Note: Once again, thank you for leaving suggestions to make the story more enjoyable and I'm glad that you all have an interest in it. :)
Okay, begin!
"Daddy?" a young Weiss questions. "Why can't I go outside and play?"
"Because you are of Schnee blood," her father answers dryly. "and those of Schnee blood do not 'play.'"
"Why not?"
"Because I said so."
"Oh, okay." the white-haired child says sadly as she looks at the floor. However, her gaze turns back to her father when she questions: "Then how do I make fwiends?"
"Friends?"
"Yeah! Like the people on tv have!"
"Friendship is a lie, child. Besides, even if it wasn't, you could never obtain any."
"Wh-why?" young Weiss asks whilst on the verge of tears.
"Because you are a beast." Jacques tells her with no remorse. "A freak of nature. You, are even worse than any other faunus in this world."
"I-I-I'm sowwy."
"You should be. You are a disgrace to the Schnee name and to existence in general. You will never inherit the company... and you will never be my daughter."
"I-I-I-I'm sowwy!" Weiss apologizes again, crying uncontrollably as she does so.
"Quiet!" Jacques barks, immediately following the demand with a backhand to the little girl's face, knocking her onto the floor.
Silent tears continue to flow down Weiss' cheeks as she continues to lay on the floor, looking back up at her father.
"Your apologies mean nothing." Jacques brutishly continues. "Now go to your room and stay there until further notice."
Afraid of the man's wrath, the sniffling child immediately picks herself up off the floor and starts to run to her room. However, she gets yelled at for doing so and walks back the rest of the way. Her hand rests on her left arm the entire way to her room. She landed on it when her father had knocked her down and it hurt her a lot. Upon reaching her destination, the little girl has to stand on her tiptoes in order to reach the door handle. When she enters her room, Weiss closes the door behind her and throws herself onto the floor by the window. Why not put herself on her bed? That's because she doesn't have one.
"You don't get a bed." Jacques once told her when she asked why Winter had one and she didn't. "People get beds, dogs sleep on the floor."
Of course, Willow doesn't know about this as her husband has set up a projection of a bed in the room. But that's all it is, a fake image... just like Weiss. She has to hide her tail because she's a monster. Her mother is the only one who will ever love her, because she has to. It's like the expression 'a face only a mother could love.' Only that it's not her face that's ugly... it's her entirety. Klein and Winter are only nice because they don't know what she really is. After crying for several minuets, the young wolf-girl looks up at her window. She watches a trio of birds chirping and flying around happily, wishing that she too could be free.
Present Day...
Sixteen years later, and those same ice-blue eyes are watching a trio of happy birds with envy. However, this time it's not from a bedroom... not that that place could even be considered as such, but from an airship as she ignores whatever the blonde woman, Glynda, is saying from a projection. Although, it is somewhat of the same scenario. It's not her choice to be there, but it's because of someone else's actions. When she was little, it was her father. Now, it's because of some kid that wanted to play hero. At least that Ozpin guy agreed not to reveal who she is.
Why is she placing so much trust in him? Is it because he's so nice? That he didn't scream at/hurt her and was appalled by the scars' existence, not her for having them? Why should she trust him? Every time anyone else has played the nice card, it was just to hurt her in the long run. Somehow, he just seems genuine. Like he understands her pain. So for now, she'll trust him. Besides... free food and shelter in a place that isn't a half destroyed and abandoned building is a welcome upgrade. However, one slip up and she's gone. He gives her one reason to fear him, and she's running away.
Although for now, she'll stay at the school and try to do her best and stay as unnoticed as physically possible. After all, she doesn't have to interact with anyone more than what's required. When she feels stressed or just afraid, she will have her own room to hide away in. Besides, Ozpin was also king enough to have his assistant take her to get a new outfit... because being covered in dirt and blood would definitely draw attention. The blonde, Glynda, seems to think that it's just for the sake of being 'presentable.' Weiss doesn't care how she looks. She just doesn't want people looking at her.
Speaking of her new attire, Weiss now dawns a white, long bell-sleeved bolero jacket with an emblem of a cracked icicle custom printed on the back. She wears this over a white, slim-fitted tank top, and also has on a pair of ice-blue jeans and white sneakers. After seeing some of the many other teens on board the Bullhead, her outfit is likely the least likely to catch anyone's eye. Good. Now if everything else goes like she wants it to, things can't be too bad... right?
"Oh, Yang, gross! You have puke on your shoe!"
… Shit.
As Ruby backs away while her sister freaks out about getting barf on her shoe, the culprit begins stumbling towards her with his hands over his mouth again.
