Here's chapter 113, everyone.
"Weiss, it's your choice if you wish to talk to her. I won't force you to speak to her if you don't feel comfortable about it." Winter said in reference to speaking with Olivia, who was still waiting in the airship that Winter came in on.
"It's not like I can stop myself from learning more about myself, Winter… I'd rather just continue learning now, than finding out through other means later." Weiss remarked, and Winter knew it herself.
"Very well. Klein, I expect you to keep the others situated for the time being. And no, I do not want any of them coming over to my airship." Winter said to the butler, who had his arms behind his back, as he respectfully nodded.
Weiss stopped him before he could leave, taking his arm as she turned him back around to hug her father figure. "I don't blame you, Klein." In that moment, Klein was left speechless, as Weiss simply let out a small smile. "You made a promise to our Mother, and with how… He gets with Mother, I can't say I blame you for wanting to keep her trust in you."
That was when Klein felt he could talk, as he embraced the girl who he looked at as a daughter. "I always wanted to tell you…"
Winter tapped her boot against the ground, fed up with everyone's excuses, but she kept her comments to herself, since she always held Klein in high regards. As Weiss pulled away, she folded her hands together and nodded to Klein, who nodded back, both not having to say a word to understand what the other wanted to say.
Once Klein walked back to the airship that he brought the teams in on, Weiss walked back up to her sister. "I'm ready to meet this Olivia."
The Atlas Specialist continued to watch Klein leave, but something made her want to speak up. "I can't say I'm happy with Klein, but I can at least understand why you aren't upset with him yourself."
"He's never hurt me. Not once." Weiss stated.
"I know…" Winter closed her eyes for a moment, thinking of the good times that Klein had taken part in, and she swore that she would never hate the man, even if he did hide the truth. "Let's be on our way."
Weiss followed her sister, taking quick glances in the direction of Kuroyuri, and even when she did, she knew she wasn't about to see the Hidden that were still there.
"I can't do anything with them."
The thought alone made Weiss refocus on who she was about to speak to. "Do you have any questions before we get there? I'll try to-."
"I can't really think of any to ask you, Winter. I'll ask this Olivia what I can." Weiss remarked, and Winter hated that she couldn't help her sister more than she could.
"You don't need to feel pressured. Once she gets to ask her questions, I'll be taking you back to Beacon… I know Klein can, but I want to know you're okay." Winter said, and she could hear her sister stopped following at that point, so she glanced over her shoulder, seeing Weiss' surprised expression.
"What do you mean? I can go on the airship with the others. Ruby will be-."
"She'll be fine, and I expect the others to not complain or argue with me on this. You are my younger sister, and my airship is better suited to take you back." Winter explained, as Weiss bit her lip.
The younger of the Schnee siblings looked back at where the others were. "You can't just start treating me like I'm helpless… Just because I've learned about those people."
"You aren't helpless, Weiss." Winter spun around, giving her sister a stern look. "This isn't about that," She clenched her fists. "Father has always been a thorn in our side, treating us like dirt, and I know you're smart enough to know this by now."
Weiss lowered her head, frowning as she looked towards the ground, since her sister was being very blunt with her.
"Even our own brother has been influenced by him, and he doesn't even try to speak with us…"
It was painful to hear.
"And now Mother is keeping secrets from us, too many secrets. I'm not letting you go through life without at least one member of our family that will always be here for you… Even though I know you can go through life without me, I'm still going to be here." Winter stated, not caring if she seemed to be letting her emotions out more than she had in the past.
Weiss was taken aback by her reasons, and she lifted her head up, seeing that her sister still has her stern expression. "Winter…" The younger Schnee walked up to her big sister, shaking her head in defiance of her words. "Mother made mistakes, there's no denying that… But she loves us… I know Fath… He doesn't, and I know Whitley has his issues, but you know as well as I do, that Mother loves us."
Her little sister was growing up almost faster than she was in certain regards, and while she wanted to counter what Weiss said, Winter knew that was impossible. "Aren't you even a bit upset with-."
"Of course I am." Weiss said, cutting her off mid sentence. "I had to learn that I wasn't even born human from two strangers, Winter." The younger Schnee sibling wasn't going to stay quiet. "I could've accepted this years ago, so yes, I would've rather mom tell us about this all when we were younger, but that's in the past… And I don't want to hate her for it, and I don't want you hating her for it either."
The Atlas Specialist kept her composure, knowing there wasn't much that could be done about the past, so she looked back towards her airship. "You're much stronger than I in forgiveness, little sister, so I'll… Try to talk to Mother about this more calmly next time."
Weiss nodded, accepting that much as she followed her older sister back to her airship.
"I still don't like this, Yang." Ruby complained while Zwei was on her lap. "I get she's her sister-."
"Trust me, sis, I'm not happy about it either, but they're just talking. We can wait a little longer." Yang said, having calmed down a bit more after her 'talk' with Blake, who was sitting next to her in the airship.
Ruby sighed. "Yeah I know."
Jaune was still feeling a bit bad about making Yang angry earlier, so he piped up. "Um, hey, you know I didn't mean anything by it earlier. It's just-."
"Don't worry about it, Jaune. I overreacted." Yang rubbed her knees a few times. "I don't really like losing my cool so easily, but it happens way more than it should, and I'm sorry for yelling at you the way I did."
Blake's ears twitched under her bow, as she smiled, proud of her partner for owning up to her mistake, while Jaune chuckled nervously. "Wow, I was coming up with this whole apology speech so you wouldn't burn my pants off."
