A/N: I promised myself I'd stop ranting about Adam and talk about Weiss this chapter, but I re-watched the final fight with Adam vs. Bumblebee and got mad all over again. Because I wanted to like Adam. I wanted him to be a credible villain. I wanted him to have depth and complexity.
I wanted him to be the next Zuko.
How awesome would it have been? You've got a young man who grew up with unrealistic expectations dishonored from the people he loves the most chasing down the one person he internally blames for all his problems. Plus the black and red color scheme. Plus half his face being burned off. He's got loyal people, including a calm, more mature older companion figure, and could easily have gone from White Fang terrorist, to fugitive, to allying himself with the teams and getting the White Fang to turn on Salem.
I know hindsight is 20/20, but I sure wish that the writers would have had some modicum of foresight.
For Frostbite: it's going to be a slow burn. I want it to progress realistically.
The bluff that overhung the forest gave a great view of the land below, but was not without its drawbacks. It was colder and the wind was constant, making a fire impossible, not that he'd want a fire: the smoke and flame in his position would give his position away in an instant. He kept an eye on the four campers seated around a fire less than a quarter mile away.
They were far too young to be out here by themselves. This part of Mistral was rife with grimm and, if they pushed any further northward, bandits.
Perhaps he was getting old, perhaps just too engrossed in the kids, or perhaps he was buzzed enough that his senses were dulled, but he didn't hear the footsteps behind him until it was too late to prevent an attack. With lightning speed, he whirled on his aggressor, drawing his sword and growling, "If you want to die today, be my guest."
"Calm down, Qrow."
He squinted at the figure in front of him. He was drunk, yes, but he wasn't that drunk. "Ice Queen?"
Winter took a step closer. "It took me a bit to track you down. But following the string of bar tabs you left behind wasn't that difficult."
Qrow lowered his weapon. "What are you doing here? Ironwood send you?"
Winter pointed to a log close by. "Why don't we sit. Talk."
"Not like you to make a social call." Qrow said. as he straddled the fallen tree, patting a section in front of him for Winter to sit.
"Who all are you keeping an eye on?" Winter asked, nodding at the teens bedding down for the night.
"My niece; three of her friends from Beacon." He said, pulling a flask out. Winter put her hand out to keep him from putting it to his lips.
"Why don't you go camp with them?" she asked, pushing his hand all the way down.
"It's complicated," he grumbled. He looked at Winter closely in what little light the night offered. Her eyes had softened with worry and she hadn't made any attempts to cut him down with her words. He put the cap back on the flask. "What's on your mind?"
Winter inhaled deeply. "Weiss and my father had a falling out and a few days later she went missing. I thought she might come to try and find her old team."
"Couldn't stand your old man and jumped ship, eh?" Qrow tilted his head sideways. "Sounds familiar."
"Is my sister here, Qrow?" She gripped his hand tighter. She was desperate.
He shook his head. "No. All I know is that Ruby wrote her a few times. We've been on the road since the first snow."
"I need to ask them if they know anything." Winter stood hastily. "If there's anything Weiss said before she left beacon, or any communication she's had.
"No," he grabbed her hand and pulled her back down into a sitting position. "Those kids have enough on their plate, and I need them to get to Haven. They don't know I'm following them and if you show up, it could interfere."
"This is my sister we're talking about!" She tried pulling free of his grip, but even with her military training was no match for the huntsman's muscle and reflexes. "Let go of me!"
"Look, I know you want to find Weiss, but we have a different mission we're trying to accomplish here. If Ruby finds out Weiss is missing, she'd drop everything and go help look for her. She doesn't need that heartache right now."
"I have to find her!" she cried in desperation, blinking back tears.
Never in his life had anything sobered Qrow up so quickly. "I never thought I'd see the day," he muttered. He put his arm around her waist and pulled her closer, almost placing her directly between his legs. She instinctively leaned onto his shoulder. "Wherever she is, I'm sure she's fine."
