Here's chapter 75, everyone.
Ruby had enough as she had to run over to Weiss and Willow. "W-What's going on? What did you say to her?" Her over protectiveness of Weiss was beginning to come to light again, so she looked down at the white wolf. "Tell me what you-."
Before her voice could be raised any further, Weiss lifted her head up and her tears were shown. "Please… Please don't do this right now, Ruby…"
Hearing Weiss' voice sounding so pained and somber, and she realized that Willow wasn't even paying attention to her, only focusing on rubbing Weiss' fur. "I… What happened? You can't just cry and not tell me what's wrong..."
"I can't." Weiss responded, lowering her head on her mom's lap.
Summer ran over and grabbed Ruby's arm to pull her away. "Ruby, this is not the time for you to barge over." She started pulling her daughter away, and Ruby struggled out of her grasp. "I know you care about Snowflake, but-."
"More than care… We're together, mom." Ruby and Weiss hadn't gotten to telling them yet since they wanted to find the right time, but the situation wasn't one that Ruby was fond of, so she needed to show them how much Weiss meant to her.
Hearing the confirmation of that made Summer stop pulling her daughter away, and the blacksmith looked down at the younger Rose. "You… You finally told her? And you didn't tell us?"
"Mom, I… I wanted to find a good time." Ruby said with a light blush on her face, though she didn't realize she said it loud enough for Willow to hear her.
Willow was taken aback by what Ruby said, and she gently rubbed Weiss' fur. "Sweetie? Is this true? You and Ruby?" When her daughter nodded, Willow let out a small smile. "It's okay, sweetie. We can talk about-."
Weiss sighed and got up, looking over at her clothes as the news she received was still in her mind, so she looked to her Mother. "Can you please bring my clothes inside, mom… I'd like to go to my dorm."
"Y-Yes, sweetie." Willow knew she wasn't about to try and get her to do anything else otherwise, so she gathered her daughter's clothes and began following her inside of the school, while Ruby could only stand and watch with Summer keeping her hands on Ruby's shoulders.
"I'm sorry, Ruby." Summer squeezed her shoulders and felt terrible, having to keep things from her daughter because of the situation Weiss and Willow were in. "Just let Willow handle this, okay."
Ruby continued to watch her girlfriend walking into the school, while Willow looked almost as bad if not worse than her daughter, seeing as she's bottled up a lie for seventeen years.
Yang and Blake ran over, with the blonde bombarding Summer with questions that the blacksmith knew she couldn't answer. While Ruby could only clench her fists, hating how she wasn't able to help Weiss.
"Winter, you know I wouldn't ask you this if it wasn't important." Ironwood said to the Specialist, who sighed in response since she felt the mission she was being given was completely ridiculous. "As of now, I've spoken to several colleagues of mine-."
"With all due respect, sir, these colleagues don't sound exactly like people that are sane." Winter countered, while the General folded his hands on his desk, and Winter knew he was being serious.
"Look, I know how it sounds, and yes, I know it seems close to your sister's semblance, but-." Before he could continue, Winter couldn't keep quiet.
"I am not trying to avoid this mission because of personal matters, sir. I'm simply pointing out that our resources would be wasted on such an objective." The Atlas Specialist tried to reason, but Ironwood didn't look convinced.
The General unfolded his hands and pulled out a file from his desk, and as he placed it on the table, he slid it over to Winter. "Until we figure out exactly what this is all about, our resources are not considered a waste. And while I trust your observations above others, I can't ignore something like this."
Winter sighed and picked up the file and opened it to the several pages on the matter. "I still can't say this is a smart move, sir," She paused and skimmed the file, seeing several pictures of animals that looked to be larger than normal. "These pictures could be fake, and the kind of threat being warned about isn't on the scale of Grimm in comparison."
"A threat is still a threat, Winter, and you of all people should know that, being a Schnee and having the White Fa…" He stopped himself when he realized he was stepping on a sore subject for Winter. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to-."
