The Cockerel Festival, Part 4!

A/N: Welcome, one and all, to Weiss Reacts! Now, with the explosive conclusion to last time, it's all up in the air as to what is actually going on here. This will be a break between battles, a small dramatic chapter to break up the moments of awesome, a transition, since I felt that placing this just before an awesome battle would be too much of a mood whiplash.

Now, to begin the chapter before you people get tired of my ranting.

DISCLAIMER: RWBY does not belong to me, otherwise there would be twelve powerful Grimm named after the Eastern Zodiac or something (Gallus, Mus, Canis, etc.)

All mentioned characters belong to their respective owners.

Ozpin's office, early the morning of the Fourth Day...

Blake sat adjacent to Adam, who was studying Ozpin intensely. Ozpin himself was calmly typing in something on his computer, sipping a cup of coffee and sighing.

The atmosphere was tense in the room. Rather justifiably, too.

Siegmund Schnee, it transpired, was back. An occurrence that even Ozpin had not predicted.

Blake sighed, shaking her head. "T-this doesn't make any sense. What did Siegmund do that made you so...scared of him, Professor?"
"As if you need any reason to fear him." Adam muttered under his breath. "He is an honorless coward, one who would threaten-"

"Adam Taurus." Ozpin announced clearly and calmly. "Son of Ariel Taurus and Leah Taurus- both deceased. Sister by the name of Eve Taurus.

You may well be a 'freedom fighter' fighting for freedom that has been long claimed, but that does not prevent you from having loved ones."

Adam tensed.

"If Siegmund has threatened your sister, I am willing to help you, but you have to cooperate with me, Mister Taurus." Ozpin clasped his hands together calmly. "You are not the first person he did this too."
"He...threatened your sister?" Blake stared at him. "Wait, you have a sister?"
"Nobody but you, him, and the human knows." Adam muttered angrily. "Are you happy now? You know my secrets."

"I have no intention of hurting her or you, Mister Taurus." Ozpin sighed, taking another drink from his mug. "I see not an enemy, but a person who needs assistance to leave his circumstances. We have a common goal- to protect the ones we are charged with protecting. Time is of the essence, and so I cannot say much else.

You may not see us as this now, but if we are to help you with this, you must trust me." The professor stared deeply at him. "So, will you trust me?"

Adam stared at him, growling. Ozpin held his calm, but stern expression, looking straight at him.

For a moment, as Blake studied Ozpin's expression, she was reminded not of a kindly, eccentric mentor, but of a far older, ancient warrior, his will to fight tempered by years upon years of endless battles, unintimidated by anything that would attempt to make him feel fear. This was not Ozpin the headmaster of Beacon, this was Ozpin, the Huntsman of old, feared throughout the Four Kingdoms and even amongst the Magus Association, the fighter of battles known and unknown, whose name was still whispered in hushed whispers though he had exchanged his battle armor for the robes of a scholar.

And in all her obsession with manliness, Blake realised that even her beloved Kamina paled in the calm fury Ozpin was hiding underneath the surface.

His will triumphed over Adam, whose expression softened as he looked away from the mentor.

"...fine...I will trust you."

"Good to hear, Mister Taurus." Ozpin gave him a satisfied smile, before turning to Blake. He picked up a remote, clicking it to see a small screen descend from the ceiling.

On it was a file labelled 'CLASSIFIED- S. Schnee Sr.'. Ozpin opened it, revealing to Blake a shot of Siegmund Schnee, dated from almost eleven years ago, standing in an unidentified, snowy landscape.

He had white hair, like his son and granddaughter, streaked with red stripes throughout. His face seemed rugged, with a flat nose that seemed to be breathing smoke and piercing grey eyes that seemed to stare into Blake's soul, that stood out from his ivory skin. His large beard formed a rim around his chin, granting him a seemingly large presence.

What stood out was his body- it was adorned with red and gold armor, resembling a dragon's scales- with his gauntlets adorned with golden claws, a black collar and pauldrons over his neck and shoulders, and a stylized dragon's head, replete with golden horns and onyx eyes, on his chest. He seemed to dominate his surroundings with his immense height and robust body.

Blake had the impression that she was not faced with a human, but with a tyrannical dragon in human form, watching over his domain with cruel intention.

