They were finally in Argus.

The flight has been perfect, with no turbulence to speak of, and the inflight dinner was divine, Jasmine took a small tour of the ship to make sure everyone was ok and to inform them that they would be landing in just an hour, and Jaune had proven himself to be an excellent travel companion. She shall have to ask him to accompany her on the trip back home. Speaking off…

"Sorry to bother you Miss. Schnee, but I need to pull you away for some last-minute paperwork before you leave." Jasmine seemed to have relaxed considerably since their small talk, yet she remained professional as ever. Weiss could respect that. She was led a short distance away from the others but still inside their line of sight, she assumed that was so there were witnesses in case she tried to lie about the events of this little meeting, "Alright, just a few signatures and a confirmation and we should be good to go. This right here is the sheet for arrival confirmation, thank you, this one is for the confirmation that all luggage was accounted for, you can feel free to hold on to that until – or you can sign it right now," Weiss felt no need to prolong that one. She highly doubted Mrs. Earhart would have stolen from them. "And finally, this form is confirming that this is the date I'll be back to pick you all up." A quick check of the date and a signature later and she had completed the paperwork.

As Weiss handed over the papers she stopped when she noticed there was one she missed. "Oh, there's one more, should I not sign this one as well?" Taking the sheet from the bottom of the stack she noticed it was a printed invoice for the round trip she had paid for and all the accommodations she had requested. Blake said it was overboard, but she had a feeling that the small flatbed she had rented would be a lifesaver in getting their luggage to Winter's. The part that caught her attention though was a small section at the bottom dedicated to a tip for the pilot. "Oh, there's no need to read over that, the big bosses just insist we carry it around." Well, the heiress certainly was not going to let this sudden bout of shyness fly (oh no, Yang is rubbing off on her). With a quick flourish of the wrist, Weiss had signed the invoice along with a generous tip for their pilot. Jasmine looked red as a tomato as she saw the number of zeros she wrote down, but Weiss believed that great service deserved great reward.

"If there is nothing else to sign, I would be delighted to return to my friends."

"Of course, ma'am. I'll be seeing you in a few months." And with that, they parted ways.

Weiss had just one more payment to make today before she was done. Rejoining her team, she took out a 50 Lien note and passed it to Yang, "The book belongs to me now. You are not getting it back." Weiss never broke her stride, smiling at the indignant squawk the brawler made.

As Mr. Xiao Long slowly drove the flatbed truck out of the pelican, she noticed the brilliant red hair of their friend approaching them. Pyrrha Nikos was trained extensively in controlling her emotions in public. From forcing a realistic smile during commercials, hiding her tiredness while signing autographs for hours on end, and perfecting the polite dismissal for her more 'intense' fans just to name a few of the tricks Weiss knew she mastered. So when the champion ran to them with enough speed to rival Ruby's semblance and embraced her team in a tear-filled hug, to say she was emotional would be an understatement. "I am so glad you all made it. I'm sorry, I know I'm being silly right now but I just really need a hug."

JNR were quick to reciprocate the hug in equal measure, and as they started to reassure Pyrrha that everything was ok Weiss tried to tune them out as to give them some privacy. A mistake she will not make in the future, as she was suddenly tackled into a hug tight enough to force the air out of her lungs. As her eyes slowly refocused, she saw that the entirety of Team RWBY was being lifted off the ground, all of them dangerously close to passing out.

Ruby was the first to speak out, "Please, you're killing us."

"Yea, Pyrrha, baby, this is too much," Yang wheezed out.

As Weiss was contemplating using her semblance to pull herself out from the hug of death, the young amazon seemed to notice what she was doing and gently set them all back down. "I am so sorry, but seeing you all here, it put away so many of my worries. Normally this is the point where I don't see any of my friends again." She would never give them the names of these so-called 'friends.' A shame really, Weiss was sure that she and Blake could make a very stealthy pair of assassins.

"All's well that ends well, though I'll have to ask you to refrain yourself from killing my girls." The pitched voice of Mr. Xiao Long called over as he walked towards them. As soon as the older man reached them he offered his hand to a now nervous Pyrrha. She doubted he noticed, even Weiss could hardly detect the subtle facial cues. "Hi, I'm Tai. Those little shits over there are my daughters. You're Pyra (Pyre•ah) right?"

