RWBY: Am I Your Teacher or Mother?

Chapter 9: Family Drama

Weiss was having a major migraine this morning in class today. The source wasn't professor Ports haughty rambling, as she was accustomed to it after months of listening. It was the whispers, the sneers from those around her she could hear plain as day.

"These jerks. How could they judge Ruby like that?" She thought to herself angrily.

A few days after her accosting of that rude grocery store employee, a video went viral about her friends behavior not just at the store, but their days together at various public places like the playground. It showed her treating Ruby as a toddler, letting her piggyback off her and feeding her ice cream from a spoon. Many reviews came mocking her "undignified" behavior and relationship that just stung to read.

The public didn't know about Ruby's mental regression since her…"incident" to say it mildly, and she didn't want them to know. It hurt enough thinking about it, and the terrible job the lawyer, who she asked had to beg her dad to hire for her friends defense, did. She felt so helpless now to help anyone, being a big sister to her hurt friend just felt wonderful, it made her heart feel warm just like Winter's hugs were whenever she was reeling from an outburst from her father. Even if she failed to help her and her friends recently, she knew she had to show Ruby that same care now, to protect her from the haters out there, and within this classroom who sought to join in the shallow finger pointing.

"Hey look, its the Schnee who babysits a retar-"

Weiss turned her head around, fixing the source of that hurtful whisper a death glare that sent the temperature in the room down a few degrees….quite literally as it turned out.

"AHEM! Miss Schnee?" Port called out, making the heiress wince as she caught her breath.

"Y-Yes sir!" She replied frantically.

"I understand your situation, but please try to control your semblance in call or rather anytime as a loss of concentration can mean the end for a huntsmen." Port lectured her.

It was then Weiss felt her own cold icy aura shimmer. She took out a small hand mirror from her school coat pocket meant for make-up and saw her eyes shining blue. She quickly took a big exhale, relaxing her muscles to release her stress and deactivate her aura, warming up the air around her again.

"Hehehe! The ice princess had a meltdown." Snickered a boy on the third row to her left. It took all her concentration not to lose control again and prove his taunts right, her finger nails nearly splintered as she pressed them against her desk with rage.

"And if you could please speak with me after class about an important matter aside from this?" He asked her calmly, though she could sense the hint of sadness in his tone unlike the others around her who continued their sneering at the implication of punishment. It was then a vein pressed to Port's head, hearing them all too well and his patience ended.

"If you all have time to gossip then you have time to listen to my grand stories. Now silence or the next one who speaks without my permission can spend the next 2 hours after class in a private lecture with me as well!" Port threatened.

For once today the air froze not from Weiss's semblance, but from the sheer terror such boredom the threat to their joy brought. Free time for teenagers was a godsend in this school, one they weren't willing to risk anytime. The sneers stopped and the class endured the remaining time of class in shocked silence, weary to avoid Ports ultimatum.

Weiss felt her heart sink as class ended, the remainder of team JNPR being forced to leave her behind at Ports insistence. She felt more alone then ever now, and it showed as her face grew more sullen to the professional huntsmen teachers watchful eye.

"Miss Schnee…"He sighed heavily startling her a bit.

"S-Sorry professor. I do respect your consul its just…..GAH! The things I heard them say about-" She meekly said before snapping a bit in frustration. She stammered as she tried to contain her desire to curse, her lips quivering as her anger grew.

"Yes I understand. Or at least, think I understand a bit. As I said before your situation is known to me and the other staff and it's a doozy of one to say the least." He said weerily.

"Pff! Oh you mean how some gross boys assaulted my partner? Or how my teammates and Nora killed her attackers and are rotting in jail? Or how Ruby is now mental and I have no idea how to save her!?" Weiss snapped, her eyes on the verge of tears.

Port to out a handkerchief slowly and handed it to her, offering a sad smile that did little to ease her. She grabbed the clothe and immediately blew her nose into it, hiccupping a bit as her breathing grew rampant.

"S-Sorr-HIC! It's just….so hard." Weiss apologized but Port shook his head.

"You have nothing to apologize to me for Miss Schnee. It pains me as well to see you suffer like this. We try to prepare you as much as possible in these walls for the danger you may experience out there, yet within here one of you suffered. I can't tell you how sorry we are for your loss and burden." He apologetically sighed.

"Ruby's….not a burden sir. It's this-" Weiss said almost offended.

"Helplessness. Well my dear. You don't have to do this alone, you or Glynda. Speaking of which, how has she been holding up as Miss Roses new mother?" Port inquired.

