AN: Next chapter and in a timely fashion for a change.
Please tell me what you thought about the chapter. Any kind of feedback is appreciated.
RWBY
"... and this concludes the team announcements for the first semester students."
Blake Belladonna felt a constant wave of discomfort going down her spine. The atmosphere at Beacon auditorium was filled with anxiety and discontent that triggered all of the heightened instincts of her faunus heritage. The repeat of the initiation test for the remaining candidates had concluded earlier this week without any changes to the procedure and officially started the school year. Naturally, the results of this retry made those students unhappy who believed their teams and partners would have been better the first time around.
The older years were just pissed to be dragged into the first year assembly without explanation and losing a week of practice. The further advanced in the training, the more serious the student body tended to get about their career choice.
As such, the glares towards the culprits responsible were intense and blatant. Glynda Goodwitch made sure that a certain group of twelve people who hadn't been put into teams stood front and center for everyone to see and direct their displeasure. Cardin and his friends acted as unfazed as ever, only Dove looking dead tired with a smiling Pyrrha by his side who told Nora and Ren about her recent loss in the sparring room. Dove Bronzewing had become a hurdle the invincible girl couldn't overcome easily and she savored the novelty like a rare delicacy.
Weiss didn't bother interacting with the dethroned champion. More concerns went to the silent Sky Lark, avoiding eye contact on the few occasions she sought it out.
Blake had a lot to think about, courtesy of the many revelations during the first initiation test. Perceptions about people and institutions had either changed or solidified in her mind. She still hated the Schnee and just added a healthy amount of wariness to the equation. The youngest Schnee could be positively terrifying in polar opposite to the dainty appearance.
Even now she caught herself putting distance and other people between Weiss. Far enough to stay unnoticed and close enough to take advantage of her enhanced hearing. She perked those sensitive ears just in time to catch the start of a heated discussion with Sky Lark.
"I really don't know what you are angry about."
Sky answered in a tone that made it easy to imagine the exasperated eye roll. "And I don't know why you would drag me with you for my expertise on motorcycles when you decide to ignore it anyway."
A Schnee unappreciative of labor provided? Stop the presses.
"You called the dealership a den full of scammers and crooks! They threw you out and I had to buy something to save face!"
To Sky's credit, the guy stayed firm against the screeching. "They were selling overpriced garbage, provable by the ungodly amalgam you decided to buy without my input. The bike may look pretty but don't complain to me when the whole thing falls apart on the first drive on an uneven road."
"You could have said that instead of threatening the employees!" Weiss Schnee turned down a few octaves after getting scathing looks from Professor Goodwitch. "Is it salvageable?"
"By exchanging all of the unfitting parts and recalibrating from scratch, which will take us forever." Sky said the next part with conviction. "Yes, I said us. You either help me or the thing stays an expensive ornament."
The quiet grumbling of the heiress was too low for Blake to understand, but she got the gist of her capitulation to his terms. He managed to get what Blake had failed to achieve.
A win over Weiss Schnee.
That automatically put him in the column of alright people in her book. All of Jaune and Cardin's group had managed to land there. How couldn't they if all of them were willing to throw away their spot at Beacon for her boyfriend? The weird friendship between Adam and those guys intrigued Blake to no end, because he never had spoken a single word about them. She couldn't fault him for keeping things private when many details of her plan at Beacon hadn't been shared with him either.
Nonetheless, they were a part of his life she knew nothing about, which made her naturally curious. The tall and blonde bodyguard beside her was as good a place as any to start socializing. Jaune Arc was polite, accommodating to her need for privacy and never bothering when she did her live shows from their shared living space.
His courtesy helped her to concentrate on gaining followers at a higher rate than predicted. The faunus had severely underestimated the market for cute girls with cat ears. Her channel was still overshadowed by the established heavy hitters in the game, but Blake could already herself on a fast track to passing them in popularity.
It also meant she barely had spoken three words to him for their whole week in Beacon together. For anything to change in that dynamic, Blake had to be the one initiating the socializing.
"So, nice weather, isn't it?"
"If rain is your thing, I suppose it is."
