Heart to Heart

Chapter 50: Sisterhood

Winter Schnee had her usual day of work today, she got up early, went for morning workout before breakfast, then she changed, ate and then her day really started. She had a lot of work on her plate as the General's right hand. She went over mission reports, she looked in on the students of Atlas to see if there were any issues going on. She also had to deal with anything the General needed to be done. All in all she was a busy woman and it had been very busy lately.

Thankfully Weiss and her friends were proving to be while rookies, at least competent in their jobs. So far, their missions were all completed. The guard duty for the supplies for the construction project while she knew didn't have much in the way of complications, the rest of their missions were going well. Their Grimm patrols were very well done, even the smaller jobs were getting positive feedback.

She found that she actually liked training with the team, while a little rough and not exactly Atlas trained, they did excel in coming up with unique plans and attack patterns on the fly. Adaptability was very important in the field and not something you could always teach. Her sister Weiss had grown a lot since she had last seen her at Beacon.

The young girl who sought her approval for, well anything, was now standing tall on her own. A part of Winter couldn't help but me proud of that. She was also able to get some one on one time with Weiss to train with her little sister. She had to admit, she had come a long way. The last time she saw her in Beacon the young girl hadn't the confidence she showed now and her skills had improved. She hadn't been able to summon at all and yet here Weiss was, summoning without effort during the sparring.

She still had a ways to go but her progress had picked up since Beacon.

Currently the spar between them had been going on for twenty minutes, there was a time when Weiss wouldn't last five minutes against Winter but the young woman was starting to push the older sister. Winter however was still sharper and she could see the openings Weiss had, all it took was patience and then she struck out knocking the sword out of Weiss' hand and was going to finish it with a point to her neck but Weiss wasn't going to just sit down and take it.

Weiss used a speed glyph under her and rushed away to her weapon. Winter had to admit, she liked that her sister didn't quit but she again left her back open. Winter used her own glyph under Weiss's foot to stop one of her steps. Weiss went down hard not expecting it as Winter walked up and pointed a sword down at her.

"Not bad but you still leave yourself open." Winter told her as she let the glyph go and put the sword away.

Weiss sighed as she got up, dusted herself off and went to pick up her sword. "Normally I have people watching my back."

"You won't always have someone there with you," Winter stated as she herself was used to lone mission work.

"Maybe, but I prefer to trust my team and my friends. We only made it this far together and we're stronger together than just individuals." Weiss put her sword away as a buzzing sound was heard. Weiss pulled out her scroll as her face looked at it curiously before her face seemed to take on a relaxed look with a smile that reached her eyes.

"Do you mind?" Weiss asked.

"Go ahead," Winter wondered who was it that could get that kind of reaction out of Weiss.

"Hello Flynt, did classes just end?" Weiss asked on the scroll.

Now Winter knew as she shifted a bit. She had learned about this relationship and while she had looked into the student in question, she had yet to have an isolated chat with the young man. From what she had seen he seemed to be at least a good student and had no problems in his file. Watching Weiss talk on the phone brought back a memory of when she had learned of another relationship.

Flashback

Winter was looking for Qrow, she had a few words for him and she found him in the breakroom that Huntsmen used. It was empty at the moment except for him since everyone else was out on missions except for him. Apparently General Ironwood wanted him to overlook some of the training of the students for a seasoned veteran's point of view today and his previous teaching experience.

Winter didn't see the point herself as she walked up to him.

"Qrow!"

Said man sighed as he took a sip of his drink at the small table near a window. "I don't know why you're pissed but I was busy all day so I can't see why you're angry at me."

"Are you aware that two of your charges are in an illicit relationship and are living together?" Winter demanded.

Qrow blinked before realizing what she was getting at. "Is that all? Yeah we all know, it's not like it's a secret and I wouldn't call it illicit, they are both adults now and I trust them to keep things from getting out of control."

"One of them is your own niece, Qrow." Winter couldn't believe this. She had just found out that Yang and Jaune were now officially using the same spare room just for themselves. This went against a few regulations about teams in Atlas and the fact that one of his own family was involved he was just hand waving it off.

"They got together before we showed up here," Qrow took another sip. "Look, I already had the talk with them and with Jaune. The thing is, Jaune is a good kid, reminds me a lot of Tai actually. Both of them were in a really dark place, you didn't see them before, now though? Now they were able to help pull each other out of that and it's been good for the both of them."

