Blake wasn't exactly sure what it was that told her that goin in to the main office for The Fang was a good idea. It was a place that she'd rarely needed to visit in the past, to the point where her own "office" was merely a cleared off piece of desk in the corner.

The prospect of spending just about any amount of time at The Fang's main offices wasn't something that Blake exactly relished- there was a reason that she tended to stay away. More than one reason, really. The reality of most of her work being put online meant that she only came in when she was given a specific assignment or was called up to speak to a superior. The amount of freedom that she was given in her position was remarkable, Blake knew. But that had everything to do with how The Fang was structured.

In truth, The Fang didn't actually have that many employees to its name. She and Adam were among four or five reporters total. Ilia acted as one of 2 editors, the Albain twins, Corsac and Fennec took care of day to day business at the offices, while Sienna Khan acted as editor in chief and oversaw everything else.

If they needed outside help, just about everyone that worked in that building had someone that they could have reached out to. Sienna had her people, just the same as Blake had her own.

Almost as soon as she arrived, she was immediately reminded how quiet The Fang's offices tended to be on the average day. One of the twins greeted her at the door (she didn't take the moment to check which) and Blake simply informed him that she was in for work. With that done, she made a beeline for her office- pitiful as it was.

The twin shrugs her off and goes to sit down at his desk, which has his nameplate on the front. Corsac. He bends back over whatever he's doing, and pays her no mind after that. His twin does the same, clearly much more involved in website layouts than people.

Getting into the room where her office was would only take a moment. She just needed to be able to unlock the door, and then she'd be able to get to work. In the middle of her fiddling with her keys, there was a voice behind her. The voice of someone that she'd known would be there, and had been preparing for all morning.

"Hello, Blake." Adam greeted her, his voice slipping out of his throat like poison and him sounding ready to make some sort of mose. "I see you came in today."

"Hello, Adam." Blake returned before shooting him a look back over her shoulder. At the same time, she finally got the door open and pushed it open before stepping inside.

"Are you ready to get to work?" Adam asked, shouldering his laptop bag. "Or should I expect to wait on you?"

"I'm going to need a few minutes." Blake responded coldly. "If you could give me the space-"

Adam seemed like he wanted to back off from her for just a moment, but he didn't. He just stood up straight and took a half-step back, just enough so that he could give Blake her space. Blake felt the spike of resentment over the action, but she got the door open and slipped into her own office anyways.

It's almost as clean as it had been when she was there last. There was no computer at the desk, since Blake chose to carry her own laptop to work instead. The stacks of notebooks were there, all labelled and most of them untouched since the stories they were used for were finished. Blake made her way to the desk, which was pushed up against the wall and sat down at it before removing her laptop from her bag.

Adam dropped into a spare seat on the other side of the room, just like he used to.

Blake rolled her eyes and prepared her workspace to be used, regardless of whether or not Adam was there.

She took her sweet time arranging her desk, and was almost surprised that Adam had decided to sit there the entire time. Blake had been sure that he would have had better things to do with his time, but instead he was just there bothering her.

"So," Adam said, starting off the conversation. He let one of his legs stretch out in front of him. Like he was claiming space. "You and I are going to go to this Schnee thing, huh?"

"We are." Blake responded, going straight to her media feed. A release by SchneeCorp had gone up early that morning to announce that Jacques Schnee was recovering, but it didn't say much else other than that the family was requesting their privacy for the time being. It's good for Blake, because she can at least trust that she won't let something slip that didn't matter. "But I guess that the conditions around that are going to be changing with their leader conscious again."

"Guess so." Adam muttered. "You know that we aren't going to be getting in normally though."

"I figured as much." Blake grumbled back, already annoyed. She knew for a fact that she could dress well enough that she'd be able to blend in with the crowd. If she got her hair done well enough and wore a nice enough dress, she could get into close to anything. Blake was more than sure of that. Knowing that Weiss would be there and she'd see her is a nice enough indicator on its own. A useful one. "So what is your plan for getting into the benefit anyways?"

"Well," Adam said with a shrug. "I guess that you and I could start by talking about what you even know about it."

Blake blinked and sighed, crossing one leg over the other. "I know that it's going to be held at SchneeCorp's world headquarters." She began, staring Adam down from across the room. "And that anyone going in through the front is going to need to be on some sort of list to even get through the door. I'm going to guess that it is going to be comprised of donors or something similar."

"But you said that you might be able to get the two of us in."

