AS.2

Schnee manor outside gardens

80 AFGR

Aegis POV:

All the eyes could see there was nothing but a pure white blanket. As the snow covered the land, there weren't any signs of wildlife, nor its sounds. Just a wind could be heard whistling around the white plains.

In there, Aegis sat upon the rock he had chosen as his spot. The tranquility of the surroundings wasn't natural, as it was Aegis who, for a short while, released his presence that was from his birth nurtured by his awakened psionic power.

Aegis chose this precise spot for its distance from his home and from all sentient life, and with a little nudge of his power, even animals ran for their lives as they could feel something was about to happen.

Aegis, who sat crossed-legged, looked at his hand, which was coated in a blue glow. His psionics manifested in the material world.

"It is time..." Taking a deep breath, Aegis concentrated, looking deep into his mind as even the souls became quiet, anticipating almost anxiously the results of this outing, wishing to see and feel a new power that was about to be awoken, this aura, something any of the souls with Aegis had not heard off, there were multiple different and similar forcefields, from Chi, Mana to psionic, but the aura was something new, something that made even the souls of hermits curious.

"If Psionics is the power of the Mind, then Aura is the power of the Soul."

And with these thoughts, Aegis finally opened the gates he, until now, forcefully held down, feeling the flood, no a surge of new feelings and senses assaulting him.

There was nothing for a second until that nothing became everything, and a blue glow pierced the skies as the soul that held the uncountable amount of Souls made its presence known to the world.

---///---

Unknown location

80 AFGR

Unknown POV:

Red eyes snapped to the horizon from where she felt an enormous magical signature spring out.

"Ozma!" She hissed but then stopped as she felt something foreign.

"No..." This felt different, and she couldn't sense any of Ozpin's essence in this short outburst, something even Maiden's after generations still had in them.

"Interesting." Her red eyes with black sclera slightly widened as she sensed thousands of Grimm in all vicinity of the new power surge evaporate. What surprised her was that none of the Darkness's essences the Grimm possessed returned to her or the Grimm pools.

---///---

Unknown location

80 AFGR

Unknown POV:

A grey-haired man about to drink from his mug stopped as his hand trembled and his eyes froze.

"Salem..."

---///---

Schnee manor

80 AFGR

Aegis POV:

"And all they speak about is this blue glow!" Aegis smiled at his little sister, who now enjoyed his hands that combed her silky white hair, recounting her experiences at one of these tea parties she was invited to and ordered to attend by their father.

Normally, Aegis wouldn't let the man use his sister like this. Still, he knew wisdom in making contacts and possible friends in her own age group, and even if Aegis could see his sister not liking children of her age, calling them immature brats, she knew how to put on a smile, and she herself desired to...

To become like him.

Aegis didn't frown, but deep inside, he faulted himself for this. Weiss looked up to him, sometimes too much. Aegis could hear the multiple souls of experts on psyche and mind in his mind, telling him and warning him about the danger signs of mental instability.

Yet, he didn't correct Weiss, and he loved her too much for making her into something she wasn't, at least consciously, for it seemed that he unconsciously led her on a dangerous path.

"Truly?"

"It was you, wasn't it, brother?" Aegis's hand stopped as his eyes traveled to the mirror, where his ice blue eyes met so similarly looking blue eyes that spoke of triumph as Weiss caught him red-handed.

"I knew it... I mean, you feel so much more? I-I can't put words to it." Aegis's hand continued in their work, gently caring for his little sister's hair as he let little of his newly awakened aura out, making Weiss's eyes widen.

"I knew it..." Weiss whispered, and Aegis let his aura coat Weiss, which was hard even for experienced aura users. Still, for Aegis, an easy thing, with his aura being not unlimited but enormous. If Aegis's estimation was correct, he could enclose the entire Solitas continent in his aura, as it brought its strength from his soul and the souls that resided in him.

"You caught me, my little snowflake, but do you know why I hid this fact?" Aegis lightly probed, making Weiss's petite face scrunch in thinking.

"Big brother never liked attention... Is it because you don't, don't want to speak to General and father?" Ah, two most obvious targets, but then there were more powers in the shadows, from noble families to criminal syndicates, to these two strange yet old presences. Aegis felt when his soul, for but a brief moment, touched the world itself.

Aegis was not aware of any immortals being in this world, and yet these two, one that was enormously mismatched work of multiple merged souls to one that bathed in Darkness, Aegis became aware that this world wasn't as simple as it seemed, the Grimm's and their strange behavior from time to time was one indication, this old soul that reeked of Darkness just became another.

After all, Aegis and the more tactical-minded souls agreed that if Grimms were to operate freely, the Kingdoms wouldn't be already present, and last, humanity would be long gone. This new variable just became one of the leads that there is a leading power behind the Grimm.

That and Weiss was right, and Aegis did not wish to bring even more heat on himself. He knew that if people became aware of these Blue phenomena, he created were his. Then they would even try to get close this his family, if not him.

And his family had just enough problems for Aegis to make another for them.

"So, there isn't anybody you go along with?"

"Hmph, I go along with everyone!" Aegis chuckled at the pouting Weiss, and his sister was genuinely adorable. That said, this finding of friends seemed to be much worse for her than he had hoped for.

Oh, well, there is enough time for Weiss to find a close confidant. Not like Aegis had any right to say something, with him being friendless too, as more than anything, Aegis saw all who weren't his family just as associates or possible future essential contacts.

"Ok, ok, as you say, come to think of it, what do you want to do today, hm?" Aegis smiled at Weiss, who immediately brightened. It was kind of a tradition now, one where Aegis let Weiss choose how they spent the day after. Even with all the knowledge he had access to, Aegis knew of his abysmal social skill.

Knowing how to read people and understanding their deepest secrets the moment you met them, just by looking at them, Aegis was no actor, and so his emotionless face showed just how much he cared for these people he did not care about.

Not even father could make Aegis smile at his meetings or galas. The sole smiles were reserved for his family and nobody other.

"Oh, oh! I know! There is the thing I read about! I want to-" Aegis listened to Weiss, smile never leaving his face.

