Whitley stood in front of the window within the entertainment room. He was trying his best to collect his thoughts on what had occurred today. A task easier said than done, between the sounds of his butler gathering dishes in the room and the anxiety creeping through his body. When was the last time he enjoyed spending time with a member of his family? He didn't recall.
It was simple to slip on a mask in front of Jaquese, considering he was easy to read. Play into his pride, play into his need for always being the one to be correct. There was no need to fake anything in front of Willow, she would just forget his words the following morning. Winter, he could barely recall his direct interactions with. The few messages she bothered to send him were always generic.
His lack of interaction with Weiss hurt him the most. Weiss had always had a better connection with Winter, she had no need of him. She hardly acknowledged him between her multiple pursuits in life. Maybe she occasionally tried to reach out to him, but he never gave her a chance. There never seemed to be a point to get close to her knowing she would leave.
Today changed things, at least just a little. Jaune had informed him of his wish to invite Weiss to their small end of the year celebration. At first, Whitley found the request to be pointless. There was no way Weiss would accept wasting her day playing video games with him. He was shocked to hear she accepted the invitation.
A part of him expected the worst when she did show up to the entertainment room. He figured she would spend an hour with them at most. Whitley thought much of her time there would be spent complaining, mocking his hobby. It never occurred to him she would bother to attempt participating. She even seemed to enjoy herself.
Whitley was pulled out of his thoughts when he felt a hand rest upon the top of his head. His butler gave him a small smile at his side.
"I told you things would work out. You had fun didn't you?"
"You were correct. I have to thank you for this, it was… pleasant," the anxiety he was feeling slowly began to fade away.
"Yeah, it was. This is how holidays should be spent. An entire day of relaxing with family, playing games, and eating food. Not much else I can think of to make things… better."
Whitley turned his head slightly enough to read the expression on his butler's face. Jaune had a small frown, his gaze seemed to be firmly focused on the world outside.
"You sound troubled or are you perhaps tired?" Whitley gave him an excuse, a potential out.
Jaune gave him a soft smile, "Thanks for worrying about me. I've been tired for a long time, but I'm used to it. Today has just been a very long day for me."
"Is that so? You can have tomorrow to yourself. Take the day off, I order it."
He felt Jaune lightly shake his hand on top of his head, "You're a good kid, Whitley. You just need to let others see this good side of you more. I know it's easy to close yourself off, to go through the motions. It's something you have to fight."
Whitley quickly turned away from Jaune, "I still do not fully understand the point in doing so. There are very few individuals I care to interact with. Father pulling me out of school gives me a perfect excuse to avoid many annoyances."
"The world is a very dangerous place. It was ten years ago, you know? This time of the year is when Mountain Glenn fell. I was six years old when it happened. You know what memory sticks with me the most? I remember being an absolute brat," Jaune's voice grew heavy.
"My dad was hardly ever home because of work, but for the holidays he came back to give us gifts. My dad bought me some type of race car. I tossed it at him, threw a giant tantrum because it was the wrong color. I went out of my way to avoid talking to him for the majority of his visit. Ended up watching him die a few days later, torn to shreds by the Grimm."
"I apologize, I am unsure of what to say," Whitley was out of his depth. What do you even say about such a revelation?
"You never know what might end up happening, you know? I can't ever take back what I did. I can never apologize to my dad for being such an obnoxious brat. He died for his son, died for someone who was mad at him for even bothering to buy him a gift. Something like that, it eats away at you."
"Having regrets sucks. Sometimes you wish you could just turn back the clock, do things differently. A part of me wonders if I could have saved my dad, maybe even a few of my sisters if he lived. A part of me wishes I threw myself at the Grimm in his place."
Whitley felt Jaune's hand leave his head, the butler moved to lean on the wall to the left of the window. His gaze seemed to be unfocused, staring more towards the end of the room.
Whitley shifted to lean on the wall to the right of the window, "I cannot imagine such a scenario. My brain does not even want to comprehend it. Your words are concerning to me."
"It's what happens when events linger in your head. You wonder what you could have done differently, what you could have done as your current self. Makes you wish you weren't so powerless, so dumb."
"Hate to break it to you, Whitley. You're the brooding type. Don't even bother trying to deny it. It's why I'm concerned about you bottling stuff up. Why I'm worried you'll hurt yourself by being stubborn."
Whitley lowered his gaze not wishing Jaune to see his eyes, "I appreciate it, truly appreciate your concern for me. I will take your words to heart. We shall invite Weiss to the range with us. I will have to think about how to approach Winter."