"Don't be." Winter wasn't about to speak down to her commanding General, so she set the file down on his table. "You are correct, that any threat, no matter how small is still a threat, but I'm just not sure this IS a threat, sir."
"Which is why I'm sending you in to investigate." Ironwood countered, and Winter knew she wasn't about to get out of that mission. "Can I trust you on this, or not?"
Winter didn't think twice on her answer. "Of course you can, sir."
"Good. I'll send you more details on your investigation when I have a few more leads." Ironwood finished his meeting with Winter, so the Specialist got up from her chair and left his office after a respectful bow.
At the time, Winter was on board one of the carriers in her quarters. "This just doesn't require my attention, but I can't go against an order." She was sitting at her desk with a laptop on it, and as she began going through some information she received from Ironwood, the file they had on the mission was also given to her.
"Grimm are our biggest threat. Elemental Grimm as well, and then there's the White Fang… These are simply animals. Albeit larger ones, even large animals like Elephants have never been seen as a threat needing the attention of the Military."
Winter didn't like the situation she was dealing with one bit and continued to look through some information she had suspicions on, but even with suspicions, leads were needed to find out more.
Before she could look through some information, she received a message on her scroll, noticing it was from her Mother. "Hmm?" She opened the message to see the words her Mother had sent her. "What?"
She read it to herself a second time to confirm what she really read.
"Winter, please, if there is any way you can find time off from your duties, Weiss needs you. Get to Beacon as soon as possible and I'll tell you everything when you get here."
Winter was beginning to grow a bit more nervous than usual since it was a family matter, and while she thought about calling her Mother or sister, she figured the message meant that both would be unavailable to talk, or else Willow would have outright called her.
While she was a Specialist, she wasn't about to ignore a family issue, so she sent a request to General Ironwood on getting a few days to handle a family matter, and after a few moments, her scroll went off again.
"I can only allow three days at the most, and if you don't need all three days, I'd appreciate you returning to your duties, Winter. That mission is still to be dealt with, but I will delay it this once."
Winter was happy to hear that, so she packed a few of her things and requested for her airship, but in the back of her mind, she was still worried about what her Mother's message could mean, and if her little sister was okay.
Weiss was back to being human as she was sitting on her bed, but her stare was distant and she wrapped her arms around her knees that were brought up to her chest. Willow was silently sitting on Blake's bed, choosing not to say a word since she felt like her daughter would silence her the moment she tried speaking.
Even though she was silent though, Weiss would take note of the looks she'd get from her mom, and while she felt bad for not saying anything in return, but Weiss honestly wasn't sure she could say anything.
"Everything, no… Not everything, but so much of my life was a lie."
Just thinking about it was painful. Breaking through her family's semblance, it didn't mean what it used to mean anymore to her. She wasn't born a Schnee, and yet she had the power to use glyphs.
"What was she like…" Weiss asked.
Willow was surprised by Weiss speaking, since she thought her daughter would be silent for the rest of the day. "S-She was… Dedicated. The kind of life she wanted to live was how you want to live. To be a huntress."
"She was a huntress?" A nod from her Mother was all she needed, and Weiss lowered her head again. "W-Was it because she was a huntress that she couldn't take care of me?"
"No." Willow answered immediately, not wanting her daughter to think her dream of being a huntress would be a factor in not being able to raise a child. "She entrusted me to raise you… And I never regretted it. Not even for a second."
Weiss didn't need confirmation on that, seeing as they went through a bit ago outside. After a few more moments of silence, she sniffled a bit. "How long have you known her for?"
Willow couldn't even think back to how long it had been, since it felt like they've been together forever. "Kids. She was always a sister to me… And I always loved how happy she'd be when talking about becoming a huntress."
"You were her oldest friend." Weiss said as more of a statement than a question, as Willow nodded again. "What about her family… I mean, did you know them?"
"N-No…" Willow frowned, looking away slightly. "I never knew her family."