---///---

Schnee mansion personal quarters

80 AFGR

Willow POV:

"Mother."

"Son." Willow smiled as she felt not so more small arms of her baby boy on her body, hugging her from behind as she watched from the window how Winter trained with her Family and Duty, two swords that could merge into one.

"Another one?" He didn't need to elaborate as Willow felt the little flick of shame shoot through her. She didn't speak nor comment on how her son's hug around her tightened, not enough to become painful but enough for her to know the meaning.

"Ah, I-"

"What is bothering you, mother?" Willow finally turned around, her breath hitching at the concerned look her son's incredible ice-blue eyes held.

But before she could come up with a lie or diverting topic, her son's frown deepened until it eased up into a weak smile.

"It is, father, isn't it?" Willow had given up a long time ago on trying to reason with her son's intellect or his sharp wit. Her silence seemed to be enough for her son, whose hold on her lightened up but never left.

"I was about to go pick up Weiss. Will you come up with me, mother?" Willow noticed how even if it sounded like a question, it wasn't one, nor she felt any strength in her to refuse her son's attempts to make her feel better, which by the warmth that spread through her body and even if she just had few glasses of wine, Willow was still capable of differencing the warmth of alcohol, and the warmth of love she could see in her son's eyes.

She didn't deserve to be looked at by such loving eyes, not after slowly drifting apart from her children, Winter, who was of a mind to becoming even better in her studies and fighting capabilities, Weiss, who spent all her free time with Aegis rather than her, Winter or anybody else.

And Aegis, who always seemed to know when she was at her lowest, came to her rescue from drinking herself to oblivion after another night of cold empty bed where she should be sleeping with someone who didn't even attempt to tell her he wouldn't come back for a night.

"I- yes, that would be nice." Shame and joy lightened up in her chest at her son's slight smile. It was but a quirk of his tiny lips, and yet Willow knew that was a full-blown smile for someone like her son.

"Then come, it wouldn't do for us to let Weiss wait." Willow just let herself be dragged by the surprisingly strong arms.

When had her son become so strong?

Those were her thoughts as the wine bottle worth no small amount of lien lay forgotten on the table.

Willow's eyes were on the smaller hand that held hers, so small, yet so strong. How much she missed for her not to know about her sons having an awakened aura? For it couldn't be anything other than the aura that made him so strong, and even then, he was but a child and still managed to drag her, albeit gently and slowly.

---///---

Atlas SDC DNSE facility

80 AFGR

William Gerbera POV:

He thought of himself as a learned man. After all, not many survived long in his specific profession. To many, his field was taken as absurd, a dead end, and a waste of time.

To him, it was his life's work, and to others like him, it was their ultimate demise, in which they either left before they lost everything or worse.

Were disposed of.

Something the civilians didn't think was happening, but to those in his field, those sharper, it was clear that someone didn't want them to succeed, so William took the easier path.

If you can't defeat them, join them.

And like this, after a few years, he found himself as the leading scientist of the SDC branch, specializing in finding an alternate energy source.

It was a relatively harmless-sounding field of study, but one full of thorns and broken glass on the ground, where they were to walk with their bare feet.

It took little time for anybody in this scientific division to learn that SDC did not want them to succeed, or rather if they did, they would be either made quiet or permanently silenced. After all, in all of Atlas, there was just one scientific department that delved into this specific field, and that department belonged to SDC, which became rich by mining and selling Dust.

Still, someone at the top, maybe Jacques Schnee himself, knew that Dust could run out as any nonrenewable resource. Nobody knew when, as there were multiple regions full of Dust that just waited to be mined out, with Grimm being the sole obstacle, but they knew it could run out, and so they chose that if they still wanted to be at the top, it should be them who held a potential new source of energy.

Just like they did with Dust, even if William detested politics, he could see writings on walls, and after a few years of working for SDC, watching them, he could count tens of talented scientists and engineers who disappeared.

Interestingly, all those who disappeared were those with morals, those who were more proud and unbending to SDC demands of silence and their agreement that everything they find belongs to SDC.

William and all those who were now part of this SDC department of a new energy source, or SDC DNSE, were there either for lien or coerced.

And then, there were those naive ones. William truthfully pitied them, seeing how they thought their finds could change the world for the better, blind to the fact that even if they somehow found anything, it would be hidden until SDC deemed it ready for use.

Alas, William was their boss and not their parent. It wasn't his duty to shatter their dreams. Instead, he and those who knew of the darkness in SDC would let them live their dreams until their dreams changed into a nightmare.

So, imagine his surprise when word spread out about a Schnee visiting their little department. He sighed in both annoyance and relief when he confirmed that the one visiting them was Aegis Schnee and not Jacques Schnee, he had no idea what a boy could want to do in there, but better some child than a man who could make them, or worse, him disappear.

So, it was for this reason that all scientists and engineers waited by the doors for the boy who was on his way, a waste of time in Williams's opinion, but the boss kid was a boss kid, and William was of a mind to not make someone who could one day lead them by annoyed at them.

"So when will he-"

"Quiet, he is there." William quickly quieted his coworkers as the light above the doors lighted up, showing someone was on his way through the hall.

Finally, when the doors opened, William bowed his head respectfully and went on introduction.

"Welcome to the SDC DNSE department; my name is William Gerbera, and im the leading scientist in this place---" William was about to continue when he finally looked into the eyes of the boy.

What.

A terror, a primal terror, tore through his mind as his body froze.

William, William Gerbera, even if a scientist, was from a family of huntsmen, so when he was young, his aura was awakened, just like his semblance that showed itself the first time he was in danger.

A six sense semblance or, more likely, danger sense, something that helped William through his entire life and told him of danger if he chose to follow his family's path of being huntsmen, even if it was clear that he had zero talent or skill in anything martial-oriented.

The exact semblance that told him how dangerous it would be if he rejected SDC's offer to work for them when he dabbled into an alternate source of energy study.

And now the exact semblance that saved his life so many times screamed at him not to move.

