Chapter 20: Ice Hearts of Crimson.
"Are…are we sure about this?" Jaune seemed to punch the wall as his own team sat down.
"I…I don't know what to honestly think about it at this point." Ren crossed his arms at the mere thought as he shrugged it off. "I mean, we saw Amber ourselves. She's not looking in the best state of mind."
"Yeah but like…the magic is one thing, our semblances and the existence of Team MESS are fundamentally proof that there's more out there than just the natural things Remnant provides. I'm more concerned about the-"
"Not out in the open." Ren shushed Nora down.
"How do we even know if they're telling the truth or not though?" Pyrrha asked. "I mean, they wouldn't even let Amber out of the machine they had her in to keep her life stable. But like…what do they want us to do?"
"Well what about-" Nora was shushed out. As Moon seemingly walked into viewing distance, during which he, along with Sarah and Sapphire just kind of stood there. Almost as if they had come in just to prevent their conversation from going anywhere.
"I swear Ironwood is right when he says they all have a tendency to just jump into whatever we need to discuss at any time."
"Speaking of which, where is Erick?" Pyrrha asked. "It feels weird, I don't think we've ever seen them, not around without each other."
"Well, Ozpin did say that the four of them almost never separate. They need to stick together for their own sanity."
"I think he's doing something with Weiss." Nora finally replied. "I was talking to her earlier. Apparently she has to explain something about their relationship to Winter."
"Speaking of which…should we like…you know…explain that Wiess." Jaune sort of twiddled his own thumbs at the thought. "It seems kind of…selfishly wrong for the four of them to mislead."
"And how exactly do you propose we say that to her?" Ren questioned, as his own eyes narrowed. "If it weren't for Ozpin and Ironwood showing us all the evidence, do you think any of us would believe the nonsense of a conspiracy that's spread back millions of years before our own birth? What makes you think they'd believe us. And even then, you know WHY exactly we can't tell anyone!"
"I know that…" Jaune replied. "But still, doesn't it feel wrong? I mean…Ruby and Yang's own uncle and Weiss' own sister are involved! Don't you think that our closest friends deserve to know."
"Know what?!"
"GAH!" The four members of Team JNPR jumped as Erick and Weiss turned the overheard them.
"Oh uh…we wanted to let you know that…um…"
"Your father called and said they better not put juvenile food on the platters. All Atlesian fancy gourmet shit." Nora jumped in. "Didn't want any of the luxury good stuff from small Faunus owned restaurants."
Erick and Weiss just blinked in confusion. Before Weiss sighed. "Well, with any luck, Ozpin won't allow that to happen. Father may have control over Beacon's dust supply, but Ozpin can work his magic. Also, I quite liked the delicacy made by the Faunus. Especially since Erick introduced me to the Mach Pizza down the street."
"Not my fault the owner in this universe happened to be a Faunus, that part was purely coincidental meant for stupid world building references." The five of them looked at Erick, who simply just shrugged his shoulders. "Just forget I said anything. Come on Weiss."
The two of them left Team JNPR as they approached Erick's own team. To which Moon, Sarah, and Sapphire all turned to both of them.
"I'd imagine you got Weiss to agree with you?" Moon asked bluntly. "I'm honestly impressed."
"Erick explained it well enough," Weiss replied, crossing her arms. "I can't imagine not needing to help you."
"Yeah, but still, you've essentially thrown your life away for us, 4 people you barely even know. Erick did explain that you don't get to back out once you agree."
"Trust me, he made that very clear." Weiss narrowed her icey blue eyes at Moon. "For his best friend, and leader you sure have no confidence in your own team's abilities."
Moon shrugged his shoulders before shaking his head. "As much as you may find it hard to believe. People are less accepting of evil alien children created as weapons by some of the most psychotic villains in the Multiverse. I dreaded thinking of the day we ever needed to start looking to get Erick a keeper you know."