"I know her, Qrow. She wouldn't have run off and told no one where she was going. She would have told Klein or me, or even Ruby. Somebody. I think something's happened to her." She nestled into him further as he put her arms around to cradle her.
"What? You think your father sent her away?"
"No. I think she was taken. Do you know how many people have a grudge against our dust company? We've been targets of corporate espionage and extortion for years. The White Fang, disgruntled dust store owners, even foreign distributers. And for her to just vanish…she didn't even take her rapier. She could be anywhere…she could be dead. And my parents are just pretending like nothing's happening at all!"
Winter had to put out an icy front when she was in front of her peers at Atlas. As a woman, as a specialist, and as a Schnee. Everything had to be perfect all the time. Except with Qrow. He didn't care, and he was the only one who didn't. Qrow just shushed her and held her tight.
"General Ironwood gave me permission to look for her, but only until I get recalled. I don't know how much time that will be."
Qrow tilted her chin up to meet his eyes. "I know this looks dark and after Beacon…hope's a bit in short supply. But you can't give up yet. If there's one thing I'm learning from these kids is that hope is going to be the only think keeping us going for a while." He looked over at the cane of Ozpin's he left leaning against a tree. Hope was all he had at this point. "So, keep your chin up."
He kissed her and she let him, shaking her head when she pulled away.
"You taste better when you're not marinated in booze."
"You sound better when you aren't a nag."
She pushed him off playfully, smiling for the first time in a while. She pulled her scroll out to check the time, realizing it was late, and she needed to get back. "If she's not here, Menagerie is the next place I need to look." She stood.
"Stay with me?" Qrow asked, keeping her hand in his. "Nights out here get cold."
"I have to get back to my ship," Winter said, pulling her hand free, though the longing in her eyes told him she wanted to stay. "I don't want to waste any time. The sooner I find some trail to follow, the sooner I can find my sister."
"Oh, so I'm a waste of time, now?" Qrow teased.
"I don't see you swooping in to visit me in Atlas ever," she countered.
"Never could. Always busy with secret missions. Can't afford to waste time and all that."
"Next time, Qrow." She promised.
"Keep your chin up, Ice Queen." He replied.
As she walked back through the woods toward her ship, she sighed. Meetings with Qrow were always bittersweet because they always ended, and they could never talk about them. But she had push all of that out of her mind now. Weiss was her focus, and Menagerie was her next location.
Maybe when things finally settled down. Maybe then.
Maybe.
Whenever that would be.
The sound of the door closing roused Weiss from her sleep. A woman with horns and a kind face nodded at her without saying anything at first, giving the huntress a few minutes to get her bearings. Weiss considered asking what kind of faunus, sheep or goat, but thought better of it and kept her mouth shut.
"I'm Lehela, I've been told to ensure you 'make yourself presentable' tonight and see to your meal," she said, looking Weiss over. "You really the Schnee Dust Company heiress?"
"Not anymore." Weiss let out an awkward deprecating laugh, "My dad disinherited me about a week before Adam took me off the estate. My brother Whitley is now heir to the SDC."
"If you're looking for pity, you're telling the wrong faunus," Lehela said, straightening the covers on Adam's bed ruffled by Weiss' nap. "Now, get to it. Adam doesn't like to be kept waiting."
Weiss was permitted to use Adam's private bathroom to clean up. IT was the first hot shower she'd had in weeks and it felt glorious. It was also the first time she'd seen herself in a mirror since her abduction. Her face had remained the same, but other changes had affected her visage. Her silver mane now barely covered her shoulder blades when down; she'd lost weight which was no surprise with restricted meals and countless hours of being on her feet.
The biggest change, however, was the brand. The raised panther's head encircled and set in front of claw marks was now permanently emblazoned on the small of her back. No matter if or when she got away, she'd never be free from the White Fang.
"Adam says you're to wear this instead of your uniform," Lehela instructed, handing her a bundle of red silk and sending her back into the bathroom to change.
