The Schnee Black Sheep

A/N

Well hello there… I know it's been a while since last update but well it's the holidays so get off my back! Well here is the next instalment to this fic the Schnee Black Sheep I hope you all enjoy and the poll for Coal's pairing will open soon I just need to address a few things first in the story. And yes, I know I'm not great at P.O.V writing at all but I wanted to have a go at it for a change of pace.

BTW! For all you followers, after the holidays and new year this story will be updated late on Saturday evening UK time. Yes, I'm a Brit but no I don't drink tea so don't bother with that lame ass joke and if anyone made that joke mentally well then you are all doylems.

Anyway, enough of my rambling here you gann lad n lasses and anyone in-between!

I don't own RWBY… do I really need to keep repeating this.


Chapter 8: Void

Having returned to Beacon the group of nine teens made their way back to where the headmaster had given his speech the day before. They didn't need to wait long for their names to be called up.

"Ruby Rose, Wiess Schnee, Blake Belladonna and Yang Xiao Long. You received the white knight pieces. Therefor you will be part of team RWBY (RUBY) lead by… Ruby Rose." Ozpin informed from the stage.

Wiess couldn't help but let her shoulders dropped slightly when the leaders name was announced. Not out of disappointment but more out of relief that she didn't have to deal with all the pressure that would come with the job. She wanted to be stronger before she wanted to take on any roles like that. Plus, the approving smile and thumbs up her twin had given her new leader and partner had given her enough of a reason to accept the younger girl as her superior. If Coal approved of something the she would too.

"Jaune Arc, Nora Valkyrie, Pyrrha Nikos and Lie Ren. You received the white Rook pieces and will therefore be known as team JNPR (JUNIPER) lead by, Jaune Arc."

Coal jumped up to the stage this time to congratulate the blond knight with a bone crushing hug having speared the blond to the floor. "Get in there lad!" Coal laughed as he released the blond and got up to speak to Pyrrha. "now you play nice with him." He said indicating downwards to the knight. "He's really a big softie." He whispered the last part into the girls ear, who started blushing at the close proximity of her rival.

As the teens reset themselves to wait for the only person left to be assigned to a team, Coal, Ozpin spoke once more.

"All of you will be shown to your new rooms that will be shared between the members of the assigned teams. Your luggage has already been transferred to your new accommodation so I suggest you get yourselves unpacked and go to bed early. Classes will start in the morning." Having concluded his speech Ozpin walked off the stage leaving the group of teens confused.

Wiess' confusion was broken upon realising that her twin was never assigned to a team, did that mean he didn't pass the initiation trial, that he was to be kicked out of Beacon. Her mind began to race with questions such as, where would he go and what would he do to survive. He had been killing grim since the age of 10 and to be kicked out of Beacon just like he had been kicked out of his home was too much for her to handle. Wiess didn't notice that tears began to form around the edges of her eyes.

Coal heard her sob and quickly wrapped his arms around her in an attempt to comfort her. "Hey" he said as he rubbed her back slowly. "Its ok."

"No, it's not ok! why weren't you assigned to a team? Why am I allowed to stay while you are going to be kicked out!" she screamed through sobs. Coal cupped her chin and raised her head so that she could look into his eyes as he spoke to her.

"because your strong Snow Angel. Not just on the battlefield but also mentally. You've kept me in check for god knows how many years now and Ozpin can probably see that strength. You belong here Snow Angel. You're going to be a great huntress." He was right, she was now a huntress in training and she couldn't show weakness, no matter how much the feeling of her brother leaving hurt. He had been on many hunting missions in the past with General Ironwood and her father but he had always had someone with him to back him up if need be. If Coal left now, he would have no one to turn to and nowhere to go.

Ruby and Jaune's scrolls vibrated at the same time so they turned away from the brother and sister to tend to the message that they had received, exchanging a glance after they both finished reading it.

Jaune spoke first. "Ozpin wants to see us in his office. We should head up there."

Ruby finished the rest for him. "He said to bring you as well Coal. He also said to check your scroll, he tried to call you like 5 times or something."

