Jekyll and Winter were met with the harsh blizzard winds of Atlas' weathers when the bullhead's doors opened. It was always expected at this time of year when the seasons got colder and harsher. But this one had been unexpected and would have to be reported once they got back. Even the remaining walls did little to obstruct the harsh blows of nature sending their way. Covered in layers of clothing, for aura couldn't protect them that well either, the two had to shout just to hear one another. Moments like these made Winter wished she had the Maiden's powers if only for warmth.
Looking for any survivors was expected to be a failure. No Grimm this time. When most think of mother nature, they usually think of the mother part. That caring and kind nature associated with the imagery of the mother, people sometimes forget that a mother could be just as cruel and harsh as any other parent. As it stands, the snow cold environment they were in was a product of an angry mother. The bullhead had been forced to leave when it worsened. Jekyll and Winter thought ahead and brought out their own rations and waited for the weather to let up.
Speaking of mothers. "Mother!" Jack had appeared before them, her hand reaching out to Winter.
"Jack!" Winter replied. "What did I say about coming out here in the cold? Stay in spirit form!"
Neither Jekyll nor Winter brought any winter clothing for Jack out here; that was left in the bullhead. They always did bring some extra sets on the chance of survivors but having one already used by the time they left for the mission would be somewhat suspicious. It didn't help that the pilot in question wasn't in the know and they couldn't just let a child come along on a mission like this.
The two found a still standing home and took shelter there. Winter had expectations of busted heaters and had those expectations met. The lack of heat around these parts meant that those here had to tough it out in the cold. It would seem that this small settlement failed to do so in time.
There were always settlements popping all over Remnant, no matter how harsh it may be. Within the walls, there was a sense of being crowded depending on where one lives. There was also the nature of wanting a new life or some ambition of expansion. There was no ambition here but it had been an attempt. They were here due to a distress call of an outpost nearby. It had to be this weather.
Jekyll was looking through the home and found some old clothes. "It isn't much." In here, they could speak somewhat normally. The winds were still harsh but it wasn't as it was before. Still, they used this time to rest and regain their strength. "But it should at least be convincing enough for Jack."
"Thank you, father!" Jack appeared again and took it. There was a moment of chill but Jack quickly adjusted.
"How is it that Jack could handle the cold better than you can?" Winter asked. "She has worse clothes than you."
"Servants are more resistant to these things and my circumstances make me more human than Servant." It was the best explanation that Jekyll could give.
This had been the other reason behind their mission: secure a cover story for Jack. The case would be that Jack was among the survivors whose records are now forever lost. These things happen in these outposts and settlements. Since not every place had immediate access to the CCT, traditional methods of archiving were used. Jack could squeeze herself among them.
Winter didn't like having to engage in what is essentially an illegal activity but the necessity of this would make things smoother later on. With things being at least within the general borders of Atlas, Winter and Jekyll didn't have to go through any of the international bureaucracy to deal with this. Instead, they only have the problems of their local ones.
Jack stuck to her physical form this time and took on the new clothes. She shivered for a moment but she eventually warmed up. At least, in this manner, Jack wore the part of someone from these parts. The same could not be said about the expression on her face. She was just too happy for someone who should have just lost her home.
"Jack," Winter said. It took some effort on her part but she managed. "Sweetie, when we get back, let's…" She was not about to tell the child to lie. Servant or not, a child needed good morals. "Let's practice our acting skills."
"But I don't want to be in the theater, mother," Jack replied.
"Yes. But uh…" Winter looked to Jekyll for guidance.
"Because you would one day go to school yourself," Jekyll said. "It would do well to have a head-start on some class activities."
"Okay, father!"
Being called that still jolted Jekyll, it seems. He sat next to her. There was warmth to be shared.
"At least you didn't resort to because I said so," Winter said.
"That is not going to work." Jekyll shook his head. "There may be a childhood innocence to Jack but she is still mature. She has seen things that no child had any right to see."
Jack was playing and exploring the place. Occasionally, she would say something but was overall just a child exploring. Seeing the two, supposed, Heroic Spirits raise a question.
