captain, he'd come to collect Jacques as well all those years ago. That this fact would make a very promising start for a powerful huntress in about twenty years, went unstated, as the military would no doubt want her for that fact alone. This likewise forced compliance with the Schnees, should they ever turn dissident, as they would have a very convenient hostage situation, indeed. Still, by necessity, Winter could not, under any circumstances, be the heiress of the Schnee Dust Company; it would generate too large a conflict of interests, and if there was one thing that the government wanted, was absolute loyalty out of its servants. Jacques would know; he had been unable to see his family for a long four years of 'service'. With a heavy heart, and knowing that there truly was no alternative, lest things start turning ugly when the end result would be the same, Jacques Schnee was forced to give up his daughter's future for the sake of keeping the peace. All with a simple handshake.

James, the only officer he'd ever respected, at least had the decency to apologize for what was to come; it was virtually meaningless, since James was more married to the military than anyone else, but at least he tried to mean it, and that was more than Jacques had gotten since he'd been inducted into this accursed organization.

He hated every second of it, especially because now he would have to tell Mrs. Schnee that they needed another heir, and they would have to associate with one another outside of public events once again.

Jacques Schnee stroked his mustache quietly as Winter demonstrated her latest combat drills with her saber and dagger. Though she was only nine years-old, she was already proving to be an excellent warrior. All at the low, low price of who she once was. Gone was the innocent little toddler who used to draw him pictures which he would privately keep in his desk under the massive amounts of paperwork he dealt with every day. Gone was the girl who would constantly sneak into his office to sit on his lap whenever she could. Gone was his daughter. The only thing that remained before him was a living weapon; a child who never should have been trapped in this fate. He still clapped politely as she bowed towards him, a small amount of personal satisfaction in her small smile, even as Weiss, his new heiress, a much more outspoken girl of four and a half thank you very much, squealed happily and dashed onto the empty ballroom floor to hug her older sibling. Only around Wiess did Winter's shell break; her father, eternally trapped in meetings and business now as the leash was tightening ever more steadily around his resources and contacts, as well as constantly attending events and dealing with the fallout from White Fang attacks, was simply too busy to even interact with her beyond meal times anymore.

Mrs. Schnee simply smiled politely and sipped on her beverage, Jacques simply didn't care what it was anymore, as the toddler form of Whitley tottered between his mother and father. Jacques eyed his son carefully; he was an odd boy, even at his tender age. He was already conforming, and very quiet. He blamed that partially on Mrs. Schnee; her influence over their son was far greater than their daughters. Though he couldn't help but get the feeling that Mrs. Schnee saw Whitley as a mistake; she had been heavily intoxicated when she'd entered Jacques' chambers at the time, and as that marriage contract he had signed had shown, she could use him as readily as she so pleased. It was certainly unsettling to think that his only son could one day become every bit the Schnee aristocrat his mother was, but Jacques would willingly jump into the burning flames of Hell before he would allow his daughters to fall into the same pit that his 'wife' and her family deserved to fall into. He was determined to mold them into intelligent, hard-working, practical, and successful individuals. Winter may not be the girl she once was, but she was still his daughter. He would do his best to allow Weiss some measure of the freedom her older sister was never allowed, and Whitley... Jacques had to admit, it would be wonderful if his son turned out well, but he held out no hope. Hope only ever got crushed, after all. Whitley was, in truth, a sacrificial lamb, an experiment for his wife to torture and mold to her liking, so he focus would be taken off of his daughters.

Jacques Schnee loved his children dearly, even if they weren't fully aware how difficult it was for him to hardly ever see them anymore. Mrs. Schnee had indeed done what he had anticipated; she took personal interest in Whitley. While this normally wouldn't have caused any trouble, Jacques could immediately see what was happening, and he cursed the fact that he was powerless to stop it, trapped in this eternal game of chess against the Schnee family, the government, and his own interests, all brawling in a massive melee of espionage, murder, and thievery.

