Once again
Jaune adjusted his tie for the tenth time, then made the choice to get rid of it all together.
"I told you he isn't a suit kinda guy." Nora chimed in from her bed,still injured. Bandages were wrapped all over her arm and stomach area, but the doctor told them she would be healed in a few days. So he allowed her to come back to their room.
"Thanks Nora, really helpful." Jaune fired back.
"She has a point, you fit a dress much better." Ren came for his girlfriend's defense, which made the rest of the team laugh.
"It was about time you and Weiss went out. Yang and Ruby are the only ones left." Oscar joined in.
"Come on guys, it's not a date, I'm just there to make sure she comes out ok, last time she was there, she ran away." Both Ren and Nora grimaced at the memory.
When they finally saw Weiss and Yang in Mistral, they talked a lot about what had happened since Beacon.
And to discover that Weiss was trapped in her own home and had to run away to meet with them left a bad taste in everyone's mouth.
"Fair point, but she asked you to meet her parents, which is a big deal."
"Yeah, it's also a big deal that Atlas is going down today for repairs in like, forever, you guys need to be careful." He said, wearing a serious expression on his face.
"We know, and we all are prepared. Oscar, Ironwood said he has a special task for you and Ruby, right?" Their eyes traveled to the youngest team member.
"Yeah, I think he actually wants Ozpin, I'm not sure why he wants Ruby though." Ren only hummed.
"Screw it, Nora, what do you think, honestly?" She looked up at her team leader, he wore a dark blue shirt to complement his eyes, with simple black trousers.
"It's simple, not too formal, although the red piece is kinda out of nowhere." She pointed at his waist, she knew what it was and smiled.
"It's perfect, Jaune, now go get her tiger." Nora nudged Ren, who sighed and started to push Jaune to his coming date.
"Wait, can I at least have a weapon?" he protested.
"He has a point, we don't know what's gonna happen, it's better to have a weapon on him at all times." Ren stopped.
"Well, his sword and shield will clash with his outfit, oh, I know." Nora went and dug into Jaune's belongings and brought out a blade Jaune never used.
"Here, this would go perfectly with Pyrrha's red color on your waist." Jaune caught the sword that Nora threw, it was Adam's sword.
Jaune stared at the blade for a long moment, then he strapped it in. "Thanks Nora, I really appreciate it."
"Pff, don't sweat it, now I can have a home date with Ren, Oscar, if you see a sock on the door, don't come in." She winked at Oscar, who turned bright red.
"Don't be late, and remember the rules." Jaune groaned but nodded.
"I told you, it's not like that." He grumbled and walked out with a wave.
He made his way to RWBY's dorm room, it was seven fifty in the morning, so he decided to wait at the side of the door.
He heard a faint sound from inside, he couldn't understand what was happening, but he heard Weiss's voice.
"Enough Yang." The door next to him slammed shut, the sound echoing in the empty hallway.
"Morning Weiss." He saw Weiss slightly jump at the sudden call. She looked up at him and her eyes widened.
"M Morning Jaune, you look.."
"Presentable I hope, Nora said I look great." He tried to add on.
"You look Great, more than great, I mean, you look just fine Jaune." She stuttered, and it was a strange sight to see Weiss schnee stutter. It went to show how anxious she is to meet her parents, Jaune thought.
"Thanks Weiss, you also look beautiful." Finally taking her all in, Jaune was impressed by how gorgeous Weiss looked.
She didn't have her usual Atlas outfit that she had in the previous timeline, instead, she had one similar to what she had at Beacon, a long white dress with a little black at the edge of her skirt, while the shoulders still had the dark blue color, which matched his own shirt.
"Thank you, Jaune. I really appreciate you coming along, I'm not quite sure what to expect from this visit." She smiled at him and started to walk, and he followed her, walking beside her.
"Your relationship with your mom isn't great I take it?" he asked.
"Not always. When I was young, my mother was caring, she always made sure Winter, Whitley and I got along, but after my tenth birthday, she changed. Or maybe it was before that." She sighed as they reached the bullhead Docks.
"Jaune, I know I asked you out of the blue and caught you off guard. I understand if you don't want to, I won't hold it against you." Weiss faced him, he knew she was serious from her tone of voice.
