The Kingdom of Atlas.

364 days a year, the place was a neatly covered in a nice social blanket. Tourists, even the majority of the citizens, commuted in a neat, clean, friendly city. Everyone was completely and utterly content with their lives in Atlas.

That is, if they weren't part of the working class or a faunus.

Society as a whole was and has been infected with a sort of plague, hatred and discrimination being the root of the problem. People tend to fear things they don't understand, things that are different. They deem these things unacceptable, and proceed to oppress this scary, new thing that's entered their lives. For the close-minded and fossilized bigots of the day, the faunus represent all that they stand against.

From day one, Azure never understood what everyone's problem was.

He let the topic slide for now, though. Today wasn't a day to dwell on all the bad, for every single bad thing about a standard year in Atlas was made up for in good on this day, every year.

December 21st, the day of the Solstice Festival.

It was actually the last festival of the year, with the other three for spring, summer and fall coming beforehand. Azure didn't give a damn, though. He actually loved winter, even if it felt like winter all year until summer rolled around, then right back to the cold. Nobody else really cared, either, since every festival was held outdoors in Central Park where vendors set up, and people danced and sang and played music all throughout the night.

Even though he insisted he hated parties in his younger days, Azure had full confidence in admitting he loved the winter festival unconditionally.

This year's was the best since he'd been adopted into the Schnee family, seeing as he didn't have to sneak out of the manor for once.

With their father away in Mistral for work, the three Schnee kids were left at home with their mother, who was more than happy to go out instead of staying cooped up in the manor like they always were. When she caught Azure trying to sneak out through a window, he was certain he was gonna get the scolding of a lifetime when he told her where he was going.

Then, after he'd answered all her questions, the Schnee mistress called the two girls out and told the three of them to get ready to leave. Azure was like a kid with a new toy when he learned he was going to the festival with his new family.

Fast forward to the four in the park, Winter and her mother playing a ring toss game while Azure and Weiss watched from a few feet away. Weiss looked rather bored, while Azure was practically shaking with excitement.

"What's so great about this dumb festival? It's just a bunch of poor people throwing away their lien." Weiss deadpanned as she looked around the crowd.

Azure stuck a stupid grin on his face, a trait he'd picked up from Micah. "Well, Weiss, I don't expect you to understand, even if the answer is being shoved right in your face. I guess some people don't quite get the finer things in life."

He reckoned he pushed a button of hers pretty hard with that.

"Don't be a pain! It's just, this is my first time actually going to a festival as opposed to just hearing about it from you. You made it sound really fun, but I just see…"

Weiss trailed off as a young faunus boy and his mother walked by, as if to complete her thought. Azure was a little disappointed that a thought he was saving for later just came back full-force. He was also a little disappointed in Weiss for thinking like that, but he knew he couldn't go off on her completely.

"You know, animal ears don't make a bad person."

"What are you talking about? Faunus walking around in the open is just like inviting the White Fang to come and cause some trouble. Surely you understand that."

It was sad to see that some of their father had rubbed off on Weiss. "Just because someone is a faunus doesn't mean they're in the White Fang, and just because the White Fang does bad stuff doesn't mean that all faunus do bad things."

Weiss shot him a pointed glare. "The way you said that doesn't eliminate the possibility of a faunus that isn't in the White Fang committing a crime."

Azure met her gaze with his own glare. "Because bad people do bad things, regardless."

Weiss' glare diminished and was replaced with a look of nervousness. Azure decided that last retort had come out a little more harsh than he'd intended.

Weiss just looked at the ground. "Um...do you like the festival...because of the orphanage?"

She certainly was quick to change the subject. After that argument, though, it was a welcome change. Azure felt around in his pockets and found some lien he'd been saving from whenever he snuck out of the manor to do some odd jobs.

"Hey mother! Weiss and I are gonna go get some ice cream!"

Their mother only nodded in acknowledgement as she worked to contain Winter's outburst at the mention of sweets. "GET ME BANANA SPLIT PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE!"

Azure waved her off as he motioned for Weiss to join him. He was grateful that their mother wasn't so strict like big Mr. Schnee, and also that she knew how to keep a secret.

His lien investments weren't going to be brought to light anytime soon.

The best ice cream stand was a ways away from where Azure and Weiss were right now, and as long as they were by themselves, he could tell his story no problem.

"So, you wanna know why I like the winter festival so much?"

Weiss nodded in response.

"Well, the one time I went to the festival when I lived at the orphanage, I was more or less dragged out there…"

"Tell me again why you brought me here."

To say that Azure was unhappy right now was an understatement. He was enjoying himself an hour or so ago, resting in the tree at the orphanage before Micah swept up, pulled him down as the rest of the kids helped him drag poor little Azure to some dumb gathering.