It was a rare event, but the Schnees had travelled to Argus on occasion during Weiss' childhood. Most were for corporate dinners but some were for charity galas or other events that encourage the rich to feel good about spending their riches. The faunus at these black-tie affairs were always decked in traditional mistral cheongsams to serve food and check coats. Weiss had always been enamored with how elegant they looked in matching dresses. Odd how she never noticed the marks on their backs.
Rolling her hair into two odango completed the 'far eastern' look. It took a few tries to get her hair to stay, but with determination and enough pins, she got it to hold.
"You'll have to eat fast," said Lehela as Weiss slipped on the matching silk shoes of her new uniform.
It was only soup and crackers, but it had flavor as opposed to the oatmeal and plain bread she'd been living off for three weeks.
"Thank you," Weiss said sincerely, "It's the first time I've felt satisfied in weeks."
"I'm following orders. If it were up to me, I'd kill you in your sleep." Lehela said calmly.
"I understand why," Weiss replied, "I just hope I get the opportunity to change your opinion of humans the way Blake helped change my opinion of the faunus.
"Not likely." She responded.
Before Weiss could attempt to respond, the door opened and Adam reappeared. He looked Weiss over before uttering a brief. "Close enough."
"She's eaten as well." Lehela said.
"Clear the trays and set her a cot up in the ante chamber. She'll stay with me tonight. I don't trust some of the Mistral faction."
"Yes, sir." Lehela bowed and excused herself.
With her gone, Adam focused on Weiss. "Our audience with High Leader Sienna Khan is in just a few minutes. I highly suggest you don't try what you pulled at the gate this afternoon. After all, I'd hate to deliver damaged goods."
Weiss sighed. "You'll have no trouble from me. Sir."
"Good." He seized her by the wrist and pulled her out into the hallway.
She could feel eyes on her as she was escorted through the halls of the refurbished castle. Faunus, all unmasked pointed and whispered as she passed, nothing loud enough to hear, though a wolf whistle did escape the lips of some unfortunate white fang as a glare from Adam Taurus silenced him before he was even finished.
It was an odd thing to think at the time but Weiss noted how much the dress flattered her figure, drawing attention away from her smaller top and accentuating her hips and legs; the skirt reaching her ankles but slits on either side extending to halfway up her thigh, showing off just the right amount of skin as she walked. Yang may have been curvy, and Blake may have had the perfect athletic body, but the one thing Weiss did have was great legs, and she knew it. At least if she was going to be paraded around like a trophy, she'd be a pretty trophy.
The innermost honmaru of the castle had been fitted with electric wiring and the bottom floor turned into a throne room of sorts for the high leader to conduct business A broad, red carpet paved a path from the back doors to the thrones that sat side by side atop a steep set of steps. Ghira and Kali once sat on those thrones where Sienna now sat perched, her ears perked and attentive at Adam's arrival. The guards flanking her sides and lining the walls nodded in respect to Adam as he passed. A look of perplexity darkened Sienna's face when he reached the bottom of the stairs with his quarry.
"What's this?"
Adam bowed politely. "High Leader, I've brought you a present from our mission to Atlas." With a firm hand on her back, he shoved Weiss forward so hard she fell on her knees, baring her back and the brand to the entire courtyard, the collar catching the light as it hung around her neck.
Sienna looked at the girl on the bottom of the stairs, taking the whole image in and all of its implications.
"Adam. What have you done?" Sienna looked offended. "Do you know what kind of danger you've brought upon us? The heiress of the Schnee Dust Company into the secret headquarters of our organization? She was on TV a few weeks ago. Her father is one of the richest, if not the riches man in Atlas, and her sister is a specialist in the most powerful military force in Remnant? If they track her here? Our entire operation could be compromised. What were you thinking?"
Despite his mask covering the majority of his face, the faunus in the throne room could tell Adam didn't appreciate being reprimanded like a child.