Weiss thought about her next question for a moment. "Do you mean she didn't have family around, or that-."
"We were kids when we met, and for a long time… She didn't exactly have a home in town. Something I didn't understand as a child, but she grew up with me, finding ways to get to me and we'd spend days together. In other words, I never met her family because she didn't have family to meet." Willow explained.
"Oh." Weiss felt bad for the Mother she never knew, since it sounded like she had no one, but Willow caught onto that.
"She wasn't alone." Willow let out a small smile. "Your father, he was there too… And she had other friends too. A lot of friends." She left out that those friends were also Shifters.
Weiss sighed. "Okay, then what happened to her growing up? Did she move in with my father? And… What is his name?"
"I-I can't…" Willow bit her lip, since she thought about Weiss' real father, and how much she hated how he up and left his family after Lazuria was marked. "The man left your Mother when she needed him most… I don't want you looking for him."
"It's only fair that I get to know his name." Weiss said as she unwrapped her arms from her knees, giving her Mother a serious look. "You're my Mother, and that'll never change, but you told me my birth Mother's name, so I should get to know my dad's name too."
Willow couldn't argue with her on that, since she was right. "Riktor Unubore. A man I once looked to as a good friend, but when he left your Mother-."
"Stop… I just wanted to know his name." Weiss needed to process things one at a time, as her entire family history was changing right before her. "
"I'm sorry… Is there anything you'd like to specifically ask me?" Willow was taking it slow for her daughter, and Weiss had to think on certain questions she wanted to know the answers to.
"You said my semblance, becoming a wolf came from my birth Mother. So did she also have two semblances like me, or just the one?" Weiss inquired, watching to see if her mom would hesitate.
Willow nodded. "I wish I could tell you she didn't, but she did in fact have another semblance." She knew the truth about Weiss' 'semblance' and how it wasn't a semblance at all, so technically someone not having two semblances was true. "Her semblance allowed her to see even further than any human or… Animal can."
"Enhanced sight." Weiss noted, realizing her birth Mother was probably the spotter on a hunter team. "Did anyone ever question why she had two semblances?"
"No, because she rarely used it." Willow answered. "Her reasoning was her own, and while you may question it too, I can't explain why she wouldn't use her semblance." She couldn't explain why Lazuria hid her real semblance to pass off her wolf transformation ability as her semblance.
"Alright…" Weiss wished she had more than that, but again, she wanted to take things slow.
Willow still felt terrible about the whole situation, but things were starting to clear up a bit for Weiss because of it. "Would you rather me wait outside? I can send Ruby in if-."
Weiss shook her head. "I still have some other questions… And I don't want you to leave."
"O-Of course." Willow straightened up and waited on her daughter to ask more questions.
"Does Klein know?" Weiss asked, thinking about the butler who was more of a father than Jacques and Riktor. "Does he know that I'm not your birth daughter?"
"He does, yes. Even before you were born, he knew your Mother and father." Willow let out a small smile, as she always trusted Klein with Lazuria's secrets. "Klein has always been very supportive, so the next time you see him, please don't be upset with him about keeping this secret from you. He cares a lot about you, sweetie, and nothing will ever change that."
Weiss sniffled a bit, nodding as she wiped her eyes a bit, seeing as she knew Klein would never look at her differently, since he knew who she was from the very beginning.
Her Father's last name means Howl in Japanese, so it fits with Lazuria's name as well. And with Winter now getting involved, it's opened up more plot points I have in mind, so be on the lookout for a few changes in character focus here and there.
To JJ- Weiss really couldn't do it. Run away I mean, since there was too much holding her down, and with what she's learned, she and her Mother, Willow, will have to figure things out. As both of them don't actually know if Lazuria is alive or not. I'm glad the chapter brought out the feels, since that's what I was aiming for in the end.
I hoped you all enjoyed chapter 75. Remember, reviews are welcomed, but not required. See you all in chapter 76.