Weiss Schnee is a young woman who has always had it all. All expect freedom.
Similar to the style of the White, Red, Black trailers Rooster Teeth used, I thought that it would be nice to get the perspective of both Blake and Weiss in similar times.
Next chapter will be the story moving forward from their meeting.
It wasn't that unusual for her to be surrounded by guards. The family business her father had and the many dangers of doing business outside the law had made their lives be filled with endless strangers and lonely nights.
Weiss had gotten used to the whispers surrounding her. How many would pretend to be their friends and then turn around and insult them and their family fortune. How people could be such hypocrites and only be friendly with them because of their power. Her father, of course, loved that kind of life. He surrounded himself, and hence them, with the luxuries that only dirty money could buy. Her mother, not having truly realized what kind of man she married until it was too late, was most of the times too drunk to even care. Her brother, Whitley, was jealous of her and waiting for his chance to take the reins. He carefully analyzed her every move and was ready for her to make a mistake that would jeopardize her position as the company heir.
And her sister, the only person whom she believed truly loved and supported her, had been disinherited the moment she went to Atlas Academy and decided to join the military. Their father, instead of thinking that this position could further help the Schnee company be seen as more than a tyrannical enterprise, had seen this act as a betrayal.
Hence, Winter had been forced to abandon their house and family in order to follow her dreams and convictions.
And Weiss was sick of it all. She was tired of being judged as a Schnee and hearing the horrible tales of what was happening inside the Dust mines. She wasn't naïve enough to not understand that her father's company was responsible for the deaths of thousands of faunus. Nor was she ignorant to the cries of anguish and rebellion that had risen thanks to the Schnee Dust Company.
While her father had tried to place blame on the White Fang, Weiss knew that the story wasn't so simple. She knew that the White Fang had been forced to act and that the actions they took were expected. Even her father had been waiting for the right moment so they would retaliate and he could create a media circus out of it.
The end result: The White Fang was labeled a terrorist group and the Schnee Dust Company sold millions more.
Yet Weiss had not done anything to change things. Had not felt ready or determined enough to rebel against everything she knew and finally take charge. Had not felt truly connected to the cause until it literally hit her door.
She could remember it all. How she had been playing with a young rabbit faunus, the two of them laughing and running around the house oblivious to what their actions could mean. Weiss was just 15 years old, and while she had an idea of what her father thought of faunus, she refused to be influenced by his ideas. So instead she decided to meet faunus and befriend them. See how they truly were and make her own opinion instead of blindly following her father's.
But they were found one day, Whitley having seen her leaving the manor and telling her father about what she was doing. It had been horrible, how they separated them and took Eve away, not letting Weiss say anything before she was hit by her father on the face. She had been terrified of what they could do to Eve and what that would mean to the faunus' who depended on her ever since her father died in the mines.
It wasn't until months later when she found out that Eve died in the mines, overworking herself to death.
Hearing those news, watching the way her father smirked knowingly at her, was all it took for Weiss to become resolute. To make her accept that all she had left from that horrible day was a scar on her face and the silent determination to make her father pay for what he had done.
But she wasn't dumb. Her father was one of the most powerful men in Atlas and was constantly guarded. In order to take him down, she knew she needed to expose all the dirty secrets of the company. And to get those, she would have to bypass many security codes or go herself to the locations and capture incriminating material.
Weiss knew she couldn't do this alone.
She called Winter. Begged her to help and to finally make things change. To do the right thing for all the faunus that were suffering and to make their father pay for what he did to the people they cared about.
Winter accepted. To be honest, she had been a little surprised by her sister's support, having expected at least some sort of discussion about the repercussions of fighting their father. Instead, what came was support in the form of Yang Xiao Long and Ruby Rose. The two of them were Winter's former teammates from Atlas Academy and her sister asked them for help.
Yang, who Weiss learned was the oldest, took to guarding Winter and to staying right next to her to facilitate communication between Weiss and Winter (they were expecting their father to have their scrolls monitored). And Ruby, the youngest but definitely most versatile, was now guarding her. Apart from the fact that Ruby was the closest to her age, Winter was scared of what her father could do to her if he were to find out about their plans. And, from what Weiss had seen, it seemed like her sister trusted the girl with the red hood implicitly.
