Chapter 17

-[Wynne]-

He sat in his study, reading yet another book. Rather than a book on machines or the likes, he instead was busy with an entirely different subject; biology.

He wanted to delve into the more applications of his semblance along with his limitless potential and adaptive adaptation abilities.

Attempts to summon defeated grimm were progressing a bit slow but it was progress all the same.

The direction he now wanted to drive towards was healing. Healing in a manner not dissimilar to the medical jutsu of a certain ninja world.

He was once again thankful for the use of lightning dust in allowing him to speed through the books. Squeezing the equivalent of a month's worth of reading into a few days was exhausting but he managed.

His studying had paid off as he got an idea; sending aura into a wounded area to enhance and rapidly increase the body's natural healing ability to repair the damaged cells of both external and internal injuries.

Unfortunately, he wasn't mad enough to test it on actual people just yet despite an old white haired bastard coming to mind.

'I guess I'll have to go shopping for a pet. Would it count as animal abuse?' He wondered idly as the door to his study was opened.

"Wynne?" He looked up to see someone he least expected at the moment.

"Mother? What are you doing here?" He asked, genuinely surprised as the woman walked to the table, holding an envelope.

"Klein wanted to bring this to you but I insisted." She said, handing it over to him.

Her rehabilitation had been going smoothly so far. She had gone little over a full month without relapsing which was a good thing.

He'd 'accidentally' left a few bottles of wine around the manor as a test. Though he had seen her glance at them, she managed to control herself, actively putting effort to get better.

Even if she didn't control herself, all she would have found would have been grape juice. Better be safe than sorry.

Opening the envelope, he pulled out a neat looking letter. His eyes skimmed along the lines, getting the necessary information within moments.

"It's an invite to a gala next month." He muttered loud enough for her to hear. 'It's not exactly important but then again…' he thought, looking at his mother.

One of the things that Jacques cared about was his reputation and being the husband of an alcoholic wasn't a nice story. Willow Schnee simply faded out of the public eye with no one being the wiser.

Speaking of the bastard, he'd have to think of what to do with him later.

Noticing the look on his face, Willow's brow arched in confusion as Wynne turned to her. "What?" She asked.

"This will be a good opportunity for you to make an appearance after so long, if you're up to it that is." He said.

The widening of Willow's eyes showed her surprise. "Really?"

"Yeah. It's your choice really on whether you want to enjoy some peace and quiet or be hounded by countless reporters." Wynne said, sounding a bit sympathetic.

She seemed to think over it for a moment.

"There's nothing wrong with taking some time for yourself." He added.

He honestly sympathized with her. With a 'husband' like Jacques, she had endured a lot but she had managed to bounce back a bit. He didn't want to rush her and end up undoing the progress.

"So, is there any reason you're studying so much again?" She asked, changing the topic. "Klein's been keeping me updated about how much time you spend here."

"It's for a new project I'm working on. Whether it'll actually work is still up in the air." He admitted in exasperation.

"It's not healthy for a growing boy to be stressing himself out this much." Willow said, a bit sternly, causing him to give her a dry look.

"I'm almost 18…" he muttered but the woman shook her head.

"I'm having the staff make dinner and you have to eat." She said.

Honestly, he had adapted to the lack of sleep and low intake of food. His sleep deprivation and self starvation didn't have anything to do with preference or discomfort, rather it was due to how much work to do on a daily basis.

He could literally go days without sleep and minimum food at this point but he still partook in both of them for the pleasure of it.

"I'll have to eat while I wo-" he tried to say but she cut him off.

"No! We will have dinner together as a family. I won't have my children acting like acquaintances in their own home." She said firmly, causing him to sigh.

He had mostly ignored Winter so far. Her attempts to gather information were unsuccessful as his lab was inaccessible to all but him and with his robots all around the manor, he had eyes everywhere.

"Fine." He groaned, rolling his eyes. He was about to say something when a beep from his scroll caught his attention.

His eyes narrowed as he pocketed the device, closing the book he was reading. "Forgive me mom but I have an urgent appointment to meet up with." He said a bit hurriedly, receiving a nod from the woman as he left the room.

A glyph appeared below his feet, rising up to engulf him as it teleported him away. He popped out of another glyph in a dust shop in Vale.

Visiting Weiss was simply one of the reasons he had actually come to Vale. The other was to buy the popular dust shops in the city which he managed to do, acquiring a few of them.

He had access to the cameras in the store, notifying him of an attempted robbery on what was now his store...just like he had predicted.

Still in his casual clothes, he walked out of the back room he teleported into, catching the attention of the culprits.

Faunus in black and white garb, a hood and masks that covered the upper half of their face.

"Well I'll be. Look what we have here. A Schnee in Vale." One of them said, walking past the unconscious body of the attendant.

"Our lucky day." Another one said as they pointed their weapons at him.

A small smile played on Wynne's lips as they fired at him, a large glyph appearing in front of him, acting as a shield.

"What?!"

Despite the Schnee glyphs not exactly being a secret, it was still a sight to see.

"I've been looking for training dummies for a while. Care to oblige me?" Wynne asked, a storage glyph appearing beside each hand, reaching into them and pulling out his guns.

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Author Note: I'm supposed to be sleeping and I have exams in the morning. Send help…