A Prison of Ice
V.
Weiss didn't know how to feel after Makoto told her about his father.
She had met Mr. Yuki before and he had seemed like a nice person. Sure, there were some bad rumors about him, and the media liked to spin their own stories for clicks, but she had never believed them. The media did the same thing to her father and her family as well after all. But, if even Makoto claimed that the stories were true, then she wasn't sure what to believe anymore.
If the stories about Mr. Yuki were true, then did that also mean that the stories about her own father and the Schnee Dust Company were true as well?
They couldn't be, could they?
Father… He wasn't exactly what she would call kind, but that was mainly because he was always stressed out from work. It was the White Fang's fault if anything, for always attacking their Dust convoys and mining facilities. Yes, father could be a bit grouchy, but he wouldn't lie to her.
Would he…?
No. The stories about the Schnee Dust Company couldn't be true.
She had seen pictures of the mines and the workers there. They didn't look anything like how the stories described. Maybe they were right about Mr. Yuki, but that didn't mean they were right about her father. The Schnee Dust Company was—
The sound of glass shattering against the ground shook her from her thoughts.
What followed after was some more yelling coming from her father's office. His room was right across from the family's study so it wasn't hard to overhear conversations when they got a little too loud. Weiss came to the study to do some reading, but it might have been better to start bringing the books to her room instead.
Winter and father's arguments had been escalating into full-blown screaming contests as of late. Winter and father's relationship had always been a bit frosty, but ever since mother started drinking, their relationship had only gotten worse. It wasn't a thought that she wanted to dwell on any longer, so Weiss picked up the book from the table and began to make her way into the hallway back towards her room.
She could still hear the yelling coming from her father's office as she walked down their house's long hallways.
Weiss looked outside the windows of the hallway and stared at the falling snow for a brief moment before letting out a small sigh. Maybe they would finally stop arguing once they all got together at the dinner table. Then again, knowing how stubborn father and Winter could be, it was probably wishful thinking at best.
Makoto had a lot on his mind as of late, so he was all too glad to have a proper sparring partner now.
Sparring was an easy way to turn off his brain and just focus on something else. He didn't want to think about his father's shady past or the Yuki corporation's misdeeds anymore. They were all just so tiresome to think about that it just made him feel exhausted more than anything.
How was he supposed to react to that anyway?
How would anyone react if they found out their father was a murderer? That their family business was built from literal blood money? He didn't know, he had never been put into a position like that before.
His father was objectively a bad person, but did that even matter?
He was still his father, wasn't he? Wasn't family supposed to always look out for each other? Even if their relationship wasn't as close as he would have liked, it wasn't as if father had ever treated him badly.
What was he supposed to do?
It wasn't like his father would just suddenly change his ways just because he asked him to. Should he report his own father to the authorities? Would that have even changed anything? With the resources that his father had at his disposal, he doubted that anything would have come from it other than souring their already flimsy relationship anyway.
He was still just a child after all.
Maybe he could change things one day when he inherited the family business; but until then? What could he do? Everything was so much simpler before, conquer Tartarus and defeat the Arcana Shadows. It wasn't an easy task by any means, but at least everything was laid out plain and simple.
This was something else entirely.
Makoto was never good with emotions or managing relationships. That was something that he had to learn on the fly over the course of that unforgettable year with SEES. It was all just so troublesome to think about that he would rather just not think about it all and focus on the spar instead.
So, that was what he did.
Mercury's foot came flying at his head as he ducked underneath it and threw a punch back. The silver-haired boy caught his fist and tried to drag him down into a grappling match. They had been sparring for a little over two weeks now and while Mercury won most of them at the start, he'd been stealing a few victories here and there as of late. His hand-to-hand was starting to get better by the day; Akihiko would have been proud.
The sound of his scroll ringing on the table caused the both of them to suddenly freeze in place.
Mercury slowly let go of his hold and they both got back up to their feet. Makoto looked over towards his scroll and he could see Weiss's name flashing on the screen. He picked up the scroll and began to walk over towards the other side of the room for some privacy. It wasn't like he particularly cared if Mercury wanted to eavesdrop or not, but his calls with Weiss had always been just the two of them.
He didn't want to change that.
"Girlfriend calling you again?"
"She's just a friend."
Mercury just snorted at that. "Yeah, alright. Whatever you say, boss man."
