Coffee had always been Weiss' drink of choice, especially when the former heiress was feeling stressed. Something about the bitter aftertaste of the liquid helped to wake her up, reset her mind, and tease new thoughts and energy to the forefront of her brain. That unpleasant sensation on her tongue was a strange comfort, and one balanced out by the psychological benefits. In time, Weiss had grown to actually enjoy the arguably foul taste of the black liquid without any additives. Morning coffee was practically a sacred ritual and required for Weiss to be able to function. Evening coffee, like the one sitting before her upon the table at a private booth, was generally reserved for helping her refocus and push forward while studying or training.
Like so many other things, though, Weiss' evening coffee had taken an unexpected turn. All she managed to get out of the drink was that bitter, lingering aftertaste. Weiss wanted to believe that adding some milk or sugar could potentially fix the taste, or that perhaps she had lost her familiarity with Atlesian beans in her time away from home. Weiss wanted a lot of things to be true, but she wasn't quite naïve enough to believe in them. Forgoing any additives, the black coffee was instead paired only with awkward silence, and with every sip, the pressure for someone to continue the conversation seemed to intensify. Whitley was the first to speak again, and Weiss wasn't sure whether or not to consider herself lucky. He had already told them so much about the verbal and physical abuse he had suffered at Jacques' hands, and the blind eye that their mother had turned throughout the years. Weiss felt as though she was going to be sick.
"…I know that I was… less than pleasant to you when you returned, all those months ago…" Whitley began, his knuckles white as he gripped his own cup of coffee. Slowly, he turned his gaze toward Weiss, his expression full of disgust. "But you have no idea what it's been like. Both of you left me with them, and even before that, I was largely on my own. As young as eight, I was told that my role was to support you when you inherited the company, and to keep my mouth shut, otherwise. That role later became to carry out extra work that you wouldn't have time for while training to become a huntress. When you finally lost the inheritance of the company, he decided to force it onto me, and things started to get even worse. I was happy, at first, to have the opportunity. I thought I deserved it… but no one deserves the abuse that came with it."
Weiss considered taking another sip of her coffee, but she wasn't sure if she could handle another taste of the drink she so often chose for herself.
"…there is no excuse," she began softly. "There's an explanation, but… it doesn't justify what I did to you by choosing to leave. I know that it means nothing, but I'm sorry, Whitley. I chose to save myself over you, and I thought that I could still have it all despite that. You do deserve the company, after all you've been through… but you also deserve better sisters, and several years you can't get back. That is largely my fault, and I'm prepared to work with you to make it right."
"It's also mine," Winter added. "Weiss chose to follow in my footsteps… but she did it more intelligently."
Weiss quirked a brow and looked up at her older sister, not quite following the woman's words.
"What do you mean…?"
"I was selfish. I cut all ties from our family of my own will, bar those forced upon me when working security or representing General Ironwood at Jacques' insufferable dinner parties," Winter explained before raising her wine glass and taking a long drink of her deep red liquid. "Had Weiss' plan to become a professional, licensed huntress that would still inherit the company worked, she would have brought back some dignity to the Schnee name outside of Atlas and been able to take care of you as well, Whitley. Weiss was playing the waiting game. I flipped the table to clear the board."
Whitley turned his attention from Winter to Weiss, looking both somewhat surprised and innocently hopeful. Weiss shrank slightly in her seat and closed her eyes. With an uncomfortable noise, she shook her head slowly from side to side. Admitting the truth wouldn't be easy, but Weiss knew that she had to do it, and she knew she had someone to help her pick up the pieces afterward. That thought was the only thing that kept her honest in the moment.
"I… won't lie to you, Whitley," Weiss began as she opened her eyes and looked up at him. "Not anymore. While things eventually would have worked out that way… looking out for you and taking your future into consideration was never my intention. I was selfish, too. I wanted everything- to get away from home, pursue my dream to become a huntress, and inherit the company. Your wellbeing… was never a factor in my mind when making decisions."
Whitley's total lack of reaction did nothing to assuage Weiss' guilt. Over time, the younger boy's eyes merely flicked down to the table, and his grip around the coffee cup tightened.
"…I thought you might say that," Whitley admitted. "But… the fact that you're admitting to it rather than lying to my face makes you better than our father…"
"That isn't a high bar to clear," Winter replied. "But even so… I should have set a better example for both of you. I should have defended you two from him."
"…and from Mother," Weiss added. "She isn't innocent."
An awkward silence passed over the table, before Whitley finally raised his cup and took a long, slow drink.
"She isn't… but she's a victim in all of this, as well," Whitley said coolly. "I want to believe that she can be saved."
"She can't even remember my name, some days," Weiss retorted, her tone venomous. "She chose her poison over all of us."
"In reaction to the same abuse we've all suffered at the hands of our father," Whitley countered as he put his cup back down to the table with more force than necessary. "You of all people should know why she is the way she is, or did you forget what happened at your birthday party, all those years ago?"
"I will never forget that," Weiss said icily. "But that's no excuse. She was the one person who could have protected all of us from him. She set up the dominoes that led to Winter leaving the mansion."
