Chapter 37: Legacy

Yeah…. I won't lie… that was one of my more memorable mornings. You know that whole stereotype of waking up with that certain girl curled right up against you…. Yeah… it's a great feeling.

Remember how I told you that Weiss fell asleep on my shoulder on the ride back from the band competition. It was great feeling… just causes your heart to jump… your stomach to flutter, a warmth in your cheeks.

Try amplifying that by a hundred times. When my eyes opened to seeing Weiss curled up next to me... I felt like nothing could get me down. Even now… it warms my cold heart even in my old age heh. That night started us on a road that neither of us knew was going to take us.

At the time, I was completely alright with that.

"Just stop… just stop this….." Yang hid her face behind her face as she tried to subdue her laughter. "I just can't…."

Jaune grabbed the controller and hit the pause button.

Even Blake had a shock looked, her eyes glued to the t.v., "I like him" She laughed which made everyone laugh; Blake never really laughed.

"A pig…" Pyrrha murmured with a disgusted look.

"But did he really say that?" Weiss cringed.

"I don't know if I should take him seriously or not..." Jaune wiped his eyes.

"With a baseball bat like that," Yang pointed at the screen, "You probably should."

Ruby, all the while, was rolling around laughing her little heart out while pointed at the t.v. "He said PEE PEE PANTS CITY!" She squealed with laughter.

Yang rolled her eyes, "Yes Ruby… We got it…. Psychopathic pig troll."

"Best villain ever." Blake nominated.

"He's got a great fashion sense…" Weiss nodded approvingly.

Jaune unpaused the episode of Walking Dead with its newest, and best villain ever, the fashionista Negan. A tall, broad man with gelled back black hair, salt and peppered on the sides. His goatee matched the sinister but troll pearly white smile as he twirled barbed wire wrapped baseball bat. He completed his ensemble with a fashionable leather jacket matched that his singular black glove. The man was the spitting image of a comedic sociopath as he went from group member to group member while he taunted the protagonists. He casually pointed the bat at each one with a cheeky grin.

*DING DONG* *DING DONG*

"NOOOOOOOOOOO!" Ruby tossed her hands up into the air with a sigh of indignation.

Jaune looked over to Weiss who had her phone out. "I apologize… I forgot my sister would be picking me up…"

Yang managed to drag herself out of the mound of pillows she had over her. "Don't sweat it," She brushed the apology off, "You got everything?"

The white-haired girl nodded as she slung her ocean blue backpack over her one arm. "Yes, I do."

"See ya." Blake gave a small hand wave with an equally small but fond smile.

"Always a pleasure." Pyrrha beamed.

"Bye!" Ruby waved.

Jaune stood up with Weiss, "I'll walk out with you."

"Y-you don't have too…" She stammered.

"I want too." He countered.

Yang waved them over with a cheeky grin, "Come on you two lovebirds."

Yep… he could feel it in his cheeks, the slight, tingling warmth.

"D'awwwww" Ruby cooed.

That immediately prompted the two of them over to the door which Yang opened and Weiss stepped out to be met with a much taller, more regal version of Weiss, whose hair was tied up in a bun at the rear left corner of her head, causing her bangs to fall towards the right side of her face, and leaving a small curled lock of hair that reaches below her left ear. She had an almost regal appearance with how she carried herself. "Sister," She stated.

"Winter," Weiss greeted warmly, "I'd like you to meet my friends. Yang Xiao-Long."

"I see…" She as she lifted up one eyebrow, taking all of her in causing the blond girl shift uncomfortably. Out of nowhere, the taller version of Weiss offered her hand which Yang accept with a firm handshake. "Thank you for inviting my sister. She rarely gets out when she isn't with Neptune."

With the mention of that name, the three teenagers cringed, though Jaune could see Weiss physically react, her pleasant manner evaporating. Winter seemed to raise a suspicious eyebrow; she must have noticed the change in mood.

Yet Yang saved the day, "Yeah, no worries. I'm glad we're friends. If it wasn't for Jaune," The blonde gave a small nod towards his direction, "I wouldn't have met her."

Winter's cold, analytical gaze fell upon the smile. Her blue eyes shifted back to her sister then back at Jaune. Her cold lips quirked upward ever so slightly. "So this is the boy that Weiss has been talking about…"

"I… um? What?" He stammered as he rapidly blinked as he tried to think of the myriad of things that could have said. "Yes. Yes? Maybe?"

She stuck out her hand, "Thank you for taking an interest in my sister."

Immediately, Jaune lit up like a Christmas tree in the middle of December. He accepted the handshake; he almost let out a yelp of pain due to Winter's iron grip.

"I do believe it is time for us to get going." Winter looked down at her watch.