Which made Weiss, in return, trust her as well.
(Flashback)
"How are we going to explain Ruby's presence to father?" Weiss asks her sister worriedly.
It was one thing to talk with Winter and plan things. But to have Ruby come back with her would make her father suspect her.
"Yang already worked it out. She set a fake tip to father's informer about the White Fang planning to abduct you." Winter explains calmly to her. "I will contact father and tell him that my informer also let me know about this threat and that I immediately sent you one of the best huntresses Atlas has ever seen."
This makes Ruby blush.
"Are you embarrassed sis?" Yang mocks her and earns herself a pout from Ruby.
"Not that I'm questioning Ruby's ability." Weiss says apologetically. "But father won't simply accept her just like that. He'll dig information about her and why you're choosing her. He'll be suspicious."
"He can be suspicious all he wants." Winter answers bitterly. "Ruby's credentials speak for themselves and she's one of the best choices father could make. And, the way I'll phrase my support will make him accept her. Don't you worry."
"Ok…" Weiss says and sits down in one of the tables. "I know you agreed to help me Winter, and believe me, I'm thankful for that." she adds hesitantly. "But I still question myself why. Why are you taking this risk with me?"
Winter kneels in front of her sister and grabs her hands tightly.
"Because it's the right thing to do." she promises her determined. "And, we have a chance of winning. Not only will that finally give us the freedom we've always wanted, but it will also give the White Fang no grounds to continue acting."
"We'll have the chance to finally bring an end to them." Yang adds from behind her sister. "Like killing two birds with one stone."
"So you want to eliminate the White Fang." Weiss whispers. "One of the few movements that faunus have."
"The White Fang stopped being a political movement a long time ago." Ruby says disappointed. "Trust me, we don't like the idea of it being gone either. We have a lot of faunus friends who we value and hold in high esteem. But even they don't like what the White Fang has been doing since Ghira Belladonna left."
"What we plan to do Weiss…" Winter tells her firmly. "Is not only to take father away and bring you peace of mind. It has been something that the three of us have been thinking about since we became friends at Atlas Academy and worked very carefully to prepare."
This makes Weiss look at her sister for a while, noticing the calm determination on her eyes.
"You were ready to do something before I called you." she realizes.
"She was actually thinking of calling you." Yang adds and this makes Winter huff in annoyance.
"But she was afraid of what would happen to you if you got involved and were still supporting your father." Ruby finishes.
"You didn't trust me?" she asks disappointed.
"I didn't want to put you in a position that would make you choose." Winter corrects her. "If we really want to change the Schnee Dust Company then that change has to be started by a Schnee. I no longer have a claim to the company and Whitley is an asshole." she mutters and this makes Yang and Ruby chuckle. "But you Weiss, I know you've always wanted to do what was right. That's why you've been studying about the company, the finances, the board and all the important people there. Why you took the time to actually talk to faunus workers and quietly worked to help them a bit."
"How do you know?" she's surprised her sister is so well informed about what she has been doing.
"Because the moment I left the house I promised you that I would protect you." Winter says vehemently. "And I will continue to do that for as long as I live."
"Winter…" Weiss says moved.
She knew that her sister cared about her, but to go to such lengths for her… It was something that warmed Weiss' heart and made her feel hope that she wouldn't be alone in this fight.
"Your sister loves you and is very proud of you." Yang speaks and moves just in time from one of Winter's glyphs. "She's just too embarrassed to say it out-loud."
"Yang!" her sister complains and this makes Weiss chuckle.
"They do this all the time." Ruby says while getting close to her and grabbing her hand tight while watching the two older women fake-attack each other. "And I know you still have some doubts." she tells her. "But I promise you that I will protect you with everything I have."
"Ruby… I…" Weiss tries to say. "I'm just not used to having people do something for me without asking for anything in return."
