A Prison of Ice

IX.


Weiss was never a big fan of hospitals.

The powerful odor of soaps and other kinds of disinfectants always made her feel sick. All the different fluorescent tubes and trolleys filled to the brim with sharp pointy objects didn't help either. The memories were the worst though.

Mother had been hospitalized in the past, from almost drinking herself to death. It wasn't a pretty sight to see, to see all those tubes and equipment strapped up to your own mother. It did something to her that day, broke something within her after seeing her mother like that. Something that would probably never recover.

She had never liked hospitals since then.

It was an irrational thought; she knew that. If it weren't for the hospital her mother would have probably died. Despite that, she couldn't get that image of her mother out of her head. And now here she was again, praying that she wouldn't have to see a similar sight.

Room number 113.

That was his room. She took a deep breath and gathered her resolve before stepping inside. The bed was empty and the blue-haired boy that should have been lying there was standing by the window. Surprise was evident on his face when he saw her.

"… Weiss?"

She couldn't help but let out a relieved breath.

He'd grown taller since the last time they had met. Makoto had a few bandages wrapped around his neck, but otherwise didn't look as bad as she had expected. Aside from the dark bags under his eyes, he almost looked normal.

Had he not been sleeping well?

That was a stupid thought. How could he be sleeping well? After what happened to him and his parents. Weiss was just glad she didn't voice that thought out loud.

"Hey…" She replied; offering him a small smile. "How are your injuries?"

"… Just a few burns, nothing serious." He quietly answered. "What are you doing here, Weiss?"

She frowned and put a hand on her hip.

"Isn't it obvious? I was worried sick! You didn't reply to any of my messages or call me back!"

"Ah… right. Sorry." Makoto averted his eyes. "I was… a bit out of it."

"Hmph." She huffed. "… I suppose that I'll forgive you this time."

Makoto only gave her a small smile in response.

The small talk soon died off and Makoto turned his attention back towards the window. A light breeze floated in, blowing past his hair. She took a seat at the chair next to him and let herself relax a bit in his presence; enjoying the cool air all the while.

There was just something different about being with someone in person compared to a call.

"Hey, Makoto." Weiss eventually began. "Are you… doing alright?"

She wanted to slap herself.

What a terrible way to phrase it. She didn't blame herself for asking; she needed to ask. Makoto would have just kept everything to himself otherwise.

"I'm fine, Weiss." He replied with a forced smile. She could tell, they've known each other for years after all. "You don't need to worry about me."

Now she wanted to slap him. Why did he always have to be like this? He was always so quick to worry about others, but he couldn't even spare a fraction of that for himself?

"You always do this…" She bit her lower lip. "You can talk to me, you know." Her hands clenched. "You don't have to always try to keep everything to yourself."

Ever so slowly she stood up and wrapped her arms around him into a hug. She placed her forehead against his back and closed her eyes. He tensed up for a moment, but gradually relaxed.

"You're not alone, Makoto."

They stood like that for a while. She didn't know how long. Time didn't seem to matter very much anymore. The surrounding walls of the hospital room almost seemed to fade away. It was just the two of them in their own little world.

"Father… wasn't a good person." She could hear his voice crack a little. "But still… he was my father…"

Weiss only hugged him tighter.

"Why didn't I try to get to know him more…?"

There weren't any cries, sniffles, or anything of the sort. A tiny voice crack and a little shaking. That was all the emotions he was willing to let out. It was so very typical of him; to keep it all bottled in like that. That was just how he was, but that was alright.

Weiss would be there for him, regardless.

Always.


Makoto felt a strange feeling of déjà vu as he stared at the picture of his father placed neatly in front of his closed casket alongside his mother's.

It wasn't the first funeral he had attended, and he doubted it would be the last. Death was simply another facet of life; everyone's time would come, some earlier than others. Dozens of people that he had never even met before walked up to him and gave him their condolences. The Yuki Corporation was a fairly large company, so he shouldn't have been surprised at the amount of people that showed up.

One executive of the company asked if he wanted to give a speech.

Makoto refused.

It didn't feel right; he hardly knew the man after all. Even though they lived together all these years. He was closer with his father in this life than the last, but that wasn't saying much. That had been partially his own fault, he supposed. A strong relationship was a two-way street, and father had never tried very hard in that regard; so he had simply left it as such. In hindsight, he should have given it more effort himself.

That was his only regret.

Mitsuru had mentioned something similar to him once; of how she wished she had spent more time with her father. It was rather ironic, how he never thought much of the memory until now. The speeches finally ended, and the visitors began to shuffle about; some to place flowers on the table while others took the chance to socialize with one another.

Makoto stood off by himself near the edge of the entire event.

He didn't really want to entertain any of the guests right now. The company and other related matters could wait until a later time. For now, he simply wanted to be alone and have some time to reflect on recent events.

Unfortunately, a certain white-haired man seemed to deliberately seek him out.

"Ah, there you are, Makoto." Jacques Schnee casually greeted. He wore an all black suit and was followed by Weiss in an equally dark colored dress. "You have my condolences for what happened to your father."

Weiss gave him a small apologetic smile that he returned with one of his own.

"Thank you, Mr. Schnee." Makoto replied as he turned his attention back towards the older man. "Was there something you needed from me?"

"Jacques is fine, we're equals now after all." The Dust tycoon answered. "This has been a truly tragic turn of events, but still… it opens up a rather unique opportunity for you and the future of the Yuki Corporation."

