Chapter 9

Home Alone Part One

Frost PoV

I sat calmly, letting the cold air bite my face. The ground below me covered in frost and ice. My garden was an icy setting with pine trees and stubby grass. It looked dead to most, but to me, it was very much alive. Many of the decorations matched the same eastern theme, but the room was frozen over with icicles and frosted rocks. An icy stream ran through the center, just barely fast enough to remain liquid.

I sat in the traditional sitting position, on my knees with my hands on my thighs. My helmet was off, revealing my pale face and medium-length snow white hair. A vertical scar ran down across the left side of my mouth. I looked a lot younger than I really was. I appeared close to nineteen or twenty years old, but I was really forty-five years old.

The one door to the room slid open, revealing the other mentors. The students had a short break from school to meet with their families before the Vytal festival. We were told to accompany our students to their homes to continue training. Hydroid had taken Jaune, Ember was training Pyrrah (Even though the girl was very skilled, no one is ever done training), Ash went with Ren, and Rhino trained Nora. Volt stood at the head of the group.

"Frost, we have to go. Our students are waiting," Volt spoke. He was always the one to take the lead. The leader walked along proudly, prompting the rest to follow. I would not say he was a bad leader, he was quite an excellent one, but he was a horrible follower. There are some times when you need to be one. I nodded and left the bitter cold of the garden.

On the outside of the academy, many airships were docked, boarding students and their luggage. I noticed a much smaller airship that seemed more expensive. It had Weiss' symbol emblazoned on the side. I realized that the only people boarding were not students, and they carried lots of bags and cases. I caught a brief glance of my student inside of the craft. She was wearing a set of long gloves to cover the parts of her infested arm that her jacket didn't.

"Farewell, Volt. I will see you after this break," I said to him, shaking his hand. He smiled back at me.

"I'll see you later."

I parted from the group made my way to the craft, taking my time. Upon reaching the door, I was stopped by two muscular men in suits. They were both clearly armed with automatic rifles.

"Sorry sir, but you are not allowed on this ship without authorization," One of the men spoke robotically.

"I have permission as the qualified mentor of Weiss Schnee," I said, masking all emotion to seem professional.

"There is no record of any trainers for Ms. Schnee. You may leave," The other man said threateningly.

"Let him in," Weiss came up behind them, pushing them to the side.

"Of course, Miss Schnee," They said in unison, going back to their positions.

"What was the meaning of that?" I asked, truly curious about the reasoning behind this level of security.

"I'm the heiress of the Schnee Dust Company, one of the largest producers of Dust in the world," Weiss responded, but this time she was less arrogant in the way she said it, but more informatively. I smiled at this, my training was working.

"That makes it clearer, but couldn't you just have the captain of the ship stand at the entrance? It would be more cost efficient," I pointed out.

"Well, it would seem so, but there has been a conflict surrounding my company for a while," Weiss began, guiding me down the luxuriously designed hallways. I raised an eyebrow at this.

"I'm sure you know the whole issue surrounding the Faunas and the White Fang," I nodded.

"Well, my grandfather is a pretty anti-faunas man. He supplied the human armies in the revolution and openly denounced the Faunas leaders. This put a huge target painted across our back. The White Fang still sees us as a threat, even after the attempts at peace that my father has made. We've been attacked on multiple occasions and there have been multiple invasions of many of our mines. The extra money being put towards defense has put a hole in our wallets, causing us to constantly lower wages and not supply the workers with new equipment. This isn't helping relations. So, we have to be careful of who we can trust," Weiss explained, leaving me in a short silence.

"It appears you have quite the predicament here," I pointed out.

"Yeah, no shit," She grumbled. We entered a decently sized room that appeared to be a kind of lounge. It had intricately designed decorations that kept the snow theme. Expensive furniture was everywhere, some appeared to not actually function like the object should, but appeared very pricy.

"Well, there's your problem," I thought out loud.

"What?" Weiss asked, confused.

"You just have to rub it in everyone's faces, don't you?" I waved my hand across the room at the various flamboyant furnishings.

"It's a demonstration of power-"

"You're demonstrating power to the public inside of a place that no one that is not a member of your family or staff can enter? Isn't that called a paradox?" I questioned. Weiss thought about this for a second, realizing that her statement contradicted itself.

"Couldn't you just sell your expensive 'shows of power' and replace them with cheaper furnishings?"

"I don't make the decisions, okay! Even my father has no power. My grandfather still controls the company and he's in charge of where the money goes."

"Do you want that to change?"

"Yes! That would make it a lot better- Wait. What do you mean by that?" Weiss realized the possible meaning of my question.

"Your grandfather could have an 'accident' and end up handing over the company to a better owner."