Coal released his still sobbing sister, she had calmed down slightly and was returning back to her normal self so he was sure that she would be ok after a few minutes. Coal went to reach inside his coat when her realised he had ditched it inside the emerald forest when the Alpha Beowolf had torn it. His scroll was inside the coats inner breast pocket…

Wiess heard him mutter a "Son of a bitch." Under his breath and softly slapped the back of her brother for his use of foul language. The slap had lacked its usual playfulness and after seeing her brothers worried gaze confirmed that he also knew that it wasn't like her normal playful slaps. She felt like all the energy had been drained out of her. Like nothing mattered anymore. The longest the twins had ever been apart was six months and that was because Coal had been recovering from his injuries which resulted in the mass scaring. Now, she was about to lose him again after coming so close to them being permanently separated almost two weeks ago by their father. She had gotten enraged at her father when he had exiled Coal and now, Wiess felt nothing. She was completely defeated.

The long walk to the headmasters office was silent and gloomy. Wiess and her twin hung at the back of the group in order to spend as much time with each other as possible. Coal had one arm locked around his sisters shoulder in a warm embrace since they set off.

When they reached the door Wiess turned to her brother, her eyes having found a new resolve during the journey to the Headmaster of the school. She looked straight ahead towards the door where the strongest hunter in the academy resided. She and her brother had been through hell and back for as long as she could remember and they had always relied on each other to get through anything that life threw at them. This was no exception.

"Whatever happens… We stay together." She said in a calm voice

"Yeah, I promise to always stand beside you."


(Headmaster Ozpin's Office)

Coal stood in the middle of the group of teens with his twin sister Wiess standing beside him to his right while he had Pyrrha to his left. Ozpin sat behind his desk drinking his endless cup of coffee while reading a tablet in silence. The teens had been waiting for a few minutes for the headmaster to speak before he finally put the scroll down and address his students.

"14 missions in the last 2 years, 3 of which were under your command and during those missions not a single soldier or hunter died." Wiess' eyes widened. She knew that her brother had been on missions with General Ironwood but she had been under the assumption that he had only gone as an observer, not to actually lead and participate during them. The headmaster continued. "Most Huntsmen would be envious of a record like that regardless of your age Mr. Coal. Your number of confirmed kills is also higher than most of the recent graduates of this academy. I must say your file holds you in very high respect."

Coal scoffed and muttered so that only he could hear. "Depends which file you read and which kill count you mean." His friend didn't seem to hear him, little did he know that the old hunter had exceptional hearing, having spent many years as a huntsman he learned to listen to any discreet meaning behind a person's words and having heard the young boy, he spoke again.

"Regardless. It was todays display of skill that has brought you to my office." Ozpin showed the tablet to the group, it played a video of the battles Coal had participated in during the trial. How he defeated a pack of Beowolves with his revolver, his solo fight against the pack's alpha using his signature style, Cold Retribution, and how he rescued Blake from the bottomless gorge and assisted in taking down the Deathstalker.

Wiess and Pyrrha, who had seen Coal fight enough times before, held a small smile as they watched the display. It was Jaune, who had wide eyes and an open mouth watching the clip of Coal against the alpha Beowolf, who spoke first.

"You really are a badass!"

Ozpin laughed at the teens words. "Well that's one way to put it."

Coal had lost patience with the old hunter. "What the hell am I doing here Grey? I never found a partner, I never got assigned a team and here you are just proving how much of a badass I am." Sick of dancing around the subject he asked. "Am I getting kicked out or not?"

This caught the attention of the rest of the group and they all turned their attention back to the headmaster waiting for him to answer. Ozpin kept the kids sit in suspense for a moment before speaking up again.

"No." Wiess let out a deep sigh of relief. "You are far to valuable a resource to let go. That and it would be a shame to split up the twins."

"Twins?" Jaune and Ruby questioned at the same time.

"Yes." Ozpin gestured to both Wiess and Coal. "I thought it may have been obvious. Mr Coal and Ms Schnee are twins."