"Life it too short, you never know when someone you know will die in our line of work. If this is what they want and they don't let it mess up their teams it's fine by me. They earned my trust in this." He took another sip.

"So what, you're just going to sit here and drink and it's none of problem?" Winter crossed her arms.

"Yes, because it's not my problem or yours at the moment," Qrow pointed his glass to her. "And if you think this is an issue with me drinking…it's just water."

"Please."

He handed her the glass as she paused and took it and sniffed it. She didn't smell anything so she took a sip and it was just water. She had never seen him drink anything unless it was alcoholic in nature, ever. She handed it back not sure what to think of this as she looked at him more closely. She didn't see the usual signs of someone being inebriated and she had plenty of experience knowing Qrow and her own mother's drinking habits.

Qrow took it back and sipped it. "Yeah I've gone cold turkey for future reference. Now is that all?"

Winter was left a bit more unsure about this, normally given he was drunk she could just push aside anything he said but he was sober now. "It's against Atlas-"

He interrupted her. "Yeah I figured but we aren't part of the Atlas military, not really. We're huntsmen and huntresses yes but we don't officially belong to Atlas. As you know all Huntsmen and Huntresses don't belong to any country or power. We're independent contractors, that's how the kingdoms signed the treaties to allow any of us to get into any country to do what needs to be done."

"Well…yes that's true," Winter had to admit that the Specialists were a special branch of the Atlas Military that were trained as Huntsmen. Not everyone in the Atlas Academy did join the military, most did out of a duty to the kingdom but the drop outs usually went into the regular military and those that graduated were either Huntsmen or joined the Specialists.

"So we don't fall under Atlas regulations," Qrow finished. "Look if it becomes a problem, I'll deal with it but at the moment. Let them be for now."

Winter looked away as she had to control herself, she didn't like it but Qrow made a point about them not being part of the Atlas miliary and so they didn't fall under all the usual regulations she herself did.

"What's wrong, jealous?" Qrow smirked at the dig.

"W-what is that suppose to mean?" Winter looked sharply at him.

"What was the last time you ever had a date?" Qrow asked seeing her expression. "Long time by the looks of it, no wonder you're wound up so tight all the time."

"My love life has nothing to do with any of this," She shouted but she could feel her face heating up. She had a career damn it, she did have time to fool around with things such as that. With that she stormed off not wanting to get into something with Qrow.

Present

Her mind back to the present she had to pull away from that memory but it was hard looking at her sister. She did look happy as she talked with the boy, making plans to see some kind of musical club or something from the half of the conversation she was hearing.

What's wrong, jealous? Qrow's words came back as Winter shook that down. Just because her little sister seemed to be in a relationship, a happy one at that, and that she herself had been single for…well awhile. That didn't mean she didn't feel any kind of jealously over her sister.

None what's so ever.

Not even a little.

The call ended as Winter coughed into her fist to get Weiss' attention. "So things are going…well with the boy you are seeing?"

"Yes, things are very well." Weiss couldn't help but have a small smile on her face. "He's introduced me to this music called Jazz that I am finding very interesting."

"And he's being a total gentleman?" Winter said in a guarded tone.

Weiss rolled her eyes, "Yes he's been the highest example of being a gentleman. You have nothing to worry about him as if there was, I wouldn't be dating him."

Weiss thinking back had to admit that this was by far being a much better experience than with Neptune. It wasn't anything against him, maybe if she had been clearer on what she wanted from him things might have been different. He was just too much of a playboy and wouldn't stop flirting with other girls. It drove Weiss crazy and perhaps after some growth as a person he would take relationships a bit more seriously.

Well, she knew how a person can change, she knew how she had been when she first got to Beacon. She could easily say she wasn't the same person anymore, she had grown and changed and one day Neptune would too and when he did hopefully, he would meet someone he could be serious about.

Things with Flynt were much nicer, it helped they had a lot of shared history and interests and maybe it was her own growth and experience with Neptune that helped to shape her and this relationship. Looking at her older sister she could see that she wasn't totally convinced.

"If there is any problem I will handle it," Weiss told her. "I'm not the same young girl that left here. I've learned to stand on my own and if I can't, I have good friends that will have my back if I need it."