"That was taken before the operation was run to take him down was approved." Ozpin stated calmly.

Blake raised an eyebrow. "An...operation?"
"...Siegmund Schnee was not, by any means, a kind man." The headmaster clarified. "I fear I must go back, many, many years, to when myself and Glynda were in school, many years ago.

Drawing his breath, he began to retell his story.

"I was, as I am now, a good friend of Siegfried, whom you know as Weiss' father. I knew a lot of what happened within the Schnee Kreuzelburg, their ancestral home, as did Andreas and Alexander Arc, his best friends.

Before he came to Beacon, Siegfried led a miserable, miserable life. Siegmund demanded he associate only with trusted, 'pure' families- he wanted no Faunus or lowborn near his heir. Siegfried, thankfully, railed against it, despite the constant abuse- physical and emotional- that he suffered. It was with great joy Siegfried joined Beacon, finally leaving his father's influence, and I fear that was only the first of it.

He made easy friends with the Arcs- known Faunus sympathisers and nowhere near the nobles the Schnees were- mainly because of their personalities, as both were boisterous men, but also because of the desire to rebel- to make it clear to his father that he wanted nothing to do with him or his dynasty any more.

This only increased his anger, however, and I bore witness many times to Professor Merlin, the headmaster of the time, talking down Siegmund when he demanded that Siegfried leave the academy immediately. Many times, Siegmund tried to 'protect' his son from the influence of what he viewed as impure people, but he could not succeed. Eventually, when Siegfried began dating who would become his wife Freya, it came to a head.

Siegmund stormed the gates of Beacon itself, demanding his son return to him this instant. Thankfully, he was easily trumped by a classmate of mine showing up with her mecha- Ayase, I recall, was her name- and when Siegfried received notification that his share of the Schnee fortune had been given to him-the last gift of his late mother Sieglinde- and that his father would have no further contact with him, he was overjoyed. He was free of him."

Blake sighed. "But that wasn't the end of it, was it?"
"No. It was not." Ozpin took a deep breath, before continuing.

"Many years passed, as Siegfried graduated without incident. He became an independently wealthy businessman, starting the Schnee Dust Corporation in its current form, with the fortune he had been left and around that time, many families began forming- it was around this time that Siegfried and Freya had their first daughter Winter.

Shortly afterwards, however, armed troopers with the Schnee insignia surrounded the winter home which the Schnees had housed themselves in, as Siegmund had decided that as 'payment' for Siegfried's betrayal, Winter would be his to raise 'properly'. Thankfully, he underestimated the skill of his son and daughter-in-law- and the loyalty of his men- and the incident was defused. Siegmund was charged and fined for this assault, but Siegfried was not satisfied with this. He didn't think his father would merely stop here, and indeed, he did not."

"W-what did he do?" The catgirl inquired, confused.

"His next atrocities were perpetrated around the time when Weiss was born."
Adam piped up. "What did he do to...her?"

"...he used a court of law and bribery to wrench Weiss away from her father and mother." Ozpin stated, exhaling. "He tried to keep Weiss with him as much as possible- for most of the year, Siegmund had Weiss. That did not break him, though- he persevered, knowing that he would gather evidence to take her back.

So Siegmund did something else." Ozpin continued, sighing.

"You are aware that Cinder Fall, until two years ago, was part of the White Fang." The headmaster clarified. "...to cut a long story short, he used the recent passing of Summer- a good friend of Cinder's, and of course, most of us- to manipulate her into joining and taking over the White Fang, using her hatred to twist her into attempting to fight him."
Blake and Adam stared at him. It seemed not even Adam had been aware of this information.

"Why...why would he do that?"

"To fund himself." Ozpin said as bluntly has he could. "He figured that if he could supply weapons to both sides- using a faked name and corporation, of course-, he would make a fortune to make up for his heirs abandoning him. Even if it involved working with the 'accursed' Faunus.

I suppose some of it was motivated by spite towards his son- to imagine his expression when he discovered that one of his dearest friends had turned to evil would have given him nothing but joy, to know that he had crushed his own son into despair. He would rub his victory in.

But that did not break him- not even losing his daughter and two of his closest friends broke him. No, the last straw was when Siegmund blackmailed his wife into leaving him and Vytal; he'd told her that Weiss would be safer if she did. She couldn't let her daughter be hurt.