"Get away! Get away! Get away from me! Get away from me! Get away from me! Get away from me!" the red cloaked girl repeatedly screams as she runs to the other side of the ship to get away from the boy.
After watching him run off to the hatch door, waiting for the ship to land, Ruby removes herself from the wall and looks around for her sister. She doesn't find her, but she does spot someone else that she recognizes. The white-haired girl from last night is staring at her in disbelief, but is wearing nicer clothes than she was back then and doesn't have any sticks in her hair... still some dirt though. Ruby stares back at her for only a moment before a few people pass by the girl, blocking her from sight; and when they get out of the way, she's gone. Ruby looks around to find her, but she just disappeared. Did she just imagine it? There's no way that a Beacon initiate would be a thief... is there?
Once the Bullhead finally lands, Weiss throws her sling bag over her shoulder and hurries out of the ship while being covered by the largest mass of crowd that she can find, knowing that the younger girl would be searching for her. Once her cover begins to disperse, Weiss rushes to the side of the ship; waiting for the red reaper to exit so she won't have to watch her back when heading into the school. Now that she's actually looking at it, Beacon is huge! This is a school?! Are they all castles?! After shaking her head to snap out of her shock, Weiss takes note of how pretty the scenery really is. Not even realizing that she's doing it, the wolf-girl begins to walk forwards as to take a closer look. Unfortunately, she doesn't even realize that she's doing so until someone slams into her, with both of them falling as a result.
"Oww." Ruby mumbles as she sits up, rubbing the back of her head. "What did I run into?"
The scythe-wielding fifteen-year-old then turns around, looking into a familiar pair of ice-blue eyes.
"Hey, I know you! You're the girl from last night!" Ruby half screams. Then realizing the faunus is "what" she ran into, the silver-eyed girl jumps up. "Oh! I'm sorry! I didn't mean to crash into you!"
Ruby then sticks her hand out in order to help the white-haired girl up, but once again, the latter flinches at the action. However, instead of forming a glyph in between herself and her "attacker," Weiss crab-walks away from the younger girl for a few feet before quickly picking herself up from the concrete. Once again, Ruby is confused at the girl's response.
"A-are you okay?" the girl getting bumped up two years asks with concern after an awkward silence is created in between the two for a few moments.
Weiss' eyes suddenly shift from those of fear to those of anger and she doesn't answer the question, but instead growls in annoyance as she begins to walk away. She tries to grab ahold of her bag's strap, only to find nothing there. She then turns around, spotting her bag laying on the ground, and walks over to it. The wolf-girl bends over and picks it up before moving onto collecting a few of the dust vials that had fallen out.
Deciding that she should help... since it was her fault, Ruby grabs a few vials herself. However, when she hands them to the older girl, the latter glares at her and snatches the containers from her hand. Sadly, one of the fire dust vials was cracked from the fall and some of it's contents leaked out with the action, causing Ruby to sneeze. The result was Weiss getting covered in ash, getting flung back two yards, and obtaining several burns from the closeness of the accidental attack.
After glaring at the cloaked girl, Weiss slowly begins to pick herself up from the newly formed crater she was on the edge of and silently mumbles: "Too bad that no kill Ice Wolf."
"Awk! I'm so sorry!" Ruby screams as she rushes to help the faunus up.
However, as soon as the red reaper grabs ahold of the white wolf's arm, the latter growls in anger and tears her limb away in protest and fear.
"She said that she's sorry." a new voice speaks up, making both girl's turn towards the new arrival. "That's a lot more than some people are willing to give out to a faunus."
Weiss picks herself up off the ground and stares at the vial of fire dust in the new girl's hand.
"Here," she says, handing out the item. "you should really make sure that your bag's closed properly. What happened could have been a lot worse than a hole in the ground."
The former heiress to the Schnee Dust Company, if she ever truly was one, quickly grabs the container from the girl's hand before turning around and speed walking away. This isn't going at all like she'd hoped. First, the red and black girl was on the same ship as her, then the troublemaker ran into her and knocked her over. During the latter, Weiss' dust was thrown out of her bag, catching the attention of yet another person... and the white-haired girl was in the middle of an explosion. She needed to get out of there. Away from them. Away from the cloaked kid. Away from everyone.
Ruby just watches as the wolf faunus retreats. She was just trying to help... then again the mess was her fault... and the older girl is still most likely mad about last night. But she was robbing the old guy! Then again... the girl had looked like she needed the money. But Ruby offered to help her buy some things, she didn't need to steal it! How did she even get into Beacon anyway? Not to mention that she looks better than last night and not, ya'know… bloody and covered in dirt. Although she is still kinda dirty. This whole thing is just confusing. However, there is one thing that the red reaper knows...