"I did." Blake sighed, thinking back to the night before. Had it not been for the circumstances of why Weiss had called her, she would have talked to Weiss about entry. She was going to need to call Weiss, or at the very least she needed to talk to Klein. Between the two of them, one of them was going to be able to protect the things that Adam was concerned with. "I have a contact that is close to the Schnee Family which may be able to slip our names onto the lists." Blake explained as calmly as she could manage. "I haven't been able to make contact with them just yet, though."

"Really now?" Adam leaned in, resting his elbows on his bent knees as he sat. "And where did you get such great contacts, Blake?"

"I talked to the right people at the right time." Blake responded, wanting to bristle and become defensive, but she didn't allow for herself to do so. Adam was trying to get under her skin and fishing for answers in the same way that he always would. "That's all."

"And you are confident that they can get the two of us into the benefit?" Adam asked, staring her down. He picked his hand up to rub at his eyes, and it made him come off as more than exhausted. Blake noticed for the first time that there are bruises under his eyes and can't help but wonder what she was actually seeing. "Because we are going to need that."

Blake cocked her head to the side a little bit, just enough of an angle that it made her hair fall down into her face. "What was your plan for getting in if you weren't on a guest list?"

"Sienna has friends in high places." Adam said, grinning widely. "I would have just had to ask to borrow a name for a little while and I could have gotten in."

Blake rolled her eyes. "Then why don't you do that?"

"Because I don't think that Sienna's associate will appreciate it-" He began, his eyes flickering away from Blake's face for a moment. "And also because this will just be easier. If you're telling the truth, that is."

Blake didn't even begin to pretend as though she really knew what she wanted to say to Adam over that. It feels too convoluted, too messy for her to be able to just ignore it.

But that wasn't what was important, so Blake just sighed . "I will make the call and ask for a way in. I might ask for a fake name or two to go on the list for the sake of everyone involved-"

"Good." Adam grumbled. "You know that the Schnee board will probably recognize our faces."

Blake rolled her eyes. "You say that like you and I have never worked to blend into a crowd before."

"This isn't like a factory job though, Blake." Adam responded, twirling a pen that he'd had in his pocket between his fingers. "This is something much more important. And much classier besides."

"Which is why you're planning to make it about infiltrating an office?"

"I'm just looking to tell a good story." Adam laughed, still leaning back in the chair that he had taken like he owns the entire room. "You know how that is."

Blake could only wish that was something that she could actually deny.

It wasn't.


Klein had been the first one that Weiss had seen that morning, and she had spent all of her time with him that day. He'd gotten a call from Blake asking help with regards to the fundraiser, and had been sure to pass the information on to her about what was going on. Weiss appreciated it, even if she was very worried about what it was all going to mean for Blake later down the line.

Weiss had spent the earlier hours of her morning preparing for what the day ahead of her would look like. The prospect was there of what going to the hospital would end up being like. Her father was recovered to the point where he could have visitors, but the day before had been... wrong. And Weiss wasn't sure what she was actually supposed to think of any of it.

The plan as of her waking up and talking to Klein had been that she would be going to the hospital to check in on her father. He was going to see her, and Weiss was going to try and be there for him. She didn't know what she expected from it, just that she was likely to need to run off on her own later on.

Coco and Neptune were still in the city, and if Weiss really needed it she could go to Blake, or Yang, or maybe even Ruby.

The question was how her father was going to react to her being at the hospital alone.

An interruption came just as Weiss climbed into the car to make her departure from the manor.

It came in the sound of her phone ringing, too loudly and too obviously. Weiss winced and sighed as she fished it out of her pocket and looked down at the caller ID.

She had been expecting that she would hear from Blake about work, or something similar. She'd been expecting to her from one of her friends, or from Whitley.

She hadn't been expecting to hear from her sister.

Weiss steeled herself because she didn't know what this was going to turn out like. She picked up the phone and held it to her ear while she made herself comfortable in the back of the car. "Hello." Weiss greeted her sister.

"Hello, Weiss." Winter replied, her voice calm. "I figured that I should see how things were doing there in Atlas. I heard the news, but I wasn't sure if it was real."

Weiss blinked and looked out the window, feeling too far away for the conversation that was at hand. "I was meaning to call you." She began, because that was the bona fide truth. The problem was that some of the things that she needed to talk to Winter about were difficult, or otherwise hard to discuss. "I'm sorry."

"Did something change?" Winter asked, keeping her voice even and calm.

"The news is true. Father woke up yesterday." Weiss said, keeping her voice down. She looked back down to her free hand where it was resting in her lap. Idly, she began to stroke the fabric on her skirt as though it would leave her feeling more calm. "I should have called you sooner."

"It's alright." Winter said, and she sounded quiet, upset even. "I don't think that I would have been able to take any personal calls yesterday anyhow."

