Here's chapter 46, everyone.
"I would expect nothing else from you, Jacques." Leo said to the SDC President, acknowledging his deal as sound. "Your support is nothing less than a lifesaver, in more ways than I could hope for."
"Yes, well the Schnee Dust Company is simply the best when it comes to helping those in need." Jacques snidely remarked with a smirk. "Clearly this school needs a bit more… Security."
The headmaster of Haven Academy looked ashamed. "Uh, of course. This school will need the best, which is why I've agreed to work with you after seeing how much your support with the Atlas military has grown."
Jacques had his leg over the other, nodding as he really had no care for the people he supported. Only as long as they invested in his company. "Quite. Now then, as we spoke, our arrangements."
"R-Right." Leo got a pen from his desk. "H-Haven Academy thanks you for your support, and we'll gladly pay what we need to for the added security."
"Good." Jacques picked up his suitcase, opening it to reveal the papers he had ready. "Just sign on the lines, and your school will be much more protected. And your students will be outfitted even more so with my company's dust."
The headmaster took a breath, looking at the amount of papers on his desk. "Yes. Thank you." He was a bit hesitant, but as he started to sign, his fear beat his pride.
The SDC President's smirk did not fade, and with the signatures in place, he was that much closer to increasing his global presence. "You know, Leo, it's a shame it's taken you this long to accept my hospitality."
"W-Whatever do you mean, Jacques? I've always accepted the dust you supply for Haven." Leo said, stopping his signing.
"But not my security support." Jacques reminded with a scowl, scaring the headmaster a bit. "Honestly, you're a headmaster, yet you seem to not want your students better protected."
Leo bit his lip. "I-It's not that at all. I was just… Persuaded by Ozpin that my students are strong enough to not need such security…"
"Hmm, well clearly that's not the case." Jacques said as he rolled his eyes.
The Haven headmaster looked down at the papers, sighing to himself. "Ozpin trusted me with this school, Jacques… What if-."
"There is no what if here, you coward!" Jacques grew tired of his hesitation. "Now sign the rest of those papers already so you can be sure your students get the best security my company can offer!"
Leo gasped and quickly signed, his fear clearly winning over anything else. "Y-Yes, of course."
Jacques almost never let his anger get the better of him, but with a coward like Leo, he would allow it. Only because he knew the headmaster would do nothing about it.
"Father," He gave a small bow to his dad when he answered the door. "Have you finished with that headmaster?" Whitley inquired as his father walked into the room he was given to stay in during their stay in Mistral.
"Clearly. Pack your things. We'll be returning home today." Jacques ordered, watching as his son nodded and began getting his stuff together. "And Whitley, don't forget how to speak to people. That coward simply needed to be intimidated and his investment was secured."
Whitley knew his father must have yelled in some way at the headmaster, so he simply nodded. "Of course, father."
"Have you spoke with your mother?" Jacques asked, his arms behind his back as he noticed his son tensed up a bit.
"N-Not since the last time, father. I believe she will be home tomorrow though, since you informed me of that." Whitley responded.
"For her sake, she better be." Jacques muttered to himself, his son unable to hear that. "Yes, well try not to get distracted tomorrow. I expect you to finish your studies after all."
"Of course, father." Whitley almost sounded robotic, repeating the same phrase when his father spoke to him.
Jacques left the room without saying another word. Whitley, once he heard the door close, sighed to himself and stopped packing for a moment. He knew what his father meant when he told him to not get distracted. It simply meant that both of his parents would more than likely be fighting.
"Mother, if you just… Stopped being so against father, he wouldn't be so angry with you…"
Whitley didn't want to blame his mother completely, because deep down he knew she was only living her life, and his father was the one making things difficult. Still, he felt his father was doing something right, like he could actually keep his family safer than anyone.
Willow held her breath, feeling a wind blow by her as she had an odd feeling. She brought her hand up to her chest and frowned. "Willow? What's wrong?" Summer asked her friend, both in Vale at the time since Willow wanted to see the town before having to go back to Atlas.
"I-It's just a bad feeling." Willow answered honestly.
Summer put her bags down, mostly filled with smithing equipment. "Is this about tomorrow? Because if you're still a little nervous about it, remember I'll be right by your side the whole way."
