9

"UNHAND ME, YOU CRETIN! DO YOU EVEN KNOW WHAT YOU ARE DOING?!"

These screams were all she heard as she blankly stared at the soldiers clothed in Altesian military uniforms dragging her father away against his clearly stated wishes.

"YOU HAVE NO RIGHT! YOU HEARD ME NO RIGHT!"

She stared at the soldier with a tail and paled. Was it?

Was it possible this was just a ploy? White Fangs make another attempt to get her like they once did.

Her body started to tremble in fright, but then realization hit her. How could White Fang gain an Atlas military airship that now rested above their mansion...

And many of these soldiers were humans...

"BE QUIET! You were given a choice to follow peacefully, but you refused." She winced as she saw the faunus soldier hit her father in the stomach with a baton.

"Urgh! A-Animal! I know this is his doing! What he paid you! JAMES! I KNOW THIS IS YOUR REVENGE! IRONWOOD!" Her body stopped moving, and even her trembling and panic receded as she heard father screaming words...

G-General, Headmaster James Ironwood was behind this?

Of course, she knew it was General Ironwood who led all Atlas military, but she still hoped this was just a mistake...

A cruel mistake...

"W-Weiss? S-sister, w-what is happening, wh-why are they taking father?" She looked down at her brother Whitley as she tried to school her expression, he was just two years younger than her, but he was still more of a child, something she no longer could be...

"N-nothing! Go, go to mother, a-and stay with her." She said, and she was saying it. She watched the soldiers who were close to them and heard her, hoping that they wouldn't act. She sighed in relief deep inside her mind when they just nodded.

"B-but, w-what about you sister?" She didn't smile. Even if their sibling relationship worsened in these past years, she could hear that worry in his voice. It made her feel...

Warm...

"I-Im Weiss Schnee, I'm the heiress of SDC. It's my duty to be present." She bravely said, her shoulders relaxing a little just after her brother finally nodded his head and turned around, making a very quick way to where their mother at this time normally was. One look at the worried Klein was all she needed when their family Buttler gave her a troubled yet understanding look and followed after Whitley.

Making her relax a little, she knew that Klein wouldn't ever let anything happen to them...

"I want to speak with General Ironwood! I want an explanation for all this." She said with the most commanding voice she could utilize, all the while hiding the uncertainty she felt.

"Ma'am, we were-" One of the dark-skinned soldiers wanted to say, just to stop when they looked behind her, making Weiss frown but look too, her eyes widening.

"Winter!" She shouted. She didn't care about etiquette or code of conduct, not right now, not when there were soldiers in her home, taking her's father away in bounds.

She was beyond caring about how she should act.

"Weiss." She watched as Winter almost walked towards her but looked behind her, she looked too, on what stopped Winter, seeing a dark-haired man with radiant blue eyes, who nodded at Winter, and when Winter looked back at her, she could see a leftovers feelings of gratitude her big sister's eyes shone in.

"Specialist Schnee." The soldiers saluted to Winter, she looked as Winter nodded at them.

"You are free to go. I will take it from there." Winter said, her voice full of finality.

"Ma'am!" She watched how the soldiers saluted Winter and then briskly left, not even looking at her.

"Weiss, come, let's speak in a place where we can have privacy," Winter said to her, making her nod her head after looking at how many soldiers there were still there, she wanted to ask them to leave, she wanted much more, but with Winter there, she knew this was no longer a mistake...

It is legiminalate...

Her father was arrested, and very openly and publicly at that...

After a quiet walk that rocked Weiss's nerves, they finally arrived at a room, making Weiss realize it was her room they arrived into...

And after closing the doors behind them, she couldn't hold it inside her anymore.

"Winter! What was that?! What is happening? Why they arrested father!"

"Weiss... Im so sorry." Winter said, and Weiss was left speechless as she felt arms around her...

Taking her into a hug...

This...

Was this even Winter?

Weiss knew Winter loved her but knew she too, that Winter was never for open shows of affection. It was just not in their upbringing...

"Weiss, you need to be strong now, father... He, he errored, father thought nobody could punish him, that lien and Dust dependency could protect him, but he went too far, he broke too many laws, and he played with fire until he finally burned his hand and then entire body..."

Winter told her, lowering her head to look into her eyes.

"Weiss, you are no-" But before Winter could continue, there was a knock on the doors, and Weiss wanted almost shout at who dared to get into her sister's speech but stopped...

There weren't many who could knock, and right now wasn't time to think brashly. She was Schnee, and she needed to behave better.

She watched how Winter guardedly opened doors just for her to straighten up.

"General! Sir!" Winter saluted, and Weiss's eyes opened wide when the man who she previously saw was there, looking at Winter with...

Was that amusement?

Were they just hidden under strict commanding eyes?

Weiss saw such eyes so many times...

Mostly when her mother was in a better mood, she could see such eyes there too...

"Specialist Schnee, Miss Schnee, I came to bring you to where your mother and brother are. I think they, too, wish to know the reason for this sudden surprise." Of course, how could she forget?

Still...

