AN: Sorry for the unintended hiatus, more in the next AN. Please enjoy!


"No!" A tiny voice said from behind her door.

"It's okay, Kitty's here!" Yang responded cheerfully hoping Winter might open the door.

"No!" She said once again.

"Welp, no use arguing with her. While we're here we might as well say hi to the cook." Yang gave up, spinning on her heel to face the door on the other side of the hall.

Everyone was watching her sceptically as she walked up to the door and opened it. She leaned inside waving. "Hi Peter!" She called, much louder than she had to, before slamming the door shut and stepping back to the side of Winter's door that had the handle.

"Wha-" Ruby started but was cut off when Yang slapped her hand over her mouth and the others all stepped against the wall behind the blonde.

A click sounded quietly and the door eased open. Winter slowly crept out into the hall, looking in the other direction. She seemed to think the coast was clear and edged out into the hall.

"Gotcha!" Yang said as she stepped behind Winter into the doorway so she could keep the door open.

Winter spun and sprinted back into her room as Weiss walked into the room behind her.

"Can I ask you three to wait outside for a moment?" Weiss said, not turning to look at her team as she knew her voice must have sounded fearful.

"Sure thing." Ruby said, taking a step back and pulling her sister with her. The door swung closed quietly, a simple click sounding as it stopped in it's frame.

Weiss waited for a moment, hoping to give her adopted sister time to relax. It had been more than six months since she'd last seen the small girl, and she knew a lot could happen in that amount of time.

Weiss watched Winter watching her from her hiding spot under her bed. She knelt down, leaving enough space in front of her for Winter to come sit with her if she felt like it.

I guess I should start talking. Weiss had never had to deal with young kids, but that didn't mean she was completely hopeless. "Hello Winter. It's been a long time since I saw you last."

Weiss waited but realized she hadn't exactly given the girl a reason to respond. She sighed before continuing.

"I used to live here when I was your age, but I dare say this room is much nicer than mine was." She said, looking at the number of dolls and stuffed animals that seemed to have grown exponentially since her last visit. "I also know what all those toys mean."

Weiss pulled the front of her dress down just far enough for the end of a large scar to peek out. Under the bed, Winter's eyes widened at the new development. Weiss placed the dress back to where she'd moved it from and waited. Slowly, Winter came out from under the bed. A small mark on her forehead near her temple immediately caught Weiss's attention.

"How about a trade? I'll show you my scars if you show me yours?" She offered, any smile she might've worn gone with her anger at her father barely suppressed behind her usual cold mask.

Winter hesitated. Weiss could tell she was curious but didn't want to show Weiss her own wounds.

"At the same time." Winter said finally. Weiss nodded. Both girls took off their clothing until they were down to their underwear. Winter gasped at the amazing amount of scarring covering Weiss's stomach and chest. There was one particularly large scar that ran from one shoulder to Weiss's opposite hip.

"Turn slowly for me." Weiss instructed, resuming her place on the carpet. Winter listened and slowly turned. Her back was covered in tiny nicks. Some of them were obviously months old, while others seemed as fresh as a couple days old. When Winter was facing directly away, she grabbed the girl's shoulder. "Stop. Stay facing that way for a second."

Weiss took her scroll out of her clothes quickly and quietly snapped a quick photo before returning the device. Weiss inspected the wounds closer to find that the new ones hadn't been cleaned properly.

"Can I see yours now?" Winter asked carefully. Weiss took note of how much her speech had improved since the last time she'd spoken with her. Now she spoke full sentences, though with the short vocabulary Weiss was familiar with from her life before Beacon.

"Of course." Weiss sat back, letting her arms drop to her sides. Winter turned and took in the front of Weiss again. "If you think this is something, you should look at my back."

Winter slowly walked around Weiss to her back. The whole visible surface was covered in so many tiny scars that it was almost impossible to tell the beginning of one from the end of the next. Some went deep and others shallow, but each one left a mark.

"Of course, I've gotten a few of these since I decided to become a huntress." Weiss explained as she pointed out several of her scars in turn. "Like this one here I received from an exploding helicopter, and this one was a practice session that almost went horribly wrong. This one here was from a giant suit of armour I fought in White Castle, though that one was completely my fault for activating it."

Weiss watched as Winter circled back to her front.

"How do you make him stop?" She asked, hope glowing in her eyes after seeing Weiss's damaged skin.

Weiss sighed. "The only way I found was to just not be there when he's crazy like that. But regardless, I'm going to get dressed and then clean your back before you put your dress back on."

Winter nodded in agreement as Weiss stood and slipped back into her combat uniform. One thing she liked about it was how easy it was to get into, or in some cases with Ruby, out of. She went to the attached bathroom and grabbed the white medical box that was already open on the counter before walking back to the room.

"This might sting a bit." Weiss warned before she dampened some cotton with the hydrogen peroxide. Winter merely nodded and looked away. Weiss did her best to clean the wounds quickly while still being thorough. The whole time, Winter didn't do more than hiss occasionally, keeping silent as she bore the stinging cleaner.

