Disclaimer: I do not own RWBY or any related material.
AN1: Well, it seems that at least some people were interested in this concept, so I decided to continue it. I'd like to thank all the (4) people who reviewed chapter 1, especially the anonymous guest reviewer who pointed out the mistake in my writing. As you could probably tell, I have no beta readers proofreading this.
AN2: Going to try other POVs in this chapter and explore the family a bit more. I have no clue if I did a good job writing these or not, so feedback would be appreciated.
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Remnant's Megalomania
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Arc I Chapter 2
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Jacques Schnee POV
As Jacques watches the door close behind his son, he breathes out a heavy sigh. He knew that he shouldn't have spat out his real reason for marrying Willow to her the other day, but he was too angry to care at the time. He never expected that Willow would actually do something about it after her breakdown, but it seems he underestimated her. If William is right, then Willow is probably trying to get dirt on him to let her take over the company.
Walking out of his study, Jacques headed down the long hallway and stairs to the courtyard behind the manor, taking the time to appreciate the tasteful decoration. When he took over the married into the family, they were awfully spartan and lacklustre, just like the company. While Nicholas may have been at finding dust to mine, he was far worse as a businessman, unlike Jacques. When he took over, the SDC was overly reliant on just a few sources of dust, the profit margins were poor despite being the largest producer of it, and most importantly, Nicholas didn't bother diversifying at all! Since those days, Jacques has managed to pull the SDC from stagnation by streamlining the dust production process and integrating the whole supply chain and has diversified its income to practically every source imaginable! And now Willow wants to steal it all from him just because she feels like she isn't loved enough? The ungrateful wench! It's thanks to him that the Schnee name is known all across Remnant!
Reaching the courtyard, Jacques stood in front of the winged statue depicting the Schnee crest, took the scroll out of an inner pocket of his suit and dialled the most reliable of his friends to deal with an issue like this.
"Good afternoon Mister Schnee, to what do I owe the pleasure?"
"Doctor Watts, I'd like for you to come to the Schnee Manor. I have a cybersecurity issue that needs to be resolved, one I'd like to discuss in person."
"Very well, that should at least be more engaging than listening to Pietro's nonsensical theories. I take it you'll be paying the usual rate?"
"As always, your expertise is one of a kind after all."
"Good. I'll be there in an hour."
And just like that, the problem will soon be solved. He knew that making friends with that man would be useful, it's just a shame that the Atlas military managed to recruit him before he could.
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Winter Schnee POV
Winter didn't know what was going on. Up until a month ago, everything was fine and normal. Then suddenly, her parents had an argument and yelled at each other and since then mother has been constantly sad, but other than that nothing happened. Yet now, there were many strange men tearing up her home led by a black-haired man dressed in yellow and black, with no one explaining anything to her. Currently, she was trying to find her brother, but that proved to be a more dificult task than she imagined. He wasn't in his room, the courtyard, garden or anywhere else she checked. As she was running around the mansion turning around the corner of a corridor, she collided with Klein checking the time on his pocket watch.
"Miss Schnee! I apologise-" Klein's speech is interrupted as he sneezes, his eye colour changing from pink to red, and his voice deepens a little: "-but why were you running in the halls?"
"I am trying to find my brother, have you seen him?"
"Ah, the young master William, last time I saw him he was in the library."
"Thank you, Klein!" Winter exclaimed as she ran off towards the library, not giving Klein time to respond.
She should have known to look there first, her brother is a bit of a bookworm after all. Quickly getting to the library's lounge, she could see William reclining in an armchair, reading some kind of large book with the blue Schnee emblem on a white background, his legs placed on top of the low table before him. It takes him a few seconds to notice her as she enters, and when he does he quickly bookmarks the page he's reading before closing and placing the book face down on the table, moving his legs off it.
"William!" She exclaimed as she jumped into a sofa.
"Ah, hello Winter. Do you need anything?"
"Just wondering, do you know what's going on?"
"What do you mean?
"I mean, the construction workers doing things around the manor the fact or that mother hasn't had time to play with us anymore? Why is she so sad?"
"Ah. Mother and father had a big disagreement last month, and then father caught mother trying to spy on him. Apparently, she had placed hidden cameras around the manor to spy on him, which made him angry." William said in a matter-of-fact tone.
This confused Winter, why would mother do that? It's not like they had anything to hide from each other, at least Winter didn't think so.
"But why? Why would mother do that?" And so, she expressed her confusion.
"I don't know. Maybe she thought that father was doing something behind her back. Regardless, I don't think that it was the right thing to do, no one likes people spying on them. Its a rather serious breach of trust, something that is necessary "
"How long do you think that father will stay angry?" Asked a concerned Winter. She didn't know what all the terms Willaim said meant, though that wasn't uncommon. Her brother was just smart like that. At least she got the gist of it.
"Well, I am not sure, but you can always come read or play with me instead of mother if you feel anxious or lonely. I am your brother after all."
"I know."
Winter was half-convinced that if he wasn't there, she would have died from the loneliness already. Despite the fact that she was occasionally brought to social gatherings or the fact that the manor had an enormous staff, she was never able to befriend anyone. Regardless of how things may turn out, Winter was happy to have her older brother with her.
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William Schnee POV, age 12
A rather tense month has passed, and I think I saw a young version of Arthur Watts talking to Jacques the other day and personally inspecting some parts of the manor along with a couple of workers and robots. I didn't know that he was already prominent enough to have direct contact with Jacques, but that may prove useful later. I am glad that I was right when it came to the camera situation because if Willow hadn't planted them yet this would have been a disaster for me.
Thankfully, as I was proven right It has only helped entrench my trustworthiness and value in Jacques' eyes, and hopefully, that should be enough for me to push my luck with this topic.
"So let me get this straight, you want me to hire a combat instructor for you? Do you want to be some kind of huntsman or something?" Jacques says with a palpable distaste as his eyes bore into me from behind his desk.
"No father, I simply wish to be able to protect myself in case something unexpected happens." And I did mean that, at least partially. I have no intention of attending a huntsman academy or getting involved with them, it would waste far too much time, alienate father, and get myself onto Ozpin's radar earlier than I am comfortable with. But I will need to be able to protect myself down the line, as I can't rely on being constantly surrounded by guards, there will be plenty of people who'll likely want me dead down the line if I pursue my goals.
"We have people for that William, have you forgotten?"
"No father, but what if they can't respond fast enough? Or what if a threat pops up somewhere that our security doesn't cover?"
"That's rather unlikely, but if you really want it that badly, I can arrange an instructor to teach you. But if I see you slacking off from your more important lessons for this, I will shut it down." Jackpot, that's all I wanted, for now. Now that the (metaphorical) door is opened, I can push him further down the line.
"Thank you! And don't worry father, I won't!" Not that I had any plans to 'slack off', those lessons are quite useful. There is so much more depth to the world of remnant than the show explored after all, especially now that it's a real world instead of a show filled with glaring plot holes.
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AN3: Thanks for reading, please leave a review if you enjoyed it.
