22 The Eldest Schnee

After my little run-in with Cinder's group, I made my way back to Winter who had tied up the unconscious White Fang members.

"So what now?" I asked playing with a knife I summoned.

"Now we wait for Atlas to arrive and take away the stolen dust." She replied.

"I see…so how long do we have to wait?" I inquired.

"About 2 hours." She said.

"Erghhh, that's so long." I whined.

"I know but I can't do anything about it."

"Then what do you want to do for 2 hours?" I asked, desummoning the knife.

"We could always talk." She shrugged.

"More talking again?"

"You could always just sit there and be quiet." She said.

"Talking it is." Emiya said not wanting to sit in silence for 2 hours. "So Winter, since I talked about myself on the journey over here, why don't you tell me a bit about yourself?"

"*Sigh* What do you want to know?" She asked.

"Well, why did you give up your status as heiress to Weiss?" Emiya asked.

This had always been a question plaguing his mind ever since she was introduced in the series. From what he knew about Winter, she seemed completely capable of taking over the company and moving it in a better direction. So why did she give it up and join the military?

Taking a glance at the sky, Winter let out a sigh before returning her attention to Emiya.

"Have you wondered why it is that only Atlas has an army whereas all the other kingdoms only have a few huntsmen?" She asked.

Now that she mentions it, the show did only portray Atlas as the only kingdom with military power. Even during the fall of Beacon, it was the Atlesian military who had to step in while Vale only had a couple of huntsmen and huntsmen in training there to defend it. Even in volume 2 when Roman lead a horde of Grimm into the city, it was Atlas that had to save their asses whereas Vale only had a couple students fighting off the Grimm.

Seeing as how I wasn't answering, Winter continued.

"Its because Atlas wouldn't allow another kingdom to threaten their status." Winter sighed. "Ever since the war between the kingdoms ended, Atlas has been kidnapping any potential individuals who could threaten their power in Remnant. Ever heard of Curtis Robins?"

Shaking my head I waited for Winter to explain.

"A scientist from Vacuo, he was on the brink of finding a way to rid us our reliance on dust. He hypothesized that we could potentially siphon the energy inside a dust crystal and convert it into a renewable source of clean energy. Doing so would lead us into an era of prosperity. We would no longer have to send the Faunus into the Dust mines beneath Atlas and could allow them to safely return to their families." Winter said with a deadpan expression.

"That sounds like it would benefit the whole of remnant!" Emiya said.

"Well Atlas and my father didn't think so." Winter said uncomfortably.

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"If everyone was able to just siphon away the energy inside dust crystals, then sooner or later dust would become obsolete and that would mean the Schnee dust company would become irrelevant. And since the Atlesian military is funded by the Schnee's they would lose one of their biggest sponsors." Winter explained.

"So they're intentionally keeping humanity stagnant in order to ensure that no one can threaten their power." I thought aloud.

Winter nodded.

"But that still doesn't explain why you revoked your heiress title." I said.

"If I wanted to change the way things are run in Atlas then I'd need a high position in the military to make sure my voice was heard. The only issue was that getting a good position takes a considerable amount of years. Knowing this, I left my heiress title behind as early as possible." She said.

"But that's only half of the problem, if the Schnee dust company is still funding the military then they'll most likely ignore you if the Schnee dust company threatens to stop sponsoring them." I said to myself.

Winter looked surprised that I was able to deduce that much from the small bit of information she gave me.

"Exactly! That's why Weiss is the perfect candidate to inherit the company. She's a good girl who has quite a strong sense of justice, and once she inherits the company I know she'll support me and my ideals." Winter said with a gentle smile.

"I see, so its basically a pincer attack. You reform the military from your side whereas Weiss reforms the Schnee dust company while both of you support each other. This way the military can't ignore you because of your ties with Weiss and no one will dare mess with the sister of one of the most powerful people in the Atlesian military. How devious." I said.

"I'm surprised you managed to gather that much from this conversation." Winter said while looking at Emiya with interest.

"What can I say, I'm mature for my age." Emiya smirked. "So we still up for that date?"

"Well considering that this mission was supposed to take a week, I suppose I have enough time to take a break." She smiled.

'Whoopie!!'

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"So where do you want to go?" I asked.

"Isn't it your job to decide since you asked me out?" Winter said.

"I didn't think you'd say yes!" I retorted.

After Atlas arrived and took away the dust and white fang members, me and Winter were dropped off at Mistral and left to our own devices.

