2 Days Later…

Location: The Farm

In the fields on the farm, the leader of the Collective silently collected the fruits of his labor, the ripe fruits from his garden, putting them into a basket.

Wiping the sweat from his forehead Thanos looked up and smiled. For someone as powerful and influential as him, he did find joy in the simple things in life, like working on a form, providing for himself and the members of his organization. In his eyes such simple acts bred character.

"Hard at work on this beautiful day my Lord Titan?"

Thanos turned as he saw his second-in-command Silco standing at the end of the field behind him, arms clasped firmly behind his back.

"Sometimes you have to enjoy the simple things," Thanos responded as he dropped another piece of plucked fruit in his basket "what is it Silco? You normally don't show up here."

The half scarred man made his thoughts quite clear immediately.

"Do you think she's ready for it?" he asked, clearly referring to Weiss Schnee's recent appointment as new member of the Collective.

"I do. Having doubts old friend? You where the one who suggested she take Adam's spot" Thanos replied as he grabbed the basked with one hand and walked towards his subordinate.

"Well you seem to make a lot of exceptions for her, especially her recent behavior" Silco noted as Thanos now stood beside him.

The Mad Titan looked upon his colleague and simply noted.

"Isn't that what every father does."

"Indeed" Silco simply replied, understanding what his boss meant and was referring too.

Placing the basket on the ground and placing his hand on Silco's shoulder the Titan spoke once more "there is a difference between being a leader and being a father. Most don't know how to separate the two, know when the correct time is to be a leader and be a father."

Silco nodded in agreement.

As Thanos grabbed the basket and proceeded to leave the scene he heard "you brought that boy to her world didn't you?" The question was unexpected, but not surprising. Silco had always been one of the most observant members of the Collective.

"Yes I did" Thanos admitted.

"To make her happy right? Because I do wonder if these past few days was either a huge coincidence of events or a deliberate plan to get the volatile bull that was only causing us problems out of our way and grant his position to your surrogate daughter."

A short silence followed as the two looked at each other.

"With all due respect my lord Titan, you know I will follow you into every battle and stand by your side. But I do wonder…bringing this boy to her world, was that your decision as a leader or your decision as a father."

Thanos didn't immediately respond, instead when he did he countered with his own question.

"What would you have done?"

And Silco didn't have an answer to that either, neither did he get one to his question. But his emotionless face turned into a slight smile.

"Daughters, they sure make you see the world quite differently, don't they brother" he said as he walked up towards Thanos. The Mad Titan nodded in response as the two walked forward towards the giant barn they called a headquarters, in mutual understanding.


4 Months Later…

Location: Weiss' World

Weiss overlooked from her balcony as soldiers marched over the training fields, silently observing them with ice cold eyes, dressed as per usual in her military attire, with one notable exception, a small new pin adorning her hat.

"I see your army is doing well" she heard someone say, turning her head around she saw Raven leaning against the balcony door with her arms crossed and her same signature smirk drawn on her face.

"As they are meant to" Weiss replied shortly, not even fazed by Raven's unannounced presence. The wild haired woman smiled "I must admit they are certainly more orderly and listen better then Adam's merry bend of disorganizer rebels."

"Is that supposed to be a compliment?" Weiss asked condescendingly.

Raven simply shrugged "I can give praise where it's worth. And you have been doing quite well. Considering your current well…predicament."

With that Weiss turned around, a clear bigger belly visible. Raven took notice of it and her smile faded, being replaced by an emotionless and direct look.

"My duties are to the Collective, as an official member I have my part to play, more importantly than ever before" Weiss said as she stepped forward, away from the balcony.

"You are too close to entering the second trimester right. There is nothing wrong with taking it easy in preparation, I'm sure the Great Titan will understand" Raven said.

"Are you going to give me motherly advice now Raven. I certainly don't need it from the one that abandoned her child right after she was born! Unlike you I will not be such a coward" Weiss angrily scowled, walking past the woman and into her office.

Raven sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose in annoyance as Weiss sat down at her desk, beginning to look over some documents.

"I don't think you really understand what you're getting into" Raven finally said.

"Like what? I think I understand it perfectly."

From the moment Raven had found out about Weiss' pregnancy she had somewhat mellowed out against her new colleague, still slightly spiteful but more of a begrudging respect had formed in the last few months. She knew Weiss wouldn't abandon this child, why would she? It was all that was left of him.

"Look," Raven started as she moved in front of Weiss' desk, grabbing the general's attention "from one mother to another. Things will get overwhelming, you will start to think a lot. Do you honestly believe I wanted to leave Yang behind! Leave Tai behind! I just saw no way out, just fighting a doomed fight for a doomed world but now…everything has changed. So let me give you some actual advice. There is no shame in letting go of your child if the fight is for something greater, we try to make a better world to leave behind for them after all."

Those words seemed to hit Weiss. And it be the first time ever she would ever agree with Raven Branwen on something. With a somber expression on her face she asked.

"What must I do?"

Raven shrugged her shoulders "I can't answer that, what worked for me might not work for you. What I do know is that working for the Collective takes a toll. And you won't always have time for the child, you need to find the balance between being a leader and being a mother."

Weiss took those words to heart as she placed her hand on her belly, feeling a faint beating. Her head rushing with the memories that she attained not too long ago, the night of passion she had spent with her reunited lost love, the father of her child.

"I promise I will keep you safe" Weiss whispered to her child, a single tear rolling down her cheek.


A/N: And with that we reached the end, just only the short epilogue left. I want to thank everyone for supporting and enjoying this story, I had a blast writing it and I hope to continue writing about the multiverse organization the Collective a lot more, if anyone knows interesting stories as a reference idea let them know in the reviews and I will check them out. Once again thank you all for supporting this story, I loved writing it.