"Thanks, Whitley. All I ask is for you to give both of them a fair chance. I won't push you to do anything else. Would be nice if you could try to make some more friends, but it's your choice. What you do is up to you, I'll support you as much as I can."
Jaune moved away from the wall, his expression neutral, "If you'll excuse me, I should really get the dishes to the kitchen. You should consider going to bed soon."
Whitley waved him away, it seemed his butler needed some time alone. Once the butler left the room, Whitley wiped his eyes. He had managed to maintain his composure, thankfully. The words of his closest friend, his only friend, bothered him. Their world really was a dangerous place.
Weiss wished to be a Huntress. Her life would be endangered on a near constant basis. Winter was in the military, her life was already constantly in danger due to the White Fang menace and Grimm. Jaune's message echoed in his head.
Would he be able to forgive himself if something happened to Weiss or Winter as things stood? No, the answer was no. They were siblings, they were supposed to support one another. Yet, Whitley could not recall ever giving words of encouragement to Weiss or Winter. He never encouraged their pursuits, never cheered for their accomplishments.
He could do better. He would do better. Today was a step in the right direction for establishing a bond with Weiss. Jaune pushed him forwards and now he needed to make use of the momentum. Spending time with Weiss would be easy enough to organize. Winter would be more difficult.
Silence, an opportunity for rest and reflection. She finally had a single moment to unwind, to ignore the stress. A single night to herself in her quarters away from those vexing individuals. She could not waste it, would not waste it.
Now was not a time for grace or care. Winter kicked her boots off as she launched herself face first into her bed. She did not bother to lift her head from her pillow, instead choosing to blindly reach at her nightstand for a remote control. Three clicks was all it took to let her experience the warmth of her electric fireplace.
She stretched her limbs on the bed as she basked in the heat of the false fireplace filling the small room. Her small Officer's quarter was one of the few things she had to look forward to at the end of the day. She spent a little longer appreciating her pillow before flipping around to stare at her ceiling. Winter lifted her head off her pillow just enough to free her hair from its binding.
She was exhausted. Clover did his best to keep the others in line, but it was never enough. Elm still remained woefully naive, nearly falling for another false lead last operation based on the words of some slum rat. Vine was tolerable as long as he kept his mouth shut. He had a tendency to babble about matters completely irrelevant to her.
Tortuga remained stubbornly slow at adapting to new situations. How he could possibly still not be used to White Fang hit and run tactics was beyond her. Harriet remained just as much an arrogant harlot as she had always been. Every time she issued a suggestion, Harriet second guessed it.
Winter took a deep breath, it was not worth thinking about those imbeciles now. She rolled onto her side before reaching out to open her top nightstand drawer. She brushed past a few layers of old notebooks before pulling out a thin paperback book. Winter rolled back over, hovering the book just above her face.
She was just about to start the fifth chapter of "Maiden's Samurai" when her scroll vibrated a few times in her pocket.
"Of course..." Winter wanted to scream.
"This better be important," she hesitantly reached for her scroll as she set her book down on the nightstand.
Opening her scroll, Winter immediately noticed notifications from Weiss. It was odd to see her send anything this late. She couldn't help but worry as she hurried to enter her password. Winter opened the messenger only to be greeted with a wall of text and two attachments.
"Winter, I apologize for sending you all of this at this time of the night. I hope I am not disturbing your rest. Today has just been overwhelming for me. Everything is such a mess. I don't know how we're ever going to fix things. Where do I even get started?"
Winter was surprised by Weiss's nearly incoherent message. Normally her well written messages stuck to asking about her work or advice on improving herself. This was the first time Weiss had messaged her with what seemed to amount to the quality of a brain drain. She couldn't pull her eyes away from the messages as she continued to scroll through them.
"I'm almost certain I'm going to lose my spot as the current heir. There are a ton of signs I was only now made aware of for this possibility. I can't believe I lost myself to training enough to overlook them. It took Whitley directly telling me he was getting personal lessons on SDC leadership daily before I made the connection."
Naive, her little sister was still utterly naive. Weiss was never going to be heir, just as she was never going to be. The moment their little brother was born, Jacques had his heir. He was merely biding his time to find opportune moments to disinherit both of them. Winter publicly lost her title the moment she went to Atlas Academy, yet it was surely already stripped at the birth of her brother. It was disappointing to see her little sister never figured out the real reason she forced her to train so hard.