"Yeah, true…"
Too bad she sucked at being social beyond a prepared script and the lack of engagement on his part proved that without any doubt. The constant glances he threw towards the other blonde in their class and her sister was the most interest he'd shown in anything today. It stood out to Blake, because Yang and Ruby weren't doing anything special during the assembly, their faces glued to their scrolls and typing on occasion with lightning speed. Although on a closer look, Yang seemed a lot more introverted than usual, completely unaware of her surroundings even after Goodwitch gave the distracted girl the stink eye and Ruby wisely chose to put her scroll away.
The older sister kept watching what was now clearly not text but a video feed. The reckless idiot was facetiming with somebody!
"What's her deal all of a sudden?" Blake asked, trying to sound casual when Yang's scroll got confiscated by telekinesis and she looked a second away from jumping on the stage and driving her thumbs into the eye sockets of Miss Goodwitch.
The headmistress made one glance on the acquired device and went noticeably more pale. After a quick exchange between her and the person on the other side of the call, Yang wasn't given back her scroll but Goodwitch completely dropped even acknowledging the incident happened.
"Yang met a famous uncle she never knew about. She's pissed he couldn't stick around for long to catch up. They got his scroll contact and keep pestering him nonstop for the next meetup."
"What kind of famous person?" Blake's curiosity was piqued when the headmistress kept glancing towards Yang with renewed caution.
"Ever heard of Qrow Branwen?"
"Their uncle is the author?" A successful book series for children and young adults didn't sound like the biggest catch, but the theme of adventuring super huntsman at least matched with her brand as an aspiring huntress in training. Enough for a small fluff piece in her back pocket on a slow week.
"No, her uncle is Qrow Branwen. The books apparently are describing real events."
Blake scoffed. "And you believe that nonsense?"
"Met him myself. I have an eye for strong people and he means business just from a glance." There's a hunger in Jaune's expression, almost manic and in stark contrast to the usual lethargy. As quick as it appeared, the demeanor went back to normal. "He's the real deal. I know it."
"I see…" Blake said evenly, in stark contrast to the screaming voice inside her head that urged to walk up to Yang and beg for that scroll contact.
"Oh, I'm not supposed to spread that around. Something about international ramifications otherwise."
"You don't say." Blake thought, barely capable of keeping the snark internal. Picture people getting bent out of shape when they find out all the crazy conspiracy theories, myths and near apocalyptic events of fictional stories suddenly changed into documentaries.
Stories containing cybernetic grimm, an engineered zombie virus targeting only faunus, the hunt for immortality at the bottom of the ocean and top secret weapons disguised as humans among other things. Qrow Branwen had been twice on the shattered moon by book ten, once through getting kidnapped by a cult of space colonists and the other time to save them from literal alien grimm!
The headmistress forced Blake to put the existential crisis about her crumbling world view on the backburner. Miss Goodwitch had rattled off from one mundane announcement to the next since proclaiming the first year teams, not really showing any care for the fact most weren't really listening to her anymore. Now her voice turned sharper like the crack of a whip to show for the next part inattention wouldn't be tolerated.
"We have one more announcement for today. Would the first row please join the stage?" It was phrased like a request but nobody had the illusion that they were given a choice in the matter.
Blake and Jaune closed ranks with the others from the first round of initiation and Weiss Schnee leading the group. The wave of renewed scrutiny targeted against them made the cat faunus almost go haywire.
"Starting this semester, Beacon will employ a special program for exceptional huntsmen and huntresses, a merit-based group with no guaranteed spot for anybody. Twelve seats, no more and no less. Fail to live up to expectations, and somebody more qualified will take your place and reap the multiple benefits."
Ears perked up among the crowd.
"This program is an addition to the normal curriculum. Anybody averse to extra work should stay away."
More than a few lost their enthusiasm.
"Unusual circumstances made these twelve first years the initial configuration, but it certainly isn't guaranteed to stay this way. If you're invited to join this class, we already consider you to have the potential for becoming the greatest of your generation. Graduate at the top, and you will leave your mark in history."
Goodwitch was definetly laying it on thick to mess with them. Especially students from older years looked positively livid for being overlooked in favor of some freshman. They received the biggest targets on their back before even the first day of lessons.
"The class representative is always the number one rank in combined combat and scholastic achievements. For now, it will be the valedictorian of the atlesian combat school, Weiss Schnee."
Subdued murmurs from the student body showed the level of resentment they held for this decision and the desire to remedy this fact soon. Weiss stood more straight regardless, taking pride in the nomination even if nobody else shared the joy with her.
