Whitley walked into the streets of Mante it was his first time seeing the city alone, grated he shouldn't be here but he wouldn't let Winter be right.
He wasn't their father's puppet, but he wasn't like his sister either he did have his secrets one of them being the reason why he was in Mantle, to begin with, he was here to visit two people he called friends.
Kazuma and Aqua were or are two of the strangest people he had ever met, for more reasons than he cared to admit, Kazuma has been making a living by giving all sorts of machines that use dust and making them work by using other things.
For one he created a type of heater that worked by putting snow in one end while on the other end steam came out.
His machines had become popular, not just because anyone could use them, but because of how cheap they are and how user-friendly they are.
Aqua had become somewhat of a celebrity, she had a way of using dust to perform acts that looked like if she was using magic and she enjoyed passing the time performing for people, but she liked to drink so it wasn't unusual to see her passed out and seeing Kazuma carrying her home.
Whitley had met the two after accompanying his father on one of his business trips and seeing Aqua performing one of her magic tricks for a group of children, he watched as Kazuma arrived, and even if he couldn't hear the two and what they said to one another he had seen the two perform their act for the children and their parents.
It was then that he did something he never did before, he opened the door of the car and walked closer to get a closer look at the performance.
Ever since then he would go down to Mante and watch Aqua perform or watch Kazuma as he worked in his shop either building new machines or repurposing old Atlas technology and making something that shouldn't exist.
He never spoke to the two he just passed the time with them, until one day Kazuma spoke to him.
"Hey we're going to go kill some monsters, get your coat, your coming with us," Kazuma said to him
"I'm not a Huntsman or a soldier" Whitley answered Kazuma who just looked at him
"Yeah I know, but you're here, I'm here and Aqua is here so we have a team with the three of us, so you're coming with us" Kazuma answered him, as he walked out of the door and turned off the lights.
Kazuma and Aqua weren't that much older than his sister Weiss and honestly, Whitley didn't know why they wanted him to accompany them when he's never had any combat training.
"So what's your name?" Kazuma asked him, while Aqua happily hummed to herself s they walked.
"Whitley Schnee" he answerd Kazuma.
Whitley had to admit he was surprised that Kazuma didn't know who he was, considering that his grandpa was the founder of the dust company and his dad was the one running it now.
"CooL. I'm Kazuma and the blue one is Aqua" Kazuma said to him as Aqua continued to hum to herself.
"Look Aqua and I will keep you safe, but you're going to need a weapon and a lot of dust, try getting things your comfortable using, like a gun or a stick," Kazuma said to him as they crossed the street
"Try to get yourself some armor, and don't forget to buy a first aid kit, because there's a chance Aqua might not be around one day," Kazuma said to him as they arrived at the edge of Mantle.
Whitley was hesitant to go any further, this was the first time he had gone this far from home alone, and granted he was wearing warm clothes, but they were clothes suited for the environment that was inside the city, once he stepped out of the range of the heaters, his clothes wouldn't be enough.
"One step, all it takes is one step," Kazuma said to him as he walked out of the city
Whitley watched as Aqua followed Kazuma without a care in the world, he watched as they walked further and further away and stopped waling and waited for him.
"All it takes is one step" Kazuma's words repeated themselves in his head and before he knew what he was doing Whitley walked past the city and entered into the snow-covered lands.
He followed Aqua and Kazuma until they reached a cave, and he felt his eyes widen when Kazuma created a ball of light to light their way into the cave.
"So what are we doing here?" he asked Kazuma as they walked deeper into the cave
'The companies have all the dust under their control, but we found some they missed" Kazuma answered him before he stopped walking and printed to Whitley.
Whitley turned and saw that in a small corner of the cave were dozens of dust crystals, there were many in fact they were only enough to fill a small house but other than that they posed no threat to his father's company.
"You and Aqua keep an eye out for monsters, while I get those things out of the wall," Kazuma said t him
He spent the rest of the day listening to Kazum dig the crystals of the cave wall, before choosing to break the stone wall around the crystals and get them out that way.
When they finally went back to Mantle, Kazuma gave him a bag filled with crystals, he said that was his pay for the day, after that Whitley went back home, he didn't need the crystals, but for whatever reason, he couldn't help but take one or a few out and look at them while he laid in bed or sit at the table.