"Come on Weiss, even if you caught me unprepared, I can't refuse to come, I can't leave you alone, not after last time." He saw her blush slightly but nodded.
"Thank you, Jaune."
/-/
"This is dangerous, James."
"I know."
"And do you think it's worth the risk?"
"Penny has proven herself worthy of our trust, she sacrificed herself to save the maiden, the least I can do is repay her, besides, she's like a daughter to me."
"Very well, James, let's hope it won't lead to chaos."
"That's why I'm here Ozpin." Ruby Rose walked into the Vault room with her weapon at her back.
"I see you went to Miss Rose before me, James." Ozpin gave a stern look to his friend.
"Not at all. When I mentioned a way to save Penny, she demanded to know how, and then decided to guard us." Ironwood gave him a grin.
"Let's get over with this, an old lady like me can't move around so much." The winter maiden, Fria, walked in. Besides her was the moving bed that Penny lay in.
"I agree, I'm very excited to get a new body." She said it happily, although her look didn't give that at all.
Penny was missing her left leg and arm, her entire left and back sides were burned, the plastic that made her skin melted into the cybernetics that made her, her emerald green eye were now a red moving dot, while the other looked normal.
"Don't worry Penny, if anything happens, I'll be here." Ruby gave her friend an assuring smile.
Ozpin and Fria turned to the Vault door. Fria extended her hand to the door, it started to glow with a light blue color and opened slowly, showing a green garden, which could fool anyone into thinking it was autumn.
"Great, now we can just-" Ruby's silver eyes traveled to the stinger hovering above Ironwood's head.
"NO." Ruby used her maiden power and her semblance to launch herself. She tackled the General just in time to save him.
"Rose, what the-" he was cut off as Ruby swung her scythe at Tyrian, who was standing there. He raised his cane just in time to save himself, but he was launched away.
"Well, isn't our dear Red enjoying her stolen power." Ruby froze in place, she recognized that voice, but it can't be.
"Oh but it is, back in a grimm flesh." Cinder fall stood right behind where Penny lay.
"H- How, Jaune killed you, I have the maiden power." Ruby glanced at her allies, Ironwood was pointing the gun at Cinder, while Oscar, Ozpin were nowhere to be seen.
Fria, who was beside Penny's bed, now looked between everyone confused at the situation at hand, Ruby couldn't blame her, seeing how the dead Cinder fall was now standing with only her face as human, while the rest of her body was humanoid grimm.
"You mean my powers that you stole, the blonde will pay in time, but now I need to repay you, little Ruby." Cinder raised her sword above Penny's head.
Ruby screamed, running as fast as she can, using wind and lightning to attack Cinder with all she had, her eyes shining with silver fire.
Cinder just stood there, looking at Ruby with a smirk as she rapidly approached her. At the last second though, an ice wall formed in front of her.
It was too late, however, as the tip of her scythe had made it through, and into Cinder grimm body, yet, the grin didn't fade.
"Oh Ruby, always the naïve one, always easy to manipulate." The voice changed, turning from Cinder's to Emerald's. It took Ruby a fraction of a second to realize what actually happened.
Cinder's smirking face faded, turning into the agonized look of Fria as she held her stomach from the stab wound that Ruby inflicted.
"Too late red." Mercury suddenly appeared in front of her, kicking her in the face, sending her flying away.
She grunted in pain and stood back up. She took her surroundings with a grain of salt.
She saw Penny lying motionless on the ground. It was her first instinct to rush for her friend, but she quickly shook her head and continued assessing the situation.
She saw Ironwood fighting off Mercury Black, and Ozpin was fighting against Hazel. She looked back at Emerald, she had Fria at her knees and her hand extended.
Ruby took a deep breath. She couldn't trust her vision, she couldn't trust her instinct, so she needed to change that.
It was the first lesson Fria gave her, to build up the battlefield for her advantage, to make her enemies play by her rules.
Ruby gathered her maiden magic into her hands, then slammed them together, creating a shock wave powerful enough to knock everyone over.
She knew the illusions were over when she saw Penny and Fria fighting back against Emerald, so she dashed in to help.
"Not so fast." Hazel was the first up, he threw Oscar at her, preventing her from helping the other maiden, who was at her knees.
