"I don't owe you an explanation, or anyone," Weiss said matter-of-factually. "My decision is my decision." Whitley sighed and continued to fiddle with the tassels of a cookie print pillow on the couch he was currently sitting on.

"I know, I know, I just don't understand," he admitted. "You had it all, you had everything! Money, security and you're trading it all for her?" Weiss sighed in irritation and put her hairbrush down, frustrated that she was interrupted in her hair care ritual.

"Can you honestly say security with a straight face?" she demanded, now standing up from her chair. "I was a prisoner in the Mansion and you knew it. Never allowed to leave, never allowed to have many friends, always smile and curtsey for Father's colleagues while Mom drank herself into a stupor. My only friend was Winter and when she left to join the Atlas army, I was stuck alone." Whitey recoiled a bit like a puppy that was about to be beaten for peeing on the rug.

"You had me…" he muttered. Weiss snorted in irritation.

"Did I? The rare times you did humor me with your presence were spent mocking me and letting me know much Father liked you better than me. 'You will keep the family name alive', he would say and you were oh so happy to repeat it to me." she snapped. Whitley recoiled as if Weiss' words like a punch to the solar plexus. He sat there on the couch in Weiss and Ruby's bedroom and said nothing for a bit, merely glancing down at his expensive designer shoes. "Are we done here or did you want to try and re-write history some more?"

"No, Weiss…I…I came to say I'm sorry-"

"Apology accepted. Now leave."

"Weiss, please…just hear me out, I beg you." he pleaded. Weiss considered it for a moment, before huffing and sitting back down in her chair in front of her bedroom makeup table.

"Make it quick. Ruby will be coming home soon and she gets hangry if there aren't an immediate surplus of cookies for her to devour." Weiss said, her arms crossed over her chest. Whitley stood up and began to pace back and forth, his hands tightly gripped behind his back. His brow furrowed in concentration as he tried to put the words together that were crashing into his brain.

"If you want the truth, the truth is that…well, I'm jealous of you Weiss," he said quietly. Weiss' eyes widened in shock before she laughed hard and deep.

"You? Are jealous of me? What on Remnant for?"

"Because you broke free!" he shouted, tears now streaming down his eyes. "You broke free of his control, of his lies, his manipulation and you found someone who loves you, someone who cares for you! You gave up fortune and fame and glamour to living in a rundown condo with an overgrown child and I don't under-"

SLAP. It happened hard and quick, Weiss rearing her hand back and cracking her brother right across the side of his face. Whitley's head rolled back, his cheek blazing an angry red handprint.

"Don't you dare come into my house and disrespect my fiancée!" she yelled. "If this is your idea of an apology, it's rather lackluster!"

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry!" he said, wincing as he touched the welt on his face. "I've been trying to, I don't know, better myself but the 'old me' keeps seeping through. I'm in a lot of therapy, Weiss." Weiss clenched her fists and exhaled deeply, trying to push as much anger and negative emotions as she can out of her system.

"You want to know why I'm marrying, Ruby? I'll tell you why. Since day one, when everyone else at Beacon treated me like a Schnee, treated me like royalty, Ruby was the first person to treat me as a friend. She gave everything and expected little in return, she was content on just being 'BFFs' and making me smile. She would ask if I was cold, if I was hot, if I was hungry, she would tell me jokes to cheer me up when I was sad or listen for hours while I raved and ranted about whatever was making me angry. She cooks for me, she defends me to anyone who would do me wrong. She loves me so earnestly and honestly that she doesn't care that I'm a Schnee. My name could be Weiss Coalfarm or something and she would still love me. So you want to know why I'm marrying her next week? That's why."

Whitley quietly sat back down on the couch and wiped away a tear from his cheek that had yet to dry. He exhaled deeply and closed his eyes, almost like he was in the middle of meditation. He exhaled hard and ran his fingers through his snow-white hair.

"You know Father is dying. Dust lung. Doctors gave him six months, at best."