"You were at least honest about what I walked into." Weiss replied. "The one thing I just don't get, is why would your own villains you're chasing come to Remnant. Apart from, like you said, our world being hidden, there isn't much they can do here."
She failed to notice Erick's own hitched breath, something that each of his own teammates noticed.
"She works her magic brains pretty quick." Dark Moon hissed.
"Truth be told, WE aren't sure either." Sarah replied. "We know that Pokey and our father Giygas's faction has allies spread all around the Multiverse, we were able to disband their largest faction of traitors in the Smash Council simply by offering them diplomacy of highest power. That left Pokey and Rhea to stay by his side, and unless your own world has someone here that even the Smash Brothers didn't know about, they could only be here for hiding purposes."
Weiss just kind of chuckled at the thought, "Like my father maybe?"
"Giygas and Pokey have used politicians and billionaires in the past." Erick jumped in, Moon found it thankful that he could quickly pick up on their own truth making schemes. "It would not surprise me since the cult of Masayoshi Shido was one of his little crony pawns."
"Anyway, what were you talking to Team JNPR about?" Sapphire asked. "They seemed quite spooked when the two of you turned the corner and heard whatever it was."
"They said something about how Weiss' father is trying to blackmail Ozpin into only using high class Atlesian food." Erick simply shrugged his shoulders. "Random of all things for him to do now, considering the dance is supposed to be tomorrow. So the catering for any food business made by Team RWBY and JNPR has already been approved and decided upon."
"So uh, speaking of the Vytal Dance? Are you going to be going? I know Erick has to go for us to sneak off and do that…thing."
"We have no choice. We have to make sure no one goes looking for you. Also, speaking of which, we still need to tell the Smash Bros about you two."
Weiss seemed puzzled. "Why...why do they need to know about us? I thought your business with us private?"
"While I may be the ruler of the Smashverse. The uh...Master Hand if you would." Moon crossed his arms. "The Smash Bros are still my political council at the end of the day. I'd rather be honest with my subordinates than keep up a lie. They technically have no power, but my history with a select few is quite problematic. With that in mind, I'd rather be open and honest with those neutral towards my ruling gives me the scene of an honest person."
"WEISS!" Ruby's rose petal cloak spun into them as she grabbed onto her arm. "Come on Weiss! Yang, Blake, and I have been looking all over for you! Didn't you forget what today was?!"
Team MESS looked as Weiss' face flushed "Shoot! I did forget. Sorry guys, Ozpin needed us to make last minute dance preparations."
"No problem, we can always reschedule." Erick replied. Team MESS just waved them off as Ruby sped off with Weiss
"She does move fast." Moon whispered. "I still question what Ozpin was thinking of letting her in."
Erick tapped his shoulder and pointed to Cinder, Emerald, and Mercury, those 3 had also started talking to JNPR for some seemingly unjustifiable reason. Which Team MESS just watched.
"What strange individuals don't you think?" Sapphire asked. "They don't have a fourth member, but everyone seems to know them from Vacuo."
"Team CFVY said that their fourth member got caught in a crossfire when their team got into a feud when they accidentally encountered a big White Fang terrorist." Moon grunted.
"Seems out of place, Blake said that the White Fang is supposed to only kill if attacked themselves by authorities. She even mentioned how their leader only kills when necessary. Those reforms were made after the White Fang got into a feud with the former leader, remember that serial killer Scorpion one we read about? Yeah, he was the reason the new guy changed policy. They still kill, but only when provoked, otherwise they spend their time making the Schnee Dust Company hell."
"Well their age is quite hard to judge at a glance," Erick questioned. "Shit here they come."
Team Mess just paused as the three Vacuo transfers approached the four of them, after noticing them watching in the courtyard.
As Moon locked his eyes with Cinder, he waited for his own team to do the talking, there was something he wanted to test, and he was hoping now would be a good time.
"You're uh…" Emerald seemed to question her and Mercury, along with Moon's team, quickly picked up on Moon and Cinder's silent glares with one another.