The group of teens, except Pyrrha, all face the now identified twins with looks of confusion. Now that they were looking closer they could see some resemblance and some features about them were similar. But they had 2 major differences Wiess had snow white hair and ice blue eyes while Coal had coal black hair and obsidian black eyes. It was Wiess who saw decided to answer the obvious question the group had but never voiced… How?

"Coal is my older twin by 12 minutes, and yes our eyes may be different but his hair is naturally white, the same as mine. He dyed it black just after we left home." A collective of ohs rang out around the group. Pyrrha's being the loudest having known the boy from before he had dyed his hair.

Coal was still glaring at the headmaster. If he was to stay at Beacon didn't he need a team? He questioned this to the abusive coffee drinker.

"So am I going to be a solo act or what?"

"No, you will be assigned your own Leader position for your teams"

Coal lost all patience, again. "For fuck sake Grey just tell me what's happening!" he yelled flailing his arms around

"That's enough Soldier!" Out from the corner of the headmasters office came a deep stern voice which caused all the teens, minus Coal, to jump a few inches into the air having being startled.

"'Bout time you said something Ironarse." Coal spat without turning to face the General who had been standing behind the teens in one of the corners of the office. Ironwood walked over to stand beside Ozpin.

"Still have an issue with authority figures I see… When will you grow up?"

"As soon as you get laid. OW!" Wiess had just slapped her twin on the back of the head again, with a lot more force now that she had been assured that her brother was now staying at the academy with her. Coal glared at his sister and let out a low growl because of the force of the slap.

The general interrupted the twins before they started an argument with each other. "As you both remember, you asked me to get you both a place here when you left your home. I'm simply here to congratulate you personally on your acceptance into the academy my former student. And to deliver a gift from your eldest sister." He held a package out for Coal.

Sceptical at first Coal, accepted the box and opened it. And found an old friend of his… Something he left at home when he was exiled from his family. He heard his old mentor speak again and he reached into the box to accept the gift from his eldest sister, Winter. "She said that you don't suit the colour red."

Coal slid the familiar material over his shoulders and let it rest down his back, a sense of piece flowing through his body as he donned a frost white hooded trench coat with coal black leather shoulder pads. The arms of the coat faded at the wrists from white to a dark obsidian black colour which matched his eyes. The hood was frost white with white fur around its edge and the lining of the coat was cobalt blue. On the back of the coat was a obsidian black glyph, the Schnee family crest.

The coat overflowed him with a sense of calmness and tranquillity. That was until he suddenly felt discussed with himself for wearing the crest of his once family name. Why had Winer given this to him? As if to answer his internal question he spotted a small note left inside the box that had been wrote by the sister in question. The note read: Despite what father may say you still are and always will be my brother Coal and you will always be a part of our family. Make sure you take care of Wiess. P.S. You had better be wearing that coat the next time I see you or I will punish you. Love from Winter.

Coal shuddered as he read the last part. He remembered the type of punishment Winter usually gave out when someone disobeyed her… Truth be told, she had always scared him more than his father had. Before he could get to lost in the memory of his last punishment from his elder sister Coal heard Ozpin's voice.

"Now for your team. Your record shows that you are more than capable of dealing with higher calibre missions than most other students here. Because of this I am permitting you to undergo missions that are normally reserved for 2nd year students and above starting today. Your team will consist of anyone on both team RWBY and team JNPR. You can only make a 4-person team for any given mission but the decision of who will go with you I will leave in your hands. General Ironwood has also agreed to this as he has already said on more than one occasion to me that you are far beyond normal standards. As for your team name, you, and anyone who goes with you on missions will be referred to as team VOID. An endless white space filled with countless possibilities, limited only by one's imagination. However, this will not be an official team as there will be no permanent members aside for you Mr. Coal. Meaning that you and the members selected for missions will be reported as on leave of absence. Is this arrangement acceptable?"

Coal stood and looked at the headmaster emotionless for a second as he processed what he had just been told. He didn't have a single team, he had a small army at his disposal and couldn't help but agree with the hunters definition of the teams name. countless formations and combinations raced through his head as he thought about how he could use this to his advantage. It didn't take long for his emotionless face to sprout his typical shiteating grin when he said.

