Chapter 3: A Pair of Siblings
The plan was for Qrow to go to Patch and have a talk with his nieces. In the meantime, Winter would take the opportunity to return to Atlas and explain things to Weiss. It would probably be ugly, but it was a needed step. From there, they would be able to start unraveling the whole mess that the Hunter's Guild threw them into.
Taking a quick night to rest after the talk with the lawyer, Qrow boarded a flight back to Patch to meet up with his nieces. Winter, on the other hand, wanted to take a longer time to mentally work through this. Going through her father's portfolio of lawyer connections to find one that was more geared towards marital affairs was exhausting, so she returned to her apartment and nearly collapsed on the couch. Poor form, one that she would have berated herself for at any other instance, but she let her face mold into the armrest for a blissful moment longer.
Tomorrow, she wanted to do something for herself. She had just come back from deployment, and though she took a small moment for herself when she first arrived, this was supposed to be her vacation. Her time of rest. She did not expect to be more stressed here than when she was out on the field.
Then again, she didn't expect to suddenly be married, so she was pretty sure this was just a one-off thing.
Maybe she'd just let it go for tomorrow. Sleep in, skip breakfast, do something she'd probably frown upon later. Then the day after she'd have her talk with Weiss.
She ended up skipping the first two because her stomach demanded that she eat. But she did make good on the third - just enough wine to fall asleep on her couch in the middle of a sappy movie she'd been wanting to watch for a while. Sort of a way to let things just fall to the side for a moment.
Notably, however, this led to missing several texts from Qrow in the morning (ignore, ignore, ignore), one from Klein, and only finally waking to a concerned call from from one of her father's security officials.
The flight over to the small island was about the only good thing to come from the morning for Qrow. It let him rest and then order a drink with his in-flight meal of pancakes and eggs, which was surprisingly good considering it was airplane food. They touched down a little bit after ten, where he stretched his legs, found a secluded corner away from everyone else, and then took off like a bird. The rest of the trip to Tai's place was like the back of his hand. He'd have his talk with his nieces, tell them that the wedding was cancelled, and then crash at a hotel or something.
So to say that he was surprised to see Weiss Schnee drinking tea on the patio of the Xiao Long household was apt and accurate. So surprised, in fact, that he nearly crashed into the dirt path leading up to the house.
"What an amazing impression the you're making upon your sister-in-law today."
For a moment he was stunned, only holding his upper body up from the ground like a failed pushup. But he blinked, remembered to breath, and spoke. "Okay, first of all I am not your in-law, so please never say that again. Two - why the hell are you in Patch?"
This time it was Weiss' turn to breath. Her lips turned into a narrow line before quickly morphing into a frown. "My birthday was coming soon and I had an opening in my schedule, so as a gift to myself I decided I would take a trip to Patch and," her frowned turned even sharper as she let out a sigh, "...surprise your nieces."
His brow furrowed and he dragged a hand through his hair. "The tone of your voice tells me that this didn't go as planned."
The cup of tea rose to her lips and she took a swift sip. Fffffp. "It sounded like a good idea at the time."
Qrow looked up as his shoulders dropped, doing his best to let the additional surprise roll off of him. "That's probably a side effect of being around my nieces for too long." But he shook his head. He needed to get back to the task at hand, and this was distracting. "Speaking of my nieces, where are they? I'm surprised you're not spending time with them."
Another sigh, and she set her cup of tea down on the patio table. "I don't know."
"Of all the-" he nearly snarled, but he reminded himself that he needed to be calm. Collected. He wasn't here to intimidate Weiss. "What do you mean you don't know?"
"I don't know, okay?" her voice rose for the first time, ice blue eyes locking against his red ones. "I came here to try and surprise them for my birthday, to try to do something spontaneous for once in my life, and they're not here."
"And you didn't call them?"
"Have you?"
That… that was a very fair and valid point. He was so intent on just booking the flight to Patch and figuring out how to talk to his nieces that he just assumed that they were on the island during their break and-
"Okay, good catch." His hands dashed into his pocket, pulling out his scroll. "Let me call them."
"They're not picking up." Fffffp "I tried them both a few times already and I haven't been able to reach them."
Right. Of course they wouldn't pick up their scrolls. "Well, whatever," he brushed it off. "I'm just here to tell you that I'm not marrying your sister and we're getting it annulled."
Fffffp-
Weiss erupted into a hacking cough, doing her best to remain composed while not choking on her tea. "What do you mean you're not getting married?"