"I was thinking that it was high time the faunus took their place as the dominate species of the planet. It's time we stopped seeking equality with the same people who told us we didn't count as people. We're better than humans. We have everything the humans have and more. Humans shouldn't just fear the faunus, they should serve the faunus, and who better to start the trend of humans serving faunus, than the daughter of the worst offender. Her luxurious upbringing was paid for with the lives of our exploited brothers and sisters, like the Amolitas. The least the Schnee heiress can do is serve the faunus in whatever capacity you see fit."
An eerie silence settled on the room. All eyes were fixed on Adam. Weiss stayed on the floor, awaiting whatever decision the high leader came to. She looked at the ground, fixing her eyes on the carpet to keep herself from trembling in fear. What she couldn't see was the utter disdain in Sierra Khan's eyes.
"You're suggesting dominating and enslaving the human race. To treat them like they treated us for centuries. That makes us no better than our oppressors, Adam." She raised herself out of her throne, slowly stepping down the carpeted steps to the floor level. "She can't stay here."
"You're refusing this opportunity for retribution?" Adam growled. "You wanted me to assassinate her."
"I wanted you to make a political statement that we weren't going to tolerate mistreatment by human business owners who only see us as fodder, not that we intend to one day assert ourselves over the humans as their masters." She looked down at the offering had brought her. "I will not accept her as a servant, nor has a hostage. She cannot stay here."
Adam clenched his jaw. "Then if you will not permit her to serve you, I request that you let me keep her as a prize. Even you won't deny we're at war for our acceptance in society. And you would certainly permit spoils of war."
Sienna Khan sighed, more out of disappointment than exasperation. "If this is truly the direction you wish to take with the White Fang, I can't stop you. The Vale chapter is loyal to you almost exclusively, and I know you want what is best for the faunus. However, I cannot allow you to bring this…liability back within our walls. If you intend to keep her alive and with you, then you cannot return to the headquarters."
No one moved. No one breathed.
"Are…you banishing me?" Adam asked, indignant.
"Banish? No." Sienna said, turning and ascending the stairs back to her throne. "You will still remain in command of Vale, and you will still have access to any resources the White Fang has to offer. You will not, however, be permitted back within the walls with her in tow. I can't stop you from being reckless, but I can stop you from that recklessness costing our operation. Get rid of her, or leave."
Seizing her by the Atlas collar, he yanked Weiss to her feet. The huntress instinctively grabbed the collar as Adam pulled her closer, like a child refusing to give up a toy.
"Then I suppose I'll be in Vale for a while," Adam said, keeping the composure in his voice. "I'll leave in the morning as soon as the supplies are replenished. I'm sorry to have wasted your time."
He might have been able to conceal it in his voice, but Adam's posture exuded rage and anger as he dragged Weiss back to his quarters by her neck. Faunus scrambled to get out of the way. Conversations ceased and people stared, only daring to whisper when he was well out of earshot.
She managed to keep her balance, even with her head down, and kept herself from falling when Adam finally released her, back in his room after slamming the door. He stood in silence, trying to control his heavy breathing. Weiss regained her composure and just waited expectedly.
Weiss Schnee of all people knew what was coming next.
The temper tantrum.
She'd seen it before a hundred times. Perfect composure until behind closed doors when the gloves came off and things started flying: books, bedding, shoes, paper weights, wine bottles anything grabbable with no care to what was broken or who would clean it up. Particularly bad days ended with her being the moving target trying to dodge as Jacques took out his anger of the outside world on his children. The raging usually came with a string of obscenities, but Weiss imagined Adam as less of a 'swearer' and more of a 'roarer' when his temper boiled over.
The huffing turned into pacing. After a few minutes of pacing, he forcefully sat himself into his armchair.
"Get me a drink," he growled at Weiss, tapping his fingers on the arms of the fabric of the armchair.