"And what makes you less culpable for stopping your fall and mine than our mother was for hers? Age? The choice to have children? Can you even say with certainty that having us was a choice?" Whitley spat.
"What are you implying?" Winter asked, sounding alarmed. "Have you found something to suggest otherwise?"
"No, I haven't," Whitley denied. "Not yet, anyway, but some of the things she's said… I was directly told that I was a mistake. There are several ways that such a statement could be interpreted."
"…no matter what she meant, you're not a mistake," Weiss growled as she held her head in her hands. "If anything, you seem to have your head on straighter and your priorities figured out better than either of us. When did you get so mature…?"
Whitley took a calming breath and began to relax his grip upon his coffee cup. He reached a hand up to smooth out an errant strand of hair as he looked off to the side, seemingly checking for something.
"…Marrow reached out to me and broke down my walls while he was being forced to dance for Jacques," Whitley said. "I know you already know that part, but he also… gave me some lien of my own, for once. Unmonitored by the company. He told me to go and buy something for myself that I couldn't otherwise get… and that's when he really won me over. I knew what I wanted immediately."
Weiss was suddenly overcome by an all-encompassing feeling of cold. Winter merely arched a brow.
"…and what would that be?" the elder Schnee asked.
"Therapy," Whitley answered without a second thought. "I bought myself therapy."
Weiss brought her hand up to rub at the side of her neck, suddenly feeling very vulnerable.
"That… may be the smartest investment any of us has ever made. In fact, maybe all three of us sh-"
"There isn't time," Winter interrupted with a pointed look at Weiss. "Not with everything going on behind the sce-"
"We will make time," Weiss asserted, returning her sister's glare. "Or are you telling me you're ready for everything that's about to happen? You feel centered and stable? Because I don't, and the only thing keeping me upright at the moment is Marrow."
Whitley looked back and forth between his sisters, well aware that he was missing something. Even so, he couldn't put his finger on just what it was, and whether or not it was multiple things.
"…Marrow?" the boy asked softly. "What do you mean?"
"He…" Weiss started, already getting a bit flustered as her cheeks tinted pink. "We're… dating. Let's call it that. Maybe a bit more serious, I don't know how these things work, but…"
"You're seeing a faunus," Whitley said in disbelief. The boy blinked and his lip curled into a smirk, as though he had suddenly realized something. "You're seeing a faunus… who is in our father's pocket for the upcoming election and will be present at his party. The likelihood is high that Marrow will be forced to say something positive about Jacques in front of a rather large crowd. Why not make it about how accepting he is of the two of you and how wonderful it is that he's chosen to support your budding romance?"
"That is…" Winter started, her expression soon twisting to mirror Whitley's, "brilliant. He can't deny it, lest his smoke and mirrors surrounding his little advertising campaign crumble in front of his investors."
"Marrow and I are not planning on making our status public," Weiss said cautiously. "We wanted to keep things behind the scenes and avoid the press, but… I will admit, we could easily back him into a corner with this…"
"And it could even serve as a launching point from which to leverage the future of the dust company on our terms," Whitley mused. "We could weaponize his own manipulative tendencies against him."
"Especially considering how in over his head he'll be with council responsibilities, should he win," Winter added. "It's a devious plan… and one he absolutely deserves to be subjected to."
"Speaking of being subjected to things, do you realize what's going to happen to me the moment word gets out?" Weiss asked. "'Media circus' won't even begin to describe what ensues…"
"Which is why we'll need to be there for you," Whitley finished. "We are family- the three of us. Even if things are tense and not quite resolved between us… we need to start somewhere. This cycle of abuse didn't start with you, and it didn't start with Winter. It took years upon years to establish and will likely take as long to break. If the pair of you will actually commit to helping me and seeing this through… then I'm willing to start anew with both of you."
"And if you're willing to join us in seeking outside help through therapy," Weiss proposed to Winter, "then I, too, will do everything I can to make this right. It needs to be a team effort."
Winter pulled a frown and took her scroll out of her pocket. Just as soon as she unlocked the screen, she found Weiss' hand covering the device and bringing it gently down to the surface of the table.
"No," Weiss warned. "We need to do this for ourselves, and not only after waiting for someone else's permission. None of us are okay, Winter… and given what we're about to face, we need to stabilize our foundations. Our family. Please."
Winter chewed her lip momentarily before letting out a sigh.
"…alright. I take it Klein was responsible for sneaking you out for this meeting, and your sessions?"
"He was," Whitley confirmed. "He has me penciled in as having a meeting about logo rebranding. I don't know how long we can keep up the ruse, but… you'll need to tell me in advance when we're doing this. I'd like to start soon, before this election."
"That isn't a lot of time," Weiss warned. "But… we'll try. We'll take steps to fix this."
"Then I know we'll be able to," Whitley replied as he rested his hand atop Weiss'. "It's time we start supporting each other against the things that have been ruining all of our lives. We deserve to have a future free of the shadows looming over our family name… and all of Atlas."
Weiss and Winter exchanged a silent look. Both of the women looked worried.
"…we do," Weiss said quietly. "I just hope that in the end, we're strong enough to stand against them…"
Author's Note:
There was no way to do this quickly. Next week… Sun and Ilia confront Ironwood.
-RD