Weiss offered a small wave of the hand in good-bye, "Thanks for having me, Yang. I'll talk to you later, Jaune."

With that, Yang closed the door with a brilliant smile. She playfully punched his arm, "Jaune laying down the slick moves, you go man. I think she's totally into you."

He gave an incredulous smile, "What? No…. she just broke up with a douchebag…" He reasoned.

His blonde girl-friend rolled her lilac eyes, "I saw you guys last night... She was real comfortable with you." Her grin grew two times larger.

Jaune's jaw practically hit the ground. "But… but you fell asleep before me.."

Yang shrugged with a smile, "I know all. You should know that by now."

Jaune decided to switch gears. "Thanks for inviting her though, I really appreciate it."

Yang's smile simply grew larger, "Anytime Jaune, I'm not opposed to hanging out with her, she's pretty cool. Now come on… we gotta watch pee-pee pants city."

Jaune shook his head with a chuckle as they went back to the room with his others friends as he muttered, "Pee pee pants city…. Sheesh."

Later that night.

Jaune happened to be sitting on the couch, thumbing through this godforsaken book. Note to self… if you're going to write a history book, make it interesting, Jaune thought to himself as he put down the book. He blinked his eyes as he tried to process everything that the author was saying.

He took out his notebook, opened to a fresh new page as he copied down the notes The North predominantly industrial; The South predominantly agricultural… Centralization vs. regionalism.

Compared to Houston-

-Houston argues that North and South were extremely similar except for the institution of slavery. Slavery escalated tension between North and South. North sought to eliminate competition that threatened waged labor and free agricultural farming. South sought federal protection and expansion of slavery and property rights in slavery.

Now he just needed to write a three page paper on how the authors present their arguments. For some reason, his head hurt.

"I'm starting to regret taking Civil War." Jaune sighed causing Yang to look up from her math textbook. Ruby was engrossed in her own little world as she played the newest Pokemon game.

"Slavery is bad," Yang said as if she knew the answer one of life's greatest question. "Just write that, and you'll be fine."

Jaune let out an amused laugh. "For some reason, I don't think that will fly with your mom."

Yang shrugged, "Well that's all she talks about in her grad class. 'This book, that book,'" Yang sassed earning an amused snort from her fellow blonde, "'Slavery is bad. Don't do it.'"

"But can I do that for three pages?" Jaune raised an eyebrow.

"I can," Yang crossed her arms confidently.

"Well, that's because you're a master of bullshit… pardon my French."

"LANGUAGE!" Ruby yelled not bothering to look up from her DS.

"English… but yeah." Yang laughed as she closed her geometry textbook with a slam, "Sorry, Rubes."

Jaune watched as she put down her DS with a concerned look. "Yang?"

Yang gave her cousin a rather concerned Ruby look. "Sup Rubes…?"

"Shouldn't our parents be back?"

Yeah, it's getting a little late. Jaune thought to himself as he reached for his phone. 7:30 PM. Everything is fine. "Maybe they went to get dinner or something." Jaune tried to ease everyone's concern.

"They would have told us…" Ruby murmured.

Yang leaned over the daybed and looked through the window. "I don't see anything," Her voice was filled with even more concern… almost fear. She plopped back down on the couch, "Maybe we should call…"

Yet something caught Jaune's eyes; he pointed back at the window. One car, then another, pulled up. A few moments later, the door slowly creaked open slowly. In walked Yang's parents—which what Jaune could tell—looked like they been through a living hell.

"Hey guys…" Tai perked up with a wave. "Sorry we've been out for awhile. Some important things came up."

Yang didn't buy it, "Is everything alright?"

Her mother nodded, though Jaune could see through the charade. "Yeah… just a long day." She looked over to Ruby, "Ruby, your parents are waiting outside."

The short girl gathered her things and said her goodbyes, "Thanks for letting me spend the night, guys."

"Anytime," Tai waved.

"You're always welcome, Ruby." Raven nodded with an exhausted smile.

The tension filled the air, blanketing the air. Jaune and Yang almost communicated through their thoughts. With Yang's parents out in the kitchen, neither teen wanted to say anything. The house was entirely silent except for the occasional clinking of Tai washing some dishes. Raven was sitting at the kitchen table, arms propped up as she rubbed her temples from what appeared to be a rather nasty headache.

Yang nodded towards the stair. Should we go?

Jaune peeked his head over the couch to see the adults. It just felt dark and scary. Usually, Jaune attributed to Raven being herself, but there was always some kind of warmth, not now though. Jaune subtlety nodded. Yeah…

He picked himself as quietly as possible gathering his book as Yang did the same. How odd to think that the other day, they were fine. Now… it was like he was in a room with some strangers.

"Do you guys want anything to eat?" Raven asked. Her ability to sense things without actually looking was truly impeccable.

