Chapter 50
"So what are you going to do with it?" spoke a man's voice, the voice of General Ironwood
"If the Company fell, Atlas would fall after it" replied Winter's voice, tired and weak.
"You could always hand it over to the kingdom" answered the General.
"With all due respect sir, you already hold enough of Atlas" responded Winter.
"You intend to keep it then?" asked the General.
"Yes... I do. Is that something you would disagree with?" came Winter's answer.
There was a pause.
"Not at all, I would be happy to see the SDC within the hands of someone as capable as yourself" he replied.
Winter sat in the private study of her father, she was at a desk. Her features were lit up by the vibrant screen of the monitor in front of herself. Her fringe as usual draped down over her right eye, but beneath it was a white patch, the cyan logo of the Schnee family upon it. It had been a few hours since she killed her father, and after having been treated of her wounds she sought to familiarize herself with the inner workings of the company as soon as possible.
Her finger clicked through private and classified files as her single icy blue eye scanned over the words she was met with. Within the files she saw private meetings with less than reputable people, she saw names that had been blanked out, multiple savings accounts where money was being transferred to, payments made at seemingly random to others. The more she looked into the secrets of the company the more she grew to despise what her father had turned it into. But not only that, there were files pertaining to Atlas as a whole. From its military to its academy.
Her father was closely connected to the politics of the kingdom and he seemed to document the worst of it. Deals made between other kingdoms, extortion, private conversations between the headmasters of the academies. He had logged it all and it painted the kingdom of Atlas in a very poor light. Further looking through files she found plans detailing the beginnings of a takeover. Her father had been planning to take Atlas for his own for some years now. The machines he made, they all had a fail-safe that would transfer control over to the company. If he wanted he could have taken over every Knight and Paladin in the kingdom. It would have been a massacre.
It looked although he was still building up enough evidence to grant him enough cause in the eyes of the public to dethrone the General however. From what Winter was seeing in some of these files... It defamed the General. Someone she had shown nothing but loyalty was capable of such backhanded negotiations and veiled threats. There was no debate to the fact that Atlas was the strongest of all four kingdoms, but for the General to remind the others of that fact in exchange for getting the deals he wanted...
Winter's eye narrowed, this wasn't the Atlas she served, not the one that had been known to her and the population. She leaned back in the leather chair, glancing down to her metallic hand that was still stained with her own dried blood. She brought her other hand to it as she scratched at the stain with her finger, the dried blood flaking from the metal to reveal the mark of her family beneath it. All this political nonsense tied in with fake smiles and hidden knives, there was no need for it. All she wanted was for herself and her sister to be happy, they would have been better off being born into a normal family far away from Atlas. Instead they were born into a burden of responsibility and duty. What life was that? To be prisoners to their own name? When Winter returned from Vale to rescue her sister from this place she had planned to dismantle the SDC, to completely free herself and Weiss.
But without the SDC Atlas would fall. She had distaste for what she now knew about her homeland but she didn't want to see it crumble either. Handing over the company to the General would have only given him more power. The way she looked at it the SDC was a way to keep him in check, a leash to stop him from doing anything rash. She had learned that the General was a greedy man and if he had the company there would have been nothing to stop him taking the rest of Remnant. Her father likely refused him that chance for the simple fact it would have made the General stronger and harder to overthrow. It seemed that Atlas never ended its first civil war. It was still happening.
Her finger had scratched away all the blood covering the symbol on her prosthetic, the dried blood now blackened the underside of her fingernail. Her eye glanced up at the sound of a knock at the door. She reached her hand to the underside of the desk as she pushed one of several buttons. The door unlocked as an elderly butler walked in, the oldest servant of the mansion. "Klein" greeted Winter, her voice in its usual stern tone.
The butler bowed his head, "Lady Schnee, they found your sister. She is currently being transported along with her companion" he spoke in his croaky voice as he stood up straight.
"Companion...?" muttered Winter. She sighed softly, Neo. "Is Weiss well?" she asked.
"She... Refused to come willingly, I'm told. No force was used but she believes it to be a trap by your recently deceased predecessor" he answered, pausing awkwardly.
"What else?" asked Winter, eye narrowing slightly with suspicion.
