Chapter Text
A few hours before Weiss Schnee wakes up in Mantle...
Weiss Schnee never particularly enjoyed her birthdays. Like every other large gathering her family hosted, they were just excuses for her father to network. For everyone else in the Schnee family, events such as those were boring wastes of time that were best filled with whatever they could find that captured their interest. Winter had the fortune of having friends, so she would often spend SDC events tucked away in a corner while she gossiped or whatever someone did with their friends. Weiss and Whitley were expected to socialize with the other children their age whose parents were Schnee business partners. While Whitley seemed to thrive in the world of future business leaders, Weiss found it hard to feign interest in talking to a bunch of spoiled children she was literally more valuable than. Willow was the only member of the family Jacques permitted to skip the social functions he put on due to her habit of indulging too much in the wine on offer.
The only thing that made the night bearable for Weiss was the thought of her actual birthday celebration the day after. It would be a much more private affair, attended only by two others beside herself. Winter and Klein always got her nice presents, and at least one of them would try to spend the day with her. She hoped Winter could get out of business tutoring early so they could have more time, but she knew she was being greedy. At the very least, she was certain Klein would make time for her, as he always did on important occasions.
Unfortunately, her daydreams of the following day could only give her so much strength, and Henry Marigold seemed to keen on finding its limits. He had followed her the whole night like a lovesick puppy, pestering her about the potential combined power of their parents' companies. It was in the middle of Henry's proposal for a marriage pact that Weiss simply walked away after telling the annoying boy his company wasn't worth even a fraction of the hers. The insult proved enough to get him to leave her alone, but an entire night of interacting with Henry Marigold had broken her will to stay at her own birthday party.
The uncomfortable bow strangling her ears didn't help either.
Driven by a need for peace and quiet, Weiss slipped away from the party, which was shockingly easy for an event supposedly held in her honor. She navigated the labyrinthian corridors of Schnee Manor until she found a spot she was certain no one would look for her in. It was dangerous to draw her father's ire, but he had been in a good mood earlier that day, so she felt safe in her quest for solitude. Maybe she would get yelled at if she were discovered, but yelling was never so bad. It was bad when Jacques was quiet.
Schnee Manor's library was nearly as large as the main hall, its walls lined with densely packed bookshelves that took the staff hours to dust every day. The furniture was rich leather, a deep brown to match the wooden shelves. The only sound in the monolithic room was the crackling of the decorative central fireplace, a tall rock structure that used firewood and dust to maintain a constant pleasant warmth. The bookshelves were home to a mixture of classic, contemporary, and exotic books that covered almost every imaginable topic, though they were overwhelmingly academic in nature. There were smaller shelves which filled the otherwise empty space between the center of the room and the wall which contained the more impressive literature in the collection, including several works which were technically illegal.
As she had so many times, Weiss tucked herself in-between two of the smaller bookshelves and scanned one of them for a moment before finding the book she was looking for. Feeling secure in her hiding spot, Weiss shed her constricting bow and rubbed some of the soreness from the wolf ears that rested atop her head, sighing in relief as she worked feeling back into them, and began to read.
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An hour later...
The sound of the heavy wooden door to the library creaking open startled Weiss out of her reading. She swiftly flattened her ears to her head and ducked behind one of the bookshelves to shield herself from whoever had entered. Her heart raced at the threat of being found without her bow, but the voice that came from the figure soon after disarmed her.
“If you’re going to run off somewhere to be alone, your room would be a much better choice,” Winter scolded her sister as she approached.
“But father would know to look in my room,” Weiss replied as she peeked out from behind the bookshelf, letting her ears relax. "I wanted to be alone."
"While it's understandable to want time to yourself, you need to keep in mind that Father doesn't like having to search for you. Fortunately, he doesn't seem angry this time, but you know how quickly that can change. The party is almost over. It's just cake and your speech, then you can go to your room." Winter looked Weiss over, immediately locking onto her sister's uncovered faunus ears. "And now I have to redo your bow again." She grabbed the discarded bow from the nearby shelf and guided her sister to a chair.
Weiss's ears, which had once perked up at the mention of cake, fell flat at the prospect of reapplying her bow. Her posture slacked and she sighed before taking a breath to steady herself. She stood proud once more and returned her book before sitting down to allow Winter to conceal her ears. After their mother had become too sick from drinking to attend to Weiss full time, the burden of maintaining Weiss's appearance had fallen to Winter.
“I don’t like this either Weiss, but father will get very angry if anyone were to see them,” Winter explained while adjusting the faunus's ears as gently as she could.
“What’s wrong with them?” Weiss asked, grimacing as Winter accidentally pulled too hard on one ear. No one had ever explained why it was wrong that she was a faunus, just that Father didn’t want others to know. The closest thing to an explanation had been her mother calling her a mistake in the middle of a drunken rant.
