Weiss was 10 when her whole world came crashing down on her.

It was her birthday when she heard Mama and Father scream at each other. She couldn't quite hear what they were saying in her room, but whatever it was about it left Mama crying and doors slamming.

Weiss remembered digging out her prized Dust Crystal and clutching it beneath her bed covers. Though it was nothing like the hugs he gave her whenever they could see each other, its warmth made her home feel that much less cold.

"It's my birthday." She whispered to no one in particular. "I never told you that."

She hugged her Crystal closer to her chest when she heard Mama's anguished cries ring out from down the hall.

She longed to run back out to the mines and forget about her reality for just a short couple of hours with him. Father only brought her back to the mines 2 more times, and each time she snuck out late at night to visit Adam.

Father had asked her if she wanted to go anywhere for her birthday this year. Weiss was tempted to ask him to bring her back to the mines, to be able to spend her birthday with her one and only friend, but she instead asked him to buy her the red ring she'd seen in the jewellery store.

Red like him.

She regretted not trying to convince him to bring her to the mines. At least there she had someone nice to spend her birthday with. Instead, she now felt like a caged bird on her special day. Alone in her icy bedroom.

"I hope I see you this year." She whimpered. "That's all I want for my birthday. I want my best friend."

She squeezed her eyes shut and prayed to the gods as hard as she could.

Her wish never came true.

Nothing was the same after that. There were no more family dinners, no more family days at the end of the week, no more playdates with Lavender, no more girls' night with Mama and Winter—nothing.

Not even Whitley, who was barely old enough to reach her chest, seemed to be able to laugh anymore.

All of Weiss' time was now dedicated to learning about the family business with Father and several other relatives. She didn't dare try to complain, not when Mama was no longer there to protect her from the full extent of Father's wrath.

She was 12 when she learned to appreciate the importance of her family business.

Weiss wasn't sure when it happened, but as her lessons with Father progressed she found herself feeling more and more proud of the accomplishments her ancestors made. Every time Father asked her to repeat what she learned, she found it easier to perk her head up and proudly recite their rich history.

Their company had essentially changed the way Hunters and Huntresses fight. Their technology and research was the backbone of many Kingdoms around the world. They even offered employment to the Faunus, who historically contributed nothing useful to the world aside from war.

'But he's not like the others.' She'd always reason to herself. 'He's different.'

Weiss knew their company's treatment of their Faunus employees wasn't perfect, Adam was a perfect example of their harsh working conditions, but Weiss would change that one day.

For now, the Faunus should be content with having a stable job with such a prestigious company.

It was during the summer when Father suggested she go back to the mines to study the administration side of things. Her uncle from Mama's side of the family would be joining them as well to check up on the business.

Weiss wasn't a fan of her uncle—it was the one thing she and Lavender could agree on. She found that he reminded her of ice. Cold and unapproachable. It seemed the only time he'd ever smile was when he was flaunting his wealth.

But if it meant she got to go back and see Adam, it would be worth it. It had been far too long since she'd hugged him.

She wondered if he grew any taller—if the cute little horns on his head had grown any sharper. The last time she saw him, he boasted how he could dent the cavern walls with them.

The excitement of seeing her friend again kept her spirits up during the long ride to the Dust Mines. She used her happy memories with him to help keep up the fake smile on her face as the older men talked about the stock market and other subjects she couldn't be bothered to care about.

It was late afternoon when they arrived. After ordering their housekeepers to deliver their luggage to the lodge, Father led them into the mines to show uncle the current conditions of their resources.

Weiss held back a grin at the familiar sight of the cave. She'd missed the distinct smell of rocks and Dust during her time away.

"Ah, I see the mines are in perfect condition." Uncle beamed. "Good, good. I was worried time would've done a number on the place."

"We may need to look into focusing our forces into other mines. This one is beginning to run dry." Father said.

Father was leading them further into the mines. Weiss felt her heart skip a beat when she saw several Faunus employees hard at work, carefully chipping the glowing Dust Crystals free. She quickly scanned over their faces, but couldn't see anyone who looked like Adam.

What did catch her eye was the metal chains locked around their ankles. The thought of Adam being locked in similar binds left her chest feeling heavy.

"Pay close attention, Weiss," Father instructed. "These are our most troublesome workers. They'll need all the guidance you can give to ensure they'll get the job done."

