Thankful Black

I, Silva Branwen, looked at my Scroll and sighed as I worked up the nerve to call Winter despite not speaking to one another for months. I picked up my Scroll and dialed the ice queen's number after checking the time to see if classes at Atlas were over. It rang for a full minute before my call was answered.

" Hello, Silva, is that you?"

" Yes..."

I was more than a little unsure as to what to say next for a moment and decided to focus on Winter.

" How have you been, Winter?"

" I've been... well."

I could feel how awkward this whole situation but I powered through it.

" Have classes been keeping you busy?"

" No more so than usual, Silva."

" I have been hoping for you to call me since I left Atlas."

An awkward silence filled the conversation until the ice queen said.

" Actually, I was waiting for you to call me first..."

Hearing that, I couldn't help but chuckle at how silly the situation turned out to be; we were essentially playing chicken without realizing it. Hearing me laugh, Winter asked me with a curious tone.

" What's so funny, Silva?"

" I am just laughing at the fact we were both waiting for one another to call first, and it took months to happen, that's all."

" I suppose it is a bit silly when you think about it."

I could practically hear Winter's smile over the phone and felt all the awkward feelings from before fade away. With Winter Break soon starting, I asked my favorite ice queen.

" Do you have any plans for this upcoming break?"

" Not currently, no."

" How do you feel about attending a beach party with your family and mine?"

" That sounds... nice, Silva."

I smiled at hearing that as her tone sounded interested in coming, and I then told her.

" I will talk to your mother about this so we can iron out a date that works for everyone."

" Before that, Silva, can we talk first?"

" Face to face?"

I asked her for confirmation, and Winter replied.

" If you please."

" I can swing by right now if you want."

" That would be appreciated."

I hung up my Scroll and opened a portal to the ice queen; I went through it and saw Winter sitting on her bed in her uniform-issued Atlas sleepwear that team RWBY wore in Volume 7. She saw me and greeted me with an awkward smile and slight blush adorning her cheeks.

" It's good to see you, Silva."

" Same here, Winter."

I rubbed the back of my neck and asked to confirm my suspicions.

" Is this about the fact I kissed you, Winter?"

The ice queen's blush became more prominent as she grasped her hands together and said.

" Yes."

I sat down next to her as she avoided looking me in the eye and asked with a bit of nervousness.

" Did you dislike it in any way?"

" What?! No!"

Winter replied defensively, and I decided to push my luck at hearing the positive answer I got.

" Do you want another kiss?"

" Yes! I mean, no! Maybe?"

Seeing my favorite ice queen being so embarrassed, I couldn't help but tease her with a grin.

" Do you want two kisses, then? Or maybe three?"

" Shut up, you boob!"

I laughed at her embarrassed reply, and she glared at me, which only made my smile bigger. After I was done laughing, a silence descended on the room that lasted a minute or two before Winter told me with exasperation.

" I don't know what to do; I've never had any sort of experience in this kind of situation."

" That's fine, Winter. We can take it one step at a time if you want to explore the possibility of being more than friends. Speaking of which, if you're free this weekend, I would like to take you out on a date. If you are interested, that is?"

" I'm willing..."

I grinned at her as she kept herself from looking me in the eye and said before leaving.

" I will see you this Saturday at 7 pm, Winter. Till then, have a nice day."

I opened a portal and left Winter alone in her thoughts as my surroundings changed to the home office of the Schnee manor since I decided to meet Willow to discuss arranging time off for her and her family for the beach party. I saw Willow asleep on her desk and checked on her to make sure she wasn't exhausting herself from overworking. Thankfully she didn't show any of the symptoms of overworking, but she is clearly tired. I picked up the Schnee matriarch and opened another portal to her bedroom since I had been here before during my bi-daily check-ups on her physical process.

I laid Willow on her king-size bed and placed the covers over her so I could talk to her later. One thing in her room drew my eye before I decided to leave. It was an open book with her handwriting on it, and I went to have a closer look. It had recent dates written on it, and I read a random entry.

" It still doesn't feel real to be the head of my father's company and Jacques out of my life. At the same time, it's hard to go through all the paperwork of the SDC since I had to get rid of Jacques's so-called secretaries, whose real job was to spread their legs for him when the mood struck him. Learning about this didn't make me angry, but disappointed in myself for not listening to my father about Jacques's true nature. I was so naive back then, and I wish I could smack my foolish past self.

It feels more unreal to know that all these recent changes in my life are caused by a young man no older than my daughter Weiss. Silva Branwen, a snow leopard faunus that, revealed his lengthy history to me in order to gain my trust or, rather, show his trust in me. Born into a bandit tribe, he had to make hard choices in order to survive, and he lives with it every day. After he told me in detail about himself, I often found myself wondering what I would have done in his shoes and realized that he was stronger than me in a lot of aspects.

His maturity often makes me feel like I am talking to someone around my father's age before he died and makes me see how his childhood affected him. Silva had to mature more quickly than others in order to survive in the bandit tribe since he was the only faunus in the tribe. Part of me admires him, while the other part somewhat pities him, not that he would ever accept another's pity with his personality and pride in himself. Despite giving him the payment he asked for, I feel like it is nowhere near enough, especially since I am now slowly but surely reconnecting with my children.

I missed out on a lot in their lives, but I hope, no, I will do everything I can to make up for the lost time. Thanks to Silva's help in getting me into Huntress shape again, I can aim to help Weiss in her training or join in Winter's if she allows me and maybe get Whitley to at least learn to defend himself in case of emergencies. I feel like I owe Silva more and more as my days steadily get better, and I truly hope to repay him."

I closed Willow's journal and smiled at the progress I had made with her. I also made a note to make some secretary bots to help the Schnee Matriarch in managing her company when I get the chance.

***

Cinder was miserable; she was in what she assumed to be some part of Anima with no sign of civilization in sight. She didn't understand how she got sent here, one moment, she was studying in her mistress's library, and the next, the fiery woman finds herself in the middle of nowhere. She felt thankful for knowing enough about astrology to get a general idea about her current position and felt an old ache knowing where this knowledge came from, her former teacher Rhodes.

Cinder quickly squashed that feeling as she had a goal to fulfill, to have power and never ever bow to anyone ever again. The fiery woman made her way through the wilderness in hopes of returning to Salem and acquiring the power she was promised. Unbeknownst to her, her fate has greatly changed, whether for better or for worse; only time will tell.