"Although I would have liked to take Cinder's maiden powers back, I think I can make it just fine with yours." Emerald said, a small strange grimm coming out of her hand facing Fria.
The grimm latched itself onto Fria's face, her scream echoed into the empty room. Ruby saw the energy leaving Fria and cursed.
"I'll take care of Hazel, go help Fria." Ozpin told her, standing up and facing Hazel.
Ruby used her semblance to reach Fria, who looked worse and worse for each second. She swung her scythe at Emerald, but another ice wall stopped her.
This time, however, it was Emerald herself that made the wall, one eye glowing.
Ruby quickly switched her scythe To gun mode and broke the ice, but it wasn't as fast as she liked.
"No." Ruby screamed, seeing the light starting to go out in Fria's eyes, until she saw Emerald's body get launched backwards with a blast.
"G- Get away from her." Penny managed, holding her only arm up as it turned back to normal.
"You little piece of junk." Emerald screamed, she wanted to attack, but Mercury grabbed her.
"We need to go, Tyrian isn't here." She cursed and gave Ruby one last look. A look that swore vengeance on her and her friends.
"This is General Ironwood, we have intruders at the base level, send all huntsmen available, and send medics immediately." Ironwood shouted into his scroll, and immediately the area went into emergency.
"Fria." Ruby kneeled down beside the injured woman, and injury that she caused.
"D- Don't blame yourself child, I knew the risks when I took the powers, I was prepared for this day." She said in a weak voice, they knew she didn't have enough time, but now the power goes to Salem.
"We need to act fast, or the maiden power goes to Salem." Ironwood stated, holding Penny.
"T- The Relic, we can make a new body for Penny and give it the maiden powers. In this state I don't think the powers will go to winter." Fria said, pointing to the open Vault door.
"I'll get the Relic, just hold on Fria." Ozpin said, running to the Vault. Ruby caught on to him easily and used her semblance to rush them to the Relic and out of the Vault.
"Thank you, Miss Rose. Now come forth, Ambrosius." Ruby watched as, for one second, Oscar's body stood right beside her, in front of Fria's body.
But the next thing she knew, she saw him looking at the way Emerald and the rest had run away from, she saw his hand shaking. He didn't face them, but his words were calm, calculated.
"Miss Rose, where is Jaune Arc." She was confused by the question, she was about to answer until another voice interrupted her thoughts.
"Ruby." She looked at where the voice came from, she saw her friend Penny, finally whole once again, and more, her left eye was glowing with green fire.
"Penny." She dragged her friend into a bone-crushing hug, which she returned with a smile.
"Miss Rose." Ozpin shouted, and she turned to see his face bubbling with anger.
"Where. Is. Jaune."
/-/
"Don't be nervous, it's fine, they are just my family." Weiss said, staring at the front door, which was huge. The door itself was twice as tall as Jaune was.
"Thanks Weiss, I really needed that." Jaune gave her a warm smile.
"Oh, yeah sure haha, I definitely was encouraging you." She laughed nervously before knocking on the door.
It took only a few seconds, they already talked with the guards outside, so they knew to expect them.
"Miss Weiss, you arrived." A faunus maid answered the door, bowing her head.
"Hello Mary, it's nice to see you again. Is mother available? Weiss greeted, walking inside her old home once again.
The first thing that drew Jaune's attention was the painting above the stairway.
The paint pictured a Knight with a silver armor, and the Schnee emblem was engraved on his breastplate. A hand rested on top of the sword's hilt, while the other carried the helmet.
The knight's eyes were sharp, he felt them piercing through him, yet, the warm smile he wore felt comforting.
Weiss noticed how he stared at the painting and explained.
"This is my Grandfather, Nicholas Schnee, he's the one who built the SDC and led it, that was until my father took over." She said the last part with distaste.
"Why is she here? I specifically ordered you not to let her in, you dirty animal." Just as she thought of him, Jacques Schnee stood at the top of the staircase, coming down to face them, his hand was in a casket.
Jaune stepped forward in front of Weiss when he saw her frozen for a second, Jacques looked even more angry.