"Well that could have gone better." Ruby mumbles under her breath.
Then remembering the girl with the bow on top of her head, the fifteen-year-old turns around.
"So what's...?"
Aaaand she's gone.
Where is this audio... aude… whatever the place is called supposed to be anyway? The headmaster told Weiss that he's going to make some sort of speech and that everyone has to listen to it before settling in for the night a few hours after the announcement ends. Until then, everyone will be given a tour of the school by a few different older years; two per group. Going back to the speech, Ozpin did say that for their story to work... some attention does need to be drawn to her. Why? Because the headmaster decided to have her pretend to be his granddaughter. That way no one would be suspicious as to why she will talk to him every now and then, so he can check up on her, why her last name won't be given out, and extra protection just to be sure the nobody will even consider her to be a Schnee at any point. Apparently, he has to announce that his 'grandchild' is attending the school because that's what any other 'granddad' who's a headmaster would do.
Eventually spotting the building, Weiss stops in her tracks due to the large group of people both inside and entering. The seventeen-year-old's grip tightens on her bag's strap and she takes a deep breath before finally heading inside. She thought that she would stick to the back wall in order to stay away from the crowd, but unfortunately, it would seem as though many other people had the same idea as every wall and corner is congested by other initiates. Weiss takes a deep breath and releases it before heading to the least crowded row of seats, sitting on the end so she can leave faster and not be blocked inside. Unfortunately, the furthest that she could get away from someone was one seat in between herself and some girl with long yellow hair.
When she bends down to carefully put her bag on the floor, just in case any more containers are broken, the blonde decides to yell out: "Ruby, over here! I saved you a spot!"
The sudden outburst causes Weiss' arm to shoot up, a force of habit for defense, with her bag still in her hand... meaning that the recoil from the action causes her bag to smash into her face. After putting her free hand over her nose, and giving the blonde a death-glare that the latter doesn't even notice, the wolf-faunus goes back to putting her bag down. When she stands up however, the following conversation just makes her freeze in place and causes her to be certain that existence itself straight up hates her... even though she believes that anyway.
"How's your first day goin', little sister?" asks the blonde.
"You mean since you ditched me and I exploded?" Ruby questions with a hint of anger.
Why? Why does this kid keep showing up everywhere?
"Yikes. Meltdown already?"
"No, I literally exploded a hole in front of the school and there was some fire and I-I think some ice?"
"Are you being sarcastic?" Yang irreverently asks.
Ruby scoffs. "I wish! Remember how I said that I got into a fight with a faunus last night? Well apparently she's here and I tripped and knocked her over, and she's still mad at me. I tried to help her pick up the dust that fell out of her bag and she snatched it away angrily. Then I sneezed, and then I exploded! And she was flung back several feet and I felt really really bad and I just wanted her to stop growling at me."
After staring at the cloaked girl throughout her story, Weiss growls in anger as if on que. Not in an attempt to start anything with the nuisance, but at fate for screwing with her and constantly making them cross paths.
The sudden noise causes Ruby to jump into her sister's arms. "Oh God, it's happening again!"
Yang then looks across her sister to the white-haired girl behind her, taking notice of the ash in her hair and the burn on her cheek. "Oh my God, you really exploded."
"It was an accident." Ruby explains before jumping down from her sister's arms.
The younger girl makes the claim again, this time to Weiss, but the latter has turned away from her and is just staring at the stage. "Please forgive m..."
"Leave Ice Wolf alone." Weiss interrupts in a quiet voice.
"H-huh?"
"Shut up and leave Ice Wolf alone." she says again, her vocals still too quiet for the other girls to completely understand.
"Look, uh... from everything I've heard, it sounds like you two just got off on the wrong foot. Why don't you start over and try to be friends, okay?" suggests Yang while scratching the back of her head.
"Yeah!" Ruby says enthusiastically and with relief that this whole thing could get better. "Great idea, sis!"
The younger girl then clears her throat and extends her hand. "Hello, uh... what did you say your name was again?"
Ruby once again takes note that the girl quickly retreats from her hand... she really should have thought about that. Because of this, the red reaper moves her limb to the back of her head and chuckles nervously. A silence overcomes the three as Weiss continues to stare at Ruby with uncertainty until Professor Ozpin walks on stage and clears his throat.
"Before we begin," the headmaster announces. "I would like to express how proud I am that my granddaughter has made it into my academy."