"How is it," Winter asked again. "That you're bothered by the cold?"
"Amber's summoning of me was one of desperation," Jekyll explained. "I suspect that since her powers were being siphoned, I was brought here with less magical energy and my being was forced to accommodate. There's also the nature of Qrow's semblance."
"How could a semblance overcome magic?"
"How could a semblance involving the manipulation of actual metaphysics even exist? One of them is more fantastical than the other, Winter."
Winter conceded that point. The winds were still blowing though they have lessened. Not enough for them to continue with their own mission.
Their actual mission had more to do with anything important that may be secured. Any recordings and details that may be recovered were to be taken. Any information out here that had yet to reach Atlas' main cities would be an overall boon in figuring out how to expand further. At most, it was small expansions, worth only a few feet. That didn't count any old buildings whose materials and space were repurposed for other things.
Jekyll took out their thermoses. It was warm to the touch and tasted sweet. It was a quick energizing drink that warmed them all. Jack saw them and ran towards them. She jumped like it was a shared bed that both Jekyll and Winter sounded "oof" when Jack landed just between them. Jack snuggled between them.
Winter caught Jekyll's smile as he gave Jack a drink. Jekyll patted Jack's head and messed the hair playfully. Jack played along but made hardly an effort to get the hand off of her.
"Are you sure you're not her father?" Winter asked.
"We both come from the same place and time period," Jekyll replied. He continued to play with Jack. "And I don't just mean Earth, I also mean country."
"I'm surprised that you two haven't met."
"Jack the Ripper is one of mystery, Winter. One that you already know."
Winter stayed quiet. Jack the Ripper. The most infamous serial killer in history. Never caught and never identified. Yet here, all Winter could see was a child, likely an orphan who had lost her parents. Winter found it difficult to see the serial killer.
It's not the only thing you're having a hard time seeing. Her thoughts betrayed her. Right in front of her was a man she had been partnered with for the past year or so. Jekyll was rarely out on missions, on account of his academe. But Winter knew of the other existence that lurked inside of him.
No matter what Jekyll had said. As far as Winter could see, Jekyll and Hyde are two separate individuals, each one vying for control over the body. How could it be that those two are one? Jekyll was a nice, mild-mannered, and intelligent gentleman. Hyde, by contrast, was nothing more than a pleasure-seeking maniac that craved the thrill of dismemberment.
Sure, Hyde was kept under control through training and especially against Grimm. But there were those days when those eyes of Jekyll would be replaced by Hyde's red, even if only for a moment. Jekyll gets stressed just as anyone else but he carried the risk of losing himself to Hyde.
"You know you don't have to," Winter said.
"Don't have to what?" Jekyll asked.
"About after."
"Winter. You may soon inherit the Maiden powers and there can be no doubt about Jack's fondness for you, and I'm sure you will do your best. But the least I could is ease your burden, however much I can."
"I'm not sure father will approve."
"He won't." Jekyll sounded certain. "I learned that much from talking with the man."
Those were conversations that Winter never wanted to have. It was of no surprise, being a Schnee, that there would be those interested in her personal life. She was practically a celebrity, albeit minor. Anything that could be used to combat the Grimm's attraction to negativity were deployed. For Winter, it's her name and her involvement in the military that pushes a sort of sense of duty among Atlas' populace.
Among the businesses, the Schnee name was most known. One does not achieve what is essentially a monopoly on Dust without some kind of recognition. Her association with the general was expected given her role as specialist but it is with Jekyll that such things raise a bunch of questions.
Jekyll was a man without much known about. Officially, he was a huntsman who had just finished his academe and would soon become a doctor. He had no businesses to his name nor of any fame in the military. The manner of their meeting sparked conversations and a few scandalous words thrown in. Adding Jack into the mix would only push them further.
It made things more interesting given Jekyll's skillful navigation of Atlas' elite. Be it through politics, law, or some other topic, Jekyll knew to keep himself composed as though he had always belonged among them. That didn't stop the elites from thinking low of him though. They thought of him as a social climber and was only attaching himself to Winter due to her name. Never mind that most of them would and had done the same.