"Greetings. As you are aware, im Aegis Schnee, and my reason for visiting your department rest in this suitcase, so please do not waste our time and let us depart to your conference room, where you will read what I have for you."

It was no question. It wasn't a suggestion, it was an order, and William just prayed that nobody was stupid enough to question it. Thankfully, it seemed his coworkers had some common sense, too, as they silently followed after the boy, with William right after him.

There weren't any words uttered as they silently marched through the hall, and William wondered how exactly the boy, no, a not boy.

The thing before him knew where to go.

But he didn't voice his question, and the fear was still strongly present in him, the same fear he felt when he, for the first time, looked into the eyes of Grimm with his newly awakened semblance.

---///---

Atlas main plaza

80 AFGR

Aegis POV:

Leaving notes about the splitting of atoms and nuclear fusion in a controlled manner, not enough to make them able to create it, Aegis had no illusion of the wrongful way the knowledge could be used. Instead, Aegis desired to lead them to that kind of thinking and make them more experienced before any test or prototype could be made.

In short, Aegis introduced them to nuclear energy in a way that would make them research it, but more importantly, make them think how exactly he came up with such an idea. Aegis desired for them reverse engineer the journals he left for them. Of course, he would need to visit them at least once a month to ensure everything was clear and guide them to his preferred path if it wasn't.

Aegis preferred path.

It was easy to make father let him lead this department, and Aegis supposed it was just one of many tests his father seemingly liked to try him in. Aegis was not against it as long as these tests didn't involve his sisters or mother.

As Aegis walked through the clear streets with his bodyguards, courtesy of his father, following after him, Aegis ignored the illusion of normality and peacefulness, the clear streets that hid the dirty alleyways, these clear and pristine storefronts which hid the poverty of the masses, of anybody who wasn't part of the Atlas elite.

The corruption and disease that were so flagrantly hidden by the picture of the future.

Aegis eyes traveled through the stores that sold Dust, seeing just SDC logos on every dust case, there wasn't any competition nor concurrence, and it wasn't just SDC with Dust, technology which was under Marigold logos, a food under Greenfield's symbols.

Wherever he looked, he saw just these big names. There wasn't any small brand. Maybe down there in Mantle, Aegis could see something that wasn't sporting one of these big names, but there? In the heart of Atlas?

The more Aegis looked, the more he felt revolted by the sigh. This was a city his sisters would be living in.

In this illusion?

No...

---///---

Schnee manor training grounds

80 AFGR

Aegis POV:

"Why spear, brother?"

"It just feels the most natural to me," Aegis answered as he parried another sword strike.

He watched as Winter steadied her breath, calming herself down, her blue eyes narrowing ever so slightly.

"And where have you learned to fight like this?" Aegis could hear the jealousy that Winter tried so hard to squash down, this wasn't a good idea, but Winter asked him to spare with her after she saw him train with the spear.

He couldn't refuse her, or instead, he didn't want to, and now it seemed a refusing would be much more preferred, at least for his sister.

"It just... Comes to me." He couldn't tell her the truth about the teacher he respected, a woman who taught him how to fight with a spear and much more, one who made his stay in the Shadow realm so much more manageable.

One of few genuine persons outside of his family whom Aegis held the highest level of respect for, but then, even if she wasn't his family, she was his teacher, his master, and Aegis but a small student.

"Of course, it goes... Like everything..." Aegis froze as he heard the quietly and weakly spoken words.

"Winter..."

"No, don't... You don't need to say anything, it. It isn't you who is wrong there." Winter bitterly said her hands which held her swords dropping down as she just stood in the middle of the arena.

"..."

Aegis then remembered what his teacher had done when his spirit wavered and, with one swift movement, closed the distance between himself and Winter, his spear pointed straight at her chest.

Winter, who until now seemed to be deep in thoughts, a dark one at that, quickly shook herself from them as her body acted before she could even think what was happening before her hand shot up, and her sword deflected the incoming strike.

With wide eyes, Winter looked at both Aegis and her hand that acted without her command, Aegis did not give her time to say something as he shot multiple spear thrusts, ones that Winter either deflected, evaded, or even parried, now with both of her hands working to keep her alive.

Aegis wasn't going on with full strength. He knew that if he did, no amount of reflex would save her.

But the more their silent fight continued, Winter became quicker, her body fully relaxing into the fighting rhythm. Aegis could see small improvements in some of Winter's steps, and with each strike, Winter became more refined.

"That is quite enough." Aegis finally stopped his assault as he watched Winter take a deep breath when she realized it was an end.

"W-what was it?! Why did you-"

"It was quite easy, wasn't it? The way you fought me now, compared to the previous fight, your movements no longer felt so rigid, nor were your strikes too complicated." Aegis didn't let Winter continue as he asked her, his words making Winter's eyes snap to her hands and then to Aegis.

"How do you know? No... That is a meaningless question, right?" Winter chuckled. The previous doubt and dark thoughts had gone from her mind as now all she thought about was the difference between now and the previous fight.

"Just those with the ability to speed up their thought process, slow down their surrounding, or those with plenty of experience can afford to plan every strike or step. You aren't any of these. Even with your regular training for four years, it would take much more for you to afford to think in the middle of a fight. That doesn't mean you can't think, but for now, your tactic of thinking about every one of your strikes is too much."

Winter frowned, looking down at the ground, biting her small lips with her white teeth.

"But every instructor told me to think before striking." Aegis made a note to himself to speak with these instructors and maybe even father if these were people he hired to teach them. They weren't exactly wrong, but Winter was still too young and inexperienced to take time before every strike.

Winter's entire combat style revolved around being quick and nimble.

"You can see how your body knows what to do, Winter, you can plan your strikes, and you can plan your fight, but you must trust your instincts; they are part of you."

Winter's shoulders dropped, but when she finally looked up, her eyes meetings Aegis's own. There wasn't any glint of sadness, jealousy, or anger.

All Aegis could see in these pristine blue eyes, which looked like the skies, was pure determination.

"One day, I will learn how you know so much, brother. Until then, defeating you would be enough for me."

