Don't own RWBY nor Marvel.

Aftermath: Weiss

For one Weiss Schnee it all had happened in an instance.

One moment she had been accusing Ruby of stealing her binder, the next she was jumping out of the window when she saw students start to turn into dust.

Just when they were catching their breath three people in their group turned into dust right in front of them. And just like that Yang, Blake and Pyrrha were gone.

Ruby entered into shock after witnessing her sister die in front of her and when she tried to call out to her, she didn't seem to acknowledge her.

Meanwhile team JNR were more vocals. Just as Pyrrha finished disappearing it took only one second for Jaune and Nora to start crying and screaming, Ren the always quiet stood there standing, but she could remember seeing tears running down his face.

Once it was confirmed stud-people stopped dying, Weiss thought she could finally let it all out, but she should've known the bad news wouldn't end there.

Once she got to her dorm with Ruby in tow, still unresponsive, she got a call.

And learned her siblings and father were dead.

And now it was her turn to enter in shock. She didn't remember when, she didn't remember how, but she does know that just as soon as she had entered her room, she was boarding a Schnee Private Bullhead that would take her to Atlas.

She also knows that she cried the whole ride to Atlas.

But that was 7 weeks ago.

Now she stood in the office that once belonged to her father and her grandfather before him.

The first week as CEO of the SDC was confusing and hard. Every stock associate tried to gain more control out of her, simply to gain more power and money in the company.

That must have been the longest time she had been in her "Ice Queen" mood as Ruby used to put it. And maybe the only time she got a genuine smile of relief was when General Ironwood offered his services to use the army to control any extreme associate that wanted to exploit the weak state of the SDC.

Her sister trusted General Ironwood, so she would trust in her sister's trust. Afterall, all Ironwood had asked in return was cheaper dust for the army for the next six months once the extraction and production of Dust continued.

During the second week, she started to implement the changes she had once promised Blake. She had asked General Ironwood to make an investigation in all former and active, associates and authorities in the SDC for corruption and mistreatment of Faunus.

He had looked at her wide eyed when she asked him that, but soon smiled "You have no idea how long I've waited to get the authorization to do such."

Also, during the same week a huge mourning civilian march started to roam across the streets of Atlas. Everyone had a candle inside a glass so that the cold winds of Atlas wouldn't blow them out. Weiss participated and noted how just some looked in her direction and seemed surprise to see her there before turning back to where they were looking.

The third week is when she started to remodel the mansion. Everything was white. And while she didn't have anything against the color, she believed it could use some more to make it stand out. Plus, the lack of any color besides white reminded her of her father and how obsessed he was with the Schnee name.

She hired humans and Faunus alike to do the job. And she once again saw the evidence that her father's management had a bad reputation, when the faunus that arrived looked terrified. As if they were stepping into the lion's den. But she was glad when the humans didn't bat an eye at the faunus.

Except for one.

"Ms. Schnee, if I'm not out of line, why are these animals in here?" one of the designers asked with barely hidden disgust. The 'animals' in question, some looked angry, others tried to not show reaction but se could see some nervousness in their eyes, but most looked at the ground in shame, in shame for having been born different.

But all she could see was her teammate Blake. Her dead teammate Blake, hanging her head in shame, and her hidden cat ears. Ears she hid because she was afraid of people like her. Of her. A Schnee.

"Get out" her voice startled everyone, and all faunus looked at her wide eyed "I brought all of you here, because I was looking for the best of the best that remained after that day, confident that all of you would be professional and as such would make an excellent job" he was now seeing her with wide scared eyes, everyone seemed to be doing so, but she wasn't done "but here you are, being unprofessional and trying to make less of others that I hired, thinking that I would allow it."

She stepped closer to him and he backed away, she stepped again, and he backed again, once again she stepped closer and this time he fell flat on his ass.

"So, if you would please. GET OUT." She tried so hard not to scream at him, that those last two words came out through gritted teeth.

He stood still in the floor and looked like he was about to piss himself if he hadn't already, with sweat running down his head.

"NOW" he didn't need to be told twice, he got up as fast as he could and ran out of her sight and out of the mansion. Hopefully forever.

She turned back to the remaining group and saw them also looking fearfully at her. She was confused but soon found they weren't looking at her, they were looking behind her.

She turned her head to see what it was and saw a giant white knight wielding a giant sword. It was standing menacingly behind her and could see why they were scared.

She thought on how to make it disappear, but as soon as she had that thought it dissipated into white particles.

She looked again at the group and this time they were standing rigid with their backs up, almost as if they were military.

She chuckled lightly hoping to lighten the mood "Sorry for that shameful display, I just can't and won't stand for that kind of behavior I hope you weren't scared"

"Not at all" "Nah" "Of course not Ms. Schnee" "…" she sighed sadly, she could hear their fear, but noted how the faunus didn't say anything, instead all of them came forward and bowed their heads to her.

