"So... you're mother's a huntress?"

Weiss was blunt with her question. She waded her legs on a shallow pool by the beach, looking at her new found friend who was herself playing with a hermit crab on the sand. This black haired girl, a few years younger than her she assumed, was the first person close to her age that she met on the island since she arrived. This was, of course, due to the fact that her parents didn't exactly let her out to meet with other kids her own age, deciding that this vacation would be better spent with her studying in their private villa. The only reason she managed to get out here, to meet her new friend, was at the behest of her butler.

"Yep! Whenever she comes back from missions she always brings back neat stuff! Hmm... take a look at this!"

The young black haired girl took out a small red colored crystal from her pocket. It's surface gleamed a dark crimson sheen in the afternoon sun, coating her hand in a deep red shade that almost sparkled. It was a rough piece, having not been subjected to the usual fine cuts a jeweler would do, like it was freshly pried off of a cave wall where it belonged. Despite its raw appearance, she clearly treasured it.

"My mom got me this last year. She found it during one of her missions down a Grimm infested mine, said it reminded her of me."

"What's it called?"

"Err... uh... actually..."

"You... don't know."

The black haired girl booped herself on the head with her fist. Weiss could only wonder if this new friend of hers was really some kind of dunce.

"Anyway... how about you? You said you're on vacation but where's your family?"

Weiss sighed as she drew a bunch of scribbles on the dry sand. The scribbles eventually became stick figures of 4 people: 2 adults and 2 kids.

"Like I said it's not really a vacation for us. More like... getting work done in a fresh environment."

She erased the stick figures with the branch she was holding as she sighed even more. Black hair came up to her and took the branch from her hand and started drawing on the sand as well. Like her new friend, she drew stick figures of 2 adults and 2 kids.

"But you know... at least you get to see them at home after they work. My parents? Like I said they're huntsmen, and half the time they're out on their missions, and they usually don't even call home when they do. Sometimes they just pop up at home without telling us."

She drew a house with a chimney over her stick figures. The hermit crab she was playing with crawled over her drawings and eventually sat on top of what passed for the house's roof.

"Well even if they're gone a lot, I... know what they do is important. Helping people and all that. That's why..."

She stood up and started swinging the stick around like a sword. She ran around pretending to hit things in the air with it.

"I wanna be a huntress like them when I grow up!"

She stood proudly with her hands to her hips and a wide smile on her face. The wind blew her shoulder length hair to the side. White hair could only look at her with a puzzled expression.

"Aren't you a bit... too young to decide?"

"Nope! And you're not that much older than me, are you!"

The black hair continued to wave around her branch like a sword, making swoosh and smacking noises with it. Looking at her, Weiss started to wonder herself what she wanted to do when she grew older. As second daughter to her family's Dust fortune, she knew that one way or another she'd end up having a hand in running the family business. She had been groomed since birth to be an heiress to the family fortune, and her family expects nothing less of her. She had never really questioned what her intentions in life were, having her future decided even before she was born.

"Did you always want to be a huntress?"

"Hmm... well I guess since a few years ago? Mom and dad always tells me stories of their cool adventures! Stories about killing big Grimm and helping people in need. Awesome stories!"

"Umm... aren't they worried about you getting hurt if you do?"

The black haired girl stood up and stuck the branch she was holding on the sandy shore. She looked up to the sky as a passenger transport was passing by, it's engines roaring overhead. She stared up to the white fluffy clouds.

"Actually... they don't really want me to be a huntress..."

She frowned and squatted down on the sand, scribbling on the sand like she did just a while ago. She drew a small cart with what looked like a stick figure baby inside. Beside it she drew a few trees.

"Three years ago, before I could even remember, my sister took me out to the forest because she was looking for something. Mom said she put me in a cart and went out to a deep part of the woods, where she found an old abandoned house. We... were attacked by Grimm that were waiting for us. My sister was only almost as old as I am now and... if it wasn't for our uncle... we'd be..."

The white haired girl bowed her head after hearing her story.

"When my dad told me the story, he said was was never more afraid than any time in his life, even when he was fighting monsters. That's why he told me that he wouldn't let me be a huntress like my mom. But you know..."

She ran up to her new friend and, placing her face barely an inch from her friend's, she made a wide smile. The white haired girl was taken by surprise and her whole face went red.

"It only made me want to be a huntress even more!"