"I assume you were talking about our fourth team member?" Cinder asked, after a moment, snapping Moon out of his glare. "Yeah, everyone from our school's heard the story. We still have a bit of a grievance you know. Losing someone very close to you is never a good sign."
"Yet you still want to become hunters?" Erick questioned.
"We understand what happened to our old friend." Mercury scoffed. "The new leader of the White Fang, Adam Taurus, was quite vocal about the unfortunate accident that cost us our team member. We don't trust that guy for a second, but the Fanus and Wider Population sure do ever since he took over. He's been brilliant for the White Fang's social status. Knew just how to get the average people of Remnant's mind on Faunus rights. By going for that Monopoly in Atlas. Not the hunters who protect humans and faunus alike."
"Cares a lot about his people too." Emerald continued, placing her hands behind her head. "I heard he rose to such high status in the White Fang because he was a former employee of those terrible Schnee Dust mines. Apparently a female Faunus accidentally caused a major mining accident, and Adam selflessly took the blame himself. You can feel his presence as he always wears a mask. Supposedly whatever was done to him left his face unrecognizable."
"You seem…awfully mixed about your own opinion on Adam." Moon replied.
"We have a right to be," Cinder replied. "He was very vocal and apologetic to us about the actions the White Fang did that cost us our own Team Member, it was not a good look that our fourth Team Member just so happened to be a Faunus himself. Although, we happen to think that his media press performance was all a stunt. It's no secret he loathes the Schnees, and maybe more humans. But since Jacques is such a public asshole in the media, his strategy has worked wonders since it helped smaller dust shop owners by targeting exclusively Schnee brand dust."
"You seem to know quite a lot despite none of you being a Faunus." Erick replied in a questioning manner.
"Our old team member happened to be a former member of the White Fang. Adam's policies were harsh to outsiders, but he's quite sympathetic to defectors and understands their doubts. He may be scary to them and call them cowards, but ever since his takeover, former white fang member assassinations have gone down significantly, I can only assume this is because he has nothing to compare to Tyrian."
"And Tyrain is…"
"Ah, the former leader of the White Fang. He was the serial killer captured in Atlas. Unfortunately, his transport plane was shot down somewhere over Mistrial. Many believe that the rogue genocidal Wide Fang members that Adam immediately and publicly booted upon his takeover tried to break him free. Unfortunately, nobody ever found any bodies, not even the pilots. Couldn't even find the transport plane matter of fact."
The school bell chime eventually dinged as Team MESS looked up at the clock. By now, the sun was somewhat starting to set, and dinner would be soon.
"Well, it was…interesting…talking to you." Moon grunted.
"Likewise." Cinder gave him a mischievous smirk. "I'm glad to see you're feeling a bit better since our last talk. It's unwise for strong hunters like you to be getting random hallucinations."
Cinder opened the door to the roof of a building, where she found a red-haired faunus man. He had black spiked bullhorns, and a mask that resembled the look of Grimm. He wore a black blazer with red accents and the white fang logo printed across its back. He had a holster for a bloody red ruby sword that he carried next to him at all times.
"Looking quite edgy tonight aren't you?" Cinder asked boredly. "Honestly, if someone who wasn't me happened to come up here, you'd have the police called on you faster than your ex-girlfriend left you."
The Faunus turned around, and he had a frustrated look within his mouth. "She was never my girlfriend, and the more people like you keep it up, the more angry I'm going to get. I simply trained her and she was my second in command, which proved to be a mistake. I understand why she left and I don't blame her for it. We've known she's at a beacond for a while. If I wanted her out of the way, or kidnapped back into the White Fang, I would've done it by now. But I intend to keep our standards high. Even if no human ever believes us, I intend to at least let the Faunus know we're doing the right thing. And I won't let that image be soured."
"Trust me Adam." Cinder flicked her fingers around as a small flame emerged from the tips. "I understand your silly little motivations, and you, alongside all the White Fang and Faunus, will appreciate what Her Majesty can do for you. Like I said, we know what you want, and we can give you what you want. Violence and Peace haven't worked, so we've offered you the true answer. Help us, and you'll be rewarded."
