Here's chapter 22, everyone.

"I'm so proud of you for passing initiation, snowflake." Willow said over the scroll, with Weiss sighing a bit as she had her hair down. "How was it? Did you meet anyone new? Oh, did you-."

"Mom, so many questions." Weiss giggled a little. "It was honestly a little… Exhilarating. I also managed to partner up with Ruby if you'd believe it."

Willow's eyes widened as she squealed in joy. "Oh Summer is going to love hearing that just as much as I do." Weiss could tell she was still in the same cabin she was in the night before. "Did you see any of those… Um, monsters?" While she had faith in her daughter's abilities, the thought of her fighting monsters still worried her as a mother.

"A few, yes, but nothing Ruby and I couldn't handle." The white haired teen assured as she ran her hand through her hair, hoping that no one would walk in until she was done with her call. "I… Also used my semblance." She blushed a bit.

"You did? Well, I think that's great, snowflake." Willow saw the blush on her face. "I understand why you're still embarrassed, sweetie, but-."

"No, it's fine, mom." Weiss let out a smile, thinking about how both Ruby and Yang reacted to her 'semblance'. "I explained how it works to Ruby and Yang. They made me feel better about it…" She mumbled the next part. "Even if I still need to change back into my clothes after…"

Willow chuckled a little. "See. You had nothing to worry about the whole time. And you said Yang. Does that mean you both saw each other during initiation?"

"Yes, and if you thought me partnering up with Ruby was a lucky break, I'm also on the same team with Yang." Weiss explained, though she forgot to mention her last teammate.

"Oh… Summer will explode at this." Willow said as she began to think of the many scenarios she would have explaining how both Ruby and Yang ended up on the same team as Weiss. "And your last teammate? I assume you have a fourth with Yang needing a partner too after all."

Weiss scratched the back of her head and looked a little unsure about her last teammate. "Um, well her name is Blake. Apparently she's a little shy, but Yang vouches for her, so only time will tell if she feels comfortable around us more."

Willow nodded, but when she turned to look to her left, she sighed. "Sweetie, I may have to end this call a little sooner than expected. Still, I am so happy that your initiation went well. Tell Ruby and Yang that I give them my congrats too."

"I will, mom. I love you." Weiss smiled.

"I love you too, snowflake." Willow waved to her as she ended the video call.

Weiss sighed happily, looking over out the window, seeing the light of the moon shine through into the room. "I'll never understand why it's partially broken… But it feels so much prettier that way."

A few minutes passed as Weiss stretched and got up from her bed, wondering where her teammates were. Her question was answered when Ruby walked in. "Hey, Weiss."

"And where were you this whole time?" Weiss inquired as she walked over to one of the tables, picking up her pendant and wrapping the necklace around her neck.

"Just talking with Jaune. He was… Well I was gonna say a little nervous, buuuuut… He was practically sweating bullets." Ruby said with a chuckle. "Him being named the leader put a lot of pressure on him."

Weiss thought about the boy for a moment, wondering just how he was named leader when he couldn't even use dust, but she shrugged it off and asked. "What about you? Do you feel a little nervous about this whole leader thing?"

"Uh, well a little, but I don't really care about it too much." Weiss raised an eyebrow at that. "I mean, when we all graduate, the whole leader thing is not really important since we'll go on a bunch of missions with different people here and there."

"I mean, that is true, but what about these four years? Don't you want to learn how to properly lead a team just in case you're assigned as one when you're a full fledged huntress?" Weiss questioned as she walked over and sat on her bed.

Ruby sat next to her, thinking about the question for a moment. "I don't really know to be honest, Weiss. It's… Weird? I think that's the word. I didn't really expect to be the leader, but… I do feel like I can at least promise one thing about it." Weiss waited on her to finish her thought. "I'm gonna make sure not to fail you guys."

Weiss was a bit surprised by that, but she sighed and nudged her partner a bit, getting her attention. "You are such a dork sometimes. How can you say you won't fail us and not expect us to feel the same. It is called a team effort after all."

