Weiss Schnee

Weiss was experiencing a strange dream. Well, she called it a 'dream', but it felt more like a memory… and not one of her own. She was watching the world through Torchwick's eyes, his thoughts and feelings flowing through her, despite being separate from her own. It was as surreal as it was terrifying, but she wasn't lucid enough to escape from it, so the memory played in her mind like a video in a projector.

He was hiding out in Vale. He'd hit three of the largest dust stores in the country, and the heat from the police was closing in on him, but so far his victories had come so easily that he was starting to get cocky. The plan was to hit one more store, drain their supply, then flee to his safe harbor in Atlas to regroup. Easy day.

Of course, his gains so far hadn't been entirely free. He'd made the mistake of taking on some dimwitted yokels as henchmen, and they kept getting themselves caught. Hell, he'd entrusted one of them with so much information that they promptly got him locked up for a while, too. It was sheer dumb luck that he'd had Neo hide the dust they'd collected just prior to his arrest!

Following his escape, he'd taken refuge in an abandoned office building within the Vale City slums, planning his revenge tour. The two-story unit was a pretty convenient setup to squat in, giving him enough space to house his few remaining goons while still having a private area upstairs to plot his devilish schemes. He had purchased a blueprint of the dust shop he was casing, and unfurled it over the dusty oak desk within his office, studying it intently.

When he heard the first scream of agony, followed by a loud bang, he paid it no mind. Probably a stupid quarrel between his men... again. Neo was surveying the streets around the building, so he had no reason to fear an outside attack.

Harder to ignore, though, was the sound of footfalls heading up the stairs afterward. He finally looked up from his blueprints, and watched his doorknob tremble as someone attempted to turn it from the other side. After two more turns they abandoned the attempt and decided to try a different a different tactic: the white concrete wall beside the door began to glow an ominous orange, warping and melting into an enormous hole for his would-be trespasser to enter through.

The figure had a large black hood pulled over their face, with only the pale white point of their chin visible beneath the drawn fabric. The hood was connected to a cloak that swallowed their body in a blanket of ebony, concealing the position of their arms, though the curve of the form beneath it did at least hint that his intruder was female.

"Apologies for intruding upon your home through an entrance I created myself, but I do so despise locked doors." Indeed, a feminine voice. Husky, bored, and dripping with patronizing contempt. She took a couple steps into the room, sliding a hand out from beneath her cloak and pulling back the hood. Raven hair spilled out into the open air, falling into a chest-length mass that rested over her left shoulder, allowing only a few rogue strands of her bangs to pull free. Her amber eyes were slanted like a cat eyeing a mouse, and she wore a smile as cold and condescending as her tone. "Roman Torchwick... A pleasure to finally meet you. You're a hard man to find."

Torchwick had no idea who she was, but Weiss did. She knew this woman well. Cinder Fall. The one who stole Beacon from her.

"That's intentional, dear. In my experience nothing good comes from people who are out to find me." Torchwick played cool, but Weiss could feel his panic. Sure his gang was diminished, but how did this woman slip through all of them so quickly? He opened his desk drawer, pulling free a cigar from the box he kept there and igniting it with the lighter in his pocket. His eyes met hers as he took a deep drag from it, then flicked his ashes onto the floor beside him. "You a buyer? Gotta say, your boundless enthusiasm is appreciated, but I'm afraid you're too early. I'm not quite at the 'sales' phase of my operation yet."

Cinder laughed. Sadistic amusement ringing in the sound as she took another step toward him. She extended her hand with her palm held upward, sparks erupting from her fingertips and igniting into a pillar of flame a foot high, which bathed her pale skin in golden light.

"A customer? You misunderstand. I'm your new boss. Congratulations, you're going to help me create a new world."

Torchwick sighed, reaching under his desk and gripping the curve of his cane-weapon: Melodic Cudgel. This wasn't the first time someone had tried to muscle into his operation, but he couldn't deny she was intimidating him. He studied her flame carefully, trying to determine her attack range. Was that her Semblance? Some people really did win the lottery with that crap.

"Not interested. I'm a man of much simpler ambitions. Feel free to shop around town for some other sucker, though... have you tried the academy? I'm sure a sales pitch like that would go over greatwith some naive kids." He raised his free hand toward her, extending and retracting his fingers rapidly, in a dismissive motion. She took another step toward him. Half the distance between them was gone now. He instinctively jumped to his feet, his cane clutched firmly in his dominant hand, though his face did a good job of concealing his panic.