"No thanks Mom, we just finished the pizza before you guys got home." Yang tried to sound as natural as possible.

"I'm fine, thank you though."

The black-haired woman only hummed in response.

As the two climbed the stairs, they shared wavering glances. "You creeped out just as much as I was?" Yang asked.

"Yeah…" Jaune nodded, "Something happened, and they don't want us to know about it."

There was a certain bone chilling tension in the house ever since they arrived. A vast contrast to what he remembered when he first moved in. He followed Yang into her room where she plopped on her bed as he sat at her desk. He found swirling around tended to be very relaxing for him.

"Hopefully they'll bounce back." Jaune sighed.

"They will, they always do."

Yang was right. She's right… well, most of the time. That night, was the tension-filled night I've spent in the house. Seeing Yang equally freaked out made it all the worst. Yet by the morning, it seemed to be a distant memory.

The next morning—a school day—everything was back to normal. As usual, Tai was making breakfast, while Raven was putting the finishing touches on one of her projects. Both Yang and I felt at ease. The morning was filled with two chirpy adults trying to be social with two exhausted and barely awake teenagers.

Needless to say, their efforts didn't bear fruit.

On his way to lunch, Jaune stopped at his locker. Quickly entering the numbers, he unlatched the lock, he deposited his Algebra 2 textbook, and grabbed his civil war book that they would be discussing today.

"Oooof!" He felt his body slammed into the locker.

"Hey buddy…" A sinisterly collected voice whispered in his ear. "...Ya know, I'm still benched because of you."

Shit. Mercury.

Yet Jaune wasn't going to cower. "It's not my fault you're a scumbag."

Suddenly, he felt an arm around his neck that jerked upwards making it increasingly harder to breathe. "You think you're tough cause you can talk shit?" Another sharp jerk upward left him unable breathe. "Buddy… you don't understand—you're shit—you're on the very bottom of the pole."

"Mercury!"

The grip loosened causing Jaune's legs to nearly give out. "What do you think you're doing?" He praised God when he heard Weiss' sharp, accusing voice.

Mercury shrugged nonchalantly with a sly smirk. "Ohh nothing snow angel." The same arm that was around Jaune's neck was on his shoulder as it guided him to face Weiss. "Just having a friendly chat. Just catching up, ya know? Isn't that right buddy?"

Jaune could feel the fingers digging into his shoulder. Jaune looked up to Mercury, whose eyes told him not to fuck this up. Finally, Jaune's gaze fell back to Weiss.

"That isn't what I saw. I saw you attempting to choke another student. Not just a school violation but also physical assault. Do you really want to get the police involved?" Weiss crossed her arms with a raised eyebrow.

Mercury's arm—for some unexplainable reason—drifted away. He leaned into Jaune's ear. "She's a keeper. Too bad I'll bang her first."

Jaune watched with gritted teeth as casually strolled up to Weiss. "Hey… I don't know what you see in him. Why don't you hang out with me?" He looked her over, top to bottom, with a certain hunger in his eyes.

Weiss please don't…

"A stuck up, arrogant jerk? Yeah, I want nothing to do with your kind." Weiss stood her ground as Mercury circled around. "I suggest you leave unless you want to deal with a lawsuit"

The silver-haired boy seemed slightly stunned. "Y-you're bluffing."

She let out an amused huff, "Try me, Black. My father is a lawyer, and I can guarantee that we can sue your family into financial ruin, not mention that it would leave a horrendous mark on your record. I don't think any college would want you for assault. You're choice, though."

Jaune was beyond the moon with Weiss' defiance as he watched the jerk slowly back off. Yet Mercury had to save face. "I like 'em feisty. I'll catch you later." He smirked as he swept his hair back.

"You alright, Jaune?" Weiss watched Mercury walk away.

He closed his locker, making sure that the lock was secured. "Yeah… He's just a jerk… Thanks for the help."

They walked down towards the cafeteria, "But your father's a lawyer?"

She nodded, "Yeah…" She murmured as they went to get their meals. "I don't like people knowing about it."

With food in hand, they made their way to the table, "Why not?" Jaune asked, "It just worked."

She inhaled sharply. He realized that this was a touchy subject for her. "Well… I don't want to be known just because of my father… He's a good lawyer; a real good lawyer. He's been working for stores like Walmart and Target whenever they get in a lawsuit. Because of that, we are much better off."

That was shocking; here he was talking to the daughter of a well-off lawyer. It explained a lot about her. All of her formality, her regalness, her refinement, yet why the hell are they in Pine County? The county was one of the poorest in the state. "So… if you don't mind me asking, why are you here?"