Aegis chuckled as Winter seemed to determine the march of the training grounds. Her intent to study or train in her room was quite clear to Aegis.

But when Aegis was about to call her, he could see her stop as her head bent down a little.

"Un-until then, you will spare with me, right?" The voice sounded like demand, but its fragility and hope were enough to make Aegis's lips twitch upwards, memories of when they still played in the snow without any worry surfacing in his mind. Winter didn't change. What changed was the mask she learned to use.

"Of course, anytime, sister." With his words, Winter nodded her head and walked off, leaving behind amused Aegis.

"Quiet you..." Aegis sighed as another comment about the instability of another of his siblings became a popular topic between souls in him.

His sisters weren't something to gloat about or play around with.

Still, being left alone in the sparing ring, Aegis looked at the training spear he took from one of the stands for this spar.

"I wonder, what would you say about my handling of this mess, master..." Aegis mussed, the memory of both the horrid and pleasant times he spent by the purple-haired woman's side surfacing in his mind.

Aegis missed his master. He missed the times she took apart any of his fights and harshly but fairly delivered him any of his mistakes.

At first, Aegis remembered being nothing but a pet project, a curious way to spend time in the Shadow realm, and with time being meaningless in there, where a day could be seen as hundreds of years, any activity was better than just simple wandering.

Aegis was but a pet project. He didn't know what about him caught the eyes of someone like his master, but he was happy that it happened.

And as time flew, a pet project evolved into the student, and the student evolved into a final legacy.

And the legacy that made its master proud.

Aegis wasn't sure if his master from the start knew that he would one day fulfill her wish or if it was just a pleasant surprise for his master...

Aegis looked at his hand, noting with interest how it weakly shook.

Did his master know what would happen when she, at that time, took him under her wings?

Did she know that he would fulfill her wish?

And in that fulfilling her wish, kill something inside him?

"Ah... I remember this is why I detest spears..." And yet, spears were his favorite weapon, one that his master taught him to use.

But it was a spear and this trembling hand that ultimately took his master's last breath.

And yet, remembering the expression of utter fulfillment, the smile she delivered him with her last breath...

"I truly detest it." The spear in his hand evaporated as his psionics in his rage for, but a short while went out, destroying the very thing he was most skilled in and the thing he detested the most.

---///---

Schnee manor

80 AFGR

Aegis POV:

"And this is why Atlas stays as the most progressive kingdom." Aegis looked at the children who listened to the man's words with either rapt attention or half-lidded eyes from boredom, Aegis ice blue eyes traveling to his side, where Weiss took notes, his lip quirking up as he saw that Weiss wrote just the things she found necessary, and let out the blatant boasts and favoritism.

Even if the man had plenty of facts right, Aegis didn't even count the number of half-lies or hidden truths, and it was clear this was just one of the reasons Atlas stayed so arrogant and became arrogant even more as the younger generations were raised in the way the Atlas higher echelon wished.

"Well, this was surely eventful..." Aegis spoke to Weiss, who nodded at him.

A month ago, Weiss mentioned that she wished to try a regular school that wasn't filled by Atlas elite. One that wasn't full of father's lackeys. At first, my father was against it. Still, Aegis made him agree. After all, the public would surely like to see Schnee members outside of galas and other public events, and all Aegis was made to promise was that he would make sure that Weiss wouldn't create scandal.

Just proving just how little their father knew about Weiss, for even mother and Winter knew how mature Weiss was compared to other children even more than a few years older than her.

"Big brother, this is my friend Illia Amitola, Illia this is my big brother Aegis Schnee." Aegis looked at where Weiss curtsied, and right behind her was the friend she had made.

Aegis's eyebrow quirked up, on both the fact that the girl was clearly a faunus, one that seemed to be able to hide her additional animal feature, and at the fact that he felt little dark emotions that the girl had for him and his sister.

Still, what was more, was the way Weiss spoke, friend. Aegis loved his little sister, and because he loved her, he knew her much more than anybody. As such, Aegis knew that this Illia was anything but a friend to his Weiss, making Aegis wonder what his little sister had in mind.

"Pleasure to meet you, Illia." Aegis greeted her with a polite bow, making Illia quickly flay her hands around as she shook her head.

"N-no! I mean, I like to meet you too. No, I mean that-that-that wasn't a pleasure to meet you too! Oh, I have done it again!" The dark emotions Aegis felt in the girl previously were quickly replaced by embarrassment. Aegis could see that under that make-up the girl wore to hide her faunus characteristics, her skin turned pink, pinker than normally should be possible.

"Your friend is quite lively, Weiss." Aegis chuckled at his sister, who now sported pink cheeks, and it was true. However, even if she is more mature, Illia is a quite motor mouth.

"N-no, matter. I invited Illia to our home, so we could study together. Is that alright, big brother?" Aegis just hummed. His little sister's mind was quite foreign to Aegis, and he knew that she loved him, her sister, and her mother, but otherwise, the way Weiss started to behave these last few months...

"Really? Do you want to come to our house Illia?" Aegis looked at the girl, who seemed to think things thoroughly, but then shrugged.

"I, I mean, yeah? I would like to, Weiss promised that she would help me with homework, and then we could play." Play? Aegis knew quite sure that any play with children in Weiss's age wasn't something Weiss had done in a long time. The last time Aegis saw Weiss play with dolls or other things was when she was around five years old, these times Weiss spent her time either singing, studying, or in light exercises with a rapier.

Weiss had gone through a lot of weapons, and Aegis wouldn't lie to say he was quite sad when she found she favored the rapier more to the spear, but it was her choice, and Aegis would support her, one of the reasons he trained her himself, as to not repeat the same mistake the 'tutors' their father hired for Winter done.

"Well then, we can go depart right after school ends." Aegis already planned to speak with the teachers who taught Weiss there, there was patriotism, and then there was too much patriotism...

---///---

Schnee manor

80 AFGR

Winter POV:

Winter looked down at the courtyard where Weiss 'played' with her new friend.

Her little sister was odd.

