~~-Yellow Maidens-~~

As they turned to the door to start their escape Jaune suddenly stopped, lowering his stance, and deploying his shield. Weiss squawked indignantly as she walked into the back of him. She would have landed on her butt if it wasn't for the iron grip Jaune maintained on her arm. He made a hand gesture to Ilia who nodded before disappearing.

Weiss was about to ask what was going on when she too noticed the door handle slowly and quietly turning, it was hard to make out in the near darkness, Jaune must have been using some kind of vision enhancement in that new helmet of his.

As the door flew open two armored mercenary soldiers burst into the room, quickly leveling their guns at Jaune. Their reactions clearly telegraphing their surprise at finding him there.

Weiss couldn't help but notice him adjust his shield to cover her, as it now completely obscured her vision. She cursed the fact that she was still in her slippers, Jaune had never seemed so large before. It did occur to her briefly that the way he was covering her hampered his swords movement and was leaving his left side exposed.

"Who are you? What are you doing here?" The lead guard snapped on a flashlight mounted to his riffle illuminating Jaune's armored figure clearly.

"Me? I am Weiss's friend, Jaune. And I'm just the distraction." Jaune shrugged, the confused guard regarded him warily, before he spun around at the shriek of the second guard who was convulsing from an apparent electric shock. Ilia appeared out of thin air, standing over his twitching form with her electric sword-whip extended. Weiss had enough time to register Jaune's words and wonder if he was trying to sound like some kind of movie hero spouting one liners, before he too was on the move.

As the first guard brought his weapon around to fire on Ilia it seemingly broke in two. Cleanly sliced right through the middle just between the trigger and magazine. Jaune continued to close the distance smoothly sheathing his sword. Grabbing the mercenary/guard around the neck, and somehow delivering an electric shock of his own, quickly rendering him semi-conscious.

"I think the real question is, why are you sneaking into a girl's bedroom with handcuffs?" Jaune kicked the gun parts from the guard's spasming hand, revealing a shiny set of handcuffs dangling from the hand that had been gripping the fore stock.

Receiving only a groan in response he turned to Ilia. "Can you check the hall? I'm going to secure these two, so they don't raise the alarm."

Ilia nodded as Jaune dragged the two incapacitated, slightly convulsing, men further into the room and used the handcuffs to secure them to the sturdy andirons in the, thankfully cold, fireplace. Weiss barely caught a glimpse of Ilia as she disappeared out the door, as in literally disappeared while stepping out of the door.

"It must be her semblance." Weiss muttered to herself as she pondered what she had just seen.

"Jaune? How did you do that? Was that dust? How did you not get shocked as well?" Weiss was still standing where she had been when the guards came in, too confused as to what was happening to move.

"I'll explain latter. Right now, we need to get moving. Here, take this." Jaune walked over to her bedside and grabbed her shoes, handing them to her along with his sword. Which she awkwardly took, dropping the heels, to use a two-handed grip. How did he even swing this thing? Why was it so heavy? Yes, she technically also used a sword, but his was just a heavy piece of sharp steel, nothing like the elegant, fast, and light rapier she was used to. She hurried to follow as he stuck his head out the doorway before turning back to her.

"So which way to where your weapon would be kept?"

"Umm, left. Most likely in my father's office." Weiss was still in a bit of shock, unused to seeing Jaune acting like this. She figured it must be what Nora calls his 'leader mode'.

"Okay, stay close and I'll cover you. Ilia, you scout out ahead." Weiss nodded, even though she felt she should have bristled at the implication that she would need to be protected by Jaune of all people. The way he was acting though, she found herself comforted by the notion of him as a protector. Her instincts were warring with her preconceptions, and instinct won out despite the seeming illogicalness of the concept.

Weiss and Jaune stuck close to the wall as they made their way down the hallway. The high clerestory windows letting in just enough of the bluish predawn light to make their way. The sound of boots behind them had Jaune spin around her and unleash his free hand. A burst of ice firing from it and sealing the hallway behind them in a jagged wave of thick blue spikes.