Mother...

Will she be even sober for this...

But immediately, as she thought of this, she shook her head.

"General Ironwood." Weiss lowered her head in respect and almost shouted in surprised fright as she felt a hand on her shoulder, and looking before her, her eyes widened as General Ironwood lowered himself to be in her eye lower, his hand still on her shoulder.

"I understand that everything is now moving too quickly and so suddenly, but there will be a good explanation, and I hope you and your family will understand. You need to stay strong for their sake, and you can do that, can't you, Weiss?"

Normally she would demand how he dared to presume in dealing with her as if she was a child, how he dared to lay his hands on her...

And yet...

When her blue eyes met the man's, same blue ones, but much darker and seemed so full of...

Burden, how heavy and darker they were...

She could see clear signs of understanding and compassion, something she saw just in Klein's eyes, the General's eyes...

She couldn't bring herself to anything more than numbly nod her head, watching how General's eyes softened, and a small smile rested on his face.

"Good." General Ironwood said as he stood up and looked at Winter.

"Specialist Schnee, Miss Schnee, will any of you take the lead? I fear that I'm unfamiliar with this place." General Ironwood lightly said, making her sister Winter nod her head.

"Yes, Sir! Weiss, will you walk with me?" Weiss understood and quickly went before General, who gave her another kind look that looked so strange on such a strict-looking face.

And as they walked...

Weiss realized something...

If General didn't know their mansion layout, how he found her room?

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"Mother, brother." Weiss nodded at her brother, who gave her a troubled look, and Weiss understood why when she looked at her mother...

"Oh, dear..." Their heads turned all on the voice when they realized it was General who spoke so, strangely...

They saw how he had a troubled look on his face when he looked at their mother...

And when Weiss wanted to ask why she looked at her sister, who...

Why was Winter looking so conflicted? Winter's face was the same, the mask that was taught to them when they were still little, but...

Weiss could read Winter's eyes. At least, she thought so, and when she saw them, she didn't know why Winter looked so conflicted...

...

But when Weiss once again looked at General, she could see...

Why was he angry...

"Specialist... Can you do me a favor?" What? Weiss didn't know what was happening anymore. Second time today, and Weiss was becoming tired of this...

"Sir?" Winter looked troubled.

"Please, can you take your siblings for a few minutes outside? I need to have words with your mother..." Weiss wanted to object, and she would if not for the look Winter gave her and Whitley.

"Young man, I'm General James Ironwood. Please do not fear that I will do anything inappropriate. I just wish to ask my old friend, that is, your mother, a few questions, then you can come back." Weiss looked and could see how Whitley, after a few looks on General Ironwood and Winter, relaxed for a little and nodded his head...

"Miss Schnee, I would ask you of this favor too, please." Weiss didn't want to, really didn't, but...

"Weiss, Whitley, let's come outside for a while." Until the end...

Weiss just nodded her head...

"Few minutes in max, that's all I ask." Were last General's words as they closed the doors...

"Winter! What is happening? Why, why did we let that man alone with our mother!" Whitley demanded. Weiss could see how worried he was...

And she was too...

No matter what...

She was their mother, and the last thing Weiss wished for was for something to happen to her...

"...As you two can see, today our father has been arrested for-" From there, Winter explained the much-needed information to them...

And after she was done...

Weiss wished not to know...

She always knew, somewhere deep down, especially after her's tenth birthday, when their father admitted he married their mother just for access to SDC, their name, and lien...

But it still hurt...

To know how big a monster he was all underneath his white suit...

Weiss didn't know when, but Winter took them both, her and Whitley, into a hug, making all the siblings hug each other as Whitley sobbed. She herself had misty eyes, with Winter looking all the while looking at them as her hands were around them, pressing them into her body...

Weiss wondered...

If not, living in a lie wouldn't be much easier...

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"..."

...

Now...

"What to do..." I whispered, looking at the clearly dozed form of my childhood sweetheart...

Walking to the slumped of Willow Schnee...

I let my instincts act for me...

Or rather, my memories...

Even if there wasn't ever anything between us, at least not in a sexual way, our feelings didn't count...

We were still close, with me being under Nicholas Schnee's wing...

And so...

I did something my younger me did when I was fed up with Willow.

"You little!" I hissed when my hands went up and pinched both sides of Willow's cheeks and.

Pulled!

"AAAAAAAAAA!!!!"

Creating a painful scream in the room as Willow's eyes opened wide, making both our blue eyes meet.

One pair of eyes tired and dulled from alcohol, and another pair dulled from burden and knowledge.

"J-James?" The voice of a mature woman said. I hid the wince when memories of the same voice, but one much more...

Younger called me like that...

"Willow..." I greeted back.

My hands were still holding her cheeks, but now no longer pulling, as I watched Willow's hands move up and touch mine...

"This... Is it just another hallucination from wine?" This woman...

Just how much she drank?

"I will give you hallucination you!"

"Ouuuuuchiiiiiiiiiii!!!"

"Dammit, woman!"

It seemed...

That my feelings weren't as solved as I hoped for...