Weiss's eyes actually lit up a moment thinking hard about her next answer.

"Well….to be honest she surprised me. She was awkward at first but it seems to me she has a knack for this." Weiss said with a bit of a blush on her face. Port smiled seeing her relax a bit.

"Not surprising. Glynda could always do most things when she sets her mind to it. Truly inspirational don't you think?" He inquired.

"Yeah. It's really awkward too, getting the stares in public when people don't get why she has to baby Ruby, but it feels good seeing her be so sweet instead of just strict, it reminds me a lot of Win-!" Weiss said before clamming up in shock, putting a hand to her mouth.

Port could tell she was growing more attached to this topic personally than just about Glynda or Ruby.

"Should I perhaps…push a little more? Or is this too personal a matter for simply trying to give her confidence?" Port contemplated to himself internally. After a moment of consideration, he decided to go at a pace at Weiss's discretion, careful not to be too intrusive and strike offense.

"Nothing leaves this room if you wish to share something and relax a bit Weiss. I promise as your professor." He assured her.

Weiss stood silent for a few moments, contemplating his offer. He wasn't family, but Port did give her a good wake-up call on her entitled behavior during her first day at Beacon. While Ruby was a bit immature, Weiss was too hard on her mostly out of pride for not being leader. Port urging her back then to be a good teammate to make Ruby a good leader helped them become close friends. She believed then he deserved a little truth on her personal feelings.

"It's just that, whenever I take of care of Ruby now, I think back to the times my sister held me when I was scared. Scared of my parents fighting." Weiss whispered.

She could just imagine her child self shivering in the corner of a dark cold room as she desperately covered her ears, vainly attempting to block out the yells from her parents as they squabbled. It was then her sister cradled her in her warm arms, shushing her.

"You'll be okay Weiss. Your big sister will keep you safe, I promise." Winter assured her.

"But…mommy and daddy are-" Weiss whimpered, but was buried in her sisters bosom.

"But I'm here. You won't lose me sis I assure you. I'm too strong to let Grimm or dad bother you." Winter said confidently.

Weiss then gripped her fists as she finished her recollection.

"But my sister didn't keep her word. She got fed up with being the role model and joined the military to spite dad. She abandoned me to his expectations and coldness." Weiss spat bitterly. She felt utterly betrayed by the broken promise.

"I'm so sorry to hear that." Port said softly. His words did nothing to ease her frustrations and sadness as a tear slid down her cheek.

"I just don't want to leave Ruby like that. But I'm worried I might not have a choice." Weiss soon whimpered.

"W-What do you mean?" Port inquired cautiously, a bit unnerved by that remark, cold sweat dripping down his neck.

Weiss soon took out her scroll and played a video online. It showed her playing with Ruby in public, giving her piggyback rides and pushing her on the swingset at a local playground as Goodwitch patted her head. The title sent a burning rage into the old man's heart at the callous words.

Schnee Heiress plays mommy with Retard

"My dear….who posted such intolerant, vile, despicable-" He ranted angrily but she cut him off.

"Jerks! Jerks who don't understand what she's going through." Weiss spat. "It already has thousands of views from AtlasTube with hundreds of comments just like that stupid title. But what's worse isn't my reputation lost." Weiss said angrily to Ports surprise, knowing how much her pride meant to her.

"What's worse is, my dad's cut me off because of that." She groaned, still hearing his scathing words from this morning.

"Young lady, I don't give a damn if you want to help your leader. It was bad enough you didn't live up to your name by being named leader, but to lower yourself to babysit her, a mere commoner? I won't allow you to sully our name by associating with her. You will cease these interactions, understood!?" Jacquees had yelled over the scroll.

Weiss's face reddened with rage at the pompous display. How dare he make lite of Ruby's status and plight to demand such a callous thing from his own daughter.

"The Schnee name, is something you married into it. I was born to uphold its honor, and we got it by helping others, not by sitting behind a desk all day judging others before we got to know them like you arrogant…you sick…..YOU TWISTED FUCK!" She spat, unable to contain herself.

"And now he's cut me off. I only have enough in my personal savings for a semester here at best. Now I can't even take care of myself, let alone Ruby or her sister. That lawyer dad hired was pathetic, he didn't care to get the best just like he didn't care about me or how I felt. How can I get a lawyer to help my friends? How can I help Ruby when her mind is stuck in a cage of her past? How can I help anyone when I won't even be able to keep myself off the streets!?" Weiss broke down into tears as she slouched, crying into her knees.

Port knelt down and gently patted her back as he heard her outburst.