Jack soon fell to a nap in their makeshift bed. Once the harsher weather had past, Jack was gently stirred as Winter and Jekyll resumed their mission.
There was hardly any problem nor anything unexpected. The airship had soon arrived and was surprised to see Jack among them.
"Didn't think that there are any survivors. You doing okay, kid?"
Jack nodded enthusiastically. "Yes I am, sir!"
"Kid is stronger than she looks," replied the pilot. "Must have been hard keeping a face like that after all this."
"She really is," Jekyll agreed. Jack still needed to work on her acting skills.
Winter sighed relief. Good thing she had mouth covers to hide it. With Grimm out here, emotions are a precious matter.
"How are you going to take the kid in?" asked the pilot.
"Mother and father will take care of me!" Jack said, pulling Jekyll and Winter together.
"Mother and father?" the pilot looked at them.
Jekyll and Winter shrugged. Jack maintained that happy smile of hers.
Back in Atlas, things had gotten better. Jekyll and the general managed to pull some strings though the latter did have qualms about having his name involved. Leaving that building, Jekyll held one of Jack's hand while Winter held the other.
Thus, Atlas had itself a new citizen: Jack Schnee-Jekyll.
/-/
It was unsurprising that with a name like Jack Schnee-Jekyll, talks were obviously had among the people. As far as Jekyll knew, it wasn't as much as he had expected from the populace: his affiliation with Winter Schnee had been known for some time now. It was among the elites that Jack's official introduction that was most… scandalous.
There was no ring. There was no announcement. There had been no celebration of any kind. But with a combined name, that had meant that he and Winter have officially shared the responsibility on the upbringing of one Jack the Ripper.
It was supposed to be a ward, nothing more. But Jack's insistence of addressing them as his parents had moved them to this notion. Fria, who was still there in Atlas' care, had in given all the documentations necessary that legally recognized Jack as to be under their legal care. How they came to possess it was something that they kept hidden.
Needless to say, Jekyll wasn't welcome in the Schnee household courtesy of its patriarch. Both he and Winter took the full brunt of Jacques Schnee's venomous words right in front of the maids and butlers working that day. While Winter took it well enough with her usual composed manner, Jekyll spent more time keeping himself calm.
Hyde and I are one, he thought. I am Hyde. I am just as much Hyde as I am Jekyll. Oh that face needs some tenderizing right now. Calm. Calm. Inner peace.
Acceptance of his current and fragmented soul notwithstanding, Jekyll still had that problem of losing himself to his inner evils of malice. Hyde is that evil side of him. Hyde is that inner temptation of unchecked hedonism that lurks behind every human being. Only difference was that Hyde might as well be someone else.
But Jekyll knew the truth. Fought against it once but had since been coming to terms that every evil Hyde wished to commit were evils that Jekyll wished to commit.
He sighed as he sank into his bed. It was his home throughout his stay in Atlas. Years-wise, he had spent more time in Atlas than Vale at this point. To his side, on the desk, there was that photo of when he had accomplished his dissertation paper. Winter had been his companion at the time and right next to it was another photo of his Beacon partner's own academic accomplishment: Thumbelina Peach.
Chuckling, it was a shame that he had to return his toga by the time Peach would arrive. Another shame was that she wouldn't make it in time for his graduation either. Hers had been earlier than his but scheduling, even with Mulberry, proved to be a problem.
His dissertation, on the topic of the soul and aura, was Jekyll somewhat cheating as he implemented what he knew of Spirit Origins and his real background as a Heroic Spirit. Aura was poorly understood thus far and his was to be one of many strides towards understanding it. A few were even taken from Merlot's studies.
Jekyll picked up that image of himself and Winter. It had been Klein who had taken that photo that day. Even then, Jekyll's place in the Schnee home wasn't welcomed by Jacques Schnee. Winter's little brother, Whitley, was rather distant though he did open up a little once the discussion came to businesses and law; those were the only times that Jacques Schnee remotely tolerated Jekyll's presence.
Willow Schnee was someone he couldn't hope to connect. She was drowning herself with a bottle of wine. If she needed help, she needed to help herself first. Jekyll couldn't and wasn't allowed to intervene.