"What? You're too much of a coward, you brought a bodyguard to help you. I have already filed a restringing order against you. You are not allowed to be here, so get out before I get the Atlas army to move you out." His good hand was raised to slap Weiss, and Jaune was about to catch it when a voice called from the top of the stairs.
"Lay one finger on her, Jacques, I dare you. Not only you will be removed from this house, but the company as well." They all turned to the woman who spoke.
Willow Schnee glared daggers at her husband, who glared back.
"Excuse me? Do you know who you're talking to? I built this company woman, it's nothing without me." He walked the stairs up to her, her eyes never left his.
"It was a company that helped people find jobs and start anew after the war, you made it into this soulless corporation machine that enslaved the faunus, and I'm done with this." He was about to grab her shirt to threaten her, but a glyph appeared in the air, holding his wrist.
"Go back to your office, this isn't your house, it's mine. As the company, count your days,I will take it back." He glared at her, and she glared coldly at him.
It was a stalemate, they were locked in that position until a member of the guards came and helped Jacques to his office. He spat out about how they'd regret this and how he'd get back at them, but Weiss had more important things to do.
"Thanks Jaune, but you didn't have to do that, I prepared a glyph to hold him in place if he tried anything." Weiss whispered to him, and he felt a faint blush on his face.
"Weiss." Their attention went to the older woman who was calling. Weiss stiffened as her mother gave her a hug.
"I'm glad you're okay. When Winter told me you arrived back in Atlas, I was relieved, I'm glad you ran away."
"Wait, what? You're glad I ran away ?" Weiss was confused.
"I knew you were suffering here, yet I did nothing. I'm glad you took things into your own hands and left. He was about to get fired, Klein, but I stopped it, I had to do something for you. I'm sorry for all those years, Weiss."
The genuine apology, mixed in with the hug and the scene right before this all, cramped up into Weiss's mind, which made her hug her mother tighter and tear up.
"I'm sorry for not being there for you all this time, Weiss, please forgive me." She didn't respond, she just held her mother.
"I hate to break this, but I suggest we go to another place to continue our conversation. You don't know who might be listening." They all turned to look at the newcomer.
A short boy, not taller than Ruby, walked in. He eyed the area where Jacques just got dragged, then turned back to them.
"I suggest the garden, it should suffice, being the farthest place from his office." The young man looked at Jaune with confusion.
"Thank you for your work today sir. You may take the rest of the day off, I'm sure my sister would be just fine with us." It took Jaune a moment to realize he was the one being called out.
"This is Jaune, he's one of my close friends. I asked him to come, he's not a bodyguard, Whitley." She gave the kid, Whitley, a glare.
"Oh, I apologize. I'm Whitley Schnee. It's a pleasure to meet you, if I may ask, how did you meet my sister?"
"No problem, I'm Jaune Arc, we both went to Beacon, and after the fall we met again and we have traveled together ever since." Jaune turned back to Weiss and her mother.
"I'm Willow Schnee, and I'm sorry you had to witness all of this, our family, isn't quite normal." She smiled apologetically.
"It's not a problem, I'm just here to make sure Weiss is okay." They both turned to the girl in question, who blushed. Whitley turned his head between the two with a confused look.
They made their way to the garden, it reminded him of the field of flowers he'd seen in the everafter. He smiled.
"Mother, did you ask me to come so you could apologize?" Weiss asked after they all sat down.
"Partly yes, but also to what happened to you in Argus." She saw the confused look Jaune and Weiss sent her and explained.
"I think you all deserve to know this now that you've all gotten older." She looked like she had aged another ten years, and she sighed.
"Before your tenth birthday Weiss, there was some problem with the company, lost shipment were being stolen and sold. Jacques decided to brand the shipment, so when it got sold back, they could catch the perpetrator."
"Unfortunately, some of our dust minds decided to use it to brand faunus." She heard Whitley's gasp, but not Weiss, and she knew why.
"I got news of that and brought it up with Jacques when I thought he actually cared. He told me if I was that concerned, I should go visit it myself to check, and I did just that."
"When I arrived, there was a fight among the workers and the guards, and I saw the one in charge branding a kid faunus, the same age or younger than Winter. I stepped in but was too late to save him." Willow pulled her sleeve up, showing a very familiar scar on her arm.
