"So, how's my favorite stabber doing today?"

The room was dark and empty; the only source of light was a red lava lamp in the corner with its blobs floating up and down slowly. The woman's voice echoed in a silky way – as if she was singing to her worst enemy — and her silhouette was elegant as she sat on a beautiful chair that almost resembled a throne.

"I thought I was your favorite stabber." It was the turn of a male voice. The boy was lying on the chair at her left, with both feet in the air and playing a game in a portal console. He sounded bored, his sentence nothing more than a tease to a third person in the room.

"You're her favorite nuisance, Mercury." A green-haired girl replied, sitting on the woman's left and polishing a gun. She also looked uninterested in the events that were happening in the room, simply focusing on making her weapon shiny and clean.

"At least I'm her favorite something." The boy refuted with a smirk. The girl shot him an angry expression, but then simply rolled her eyes, deciding that arguing with him wasn't worth it – at least not in front of their leader.

"Emerald, Mercury, you're both my favorite murderers." The woman said in a peaceful manner, as if she didn't want her favorite kids to fight. "When I assign a job, you get it done. When I say kill the target, you kill the target." Then she looked down at the man kneeling beneath her and her expression changed completely. "And when I say stab a Schnee, what do you do?"

"We stick the knife all the way through." Emerald answered, moving her gaze down as well.

"Please…" The man tried to speak, but he was shaking. Two others who were holding him down kicked his stomach and he fell forward. "Ugh!"

"Oh, Tuckson," The woman got up and walked towards him, stepping on his head with one of her heels. "Just the tip of the knife doesn't work, dear. Did you know that you were the first person to work for me who failed on this mission? Killing a Schnee is basically our entrance exam. And you didn't pass."

Tuckson was crying now, unable to defend himself. There was a crushing aura of death in that room and he knew it all came from the woman stepping on his face.

When he agreed to join those mercenaries it was all because the paycheck was absurdly high and he needed the money. He was big, bulky and strong, so he got accepted easily. His first tasks were simple as well, things like transporting boxes to different hideouts, checking for cameras and other security equipment from the police and turning them off; basic stuff, really. But then one day Cinder Fall came to him in person and told him of a very important job, something only Tuckson could do. 'Finish this job and you'll be free to leave with all the money you get from the mission.' She'd said. How could he refuse? Of course at the time he didn't know he would have to murder the heiress of the Schnee Dust Company. It didn't go as well as he expected.

And now he was sure he was going to die.

"T-there were too many people, I c-couldn't… I will try again I p-promise…" Still, he didn't want to go down without taking a chance.

"Will you? Oh, that's wonderful, Tuckson!" Cinder removed her foot from his head and sat back down on the throne. The two men brought him back on his knees, harshly. "How about tomorrow? Just go and stab her right this time, okay?"

Tuckson breathed fast, a spark of hope making his head light. He couldn't believe it. His desperate plea had actually convinced Cinder Fall to give him a another chance? "O-of course! I'll f-follow her around the whole d-day and definitely get it d-done!"

"Wonderful." She nodded to the men and they untied him. "Glad I can count on you. See you tomorrow, then."

"T-thank you, Lady Fall, thank you so much…" Tuckson turned around and made his way to the door. He couldn't suppress a smile. Blinking away the tears, his mind raced at a thousand miles per hour, just thinking about how lucky he was to get a new opportunity. Maybe because he was a big guy who'd done everything right for the organization for as long as he been there? Tuckson didn't know, and tried not to think much of it. All he did know was that he would definitely get home and hug his daughter like he'd never hugged before, then take a good shower, eat the best dinner of his life and—

With a loud sound, Tuckson felt a sharp pain on his backs. His vision blurred and he fell forward, feeling his mind fade.

"Oops." Emerald mumbled, her gun smoking from the shot.

Mercury got up with a grin and made his way to Tuckson's limp body. He was still breathing in uneven intervals, but wouldn't last much. Crouching down, Mercury whispered next to his ear. "Second chances don't exist in this world, my friend."

The last thing Tuckson thought before shutting down was his daughter waiting for him to return home that night.


Weiss woke up the next morning feeling light-headed. Somehow it looked like everything had changed around the house, even if it was the first day of the girls living with her. The guest room was also downstairs, and Weiss's own room was on the upper floor, so nothing had changed much exactly. She still woke up all alone, but still, there was a feeling of optimism she never felt before.

The heiress got up and started her morning routine: washing her face, brushing her teeth and combing her hair, tying it up on a side ponytail. She stared at the mirror for a while and looked deep into her own eyes – something she got used to do for some reason – then took a deep breath.

"Alright. Let's do this."


Arriving at the kitchen Weiss honestly didn't expect to see anyone, just Junior getting ready to serve her breakfast. But Yang, Ruby and Blake were all there sitting at the table, already eating their morning toast.

"Oh, morning Weiss!" Ruby greeted with her mouth full, receiving a scold from Blake. Weiss honestly didn't think the bodyguards would stop calling her Miss Schnee for a while, but apparently her wish was an order. Quite literally.

"Good morning, Ruby." She nodded at the other two. "Blake, Yang."