It didn't surprise him that Jacques wanted to talk business.

"I suppose it does."

"Indeed. You know, your father and I had quite the strong partnership in the Dust trade…" Jacques trailed off for a moment, letting the words sink in. "I do hope that you and I will be able to build upon that partnership even further." He placed a hand over his daughter's shoulder. "... And in the future, you and Weiss as well."

Weiss averted her eyes and looked away.

"Ah, but I should leave you two to it for now. There's a few other executives and shareholders that I need to speak with. Now, if you'll excuse me…"

Makoto watched as Jacques walked away, disappearing into the crowd of black suits and dresses.

"Sorry about my father, Makoto." Weiss sighed. "He can be rather callous when it comes to the company."

"It's fine."

Makoto knew how Jacques was. His own father was much of the same after all.

"Hey… never feel like you have to go along with his plans just because of me, alright?" Weiss looked down at the ground. "Father… he knows what he's doing. He wanted to use me as insurance in case you wanted to back out of the partnership."

She looked up at him with a fierce determination in her eyes.

"But it's not like that, alright? I'm here because I want to be, not because of my father's orders."

Makoto just let out a small chuckle in response.

"H-hey! I'm being serious here!"

"I know, Weiss." He smiled. "I know."

She blushed a bit at that and looked away. "W-well. Good then. That's all I had to say on the matter."

"Thank you, Weiss. Truly."


The days after the funeral had been a complete blur.

Makoto had meetings to attend, lawyers to speak with, and an endless amount of paperwork to go through. It was almost a never ending tide of events that threatened to wash him away like a monstrous wave. Jacob had been a godsend for him during this time. He had served under his father for almost two decades now and had a good idea on how to handle most of the problems he encountered.

It was all but official now.

He had become the CEO of the Yuki Corporation, the de facto face of the company and leader. And he was not his father who prioritized profits above all else. The first objective that he had in mind was to add a benefits package for all the Faunus that toiled away at the company mines. It wasn't much, but that was only the start of things to come. They were innocent people that his father had been exploiting for years, it was the least he could do. His actions were bound to ruffle some feathers, but he didn't particularly care about that.

It was a lot of responsibility to suddenly throw onto one person's shoulders though.

Was this how Mitsuru had felt?

It was a wonder how she managed to navigate all of this while still being the leader of SEES. Sure, he might have had full command during their battles, but it was Mitsuru that handled everything else. He missed her and more than anything, he could have used her guidance right now. Perhaps he should have paid more attention whenever she would lecture Junpei and him. He couldn't help but crack a smile at the fond memories. It was unfortunate they were only that; memories and nothing more.

With a sigh, he put down his pen and spun his chair around.

Father's… No, his office was located at the top of Yuki Corporation's skyrise. Looking out the window, he could see the heart of downtown Mistral. Everything below him looked so tiny from the view; it almost felt like he was watching tiny little ants scurry about. Nonetheless, the view was gorgeous to say the least. Father had spared no expenses when it came to the business it seemed.

His scroll buzzed, and he was tempted to simply leave it be.

There had been countless people sending him messages since he had taken over his father's position. People that he hardly knew and some from complete strangers even; albeit employees of the company. Even so, it felt wrong to ignore someone like that, so with some reluctance he picked up his scroll and looked at the message.

Surprisingly, it had been from Mercury.

They hadn't talked much since he left. Apparently, Mercury had to hide his scroll from Marcus, fearing repercussions if he ever found out. And with how busy he had been lately, aside from a few text messages here and there; that had been the extent of their communications. Still, this was the first time that Mercury had ever messaged him first.

"Heard abt what happen to ur dad."

Mercury's messages weren't always the easiest to read, but considering how he didn't even know how to read when he first met him, the boy had come a long way. The indicator that signaled someone was in the process of typing a message lit up. Only for it to disappear and reappear again a couple of seconds later. Makoto raised an eyebrow as he watched Mercury delete his message only to type something else in its place over and over again.

Eventually, it seemed Mercury finally decided on something to send.

"Sorry."

Makoto couldn't help but chuckle a bit. All that for a one letter text message? He shook his head a bit before he typed out his response.

"It's alright, it's not your fault. Thanks for reaching out."

A brief moment later, his scroll vibrated again.

"Woulda come to funeral but pop took me to Vacuo for job."

He had expected as much, to be honest. Marcus didn't strike him as the sentimental type.

"How's the weather there?"

It took Mercury a couple of minutes to respond this time.

"Too damn hot. Got sand in my shoes."

Makoto just laughed in response. "So Atlas is too cold and Vacuo is too hot?"

"Both shit. Mistral best."

If he had to be honest, he couldn't disagree with him there. Mistral, along with Vale never got too cold or too hot.

"I'll be sure to take your advice into account when I'm planning my next vacation."

...

"Pop coming back. Gotta go."

Makoto didn't bother typing out a response.

Mercury probably wasn't going to read it anyway if Marcus was going to be nearby. Still, that had been a rather entertaining conversation. It helped give him a much needed break from all the paperwork, anyway. With a light sigh, he turned his chair back around towards the stack of paperwork on his desk.

His respect for Mitsuru only grew for each new document he needed to look through.


Author's Notes- I don't have much to say this time, just happy to see some people like what I wrote. Thank you all for the reviews! See you all next time.