"No! He's my grandfather, I can't just kill my family! He may be a horrible man, but he's not some Grimm!"

"You are related to every human on this planet. Don't give me that," I deadpanned.

"At least give him a chance," Weiss pleaded.

"Fine, I'll test him. If he fails, he dies. If he succeeds, he will live,"

"What's the test?"

"I will list the seven sins and ask him which one represents him the most. If he says none, he fails"

"That's not fair, he's going to say none!" Weiss protested.

"You just gave me evidence that opposes your own claim."

"S-shut up! Stupid! Just sit and wait until we leave!" I sighed at her response.

-After the flight, Schnee Mansion-

We left the airship proceeding onto a long, winding stone walkway that snaked its way up to a massive structure that gave the air of a castle. The only modernization was the near-perfect shape that the stones were in. The bricks looked almost if they had been laser-cut to exact sizes. The surrounding area reminded me of Victorian England from Earth before the Orokin Period.

A set of oversized double doors sat at the end of the path. Weiss approached a small panel that had a speaker and a screen. She pushed a button, causing the speaker to play a message. Weiss pulled out her Scroll and swiped it across the panel before causing the doors to slowly creep open.

The inside was overly large for a hallway. Massively high ceilings with intricate window designs and loads of expensive art covering the walls. Most of the paintings featured an older man with grey hair and a white suit. I assumed that was Weiss' grandfather. Arrogant has been officially rendered obsolete.

"This is my home," Weiss announced proudly, walking in front of me and showing it off. I gave it another look down.

"It's too… western."

"What does that mean?"

"I prefer the architecture and design of eastern cultures. It's much simpler and very calming."

"I suppose it follows my grandfather's standards," Weiss noted, realizing the pattern. Suddenly, the sound of a person running towards us. I unsheathed Galatine and faced the source of the noise. Stood in the doorway was a young woman in a maid outfit with a terrified look on her face.

"It's okay Frost, It's just one of the servants," Weiss said. I sheathed my weapon, getting out of my combat stance.

"I apologize for my rash behavior. I was simply being cautious," I apologized. The girl relaxed and her face became neutral.

"I was told to inform you that all of the family is out on their own business ventures," The maid said to Weiss. The heiress nodded and shooed her off, causing the servant to scurry back down the hall and out of sight.

"Why do you have servants? Are you incapable of doing anything yourselves?" I asked. Weiss developed a slight snarl before hiding it.

"No, the mansion is just too large for a family of our size to get around."

"Then why force someone else to do the running around?"

"Why do you have to ask so many questions?"

"Without critical thinking, I wouldn't be here," I deadpanned. Weiss was about to retort, but caught herself.

"Now, for our next training session, I will need a cherry tree and candles," I knew the argument was over, so I decided to prepare for the lesson.

"Why a cherry tree?" Weiss asked.

"You will see."

Weiss provided me with the resources I needed and walking off. I took the candles and made two circles. One under the tree, and the other across from it. I took a seat in the first circle, closing my eyes and clearing my mind with the scent of the tree. I heard someone walking out and looked. I saw it was Weiss and gestured her to approach.

"Take a seat," I nodded to the second circle. She sat, correctly this time, and faced me.

"So, what's the lesson for today?"

"First, you must clear your mind. Relax your body and mind to prepare," I instructed her. She nodded and closed her eyes, relaxing. After a minute or two I gave her a light slap on the head.

"Hey!" She cried out, opening her eyes and breaking her concentration.

"Keep concentrating," I said, ignoring her complaints. She returned to relaxing, but was still slightly tense. I gave a slight amount more time than the last, allowing her to fully become calm. I slowly brought my hand across, only for it to be blocked.

"Good, you must rely on your other senses. Your eyes can be easily deceived and tricked. If you can respond based on other senses, then you will be much better in a fight," I praised her. I gave her a bit more time to concentrate before striking again, slightly faster. It was caught once again. I continued this routine, slowly getting faster and adding more strikes. There were a few slip-ups, but that was normal. Soon, I was constantly raining down hard strikes, Weiss blocking reflexively.

"Now, let's take this to the next level," I stood up, walking behind the tree and pulling out two wooden sticks. I also produced a piece of cloth.

"Tie this around your eyes, we will now start this like a real battle," I gave Weiss the blindfold and a stick. I walked up to the open window to the kitchen, which was bustling and loud due to dinner being soon. I got ready while Weiss stood at the opposite side of me.

"There will be noise to disturb you, but drown it out. Even if it hurts, push on and ignore the pain," I instructed, letting her develop focus. I did the same with this situation, but there were a lot more hits. At some point, I grabbed another stick and starting hitting faster and faster. We began getting the attention of the chefs in the kitchen from the noise. I took another blindfold and tied it around my head.