He was beyond annoyed.

The only thing that made it worse was Micah's cheery disposition about the whole thing. "Come on buddy, the winter festival only rolls around once a year! With all of us going out, we wouldn't want you to miss it!"

Azure stared blankly at him. "You think I buy that?"

Micah's grin flipped and he let out an honest sigh. "I know you didn't wanna come, but everyone else did. The director said we could only go if you came too." Once his explanation finished, Micah's smile came back and he threw an arm around his friend's neck. "So, lighten up a bit man! You're not here for you, you're here for the kids!"

Azure huffed, not being able to argue with that. While Thomas and Jonah weren't too keen on him coming, Rachel, along with Ken's brigade, were really glad he came out.

So, he at least had to fake it for them if nobody else.

"Alright, fine, I give, dammit!"

"Ah-ah-ah, language~"

"Screw off. Director's not here, neither are the kids."

That last remark, despite the fact that he'd said it himself, got the gears in Azure's mind moving. "Say, where are the kids?"

Micah, as always, was quick to the point. "Rachel took them off to some game at the end of this row of awnings."

Made sense. The gears in his head slowed down a bit. Just as he was about to loosen up…

"BOOOOOOSS!"

His thoughts were on the fritz now.

"Hey, was that Ken?" Azure turned to Micah for some response. He just returned the glance and they both broke into a spring down the walkway.

A couple seconds later, Yo's little body flew out from behind the bathrooms.

"Micah, check on him!"

Azure went to see behind the bathrooms as Micah made sure Yo wasn't hurt. What they both saw there wasn't the slightest bit okay.

Yo hadn't been hurt too bad, and they understood why.

In front the two boys now was another group of three jerky kids that had thought now was a good time to play the bully. One had Ken in a headlock while the little bear faunus tried to break out, another held Mika against the wall while she wailed…

And the third, an unhealthily pudgy bastard, had Rachel on her knees while he pulled on her little ears. She was begging him to stop, clearly afraid, hurt, and worst of all for Azure and Micah, she was crying.

Micah disliked violence, so the scene before him compelled his thoughts to make a strategy that could possibly get everyone away from here without getting someone hurt.

Azure, thought, was different. He'd decided these punks were gonna regret coming to the festival.

Scratch that.

These little shits were gonna regret even being born.

"Hey."

The three punks all turned to look at him. The two with Ken and Mika shrunk a little.

They met the gaze of someone who was absolutely livid with what he was seeing.

The pudgy one threw Rachel away. "Who are you? You some sympathizer or somethin'? Hate to break it to ya pal, but right now, we're in the middle of somethin'."

Azure simply met his gaze. "That so? Well, hate to break it to you, but your little operation stops now."

The pudgy one took a few steps forward and picked Rachel up by one of her ears again. The other two regained their misplaced confidence. "Ha-ha, real funny, pal. Now," He pulled Rachel up to his level as she yelped in pain, new tears streaming out. "You look at this and see somethin' you gonna defend? May be it's his pet or somethin' boys! Ain't that just cute!"

The three bullies all erupted into laughter. Micah's trademark cheerfulness was replaced with a pointed glare at the three.

Azure took action and grabbed the kid on the right, forcing him to release Ken. He then held the bully's arm out straight and brought an elbow down on it hard, effectively breaking it. The kid only screamed in pain while the other two stopped laughing and stared in shock at what happened. They weren't the only ones, as Micah, Rachel and the Ken brigade all looked with equal amounts of surprise.

Azure shoved the bully into the wall and said quietly, "Now, if you two don't wanna end up worse, I suggest you drop the girl and the kid, and scram."

The second bully let go of Mika and backed up, but the pudgy one wasn't quite convinced. "Huh, you think you can just hurt onea' my guys and waltz on outta here? Damn, son, you ah dummba than you-"

Azure cut him off with a punch to the stomach and a knee to the face. When he was on the ground, blood seeping from his now broken nose, Azure got right on top of the pudge and gave a complementary punch to the face.

"Well, it's only right that I pay you back for hurting my family, eh?"

The bully only looked at him crying and confused. "Wh-why would you call them family? So they are your pets-"

Three swift punches and the jerk's head shoved back into the ground.

"They're my brothers and sisters, you bastard!"

Azure brought up another fist, but someone grabbed a hold of his wrist. He turned, and heated green orbs met with cool, onyx ones.

"It's done, Azure, let's just leave."

While he was hesitant at first, looking back and seeing Rachel staring at him, eyes wide with fear, was enough to make him realize enough was enough.

Micah, still uncharacteristically calm, helped him up off the pudgy bully, who still looked unsure of what to do.

"Beat it."

