Last time on RWBY: Broken Home...

"You want my frickin' badge number?!" Sun roared from across the interrogation room table as he reached into his pocket. "HERE! HERE'S MY FRICKIN' BADGE NUMBER!" Only instead of a badge, it was a five-finger sandwich across the suspect's face.

/

"Nora, I don't understand..." Ren said in disbelief.

"What's to understand?!" she sobbed. "I was unfaithful! The baby isn't yours! It's Pyrrha's!"

"Yes. That. That's the part I don't understand." Ren pointed out, once again, that what his wife was talking about something scientifically impossible.

/

Port gasped as he backed away from the microscope in front of him, sweat furrowing on his brow. "It's evolving too fast...There's no chance of stopping this virus..." he gasped in hopeless realization.

/

Emerald wept hysterically over Cinder's corpse on the apartment floor, a pool of blood around her body. "W-W-WHO DID THIS TO YOU?" she shrieked as her body was wracked with another wave of sobbing.

/

"...Which is why, after careful consideration..." Blake paused for dramatic effect. "...that I have decided to accept being traded from the Minnesota Vikings to the Houston Texans." she finished, a cacophony of reporters asking questions and cameras flashing all throughout the conference room.

/

"M-Mother..." Weiss gasped at the female Atlesian officer standing in front of her.

/

Now, only one of those really happened, but they were really dramatic pictured in your head, right? I apologize for the lack of an author's note last time, but I didn't really have much to say after that reveal.

Also, it was late when I finished it, and a tired version of me forgot about it.

But anyways, yes. This chapter, you will be meeting Weiss' mother, a high profile member of the Atlesian Military known as General Noel Chrom. Now, alot of writers who profiled Weiss' mother have showcased her in a multitude of ways: passed away of a fatal disease when Weiss was young, the real sadistic mastermind of the SDC who was very disapproving of the White Rose couple getting hitched, or your average stereotypical depiction of a 1950's upperclass wife. I've chosen to go none of those routes.

After making Weiss' uncle, General Niklaus Schnee, a high general, I figured "Hey, what if Weiss' mother's side was a military family?" The Schnees already have glyph knowledge down, but Weiss' swordsmanship and tactical knowledge make her a very skilled Huntress. Who could she get that from? Mom. That's who.

Noel Chrom was an Atlas native in the officer's training program with Niklaus, and the fellow officer introduced her to his brother, Silbern, after they graduated. The two eventually dated before marrying, followed by the birth of Winter and Weiss. After being away from the military for so long following her maternity leave and raising them past toddler age, the White Fang struck the SDC hard with terror attacks and assassinations. She couldn't handle Silbern being so angry about these terrorists all the time coupled with the stress of being a high-ranking officer, so in a tough decision, she decided to leave him and take their daughters with her. Silbern fought this in the divorce and ended up winning custody so he could groom them into becoming the heirs of his dust empire, but did not forsee both of them electing to become Huntresses instead, or Winter taking part time work in Atlas as a Huntress for high-profile assignments either. Still, because of this and the ludicrous visiting schedule Silbern's lawyers worked out with the judge in a shady deal, Noel has barely seen her children since the divorce. After Winter graduated Beacon, she started seeing her mother more often, eventually leading to-

Oh yeah, haven't started the chapter yet. I can't give that out! Well then, read on, fellow reader. Leave a follow and comment if you enjoy it, I read all of my comments, (I really do. By the way Spartan5271, nice guess but no, I'm not Barbara Dunkleman.) and I will see you lads and lasses in the next chapter.


The duelist dashed out from the crowd as the older lady began to meet her daughter halfway, stepping down the stairs as she embraced a now crying Weiss, tears of joy replacing ones of sadness or frustration for the first time in two days. "I'm so happy to see you again, Mom..." Weiss sobbed into her chest, as her mother brushed a hand through her youngest's hair.

"It's a dream come true to see you as well, my little Snow Angel." she whispered in return.

"I thought I was the first to think of that." Neptune muttered before an elbow from Yang shut him up.

"Don't ruin the moment, Dreamboat." she quipped as Qrow spoke up again.

"I see Weiss is already familiar with her, but..." he said turning back to the others. "...for those of you who don't, this is the head of the Chess Initiative: General Noel Schnee."