"Yes, Father."

Maybe they were just the particularly bad Faunus. She knew some were more prone to their animalistic instincts. It was probably a protocol to keep them from hurting themselves or others.

She didn't say a word as they cruised past the busy workers.

The cave grew increasingly colder as they progressed further in. Weiss regretted wearing a skirt that ended just above her knees. Father and Uncle, however, didn't seem to notice her shivering.

They eventually walked into a wide-open space where at least dozens of workers and guards were stationed. The space was as big as their back gardens, with giant Dust Crystals bulging from every corner and every stone column.

"This, Weiss, is the core of the mines." Father gestured to the grand space. "This is where the finest quality of Dust is harvested."

"It's quite impressive." Her uncle nodded in approval. "I'm surprised you got so many of these animals under control."

"Yes. The rehabilitation program was difficult." Father looked down at her. "Take a look around and carefully study how each unit is organized. I need to discuss some things with your uncle. Call for the guards if you need anything."

"Yes, Father." She answered before splitting off from the men.

Weiss rubbed her hands together and tried to warm them up with her breath, but nothing made the chill crawling up her bare legs any better. She was going to be lucky to get out of here without a cold. She wasn't sure how long she'd been wandering for before she felt completely frozen to her core. Weiss had stopped paying attention to the workers after she lost all feeling in her toes.

She found her eyes drawn to a particularly shiny crystal protruding out from one of the pillars when she unknowingly walked right into someone. She instinctively grabbed onto the person's arm before they could topple over.

"Oh, I'm sorry—" she gasped when she found herself face to face with Adam.

He looked equally as surprised to see her. He was slightly taller now, reaching just the bridge of her nose. Weiss noticed the dark horns on his head were poking out more than last time. He was also just as skinny as she remembered like he hadn't been eating well the past few years.

It took everything in her power to keep herself from embracing him right then and there. All she wanted was to take him by his hand and disappear to a place where it was just the two of them, with no adults to judge their every move.

"Adam." She whispered his name as softly as she could. She found her grip around his arm tightening, but he didn't pull back.

"Weiss? What are you doing down here?" He answered just as quietly. His voice was deeper than she remembered.

She was about to answer when she spotted a familiar red-haired lady looking back at her in fear. Weiss recognized the lady as Adam's mom, her flaming red hair and brown horns gave her identity away.

What caught Weiss' attention the most, however, was the chains binding her feet together. She quickly looked down at Adam's feet and found the same chains binding them. She felt sick to her stomach.

"Why are you in chains?" She interrogated him immediately.

He looked like he wanted to reply but gasped at something over her shoulder. She wanted to urge him to speak up when a big, warm hand landed on her shoulder.

"What are you doing, Weiss?" Father spoke in a dangerously calm voice.

Weiss immediately let go of Adam's arm and backed away from him like he was made of fire.

She gathered up all the courage that she could muster and turned to face Father. To anyone else, he looked perfectly calm and content, but she knew better. This mood always preceded a nasty hour of being yelled at or worse.

"I bumped into one of the workers and kept him from falling." She answered him truthfully.

Her heart was beating so hard she wondered if the others could hear it.

She didn't break eye contact with him, not even for a single second. When he finally nodded in approval of her answer she found herself physically relaxing.

"You should be thanking my daughter for showing you such generosity, boy." Father turned his attention to Adam.

"Y-yes, sir. T-thank you for your kindness, M-Miss Schnee."

Weiss hated the way he was forced to talk to her, this wasn't how friends should be addressing each other.

"Your daughter seems to have an…unhealthy liking for the Faunus." Uncle piped in sceptically. "Are you sure she has been properly educated on their kind, Jacques? I will not have my niece associated with scum."

"I can assure you that my daughter knows who she can and cannot be associated with. She would never stoop so low as you're implying, isn't that right, Weiss?"

'They're not all bad, Uncle.' She wanted to say but held her tongue.

Weiss mentally apologized to Adam before bobbing her head.

"That's right, Father."

Her uncle still didn't seem satisfied but Father was beaming proudly down at her.

"Good girl."

She cringed when he patted her cheek.

'It's just a pat.' She reassured herself internally, a cold sweat quickly drenching her body. 'It doesn't hurt.'

Still, she found herself cupping the cheek he'd just touched like it stung.