All the more jarring was the sudden loud clapping from the back of the auditorium. The crowd turned their heads to the entrance, eager to see who showed genuine excitement for a Schnee. The applauder was tall and lean, wearing a suit and shoes in the same shade of white as his hair and moustache.
"DADDY?!"
The man stopped clapping after the deafening outburst and dead silence settled in the room, every person stunned from shock or mortification in the case of Weiss. The red faced heiress had her mouth sealed shut with both hands and stormed off stage towards the man.
"This… this concludes the orientation." Goodwitch said, as interested as the students in watching Weiss drag the man outside by the sleeve.
While some had needed the context clue of Weiss literally screaming the status of their relationship to realize the identity of the man, Blake recognized the smug expression from every high-value target list she had ever been handed during her time in the White Fang.
Jacques Schnee, CEO of the Schnee Dust Company and arguably the most powerful person in Remnant. A man whose decisions changed lives and decided fates on a global level. The boogeyman who faunus parents scared their children with to make them eat their vegetables and go to bed.
Here at Beacon visiting his daughter.
"I have to see this!" Blake was halfway off the stage when a sudden thought made her stop and turn back to Jaune. "Are you coming?"
Natural curiosity battled with the scary prospect of spying on two Schnee alone, the catastrophic outcome of facing the perceived lesser evil of the two still fresh in her mind.
She hoped for dear life Weiss Schnee was the lesser evil with no real evidence. While Jacques Schnee and Winter Schnee were constant figures in the media, nothing was known about the youngest of the illustrious Schnee line. The girl was sheltered like a precious treasure and never showed in public beyond the rare sightings with personal protection similar to world leaders.
If Blake could listen in to that confrontation between father and daughter, the insights about Weiss Schnee could be invaluable in handling the girl in the future.
It still frightened her to do it alone.
"Sure, sounds interesting." Jaune replied and Blake felt a wave of relief.
Finding the two was easy. The only pearl white limo in the parking lot couldn't be missed by anyone with functioning eyes. A stubby man with balding brown hair and equally impressive moustache had joined the two in his black chauffeur uniform. A nearby hedge served as the perfect spot to observe unseen and Jaune closed up to her in perfect covertness. It suggested experience in stealth and Blake once again wondered how much Adam and Jaune had learned from each other.
Questions for another day when they weren't shadowing the most powerful family of Remnant.
The heiress was out of breath from running while dragging the larger adult with her and Jacque Schnee waited patiently for his daughter to collect herself. "Hello father, to what do I owe the pleasure of your visit?"
Jacque Schnee said nothing, standing still as a statue and eyeing his youngest with a piercing look.
Weiss began to sweat. "Father, please don't do anything reckless."
Blake became increasingly uncomfortable watching. Jaune just stared with the same blank expression as always.
The white moustache of her father twitched and Weiss crumbled. "I'm begging you!"
The plea fell on deaf ears. Jacque grabbed for his daughter, Weiss began to scream and Blake almost joined, until the heiress was lifted off her feet by the waist and twirled around in his outstretched arms like a toddler.
"Daddy let me down! The people might see!"
The man was having the time of his life in stark comparison to his struggling victim. "Let them see, my little girl. Why would we concern ourselves with the opinions of others?"
She managed to wrangle herself free from the iron hold and land gracefully on her feet. "I'm seventeen and not a little girl anymore!"
The chauffeur stepped between the two. "Forgive your father, Miss Schnee. He's afflicted by a severe case of empty nest syndrome."
Blake almost choked on her spit when the head of a multibillion lien company began pouting like a child. "Who wouldn't, Klein? My little Weiss left Atlas to play huntress and my barely less little Winter frolics in the desert of Vacuo."
The daughter acted as childish as her father, stomping her feet in frustration. "The guilt trip won't work, father. I made my choice to enroll at Beacon and will stick to it!"
"Who's guilt tripping? You don't have to think about your old man sitting alone in his cold and empty home."
Weiss was close to ripping her hair out. "Winter and I both agreed to come on every semester break, holidays and birthdays. What else could you want?"
The man's lip began to quiver and he covered his eyes with a hand. "Oh, so now spending time with your father is a chore? What have I done to be hated by my own flesh and blood?"
