Winter

"So, is Ruby just a friend?"

"Winter! You can not pair me up with every girl I know!" Weiss scolded her sister. Winter smiled.

"Yes, I can, and I will."

The two sisters stared at each other before Weiss grabbed Winter in a hug.

"I missed you." Weiss laughed.

"And I you, little sister. Now that we're away from prying ears, tell me how you are." Winter let go of Weiss and gestured towards the little table in the Grecian Room. One of the perks of being an esteemed guest of Beacon was having free rein of the most peaceful area on campus. The sisters sat down. The tea Winter had brought was still steaming. She poured them both a cup, and Winter used her Semblance to cool each cup to a manageable temperature.

"I'm alright. I'm learning a lot, and I feel like I'm really getting better as a fighter. We annihilated ABRN as a team, and it was amazing."

"It was a rather impressive fight, despite those missed strikes. The way your team propelled Ms. Xiao Long at Team ABRN was exceptional. I look forward to the doubles round. It's yourself and Ms. Xiao Long, correct?"

"Yes. We voted as a team to decide who would go on. I, of course, voted for myself. Blake and Ruby's reasoning was that I'm the most versatile of the team, and that Yang is our most powerful member."

"She is the least versatile, however, and she's prone to becoming enraged and losing focus, as you mentioned in your report of the skirmish on the train."

"This is true. Personally, I would prefer to fight alongside Blake. She's saved my life a few times, and she is extremely adept at all ranges."

"And her Faunus senses would be extremely helpful. Father still does not know about her, by the way. I've been diverting all reports of suspicion about her."

"Thank you, Winter."

"No need to thank me. He would fly into a rage if he knew you were friends with a Faunus, and I have no desire to see an enraged egomaniac in control of a gigantic company lash out." Winter sipped her tea.

"What's the issue with you and Qrow, by the way? Ruby and Yang talk about him as if he's some sort of saint, but he was so boorish today."

"Qrow and I… have an interesting history. Not in that way, do not think about that. I have standards."

"I wasn't-"

"Qrow and I differ on our approach to the defense of the Kingdoms. He prefers cloak and dagger, and he thinks I'm a sell-out for joining the military after Beacon. Whereas I think the best course is to intimidate the terrorists into being afraid to even leave their caves."

"Why did you fight, though?"

Winter sighed.

"He knows me far too well. Remember when my airship went down on my first solo mission?"

"I was so worried."

"Qrow saved my life. He aborted his mission to bring me back to Atlas. We ran into each other a few times after that, and he ended up being a bit of a mentor for me. He knows about our childhood."

"So he knows how to make you angry."

"Correct. The man is a brilliant fighter, as you saw, and he's quite kind at times, but he's an idiot."

"Unfortunate. Thankfully, Ruby and Yang seem to have taken after their father."

"Ruby's more like Summer. I met her once, you know. You were still just a baby. I was eight years old. She, Taiyang, and baby Yang came to our house to talk with our father. This was before he turned into a psychopath, so I was glad to sit in on their conversations. Summer was a kind woman, like Ruby. Reserved in nature, but I believe that came over time. But Oum, was she ever passionate. To hear her talk about weapons, was to step in the mind of a fanatic."

"Like Ruby." Weiss smiled.

"Like Ruby." Winter agreed. "I was sad when Father told me that she'd died, even though I hadn't seen her in years. She was a good woman, and I think Ruby will be much the same." Winter stared at Weiss pointedly.

"Stop, Winter. I don't like her like that. She's a great friend and she's actually kind of funny, and she's definitely cute, I can't deny that. But at the same time, she's so bloody infuriating, and she's so hyper, and she has no concept of restraint and… I love her as a friend. Maybe eventually, if she dials it back a little, maybe I might eventually like her as something more, but it's not happening right now."

"Whatever you say, little sister. As long as you're happy, I am fine. Now, show me your glyphs. I wish to see how much you've improved."

Yang

"You're going down, Uncle Qrow!" Yang roared as her pixelated character kicked at Qrow's. Her uncle chuckled and triggered a combo attack, ending in Yang's character dying a bloody death. Yang threw her scroll on the ground.

"This is some bullshit." She muttered.