There wasn't anything other she could describe Weiss better than odd. She loved her sister, just like she loved her mother and brother, but...

Sometimes, the look in her little sister's blue eyes scared her.

It wasn't like the one she grew up with, the look Aegis had from his young age, a look that was one of Winter's oldest memories, one that she just later could pinpoint as the look of detachment.

Her brother was always like that, passive, not interested in almost anything, and yet when she asked him to do something, the look in his eyes always brightened, and his entire demeanor changed from that of uncaring to focused, no matter how small task or help Winter asked him for.

Her brother was odd, but in a way that never scared her. Winter could acknowledge that at some points, she felt jealous, and in some way, she still did, jealousy that her little brother was perfect in everything, much more than her, even if he didn't learn or train more than her.

Winter felt inferior to Aegis, but her brother made it hard for her to feel anything beyond small bouts of jealousy. She just couldn't feel anger or hate as she read in the books about the sibling rivalry that evolved into hate... No.

How could she, when she noticed that each time she came to him, spoke to him, and just spent time with him, no matter how insignificant the task was, her little brother's ice-blue eyes always warmed up? It was as if watching the glacier had turned into the sun.

But Weiss?

Watching Weiss play with this Illia, as Aegis sat near them, under the shade of a tree, with a book on Aura theory in one hand, Winter felt conflicted.

Winter acknowledged that she spent lesser time with Weiss, maybe too much shorter time than she should have, as her priorities became to best her brother at least in something, throwing herself to study, training, and learning.

As such, Winter hadn't much time to spent with Weiss, who by all rights was raised by mother and Aegis, or...

More Aegis, as lately their mother became even more withdrawn.

Her hands tightened. Winter knew the reason for their mother's sadness. It was the same reason why Winter, for the first time, felt jealous of Aegis.

Their father.

He was the reason for so many problems their family went through, and the more Winter learned, the more her hatred for the man who was absent from their childhood.

But that was beyond a point. What Winter felt conflicted about most, at least right now, was the oddest Weiss possessed, or the reason why sometimes Winter felt bored of fear.

Winter was older than Weiss by four years, and yet, the feeling of her little sister waking up in Winter scared her, the eyes that, rather than detached like Aegis own, held nothing but indifference bordering to almost apathy.

Oh, Winter was sure that her little sister liked them, at least in some way, but it was nowhere near the love Weiss held for their brother. Winter could see the looks of adoration their little sister had when Aegis didn't look at her.

Weiss was still young, so it could be just a phase, or at least, that's what Winter kept telling herself.

Winter looked away from the picture of perfect harmony. Now Weiss and Aegis looked so normal, so childlike, but...

Of three of them, two weren't children, at least not in mentality, and if Winter had to bet, then this Illia wasn't normal too, as what kind of person could gain her little sister's attention wasn't a completely normal person herself.

Winter had work to do. Looking down at the sword on her hip, she remembered what Aegis had told her.

Not to overthink, right? Well, Winter acknowledged her little brother's advice, but...

She would find her own way.

After all, she is the older sister.

---///---

Schnee manor's main office

80 AFGR

Jacques POV:

"No, with who Weiss spent her time is none of your business, father."

"Excuse me?" He looked at his son, who stood before him in his usual indifferent manner. Jacques found it interesting how his son acted towards him, and he could see how indifferent his son was towards him, and in truth?

Jacques didn't mind it. It just showed why his son was a better heir than Winter. Even if his son was sometimes too much affectionate towards his siblings or Willow, his emotions didn't meddle with his opinions on the deals Jacques made him make.

It was just one of many reasons why he had his son when he made a deal or just debated with his business associates, his son showing an unnatural brilliance when it came to earning lien.

Of course, Jacques had some problems with some of his son's ideas, as he could see that his son didn't share Jacques's own opinion of using faunus as a cheap labor force, but this particular view wasn't something worth dwelling on.

"I am aware who this Illia Amitola is father, and I assure you that even Weiss is capable of seeing through the girl's effort to hide her faunus heritage. What im telling you is that with who Weiss chose to spend time is her choice alone, something we already once spoke about."

"You became quite insolent with me, didn't you, Aegis?" A favored son or no, Jacques didn't permit insubordination, not even from his own family nor his son, who is to one day inherit the empire he built.

"No... I never changed myself for you, father, it is just you, who puts me between hammer and anvil, and if I had to choose who to side with between you and my sisters, we are both aware of who I pick." Jacques wanted to say something but stopped.

When he finally looked into his son's eyes, the entire Jacques body shivered and froze in fright, those eyes.

Jacques couldn't see anything in them. It felt as if he was looking into...

It was as if he looked into... A bottomless Abyss.

Jacques didn't know when he finally awakened, but when he looked, his son was no longer there...

"This..." This wasn't how it was supposed to be...

---///---

Schnee manor gardens

81 AFGR

Aegis POV:

In a few months, Winter will finally start her pre-huntsmen study. Aegis doubted that much would be changed, as the school was just an hour of Bullhead flight, Winter, or they could visit each other any day they wanted.

What Aegis was now doing was meditating be the tree he himself planted. In truth, he was not sure why exactly he had done it, but Aegis just felt it was right, that he needed to do it.

What was more strange were his thoughts, or rather instincts that told him to water the tree with his own blood, just a few drops every day. Before Aegis had done anything such, he made sure it was his thoughts and not one of the souls trying to be sneaky in his mind, and when he found nothing, Aegis experienced.

And the feeling of rightness and affection he could feel from the sampling was...

Strange thing...

What was stranger, and yet somehow familiar, was the feeling Aegis was able to feel when near the sampling that, little by little, gained a golden hue from its normal brown.

It was the same feeling Aegis felt when near his sisters or mother, the same feeling Aegis used to fight back the apathy and indifference he felt more and more.

Aegis was now eleven years old, and yet when he thought about it, he didn't feel young.

From the moment he was born, the moment he started to hear thoughts and voices not his own in droves of millions, years went by, and every day thousands of new voices made themselves is known to him, some polite, curious, and affectionate.