She picked up the branch and started waving it around like a sword again. Regaining her composure, tWeiss could only laugh as hew new friend played around pretending to be a Huntress. She looked at her, running and spinning without a care in the world, and started to feel a weird sensation inside. She was jealous of the freedom her friend had, compared to the life a of a caged bird she lived. She knew that when she left tomorrow, she'd be going back to a life of constant studies and etiquette that she had always lived. Here, on this beach, she bore witness to a world and a life she had never seen beyond the confines of her family's estate. It was ironic, she thought, that despite the wide gardens and grounds of her family's house she was never allowed to run around to her hearts content, like her friend. She had never felt such jealousy for the life of another person until today.

But there was something more here, she started to think. Not just jealousy, or excitement. Something more, but she couldn't understand what it was.

A sudden gust of wind blew her hat off her head. Before she could react, the wind had taken it out beyond the shore and into the water, a few meters out. She ran towards the waves and saw that her hat was only still over a shallow area of the beach. It was her favorite hat, and she had to get it before the waves took it further out to see. That, or one of the sea gulls flying around over them might end up picking it up and bringing it somewhere, never to be seen again.

"Don't worry I'll get it!"

The black haired girl jumped into the water and trudged through the soft waves. It was midday so the waves weren't particularly strong, meaning that a young kid like her wasn't in any danger of getting overpowered by the waves. Not wanting to let go of her pride, the white haired girl clumsily followed her friend into the water, the splashing waves already soaking the hem of her skirt. Having never actually stepped into the sea before, she awkwardly pushed her feet against the sand and tide towards her friend, who was already way beyond her and getting close to where her hat was floating. The attempt quickly tired her out. Within minutes the black haired girl managed to reach the hat, which was already soaked in sea water.

"Got it I got it!"

She turned around excitedly and headed back to her friend, who was really tired by this point and had slowed down to a crawl. In her hurry she hit a rock buried in the sand and tripped forward onto her friend, hat in hand. Tired and unable to properly react, the white haired girl tried in vain to catch her. The black haired girl instead landed on her chest and pushed her back, her hand landing on her friend's head. Both girls fell in the same direction with a splash, soaking their clothes and getting wet sand everywhere.

"Ewwww gross..."

"Hehehe sorry about that... oh hey look..."

The black haired girl pointed to her friend's head. By some measure of luck, she managed to land the hat on her head, sparing it getting even more soaked with seawater than it already was. At this point both girls were already covered in brine, so in some ways it really wouldn't have made much of a difference. Weiss lamented both her fortune and misfortune.

"... You're welcome by the way..."

"... Thanks... heh... hahahahaha."

"Hahahahahahaha."

Weiss was still sitting down on the shallow water with her friend kneeling down on the sand. Both of them laughed so much that other people on the beach started looking at them with funny faces. Weiss couldn't remember the last time she laughed so hard like that. In fact, she couldn't remember laughing like that at all. Despite water and sand climbing up her dress and her favorite hat smelling like water and seagull poop, she was laughing her heart out like never before. It was new to her in almost every way. She had never had the chance to share a nice laugh like this with anyone, not even her parents, since they were always the paragons of controlled emotional discipline. When she laughed, it was always in private when she watched shows or read books. She had never really laughed in public before. She was told it was unwomanly for a Schnee to do so.

To share a laugh like this was new... alien... but it was nice. Something different. Something she never knew she could experience.

"You sound like you haven't laughed in a while. Heh."

"Yeah well... my family doesn't like me laughing in public."

"So uptight..."

Both girls stood up and wrung the seawater from their clothes. As it was shallow water, their clothes weren't as soaked as they could have been, so all it took was a few twists and presses to get the water out. The smell however would require a proper laundry. They headed back to the beach and sat back on the rocks.

"You know I just remembered something..."

"What?"

"I... don't know your name. I mean I can't call you Ms. White Hair all the time can I?"

"Err..."

Weiss remembered her parents instructions not to tell anyone her name while she was on the island. Her being out here in public unattended was already against their orders, and her butler had already convinced them to at least grant her this. Giving away her identity, and the potential paparazzi frenzy that could follow the news of the Schnees being on Patch, was something she was drilled since she was little. The higher you are up in life, the less you need to let people know.

"Anything wrong?"

"I can't... not right now..."

"Huh? Why?"

The black haired girl gave her a genuinely puzzled look. Names were names, and to her it was a sign that they were comfortable with each other.

"My father said I can't. It's... he said that our name carries a lot of meaning, and that I shouldn't give it so freely..."

"So... you don't trust me then."

The black haired gave a wide pout at Weiss. She was clearly annoyed, but not exactly angry. She considered Weiss a friend, and it annoyed her that she can't even know her friend's name. Trust was another issue altogether.

"He said I can't say it while we're her so... how about a deal?"

"Deal?"

"Yeah, deal. I'm leaving tomorrow so I'm sure no one will mind. I also realized I don't know your name too so... tomorrow, before I leave, let's meet here, and give our names. Okay?"