"I wasn't asking, Roman. I was informing you of the role you'll be playing from now on. Assuming you value your life, anyway." She stopped her advance, her smile growing wider. Seemed the cat was too confident to feel the need to pounce first.

"I see, a negotiations breakdown. Tragic." Torchwick shrugged, taking another long drag of his cigar. He was still playing the role of a confident mob boss. He didn't want to initiate a fight with someone whose powers he didn't know, but maybe he wouldn't have to. He had to stay calm; everything would be fine if he could just buy Neo time to get back. "Tell you what, why don't I put you in touch with my customer complaints department?"

Cinder seemed to find this amusing, as she closed her eyes and shook her head with a chuckle.

"No need for that. We've met." She looked over her shoulder toward the hole in the wall she'd made. "Mercury, if you'd be so kind?"

On his cue, a young man with short silver hair and a bitter expression stepped into the room, carrying what looked like a mannequin over his shoulder. Behind him traveled another person: a green haired, dark skinned girl who looked uncomfortable to be here at all. Neither of them looked old enough to be skipping school, yet here they were, invading his office without a care in the world.

Mercury and Emerald… Once again Torchwick didn't have any knowledge of who they were, but Weiss felt an angry frustration at the sight of them.

The boy named Mercury sighed heavily, letting the mannequin hanging over his shoulder fall into his arms before tossing it onto the ground in the middle of the room. It was only then that Torchwick realized it wasn't a mannequin at all, but a person… and one he recognized.

"Neo!" He shouted, his cigar falling from his lips to the floor. He immediately forgot about both maintaining his bravado and the danger he was in as he ran over to his downed comrade.

She was lying in a heap on the ground, barely conscious. As he knelt down beside her he could see that her arms had been bound behind her back with wire, and her ankles had been tied together. When she heard him call her name she stirred a bit, eyes fluttering open just enough to meet his gaze. She attempted to offer him a reassuring smile, but even doing this much pained her, so he shook his head. She didn't need to be worried about him in this situation.

She was hurt bad. The area around her right eye was bruised, and much of her body was covered with swollen welts. It seemed she'd been stricken repeatedly by something blunt, likely punches or kicks, but at least she hadn't been attacked with a more dangerous weapon. Torchwick gritted his teeth, looking from his partner up to the three intruders. He didn't buy for a second that two underage brats and a wannabe witch could have beaten Neo in a fair fight. They must have used some kind of trick.

Not that it mattered now.

"Goodness, but your confidence melted away so quickly, Roman!" Cinder's smile was, by now, so wide that it threatened to split her face in two. She was taking so much pleasure from this sadistic display of power that it almost seemed to be sexually gratifying. Torchwick's survival instinct told him to avoid acting rashly, even as his temper urged him to attack. He looked down at his injured partner, weighing his options.

When he looked up at her again, Cinder was glowering down at him with that same condescending grin on her face. If before she was a cat cornering a mouse, now she was a cat who had chewed one of that mouse's legs off... amusing herself by watching it attempt to struggle away.

"Isn't this how you operate? Let a woman handle all the fighting while you hang back and make cute one-liners?" She walked over to him, kneeling down and putting a hand on his shoulder. "Well, don't let me change that! Go ahead, Roman. Say something cute."

Torchwick did such a good job of hiding his emotions behind a charismatic facade that Weiss had previously doubted he was capable of strong emotion at all. Experiencing this memory was changing that... His eyes went from Neo, to Mercury, to Emerald, to Cinder, and back again, his mind filling with a murderous fury so intense that Weiss feared she may be swept away in it even through her dream. What had before been a cautious disinterest in the trio was now a genuine hatred.

Still… what could he do!? Fight them? Perhaps he could run away? They didn't know where the airship was docked, surely. If he could get there they could grab all the dust they'd gathered and escape. Screw this last plan. If he never saw Vale again after this it would be too soon.