A look of confusion spread across her face, along with a small glimmer of hope. Taking his hand she responded with a kind, "Actually sir, it's Pyrrha (Pier•ah)."

"Ah, my bad. Only ever seen it written down whenever these two finally decide it's time to text their old man" And that's what settled it. Before Weiss had found it incomprehensible that someone could not know the great Pyrrha Nikos, the best student to ever graduate from Sanctum, the record-holding four-time champion, and Pumpkin Pete's mascot, and yet here it was happening again. Twice in one year! Was it a Vale thing?

She couldn't be too upset over it, not if Pyrrha was going to smile that brightly. "It is no problem at all Mr. Xiao Long, it is a pleasure to meet you. And you've raised two extraordinary girls."

"Ah you can cut the formalities, it's such a mouthful. Just call me Tai, everyone does." It was easy to tell by the way his arm flexed that he wanted to pull the girl in for a hug, but not knowing her boundaries yet he managed to hold himself back.

"Oh my gods Pyrrha, that outfit is workin' wonders on you!" Having finally caught her breath, Nora returned to her typical upbeat self. And Weiss had to agree, the red-heads dark blue and slightly oversized peplum shirt with her ankle-length gathered skirt with a beautiful flower print were truly eye-catching. Even with such a modest outfit, she was undoubtedly the most beautiful girl in the group and Weiss would be lying if she said she wasn't jealous. "You totally have to let me raid your closet, I wanna see what you've been hiding from us."

It was then they were joined by two more women. The first was obviously Mrs. Nikos, a slightly plump woman of average height, she wore a modest velvet dress that went down to her shins, exposing a set of tall black heels. She looked like she could be Pyrrha herself in a few short decades, it was as if she gained nothing from her father but height. A quick round of introductions was starting but Weiss wasn't really paying attention.

The other woman was a more striking sight for Weiss, she had to make sure Jaune was still standing where she last left him for this newcomer looked exactly like a female version of the Arc. Not to say she was ugly, but it turned out that Jaune made for a very pretty lady. 'This must be his sister' she thought as she saw Jaune and Ren break away from their gathering to greet her. Weiss tried once more to ignore the incoming family conversation, but she just could not take her eyes off them for some reason.

"Well, look who decided to visit" Saphron's voice was teasing in nature, "You don't come round here for three years, then I get a kid and all of the sudden you're here for three straight months? Don't you love me?" Suddenly she lunged forward, wrapping one arm around him to pull down her brother by his neck. "Looks like someone has to relearn their manners" Saphron started spinning them in circles, dragging Jaune around while chanting "Say it. Say it. Say it."

Weiss couldn't help but notice how careful he was being with her. At first glance it looked like the older sibling was in complete control of the situation, but in reality Jaune was doing everything of his own free will. Walking around with her instead of being pulled, bending over slightly as opposed to being dragged and held, and while he could stand up and break free at any time he was putting on a large show of 'trying' the break her stranglehold.

"Alright! Alright! Saphron is the best, are you happy now?" After being released from his sister's hold he gave the woman a heartfelt hug, "It's good to see you Saph." Keeping an arm around her he turned slightly to gesture to Ren. "Saph, this is Lie Ren. My best friend, and the brother I never had."

"It is a plea-" Ren was cut off when Saphron left Jaune's side to deliver what would normally be a bone-crushing hug to a non-huntsman, but to them was more of a gentle squeeze.

"Well why didn't you lead with that? We could always use more brothers. Welcome to the family Lie."

Even with her experience reading facial expressions, Ren was always hard to pin down. But right now, the look of pure joy from hearing those words broke through even his stoic shell.

This was starting to get creepy, she needed to stop staring. And right now the only thing she could think of to make this not awkward was to join in on the conversation. Straightening her posture she walked the short distance separating them, "Hello there, you must be Saphron Arc. My name Is Weiss Schnee, it is a pleasure to meet your acquaintance." Remembering the jab he had taken for not visiting recently, she decided to throw Jaune a bone, "Your brother has told me a lot about you, you and your family seem to be his favorite subject as of late. Is Mrs. Terra doing well?"

