Chapter-11

Weiss

A day after Sigurd left for his mission:

Weiss woke up in unnatural excitement today. It was a couple of days off for the students due to the teachers being busy in planning for the Vytal festival, which meant she could now see the preparations being made in Vale for the Festival of Peace and Unity.

Of course, her team members were much less enthusiastic, still sleeping on their beds which irked her.

How could they not see the golden opportunity that had dropped into their hands? Blake was still sleeping under her covers, Yang slept wearing her sunglasses with a stupid smile and Ruby…

Weiss cringed as she noticed Ruby drooling on her pillow.

"Ruby! Wake up!" She snapped as the girl continued to sleep. Weiss nudged her a little but the girl remained asleep.

A vein popped up on Weiss' forehead as she leaned close to Ruby's ear.

"I'm confiscating your secret cookie stash." She whispered before quickly leaning back as her team leader woke up in panic.

"NO! NOT MY COOKIES!" Ruby wailed, subsequently waking up the other two.

Ruby screamed for a few more seconds before looking at Weiss' smug grin.

"You…" Ruby spoke before pointing an accusatory finger. "Don't you dare put your hands on my cookie stash!"

Weiss sighed. "I'm not going to, Ruby. Also, Good morning, all."

"Good morning…" Yang spoke drowsily. "Hey Rubes, did you have to scream that loudly?" She groaned at her sister.

"Sorry!"

"Anyways, do you know what it is today?" Weiss asked as Ruby leaned back.

"Ok, what happened, Weiss? You are not this happy and excited when you wake up. Usually you're grumpy and having some snarky comment waiting for me."

Weiss spluttered. "N-No! I just maintain decorum!"

"Decorum by an ice queen's standards." Yang commented from behind her, using the insufferable nickname that had been attached to her, 'Beacon's Ice Queen' for her rejection of boys who came up to her.

Weiss had pretty much given up on trying to get it off at this point.

"I'm not an ice queen, Yang. I can be friendly when I want to." She protested weakly as Blake let out a snort of amusement.

Weiss ignored it and kept up her smile. "Anyways, today we have an off, so why not spend it to see the sights of Vale!"

Ruby and Yang looked at each other. "Uh, Weiss, we both have seen Vale many times. We live near it, remember?"

"I've visited Vale many times before." Blake spoke.

"No, this time its different! Do you remember the Vytal festival?"

Ruby brightened up. "Who doesn't? It's the best part of the year! We get to meet people from the other kingdoms, especially their weapons…"

"…Ruby." Weiss spoke with a deadpan.

"Yeah, I'm just excited to take on the students from other kingdoms in the Vytal tournament." Yang spoke as Weiss slumped.

"You guys are hopeless." She groaned.

"But anyways, don't you want to see what your city is doing to prepare for welcoming the other students?"

"Nope." All three replied at once. Weiss looked away in irritation before an idea came to her mind. This would convince her lazy teammates to come along.

"But still, it would be a breath of fresh air from the cramped environment."

Blake nodded. "Well, she's not wrong. I do want to get out of here for a bit."

"Yeah, that sounds great. Now that you say it, I want to go and walk around in the city before I face Port again once the break ends." Yang pitched in her agreement.

"I agree as well. So, Team RWBY, let's ready up and go for our first official outing as a team!" Ruby exclaimed.

"…And king Osmodeus then with the help of Thane and his band of huntsman…" Weiss spoke animatedly of what she knew of the end of the Great War, oblivious to the fact that her team had tuned her out a long time ago.

Their first stop had been to go buy some Vytal merchandise with which they would welcome the students arriving from other kingdoms, which took a lot of time because Weiss had to convince Yang to buy some while stopping Ruby from buying too much and spending all of their money.

Of course, Weiss had appropriately punished Ruby for her carelessness before she started talking about the End of the Great War.

"So, how did you find it?" Weiss asked looking at her teammates.

Ruby groaned. "It's over! Praise be to the gods its over!"

"Never have I ever felt so bored whenever someone was talking about the Vytal festival." Yang spoke as well. "I honestly am happy I don't make good things as boring as you do, Weiss."

"Hey! What do you mean boring? Do you not want to know how our current world order came to be? Or the origin of the huntsmen academies?"

"Well, we know that the King of Vale was the one responsible for setting them up while his mysterious assassin Thane, or The Hunter as history knows him, trained the first batch of huntsmen and huntresses. Thane disappeared from society soon after that while his students became teachers in the huntsmen academies. Honestly, anything beyond that is boring political lectures." Blake spoke.