"I would love to." Adam grunted. "Unfortunately, you and your dumbass friends keep tossing my own men away for nonsense that goes nowhere. I agreed to help you, but my leadership gets brought into question by my own council and people every single day your empty promises aren't delivered. If you hadn't shown us the proof, we wouldn't be helping to begin with."
"All will not be in vain Adam." Cinder replied, "We promised you everything, and we'll be ready to deliver you, and the Faunus everything you've every thing you've wanted. You'll be remembered by the White Fang as the hero they've needed. Ghira was too weak, and Tyrian was too violent. But you…you'll be the middleman."
Adam just crossed his arms as he turned his head towards the lit up Beacon Academy for the evening. "How much longer?" he asked. "I got you the information you needed. That Amber woman is Beacon. We are going to help you deal with your pettiness to get to Amber, and you still haven't given me the information I want from the SDC."
"Your wait is almost over." Cinder replied calmly. "Give us a few more days, and we'll be going high. The dance is tomorrow after all, and then we'll be able to go make your dreams, and our dreams, finally come true."
Adam just stood there in silence. Before leaning to the roof edge. "I sure hope so," he grunted. "Because you're on thin ice everywhere you go."
"I'm going to ask you this one last time!" Pokey snarled. "WHY THE FUCK HAVEN'T WE STARTED!"
"Stop your whining, Pokey." Salem hissed. "I'd send you to the Apathy pit again, but you aren't worth the trouble. You'll get to go outside again, but only when we've stopped Ozpin in his tracks right now. Cinder needs to get her hands on Autumn Powers."
"And what we're dealing with now," Rhea snarled. "There's a sweet little ball dance, and you want Cinder to go that far, you need to hope that Moon doesn't catch on."
"He won't, I've instructed Cinder perfectly, if our little creation catches on. Then I'll have to punish her severely. Because she knows how to deal with them. We went and hunted down that Emerald girl just for her in this case. Cinder knows, and Emerald knows. They won't mess up. So as long as she can give them the slip without him noticing we're good."
"So…you put your whole faith in him getting distracted at the dance?" Rhea chuckled mischievously. "Good luck, I'll tell you that he won't dance with Sarah, even if she asked."
Salem chuckled herself. "Trust me, I know that. Cinder has an escape plan ready, I thought this out more than you both ever would have, so you've got that going for me."
"You think you're so smart. And if we weren't so desperate to get everything ready again, we wouldn't come back to you for hiding away from others."
"I hid for a reason; the Smash Bros would've had me wiped unlike you two." Salem snarled. "You guys are seen as pathetic weaklings, I have the world at a stranglehold."
Rhea and Pokey just glared at one another as Salem floated around both of them. "You could always just run back to your homeworlds and get your butts kicked once again you know. This time, I'm sure that Byleth and Ness will actually double tap you. Even if you are an immortal Pokey, death can only be handled so many times before it becomes tortuous. I should know."
"WE KNOW YOU KNOW!" Pokey snarled. "Stop being so sassy about it!"
"Stop being so spoiled and entitled then. You both have failed Giygas once before. Now it's my turn, and I'm going to show you, just why he preferred me over either of you." Salem replied calmly. "That will be all I need from you today. Go away now."
"YOU NEED TO WHAT?!" Moon simply rolled his eyes as the loud shout from Palutena echoed through the dorm room. Thankful that he had Sapphire use the silence spell around the room once again.
"We spelt it out to you; we need to have Erick HeartBound with Weiss." Sarah replied. "We've tried everything to keep Erick's darkside under the wraps, and there's simply nothing we can do anymore, if he doesn't have a keeper. We risk him running rampant on everyone here in Remnant."
Palutena crossed her arms as the rest of the Smash Brothers gave the five of them disapproving looks. Even Ness and Paula looked disapprovingly at the thought.
