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Closing the door lightly on his teammates (and some of the best friends he will ever have), Jaune Arc let out a sigh of relief that they were finally talking to make up for their differences.
The fighting and misplaced aggressions that had existed between them ever since they had gotten to Atlas finally seemed to be placed to the side for now, even if Nora…even if she had to be injured like that to see it. He was just glad that she had made it through with the rest of them.
Hearing soft voices coming from the door, Jaune was tempted to stand by and listen in, but he also knew this conversation was not for him. It was between partners only.
So, stepping away from the door and down the hall, he began to talk a walk and explore the expansive mansion that Weiss called home.
Having seen the opulence on display only a few days prior during the arrest of Jacques Schnee, Jaune wasn't surprised as he passed expensive looking painting after painting and sculpture after sculpture.
He even saw a few featuring a young white haired girl who was likely Weiss when younger…and although he had no doubt Ruby and especially Yang would want to take pictures on their scroll of this, he knew better than to cross Weiss like that. He could already imagine the earful he would get as a result, smiling a little bit as he recalled just how strict Weiss could be during their Beacon days.
But as he turned the corner on the next hallway he wandered through, he was treated to the sight of a woman laying against a wall, knees pulled up mostly to her chest, some distinctive white hair peeking up above her white and blue patterned formal clothing.
"Is that…Weiss and Winter's mother?" Jaune thought, walking over to the near comatose woman. Bending down, he nudged her shoulder as he called out to her "Hey. Hey!"
Slowly, the woman stirred, dreary blue eyes opening up as her knees came down from her tucked in position. After an unfocused moment or two, they slowly made their way over to his direction.
Seeing that he had her attention now, Jaune continued. "Are you okay?"
The woman's eyes seemed to not comprehend his question at first, but then she looked down as she answered. "No…" She said with a saddened tone.
"Do you need help?" Jaune followed up with.
"Maybe…I just…need somewhere better to lie down, is all..." She said slowly, tired eyes meeting his own once again. "Can you help me up to the room down the hall?" She asked, as Jaune nodded in confirmation. Taking her arm in his own and bracing it against him as he helped her up, Jaune began to walk down the hallway with the unconfirmed mother of his friend.
And yet, as he did so, he couldn't help but realize that she was quite…gifted in certain areas. He immediately shut down that train of thought as soon as he could but he felt the heat build at the back of his neck regardless. He definitely shouldn't be having thoughts like that about one of his best friend's mothers!
The woman, in her tired state, didn't seem to notice his reaction however.
Reaching the door to the room she indicated with him, he gently opened the door and revealed what seemed like a waiting room of sorts, lined with couches and armchairs, some shelves and a holographic amplifier for scrolls to connect to. Helping her down on the nearest couch, Jaune took a seat next to her.
"Do you need help with anything else?" Jaune asked again, unsure.
"I have a headache…but Klein was looking around for medicine for me anyways…no need to worry, young man." The woman smiled at him and Jaune considered her reply before answering again.
"I have a semblance that could help you perhaps? Do you mind if I use it on you?" He asked. The woman, a curious look now in her eyes, responded in affirmation. Jaune took her hand in his as he channeled his aura in the way he had learned since that day months ago when Weiss was in danger, when he called on his soul for an answer to save her…and was given one in response. He heard the woman lightly call out in surprise as he channeled his aura through her, helping abate the pain she was feeling and recover.
Letting go of her hand after a few moments, the woman, now looking much more awake and in a better condition, smiled at him gently. Jaune resisted the urge to blush at the kind expression on someone who resembled Weiss so much.
"Thank you, young man…Weiss sure does have great friends, indeed. Oh, but, where are my manners. My name is Willow Schnee and, as you have probably guessed, I am Weiss…and Winter's mother. What is your name?" The newly identified Willow requested of him.
"My name is Jaune Arc, ma'am. I am one of your daughter's friends. We used to be classmates in Beacon, a few years back." He answered in turn, giving her a smile back.