And then there were those that Aegis fought against inside him, those that showed him vivid images of his loving sisters and mother's death, tortured or in promiscuous positions with men and sometimes even monsters...

Aegis shook his head, but as there were those who showed him such images and laughed when anger rose inside him, there were those who helped him in either calming him down with their wisdom or fighting and pushing down those souls full of darkness.

There wasn't a day when Aegis felt the silence. Just when he mediated or was near his family, Aegis could mute these thoughts that weren't of his own.

So, imagine Aegis's mild and pleasant surprise when he felt at peace near the sampling with a golden hue.

"..."

Aegis took a deep breath as he calmed himself, delving deep into his mind, as he felt his psionics and aura work in harmony, shaping his body into perfection, as psionics destroyed his flesh, just for aura enhanced by psionics forged it anew, all for the process to by once again repeated.

The pain, the pain, was calming, for Aegis couldn't hear the souls in him through the pain of his body being reforged, cast anew just to be destroyed, and the process once again repeated.

The pain was his friend.

Pain brought him the solace of silence.

All the while, Aegis sat there. A weak golden aura seemed to shimmer around the sampling towards Aegis as if trying to shield him from the world in its weak but gentle embrace.

---///---

Schnee manor gardens

81 AFGR

Willow POV:

Crash!

A broken bottle lay on the ground as her son looked at his hand and the spilled wine. All the while, dread, and fear shot through Willow.

"My baby!" Willow forgot all decorum, all the etiquette as she almost fell down on the ground, just to stabilize herself just in time and rush towards her son in fright.

She quickly got to her son, all the previous drowsiness she had from drinking gone, just worry and fear coursing through her veins as she inspected her son. Willow almost sighed in relief when she saw no sign of injury from the glass on her son's hand.

But the way her son kept being quiet and just looking at his hand crushed the bottle as if fascinated by something.

Until her son's eyes slowly went up from his hand to hers, and Willow froze.

"That is enough, mother."

"A-Aegis?" Willow weakly asked. She didn't feel any fear, she did not feel fear towards her son, but the uncomfortableness was there as if she almost lost something she would regret her entire life.

"This." Her son looked at the bottles of wine, the empty bottles of wine.

"You will end with this drinking, and you forgot that we were to go today on Winter's first day of school celebration." Wh-...

Willow paled as she remembered, shame almost overwhelming her, until the firm but gentle hands touched her own, making Willow snap into reality, as she was once again lost in her son's ice blue eyes.

"I know, I know it could be hard, and I know why you started with this harmful habit, an ability to forget your problems is an easy way to do things, but it was enough. You aren't hurting him. All who you hurt with this habit is yourself and your children, Weiss, Winter... Me..." When did her eyes become so moisty?

"And if it helps, I will be by your side, I and Weiss..." Her son smiled at her as Willow lost any speaking capacity, it just returned to her when she saw how he walked away from her, immediately feeling the loss of his warmth, but his next action baffled her.

"W-what are you? What are you doing?" Willow quickly asked, almost demanding, as she saw her son take her night robe from her bed.

"Hm? I told you I would be by your side, so you are sleeping with me and Weiss, mother." What?

No, seriously, what? Willow's thoughts halted as the absurdity of the role reversal in their mother-son relationship changed.

"W-what?" Willow wondered why exactly her voice sounded so meak.

"Common, we will take your most essential things, mother. I will let Klein and servants take the others and get rid of your surprisingly large selection of wines."

What?

---///---

Place Unknown

Date Future Unknown

Unknown POV:

"Mommy!"

"Shhhh! It will be alright!" The woman quickly put her hand on her son's mouth as she tried to make him quiet, her daughter trembling near her.

"Ah!" They collectively exclaimed in fright as the sound of something hitting the ground sounded outside of their barricaded room.

The sound of fighting stopped a while ago, and the woman knew that their defenders, the soldiers weren't the ones who won, as just the sound of heave sucking of air and clinking iron could be heard.

"M-mom." She looked towards her daughter, her eyes just as lost and full of despair, and yet she tried to smile for her.

"D-Dont worry, everything will by-" That was as far as she got as something struck their iron doors.

"Aahhh!"

"Mommy!"

"Nooo!"

Their three voices quickly sounded through the room as the woman stopped shielding her younger son's mouth, and the strikes against the doors became even more heated.

But when the woman thought it was their time to die, as the monsters, the demons were about to get through their doors, making the woman once again regret the loss of the gun. At least with three bullets, their deaths would be painless and quick if she even were able to kill herself or her children, but all was better than falling into the hands of these demons.

"Gunfire!" Her daughter elatedly exclaimed, and the woman nodded, hoping to return to her, just for it to be replaced by confusion. The woman knew that all soldiers were already dead, and there was no close military base that could send help, not especially for the three of them as they weren't anybody special...

Their breath hitched as the sound of fighting once again stopped, and the sounds of heavy footsteps closing their doors made them all nervously shift.

The woman's eyes widened as the doors blinked green, showing that someone on the other side was able to get through their code.

And as the doors opened, her breath hitched, and her eyes saw something unfamiliar.

It was...

It was a soldier, but in white power armor, with blue highlights, with some kind of pistol in one hand and a sword that seemed to give out a humming sound in another.

"Survivors... Please calm down. You are safe." She didn't know how, but her daughter quickly latched herself on the soldier, who seemed to be at a loss for words, as the woman quietly sobbed in relief.

"Someone, please? Help?" The nerves in the woman evaporated into laughter as she saw the soldier in white armor look behind himself at other soldiers similar to him, as her daughter didn't want to let go.

---///---

Place Unknown

Date Future Unknown

Unknown POV:

"Hey, why are we there?"

"Really?" Sentinel asked another.

"What? It's a good question as any." The first one returned to his partner, who just sighed.

"You read the report, or if not, you can just read it in your helm that has H.U.D." The first Sentinel scoffed.

"I know the debrief, and I just want to know why Lady Morgana wished for this specimen."

At that, the second Sentinel stopped, as his partner's words made him think, yes, why their boss specialized in magic wished for...

He paled.