"If you need to speak to Weiss yourself, we brought her here for this exact reason." Erick replied.
"Let us," Palutena growled.
Weiss just stepped up to the holographic screen. Each of Team MESS sat behind the screen she was looking at. It was weird, unlike Ruby and Yang, the most experience she had playing video games was that one night she was forced to play Free For Alls with her team for 'bonding'. All of the characters were near identical to how they appeared on that game system, except for the removal of the young spikey haired boy with a key sword thingy.
That being said, seeing different people of ages, and monstrous looking creatures giving her repeated death stares did indeed feel unnerving. Making her question how Team MESS could even be so nonchalant when they spoke to most of them. Just about everyone here looked like they wouldn't hesitate to kill her on the spot if she did something mildly provocative.
The boy that looked the most like Moon, Ness, cleared his throat before speaking. "I think it would be best to ask you, Mrs. Schnee, first and foremost, are you being coerced into doing this."
"Um..."
"To put it into more...detailed words." Paula continued. "We all know Team MESS, much better than anyone you know ever will. We know their nature, so we know its heavily unlikely that they've left out any sort of detail on what accepting a HeartBound means for your future. They know we'd never let them get away with it if they do. So, we hope you can understand that we all are a bit...suspicious of the fact that you are willing to accept such a... big thing."
"Well I..."
"In addition," Palutena continued, her tone was much sharper and hostile than Ness and Paula's were. "Your social status in Remnant throws more shade into our belief on this idea. Moon has kept file records on you, and your friends and colleagues to us because we deem it necessary for safety. The history your family status provides, combined with our understanding of Remnant's defensive systems makes it seem like there is little reason for you to even want to join these..." Weiss noted the disapproving gaze that Ness, Paula, and the blond boy Lucas all shot Palutena's way. Almost as they were telling the goddess to think carefully about what she was about to call the four in front of her."
Weiss shifted uncomfortably. This was all news to her, the record keeping part at least, she supposed it did make sense though. Safety needed to be kept if they had people like that Zombie Pokey running around. "Yes...that's completely true at face-"
"Many of us question Team MESS, and while some of us have been more supportive of their...leadership missions than others," She glanced over at the Princess Zelda. "There are some things that we have a hard time trusting them on than others. Based on what you should already know about the HeartBound, you'll be stuck with Erick for the rest of your life. When the day comes for the four of them to leave Remnant, you will have no choice but to come with them. They cannot stay in Remnant; their dark sides pose to great of a risk to the people there. We do not know how long that may be, as Pokey Minch has rather irritably evaded capture for far too long, and if he somehow manages to screw up whatever nefarious plan her has in store for Remnant, and he escapes AGAIN. You'll likely be doing much more traveling to different universes. Ones where your own biology may have disastrous consequences on yourself."
Now she was starting to understand why Moon had such a short temper when it came to thinking about them. If this was how they treated her, she didn't want to think about what a normal conversation would be like to them. "I understand the long term affects that my relationship with Erick would have." She replied firmly. "However, your understanding of Remnant's hunter system seems to be screwed. My teammates and I are only placed together simply because of how they educate us. Once we graduate, our team would be disbanded and we'd all be solo huntress, just colleagues who might be called in to work together from time to time."
"Okay then." Ness replied. "But these are still your friends, you also have a family, and a duty as an heiress. From what Moon has written, you are the only other Schnee child. Your duty as a Huntress is simply to get the education needed for work experience from when you inevitably take over your family's dust business. Your older Sister Winter has been written to be disowned, and from what we understand, you have no other siblings. What would your parents think? Unlike some of our parents, we can't say your family strikes us as a uh...supportive adventurer."
Weiss felt her eye twitch at the thought. "My father wouldn't care." She grumbled. "I know he's been trying to look for a different person to take over the company for a long time. He's got plenty of people below him who'll gladly suck up to get that position. Even if there truly is some magical Schnee Charm that says only a Schnee can run the business, when his time comes, it'll just go back to Winter regardless."