"Heyyyy, we got some young ears here." Qrow gestured at Ruby. Ruby growled.

"I don't think she likes being reminded that she's the youngest person ever to attend Beacon." Yang said in a stage whisper. Ruby tugged her hood up and covered her face.

"Ah well, I gotta get going, kiddo. I promised your dad I'd be back on Patch by nightfall, and you know how he gets." Qrow pretended to muss up Yang's hair but she gave him a hard look and he backed off. They laughed at hugged. "Get over here, Ruby."

The young girl crawled over and all three of them hugged. Qrow didn't seem to want to let go.

"Between you two and your dad, you're all I have left. Stick to your studies, train hard, and be the biggest badasses to ever graduate from here, you hear me? Surpass my team in sheer awesomeness. Especially you, Ruby." Yang felt a pang of jealousy, but shrugged it off mentally. She knew deep down that Ruby was gonna be a better Huntress than her, maybe even the best of them all.

"We love you, Uncle Qrow." Ruby said.

"I love you too, kiddo."

...

"Yang, he was hurt. I felt his ribs shift." Ruby said. They watched their uncle climb aboard an airship from their room. He waved in their general direction as the airship took off.

"So did I. He must have been on a mission recently, and didn't take the appropriate time to heal."

"I don't like it."

"Me either, sis." Yang stood up and cracked her back. "Let's talk about fun things instead. Like Weiss."

"How is Weiss fun in any way?" Ruby stared at Yang.

"Well, not fun, per se. Interesting, maybe?" Yang sat down on her bed.

"What are you getting at, Yang?"

"I think she likes you. I'm fairly certain of it. And while I want you to have the perfect partner, I acknowledge that Weiss is a pretty good friend to you. She'd be an acceptable sister-in-law."

"Oh my God, Yang, you promised to stop trying to match me up with people." Ruby jumped up to her own bed and hid beneath her cloak.

"I promised at Signal. Beacon's a whole 'nother beast, sis." Yang laughed.

"Please stop." Ruby said, her voice muffled by her cloak.

"Do you liiiiike her?" Yang teased.

"I don't like anyone, and you know it!"

"Come onnnnn, sis."

"I hope you know that it's perfectly alright for somebody to not like anyone else. Look at Yatsuhashi, for example. He's completely uninterested in dating people or any of that icky stuff."

"Wait, really? I thought he and Velvet were an item."

"They're more like brother and sister! Ewwwwwww."

"Yeah, ew. You and Weiss would totally be cute, you know."

"Thanks, I'll pass."

"YOU'RE SINKING MY SHIP."

"Wait, was that Ren?" Ruby stared at the door.

"I think so. What the hell is Nora doing now?"

...

AN

Sorry for the short chapter, guys, but with how I planned this story, the next chapter will be extremely tonally different to this chapter. So, I had to separate them.

This chapter was about as far as I was willing to go into Episode 4, which was released yesterday for sponsors, and today for non-sponsors. Fear not, THERE ARE NO SPOILERS in this chapter. Granted, the episode wasn't very plot-heavy, and basically all of the plot we did get was already in the 'Next time on' thingy that RT releases on Youtube.

In Starseed, Winter is seven years older than Weiss. This would put her at 24 during Weiss's first year at Beacon. In Starseed, she attended Beacon (and I will actually be making a team for her. They'll show up towards the middle of the story arc, which won't be for a while. I'm gonna leave it to you guys to make a team for her, if you want. Leave reviews, or private message me with your idea for the team members and their team name. I kinda want Winter to be the leader, but that's entirely up to you) for the four years, graduated at 21, and enrolled in the military. The first two years were grunt work, at which point she was promoted to Specialist thanks to her Huntress training. So Winter is a qualified Huntress, and this may or may not come into play later on *cough*. Papa Schnee whom I've tentatively named Wulfric, was actually a really cool person in this AU before the events of the series. I won't say exactly what caused him to become a douchebag, but you'll see. Don't worry.

This was a blatant White Rose chapter, I know, but I really want White Rose to be perfect when it starts being a thing. It's my OTP of the series, even more than Bumblebee, so I want it to be absolutely perfect.

Chapter 12 is incoming, loves. It'll be a doozy. Thanks for reading,

-Abigail