Chapter 55: Just getting some bad vibes, man

Thanks to euphoric and Boothnat for helping to edit.

Mr. S honestly couldn't believe that had worked.

In the absence of any more rational explanations, the engineering team seemed content to sleep the entire ordeal off and look over the design he'd presented later.

They weren't completely convinced, but they were far too curious now to leave without looking into things more.

So, all in all, Mr. S was quite confident about things.

Beside him, Schwarz listened attentively as he excitedly recounted the details of his recent victory in winning over the engineering team.

On his left, a small cat sauntered along with quick steps, head pointed up as it listened to Mr. S's words with equal attention, if with less understanding.

According to Schwarz, the cat belonged to Winter. Apparently, the kids had gotten it for her in order to improve her mood before the upcoming coronation.

Mr. S thought it was pretty weird, considering the context of Weiss and Blake's relationship, but he was content to shut his mouth about the entire situation.

"What exactly is the purpose of the project?" Schwarz asked.

"Meow!" The cat mimed in a high pitched voice, having taken to mimicking Schwarz's general actions ever since she arrived.

"Oh, I wouldn't want to waste your time with that," Mr. S dismissed."Suffice it to say, I think it'll come in handy. You have far more important things to worry about, considering you're going to be the new CEO today."

"Right," Schwarz agreed, glancing off to the side.

Of course, her new status wouldn't be official, so much as a dirty secret they would all work to hide from the board. CEO's couldn't exactly ask for someone to cover for them… not legally, anyway. Faking an illness would probably- no, definitely be more trouble than it was worth...

But beyond the bounds of politics was family, and, as much as Schwarz wished it wasn't the case, they couldn't hide the fact of her promotion from everyone.

Because the board was one thing, the Schnee manor household was quite another.

And soon, she found herself standing in front of the ominous doors.

Stepping inside, she found, gathered around a short table, the various heads of staff caught up in some indistinct chattering.

They all turned to face her.

It was just now that Schwarz remembered she wasn't a Schnee. And, going by the looks they were giving her, the various heads seemed intent on reminding her of that fact.
"Security head Schwarz," Nannen called, standing up in greeting.

"It's CEO, now, actually," Mr. S corrected with a smile.

The expression on Nannen's features, if anything, seemed to grow sterner in the dim light.

"Well," she huffed, "that is certainly quite the announcement to make."

"She's going to be acting as CEO for the next several months," Mr. S explained.

"And are you too good for the position, Jacques?" the head maid admonished. "Allowing such…" she glanced at Schwarz disdainfully, "an outsider to head our security was one thing, but now you expect her to take control of the entire castle?"

"She'll be doing it on my behalf. I need to focus my attention on other matters, surely it's not unheard of to have a temporary replacement."

"But, Jacques, surely-"

"Schwarz is eminently qualified," Mr. S crossed his arms, looking at all the head's sternly. "Do you perhaps know of someone better suited for the job?"

"My daughter Frasa is just coming of age," Nannen described, "she is competent, and has already attained far more experience-"

"That may be so," Mr. S scowled, "but I have the privilege of choosing my replacement, Nannen. Schwarz will be running the company in the interim. The board can not know of this, and I expect you will all give her the support she needs." He glanced around, eyes scanning instinctively for any hint of challenge.

"Of course," Nannen nodded. "We would be honored to work with you, Interim Head Schwarz." She bowed lightly in the new head's direction, and all other members of staff stood in unison to allow her that same honor. The Head Maid's voice was clipped with obvious formality.

Nannen then sat down, as did all the other heads of staff; and from there the previous conversation carried on as if nothing had interrupted it.

He handed her the last of his access passes outside of the room, whose doors were once again closed, Schwarz having already memorized the necessary codes

"Meow!" Snowflake said with a high pitch, purring and running figure eights between her legs.

It amazed Schwarz how easily the animal seemed to have taken to the situation.

She felt as if she'd come out of the ocean when she'd stepped back out into the hallway.

She was the new head now.

It amazed her to comprehend that statement.

Mr. S had rushed off after the meeting, giving her some words of thanks and looking increasingly harried by every additional moment he stood by her. Schwarz hardly noticed his impatience, it felt rather nice to be alone with her thoughts.

"Meow!" Snowflake comforted.

Well, almost alone.

And, taking a page from the cat's playbook, Schwarz let out a sigh and stood up.