She was poisoning Witley's mind against his sisters. Jacques had to give the woman credit, it was an excellent play. That didn't mean he liked it. His own spies were not merely enough anymore; the government was becoming more paranoid by the month, and now Mrs. Schnee was once again entering the ring, and his resources were spread too thin to deal with her directly at the moment. Still, the latest report from Klein was troubling.

Already fifteen, and Whitley was being pushed into things he was doomed to fail at, not because his mother truly believed in him to succeed, but because she could foster the, 'but Winter or Wiess could have done it', feeling in the boy. Fair or not, rather than being close with his sisters, he rebuffed any affection and instead sat alone, brooding. Jacques couldn't even get Klein to fully break the boy's shell anymore. Indeed, though Klein seemed to be a very unorthodox choice in a personal butler for his children, it was quite intentional. While he was trapped in his position, constantly fending off attempts on all sides to either get access in some way to the Schnee fortune, carve power for themselves, or to make some kind of arranged marriage deal, not to mention protect them from the ever mounting assassination attempts on behalf of the White Fang, Klien could be a father figure to his children when he couldn't be. Which, sadly, was most of the time these days. If there was one good thing out of all of this, many of the obstructive family members were offed by the White Fang. He'd told those fools institutionalized suppression was a terrible idea, but he had to admit, the efficiency of the murders impressed him. For obvious reasons, though, he wasn't about the let the bottom line slip just because they'd helped him out immensely. They were still dissident, after all, and relaxation of regulations would only end in more questions than he could deal with.

He was a slave to profits and business, he knew. It wasn't out of greed or malice that he did his level best to keep that bottom line as high as possible. No, it was the fact that the blasted government demanded incredibly high taxes and cooperation on behalf of the Schnees. They had Winter captive, whether or not she knew it yet, and because of that, they had the leverage to demand practically anything from Jacques, and he was forced to comply, or his family would be in even more danger.

It wasn't right.

It wasn't fair.

But he had to go along with it to keep his family safe. Family honor and prestige were paramount now; without the, his daughters would prove to be less and less useful as time went on. Were it up to him, he'd take his children away from this toxic wasteland, where the people were colder and harder than the deepest winters Atlas had ever seen. There was no one left to trust; his parents had died long ago in a White Fang attack, and his children never even got to meet them. Mrs. Schnee would simply use the information against him, and the only real friend he could even begin to say he had was General Ironwood, and even then, their relationship was almost purely business. His children were all incredibly talented in their own ways, and all were trained as best he could for the difficult lives they would have to lead. His spies were being found out, one by one, and quietly disappeared, helped, no doubt, by the fact that Mrs. Schnee certainly had her own network, aided by his political enemies. It was a two against one situation, and despite his best efforts, Jacques knew the game would be up soon. He was being forced to react, rather than act, and he knew all it would take is one slip-up for the hammer to start falling.

He only hoped that his daughters would understand when things inevitably got even more complicated.

"Absolutely not, young lady."

"Father, I want to become a huntress."

"Then why can you not simply attend Atlas Academy like your sister?"

"Because I'm not my sister!"

Jacques didn't let the hurt show on his face as Weiss turned her anger on him. Had he truly lost sight of the loneliness of his own daughters? What of Whitley? Was he just using his family as he used everyone else now? He'd already lost Winter to the grasp of military life, and a huntress was very little different. Why couldn't Ironwood have asked for Weiss instead? Then Winter could have been happy in Weiss's shoes, and Weiss could have been the one who won glory without being trapped under her sister's shadow. Alas, that was a pipe dream now. Seventeen years too late.