The older woman let go of her new brother and began to study her. Weiss was no stranger to being judged by others but this felt different. Saphron's eyes looked her up and down, seemingly focusing on her hair and her heels. Just as she was beginning to feel self-conscious, Saphron turned to Jaune. She had a truly evil smile on her face, and her eyes… it was obvious she was sending her little brother a message. She knew something, but Weiss hadn't the slightest clue as to what it was she knew. Looking over to Jaune for help, she saw the look he was giving his sister. With a small frown on his face and a glare in his eyes, he simply shook his head 'no.' These two were having a conversation in complete silence, and Weiss could not crack the code.

Her saving grace arrived in the form of Pyrrha bringing the rest of the group over to their little gathering. "And this is my teammate Lie Ren and our leader Jaune Arc. He's Saphron's little brother."

The older Nikos greeted them warmly and then turned to speak to the other Arc, "I thought you said you had six sisters."

"I do! Six sisters and a single brother."

"… your poor mother."

Winter's home was even more beautiful in person. It was a wide two-story building, its age showing in both the architecture and the housing materials, but it was obviously well-kept and loved. Winter had told her she managed to buy it in an auction after the company that owned this place fell out. The price was really low since the original purpose, and how it was advertised, was to wine and dine wealthy clients and let them stay here instead of in a hotel. Apparently, the elites of Atlas were starting to get 'too good' to stay in other kingdoms and preferred to be bribed while inside their own homes. Their loss, Winter's gain.

The ride there was short even with Mr. Xi- No. He preferred Tai.

The ride there was short even with Tai driving at an incredibly slow pace to not only keep any luggage from falling but also the eight teens sitting on the edge of the flatbed made him extremely nervous. All hopping out of the truck, they took a moment to stretch and just enjoy the view before they got to work. Even from the front of the house, the shoreline looked amazing, clear blue water and sky in an endless race to the horizon. She could have stood there and watched the soon to be setting sun for hours, but the door of the house opening shocked her out of the trance.

Whitley Schnee was the definition of impassive. His expression was a practiced and perfected mask of no emotion. It was a trait that she used to be jealous of. "Dear sister, would you kindly tell me why you refuse to answer your scroll? I have been calling you for three hours now." She could hear the anger and irritation in his voice, but she knew that was only because he was letting her. He could have made that sound as sweet as a songbird if he wanted to. "Air travel is dangerous, here I was thinking that perhaps you had been taken out of the sky by a nevermore."

"You have not called me once today, Whitley. I texted you several hours ago to check up on you and you never answered." Weiss pulled out her phone to prove her innocence, displaying the last message in their admittedly short conversation history.

Behind her she felt Yang lean over to look at her scroll, "Uhh Weiss?"

"Yes, Yang?"

"Your scroll is on airplane mode."

Turning her phone over to look closer at the screen she saw the clear-as-day red dot on her message, indicating that it had not been sent. After turning off airplane mode she was bombarded with missed calls, texts, and other app notifications. Taking a quick look at the missed calls she noticed that all of them were from her brother.

Whitley seemed to sense her embarrassment and decided to focus on the others. "Welcome, my name is Whitley Schnee. My sister and I will be your hosts for the next few months in our older sister's home. Please enjoy yourselves, but be careful as to not cause any damage to the building. As this abode does not belong to any of us we should try to keep physical activity inside to a minimum." There were no backhanded compliments, no vaguely hidden insults, just a purely professional stock greeting they had been drilled on for years by their father. This was going to be harder than she thought.

A small round of introductions was made, everyone trying to be polite but the tension in the air was palpable. Even Tai seemed uncomfortable and he didn't even know about her family situation. To what should have been no one's surprise, Nora was the one to break the barrier. Never being one for personal space, Nora found her way over to Whitley's shoulder, "You are just adorable, aren't you? And here I thought Weiss was mini, but you're like a mini-Weiss."

"Excuse me." Both Schnee siblings exclaimed.

"EXTRA MINI!"

In an instant Weiss was scared. The entire point of inviting her brother was to salvage their fractured relationship and so far she has done nothing but make him worry, become indignant when she was in the wrong, and now one of her friends was making fun of him. It didn't matter if that wasn't Nora's intention, she just couldn't afford to have that be the impression Whitley took from this.