"What about your mother?" Paula asked.
"Um..." Weiss tapped her white heels together, her face seemed to flush a bit. "My mother is uh...she's not in my life anymore." She glanced back up, none of the Smash Brothers apart from Lucas seemed mildly phased by the fact save for Ness and Paula who looked mildly confused. But Team MESS certainly was taken aback.
"If you uh...don't mind us asking you to elaborate on that." Ness said, Weiss noted he seemed to pull out a book and flip through it. "There is no mention of your mother...Willow Schnee, being deceased. Not going to lie, judging by Moon's past actions, it seems unlikely that this ever went unnoticed by him."
"Because it was a big scandal." Weiss replied. "My mother passed away when I was younger, Erick saw her in a memory I had a while back. But that's one of the last times I ever saw her. She was severely depressed and alcoholic, my father is an abusive man, to me, my sister, and her as well. I've never been able to prove it, but I know he married my mother for the name, and I know, some way, somehow, he is responsible for her death, which was ruled a suicide by Atlas authorities. He only ever wanted the wealth and the company. He even admitted to only needing me for an heiress, but I'm sure he's got a backup in case something unfortunate happened to me. He is the True Schnee after all. Wouldn't surprise me if he already has some mistress on the side with a kid they can use. So uh...truth be told, being with Erick might as well be the best thing to happen to me."
When she looked up at the Super Smash Brothers again, she could now see that they looked at her with a bit more sympathy. Well, all except for the ones she assumed were the villains of the group.
"Pit my dear?" Palutena turned to the white angel.
"She's uh...telling the truth Lady Palutena."
Weiss noted that the green haired goddess looked disappointed that she was actually honest.
After a brief pause, Ness just cleared his throat his again before speaking. "Well...since we've gotten nothing conflicting or saying otherwise. I guess we can let this go then."
"However," Weiss watched the Smash Brothers groan as the one she recognized as the Phantom Thief Joker spoke up. "I'm mildly curious about your father myself."
"We are not sending you and the phantom thieves to change his heart." Palutena snapped. "What would your father say to that Akira?"
"He'd probably tell you to respectfully go fuck yourself before he ignored you." Akira shrugged.
The green haired goddess glared over at the teens smug grin, before turning back to Weiss and Team MESS. "Very well then," she grumbled. "Thank you for being honest with us and running this by us. You know we don't like to be surprised by your antics. If at all possible, do try to look into Weiss' father for her sake. Just to give her some closure if possible before you whisk her away from her life." The orb then shut off.
Weiss just blinked confusedly while Moon stood up and pocked the communicator orb. "And that, Weiss, is why we tell them ahead of time before we do something rash."
Happy New Year everyone. I hope you enjoyed this chapter.
I honestly went back and forth about what I wanted to do with the Schnee family for an unreasonably long time. I've never been a big fan of how the Schnee Dust Company, and Jacques's portrayal was done in this show. I know there's some bullshit thing out there that explains that Jacques convinced Nicholas Schnee or whatever to make him the heir to the company over Willow. But I honestly don't believe that shit for even a second. You expect me to believe that this absolute fucking asshole of a guy dated and married Willow, convinced her grandfather to make him the heir, and then turned out to be the biggest asshole on the planet. Not a goddamn chance in hell.
I'm also currently considering what I want to do with Whitley. I've left a vague notion in there that he could still be floating around, just not as a true sibling to Weiss in case I want to use him for something. He honestly felt very pointless, just there so Jacques could be a bigger fucking asshole to Weiss. Don't be surprised though if he never shows up. There's a reason why I haven't brought up a lot of other side characters that absolutely should've been included in this story by now. (Looking at you Team CFVY).
Anyway, that's about all I've got for today. Leave a comment if you're interested or have a question or something, I don't really know. I hope you enjoyed this chapter at least, next up, the Vytal Dance that I totally didn't postpone then forget about hahahaha.
See you all, next time.