Well, she was the new CEO now. It wouldn't be good for her to... she basically knew what she had to do. She looked down at her tablet. On it was displayed Mister Schnee's… well, she supposed it was her schedule, now.

On top, written in beautiful, handwritten cursive was the personal message Schwarz wrote out on every calendar she made:

"We can do this!"

A small smiley face decorated the corner of the page the motivational sentence was written on.

Below that was written far less motivational: "Oversee installation of new shields." And beyond that were several dozen more items relating to castle repairs.

In addition to that, a click of the button revealed, there was still an army of security projects she was still responsible for.

Ok, Schwarz felt the world slow around her. She looked at the clock; it was already evening.

And looking back down at the Schedule, she could already feel a perfect plan of attack forming in her mind. She'd bring Beryl up to speed, let her share in the security related repairs, and as for the medical…

"Meow!" Snowflake spoke again.

Schwarz felt herself trailing off from those thoughts.

The cat was an unfriendly reminder of something else she'd neglected.

The bell on the old clock tower chimed.

The coronation!

Schwarz was a very instinctive animal. She was an expert in logistics, management and planning but, if even the slightest hint arose in her to do something, she wouldn't hesitate for a moment to throw away her calendar and do it.

And, for whatever reason, Schwarz felt a sudden urge to attend the coronation. She just felt very strongly that she had to be there.

Blake was never one for the spotlight.

Much as she shunned stereotypes, she rather preferred working from the shadows, out of sight of everyone before she ambushed them and threw a bomb into their midst-

Or threw them a surprise party.

That latter skill had seen more use, recently.

Still, parties weren't her thing.

And a coronation… especially one so large and high-profile as this one… one that was being hosted at the Schnee Manor… well, that really wasn't her thing.

Still, they couldn't skip the ceremony - much as Blake would have preferred to.

Noooooo, that wouldn't be "taking control of the conversation" as Pyrrha had put it. And Weiss, having grown tired of her whining, had put it in even simpler terms:

"Look, I didn't make you take this stupid job! But if you're going to do it, stop complaining about it!"

And so Blake begrudgingly submitted to the increasingly pressing series of requirements that ended up with her standing in the middle of a wall of mirrors, being stuffed into a dress that required three instruction manuals to put on.

"Ok, inhale now," the young woman behind her instructed, tugging at another of the series of ropes that netted over the back. "Not that much," she quickly corrected when Blake, apparently, made the grave mistake of breathing incorrectly.

Blake, as it turned out, had much to learn about the minutiae of preparing for a ball, and apparently of dressing herself.

The maid was nice enough, and generally kept up at least the appearance of patience.

Weiss, on the other hand...

"Ugh!" She walked purposefully across the white carpet "Just…" Weiss firmly reached up to lift Blake's chin, using her other hand to compress the faunus' diaphragm, "hold it here," she instructed.

Blake felt a sudden, sharp, tug as the maid finished with the final set of strings.

In one swift motion, the dress shaped itself to her figure, hugging Blake all over in an example of instant tailoring.

"There!" Weiss admonished. "Was that so hard?"

Blake grabbed the wide skirt of her dress, spreading it even wider as she turned slightly in front of the mirror… catching a glimpse of the darker shades of sable decorating the back… Blake caught herself admiring the fabric, promptly growing embarrassed as she dropped the skirt and turned away from the glass.

She didn't even want the stupid dress!

Blake was all too aware of how little social capital she had in the manor, capital she had to dedicate to her position as head of the committee, she wasn't going to spend it fighting for a dressless coronation.

It didn't sit right with her, wearing an expensive dress at the SDC's expense. But, everyone seemed to agree that she'd made the right decision.

Well, almost everyone.

"Weiss," Blake called.

"Blake," Weiss said, facing directly away and, unfortunately, looking straight into a mirror, where she caught Blake looking sadly into her eyes.

Weiss deflated. "Why did you take this stupid job, Blake?"

"It's not a job! I just feel like I need to try-"

"Try what?" Weiss spun around to face her directly. "Are you planning to win my father over? Maybe we can all hug it out after a tearful confession or two?"

"No! But, I have to see if anything can be done! Weiss, I owe it to too many people not to! I never thought any faunus could be given this opportunity, and he's the one who offered me the job in the first place. I don't expect it to be perfect, but maybe we can accomplish-"

"You're not going to accomplish anything! Do you even know who my father is?"