"Hello!" Yang raised a hand and turned her attention back to her coffee.

"Nice morning, Miss Schnee." Well, at least Blake was still acting like Blake. "Ruby, would it kill you to eat in small bites?"

The brunette answered something, but it was impossible to understand it since there was literally an entire loaf of bread stuck on her mouth. Weiss sat down next to Blake, smiling. "At least I guess this means she liked the breakfast."

"It's so delicious. Also, me and Junior bonded this morning." Yang pressed the bell that was used to call Junior to the table. In a couple of seconds, the chef arrived with Weiss's usual breakfast of eggs benedict and a cup of tea on a silver tray.

"Good morning, Miss Schnee—" He then looked over at Yang's hand on the bell. "Oh for crying out loud, I am not done with it yet, okay? Chill out."

"You've got ten minutes left, Junior." Yang teased as he served Weiss. "Or the bet is off."

"I'm doing it. You'll see, soon."

Ruby swallowed her bread finally after a while. "Bet? What are you guys talking about?"

"Nothing important, little sis. Just a friendly quarrel between me and Junior."

"Why do you keep saying his name in every sentence?" Blake had to cut in since she was her partner, and knowing Yang for as long as she did, the blonde was probably doing something really stupid or really dangerous. Honestly, usually it was a mix of both.

"I don't know what you mean, Junior."

"I'm Blake."

"That's what I said."

"Alright, fine!" Junior took off his chef hat and stormed back to the kitchen, the swinging doors opening and closing quickly as he passed them. Weiss quietly started to eat her eggs benedict.

"…Alright, what was that?" Blake said with a deadpan expression.

"Nothing you should worry about." Yang replied, finishing her cup of coffee.

"That only makes me worry more."

"Did you sleep well, Weiss?" Ruby tried changing subjects before the argument got heated as it usually happened with the two. The heiress finished chewing politely before answering.

"Yes, actually. It's been a while since I've slept so well."

"I'm glad," Ruby's smile was sincere and made Weiss blush a little. She always pegged the girl as the playful and innocent type, but she was showing a caring side that caught her a little off guard. All of the three bodyguards sometimes acted more like a mom than anything else, and even though it was a bit strange, it still warmed Weiss's heart.

"You know, I used to have nightmares a lot," Ruby continued the conversation suddenly. "And there were times Yang wasn't there to comfort me when they happened, so I got really scared. But then she taught me something to keep them away."

Weiss was surprised at how random this seemed, but then she realized that Ruby must've noticed that she was having nightmares constantly. Her perception was frightening. "…What is it?"

"Think about pink clouds."

For a moment there was a pause; Yang and Blake's argument was still going on in the distance but nobody was really paying attention. Weiss slowly raised an eyebrow. "…Pink clouds."

"Yep! Well either that or sleep with your favorite weapon. Also helps, though Crescent Rose was a bit cold." The tiny girl shivered a bit and Weiss just had so many questions regarding that sentence. She didn't have time to ask any of them though, since Junior came back from the kitchen holding the largest tray of cookies Weiss has ever witnessed in her life.

The nonsense in that day was already too much and it wasn't even nine o'clock.

"Here! Sixty-nine chocolate chip cookies, all warm and baked to perfection! Now drop it!" The chef seemed exhausted as he yelled at Yang. The blonde stopped her discussion with Blake and got up, a smug grin frozen in her face.

"I will need to count those, Junior, don't chant victory just yet." She moved slowly around the table to grasp a better view from the ridiculous amount of baked goods, keeping one hand on her chin as she pretended to be very focused. Junior breathed impatiently with arms crossed, his foot tapping on the ground. As Yang got close to Ruby, she discreetly touched her sister's shoulder with an elbow, as if giving her a sign. Ruby immediately got it, slightly sniffing to acknowledge the message received. Yang's eyes moved quickly on her sockets, counting and observing the cookies as she hummed. Junior was losing his patience.

"Gods, girl, there are exactly sixty-nine cookies in there, I counted them myself!"

"Yeah, the thing is, I don't trust your judgment, Junior. You could've missed one in the hurry, or pretended to finish all of them in those last 10 minutes so I would stop bothering you. There is no certainty here. I'm a girl who values accuracy."

"Oh, not this thing again…" Blake whispered, finally understanding what her partner was doing. Weiss was still too shocked to formulate a decent phrase, but her curiosity forced her to ask.

"…What is she...?" She whispered as well, afraid to interject in the scene in front of her.

"It's just that… In the academy there are some qualifications needed to pass," Blake got closer to the heiress to mumble in her ear. "We are taught many abilities, supposedly to be used in combat or in a pinch. The problem is…"

"Aha! There it is, I knew I couldn't count on you," Yang suddenly announced, pointing to the tray. "There are sixty-eight cookies, Junior. You missed one!"

"What?! Impossible!" The chef started to count as well and after a few moments his shoulders dropped. "B-but… I was sure…"

"Well, bet is off." Yang slid towards him, putting an arm around his shoulders. "It's okay, Junior, your name is not that bad. Who knows, we might be able to negotiate another bet some other time. Thanks for the cookies, though." And with nothing more to declare, Yang sat down next to her sister and started eating. The chef simply dragged himself back to the kitchen, defeated.