"Terrible," Weiss said sarcastically. "I'll be sure to send him flowers."

"He's still our father!" Whitley yelled, jumping back to his feet. "You don't have to like him, but at least acknowledge his role in our creation!"

"You know the first time I spent the night at Ruby's house, I woke up that morning and smelled something delicious. I went downstairs and there was Yang, Ruby and their father, Taiyang making breakfast together. The radio was on, they were singing along to the songs…it was a sight to behold. Yang burned the bacon, Ruby's pancakes were a bit chewy and Tai's fried eggs were a bit too rubbery, but you know what? It was the most delicious meal I've ever had. They made it because they cared about me, because…because they loved me. In that single moment, Taiyang Xiao-Long did more for me than Jacques Alabaster Schnee ever did for me in my entire life. So not only do I not like him, I want nothing to do with him."

"But he's our family! 'Blood is thicker than water', Weiss! He really does feel sorry for the things he's done and he wants the chance to make it up to you, I know, he's told me several times. I've been visiting him every day this week at St Barbara's Hospital." Whitley cried, the tears coming back out. Weiss, however, was stone-faced and would not budge in her disposition.

"It's so easy for you to forgive him because you were clearly his favorite. Do you know why he had three kids? Because he wanted a boy and kept trying until he got the heir he desired. He groomed you to take over the SDC. He had no intentions of ever putting me in charge, but he humored me and lead me to believe I would be CEO someday. Hardly. You were his puppet, his toy, his clay that he could mold into his own twisted image and you fell for every single word. Oh and there's another part of that phrase, dear brother. 'The blood of the covenant is thicker than the water of the womb.' Jacques is not my family, you are not my family. Winter, Ruby, Yang, Blake and everyone else I met at Beacon are my family now." Weiss said firmly.

"You're still a Schnee, regardless of what you say or do," he said, his voice getting a bit more aggravated.

"Not for long. I'm taking her name, Whitley. Weiss Schnee will die so that Weiss Rose can live." Weiss said quietly. Whitley's jaw went slack, the coloring draining from his already pale face.

"I just…I don't understand! Father made his mistakes, but this is an insult to our grandfather who-"

"-who built this company with five Lien in his pocket and sealed the deal with a handshake or did 'Father' tell you more lies about how the company was struggling till he took over? Nicholas Schnee sacrificed his body, his spine nearly ruined by the time he was thirty because he spent every day and night mining for dust with no safety equipment." Weiss snapped, pointing her index finger right in between Whitley's eyes. Whitley said nothing, but his face soured in expression and his demeanor became stiff and wooden. The two siblings stood face to face, neither one saying anything, before there was a soft knock on the wall.

"Um, hi….am I interrupting anything?" Ruby said. Her combat skirt was torn and dirty, with a long scratch going down her left cheek.

"You're hurt…" Weiss said with concern. Ruby shrugged and waved off her concerns.

"Nothing a shower and a big tub of cookie dough won't fix," she said shyly. She wanted to invite Weiss to that shower but didn't want to be lewd in front of her brother-in-law. "Are…are we having company for dinner? Maybe we can order out?"

"No, I believe Whitley was just leaving. Weren't you, dear brother?" Weiss said coldly. Whitley grunted in annoyance and gave a tiny nod.

'Yes, no further point in staying where I'm not welcome. Enjoy the rest of your life, Wiess." he sneered. "Ruby, good day to you as well," he added. Ruby said nothing but watched Whitley leave out the door of their condo and disappear down the hallway to the front lobby. She closed the door, locking it behind her for a reason she wasn't quite sure of.

"Wow, that was…something. Is everything okay?" Ruby asked, hanging Crescent Rose on her weapon rack by the front door.

"Just tying up some loose ends, Ruby. Now, about that shower?"

"How did you know I was gonna ask?"

"I've known you for how long, Dolt? I know how your brain works, for better or worse. Come. Let's shower and then we'll go out for pizza."