"Hmmm... okay! Deal!"

The black haired girl stood up and stuck out her pinky finger at Weiss, who clearly didn't know how to react.

"Uh... what's this?"

"Pinky swear! Never done it before? It's easy."

She took Weiss' hand, pulled out her pinky, and put it on hers.

"There! Pinky swear! Let's meet here same time, same place!"

"Yeah. Promise."


"Weiss... while I do not exactly approve of what you're doing as my sister..."

"C'mon Winter... for all I know I may never see her again!"

Weiss and Winter sat in their limousine on that same stretch of highway by the coast. It was almost 2pm in the afternoon. The sun was already starting to head down to the horizon. Weiss had a promise to keep, and it was time. Their parents had already gone on ahead to prepare for their departure.

"Weiss..."

"I've... never had a friend like her before..."

"And what about you classmates at the academy?"

"Classmates? More like followers or... what was that word you uses? En-tou-rage? All they do is praise me for hair or dress or something like that. Those girls... those aren't friends..."

"... Fine. You have thirty minutes. We have to leave by then, understand?"

"She'll be here, she promised."

Weiss hurriedly got out of the limousine and headed for the beach. She went to the rocky outcrop and sat down. She wore a coat as the air had been quite cold that day, her boots crunching the dry sand underfoot. She had never been this excited to give her name before, something she thought was rather strange in retrospect. She couldn't really contain her excitement.

Ten minutes past. She looked at her watch. The seagulls overhead squawked as they took turns dipping on the water to catch fish for their chicks. The waves crashed loudly on the shore as the tide began to change. As someone who was sued to always being on time, she couldn't help but feel that her friend was being unfashionably late to their promised meeting. She still had twenty minutes to go, so it wasn't that big of a deal. The skies were clear and the seas were gentle. There was no rain, only sunshine and the occasional cloud. There was no other reason for her to be late. It was a pinky swear after all.

Twenty minutes passed. The seagulls had finished their hunts and were returning to the cliffs down the coast to their nests. The only sound breaking the monotony of silence were the crashing waves and the sound of beach goers packing up and heading back. Weiss was now alone on the beach, with nothing but her thoughts and the sound of the crashing waves. She looked at her watch as she started to grow impatient. She had ten minutes left, and her friend was now really, really late. She tried to think of reasons why she would be, but on a day as good as this, she couldn't really think of a reason. Her friend admitted that it was really just her and her carefree sister together most of the time, so her parents clearly weren't stopping her. Weiss kicked up sand as she waited, with slight irritation.

Thirty minutes had finally passed. Weiss got up and went to the shore, looking at the now calming waves as the tides began to change. The beach, enveloped in almost complete silence, was broken by the sound of a couple of Bullheads roaring across the sky and heading for the port. At that exact same moment a trio of ambulances made their way down the road and into the town, their sirens blaring at full blast. Weiss looked back at the commotion. Winter had headed down to the beach herself, talking on her Scroll, as the sound of the sirens slowly disappeared behind her.

"Weiss we need to leave."

"I... can we please wait a little more, please?"

"We can't. Apparently there's an emergency down the the port. We need to leave before the area swarms with first responders."

"I... I..."

Weiss felt tears come down her face as she was ushered back into the car. Her friend didn't come. A full thirty minutes she waited, but she didn't come. Perhaps, she thought, pinky swears were made to be broken.

The limousine entered the heliport and parked beside the family airship. The Bullheads that Weiss saw had finally landed, with scores of injured people coming out and being treated by paramedics. Before she could see any more, her bodyguards ushered her in and put on her seat belt. The ship slowly rose up into the skies, the people slowly becoming little blips on the ground. As the airship began to turn towards the direction of Atlas to reach cruising speed, she took a look one last time out of her window.

She saw a coffin being pulled out of Bullhead. It was covered in what looked like a white coat. In front of it was a little girl, wearing a red coat, crying her eyes out. Before she could make sense of what was unfolding down below, the craft and completed its preparations and had sped off into the sky beyond. Weiss, her young mind unable to process what she had just seen, reclined back her seat and promptly fell asleep.


Author's Notes:

Chapter late due to... work... yeah work! Lots of work. Also The Division. Lots of The Division. The game , not math.

Anyway that's the last of these kinds of chapters. The rest will be proper and present day. Once again, reviews are appreciated.

Edit - Some of you might notice a minor edit in this. Thanks to the guy who noticed I mentioned 15 minutes but she stayed for 30. That was because I got an error during typing and lost 3 whole paragraphs. Didn't notice the error until it was mentioned.