"He... isn't quite himself right now." Weiss admitted. "Whitley and I are both worried, but for pretty... different reasons. I'm sure you can understand."

"I've been reading the news out of Atlas, Weiss." Winter said, her voice piping up. "And I know that SchneeCorp has put out a statement. What is actually going on out there with you and Whitley?"

Weiss swallowed and she took a breath, looking for an answer to a question that there was truly no easy answer to. She could feel the slight tremble of her hand as she held her phone by her ear, and could only think about how Winter was there, on the other end of the line, waiting for her to say something.

Well, honestly was always the best policy.

"Whitley will be inheriting SchneeCorp from our father." Weiss said, sitting up straight and putting as much of the evenness into her voice as she possibly could. "This was a decision that was made behind my back. Now that father is waking up, it seems that he will have some more time before anything can happen. But-"

Winter was quiet, but the phone betrayed the sound of her inhale. "I'm sorry." She said after a second of waiting. "I know that you spent most of your life preparing to lead SchneeCorp."

"I did." Weiss confirmed. "I haven't figured out how I feel about everything just yet. I know that Whitley is upset, but for now-" She shrugged, even though her sister wasn't going to be able to do it. "For now I will play along with the company and go to their fundraisers and events for the sake of the company and for father. I can deal with everything else that I'm feeling and thinking about after."

"Just remember to take care of yourself." Winter said to her. Weiss wished that her sister was actually there with her, and that the two of them could have a conversation in a way that would feel so much more real or tangible. "I'll call you again tonight."

"Thank you." Weiss said, forcing on a slight smile that wasn't going to be enough to reach her voice and she knew that perfectly well. "Take care, Winter."

"I could say the same to you, Weiss." Winter said her goodbyes, and then the line disconnected. Weiss let her hand fall with her phone still in her grasp. It landed almost limply, and Weiss felt something terrible rising in her. There was a prickle of heat at her eyes, and Weiss took a deep shuddering breath.

Not enough.

She still had to go and see her father, but now she was already upset.

This wasn't going to go well- that was something that Weiss could be sure of.

Klein sat in the front of the car now. Weiss hadn't even noticed that he'd gotten in. He just looked back at her with a sadness in his eyes. "Would you like to leave for the hospital now, Miss Schnee?"

"If we could take a detour, that would be nice." Weiss answered, wrapping her arms around herself and wanting to hide from something that wasn't really there. "I think that I may need a bit of time."

Klein nodded, and reached over to turn the keys. The car's engine came to life with a purr of sorts, and before Weiss or him could say anything else they were on the way off of of the Schnee Grounds, passing by the gate and driving back out towards the city.

The silence rested between the two of them, but Klein spoke up once he decided that he had something that he wanted to be said out loud to her. "You do not have to put yourself through these things." Klein said, keeping his voice down. "I understand that what is going on with your father is complicated."

"It is." Weiss mumbled. "But if he is awake, I think that I'll just be staying in Atlas long enough to go to the fundraiser and see that through, and then-"

"And then you will be going back to Vale?" Klein asked. "Is that what you truly want to do?"

Weiss shook her head because she really didn't know what she wanted to do. "I wish that I had an answer for you, Klein. I just... don't like being here."

"I guessed as much." Klein said, his voice quiet. "You never seem happy here."

"You know that there's a reason for that." Weiss mumbled, entirely resigned because this was something that she knew that Klein had figured out. After all, he had been there since the day that she had been born and had played more of a role as a parent to her than either of her actual parents ever hard.

"I am well aware, Miss Schnee." Klein said as he turned them off and onto a more public road. A detour that would be more than good enough for them to follow through on.

After that, the car went nearly silent and Weiss did her best to soak it in and calm down. Bit by tiny bit, Weiss could feel herself beginning to calm. Klein did the rounds around the city until she gave him a simple signal to tell him that she felt okay enough to go to the hospital.

Klein parked behind the hospital in a spot where few were likely to notice a Schnee Car, and then escorted Weiss in. The two of them walked through the hospital, stopping only to check in before heading to her father's room.

Weiss stopped just outside of the door, her hand hovering away from the door. She took a deep breath, but it wasn't going to be enough. For just a second, she allowed her eyes to slip shut before she knocked on the door, too quietly.

On the other side of the door, there was the quiet wheeze of her father's breath, and the beeping of machinery at his bedside. It was nearly silent, but there was the clear sound of someone walking around in there.

The door was opened by a worried looking Whitley.

"Sister." He greeted her, sounding somewhere between panicked and relieved. "You're here."