"Now, let's head upstairs for dinner. I'm exhausted from the trip." Father gestured to their accompanying guards to lead them out.

Weiss spared the slightest glance back at Adam, he returned the gesture. They shared a wordless promise before returning to their respective roles as strangers.

After stuffing a Tupperware full of leftover lasagna into her bag, she began the dangerous task of sneaking past the guards.

Sneaking out at night wasn't as easy as it was when she was 6. She was bigger now, her usual hiding spots were too small for her to fit into, so she needed to be extra careful navigating out of the house.

It took an extra ten minutes for her to successfully sneak back into the mine.

Though she showed up later than usual, he wasn't waiting for her at the cave entrance. Weiss worried he was upset at her for what she said earlier that day.

Maybe he didn't want to see her again, but if he was mad why did he hold her gaze back there? It was what they always did to schedule the secret meetings.

Maybe he changed his mind.

The sound of rattling chains ripped her out of her thoughts. She squealed in surprise and dove out of the cave, nearly breaking her arm when she slipped on the ice outside.

"It's just me." She heard him call out to her.

"Geez, you scared me." She dusted the snow off her coat before reentering the cave.

As usual, she unwrapped her scarf and wrapped it around him, despite it being a relatively warm night.

"I'm so sorry!" She enveloped him in a hug as soon as the scarf was secured. "I didn't mean to say such mean things earlier."

"I know you didn't mean it." He returned the hug.

She smiled, relishing his touch. It'd been far too long since she was held by him.

"It's good to see you again, Weiss."

"I missed you so much, Adam."

She closed her eyes and focused on the feeling of being hugged by a friend again. It was like a warm, fuzzy blanket on a dark snowy night—a cup of warm cocoa after braving a blizzard. It took them longer than usual to finally break apart.

"I brought you some dinner." She slipped off her bag and handed over the leftovers. "Here, you look like you haven't eaten properly."

"Thanks, let's find somewhere to sit. I've been on my feet all day."

They settled down beneath one of the mining lights. Her head was buzzing with excitement. After so many years away it felt almost unreal to be sitting side by side with him again. She would've sworn this was all a bizarre dream had they not been sitting with their shoulders firmly pressed together.

"Why are you wearing chains, anyways?" She asked him once he was finished eating.

Chains were for the bad Faunus. He didn't fit the picture of a bad Faunus.

"I don't want to talk about it." He murmured.

"Adam, as your friend I need to know."

"No, you don't."

"Yes, I do! That's what friends are for. We look after each other's backs!" She insisted.

"Look, I just don't want to talk about it on the first night you're back." He explained hastily. "Can we talk about it another night instead?"

"Fine, but I'm not going to stop bugging you tomorrow if you don't tell me the truth."

He smiled weakly and nodded. "What have you been up to? I haven't seen you in forever."

"I've been stuck at home." She sighed. Weiss gave him a quick summary of her disastrous home life, specifically the fallout between her parents.

"Winter tells me Mama is just sick, but I'm not stupid. I know what's going on." She summarized.

"Geez. I didn't realize that your family had so much drama."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Everyone here talks about how your entire family lives in some paradise. Some of the adults say the Schnees never have to work a day in their lives. Given our circumstances, you can't blame us."

Weiss felt a spark of anger ignite at the accusation of not having to work. Both her and Winter had to put in hours of intense studying to fully comprehend the scope of their family business. She couldn't believe the very people who work for them dared to think so lowly of their employers.

"I don't see how working in our mines gives you all the right to judge our family." She disagreed.

If anything, they should respect her family enough to not make rumours about them. Her family are the ones giving them all stable jobs, after all, other companies wouldn't give them the time of day.

"Seriously? You still say that after you went down there to see us?" He snapped back just as heatedly.

"I saw a bunch of dedicated workers. Unlike them, I respect the work you all put in for the company."

"Then you need to get your eyes checked, Weiss, because clearly, you're more blind than I thought."

"And what exactly was I supposed to see, Adam?"

Adam simply glared at her and shook his head. "As I said, I don't want to get into everything on your first night back."

"You started it." She crossed her arms.

A deafening silence fell between the two of them. It wasn't often that they fought, but when they did it left Weiss feeling more exhausted than usual.

"You don't sound too happy at being stuck in a mansion." He was the first to break the silence.