Then, at last, Siegfried broke."

Blake stared at him, at last shocked. "What happened?"

"He simply...refused to do anything anymore. Refused to show up at conferences, locked himself away, let his second-in-command run the Company. Even his unshakeable will didn't hold out in the end, when he had lost so much.

His father had succeeded, and there was not a thing we could do about it- we couldn't prove he bribed the court to give him primary custody, and so we had to leave Weiss there, letting him do as he pleased.

That did not last for long.

One day, among the chatters in his household, he caught wind that Siegmund had hurt his daughter, hurt Weiss.

At that point, Siegfried had had enough. He couldn't allow it to happen anymore, he told me afterwards. He had steeled his resolve. He wasn't going to let him take anything else.

Immediately, he gathered myself, Glynda, the Arc brothers and several others- Qrow Rose, the Xiao Long family, and your father, Miss Belladonna- for an emergency meeting. He begged- pleaded- that he be allowed to storm the ancestral Schnee home, in order to bring his daughter home. He wouldn't stand by and allow it, not anymore. At once, we agreed.

It served a dual purpose- now that we had evidence that Siegmund had hurt her, he could no longer keep her, and, I suppose, most of us just wanted to hurt him, to make him pay for everything he had done- and to help an old friend protect his children.

We stormed the Kreuzelburg, one day in the middle of winter. Siegmund was, in his time, one of the most dangerous Hunters in all of Vytal, and even then was more than a match for us, and even the likes of the Arc brothers and Glynda, even I was forced to retreat against him.

Siegfried, however, was driven by but one thing. He wanted his daughter back, and he would be damned if he let his father hurt her again.

The two fought like wild animals, destroying part of the castle in the process with fire and steel, but in the end, Siegfried was victorious.

We all shared his tears when he walked out, carrying and hugging his sleeping daughter to his chest, telling her it would be okay, that her father was back, that no one was going to hurt her anymore.

Siegmund was arrested and taken away, and we thought that was the end of that- especially when Freya finally returned to Vale during the Music Festival.

We thought that the Schnee family- and the rest of the world- was rid of him."

Ozpin sighed, shaking his head sadly.

"It wasn't, was it?" Blake stared at him. He shook his head, before standing up and slowly strolling over to the window as the sun rose over Beacon's buildings, casting its early light over the tournament grounds.

"No, it wasn't. I fear he's going to try for one last shot at revenge."

"Should I tell Weiss?" The catgirl raised her finger, but Ozpin shook his head.

"No. That would cause too much worry, too much chaos. Siegmund would be able to simply swoop in and take her easily amidst it all." Ozpin sighed.

"If you must, tell her when you and your team are alone. With the presence of Adam, I have no idea how else he might be surveying our communications, and I fear that he's not the only way he has of watching us." The headmaster clarified. "I need time to convene with the staff and any Huntsmen and Huntresses who were present at the storming of the Kreuzelburg.

In the meantime, Miss Belladonna, I advise you merely sit back and enjoy the Cockerel Festival." He smiled, slightly bitter.

"I can't just sit here and watch m-my friend be in danger!"
"She will be in more if you warn her right this instant."

"He's right." Adam finally spoke up. "For all we know, Siegmund could be watching us right now. That bastard has eyes everywhere, and I'll be damned if my sister gets hurt because of it.

If you need me to fight him, point me in the right direction." The Faunus boy declared. "Human or not, that bastard needs to go down before he hurts anyone else.

I suppose this'll be my atonement of sorts- my payback, for everything I've done."

"And it shall be, Mister Taurus." Ozpin nodded. "You, too, enjoy the Cockerel Festival, for now. You are here as an honored guest, Mister Taurus, after all, and it would be rude of me not to extend that hospitality to you, especially now that you have pledged temporary allegiance."

He sighed, looking once more out of the window.

"After all, it may not be long before your chance to enjoy the Festival ends."

END

A/N: And so, the true bastardry of Siegmund is revealed.

To clear the mood, next chapter will be Ren versus Ruby.

So, I hope you enjoyed that chapter, leave your ideas, suggestions, criticisms, reviews, comments and thoughts, and I hope you have a GREAT day! Until next time!