With a chuckle, Ruby couldn't help but smile as she nodded to her friend. "That's true, but I just wanna try and make sure I do a good job for you guys. I still need to get to know Blake, keep Yang under control at times and… Learn to not be such a worrywart when it comes to my partner." She said as she took Weiss' hand, squeezing it a bit. "I'm still really sorry about that…"

Weiss was blushing slightly at the hand squeeze, but she shook her head. "Let's not exchange apologies. We do that enough don't you think?" She said, both girls chuckling as they heard the door open, so Ruby pulled her hand away from Weiss, not wanting her sister to come in and try to tease her about it.

"Ugh, I need to get some sleep. That Nora girl is way too energetic, even for me." Yang walked in, hunched over as she plopped herself on her bed, though the beds were very unarranged and even crooked.

Blake sighed as she walked in behind her. "I told you to not let her have another round of sparring with you, but you didn't listen."

Yang waved her off. "Do the I told you so stuff later. For now, I sleep."

Weiss looked a bit confused and turned to Blake. "Why were they sparring? I thought we weren't allowed to use the training room yet."

Hearing the Schnee speak to her made Blake tense up, so she pretended to look for something, not wanting to face her. "They just went outside." Her answer was short and to the point.

"Okay." Weiss decided not to pry anymore, since she still kept Yang's words about Blake in mind. "So… Should we all get to sleep?"

Yang gave her a thumbs up without saying a word, her eyes closed as she didn't bother to change out of her combat attire. Ruby got up from Weiss' bed and stretched. "Yeah, I think that would be for the best. This was an awesome day, team."

Weiss smiled at the word, nodding to her partner as she laid back in bed, getting her blanket over her as she closed her eyes and thought about what was going to be up next.

"A team."

"Father, you wanted to see me?" Whitley asked as he spoke to his father when he walked into his office he had in Mistral, noticing that the CEO was looking displeased.

"None that need your attention, but your mother seems to continue to ignore my calls. Inform her that she is to return my calls if you can somehow get a hold of her." Jacques said in an annoyed tone.

Whitley thought about it for a moment, and he hadn't spoken to his mother since he and Weiss yelled at each other about her leaving for Beacon. "Yes, father." He chose not to relay that information though.

"Good. Now have you paid close attention to the way the people of Mistral react to our generosity?" Jacques questioned with a smirk, Whitley nodding to him as an answer. "The headmaster is a very… Easy man to speak to. All it takes is a bit of protection dealings and his support is attained."

"I believe the term is, cowardice, father. The man is a Faunus and chooses to not speak up when spoken to." Whitley stated.

"Indeed. It still does not change the fact that with his support, the influence our company has attained will continue to span over Remnant." Jacques proudly said.

Whitley held his arms behind his back, nodding almost robotically at his words. "I would say that seems impossible, since our influence is all over Remnant already, but I do know a few barbaric places still feel the need to accuse us of such foul acts."

"Yes, their words have no meaning behind them though. It's all in their head." Jacques explained, his son not completely believing that, but he'd not speak up against his father, so the CEO went back to his computer. "Go on and get back to your studies. I will be discussing more about our expansions with… The coward as you put it."

Whitley bowed to his father and turned to walk out of his office. As he walked through the halls of the SDC building that was made in Mistral after his father expanded to the kingdom, he sighed. Passing by the many people who wore suits and ties felt annoying to the boy, but he was to grow used to seeing those kinds of people.

Here and there he would be greeted by the many workers inside the building, though mostly out of fear that his father would fire them for simply ignoring the boy. Whitley didn't care much about their greetings as he got to the room he was given for the business trip.

It wasn't much. A bed, two drawers, a table with a finely crafted lamp and the interior walls seemed so plain with its workplace style paint job. The boy sighed as he sat on the bed, pulling his scroll out.

He only had his mother's number on hand because she insisted, but he never budged on taking Weiss or Winter's, so he tapped out her number and held his scroll sideways, not bothering with a video call. "Honey? I didn't expect you to call me. Is everything okay?" His mother's voice spoke through the scroll.