Not wanting to incur more of Azure's wrath, the pudgy kid got up and the three of them ran off in fear.

All Azure wanted to do now was go home. He was surprised that, of all people, Rachel and the kids were the ones who wanted to stay. It just went to prove to Azure again how strong they all really were.

Even Micah had lightened up since the fight. He reasoned that as long as Rachel was cool with staying, 'what could be so wrong?' It was so like him, sucking up to her.

Right now, Azure sat on the base of the statue in the middle of the park, where the whole festival had gathered for a huge dance. People swayed back and forth, the band beat their drums and blew their horns, and kids ran around, all playing together.

Azure scanned over to his right and saw Thomas and Jonah. Typical of them, standing off to the side, acting like they were all too cool for this. He supposed they had their arms twisted into coming like he was.

Over to the left. Micah was playing with Ken's group and a couple other of the local kids. Right now they all jumped on him, since he was the oldest, and therefore tallest kid. Azure expected as much, Micah was just like that.

He looked back in front and gaped slightly. Right in the center of his vision, Rachel was dancing in the crowd. It was the first time Azure noticed her improvement in mood since an hour ago. But what he also took in for the first time was her.

The skirt of her blue and white dress seemed to dance with every twirl. Her burning orange hair, untied from its usual braid, shined brightly under the lanterns in the park. And her eyes...her blue orbs glimmered with genuine glee.

Azure couldn't quite find a word to describe how she looked in that moment.

All of a sudden, time seemed to slow with a twirl that sent her facing him. Hair dancing in the winter air, eyes gleaming as they met with his, that smile she gave…

He found the word. She looked absolutely beautiful.

Before he realized it, she was right in front of him, looking straight into his eyes. When he realized he'd been staring, he turned away as he tried to will the burning in his face to stop.

"Wanna dance?"

He glanced at her to the side, giving a questioning motion.

"Dance! You know, like you were just watching me?"

Azure felt his face heat up again. "I-I wasn't watching you!"

Rachel tilted her head in mock confusion. "Oh really? I could've sworn you were staring, almost like you were mesmerized!"

Azure huffed in annoyance while Rachel triumphantly giggled at her successful tease.

"But seriously, you wanna? Consider it my thanks for earlier."

Now Azure was really confused. "Thanks? But...but I-"

"Nuh-uh. I know you got carried away, and I was scared, sure, but I knew that you only got mad like that because those meanies were hurting me and the kids. You didn't do what you did because you just wanted to beat them up, you did it because you care about us." Rachel shuffled her feet a little as a blush came on. "Just like the director brought us in because he has a big heart, you defended us because yours is just as big!"

Azure only returned her praise with his rare, real smile. "Thanks Rachel."

"So, you wanna dance or what?"

"Nah, let's do this right."

Azure leaped off the statue and held out his hand in a mock flourish. "May I have this dance, madame?"

Rachel giggled at his silliness, but played along by giving a curtsey before taking his hand. "You may, my good sir."

The two took off back into the crowd, and they danced until a man announced over the speakers that the fireworks were about to start.

With the kids all super excited, the orphanage group bounded over to a nearby hill to get the best seats in the house. When everyone was present, Azure only welcomed Rachel as she sat next to him by scratching behind her little fox ears. She responded by leaning appreciatively into him.

11:30, way past the orphanage group's normal lights out.

The night's events were written clearly across all their faces. While Thomas and Jonah took off ahead as to avoid carrying one of the kids, Azure and Micah took it upon themselves to make sure they all got back without keeling over from exhaustion. Micah was carrying Mika in his arms as she slept while Ken and Yo gripped his pant legs to avoid getting lost, and Azure carried a sleeping Rachel on his back. Micah made some joke about 'a noble knight carrying his princess to the castle.' Azure almost kicked him.

When they all made it to the orphanage, a large figure sat on the steps.

"Well, I see everyone made it back in one piece, even if not conscious!"

Azure and Micah laughed. "Thanks for letting us go to the festival, Mr. director."

"Not at all, not at all! You kids deserve some fun every once in a while."

Giving their goodnights, the group made their way to the door.

"Azure, a word?"

Damn, this wasn't gonna be good.

"Hey, Rach. Wake up."

Rachel gave a hum of annoyance before opening her eyes.

"Go on to bed, okay? I gotta talk to the director."

Azure set her down as she gave a nod in response. Azure and the director waited for her to go inside before talking.

"What's this about now?" Azure knew that these talks were never about something good, so he was already on the defensive.

The director only knelt down and sighed. "This is about that smudge on your shirt."

Azure glanced down. His white shirt had only one blemish on it, just a speck of what looked like blood.

Dammit.

"What happened? Tell me the truth."

Why bother? Not like he'd understand anyway.