"What? Daddy no! I would never…" She was clinging to her father's arm like a lifeline, trying to see his face as he continued to sob unconvincingly.
He revealed a silly expression going cross-eyed and tongue touching his own nose.
"You are such a child!" Her tiny fists kept hammering on his chest, making Jacques's ringing laughter all wobbly.
"And you don't dress like one anymore. Since when do you show midriff, young lady? Aren't you a afraid of the Schneeckle monster anymore?"
"Oh gods, not here!" Pure terror took hold on the helpless girl when she was grabbed again to be lifted from the ground, higher than last time to make said exposed midriff the same level as his face.
Without warning he put his mouth on her naked stomach and blew the mother of all raspberries. Weiss made the sounds of a dying whale over the artificial farting noise.
"Nooooooo…"
An impressed whistle made Blake aware that she and Jaune hadn't remained the only ones watching this trainwreck. Yang and Ruby were taking position behind the hedge next to them.
The whistle originated from the blonde. "Damn… I thought our dad was bad."
"That's a perfect ten on the parent embarrassment scale!" Ruby whispered incredulously. "I thought those only happen in myths!"
The sisters weren't proficient in staying hidden through actions or appearance. A canary yellow mane or a crimson red cloak didn't blend in well with the greenery. "Keep it down you two!" Blake hissed and almost popped a blood vessel when Yang waved at her.
"Oh hey, didn't see you there."
"That's the point!" Blake growled and turned the focus back on observation, the scene somehow transformed from embarrassing to sweet when she hadn't been looking. Both Schnee were engaged in a tight hug, the daughter holding a wrapped parcel to her chest.
"...love you daddy…"
"... love you too my little snow fairy."
Apparently she didn't like to be called cutesy nicknames and gave her father a round of pokes and nudges in his ribs. He retaliated by tickling her sides until she cried tears from laughter. The two kept tussling with each other like a bear with his cub, until their butler Klein cleared his throat.
"Sir, I hate to interrupt your bonding time with the young Miss Schnee, but our flight back to Atlas is scheduled in a few hours and there's still the meeting with the council beforehand."
There was this brief moment between the disheveled Schnees that Blake would describe as sadness deep enough to rival the bottom of the ocean. Those two loved each other to the point of showing physical signs of withdrawal, the moment Jacque took a seat in the limo and closed the door. The adult man poked his head out of the sunroof to wave goodbye at his daughter and the girl ran after the vehicle for several seconds like a dog chasing the weekly dump truck, waving back and yelling after the limo until it had gone beyond the horizon.
Yang licked her teeth and shuddered. "I'm getting cavities from all that sugar in the air."
"I think it's adorable!" Ruby cooed.
"Quiet! She's coming right for us!" Blake felt her mouth go dry when escape from the Schnee became pointless, blue eyes laser focused on their position.
They were witnesses to a last wistful expression before the transformation from happy daughter to Weiss Schnee, heiress to the Schnee Dust Company and walking block of ice on a warpath. Hard to say what version of Weiss could be considered the real one, but chances were pretty good the four of them wouldn't be confronted with the nice version.
The curt tone in which she addressed them in the bushes confirmed that. "Belladonna, let it be said that I would have been perfectly willing to honor your boyfriend's wishes to leave you alone. That's off the table after you spied on me in a private moment of weakness."
This wasn't indifference to Blake's existence anymore. The faunus had upgraded from beneath her notice to full-fledged nuisance. Cold shivers ran down her spine as Blake imagined what that could mean for the future.
"And you three can consider yourself warned to be in the same boat as her next time."
Yang snorted at the haughty tone of the dainty girl who didn't even reach to her chin. "How gracious of the little snow fairy to grant us plebeians clemency. Seriously, do you think you're better than us?"
The moment Yang called Weiss that nickname, she had her full attention. "I did my research and know I'm better than you, which is not really your fault. Taking your living conditions into account, you've done well for yourself, Miss Xiao Long."
The eyes of Yang gained a red glimmer and Weiss showed the barest of smirks.
"My father didn't spiral into depression and alcoholism when my pregnant mother died. He had the mental fortitude and sense of duty to look after his remaining family with love and care. Curious how nobody ever investigated if Mr. Xiao Long was still suitable to teach children, let alone care for his own."