Weiss took a large piece of cotton and peeled the top layer off. She sprayed it with the instant bandage spray and smoothed it out against Winter's back.

"What's that?" Winter asked curiously as Weiss taped the corners with medical tape.

"It's a trick I learned at school." Weiss explained as she turned Winter to face her as she inspected her head region for injuries that required treatment. Luckily there were none. "You spray a thin piece of cotton with the instant bandage spray, then put it on your skin with tape. That way you can wear anything you want without being afraid of having it stain. Not to mention it helps the wounds heal better. Although aura does do a quicker and better job."

"That's smart." Winter said, picking up her dress and passing it to Weiss who helped her slip it over the bandage as she pulled it up.

"Um, are you guys dead in there?" Yang called from the other side of the door.

"Just give us a few seconds." Weiss called in response as she gathered up the medical kit and returned it to the bathroom.

"Um… Miss Weiss?" Winter asked suddenly shy as Weiss returned.

"Just Weiss is fine. We're sisters after all." Weiss smiled at the formality that had obviously been beaten into the girl since she'd left.

"Can we keep this a secret?" Winter asked, her large puppy dog eyes imploring.

"Of course, but I want you to tell me all about this type of thing from now on okay?" Weiss replied gravely.

Winter seemed to hesitate, but she nodded her agreement nevertheless.

"Good. Now let's let our friends in. They came all the way to see you after all." Weiss laughed a little, getting a small smile to come to her sister's face.

Winter walked over to the door. Her steps were already careful, measured as if someone was monitoring her every movement. This never stops, does it? Weiss wondered while she forced her smile slightly larger as Winter opened the door for Ruby, Yang, and Blake.


The theater was packed. Winter had taken Blake and Yang to find the good seats while Ruby and Weiss stood in line to order snacks. Ruby hadn't asked what had gone on behind the closed door, but Weiss could tell she was trying not to be to invasive about it.

"It's okay, Ruby. You can ask." Weiss said with a sigh after she turned to see Ruby's eyes dart away yet again.

"Are you sure?" Ruby asked tentatively. "It seemed like she wanted to keep it a secret."

"I love you dearly, but you can be dense sometimes." Weiss laughed as she took Ruby's hand in her own. "I'll never keep secrets from you. In my experience it's only led to problems. I've had enough of those to deal with lately, and so have you."

"You're right." Ruby agreed with a smile. "As long as you're okay with it, I'd like to know what happened when you kicked us out suddenly."

Weiss stepped up to the counter and ordered a box combo for everyone and paid before she turned back to her girlfriend while drawing out her scroll and showing it to Ruby.

"A picture is worth a thousand words, and every scar tells a story. Together they give a comprehensive list of transgressions." Weiss stated cryptically so that anyone in their vicinity wouldn't understand what she was talking about specifically.

Ruby whistled before pushing Weiss's hand away so she'd get rid of the image. "What's all that from?"

"I didn't ever tell you how I got all mine, did I?" Weiss asked taking a few boxes off the counter and stacking them in Ruby's arms. "I told you my family was never around much, so I mostly had to deal with the servants but that was only the second part of my life. The first part, I spent here. Since my father lives here I saw him at least weekly. To say the least, he's a violent drunk. And the stress of dealing with the White Fang didn't make a winning combination."

"Can we do anything about it?" Ruby asked hopefully.

"Not really, but I'm not about to stand by and watch him do that to yet another of his daughters. Blood related or not, I won't stand for it." Weiss said as she gathered up the remaining boxes of snacks and led the way to the theater to find their sisters and Blake.


"So that was a thing." Yang sighed disappointedly as she led the way out of the theater. The movie had sounded like an action flick but ended up as a kid friendly romantic comedy. Not exactly her type of movie. But the rest of her team seemed to enjoy it enough so she shrugged it off like she did with everything else that wasn't her cup of tea. "What's next?"

"Well, we still have some time, how about we go get ice cream?" Ruby suggested, looking to Winter who was nodding and smiling at the suggestion as she munched on some left over licorice.

"You don't stop, do you?" Blake asked in amazement when Winter pulled at her arm that was carrying the extra bag of popcorn.

"Mom says if I don't eat I won't be pretty." Winter stated as if it were common knowledge. "I bet you eat lots!"

Blake blushed at the strangely formatted compliment. She hesitated on handing over the popcorn bag though. "I think she's been feeding you bad information."

"You have to eat, but everything in moderation. Fruits, vegetables, lots of milk, and a bit of meat." Ruby said earning her a laugh from Yang.

"You do realize milk doesn't actually make you taller, right?" Her sister laughed as she led the group.

"Yeah well, I haven't ever broken a bone in combat before. You?" Ruby shot back a challenge in her voice.

"Touche!" Yang surrendered.

"How do you laugh about getting hurt?" Winter asked the group making them all fall silent. After several moments of walking quietly in thought it was Blake who spoke up.

"I suppose it's just because we dealt with it in the past. It can't hurt us once the pain goes away, so we laugh at it to try to make the memory of it less powerful." It was apparent that Winter only understood a little of what Blake said.