Willow sighed as she and Summer took a seat on a bench they found. "Not when Jacques wants to speak to me privately, and knowing him, that'll be all he wants to see me for."
The blacksmith looked ticked off at hearing how he treats Willow. "If this gets worse, you can't let him continue, Willow. I'm serious."
"We've discussed this already, Summer. I… I just need to figure things out first. Okay?" Willow requested, hearing a sigh from her friend.
"Yeah, I get it… Doesn't mean I like it." Summer muttered, but Willow heard her.
"Who would, Summer? But for my family, I need to continue dealing with the man until I can find a way to take my family's company back, and make sure I don't lose my son." Willow said, her determination showing in her words.
Summer smiled, feeling proud of the woman. "You sacrifice a lot, Willow Schnee." She scooted closer and placed her hand on her shoulder. "It makes me proud to call you a friend."
"Didn't you tell me once that flattery would get me nowhere?" Willow chuckled lightly. "Or is it that I have to set the limit on how many points you'd receive for it?"
The blacksmith joined in on the laughter, lightly shoving her friend a bit. "As long as I don't reach that point limit, then I'll take what I can get for flattering you."
Willow playfully rolled her eyes and picked up her bags, a saddened expression appearing on her face. "Summer… There's… There's something I'd like to tell you, but alone."
"Oh, uh, yeah, let's get back to Beacon so we can talk-." Willow shook her head, cutting off the blacksmith. "Huh?"
"I'd rather we not talk about this in the possibility that Weiss could be around." Willow needed to be sure, so she stood up from the bench and looked towards a park. "That park over there seems vacant enough."
Summer didn't question why Willow didn't want Weiss to hear their conversation, so she picked up her bags and followed the white haired woman to the park. "Today's a nice day out anyways, so a park is nice enough."
Willow nodded, both women entering the park as she was ready to speak with her about something she's kept hidden for a long time. "Summer, what I tell you… You must never tell a soul, do you understand?"
The blacksmith was taken aback. To not tell a soul meant that Willow was trusting her with an extremely important secret. "Willow." She spoke softly before nodding, a serious look given to the white haired woman. "Yeah, you have my word."
The white haired woman took a breath, placing her hand on her chest as she gave the blacksmith a somber smile. "Weiss… Is not my daughter."
A wind blew passed both women, Summer slowly taking in what her friend had said, but it felt, unbelievable to her. "What?"
"I did not give birth to Weiss." Willow said sadly, but her somber smile remained. "I will always love her as my daughter though…"
Summer looked down at the grass, watching it flow from the wind as she thought about Weiss. "Snowflake… She really isn't yours by birth?" She asked when she lifted her head up, her voice quiet. When Willow shook her head, Summer rubbed the back of her head. "Wow… I… Wow, okay, so who is her birth mother if not you?"
"Her name was Lazuria Okami, and she was… My best friend for many years. I loved her like a sister, but the day Weiss was born, she was… At an impasse. If she kept Weiss, she would be risking her life." Willow explained, keeping her voice as quiet as she could, while still having Summer hear her.
"R-Risking her life? Willow, this isn't making any sense. Why would-?" Summer stopped when Willow grabbed her arm.
Willow tightened her grip as she bit her lip, not showing Summer the look on her face as she stared at the ground. "Summer, I can't say anymore than that… So… Now that you know, please don't think of me any differently." Tears began to fall. "Weiss… I love her so much, and I'm such a terrible mother for not telling her the truth…"
Summer instantly wrapped her friend up in an embrace, not letting her cry alone. "Don't you dare say that about yourself." Her voice was soft, comforting, but stern, not wanting Willow to talk down about herself.
"I've kept a seventeen year old lie going, Summer." Willow dug her face into the blacksmith's shoulder. "W-What if she learns of it one day… What then?"
"Then she'll tell you that no matter what, she loves you, and will always see you as her mother." Summer gently rubbed her back, thinking about Yang in that situation. "When Raven left, I made sure to raise her daughter like she was my own, and I love her so very much." Willow took a breath. Summer knew what it was like to raise a daughter she didn't birth. "Yang to this day still calls me mom to this day. And your snowflake will continue to when you tell her the truth."
Willow sniffled, wrapping her arms around Summer. "I'm… I'm sorry, Summer. That was rude of me t-to not assume you'd understand."