"Hey Winter." I called.

"Hmm…"

"You've never been on a date before have you?" I asked.

Her face quickly turned a shade of red as she looked away from me.

"I-I've never had time to go out on a date!" She defended.

'Cute.'

"So your saying that you're giving me your first!?" I joked.

My words seemed to hit her harder than I expected, her face turned even redder than before and I could have sworn I saw some steam coming out of her ears.

Smiling at her reaction, I took her by the hand and pulled her into a fast food joint.

"E-Emiya!, What are you doing!?" She asked with a red face.

"We're on a date so its only natural that we hold hands." I explained.

"I-I know that!" She yelled causing everyone to look at us.

Feeling their eyes on her body, Winter wished for nothing more than to bury herself in a hole.

Seeing her embarrassed expression caused me to laugh as I brought us to the counter and ordered some food.

After our food was given to us, we went upstairs and found a table with a view of the street.

Unwrapping her meal, Winter looked at it in confusion before looking back up at me.

"What is this?" She asked pointing at her food.

"I believe that is what people call a burger." I reply.

"Burger? How do I eat it? Where's the knives and forks?" She said looking around for the utensils.

'Oh Winter, just how sheltered were you.'

After explaining how she had to use her hands to eat the burger, she complained about how barbaric it is to use our hands to eat. But after a bit of coaxing, I finally got her to calm down and take a bite.

"So? How is it?" I ask with some expectation.

"I-it's different, I can taste the juiciness of the meat and the crunchiness of the bun compliments it in a way I never thought possible." She described. Taking another bite, she didn't bother to go into further detail and started wolfing down on the burger.

"Woah! Slow down Winter." I exclaim.

"Whrat." She says with her mouth full.

"Take a sip of your milkshake, it might not be what you're used to, but it should help you wash down all the food you've stuffed in your mouth." I explain.

Hearing me say that she stuffed her face, she looked away in shame as she realized that her previous actions had been very unladylike.

Taking a sip of her milkshake, her eyes practically lit up as she started questioning me with things like "What is this concoction!" and "Do you think I could hire the chef here."

All in all it was pretty funny. I couldn't imagine the look on Weiss's face if she saw her older sister talking so enthusiastically about fast food.

Taking a picture of her smiling face on my scroll I saved it in a new folder I named "Winter's cute moments."

'I should probably make some for the other girls as well.'

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After leaving the fast food joint I took Winter around Mistral. We just walked aimlessly talking about random stuff. We eventually found ourselves in a park. At first Winter wanted to leave due to all the children, but after a few minutes of convincing words from me she eventually gave in.

And boy did she enjoy it! Her icy persona instantly melted away as she went down a slide, played on the climbing frame and sat on the swing while I pushed her.

And although I was having my fair share of fun hanging out with Winter. I also felt pity for the children of the Schnee family. From this date I instantly understood the kind of childhood Weiss and Winter must have had. I couldn't believe that the show never showed just how isolated and pitiful the Schnee family children were. I mean Winter's never been to the park or had a burger for fuck sake! That ain't normal!

I decided then and there that I'd make this week the best week she'd ever had.

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And true to my word, I did exactly that. I took Winter everywhere I could. We went to the movies a couple of times which left Winter either crying from some sappy romantic movie or excited by an action flick. We even went paint-balling and ended up ruining her Atlas military uniform. Though she didn't seem to care too much. Heck we even went clubbing! (Don't ask how a 14 year old got in.)

We ended up booking two hotel rooms and each stayed in our separate rooms. Until one night I passed out in Winter's room which ended with me being lectured by her. But I could tell her heart wasn't really in it.

"We should do this again." I said which I caused me to receive a glare. "Well maybe not this, but definitely hang out." I said.

"Hmm…I'd like that." She said with a smile.

Her icy persona had long since disappeared during the week and she had started to show her true self.

"Well.. its time for me to get back to Vale. Oh! And I had fun." I said getting up.

"Me too." She said sounding a bit dejected.

"Don't look so down, I promise we'll do this again." I said which caused her to smile.

"I'll see you later then." I said walking towards the door.

"Uh... Emiya." Winter called.

"Yeah?" I said turning back.

"Can you look out for Weiss…Make sure she's safe."

I smile. "Anything for you Winter." Closing the door I left the room and hurried out of the hotel.

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Boarding a Bullhead back to Vale, a sudden realization hit me.

'Did I pay for the hotel rooms?'