"Well, then that means you and I just became friends." the raven-haired woman smiles at her and Weiss can't help but blush.
(End of Flashback)
Her father, just like Winter promised, had accepted Ruby as her bodyguard and had allowed the red-hood woman to stay with her. And, being with Ruby had made Weiss realize how lonely she had been before Ruby came into her life. How her father had done everything in his power to isolate her from people of her age in order to keep her dependent on him. But with Ruby things were different. For the first time in a long time, Weiss felt that she had honestly made a friend and that the raven-haired woman was honestly with her because she cared.
But then again, they had a while to get to know each other.
2 months, to be precise, because it took that long for Weiss and Ruby to finally hear something that was good enough to follow-up.
An opportunity to get some incriminating material against the Schnee Dust Company and its leader.
Weiss and Ruby had, immediately, called Winter and Yang.
"This is our chance." Weiss says to Winter through Ruby's scroll. "Father has been doing his best to keep this operation quiet, but I think we're onto something."
"What do you mean?" Winter asks carefully.
"We think that they're setting up a trap for the White Fang." Ruby explains confidently. "I've seen some of the guards equipping themselves with night googles and dust bullets."
"And it makes sense." Weiss adds as well. "Lately, the White Fang has been robbing dust factories and their range of attack is limited to the ones outside the city. It would make sense for them to hit this one."
"Also, it seems daddy Schnee has made it tempting for the White Fang to hit this specific one." Yang informs them. "He ordered the staff to move some dust from one of the other factories to this one. They're saying it's for Atlas Academy and the current tournament they're hosting."
"Knowing my father, this is no coincidence." Weiss says excitedly. "We could go there and get the evidence we need!"
"I don't think it's going to be that simple." Winter murmurs. "For father to go to such lengths." she continues saying and stares at Yang. "It must mean that something big will be happening."
"Or someone big will be conducting the heist." Yang determines.
"So we skip this one and plan better?" Ruby asks.
"This is too big of an opportunity to miss." Weiss interrupts her friend exasperated. "I mean, if it is as you're saying it will be, then that means we'll be able to get lots of evidence."
"Weiss is right." Winter closes her eyes. "We shouldn't miss the chance to gain something from this." she looks at Yang. "Do you think it will be easy for you to make some noise about this move?"
"Noise?" the younger Schnee asks confused.
"She means that how possible it will be for Yang to make some kind of fuzz that would force your father to send us there."
"Since you're the social face of the Schnee Dust Company, he could try to use you as a distraction." Yang further explains to her. "Mmm, I don't think it will be that difficult to ask the right people to help me with this."
"Then I leave it in your hands." Winter says to Yang and they all watch her go away. "Ruby." she addresses the red-hood girl.
"Yes Winter?"
"Father's guards… How many do you think he plans to take?"
"He will keep the ones at the facility. Those are not prepared for an attack, so I guess he wants to use them as bait." Ruby says confidently. "In regards to the ones he plans to bring, those are elite and seem to be prepared."
"Father will probably keep us with them." Weiss adds. "Use my ship to take them there without anyone suspecting."
"He will most probably do that." Weiss looks at her phone. "Yang says it's done."
"She's fast."
"Specially if it's Winter the one asking her for a favor." Ruby teases and they all laugh when Winter blushes.
"You know, you should just tell her." Weiss winks at her sister knowingly.
"Tell her what, Weiss Schnee?" her sister questions her and this makes the two younger women gulp in fear.
"Nothing, she said nothing." Ruby speaks for both of them.
"Good." the older woman relaxes. "Now, shouldn't you two get ready for tonight? Because based on what Yang texted me, father will soon order you to…"
"WEISS!" they all hear him yelling and with a quick goodbye Ruby ends the call, placing the encrypted scroll on her hood.
The moment that's done, Weiss runs towards the door and opens it, worriedly watching her father come inside her room.
"Father…" she welcomes him tersely. "What can I do for you?"
"I need you put your gala clothes on and then board the Schnee plane." he orders her quickly.
"The plane?" she asks confused.