"I tried to help that kid, got him to a hospital, turns out his parents weren't around anymore, so I decided to adopt him, but when I talked with your father about it, he slapped me and told me how stupid I sounded."
"I then sent him to menagerie, I thought that he might live a peaceful life among people who wouldn't hate him for who he was, and then this." Willow showed a newspaper showing Adam Taurus getting arrested in Argus.
"Your father, our company created this, I can't sit around and watch more people's lives get ruined because of my inaction. I know I have failed you ever since your birthday, but now, I want to reconnect. I want all of us to connect again. You, your sister, and your brother." She looked at each of them, smiling.
None of them knew what to say, all of them were stunned by what they just learned.
"I'm with Mother on this, we can't just stand around and do nothing, it's our family name, not his." Winter walked in with a purpose, she saw the shock expression on them and chuckled.
"Didn't you have duties?" Weiss asked pointedly.
"Well, I am still doing my duties, it's confidential, so I can't tell you." Winter sat down next to Whitley, who gave her a small smile.
"We can't let him control us anymore, we need to stand up together." She smiled at her siblings, and then an idea come to her mind
"You two remember that song we wrote together." Winter asked out of the blue.
"You mean the final duet? I thought you threw it away?" Weiss looked at her brother, who blushed slightly.
"He didn't, he actually still practices it till this day, he became a real Pianist." Willow chuckled.
"Mother." Whitley protested.
"Well then, I'm a little out of practice myself, however, I say we give it a shot, Weiss?"
"Of course, I really wanted to play it ever since my birthday." The reminder brought the atmosphere down, but it quickly went up as they all went to get ready to play the song.
"Guess you two will be our audience, please enjoy the show." Winter told them, then followed her siblings.
They all entered a big white room, it looked like a small theater room, with chairs and one big stage.
It had a grand piano on the right side, and a microphone in the middle.
Whitley sat at the piano. He tested a few keys and nodded. Winter did the same, checking her Violin and tuning it.
Weiss stood in the middle with a bright smile that was so unlike her when he first met her. She glanced at her siblings, the smile never fading.
"Ready?" She asked, and both Whitley and Winter gave her a nod.
Let's play
To a song
That we make.
Wipe your tears
And your fears
I'll be here…
The song continued, a mix between the Piano and the Violin, with Weiss rich voice made it a novel experience for Jaune.
But his mind lingered at the previous conversation.
"This sword, it's his, right?" Willow Schnee asked, refusing to take her eyes of her children finally getting back together.
"It is." He answered.
"It may sound strange but, how is he?"
"He's thinking about what he has done. I talked to him sometimes, he was just sitting in a cell. I don't know much of what he has gone through, but I felt like I could understand him." Willow hummed her understanding.
"He told me this blade is important to him." Jaune notice the small shock on her face.
"Wilt and Blush, it is a replica of my father's weapon, I gave it to him to protect himself. How many souls did I doom by doing that I wonder." If he wasn't sitting so close to her, he wouldn't have noticed the look she wore.
It was exhausted, like she had enough of this world and wanted it all to end, but still held on.
"You have great children, this wouldn't have happened without you." He said to assure her.
"I'm sure they would have found a way without me." Jaune wasn't done, but when she started clapping he did too, noticing how they ended the song.
Jaune noticed the tears in the Schnee siblings eyes, but he didn't comment on them, instead he chose to praise them.
"That was awesome Weiss." Weiss gave him a toothy grin.
"Of course, I'm Weiss Schnee after all, if only the rest could see it."
"Oh I'm sure the rest of your friends will see it, I caught it all on video." Willow chuckled when she saw Weiss face turning red.
She was about to complain when a sudden explosion rocked the whole mansion.
Note: ok, so this didn't take long time to write, I just couldn't find the time to write it, also I removed my wisdom teeth this week, so I couldn't eat anything and could only taste blood.
Anyway Penny got a human body finally, yay, oh shit, Oz. Also, emerald semblance is super OP and they don't use it well, or we'll enough (Tyrian was never behind Ironwood)
The song here is final duet(feat sleeping frost) from Omori, because if the game gave me depression, I'm gonna also give it to you.
Next chapter we have a character finally showing up, be waiting for her.
Free Palestine.
And goodbye.