His brain did an absolute about face, tried to jump through a hoop, crashed into the hoop, fell to the ground, and then sputtered to a stop. "What?"
The teacup probably cracked with how hard she slammed it down onto the table. "Look," she finally said after fighting down the last cough. "The news from the guild caught me as a surprise, too. Winter? Marrying? Marrying you? I was very surprised that she didn't contest it, so she must see something she likes in you."
"We were both unavailable," he said. "No one was able to contest the arrangement within the timeframe."
"So…" Weiss' brow furrowed, "she doesn't like you?"
Was there something in her drink? "You have be kidding me. We literally hate each other. And if we didn't previously, I'm very sure that we do now because of this whole mess we're in. Why were you so excited about this, anyway?"
"Okay. Okay," her chest rose and fell as she recomposed herself again. "I will admit that I was hoping you'd marry her because she had finally found someone that she felt was compatible with her. Why else would she leave the relationship be, after all. But beyond that? I looked back on everyone who she's ever had contact with and you are by far the best choice for her."
"And how did you come to that conclusion?"
"It's quite simple, Branwen." She looked him in the eye, "You're the only one that's not after the Schnee Dust Company."
His own eyes, however, rolled like how a stone might roll. "Like I give a shit about your company. I don't want the money, I just-"
"See? Perfect!" She dashed up to him. "I need you to marry my sister so there's no outside risk of it falling to someone else. I need the company if I'm going to make the changes I want to see, and to keep it in my hands I need my sister to be my ally at the table and you-" her finger jabbed into his chest- "are the best one to make sure that no one else influences her choices."
Now she was getting physical. He looked her in the eye, crossed his arms, and un-slouched his back. "And what if I said no?"
"Simple," she walked back to the table, sitting down and grasping her teacup. Fffffp. "I'll get my father's best lawyer."
He wanted to tell her that it was tough luck - that they were already a client of them and that she would have to find someone else. "Yeah, yeah, whatever." He still had to talk to Yang and Ruby too. "Now to just figure out where the hell my nieces are." But instead his scroll rang, coming from a number that he didn't recognize. He let her small 'victory' slide, just like he slid his fingers over to unlock the screen and brought it up to his ear.
"Hello?"
Winter had tried to ignore the pounding headache echoing through the sides of her skull. So far, though, the bob from every single step seemed to remind her that three cups of wine was too much. And after her fourth glass, it was a miracle that she even remembered watching the movie in the first place. And now she was being escorted through the halls of the Schnee Mansion to handle something that she almost couldn't believe.
Finally, the guide pressed a panel, opening a secret door and gestured her forward. Gone were the pristine walls and instead there were computers upon computers and screens and monitors and stairs going down to a lower floor. But she strode past all of that, through the hubbub of the security center and down one last hall to a locked door.
Yanking it open, she took a seat at the lone table of the room. Right across from her was Yang Xiao Long and Ruby Rose, handcuffed with the links passing through a center loop. The loop was really just for show - they were trained huntresses that could probably escape at any time, but it was the intimidation factor that was important.
Still, Winter didn't say anything, instead letting a hand rest against her aching forehead. She was informed of the full extent of the situation, yet she was still reeling from the entire stupidity that seemed to have recently swathed around her life. It was like there was a sudden cloud of it that made everyone she had to deal with exceptionally foolish or incompetent.
The only one immune to it seemed to be the direct target of her ire, Qrow.
Eventually she looked up, and she took one breath, one that she was sure would be accompanied by many more afterward. "Let's start from the first thing that boggles me. What are you two doing here?"
"Oh, so, you see, Weiss' birthday is getting kind of-"
"So Weiss' birthday was coming up soon, and-"
Don't snap at them.
"So why not surprise her, right?"
"Yeah, greatest idea we had in a while for birthdays."
"Weiss never really goes out all that much so we were gonna-"
Don't snap at them.
"And so now we're here!"
"Right. Right." She straightened her back. "Clearly this worked out very well for you with how you," she jabbed a finger towards Ruby, "were dangling from a tower spike from your cape and nearly choked on it. This then caused you," this time it was Yang's turn to face the wrath of her index finger, "you to nearly cave in the roof in some twisted attempt to…" her brow furrowed, "save her." How it was classified as 'saving' was a mystery to Winter. But many things were becoming mysteries lately and perhaps it was better to simply leave it be.
Ruby's chin fell onto the table, where her arms partially obscured her face. "It sounded like a good idea at the time."
"Moving on to the next question then - Weiss." She looked at the two girls through her fingers. "Where is she?"