Winter wasn't sure what to say seeing her little sister in that moment, she knew that Weiss had grown but maybe she had misjudged just by how much. "You really trust your friends that much?"

"I trust them more than anyone else in the world," Weiss stated without so much as a blink.

"More than me?" Winter asked with a raised eyebrow but with a soft look. She was joking but the pause her sister did no longer made it a joke. "Weiss?"

"I trust you sister but…"

"But what?" Winter wasn't sure what could cause Weiss of all people to not trust me as much as people she had only knew for about two years of her life. She had known Weiss all her life and if she was being honest, it hurt a bit that her own flesh and blood didn't trust her as much as she trusted Weiss.

"Do you know what I saw then I first got into the city?" Weiss asked her. "I saw fear, I saw people looking at the city of Atlas with anger and mistrust."

"Mantel has always been that way since they lost the war." Winter dismissed it.

"Not like this sister," Weiss kept going on. "I saw the people being caged in their own city, in the grip of an iron fist…and I saw you being a part of it."

Weiss still remembering seeing those videos of her sister and it really made her see her older sister differently. She had hoped her sister wouldn't be a part of something like she saw but in the end, she figured that Winter was too loyal to Ironwood.

"I was doing my duty." Winter told her.

"That doesn't mean you were doing the right thing sister," Weiss sighed. "I know you think it is but there had to be other options, better ones that didn't further the anger between the two cities. If this keeps up, I'm worried there might be a rift between the two cities that might not heal."

"This is all temporary," Winter told her. "As soon as the crisis is over, we can let things go back to how they were."

Weiss had to hold her tongue since she knew this crisis with Salem will never end but Winter and Ironwood didn't know that. Thinking about it, if they did, would they never let up the military actions in the city below? Would the kingdom of Atlas forever be cut off from the rest of the world if they knew? Or would things only get worst over time as the people started to fight back?

"I don't think it will be that easy," Weiss eventually said with a sigh. "The trust of the people will take a long time to get back sister. The more this goes on the more resentment will go on."

"If they knew the dangers they would understand."

"That's just it they don't know," Weiss shook her head. "Even then they might not be able to fully comprehend it. All the people see is the Atlas military putting an iron grip on them without any explanation other than for 'security' reasons. To the average person this looks more like a military dictatorship."

Winter didn't like how Weiss was talking about their new security measures, she had hoped that her sister of all people who knew the truth could at least see that this was all needed. Maybe she needed to see the full picture to get an idea of just how far the General was thinking to keep ahead of Salem. There was one thing that they hadn't told Weiss and her friends after all.

No one had told them about the Winter Maiden or the plans in place for her, she was an old woman that was nearing the end of her life. The problem was that the woman's mind was going, it was hard for her to even remember what day it was. It was a sad thing to watch someone slowly deteriorate like that, Winter didn't even know if the woman had any family left and being alone like that at the end, well even she wouldn't want anyone to be lonely at the end like that.

"Weiss I think it's time I showed you something," Winter told her. "I want to show you something that I trust you with so hopefully it will earn me some trust in the end."

"What is it?" Weiss had no idea what it could be, after all what else could be here since they knew of the large secret project to turn Amity Stadium into a giant communication building in orbit of all places.

"It's something only a handful know about, even less so than Amity," Winter seriously told her. "I can get you in but you have to know that this is an important trump card that the General is hoping to use when the time it right."

Weiss could see just how seriously she was, more so than normal. "Okay then."

"Good, follow me." Winter turned to leave as Weiss followed her.

TEAM RWBY DORM ROOM

Ruby Rose was pacing back and forth in the room. She was alone at the moment after freshening up after another day of mission work in Atlas. Although at this moment she wasn't the leader of Team RWBY, she wasn't a newly licensed Huntress, she was a young woman with a problem that all young people have at one point.

"So Oscar…how are you doing?" She practiced on what to say to the young man. As she had been doing for the past twenty minutes. "No that's not any good."

"Hey buddy," She slapped her face hard on that one. "That's the worse one yet!"

"Come on Ruby you can do this," she walked over a mirror in the room looking at herself. "You've killed a boat load of Grimm, more even. You've gone up against Salem's forces, you even used your eyes to turn a colossal Grimm to stone…twice! Okay so maybe the first is more frozen and the second was only partially but still. My point stands, so you can think of something to say to someone."

