Again they had to walk out of Mantle, the job Withley had chosen was to search for some plants, he had never done any physical labor before so he didn't know how to fix a house and he didn't know how to fight Grimm so he chose the safest option, looking for plants in a land covered in snow.

He thought that the area around Mantle would be empty, after all, there was no reason for people to be outside of the city limits, and he didn't see anyone the day before.

Yet even after walking outside of Mantle there were still meeting people, some of the people turned to look their way others just ignored them and kept doing whatever they were doing.

'Kazuma, why are so many people out here?" Whitley asked Kazuma as he led the way towards the plants they were looking for.

"They need to pay the bills and put food on the table" Kazuma answered him

"Some of them are huntsmen that are coming back from helping one of the villages out there the rest are just people trying to live" Kazuma continued to explain

Whitley wanted to say something but he soon heard the sounds of children laughing and he found a group of Faunus children playing in the snow, with another group of human children.

Rude immediately clicked his tung at the sight.

'Don't like Humans and Faunus being friends big guy?" Kazma asked Rude who didn't answer

"People do what they need to do to survive, Mantle is no different than Atlas, the people in the center of the city are better of than the one at the edge"

"Those kids live on the edge of the city, so they do what they have to do to survive, and that means making friends with each other if they have to," Kazuma said to Rude as they continued to walk.

No one of them said anything after that, the only sound they could hear, for what felt like hours was the sound of the crunching snow beneath their feet as they walked.

After what felt like hours Kazuma and Aqua finally stopped walking, unfortunately, they stopped walking in the middle of nowhere.

"Okay, Aqua and I will keep watch, you two go look for those plants," Kazuma said to Whitley and Rude.

"...How are we supposed to find the plants?" Rude asked Kazuma who just hummed to himself.

"I don't even remember how the picture looks like," Whitley said to Kazuma but Aqua interrupted him when she threw a snowball at Kazuma, the two of them began to play in the snow and ignore both Rude and Whitley.

'Hey!" Rude yelled at the two and immediately both Kazuma and Aqua lost their playfulness.

"Look there are a lot of lessons you need to learn and the two of you are old, so you need to learn fast"

"I'll be nice and help you, but if you want to be adventurers your going to have to stand on your own two feet"

"Lesson one, always ask for the picture of the thing you're looking for"

"Lesson one part two, don't just assume people will help you, ask them to and remember people don't help for free" Kazuma said to them, before becoming quiet again.

All of a sudden the serious guy that had been present a second ago was gone and he was replaced with the usual smiling man that Whitley had come to know.

"Look underneath your shoes," Kazuma said to them, both Rud and Whitley did what he told them and they found several plans crushed underneath them

'Aqua and I come here from time to time, the plants can be used to make home remedies to cure a cold and bring down high temperatures" Kazuma said to them before he graved a handful of snow and began to pat it together before throwing it at Aqua.

Whitley wanted to protest, but he remembered that this was his job, he was the one that had chosen the picture, so he began to dig more and more snow and he soon found the plants he was looking for.

Unfortunately for him, snow is always cold so his fingers were freezing, he needed to remember to wear gloves next time.

He soon noticed a small glow cover his hands and he noticed that his fingers weren't cold anymore.

Maybe it was his aura maybe it was something else, but Whitley didn't care the only thing he cared about was finishing the job he could get back inside and get warmed up.

"Boss!" Whitley heard Rude scream before the man ran past him and attacked something giant

Whitley barely registered how close the creature was, he would have died had Rude not been there.

Whitley was about to turn around and run when Kazuma walked in front of him.

"Tell your boy to get back, he's not going to beat that thing using his hands," Kazuma said to him

"But" Whitley began to protest

"It's okay leave it to me and Kazuma will kill it," Aqua said to him.

Rude get back!" Whitley ordered Rude who barely had time to turn back before the dragon Grimm tried to freeze him with ts breath.

"Buff!" Aqua screamed and Whitley couldn't believe his eyes, one moment Rude was about to die the next he was standing next to Aqua and being held by Kazuma by his coat.

"Aqua!" Kazuma yelled and Aqua immediately graved Kazumas hand

Whitley watched as the two began to glow with green and blue light

"Create fire!" Kazuma screamed as his hands let out enough fire that it melted the snow and the dragon Grimm at the same time.

After that neither Rude nor Whitley said anything, they just graved the plants they had gathered and returned to the bar before going back to Atlas.

Neither of them could believe what had happened, they were completely outmatched in every way, Rud didn't stand a chance against the dragon, he knew that had the Grimms attack landed he would have died and Whitley realized just how useless he was.

The moment they returned to the mansion, Whitley didn't bother acknowledging the maid, no he had something important he had to do, but he knew that he couldn't ask his grandfather for it.

He soon found his mom sitting on the porch drinking.

Whitley suddenly felt himself lose all of his strength, but at the same time, he felt that if he didn't say what he needed to say, then he wouldn't be able to do it again.

"Mom," he said to his mother but she didn't answer she just kept on drinking

"I want to learn how to fight' he said to her, yet again his mother didn't say anything she just kept looking at nothing.

"The training room is open, but your not ready to fight against anything in there you are going to need people to train you," His mother said to her

"Why can't you?" He began to ask his mother but he saw her pour wine into another cup, but instead of drinking it she shoved it slightly

"I helped train both your sisters and look at what happened."

"I'guideuid you whenever you need me guide you, but I cant lose you too" she said to him before standing up and handing him the glass of wine.

Whitley looked at the glass and instinctively took a brink and he was surprised to find that it was just grape juice.

"Boss" Whitley heard rude say to him as he turned around he found his grandfather's assistant standing next to Rude, however rather than her usual uniform she was now wearing a long white dress with a back vest.

"I shall train you with my feet," Silver Fox said to him

"I'll show you how to use your hands boss," Rude said to Whitley

[[Present]

Silver fox grit her teeth as she aimed her gun at Winter, the woman may have been her boss's granddaughter, but at the moment she was nothing more than an Atlas soldier.

The Atlas military had taken Kazuma and Aqua and refused to tell anyone what they were going to do with them.

That was something she couldn't allow, so she used what little authority she had left to gather a small team and retrieve the two fallen adventurers.

She knew her adopted, no her boss, no Nicholas would have ordered someone to save them, so why couldn't that someone be her.

Everything had gone right, they had managed to intercept the hospital ship and get to the two unconscious adventurers, but what they didn't expect was the military response.

"Put your gun down Silver!" Winter ordered her

Silver just looked at Winter, the two of them were nearly the same age, but while Winter had the freedom to chose her life, Silver had her life chosen for her.

It wasn't a bad life, but she knew what the woman in front of her had gone through growing up, unfortunately, Winter never bothered to look in her direction while she lived in the mansion.

Perhaps it was her hard life, perhaps it was the all too common disgust humans had for Faunus.

Regardless of the reason, Silver didn't have any problems pulling the trigger if she had to.

"Silver put the gun down, all of you put your gun down" Whitley ordered them

"Where are you taking them, Winter?" Whitley asked his sister

"That's confidential," Winter said to her brother

"..." the two of them looked at each other

"Get Kazuma and Aqua, we can look after them in the mansion," Whitley said to his men, who immediately began to walk towards the beds where the two adventurers laid.

"Whitley order your Turks too, " Winer said to her brother

'Or you'll shoot me, your own brother" Whitley said to winter

before walking up to her and standing in front of her

Winter toward over her brother, but the boy dint back down

'You saw what those two did out there, imagine what they will do if they think you did something to either of them" he said to Winter

[Sometime in the past]