Weiss huffed. "You never appreciate anything that I like."

"Because you like all the boring stuff."

"I do not!"

"""You do"""

"Why must you do this?!"

"Because its fun watching the ice queen thaw and melt."

Weiss grit her teeth. "fine! If you all insist!" she spoke.

Yang and Ruby started laughing while Blake had a smug smirk.

"O-Ok, now where do we go?" Yang asked as her laughter died down.

Weiss already had an idea where they were going to go. "To Azure harbor." She spoke.

"Why are we going there, Weiss?" Ruby asked. "I wanted to stop by Dust Til' Dawn to take advantage of the discount I got from Old Shopkeep!"

"Well, the other students are coming from the kingdoms to Azure harbor. As a student of Beacon, I believe it is my duty to welcome them to Vale."

"Or, as a student of Beacon, you could be spying on the competition to give yourself the edge." Blake added as Weiss bristled.

"I would not do that!"

"Heh, rich coming from a Schnee…" Weiss heard Blake mutter under her breath as her eyes narrowed. Ever since the whole incident with Ruby, Weiss had been trying her best to make friends with her teammates. Ruby had gotten a lot more friendly with her since they had their talk and Yang had accepted her once she noticed Weiss and Ruby were on good terms.

Blake was the only one remaining. She still treated Weiss with hostility, refusing to ever pair up with her, always going with either Yang or Ruby in the sparring matches against Professor Saber and making insulting comments like what she did just now.

"Now, before that…" Weiss spoke nearing a corner before bumping into someone,

"Woah!" Someone exclaimed as the dust crate they were holding almost fell off their hands.

"Weiss, you ok?" Ruby spoke helping Weiss up.

"Yes, I'm fine." Weiss assured Ruby before turning to the person she bumped into. "You have a dust crate with you! You should be more mindful of your surroundings."

The offender chuckled, a handsome young man who looked a bit older than them with fiery red hair wearing an olive-green jacket over a white shirt and black trousers with red eyes.

"I'm sorry, Miss. I should have been paying more attention." He apologized. "Please accept my apology." He spoke bowing down.

"Hm, you have some manners…" Weiss spoke. "I accept your apology."

"Thank you, miss."

"Weiss, you know you should also apologize." Yang spoke as Weiss looked at her. "What? He bumped into me!"

"And he apologized. But you also weren't paying attention, Schnee. So you should apologize as well." Blake added in that same hostile tone again.

"Now, now, it's alright, I shouldn't…"

Weiss sighed. "As much as it irritates me, my…teammate is right. I should have been more mindful of my surroundings. I apologize as well."

"Well, alright. May I ask your name, Miss?"

"…Weiss Schnee." Weiss spoke with a bit of apprehension. Him carrying a dust crate worried her that he might have a reaction to her name.

"Ah, the heiress. My name is Aram Sunlight."

"I'm Ruby Rose!"

"Blake Belladonna."

"Yang Xiao-Long, handsome." Yang spoke with a smirk while Amar smiled unaffected by the not-so-subtle attempt.

"Hello to you all. Are you all from Beacon?"

"Yeah, we're first-year students from there." Ruby answered. "We came out here because our teachers have given us a break and we want to take some fresh air."

"AND see the Vytal festivities." Weiss spoke.

"Well, me and some of my coworkers are here from Anima to buy supplies."

Blake tilted her head. "Supplies? Who're you buying supplies for?"

"Ah, a town I have settled in in South Anima. With the recent rise in grimm activity on the roads as well as Mistral government preoccupied with controlling the criminal families, I believe Mistral wouldn't be a good place to buy so I came here to Vale. Some of my companions are docked in Nepotain harbor. We'll buy the supplies and head back to Anima in a couple of days."

Ruby zipped to him. "Are you a huntsman?"

Aram leaned back with a nervous smile. "Oh no no, I'm not a huntsman. I can fight, but I have other responsibilities. I'm a member of the town's council who goes around sorting the matters of the town outside of its grounds. I really do not have the freedom to go into the profession of a huntsman. However, one of my crew is a student of Haven Academy."

That caught Weiss' attention. "Really? Could we meet him?"

Aram smiled. "You can. Sun's anyways going to part ways with us."

"Part ways? Was he not with you?"

"Oh no, Sun stowed away on our ship. I caught him during the trip but allowed him to stay on the ship. I am still confused why he thought that was a good idea, but oh well, follow me." He spoke beckoning the girls to follow him.