"It's Noel 'Chrom' now, Qrow." Noel corrected, breaking the hug she and Weiss had shared as the daughter dried her eyes. "I finally changed back to my maiden name. It's high time I severed all connection with that blowhard, Silbern."

"Yeah...we kinda can see why after meeting him." Ruby spoke up, rubbing the back of her head awkwardly.

"That bad, hmm?" Noel asked, looking down at her daughter. "And Weiss, I'm assuming this is your team?" she continued.

"Y-yes." Weiss stuttered, quickly trying to regain her composure. "That's my leader, Ruby, her sister, Yang, and our friend, Blake." she said, introducing each of them as they returned a wave or a nod in the general's direction. "The guys are Sun and his team."

"It's a pleasure to meet all of you." Noel greeted, bowing respectively to the younger Huntsmen and Huntresses. "I read the briefing documents about all of your accomplishments in Vale, and I am very impressed with all of you."

"That's very nice of you to say Ms. Schnee." Ruby smiled before catching herself. "Oh, I mean Ms. Chrom! Or...Uh, Ms. Weiss' Mom?"

"See, Turk? You didn't have the worst first impression with the general!" Rocco joked, only to be elbowed by his team leader to shut up.

"You may just call me Noel." she replied to the reaper, waiving off the younger one's embarrassment. "We're a bit less strict than the main branches of the military."

"Wait, so, are we getting shanghaied into the army or something?" Scarlet asked.

"No such luck, kid." Qrow spoke up. "Huntsmen and the military are labeling this a joint effort, especially after the events in Vale. Not only do we help guard the tombs, but also track down and neutralize anyone that could be a threat."

"Otherwise known as people like October Fall." Marron added.

"Precisely." Qrow nodded.

"Wait, October Fall? Like, as in Cinder Fall?" Sun asked.

"Yes." Noel nodded. "We received intel that Cinder's father, October, was the true mastermind behind the attack on Vale, his daughter commanding the effort put in by the White Fang to take over the city and release the Alpha Grimm underneath."

"And we have reason to believe that the escape of Chad Aens earlier this week was the start of something for the Falls." Qrow added.

"How can we be sure?" Blake asked. "Chains was a brute in the White Fang. He could've easily gotten out on his own."

"We got this intel from a source we planted with connections to the Falls." Noel answered. "They'd be more than welcome to explain if you'd just follow me." Leaving Teams STRM and SSSN to talk, she lead the group including Team RWBY, Marron and Qrow back the way she came, up the stairs to a platform covered in console stations with features ranging from readings of the Alpha Grimm's cage to radar readings from outside the base. They stopped at a door, built into a small cavern branching off the main one they stood in, marked "Meeting Room". Upon opening the door, Noel entered first, followed by Weiss before she stopped dead in her tracks at the sight of the one waiting for them. "YOU!" she exclaimed.

"Hello, Sister." Winter greeted. "I believe we need to discuss something."

Weiss didn't give her the chance to begin her discussion as she dashed forward, Myrtenaster pointed at her throat for a killing blow. "Weiss, stop!" Noel ordered, but her youngest did not stop. At least on her own accord.

At a hair's width away from her neck, Winter stopped Weiss in her tracks with a time dilation glyph that froze her sister where she stood. While Weiss still wore a facial expression of anger, Winter remained emotionless as she held her sister in limbo, the rest hesitating of RWBY hesitating, but still keeping hands on their weapons. Winter looked around her sister to the other side of the conference table. "Could someone disarm her so I can say my piece?" she asked.

"And why should we believe you?" Marron asked stepping forward.

"Because if I was really working for the Falls, I wouldn't be here to talk." Winter answered.

Sharing a glance with the others, she stepped forward, getting up on the table and easing the rapier out of Weiss' grasp. She looked at the younger sister, whose eyes gave her a pleading glance not to do this. "Weiss, if this is a trick, she has nowhere to go." Marron explained. "I know what I'm doing here."

Weiss averted her eyes, unable to nod in her frozen state as the chaperoning Huntress placed Myrtenaster on the table by her side.