"Her... Companion was in poor condition. Stab wound to the left leg, broken right arm, multiple cuts and bruises..." replied the butler.
"Did... My father send anyone after my sister?" asked Winter.
The butler nodded, "Yes, the one he sent after you. While you arrived he saw fit to pay her just before you entered the door. He mistook you for the young lady" he answered.
Winter's eye glanced down to her desk, "Provide her companion what medical assistance she requires when she arrives..." she answered.
"Of course Lady Schnee. Is there anything else I could do for you?" asked the butler.
Her eye glanced back up to the elderly man, "Yes, there are two women I would like escorted to the mansion. They are currently under the General's care" she replied.
"At once" nodded the butler as he turned to leave through the door. Winter looked back down to the monitor that lit up her visage. After a few seconds she noticed the door hadn't been closed as she looked back up to the entrance, the elderly man was looking back at her.
"Is something the matter, Klein?" asked Winter.
The old man paused as if hesitating to speak. He sighed quietly, "Lady Schnee... Am I to assume you are aware of your father's plans?" he asked.
Winter raised a brow at the man, "You knew?" she asked.
"There was little your father kept from me... Including your..." once more he paused. "I am sorry, Lady Schnee... He had me swear not to speak a word of it..."
The woman's expression frowned slightly, he had known who her mother's killer had been since the day she died. "Your... loyalty is forever admirable, Klein. I will not hold you against it if you can show me the same dedication" she spoke, voice softer now.
The butler nodded a final time, "Without question, Lady Schnee" he said before turning to leave the room. The light that came in from the entrance fading as the door closed, leaving Winter to herself once again.
She didn't understand what motivation her father had for killing her mother, and to be perfectly honest she didn't want to know. Whatever it was it would surely only tie into greedy plans and lofty ambitions.
The city of Atlas was laid out before him, a shining beacon of progress at the top of Remnant. He swirled his glass of scotch in hand as his blue eyes narrowed sharply. The head of the SDC was dead, that was all it should have took. Winter never wanted the position and Weiss was always trying to leave. It should have been easy. He brought the glass to his lips as he took a gulp from the strong beverage. The taste permeated in his mouth as he looked down once more. He was aboard one of his vessels in the sky and from here there was little he did not see.
But it was what others could not see that irritated him.
Winter was smart, strong and independent. But she was no leader and had little patience for business and politics. While a Schnee leading the SDC was something most would not look twice at, the General found many faults in it. With Ozpin gone the guardians that protected Remnant were no more, they were separated and cast to the winds. While divided none could stand against the coming war, so it fell to him. He needed the SDC to reinforce Atlas at little to no expense, it would allow him to field greater armies, create new weapons capable of meeting out death to those that would seek to harm Remnant. Ever since Ozpin vanished he had taken on the burden of the world himself, he had to unite the four kingdoms either through peace or force. With one man at the helm their efforts would be met with greater success.
As it stood now with four separated kingdoms, they would bicker and argue about the course of action to which they should take. Remnant needed one mind, one leader. The General believed that to be himself. But if he could not unite his own Kingdom then he would fall short of his ideals. He wasn't sure how exactly he was going to do it, but he had to take control over the SDC for the good of his people. He brought his arm up as he took another gulp from his glass, the door to the bridge opening behind him as a woman in uniform approached him. "Sir, Winter Schnee would like to schedule a meeting to discuss new terms with the SDC / Atlas collaboration. Would you like to propose a set date?" asked the woman as she brought up her scroll, typing a few words into it.
Already Winter was delving into the world of her father... Perhaps she wasn't so different from him after all. "Three days time, eight thirty, morning" answered the General in a firm tone.
The woman nodded to him, "Yes Sir, I'll have it scheduled now. Preferred form of transport?" she asked.
"Air" replied the General.
"Thank you Sir" nodded the woman again before putting away her scroll, saluting and then leaving the bridge. The man turned back to face the city in front of him. Just what exactly did Winter want to discuss about the terms set between his Kingdom and the SDC? In any case, it might prove favourable for him to take advantage of the fact she was new to the deeper politics that governed them. He took another gulp from his scotch.