After a moment of companionable silence, Willow continued on. "Earlier, you asked if I was okay…and thanks to you, I am feeling alright now. But truthfully, things are not okay. My family is falling apart…or has rather fallen apart for a long time now." She said, eyes dropping down to the ground in sadness once more. "I know I am partially to blame, as well…but with all that is happening in Atlas…"
"If I may, Mrs. Schnee?" Jaune cut in, gaining her attention again. "I think that, even if your family is feeling separated right now, that doesn't mean you will remain separated forever."
Seeing her frown in response, Jaune continue explaining his thoughts before she could cut in. "I know I may not be aware of all the specifics – Weiss didn't tell us much – but I myself ran away from my own family to attend Beacon. And at the time I ran away, my relationship with my own mother and father…that wasn't great either."
Observing that her attention had been fully grabbed again, Jaune finished off his thoughts. "But that doesn't mean I don't want to see them again. It would mean the world for me to go back eventually and apologize to them, even if I am busy here on this journey with the others like your daughter right now. And I am sure your daughter…I am sure Weiss feels the same way."
Looking taken aback, Willow seemed to consider her words as her demeanor brightened softly. But she turned back to him and asked again. "Are you sure about that? How can you be sure? Especially after all the bad that Jacques…that THAT man did?"
"I am sure, Mrs. Schnee. Just like I'm sure you know just how icy and withdrawn both Weiss and Winter can be at times. Isn't that right?" Jaune commented, drawing a surprising giggle from the woman, who agreed with his words.
"Wonderful. You are truly wonderful. I am glad my Weiss has such great companions around her." Willow, who had brightened considerably since the start of the conversation, said. She then seemed to take a second look at him as a realization hit her. "Are you perhaps also…the boy Weiss mentioned from Beacon who courted her for some time?"
Eyes widening for a second, Jaune seemed to recall something and calmed down before he answered. "Apologies, ma'am, that was likely another student named Neptune. Back then…I doubt Weiss would have wanted to talk about me." He said self-depreciatingly.
"If you say so." Willow responded with a knowing glint her eyes. "Could I perhaps trouble you for one more thing, young man?"
"Sure." Jaune agreed. "What is it?"
"I have another child named Whitley who is here in this mansion as well. He is an intelligent boy, who no doubt takes many of his traits after his grandfather…but the one aspect he is similar to his father in may be his dedication to the work he does. And while I am proud of him for that, he can sometimes get too focused. Can you go check on him in Jacq…in the main office? It is down the hallway on the first right, followed by the first left and then the large mahogany door. You can't miss it." Willow requested.
"Alright, but will you be fine here on your own?" Jaune asked again, concerned that she would collapse again.
"I should be fine, you already helped me so much Jaune. Klein should be back any minute as well so I will have someone to sit with me regardless. Off you go now." Willow instructed, as Jaune followed her suggestion and left the room.
Watching him leave, Willow recalled a conversation some months ago in the garden of her family's mansion, on a day that she had particularly neglected drinking and Weiss had wanted to speak to her again.
"Seven sisters, you say?" She had asked in surprise at Weiss's tale, leaning into the information. Even at her age…or perhaps because of the circumstances of her own life, hearing these tales of youthful romance did light a spark of interest in her for once.
"Yes, that's right." Weiss replied. "And he even came to his partner that day and danced with her with a dress on. A dress? Can you believe it?" Weiss said, looking down a bit and smiling at something unseeable to Willow. But Willow was sure it was a sight to behold.
"So you regret not getting a dance of your own?" Willow asked, still interested.
"Well, that too. But what I regret most of all is turning him down…I was too blind to see…that perhaps what I wanted was in front of me the entire time." Weiss replied, a morose expression on her face now.
"Then perhaps you should rectify that mistake if you ever get a chance again." Willow replied, as Weiss turned her head up to face her again. "Else you end up like I did, Weiss. Live your life how you wish. That's all I can ask of you."
Speaking to nobody softly, Willow made one last remark into the empty waiting room. "Well, Weiss…at least you know what you lost."
Typing away once more at the terminal in the nearly ransacked office, Whitley felt like slamming his head against the keyboard for the nth time that day. The losses from the attack that…ponce Ironwood had inflicted upon the drones and the SDC fleet were overwhelming. As it is, he was only able to divert some of the cruisers away from the firing line and back to Atlas in time to avoid pure destruction. No doubt only because Ironwood had yet to become deranged enough to fire upon his own city (but the one below was somehow free game).