"Yes, mother, but I am calling to question you on why you have ignored his calls." Whitley got right to the point.

Willow sighed, earning a confused look from her son. "I have other matters to attend to, honey. And I know your father is very busy, so let him know we can speak about whatever it is he wishes to discuss with me."

"It's still disrespectful to outright ignore his calls, mother. Father is stressed out enough from his busy-." Before he could continue, Willow cut him off.

"Honey, this is between your father and I. That means I want you to focus on what you wish to do. Please." Willow begged.

"What I wish to do is make sure you and father speak when he wishes to speak to you…" Whitley trailed off, not expressing what he was really after.

Willow sniffled a bit from the cold, though Whitley wouldn't know. "And I understand your concern, honey. Look, I promise that I'll give him a call soon. Okay?"

"That… Will do, yes. Thank you for understanding, mother." Whitley responded.

"Mhmm, and… I know you and your sister had a little bit of an argument," An understatement for sure. "But I'd like to let you know that she had a wonderful first two days at her new school. She's passed her initiation as well."

"Hmm." Was all Whitley could say, not seeing the frown on her mother's face.

"Y-Yes. Um, honey, I know you'd rather not hear this, but I really think you should call your sister. It can't be good for either of you to not speak after what happened." Willow remarked.

Whitley fixed up his tie and thought about it for a moment, but shook his head. "Clearly she'll be busy with her… Barbaric school, and you know I have far too little time. Even this call is getting in the way of my studies."

That stung Willow and her son couldn't see her holding her hand to her heart in pain. "Honey, please… Don't refer to it as barbaric. This is your sister's dream."

Whitley sighed, not wanting to argue with another family member, since it hurt too much. "Very well. I still stand by what I said. She is going to be busy focusing on her own studies, as should I."

"Okay, honey… I love you." Willow said, hoping her son knew she truly did.

"I… Love you too, mother." The boy said as he ended the call, not waiting to hear how his mother would react. He contemplated throwing his scroll, wishing it wasn't hard to say those words to his own family, but something kept him still. "A Schnee shouldn't show loss of control…"

His father's words repeated in his head, and the young Schnee stood up, fixing up his shirt collar as he walked to his desk to sit and study.

Willow sighed, keeping her hand against where her heart would be as she lowered her scroll. "Honey… I am so sorry." She blamed herself more and more each day, but looking over at Raven, she felt a spark in herself, so she got up and stretched, taking note how late it was.

"Idiot, get some sleep." Raven said, startling the woman as she thought the black haired huntress was asleep.

"I-I was just going to spend an hour out there was all." Willow replied, looking a little nervous when Raven turned to face her while she laid on the bed, giving her an unamused look. "I'm not going to overexert myself."

"You said that before and I had to carry your ass back in here." Raven reminded.

Willow huffed, crossing her arms in defiance. "Well just let me have the one hour, and if it looks like I might overdo it, stop me." She smirked. "Unless you don't think you can."

Raven rolled her eyes and sat up. "Yeah, because a housewife could hold her own against me when she can't even use one glyph without falling over."

"Well then you have nothing to worry about then." Willow said, her smirk still present as she walked out with her coat, earning a sigh from the huntress who decided to follow her, only to keep an eye on her though.

"One hour, idiot. So don't waste it." Raven said, leaning against the cabin as she watched Willow nod and focus on her aura again.

Not much to say here besides that Whitley still does care about his family, as seen before with his argument with Weiss.

To JJ- Yeah, Weiss isn't about to freely do that in front of her friends, even if she was super comfortable about it. And Ruby will have to get over that fear in some way. Maybe not fully, but enough to respect Weiss' career choice. Also, I can say it. No, she won't try to be leader. She accepts Ruby as leader here, but is a little sad about not being picked.

I hoped you all enjoyed chapter 22. Remember, reviews are welcomed, but not required. See you all in chapter 23.