The tone was conversational, but the underlying threat made it anything else but casual. "Maybe all it takes is one caring soul, concerned for her troubled classmate to remedy this regrettable circumstance."
Lilac had turned to burning embers. "I can't wait for combat class to wipe off that smugness from your face."
The scathing look of disappointment from Weiss took everyone off guard. "This is the best another valedictorian can come up with after a threat to her family? You will beat me up at school to show me who's boss? After all that blustering and empty bravado, you retaliate with this kind of limp response?" All the contrived politeness dripped from her face like a wet paint and was replaced by pure disdain. "If our roles were reversed, my hands would already be squeezing around your neck."
In a millisecond, the heiress had the blade of a red scythe pointed at her face.
"That's more like it. A bit crude but an appropriate response." Weiss rolled her eyes at the show of force, until she saw the light in those silver eyes. Crescent Rose shook in the hands of Ruby and yet her expression had a silent determination. The heiress kept her present tugged under one arm and went into a stance with the other pointed towards Ruby's chest, ready to strike without her weapon in a practiced way that made Yang tense as a board.
Jaune unfolded his arms and gave Blake the smallest nod towards Ruby. It would be her responsibility to stop the girl with the scythe and she would happily oblige when that meant letting him deal with the crazy-eyed Schnee.
Those detached cold eyes glanced to a nearby surveillance camera and back to Ruby before getting a razor's edge that left no doubt in Blake's mind what would happen next. If Ruby chose to attack now, Weiss would be able to claim self defense for whatever matter of retaliation. Who could fault her for holding nothing back against an armed opponent?
"Stay away from our father…" Ruby said with a tremble in her voice that sounded more like a plea than an order, which suggested her realization of what she had walked into by drawing a weapon on this kind of person.
The index finger on Weiss's outstretched hand pushed against the unsharpened part of the blade, pushing it gently to the side with a sigh. "Practice what you preach Rose and we won't have any trouble."
And with those words, Weiss walked past Ruby and back into the dorms without a care in the world, head held high and immaculate posture. The message was clear and the conditions set; don't mess with the Schnee and she won't mess with you.
Blake wished she could get back to that agreement.
"Sheesh, what an ice queen. I'm getting frostbite looking at that Schneesicle." Yang made it a point to shiver in an exaggerated manner, waiting for the reception to her wordplay.
She would have to wait for a long time to get anything remotely positive from the fuming Blake. "Then maybe don't get close when you're incapable of being stealthy. The murderous bitch noticed us because of your whistling ass!'
"Wow, the kitty has claws." Yang joked, doing paw motions and matching cat meows.
"Eat a dick, bimbo. I'm not in the mood for your alpha female shit!"
Yang huffed once, eyes turning red again before she passed Blake with a shove against her shoulder. Ruby followed after her sister a moment and an apologizing look, leaving Blake to stew in the consequences of her actions. A line had been crossed but Blake wasn't even remotely interested in sparing feelings right now. Yang Xiao Long could maybe break her bones, but Weiss Schnee could destroy her in ways beyond the means of most people.
Blake almost jumped from a firm hand on her shoulder. "You're shaking like a leaf."
As always, the same neutral expression on Jaune Arc. This guy seemed to live in a constant state of mild boredom, regardless of the circumstances around him. It made Blake even more upset to see somebody so unfazed in stark contrast to her inner turmoil. "You've heard her, haven't you? I'm on her shit list! People don't have long and happy lives on that list!"
"Adam asked me to look out for you. Nobody will hurt you." A simple statement of fact, not the words of somebody looking to soothe her worries. As long as he was there, no harm would befall Blake for the simple reason that he made a promise to Adam. "Physically at least. You're on your own on the emotional level. Against that sharp tongue of hers I'm useless."
Blake couldn't help herself and chuckled. "Was that a joke?"
"I'm an alright listener, just don't expect any insightful advice for the problems you tell me. But before that it's time for your next broadcast."
A quick look at her scroll showed he was right and just enough time to make herself presentable. "You remembered my schedule."
"I don't want to disturb your performance by entering in the middle."
"You don't have to wait outside. It's your room too and I trust you to be quiet by now." Well that, and she really wanted him close for the foreseeable future.
"It would give me the opportunity to start with the first Qrow Branwen book."
Blake showed the first genuine smile today. "And you can tell more about the real guy afterwards. I'm really curious."