"Hey, Sun!" Aram called out as the group reached Aram's ship where people moved about. Aram put down the dust crates and spoke animatedly with them before Sun came up.

Weiss froze at the sight of him. Sun was a blonde-haired boy of their age with a white unbuttoned shirt and blue jeans that revealed his torso underneath.

"Hey, Aram!" Sun spoke coming up before taking a look at Weiss. "Uh, is she ok?"

"Oh she's fine." Yang jumped in, not wanting to miss an opportunity to tease another unsuspecting victim. "Weiss is a rich girl who's never seen a man's abs before. Ignore her."

But Weiss was not surprised by Sun's vulgar choice of clothing, but the yellow monkey tail that flailed behind him.

Sun was a faunus.

"You are a faunus." Weiss spoke with venom in her voice as Sun recoiled.

"Uh, yeah?"

Weiss glared at him with hatred in her eyes, oblivious to the similar hatred stewing within the black-haired girl behind her.

"What, is there a problem with him being a faunus, Schnee?" Blake asked as Weiss was suddenly overcome with rage. Even if she hadn't said it directly, Blake had implied that she would defend the faunus.

Calm yourself, Weiss… She thought in frustration, trying not to lose her composure over the comment of her hostile teammate.

"A bit, but not…"

"A bit? Why is there even a problem?"

Keep yourself, calm, Weiss…

"Blake, I don't want to…"

"Oh no. You yourself wanted to make a good image. And then you go treating Sun

Blake's comment hit Weiss deeper than she expected. A child's cries echoed in her mind as that horrific memory came back to Weiss. Her breath went heavy and her eyes went wide in terror.

"I…" Weiss spoke. "I need to go." She spoke turning away and walking off.

"Wha…Weiss? Weiss!" Ruby called after her partner as she walked off. But Weiss did not pay heed to her words.

"What's gotten into her?" Ruby asked her other teammates.

"Oh, it's just the Schnee being her regular discriminatory self." Blake spat, glaring as Weiss' retreating form.

Aram exchanged a look with Sun. Sun nodded and coughed. "So, can I know your names?"

"Ruby Rose." Ruby spoke dejectedly.

"Blake Belladonna." Blake spoke calmly.

"Yang Xiao-Long."

"Cool. I'm guessing the fourth girl's a Schnee. Then I'll leave you guys to it. Since I'm coming for the Vytal festival, we'll see each other again." Sun spoke. "Bye, Aram! Thanks for not getting me arrested!" He spoke before running off.

"I'm so sorry, Aram. I didn't know Weiss would…" Ruby began but Aram cut her off.

"It's alright. It should have expected it when I introduced Sun to the Schnee heiress. Come on, let's go find her." Aram spoke as the group went out in search of Weiss.

Weiss glared at the raided dust shop in front of her, the memories of Sun still fresh in her mind. Like all of her encounters with the faunus, her old fears and anger had resurfaced again. It had always disgusted her looking at movements that demanded equality for the faunus, because they were double-faced organisations that brought suffering upon others so that theirs lessen. The most infamous example of it was the white fang.

Weiss' fists clenched as the word 'White Fang' appeared in her mind along with the many unpleasant memories that brought about it.

Whenever someone ever told her about giving faunuses respect, she would come to shops like these to remind herself what giving that 'respect' would bring. In that regard, she agreed with Clan Humanitas. Faunuses would only cause trouble whenever they mixed with humans.

Weiss knew of the increased raiding activity of the White Fang in recent weeks, hitting dust shops and stealing all of the dust. In some shops they even killed the shopowners. This was even worse than the notorious criminal Roman Torchwick's operations that also hit dust shops. At least Torchwick would leave the people alone and merely steal the dust. The White Fang murdered the shopowners and burnt down their shops for their own sick amusement.

No one who could do this could be human. No one.

"Weiss!" she heard a familiar voice as she noticed, Ruby, Blake, Yang and Aram coming towards her.

"What?" She snapped at them. "Have you come to ask me what happened with that piece of garbage?"

"He's not a piece of garbage, Weiss," Blake spoke with an edge in her voice, "He is a human being just like you."

"Guys, please…" Ruby spoke up to be cut off by Weiss' mocking laughter.

"Really, Blake? You think they are like us?" Weiss spoke.

Aram stepped forward. "Ms, Schnee…"

"Not now, Aram. I need to have some words with my…teammate." Weiss spoke as Aram frowned and stepped away.

"Aram?" Ruby asked the boy in confusion.