"You're the one who said he didn't hate faunus that much!" Blake accused defensively.

"Yes!" Weiss nodded with an odius expression. "That is what I said! I said he didn't hate faunus as much as some other people. Nowhere in that statement was there a recommendation that you join this committee!" Weiss flailed her arms, beating the air.

Knock, Knock.

Two, decisive thuds came from the door, and Weiss just barely kept from screaming.

Winter let herself into the room, raising an eyebrow at the defensive posture Weiss took between her and Blake.

A sudden chill fell over the room. This was the first time, all of them noticed, that Blake and Winter had been so close.

"Weiss," Winter nodded in greeting.

"Winter," Weiss nodded back.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Blake," Winter nodded again.

"A pleasure."

"As you know, the heads have decided that it would be… counterproductive, to have father heading your coronation. Bad optics, I'm sure you understand, considering the context."

"Right," Blake said.

"So I, as the eldest, will be heading your coronation. My part will be minor, but if you ever get lost, know that you can look to me for help."

"Of course, thank you," Blake's words fell from her mouth.

Everyone had agreed that Mr. Schnee shouldn't be the one to host the coronation - bad optics, they had said.

Even she had agreed.

So Blake wondered why she still felt like throwing up.

She was enamored by the wooden doors. Beyond them, a hurricane of camera flashes beat against the oak. She could hear several hovering bullheads in the garden beyond.

"We have found her to be a consummate huntress and a friend to this house…" Winter's voice faded in and out over the comms system. It was muffled by the doors, but Blake still heard enough to make a good impression of it.

She tried to smile at Weiss. At least Winter didn't hate them!

It probably came out more nauseous than friendly, judging by the look Weiss sent back at her.

"Stop smiling!" she admonished with a whisper.

Blake fell back to a neutral expression, feeling the cool-warm air flowing over her exposed shoulders. Beside her Weiss was wearing a similar dress, dark blue to her turquoise black.

Weiss had her eyes closed, pointing her face up as she let out a meditative breath and rolled her shoulders in preparation.

Just then, at that very moment, it suddenly hit Blake.

Oh, gods, they were both going out there to tell the world they were working with Mister Schnee! They were going to talk about the Faunus Outreach Commission. What even was that?! What- what kind of name even was "Faunus Outreach Commission"?!

Blake could feel her breathing pick up.

"I'm sorry!" she warned Weiss suddenly. "You don't have to come with-"

"Of course I have to come with you," Weiss interrupted, sounding decidedly calm, eyes still closed.

"But… you didn't even want to do this. You can just-"

"It doesn't matter what I want!" Weiss scowled suddenly, opening her eyes and pointing a rich expression at Blake. "You're going to head this committee, and I'm your girlfriend, so I'm going to support you!"

"I know you'd support me!" Blake took Weiss's hand in hers, bringing it up and squeezing it like a childhood blanket. "But you can do that in private, Weiss, I'll just go out alone-"

"Stop!"

Blake froze, holding in some surprise at the suddenly intense look that took over Weiss.

"Stop being ashamed, Blake," Weiss warned. "People are going to think whatever they want. They're going to know whether you tell them or not. So I suggest you get used to attention, because you're going to be the center of a lot of it from now on!"

Blake hardly had a moment to take that in before Winter's voice came over the comms:

"And now, the house presents its newest Committee Head: Blake Belladonna."

A thin strip of brightness revealed itself as the doors parted.

"Remember, just keep a neutral expression," Weiss whispered to her, lowering her hand as they stepped out into the ballroom in unison.

The interior was filled with light.

High intensity beams rained down from resplendent chandeliers, reflecting off the polished stone surfaces that made up every surface of the room. It gave the space a character not dissimilar to a firestorm.

Blake blinked against the new sensation, quickly reminding herself that she needed to maintain a neutral face.

Looking out, she was glad for the reminder, because the dense crowds she saw staring up at her nearly made her faint. Everywhere, a mass of people filled the open spaces where the light didn't penetrate, colorful dresses and suits shimmered as a thousand brilliant faces looked up at her with expressions too small and varied for her to make out.

Feeling the blood draining from her face, she looked up at the open wall, which led through several wide, glass windows that opened directly onto the yard.

There were bullheads parked; around them, news crews swarmed like ants.

"Weiss," Blake whispered.