"Thank you, Marron." Winter nodded, ignoring the eye-roll her former teammate gave in place of a response. With that taken care of, she sat down in one of the cushioned chairs around the conference table. The second she leaned back into a comfortable position in the chair, the glyph Weiss was held in place by faded, time for her returning to normal as she stumbled to a stop at the edge of the table. "Now, Weiss, I believe I owe you and your team an apology." her sister began to explain.

"Apologize for what? Fighting us? Getting Father to kick us out of Atlas? Getting myself disowned from the family?" Weiss criticized, moving closer to the point she loomed over her older sister.

"Winter, is this all true?" Noel asked her oldest daughter.

"Unfortunately..." Winter began, a look of disapproval casting over their mother's face. "It was my only option. I was almost compromised before I could explain to them."

"Explain what?" Ruby asked.

"When you approached me back at the company headquarters, you weren't wrong, Miss Rose." Winter admitted. "I am acting as an informant for October Fall."

"I knew it!" Weiss started, reaching for Myrtenaster before Yang caught her arm before she could get a hold of her weapon.

"However, up until you tried to arrest me, I couldn't tell you I'm also sending information to the Chess Initiative about his plans." Winter continued, once again ignoring the rude interruption.

The rest of Team RWBY looked among each other, surprised by this new development. "So...you're a double agent?" Blake asked.

"She is." Noel answered. "I introduced her to the initiative not long after we were given permission by the Atlesian Council to start recruiting Huntsmen from outside the kingdom."

"After we received a tip about Cinder Fall being spotted in Atlas, I was sent to try and apprehend her. She's been missing since being expelled from Signal Academy almost ten years ago. When I made contact with her, she and Emerald Sustrai were attempting to recruit Marcus Black, the disgraced police captain. Knowing Mercury was the muscle of Cinder's operation, he was his father's replacement after his murder."

"That doesn't explain how you got roped in with them." the younger of the two sisters noted.

"I was compromised. In order to spare my life, I bargained with them by offering a shipment of our new Paladin mechs and news of Dust shipments for their plan. I forged some, of course, so that not all of our product was lost in their heists. In return, they put me in contact with October Fall for their plan for Atlas' tomb. There were some setbacks as we underestimated how long it would take to find the tomb under Vale, not to mention Cinder's defeat, yet we've adapted to each development Doctor Fall sent me." Winter answered.

"The only thing she hasn't disclosed is our location. He still believes it's in a cave system miles further into this mountain range." Noel added. "If he does come this way, he'll bypass us, and we'll capture him from behind."

Winter turned back to Marron and the rest of Team RWBY. "I'm sorry I couldn't explain back there, but, you must understand that I had to protect this secret from both the public and from the Falls." she apologized once again.

"No, now that we understand, I think we owe you the apology for attacking you." Ruby replied, slightly grinning.

"That and the property damage..." Yang muttered.

"Miss Rose, I will be the one to take the blame in this case." Winter said, dismissing the short brunette teen's remark before turning to her sister. "And Weiss, I think I owe you the biggest apology."

"For what?" Weiss huffed. It was obvious out of the many in the room, she was the least understanding of Winter's public apology.

"For not defending you from Father." Winter finished.

"Oh! So you decide to do that now? Not just after these past two days, but for all this time?" Weiss criticized.

"Weiss..." Blake spoke up, trying to calm the duelist down.

"No, Blake! You know I'm not the one in the wrong here, right? You saw what happened back at the company headquarters, back during dinner. She didn't even make the effort to speak out against him!" she cried out, turning back to her older sibling. "Give me one good reason to believe you, because right now, everything you just said sounds like an excuse to me!"

Winter just stood there in a somewhat stunned silence for a moment before she bowed her head. "You want proof? Fine." she said calmly, reaching into her pants pocket. When she pulled her hand back out from it, Weiss looked inquisitively at the minuscule trinket Winter had produced. It looked like a crude, homemade bracelet made of plastic beads and twisted paper clips around a string. It looked as if a child had made it, which wouldn't be incorrect to say. "I've held onto this since you made it back when we were young." Winter explained.

Weiss' eyes widened as the memories came back to her. "Wait a minute, I remember this bracelet..." she realized out loud. This craft was a gift she made Winter back when the elder sister was furious with her for spilling juice on her best ballroom dress just before her fourteenth birthday. "But...you rejected it. I saw you throw it out." Weiss assumed.