"Where are you taking her!? I demand that you bring her back this second!" came Weiss' yelling voice from behind the door. "You can't keep her from me, do you know who I am!?" she yelled again. Winter locked her gaze on the entrance to the grand hall, she stood alone and waiting. The night had come to Atlas as the moon shined through the large windows that decorated the length of the grand hall, lighting it in a cold blue hue. Finally the doors opened as Weiss stumbled into the room. She immediately turned to try and leave, not having noticed Winter as the door slammed in front of her. She banged her fist against it, "Open this door right now!" she yelled.
Winter watched her silently as she frowned, did she really care so much about that girl? She lowered her gaze slightly, the way she had treated her back in the hospital. That wasn't who she wanted to be for her sister, they had enough of that growing up.
"Winter...?" came Weiss' voice as her sister looked up to see her. Weiss was staring at her sibling with a look of confusion. "What... What are you doing here? Where's father?" asked Weiss as her voice grew quieter.
"He is... Gone now. He will never hurt you again..." spoke Winter softly.
"You...?" paused Weiss, a look of horror on her face to think that her sister had actually been capable of killing their father.
"It was for us Weiss... I had to... He would have never have let you live the life you wanted..." replied Winter.
Weiss seemed stunned by the news, "But... That means I have to-" she was cut off as Winter raised a hand to her, palm flat and outwards facing.
"No... You do not... I will" answered Winter before lowering her hand.
The once heiress blinked in surprise, "Winter... You... You don't have to, you got away, you don't need to go back to this..."
"I never got away Weiss... I just hid from it. I was selfish to leave the burden to you, so now it is time I returned to my post..." said Winter, glancing down to her prosthetic briefly.
Weiss took several steps towards her sister before pausing as she noticed something upon her face. "W- Winter... What happened to your...?" she began, not wanting to finish her sentence. Slowly Winter brought up her metallic hand to brush asides her fringe, revealing not only the white eye-patch beneath it but also the metallic chip embedded above her brow. "Winter..." frowned Weiss as she took a final step towards her, wrapping her arms around her.
Winter returned the embrace, "...There is something else you need to know, sister. And I regret to tell you that it is not good news..." she admitted, voice shifting into a whisper. Weiss never responded as she tightened her arms around her. "He... He killed her..." she said, the words causing her younger sister to tremble in her arms at the confirmation.
"Wh- Why...?" came the shaken response from Weiss.
"I... Don't know..." said Winter, her own voice hitching slightly with a pang of depression. "But... it is all over now... We can put it behind us, our past. This... This is all something to look forward to now" began Winter as her hand stroked at her sister's hair softly. "No longer will our home be a prison we fear returning to, no longer will our father loom over our progress with a judging gaze... We are free now, to do as we want... We are all the family we need. I have you, and you have me. That was how it always was, after all, and how it will always be" she finished, a half smile appearing on her face as she took a deep breath, as if a weight had been lifted from the both of them after so long.
"But... you're wrong..." began Weiss which prompted a concerned gaze from her sister. "I'll be free... But you'll be here, stuck" she answered.
Winter's eye glanced over to the window, the shattered moon shining through. "Then be free for us both, I had a choice and I made it. I will be more than happy to know that you are out there finally doing as you have always wanted" she replied.
There was a slight pause. "Did you... bury him in the crypt?" asked Weiss.
"Yes... But as far from mother and the rest of our ancestors as I could manage. He rests cold and alone. He was a black stain on our legacy and that is how he will be remembered" answered Winter.
The two stood in silence as their sisterly embrace continued. It wasn't just a turning point for them, but for their entire family, their company, their legacy and their kingdom. From here on, everything would be better. Their house would finally become a home. "I love you" whispered Weiss quietly.
Winter smiled, "I love you too sister..." she replied before finally loosening her arms and parting from her sibling. Weiss smiled back up at her as she brushed a tear from her eye. "Now then... I hear someone went through great length to protect you?" asked Winter. Weiss glanced around cautiously, she knew what she was referring to. "Do not worry, for what it is worth I apologize for my words back then. I was not in a clear state of mind..." she spoke. "I wish to hear what transpired before making any judgements on your... relationship" she added.
Weiss hesitantly nodded as she prepared to recount the events of her encounter with Raven.