"Sure, I can deal with that."

Ozpin smiled at the boy before taking another quick drink from his mug. "Good, now I suggest that you all retire to your assigned rooms and prepare for class tomorrow."

As the group began to leave, Coal stood in the same spot not ready to leave yet. He needed to speak to the general about something while he had the chance… and ask Ozpin for a replacement scroll.

"Is there something else Mr. Coal?"

"Yes sir, I need to speak to the General for a moment." The general's eyes widened at the formal tone the boy used. He instantly knew this was serious. Ozpin simply nodded.

"Of course, you may stay. The rest of you may return to your rooms."

The teens exited the office, Wiess taking one final look at her brothers back. A small smile grew on her face seeing him wearing his usual frost white coat and reminded her of a time when she looked at it when she felt lost. Her brother would always come back to her no matter whether he was away on a mission or had gotten himself lost after going out on one of his many walkabouts. From that moment, she began to see the coat as a symbol of hope more that the piece of fashion her brother used it for. She was the last of the teens to leave the office as the door closed behind her, she finally felt like they would both find a new home here at Beacon.

As soon as the door closed Coal turned to face the general, face completely serious. "I need the files from the train robbery a few months ago. The one involving Adam Taurus."


Coal sat on his bed having reviewed the files that the general had given him. Ironwood had needed some persuasion but eventually caved and gave him the files. Coal sat upright on one of the four beds in his room, face illuminated from the screen of his new scroll, watching CCTV footage from the Atlas Military train. It showed the leader of the terrorist group, the White Fang's Adam Taurus and his second in command and lead scout for the organisation fighting against one of the military latest robotic monstrosities.

The girl in the video had no real name, so the military had given her a code name to use as reference in other records, Black Cat. She was the White Fang's second in command, the leaders lover and main scout for the organisation… and she was here. At the very same school. And on the same team as his sister. He needed to know why. Despite the video evidence, the clip was far too blurry and couldn't be used as sufficient evidence in court. But the way the girl's movements matched those of the girl he had thrown at the Nevermore in the forest earlier that day. He knew that his gut had been right. That Blake Belladonna was the White Fang's Black Cat.

And he could use her, manipulate her so that her could get to Adam… it was already well known in the military that the Faunus Leader had one weakness. His love for his right hand woman. A plan formed as he thought about how to use the girl to get to the leader of Remnant's greatest terrorist organisation. A sadistic and evil smile crept onto his face… before another headache came.

Kill them

Coal didn't sleep that night.


(4 Years ago – P.O.V James Ironwood)

*KNOCK KNOCK

"Enter."

I heard the door open but kept my focus on the mountain of paperwork in front of me. Only one of my subordinates would stay at the office just as late as me. Winter Schnee. The girl had recently been assigned to one of my squads due to the relationship I hold with her father. One could say that we used to be close friends.

To my knowledge, She wasn't working on any open cases and had no ongoing missions so what could she possibly need to speak to me about.

"Permission to speak freely sir." She asked me in her typical formal tone. 'Seriously this girl needs to get laid.'

"Yes. You may Ms. Schnee."

I heard her let out a deep sigh and that was enough to know that something was wrong with the young woman. I decided the paperwork could wait so that I could help the Schnee and lifted my head away from the vast amount of work. She looked exhausted, bags under her eyes were a dead giveaway that she hadn't slept well in days, possibly weeks. And her eyes were distant and full of concern for a close loved one. 'What the hell is going on? I've never seen her look so vulnerable.' She finally spoke after a few moments of silence, I presume to think about what she was going to say.

"Sir… I need a favour. Please."

(The next day)

'Damn it Winter, what have you gotten me into?'

I had just arrived at my destination. Winter had asked me to speak to her brother as he was having some trouble coming out of a dark place. What she had forgot to mention was that he had been inside some sort of insane asylum for the last six months under some heavy medication and constant supervision.

I walked up to the receptionist who looked like she didn't really want to be here as she was paying more attention to her scroll that actually working, when a sound of a man's terrified cry for help caught my ear.