Weiss was rooted to the spot. The ice tinkling and cracking. Vague shouting from beyond the blue wall echoed her own surprise. How had he? Dust, it had to be. What else could it be? But even she would have struggled to form so much, so quickly, not without using an absurd amount of both dust and Aura. Strange, Jaune had never shown any aptitude for dust usage before….

"Whoa!" Jaune literally pulled her from her thoughts. Tugging her by the arm down the hall.

"Where are you hiding all that dust?" Regaining her composure and trotting along beside him, Weiss looked him over not seeing any vials or crystals.

"What's going on out there…" The door that opened beside her was suddenly full of an armored Arc, as Weiss was yanked back. She had to peer past the outstretched staff, with an angrily glowing red fire crystal illuminating the frightened face of her younger brother.

"Jaune stop! It's just my little brother!" The staff was retracted quickly as Juane placed it back in a holster on his back standing there awkwardly rubbing his neck.

"Sorry. Heh, heh. You kind of surprised me there." Jaune stepped back, suddenly looking like the nervous, shy, boy Weiss remembered.

"Surprised HIM he says... Sister? do you know this man? …Are you being kidnapped?" Whitley placed a hand on his chest as if he had been given a heart attack. With how wide his eyes were, it was not outside the realm of possibility.

"This is one of my friends from Beacon, he is helping to get me out of here." Weiss tapped her foot scowling at her annoying sibling.

"Father will not be pleased." Whitley frowned deeply, rapidly regaining his annoyingly formal and emotionless persona.

"Yeah. That's a good point…. Well looks like you are coming with us then." Jaune looked like he was deep in thought, before he stepped up and gave Whitley a pat on the back to push him into the hall and move him forward.

"Jaune what are you talking about, we can't take him with us!" Whitley looked at Weiss in relief, clearly uncomfortable with what was happening.

"Well, we can't leave him here. He said it himself, your dad is gonna be pissed. And while I don't really know him, I get the feeling that no one is going to want to be within a mile of him when he gets home. A kid shouldn't be forced to take the brunt of that. So, he is coming with us." Jaune clearly wasn't going to take no for an answer, so Weiss just huffed and grabbed her brother by the wrist.

"Am I being kidnapped now?" Whitley looked up at her still trying to sort out what was happening.

"Yes. Now come on, we need to get to Father's office and get my sword." Weiss moved off down the hallway towing her brother along behind her and dragging the sword with her other hand. It left a long groove in the expensive carpeting, but she had given up trying to keep the point off the floor. Jaune must be much stronger than he looks to be able to swing around this hunk of metal one handed.

At the end of the hallway a large set of doors sealed off the private quarters of the manor from the more public areas. Ilia reappeared next to them, ear pressed against the door and hand on the handle. She gave an annoyed glare at Whitley for his sudden shriek of fright, followed by an equally annoyed glare at Jaune.

"What's your Aura level at?" Ilia regarded Jaune critically as he pulled out his scroll.

"86%."

"Gods! You are such a freak…. What's with the kid? We are taking hostages now?" Whitley looked between the girl in the White Fang Mask and his sister.

"No, just bringing Weiss's kid brother along for the ride." Jaune gave Whitley a reassuring pat.

"Well, keep him back, there were sounds of fighting outside a couple minutes ago, but it didn't sound like our guys, not nearly loud enough. You go first, you have the widest area of effect."

Wait Jaune did? And come to think of it, when did he start using a staff? Weiss was overloaded with questions, clearly a lot had changed in the last few weeks.

"Ok, Weiss you follow me. And Ilia, you keep Whitley safe." Neither Ilia nor Whitley seemed to be satisfied with that idea. One for being made a babysitter, the other for not wanting to be left alone with the obvious White Fang assassin.

Jaune turtled up behind his shield, staff at the ready as he slipped out the door. Into a foyer dominated by an enormous white statue of a King Taijitu Grimm, which looked so lifelike it honestly made him do a double take. The second thing that caught his eye were several men, either dead or unconscious scattered on the stairs. He almost didn't notice the red eyed, slightly shorter, balding man striking at him from the shadows, until it was too late. Said man rebounded off his shield, brandishing a large candlestick in one hand and a flashlight in the other.

"Klein!" Weiss's exclamation had the man pause; candlestick raised to deliver another blow. His eyes shifted from red to a light brown, as he looked past Jaune to see Weiss hunkered down behind him.