Logic led her to check the first cabinet built into the wall. It contained a row of whiskey tumblers. Grabbing one, she checked the next cabinet. There were four bottles inside and he didn't specify so she just chose blindly. It was a whiskey of some kind. Weiss wasn't familiar with drinks. Her father only drank socially, and her mother preferred the wine from the family vineyard further north in Mantle. She poured him a glass and handed it to him, keeping her other hand firmly gripping the bottle in case she needed it as a defensive weapon…not that it would do much.
"I don't know where the ice is," she said, extending the glass to him.
"I want it neat," he said, seizing the glass from her, extending his other hand, beckoning her to give him the bottle. She reluctantly handed it to him. After a few sips, he sighed. "Sienna is a fool," he breathed. Perhaps the tantrum wasn't coming after all.
"Sienna isn't free to make as bold of decisions as you," Weiss countered without thinking. "She has to represent the will of the faunus, to the human race."
"She's too busy playing politics to do what benefits us the most," he mused, his voice returning to its normal cadence. "And she's pushing away the one person who is willing to make the tough decisions."
"If you're the head of Vale's branch, this isn't even that big of a deal for you."
"It's not that she's sending me away, it's that she's doing it as a punishment: to make an example out of me instead of trusting my decisions. She's done that before. She punished me for 'needlessly sacrificing lives' at Beacon by sending me up on a mission in Atlas, away from Vale."
"My assassination," Weiss surmised. "You could have killed me in my sleep, but you didn't."
"And you're wondering why?" he cocked his head and smiled slightly.
Weiss shifted uncomfortably. "It would have been the easiest thing for you. You hate everything I am. Human, Atlesean, a Schnee, a student of Beacon, a friend of Blake."
At the sound of Blake's name, Adam rose out of the chair in the most menacing manner. Weiss immediately regretted it. He took slow deliberate steps toward her. "What are you saying? That you would have preferred to die? To be a martyr for the human cause? To be a victim? To be party to Sienna's plan to destroy my reputation?"
"That is not what I'm saying" Weiss replied calmly. She maintained eye contact but retreated with every approaching step until her shoulder blades made contact with the wall. Adam still continued his advance, stopping only inches away.
"I didn't kill you because that's what Sienna wanted and it would have been a disaster for the White Fang that should could easily have blamed on me. Another one of my 'extremist tactics' that she could denounce, and thereby denounce me. Trust me, for Blake's sake, I would have liked to slit your throat while you slept and wallowed in your blood, but killing you would have done more harm to the faunus than good."
"Then getting away from Sienna is in your best interest anyway."
Adam snorted in exasperation. "You know, I find your stoicism admirable, but after so long it really grates on the nerves." He used his body weight to her pinning her against the wall. A gloved hand slid into the slit her skirt, gripping her thigh. "You've been compliant at every turn and it's maddening." He leaned in even closer, the tip of his mask almost touched her nose. "What would it take, hmmm? To finally crack that ice-princess façade you have?" he asked as he gripped her harder, his fingers sinking into the flesh of her leg.
Weiss remained unfazed. "You wouldn't."
Adam removed his hand releasing her from the wall roughly. "Of course not, you're human. But eventually something is going to be enough to break you, and I look forward to it." He turned his back to her, removing a set of hanging clothes from his closet. "Until then, I have clothes that need ironing and shoes that need shining for tomorrow. You do know how to iron, don't you? Or has daddy always made sure you had a clothes butler?" He stood, waiting for her to come collect the hangers from him.
"I learned how to iron clothes by myself at Beacon," Weiss didn't see any point in pretending it wasn't the case. She didn't even know how to turn an iron on before Blake showed her. She took the clothes from him as he returned to his chair and to his whiskey. Propping his feet up, he kicked his boots off for her to collect.
"There's an iron in the antechamber. Once you finish ironing and polishing you can go to bed, but I expect you to be up in the morning in time to serve me breakfast."
"Yes, sir." She bowed slightly at him before retreating into the antechamber where Lehela had set up her cot.
He could try and humiliate her. Boss her around. Give her menial tasks.
He wasn't going to break her. She wouldn't give him that satisfaction.