Except, he couldn't fight or run! He couldn't fight off all three of them while simultaneously protecting Neo, and he couldn't outrun them while carrying her. Neo herself seemed to sense the situation she'd put them in, and hung her head in shame. Cinder continued to look down on him with that malevolent grin, and he felt utterly trapped… though Weiss was surprised to note that he didn't entertain the thought of abandoning Neo to escape for even a moment.

"Don't blame yourself, Neo. This ain't on you. I let myself forget what a rotten world we live in." He whispered sullenly, attempting to reassure his wounded comrade.

He went silent for a moment, drawing a long breath in through his nose to avoid acting on his rage and getting himself killed. After a while he forced his way onto his feet, looking Cinder in the eye.

"You just wiped out my gang. If you want me to do this, I'm gonna need more people." He said in his most businesslike tone.

***

Weiss groaned, rolling her forehead against her pillow. It didn't feel as soft as she remembered. Kind of bony...

...Wait, what? She opened her eyes to discover that she had fallen asleep while seated at a desk, with her head resting against her forearms. Ugh, that explained why both her arms and her legs had gone numb! She stood up, stomping her tingling feet against the cold stone floor in an effort to hasten their re-circulation, and looked around.

That's right, she was in the library! The musty smell of old books had always been weirdly comforting to her, and given that she'd been sleeping less and less lately, it only made sense she would doze off while she was here. She had been pretending to read a book- seated at a desk in the far corner of the room, where the taller shelves secluded her from her captors' eyes, and where she could speak to Torchwick without them hearing her.

Her captors… She felt her shoulders sag. Carefully, she walked over to the edge of the bookshelf she was hidden behind, peeking her head around it to check the front of the library. The three family guards who had accompanied her were still there- two in front of the entrance and one in front of the window along the far wall- making sure she wouldn't be able to move toward either without them seeing her. One of them caught a glimpse of her as she looked around, but she ignored him with a sigh, pulling her head back and returning to the desk.

She had anticipated that her behavior at the concert would damage her relationship with her father, but even she couldn't have predicted the extent of that damage. In the days that followed, so much about her life had changed. Berated, disinherited, even stricken. She refused to believe she'd done anything wrong... she hadn't said anything she didn't mean, nor had she intended to attack that vapid, terrible woman, but the incident seemed to give her family the excuse it had always been looking for to tear her down.

Thus here she was. Where before her home being her prison was merely implication, it was now a deliberate reality. The servants were forbidden to speak to her, she couldn't go anywhere outside her room without escort, and she was no longer even allowed to enter the courtyard, much less leave the manor. Where before the guards would gaze into her room to make sure she was still there, they now had leave to enter it to confirm her presence. Privacy and freedom, even in the limited capacity she'd known them before, were a distant memory.

In a way, it was a relief to finally have this last tie with her father severed. Finally confirming that he lacked the slightest shred of affection for her did help to steel her resolve for her coming escape, and her little brother revealing his true colors at least meant he was no longer playing at caring about her. However, there was a sadness to it as well. Her childhood had been miserable, but it was still hers. Knowing that she was ending that chapter of her life gnawed at her stomach more than she expected.

Sentiment like that wasn't going to stop her anymore, though. 10 days had passed since her father slapped her, and each of those days had been spent training and plotting. Once she was free from this place she would be a huntress first and forever, so she couldn't afford any rust on her skills. Her body's rhythm and physical edge had begun to return, and she'd even managed to strengthen her summoning… perhaps that meant her will had gotten stronger, too?

As for 'plotting', she'd also made a concerted effort to make sure she fully understood what Torchwick was capable of in his current form. Following the concert, she felt a strange kinship with him… not 'trust', really, but at the very least camaraderie. Both of them wanted to leave this place from the bottom of their hearts, so for now she could depend on him. She would have him be her secret weapon in this great escape!

What she learned about him was close to what she'd already guessed, but still interesting: his range of movement around her really was 30 feet. He could move this distance in any direction around her, including above and below her. If he was already standing at his furthest distance from her, and she moved further away, he would be dragged along in her direction by an invisible force.

Interacting with the world was still limited, though she'd hoped she would be able to find a use for it. He couldn't touch objects with his hands or arms at all. His back and shoulders could lean against objects, provided he approached them backwards, but his chest and stomach still couldn't. He did at least have full control over his legs, though. He could freely stand, walk, kneel, or sit on any object he so chose.