As a result, he had spent the time since settling the fleet down in a safe location in the docks of Atlas – but far away from the corpse of that whale like abomination in the distance – trying to reroute power from locations in Mantle that were already destroyed to sites inside or around the central crater of Atlas, where his sister's team had indicated the majority of the Mantle refugees had gathered. Turning back on the power to old mining sites, enabling the lights and powering on the heating sources, he was doing the best he could to assist however he could.
But he still felt supremely frustrated at the thought of Ironwood just brazenly destroying his family's property like he did. As much as his father and his actions irked him – and still continue to irk him – that didn't mean the property of his family was open to be treated like that. Only the thought of the thanks his family may get for his actions here calmed him down.
And even, perhaps, some personal thanks from his sister's companions…including that especially cute black haired girl with red highlights who was apparently their leader. Ruby, she said her name was? He had to be careful to not let his sister know of his interest or she would never let him live it down, surely.
It was with these thoughts that Whitley heard a knock on the door sound out.
"Who is it?" He called out, thinking it may be Klein with perhaps a drink for him. The old butler always did know his sisters and him best like that. Far more than his parents, at least.
"It's Jaune. I'm one of your sister's friends. Can I come in?" Jaune? He couldn't recall hearing of him particularly, but given his sister only made friends of huntsman and huntresses these days, he doubted he could stop him anyways.
"Very well." Whitley answered. Watching the door open, Whitley realized where he had seen the man before as he stepped into the office, his strangely styled blonde hair and armor quite distinctive after all. "Ah, you are one of the hooligans with Weiss during the banquet who were messing around in the hall. Right before I got wine spilled on me and had to depart, at the very least."
He saw the man flinch for a second before rubbing the back of his head sheepishly. "Yep, that's me for sure…just one of Weiss's hooligans." Strangely, the man reminded Whitley of a dog, perhaps a golden retriever or labrador at that moment. He shook off the impression quickly however.
"Why are you here, Jaune? Did my sister ask you to check up on me because she is too busy for me?" He asked, some frustration and bitterness in his tone. The man named Jaune seemed to ignore it however.
"No, your mother asked me to check up on you." He replied.
Whitley felt some shock course through him before replying in turn. "I'm surprised she is sober enough to ask or remember in the first place."
Jaune shook his head in the negative. "She wasn't drinking at all when I was near her a few minutes ago, nor did she smell of alcohol…To me, it even seemed like she was going cold turkey."
If Whitley felt shocked before, he felt completely flummoxed now…a time without his mother drinking…he could barely even recall such an occurrence. Perhaps Winter or even Weiss may have remembered that time, but for Whitley, those days were already long past during the moments he remembered growing up in the halls of the Schnee mansion. Just an endless procession of maids and butlers, while his parents remained disconnected in their own ways.
"My apologies, then…it appears I was wrong on both counts. Although you must understand that I have not yet had time to learn something like that…especially after that…vicious creature tore up the mansion looking for that girl who flew in here." Whitley explained, feeling somewhat abashed at his needless assumptions of the man.
"No worries. And I heard about the Grimm that had come through here. My team…rather, the team that our group had separated out into with me in it – had tried chasing that Grimm down but we were unsuccessful. So it should be me apologizing to you instead." Jaune said sheepishly.
"No worries as well, then." He answered in kind. The two shared a somewhat strained silence for a bit before Jaune continued.
"You know, you are really brave for helping to defeat that Grimm. Weiss did tell us how it died once we saw it at the entrance. At your age, I doubt I would have had the courage to do what you did." Jaune commented.
Whitley scoffed, however. "If you are trying to give lip service without meaning, you should be less direct." Strangely, to Whitley's view, this caused Jaune to laugh openly instead. "What's so funny?"
Wiping some tears from his eyes, Jaune responded. "You are just like Weiss probably was at your age, too. At least, since you act like her when I first met her at Beacon. She didn't believe I was being genuine for a while either."
Whitley…felt taken aback by the comparison. While he knew she was his sister, it felt hard to relate to her at times, especially once she lost her title as heiress. What Jaune said next flabbergasted him even further.