"Basically, it hurt when we got hurt, but then we healed. But we keep our memories of how much it hurt, so we laugh at them to make it less painful whenever we remember it again." Yang summed up. Winter nodded in understanding before falling silent in her own thoughts.

"Speaking of which, I'd like to talk to you while the others get ice cream." Weiss informed Yang.

"What's this about?" Yang asked curiously.

"Wait and see. We're only a block away." Ruby suggested, pointing out the massive ice cream cone growing larger in the sky every second they walked down the street.

Weiss gave Blake her credit card, not trusting Ruby not to buy everyone a whole tub of ice cream after seeing the massive sign announcing the fresh cookie dough ice cream in the window.

"So what's this about?" Yang asked, leaning her shoulder against the brick wall of the building.

"This." Weiss held out her scroll again for Yang to see.

"Holy shit. Is that… that's horrible!" Yang gasped looking closer at the picture. Her eyes flared red and her hair took on a slight flare as if it were lit from within each strand. Weiss took her hand back and cleared the picture from the screen as Yang looked up at Weiss.

"Calm down Yang, I need your help. If you were me, what would you do about it?" Weiss asked hoping that Yang would have a better answer since she had years of experience being a big sister. She watched as Yang reeled in her emotion and her eyes changed back to their usual hue.

"Wait, that's not you?" Yang's eyes widened wondering what type of monster was capable of that sort of treatment.

"Of course not. I'm much worse. It's Winter and as you saw, most are relatively new." Weiss said quickly, watching through the door as the line moved up so Ruby, Winter, and Blake were now at the counter.

"Well, I'm assuming you know who did that." Yang stated thoughtfully closing her eyes and rubbing the bridge of her nose. Weiss nodded in response after Yang reopened her eyes to look into the ice cream shop where the happy little girl was ordering a scoop of rainbow. "Then I'd say you should confront them with one of two options. Either take the kid away or threaten the person who's beating her."

"And you name the impossible." Weiss muttered to herself as she turned to wave at Winter who was holding up her cone for Weiss to see.

"Sorry? Didn't catch that." Yang said, looking to the door to find Blake carrying two cones behind Winter.

"Thanks for the help." Weiss responded, dropping her thoughts back to where they wouldn't interfere with her conversation skills. "I guess I'm still new to this whole 'big sister' concept."

"No worries. It's a wild ride, so have fun with it. I definitely do." Yang laughed, clapping Weiss on the back. Inside, Winter seemed to flinch slightly at the movement but relaxed as she noticed Weiss's smile.

"Maybe you shouldn't hit people on the back in front of her for now. It probably brings up bad memories." Weiss commented, noticing the confusion in Yang's eyes in their reflection off the glass.

"Right. My bad." Yang opened the door to let their three friends out.

"I got us what they called badger. I think it's lemon and licorice." Blake said handing her a yellow and black ball atop a waffle cone.

"Thanks." Yang said with a smile as she looped her arm into Blake's as Winter took her other hand.

Ruby came out last carrying two cones that she seemed determined to hide behind her back.

"What did you get?" Weiss asked as Ruby stopped in front of her.

"Close your eyes." Ruby responded. Weiss was tempted to ignore her girlfriend's request, but couldn't help think Ruby knew her well enough to know her likes and dislikes. Weiss closed her eyes. "Okay. Now open… and forward just a smidge…"

Weiss followed Ruby's directions, finding the ice cream exactly where she'd hoped it would be. At first she couldn't taste it through the sudden cold but as it subsided, the flavour burst out across her tongue.

"Is that…?" Weiss asked, opening her eyes to see the white and red ice cream in front of her. "My god, I didn't think this flavour was actually a thing!"

"I know, right?" Ruby agreed, taking a bite of the top of her own cone.

"What are you guys talking about?" Winter asked curiously, watching the two interact with each other as if they could read each others thoughts.

"It's kind of a long story." Weiss laughed, taking Winter's hand as they started to walk.

"It's a long walk back home." Winter pointed out cunningly.

"Then I guess it's story time." Weiss laughed, looking to Ruby to start the long story. "I guess I'll let you explain how mean I was before then. But I call dibs on the yogurt part."

"Fine." Ruby sighed.

"This is gonna be good." Yang laughed, noticing Ruby's forehead crinkle slightly as she thought back.

"I guess the first time I met Weiss was when I knocked over her luggage and almost exploded us both off a cliff." Ruby started.

"Really? I wouldn't want to be friends with someone like that!" Winter interjected.

"Believe me. I didn't either at first, but it turns out its not all that bad." Weiss replied.

"Really?" Ruby asked expectantly.

Weiss looked down at Winter and spoke directly to her. "Sometimes you get the crazy people, but other times you get someone who will be your best friend regardless of your flaws. Taking a chance pays off every now and again, so it's definitely worth the risk."

"Awww!" Yang cooed from the other side of Winter.

"Back to my story!" Ruby called attention back to herself as she cleared her throat. "So there we were. A big cloud of dust wafting through the air…"