"A few punks were picking on Ken, Mika and Rachel. I had to do something!"

Azure felt a lump in his throat as he tried to make the director understand.

The director let out another sigh. He knew what was coming.

…

"Alright."

…

What?

"Wha...what do you mean, 'alright'? Aren't you gonna lecture me, or tell me I was being reckless, or-"

The director cut him off with a hand on his shoulder. "It's true, I think you might have been a little reckless in you decision. But, in the end, you didn't fight for yourself this time."

Azure only looked at him, asking to explain.

"You didn't fight those bullies because they picked on you, you fought them because you wanted to protect your brothers and sisters. I'm not one for violence, Azure, but when the situation calls for it, that's a respectable purpose if I ever heard one."

Azure only stared at the director as he stood up. "Never lose that compassion. It's your drive to protect those that are important to you that will give you strength. I was afraid of how you'd turn out, seeing as you always get into fights when someone provokes you. Now, though, you've fought for others, which is something I can respect."

The director finished his speech with words that would become Azure's entire being.

"Keep getting stronger, and don't fight out of hatred or spite. If you fight, fight to protect. Whether it be for those close to you, or for people who can't stand for themselves, what matters is that you lend your strength to those who need it. Keep getting stronger, so you can make other people strong and do good in this world."

Azure just finished his story with a matter-of-fact tone as he and Weiss walked back to Winter and their mother, ice cream in hand.

Weiss couldn't help but look at her brother in a new light. Six years; six whole years since the blond started living with them and now she understood him better than anyone in her family, all because of a single story. She finally understood why he was so protective of all of them, why he was so unconditionally attached to mother and why he was so gentle and caring with Winter and herself.

He'd just stated his whole purpose in life like it was nothing. To Weiss, it spoke leaps and bounds about just what kind of person Azure Schnee was.

She gave him a warm smile. "You're the ideal hunter, you know."

Azure glanced over and gave a sheepish grin. "You think so? I mean, it's only right…"

"Exactly, Azure. It's only right to you that you help people. Isn't that what hunters do?"

He seemed to mull this over. "I guess. Speaking of hunters and such, how's your training going?"

Weiss took a proud posture. "I don't mean to brag, but I've been doing quite well. You see, I've already discovered my semblance, and I've been getting exceptional grades on all my combat instructions-"

"Blah, blah, blah, I'm Weiss, so much better than you, bleh."

Her pride turned to irritation. "What did I say about being a pain? What about you, then?!"

Azure explained after he recovered from his laugh. "I can't say I'm doing too bad, either. Aura control's extremely advanced for my age, or so I've been told. Combat's pretty good, too. My instructor wants to start on dust, but I say to hell with that. I don't need dust, I've got Take-Mikazuchi, and that's enough for me."

The fact that he'd said all that like he was bored of it was appalling. Weiss only gave a deadpan stare in response.

"Well, you might wanna, at least, consider dust if it works with your semblance, like mine."

"My semblance is more powerful than any fire dust our company can shove out. Like, seriously, flames that I have complete control over. I think I'm covered."

An irritated sigh. "Fine, be that way."

Weiss still couldn't wrap her head around why he was so simple with his combat choices. His combat gear was just that green jacket he always wore, and his weapon…

No bells and whistles there. It was just a plain old katana. Bland.

Her thoughts were interrupted by an excited Winter bounding up.

"Hey hey Azure! Did you get my banana split?!"

"Yeah, but looking at it now, I think I want this instead. You can have my vanilla."

"NO WAY! I WANT MY BANANA SPLIT!"

Azure, Weiss and their mother all laughed at Winter's expense.

When Weiss looked over at Azure, though, she saw him talking to Winter with something in his eye. What was it? She racked her head around every single emotion that she could possibly use to explain what she saw. Happiness? Content?...

"Love."

…

She turned over to her mother, whom she didn't even realize was beside her until now.

…

"That glimmer in his eye is love, Weiss."

…

Oh, that made sense.

She turned back to Azure, who was now letting Winter try some of his ice cream. She felt something in her chest as she looked at his soft eyes and warm smile.

…

Maybe this is love, too.

…

Well, he's her brother. Of course she loves him.

…

Then again, he's not connected to any of them by blood. His blond hair and heterochrome eyes said as much.

…

Was it okay for her love to be different…?

A/N: Fluff, fluff, and more fluff. I honestly didn't expect this one to be as long. I guess I had more to tell about this since I'd spent some time thinking it over before writing this chapter. Hell, several things happened in the middle of writing it. The whole exchanges between Azure and Weiss just kinda came out. I didn't even plan on starting the chapter like that, It was just gonna go straight into flashback town and ride that train all the way back to present. I dunno. All in all, I feel good about this one.

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LATER~