"I can see where this is going, Ruby." Aram spoke. "This is my cue to leave. I think I should not be present for what is to come. It was nice to meet you, Ruby. I hope we meet again before I leave." Aram spoke walking off, leaving the four girls remaining of which two seemed to be slowly getting into a verbal battle.

"Well then Blake," Weiss spoke pointing at the shop. "Do you think they are human beings after they did this?"

Blake looked towards the dust shop and her expression faltered for a second before setting itself in stone. "That's not ture…"

"Oh, but I can!" Weiss continued. "Two detectives from the VPD found evidence that this was the work of the White Fang. They'd come in, took the dust, killed the shopkeeper and burnt down the shop. It's really coincidental that when a human criminal like Roman Torchwick does this, he only takes the dust but when faunuses are involved…" Weiss looked back at the shop.

Blake grit her teeth. "What you are forgetting that the White Fang did it, not all faunuskind…Besides, I recognize this shop. It's owner was a member of Clan Humanitas, an organization just as extreme as the White Fang. Did you try to find out what that shopkeeper did?"

Weiss narrowed her eyes. "I did not."

"Well, that shows how biased you are. You don't even know what every member of Clan Humanitas does to faunuses they catch alone, do you? Then let me tell you. They beat up and torture the faunuses. They pick them off the street and kill them to supposedly cleanse society of faunus filth."

Weiss inwardly gagged at the revelation but kept her confidence. "That still does not eliminate the fact that the White Fang did this to other shops as well, whose shopkeepers were NOT members of Clan Humanitas. Clan Humanitas may be too extreme in their methods, but they are right about one thing. Faunuses are filth to society. They do nothing but cause chaos wherever they go. How many criminals are there who just so happen to be faunus? How many crimes are committed across the kingdoms by faunus? If you look at the statistics, much , much higher than human criminals."

"And how do you think that happens? It begins with racists like you who deny them a chance to prove themselves in life and enjoy it, instead suffering under discrimination because they have some extra appendages. You cannot realize, Weiss, that it is humanity's actions that leads to this. The White Fang itself became what it is because of humanity's mistreatment of faunus."

"Oh, don't blame it on us. The White Fang houses the worst of all faunus scum, actively trying to sabotage and ruining the peace people enjoy. They are degenerate maniacs who wouldn't even be satisfied with faunus equality. NO, what they want is humanity's utter destruction."

"No, they don't!"

"Yes they do!"

"They do not!"

"They are genocidal monsters! What else do you expect from them?"

"STOP IT! They're not monsters!"

"Guys!" Ruby exclaimed in panic as Yang went to separate them before it got worse. But then Blake hit the final nail.

"They're misguided souls who were wronged by society!"

Weiss went completely silent.

"Misguided?" Weiss repeated as Blake's words sunk into her mind.

"MISGUIDED?!" She screamed in rage as she brandished Myrtenaster and charged at Blake. Yang grabbed Myrtenaster which Weiss released from her grip to grab Blake by the collar and slam her into a wall.

"YOU CALL THEM MISGUIDED!" Weiss screamed at Blake, unable to comprehend that Blake actually said those words.

"YES I DO! THEY HAVE BEEN LED ASTRAY BY VENGEANCE AGAINST HUMANITY! THE WHITE FANG DOESN'T WANT GENOCIDE! IT, LIKE ALL FAUNUS, DESIRES THEIR PEOPLE NOT TO BE TORTURE SIMPLY BECAUSE OF WHO THEY ARE, SCHNEE!" Blake yelled back, expecting another retort when she noticed Weiss' shoulders shaking.

"Hehe…" A hollow chuckle escaped Weiss lips. "That's…That's…HAHAHAHAHA!" Weiss spoke laughing as she let Blake go.

"You seriously cannot…" She spoke as her hysterical laughter transformed into broken wails. Ruby and Yang watched in shock as Weiss started having a complete mental breakdown.

"That's the saddest joke I've ever heard." She spoke crying. "Are you even listening to yourself, Blake?"

"I am." Blake spoke. "And it's not a joke, Schnee. I have said it and I shall say it again. What the White Fang wants is for discriminators like you to stop torturing faunus simply because of who they are."

"Discriminator…" Weiss spoke quietly before busting into tears again. "I'm not a discriminator…I'm a victim." She spoke in a broken voice.

"Weiss…" Ruby tried to speak but Weiss looked away. It was nice Ruby was trying to comfort her, but she simply cannot understand the hypocrisy of Blake's words. So, Weiss decided to reveal it to them.