"Y-you don't think she wants to replicate them, right? I mean, even if fucking toy, I mean, seriously, if these humans in there had any brains, they would just kick it into a wall or somewhere else, but still... Just the thought of an army of these creepy things makes my skin crawl."

"You... You just needed to make me think about it, didn't you?" The second Sentinel bitterly asked because, yes, even if harmless to them, just the idea of fucking possessed toys near their children made his blood boil.

"You don't need to worry about that. Morgana Le Fay wishes to just study these phenomena, and find a way to prevent such occurrences, if they occur in our kingdom, with how the Veil between Realities became weak." Both Sentinels snapped to attention as a silky female voice could be heard in their helmets.

"Lady Album."

"Album."

Both gave the nod to the woman or thing that wasn't present and wasn't even human, who just chuckled at them.

"Do not worry, even if my sister wished to use these things. She wouldn't let them go from their leash Morgana would put on them." The Sentinels sighed in relief. It was true that the Solitas sole A.I was somehow their superior, but at the same time, she was so ever-present that most people just took her as part of their life.

That, and nobody dared to anger A.I was made from God-King's most loved sister/wife.

"Hmm? It is there, and I believe you have prepared the case?" Album hummed as the Sentinel took out the box, which was specially made for this operation, having engraved runes of magic and being from the strongest alloy their kingdom possessed.

"Yes, everything is prepared."

"Well then, I will let you boys do your work." The Sentinels saluted as they quickly went to job, catching the serial murdering doll, which was about to kill some poor woman with a knife.

The two Sentinels still didn't understand why these people in these universes didn't run or just fight back. After all, it was just a toy, murder happy toy, but still a little toy...

---///---

Place Unknown

Date Future Unknown

Unknown POV:

Her blue eyes snapped as a snarl got through her teeth.

"Being X!!!" Her glare leveled on the man with black hair, in noble clothing, and a cane. Even if he looked strange, she wouldn't put it beyond Being X, having taken just another form.

"Hm? I admit, this is a new one, even for me." Her teeth gritted as she watched Being X tilt his head. How dare he? Does he want to play dumb?!

Even after being in there?!

"Y-ou! Stop with this game! What?! Once you started losing again, you want to play dirty again?!" The anger in her just increased, as the Being X just looked at her in...

Interest? What? Where was the disappointment? The pity? The fucking-

Wait.

She looked around, her eyes widening as she finally looked beyond the Being X, as what stood behind him was an enormous golden tree.

"They call me your majesty, God-King, King of Solitas, The one who sits upon crystal throne, King of Broken Moon... But Being X? That is first."

The Bein- No, not Being X, chuckled as the warines returned to her. This wasn't Being X, so who is this? And how did he take her there? Was this one of Being X's friends?

"But, let me introduce myself, Im Aegis Schnee, the King of Solitas kingdom, and now an Agent of Gaia, Death, and Infinity." The man looked at her, and her breath hitched. Not even Being X felt so...

She felt the need to kneel, but...

Where with Being X, it felt forceful, to almost revolting, now when she felt the need to Kneel, she felt, now she felt it was natural to kneel to this being before her, and that scarred her.

"But my most known title is the God-King Of Mankind, and I was asked to meet you."

---///---

Place Unknown

Date Future Unknown

Unknown POV:

"Master?" Her eyes adoringly looked at the back of the man, who gave her a new chance for life, a purpose much better than she lived after she fell from Heaven.

"Hmm, this way." She followed after her master, who seemed to walk with a destination in mind, one that she didn't know about, but then, she wasn't her master, whose thoughts were far beyond hers.

All she hoped was to be useful to him, so she wouldn't ever be cast away.

Death would be preferable to be parted from her new and ultimately the last master.

He was her lord, her savior, her master, the man, the being she loved!

"There." Her master stopped as she looked around, her eyebrow quirking up, as she saw a normal hospital, no...

No, not a normal hospital, but a children-oriented hospital. Humans like to complicate things. Still, she followed her master, as the humans around didn't dare to go in their way. Even if they could see them, she knew that it was her master's aura that made these humans unable to get in his way.

After all, they were humans, and he was their master.

They ultimately stopped by the ordinary-looking room. Her master seemed to think about something until his hand moved to these doors, slowly opening them.

What she saw was an ordinary human hospital room, but the person inside.

She frowned, an holiness aura? No, divinity, again, no, but it felt familiar, so much, but no matter how much she tried, she just couldn't remember when she felt something like that.

Was the child a future saint?

"Hello?" The girl greeted them, there wasn't any fear, and when she looked, she could see the girl looking at them, and yet not, ah.

She was blind.

"Hello... Jeanne?" Her master asked. She froze. Her master's voice, she could hear humor, and her master seemed to be in a good mood.

"Yes, that's my name, Jeanne Unus. Who are you?" The girl tilted her head, but all she felt was dread, no, not dread.

An fear, something told her, that...

No, it can't be...

But that name, Unus, The One, it wasn't HIS name, but still...

"Im... Friend, and I brought you a gift, no... Not a gift, but something that belongs to you." She watched frozenly as her master walked up to the girl, who just tilted her head.

Her breath stopped as she watched master put his hand into the air and take out something from his dimensional magic. That something...

True Longinus.

"I believe this belongs to you..."

"Hmm? Is it a shaft? No... It feels warm, but... I never had this. So why... It feels..." She watched as the girl seemed to debate with herself,f a dread filling her up as she started to realize who this girl was supposed to be.

But that was impossible...

And yet...

"Who are you, mister? I don't remember you being my friend, and yet... Why do you feel familiar? Your aura feels..." The girl, the. The...

"Aura?"

"Hm, everyone telling me that I just see things, or just it's just my six senses, but I can see different people. Everyone looks different, and their colors beings different, but you... So much blue... So warm and safe... I don't know you, mister, but it's like... Mommy?"

"Heh, im a man, but thank you." Her master chuckled as the girl just tilted her head.

"But you feel like mommy, mommy always promised to protect me, and you, mister, you feel like mommy... So warm..."