In a moment of suffering unknown to Weiss, Jacques decided that he would have to do the one thing he'd been dreading since Weiss began pretending to be a huntress when she was a very little girl. He decided to allow her to attend Beacon. His spy network would be almost impossibly stretched keeping track of her, but if he honestly couldn't fault her from wanting to leave. Still, was this sudden rebellion all her mother's doing? Was it Mrs. Schnee's machinations to all but force him into naming Whitley the heir should something happen to Weiss? He wouldn't put it past her. While Whitley certainly didn't lack in intelligence and business sense, Jacques was, to be honest, afraid of his son's potential. Both Whitley and Weiss were well-trained in the arts of high-class living, but if Weiss left now, Whitley would hold a decisive advantage over her if there ever was to be a fight for the Company. It was a vain hope, Jacques supposed, that Whitley and his sisters would ever be able to work together to achieve a common goal. The pettiness of the Schnees in personal dealings was present in Whitley now, he could tell, and Weiss was too naïve and stubborn to realize that. Whitley was cunning, deceitful, and unscrupulous. All thanks to his mother's tutoring, no doubt. He knew both sides of morality quite well, and abused that for his best interests. So, with a sigh of defeat, he nodded slowly.

"Very well, Weiss. You may go to Beacon. However, I trust you will represent the Schnee name well, and acquit yourself as such, am I understood?"

The white haired young woman nodded, clearly pleased, and after some final arrangements, she departed.

The moment she was gone, Jacques rested his head in his hands and did his best not to break down. He was turning into the very thing he hated when he married into the Schnee name, and he was so distant from his children. Oh, how he wished he'd never gotten involved in this blasted enterprise now. But power, position, and wealth enticed him too deeply to stop. He couldn't, no matter how much he wanted to. He was just as trapped as his children were.

He composed himself as another agent knocked on his door, and he wondered what part of his soul he'd have to auction off to his beloved government this time, if there was anything left. An endless supply of back-room deals, backstabbing, and listening for the faintest whispers of a potential lever against everyone else. Hopefully he wouldn't come out of this a lesser man...

Here he stood. In his second daughter's bedroom, being an intimidating force. Using his power to terrorize his daughter into cooperation. Using his authority to imprison her physically as thoroughly as she was socially.

He hated it.

He'd tried to smooth this over. He really did. But the nobles who were slighted were just petty enough, and just so happened to be important enough, that they would not be denied. Mrs. Schnee certainly was a dangerous force he'd underestimated, and now here he stood, forced to confront the one child he'd hoped most desperately to be freed of this curse. But no, she was trapped too. Just the same as he was. He'd tried to protect her. He'd tried to shield her from reality.

But now he knew that was a mistake he'd been unwilling to pay the cost for.

Now the nobility thought that Weiss was too outspoken, too tainted by that dead fool Ozpin and the ridiculous ideals of Vale. Look where that idealism led them, many had said, and the calls for her removal as the heiress of the Schnee Company were growing ever louder in the circles that mattered most.

When his own agent had showed up in his office, he knew that the game had ended, and he was the loser the moment he was advised to cut his losses to avoid total ruin.

And now here he was, being forced to yell at Weiss. He saw the hurt and anger in her eyes. He knew it to be his own, and yet, he had no alternative.

He couldn't tell her. She had lost friends in the fall of Beacon. He couldn't tell her that the Schnee family's reputation was all that kept them from the headsman's axe. He couldn't tell her that with these new developments, everyone in their family was being carefully inspected for any hint of dissidence.

Oh, he was furious. Livid at the fact that he now had no choice in how his family was to be maintained. His agent's report had been quite detailed on the current state of opinion towards his politics, and if he didn't get Weiss under control…

"Do you have any idea what your little stunt cost us?!"

He hated himself so deeply right now; the look in Weiss's eyes only held pain and confusion, and he couldn't do a thing about it. When she tried to formulate a response, he was forced to cut her down.

Why did this have to turn out this way?

"And don't think I'm just talking about lien here! Our reputation, our…. Our…" But he couldn't finish. He couldn't tell her that their lives were in danger. He couldn't crush her completely. Somehow, some way, he had to give her some reprieve.