Weiss stared down at her chicken noodle soup as she stirred it absent-mindedly with her spoon. "We're wealthy, and my mother wanted nothing to do with the fame, the glamour of destroying the lives of workers who are just trying to make a little more of a living. Workers who wanted better wages, set up unions, more rights… He helped destroy the unions in the retail sector. My mom couldn't deal with it, so she told my father that he needs to quit or she'd get a divorce."

Jesus…. "Weiss… I'm sorry." Without even realizing, he was holding her hand. He could see her instantly pull away, yet she didn't completely. She gave a squeeze back. "You don't need to go on if you don't want too."

She squeezed back as she looked up. Concerned ocean blue eyes met reassuring ice blue. "No… Friends don't keep secrets… I just…" She let out a small sigh, "...just never really told anyone. I didn't even tell Neptune."

Her determined gaze faltered, "I just don't want you to judge me."

His own determination rose as he suppressed his own doubts. His friend needed him now, and he was not about to let her down. "Never."

She inhaled slowly as she closed her eyes. It looked as if she were rehearsing her words. "I've never been close to my family…" She finally spoke up. "My father… pushed all of us away because he resented my mother. He never forgave her; he was trapped in a relationship that he longer wanted to be apart of."

"What do you mean?" Jaune asked.

"Think about it… if you're a prominent lawyer, you want to be absolutely spotless. If you want to be a successful lawyer for any large corporation, you want to be a perfect image, a shrewd lawyer, a good father, a loyal husband. It wouldn't look so good if you got divorced and were estranged from your own family. Even though he's 'retired,' he has a reputation to keep within the business…"

He could see the tears form in her eyes as she tried to blink them away. She continued in a trembling voice. "... and… and… that's more important to him than his own family. He blames us—all of us— for making him leave the one thing he loved all his life... It wasn't about the money or anything… It… It was about him being superior, destroying his opponents. He lived off of all the throat cutting. He never lost a case, not a single one."

This man… this man was not a good man. Even saying that was being put very very mildly. This man sought to control everything he owned, and if he couldn't control it, he would destroy it.

"Well… your sister seems pretty… nice." Jaune tried to change the subject.

Weiss seemed to perk up. "She's the only one. Originally, Father wanted her to become a lawyer. She had other ideas; she became an intelligence analyst for the NSA." She said with an air of confidence. "She's been the only real source of a family I've ever had. Though she has a rough exterior, she's got a heart of gold."

Sounds familiar, Jaune mentally chuckled

"It ruined our father. He wanted to make sure the Schnee's were a respectable family. You know… social elites. He wanted all Schnees to be ruthless lawyers… Well he realized that his," she used air quotes, "'dynasty' wouldn't be carried on by his girls, but my brother? The two seemed to have clicked. Father like son, I suppose…" She trailed off.

"Where was your mother?"

"What about her?" Her voice lowered in anger as she shot him a glare. "She is an alcoholic. Why wouldn't you be if you're stuck in a loveless relationship with a man who only cares about control."

It struck him like a lightning bolt. The two were more similar than he first imagined. Yet all of this… she never let it show, no matter what. That was impressive, yet everyone has their moment of weakness.

Jaune thought he was good at keeping his secret. Yet Weiss? Weiss was a prodigy. Prodigy in singing, playing the vibraphone, and hiding her secrets. "You probably think 'Oh that sucks. Or what a freak. She isn't normal.' You probably don't want anything to do with me."

She even had the same exact fears that he had.

He realized that she pulled her hand out of his grasp. "Weiss.."

She didn't respond; she just kept her meal.

"I know the feeling. I really do." Jaune reassured her. "More than you know."

She looked at him questioningly. "I'm still coming to terms with everything. I want you to know that I share the same exact doubts and fears. I want you to know that you can talk to me about anything. ANYTHING. Friends help each other, you know?"

She nodded with a small smile. "I truly appreciate it. The same goes for you."

Through the gates of hell, we make our way to the gates of heaven.

A/N

Hey peeps! Felt like's been forever, huh?

I apologize, it's been a hectic couple of weeks.

Nothing much to say, though I'd love to hear your thoughts!

Reviewssssss!

Tronmaster5704: Hey buddy! Thanks again for the review, always appreciated! Anywho… I enjoy my version of Raven as well ;) Don't worry, she isn't goin anywhere.

Pyropuppet: Hey mate, don't worry about it. I very much understand, the fact you left a review at all means a lot. Though I kinda wanna know what you think will happen! I love that stuff (and don't worry, it wouldn't change anything. The ending has been set in stone.)

Big Bad Beowolf: My friend! I was really hesitant to even write Raven's chapter, but I felt it very much necessary for explaining who the character is. It is also going to be incredibly important later on, as was Qrow's chapter.

A Random Commie: Don't sweat it, bud.