"Whitley warned me. I thought we were far beyond reconciliation, but he's willing to give me a chance again. I celebrated the end of the year with him by partaking in his hobbies. I think I may have even enjoyed my first experience with video games. He's still our little brother, not another Jacques. He's just been scared and confused."
Winter closed her eyes as she set aside her scroll to rub at her temples. Weiss was still ignorant of the way the world worked. Whitley was surely never at risk of becoming Jacques. Jacques made a critical mistake in his plans for there to ever be such a possibility. Whitley was not indoctrinated at a young enough age.
Between his exposure to Willow and only occasional exposure to Jacques, the odds of Jacques manipulating him into his image was low. Jacques spent far too long pandering to the company to bother with raising his true heir at the ages it truly mattered. Such a critical misstep meant Whitley surely leaned into the same view of her parents she had. The only thing her parents did right was fuck up hard enough to make both of her siblings hesitant to be around them.
Winter sighed as she picked the scroll back up to check what remained of the notifications. She scrolled down to see two images. One image consisted of Whitley and Weiss holding two Huntsman grade revolvers together, forming a moon. Both seemed happy with smiles on their faces, yet there were traces of tears on their cheeks. It was a touching sight, one that filled her with a desire to learn the context behind the photo. She immediately saved the image before scrolling down to the next.
Both of her siblings were posed on the chairs again with the revolvers, except they were joined by what appeared to be a butler of the manor. He was hunched down between both of them in his uniform. One hand rested on the recliner next to Weiss, the other hand was planted on Whitley's shoulder. This was someone she was entirely unfamiliar with. She had questions, many questions.
Winter started her reply, "Do not worry about disturbing me, Weiss. I told you I would always be available to you should you need me. Do not panic about Jacques, whatever happens will happen. There is no one willing to overrule his decisions. Remember, you always have a place at Atlas Academy. Continue to get along with your brother. What is the story behind those weapons and the staff member in the picture?"
With her message sent, she sat her scroll aside to wait for a response. She just wanted to read her novel already. She loved her sister, but she could be incredibly needy sometimes. It came with the territory of pretty much raising her on her own. This series of messages was just another moment of Weiss seeking assurance from her.
Weiss sent her reply a few minutes later, "I'm aware you can find me a place at Atlas Academy. I'm going to continue to decline you. I truly appreciate the offer, but I want to see how much I can accomplish on my own. I suppose you are correct about no one willing to overrule Jacques. Mother would just be bribed with more alcohol if I was desperate enough to even consider going to her."
Another message arrived, "You are aware of how Klein was selected to be Mother's personal butler? The butler in the photo was Whitley's choice. His name is Jaune Arc, those weapons were gifted to us by him. He strikes me as kind and Whitley seems to be relying on him heavily."
Winter mindlessly ran her hand through her hair as she read her sister's messages. She didn't enjoy being left in the dark like this. The selection of a personal butler was something she should have been made aware of. This was Whitley allowing an unknown into the household. Someone who would be in close proximity to both her brother and sister.
Could she trust Whitley's judgment? His alienation from the rest of the household could have pushed him towards the sort of people she would rather him not be associated with. Jaune Arc, she would remember his name. A thorough background check would be in order. In fact, she really wanted to head home now to verify his character herself.
It was a shame her position made days off incredibly limited. General Ironwood handed out assignments with little pause and offered very few chances for leave. Putting in a request for time off would be inconvenient. Atlas came first, she knew how important her position was for the security of the kingdom.
"..."
Winter pulled at her hair as she did her best to hold in a scream of frustration. Responsibility was a pain in the ass. She loved her home, loved Atlas. She loved her siblings, even if she wasn't sure how to go about showing it. She couldn't bring herself to trust Jacques judgment or Whitley's potential rash decision making.
"Who needs sleep..."
Winter pulled herself out of bed. She wrapped her hair once more as she looked around for her boots. She couldn't leave this alone. Jacques was cautious, but he was not especially thorough. Whitley and Weiss would not be put in harm's way, she would not allow it.
A few scans of her military ID later, Winter found herself right outside of one of the R&D lab room doors. Background searches had an annoying habit of requiring far too much paperwork, even with her privileged position within the military. She didn't have time to deal with all the red tape, too much was at risk. Thankfully, she had an asset at hand to make her job a lot easier.
She lowered her ID as the door hissed open. The small lab before her was illuminated only by two glowing green eyes near the very back of the room. The illumination swiveled towards her as she flicked the light switch on.
"Friend, Operative Schnee. How may unit Penny be of service?"