Weiss' support had been of no surprise. She was still a student in the academy that Jekyll works for. It had taken a while before she stopped addressing him as professor with that familiarity and he had no doubt that it would take her a while to address him as one again.
The rest of Weiss' team were there too. While Yang certainly took full advantage of the implications with Jack's name, she was mostly reigned in courtesy of Blake.
Jekyll could picture that moment as though it was still happening.
"Does that mean Weiss is our auntie, now?" Yang had asked.
"Why would that make me your aunt, Xiao Long?" Weiss retorted. "They're not even married!"
"Auntie Weiss!" Ruby left behind flower petals as her arms were outstretched. "Can I send you my wish list this holiday season?"
Blake stayed quiet but she definitely covered her chuckling mouth for a reason.
Jekyll couldn't even imagine what they would react once they get the chance to babysit Jack.
Picking up his picture and taking a good look at it, he never could imagine that he would be in that sort of place again. In that life of his, it had been with his friends, Utterson and Lanyon.
He shook his head. Winter was already burdened with the inheritance of the Maiden powers. There were her duties as a specialist on top of it though she had said to take less demanding jobs and would ensure that they stayed close to Atlas just for Jack's sake. She didn't need someone with Jekyll's baggage on top of it.
The least that he could do is help her carry it. Jack was a good girl. That much Jekyll was sure but she was still a Heroic Spirit. Not just any Heroic Spirit, but the most infamous serial killer ever known. Jack's childlike innocence masks the murderous history associated with those bearing that name. As Hyde, Jekyll knew a thing or two about masks.
That image of himself and Winter, he could still remember how, in those moments, he forgot about himself and simply lived it. Winter was reserved with that smile of hers but those were the most genuine she gave.
She reminded him of those days. Those times of his more… acceptable social status. Before he had that curiosity, he had been seen as a good man. Life among Atlas' elite wasn't any different from his home in London.
But her huntress status gave way to that contrast. Grimm monsters always threatening Remnant meant that someone like her was tough and strong. She's a capable fighter. Even without it, one could infer such a skill thanks to her teachings on Weiss' own swordplay.
She was among the few people that Jekyll could be somewhat open on the nature of Hyde since she knew of Hyde's existence. There was no intel gathering anymore. The general did not give Winter and further orders to spy on him.
Why am I even thinking this? Jekyll put down the picture. It wasn't that he wasn't fond of her. Far contrary to it. Winter really did remind him of those days of that life and that contrast with her being a huntress also gave him a feel for the other side. A pleasant thought. But ultimately something that I have no right to have.
Jekyll lay back down on his bed. He found it difficult to dream. His thoughts lingered on those what ifs.
It isn't Winter, Jekyll thought. It is the thought of having it that lures me in. Winter is just the unfortunate one to have her face on it.
Knowing both Jekyll and Hyde, who would ever take him as he is? In this manner? No one would dare, not like that.
Sleep had been a light affair. There were still some days before his graduation. Jekyll had got up and readied himself for the day.
Outside the door, Klein had been waiting for him. Strangely, out of everyone that Jekyll had met, the family butler of the Schnee was someone who could relate to him the most. Except Jekyll only had two, Klein had seven.
"Klein?"
"Miss Winter Schnee had me come to pick you up." Klein bowed. The main personality took control most of the time. "I fear that it is something that is important for your… other business to hear."
Jekyll raised an eyebrow. He had no plans for the day, outside of his visit to Fria and whatever short missions that he could take.
Rather than meet at the Schnee manor, Winter waited for him near Atlas academy.
"You have my thanks, Klein," Winter said.
"Always a pleasure to serve, miss Schnee." Klein soon drove off.
Jekyll went straight to the point. "The general has need of me?"
"Not quite, but one I feel that you both need to know. Come." Winter turned around and walked in front of Jekyll.
The path towards Ironwood's office was familiar enough to Jekyll. His time in Atlas also included further training and there was no better place to train a huntsman than a huntsman's academy. The technology of Atlas was better than most. The kingdom itself was one of the reasons that Jekyll chose here.