…He didn't exactly enjoy the experiments she had him undertake so she could learn all this, but he took it with only a moderate number of complaints. It was for the sake of leaving, after all.

As if recognizing he was being thought of, Torchwick poked his head through the wall in front of her. Weiss looked about one last time, making sure the guards hadn't come any closer, and then waved him close.

"Your plan worked, though I can't vouch for my handwriting. Well, 'footwriting', as it were." Torchwick grumbled, sitting on the desk in front of her. He crossed his arms and looked down at his boots. "I'll have to charge you for drycleaning if my outfit ever gets scuffed up by all this horseplay."

Weiss had asked Torchwick to scratch a message into the courtyard soil for Klein. She hadn't been sure he could write legibly with his foot, or how she could make sure Klein saw it before one of the guards, but it sounded like everything had worked out.

"Good luck with that. I've been disinherited, so I can't even afford my own cleaning at the moment." Weiss gave him a bemused stare and shook her head. "Did he see it?" Torchwick grinned at her in reply, flashing a thumbs up.

"Have a little confidence in me! I waited around just to make sure. Ole Waddlesworth was mystified by the message, but he believed it. Seems excited to help out, too. I think we can count on his support tonight."

"His name is Klein." She corrected grumpily, honestly more upset with herself than with him. She had wanted to arrange this breakout without leaning on Klein's help. She knew her father, and she knew that once she was gone the family butler would be the first person he blamed. Unfortunately, while she could use Torchwick for most of her plan, she didn't have any other way of dealing with the locked doors she would face.

"Right, right, well, whatever we want to call him, he's on board! It's looking like we'll be able to pull this off with no difficulty… though, I admit, as many times as I've heard you explain your plan, I'm struggling to recall you ever mentioning where you wanted to go."

Weiss leaned back in her chair and closed her eyes. Yeah, that was something that she needed to work out. Her money and supplies would be limited once she left, so she couldn't afford to waste too much time wandering aimlessly. Obviously, her ideal destination would be wherever the rest of her team was, but she had no leads on that front. Beacon was gone, and her sheltered upbringing had left her with precious few contacts outside Atlas. There was only one person she could think of.

"I need to find my sister. I know she'll help me." She opened her eyes and rested her cheek on her palm, looking thoughtfully toward the wall Torchwick had come in through. Winter was the last member of her family she felt she still had a connection with, and Weiss had always admired her. If she managed to reunite with her, she could see if Winter had any intel on her friends, learn what had changed in the world while she was trapped here, and get her advice... both regarding her father and her pet ghost.

"Spending time with Winter Schnee sounds aggressively un-fun," Torchwick let out a melodramatic sigh, and reached for the air above his head- where his hat had rested in another life- frowning as he was once again reminded of its absence, "but I'm more than happy to follow your lead. Literally anywhere that isn't here is an improvement."

"No whining. I told you from the start I wanted talk to her." Weiss chided, before lamenting, "Still, she could be anywhere, too. I wish I could get in contact with General Ironwood. He'd know where she was."

"Indeed he would! Funny thing about that: Woodsie and the Walrus are thick as thieves. They meet up weekly to discuss political affairs. Could it be that he's mentioned your sister's location?" Torchwick paused for effect, touching his finger to his chin, "Who could know? If only there existed a person who could walk through walls! Someone only you could see or hear, and who happened to owe you a huge favor! Alas, to my knowledge, no such person exists."

"Smartass." She said with a grin, "Does that mean you heard something?" Torchwick gasped in feigned shock.

"A swear!" He exclaimed, pretending to wipe a tear from his eye. "I think I may finally be rubbing off on you. You keep making me proud!"

Her blue gaze met his green, and she did her best to convey the same lack of amusement she often did when he said things like that. It was true she wasn't usually one to use such words. Her thoughts fell back to the dream she'd just had… to how it felt to see the world through his eyes. Was he having an effect on her? If so, she wished she could borrow some of that endless confidence, at least.

"It sounds like she's in Mistral, at the moment." Torchwick, for his part, could see that now wasn't a time for teasing, so with a chuckle and a nod he returned to the discussion at hand. "I'll give ya that 'in Mistral' is one hell of a vague clue, but it's all he offered."