"Weiss," his mask was completely unreadable, "I have been having issues with the Wi-Fi in the room I chose. Would you be so kind as to accompany me to see if your scroll is also having connection issues?"

That had not been what she was expecting, but it did nothing to alleviate her worries. She couldn't believe what she was thinking, but she almost wanted him to insult her just to know that he still felt something for her. "Of course, lead the way."

Weiss lost all sense of time as they stood there. It likely wasn't any more than a minute of tense silence but it felt like years were passing her by. His eyes betrayed nothing, no anger, no malice, no joy… no love. She tried to distract herself by seeing what it was he packed for the trip but that only solidified the fact that Whitley had no intentions of staying. The room itself would have felt cozy but the pile of unpacked luggage seemed to seep all warmth away from the walls. He was ready to go as soon as they finished this talk, and she couldn't blame him.

"Let us cut to the chase, I do not wish to waste any more of my time." Whitley had let the mask fall, with only them here so there was no need for it. "What game are you playing at?"

"There is no game. I wanted to spend time with you this summer."

His anger was rising, it was a rare sight to see but at least he was feeling something, "Do not lie to me, Weiss. You barely acknowledge my existence for years, then out of nowhere, I get a call from both of my oh-so-kind older sisters wanting me to spend three months away from the manor. I may be the youngest but it seems I am far from the densest Schnee child. Now, what is it you want!"

There was only one thing she could think to say, "I'm sorry."

"What?"

"I abandoned you. Winter abandoned you. We were so focused on ourselves that we left you behind and never looked back. I am sorry."

He tried to pull the mask back, but it was too late. "Sorry? Sorry?! Do you really think that one word absolves you of your wrongdoings?" He was letting everything go, and Weiss had no intentions of stopping him. He needed to get this out into the world. "Want to know how little the specialist cares about me? I do not even have her contact information, when she called it was from an unknown number. Apparently, family is fairly low on the list of people to inform when your scroll gets destroyed. Gods above forbid I ever needed her for anything, unlikely it would even be for her to care!" His voice slowly raised with every word, he started pacing the room, and he couldn't even bare to look at her anymore. "But hey, she is an adult. She has a very busy life and cannot really afford to waste her time on a fourteen-year-old kid. But you, you were there. You were always there, in that house!" He stopped himself for a moment, doing everything in his power to prevent the tears pooling in his eyes from falling, "I thought we were close, but I was just a nuisance to you while you did everything you could think of to copy Winter. To gain her approval as if it was the only thing in the world that mattered!"

He was screaming now. Weiss knew he could not hurt her, not really, but his words felt as if they were cutting deeper than any wound she had ever suffered. "You're right. I was a terrible excuse for an older sister. I should have been there for you, but I needed to leave. I truly do regret how I did what I did, if I could change it I would but I can't."

Whitley's expressions shifted wildly, unused to baring his soul to another. He was confused, hurt, desperate, and in the end, anger won the war. "You needed to leave? I was a child Weiss; YOU WERE SUPPOSED TO PROTECT ME! BUT YOU JUST LEFT ME THERE. WITH THEM!"

"I was a child too." She let her tears fall freely, she had nothing to hide from him. Not anymore. "I know I can't fix what I broke, it's beyond repair. But I don't want to lose you, I want you in my life again. Please, could we possibly start over?"

Silence overtook the room once more. He was staring into her eyes, searching for anything that would give away what she was really after. But he found nothing. She truly did want to be together again.

He turned away from her, and slowly he regained his composure. Pulling a handkerchief out of his breast pocket he dabbed away the tears from his own face, "Did you know the only reason I was allowed here was because father wants me to make your vacation miserable?" He wasn't really asking. He just didn't know how else to say it. "Of course, those are not the words he used. Always the master of double meanings that man." Feeling he had calmed down enough to have a proper conversation once again he faced her, "I would be lying if I said I forgave you. Either of you. But I don't want to spend the rest of my life fighting you either, it's exhausting."

"I'm not asking for your forgiveness, I don't even forgive myself. But if there is anything I can do to get my brother back I will."

'Please believe me. I have nothing left just please believe me!'