-In the kitchen-

A middle aged man with white hair, blue eyes, and a white suit walked into the room.

"What's the hold up?" The man asked, noticing that everyone was at the window instead of working on dinner.

"Look sir!" One servant gestured for the man to come over and pointed out of the window. He looked out to see his daughter and a strange man fighting with sticks while wearing blindfolds. His eyes widened and he rushed out of the door to stop the fight.

-Back in the garden-

I was impressed with Weiss' performance, we had been at this for hours and she didn't sound at all exhausted. At this point, we were just a tornado of strikes.

"Stop Stop Stop!" A loud voice from behind obviously disrupted Weiss' focus, because my stick felt as if it hit flesh. I stopped my flow and lifted the cloth covering my eyes. A waterfall of sweat rolled down my face. The fight had caught up with Weiss, because she was panting and gasping for air. Her entire body was completely sweat soaked.

"What is the meaning of this?!" A man in a white suit demanded, obviously distraught.

"You ruined it! It was going so well!" Weiss shouted at the man, who seemed surprised at the sudden outburst.

"Ah, you must be Weiss' father. Pleasure to meet you. We were just engaging in a friendly duel, nothing to worry about," I smiled, offering my hand out to Mr. Schnee. Still slightly startled, the man took a second before reaching for my and shaking it.

"Who are you? I don't think I've seen you before," Weiss' father asked.

"My name is Frost. Frost Tenno. I am a new teacher at Beacon. I was assigned to Weiss as a mentor by Ozpin," I lied, trying hard to say Ozpin instead of Hayden.

"Nice to meet you Mr. Tenno, my name is Michael. How about we go eat? I'm starving!" Michael offered with a smile. Short and to the point. I like that. I collected my weapons and the exhausted heiress, following her father to a huge room that appeared to be a dining room. The table was so large, you would probably need a megaphone to talk to the people at the other end.

"Sorry if the food's a bit late, the chefs were staring at you instead of working," Michael apologized.

"No need to be sorry, I've gone without food for days," I responded. The businessman raised an eyebrow.

"I'm a hardened hunter. I've spent at least half of my life in battle" I explained. The second part was quite true.

"How old are you? You hardly look twenty."

"I am forty five years old."

"Wow, whatever you do, I need it," He laughed. We sat down at a corner of the table so we could all talk to each other while we ate.

"Weiss, I have a bit of bad news for you," Weiss' father changed his tone, showing this was serious.

"I suppose you heard that your grandfather is out?" He asked his daughter. Weiss nodded slowly.

"Well, what I heard is that he's discussing your betrothal with another huge company," Weiss' jaw dropped at this.

"Not going to happen," I quickly intervened. They both looked at me with confused faces.

"My student will not be forced to do anything she does not want to do. I actively enforce this," I explained.

"Well, you can't really do that-"

"Yes I can. I don't care that your company is the largest in the world. I don't care if the CEO is highly guarded. Weiss, remember the story I told you? About Alad V and Zanuka?" I cut him off.

"Yeah, that Alad was going to start mass-producing highly dangerous and advanced robots named 'Zanuka' and use them to eradicate all of us so he could take over," Weiss explained to an extent that didn't give anything away.

"I assisted in destroying all of his efforts. Plus, my skills go past combat. Deception and intimidation are among them."

"You are one person. There's such a low chance that you will succeed," He said, emphasizing 'low'.

"Would you rather have a one percent chance of winning, or a one hundred percent chance of losing?" I retorted.

"And also, I am not alone. Many of my brothers and sisters are close to my ability," I added.

"Still, our company has some of the most advanced weapons technology on the planet. You are completely outmatched," He continued to urge me out of it. My face contorted with anger. This man has no idea how insulting that was.

"My body itself is more advanced than your most powerful weapons!" I let it out. Both of them looked at me, confused, but for different reasons.

"Remember that man from the news? The one who was immensely fast and shrugged off bullets effortlessly? That is one of my brothers. He's only seventeen and he can eliminate an army. Imagine what I can do," I spat. It takes a lot to get me like this, and he really did it.

"How d-"

"Weiss, show him," I instructed. Knowing that now was not a time for questions, she took it off. The metal plates were now showing, but they had a rainbow of colors between them due to her continuous use and exposure to Dust. She pulled up her sleeve to reveal the whole thing.

"Weiss?" Michael touched the arm, feeling the smooth metal plates.

"How about I fill you in on the situation."


Alright! New chapter out. When I said can't keep a schedule, I meant it. This arc is a break from the comedic part of the story in order to develop Frost and Weiss as characters. I really put thought into it. Next chapter will continue this and introduce a new antagonist. Thanks for reading, constructive criticism appreciated. Necrorizah out.