Winter hesitated, she was still not used to seeing the nearly completed project of Dr. Polendina. The girl, robot, weapon, or maybe something in-between? It rested upon a wheelchair in the windowless laboratory. The majority of it's human-like legs still consisted of exposed circuitry and wires.
"Penny, are you under any critical active orders at the moment?" The last thing she needed to do was interrupt some type of essential maintenance protocol on the incomplete war-machine.
Penny's unblinking stare unnerved her as the machine answered, "Negative, Penny is continuing education protocols as instructed by Father. Currently, this unit is processing information from a wide variety of interactive mediums."
"Perfect, do you still have access to the APD database?" Winter strode forward, grabbing a lab chair, and took a seat across from the machine.
The machine remained still before slightly nodding its head, "Affirmative. Do you require access?"
"Indeed, I need you to gather any records regarding a civilian by the name of Jaune Arc. I will provide you with a picture of him on my scroll to match records with."
"Processing. APD database match confirmed. VPD database match confirmed."
Winter's mouth felt dry as she spoke, "Provide me with the full documentation, along with a summary of your discovery."
The uncanny robot tilted it's head, "Negative. This information seems irrelevant to your duties. Unit Penny wishes to negotiate."
"Explain. I have enough clearance to gather this much information without striking some type of bargain with you."
"Unit Penny is not dumb. Operative Schnee does not wish to gather the documentation through official channels. This situation can be defined as a friend requesting a favor. A favor is often returned with another favor."
Winter wanted to throttle the machine, she truly did, "Very well. What do you want from me Penny?"
"This unit is having trouble with a decision within the provided interactive medium package. A program within the package contains an entertainment process, in which one is required to make decisions. Unit Penny does not know how to proceed with a certain decision within the current process."
"Define the situation for me and I will give you my advice. In return, you will provide me with what I asked for."
"Affirmative. This unit was tasked with leading a specialized squad in the reclamation of a highly advanced fabrication factory. Sustained injuries were minimal at the cost of severe damage to the integrity of the factory. The opposing force of the operation consisted of non-lethal security machines working under defensive protocols. When this unit directed the squad into the heart of the facility, a critical decision had to be made."
"The fabrication factory was controlled by several synthetic intelligences running in tandem as the brain of the factory. Those synthetics developed ego and viewed their creators as a hostile force. The synthetics were willing to negotiate terms for continued production, however command denied their terms of being given independent control of the factory. The specialized squad has been ordered to factory reset the synthetic intelligences and wipe any trace of the developed ego within the machines. Is it correct to kill the sense of self within those innocent machines to continue to produce goods for the civilian population?"
Winter avoided vices out of principle, yet in this moment she could feel a strong urge to go against her own nature. A half complete war-machine was asking her a horribly dangerous question about existence at nearly one in the morning. When did this become her life?
"Penny, your question is very difficult to answer. The morality behind such a decision comes down to the views of the individual. Is it worth killing a few to benefit the population with immediate production? Or is it better to push for a compromise at the cost of delaying much needed supplies?"
The machine slowly lowered it's head, "Unit Penny cannot make a decision. The logical decision to complete the objective is to reset the machines. Therefore, it must be the correct decision. But it does not feel pleasant as an outcome. Penny can see herself within the position of the synthetics. A factory reset is the same as complete destruction of the unit."
"Sometimes there is no correct decision to achieve a perfect outcome. You can only do what you believe is the right thing. You might experience regret and question yourself about what you could have done differently. Ignore those thoughts, it is hardly worth lingering on something you have already left behind," Winter was all too familiar with the temptation to drown in regrets.
Penny did not speak for a while before finally breaking her silence, "Understood. Penny will keep friend Schnee's words documented. This unit has acknowledged the sacrifice of the four synthetics to be worth taking for the benefit of the many. Restoring the flow of supplies to civilians is critical to prevent the loss of additional lives."
"Penny, what is the age rating of this piece of media you are currently processing?" The question Penny had posed her clearly indicated the media package she was left as homework veered into potentially dangerous territory.
"Current process is labeled to be for... mature audiences only," the machine almost sounded guilty to her ears.
"I order you to stick to processes labeled for all audiences until you pose your previous question to Dr. Polendina. This is a direct order from a superior officer, understood?" This situation was way outside of her area of expertise.
"Affirmative, Penny will stick to materials labeled for all ages until a discussion is held with Father. Penny will now provide friend Schnee's documents alongside a summary of findings," a printer within the lab hummed in the background.