"Ahh, apologies Miss Schnee. Is the gentleman with you?" The candlestick was lowered as the man bowed slightly.

"Yes, this is Jaune, a friend from Beacon." Jaune didn't lower his guard but did relax his stance somewhat.

"Jolly good then. Madam, I believe it is safe to come out now." Klein turned away from Jaune to address a dark shadowy alcove behind the statue.

Stepping out from behind a column came an elegantly dressed white haired woman, it was clear from the resemblance to Winter and Weiss that this could only be their mother. In her hands she carried a garment bag, and a weapons case.

"Thank you Klein. If you would, kindly bring the car around?" Willow Schnee approached her daughter who had now stepped out from behind Jaune. "I have your weapon and a new, slightly more formal, combat outfit more befitting of the woman you have become. It was meant to be a birthday gift, but I think you may have need of it sooner rather than later. If you wish, you may use Jacque's office to change, I have disabled all the camera's that weren't taken out by the power surge." She paused, a flitting smile ghosting across her harsh features as she looked past Weiss. "Ahh, good, I see you are taking Whitley with you this time. I was afraid you might not."

Weiss turned to look back to where Whitley and Ilia had Joined Jaune behind her.

"Mother? What do you mean?" Weiss looked back and forth between her and a silent Whitley.

"You left him dear. First Winter, and then you. You went off to Beacon and left him with two of the worst parents in all of Remnant."

"Yeah, well you haven't met Yang's mom." Jaune muttered to himself under his breath, though Weiss still heard it clearly.

"I am glad to see you are still able to get along. He was so heartbroken when you left for school, I didn't think he would be able to bear it a third time. It was so hard to watch him close off his heart and put on that damnable façade like his father." At the mention of the Schnee patriarch her fingers tightened on the objects in her hand the handles creaking slightly. Her eyes softened though when she looked back over her children.

"For the longest time, all I've wanted for you children, was the chance to get away from here. I was so proud of you girls, but Whitley never had the strength to stand up to him as you did. He's such a sensitive boy. I was so afraid he would never break free and be swallowed up by this place, like I was." Willow gestured vaguely at the cold white walls of the lobby, and its grand staircase.

"You could… You could come with us." Weiss hesitantly spoke up.

"No. I am tethered by my choices and responsibilities. One must live up to their mistakes dear. I fear it may be too late for me. But not for you kids. All I would ask of you is, to leave and not look back. Do all the things I was never able to do. Make genuine friends, find your true places in the world, find true love, do what makes you happy, be fearless." The sad smile on her normally stony face was replaced by a smirk.

"Besides, if everything goes well for you today, then someone needs to stay here and change the locks." Willow sauntered down the staircase and disappeared into one of the many doors that lead off somewhere into the mansion.

"Well, that was a thing." Ilia looked between the Schnee siblings with a shrug. As Weiss went over and hesitantly gave Whitley the stiffest and most awkward sibling hug Jaune had ever seen.

"Right. Okay, hate to break this up, but we are on a timetable here. Weiss, can you go get changed? Ilia, can you scout around, make sure we don't have any more surprises? Winter and the gang should be done assaulting the front gate by now." Jaune didn't want to stop their little moment, but they were still in the midst of enemy territory. He accepted his sword back as the girls went off, leaving Jaune in a very awkward silence with Whitley.

"So, are you and my sister…" Whitley gestured vaguely with a hand as he rocked on his heels.

"Friends? Yeah. At least I think so. I'm not all that sure what she thinks of me."

"Yes, well, Sister has always been… difficult." Whitley sighed, the barest whisp of emotion sneaking through.

"Yeah. That tends to be the case with sisters, especially older ones. Trust me I know, I have seven. But still you got to love them, don't you?" Jaune smiled down at the younger boy. Who, surprisingly, returned the smile with one of his own.

"That is true..." The return of silence between the two was no longer awkward as they did what younger brothers always do, wait for an older sister to get dressed so they can go. And soon enough Weiss was back out. A blue bolero over a blueish-white knee-length combat dress and grieved boots on, sword in hand, and looking both elegant and ready to take on the world.