"Shhh, don't worry about that." Summer let out a small smile, patting Willow's back as she pulled away. "I'm happy that you told me about this… It tells me that you trust me, and that means more to me than you'd guess."
"S-Shut up, you dolt." Willow wiped some of her tears away, thinking about Lazuria. "I still don't know if I can tell her, Summer. Lazuria asked me to give her a happy life, and to not involve her in it."
Knowing that, Summer wasn't sure herself. "Willow, I can't tell you what to do there, but I can say you've given your daughter, yes, YOUR daughter, a happy life. Don't ever doubt that, okay?"
"O-Okay." Willow took a breath, taking a handkerchief out from her pocket as she wiped her eyes, Summer raising an eyebrow in return. "W-What?"
"It's always weird seeing you just casually pull out a napkin like that." Summer joked, hoping to lighten the mood.
Willow did in fact let out a small smile as she put her handkerchief away. "It's called a handkerchief, and I'll have you know that I like to be sanitary when I'm out and about." Her Atlesian side showed.
Summer chuckled and wrapped an arm around her. "Uh huh. Well hey, let's get back to Beacon so you don't have to be sanitary out here."
"Ugh, such a pest at times." Willow playfully rolled her eyes as she and the blacksmith got their bags up and made their way to the airships back to Beacon.
"You sure you wanna try it again, Weiss?" Ruby asked, watching her partner from about ten feet away. "Your aura isn't back to one hundred yet."
The white wolf nodded, focusing on her aura again. "I can't keep waiting till I'm back at one hundred percent, Ruby. If I want to get a good grip on my aura usage, situations out there on the battlefield won't have me being at one hundred percent aura."
"Well, I guess that makes sense, but don't overdo it. Kay?" Ruby made sure to keep an eye on her aura levels, watching as Weiss' was only at forty seven percent.
Weiss closed her eyes, the sounds of Blake and Yang sparring in the background was all she heard, but it didn't distract her from her concentration. She imagined herself in between pup size, and her normal size, trying to see if she could control that too. The strain was getting to her though, as Ruby saw her aura lowering by the second.
"S-Stop using your aura, Weiss." Ruby warned, but the white wolf said nothing and kept trying, so Ruby ran over and began to shake her. "Weiss, you-."
"Ruby stop!" The white wolf yelled, opening her eyes as she saw her partner back up a bit. "I'm trying to train, and yes, I know I was using a lot of aura, but this is just the first day of me training it."
"I-I was…" Ruby sighed, remembering Weiss' request to not worry so much about her. "Okay. I'm sorry. Um, you lost about four percent of your aura there…"
The white wolf acknowledged that and closed her eyes once more. "I feel bad about yelling at her, but I need to do this. It's the only way I can have better control of my aura."
The light shined on her body once more, taking a bit longer that time, but when the light faded, all Ruby heard was an annoyed shout. "Uh… Did you turn into a-?" She got her answer when she saw Weiss was as small as a puppy again.
"Yes, Ruby…" The pup sized white wolf groaned, hating how she was still unable to get a good grip on her 'semblance' control. "And I bet my aura is way too low to change… Back… Again…" She swayed a bit and gently fell on her side.
Ruby gasped and ran over, kneeling down by her pup sized wolf partner. "Weiss? Weiss, what's-." She was cut off when she heard light snoring coming from Weiss. "Oh. She fell asleep." Ruby looked at her scroll, seeing that Weiss was at one percent of her aura.
"Ugh, I knew she would overdo it… But she does look really cute like this."
Ruby lifted her up and laid the pup sized white wolf on her lap, smiling down as she rubbed her little head. "She is so gonna yell at me when she wakes up… Worth it."
Jacques is still an asshole, Leo is still a coward, Whitley is, complicated, and Summer now knows the truth. A decent amount of stuff happened here, so I hope the transitions in this chapter were okay. And of course I had to add a bit of pup sized Weiss into the mix.
To JJ- Blake is truly seeing what it's like to simply trust people again, so yeah, one day that secret will be out too. And with the aura use training, I like the idea of Ruby monitoring it for Weiss, since it shows how much she wants to help her partner. With Blake and Yang, like before, we'll see where it goes.
I hoped you all enjoyed chapter 46. Remember, reviews are welcomed, but not required. See you all in chapter 47.