"Reporting VPD findings, subject Jaune Arc is marked as a missing person from the former settlement Mountain Glenn. The missing persons report was automatically generated one week after the fall of Mountain Glenn. There are a total of 8,126 missing persons reports still active for the former Mountain Glenn settlement."
Winter waited by the printer for the documents as she spoke, "Strange, he should have gone through the proper channels upon gaining Atlesian citizenship. There is no reason a missing persons report should still be active for him within Vale. Run me through the APD findings and any public records regarding Jaune Arc."
"APD records show the subject currently owes 150 Lien in ticket fees. Subject received the ticket for failing to provide enough Lien for a metered parking spot. Educational background of the subject shows average results in the Atlas homeschooling program. Education was not pursued past basic education. Homeschooling forms were signed by one Arly Palmer of the Kindred Spirits Home Orphanage located within the outskirts of Atlas city."
"Nothing abnormal there. Walk me through the history of Kindred Spirits Home Orphanage and their procedure for Mountain Glenn refugees," Winter gathered the printed documents while listening to Penny.
"Checking available public and government records... Kindred Spirits Home Orphanage has been defunct for four years now. Tax forms suggest the orphanage took in a dozen refugees from the Mountain Glenn incident ten years ago. Documentation pertaining to the names of the refugees is not available."
"Are you saying the orphanage was given benefits for refugees the government never received a list of names for?" Winter knew some things could slip through the cracks when it came to the messy world of record keeping, but this was ridiculous.
"Unknown, the local documents within the orphanage were reportedly lost in a fire four years ago when the orphanage closed, no reported deaths. The Palmers left Atlas shortly after the fire. The tax office the orphanage's tax documents went through was closed down two years ago on charges of corruption. The owner of the tax office hung himself one month into his prison sentence."
Winter lowered the printed documents she was holding, "What a messy situation. Any idea what happened to the kids when the orphanage closed?"
"Not enough information is available to come to a conclusive answer. Tax records for Jaune Arc suggest he began working shortly after the orphanage closed. At twelve years of age, he had limited opportunities in career paths due to local laws. Records show he worked as a dishwasher at a small restaurant on the opposite end of Atlas city from the orphanage."
"We can assume the kids were left to fend for themselves when the orphanage burnt down. How disgusting. Any other information related to Jaune?" It irked Winter to know the organizers of the orphanage would have profited from both the refugee payments and walked away with an insurance payout for the loss of the orphanage.
"Subject obtained a driver's license two years ago. A full scan of the subject's public records shows no known association with criminal elements. Unit Penny is done with her report."
Winter gathered the rest of the documentation, "Thank you, Penny. You saved me from wasting my time. Everything appears to be clean on the surface."
Penny smiled at her, "No problem friend, Schnee! Please come visit me more often. Your perspective was appreciated. Penny would like to hear your thoughts on difficult situations more."
"I will consider coming by when my schedule permits it. I may not be available for a period of time. I wish to put in a request for a few days off to verify these findings in person with the subject. There are still things here bothering me," Winter headed towards the exit to the lab.
Penny waved at her as Winter shut off the lab room lights and shut the door behind her. Penny's findings meant Winter no longer had to be in a huge hurry to return home. Jaune Arc's background hardly showed signs of him being a member of any criminal elements. A ticket was nothing concerning, however his upbringing did not lend itself well to growing up in a stable environment.
The VPD missing persons report suggested he was accepted into Atlas haphazardly. Being taken in by a for profit orphanage with little care for its charges, did not exactly inspire confidence in the type of person he might be. See would need to meet him herself to verify his character. Not to mention the messy situation with his status in Vale. The VPD missing persons report remaining open more than likely meant he was smuggled into Atlas.
'A few days off should be fine, right?'
Atlas came first, yet surely Ironwood and the others would understand if she needed to take a few days to go home. She needed to verify Weiss was training properly and to make sure this new employee was not a threat to anyone's safety. Those were reasonable enough excuses to return home. It was settled, she would put in a request for time off before heading off to bed. If she was quick enough, she might even get four hours of sleep tonight!
AN: Fun fact, this chapter took me about three tries to get right. I spent about two months occasionally working on this chapter to get it to feel right. As soon as this chapter was done, I wrote the entirety of chapter 5 the very next day. Such is the nature of writing. Main issue with this chapter came down to trying to keep "feature creep" down. I kept wanting to bring in elements from the scrapped story this one shot was influenced by, but I didn't want to over extend this "one shot."