"Thank you"

It was a simple whisper, but she heard it, and it meant a lot to her.

"Don't worry about it" she answered with a light smile "now then shall we talk about the new look I want for the mansion? Or how does this work, interior design is not my thing" she got a light chuckle out the group easing the mood and finally getting to business.

After that plans and designs were laid out for her to see of the new color scheme for the mansion both outside and inside. In the end she ended up picking one proposed by a faunus, because it complimented good to the colors she liked. Blue, navy blue, sky blue, and just a little grey.

And so during the fourth week they started to work, all the while she relocated to her room to manage the SDC since they would also be remodeling completely her office.

Also beginning the fourth week the SDC started once again to export Dust to the other Kingdoms, obviously beginning with Atlas, while selling it a little cheaper to the Military as promised.

Not much happened during the fourth week, that garnered her attention, the preparations for the remodeling were slow, but once everything was set, they breezed through the process.

During the fifth week, the mine's management section of the Company, revolted by not doing their jobs. She knew it would eventually happen. It was the mines that were the most oppressive to faunus, but that was only because the managers of said mines allowed it to be as such.

And when they eventually found out that investigations would be done in all of them, of course they would try to revolt inside the company.

And that's why they were all fired in that moment. Many would call her stupid for firing them. Since even though they allowed the conditions in the mines to continue, they at least had experience in managing a mine.

And they would've been right. If General Ironwood hadn't given her information on the mines and workers who were suitable for the job and had been working in there for years. Strangely but also not so strangely many of the profiles the General gave her, were of faunus who led other faunus to work effectively while also trying to minimize the damage that they could get.

And so, the sixth week was a busy one. She visited every mine personally to inform all of its workers of the change in management. And while she got it done it wasn't without any surprises. Unpleasant surprises.

When she arrived at the first mines, they didn't seem so bad. They were located near villages, were the workers lived, and as such were protected by the SDC security. But she still noted a few faunus thinner than they should be but hoped that all vines only had a few mistreated faunus.

She started to lose hope the further she got from Atlas.

Each time, she saw more than the last time. Malnourished faunus, old, young, some were so weak they shouldn't have been able to pick up their tools, but they still did. She thought she had reached the worst of the SDC. But she was wrong.

How wrong she was.

A camp. A fucking camp.

She couldn't help but curse as she saw the houses that were built underground, so that workers would sleep in the mines and wake in the mines. She even saw children carrying small bags of dust. Fucking children. Children that had possibly never seen the sun and only know this underground for their whole lives.

She almost cried as if 'That day' had happened all over again.

And every time when she told them the change in management the name which was listed in the profiles. They cried. They cheered. Many celebrated as if she had told them they were the new CEO of the SDC.

But there were some that cried in agony. For when she named the person the General had told her was good. They cried, since that person had been dusted, so she did the second best thing. She gave them the option to choose someone themselves. This seemed to calmed them somewhat and thanked her with as much positive emotion they could muster.

It seemed that for them things wouldn't get worse, and in fact would get better.

But for Weiss, it just kept getting worse.

From camps, to small villages, from small villages to villages, from villages to small towns. And they all reacted the same. It broke Weiss' heart. She couldn't help but think if she was even worthy of being where she was, seeing as all of it was build upon the blood of innocent.

She was quick to dismiss these thoughts thinking that if she didn't have this position the people she was trying to help quite possibly would never be helped.

But the doubt was still there.

She finished going to each mine halfway the seventh week. And once she was in the confines of her new office, she allowed herself to cry silently.

And so now she was here standing quite possibly at the top of the world. The second most powerful person in Atlas. Weiss promised to herself that if there was an afterlife, she was going to beg Blake to forgive her for being so ignorant.

She turned to look at her scroll. Her huntress Scroll.

She had been scared of contacting any of her former classmates. She thought they might've thought of her a coward, for going away the day they it happened. And at first she thought so too.

But now, with everything she had happened and done. She knew she had no say in it, and while it saddened her, she no longer regretted it. She knew she was doing as much good as she could, and she hoped her friends would forgive her for leaving them.

She mustered all the courage she could and took her scroll.

Searched for a specific number.

And called

She heard a tone.

Another one.

Anoth-

She answered and looked at her with wide happy eyes.

She couldn't help herself and also smiled. The widest smile she has given in weeks.

"Hello Ruby"

It will end in there. I know I said Willow had also survived, but she was never seen when Weiss was taken back to Atlas, and I actually didn't know how to include her in this chapter. But don't worry Weiss will have her reunion with her mother.

Hope you enjoyed it.

-The Knight in dark flames.