Weiss felt her heart race, rising to her feet as she was suddenly too excited to sit. Despite all the work she was putting into planning her escape, a part of her couldn't help but feel like it was too vague- an impossible dream. Having a destination helped make everything feel a bit more concrete to her. She was the kind of person who preferred careful planning to flying by the seat of her pants… unlike some friends she could name.

"It's more than enough!" She declared, louder than she'd intended to. She groaned at her carelessness. Again she checked on her escorts, making sure she hadn't accidentally alerted them, and when she confirmed they weren't coming she turned back and continued. "At least it gives us a direction, we'll just have to track down the Atlesian military once we arrive."

"A pretty abstract plan! Should leave you with plenty of details to worry about as we go. I know how much you love worrying." His way of teasing her was so easy and familiar now that she almost found it endearing.

"Well, it's the best I can do. If I didn't make a move until I knew every detail of what I wanted, I'd be here until I was an old lady… and I'm as tired of being here as you are!"

"You're cute when you're driven! What's your plan once we get off the property, though? We can't exactly walk to Mistral."

"That'll be the easy part," She said, nodding her head and beaming with confidence. "I have a favor I can call in to get into the air."

She went over all the details in her head one final time, and turned to leave the library. Things were as planned out as she could get them; all that remained for her was to execute.

"Let's go get everything ready. We have to be ready to go by the time Klein comes." She whispered as they rounded the shelves toward the front of the library.

"I'll give as much help with the packing as much as I can." Torchwick replied, "Which is to say: I will watch with interest."

***

Weiss sat on her bed, staring down at the sheathed Myrtenaster in her lap. She thoughtfully drew a fingertip along its crossguard, and took one deep breath, followed by another. Her anticipation had become so intense that it was almost a drug, sending waves of adrenaline up and down her spine that both thrilled and terrified her. It was finally time to leave! She didn't know what awaited her once she'd left, but at least it would be a future she chose for herself.

She stood, inhaling deeply one final time before slowly releasing the air and looking around. The look of her room. The smell of her room. They weren't details she'd ever thought to pay much attention to, but for some reason they struck her now. This space had been her sanctuary for almost two decades, and when she left it behind tonight she had to brace herself for the very real possibility that she would never see it again.

This thought added a wistfulness to her anxious energy, which brought fear along with it. What she was about to do was rebellion on a scale she'd never dared to entertain before. Whatever else she'd done in the past, even leaving home to attend Beacon, she'd done with her father at least accepting it, however belatedly or begrudgingly. This was different: she wasn't just sneaking across the familial bridge, she was burning it behind her.

Would everything really be okay? Could she survive on her own? Negative thoughts began to poison that well of energy rushing through her, transforming it from anticipation to anxiety, and she shivered. When push came to shove, why did she always doubt herself?

"Don't let the butterflies gang up on you now..." Torchwick's voice came from behind her. He placed his hand on her shoulder… well, he couldn't actually place his hand on her shoulder, so he had to settle for simply holding his hand in place above it, but the intent behind the gesture was clear, and she did appreciate the thought. "Your performance is about to start."

Weiss looked back at him and nodded, a solemn expression on her face. She resumed her deep breathing exercises and tucked her scabbard into her sash. Yeah. This was just another concert. She hadn't bombed a performance in her entire life, and she wasn't going to start now. The thought comforted her a bit, and to prevent nerves from resurfacing she distracted herself by going over the small collection of belongings she would be able to take with her.

A few minutes later, there was a soft knock upon her door.

"Ms. Schnee, are you ready?" Klein's whisper was hesitant, and she could hear the worry in his voice even with him trying to keep quiet.

"Yeah… as ready as I'll ever be." She affirmed. There was the click of tumblers turning in the lock, and her bedroom door was thrown open. The portly butler stood in the doorway, stepping aside for her to enter the hall.

"I got your message. I have no idea how you left it, but I knew it was real." He said in a contented tone. "I knew this day was coming. Frankly, that you were able to endure that old windbag for this long is a testament to your strength."

"I suppose..." Weiss looked down and frowned a bit, her guilt renewed for all the trouble she was causing him. Sensing her distress, the older man took one of her hands in his and brushed the back of it gently.

"That's no face to be making, now! This is a happy day. For all of us." He nodded, as if agreeing with himself, and smiled warmly. "Now, then! I can get you out the front door, but we must keep quiet. I won't have an excuse for the guards if they find us."