"I'll admit, I was still pretty upset with you back then." Winter recalled. "You kept trying to find ways to apologize for weeks from offering this to inviting me outside to play in the snow, but like the ridiculous teen I once was, I wouldn't drop the grudge. It took that day that intruder broke into my room to realize what a fool I was being."


Ten years ago...

"Weiss? Weiss!" Winter shouted as she tried to struggle her way out of the intruder's grasp. Her sister still stuck in a thousand-yard stare.

"What luck!" the intruder exclaimed as he grinned wickedly under his mask. "Two Schnee brats! The price the White Fang have on just one of your heads would make me a rich man!" he cackled, pulling a snub-nosed revolver from his waistband, pointing it at the younger daughter to both girls' horror. Weiss was still to scared to move as he lined up his shot. It was a matter of a split second before he would pull the trigger.

"NO!" Winter screamed as she bit down on the hand holding his gun. The gunman howled in pain as her teeth sunk into his hand, the weapon firing off a shot with a loud crack that missed Weiss' head by a matter of inches, hitting the wall behind her instead. As the weapon fell from his grasp and clattered to the bedroom floor, Weiss suddenly found her voice and shrieked in terror as the intruder used a sharp knee to drive Winter to her knees, before a sucker punch to the right side of her face knocked her to the floor.

"Gah, you little bitch!" he cursed, looking at the bite mark on his hand, which was deep enough to draw blood. Winter could only growl in response as she tried to crawl to her feet before, once again, she was forced against the floor as he planted a boot on her back. "You get to die first for that!" he snarled, picking up his weapon. "This is what you Schnee's get for treating my people like dirt! Long live the White Fa-"

He never finished the exclamation , or fired off another round at either of the girls as two shots rang out. Winter suddenly felt the weight of his foot leave her back as a thud behind her resonated throughout the room. "What?" she asked as she looked up to see her father and some of the family guards in the hall. One of her father's bodyguards held a smoking pistol up as he eased into the room. The would-be killer lay behind her with two gunshot wounds to his right shoulder and abdomen, groaning in pain as Winter rose to her feet.

"Miss Winter! Are you alright?" the bodyguard asked as another guard stormed in, disarming the ruffian of his weapon and putting some handcuffs on him.

"I'm okay.." Winter said, wiping the trickle of blood from her lip as her father walked in next, Weiss peaking from behind his leg as she crept in behind her. "Weiss? Are you-"

Before she could ask, the dam broke, and Weiss began bawling as she shot around their father and leapt into Winter's arms, a gesture Winter returned as she embraced her crying younger sister.

"I-I-I'm so happy y-you're okay!" Weiss choked out between bouts of crying. "T-That w-w-was so scary!"

"I'm okay? Y-You're the one who got shot at!" Winter stuttered, her eyes beginning to water.

"Y-you're not mad, a-are you?" Weiss asked, looking up at her sister.

Winter bit her lip. In that moment, she embraced Weiss harder, kissing her sister's forehead. "Not anymore. I'm just happy we're both alright."

Silbern shifted his eyes from his girls to the guard dragging the intruder from the room. "You. What's your name again?"

"Morrison, sir." the guard who took the shots answered.

"Mister Morrison, thank you for keeping my daughters safe." the business tycoon said with a grateful smile. "I know it's your first week here, but come to my office once you're done getting this filth to the authorities. I have a position I'd like you to fill."

With a thank you and a nod, Morrison left the room with the other bodyguard. and Silbern joined his girls in their family hug, tears dripping down both his daughter's faces.


Present Day

Weiss's eyes began watering as she remembered that day. For the longest time, she relived it in vivid detail as a nightmare, but the reminder of the tender moment she shared with her family that day would help it become a good memory.

"I made a secret vow to myself not to let anyone hurt you after that day." Winter continued. "I've broken that vow on occasion because I wasn't there for you, and for that, you've been hurt time and time again. This time, you were right in front of me, and in order to keep this organization a secret, I forgot it again. Because of me, you're scarred once more..." she cursed herself as her younger sister noticed her arm beginning to tremble. "Because of me, Father disowned you."

"Winter..." Weiss spoke up, clasoing her hands around Winter's outstretched one, holding her charm. Not knowing what to say, she brought Winter close into a hug. "I'm not mad now. I'm just happy you told me the truth."