"PLEASE NO! DON'T MAKE ME. NO!~"

'Seriously Winter What the hell?' I forced my attention back the young receptionist and said.

"I'm here to see a patient. Mr Coal Schnee."

"Mr Schnee has been forbidden to have any visitors until he is deemed to be in a stable condition." The young receptionist replied without looking away from her scroll.

I slapped some paperwork on the desk which held a signed disclosure from the boy's father to visit him despite the procedures put in place to keep the boy secluded. Winter had gotten hold of the forms after a great deal of begging to her father, she gave them to me after she realised that she couldn't bear to see him in a place like this. She knew he needed help, but why had she come to me of all people. She had been under my command for just over a year now and in that time, she never asked me for anything, not even a day's vacation. When she asked me to help her brother I just couldn't say no to the woman. She looked desperate.

"This should cover everything." The receptionist put down her scroll and began to read through the papers. Having finally come to the end she handed me a visitor's badge and spoke again.

"Room 216. The doors will remain closed due to safety precautions and he won't be able to see you though the one-way mirror. But there is an intercom which the doctors use to speak to him. Not that the kid ever says anything."

I thanked her and made my way to the boys room, expecting to see more of an animal than a boy, if the screams that echoed the halls of the hospital was anything to go on.

But the sight I saw took me by surprise. Though the one-way glass I saw a boy sitting on the edge of the small thin mattress that the doctors would call a bed. The room was small and plain white, with only the small bed and a silver metal toilet. It looked more like a prison cell then a room. The boy didn't seem to care, he didn't seem to show any sort of emotion. He just sat, fingers interlocked and arms on his knees hunched over staring at the ground. The shoulder length dirty white hair hung over his face and covered his eyes.

"Mr. Schnee." I spoke through the intercom.

No answer

"My name is General James Ironwood."

Again no answer

"Your sister Winter has asked me to speak with you…"

Still no answer. The boy didn't even twitch at the sound of my voice. He seemed far to calm to be in a place like this… Or maybe that was the reason he was here.

"You don't care do you?" I noticed his hands twitch, and used that as my foundation to get to the boy. "You don't care that you're here, in this hell hole… Or rather, you think you belong here don't you?"

He didn't answer, but he did twitch again.

"Yes. Maybe you do belong here, but the question is why? To save yourself from your own weakness? Or to protect someone else from darkest strength?"

The boys hands clenched tightly.

"You're afraid of that strength, aren't you? Are you going to let that strength go to waste in here? Isn't there someone you want to see, someone you want to protect? Your twin sister Wiess perhaps?"

"Shut. Up." Finally the kid speaks, well more growled than spoke but still, it was progress.

"You cannot protect her from inside those walls. You should know that better than anyone, having lived with them for the last 6 months… Alone and forgotten about."

"We said. Shut. Up…"

'We?' I pondered, maybe there is a good reason as to why he is here. "Is that what you want? Tell me Coal… What do you really want"

"We want strength… the strength to protect our sister… the strength to end the suffering in this world."

"Then let me train you." 'what am I saying. I never signed up for this.' "I can give you the strength you need to become the person you want to be, one who has taken the darkness that has plagued you the last 6 months and use it to protect the people you care about. So tell me kid. What do you want?"

"We want you to train us."

"Good. I'll have you discharged shortly." I turned away from the glass to make my way back to the front desk when I heard the boy speak again.

"There's one more thing…" I turned to once again face the boy and was taken back by what I saw. The boy had raised his head and despite the glass being only one way meaning that there was no possibly way he could see me or know where I was, he was looking directly into my eyes. I'll never forget the look in his eyes. His obsidian orbs seemed to absorb any hope and happiness in the world, there was no life behind those eyes, only wrath and fury. They truly were an endless void of darkness and despair. Winter was right, the boy needed help. He wasn't getting any here and his father was defiantly not the person who could help him either. I understood in that moment why Winter had come to me. Coal and I share a single similarity, we had both entered hell and survived.

"What?" I simply question. The evil smile the boy grew was dark and malicious, I had seen similar smiles before, on some of the worst serial killers the world has known.

"We want to kill Adam Taurus."