"There, there child. Not just me, not just yourself, not just even hunstmen, but many people in life lose and go through hardships. I saw many of my friends die in battle against Grimm and vile scum like your father. But as long as we live, we carry on the good they had the potential for, we can preserve and get stronger." He assured her.

She just sadly scoffed.

"B-But, how!? How when I can't even sta-" She cried.

"By asking for help. Ozpin, Goodwitch and I can do that. I'll talk to him and get you a scholarship to stay here, I am sure he'd understand the circumstance. And Goodwitch may be willing to let you stay at Miss Roses place after the school year passes." He offered.

"Y-You think that'd work?" Weiss stuttered in shock and amazement and he nodded.

"Old Ozzy isn't callous like Jacque, he'd do that in a heartbeat, same as dear Glynda!" He roared proudly without hesitation.

Weiss smiled and soon breathed a sigh of relief at the notion. She had felt so low, her stomach in knots at her helplessness. Now things started to really look up as he helped her up. She gave him a tight hug out of gratitude to his surprise before running out the door, or at least tried too before her legs wobbled.

"Gah! Ruby's right, these stilts suck." Weiss groaned as she kicked off her heels, and turned to her amazed Professor. "Thanks sir! I'll be back to talk with Ozpin later! I gotta help Yang and Ruby!" Weiss yelled out confidently.

After she left, Port smiled as he stroked his overly large beard proudly.

"I know you will Miss Schnee….I know you will." He whispered.

Meanwhile in Patch…

"Ready Ruby?" A young white woman with wavy, dirty blonde hair and blue eyes, wearing an orange sleeveless top with a beige sleeveless vest, light brown trousers with orange stitches on each side, and dark brown boots, and most of all a tender smile over her face asked Ruby sweetly as she sat on her home rug in anticipation.

"READY TERRA!" She cheered with glee in a childish tone.

Her cry of joy made Terra Arc shiver a bit, despite keeping her smile on her face for the girls sake. Her brother Jaune asked her to babysit for Weiss and Goodwitch because she had experience with toddlers, being a mother herself, but she never dealt with this kind of situation before. It felt wrong to indulge her delusions, but knew she had to help her brother and his friends by helping her now. And for now, that meant easing this girls trauma slightly by playing with her, letting her relax a bit despite the strangeness of this situation.

"Then lets begin, then we can bake some cookies and watch…..no read a story book sound good?" She asked wearily, remembering Goodwitch's warning before she went to work.

"I can't bring her with me to Beacon, the source of her trauma, and I don't want her to get any hints of it. Don't ever mention that place, or let her watch TV. You never know when the news will air and discuss her sisters trial of her attack." Goodwitch had sternly warned.

Ruby simply nodded with a massive grin of joy at the offer, the distress her babysitter was feeling right now going over her head as she saw her slowly sit down in front of her and ready herself.

"Patty Cake! Patty Cake!" They sang in unison as they soon patted each others hands playfully. Each playful touch exhilarated Ruby, and brought a mix feeling of joy and unease to Terra.

Unknown to the duo at the time, in a dark corner of Ruby's house, a pair of red faint glowing watched them from the shadows silently.

Vale Prison

Yang was busy doing some sit-ups, grunting as she was on her 150th. Her muscles were screaming for her to stop, but no more so than Nora right now as she grew agitated hearing Yang's grunts and groans as she tried to sleep.

"ENOUGH! YOUR GIVING ME WEIRD DREAMS!" Nora yelled, her face flushed.

"Gotta keep it up. We're gonna need it later." Yang retorted angrily, to her partners concern.

"Come on, we already beat down those girls in the showers. No one's gonna make a move on us anymore." Blake argued.

"That's not what I meant." Yang grumbled.

"What do you mean?" Nora inquired.

Yang stopped her wrep to look around carefully, cautious a guard wasn't nearby. She beckoned her friends to move closer to her just for assurance. Blake was hesitant, unsure if she could handle the stench of her partners sweat dripping of her let alone risk being touched.

"Oh get over here already!" Yang grumbled as she gripped Blake's wrist and forced her nearby with Nora.

A passing by guard caught sight of them, but saw Yang on top of the two and just assumed the usual.

"Geez. Do it in bed why don't you." She groaned before walking off.

The second Yang no longer heard her, she released her friend a bit, but not too far so she could still whisper to them.

"Sorry. So, what I meant was, we're busting outta here." Yang whispered to her friends shock.

"B-But what about our trial? Weiss said she'd get us-" Nora almost yelled but Blake cautioned her with a glare to whisper.