Once things had gotten more private, Jack had manifested before them. She was fully clothed now, in the more used clothes of when either Winter or Weiss had been smaller. The sizes certainly didn't match but Jack's white hair made her fit just right at home.
"Schnee?" General Ironwood asked. Winter didn't schedule this meeting, then.
"Permission to speak freely, sir." Winter saluted. Jack followed a moment after though it was more of a child playing soldier.
"Permission granted. Now what was brought you both here?"
"It concerns father, sir. While I ask for you both to keep it a secret, I do believe it is best that you be inform as soon as possible."
"Jacques?" Jekyll asked. "What does he have to do with this?"
"My father intends to run for a seat in the council."
Both Jekyll and Ironwood shared a look of surprise. But after a minute, it made sense. For Jekyll, this especially made sense.
"That explains my tutoring of Whitley," Jekyll commented. "He's readying himself for this and having Whitley take over." Assuming that Jacques could have Weiss' heiress status removed.
Ironwood looked to Jekyll. "I see no reason to stop the man. If the people truly choose him then it is the will of the people. Things have been peaceful lately. It must have something to do with your other business, Jekyll."
Jekyll sighed. "I suppose it does. Dust prices have gone up. I only hoped that it would ease the burden a little."
"Father was responsible for making the SDC into what it is today, Jekyll," Winter said. "For better or for worse. I am… certain that father might ask for the general's aid in this matter."
Ironwood nodded sagely. "Doubtful that he would get it. It is a case of supply and demand. Thank you for informing me, Winter."
"You're welcome, sir." She turned to Jekyll. "Jekyll?"
"I suppose I should go down there and inform them."
"If you'd like," Winter offered a hand. "I could have Jack accompany you."
"Jack would be attached to the Schnee name. It is too early for it now but it will be made public eventually. I will have to inform them soon."
Winter further the details of Jacques' plan. Jacques likely already knew on the general's end but he, along with most of the Schnee family are ignorant of Jekyll's side.
With Jack being more in the open, Jekyll and Winter had spent that day orienting Jack on Atlas with Jekyll being the better option due to Jekyll's familiarity with both Heroic Spirits and Remnant's ways.
Later on, Jekyll, with a different set of clothing, made his way beneath the floating city and landed onto the colder grounds of Mantle.
Mantle's conditions had been improving in the past years and one could see it. Even observant eyes may not see it yet, but those improvements had been subtle and gradual.
A sheep-faunus noticed him and waved. Jekyll waved back and followed her lead. He was led into another building where another woman was waiting.
They looked around them before they shook hands. Their hands were coated in a pale color.
"So then, doctor Jekyll," she asked. "What important news do you bring to me today."
"It is more to do with our business venture, miss Hill," Jekyll replied. "It would seem that Atlas' officials have finally taken notice of what Utterson has been doing for Mantle in regards to our… Dust alternatives."
Jekyll had cheated his academe by implementing his knowledge as a Heroic Spirit. His other business had been cheating by bringing the knowledge of his world into Remnant as possible alternatives to Dust. It had started out as medicine, but soon other sources were being explored in regards to the energy of Remnant. Funding was needed in future Secret Circle-related projects, though the Happy Huntresses have yet to learn of that part.
AN: Given my current work-life balance setup, splitting the posting schedule of my fics this way is my most comfortable one for now. Will probably change depending on how it goes. Anyways...
When I pitched the idea of a JnH x Winter with Jack as their kid to a friend of mine (one who knows both RWBY and Fate), I basically had this exchange.
Friend: So you're making a more murder-happy and British Spy x Family if Fiona took on operation Strix instead?
Me: ... okay I can see the Fiona part but explain the rest?
Friend: Yor is an Assassin and Jekyll is an Assassin-class. Anya could read minds while this Jack is a bunch wraiths of aborted children. Plus, with Jekyll and Jack, they're British
Me: Huh, didn't think of it that way
Friend: ... so is Oz's circle the WISE here or you planning on a Damian anytime soon?
For the record, I don't plan to. At least not intentionally.