"Yes, I need you to go represent the company when we deliver some dust to Atlas Academy." he turns to look at Ruby. "And take your bodyguard with you."
"But…" Weiss starts to argue because if she agreed quickly then he would suspect her. "I have things to do here in Atlas."
"Cancel them." her father says bitterly. "And remember Weiss…" he gets closer to her and the white-haired girl stops Ruby from reacting. "Don't disappoint me."
"Of course not, father." she bows and exhales in relief when he leaves the room.
"Weiss!" Ruby then grabs her by the shoulders and takes a quick look at her. "You ok?"
"I will be ok the moment we put him behind bars." she spits bitterly before separating from the red-hooded girl and walking towards her closet. "But for now, can you please help me?"
"Of course." Ruby promises while helping her get ready.
They had a long night ahead of them.
WBWBWBWBWB
Weiss was carefully looking around her, doing her best to keep her chest pointing forward, the hidden camera recording everything that was right in front of her.
Thanks to Winter's contacts, they now counted with high-quality espionage equipment. Apart from the encrypted scroll, they now had undetectable wireless mics and cameras that had been placed on both Ruby and her. And, although she was nervous about the imminent attack, she knew that with Ruby by her side nothing would happen to her.
The people she was worried about were the faunus.
Ruby had explained to her that the weapons the guards were going to use were specially designed to hurt faunus, and that most probably the faunus doing the heist were not going to enter with their weapons because of the ceiling detectors that the factory had.
"I don't like this." Weiss murmurs to Ruby while walking behind the wall of guards.
"What part?" the raven-haired girl asks her sarcastically.
"All of it." she responds. "The fact that we know what is going to happen and yet can't do anything about it."
Because, if they wanted the feed to be admissible and used in court, it had to look like it was recorded from a camera from the factory and not from a spy.
Winter had been very adamant about that order.
"You heard what Winter told us, Weiss. I don't like it either, but in the long run, this may be what makes or breaks our case."
"That doesn't mean I have to like it." she whispers bitterly. "They're going to come in blind and unarmed."
"Just like your father planned." Ruby whispers back while holding her scythe tighter. "But you and I only need to be concerned with recording everything."
"I know." she replies and places herself behind Ruby the moment they see the lights fluctuating. "That was the silent alarm."
"One of them must have activated it while getting down from the roof." Ruby says sadly. "Amateurs."
"Miss Weiss." one of the guards says to her. "It seems like one of the silent alarms has been activated."
"Are we in danger?" she asks worriedly.
"Of course not." he huffs proudly. "My men and I will take care of the intruders." he promises and scoffs when he sees Ruby. "Just make sure you and your 'bodyguard' stay in this room."
The way he said bodyguard, it almost make Weiss hit him with the hilt of the sword right then and there. It took Ruby's strong grasp to stop her from ruining their mission.
"Not now…" Ruby says to her while waiting until they were alone.
"I'm sorry." she apologizes immediately.
"Don't be." the older woman smiles at her. "It makes me happy to see that you care about me."
"Of course I do!" Weiss says passionately while blushing. "I mean, after all the time we've spent together…" she says insecure. "I thought that made us friends."
"Of course it does!" Ruby shrieks and hugs her tight. "I'm really happy you see me as a friend."
"So am I." she murmurs embarrassed and huffs when she realizes that both Winter and Yang will hear this.
Chuckling at the sight of the grumpy Schnee, Ruby grabs Weiss' hand and pulls her along. "Now we can go." she takes a look outside and continues moving when she checks that they're alone. "Remember Weiss, we need to hide behind the box with the X on it."
"Ok, got it." Weiss creates a glyph and takes both of them forward, arriving to the basement the moment one of the faunus shot the generator and all the lights went off.
Taking out the night googles they had packed for this moment, Weiss hands Ruby a pair before putting on her own.
"Ok, now put this on." Ruby hands her a black hoodie and Weiss gives her an annoying look. "That hair of yours…" she says cheekily. "Is a dead giveaway of who you are."