What does it mean to be a mistake? She wanted to ask Winter, but she knew that some answers could hurt more than they helped.
“There’s nothing wrong with being a faunus. Father and the rest of Atlas are just hateful people,” Winter assured her sister as she began working on the bow.
Weiss did her best to hide her discomfort as Winter accidentally pulled too tight, sending a sharp pain from the tips of her ears to her spine.
Winter finished tying the bow and sighed. "There's nothing wrong with you, Weiss. One day, when you’re older, you won’t have to care what Father or anybody else thinks. You can go somewhere you won’t have to hide yourself,” she encouraged, giving her sister's shoulders a gentle squeeze.
“What if he stops me?” Weiss asked, her voice shrouded in fear.
Winter hugged her sister and made a promise she would break before the sun rose. “I won’t let him.”
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A short time later...
After the party, Weiss returned to her room where the familiar scent of vanilla filled her nose upon opening the door. The dull, brightly-lit room was primarily white with accents of blue in an attempt to break up the clinical appearance and make it look lived in. The only other signs that someone did live there were a vanity with an assortment of textbooks from her tutoring, a closet with several sets of nearly identical outfits, and a neatly made bed that matched the room. Despite its barren appearance, it was the only place in the entire manor Weiss felt comfortable, the only place she was allowed to. Closing the door behind her, she took off her bow and massaged her ears to work out the soreness from a night of binding.
After the feeling returned to her ears and she got out the painful knots in her fur, she took a seat at her vanity as she began brushing her hair. As they often did, her eyes wandered her reflection until she found the wolf ears perched atop her head. Despite Winter and Klein's assurances, she still had her doubts that there was nothing wrong with her. Her mother and father insisted her ears be covered at all times outside of her room and even Whitley had picked up on the disdain toward them despite his young age, making snide remarks about them when he thought she couldn't hear.
Weiss may not have hated her ears, but she did worry what they would mean for her. More than once, she’d heard her father ranting angrily about faunus and quickly found herself upset and running to Winter. The hateful tirades her father would go on struck a deep fear in Weiss. The same kind of fear she had when talking to him alone. Whether it was because of a mining accident that slowed production or an attack from the White Fang, Weiss had quickly learned that her father had a very low opinion of her kind. She wasn’t entirely sure what that meant about how he viewed her, but hearing the way most of the adults talked about faunus was enough to convince her that being one meant she wasn't as good as everyone else.
Her family’s own actions had demonstrated that much. Winter and Whitley were both allowed more freedoms than her. They got to go to school, have friends, and go outside for more than company events. Meanwhile Weiss was hidden away with the excuse of her being sick because they were too ashamed risk letting the world know they had a faunus child. Angry words her mother had thrown at her and the lingering sting of her father's hand suddenly rushed back to her, causing her hands to tremble and her eyes to water as she continued brushing.
To calm herself down, Weiss took her mind to Winter and the strength her sister gave her.
Winter was everything Weiss wanted to be. She was strong, brave, and caring. Not once had she cowered when Father yelled or grown nervous at the slur in Mother's voice. When she was around, nothing bad happened; she wouldn't let it.
Just as her hand calmed, Weiss was pulled from the task of brushing her hair by a knock at her door.
“Miss Schnee,” Klein's voice came through the door, “your father wishes to speak with you in his study.”
Weiss set the brush down and steadied herself as she began tying the bow around her ears as Winter had taught her. She would be okay. Father was probably just mad that she'd snuck away from the party, which he might shout at her for. But that was okay.
Shouting was easy.
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Weiss sat in her father’s office doing her best to control her breathing as he continued to read a document that was in the center of his desk, not once acknowledging her presence. For several minutes after arriving, Weiss had waited in silence for her father to tell her why she was summoned.
Per usual, he kept his office cold. Winter had told her it was to make people uncomfortable, and if that was the case Weiss would say it was working. The room was also silent aside from the noise of her breathing and the occasional noise of frustration her father would make as he read.
Just when Weiss’s boredom was beginning to overtake her fear, her father sighed and pulled a bottle of whiskey and a glass from a drawer in his desk before pouring himself a drink. He took a sip and exhaled before turning to look at his daughter for the first time since she had entered the room. “Take off your bow,” he commanded, his voice deep and strange, kind of like Mother's.
Weiss did as she was told, even if she was confused to be allowed to show her ears in his presence. Normally Father seeing her ears meant he would pull on them, and it was painful enough that she he hadn't seen them in years. With her wolf ears on display, she felt an uncomfortable mix of nervousness and confidence.
“Those ears have been a blight on this family since the moment of your birth,” Jacques paused to take another sip of whiskey so strong Weiss could smell it from across the desk. “If you were ever to be discovered as a faunus it would ruin this family, and as its protector I cannot allow that.”