Winter was confused for a second, no matter how happy her sister was no longer angry at her. "But Weiss, it was my fault..."

"No, it wasn't. I know that now." Weiss snapped, cutting her off. "Sure, we fought. Father was the one who caused my scar to get bigger. He's the one who disowned me; not you. You've already apologized enough for not telling me sooner, but you don't need to apologize for something out of your control."

Winter wiped some wetness away from her eyes as Weiss spoke. "I do suppose I should have." she admitted. "So, is there any way you can find it in your hearts to forgive me?" she asked again, looking between Weiss and her team.

"I suppose I can..." Blake spoke up first.

"Me too." Yang nodded, hesitantly but her response being genuine.

"Same here!" Ruby eagerly replied.

Marron just simply glared down her former teammate, making the older Schnee sister feel uneasy until the Arc broke out into a grin. "Oh come on, Winter! You think I can't tell when you're being truthful? Of course I forgive you, partner!"

With a sigh of relief, Winter shook her head at her old friend's unconventional response in amusement. "How could I forget, Marron?" she smiled, breaking off her hug with Weiss.

"You did bring up a good point though, Winter." Blake noted, turning to Noel. "If we were supposed to join you, why not tell us when we confronted her?"

"Well, like she said, I may have jumped the gun and instigated the fight before she could..." Weiss admitted.

"But other than that, the Chess Initiative is a top secret joint operations task force for both Huntsmen and the military." Noel explained. "Only high ranking officers such as generals, as well as select Huntsmen and Huntresses know of its existence."

"After word got out about the Alpha Grimm in Vale during the restoration effort, concern spread through the other kingdoms like wildfire." Qrow added. "All this worry if another big bad Grimm breaking out of its cage and ransacking civilization added to a world already scared of the littler beasts they control."

"And if people knew about this coalition, that would make it all the more easy for those that want to harness the Alpha Grimm's powers to find us and attempt to free them for their abilities."

"Abilities?" Yang asked.

"It's only been hypothesized, but there's a chance if someone can absorb an Alpha Grimm's energy rather than bring the Grimm under their control, it can give them a dark power unlike anything you could imagine." Qrow explained. "The only way to do so is through sacrifice, like how you saw under Vale with Ironwood and your dad."

"Then...how can we help?" Ruby asked.

"You and Team SSSN already are, Miss Rose." Noel explained. "Not only have you defeated the Vale Alpha Grimm and kept it out of October's hand, but your work fighting Grimm and saving lives is already doing a great deal of good."

"While you were hanging around in Atlas, I was watching your boy toys as they cleared out a pocket of Grimm massing too close for comfort near here." Qrow explained.

"We guessed. You ran us into their operation, remember?" Marron reminded the drunkard.

"Either way, you've done your jobs well." Noel nodded. "I'll arrange for transportation for you back to Beacon by tomorrow. In the meantime, you can rest up at-"

She stopped herself as a beeping from the closed door behind them. Opening it, the general came face to face with Snow. "Mister Whitmore?" she asked.

"Sorry for the interruption, General, but ve have an issue."


Outside the prison, a lone guard at the first checkpoint yawned into his hand as he lounged in the seat of his small office in the security checkpoint to the prison's front gate. His shift was the loneliest and most boring, and the guard change wasn't happening until sunrise, or whatever time it would become light out. He couldn't see a damn thing through the snow whipping around in the wind of the storm around them. His attention was met when a warning beep came on his computer terminal. Looking it over, the radar screen showed multiple white dots, indicating unidentifiable objects were coming head on. With the gusts of wind and snow masking all visibility and sound, he stepped out of his checkpoint station, hand on his rifle as he tried to see or hear what was coming. He didn't see much as a sharp, cold spike was driven through his visor, then through his head. As his body slumped to the ground, a woman in a blue cloak slowly walked into view of the checkpoint, pulling her hood down as she pulled out a Scroll.

"Chains, begin the assault." Violet ordered.

"Copy that." the Faunus brute answered as a dozen Bullheads flew overhead into the prison. She grinned as alarms started going off and the chainguns of the dropships began laying down fire into the facility.

"This is going exactly as planned." she mused as she began to casually saunter through the front gate.