This 'information' gets some heads turning. Weiss really doesn't want to be in this position. People make her uneasy as is, now they're specifically looking around for her and whispering God knows what to one another... and now they will all be staring at her as soon as Ozpin says...
"Weiss, would you please raise your hand so that you can be recognized by your fellow initiates?"
Ruby and Yang take notice of how the girl standing next to them squeezes her eyes shut and lowers her head before very slowly raising her hand... shaking as she does so.
"Well, I guess that answers how she's here and not in jail." Yang whispers to her sister.
Weiss knows that people are staring at her. Whispering about her. She doesn't want this attention. She wants to be left alone. However, this is necessary so hopefully no one would consider to relate her to her father. So her hand stays in the air for about four more seconds as she prays for it to end soon until the headmaster finally speaks up again.
"You can lower your hand now, Weiss."
As soon as the words escape his lips, the wolf-girl's arm shoots down faster than Ruby eats her cookies. However, she keeps her eyes shut and her head down as Ozpin goes on with his speech. She doesn't even bother paying attention as she just wants to run away and hope that everyone will forget about her. Although she isn't paying any attention, she does notice that the voice changes from the headmaster's to a woman's, most likely Glynda. However, there is one word that she is actively listening for; and as soon as Glynda says 'dismissed,' Weiss grabs her bag and runs from the building as fast as physically possible.
"Was... was she crying?" Ruby questions with concern.
"I think so?" her sister replies.
"And did you see her when Ozpin asked her to raise her hand? It's like, she thought as though she would die or something. She did the same thing when Professor Goodwitch was approaching her when we were fighting."
"She's probably just really shy, Rubes... that and her and the headmaster probably aren't getting along with the whole 'robbing a dust shop' thing."
"Yeah... I guess you're right." the red reaper says sadly.
"Excuse me." a voice speaks out from behind them.
The sisters turn around to see the headmaster standing in front of them.
"Ah, Professor Ozpin!" Ruby yelps in surprise.
"Did you two happen to see where my granddaughter went off to?"
"Uh... she kinda ran out of the building." Yang tells him.
Ozpin sighs. "Thank you. Now, I believe that I must go make an apology."
"An apology?" questions Ruby.
"Yes, Weiss is rather shy and hates getting attention drawn on her... and you were correct, Ms. Xiao-Long, when you said that we had a discussion last night."
"Oh... I-I'm sorry, Professor." Yang apologizes.
"It's alright... but how about we keep that bit of information between the three of us and Glynda, hmm?"
""Yes, sir."" both girls reply.
"Good. Now, if you'll excuse me." the headmaster says before departing.
After a moment of silence, Yang leans over to her younger sister and says: "Told ya."
Three hours pass before everyone is dismissed for the night. Weiss is in the last batch of groups to be lead around the school and so she immediately heads for the ballroom when her tour is over. After running away from the meeting earlier, she had retreated until the building was out of sight, finally stopping to sit up against a tree and rub her face. She stayed like that until Ozpin showed up and talked to her, apologizing about drawing the attention to her but reminding her that it was necessary. They talked until her scroll had pinged with a voice message to meet two girls named Coco and Velvet in the courtyard. Now, on her way to her resting place for the night, she's keeping an eye on everyone around her. That they don't approach her. Why? Why does she have to be so afraid of everything? She knows that her father isn't here. That no one with contact with him is here... but the fear of being found by him is always in the back of her mind. She doesn't want to go back to him. What he did to her as a kid would be nothing compared to what he would do now.
Although, it's not only her father that concerns her. Her whole life, both humans and faunus have treated her worse than the trash on the streets. Why faunus too? Because they apparently don't get a good feeling from her, like there's something wrong with her. It's similar to how an actual animal knows when something is wrong and reacts to that feeling. It's true though. There is something wrong with her. She is a faunus who was born to human parents. A freak and a monster. Because of that, she's been beaten and betrayed her whole life. When she was on the streets, sometimes there were "nice" people... but in the end they just ended up taking whatever money she had or led her into a group of people who either tried to beat, kill, or rape her. She has good reasons as to not trust anyone.
Upon entering the ballroom, Weiss watches as Yang plops down next to Ruby and says something about a 'slumber party...' whatever that is. Because of their presence, the wolf faunus turns and walks to the other side of the building. However, she cannot find an area clear of people and when she thinks she does, more people walk in and make their beds there. Eventually, she just gives up and sits up in one of the windowsills. However, she never goes to sleep. She's too busy making sure that no one approaches her and that she's not being watched... that and Ruby and Yang are pretty loud for a little while. Now while some people get mad about it... it's the only thing that Weiss silently thanks the younger girl for.