Winter was not having a good evening. And the day had started off so well too... It was just that she was suddenly realizing that she had no idea what was going on. As someone used to leading an entire army, that was not a comfortable feeling.

That bolt of lightning had come from nowhere. As had the second, a smaller one that had struck the automated turret above the guard house. And while not wanting to look a gift horse in the mouth, it was entirely too convenient. As was the complete lack of any real resistance they had encountered.

The plan was in tatters, yet things had been going a little too smoothly to be coincidental. In fact, as far as she could tell nothing had gone to plan at all, yet at the same time everything was seeming to go their way.

Before the scouting team had radioed in to start their attack, which was supposed to be the main diversion to draw in the guards, an even larger attack preemptively occurred on the opposite side of the complex. The ferocity of the lightning bolt, coupled with the unholy sound, had completely overshadowed anything they could have done.

Their assault on the front gate, had been quick and underwhelming, with only the two guards in the gate house to subdue. An easy task when she had summoned a Beowulf within the small enclosure. They hadn't even thought to trigger the alarm, not that it would have done anything without power. They had come running out to escape the ethereal white and blue beast, directly into the waiting arms of several angry huntresses. Coco and Velvet had made short work of them, and Blake and Ruby worked to tie them up securely, while Yang and Yatsuhashi forced open the gates.

The bulk of the defenses were automatic, and had gone offline, more than halving the resistance they would have to deal with. That would normally be a good thing, but again made it so their attack would go mostly unnoticed, ruining the diversionary aspect of their assault.

Then, only half the recon team returned after the initial assault, Jaune and the Chameleon Faunus were still out there somewhere and had not reported in. So, with an unknown possibly hostile force attacking the generator building, two team members missing and possibly captured, and hitting the front gate hard and fast not working for its desired purpose, Winter had elected to proceed very cautiously.

The wide-open spaces of the courtyard, and the abundance of potted topiaries provided ample cover for any potential ambusher. It had her extremely on edge. Not that the children with her understood, they waved off her concerns, strolling up the driveway, and into a potential kill-box, like they were going to knock on the door and sell cookies!

Even the ones she expected to understand, like the second-year team or Weiss's leader, seemed far less concerned than they should be.

And why wouldn't the orange haired one stop whistling? The least she could do was try and stay in tune. It was like she was purposely trying to force a stereotypical look of innocence. As too why, Winter hadn't a clue. But with her limited interactions with this Nora girl, she expected it was just part of her 'charm'.

But it wasn't just Nora, all of these people were driving her insane. The only two that seemed to have a head on their shoulders, their leader Jaune and the Chameleon girl, were missing and no one, other than herself, seemed remotely concerned by that fact. That left her in the dark, literally and figuratively, and forced her to rely on the cat and rabbit Faunus to be her scouts. Not that she didn't trust in their abilities, it's just they too had been driving her insane with their little side eyes and smirks the entire night.

So what if she was ten minutes late to the rendezvous point, and her hair was not in its usual bun? And the girl with the sunglasses and beret just HAD to notice that the top button of her blouse was broken, leading to all kinds of insinuations. It was the top button! No one buttons the top button, unless you are wearing a tie, that's why she never even noticed it was missing. She had no idea when it had been lost, probably before she even put it on. Despite what this group of degenerates thought, there had been no funny business last night. She simply didn't have much in the way of civilian clothing anymore and hadn't noticed. Admittedly, the oversight was a little out of character. She was normally quite meticulous, but she had been distracted by a maelstrom of thoughts and emotions at the time. Not that they believed her.

All she and Marrow had done was talk. And kiss. But it was just once, when they had parted ways at the end of the evening. It was really nice though… It was chaste and over far too fast, he had been so nervous, but such a gentleman. She longed for that feeling again, it was warm and full of caring, and most of all promised there was more to come.

Winter was a well-educated and well-read woman, intellectually she understood the mechanics of kissing. But all the research she had done still left her completely unprepared for how the simple act of pressing their lips together could be so emotionally charged.