"What?"

"Winter didn't say anything about news cameras!"

"What cameras?" Weiss hissed back.

"There, in the yard! With the bullheads."

Weiss paused for a moment to peer out at the yard.

She thought she could make out several warning lights from a bullhead further back. Whatever, she took Blake's word for it.

"It's a big event," she answered, dismissively.

"I don't like cameras!" Blake said.

"Stop focusing on them, then! Just make your speech, answer some questions, and we can get out of here!"

Weiss let go of Blake's hand and walked off to the side, allowing Blake to come to a stand still at the metal podium.

All fell silent, and even the front row of photographers put down their cameras to listen in an attentive hush.

Blake felt a fake-friendly smile coming on, but quashed it.

She took a small breath, feeling the weight of the moment.

"I am honored to be the first head of the Faunus Outreach committee. I'm… certainly surprised that it has come to this, but I'm… confident that we can make great strides to improving the lives of Faunus everywhere. I wouldn't have accepted the position if that weren't the case and I can promise now that I don't plan to keep the job if that doesn't continue to be true. Thank you."

A roar went up at that, and an assault of flashes washed over Blake and her podium.

Yeah, she definitely shouldn't have improvised.

Winter quickly restrained the crowd, much to Blake's thankfulness.

"We will be taking three questions," Winter explained in the newly formed silence, scowling out at the crowd, daring anyone to make an errant noise.

Blake quickly recalled the faces of the "random" people they'd given "questions" to beforehand.

"Yes, you in the back." Blake pointed out a short woman who most definitely was not a Schnee house servant.

"Uh, what is your stance on the White Fang?' The woman asked, struggling not to look too obviously at the crumpled note in her hand.

"I supported the Fang exclusively in its peaceful protest days. I do not condone what Kamilla Khan has turned my father's organization into, and I hope my actions can do some measure of good to…" Blake scowled, struggling not to look too obviously at the crumpled note in her hand, "restore the good faith that has always been a bedrock of the values I and so many other faunus hold dear."

Looking out at the back edge, she could see her friends all clustered together, hopping in place to give her pointers, such as Pyrrha miming for her to stand up straighter, and Nora directing some message which she felt was best expressed by her punching violently into an invisible face.

"Uh, next question," Blake said, blinking and pointing out the next mark.

"What is your stance on murder?"

"It isn't good," Blake answered, politely shaking her head.

A wave of chuckles, most amused, a few a tad nervous, rolled through the audience.
Piece of cake.

Right, things were going good so far. As long as she picked the right person, she'd just get another easy question, and-

Unfortunately for her, she picked the wrong person.

"Next question." She pointed at last to a goth looking faunus girl who was an uncanny twin of the one they'd paid off earlier..

"Uh, hi," the girl smiled bashfully, speaking like a trained actress that didn't even need to look at a card. "Um, this kind of a silly question, but I felt it might be fun to answer!" She squealed her final syllable up to a shugary pitch. "Soooo, I just want to know: what's your stance on drinking laws and, if you could choose to drink beer or smoothies, what would you pick?

Blake, having checked out after the first two words out of the girl's mouth, waited simply for the sounds to stop before she took a confident breath and answered simply:

"Yes."

"Yay!" Nora whooped in the ante-room, lifting up a beer-stein filled with pineapple smoothie.

"I think you did really well," Pyrrha complemented, still wearing her own red dress.

"Thanks," Blake blushed, quite uncomfortable with being the center of attention.

"I still can't believe how stupid most of those questions were," Yang commented, her own gold dress fluffing up as she curled into her couch.

"Haha, yeah," Blake admitted, looking off to the side.

Everyone was in formal dress and enjoying the informal atmosphere.

Weiss was in the corner trying valiantly to keep from throwing her guts up.

"Uh, hey, uh, Weiss," Yang said, finally daring to broach the Weiss-shaped elephant in the room. "Ya doing alright?"

"No!" Weiss yelled, hugging her forearms to her gut and pacing intently up and down the anteroom.

"But what's wrong!?" Ruby asked, looking up at her with metalic eyes. "Winter said she liked Blake!"

"No, she didn't, Ruby," Weiss corrected through some nerve induced nausea. "She said: 'We have found her to be a consummate huntress and friend to this house.' That's a completely different thing!"

"Ok…"

Weiss barged on.