Groaning in agreement, Weiss puts the hoodie on and continues to look at the scene in front of them.
"This will be a massacre." she starts saying but is surprised when the faunus move to evade the bullets.
"Clever." Ruby compliments the faunus woman who ordered the others to take cover. "That must be the leader."
"She does look like she's in charge." Weiss notes how she moves from one box to the other, making sure of not alerting the guards.
"She's good." the raven-haired girl says calmly.
"Do you think that's why my father wanted to eliminate her?" Weiss asks curiously while noticing that the faunus woman was not attacking the soldiers but merely taking her people to the exit. "She's not trying to attack the guards."
"And she has the weapons to do it." Ruby murmurs. "With the skill she has, she could easily take out all the guards."
"What do you mean?"
"She has been trained." she points towards the woman and they both see her reflect bullets. "Hunter style."
"Atlas Academy?" Weiss asks surprised.
A former hunter working for the White Fang?
Nevertheless, before they can wonder more about the woman, they notice that some of the faunus that had escaped were back with their weapons.
"Shit." Weiss murmurs and flinches when guns are fired. "Why did they come back?!"
"I SAID TO RUN!" both women hear the faunus leader screaming desperately and then falling to the ground because of a gun wound.
"Oh no." Ruby whispers and grabs Weiss' hand strongly.
Staring at the white-haired woman, she can notice the way she's clenching her jaw, the screams of the people in the room making both of them shudder and feel miserable.
But, what was more terrifying to Weiss was the fact that the moment the faunus woman fell to the ground, her mask moved, giving them all a view of the woman under the mask. And, the moment Weiss' eyes made contact with the ones of the faunus woman, she felt her heart stop, felt her body freeze in shock. Because, instead of seeing the angry eyes of a monster, she saw the heartbreaking gaze of a woman who had accepted that it was all over.
She started running towards the guard the moment she noticed that the faunus woman was crying.
"No, Weiss!" Ruby screamed at her and Weiss moved away from her grasp while taking out Myrtenaster and killing two of the guards effortlessly.
Moving closer to the guard that was pointing his gun at the faunus woman, Weiss heard two guards coming straight at her. But, instead of them colliding with her, the white-haired woman smelled roses and then flinched when the two guards collapsed on the floor. Looking to the sides, she saw Ruby using Crescent Rose to keep the guards away from her.
Finally getting to where the guard and woman faunus were, she quickly hit him with the hilt and moved him away, immediately kneeling in front of the woman and checking on her. Noticing that the wound was making her lose a lot of blood, she took some of her ice dust and placed it on her leg, creating a layer that would stop the woman from dying.
"Weiss!" she turns around and sees Ruby standing behind her. "We have to go if we want to evade the next round of guards."
"But…" Weiss stares at the woman under her and can't help but caress her face. "She'll die."
"That's not our problem."
"Ruby…" she begs the woman. "We can't leave her. Please." she chokes out and knows that she managed to convince Ruby when the older woman groans.
"Ok, ok." she says bitterly. "But you'll be responsible of what Winter will do to us the moment she knows about this."
"I will." Weiss promises.
"And, let us hope she doesn't betray us."
"She won't." the Schnee woman notices the faunus staring deeply at her and can't help but smile warmly at the sight. "I can feel it."
WBWBWBWBWB
"This!" Winter says angrily while pointing at the faunus in the bed. "Was not what we planned!"
"Winter…" Weiss whispers.
"No, don't talk." her sister warns her. "Your mission was to stay on the sidelines, record everything that was happening and then leave. Instead, you engaged with the guards and brought the leader of the heist!"
"Winter…" Yang tries to calm her.
"Not only did we have to eliminate the feed from the factory cameras, but we also had to make sure that the bodies found by father didn't have traces of dust in them. Because we all know that the guns faunus possess don't have the same kind of dust Myrtenaster uses."
"I'm sorry." Weiss apologizes brokenly.
"Sorry won't fix things! Those guards and faunus that died today, it was all for nothing because of your actions." Winter spits bitterly.
"Winter." Ruby warns her.