"Don't worry. I can't explain the details, but I have our way forward covered. We just need to keep an eye behind us as we go." As she talked, she turned toward Torchwick and gave him a meaningful stare. The ghostly apparition cracked his neck in response.

"Roman's time to shine! Let's get you out of here, Ice Queen." He said in a sing-song tone. If only he was this eager all the time!

The party moved through the house slowly and methodically. Torchwick took the lead, peering around corners and checking any rooms they crossed for guards. Weiss and Klein followed ten yards behind him, keeping their heads on swivels and hiding whenever Roman warned them. At this steady pace they moved through the halls toward the front door, and then across the lawn to the front gate.

When the cold air of the outside world kissed her skin for the first time in days, Weiss wanted to stop and savor it. In this moment all her fears and self doubt melted away, and she knew only the euphoria of hard-fought freedom. Still, she forced herself to keep moving. The second they were outside the family property she broke into a sprint, and ran as hard as she could.

Only after the manor had shrunk and vanished into the darkness of the night behind her did she finally come to a stop. Her heart was racing, her side stitched from running at full speed for the first time in ages, but even that pain felt good to her right now. It just felt so good to be alive!

"I s-suppose this is… this is where we must part ways." Klein laboriously gasped. As soon as Weiss stopped running, her poor butler threw his upper body forward, resting his palms on his knees as he gasped for breath. Seemed matching her pace had pushed him pretty hard.

"Klein..." She knew he would chastise her for frowning again, but being reminded of their parting was the first thing to deflate the high of her escape since she'd left the house.

"Ms. Schnee, I've watched you children grow for all your lives, so I know what I'm talking about when I say this: Not one of your siblings has as much potential as you do. Not that lickspittle Whitley, not even Winter. Watching you grow into your own woman has been the privilege of my life, and I cannot wait to see what you become now that you're finally free."

Weiss felt the back of her eyes grow heavy, and moonlight was beginning to reflect off the growing wetness before her pupils. She didn't bother trying to restrain her tears; she let them flow freely as she opened her arms and embraced the man.

"Thank you. Thank you for everything… and I am so, so sorry." She cried against his shoulder. As a family servant, he may have been powerless before the wishes of her father, but Klein had never wavered in his support of her. He was her one ally in a cold home, and the only part of her old life she mourned leaving behind.

"You've never done anything that would require my forgiveness." His voice broke as he spoke, stray tears beginning to escape from his own eyes as his semblance made them glow a deep blue. "Now go on! Don't let your memories of this place become a chain that drags you down. You're making your own decisions now, so never compromise on what you feel is right. Believe me, by the time you're as old as I am, you'll be glad to have avoided all those regrets."

Weiss nodded, biting her lip in an effort to bring her tears back under control. They held their embrace a few moments longer, pulled away, and with a final smile turned their separate ways. As she walked down the street toward the air station, part of her wanted to look back one last time, but she decided against it.

He was right. She was here now because she chose to be, and as painful as that goodbye had been, there were other people she needed to see. Other things she needed to do. She slapped her cheeks and shook her head, relieved to find that the peace of heart that always followed a good cry was mixing well with her happiness from earlier.

Torchwick had remained silent as she and Klein said their farewells… it seemed even he could be considerate, from time to time. Now that they were alone together he finally spoke, though even his words were devoid of their usual bite and detachment.

"Y'know? He seemed like a pretty cool old guy." He said simply. He looked like he was lost in thought, and his gaze was cast far downfield.

"Yeah," She agreed, drawing the back of her arm across her face to mop up the last of her tears, "I had a pretty great dad."

Author's Note: So ends the first story arc of "The Frozen Flame". This is the point where events of the story will shift quite radically from the show. Time will tell whether my narrative ambition will outstrip my meager talent as a writer, but I'm looking forward to the attempt either way.

Once again, I offer my thanks to the audience I've somehow managed to attract. When I outlined the story, I figured, realistically, I'd only get 2-3 chapters in before the lack of traffic and feedback killed my enthusiasm and I dropped it. That I've managed this humble amount of success blows my mind! I'm glad you all found something to like in this crack het ship that I took entirely too seriously, and I'll endeavor to keep it worth the time you spend reading it.