"Im just, man, who is in debt... To someone." Her master bent his head as he walked up to the girl, who now held the spear in a hug.

"I suppose you can say that I know you or I know one of you." Her master sat down on the bed.

"One of me? But im just me?"

"Hm, yes, yes you are you, and yet, you are much more, or you would be much more, once you awaken."

"But im awake... You speak in riddles, mister."

"That I do, just like you, or one of you, always speaking in riddles, always being so mysterious, always priding to say that your ways are mysterious..."

Her breath stopped.

The girl...

Her master said it...

The girl...

She was...

She was a reincarnation...

"Father?" Her voice broke. She hated how weak it sounded, and yet...

"Raynare, why don't you come closer, im sure you want to be in Jeane's presence too."

She didn't know when, but her head found its way into the girl's bosom as her purple eyes reddened and the first tears started to fall.

"But im not, man? I can be mommy, But not the father." The girl tilted her head, and she felt a kinship with the crying woman who hugged her.

"Don't mind her, and you just remind her of someone, someone dear, someone she failed and never stopped to regret."

"What?" The girl bemusedly asked, somehow the riddles, the vague words started to irk her, and yet, when she thought about it, it irked her more that it wasn't her who had done it...

Why?

---///---

Place Unknown

Date Future Unknown

Unknown POV:

'Im sorry.'

As she flew down from the building, from the explosion she made, her mind returned in time to when she was but a child.

'I finally made it, mom.' Her closed eyes opened as she felt...

Felt...

Alive?

What?

Her eyes looked around, her calm heart that accepted her demise quickly speeding up as she found herself in the air.

"What?" She was levitating.

Her blue, pink eyes quickly and wildly looked from side to side until stopping before a sight that made her heart stop.

"W-what?" She couldn't say anything other, as what she saw was something...

Oh, she was dead, that was it, it must be it, after all, how otherwise it was normal that a man, who looked so genic, and so sexy as this, standing in the air, under what looked like a freaking blue snowflake symbol.

"Im dead? Are you, what they called you, the reaper? Or the death himself?" She asked because nothing other made any sense. She ignored the sounds all around, and they must be an illusion too.

"Because you look preem as fuck. I won't mind if you take me to hell or to somewhere else..." She mumbled, because what other choice she had?

"This is the one you wanted to save? Wynne?" Finally, her eyes looked at the man's side, and again her breath hitched, this, what she saw was a doll, no, a genic girl who looked like a freaking doll, that was how beautiful she looked, a long white hair was done into a ponytail, a lovely heart-shaped face without any flaw and blue eyes that looked at her...

Fuck, even Rebbeca, who was made to be jailbait, was nowhere near so cute. Well, Rebbeca was cute as long as she stayed quiet...

"Yes, dad, I want her!" What?

Wait, now that she looked, she realized what emotions these eyes held...

Why the fuck, a girl who looked like a proper preem princess looked at her with such hunger!

"Wynne." She watched the girl pout and then look at the death. Who was probably her father, huh, so death could have kids? Preem.

"Mou! I just want her as a friend! Don't worry, daddy. Your little girl is just your daddy!" What?

"Haaah..." She looked at how death put a hand on his sexy face, and she recognized the look and defeated and bemused look and father's look.

But the girl's words... Huh, so the girl was a daddy girl? Just in the extreme?

Oh well, not like that was the strangest thing that she had witnessed. Night City was full of much worse things, and some incest was nothing against it. That and the man, well, death, looked so sexy...

Fuck, she had a thing for DILFs...

"What's your name?" Huh? Was he speaking to her? Didn't he know her name? Huh?

"S-Sasha, Sasha Yakovleva." The whiskered girl introduced herself as the girl she now knew as Wynne grinned at her.

"Well... My daughter wished to meet you, im Aegis Schnee, and this is my daughter, Wynne Schnee."

Huh, German names?

Preem.

---///---

Place Unknown

Date Future Unknown

Unknown POV:

The skies above Britain became multicolored as an enormous strange phenomenon appeared above the Britain skies without any warning.

The people stopped, and the entire world seemed to stop, as it could be seen through the entire world, as the lights from what looked like a tear, in reality, started to flash.

And from this tear, something started to come. It was enormous, and after a while, it looked like an island.

If the island could be made from technology that looked like from future, with gleaming white panels and blue veins-like highlights all around it.

"My name is Aegis Schnee, the King of Solitas kingdom, and your people took someone who belongs to me. I came for my little sister, Harriet Potter."

This declaration could be heard by every device in the entire world, including TVs, phones, and any audio device connected to the internet or some other network.

Panic followed.

---///---

Place Unknown

Date Future Unknown

Unknown POV:

"Heh, you think this scares me?" Her blue eyes, once brown, looked at the assembled capes.

"You try to live through continuous deaths from someone who is supposed to be your teacher." She scoffed, and a spear appeared in her hand.

Her aura flared up.

"You want to threaten me with the death of my father? Please, go on, kill my father, and I will make you all pay, not just you, but your bosses, your family, and anybody you love and like. I had had enough. Go and try to go through my training without losing your sanity." She scoffed.

The indifference about life was hammered to her by her spectral teacher. Why the fuck, a voice in her head, who was supposed to be part of her power, could do things like he?

Still, she learned that powers, magic, aura, or whatever, were just tools, and Aegis made her learn it the hard way.

The phantom pain she felt in her abdomen, the most favored place he liked to hit with his spear, killed her again and again until she learned how to evade.

Just for that process to be repeated in her mind for what sounded like an eternity, as time in her dream could be stretched, how much Aegis liked...

She learned the hard way. Any idea of heroism was thrown away, he made her learn just the strongest and the most ruthless could make the world peaceful.

Just he strong could gain justice.

So, she will become strong, and she will drag the world to a better tomorrow, even if it was kicking or screaming.

She will become the Hero the world needs.

---///---

*Author note*

Aegis is now 11 old.

Winter is 13 old.

Weiss is 9 old.

The next chapter will finally kick things up.

Btw, there aren't any benefits, at least for now, but if you want, buy me coffee.

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