"Don't 'Winter' me, Ruby. You should have stopped her! You should have stopped her from ruining it all!" Winter screams desperately. "This was the opportunity we needed to move forward and because of her childishness she messed up. She wasn't ready. I knew it and I should have not asked her to do this."
"Winter!" Yang raises her voice and that's enough to make the older Schnee stop talking. "What we asked Ruby and your sister to do." she says softly. "Was too much. Asking them to silently watch people die, do you think that's an easy thing to do for us?"
"Of course not." the white-haired woman closes her eyes dejectedly. "I knew right from the start that it wasn't going to be easy. But, to bring a member of the White Fang here. It could destroy everything we have built."
"She was crying." Weiss whispers brokenly. "The moment she had that gun pointed at her, she didn't speak, didn't curse or try to insult the guards. She just closed her eyes and cried."
This makes the older woman take a look at her sister and notice the toll this mission had on her.
"Weiss…"
"I know I messed things up." the younger Schnee cries. "But I just couldn't let them kill her." she begs for understanding. "I can't explain why… But not her. Not like that."
Ruby, also with tears in her eyes, can't stop herself from hugging her friend tenderly, feeling responsible for having forced Weiss to do something like that without proper training. Staring at Winter, she can see how it was affecting the older sister to be responsible for her sister's current state.
"She wasn't ready." Winter says sadly to Yang who nods in agreement while Ruby is consoling Weiss.
"Perhaps she wasn't today." the blonde adds mournfully. "But tomorrow, after this, she will be."
"What shall we do?" she asks her closest friend for guidance. "What would you do?"
"You know me pretty well to realize that I would have done what Weiss did." Yang chuckles. "In fact, that's why you put Ruby with her; because Ruby is the level-headed one of us."
"I did." Winter whispers while getting close. "But I also put you with me because you're my closest friend and you know me best."
This makes Yang smile warmly at her and hold her hand.
"Let it go." Yang says after a while. "We've waited this long. A couple of months more won't make a difference. But this…" she points to where Weiss and Ruby were. "If you don't fix it now, you will regret it later."
Nodding in agreement, Winter squeezes Yang's hand one last time before letting go and getting to where Weiss and Ruby were standing.
"Ruby…" she says softly. "Will you give me a moment with my sister?"
Ruby merely stands still.
"Will you hurt her?"
This makes Winter stare at her friend.
"You told me to protect her from everything. In this case, that includes you." Ruby explains to her and Winter feels ashamed of herself.
"I did." Winter confirms. "And I won't hurt her." she promises and that's all Ruby needs to hear to move away.
Looking at her sister, Winter can't help but remember a similar moment both had years ago. It was right before she left for Atlas Academy, having challenged her father and won the opportunity to leave home. Weiss had seen it all, had heard him take away her inheritance and rights to return.
And, like right now, Weiss had cried and begged for an explanation.
"Snowflake." Winter uses Weiss' nickname and this makes her sister stare immediately at her. "Don't cry anymore."
"Winter…" Weiss chokes confused.
"I know you're scared." she repeats everything she had said to a younger Weiss many years ago. "But don't you worry about the things we can't control. You only worry about being the best person you can be."
This makes Weiss cry harder than before.
"And trust this promise I make to you." she also feels tears on her eyes. "That, no matter where you are, no matter at what time you call, I will answer your call. That if you need me, I won't hesitate to leave it all behind and come back to you." she hugs Weiss tight.
"Why?" Weiss asks the same question her younger self did when she made her that promise.
"Because you are the most important person in my life." Winter reminds her. "Because I love you and because I will never let you be alone. Never." she repeats and feels Weiss let go of it all.
Staring at both Yang and Ruby, Winter knew that no matter the reason Weiss had for doing this, saving this faunus woman had been something she needed to do. And, that if they wanted to keep that pure part of Weiss intact, they needed to support her in keeping the White Fang member safe.
Because Winter understood quite well that if they wanted to change things, they needed Weiss to be leading the Schnee Dust Company.
If not, then everything they did now would be for nothing.