Weiss sighed and pushed her anger aside. He was right, now wasn't the time to be angry. She'd waited too long for this to have it ruined by a stupid disagreement.

"Yeah, now that Mama is…unavailable. I have to face all of Father's wrath."

"Wrath?" He looked over at her in worry.

"M-maybe wrath isn't the right word. He's not always angry. He can be nice when he's happy." She blushed out of embarrassment. She didn't want Adam to think she was so weak as to fear her own Father.

"And what happens when he's angry?"

"He yells. A lot." Weiss hugged her knees as more blood rushed to her face. "H-he used to yell a lot when Mama was well so it's not that big of a deal."

"And that's all he does?"

Weiss took a keen interest in her shoes and nodded.

"Weiss, you're always telling me to be honest, but that applies to you too." He chided.

"I-I'm being honest."

"What happened to 'friends have each other's backs?' I can't help you if you're not honest."

Weiss frowned as her own words were thrown back at her.

"Promise you won't laugh at me?"

"I promise."

"Okay…" she rubbed the cheek Father had harmlessly patted earlier that day. Even now she felt the hairs on the back of her neck rise at the memory of his hand touching her face.

"Sometimes he hits me."

She shivered as her voice seemed to bounce off the cavern walls as if mocking her.

"How…how does he do that?"

"You know, like slaps." Weiss shifted uncomfortably on the spot. "Sometimes he'll throw things at me…or throw me into things."

A cold hand rested on top of hers. She instinctively held onto it like her life depended on it.

"I'm sorry." He whispered.

"Why are you sorry? It's not like you did anything wrong."

"I'm sorry your dad is so mean to you."

"Aren't all dads supposed to be like that?"

"No. No, they aren't." He insisted. "My dad gets mad at me when I do dumb things, but he's never hit me."

"Oh."

Weiss wasn't sure what to think about that. She'd always thought her Father's bullying was just a normal part of growing up.

She blinked, clearing her vision of the tears that were very quickly building up in her eyes. She wasn't sure why she was crying, but no matter what she did the tears kept coming.

"But I still love him." She whimpered. "He's the only dad I have."

Adam closed the distance between them and pulled her into a tight embrace, like the ones Winter would give after Father left Weiss a crying mess in her room.

She buried her face into his shoulder and held him tightly back. He didn't say anything when she couldn't get her crying under control, didn't even mock her when she ended up sobbing uncontrollably like a baby.

Father would've set her straight if he ever saw her crying like this.

But with him, she felt completely safe.

She wasn't sure how long he was holding her for, but by the time she was finished, she felt drained of tears.

"Sorry you had to see that." She sniffled.

"Don't be sorry for crying. It's totally normal when you feel sad." He wrapped an arm around her and pulled her close. "Thanks for telling me that."

"Ugh. I hate crying. It always makes me sleepy." She slouched down so she could comfortably rest her head against his shoulder.

"Yeah. And I hate how puffy my eyes get afterwards." He leaned into her touch.

"I wish I could meet your dad, Adam. He sounds really nice."

"He is! He really likes telling silly jokes. Mom gets super annoyed, but we all know she secretly likes them."

Weiss smiled. She still remembered her brief encounter with his mom. Though her memories of her were a bit fuzzy, she never forgot how kind she was despite being upset at Adam.

"I think mom and dad know about us." His comment made her heart drop to her stomach.

"They do?"

"I lie that I'm out for a walk whenever I come up here, but Mom always gives me this ... 'mom look' and tells me to be careful.

"Dad likes to pat me on the back and tells me 'good luck'. I don't know what he means by that, but I guess it's a good sign that he's not mad."

"My sister figured out what was going on when we were 6." She confessed. "She's been helping me pack your dinner whenever she's staying at the lodge."

"And she doesn't mind…us?"

"She really doesn't."

She snuggled closer to his side and wrapped her arms around him. She couldn't explain why, but it just felt so much safer with him so close.

"Do you think all the other adults will like it if they found out?" She asked him gently.

"I don't know."

She looked out the mouth of the cave and noticed the sky was slightly brighter than it was when she first left the lodge.

"I need to go." She breathed.

"Yeah. Me too."

Still, neither of them made the move from their comfortable spot on the ground. After years apart, they wanted to prolong their visit for as long as they could.

She closed her eyes remained curled up by his side for an extra blissful 10 minutes, not knowing it was the last time they could ever be together like that again.