"This scar, did you know a member of the White Fang gave it to me when I was 4 years old?" Weiss asked as Blake stopped, her eyes widening.

"Oh, you didn't. Of course you didn't. All people talk about are the SDC disasters that claim the lives of faunus, not the Night of the Fangs, do they?"

Blake stumbled back at the mention of 'Night of the Fangs'. "An infamous incident during the term of Ghira Belladonna where rogue white fang members killed families in their sleep in Atlas. One of those affected was my family, Blake. I was a little child, yet one of those damned faunus tried to cut my face open. Why? Because I am a Schnee. Because I am a Schnee, I needed to die. It doesn't matter whether I'm an innocent child or not, because a Schnee can never be innocent, can they?" Weiss spat.

"I was narrowly saved by a huntress, but he couldn't save my little brother Whitely." Weiss spoke swallowing as the memory came back to her.

"Hold on, kid!" A man with black hair and crimson eyes spoke holding Weiss as they ran through the hallways. "Summer! Where are you?!" He yelled into his phone.

"I'm a bit busy, Qrow! I found the older Schnee sibling and the Schnee matriarch. Mr. Schnee's already safe…Hah! Take that!" A woman's voice yelled back.

"Good! Keep going! I found one of the Schnee children but she needs medical attention. One of them got her in the left eye." The huntsman spoke.

"Shit! Where are you?" The woman yelled as sounds of battle sounded from the scroll.

"There's still one remaining! I'll go get him! Get the other two to James and tell him to have a medic team ready when we come out.

"W-Where's mommy?" Weiss spoke, her vision blurry from the pain of her left eye being cut as the huntsman looked down at her. "She's safe, kid. You're going to be alright. We just have to find your brother."

They soon reached a door and the huntsman kicked it open. A bunch of faunus stood with a white bundle in their arms.

"Here's another Schnee. Shall we get rid of him?" One of them asked another. "Yes, none of the Schnees should survive. Dispose of him."

The huntsman raised his weapon to fire when Weiss noticed the bundle. "Whitley!" She screamed as the faunuses noticed the two of them.

"Shit!" The one who was holding Whitely exclaimed before running to the window.

"NO!" The huntsman yelled firing his weapon which tore through the faunus' chest. But it was too late.

Weiss watched the bundle fly out of the window and off the cliff the manor was situated on.

As the huntsman cut down the rest of the faunuses, Weiss cried silently, hoping her brother was alive.

Ruby had her hand on her mouth while Yang still hadn't made any reaction besides her frozen face and Blake…

Blake was shaking her head and repeating 'No' again and again.

"You see? You call them misguided, yet they try to kill children without any remorse! And that was in Ghira Belladonna's time. With Sienna Khan the leader, the Night of the Fangs could happen again. Those scum would be encourage to show the world the monsters that they are. So, you have no right to tell that to me when the White Fang is much worse! My father did not treat the faunuses very well, something that damages our company's reputation and what I shall rectify, but he would not stoop as low as this…!"

"YES HE WOULD! WE, THE WHITE FANG, ARE LIVING PROOF OF THAT!" Blake suddenly screamed, taking off her bow in rage before realizing what she'd done.

"We?" Ruby questioned before her eyes widened. "You're…"

"…A part of the White Fang." Weiss finished. She put a hand to her head as the implications set in.

Blake being hostile to her, her last name Belladonna, her uncanny resemblance to Ghira and her staunch defense of the White Fang.

A white fang member was right beside her and she never noticed.

"Of course, It all makes sense…" She exclaimed. "It all…" Weiss noticed Blake was gone.

"Blake?! Where did you go?!" Ruby spoke as she looked around worriedly, but Weiss remained still, her initial satisfaction turning into terror when she realized that her team had a member of the white fang.

A/N: Considering I made the Ruby and Weiss arc more serious compared to canon, why not do the same with the Weiss and Blake Arc? Yes, Whitely is dead because his death will be extremely important to Weiss' as well as Blake's character arcs later on. Also, considering I forgot, the Wendigo in the previous arc had Mystic Eyes of Petrification as well as claws made from dragon fangs. The lightning part is something I discovered researching about the Wendigo which is that if it is old enough, a Wendigo can gain the ability to control the weather and cause snowstorms and thunderstorms. So, it is a phantasmal beast which has the potential to reach the level of an Elemental.

Hope you guys enjoyed and constructive criticism is appreciated.

Response to reviews:

Maglad: Thanks man! Good to hear you liked the previous chapter!