"You have grown soft during your time in Vale." No, please don't go back, "You haven't attempted to hide yourself once since arriving, are you aware of that? Every single emotion radiates off your face like a neon sign. They will eat you alive back in Atlas."

She had lost him, and she had no one to blame but herself. "I've grown to hate hiding myself, it's easier in Vale. To feel."

"Then I guess I shall have to visit sometime." What? Was he saying… "Seriously Weiss, if I did not know any better, I would think I had developed a telepathy semblance. You could at least act like you have some faith in me." His voice was filled with mirth, but with his skills she couldn't tell if it was real or yet another act. His face grew somber once again and his eyes stared deeply into her own, but she could barely hear the next few words he spoke, "I am not a monster you know." Weiss was overjoyed. She did not have her brother back. Not yet anyway. But he was allowing them to try, and that is all she could ever ask of him. In her emotional state she went forward to hug him, but he quickly backed away from her, "I… I do not think we are there yet."

It put a damper on her mood, but she understood completely. She would respect whatever boundaries he put in place, it was only right.

They took a moment to compose themselves. This was a completely new experience for Whitley, and even Weiss hadn't had a breakdown this bad in a long time. She knew how exhausting an emotional breakdown could be, both mentally and physically, so she was worried that her brother might collapse. "I shall do my best to not insult your companions, it would make this new start rather awkward if your friends hate me from the beginning."

"They dealt with me for almost a full year now, trust me they will let a rough comment here and there slide." She shuddered at some of the things she said the Blake about faunus during their argument. "Just make them aware of your boundaries, and respect theirs as well."

"Very well," Turning to walk out the door, "We should return to organize the move-in. At this rate, they will undoubtedly grow suspicious of our absence." She didn't have the heart to tell him that all of them probably heard most of their fight. Perhaps it would make for a funny story one day, but right now it was all too raw. As she followed him towards the rest of their group, she almost ran into him as he suddenly stopped and turned to her. "One last question before we head out there. Are all the blonds of Vale so freakishly tall?"

A deep and pained sigh made its way out of Weiss' lips, "Yes. Yes, they are."

Unpacking had been a long affair, but a pleasant one. It helped that there had been no arguing over sleeping arrangements, the rooms seemed to be picked at random by the hunters. Downstairs Ren and Nora claimed a room towards the back of the house has their own, Blake in the same hallway with a room between them. Tai decided to take the couch in the living room as he felt uncomfortable sleeping in the bed of a woman he never met before and his daughters bunked together in the closest room to Tai as possible to keep an eye out for him. Upstairs Weiss decided to take a room close to Whitley but kept an empty room between them, and Jaune landed in the room in the opposite hallway.

She was surprised that he had removed himself so much from the rest of their group, with the size of the building he had effectively a fourth of it to himself, it sounded dreadfully lonely to her. But when she asked as he brought up the last of his clothes he said that after growing up in the Arc house, and then immediately staying in a small dorm room with his team, he relished in the opportunity to have a little leg room to himself.

They managed to squeeze everything in with a couple of hours left of daylight, leaving the more energetic members of their band to have one last activity before bed. Pyrrha had invited everyone to her own home, but only the members of JNPR had enough left in them to take the offer. Tai suggested the rest of them watch a movie on Winter's large flat screen, and while the rest of the house's occupants took him up on the offer Weiss herself was too tired, still drained from her talk with Whitley. She was amazed he was even entertaining the idea of watching a movie with what were essentially strangers, perhaps she knew him even less than she thought. Oh well, that would slowly be fixed in time.

She decided to spend the last bit of the day inside her room, a chair pulled up to the window overlooking the setting sun. It was a perfect spot for her to finally finish her book, she couldn't very well keep Jaune waiting too long to watch that movie now could she?

Even as tired as she was after only one day, she still believed that this would be the best summer ever.

AUTHORS NOTES;

Fans of Young Justice may feel some deja vu here. Without a world ending threat looming on the horizon I truly believe the relationship between Weiss and Whitley would be a lot like M'gan and M'comm (minus the race war) Though I may have gone a little too far in modeling their argument after the jail scene.

I promise we will be starting actual Whitknight content soon. I know it's what most of you are here for.

Reviews and comments are always appreciated, tells me what I'm doing right and what I'm doing wrong.