But, as great as the kiss had been, the talking had been the best part, and it had gone on for hours as the two of them grew more comfortable. They had spent the entire day together, then much of the night,

It began with them just chatting over a simple lunch and then a deeper conversation while walking in the park, followed by a casual dinner where they discussed their possible future together. She found herself so at ease with him, that for what felt like the first time in her life, she had let down her defensive walls. She had gotten so caught up in the moment she had lost track of time, that never happens to her.

Oh crap, she could feel her cheeks warming at the memory. Was she blushing? She needed to stay focused damn it! She was a soldier, not some doe eyed schoolgirl mooning over her first kiss! At least it was dark, no need to throw gas on a fire. A quick glance left and right at the waggling eyebrows and thumbs up from Weiss's teammates had her ducking her head in embarrassment again. How could they even tell that she was blushing?

It was like Qrow Branwen himself had given them a crash course in how to annoy her. After her 'date', she had been emotionally all over the place, and their initial teasing had completely thrown her off her game. Ever since they had continued to prod her, never outright saying anything but implying just enough to keep her annoyance below the anger threshold, but high enough for her to be on edge.

But, by far, the absolutely most annoying thing that occurred thus far, was when they lined up to breech the front doors. The obnoxious blonde had actually rung the doorbell! And not accidentally. She had even said "Hey, look! The doorbell." Before pressing it and sticking her head in and shouting "Hi Honey, we're home!" Completely ruining any shred of stealth that remained, and removing the advantage of surprise, which as far as she could tell was their only ace in the hole.

Winter could only stand aside and facepalm as Yang and Nora nearly ripped both doors off their hinges and burst into the room, completely unprepared for any potential ambush or defensive fortifications inside. She could only gawk as Weiss took it completely in stride staring down imperiously from the balcony that overlooked the foyer.

"About time. We've been waiting." Weiss descended the staircase weaving between unconscious bodies trailed by Jaune, Ilia and most surprisingly Whitley.

Ruby used her semblance to drag Blake and Yang over to crash into Weiss exclaiming "Yay! Team RWBY is back together!"

Winter doubted an outsider would be able to note the affection or relief in Weiss's voice as she berated them but judging by the smiles on the rest of her comrades faces, they too understood what Weiss was really saying.

Then as if to put a cherry on top, Klein had shown up with the Schnee family limousine. Which honestly was the closest thing to an assault tank they could have asked for. Bomb proof armor plating, bullet resistant glass, run flat tires, and a self-enclosed environmental system that was impervious to gas attacks. Not to mention the sheer mass of the thing. It was almost poetic that Jacques own paranoia would be turned against him.

As the final straw in a very confusing morning, Jaune Arc had come over to thank her for securing their exit and asking if she would take point in the front seat of the limo. Making her question if she was ever in charge of any aspect of this rescue operation at all. She was the senior officer here, a trained and graduated huntress, one of, if not thee, highest ranking specialist in the Atlas Military. So, why did she nod and accept him as de facto leader so easily? What crazy charisma did this man possess?

So now here she was, squashed into the front seat next to Whitley, who was perched on the center console, due to the extremely crowded accommodations in the back. While the limo was spacious, it was not ment to carry 3 almost 4 full teams of fully armed hunters. Especially ones as large as some of them were. The giant second year, Yatsuhashi, had to keep his sword sticking out the open sunroof, thankfully it wasn't snowing today as there was simply no way to make it compact enough to fit otherwise.

Klein turned to her. "Where to miss?" And it annoyed her to no small extent that instead of answering directly, Winter lowered the partition instead.

~~-Yellow Maidens-~~

AN: The more I think about it the more I'm seriously shipping Winter and Marrow. Not sure if it has a name or not, I saw one called 'pupsicle' but I'm not a big fan of that as it infers a bigger age difference than I think exists. I was trying to think of something like "Winterbone" as in bone marrow, but it sounds kind of dirty. "Icewolf"?

Updates will continue to be slow but will be coming, I promise. Just very busy at the moment, and don't have much downtime to write and publish. And that is not likely to change during the summer months. I've skimmed through the reviews, and I'm touched. Everyone seems to be very positive. Thank you all so much for your support.

And since I haven't said it in a while, I do not own anything from the RWBY franchise. Roosterteeth built and owns the sandbox, I'm just playing in a corner of it.