"Nora's right. We can't go on the lame and we still have a chance to get outta here and back to Ruby and Weiss." Blake argued, but Yang shook her head.

"Our last one was a total pushover. She even said her dad cheaped out on us. We're not gonna get outta this unless I get strong enough to bust through walls without aura. Blake and Nora, you girls know how to hotwire cars. We can get to the wilds to hide for a bit and sneak onto a ship later to patch to lay low." Yang argued softly, mindful of guards nearby.

Blake and Nora contemplated this for a while. It was true Weiss's lawyer sucked. At the rate they were going, even with a sympathetic judge and jury, they were looking at least 10-15 years as Watts argued for. They knew they killed those boys, rapists or not, the law wasn't usually forgiving. Blake's past scars on her sides from police whips were burning proof of that. It was their burns that made her honestly consider this course of action, that and she was sick of smelling Yang's BO and prison grimm. She yearned to smell the sweet sent of Ruby's rose shampoo and Weiss's Blueberry scented perfume, while Nora just yearned for some sweet pancakes from Ren instead of prison gruel.

Before they could give Yang their answer, the prison bars opened up, startling them.

"ALRIGHT YOU THREE!" Elm roared, making them stand at attention. "Fun times over, you got a visitor, lets go." She beckoned them firmly with a club. They wordlessly moved at her order to the phone rooms, Nora biting her lip as she was tempted to bite that woman's arm as she clubbed her back not so lightly when she wobbled from sleep fatigue. Yang had to push her to keep moving, needing her at her best for her plan.

Soon their eyes beamed with joy as they saw Weiss sitting happy on the other end of the glass wall, a new lawyer standing beside her.

"WEISS!" Nora screamed. But Weiss didn't hear what she said as the phone line wasn't set up. Weiss laughed as she was grateful for that, knowing she'd kneed a hearing aide if Nora did that. Once Yang wrestled her off the glass, Blake picked up the line to her relief, knowing the cat faunus was the quite type.

"WEISS!" Blake screamed with joy…..or Weiss so she thought.

"Ow! Okay yes I am here, do you have to yell?" Weiss groaned as she rubbed her ear.

"S-Sorry. I was just feeling low and all after arraignment." Blake said with her ears down.

"No worries. That's why I am here. This is Marrow, he's going to be your new attorney." Weiss said firmly as she handed the phone to the dog faunus.

"Nice to meet you three. Miss Schnee told me all about you and your case and I want to say, I don't blame you." He said with a rather forced professional tone, that Blake could tell belayed nervousness. Her smile faded slightly at that.

"Your….new aren't you?" She inquired. Marrow's eyes and tail twitched hearing the accusation. Yang and Nora ceased their play-fighting as they heard that, growing shocked.

"Eh yes I am your new attorney Miss Bell-" He began before she cut him off.

"I mean you're a rookie attorney aren't you?" She blatantly said.

Weiss sighed as she took the phone from the nervous attorney.

"Yes, I'm sorry. Dad cut me off so he's all I can afford now, but he graduated with high marks in school. He's studied cases like yours and memorized the best phrases to defend you. This is your best chance trust me." Weiss begged.

Blake and the others sat there in silence, their glum expressions and glances at each others did little to appease Weiss's concern.

"Maybe we should just bust out like Yang said?" Blake thought for a moment as she soon eyed the former heiress.

"We do trust YOU Weiss, but how can we trust him with our lives?" Blake asked sadly as Yang and Nora nodded, the former grabbing the line. "How do I trust him to get me back to Ruby?" She inquired a bit bitterly as she pressed her hand to the glass, making it tremble with her natural physical force, even with aura restricting cuffs on.

Weiss sat there shaking as she heard this. She tried to open her mouth to retort, but couldn't find any words to come to mind. To her surprise, Marrow grabbed the line from her.

"Sit." He firmly said. In the blink of an eye, Yang's body shivered as she felt compelled to do so, not from his tone, but by a stinging sensation that made her muscles move without her consent. As she sat frozen in her chair to Blake and Nora's surprise.

"That's how. Lets just say this dog has a few tricks for the court that can help you." Marrow snickered.

"B-But isn't that against-" Blake inquired.

"What is? Telling people to consider my defense?" Marrow said innocently, keeping his semblance off topic.

It was then the girls smiled, seeing their winning ticket to getting out of this hole.

"Wait for me a bit longer Ruby. Goodwitch won't need to babysit you much longer." Yang thought hopefully.

3 Days later…..

Beacon Academy.