"I have seven sisters, you know. Siblings are always alike in many ways. I can attest to that." Jaune explained.
"S-Seven sisters!? Absurd…the two I have are already quite much. But I suppose…if I had seven like you, perhaps at least one of them would care for me…" He trailed off, a bit downtrodden at the line of thought.
"Weiss does care about you, Whitley." Jaune cut in before he could sink his mood further. "I can assure you that, even if you don't think she does. Just give it time."
"Time we don't have?" Whitley shot back, gesturing to the rubble in the office where the beast had come through and destroyed what it touched. Like that supposed queen of Grimm was destroying Atlas as they spoke.
"Time we will make for sure?" Jaune declared strongly…and Whitley…Whitley wanted to believe him. The positive air he gave off, the feeling of comfort, he could comfortably say this Jaune was a man he wanted to believe in at least.
Smiling finally at Jaune, Whitley responded once more "I can see why my sister likes you."
Rubbing the back of his head nervously again, Jaune replied. "Haha, not as much as you think."
"Sure, sure. Is there anything else you need to talk to me about? I need to get back to my work." Whitley replied, smirking slightly.
"No…your mother just wanted me to check on you and you seem to be doing fine. I should probably check on my friends now, too." Jaune said, moving towards the door.
But as he opened the door, both Whitley and Jaune were treated to the site of Penny, eyes glowing red, flying down the hallway while screams echoed in chase of her. Jaune watched stunned for a moment as she flew straight through a window and towards the courtyard.
"Sorry, gotta go!" Jaune yelled as he took off sprinting towards the main entrance. Whitley jumped out of his chair and followed after him but his speed already had him long gone by the time Whitley made it to the door.
Huffing, Whitley rushed down the final hallway towards the main entrance, cursing his lack of aura for his inability to keep up with the huntsman known as Jaune. Although he doubted he could even if his aura was unlocked, reasonably. To his surprise, he encountered his mother and Klein rushing down the hall from the opposite direction towards the entrance as well.
"Whitley?" Willow exclaimed, eyes focusing on her son.
"Young master Whitley?" Klein said questioningly.
"I saw the android woman who was with Weiss's team fly through a window towards the main courtyard, they should all be there. Let's go!" He exclaimed, both of the two nodding in agreement as they all stepped down the stairways towards the wide open large doors.
Thankfully, as they approached the main doors, it was clear the android woman had been stopped, as she was surrounded by several of the huntsman and huntresses – including Ruby – and Jaune had his hands on her, glowing with some kind of power of aura. Stopping at the awning, they watched as Jaune took his arms off her and with some indication from her the rest of the group headed straight to the center to sit down with them.
But most interesting of all was his sister, who, instead of sitting besides the android woman as he expected, instead ran over and knelt down next to Jaune, putting a hand on his shoulder and giving him the sweetest smile he had ever seen her deliver before. Whitley even felt heat flow to his face from the…brazen…move his sister had just committed.
He heard his mother sigh next to him as well, bring his attention to her once again. "Young love truly is sweet." She said, smiling at the pair in front of them.
"I agree, madam. I am glad Weiss has found someone to share such a look with." He remarked, as the man…as Jaune returned her sweet look with a gentle one of his own while her attention was elsewhere.
"I suppose…I suppose for an older brother, he wouldn't be the worst choice." He started off in response. "But I don't know if I will be able to survive the fivefold increase in sisters as a result. I can barely survive the two as is."
Not hearing a reply for several seconds, Whitley turned and observed a gobsmacked expression on his mother and Klein's faces. He felt himself blush slightly under the expressions.
"Whitley…did you…did you just make a joke?" His mother asked openly.
"Wasn't it obvious?" He replied immediately, a bit put out at being received like that.
But he felt his mood as his mother actually giggled at him for a moment before Klein answered himself. "It was a fine joke, Master Whitley. We are just shocked you delivered it." Whitley rolled his eyes but cracked a smile nonetheless.
Turning back to the huntsman and Weiss with the rest of his family, he watched as his sister and Jaune stuck close to each other throughout the discussion prompted by some ruffian girl he had never seen before. Although neither were ready at that moment perhaps to admit their feelings for the other, they knew that they would get through this and would be ready to welcome him into their family. Together.