"Just…don't think about your social awkwardness and how you've always had issues with new people and how you keep over thinking things and then you just keep talking and talking hoping you'll get better. But you just keep digging yourself deeper and deeper making people think you're weird and you're doing it now, I mean I'm doing it now."

Ruby threw up her hands in frustration as she moaned turning away and went back to her pacing. "How about, hey want to hang out? I mean it's simple right?"

The door opened as Yang looked into the room, "Oh there you are, hey Blake, me and Jaune are watching a film since Weiss is doing some sister time of her own, you want in?"

"I don't know," Ruby signed sitting down.

"Uh oh…my Big Sis sense is tingling. What's up?" Yang walked in and closed the door behind her.

"Yang how do you talk to people?" Ruby asked.

"Well I just open my mouth and words come out."

"Yang!"

"Sorry-sorry, I couldn't help it," Yang teased her as she sat down across from her. "So what's this about?"

"I've been thinking about all the stuff you guys brought up earlier with me and…you know…Oscar." She fidgeted in her chair.

Yang's eyes widened with a grin to match. "Ohhhhh, so my little baby sis is finally taking the plunge."

"Come on Yang, I'm serious here." Ruby complained. "This is all your fault anyway, Oscar and me were just fine and then you all started to put thoughts in my head and now I can't get out the thoughts. They've taken over my mind and I get evict them and now it's like they throw a party and making a mess of my thoughts and stuff."

Yang blinked. "Wow…that's descriptive."

"Well you got this started now help me with it," Ruby accused her.

"Okay so, you want to ask him out on a date right?" Yang asked just to be clear.

Ruby shifted a bit. "Yes…no…maybe? I mean I don't want to be too forward, what if he doesn't want it to be a date?"

Yang rolled her eyes. It was getting obvious that the boy had a crush on her sister. The way how Ruby walked into a room and the boy's eyes went to her. Not in a creepy way of course, it was more like, well like how Jaune looked at her just not as intense at times. Plus the two of them were usually together reading comics, playing games or training together.

Hell, if this was a more normal setting or life, the two could have been said to be dating already. Yang mentally sighed, she really should have helped Ruby with her self esteem more growing up instead of protecting her all the time.

"Okay well then start small," Yang knew that Ruby might need to play with some kid gloves for a bit until she was ready. "Just start to ask if he wants to hang out and do something just the two of you."

"Well we kind of do that sometimes," Ruby shrugged.

"Yeah but try something new, something you two could bond over?" Yang was trying to think of something they could do together. She didn't really know much of Oscar's type of thing to do and her sister was mainly into comics, games and of course weapons. Mainly the weapons, she could take her weapon apart blindfolded. Yang had caught her once doing that in their room back home.

Ruby thought about it, "I'm not sure."

"Damn was hoping you would have an idea," Yang scratched her head thinking about it. "Well come on maybe we can think of something while watching the movie. I mean at the very least it can take you mind off things."

Ruby sighed, she did feel a bit mentally tired at the moment. Maybe some mindless TV time would help. "Yeah, okay."

The sister left together as they found everyone in the common room. Minus Nora and Ren, looking around either of the sisters saw them.

"Hey where are Nora and Ren?" Yang asked.

"Ren said something about taking Nora out for something special," Blake shrugged not sure what he had meant but he had been in the kitchen area earlier.

"Ah, special date time I bet," Yang grinned. "Good for them, I can't remember the last time those two got come alone time."

"We have all been pretty busy," Jaune came into the room carrying a large bowl of popcorn. "If we weren't in the same room now, we most likely would only see each other at Breakfast, Dinner and training."

"Speaking of," Yang pointed to show as tired Oscar coming into the room. "Damn you look like you went through the ringer."

"Oscar, are you okay?" Ruby asked going up to him worried as he had a small band aid on his forehead.

"Y-yeah, Ironwood felt that maybe increasing my training might help," Oscar knew he would be feeling some aches and pains tomorrow, since he still had a few from the last time. The General was really starting to push him in order to 'get Ozpin out' not that it would work. The spirit inside of him was locked up tight in the depth of his mind and wasn't showing any signs of coming out.

"You think maybe he's going a little too hard?" Blake asked coming over to see the small injury. It didn't look too bad and most likely would be gone in a few days thanks for aura helping with the healing. Or faster even as she gave a look to Jaune who picked up on the look.