"… I want to leave."

He stopped cold. Did her time in Vale really dull her wits to the cold reality of Atlas? Nobody simply left! If it were that simple, she, Winter, and himself would be relaxing in a vacation home as far away from Atlas's borders as possible! It would have happened years ago!

"I beg your pardon?"

"I want to leave. I don't want to stay here anymore – I don't want to stay in Atlas anymore!"

Oh, how he wished he could have granted that request. But this situation was bigger than them. He knew that. This was bigger than any of them. There was more going on that he didn't know about, and he didn't care, either. He wanted his family safe, in the distant hope of one day being able to explain why he's done what he's done. But with the way the world was going…. He might not ever get to, especially now that Weiss had demonstrated her inability to quash her own opinions and appease the sycophants.

"Young lady, I don't give a damn what you want."

Yes, he did. He did, but he couldn't afford to; not with his agents constantly warning him of the consequences of failure, and how many died in his name to protect his secrets. He couldn't care anymore about what she thought; throughout his life as a Schnee, he always tried to improve its reputation, to repair the damage his in-laws had done to it. It was the only thing of any real value to him anymore. He passed it on to Winter, Wiess, and Whitley, and they would be the ones who could potentially break out of the walls he'd tried to weaken. If the upheaval in Vale was any indication, that time might come soon, and he wanted them ready for it, united as siblings, not divided as they currently were. Winter was trapped, and he couldn't trust her anymore, not with Ironwood and the Atlas government having entangled her; she was too indoctrinated, too loyal a person to be trusted with sensitive and illegal information brokering. "This isn't about you, this about the Schnee family name, and your apparent insistence on dragging it through the mud!"

So it was with shock, disgust, and rage that Weiss did the one thing he never would have expected.

She dared to insult his intentions for marrying into the Schnee family.

He was a proud man. He also knew that he was a better man than most of the Schnees who had come before him. Likewise, he considered himself a better Schnee than his 'wife', and the collection of despotic, arrogant, and ignorant fools he'd replaced as they'd been killed by the White Fang. So yes, he took pride in the fact that he'd passed the name onto his children.

"I have done nothing, but uphold the honor of my family name! A name that you married into!"

When she had stood up, nearly as tall as he was, and stared him down with the same, rage-filled eyes that he himself sported, he broke. He couldn't control his temper anymore; she was hurting as much as he was, he knew it. She had every right to be angry, but couldn't she see what he'd done for her? For her siblings? Could she not see the writing on the wall?!

In that moment, he lost his self-control, and gave his second daughter, the one he'd hoped from the beginning to spare from this cruel life, a sharp, powerful, slap.

It was a testament to both of their strength that Jacques's hand didn't immediately bruise from the force of Weiss's Aura stopping his hand from touching her skin directly, and the strength of Weiss for not stumbling from the force of the blow, Aura or no Aura. He may not have been a huntsman, but he still served honorably in the army, and he was no slouch in a fight.

It was actually ironic that the one most hurt physically from the exchange was also the one most emotionally damaged. He had not once, in all of his time as their father, physically abused his children as he just had to Weiss. Physical punishments when they were children who couldn't be reasoned with was one thing, but this was entirely another, and he knew it. The shame of his action burned intensely within him, and he calmed himself down as best he could, keeping the mask on, even when he desperately wanted to apologize. To reverse his idiotic action. To take his anger back. But he could not. And he forged on.

He had expected better, of both of them.

"This behavior of yours is incredibly disappointing. You couldn't possibly understand the lengths I've gone through with to keep this family where it is." The suffering in Weiss's eyes was a condemnation, he knew it. He was trying his best to tell her why she couldn't be free. Why he's imprisoning her. Why everything was happening.

"If you think running off like your sister will strengthen the Schnee name, then you're wrong."