Fear began to creep through Weiss as she pondered the implications of what her father had just said. Is he going to hurt me? she thought as she subconsciously braced for him to hit her.
He stood up and swirled the whiskey in his hand before taking another sip and moving around the desk to loom over her, the alcohol on his breath making her nose shrivel and heart beat faster. “I’m sure that you’re also sick of having to deal with those pesky things, to have a constant reminder that you’re lesser than those around you.”
He does think I'm lesser, the thought hit Weiss like a bullet. Despite her knowing it to be true for some time now, hearing her father say it so casually hurt her more than she'd expected. Jacques learned in closer and stared her in the eyes as his own hardened, challenging her to object. When no challenge came, he leaned back and adopted a more casual poster which gave his daughter room to breathe. “I have found a doctor willing to remove them for you. As you get older they will only get bigger and harder to hide, so it’s best to have the procedure done at a young age. Consider this your birthday present,” he said as though he'd just closed a benign business deal. "You can finally be a real Schnee."
Weiss stopped breathing as she took in what exactly that meant, considering the idea for a second before shaking it from her head. He's already decided it will happen. Her heartbeat picked up and her hands gripped the smooth wooden chair she was sitting in. I'm going to lose my ears. The thought made her stomach uneasy as bile rose in her throat.
She looked around the room to reorient herself before her eyes settled on the door. I need to tell Winter, she thought, she can stop him. Only a moment of contemplation passed before she bolted for the door.
Jacques reacted quickly, striking her as hard as he could with the back of his hand.
Weiss's world briefly became an explosion of white as her father's hand connected, dragging his ring up her face and over her eye. And suddenly she was on the ground, struggling to stand up as the act of keeping her eyes open became more difficult every second. The room felt colder. All she could smell was whiskey and blood. She was so tired.
“You ungrateful worm. Do you have any idea how lucky you are to have a father as gracious as me? To have your every need met? To have servants waiting on you, ready to fulfill your every request? To have a father who wouldn’t throw away his whore wife’s bastard?” Jacques raged at her, stomping his foot and gesturing wildly around the room in his anger.
Weiss lay on the ground stunned, not able to clearly take in the meaning behind what her father had said. “I’m sorry,” she sobbed. “I’m sorry for being bad. I promise I’ll be better.” Weiss's vision blurred and grew red as blood from the cut from her father's ring had ripped open over her left eye began to pour from her face to the carpet below. He's going to kill me, she thought, I'm going to die.
“If you’re going to get any better, you will need to learn what I have so spared you from,” Jacques snarled as he finished his whiskey before throwing the empty glass in front of Weiss, shattering it into large pieces and sending glass flying into Weiss's face.
As her face exploded in pain again from the shards of glass, Weiss made an effort to crawl toward the door. Winter. She can help me.
Weiss’s last act before she slipped into unconsciousness was to scream for her sister as loud as she could through the pain and fog that clouded her mind.
What came out was a pathetic whimper heard by no one as her father stepped outside his office.
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Meanwhile, in Mantle...
Cinder Fall had only been in Mantle for a few minutes, but she was sure about one thing - It was fucking cold.
After burning down the Glass Unicorn, she'd been on the run for the past day. Rhodes and the Madame's brats would likely have pointed to her within hours of the building turning to ash, and the Madame’s corpse along with it.
The thought of her former slaver's body being reduced to nothing by her semblance was enough to put a smile on her face and bring a little warmth to her in the middle of the blizzard that howled around her. She struggled against the collar around her neck, the only piece of her master that still desecrated her body. It was surprisingly resilient for a glorified shock collar. Her attempts to cut or burn it off had been in vain, which only added to her worsening attitude as she marched through the growing layer of snow on Mantle's streets.
She had spent the last week planning her escape and the destruction of the Unicorn alongside it. While she was remiss to have missed her opportunity to kill the brats alongside their mother, she found herself somewhat happy she hadn’t had the opportunity. Killing the Madame would likely be seen by the courts as an act of self defense, but killing the kids would be another story. If she ever got caught, the breath of those two bastards may be enough to buy her a light sentence.
The bulk of her escape plan was to sneak aboard public transit and make her way to Mantle where she would try to get out of Atlas altogether. She didn’t care where she ended up, just that she could keep training and eventually become strong enough that nobody would dare to cross her.
She vowed to herself that she would never be owned again.
And yet, as the winds blew harsher and her aura got dangerously low, Cinder found herself desperately wishing she had stayed in the floating city of Atlas for a little longer. She imagined warming herself in the wreckage of the Unicorn, taking in the screams of its wealthy patrons and the warmth of its flames as it burned to the ground.
She smiled and pushed onward toward her destiny.