"…Ruby and Yang use what they learn for pranks." Blake concluded, a vein popping in her head. Weiss was still so confused, until she noticed one very small crumb in the corner of Ruby's mouth. Then she put the pieces together.

"You ate a cookie while Yang was counting!" She shouted out of reflex and then covered her mouth, afraid of letting Junior listen. Yang almost chocked on her food.

"H-how did you realize it?" Ruby asked, seriously surprised.

"There is a small crumb over here," Weiss pointed to her own mouth, and Ruby licked it clean.

"Aw, shucks."

"You would've failed class like this, sis. You need to step up your stealth." Yang said, petting her head. "Your speed is still perfect, though."

"Thanks…" The brunette pouted, frustrated with herself. Everything was going so well, nobody was supposed to notice a thing – and Weiss was definitely the last person who should've realized something was wrong. It was just standard procedure: Dealing with stealth is dangerous and your client should never, ever notice anything odd, or else the entire mission is compromised.

Ruby rubbed the back of her head with a guilty glance. "…Will you tell him?"

"N-no, don't worry," Regaining her composure, Weiss cleaned her throat and looked at Yang. "I'd just like to know what happened here." She forgot for a moment that she was still their mistress and could demand explanations whenever she saw fit.

It was Yang's turn to get a bit nervous. "O-of course. When I got here I met Junior and we talked for a bit and then we simply became instant best friends, you know?"

"He couldn't stand her," Blake intervened, pouring more tea on Weiss's cup.

"Well, knowing that he hates his name for some reason, I started calling him by it whenever I could, just to mess with him. Then he asked what would it take for me to stop, and we made a friendly bet."

"Which involved baking sixty-nine cookies…?" The sentence sounded so ridiculous that Weiss could barely pronounce it.

"If he was able to bake sixty-nine cookies in one hour, I'd stop calling him Junior and start calling him by whatever nickname he wanted. And so he did. But I didn't want to stop messing with him, so I urged Ruby to help me carry a secret mission."

"We called it: Operation Cookie Stealth Leads to Sweet Win-Win Situation." Ruby said waving her hands in the air with each word. Weiss stared at both girls and could feel that they were both having way too much fun with this.

"Wait, so you were planning this since…?" Silly or not, the heiress was still amazed with how they used their abilities without attracting any attention at all.

"Oh, since five minutes ago. I just poked Ruby with my elbow when I was counting the cookies and she knew what to do. It's bodyguard signal."

"…You have a signal to steal cookies."

"We were never taught this at Beacon, they came up with this signal themselves," Blake quickly defended the little dignity she still had. Weiss was baffled with that entire complex operation that had happened right under her nose; she soon realized she would get used to those over-the-top schemes quickly enough living with those girls. It was just…

So exciting.

"Can I just ask one more question? Why sixty-nine exactly?" Weiss went for one last surprise to end that tiring breakfast. Yang just gave the slyest smile anyone could possibly give, but didn't say anything.

Blake facepalmed. "Oh my god, Xiao Long."


"So what do we do now?" Mercury asked as Cinder made her way to another room under their headquarters. Emerald was right beside her and looked over her shoulder.

"Isn't it obvious? We clean up the mess." She answered, smirking. Mercury rolled his eyes, but smiled as well. How he hated but loved that annoying girl. After Tuckson's body was disposed of, Cinder started to think about their next course of action. They knew she was in deep thought simply because she wasn't dignifying them with any kind of answer so far – but she was walking towards a very special room so Emerald and Mercury already grasped the idea.

Finally arriving at their destination, Cinder opened the door and turned on the lights, revealing a huge room with innumerous TV's flickering images from apparently all over the city. The pictures were organized by neighborhood and street name, and it was safe to say that there wasn't a single corner of Vale that wasn't being shown on those screens.

"Yesterday I caught something very interesting in our favorite camera," Cinder finally addressed them, projecting the image of one of the cameras to a larger screen in the middle. The picture showed the gates of the Schnee mansion, and a limo parked in front of them. She forwarded the tape until the gates opened and the car drove in; the view was lost after that since the camera reached only as far as the outer gates of the place, never inside. "Now tell me what was so interesting about it."

Emerald immediately raised her hand. "We've never seen that limo go into the Schnee mansion before."

"But we have seen it," Cinder rewound the tape again and this time zoomed in the license plate. It was a bit blurry, but readable. "Haven't we?"

Emerald and Mercury squinted their eyes, trying to remember something, and then both clicked at the same time. "Beacon." Then they stared at each other, disgusted for having talked in unison.

"My dearest Beacon…" Cinder licked her lips in a nostalgic smirk. "Miss heiress has a new bodyguard, and I want to find out who it is. Ozpin always had such great taste…"

Turning on her heels, Cinder walked away, leaving both her subordinates behind. "Let's go hunting, children." She then stopped and looked at them. "Oh, and call Roman. He will love this."


Hellooooooooo I am back with plot stuffs! And I hope you're enjoying their relationships as well~

Reviews are always appreciated! Thank you for reading 3

- niigoki