Oh how those words hurt to admit. The context was lacking, and without it, Weiss could only ever believe that her father was insulting her only sister. But the fact of the matter was, he was warning her as best he could. The words were meant to hurt; he hated it, but he had to try and release her as best he could, and there was only one way left to him that he could see. He hated that Winter, good and honorable daughter that she is, was forced to all but abandon her family to maintain the thrice damned contract he'd been forced to sign all those years ago. He hated that she had been unable to strengthen the family name, because the name was a massive millstone around her shoulders in the army.

"Siding with her can only divide us."

How he hated the truth of those words; siding with her at this stage was siding with the agents causing this. And doing that, as he still regrets, leads only into suffering.

Jacques had to admit, his daughter's defiance was indeed admirable. She took those words and digested them with all of the poise and elegance of the finest noble. But he could still hear the waver in her voice, the fact that his actions had struck true. The people were indeed clueless, and that was another thing on the mile of things he hated, but willful ignorance is nigh-impossible to dispel, particularly when it's more convenient to remain in its bliss.

"The Schnee family legacy isn't yours to leave. It's mine, and I'll do it as a huntress."

Jacques nearly laughed out loud. Mirthless, and cold. But he didn't. It was something Weiss never should have wanted to begin with. It was a curse, a burden of the most foul making, to carry the weight. Perhaps it would indeed be more suited to his son. Both Whitley and Mrs. Schnee can stew in the mess they've made of his family now. He's been trying too blasted hard for too blasted long.

"No. You won't. You're not leaving Atlas. You are to remain on the manor grounds, and will not leave unless I specifically allow it. You will remain here, out of sight and out of trouble, until we can come to an agreement on your future."

"What?!"

The shock on her face stung, but the hammer blow was already falling, and he was powerless to stop it.

"Your presupposition that you can simply have whatever you want is a clear indication that I've failed you as a parent. But, from now on, I will be giving you the full attention you require, starting by keeping you where I can see you."

The words fell from his mouth before he could stop them; thankfully, he'd worded it in such a way that the agents on the other end of the listening devices could only interpret it as him 'correcting' his daughter. In reality, he was planning on doing his best to fight this decision, one way or another, and if he could just give Weiss the slightest chance of escape, he would. But for now, his hands were tied.

"So now I'm your prisoner?!"

"You are a child; children are grounded when they misbehave."

House arrest was far more than grounding, Jacques knew, but it was required by the agents to keep the status quo alive.

"This will only make things worse, father; people will wonder why the heiress to the Schnee Dust Company is suddenly nowhere to be found."

Ah, the true crux of the matter is now in the open. The forgery of his signature truly was flawless, and he could feel nothing but a lead weight when he'd seen it. He had to act like this whole thing was his intention, and he truly wished that his wealth and power could be used as something other than the plaything of the fools in power. After all, his own spies were fewer in number than ever before, and he could only wonder when the game truly would be up and his own head would be the one to fall.

With a dead look in his eyes, Jacques dropped the proverbial bomb. "Which is precisely why you are no longer the heiress to the Company."

The look of devastation in her eyes was palpable, even from this distance, and Jacques felt absolutely no joy or pleasure in what he was about to say, either. Parroting the agent's rehearsal, he continued.

"Clearly the trauma you endured proved too much for you, and you've generously relinquished your claim to the Company and its holdings in favor of your brother Whitley."

Taking a brief moment to compose himself and mentally give Wiess an apology, he finished the lines he'd been forced to utter. "It's time to wake up and face reality, Wiess."

The moment he closed the door behind him, he took a shaky breath and strode quickly to his office. This situation was intolerable, and he was determined to find a solution to it. He was about to let the whims of his leaders destroy the only good things in his life left. Even if he lost Weiss, he refused to lay down and let his family be destroyed. It was time to step up and become the father he never let himself be.

A.N.

Well, this is it. I know it's A.U. somewhat, and future information probably won't confirm anything I've said here, but dang it, I think Jacques' implementation was awful.