Makoto didn't bother replying to his sparring partner and answered his scroll instead.
"... Hello, Weiss."
"Makoto." Weiss's familiar face appeared on his scroll's screen. "... Did I catch you at a bad time?"
"No, it's fine." He casually waved off. "I was just doing some sparring with Mercury."
"Sparring?" She asked with a raised eyebrow. "I thought that you trained in the mornings."
"I do, but..." He trailed off for a brief moment, unsure of how to respond. "... I just wanted to clear my head a bit."
"Oh… Are you doing alright?"
"Yeah, I'm fine. Thanks for asking." Makoto replied with a bit of a forced smile. "How about you?"
Weiss just let out a sigh in response. "... It could be better."
"What happened?"
She had a bit of a pensive look on her face. "... It's about Winter."
Makoto raised an eyebrow. "Your sister?"
"Yeah." She slowly nodded in response. "Father… He… He disowned her!"
"What…?" Makoto asked. "Why?"
"Well… Father and Winter, they've been having arguments for a while now." Weiss explained with a rather downcast look. "Their last argument… It didn't end very well."
She looked back up at the screen with worry evident in her eyes.
"What should I do, Makoto? Winter's going to be leaving for the Atlas military soon, and now father's made me the heir! Winter was the one that father had been teaching to be the heir, I don't know a thing about that!"
Makoto just gave her a wry smile. "I'm sure you'll make a great heir, Weiss."
"How do you know that? Father hasn't taught me anything! I don't know a thing about the company…" Weiss trailed off and looked away for a brief moment. "... And now that Winter's not going to be here anymore, I'm going to be all alone…"
Makoto knew that Weiss had some family problems of her own. It was why they always confided in each other. He knew that she really looked up to her big sister and that Winter leaving probably hurt her a lot.
He just wanted to say something to comfort her.
"... That's not true, Weiss. I'll always just be a call away when you need me."
Weiss's eyes grew wide at that as a slight blush began to creep up on her cheeks.
"... Yeah, I guess you're right about that." She replied with a small smile. "Thanks, Makoto."
Makoto just smiled back.
Mercury didn't know how to feel about the heir of the Yuki Corporation.
Makoto was a weird guy, not like any of the other kids that he had met before. They usually either looked down on him or treated him as if he didn't exist. Makoto did none of those things, in fact, he even seemed to go out of his way to try to be friendly with him.
It didn't make sense.
Mercury didn't have anything to offer, after all, he wasn't rich nor was he as skilled of a fighter as his father.
It just didn't make sense.
People weren't friendly towards you unless they had an ulterior motive; unless they wanted something. That was how the world worked, that was how it always was. And yet, for the last few months that he had been here, Makoto hadn't asked him for anything.
Mercury just didn't understand.
"Hey, Mercury." Makoto began as he took a drink from his water bottle. "I think that's enough sparring for today. Do you want to get lunch?"
Makoto always offered to get food together after their spars. Mercury just didn't understand why. He had refused in the beginning, but Makoto kept asking after every spar, and eventually, his stomach won out.
"... Sure," Mercury replied.
He followed after Makoto as they made their way to the Yuki household's dining room. Makoto's house was so huge that it actually took him a week to learn the layout of the place. They had their own private chef that prepared all their meals for them, and he wouldn't lie, it was some of the best food that he had ever eaten in his life.
Mercury just didn't understand why he would share such good food with him. It wasn't as if he had anything to give back in return. The thoughts swirling around in his head just got to the point where he couldn't help but ask.
"Why are you being so nice to me?"
Makoto stopped slurping at his bowl of noodles and looked over towards him with a raised eyebrow.
"What do you mean?"
"... The spars. The food. Eating with me. Why…?"
Makoto just looked at him strangely, but Mercury didn't understand, he was the strange one here.
"I don't have anything to offer in return." Mercury tried to explain.
"... Why would I need something in return?"
"Because no one does anything for free. Everyone always wants something in return, so what do you want from me?"
That's what Marcus had always told him.
"Nothing."
Mercury narrowed his eyes. "The world doesn't work like that."
Makoto just shrugged in response and continued to slurp at his noodles.
Mercury still didn't understand, but maybe that was alright. It wasn't a bad feeling to have someone to eat with for once.
And the food sure tasted good.
Author's Notes- Hmm... Neptune has blue hair. Makoto has blue hair. Am I seeing a trend here, Weiss?