"Do you have any idea how little that actually means!? There are fish gut distributors that 'friends to this house!'" Weiss shook her head, and continued her pacing. "Gods, Winter's probably gone off to bed by now! She doesn't even care anymore, does she? Oh, I knew this would happen! I just knew this would happen!"

"Weiss, don't talk like that!" Blake implored.

"I'll talk however I like!" Weiss yelled, overpowering everyone with the broken wavering to her voice. "Winter doesn't care about me anymore! Why would she?!"

"She does care!"

"Really?" Weiss turned back onto Blake. "Does she? If she really cared, she wouldn't let her own prejudices come between us like this! If she really cared, she would be here by now!"

Click.

The doorknob turned and everyone froze.

The door swung open and Schwarz came through.

"Schwarz!" Weiss yelled, rushing over to the woman. "I knew you'd come! Please, sit!" Weiss all but dragged her to Yang's couch, almost throwing its previous inhabitant off in her haste. "Did Winter send you here?" Weiss sat down directly across from Schwarz, tapping her closed fists together with anticipation.

"No," Schwarz answered immediately.

"Oh."

"I actually came to see you myself," Schwarz said, feeling the tension in the room.

Schwarz paused, thinking of how to best continue.

"I came to let you all know that I will be acting CEO from now on," Schwarz decided to let them in on something distracting.

Unsurprisingly, the reaction from Weiss was subdued.

"Oh," she said, as if she'd just been told yesterday's forecast.

"And, as acting CEO," Schwarz decided after a moment, "I can ask Winter to take a break and visit you now."

"What do you mean?" Weiss looked up at her suspiciously.

"Winter has been busy with cleaning up the Coronation," Schwarz said. "She's rather lost in her work, but, I can-"

"Don't bother!" Weiss leapt up, pacing again. "If she's busy with her party planning, why should I make her come here?"

"Well," Schwarz looked down, and back up again. "It's nothing, really, but I imagined you might want a bit more closure to this?"

"She'd be here right now if she really cared! I have all the closure I need." Weiss repeated again. "And, you know what, I actually prefer it this way! Why would I want to hear what she has to say?" Weiss laughed."

Just then, the door opened and Winter stepped through.

"Sorry I'm late," she said to everyone, "the staff needed some help cleaning up."

Weiss fainted.

"...eiss."

"Weiss!"

Winter's face hovered over her.

She could feel a soft wind gusting over her face.

Where was she?

She looked around at the small, warmly lit room.

And Schwarz was here, too.

In a flash, she recalled everything. The coronation, her ultimatum, and, and...

"Winter!" Weiss yelled with a sugarland squeak.

Weiss didn't remember exactly how she came to be in a stand. All she knew was that she was suddenly standing, and everyone seemed to be sending her impressed looks.

A brilliant grin leapt to Weiss' face and she forced it back down to a more respectable, subdued smile.

"Winter!" she repeated again, gesturing out to the taller sister before her and hopping up slightly onto her toes as she did so.

She looked around at her friends, still smiling.

"Winter!" she explained to all of them, gesturing out at the woman with another small hop.

"Weiss, are you abusing prescription medication?" Winter asked seriously.

"What?" Weiss said, aghast, unable to keep the happy smile off her face despite the accusation. "Of course I'm not!" she laughed.

"Because some pain killers were stolen from the medical ward this morning, and I just want you to know that I'm not judging, but-"

"I'm not on drugs!" Weiss protested, stiffening her body into a straight line and pointing a slightly less smiley expression onto Winter. "I'm just… glad you're here."

"Of course I'd be here," Winter said. "You're my sister."

"Haha," Weiss laughed, feeling her smile returning. "I know! I mean, I don't know. I just… I had this crazy idea…" Weiss trailed off.

"What?"

Everyone fell silent, and Weiss looked around herself at them, looking for some support in that before she admitted the embarrassing fact.

"Well, I just thought… well, that, you wouldn't approve of my relationship with Blake and not show up, haha!" Weiss chirped out nervously. She surprised herself. Why was she still so nervous?

Winter smiled kindly, and leant down to put a hand on Weiss's shoulder.

"You're my sister, Weiss, and I love you. And, no matter what mistakes you make, I'll always be there to support you through everything."

Immediately, Weiss felt a cold horror grip her heart, and her smile disappearing more by the second.

"What..." Weiss asked breathlessly, "what do you mean by mistakes?"