Yang looked up, shooting her a quizzed look. "You mean Uncle Qrow didn't tell you? She's in Patch. We tried to call him and apparently he told us she had the same idea as we did or something."
So that's what his messages were probably for, then. Qrow should have just called, but then that meant waking up to his voice - one of the things Winter was hoping to avoid down the line. She was expecting to have a calm talk with Weiss to explain that she wasn't getting married, but of course life threw her for another turn.
She took the second deep breath of her morning. Might as well break it to his nieces instead. "Hmph, regardless of the outcome of this mess you've brought onto yourselves, I do want to take a moment to explain our... marriage situation." She looked both of them in the eye, "Your uncle and I are getting it annulled."
There was a blissful silence. The world stood still as the two girls stared at her, mouths agape, forms fully frozen. There were no words, no chirping of birds. Just still, like the deep ocean, or the emptiness of space, or the-
"WHAAAT? You can't-oww!"
"No! Nononon-owowowowow!"
The both of them tried to stand up, but with their hands cuffed and linked through the same loop, this only brought them mild pain upon them as they knocked heads against each other. Perhaps Winter's only source of satisfaction for the day so far.
Yang recovered first. "But we thought you two loved each other!"
Winter stood up from the table. It was clear that this wasn't getting anywhere, and it wasn't her job to explain the facts to the nieces anyway. She was supposed to talk to Weiss. She just needed to bring the issue to light and let Qrow handle the two of them at a later time. "We don't love each other. In fact, we are both in agreement that this marriage is a mockery of an actual one. It will be annulled."
Ruby, however, seemed utterly crushed by the revelation. For a moment she worried if the girl had been concussed, but she started to cry and looked up at her. "But you'd be the best aunt ever!"
"Look, you're making Ruby cry-"
"That is not my fault and I refuse to let you pin it on me." She began to walk towards the heavy door, where she would begin the first phase of leaving behind these two children forever. "Now, if you leave without doing anything stupid, I will ask the estate not to press charges. I have a hangover I need to nurse and I'm not in the mood to-"
"A hangover? You have-" Yang nearly face planted onto the table again with how quick she tried to move. "See? You're just like Uncle Qrow - drinking before important talks! You're perfect for each other!"
Winter paused in her step, shooting a quick glance over her shoulder. "What an impression the Branwens have left on me today. Incompetent, foolish, and rude. Seems to run in the family."
She slammed the door harder than she intended to on the way out, but it felt good to do it. Like popping-a-balloon good
"I-" a hiccup, and then a loud series of sobbing sounds came from behind the heavy metal- "I just wanted to be called Aunt Ruby!"
Ahh, sweet, sweet music to her ears. But just for now. Any other day and it probably would have been saddening to hear. Right now, though, it was-
Her scroll buzzed in her pocket. Another heavy breath, and she pulled it out to see Qrow's number. Flipping it open, she brought the scroll to her ear. "Your nieces are the worst, Branwen."
"Ah, so you know then," his voice cracked through. "Anyway, I got to talk to Weiss. Sorta explained what I could, though she might need to hear your end of the story too, for what it's worth."
"She'll have to settle for 'I'm was on deployment, you boob'."
"Did you get to tell my nieces?"
"I told them of our intentions. They'll probably have some questions for you."
"Fair enough." There was a sigh from his end - a sign that something was far from pleasant. "Anyway, I have some bad news. Raven wants us to stay married."
In that moment, her mind raced to think of a face. Contacts, contracts, support members, whistle blowers, but nothing came to mind. "... Who's Raven?"
A/N: Eyyyy! Another chapter! Not too much to say this time. Originally I was going to have both of them visit Patch and explain the details to the Yang, Ruby, and Weiss. But I realized that it didn't work so I adjusted it. The two would go to where they would expect the others to be, but obviously it is not the case. Strangely enough I feel like the humor wasn't as strong in this one. That might be due to how Weiss, Yang, and Ruby have to act close to how they could in canon while with the OC Lawyer I was able to mold to fit into the moment, so it worked out much better previously. I'd say I still did a good job here, but it felt a little tough to get it to work.
Reviews!
SuperSaiyajin4Vegeta: Your patience has been rewarded lol. And thanks for waiting ;_;
merendinoemiliano: Thank you for giving this fic a shot! Hopefully it's to your liking!
Kc4229: I've been working on it here and there, so I'm glad it's as good as I hoped!
Anyway, hopefully the next chapter will be easier to write out that particular humor I'm trying to go for. I have a few things I'm working on though, so hopefully I'll see you all soon!
Beta'd by ImSoAwesome