Glynda sighed as she leaned back into her chair, twisting her body slightly as her back adjusted to it after weeks away from it caring for Ruby at her new home in Patch. Her eyes were a bit bloodshot as they examined the mountain of paperwork on her desk. She hated she had to miss so much to play the mother role but come on! She had to care for a child, couldn't the other staff take a crack at these invoices and student records while she was on sabbatical?!

"Good things Mr. Arc recommended his sister for a sitter, looks like I'll have to pull an all-nighter just to get halfway caught up." She grumbled to herself.

It was then she sank a bit into her seat. It wasn't the workload before her, well not entirely, it was the realization that for the first time in weeks she was all alone in her office again. While she didn't pay it much mind in the past, now that she was a mother and had another life to care for, Glynda soon found the mood around her to be chilling and empty. She began yearning to get home more and to disregard this work and see Ruby, despite her professional half yelling that this was an absurd thought.

"Man. They say children change your world, but this one rocked mine." She sighed to herself as she rubbed her tired eyes. She tried to write some more information on her pamphlets on the computer for the next Vytal Festival for students and faculty, but each word she types made her fingers shake violently. Soon she found her jaw dropping as her eyes locked onto the screen, noticing she began typing instead.

RUBY. RUBY. RUBY. RUBY. RUBY. DINNER. DINNER. DINNER. DINNER. STORY, STORY,

"*SIGH* What am I thinking?! I'm the headmistress of Beacon, I have thousands of kids to care for here. I have to give them care too, she has a sitter at home while I work. Ruby is fine, I don't need to worry." She told herself as she deleted the words she typed and began to reach for the keys to retype. But she found herself frozen, unable to press a single key as Ruby's smile clouded her vision.

"Mommy's back! Mommy's back!" She could hear Ruby screaming from yesterday joyfully. Her words and smile had filled her to the brim with warmth and relaxation, and with more pride than seeing a student she trained graduating the school to her own amazement.

"M-Maybe I-" She stuttered as she pondered. A spare glance to a newly framed photo on her desk with her, Weiss, and Ruby seeing a movie together in town stopped her sentence cold.

"Mommy" She whispered.

Goodwitch just couldn't stop herself then, without even realizing it, she had already grabbed her purse as was a few feet from the door. It took the ringing of her scroll on her desk to stop her and make her realize what she was doing. Frantically she grabbed her scroll, huffing a bit before she answered as she was still shooken by her decision.

"G-Goodwitch of Beacon A-Academy here." She answered wearily.

"MISS GOODWITCH!" A woman screamed on the line startling her.

"WHOA! WHOA! Terra! What's wro-" Goodwitch asked in fright as her babysitter frantically began screaming apologies tearfully, muttering into her ear sobbing gibberish for a bit. Apparently she was hurt, mentioning her head hurt a bit in the rambling, some blood drawn too. Glynda's heart sank as she began to fear the worst, her childhood flashing before her eyes as she remembered this same dread from before. She dropped her scroll, almost shattering it as she heard the news from the horrified babysitter.

Later in the courthouse, as Weiss was sitting in the room watching Marrow work his magic on the crowd to appeal for his clients, she did the exact same thing as Goodwitch as she bolted out of her seat to everyone's concern.

"YANG! RUBY'S BEEN KIDNAPPED!" She screamed in fright, making Yang and her friends gasp in terror.

"R-Ruby?" Yang whispered terrified.

Meanwhile, in a dark forest walked a grey cloaked figure, holding a red-cloaked girls hand as they strolled slowly down a dirt road path.

"Uncle Qrow, this plays scares me." Ruby whimpered a bit as she tightened her grip on his hand.

"Don't worry Kiddo. Your Uncle's not going to let anything bad or scary get you." The old huntsmen assured her by tossling her hair. As she laughed a bit from this, she failed to notice his dark scowl as they picked up the pace on their walk, an even darker thought crossing his mind.

"Never again."

Author Notes

Just as Weiss has accepted the role of big sister and Goodwitch as mother over teacher whole-heartingly, Ruby has been kidnapped by QROW! Unable to get custody of his niece, the failed teacher resorts to drastic measures in a vain attempt to "help" his niece. Will Goodwitch, Yang, and Weiss get their family back? It's going to be our heroes turn next chapter to make some drastic moves to try and get back their Ruby, question is, what steps will they take and how far are they willing to go? Murder has happened before to protect Ruby from assaulters, what will they do to Qrow, a legendary hunstmen if they even could? Find out on Chapter 10: The Hunt Begins!