Yang chuckled back, and the two blondes sighed. "You ain't gotta worry about that, Vomit Boy." The nickname made him groan. "Besides, if I did that, I'm pretty sure I'd be getting a beating from your partner." She winked at Pyrrha, who blushed a bit in return.
"W-What? Hey, I can take care of myself in a fight. Should I remind you of our sparring match?" Jaune got a bit defensive.
The blonde brawler gave him a deadpan look. "Your shield was pissing me off."
Ruby watched as the two began to bicker about the match they had, while she slowly pet the corgi in her lap. What was truly on her mind though, was having Weiss back in the airship so they could all go home.
"I still can't believe Winter is here. I know she won't cause any problems, but still. Weiss is… We all need to go home."
The leader of Team RWBY looked somber, as Zwei nuzzled into her lap, so she let out a small smile, finding a glimmer of hope that things would be okay for her girlfriend, even after the revelation of her birth and who she is was learned.
"I forgot how big this airship was." Weiss said while looking up at the Atlesian airship. "And you say she just wants to talk?"
"Yes, so don't feel pressured into answering questions you aren't comfortable with." Winter reminded, and as she opened the door to the airship, the Atlas soldiers she brought with her stood up and saluted to Winter.
"Ma'am, we were wondering when you'd return. The, um, woman you found is still in-."
Winter raised her hand to stop him from speaking. "I have important matters to attend to right now. No updates are necessary at the moment."
The Atlas soldiers noticed her little sister, and seeing as the Schnee Family was highly regarded in Atlas, they knew exactly who she was. "Young Miss Schnee-."
"All of you, at ease. My sister is here on my request, and has nothing to do with the mission at hand. For the time being, you will all treat her with the same respect as you do I, and if you wish to even speak to her, you speak to me first." Winter was being way too defensive for Weiss' taste.
Weiss was blushing lightly, as she groaned while trying to whisper to her sister. "You're embarrassing me… I don't need you guarding me from your soldiers."
Winter said nothing as she led Weiss to the part of the airship that Olivia was staying in. "People can be very nosey, Weiss. I'm just making sure they won't bother you."
"I can handle talking to people, Winter. I'm not a helpless…" She stopped herself from saying animal, even closing her eyes for a single moment as she saw a white wolf in her vision, making her gasp as she stopped walking, and Winter turned to see her little sister looking at the floor of the airship.
"Weiss?" Winter knelt down and placed her hand on her sister's shoulder, trying to make eye contact with her. "Weiss, what's wrong?"
Weiss refused to open her eyes, though it was more like she couldn't, as the darkness that clouded her vision from her closed eyes was, calm. It was odd to feel, but yes, she felt calm in that time, as the wolf she could see in the darkness was sitting down.
It felt so real to her, like everything around her wasn't moving, and even with her sister worried and trying to nudge her to open her eyes, she still didn't. Weiss simply focused on the wolf in her vision, as she even looked down at where she thought she'd see her hands, but they were white wolf paws.
The younger Schnee sibling gasped as she opened her eyes, seeing her human hands again, as Winter was hugging her, trying to calm her down, since she could feel her heart rate increasing. "W-Winter?"
"Try to relax, you were having a panic attack." Winter wasn't trying to show how worried she was, wanting to be strong for her sister.
"A panic attack? No… No that wasn't a panic attack. It felt so calm."
Weiss blinked a few times, feeling her heart rate returning to normal, as she pulled away from her sister. Winter watched her little sister examining her own hands, and she took a breath. "R-Right, sorry… I guess I'm not completely over it."
"This isn't something to rush through." Winter tried comforting. "I want you to take a moment to relax before you speak to this woman. Come sit." She helped her sister over to one of the side rooms, a place where the soldiers could rest when needed, and she led her sister onto one of the beds.
"I'm fine, Winter." Weiss tried to assure, but her sister shook her head.
"You had a panic attack, Weiss. I'm not ready for you to talk to her at this moment just after you had one from… From the news you learned. Please just take a few moments to rest, for me?" Winter pleaded, and Weiss sighed a bit.
The younger Schnee pulled her knees up to her chest and nodded, choosing to stay on the bed as she closed her eyes again.
"It wasn't a panic attack. It was calm."
Winter gently stroked her sister's hair, hoping that she wouldn't suffer another 'panic attack', though unbeknownst to her at the moment, Weiss was trying to focus on what she saw earlier.
As her eyelids were shut, Weiss could see darkness again, but a white mist appeared and began to form. A few moments later, she could see the white wolf again when the mist formed into it. She tried to smile, but on the outside, her face remained as it was, calm.
In her vision however, she looked down at herself again, seeing that she was somehow in her wolf form, but it didn't bother her. It made her, happy, and it made her calm.
"This feeling…"
I am so very sorry for taking so long with this, but… I needed time, a break, something to help me feel better. I hope you can all forgive me for taking so long on this, and while I wish I can promise to update faster, I don't want to make an empty promise. I will do my best, and I hope this story is still something you all enjoy.
To JJ- You've been very supportive of the updates I've put out, and I very much appreciate that. Thank you for sticking with these stories, even with how long it takes me to update now. As for Winter, she is showing her protective nature, but Weiss is trying to show her that she can take care of herself too. It's all about growing.
To the guest on chapter 112- I still do plan on finishing Memories, it's just taking much longer than I wanted, and yes, this is a passion project. It does make me happy to write, but at the same time it tends to get hard.
To Obsessive Reader- Thanks for the words, as I do wanna try to keep writing, and I'll try to for as long as it makes me happy. I like the amount of work I try putting in, and to see that people enjoy it makes me happy.
I hoped you all enjoyed chapter 113. Remember, reviews are welcomed, but not required. See you all in chapter 114.