"I could give you a boost to help," Jaune offered.

"I…" He was about to say he was fine but honestly he could use it. "Yeah, actually that would be nice."

Jaune nodded as he walked over and place a hand on the boy's shoulder as Jaune's white aura covered the boy as Oscar felt a washing feeling of relief hit him.

"That feels better." The boy sighed as Jaune stopped.

"It's nice to have a semblance that's helpful," Jaune had wished he had figured out what he could do much earlier but at least now he knew what he could do.

"So what were you guys doing that caused all that?" Blake asked.

Oscar sighed. "I was trying to get close to the General but he kept shooting me away." Holding up the small silver handle that the cane weapon was held in. "I have to get in close to use this but it's the getting in close part that I have trouble with."

"Yeah I know how that feels," Jaune sighed.

"I'm surprised you never tried to get a side arm or put a gun on something," Yang offered to her boyfriend.

Jaune winced, "Tried that actually once in Beacon. Pyrrha lent me her weapon and I tried to hit some targets…it's didn't go well."

"Well, it's not like you shot yourself," Yang joked and then saw his face. "Wait…seriously!?"

"In the foot," Jaune sighed. "My aura took the hit but it scared me when it happened."

"A side arm huh?" Oscar looked at the weapon in his hand. "What like a pistol or something?"

Ruby's eyes lit up, "Oh yeah, we can get you a handgun or something. I'm sure there's plenty we can use in Atlas and I can even modify it for you if you want!"

"Uh oh…she's in weapon mode," Yang sighed rolling her eyes.

"Would they even let me have a weapon like that?" Oscar wasn't sure given his age and not official status as even a huntsman in training. His status was kind of unique and special after all. The weapon he was using was basically a cane, nothing more than a fancy stick at the moment. Well unless it had some kind of special feature other than being able to collapse in on itself.

"I'm sure we can get you something with General Ironwood's approval," Ruby waved it off.

"I'm not even sure I know how to shoot well, this is the only thing I've been using," He hefted the silver handle of this weapon.

"This place does have a shooting range," Ruby mused thinking back. "I was there testing my weapon after we got some work done on it to make sure it was shooting straight."

Yang had an idea as she elbowed Ruby, her sister looked annoyed at her as Yang rolled her eyes and then nodded her head towards Oscar. It took her a moment before her eyes widened as she finally got the idea. She licked her lips nervously as she took a moment.

"I know, Oscar, why don't we go there and at least try some stuff out?" Ruby asked him trying to keep the nervousness out of her voice.

"Like right now?" The boy asked blinking at her.

"W-well unless you want to do it later?" Ruby shifted on her feet. "I just figured it would be a nice way to relax."

"Shooting is relaxing?" The boy asked doubtful of it.

"Oh it totally is," Ruby nodded. "I do it all the time. In fact, I can even show you some tricks I know how to fire and if we find something maybe that can he used to help you out."

Oscar thought back to how hard a time he was having with range combat he really could use something to offset that weakness. He hadn't found his semblance yet and even if he did, he had no idea if it would be of any use or not. Looking at Ruby she had this sparkle in her eyes, she was obviously looking forward to this and he had to admit, it would also be really nice to spend more time with her.

He started to feel a bit nervous at being alone with her again but he did his best to push that aside. Maybe she was right, he could use something to relax and while he wasn't sure shooting was it, it wasn't like it would hurt. They had plenty of spare time at the moment so maybe some time trying to see if he could get a new skill was worth it.

"Okay then," Oscar nodded his head as Ruby smiled broadly.

"Great!" She punched the air in excitement and then quickly grabbed his hand. "Let's go, I want to see what kind of weapons they got for you to test out."

"Wai-not so fast!" Oscar said being quickly dragged by Ruby.

"Well, that might just work," Yang smirked seeing the two of them run off, she had to admit they were a cute site together. She just hoped if things worked out their dad would go easy on the kid, he was a nice kid but man their dad could get protective.

"What will work?" Jaune asked confused.

"It's a sister thing," Yang waived it off as she hook his own hand and let him to the couch. "Come on guys, time to just relax and space out with mindless action and violence."

"Don't we get that in real life?" Blake said with a small smile taking a place on the opposite end of the couch.

"Yes but now, we get popcorn," Yang responded taking a few and popping them into her mouth.

TBC…