"I wanted to see father." Weiss said, craning her neck just slightly to try and get a view of the man. Her brother was too tall, and she wasn't able to get a good look into the room. "Is that alright?"

"It is." Whitley said, but there was something in his eyes that she couldn't make sense of. He took a step aside, walking back over towards one of the comfortable chairs that had been placed by their father's bed.

Weiss stepped inside and closed the door behind her, leaving Klein to quietly watch the door behind her.

The thing that Weiss had probably learned the most since her arrival back in Atlas was that she hated hospitals. She had never spent much time in them before since she had always been perfectly healthy and had never been in poor enough health to require anything past a family doctor.

Her father was lying in his bed, tubing feeding into his body. Weiss approached the bed and took a seat at her brother's side.

"Hello, father." Weiss greeted him, bowing her head obediently the same way that she always had to when she met with him.

He looked over at her, expression bored and his eyes as cold as they always were. His eyes were narrowed, and there was an obvious frown on his face despite the fact that it stayed hidden behind a mustache. There was unshaved stubble on his cheeks, and he looked more frail than Weiss had ever been able to imagine him.

"Weiss." He said her name in a way that made it sound like he was trying to scold her, just like he always had. Weiss tried not to focus on it, because she was there to look after her father. His obvious disdain towards her, her sister, and their mother was not of consequence. "I see you have decided to come."

"Klein and I hit traffic on the way." Weiss said, knowing that the explanation wasn't going to be enough for what he needed. He was trying to talk about her being in Atlas in the first place. "I wanted to be here sooner."

"I'm sure." He responded.

Jacques looked at her and then her brother before his eyes drifted to the door and his voice raised in volume as much as he could manage it. "Klein!"

The door opened immediately, in the practiced way that Klein had of doing things and the butler stepped into the room, all but wordless. He gave a slight bow at the door before moving in to stand beside it.

Jacques seemed to relax a little bit, if the way that his expression softened slightly was any indicator. "Klein." He said, like he had just returned to his old ways overnight. That alone sent a chill down Weiss' spine, because the day before when he"d woken up he'd been quiet and almost kind.

Now that he was apparently feeling a little more like himself, Weiss' hope that he had somehow come out of things a little bit nicer had been dashed.

"Sir." Klein responded to Jacques, once again giving a polite bow in greeting. "I am glad to see you doing well."

"Yes." Jacques muttered. "How has the household been in my absence?"

Weiss felt herself all but sink. She glanced back over at Whitley, and saw that he was frowning and had hung his head a little bit in the same way as she had. He looked back at her, his eyes sad but him clearly doing what he could to hold himself together. His posture was still straight and correct, and Weiss reminded to hold herself the same way.

When it came to their father, things were all about appearances. That was something that the both of them knew fully well.

"The household has been quite well." Klein said, taking the first steps so that he could stand a little closer to Jacques' bedside. He wasn't going to get as directly close as Weiss or Whitley would, Weiss knew, but he would stand closer at the very least. "There has been nothing of any importance to report. Everything has been running smoothly and in top shape."

Jacques nodded, like that was all that he had cared about. "And my wife?"

"Absent, sir."

"And my children?"

"Have both been well." Klein said, and it was the best possible reminder that Weiss could have gotten to tell her that she and Whitley were mere accessories to their father. "If you don't mind my saying."

"Good." Jacques said. He leaned back into his bed and Weiss watched her father's eyes slip close and tried not to get frustrated over just how severe his expression was. "I have heard from my board and shareholders that the company suffered a dip in stocks lately."

"Father," Whitley spoke up, and Weiss watched the way that his expression hardened in the same way that their mother's would when she was required to speak to Jacques. "Most companies see a fall in stocks following a potential change in ownership or power. It was-"

"Expected?" Jacques snarled back, while Whitley's mouth closed with a click of his jaw. "Faith in SchneeCorp must stand strong, regardless of who will be inheriting it. Keep in mind that this is unacceptable, Whitley."

"Yes, Father." Whitley said quietly, his eyes flicking down. "I understand."

"Good." Jacques muttered. "I will not have you two and your sister making a mockery of my legacy. Do you understand?"

Weiss and Whitley's eyes met for just a millisecond. Their expressions broth dropped and their heads bowed slightly in a way that was little more than just obedient. In unison, they both gave their answer of "Yes, father."

That almost seemed to appease Jacques, and before either Weiss or Whitley could say something, their father had already turned his attention back to Klein. The two of them were likely to converse for some time.

Weiss didn't know whether or not she was glad that she wasn't being paid attention to as though she was the focus of her father's world. Having a separation away from him was always comforting, especially when she always left meetings with him feeling terrible.

She understood better and better why Winter left every time.